Dae-Jung was born in a small village just outside Seoul, during Japan’s brutal occupation of Korea. At the beginning of Japan’s occupation, Dae’s family had been fairly wealthy. His father, Hyun Young-Ji, had been an agricultural science professor, and his mother, Sang Byeol, helped out at a local flower shop. However, when education was ‘reformed’ by the Japanese government, Dae’s father lost his job and was forced into heavy labor. His mother was forced to quit her job as well, although it was more out of fear for her own safety (as it wasn’t uncommon practice to steal young Korean women off the street and force them into prostitution; it was much safer to stay at home with the kids). By the time Dae-Jung was born, his family was struggling in poverty.
Dae-Jung was the youngest of two brothers, and all throughout their adolescence and teenage years the three of them were extremely close. They were quite the team, and were known in their village as troublemakers. They each had a specific skill that benefited the group: Minsoo, the oldest, was the most charming. He had a silver tongue that could talk the three of them out of whatever situation they found themselves in. Taemin may have been the second oldest, but he was the biggest and strongest out of the three. He was their muscle. And Dae-Jung was the clever, mischievous one. He came up with the best pranks for three of them to pull. For the duration of their childhood years, they were inseparable. They planned on going to secondary schooling together, live together, work together. But then World War II broke out.
Minsoo, being the oldest, was almost immediately drafted into the Japanese military. A few months later, Taemin joined him. It ripped the family apart. Dae-Jung and his parents were able to receive letters from the two of them, but the worry was still immense. Dae-Jung had always been an anxious child, but when his brothers’ were taken away and drafted into the military, it nearly drove him over the edge. Had he been born twenty, thirty years later than he was, he might’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and OCD. As it was, the three of them - Dae and his parents - dealt with it. That is, until Dae-Jung himself was drafted.
Considering Dae’s slim body type, he wouldn’t have ordinarily been drafted. The Japanese military, however, was taking anyone and everyone they could, including those who medically should not have been in the army. Dae hoped that he’d be put in the same regiment, or similar, as his brothers. They were both in the army. Unfortunately, he was not, and was assigned a regiment in the navy along with about 5,000 other young Korean students.
There was a lot of dissatisfaction among the Korean students. Even though most of them were too young to have actually lived through it, there was a feeling that the Japanese had invaded and stolen their country, their culture, what was rightfully theirs, and they wanted to take it back. Not to mention, that the Koreans in the military were treated terribly by the Japanese soldiers of the same rank. They would get hit, or have rights taken away for ridiculous reasons. Dae-Jung was often pretty safe, as he was meticulous with cleaning the guns and making his bed. His bunkmate, Shiwoo, wasn’t so skilled. There was one particular time that Shiwoo hadn’t made his bed perfectly; one of the corners was incorrectly folded. A higher ranking officer noticed, scolded him, then hit him. Shiwoo made the mistake of making a sarcastic comment back. Before Shiwoo could be hit again, Dae-Jung stood up for him and took the beating. After that, they were best friends. Together they joined with the other students in the Party of Three Thousand, a rebellious group that was forming to revolt against Japanese military from within.
Occasionally Shiwoo and Dae-Jung would visit the local village to hang out on their time off - sometimes even sneaking out in the middle of the night when they were not supposed to. Which was where Dae-Jung met his future sire, Jinsol. They slowly became friends, then something more, continuously meeting up over Dae-Jung's time in the navy.
When Dae-Jung found out that Jinsol was a vampire, it wasn't by accident. They were alone together, perched on the roof of some building, drunk off kisses and each other's company. They had been quiet for a while, staring up at the stars, when Jinsol just - said it. Dae-Jung didn't believe him at first, telling him to prove it, so Jinsol showed him his fangs. When Jinsol did, Dae-Jung poked them in fascination, accidentally stabbing his finger. He wasn't scared; by that time he had truly fallen in love with Jinsol. Jinsol had thought Dae-Jung might run from him, or might not want to see him after that. But they still continued to meet almost every night.
