Gashiyeon

Fanfiction
Title:	Gashiyeon
Author(s):	Maio
Date(s):	2006
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	TVXQ
External Links:
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가시연(Gashiyeon) is a Yunjae fanfic, written in Korean by an author known as Maio. Gashiyeon directly translates to "thorn lily," but the fic is better known in English as "thorn year." Gashiyeon was published throughout the course of 2006, and consists of three parts. Reduced Horizons, the "prequel," Thorn Lily, the main story, and Fox's Cradle, the "sequel." <quoted directly from the writeup>

Why do we care about Gashiyeon? Because Gashiyeon was a smash hit. Gashiyeon became insanely popular amongst Korean Cassiopeias. Obviously Gashiyeon was not one of the first Yunjae fanfictions out there, nor was it one of the longest at that point, but it became the most well known one. Gashiyeon became well known and adored for three things: because of its writing style, its plot, and its characterization. And it ended up influencing Cassiopeia, Yunjae shippers, and Yunjae themselves in ways that are still visible today.

(see further reading)

Plot

Here is a summary from a fan in a rec/roundup post

Synopsis of Gashiyeon

The first part, Reduced Horizon, is the story of Yunho and Jaejoong’s meeting in high school. It shows the blooming of their young love. It is easy to say in the part of the story, Yunho seems to be the 'crazy’ one. There is a sense of madness, jealousy, and lust that lingers throughout this part but it does not compare to the rest of the novel. This part is told in Yunho’s POV.

The seconds part, Thorn Lily, does not continue with where part one left off. This part fastfowards to their lives as adults. Jaejoong suddenly is released from the hospital and returns into Yunho’s life only to find that Yunho is married to a sweet woman, Suh-Hee, and is expecting a baby. This part shows the darker and dangerous side of their love. Jealousy, passion, violence, and wickedness are most prominent in this part. What happened in the years between their school days and when Jaejoong returns (and why he was gone) is revealed. The main story is notably the most shocking of all parts. This part of the story is told in Jaejoong’s POV.

The third and final part, Fox’s Cradle, is shorter than all other parts and known as the most eerie and heart-wrenching of the three parts. In this part, Yunho and Jaejoong are now in their 30’s. There darkness that had been hanging over their head for years finally caught up to them, namely Jaejoong. This final part of this story is filled with guilt and despair. Needless to say, the story ends tragic.

yoonje on tumblr

Writing Style & Writing

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Famous Lines

“It’s you, the beauty from class 8.”

Translations

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Characterisation

Commenting on impact...

But yeah, you get the point. The Yunho and Jaejoong of Gashiyeon are so far removed from reality they might as well just be named Joe and Bob for all that it matters. That didn't matter to the readers, though, because they loved it and soon enough the prevailing way people saw Jaejoong and Yunho were "high-maintenance jealous bottom with no personality other than being obsessed with Yunho" and "possessive overbearing top," respectively.

Industry Impact

How big was Gashiyeon really? There were three editions of hard copies of Gashiyeon published and distributed---they weren't officially published by a company, but produced by the author. The most damning sign of the influence Gashiyeon had is that Jaejoong himself seemed to know of it. Someone allegedly asked Jaejoong if he had read Gashiyeon, and he responded with "isn't that one erotic?" implying that he knew something of Gashiyeon. I, however, cannot confirm this beyond old screenshots which could very easily be doctored. Given that Jaejoong and Yunho would later go on to admit to reading mpreg fic of the two of them, it wouldn't be off brand for him to know of it..

And as one more point to illustrate how well known Gashiyeon was, years later veteran Kpop group H.O.T. would guest on SNL Korea and act out a sketch that is heavily implied to be about Gashiyeon. Like, they straight up quote it. This is like if NSYNC went on SNL and did a sketch where they acted out One Direction fanfiction. And also if one of the members of one direction had previously been so distraught about NSYNC breaking up that he posted on Instagram saying he had nothing left to live for. Because that is in fact what teenage Jaejoong did when H.O.T. disbanded, making it extra funny that they're the ones acting out this fanfiction about him.

It might also be referenced in Twenty-Five Twenty-One, which aired in 2022.

General Reviews and Reactions

I was never a huge fan of Yunjae stories. I do read them once in a while but I was never a die hard fan of them. However I would say that Thorn Lily is the only Yunjae story that kept me feeling excited. The darkness and psychological problems that surface throughout the story is heart-wrenching and this story would definetly be in my mind for a while now. Maio, the writer of the story had written this story so beautifully and sophisticatedly. It brought me to a whole new level in terms of writing style and context. The writer had written it like a piece of art and that this story is a literature. t's filled with deep thoughts and meanings and the writer incorporate symbols and signs throughout the story to symbolize different elements and themes. She had written a story filled with madness so realistically because of the depth of emotions from the characters she written. You see not only the thoughts of a mere chracter but a thoughts of reality. Admist all the darkness, the painful love, the memory that just wouldn't fade, you see the inner struggles of how JaeJoong return to Yunho after years of being seperated from him. Many said that no matter how good the translated version of Thorn Lily is, it could never be compared to the beautifully written Korean version as it consist of the beauty of how it's written in Korean.

Even after reading the story, it was in my mind for a long period of time. The story left a deep impression in my mind especially the windwhirl emotions that JaeJoong felt in the story. I felt my heart wrenching several times throughout the story. I would recommend this story to Yunjae fans and people who is a fan of angst and dark story. This is one of the best angst psychological stories I've ever read. Fans of literature would also love this story for its symbolic meanings and choice of words.

Fan Responses

• [윤재 팬북] 가시연 팬북 및 마요maio님의 후기 소개] on naver (About the 3 author-published hard copy editions, which this fan 과거 had collected)

Fan Translations

Tumblr user yoonje, writing in 2012, lists five attempted English translations. LiveJournal users iheartuknow and lonekamo may have been the first, posting the foreward through chapter 6 of "Thorn Year" in late 2007 to their shared writing community iheartkamo (account later deleted). At the end of December 2007, they advertised another fan translation starting up for the prequel and sequel at the comm thornyear. It appears that only one chapter was posted to the thornyear community.

Between 2009 and 2014, LiveJournal user jestex posted 13 chapters of the prequel in gashiyeon_trans.

Several chapters of "Thorn Lily" were translated and posted in 2010-2012 to the LiveJournal community happy-colour. Start here for chapter 1. The first nine chapters were translated by user happy_colour, followed by a partial translation of chapter ten by user potecchi. potecchi then created a new translation community, egashiyeon, where they started from chapter 10 and continued through to the end of Thorn Lily (chapter 25 and Afterword), then posted all of The Fox's Cradle. potecchi posted from November 2012 until April 2013.

Meanwhile, LiveJournal user honeyiceblend had started translating the story, apparently sharing it in friendslocked posts, but switched to posting to a dedicated blog on blogspot. The blog appears to have been active between November 2012 and July 2013 and included a complete translation of Reduced Horizons and a partial translation of Thorn Lily. The blog was later deleted.

Further Reading

In English

• The divorce of the century: the rise and fall of Yunjae, K-pop’s most (in)famous ship (PART 1)