Reader's Guide: My K-Pop Fanfict Recommendation (part 1)

Hello reader fella!

This time I'm going to talk about one of my biggest interest in life since 3 years ago. yep, it's K-Pop. You know, those pretty boys and girls that sing and dance and act in a tear-jerking dramas and also do foolish things on a variety show. Yep. 

But, this post isn't about how the trend and culture of K-Pop itself. It's about one of the most essential part of being a fan of K-Pop idols (or any kind of idols actually). It's about fanfiction. 

Well, the thing about me is... I'm a hardcore reader. Like, ever since I was a kid I love reading everything I could get in sight. A brochure, my father's newspaper, my mother's old collection of Enid Blyton's series, even the boring stories about perang kemerdekaan on my history textbook. Growing up, I started to read various novels with various genres. I remember to have finished reading one of Dan Brown's novel (I forgot which one, was it Da Vinci Code? Was it The Lost Symbol?) only in one day. I was like 11 at that time, lol talking about nerdies.

And with that, when I joined this cult of K-Popus Fangirlismus, the fanfictions has become my biggest interest. I spend a lot (A LOT) of times browsing the net to look for the best fanfic every fandoms can offer, and God do they have amazing authors with amazing works. I even dare to say that those authors are even better than some of a cliche teenlit novels author whose book you could easily find on some popular bookstores.

And this is it. I've summarized a few of those fanfictions that are read worthy and not the usual 'oppa unnie saranghaeyo. omona waeyo? Arasseo' fanfictions (bleh, I cringed so hard writing those words). So... enjoy!

(Disclaimer: This isn't in a particular order, okay. I'll just write whatever title that comes into my mind first. And this will not be based on any particular fandoms too. Might contain BoyxBoy act)

1. Prayer For The Impossible by chasingbreaths

Genre: angst, romance

Cast: Bang Yongguk and Kim Himchan (B.A.P)

Angst is my favorite genre and this fanfic will always be on the top of my list. Quick summary: Himchan is a broken and sick artist while Yongguk is the one who destined to take his life. They fell in love. And you know the rest.

So fucking heart-wrenching, is what I could say. I read this fic on one summer night, it was almost 2 AM and I sobbed hard on the last few chapters. Like, seriously. Aside from the fact that its pairing was my two ultimate bias (Yasss BangHim shipper here yow!), the plot and storyline is just... too much to handle without tears. Just a glimpse of the story:

Unfortunately though, it seems like the author has deleted the entire story so I can't give you the link to the full story :( Author-nim, I'm still hoping that you would repost this...

2. Der Marchenclub by pinboo
Genre: thriller, suspense, angst
Cast: Super Junior and SNSD (Main)

It'd be a sin if I don't put this great masterpiece on this list. This is what I call: MINDBLOWING. I read this when I first entered the cult of K-Popus Fangirlismus, thus I didn't really have any particular fandom yet. I just browse mindlessly through asianfanfics and apparentlyl I had stumbled upon this masterpiece.

What can I say? The author has succesfully twist those fairytale we used  to know as a kid to some sick, maddening, emotionally-draining thriller plot. Death and blood would be everywhere, those characters you thought is an angels might be the actual lucifers, and those you think you could trust... might be plotting your death by now (MUAHAHAHA).

I don't even like Super Junior nor SNSD, let alone ship them but... this fic is definiteley a most read.

3. Flavors by Scheherazade

Genre: Slice of life

Cast: Jang Hyunseung (BEAST), OC

Sweet would be the only word fit to describe this fic. The words are enchantingly beautiful and as the title was saying, this fanfic would bring you to a journey of a thousand explosions of flavor. From the flavor of Peppermint Dewdrop, Anise Sunflower, Kaffir Velveteen, to the flavor of Numb.

You know, I kinda have a trust issue of fanfic that involves Bias x OC pairing because

it basically filled with cliche trash and shits. But this one completely changes my bad impression about the OC fanfictions. I love the way the author write the OC. Like, she was fragile, but not. She seems like insane, but not. She looks like she's in love with him, but not. She's simple but also at the same time has the most complex character in the story.

