blinding lights, white walls, the endless drone of machines constantly ringing in his ears, the muffled voices outside the unembellished door — for as long as giwook could remember, his childhood days were spent in pristine hospital rooms, traveling from country to country in hopes of a cure.

arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy — that was the official diagnosis. they'd explained it to him, time and time again, that the muscle in his heart was replaced by a combination of fat and scar (or fibrosis, as they liked to say). all these fancy terms he'd learned just meant one simple thing: death always hovered nearby.

the symptoms? hard to say. from palpitations, to sudden blackouts, to shortness of breath, to heart attacks, to insomnia — giwook's experienced it all, and it's the bane of his existence. there were no problems when the youngest goguryeo son was an infant, but as he grew older, his disease progressed and worsened.

giwook spent a total of six years moving from hospital to hospital, without word from any of his family. his experienced changed him — from a friendly, boisterous child like any other goguryeo boy to a quiet, withdrawn young man with the tendency to be colder than a prince should be. the ice prince, or so they called him. even to his siblings, giwook was cold.

but no matter how harsh or how antisocial he seemed, he remained loyal to the house of goguryeo, fulfilling whatever duty was required of him — even going so far as to enroll in a military academy, despite his condition. after graduating and becoming the youngest intelligence officer of the air force, giwook had resigned himself to living a life of complete and utter fealty to his house, despite the wrongs it had done against him. he had expected to live a normal, boring life, one that would end with him having done nothing for himself.

that is, until he met princess jiwoo of baekje.

their engagement, like many of the other royals, had been quickly decided upon by their parents. unwilling to take advantage of jiwoo's pure feelings towards him, he told her the truth of his condition, and to his surprise — she promised to stay with him. 

it was then that giwook decided to treasure this girl with everything that his weak heart could provide him.

months later, they were married. weeks later, they adopted two children, twins — taeha and taejin. having his own family had never even crossed his mind, but here he is. giwook may have had problems with his parents and siblings, but he's vowed to himself that he'll give jiwoo, taeha, taejin, and jaehwan (the little one on the way!) the lives that he himself has always wanted.

collapses for the first time, while playing with his older siblings. gets diagnosed with a heart condition, and is held in the silla hospital for months.

is moved from the silla hospital to a hospital in napaj. throughout the course of his life, he constantly gets transferred from hospital to hospital, often going abroad to get surgeries and different diagnoses. for a few months, he is selectively mute, and has to see a child psychiatrist and speech therapist.

is officially diagnosed in a yawronian hospital with an advanced case of arrythmogenic cardiomyopathy. a surgery to insert a pacemaker inside his heart is held, and it helps with his palpitations.

returns home for the first time in six years.

finishes his training in the military academy. goguryeo men are required to enlist, but due to his condition, he is exempt from enlistment but is instead hired by the air force as their youngest intelligence officer.

the current year in gilded time.

children (his especially), family, jiwoo, silence, books, art galleries, sculptures, music, deadpan humor, learning new things, the moon, physical activity, flying, bands, mixed martial arts, planes, nature.

hospitals, being coddled, loud noises, medicine, invasion of his personal space, nosy people, jumpscares, horror movies, his condition, getting surprised, careless people, irresponsibility, the rebels.

reading, playing the guitar or the bass, taking pictures, taking walks, plsying chess, self studying, learning random facts, brain teasers and puzzles, writing his own music.

to grow old with jiwoo and live a long, happy life watching over their children.

tight spaces, dying a sudden death, losing another of his siblings, leaving his family behind, his family getting hurt and being powerless.

just quick ooc notes because revamping this profile took away all my remaining braincells, but giwook is my plot relevant character, which means i don't do too many threads with him and mainly use him for events. you can pm me on my other chara (lee dongwook) as well, though. replies are slow these days because i'm not at the best mental state, but i'll do my best to get to them!