Youth: Lost
This would be the first series of Youth, which focuses on the experiences of young people. In this specific series, it would be told through the eyes of eight young people. All of which are friends in college that have their own personal struggles. They find themselves confronting some of their nightmares kept to themselves for so long. They meet the other sides of their friends which they have not met before. Eight boys facing a world so much bigger than them. The acknowledged unknown they have shared when they were in high school are manifesting. The monsters they were scared of when they were kids are now present but in forms that are much scarier. The monsters they find in their negatives, in other people, and in the society, they have to live in.
They navigate the lost. The lost they know they could strive at. Question is, is that what they want?
In Promising Scholars University, these eight boys have their own fears that need to be revealed. Each with a different nightmare to face. Although amidst the contrasting terrors, something other than change is constant. It is the friendship they all have which may be the very anchor they need. Maybe being lost is their comfort zone, not confronting the dreads. But they have to reach that destination of living with the fear. Living with fear yet knowing that they could still confront all tomorrows.
Cast and Credits:
Main Characters
Chan
"I fear that the day I choose to sleep is the day I give less of me."
Was sleep a priority if the world is waiting for one's decision? In his third year of majoring in acting, with all the personas he has to be on stage and off, rest was never a supporter. Staying fit and being on the varsity team took up the place and time rest was supposed to reside in. Being a radio DJ pushed it even further back.
Known as the insomniac among the group of friends, there may be something deeper than the "I can't sleep," excuse. Meet Chan, a twenty-two year old young man, who for so long got away with the same excuse. Sift through his pages as he confronts his nightmares and as he lets go of the older brother mask. As he learns to be okay with his fear and how the other boys help him uncover and recover.
Minho
"I've learned to drown in trying to make myself transparent. But turns out, that just added another layer to my mask. What if I don't recognize myself past all this?"
His steps invoke emotion in all who watch him. In his dance, he brings people to experience all the intensities and the littles spikes of feeling. But who knew that in his transparency, there was still something so unreachable. A hidden part to the twenty-two year old dancer.
The countless choreographies he made have not revealed the whole of him and that scares him deeply. It scares him because he swears that he tried to make himself reachable. But who knew that there was still this coldness people felt from him.
As he discovers the things he kept under wraps even to himself, he is forced to replay what-ifs. Although he will be reminded that he does not need to watch alone in dark lights. He has his friends that would watch even the scariest stories he needs to tell.
Leon
"I don't place weight on other people because I will be the reason they stumble."
For the last twenty-one years, he bore the load fine. The soreness on his shoulder didn't let him falter. But maybe carrying it for the past years and the increase to the weight made it be seen.
With all the world's concerns being studied and action was taken in his course, the young man starts to bear a bigger burden. Yet he never complains. Having to take modeling for the sake of satisfying his family. Then he even offers to help younger people in high school as he tutors them. All his computations though might just not apply when reality gets in the way.
What he doesn't want them to see and what he hid is forcefully presented. The mask so accustomed to might be taken away from him. Yet he had nothing to worry about. The people who see behind it would never take it against him. They would be the ones to show him, that they are willing to carry some of his weight as he carries theirs.
Changbin
"The words I control and the temper I maintain, what if one day I don't have a hold of them. I just don't want to hurt other people."
The boy who drew memories and art on other people's skins. He heard almost everything in the music and its lyrics and longs to hear more while he studies Music Technology. He commands his tongue to stay silent and his patience prolonged for his temper. He mastered this at a young age but even masters lose the reins.
These words that beg to go past his mind might just succeed and he begs this to never happen. For he might show the ugliest side of him that he had controlled for far too long. Although he must know that this is what his friends also want to see and hear. On the other side, he kept to himself in order to protect them.
He is worth more than the words he needs to let go.
Hyunjin
"I am more than the statue I drive but how come people could only see the sculpture of me? Not really the whole me."
Those mirrors, reflections, photographs, and memorabilia are tearing him apart. Why must they always come with words so sweet yet so easy to be taken away from him? In photoshoots and in performances, why must they have too keen of an eye and words that are unfiltered? These words he begs does not make the whole anatomy of his character. Yet what if it is the anatomy people know?
He just wants to make rooms worth comfort, home, and dreams. Yet every time he makes a room, people do not stare nor wonder at the magic of it. They say things about him and the sight of him. Isn't there anything else worth mentioning than his skin and everything sculpted into it?
They teach him to pick the words. To pick the people who see him. He isn't sure still but they would assure and teach him until he finds that solace in himself.