4. THIN AIR by asweetdepravity

Genre: angst, romance, a bit of fluff, and more angst

Cast: Choi Seunghyun (T.O.P) and Kwon Jiyong (G-Dragon)

I don't ship GTOP. I don't ship GTOP. I don't ship GTOP

But I think I might just change my mind after reading this fic.

Or maybe I just got a thing for broken people.

Quick summary: amnesia, terminal illness, broken Jiyong, equally messed-up Seunghyun.

Did I summed everything up?

5. Chopin's Embrace by elisaexplosive
Genre: angst, slice of life, mystery, thriller
Cast: Random idols

Beautifully thrilling. Ooh, I got goosebumps from reading this in the middle of the night. This story is a collection of connected one shots. But what is the connection? Well... Suicide. On the first chapter you got this bullied lesbian, played by Amber, who's in love with her bully. On The second chapter you'll get Zelo as the anxious teenager who's stalked by a mysterious middle-aged man (creeeeepy), the next you'll find the lonely Bom and many more. But well, as stated above, this is a thriller fanfic so don't expect that the characters will live happily ever after.

Maybe they will. I don't know. They're all died from suicide, right? Who knows.

6. SCANDAL by kpoponly
Genre: angst, angst, AAAAAANGST, a bit fluff
Cast: G-Dragon & Taeyeon (Main), Kiko Mizuhara, Leeteuk, Suju, SNSD, YGFam, Nuthang (Minor)

Never thought I'd put this fic on the list, though. I don't even know there are people who ships this two. Like... Can you imagine? G-Dragon and Taeyeon? Exactly. But that is exactly what triggers my curiousity towards this fic. To be very honest, I was kinda skeptical at first. You know, just like the OC fanifc, I also have trust issue about this crackpair fanfic. But, well, I thought there's no harm in reading a few chapters right?

And damn, I was wrong. Past the third chapter, I was already sold. I love how the writer describes G-Dragon's character as if it is the real him. The real Kwon Jiyong with all his cockiness, fluff, hopeles-romanticism, and shits (I don't know how's the real Kwon Jiyong is, but that's just the vibe I got from him so yeah. Subjective). And don't forget the fragile-and-sometimes-annoying-but-adorable Taeyeon. This is what I call imperfectly perfect. And oh, how can I left out Kiko, my dear Kiko Mizuhara? Wild and broken Kiko... God, I love how the author potrayed her. The plot, maaaann the plot is so thick with drama with just enough amount of fluff to balance the angst.

This fic is an absolute emotional roller coaster. Put on your seatbelt, and just enjoy.

1.

 2.

3.

(Lol, I even put three screencaps. That shows you how much I love this fic. I'm so biased /facepalm)

7. Grey by jongbuttbutt

Genre: Angst (maybe?), implicit smut
Cast: Bang Yongguk (B.A.P) and Kim Himchan (B.A.P)

This fic, has successfully illustrated its title. It is grey. The relationship between the character is grey. The character itself is grey. What is Himchan? Is he human? Is he angel? But angel didn't come to this part of town...

(And even the smut scene is 'grey' lol)

Overall I like the vague-ness of this one shot. It's like you're trying to read through a thick fog, if that's even possible. I like how the author wrote down every words, thumbs up for that.

Yeah, so I guess that's all for now. I'll update when I find another read-worthy fanfics. I hope you enjoy this recommendation, and don't be shy to drop any of your recommendation here if you happen to have one. See you another time!

xoxo

F.

[BOOK REVIEW] All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Another book review, yaaaaayyy!

Now this is my new baby that has just been added to my preshus collection of babies (re: books! Don’t panic, I don’t collect literal babies) very recently. And this baby is quite fat, it weighed 530 pages to be exact but that’s not really a problem for me though because I’m a fast reader, kinda.

So, first the thing that captured my attention was the little badge on the cover that says: “Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction 2015”. And I thought, wow this must be some awesome sh---udgecake. And for that, I was sold.

