Name: Yeonseok Lee
Korean Name: Lee Yeon-Seok (이연석)
Age: 28
Species: Valkyr
Face Claim: Park Jimin

Caring || Charismatic || Open
Forward || Disengaged || Self-Centered

It was early morning on a late September day that Yeonseok Lee was born. After 43 hours of labor, his mother finally held her baby boy in her arms. His parents had been trying for a child for many years, suffering from a miscarriage before they finally gave birth to their first and only son. The first few years of Yeosoek’s life were pretty ordinary, his mother stayed home with her baby while his father continued his work.

From a very young age, Yeonseok always looked up to his father, who was a businessman through and through, his father lead the way when it came to innovative technology and was CEO of a very high profile company. And being so high profile had its privileges and drawbacks, on the one hand, the family never wanted for anything, every new thing that Yeonseok or his mother wanted they got. But it also meant that his father was never home, never there to really raise his son in the way his mother hoped.

So for the most part, Yeonsoek took on the traits of his mother, like her he was caring and thoughtful, sociable and intelligent. But his father’s absence put a certain level of need onto the young male’s shoulders, he always wanted to get his father’s attention somehow. Yeon did so by throwing himself into every single thing he was asked to do. It began with school, while most people around him had pressure from their parents to do well, it wasn’t necessary for him, he put enough pressure on himself to do well.

Yeon’s focus was to study in relevant subjects that would lead to him into the business field, especially languages, Korean and English as well as information technology. All the pressure and focus he put on himself somewhat deprived the young male of a real childhood however, he was much more focused on his studies than he was on making friends which made him seem standoffish and difficult to approach which was far from the truth. The few friends he did make became close friends for him throughout his entire life, those were the people who saw the truly caring side of him.

And all the hard work certainly did pay off, as he got older, Yeonseok gained a bit of reputation for being good at most things. It wasn’t necessarily natural talent so much as a need the male had to master skills, he would spend nearly all his free time practicing and perfecting and it got him what he wanted. Attention from the man who had been absent for most of his life. His father, recognizing the efforts his son had made, began courting his progress, giving Yeonseok the private tutors he wanted and shaping his son into his perfect picture. Yeonseok got to see the office that his father worked in, allowed to roam the building and ask questions.

The constant pressure Yeon put on himself didn’t come without its problems however, throughout his school years he became more and more competitive against his peers, wanting to be the best at everything which was frustrating when he was faced with those who just had natural talents in certain subjects. Yeon had to work even harder to keep up, especially as he moved into his teenage years, there was a point in time where he was up till gone midnight most nights, after spending afternoons at clubs and tutoring sessions. Yeonseok felt himself pulled in so many different directions, from pressure to do well at exams, learning an instrument, martial art sessions and even keeping up a good physique.

And then one day it all caught up to him. It was the morning before one of his exams, he felt confident, having spent hours the night before re-reading and processing the material but as the time to the exam got shorter, Yeon felt a breathlessness in his chest. At first he had thought nothing of it but then a burning tight pain in his upper abdomen began and his whole body began to feel weak, his legs no longer able to support the weight of his frame as he collapsed to the floor in pain. It was only thanks to a teacher spotting him fall and quickly calling the emergency services that Yeonseok survived.

Waking in the hospital, his eyes adjusted to the light before meeting the worried face of his mother. She had been there from the moment she got to the hospital and was the one to tell him what had happened. Yeonseok, a very healthy and active 17 year-old had suffered from an stress induced heart attack. Yeon was shocked by it all, unable to process the reality of what he had done to himself through his own stress. And throughout his 2 weeks in the hospital all he could think about was what this meant for his life now. The doctors told him that he needed to cut down, needed to start caring for himself first, sleeping decent hours, eating meals when he was supposed to.

It was a big change for Yeon, to go from never having any free time to spare, to having to spending a lot of his time all alone ‘recovering’. Part of him wanted to ignore the advice he’d been given and just pick it all back up again but every time he thought about that he remembered the look of fear in his mother’s eyes when he had awoken. He could tell that she was scared she was going to lose her only son and that very thought terrified him.

And so he changed from that day, his focus turning to a few important subjects that got him where he wanted to go. He pulled the few friends he had closer, realizing he had never really made an effort with them before and to his surprise, it was rewarding, being around people, having fun. And it was one of those friends who had gotten Yeonseok into dance classes. At first it was just to hang out and chat but even after only a few lessons Yeon found himself excelling. For the first time in his life he had found something he found as easy as breathing, his passion, his talent.

He continued with his studies through the years, all his previous hard work not going to complete waste and he did manage to finish with a decent enough grade to go to college. Instead of branching too far out, he decided to stay close to home, enrolling in business classes to placate his father while he tried to figure out what he did with his life next.

The problem was that Yeon knew dancing was never a career path that his father would approve of. His father was all about numbers and people, he paid no mind to the arts, he always spoke how much of a waste of time he believed they were. Regardless, with all his previous hobbies laid to rest, the male threw himself into his dance lessons. He didn’t feel that same pressure that he did the rest of the time when he was dancing, it was his escape and he loved the feeling he got when he was doing it. Yeon latched onto it for dear life and he supposed in a way it became his coping mechanism. Somehow with his passion now evident it became easier for Yeonseok to let his previous delusions of being a businessman go.

It was during this time that the young male also began to realize that he wasn’t like most of the other guys around him, at least not when it came to who he found attractive. Now that didn’t mean he didn’t find girls attractive because he did, especially now that he was out of his pressure induced bubble. But there was this guy, who came to the classes every so often and despite the fact that Yeonseok had barely ever said 2 words to him, every time the other male danced he found himself staring. And eventually Yeon did work up the courage to talk to and get to know the male, who’s name was Jintao.

