Lee Chanhyuk
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:: BackgroundThe first child of overly religious parents who were always doing outreach programs to help out their local clergy, Chanhyuk didn't have much choice but to grow up in the church. The music during services and the small shows they put on as part of Sunday school were the only memorable parts to his young mind, at least up until his sister was born.From the first time a young Chanhyuk saw his sister, he vowed that no one would so much as harm a hair on her (then bald) head. Once she was old enough, the mischief the two got into rarely ceased, save for when food was on the table or their beds were too tempting. But Chanhyuk always took the fall, his sister to pure for even being grounded. Time in the military-heavy city passed by quickly with classes at the international christian school there, eating lots of budae jjigae- it was a cheap, tasty meal- and watching the small down change into something perhaps more befitting of being on the outskirts of Seoul. A year before Chanhyuk was due to start middle school, the siblings were uprooted by their parents, who finally were being allowed to do the missionary work they'd been training for. The next four years were spent in Richmond, Virginia, a dangerous city where Chanhyuk learned to keep a level head and that street smarts were never a bad thing to have, especially if it meant helping to keep his sister safe. He started to spin tall tales there, and was rarely caught in a lie, given his talent for thinking on his feet. He learned more English on the streets than in the classroom, and while he struggled with homework that would have been easy if he knew the terminology better, he made the most of it. He'd managed to help on the crew of a few of the plays and musicals put on by his school, and a teacher noted his wonder and helped to pay for his fee for a drama club field trip to see a show in New York City as part of the Halloween edition of Kids Night on Broadway, and a night full of trick-or-treating and seeing Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and getting plenty of autographs. He'd definitely been fully consumed by the theater bug, but he didn't have the passion for acting or singing- that was more his sister's thing. No, he delighted in the challenge of costume and set changes, of pulling a show off without any hiccups. Chanhyuk had been part of a solid group of friends, and his grades were doing better, when suddenly the siblings found out that they were moving to Mongolia so that the heads of the house could do more missionary work. To say that Chanhyuk was crushed would be a grand understatement, and it was when he began to really fall out of love with the church. Sure, everything happened for a reason, but to make the siblings move away from a place where they had finally adjusted after the move from South Korea. He couldn't forgive it, and it's a grudge he still hasn't fully gotten over. Mongolia would have been miserable to Chanhyuk even without being used to the relatively affordable luxury provided in the States, given that he was so far from his friends. The siblings were home schooled, and most times meals consisted of nothing more than rice. In his letters to his friends stateside, Chanhyuk was despondent, though he thanked them profusely for the play scripts they sent, the reviews they wrote of shows they had seen or movies they caught. He could only send replies when they could afford stamps, and when he wasn't inwardly grumbling about the amount of coursework he had to do, he helped around the village to earn favor and knick-knacks that he could give to his sister. After taking the test that said he'd officially graduated high school, Chanhyuk was antsy for a change of pace. His mother's sister, recently widowed, reached out- if Chanhyuk would come stay with her for a while and help her get things sorted out, she would pay for the travel and help him get readjusted to life in South Korea. And so it was back to Uijeongbu for him. The best thing his aunt did was take him to see a show for his birthday- he couldn't stop smiling about it for a month. But he couldn't help her out forever, even though she was family- she wanted to get back into the dating game, and Chanhyuk definitely didn't want to be there for that. He applied to colleges instead, and wrote a very excited letter to his parents when he was accepted to Yonsei on a partial scholarship. With the help of grants and loans in addition to what the school itself offered him, Chanhyuk is aiming to major in Theater Management, with his sights set on someday work in New York City. He picked up tennis as a way to stay active, and the book club helped him stay in touch with a different form of media. He often writes book, play, and musical reviews for the university's paper, and makes time to work at a nearby grocery store a few evenings a week to save up money. His sister was recently accepted to the school as well, and he doesn't want her to have to struggle, though he's planning on talking her into rushing for a sorority in the fall. He loves her dearly, but having a group of brothers to fall back on if need be, given that their parents plan to stay in Mongolia... Well, everyone needs a safety net. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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