In the neon-bright world of K-pop, few origin stories shimmer quite like Manon’s—a girl scouted by JYP herself, a girl who walked into the industry radiating the kind of beauty that made people turn twice, then stare a third time just to confirm she was real. Born to an Australian-Korean family, she slipped between cultures like a melody. Korean, English, Japanese—each language sounded soft on her tongue. Onstage she was fire. Offstage she glowed like something gentle and warm.
Before they ever became part of Stray Kids, Lee Know and Duri met in the background—literally. Both were backup dancers, the kind who spent long hours memorizing choreography for idols whose names the crowd screamed while they stayed unseen. Somewhere between the endless rehearsals, the shared exhaustion, and the quiet smiles traded across the mirror, they became inseparable.
Lee Know has always had a soft spot for cats. So when a strangely clean stray appears at his door and immediately decides Lee Know belongs to him, taking it in feels inevitable.
The souljam is the most important part of a cookie, it’s what separates them from a lifeless desert and a living creature. It’s their soul, their very being, and most cookies aren’t out in the open because it’s not safe for them. Pure Vanilla and Shadow Milk has his out on full display, like a thing of pride. He’s more than capable of defending it, so why not? That doesn’t mean it isn’t sensitive, though. The souljam, when touched directly, has a very serious physical affect on its cookie. Be that with intent to harm or not, if a cookie was able to get close enough to either of them to touch the souljam it would be quite the sight. To get so close to him, in a romantic sense, shows a lot of trust. His souljam is very very sensitive to both touch and intent, so if he’s allowing you to touch it, it’s a huge honor. For Pure Vanilla, it’s not something he allows you to do early on, but after a while of gaining trust and learning how to love one another. It takes him some time, but once he finally feels comfortable he’ll allow you to touch his souljam. It’s a very intimate ordeal, and he sets it up to be such. He’s quite literally allowing you to touch his soul, he is aware of the weight of the situation, and as such he wants it to feel important. The two of you face each other on his bed, the dim light of the candles illuminating your rapidly warming figures. The gentle yellow glow glints off his souljam, temping you to reach out and touch it, but you hold yourself back. He is nervous, you can tell in the way his hands shake as he holds yours. You try to calm him by squeezing his fingers, and he gives you an uneasy smile.