K-POP, FAST PACED UNDERGROUND PUNK BANDS, NYMPTH BAD GIRLS, HEROIN, POPSTAR SUPER STARDOM & THE MUSE
THE MUSE// MANHWA TRASH
A NEW MANHWA IDEA PITCH USING PICTURES
OF CURRENT MANGA/ANIME/MANHWA CHARACTERS BECAUSE I DON’T DRAW
SO I CAN’T WHIP UP ANIMATION FOR YOU
UNFORTUNATELY (..but AI does)
By 첫별 VENUS
(Latest Stray Cat and Wolf Recap, at the end of Part 1 of The Muse, read by Verity. SO AMAZING O M G)
I can see this spanning over 100 chapters of manhwa. Pretty easy but I think doing one page will be super hard so let’s just say it’s only the narrative so far. It’s very cliche and cheesy in so many ways, it’s 100% Manhwa in this way. You can’t have a story line this cheesy and it be anything else. It’s basically like that show Passions, if it’s not a comic or animation though, which is not what I am aiming for. You can get away with more when it’s animation and I LOVE THAT.
I don’t really think the Shoujo style animation will suit this story. I thought that’s what I’d write, because it is my favourite style to watch and read and the story does have cliche elements of a Shoujo manga. However, it has turned into more of a traditional Korean Manhwa, which I also love so I’m happy about that and being half Korean, makes sense. Manhwa, is solely Korean animation and it’s more ADULT than some of the Japanese Manga. In reference to the ages people are, the themes and holding hands isn’t the ultimate in intimate contact for Korean Manhwa, they just straight up do the thing in pretty BDSM style ways. LOTS OF KINK.
Animation wise, thinking Operation: True Love and Belle animation style, mixed with some inspiration from more gothic violent manga/anime for the underground punk volumes and also for the heroin addiction dark days volumes. A mix of the styles; just ideas.
I would even say graphic novel wise, Batman/Dark Knight would be a good reference for the animation for the darker chapters. I think it’s a dark story. I can’t tell actually, in my head it isn’t, but I think it became more tragic than I meant it too. But when I’am in flow I just go with it. So this is, The Muse: Manhwa Narrative IDEA (A summary but it’s fucking long for a summary so I’ve broken it up into parts. This is just part 1).
SCIENCE FICTION MUSE
UNDERGROUND PUNK SCENE CHAOS INSPIRATION LONDON PUNK SCENE
THE MUSE//Part 1
By 첫별 VENUS
The spotlights dance across the stage as accepts their Album of the Year award. Center stage stands Ara Hana, her presence magnetic even among her glamorous groupmates. The crystal trophy catches the light as she steps up to the microphone, her voice carrying the perfect mix of grace and genuine emotion that's made her a global phenomenon.
"We want to thank our incredible fans, our management team, and everyone who believed in PRISM's vision," she says, her fellow members nodding in agreement behind her. The cameras flash repeatedly, capturing what will become tomorrow's headlines: *PRISM DOMINATES AWARDS SEASON.*
But it's what happens after the ceremony that will truly change everything.
Backstage, the atmosphere buzzes with post-show excitement. Staff members rush about with clipboards while celebrities mill around trading congratulations. Ara finds herself in a familiar bubble of admiration and careful distance, trapped in yet another mundane conversation with "the beautiful people" until salvation arrives in the form of Tae Doh, her producer and old friend.
"Sorry, Ara Hana is a busy girl—gotta go!" Tae Doh smoothly interrupts, pulling her away. Ara offers an apologetic smile to the group, but inside, she's grateful for the rescue.
Once they're clear of the crowd, Tae Doh grins. "Wanna ditch this boredom and go see the hottest new underground punk band? They're playing downtown. Produced by yours truly, of course."
Ara's eyes light up. ", leave me here..." She pauses for dramatic effect. "Just kidding—yes! Let's go!”
As they navigate through crowds of enthusiastic fans, Ara glances at her friend. "Do we need security?"
