folkmore application

[saespicious]

★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Kang Sae-byeok
Character Age: 27
Character Species: Human
Current Health: Alive-ish? She's been mortally injured, but she'll arrive before she's taken out the large chunk of glass. It'll appear as a large scar on the left side of her abdomen.
Outfit: A green track suit with white stripes and the number 067 printed on the left. She's also wearing a white T-shirt under the jacket with 067 printed across the chest.

Character Canon: Squid Game
Link to History: Here!
Canon Point: s1 e8 "Front Man" -- right before she changes into the provided suit and pulls out the shard of glass.
Canon Iteration: Original canon
Canon Iteration Explanation: N/A

★ Folkmore Roles & Attributes ★

Skills:
- pickpocketing
- sleight of hand
- can hold her own in a fight
- stealth
- observant
- resourceful
- quick on her feet
Canon Abilities: None, really. She's just your average, ordinary human.
Role: Myth
Role Qualities/Attributes: There won't be any physical transformations to accompany her role at first. She will be able to see in the dark, though, and if someone were to glance at just the right angle, they might notice her eyes glowing at night like a cat or other wild animal. Eventually, she might gain some tiny horns or fangs, but I just want to keep her pretty ordinary at the start.
Role Reasoning: I had really wanted to make her a legend just so I could say I have all three roles with my three characters, but I just couldn't do it. Myth is honestly a role that fits Sae-byeok too well. She's a loner. She has a hard time trusting people. And while deep down, she has a good heart -- life has thrown her too many shitty hands that she feels all she can do is look out for herself. Sae-byeok is an interesting character, though, in that under the right circumstances (having good influences/people she can trust), her faith in humanity could be restored. There could be a path for her to become a legend in the long run and I'd be bringing her in the game knowing her character arc could be like a coin toss. Either she embraces being a myth or blossoms into a legend.

★ Personality ★

Option 2. Choose FOUR-FIVE of the following questions to answer and expand upon. You may choose a fifth question if you feel it is integral to your character's personality. Each answer has a 100-300 word requirement.

OPTION 2 QUESTIONS (PICK 4-5) 100-300 WORD LIMIT EACH:

What experience challenged your character's core beliefs? How did they handle this or change from it?
The moment that really got in and changed Sae-byeok was Ji-yeong's death. Going through the competition, she still largely maintained a me versus them mentality -- even after getting together with the Gi-hun's team and having to rely on them to get her through. It was when Ji-yeong promised she'd make sure Sae-byeok 'moved forward no matter what' and then sacrificed herself in the marble game that Sae-byeok's entire world view was shattered. That someone willingly chose to die for her (especially someone who owed her nothing), it made her realize not all people were bad and not all people were predictable. And this is the first time in the entire show we see Sae-byeok overcome with emotion -- she gets angry, even mildly hysterical begging Ji-yeong to take her turn again...not because she wants a different result but because she couldn't handle how one single action decimated all she thought she knew about humanity.

During Ji-yeong's death, it's the first time we see Sae-byeok cry. And although she goes forward in the competition, it's clear she was changed from it. She helps Gi-hun jump on the right glass panel instead of tricking him to plunge to his death. And although I'm taking her from before this point, I do think Ji-yeong's death and Sae-byeok's own impending death due to the glass shard allows her to open up to Gi-hun and entrust him with the thing most precious to her -- asking him to take care of her brother if he wins.

What is the most important and defining relationship(s) in your character's life and why?
While her younger brother Cheol is the reason she enters the competition, I think her most important relationship is with Gi-hun. When they first meet, Gi-hun had just won a pretty big bet and Sae-byeok steals his earnings. Needless to say, they don't get off on the right foot. When they meet again in the competition, he immediately demands her to return his money. Then later, when the games are ended after a vote and they're both dropped off on the side of the road, he again demands the return of his money. This feeds into her worldview that people are predictable and will never change.

When they return to the games, though, things take a different path. They learn players can murder each other outside of a game to make the jackpot go up which makes it dangerous to sleep. Gi-hun sees Sae-byeok sitting alone and offers her safety with his team. When the lights go out and it becomes a blood bath, she takes him up on the offer.

"You came," he says. "You told me to," she answers. And this is the first glimpse we have of her starting to trust someone. She helps him later unprompted when an old man on their team gets sick -- giving him the rest of the water she was saving to lower the old man's fever. She claims it's not free and he'll have to pay her back, but I see this more as a sign that the trust is starting to go both ways. If Ji-yeong shattered Sae-byeok's world view, it was Gi-hun who restored her faith in people. He was the first person to make a promise (in this case of safety) and mean it. And he continued to prove himself time and time again.

What is your character's moral code? Do they have one? Why or why not?
Sae-byeok is very morally grey. She isn't some hero and isn't going to pretend to be one. She's willing to get her hands dirty to get the things she wants, and while her overall goal is noble (getting her mother out of North Korea and getting a house for her family to live in), there is a great deal of blood on her hands to see it through. Even before the competition, she threatens to kill a man with enough conviction that it's pretty clear she's killed before. When Sae-byeok enters the competition, she runs into a gangster by the name of Deok-su who she had apparently worked with previously. And from what we see of him, he's ruthless -- willing to kill people brutally when they wrong him or even just to get the things he wants. It's implied she lived with him and he taught her what he knew until she eventually split off and went 'independent.' So she has done her fair share of unsavory things to make it by.

What makes Sae-byeok different, though, is while she is willing to steal from innocent people -- I don't think she would be willing to harm/kill innocent people. While she's out to win the competition, she never outright sabotages anyone else's chances (with the exception of throwing Deok-su down in Red Light Green Light). There's a point later on during the glass bridge where Sang-woo pushes a competitor to his death in order to advance. Sae-byeok reacts with shock and horror. It's clear from the expression on her face, this is something that bothers her/something she never would have done.

What does your character feel like they struggle with still? Where could they improve? This could be physically, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise.
Sae-byeok very greatly struggles with outwardly expressing her emotions. She doesn't ever want to come across as weak and puts up an incredibly stoic front. Her life had been rife with hardships and tragedy. When she was with her family, she probably felt comfortable enough to express her sorrow/anger. But once she became the sole caretaker of her younger brother, I think that's when things changed. She learned to swallow her hardships to make Cheol feel better and she adapted a cold persona to deal with the thugs in Deok-su's gang. Unfortunately, bottling up these emotions eats away at her humanity and it's left her....not necessarily lacking compassion, but she's not so freely able to give it.

This, however, could change if she meets people she can trust. We see a start to this in her conversation with Ji-yeong. If she'd been given a chance to be friends with Ji-yeong, over time this would have been incredibly positive and pulled her out of her shell. In a place like Folkmore where the currency is socialization, there will likely be many opportunities for Sae-byeok to face and confront these struggles, though. And it's something I really look forward to playing around with!

★ Player Information ★

Player Name: Jeana
Pronouns: She/Her
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact(s): hoshizoku and PM
Who Invited You?: Current Player
Current Characters: Technical Boy (twatter) and Dylan Lenivy (lenivyous)
Permissions: Here
Writing Samples: TDM top level and additional thread