Jeongmin Choi is the main protagonist of the webtoon, Dreaming Freedom. After being bullied by her former best friend Juhyeon, Jeongmin tries to survive her high school life as Juhyeon's influence spreads across the school. Coping with the pain through lucid dreaming, she finds a mysterious man, offering her assistance to get revenge.
Appearance:[]
Jeongmin has shoulder-length hair that is a grayish-black tone, her hair is mostly tousled loose with bangs that reach her eyes but do not cover them. She has large drooping eyes with large eyelashes, her eyes are a dark gray to black color.
She is often seen wearing the gray and black jacket Siyun bought for her. She dresses modestly and wears plain clothes with dark and gray colors most of the time. Sometimes, she borrows Siyun's clothes whenever she stays over at his place.
Personality:[]
Jeongmin is loyal to Siyun. She is serious, she can kill you with her eyes, and she is a girl of few words. She is kind towards those that she trusts. She is also very manipulative and easy to anger. She is very smart but she can become jealous easily.
She is kind-hearted towards her peers and has no tolerance for bullying. From a young age, she was sympathetic and offered Juhyeon, who was a victim of bullying, to play with her and her friends. She is very understanding as well as she learned of Siyun's backstory and often comforts his fear of losing her. However, she has a dark side as seen when she used lucid dreaming to stab her bullies in her dreams. She also blackmailed Sora with screenshots of her talking badly of her friends in texts in order to convince her to let her in on her friend group so that she had backup against Juhyeon. She is also very tolerant of Siyun behaving crazily at times and lets many things slide, whether she is too timid to speak out or does not mind his behavior.
Background:[]
She is an only child and grew up poor with her mother and father. It is implied that their financial state is her father's fault as she once thought that he was the reason they "lived like this." Her father was physically abusive towards her mother from since she was young to the present. Whenever Jeongmin intervened, she would get beaten too. She felt unsafe and unhappy at home but still had a good yet distant relationship with her mother. The only person who knows she is abused at home is Juhyeon, who found out when they were children.
In the present day, her father left for a business trip and has been gone for months. His whereabouts are unknown to Jeongmin and her mother recently started working during nights to support her and her daughter.
In elementary and middle school, she was seen as nice and friendly and always had a group of friends. She was kind-hearted and invited Juhyeon to play with her when she was being isolated by the class. Jeongmin always had a sad and dark aura around her as a result of feeling depressed about her home situation, but she was always friendly and light-hearted with her classmates.
When Juhyeon started behaving in ways that made Jeongmin uncomfortable (telling her to cut off her friends who disliked Juhyeon, encouraged her to smoke with Juhyeon's delinquent friends, keeping her out late at night and worrying her mother, and trying to dress her up and do her makeup even when she didn't like it), Jeongmin cut her off. Juhyeon started harboring resentment towards Jeongmin and things took a turn for the worse for Jeongmin when she started high school in the same class as Juhyeon, who began bullying her and encouraging their entire class to side against Jeongmin.
Relationships[]
Siyun Baek[]
Siyun is Jeongmin's boyfriend.
They first met in their lucid dreams when Siyun offered her help to seek revenge against her bullies. Due to his sudden presence and refusal to answer questions about himself, Jeongmin was intimidated by him but accepted his help. They formed a partnership and became pretty familiar with each other. When Siyun hid the news of her crush dating her bully, Jeongmin didn't realize his intent to protect her feelings and snapped at him. She instantly regretted it and by a stroke of luck, she was able to figure out his identity and she woke him up from his coma by promising to stay by his side.
Juhyeon Ha[]
Juhyeon is Jeongmin's former bully and former acquaintance.
When they were children, Jeongmin approached Juhyeon after noticing she was lonely and isolated from their classmates. They became good friends who confided in each other about their tough home situations. But Jeongmin's friends warned her soon about Juhyeon's possessiveness and strange behavior, which led her to become wary of Juhyeon. Her fears come true when Juhyeon starts introducing her to her delinquent friends, forcing her to stay out late at night, critiquing her looks, giving her makeovers, and demanding that she stop hanging out with her friends who hate Juhyeon. Her final straw was when Juhyeon did her makeup badly and she found the courage to end their friendship. She felt guilty but relieved when Juhyeon stopped bothering her.
When they met again in high school, Juhyeon started bullying Jeongmin and telling everyone that Jeongmin bullied her in elementary school, in order to isolate her and give her a sense of how lonely Juhyeon felt after Jeongmin ended their friendship. Jeongmin got into lucid dreaming because of Juhyeon and often stabbed her or bullied her back in her dreams. She eventually forms connections with other classmates to show Juhyeon that she failed in isolating her from others. Juhyeon retaliated by dating Jeongmin's crush, Jaehyeok on purpose, which made Jeongmin immensely hate her. This caused her to confront Juhyeon about everything she did to her in front of the whole class, which ruined Juhyeon's reputation.