Jisung
"I can't breathe. I can't see past the faces I don't have sight of."
He just wishes to tell of the silent tunes of the world. That's it. He wants to find the miracles in those and make it possible to be heard every day. But what if the crowd he is making music for, be the crowd he suffocates in?
It doesn't end when you catch your breath. It ends when you find comfort in the sea of faces. But sometimes even the familiar ones get blurry. But the boys would never let him face this alone if only he would tell them. With all the uncertainties and surprises brought by fate, it might just be revealed to them in an uncanny time. This doesn't mean though that they would leave him behind.
They might even be the ones to guide him through the crowds that cause him to panic.
Felix
"If I wake up and can't speak, I don't know if I'd get through the next second after that."
There's something about words he is fascinated by. How it can just hit so close to home. This fueled him to pursue embedding a million stories in songs, and here he was in his freshman year fighting for his dream. A boy whose dream is in the making, one step in achieving that Bachelor's degree in Music Composition and Theory after four years.
But while he finds comfort in the words, nobody knows how hard he is grasping at them. How sometimes they consume him and he finds himself lost and looking for a way to speak. When sometimes none comes out and silence is where he commits to.
Although he starts to see how it is okay to stutter with the boys. They treat him normally even when the words are nonexistent. They just might teach him a thing or two about how language doesn't always demand to be outright said.
Seungmin
"I beg to remember and that's scary. Why do I need to beg to hold on to all these memories?"
In this world of injustice, more and more of the younger generation wish to battle against it. No more tolerance. For the twenty-year old freshman with many goals on his way, why is there no fear in facing the hardest criminals? No fear and no ounce of doubt in facing against those whose hands are tainted. Yet how come the future is sometimes the only thing in his mind.
The past becomes too out of reach and too hazy. But that past is everything he is banking on. So what if he starts to lose the pages of yesterday. Clinging on to every memory desperately. So he wrote them all. He captured all moments on camera.
Though every day he relives each feeling that came once upon a time because of his friends. What if he learns that it's okay not to remember everything. As long as he nurtures the feelings and promises that come with it?
Is it possible? Maybe not for most, but maybe it is more possible with a friendship with them.
Jeongin
"These hands, these words, these actions, what if they aren't me but I am more used to being this."
A heart set to inspire others and encourage younger ones to fulfill their dreams. To teach them not to get lost in the dreams of others. A nineteen-year old whose dream is to make other dreams possible. Something the world might need.
Amidst being the person everyone needs, he isn't sure anymore if this is him. What if it isn't and what if he isn't familiar with who he really is anymore? Being lost in the identities of comfort for others.
With his eyes blind and heart confused, he doesn't have to navigate all this alone. He has eight older friends who would never leave him behind. Who would also help him fulfill who really is and not just who he needs to be?
Supporting Characters
Kim Donghee as Daeho
Cousin of Jeongin
Yunho (ATEEZ) as Boseon
Dance Junior of Minho
Xiao Zhan as Mr. Jung
Music Professor
Lee Naeun as Ara
Girl Crush on Campus and Past Tutor Student of Leon
Minor Characters
Yun Asher as Second Year Dance Student Sun
Li Xian as Older Brother (of Hyunjin) Joon-Woo
Joy (Red Velvet) as Student Idol Hana
Cameos
IU as Mental Health Speaker Miss Choi
Amber Liu as Korean-American Artist
and many more!
Credits
Director:
Lee Eunae (Labyrinth Hub)
With the help of
Oh Choong Hwan
Screenwriter:
Yun Asher (Labyrinth Hub) or Ash from NCT
Produced by:
The Labyrinth Hub
Film Editor:
Video Editing Team Labyrinth Hub
With the help of
Mingyu (Seventeen)
OST mini-album: Doses of Life
Songs and Credits:
[to be unlocked in January]
A/N: Hello guys! Hope you had a great holiday and hope you have something to look forward to in 2021. With this, I hope this chapter gives a bit of excitement on the story to be released next year. I have a few questions if you don't mind.
1. What kind of chapter do you want to see more in this added member book?
2. For the story here, would you want the boys to have a romantic experience also? If yes, any ideas on who to ship them with or like an OC idea even. Or would you want them to be shipped with one another? Would you want monogamous relationships or polyamory?
3. Stray Kids song that's on repeat? Personally, everything is mine. But I guess I have created a recent soft spot with Slump.
Thank you, everyone! I want you to know that as I feel your support, I am supporting you guys also in whatever endeavors you commit to and you are fighting for. - Aid