Long story short, this book is about a blind girl and an orphan and a magical-slash-cursed diamond called Sea of Flames. It was set during the world war 2 in the city of Paris, Saint Malo, and Zollverein, Essen. The blind girl, whose name was Marie-Laure, has a father who worked at the National Museum of Paris as a locksmith. During the attack of Nazi, Marie-Laure and her father ran away from Paris to her great-uncle house in Saint Malo. Without the knowledge of Marie, her father has smuggled (or rather, been told to smuggle) the extremely rare yet beautiful but cursed diamond called the Sea of Flames. It is said that whoever carry the Sea of Flames with them will live forever, but the people around them will stumble upon a very very bad luck. (Marie Laure did stumble upon a strings of bad lucks because in the story she’s the one who practically carried the diamond, though)

On the other hand, the orphan whose name was Werner Pfennig is a genius with radio. Live in a place called Zollverein , he was destined to work as a coal miner for the rest of his life. That is until he and his sister, Jutta, found a broken radio that fills his life with possibility and brings him to the notice of Hitler Youth.

The rest is how the two found each other in the most peculiar, twisted, beautiful, surprising way. You’ve got to read them yourself, seriously!

Doerr is awesome (with capital A) at storytelling. He was very, very, very, very descriptive, detailed and… I don’t know, visual? The way he describes the city of Saint Malo, the miniature that Marie-Laure’s father build for her, how the siege happen on Saint Malo, how he describes the Sea of Flames seems very visual to me. I can almost smell the scent of sea every time Marie Laure goes to the beach near  her great-uncle’s—Etienne, the name’s Etienne—mansion. The furnished model of the city of Paris and Saint Malo, and the beautiful yet cursed Sea of Flames.  Every word sways me and has successfully brought me out of my quiet bedroom to the world of Marie Laure and Werner Pfennig.

The plot is also awesome. It was rather confuseing at first because, Doerr wrote it back and forth from Marie Laure’s perspective, to Werner’s perspective,  from the year of 1944, then goes back to 1934, then leaped to the year of 1954, and going back again to 1944, and so on until in the end it finally reached the year of 2014. He was basically trying to give us hints about how will Marie Laure and Werner meet through those leaping of time settings. And when they finally met, you will not be spoiled with a usual dramatic sappy meetings of a boy and girl in a romance novel. They meet in an unusual circumstances, unusual time, unusual place (kinda), and unusual situations. Even though the meeting was short (underlined the word SHORT), but it was… memorable. At least for me. And Marie Laure. And Werner. Doerr wrote it very swiftly and just the right amount of a supposed-to-be romance.

The ending… well, this is a big spoiler ahead. Werner died. Marie Laure got back to Paris with Etienne, and grow old peacefully.

And the diamond, you ask? Well… it was back to where it belong. To the earth. Waiting for another (lucky? Unlucky?) person to find it again and meet their fate. 

***

Title: All The Light We Cannot See

Author: Anthony Doerr

Publisher: Fourth Estate, London

Page Count: 530 pages

Score

Storyline: 4.5/5

Diction: 5/5

Cover: 4/5

Overall: 4.5/5

#4 Let's Not Fall in Love

“Let’s not fall in love,” he said.

His eyes, two irises as black as a coal, looking out to the distance. He seems so far away even though the space between us was only an arm reach, even less. It’s as if his soul is nestling somewhere else, as if he was somewhere else (so far away, I can’t even reach), as if… he wants to be anywhere else but here.

Wasn’t he always?

“We don’t know each other very well yet,” His voice was raspy. Like the sound you make when you step on a stack of dry leaves during autumn.

We don’t know each other very well, yet. Sure, I thought. I only know about how much sugar you like on your coffee (3 spoons, or was it 4?), how much you love reading your old comic books on weekend, how you always woke up at 5 and then continue to sleep until 6.30 before officially starting your day, how much you hated to shave, and how you would hug me so tightly (so long) when you’re sad.

“Actually I…” he took a long draw of oxygen into his lungs before continuing his words. “…was scared”

Aren’t we all?

He turns his head towards me. Even now, when he’s looking straight into my eyes, (or maybe he was just trying to) his eyes were always seemed so distant. It’s as if he’s not looking at me but something far beyond me.

It seems like you’re here, but not. Why?