After their confrontation, Jeongmin only spoke to Juhyeon when she was concerned about Jaehyeok and unbeknownst to her, this made Juhyeon happy because all she wanted was Jeongmin's attention. But Jeongmin wasn't willing to forgive her. They met again when Juhyeon started getting bullied after summer break and Jeongmin stood up for her because she was tired of their classmates' hypocrisy. In order to shield her, Jeongmin started inviting Juhyeon to eat lunch together and they formed a sort of truce. In the end, Juhyeon realized she was being greedy and that their relationship would never be the same again, so she transfers schools. The two of them promise to at least say "hi" to each other if they ever ran into each other again.
When Siyun and Jeongmin faced trouble in their relationship, Siyun summoned Juhyeon to his and Jeongmin's shared dream and tried to stab her to threaten Jeongmin into staying by his side. When Jeongmin got hurt on her behalf, Juhyeon sent Siyun away and stayed by Jeongmin's side at the hospital. She tried to convince Jeongmin to break up with Siyun, but to no avail.
Jaehyeok Jo[]
Jaehyeok is a former acquaintance of Jeongmin.
The two of them first met while walking home from school as their schools were next to each other. They quickly became friends as Jeongmin listened to him talk about his interests and his friendship made her happy and supported her through the days when she was being bullied. Jeongmin developed a crush on him and old her friends she was in the talking stage with Jaehyeok. When she arranged for all of them to meet, she found out he and Juhyeon were dating. Jaehyeok rejected her on the spot and apologized if he ever gave her the impression that he liked her back.
This incident left Jeongmin and Jaehyeok with tension between them as Juhyeon also lied to Jaehyeok that Jeongmin was bullying her. Eventually, Jaehyeok comes to realize Juhyeon really is using him but he ignores it for the sake of keeping his relationship with her. When Jeongmin warns Jaehyeok about Juhyeon's true nature, Jaehyeok tore into Jeongmin and accused her of using him like Juhyeon is. He drove her to tears and Siyun, who was watching, beats him up and leaves him in a bad condition. Feeling guilty and responsible, Jeongmin sent Juhyeon to give Jaehyeok food and medicine.
When Jaehyeok and Jeongmin run into each other again, they apologize and make up. Jaehyeok promises to be a better friend and gifts her a jacket and tries to meet up with her more often., but Jeongmin still felt uncomfortable around him. Jaehyeok starts feeling suspicious of Siyun and finds out about the false controversies he was in and warns Jeongmin of this, but the latter isn't happy with his false accusations and leaves. Jaehyeok cried and begged her not to go to Siyun and Jeongmin felt shaken by this encounter and didn't contact him again after this.
Several months later, Jeongmin found Jaheyeok drunk on the street, apologizing again for how he treated her and asking if he can be by her side again but she turned him down . Before she leaves, Jaehyeok made Jeongmin aware that Siyun was getting worse with his impulses and later he gets stabbed by Siyun for contacting Jeongmin after he was warned not to. He manages to survive and when Jeongmin visits him in the hospital, he promises to keep Siyun's crime a secret and offers to help her in any situation where she can't turn to anyone else.
Sora Choi[]
Sora is Jeongmin's friend.
At first, both Sora and Eunju befriended Jeongmin upon Juhyeon's request, despite not liking her. Jeongmin tried to get close to Sora and cut off Eunju at first, unaware that both of them looked down on her. but Sora manipulated Jeongmin into oversharing about everything Juhyeon did to her when they were a children, which led to her and Eunju criticizing Jeongmin for badmouthing Juhyeon.
When Jeongmin hit her limit of feeling betrayed, she unlocked Sora's phone with the help of Siyun's astral projection and took screenshots of Sora badmouthing her friends in different group chats. She confronted Sora with the evidence and blackmailed her into providing a "safety net" of accquaintances for her while she figured out how to deal with Juhyeon. Sora also served as an informant to Jeongmin about any information she needed about their classmates, as she tended to know everyone's business.
Eventually, their friendship ended up becoming genuine as all of Sora's friends ended up leaving her so the only person she had was Jeongmin. The two of them ended up forming a real friendship along with Eunju and later, Juhyeon. Sora also warned Jeongmin about Siyun displaying possessive traits when he refused to let Sora touch Jeongmin and called Jeongmin out for being overly dependent on him.
As adults, Sora and Jeongmin stayed friends and Sora is shown to be a lot more mature and caring towards Jeongmin by staying with her when she's drunk and confronting Siyun for being away from Jeongmin for four years.
Eunju Seo[]
Eunju is Jeongmin's friend.
At first, their friendship started out on bad terms as Eunju and Sora only befriended her due to Juhyeon's request. Jeongmin also initially tried to distance Eunju and Sora so she could secure a place as Sora's best friend and make Eunju get abandoned instead, which worked after Jeongmin started blackmailing Sora and Eunju didn't know why Sora was siding with Jeongmin.
When Jeongmin stands up for Juhyeon against Hyejin and Yuju, Eunju is impressed by Jeongmin's ability to defend her own bully and stay true to her moral standards. They apologize to each other for their conflict in the past and become friends again with Sora and Juhyeon. When Siyun is behaving strangely and preventing Jeongmin's friends from getting close to her and touching her, Eunju, along with Sora, advises Jeongmin that he is acting normal and that she should be careful.
