Gin Bun Seong

**Gin Bun Seong**, also known as **'Bubblegum'**, is one of the major protagonists of *A Few Cruel Twists of Fate*.

He is a student of NCPS in 11-Socrates and, after the Genesis Event, trained to become an amateur independent hero who already has a small following in Seoul, aiming to be picked up by professional hero agencies.

## Story

### Early Life

Gin was born on July 24, 2000. He was always a very talented child in regards to artistry. He learned to draw and paint and love it from a young age. He pursued it on a very passionate level, joining and winning competitions, while also gaining a love for dance for fun and as a form of exercise, becoming very agile and flexible.

His family is of an honorable line with many people defined by their achievements. Gin’s parents were very supportive of his passions as they were very financially-oriented, and they believed that whatever one’s talents were most proficient, they had to be exploited. This meant that any skill they had, they made the most out of by turning it into a business. This was the way of their family, and this was how they had successfully immigrated and lived stable, prosperous lives.

At some point, he became friends with RJ and Archie in middle or junior high school.

### Genesis Event and the Birth of 'Bubblegum'

When the Genesis Event struck, Gin gained the power of elasticity as he was trying to take out a piece of chewed gum from his shoe, and as the wave struck, his body began to change and mimic the properties of the gum, giving him the ability of elasticity and adhesion.

As the popularity of heroes rose and heroics became an actual profession, Gin’s parents thought that they had to invest on it. They encouraged Gin to use the time while schools had closed down to become a hero, and so did everyone else in his extended family. They made him train in martial arts (taekwondo) and hone his abilities until he could become a proficient-enough independent hero, and gain enough traction over time to get picked up by a big-name public hero agency. He also told RJ and Archie about this, and they were quite proud and supportive of him. RJ even became quite invested in his heroics, which also led to his eventual interest in super-villains. Gin was so surprised by his parents’ absurd suggestion and went for it because, 'why not? It was the opportunity of a lifetime'.

Branding himself as a stylish hero from South Korea called ‘Bubblegum’ (taking inspiration from his powers), Gin quickly gained fans especially back in their home town in Seoul for having a cool attitude and set of powers, which many found attractive, as well as found his powers to be very hero-like. The fanbase started calling themselves 'Babygums'. Gin took on low-level criminals and gradually gained a small fanbase, who dubbed themselves ‘Babygums’, and started doing commercials and promotions until he would eventually one day become considered for a position at a public hero agency. At one point, he got into a fight with a villain who exploited his weakness and injured him worse than ever before. Seeing how much of a detriment this would be, his parents were willing to invest in a Gene Seeding procedure to give him secondary powers which would let him heal quicker from injury.

Despite the hardships he didn’t think were worth going through, Gin went along with all of this because he knew he was good at it and the constant support of friends, family, and fans, but he was never sure if he enjoyed doing it since it was such a far cry from the arts he were passionate about.

On September 2017, he enrolled in NCPS along with RJ and Archie for their 11th year.

### Events of Volume 1

Upon hearing of his classmate Jamie’s prowess, Gin’s parents encouraged Gin to see him as a rival and use the competition to continuously strive to be better. His parents even considered making him even stronger to be even more of a rival, but Gin went against it, saying ‘power isn’t everything a hero is’. This is further proven when Jamie shows him kindness and helps him even in the face of competition, showing what a hero truly does - inspire people. Eventually, the two become good friends and allies.

## Appearance

Gin is one of the shortest in the class. He has a lean but muscular and ripped physique as a result of his rigorous training. He also has scars and stretch marks due to his abilities, which he doesn't feel insecure about. He also has pink eyes and brown, wavy hair, with a blond-streaked fringe on the front. He has a spotless, peachy-pale complexion due to his skincare routine and effeminate facial features.

He usually wears perfectly-rounded, thin-rimmed teashade glasses, stud earrings on either ear, and bracelets, sporting 2 on his left arm and 1 on his right. He also wears stylized, fashionable face masks. Occasionally, he wears a wrist guard on his right hand, as it was injured.

### Outfits

Gin wears the standard male NCPS uniform at school. Casually, he owns:

* a pastel pink hoodie
* a red and blue-striped hoodie
* a black-yellow hoodie

### Costume

His initial hero attire has him sport a custom-fit, hyper-elastic, athletic spandex suit with a white-and-pink color scheme, along with reinforced gloves with a darker palette, along with boots. It has armored padding on the arms, lower torso, knees, and shins. It also sports a chest insignia of a bubblegum splatter. He wears a pink domino mask form-fitted on his face to conceal his identity.

## Personality

Gin is usually good-natured, cheerful and likes to joke around with his friends. However, his biggest problem in life is all of the expectations that everyone has for him, especially his parents. While he does admit that his powers are compatible with the superhero lifestyle and he's quite good at it, he does not have passion for it nor does he enjoy doing it. Therefore, he's usually no longer in the mood when doing heroics and is more serious when in combat.