“Let’s not make promises. We never know what tomorrow may bring,” he said. “Please, don’t ask anything to me. I can’t… ever give you an answer“

But, darling, you are the answer to all my unasked questions.

“We’re as happy as we are right now”

Unconsciously, my lips curved into a small smile. Are we?

He turns his head away, again. He’s ready to soar through the horizon, again. Ready to drift away from me, even further than he was before. Ready to not fall in love.

Then came a whisper from the gap between his lips. A whisper so soft, it almost feels like a morning breeze.

“Let’s not fall in love”

The wind flows, caressing my cheek ever so gently. I closed my eyes and imagine the place he was always looking for in the distance. I imagine myself there. I imagine us.

Then came another whisper. This time, it was from mine.

“Let’s”

THE END

Now Listening: Bigbang - Let's Not Fall in Love

#3 Reunion

There we are again. Sitting face to face surrounded by the crowd of cheers. Looking close but also at the same time, distant. You flashed me a little smile. That smile. I want to refrain myself from smiling back but my body doesn’t seem to have the same idea. So without me even have the time to think, I smiled back.

Laughter was heard. Stories were exchanged. Nostalgia.

Our old friend cracked a joke; a funny one that made everyone in the table laughs their hearts out. I haven’t heard their laugh for quite a while. Their laughs, for some reason throws me to the long deep tunnel of time when life was as simple as ABCs. When nothing is more complicated than the algebra formulas our teacher used to teach us in the class. When we thought, we could handle everything in our hands as long as we’re standing side by side. Nothing will keep us apart.

Turns out life are not that simple, right? Things are more complicated than any math formulas we used to learn together back at school. We can’t handle everything in our hands, because the world is far bigger and more complicated that we thought. Even when we’re standing side by side, there’s still some invisible distance keeping us apart.

I caught your eyes glancing at my direction for a split second before that was broken when you turn your head because one of our friends called your name. It’s okay though, that split second is enough for both of us to finally realize something that has been buried deep beneath this thick layer of ego. That invisible barrier.

You never change, you said when the night ends.

So do you.

Four years and not the slightest change of you, and then you laugh.

Four years…

Four years worth of time for me to finally realize, I’m not over you.

Me too…

And then a hug. An awkward friend-to-friend hug. Arm slung awkwardly around the shoulder. Nose buried weirdly on the nape of the necks. Fingers ran hesitantly through the strands of hair. Heart raced rapidly against the cage of ribs. Unspoken words held by the tip of our tongues.

On that very moment we finally realized; something deep down in our hearts never change. Not even a slightest bit. It’s just us who refuse to acknowledge it.

THE END

#2 Coffee Shop

I came again today. It was always the same. Cool autumn breeze blew out the leaves, made some of them flew away from their stem. Sometimes it stuck in our hair; you hate that but somehow always laugh after picking that leaves out of your hair and mine. Some days you will just let the leaves stuck in your hair until the same breeze blew that out itself.

The same aroma and warm feeling greeted me as I entered the building. Caramel, wasn't it? The same scent you always had on your body, I remember that. The little bell chimes when I pushed the old wooden door. You love that chimes, you said the sound of it was comforting. Reminds you of your childhood house. The creaking sound of the wooden floor when I walked to our favorite corner didn't change. It's still there, left me smiling to myself every time I stepped on that.

The corner we usually sat never changes either; leather sofa with mahogany table in front of it. The view of sakura trees blossoming all pink in the spring also stay the same. Sadly, today it has turned into some kind of lifeless tree without any single leaves left on its bony stem. I remember how you used to frown when we watched that leaf-less tree from this seat. You said the tree looked anorexic and unhealthy, you hated that.

Slow and gloomy jazz music was played. Ah, the old man must be in a dark mood today. Maybe because of the decreasing visitors, since this old quiet coffee shop has nothing to offer compared to those with free Wi-Fi and more modern ambience. But we always love the comforting silence it offers right? Especially you.

I ordered Americano again. Not a surprise of course. You once said I need to try any other menus, change of scenery so that I won't get easily bored. Funny thing, because that was said by a person who always ordered cafe late with lots of creamer and less sugar. And never gets bored with that.