"Oh no," Tae Doh replies with a knowing smile. "Where we're going, no one will care who you are—" He catches himself, looking embarrassed.
Ara laughs. "That's actually a relief!"
The drive takes them into a grittier part of the city. Street life grows more raw with each block: working girls on corners, suspicious deals in shadows, patrol cars cruising slowly past.
They pull up to a building that looks like it's one strong wind away from collapse, but Ara follows Tae Doh inside with surprising confidence.
After getting carded by the door security,
Tae Doh leads her upstairs. That's when she spots him—Jun Ari, hunched over his guitar. He is playing a casual track, then when taw doh calls for him..
he puts it down and lights a…
…cigarettes and greets him. `
"Who's the guitar guy?" Ada whispers to Tae-Doh.
Without hesitation, Tae Doh calls out, "Jun!"
then when tae doh calls for him Jun looks up again, this time with a smirk. "Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." He sets his guitar aside and stands, to say hello to his producer.
A group of punk-styled women lounge around Jun as he leans against drum kit, chatting with Tae Doh while seemingly just ignoring Ara. She thinks but he saw me before…he knows I exist!
Finally, he turns to her with another enigmatic smile. When Tae Doh spots an old friend and stepped away, Jun continues to study Ara with an intensity that makes her feel exposed.
He smirks and looks at Ara from the side of his eyes not noticing one of the girls was going in to kiss him. Turning his attention back to one of the many women vying for his attention he dodges her aggressive attempt at kiss him, “Oh Jun why, I really want to kiss you” he replies, “Layla, Dye-dye will make you mince meat, im saving you because if it wasn’t for that Id kiss you because you are really fucking cute” he unwraps her arms from around him “I wanna be mince meat” she whines and at that Jun pushes her on her way towards the door.
Watchiing on Ada thinks that she's drawn to this punk rocker in a way she can't explain. He has something she wants, something intangible that she can't quite name.
The women eventually drift away out the same door to watch the opening band, this leaving Ara and Jun practically alone in the room. Their eyes meet, and something electric passes between them. His gaze lacks the usual mixture of awe and fanatic excitement she's grown accustomed to seeing. Instead, there's something else there: pure curiosity, unmarred by any desperate need to impress her.
He stares at her like she is supposed to talk to him first….but she doesn’t, Jun breaks the silence, ”So Ara..*Ara looks up at the beautiful tall punk rocker dude* and thinks am I dreaming? She composes herself and he continues, “..want a drink?” He hands her a bottle of wine. She stands in front of Jun and takes a swig of the wine, “…eck…”…so good,”” she lies.
# The Ferocious Dark Underground Punk Scene - Seoul
Jun lights a cigarette, eyes narrowing as he studies Ara. "So tell me Ara Hana, what is a K-pop princess doing in a dive like this?"
"Excuse me?" Her voice now with a bit more assertiveness. If he is going to refer to me as “Ara Hana” he’s going to get Ara Hana
“Well, this isn't exactly your scene, is it?" His words are playful, yet this hides his genuine curiosity for her being in his presence right now. Slightly competitive also, like she might take from him being the centre of attention at his show, as if she can hear what he’s thinking Ara thinks, that’s if anyone even knew who she was here. ….he thinks in reply.. ..I know who who you are Ara Hana. She hates him calling her both names.
“I guess that’s just how little you know about me then. I..” She stops as Jun sits down just underneath where she is standing and says, "come here," motioning her to sit down beside him. He says this in a low and inviting voice, Ara looks down at him. He is tapping the empty space beside him on the threadbare two-seater. “As soon as I saw you walk in tonight I’ve been waiting to be alone with you…..sit sit!”
She hesitates for a moment before accepting the invitation. Ara drinks more gross wine, and continues, "maybe I'm exactly where I want to be." She speaks quietly. "CITY POISON—I
caught your set at The Basement last month. That song about the factory workers' strike? It hit hard."
Jun says in genuine disbelief. "You were at The Basement? That place is—"
"A glorified sewer with questionable structural integrity?" Ara grins. "But the acoustics are perfect though. The way the concrete bounces sound..."