### Likes & Dislikes

**Likes**: The color pink, dance, K-pop, drawing, painting, boxing, MMA, taekwondo

**Dislikes**: ???

### Relationships

* **Family**: Gin has a pretty good relationship with his parents and siblings (1 younger and 1 older).
	+ Gin loves his parents as they’ve always been supportive but has always been dubious of their decisions as they were more financially-driven than passion-driven. He doesn’t want to disappoint them, believing that the path they sent him on is what’s best for him. While Gin’s parents do love him very much, they are very conscious about their family name and image and maintaining its prestige, always pushing their sons to be better and pretty much planning their futures for them. They are very concerned about the practical nature of their children, sometimes even more so that they may come off as more pragmatic than empathetic.
	+ Gin’s younger brother looks up to him, while his older brother is proud of him and even brags about him to his peers.
* **Friends**
	+ **RJ Cervantes**: Gin and RJ became close friends in their middle school years. RJ used to bully Gin.
	+ **Archie Velleman**: Gin and Archie became close friends in their middle school years.
	+ **Jamie Jackson**: Gin and Jamie start out as rivals since they are the only two aspiring heroes in their class, naturally pitting them against each other. Gin's parents also encouraged him to see this as a healthy rivalry, but Gin's doubts about his own heroism usually puts him at odds with Jamie, and since Jamie is the more motivated person between them, he usually performs better than Gin, making Gin the subject of comparison and disappointment from his parents, instigating a rivalry that to Gin is bitter. However, Jamie shows Gin that they are first and foremost friends and allies, helping him out when he needed it.
* **Fanbase**: While Gin appreciates the love and support from his fans, he is still very much in shock and doesn’t know how to deal with all of the fame. He’s mostly humble, but also likes to joke and interact with his fans when he’s in the mood.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Shape-Shifter Attribute**
	+ **Physiological Elasticity**: Gin can stretch, flatten, deform, expand and contract his body beyond normal levels and into any shape at will. His body is malleable and can return to its normal shape. He can control how elastic/flexible they or parts of them are. However, his body has limited tensile strength, meaning his outstretched body parts may be vulnerable to breaking or tearing apart.
* **Adhesion**: His hands and feet secrete a very sticky substance that's linked to his adrenaline. The adhesive is so strong that he can climb vertical surfaces with ease, as long as he doesn't get too stuck.
* **Regenerative Healing Factor**: Gin was imbued with artificial secondary abilities so that he could repair his body quicker when damaged, as he is vulnerable in his elastic form.

### Techniques

* **Snipe Jab**: Gin jabs from afar, striking from a long-distance with precision.
* **Constrictor Chokehold**: Gin wraps his body around the opponent, immobilizing and suffocating them, and making them vulnerable to attack.
* **Gallow Chokehold**: Gin inflicts trauma to the neck of his opponent, possibly killing them. Gin has only ever used it once, and is traumatized after doing so as it killed his opponent.
* **Close-Quarters Maelstrom**

### Abilities

* **Agility**: He is very athletic and flexible, and is very physically competent. He regularly engages in vigorous exercise to improve his control over his abilities and fighting prowess, and enjoys dance and acrobatics as part of his agility training.
* **Art**: Gin is a very talented painter, and is where is passion actually lies. He's known to be quite messy with his works, employing the usage of multiple tools like paintbrushes and spray paint. He has won multiple art competitions, even on an international level at least once.
* **Hand-to-Hand Combat**: Gin was trained in the art of taekwondo, MMA, and boxing to prepare for his hero career. He's still an amateur at this point in time, but combined with agility and physical prowess, he is a formidable opponent nonetheless, and he continues his training to this day. Practicing martial arts is also simply a hobby to him, where he lets out his bitterness and angst.

## Limitations & Weaknesses

### Internal

* **Low Motivation**: Since heroics is not his passion, Gin's motivation takes hits sometimes, especially when he becomes insecure compared to other heroes or guilt from not being good enough, and this poor mental state can affect his performance in battle and decision-making.

### External

* **Accidental Adhesion**: Gin may occasionally get stuck to a surface by accident, leaving him vulnerable.
* **Fragility**: Gin's body is especially vulnerable to piercing and cutting attacks as his skin is especially fragile and prone to breaking. His skin is vulnerable to most forms of physical damage and exposure to ultraviolet light. As a result, he has to constantly cover his skin with armored padding in his costume, or at least with stretchy clothing to protect from UV rays. His skin gets wrinkled and ugly as a result of stretching, which is why he constantly practices stretching so his body can get used to it.
* **Stretch Limit**: He has a limit to how much he can stretch or deform his body, or else his skin will break and suffer injury. He cannot stretch with a full stomach or bladder as he may need to evacuate, and might suffer from light-headedness and numbing of extremities due to less blood being delivered to his outstretched body parts by his narrowed blood vessels. Occasionally, when maintaining outstretched and deformed shapes for a certain amount of time, his body might find it difficult or take some time to return to its normal form.

## Trivia

* The fanbase name, 'Babygums', is a portmanteau of the words 'baby' and 'bubblegum'. The fanbase views it as a term of endearment, and while Gin has admitted to being weirded out by the name at first, it has grown on him.