The old man brought me my order himself, smiled his ever so warm smile and greeted me politely. Like he always did every time we visited this coffee shop. I still remember that you would always greeted him back and asked him how he was, and then he would answer ‘Fantastic like always’ before waltzing back to his usual place behind the counter. Today however, it's his turn to ask how you were.

Well what can I say? Sometimes I wanted to ask myself the exact same thing. How are you there? It must be fun since I clearly remember your bright smile when we said our goodbyes that night. Do you still hate pickles? I know you would throw that little cucumber away every time we have burgers for lunch. Then we'd argue about how delicious pickles for me and how disgusting it was for you, like we would argue about the greasy pasta we made. Well, good news for you, I can finally eat that pasta now.

You know, there are times when I wanted to just step on my pedal and drives past this old wooden building, but I can't. There are other times when I just want to look for another coffee shop to visit instead of keep visiting this one for years, but I still can't. My friends said I got to move on and try to find a new you, but I just can't. They said maybe it's not ‘I can’t’ maybe it's ‘I don't want to’.

They are true.

***

“Let her go,” my friend said, tapping my back lightly.

A little smile formed on my face as I knelt and place a bucket of chrysanthemum in front of the tombstone of your grave. “I already did...”

***

Now Listening: Coffee Shop - BAP

#1 12:30

“Right now, we’re like the clock hands at 12:30. Our backs turned against each other, looking at different places, about to throw everything away”

10:30 PM

Mendung.

Muramnya cahaya bulan yang bersembunyi dibalik tebalnya awan seolah sedang mati-matian bersaing dengan kerlip lampu jalan yang menjadi penerangan utama jalanan malam itu. Deru mesin Mustang dan suara musik berdentum dari radio yang dibiarkan menyala (meski tidak benar-benar didengarkan oleh pengemudinya), menemani seorang lelaki dalam balutan jaket kulit dan kaus lusuh dibalik kemudi, menyusuri jalanan lebar beraspal tanpa tujuan yang pasti.

Ia menyukainya. Pergi jauh; hanya ia dan Mustang merahnya, menyusuri jalan-jalan tol yang sepi di malam hari, menyalakan radio keras-keras, dan mengemudi sesuka hatinya. Baginya, pergi bagaikan anti-depresan. Memacu kecepatan kendaraan tersebut hingga hampir melampaui batasnya, dengan hanya ditemani kerlip redup rembulan dan lampu jalanan serta gemerisik suara radio selalu berhasil menenangkan risaunya.

Tapi kali ini lain, semakin cepat ia memacu mobil klasik tersebut, semakin kencang musik yang ia putar, seberapa jauh pun ia pergi, rasa itu tidak mau hilang. Rasa yang datang ketika seseorang yang pada suatu masa pernah menjadi poros hidupnya pergi; hampa.

11:30 PM

Gerimis.

Rintik hujan satu per satu turun dan pecah saat bertubrukan dengan kaca dan badan besi mobil merah itu. Dentumannya yang lembut beradu dengan suara musik yang memenuhi ruangan mobil menciptakan kombinasi melodi yang membangkitkan memori sang lelaki akan sosok yang pernah mengisi tempat yang kini kosong dalam dirinya. Senyumnya yang secerah mentari pagi, suaranya yang setenang riak danau, helai rambutnya yang sehitam arang namun sehalus sutra, kerling matanya…

Pedal gas diinjak, sementara kemudi dicengkramnya erat. Mesin Mustang itu meraung, seolah merepresentasikan perasaan yang datang menghantam pengemudinya. Jarum penunjuk speedometer bergerak naik dengan cepat dan mobil itu pun melesat pergi. Pergi, seperti yang selalu ia lakukan.

12:30 AM

Hujan.

Bukankah lucu jika benda-benda di sekeliling kita ternyata bisa menceritakan mengenai kisah kita lebih banyak daripada yang bisa diceritakan oleh mulut kita sendiri?

12:30. Jarum pendek yang menunjuk tempat kosong diantara angka 12 dan 1, sementara pasangannya, sang jarum panjang memalingkan tubuhnya dan menunjuk kearah yang benar-benar berlawanan. Seolah mereka sedang memunggungi satu sama lain. Berpaling dari satu sama lain. Bergerak kearah yang berlawanan.

