NAME: Kim Myungsoo
GROUP: Infinite
CONTACT: gazings & #smokerim

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This could have been a typical story of a boy who has too much money.

No one would ever sympathize with the rich boy. The one who is living off old money. They would wince in disgust and say, "he's the luckiest boy in the world; what is he complaining about?" But of course, this is what the others say, and not what is actually the case. This could have been a typical story of a boy who has too much money, but he decides to do something different with it. Maybe even throw it away.

Kim Myungsoo is 22, going on 23, and he owns a small musical instrument retail shop. He is struggling to keep it up and running on his own.

He has been living off of his parents for the last two decades of his life, comfortably in the little world they have created for him. He lived in the biggest house anyone would dream of living in, surrounded by nothing but fresh air and the scent of bills, and Myungsoo was pampered as the only child, at the same time lived under great expectations. It felt as if he lived inside a mold. No matter what he did, he couldn't shake the image off of him; the image of the spoiled, rich kid, who could easily play around with his life and always have a safety net to fall back onto. He saw himself as someone like that too, as he went further down the road in high school.

All in all, he didn't like it, but he was too scared to leave his comfort zone. His comfort zone was surrounded with textbooks and fancy mechanical pencils, his grades always stellar with little to no effort. It was boring, it was tiring, but he stayed, and he didn't have much of a reason apart from the stated fact and that there was nothing else for him to do.

Until the sound of music reached his ears for the first time.

He could feel the mold cracking to the sound of the electric guitar booming from the amplifiers, whatever his parents had taught him about growing up and schooling and careers all broke down before him, the debris pooled by his feet. The beginning of something new, his newfound friendships, his first fleeting romance, his first taste of freedom, all came from a stroke of the strings on his first guitar.

Do I really love music that much? This was a question that he asked himself very often. And so still sitting in his comfort zone, he never told his parents that he started his own band, never told them that he had been secretly performing here and there with them, never told them how much the pages and pages of music he composed meant to him. Music, or "stroking a few strings on a piece of wood," in their words, was only a temporary hobby, something he did to pass time when he didn't have to study. To his parents, he had a lot of free time in his hands, because studying was something that came so easily and naturally to him, but to him, he was running out of time.

This was because he loved music from the bottom of his heart. Or did he? He continued to ask himself the same question as he graduated from high school as valedictorian, and received full scholarship to Seoul National University, majoring in Business Administration. He was still the spoiled rich kid who was even ridiculously smart, one who had his future set before his eyes. But because he loved music, he saw a different future he was walking to.

During these few reluctant years at Seoul-dae, while his parents believe that he had moved out to be more independent and is spending all of his time on his studies, he had managed to find himself a roommate at Haneul Towers, make investments in the market here and there, research and build connections for his dream business, and make more music that filled his little heart with nothing but contentment. Why an instrument retail, some may ask? The joy on his customers' faces when they purchase their first instrument ever, the trembling of their fingers as they play their first chord, reminded him of himself when he first encountered something so wonderful that changed his life for perhaps the better. It's not the best yet, but it's better.

Until today, he can't say that he has completely stepped out of the comfort zone. His parents are still paying for half of his rent, he still uses their credit card occasionally, and he is still (unfortunately) enrolled in Seoul-dae, which is taking up more of his time than he'd like. But he is getting there.

Kim Myungsoo is 22, going on 23, and he owns a small musical instrument retail shop. He is struggling to keep it up and running on his own, but he is happy. Not comfortable, but happy.

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∞ Myungsoo only ever wears black, with maybe a dash of white or grey here and there. He is just extremely stubborn about what fits him, and he strongly believes that this is the only color that suits him. Perhaps this is why he gives of a sullen vibe, one of the reasons he is nicknamed L from the character in Death Note.

∞ In his spare time, he likes to take pictures. He has recently invested in a state-of-art camera, and posts his photography onto a blog that he likes to believe many people visit. Also, he invests in the stock market, another source of income that has been quite steady for him. He believes it's his knowledge of the field that helps him.

∞ Many may be put off by his aloof appearance, but Myungsoo is subtly friendly and kind-hearted. It isn't shown on his features, but he is very warm and considerate beneath his facade. Why does a facade exist? It is simply from the way he grew up, and something to do with pride.

∞ What his sullen facade limits him from expression, music fills in the gaps. When he is playing the guitar, a lot can be said about him, who he is, what he dreams of, what he wants. He leaves everything that he doesn't say to music, and it says it all for him. Through music, he wants to touch people's hearts, like the way it touched his when he first came in contact with music.