Today was exam day.
That dreaded and yet anticipated climax after weeks of formation and studying.

It stole my sleep and left exhaustion.
It took my peace and left stress.
It took my time and left me in a constant hurry.

It showed no mercy when life took my grandmother and left me with grief.
It displayed no sympathy when covid took my grandparents by surprise and left me with concern for their wellbeing.
It took no pity on me whenever it took my laughter and left me in tears.

I took the exam today. Tomorrow I’ll start taking back everything else.
Love, February

Happy New Year Beanies!🥳 Thank you for being my source of friendship and comfort in 2020!❤️

#2020RoundUp.
Freestyle – One K-drama that ruled every prompt.
Okay, only 8 out of 20, but that is nearly half our RoundUp about one and the same K-drama!😲

Day 12 – “Oldie” (not 2020) you loved: Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People AKA (read next answer)

Day 10 – Drama @wishfultoki convinced you to watch and you can’t be grateful enough: Mori who stole the Beanies’ hearts

School 2017 anyone? Not me, I was merely lurking on Dramabeans back then and wondering what Mori meant.🤔 This summer I finally gave in to my curiosity and started this sageuk to find the answer.

Day 17 – One that made you emotional: Mori who stole the Beanies’ hearts
The timing was very unfortunate with the sudden health decline of my warrior friend. I would always avoid sageuks because I am not good with death and other tragedies. Still, I found myself pressing play episode after episode to distract myself from the near death experience and tragedy that were happening in real life at that time. My watching experience as a result, was a weird one to say the least. One moment I was numb enough to stomach all the on screen horror, the next second I was bawling because a baby started wailing in the middle of a blood bath.😭

Day 6 – Drama you know you will rewatch: Mori who stole the Beanies’ hearts
Take this with a grain of salt, because I usually do not rewatch shows. This sageuk however, deserves to be watched and appreciated with the right mindset and for that reason alone I would consider it. Then again, I already cherish this show because it was there when I lacked the right mindset, and I view it even more favorably now that my friend is healing well.😃

Day 11 – Your 2020 crush: Mori … obviously … and Gil Hyun Orabeoni (read below)!❤️
Mori wears eyeliner and a permanent snarl. Do not call him orabeoni, it gives him family feels and a lone wolf like him is too cool for that.😎

Day 15 – Secondary characters you will never forget: Mori … and Gil Hyun Orabeoni!❤️
I came for Mori, I stayed for Hong Gil Hyun. The story is actually about his dongsaeng Hong Gil Dong, but we meet both brothers during their childhood when it all began. Gil Hyun takes his duty as the eldest child seriously and is very protective of his younger brother and sister. Like a true Hong clan member he is also kindhearted, passionate and good with weapons and punches. Why him you ask? Well, he is intelligent, he loves reading, and the time skip was very generous to him.😉

Day 19 – Most memorable scene: How to expose yourself with a bang, Hong Gil Hyun style!🔥
Poor Gil Hyun takes on the identity of a scholar in order to survive after he gets isolated from the Hong clan. This new identity gets him into the villainous king’s inner circle eventually, but he feels conflicted because he cannot forget his true identity or how much his clan has suffered. His new identity turns into a formidable weapon as soon as he finds out the truth about his clan and the king. As a double agent he then helps many people sneak in and escape from the palace, and he saves the best escape for last. Rather than sneaking off with everyone else, Gil Hyun actually goes to greet his enemies for the last time and leaves them a parting gift that will make them quickly realize who he really is. Of course he has rejoined his clan already by then.😆And that Beanies, is why I call him and him alone, orabeoni.😍

Day 7 – That OST you are obsessed with: Mori who stole the Beanies’ hearts
🎵Eheeeeyaaa Ohoooyaaaa🎵 Spring in Ikhwari gives me fond memories of papa Amogae and his Hong clan, and Honey Lee mesmerized me with her singing and dancing throughout the drama. My favorite is SaeNal / New Day in both versions. The powerful vocals always spurred our characters into action and I might start playing the song whenever I need extra courage.💪

#2020RoundUp. How it all began.

Until last year our DB overlords would decide a theme every month and Beanies could send in their essays about that topic and some would get published. I would always save my strength for the end of the year review in December.

This year Beanies came up with monthly fan wall challenges to replace the (absent) monthly themes, and I took a page out of their book and suggested this December roundup on the open thread. I spoke too soon, because the end of the year review was brought back eventually, so I ended up writing and sending in my entry as I usually did.

I feel bad whenever Beanies credit or thank me for this suggestion. First of all because I recall a few instances this year when other Beanies would bring this up, way before I did. Also, I probably would not have made this suggestion if I had known back then that my job would take up all my writing time and that there would be an end of the year review after all.

However, my not so noble intentions back then got buried underneath layers and layers of Beanie quality content this month!😊@eazal and @flyingcolours picked up the gauntlet and deserve all the praise for cleaning up the mess I left them in!😆Freestyle period had already started when I finally found the time to start scrolling back, but it was an afternoon, evening and night filled with nostalgia and laughter as I read all the RoundUp posts and comments.❤️

I am not sure yet whether I can finish a freestyle entry by Thursday or not, but I certainly will be reading all the remaining posts until the roundup ends!🥰

What a beautiful cameo to end with!🥰
*ShoppingKingLouieEpisode16*

Nah, I do not like flo….oooh never mind!😍
*ShoppingKingLouieEpisode11*

I had some not-so-nice words ready, but he got this covered.👍
*ShoppingKingLouieEpisode4-5*

Relatable.
*ShoppingKingLouieEpisode3*

Enchanté, Ziggy!🤭
*ShoppingKingLouieEpisode1*