The Party of Three Thousand had a plan to poison the Japanese soldiers, and revolt. Except, exactly one week before the date they planned to do it, the government found out and they were captured. Dae-Jung tried to make a run for it, but didn't get that far - he later found out, however, that those few who had gotten away, their families were tortured by the Japanese government in their place. As it was, Dae-Jung was the only one in his family to be tortured, and for that he was glad. He was beaten, and when he tried to hit back, he was cuffed to a chair and beaten further; all the while, the interrogator asked him questions he didn't really have answers for. When that was finished, Dae-Jung was thrown into jail where he and the other prisoners were barely given food and water. Dae-Jung was convinced that he was going to die.
Just as he was nearly on his death bed, he was so weak, Jinsol came for him. Disguised as a Japanese soldier, he came in the middle of the night to help Dae-Jung escape. They ran all night, before reaching a cave where they took shelter for the day as Jinsol 'died' and Dae-Jung slept. It soon became clear however, that Dae-Jung wasn't going to last much longer. If they went into a town, they risked being found. Jinsol could've scavenged food for him, hunted an animal or something, but Dae-Jung had also grown terribly sick in his time at the prison, his wounds having grown infected. Their best option was to turn him; which was exactly what Jinsol did, without asking Dae-Jung's permission first. He would've given it, even while delirious from infection and fever, if Jinsol had asked, but he didn't; which would lead to a recurring argument between them.
After Jinsol turned Dae-Jung they came back to the local kiss to figure everything out. They worked with some insiders in the prison to make it seem like Dae-Jung had died (technically, he had) which also protected Dae-Jung's family from being targeted by the Japanese government. Obviously the only down side was that Dae-Jung's family thought him dead; a small price to pay though, for their safety. Jinsol and Dae-Jung stayed with this kiss for about five years, before changing alliance and blood-oathing to the kiss in Seoul. There they stayed for most of Dae-Jung's time as a vampire, even as Jinsol came into his powers as a Master vampire.
During this time, they also took part in the Korean war. The Seoul Kiss was a lot more lenient about getting involved in human affairs. Even so, the Korean war, shortly after starting, became much more than just a human affair anyways. There were a lot of battles that went on 'underground' between kisses, packs, pards, etc etc. It became so that it didn't matter the species; it was North Koreans against South Koreans. This was when Dae-Jung became very acquainted with other species, learning to care about them just as he cared about vampires and humans.
Around 1998, Dae-Jung started building up his own business - it turned out he had quite the skill for it. He started a plant nursery, growing and supplying both common and rare plants for all types of buyers. By 2007, he had opened up several more stores across South Korea, and was thinking about setting up shop in other countries as well, as he was certainly supplying plants in China, England, and the Americas. He traveled a lot with Jinsol and other friends, finding that he very much loved London and New York City, although it was always on his to-do list to actually learn English. By 2011, he had plans to set up storefronts in NYC and Los Angeles, and a dream to actually live in New York for a while.
Dae-Jung and Jinsol were very much in love, but seventy years is a long time, and they had quite a few falling outs. They had a lot in common, but also a lot of differences. Their relationship was very off and on, with their longest gap being twenty-two years - between 1994 and 2016. Towards the end of this gap, they were just starting to become friends again, maybe something more. Just as they were about to get to that 'more' bit however, Jinsol disappeared. Like, legit disappeared. Dae-Jung couldn't find him, or contact him. Jinsol did it occasionally before, usually on purpose, (one of the reasons for their many falling outs), and Dae-Jung was not impressed. He waited around for a few years to see if Jinsol would come back to him, before going forward with his plans to move to New York (including working on fully learning English, since he definitely wouldn't be able to rely on Jinsol to translate).
By May of 2019, he had his business, Pure Plant Nurssiry - misspelled because of a pun, the romanized spelling of 'ssi' being the Korean word for seed - up and running, moved into an apartment and joined the NYC Kiss. Even after leaving Korea, and moving to New York, there was still no word from Jinsol, which Dae-Jung is totally not bothered by. Like at all. If he occasionally drinks too heavily from the neck of a pretty human, and then cuddles up and sobs into their hair for an hour or two, it's definitely not because of Jinsol.
Yeah... it's completely unrelated. He's fine.