Jun interrupts with a chuckle, sitting straight to face Ara and showing her he iss listening to everything she has to say now. "So you know about acoustic reflection, huh?" he asks.
"Please. I've been in enough studios to understand sound dynamics. The raw reverb in The Basement? You can't engineer that."
Jun keeps listening to her talk about her sound knowledge and punk rock history love. His carefully maintained wall of indifference he thought had suddenly been broken down and he sees her as someone he could really be friends with, and he doesn’t befriend girls usually either. "You want to hear something?" He askes? Pulls out his phone. "New track we're working on with Tae Doh." He hits play…*punk music blares, it plays for 20 seconds and he stops it*
As the rough cut plays, Ara nods along, eyes closed. "The bass line is killer," she says after he stops it. "But that bridge needs something. Maybe a key change?"
"That's exactly what Tae Doh said," Jun admits, looking at her with new interest. "Having a super-producer behind us... it's weird. Good weird, but still."
"Tae Doh won't change your sound," Ara assures him. "He just... amplifies what's already there. Makes it bigger without losing the edge."
"Like he did with your ballad last year?" Jun adds with a smirk, Ara shocked he knows something about her after all.
Ara laughs. "You listen to Prism?."
"Pop is such an important genre, 60’s girl groups, Crystals/Ronettes, phil spektor is very inspiring to me. Madonna, Debbie Harry and the many icons that made some of my favourite music." Dye dye wonder than asks…“Do you have a muse Jun?” Jun smirks and says “Yeah I do.” Ara looks intrigued, “who?” Jun continues. “ever since I met this girl last year named Dye-dye, she has been…*hesitates*... well, nearly all of my new tracks are about her on our album we are recording with Tae-Doh.” Ara stays silent and replies “where is she.” There is a screaming female voice from the band playing on stage shouting Oh Bondage fuck yeah! “That’s her…” he smiles. Ara says “oh” and thinks dammnit she’s in a band
DYE DYE at 17 years old.
“You’ll meet her, I’ll have to keep her from trying to slice and dice you if she hears we have been in here alone together for her set” Ara replies, “why we are just talking….” Jun looks at her…“well Ara, YOU may be just talking, but I have been flirting pretty heavily with you this whole time” Ara looks over to see if he is being serious.
He laughs, “I’m just joking, I actually just think you are a super cool girl. I wasn’t expecting to talk with you this long, I was supposed to watch dye-dye play. But we got a little lost in conversation didn’t we? So…Can I ask you…” Ara feels nervous, and thinks oh god what is he going to ask me?! He continues, “Wanna be my friend?” …Ara smiles with relief and says, “I’d love that!” A little over enthusiastically and chastises herself for sounding too enthusiastic *feels uncool*. He puts his cigarette out, hesitates, and then asks, "Earlier, you mentioned Springsteen—what's your take on Nebraska?"
"God, where do I start?" Ara's eyes light up. "The way he recorded it on that four-track Tascam? Pure genius. It's like Joan Baez's storytelling meets Patti Smith's raw energy."
"Patti Smith hey.” Jun says impressed. “You might be becoming the girl of my dreams.” He jokes.
"'Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine,'" Ara quotes perfectly. "First line of 'Gloria.' Changed my life when I first heard it."
"'Outside of society, that's where I want to be,'" Jun quotes back.
"'Society's hell,'" they finish together, then laugh.
Jun looks over at her with a look like he wants to possess her in that moment, they look at each other and get the feeling they have known each other forever is felt. Ara feels very comfortable in Juns presence and very inspired to learn more about his world. That is filled with music and the love of music and nothing else.
Jun's quiet for a moment. "You're dangerous, you know that?"
"Why? Because I see through the act?"
He laughs and replies non-seriously, “ouch…..but no. Actually, *leans closer to her and ara’s heart starts beating faster* because you actually get it," he says quietly. "The music, the performance, all of it."
