the green arrow

BIOGRAPHY

To Connor Hwang, born November 30th of 1991, there was always something missing in his life. His mother, Seo-hyeon, did what she could to raise her son with the opportunities that she didn't have growing up in Seoul, South Korea, but it was a task that only seemed to grow more and more difficult without the presence of his father. Perhaps Connor had noticed it right away, even when he was too young to comprehend the alphabet, let alone have a significant grasp of the English language enough to convey his problems, often one to act out, loudly and frustratingly, for seemingly no reason at all in an early hunt to find that missing piece. It was an attitude that only grew more troublesome as he grew.

As a child, he was prone to tantrums and even spats with other children, putting more stress on his mother who was already struggling with being a single mother in a city big enough to eat her alive even without the high rises seen in New York City. She found some solace in those moments when Connor listened, intently, to stories of his father, but there was still no consoling that tempermental nature no matter how many stories she told, no matter how many ways she had been able to paint him, no matter what information she passed along and it soon begged to question whether this was helping or harming, whether it was aiding the situation or making things worse. There was improvement the more he grew and matured, still an upstanding student where grades were concerned when he actually took the time to apply himself, but when a fist fight broke out on school grounds when Connor was sixteen, enough was enough and Seo-hyeon had no choice but to take matters more readily into her hands.

It was then that she sent Connor to New York City to live with his uncle who, as close to his sister as he was, wouldn't be one to allow Connor to continue on the path he had been forging for himself. In a way, it was a fresh start. It was a new environment. It was a chance to put all the bad influences behind him and perhaps come out this new life someone his mother could be proud of. Chores were quick to become part of his daily routine as well as meditation and discipline studies and all on top of his schooling, Connor picking up high high school studies where he had left them in Los Angeles, this time with far more heavy expectations to not only bring home solid grades in all his courses, but behave.

It, however, was no quick or easy process to take the troublemaker that had been Connor Hwang and mold him into someone calm and collected, passive without being a push over, disciplined and respectable. Once he had become familiarized with New York City, with the school he had been attending and the friends he had found in it, it was only a matter of time before he found himself fraternizing with what his uncle surely would have thought the wrong crowds. When there was free time to be had (and even, at times, when there wasn't), Connor found himself amiss the party crowds, the social drinkers and the hyper-sexualized, many the very same peers he attended school regularly with who had found that moment one to push their freedoms and while he didn't get into the drugs, avoiding them at all costs, a few drinks here and there seemed to make the evening worth the trouble he would be in the next morning and the consequences that came with it.

For all the bad, however, there also came a particular interest in archery, Connor taking to it like a moth to a flame and eventually focusing on it, on becoming better at it, as if he had found a part of what his life had been missing all along. In due time, the partying dwindled, replaced with hours spent out on the field, perfecting his shots and dealing with the pain in his arms from the tension and the bruises from the snap of the string with a poorly straightened arm. His temper, he found, wouldn't help him when it came to excelling which made meditation far more of an active help rather than simply a chance to rest, to nap even, in the silence of his own mind. He can't say when or where it necessarily happened, that bleed through into other areas of his life, but eventually, that focus spread from archery and archery alone to his courses and the work that came with it as well as his interactions with those around him.

Connor graduated from high school in 2009 with a degree and accolades for his skill in archery competitions and, with a new head on his shoulders, immediately went back to Los Angeles to reunite with his mother where it was found out that his father, an American businessman who had only been in town for a short time and ceased connection with Seo-hyeon ever since, even going so far to pay her in hopes of hiding that part of his life, had passed away. It was perhaps the most unfulfilling revelation in his life, finally figuring out who his father was, but unable to find any of the questions he had burning in his chest answered, no closer to finding closure as to why he had made such a quick and adamant exit from their lives beyond the facts he could put together on his own. Seo-hyeon, for her part, had long moved on, locked in a relationship with someone new who Connor made little to no effort in getting to know before he was back on a flight to New York City. Undoubtedly, if things continued on the path they were on and as good as they seemed to be, Connor would return for their wedding, but that was a bridge he would have to cross when the time came and no sooner than that.

Putting his archery knowledge to work when he returned to New York, Connor took up an instructor position at his uncle's dojo, teaching primarily Kyudo, the modern Japanese martial art of archery. Though it wasn't his primarily occupation, splitting his time between teaching classes and attending New York University in hopes of taking over the dojo one day, it was definitely where he felt the most at peace, able to focus whatever negative energy and thoughts he may have had into the fine point of an arrow, directed at a target a number of feet away, essentially sniping the very same down one by one. It wouldn't be until 2013 that Connor graduated with his Bachelor degree, something he knew he could use in the future - be it to continue his studies or help on that path to his career goals; and he used what savings he had from working at Wildecat to rent his own apartment alongside a roommate he only had the chance to acquaint himself with before they were rooming together. Considering he would spend most of his time out, either at Wildecat or at his uncle's where he had found meditation the most comforting, he doubted they would even run into other but in passing here and there or for meals, minimizing problems as long as they stuck to their own sides of the hall and each took care of common grounds.

As of 2016, Connor still works at the dojo, still teaches Kyudo, still practices meditation alongside his uncle with the added difference that, thanks to his age, Connor had taken up more chores to make sure his family, the only family around him, is living well. Perhaps one day, he'll return to Los Angeles. Perhaps he will even take a trip to Seoul, but as far as Connor is concerned, New York is home.