Tanpa disadari, Mustang merah itu telah menghentikan lajunya. Jarum jam terus bergerak dan malam pun merangkak larut, tapi bagi lelaki itu semuanya sudah berhenti. Berhenti di 12:30. Semuanya telah berhenti saat mereka memutuskan untuk berpaling dan bergerak kearah yang berlawanan, layaknya jarum jam pada pukul 12:30.

“Right now, we’re like the clock hands at 12:30.We’re walking to a place we can never return from”

***

Inspired from one deep dark night accompanied by Taeyang's 1AM, B2ST's 12:30 and Drive

[Book Review] Mystery of Yellow Room (Translated version) by Gaston Leroux

Now, first I wanna say sorry to this book because I’ve just recently finished reading it despite already bought it since last year. There’s several reasons to that, though, and one of them are included on the reasons (reason-ception) on why I should make a review about this book.

Okay, so as I said before I bought this book on the late of 2014 when I went on a driven-by-boredom-and-broken-heart weekend shopping. I was curious since the cover is so bright it almost outshined the neon lamp of the book store, and since it was sitting on the front row of the New Release rack so I just had the urge to give this little book my attention. First glance of the cover I thought it looked cool, with a classic and minimalist design of old France (I don’t know the name, mind you) decoration and an illustration of a small window. And of course don’t forget the yellow color that suits perfectly with the title. Overall, the exterior of the book seems nice at the moment.

That leads me to the next step, which is reading the synopsis. To my surprise, it was even better. To sum up the story, it was about a young journalist named Roulletible who was shockingly uncover the murder attempt case of Mademoiselle Stagerson in the Yellow Room—a very isolated place where no one could come in or out without being noticed. These were the words that got me hooked: “…Bagaimana kejahatan dapat terjadi di tempat yang tidak bisa dimasuki oleh orang lain? Bagaimana pelaku bisa keluar dari ruang tertutup? Apa motif dibalik tindakan pelaku? Siapa pelakunya? Bagaimana pula Roulletible membogkar kasus tersebut dengan begitu mencengangkan?” Sounds promising, right? And with that, I ended up buying the book.

But what disappoint me is that when I read the first line of the first chapter… oh boy, it was really REALLY poorly translated. It was so far from my expectation of a cleanly written (translated) book of detective tales. The words are overlapping with each other and so it makes the sentence much longer than it could have been. And of course that also result in an ineffective series of sentence that makes even one paragraph is so burdensome to read. It was like the translator just simply translated the original book paragraph by paragraph through google translate and pasted it just as it is. It reminds me of one of my college assignments in which we had to make a resume of a book written in a really advanced English (you know that kind of English where the author seem to use so much of thesaurus, yeah that kind), and we just, like, put sentence by sentence to google translate and pasted the translated version to our assignments. And because of that, during the first-read of this book I can only finish the first 3 chapters as it was so uncomfortable to read.

And so, the year goes on and I eventually forget about this book which was sitting on the back of my bookshelf. Only recently I finally gathered the motivation to finish what I’ve started… and I read it all over again. Turns out, the storyline is not that bad, as expected. It was full of thrill and suspense here and there, especially on a few last chapters when Roulletible has ‘seen’ the murder. Even though, I have to read some part for, like, 2 or 3 times before I get what it meant—because of the rough and hard-to-understand translation of course—but when I got to the ending… that was the moment when I could finally say: “Damn, why didn’t I finish this book earlier”. But really, for me the ending is the greatest thing in this book. It was surprising, genius, and entertainingly twisted. I like how Leroux had idea of making that one essential character as the culprit (I won’t give any spoiler, you have to guess. Tee-hee~).

Overall, I think this book is nice if I had just read it in its original version. I mean, the English version since the original version is written in French and I don’t understand any single French. But for this to be translated to Bahasa? I would only give 2 out of 5 stars.

***

Title: Mystery of Yellow Room
Writer: Gaston Leroux
Publisher: Visi Media
Page Count: 320 pages

Score
Storyline: 4/5
Diction: 2/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall: 3.5/5