As adults, they are still friends and went out for drinks together.
Hyejin Kim[]
Hyejin is Jeongmin's former bully.
Hyejin was one of Jeongmin's main perpetrators. She did Juhyeon's dirty work by harassing Jeongmin and physically hurting her as a way to appease Juhyeon. But when Juhyeon and Hyejin stopped being friends, Jeongmin manipulated her into siding with her against Juhyeon. They stayed allies for a while until Hyejin started bullying Juhyeon. Jeongmin stood up for Juhyeon and called Hyejin out on her hypocrisy. Due to Hyejin's fear of Siyun, she stopped messing with Jeongmin.
Yeonji Jo[]
Yeonji is Jeongmin's former accquaintance.
She became "friends" with Yeonji by meeting through Sora's friend group. Yeonji always made slight digs at Jeongmin and also openly insulted her many times. Jeongmin learned Siyun's identity through her. When Yeonji found out that Jeongmin and Siyun were dating, she became jealous as she was a former fan of him, and tries to get close to Siyun by using Jeongmin which doesn't work. The two of them eventually stopped being friends and drifted apart.
Jeongmin's Mother[]
She was close to her mother from a young age and used to tell her everything. When her father became violent and ruined the atmosphere of the household, they had to drift apart. Jeongmin chose not to tell her mother of her getting bullied because she didn't want to seek her mom's help when she was already suffering from abuse. Her mother stated that she feels sorry for her daughter and is proud of her for growing up well despite not having enough support from her parents. After her father left for a business trip, her mother approached her first and told her she would do better for her and told her she could rely on her for anything from now on. Since her mother was busy earning money for them to leave the father, Jeongmin does not tell her that she has a boyfriend and refers to him as a female friend, nor does she open up about her struggles at school.
When conflict stirred up with her father returned after losing his job and demanding they take him back by using violence, her mother sends her to live in Siyun's house while she stayed in a motel and worked to save up money so they could permanently be free of her father. When her mother met Siyun, she was initially suspicious of him but grew warm to him and treated him like a son.
Jeongmin's Father[]
She is resentful of her father and blames him for being the cause of her living situation and abusing her mother. Her father's abuse started when she was little and one time she got hit after intervening when he was hurting her mother. For the most part, her father is dismissive of her and ignores her whenever he comes home or leaves for work, primarily focusing on fighting with and hurting her mother. Early in the story, he was said to have gone on a business trip but for some reason his return is delayed. He also seemed to stop sending money to his family for rent, causing her mom to start working more to support them.
Later in the story, he comes back home and reveals he was having an affair at another house and lost his job as well, so he demanded they take him back and hit Jeongmin until her mother gave him all their money. Because of his presence being a threat, Jeongmin had to leave home and stay with Siyun. Later on, he got killed in a road accident and Jeongmin attended his funeral with ambivalent feelings towards his death.
Abilities:[]
Lucid Dreaming
She picked up on this skill immediately and used it as an outlet to gain control over her bullies. Because she rushed into it and did it all the time in order to relieve her stress from being bullied, it physically tired her out and caused her to often fall asleep in class. Now, she doesn't use it to relieve stress from her bullies anymore, but rather uses it to visit Siyun's dreams.
Dream Infiltration
When she visited Siyun for the first time, she wound up visiting his dreams after falling asleep near his hospital bed. After that unintended event, she and Siyun often visit each other in their dreams. She has only used this ability to meet Siyun.
Trivia:[]
- She doesn't keep up much with current music.
- Her favorite food is her mother's kimchi stew and when she was younger, it was the only food she would eat
- Due to seeing her father abuse her mother, she did not wish to get married in the future. However, she told Siyun that if he behaves and listens to her well, she would marry him.
- The author confirmed that in the future when she starts drinking, her drunk habit is either laughing or crying excessively.
- The author states she would enjoy amusement parks and have a nice time
- She's good at watching horror movies but sometimes gets surprised
- She normally wears modest and comfortable clothes but only dresses up for Siyun
- The author stated that while Siyun feels fiery when he's angry, Jeongmin seems ice cold when she's angry
- She initially had a bright personality but due to the environment at home turning bad and being bullied at school, she changed and acted twisted. But after problems at home and school became better to an extent, she slowly returned to her kind-hearted personality
- The author stated that if she had kids, she would be a very chill parent and would allow the child to change the TV channel and watch what they like
- Additionally, if the child and Siyun ever bickered over the TV remote, she would scold Siyun and make him let the child watch what they want to
- She isn't sure whether ghosts exist or not, she thinks they may or may not exist.
- If she visited a haunted house, she'd get surprised easily
- When she goes on cafe dates, she usually orders iced americano
- She falls in the middle in her class rankings.
- If the author had to compare her to any animal, she would choose a black cat. She even commonly uses the black cat emoji when posting panels of her on Twitter.