His Cinderella | Choi Soobin

Author's Note

You have just finished His Cinderella!

This book is one of my all-time favourites to write omg like I can't even express how joyful I am right now. Like genuinely every single chapter was so fun to write and I just think this is the book of mine that I'm happiest with.

At first, this book was a oneshot that I had written in a (now deleted) oneshot book that I had created for TXT. I had only written the party part in the original oneshot but I really enjoyed the plot so I had decided to turn it into a book.

The vibe for this book was sort of a dark academia aesthetic in the beginning. Or maybe like a British boarding school idk something like that. That's just how I imagined the world to look like. A gloomy academic feeling was what I imagined for her attic, which was sombre because it's an attic so you can't really imagine it to be lively.

This book also took a love of inspiration from To All The Boys I've Loved Before!! Especially the second movie with all the nursing home and second lead drama lol. Yeah, but I did base a lot of those scenes off those movies and I'd suggest you watch them because they're pretty good (except for the last one. I got so much second-hand embarrassment I couldn't even finish it).

And obviously, this book also took major aspirations from Cinderella, the Grimm's and Disney versions. I tried to incorporate a lot of real-life moments from the fairytale into the book, such as the evil sister and the rags to riches transformation. I even tried to describe Cameron's outfit in the scene where he gave Hyewon the blue dress like the fairy godmother's.

Hyewon wasn't a character that had a distinct feature to her personality or appearance. She wasn't super smart, super introverted, super pretty etc etc. She was average, which is what I intended. In the beginning, Hyewon described herself as a "side character" because she thought that she was a boring person that didn't stick out from a crowd. But in the end, she realized that you don't have to be cool or popular or a hero to be the main character, you just have to be you. I don't really know if that was obvious or not lol but that was what I intended.

Hanjin was a person who was utterly convinced they couldn't do anything wrong. Sort of like a narcissistic or someone with a saviour complex. She feels the urge to put herself above others but then dismisses the fact that she does so. I can't entirely blame her, as it was her mother who practically spoon-fed her everything she ever wanted and then blamed it on Hyewon. So maybe the true villain of this story was never Hanjin, but the mother???? 😱

I imagined Hyewon to look like Tzuyu from Twice. It's not like Tzuyu is considered "not attractive" like Hyewon was, but she has the features aka the tan skin that fit the description of Hyewon so I decided to use her as the face claim. Hanjin I imagined like Minju from IZ*ONE which is kind of funny because I always thought Tzuyu and Minju looked like twins or at least siblings.

Soobin, as I mentioned in a previous chapter, was a "perfect" guy. Like the main lead in a Hollywood movie from the 1990s, a very typical popular rich jock that gets all the girls but still manages to like some dork that he has never talked to once before. I wanted to add a few twists to his character because I didn't want him to be a boring Prince Charming. He had the drive to be perfect in every way. And he thought he was perfect until it came to girls because he could never find the one good for him. That's why he let Hanjin cling around him throughout the story because he felt love towards "Hanjin" and he wanted her to be his. But he quickly put the pieces together and figured out the real truth all along.

Yeji was another character that I added to the story that I really liked. I wanted a second lead that wasn't a threat to Soobin, but more so a friend. And honestly, Soobin and Yeji have the best friendship in this book and nothing can top it. She was a popular girl that was kind, smart, and flirty. I think she was a perfect second lead for the book because she was there to challenge Hyewon's sexuality while also making sure to be a good friend. And although Yeji and Hyewon weren't endgame, their friendship is so cute UGHHH!!111

There were actually a lot of characters in this show and I, unfortunately, can't give a description to every single one. Truth be told some of them were planned beforehand but some I just added as I wrote on. Mr. Lim was another plot that I added that wasn't originally part of the story. I wanted to showcase more how Hanjin was heartless in a way, and how she didn't even care about her sister even when she was sexually assaulted. I wanted to end the Mr. Lim conflict by getting him fired or something but I soon realized that I didn't have enough space in the story to do so. But I guess it's sort of realistic in that way. A lot of teachers think they can get away with making move on underage students and it's sort of disgusting. Teachers that do horrible things get away with it a lot and Mr. Lim is just another example as to how anyone can take advantage of you, even the ones you're supposed to trust :/

Well, I guess that's everything I wanted to say. I, unfortunately, had a lot of other plot points I wanted to add from the start but I never got to but that's okay because I like how this book turned out. I spent a good two months writing this book and I'm happy to finally publish it to the world. I hope whoever read this fanfiction enjoyed it as much as I did. :))

Sincerely, Vatann_