Arthit Rojnapat

**Arthit Rojnapat**, sometimes referred to as "Oon," is one of the main protagonists of *SOTUS* and *SOTUS S*.

## Character History

### *SOTUS: The Series*

Arthit is introduced as a Third Year Student in The Faculty of Engineering. He is head hazer of the university-sanctioned initiation and mentorship program for the Faculty of Engineering. In the first season, he is shown to be an Industrial Engineering major. Here, he meets Kongpob, who is a freshman under his care as a hazer. Despite their conflicting perspectives regarding the hazing system, they ultimately agree on the values that are being taught. Kongpob's persistent attention and consequent confession of attraction towards Arthit pushes Arthit to come to terms with his own feelings towards his junior. At the end of the series, Arthit tells the entire faculty that he and Kongpob are in a relationship.

### *SOTUS S: The Series*

After he graduates, Arthit begins working at Ocean Electric in the Procurement Department, despite having wanted to work in Production. Faced with taking on new challenges in the workplace as well as being physically unable to spend as much time with Kongpob as he did as a student, Arthit navigates the new rhythm of his life with a lot of trepidation and caution. This both due to his fear of losing his job due to discrimination of his sexuality as well as the recurring theme of secrets withheld from him that lead to a chain of misunderstandings and miscommunications between him and Kongpob. At the end of the series, Arthit once again takes the initiative to be open about his relationship, this time in front of his colleagues.

### *Our Skyy (Episode 5)*

Arthit spends months helping Kongpob study for his entrance exam and to obtain a scholarship at a prestigious university in Beijing. Despite knowing that Kongpob's success will lead to their relationship becoming a long-distance one, the sudden news of Kongpob leaving so soon after receiving his results sends Arthit down a mental spiral of anxiety and fear of drifting apart from Kongpob and being unable to take care of him when they're apart. He even proposes taking a break while Kongpob is abroad, but ultimately decides to consolidate his faith in their relationship.

## Personality

As the senior head hazer, Arthit manufactures a brash and domineering personality when dealing with his juniors. He takes his responsibility seriously and strongly adheres to the principles of SOTUS, something he passionately integrates into Kongpob's batch with military precision. He has very little patience for what he considers to be nonsense and disrespect, earning the outspoken Kong his ire and hostility. Though intense, Arthit is never truly cruel or mean-spirited, and genuinely cares for his juniors and his faculty, and pushes his hazing team to adapt their methods for the good of their juniors' personal growth.

Outside of his hazing responsibilities, Arthit is actually quite meek, reserved, and introverted. He enjoys reading comic books, building robot figures, and drinking pink milk. He is mostly baffled by Kongpob's unusual interest in him at first, but grows to care for him enough to let his guard down around the junior. As Kong begins to pursue him romantically, Arthit is shown to be easily nervous and flustered, often causing him to lash out with apparent refusal, although he never expresses disgust or asks Kongpob to stop with his flirtations. During the Engineering Faculty's Capture the Flag activity, he is deeply moved and overwhelmed by the freshmen's collective words of affirmation, and manages to keep his composure long enough to sneak outside the auditorium and cry in private. His nickname, *Ai-Oon* (meaning *warmth*), is a guarded secret he is embarrassed for Kongpob to discover.

As his romantic feelings and subsequent relationship with Kongpob develops, Arthit struggles with feeling deeply self-conscious and equally insecure about Kongpob's friendship with the beautiful Campus Star Praepailin, causing a short rift between the two boys. He shows an aversion to public displays of affection, conscious of what people might think and afraid of prejudice and ridicule. However, this reflex denial gradually dissipates with each instalment of the franchise, denoting Arthit's growing levels of comfort in his sexuality as well as his confidence in his and Kongpob's relationship.

Despite his reservations, Arthit is deeply in love with Kongpob, and subtly relishes in their private moments of intimacy. In two separate moments of inspired boldness, he manages to overcome his anxieties and publicly affirm Kongpob as his boyfriend to his entire faculty at a party and then again in the second series the entire working force of Ocean Electric, whose collective support inspires and galvanises Arthit to be completely open and comfortable in his relationship.

As an employee, Arthit continues to embody the principles of SOTUS; he is responsible, resourceful, efficient, and extremely courteous to his seniors.

At the end of Our Skyy, after coming to the conclusion that nothing, not even physical distance, can diminish his love for Kongpob, he walks with Kongpob through his next rite of passage to study abroad, even buying a ticket to help him get settled in his new journey. He is unfailingly supportive of Kongpob's dreams and goals, and is willing to sacrifice even his own happiness to make sure that Kongpob succeeds on his own path. By the end of the special, it is implied that he intends to remain with Kongpob as a life partner, as symbolised by the rings that Kongpob puts on both their hands. It is not explicitly expressed in words what the rings mean, but many interpret the gesture as an engagement.

## Sexuality

Although the series never explicitly labels Arthit with any specific sexuality, it is heavily implied that he is bisexual, having been attracted to both Namtarn when he was in high school, and then to Kongpob.

Over the course of the first season, Arthit struggles to navigate the path of his relationship with Kongpob, but he does not deny (in serious contexts) his attraction to males other than out of fear of judgment and in his anxieties about not being able to give Kongpob the future he wants. Even before the start of his romantic relationship with Kongpob, he shows early signs of physical attraction, at least acknowledging on a practical level that he finds Kongpob good-looking and selecting him to run for the Campus Star and Moon contest.

In the novel, Arthit's inner monologue upon meeting Kongpob for the first time in the hazing initiation is as follows: "...*I would definitely be worried for my status as the most handsome man in the universe if I don't embarrass you.*", and the second chapter, ".*..Yeah, yeah, I know full well that you're good-looking and have a promising future, and it's no wonder girls, even seniors are flocking to you and willingly handing over their numbers........I'll have you publicly admit that you like men. That'll show all the girls that even though a young brat like you is handsome, it's a waste...*"

Despite his initial struggle to give in to their mutual attraction, he is ultimately the one who announces to their peers and his colleagues their relationship, any prior masking of the situation mostly out of fear of discrimination. His lack of resistance or discomfort towards the idea of same-sex attraction is especially evident in the second season, as he is one of few people at Ocean Electric who plays along with Cherry's flirtation where others may feel awkward.