ooh, i guess first off i wanted to give the fic a 'hyper-realistic' feel, like a future of how things could legitimately play out in our timeline and our society, and then try and convince the reader to fully buy-in to the minjeong relationship within that environment. so, the boys get wives and girlfriends this time around - sorry!!

in regards to creating the OCs, i felt it was maybe risky to make the villain an abusive woman? so, it was really important to me to counter-act that with a cast of extremely strong, well-developed non-male characters. then, it was thinking about what kinds of personalities the guys might be drawn to (and throwing in some subconscious jeongin love, like somin having fox-shaped eyes, and kyungheon being born in the same year as jeongin)! this part was really fun 🤭🤭 especially since i had to make them interesting and sympathetic to the reader in a really short amount of time.

other minor characters like the waitress in the fake french cafe, the pawn shop auntie, the romanian couple, dawon and her mum... they're there to show that people come in and out of our lives in different and sometimes fleeting ways. however, within the story, jeongin touches each of them positively with his light and generosity. despite the chaos of his life, his sometimes manic survival instincts, he made the time to stop and be kind and caring to each one of these people - not for some idol image reasons, because that's just the kind of person he is.