The two of them became dance partners, both spurring off one another to become great at choreographing, they worked well together as a team. They were good for one another, brought out the best in each other, Jintao challenged Yeonseok to be better, he made the younger male truly believe that he could make something of his dreams, regardless of whether his father approved or not. And while there could have been a lot between them and Yeon wanted more than just the friendship they had forged, a kiss, spur of the moment after a particularly passionate routine, would be all he ever got.

Because after that session, elated and feeling full of confidence, Yeonseok had gone home to finally come clean to his parents about what he saw for his own future. After taking a gap year to recover from his heart problems and being constantly pressured by his father to take an internship in the company, he finally felt ready to tell the truth. And it went about as well as Yeon expected, there were raised voices and refusals from his father while his mother remained silent. In anger Yeon had lashed out, shouting many different cruel things which he didn’t mean before storming out the door.

Angry he had walked through the streets without a purpose, just walking in the hopes he could clear his head. He hadn’t seen the car swerving down the road and onto the sidewalk until it was too late and the bright flash of the headlights coming towards him was the last thing he saw before he felt his entire body shatter and he blacked out. Twenty-Year-Old 이연석 died that very moment, bleeding out on the road as the drunk driver of the black car got out of vehicle and made a run for it.

Yeonseok hadn’t been expecting to wake again. So when he did, he jolted upwards in a panic, his eyes wildly looking around until they rest on a newspaper clipping say by the side of the bed he was laying on “CEO’s super star son dies in drunk hit and run”. Yeon gasped as he looked over the paper confused before he clutched a hand to his chest. The familiar beating of his heart had stopped, there was nothing there. Panic began to set in as he looked around him, was he a ghost? Was this what the afterlife looked like?

He pushed to his feet but almost collapsed because everything felt...different. He felt lighter, like he could move so much faster than he ever could before and every part of his skin tingled. All Yeon could think about was going home and taking back everything he had said, how much he regretted his words. Without another thought he started to move, searching for whoever had brought him here and where he was. The place was empty, a deserted home that was barren and unlived in, whoever brought him here seemed to be long gone.

He headed for the exit, bursting out onto the streets in a panic. He pulled a few strangers aside to ask them questions until he eventually figured out where he was, he had no money so he ran the entire distance across the city back to his home. Yeon stood with tear filled eyes as he saw his mother and father sitting there together, his mother clutching the hoodie Yeonseok had been wearing that night as she grieved. The sob wracked through his entire body and he screamed out in pain but neither of them heard him, neither even batted an eye. Yeon felt it deep in his chest, he could never go back., the words repeated over and over in his head until it was dizzying and he felt physically sick.

And so, though it broke his heart to do so. Yeonseok walked away from the life he had known till then, with no idea of who he was now or what future he could possibly have. All he had was this feeling in his chest, that he needed to get away, that there was somewhere he was supposed to be and it wasn’t here. That feeling ended up leading him away from Korea, he managed to get hold of some of the money he’d squirreled away towards his education and used it to buy a plane ticket to America. He was worried he might be stopped at security but he remained calm as he handed over the fake ID he’d gotten for himself and he wasn’t stopped.

Just hours later and he found himself landing in Evermore City. Yeonseok didn’t know why his mind told him it had to be here but he had quickly learned that he didn’t have the luxury of disputing this new found intuition. It led him to the doorstep of a large victorian style mansion. Yeon had no idea what he was expecting but he knocked on the door anyway. It was that night that Yeonseok met Gideon Ashworth, the first of his kind. Gideon told Yeon all about what he had become, after his death Yeonseok had been brought back and now he was what the supernatural world called a Valkyr, a fallen warrior.

Yeon was scared by this new reality he faced, everything he had known til now completely destroyed and replaced with talk of shadows and sunlight and immortality. For the first few months he didn’t even leave the mansion, just tried to cope with the feelings he was going through and the reality of what his life was now. He was thankful to Gideon, who gave him somewhere to live when he had nowhere to go and who helped him to slowly but surely accept the person he had become. With time he started to train, learned what it truly meant to be a valkyr and how he could help people. It gave Yeon a sense of purpose, something to focus on aside from his own grieving over the life he once had.

Months turned to years and Yeon began to build himself a life in Evermore, it started with him working a job in the evenings to earn enough money to go to college, where he studied dance, he excelled at it, the years felt like they flew by as he studied something he loved with all his heart and by the time he graduated he was a well trained and disciplined dancer.

He began to come out of his depressive state and his personality began to shine through, he was a sweet and loyal person, the type that people would come to when they needed someone to listen. He took care of other people in the faction house, often cooking meals for those who spent long days working. He worked hard, despite the fact his parents would never know what he achieved, he wanted to make them proud, something he always strived for ever since he was young.

He found himself once more in his passion and that eventually led him to starting his own business as a dance instructor and choreographer, he lent his talents to many big agencies and several of his routines were used in music videos and even films. Yeon used an alternate name on all of his professional works, it made it easier for him to separate the person he was before he died and the person he was now. Yeonsoek grew into his own confidence once more, becoming the same charismatic person he had once been before he died.

He missed his family every day, he wished he could have said goodbye, but he knew his purpose was here in the eternal city, protecting those that needed him. He had been given a second chance at life and this one was an immortal one, he didn’t intend on wasting a second of it, time was too fleeting, his first life had shown him that.