Claire Yeon
V.I.L.E.
Claire Yeon was born and raised in Queens, New York, to immigrant parents originally from Busan. She is a first-generation American and her parents' only child. The family was not particularly wealthy, but they never lacked for essentials or the occasional treat. While she felt her parents were overly strict with her growing up, she understands now that it was coming from a place of love, though the relationship has become strained in the last few years.
Claire has been interested in art since an early age, but lacking any significant natural talent - or patience to develop what fate had not granted her - she sought ways to be involved in the art community outside of creating. She performed well enough in school to earn a partial scholarship to NYU, where, to the disappointment of her parents and general ridicule of her small circle of childhood friends, she chose to study art history. One can only be told one is wasting one’s potential so many times before one snaps, and for Claire, that moment came toward the end of freshman year. In retaliation to mocking comments directed at her and a few others in her class, she promised a group of laughing business majors that within five years of graduation, she would be making more money than any of them.
After graduation, she accepted a position at a prominent New York City art insurance and investigation firm. She made good on her promise/threat in three years, and received an offer to be made partner after ten, but declined and chose to go her own way. She works now as an independent art detective, working closely with auction houses, customs agents, and private collectors. Money has a way of going out as fast as it comes in, thanks to an affinity for first-class tickets and expensive shoes, but so far she has managed to avoid debt. Some months ago, a routine job to recover a stolen painting went awry when it was implied that Claire had inside information as to how it went missing in the first place. Ever since then, she has chosen less high-profile jobs, which keep the lights on, but have forced her to cut back on her more lavish expenses. A partnership with VILE holds the tantalizing promise of steady work and lucrative income, and it was only a matter of time before their paths merged.
When it comes to relationships, Claire prefers quality over quantity. While she is generally friendly, except to those who abuse power and privilege, she holds herself at a distance and has very few close friends. There are only three people she loves: her parents, despite the wedges that pride on both sides has driven between them, and a charming archaeologist she met on a job last year and married six weeks later. Her primary home and base of operations is Manhattan, though she also has a house in Guadalajara (her husband's, originally), an apartment in Singapore, and a timeshare in Barbados. She likes to make a spectacle of her birthday, but those in her small circle do not begrudge her this indulgence: being born on February 29, the chance only comes once every four years.
Claire has been interested in art since an early age, but lacking any significant natural talent - or patience to develop what fate had not granted her - she sought ways to be involved in the art community outside of creating. She performed well enough in school to earn a partial scholarship to NYU, where, to the disappointment of her parents and general ridicule of her small circle of childhood friends, she chose to study art history. One can only be told one is wasting one’s potential so many times before one snaps, and for Claire, that moment came toward the end of freshman year. In retaliation to mocking comments directed at her and a few others in her class, she promised a group of laughing business majors that within five years of graduation, she would be making more money than any of them.
After graduation, she accepted a position at a prominent New York City art insurance and investigation firm. She made good on her promise/threat in three years, and received an offer to be made partner after ten, but declined and chose to go her own way. She works now as an independent art detective, working closely with auction houses, customs agents, and private collectors. Money has a way of going out as fast as it comes in, thanks to an affinity for first-class tickets and expensive shoes, but so far she has managed to avoid debt. Some months ago, a routine job to recover a stolen painting went awry when it was implied that Claire had inside information as to how it went missing in the first place. Ever since then, she has chosen less high-profile jobs, which keep the lights on, but have forced her to cut back on her more lavish expenses. A partnership with VILE holds the tantalizing promise of steady work and lucrative income, and it was only a matter of time before their paths merged.
When it comes to relationships, Claire prefers quality over quantity. While she is generally friendly, except to those who abuse power and privilege, she holds herself at a distance and has very few close friends. There are only three people she loves: her parents, despite the wedges that pride on both sides has driven between them, and a charming archaeologist she met on a job last year and married six weeks later. Her primary home and base of operations is Manhattan, though she also has a house in Guadalajara (her husband's, originally), an apartment in Singapore, and a timeshare in Barbados. She likes to make a spectacle of her birthday, but those in her small circle do not begrudge her this indulgence: being born on February 29, the chance only comes once every four years.
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