From the stage below, feedback screeches through the speakers. Jun checks his phone. "Shit, missed dye-dye." Ara thinks, who is this dye dye. He hesitates, then says to her. "You staying for our show tonight right?"
"Wouldn't miss it," Ara says. Jun smiles, “good”
Panel Sequence: The Interruption
[Dye-dye bursts into the room with like 30 people behind her, all energy and chaos]
Ara looks around, Jun keeps his focus on her.
Are thinks, Must be the infamous dye dye, she’s beautiful but so young, she’s like some tiny cult leader.
Dye-dye runs and jumps over Jun (squealing): "JUNNIE! Did you watch me? Did you see?!" Juns energy changes immediately, back to the distant cold person he was before they spoke.
Jun grabs dye dye from behind him and pulls her so she is sitting on his lap.
Ara moves to sit opposite instead now and thinks Right. Of course. This must be the muse. A cool, punk, “age-appropriate” cult leader nymph.
Dye-dye looks around at Ara, Jun chimes in, “oh, this is my friend Ara.” June looks over at Ara telling dye dye, to which she turns Jun’s face back to her and kisses him, he pulls her closer to him and they make out in front of Ara. Jun, opens one eye, watching Ara's reaction to the kiss, while dye-dye’s back faces her.
He can see it’s making her feel uncomfortable..
Ara thinks: This is my cue to leave... Jun stands up with dye dye still hanging off of him and walks away with her, to make Ara feel more comfortable, he walks to the other side of the room with dye dye and they make out he sits dye dye on a bench and they start chatting inaudibly.
Panel Sequence: The Return
Ara looks away and sits back on the chair and sighs, she thinks about Jun asking to be her friend..
She smiles at this and decides to go find Tae-Doh, she texts him thinking she might leave, she has practice with PRISM early. He tells her to not go anywhere and to wait there he will be back to get her in 2 mins.
She stands there by herself awkwardly, June and dye-dye have disappeared. “ok tae doh its been 9 minutes now…”
Jun sneaks up behind her, returning to find Ara trying to look casual
Jun, leaning down to Ara to say quietly "Sorry about that before didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I can’t seem to take my eyes off you when you are in the same room as me, it seems.” He pauses then adds, “its not sexual or anything.” Ara looks down as if disappointed by this, Jun sees this and continues “…but its something stronger. It has to be, if I can’t stop looking at you even when I have dye dye dry humping me” Ara laughs and says, “I think she hates me.”
Jun walks around to sit on the side of the table in front of Ara... “…she can be a brat….you’re perfect" at that he reaches for her hand.
“wanna come with me somewhere cool?” Ara replies as Jun starts tying there hands together with some red thin ribbon he pulls out of his pocket, “umm sure” watching him literally possess her with this ribbon. He finishes, “now, you are mine for the rest of the night now, because I need your help.” Before she has a chance to protest this declaration of possession or even accept it, he is pulling her across the room with him. Help? She thinks. How could she help him exactly?
Jun opens the door and pushes a bunch of people away so Ara can get through the door with him, out into her new music home that Jun has decided to help her explore and fit into as his new best friend.
Jun pulls ara up through the crowd, making sure she is ok, he looks at her and his heart beats faster….He thinks, This is such a bad idea...
Ara catches a glimpse of this moment and sees Jun brush straight past dye-dye not noticing she was even there, Ara brushes her straight after knocking her. “Bitch.” Dye-dye says loud enough for Ara to hear,
Dye dye not happy with this friendship.
However, Ara doesn’t care so much. Dye-dye is just a kid and she feels a sense of protection over her for some reason even though dye -dye hates her. She can’t hate a young girl back. But looking back at Jun and all the comments she hears about him from passers by, these underground punk rockers wondering who this pink coloured hair girl was, one person calls her Jem from Jem and the holograms and her friends laugh, one Jun groupie says, why is he with her, because she is wishing she was with him instead and some other groupies saying well I was with him two nights last week.
On hearing that Ara thinks: This is such a bad idea...