#i just wonder what this means for exo as a group... if this is really the end for them i'll be inconsolable 💔

[cheekblush]

just went through the exo tag and saw the WORST take 🙁

#someone saying exo should disband bc they're past their prime #and that love shot was their last good comeback... #excuse me but did you miss the masterpiece that is obsession??????? #so many people seem so happy about cbx leaving sm & of course it's great they're standing up for themselves #i just wonder what this means for exo as a group... if this is really the end for them i'll be inconsolable 💔 #maybe this will be like the loona situation & the other members will also sue if cbx are successful with their lawsuit? #i honestly don't know i'm so confused & have so many questions i just want them all to be happy but i also don't want to lose exo 😭 #they're my comfort group i really didn't see this coming not with all this anticipation for their long awaited comeback #all the members seemed so excited to finally have a cb as well.. especially bbh giving all these spoilers so this really is so unexpected #and of course sm is already denying all accusations... this will get so messy i can feel it 😭 #i just hope everything ends well for all the members and they can remain together as a group if that's what they want of course 🥺 #i remember during obsession era junmyeon said that the members already discussed leaving sm together & remaining a group #god i hope they stay together i'm honestly so scared 😭😭😭😭 #i'm sure the other members support the cbx lawsuit and were aware of this beforehand so hopefully everything gets resolved in their favor #but sm is soooo vengeful to artists who sue them like what if they blacklist them like they did with jessica.. 😭😭😭 #i'm honestly so so scared i know i sound dramatic but like i might as well kms if exo disband 😭 #☁️

[mymoodwriting]

Beyond The Stars

F!Reader x EXO

Genre: Amnesia AU, EXO Universe/Planet

Warning: Amnesia, Manipulation, Lies, Interdimensional Travel, Betrayal

Words: 4.8K

Chapter Seventeen

(Prev//Next)

Prompt: You’re the most important thing to EXO, you’ve been with them for years, and when you wind up missing, it greatly upsets them. Their journey to find you and bring you home starts a chain of events that leads to facing their own greatest fears, making unlikely allies, traveling to other worlds again and finally gathering the strength to take down their greatest enemy. Along the way you get to see their true colors and fall in love all over again, although you might come to realize you don’t like what you see in the mirror.

@suhappysuho @starillusion13

“Destiny? What do you mean?”

“This is a safe haven.” Suho explained. “I’ll show you, but you all have to be calm.”

“You’re not exactly making me feel any better here.” Taeyong commented.

“Just follow me.”

Others were hesitant to follow, but they did so. Lay took your hand and led you along with the group. You looked around, realizing this was some kind of ship, and that brought up so many more questions. At least now it made sense what Suho had said earlier, the ship’s name was Destiny. You came to some steps, although Suho told everyone to give him a moment and went up.

“Captain!”

From below you heard some happy cheers, followed by running. Soon enough you saw someone with Suho and then they noticed you.

“Wow… that’s a lot of stowaways.”

“It’s a long story, but the new faces won’t be staying. They just needed a safe place to stop, hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. You wouldn’t bring enemies on my ship. Welcome aboard everyone.”

You went up onto the main deck, taking in your surroundings again and being amazed. You weren’t out on the ocean where you would find such a ship, but sailing through the sky. You ran over to the edge to look overboard.

“This is amazing.”

“Careful now, don’t want to lose anyone.”

Xiumin came over and pulled you back, reminding you to behave yourself. You apologized and promised to stay close. You were brought over back to the crowd and over to the gentleman you had seen talking with Suho before.

“We should probably introduce you. Y/n, this is the captain of the ship.”

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” The gentleman bowed. “I’m Hongjoong, captain of the Ateez crew, and this is our lovely ship Destiny.”

“It’s wonderful.”

You got to meet the rest of the crew as well and struck up a conversation as the leaders stepped away to talk among themselves.

“I’m Taeyong, leader of NCT. Thanks for allowing us to remain on your ship.”

“A friend of Suho’s is a friend of mine.”

“I want to ask though… how did you meet Suho?”

“He helped us long ago to save our world, and thanks to them we now roam free, always ready to help others. Destiny is our safe place, and for you as well. You’re always welcomed on my ship.”

“Thank you for your hospitality. I hope we cross paths again under better circumstances.”

“I’m sure we will.”

“Do you think you and your people are good to travel?” Suho asked. “Or do you need to rest. I’m sure-”

“No, no, we’re alright.” Taeyong assured. “We should return home and fully rest.”

“Okay then.”

You all gathered to see the Neos off, and you hoped to see them again some time in the future. With the third party gone there was a shift in the atmosphere. 

“So what really brought you by?” Hongjoong asked. “You are not one to show up unannounced.” 

“I’m here to collect on the favor we’ve asked of you.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Wait.” You asked. “What favor?”

You didn’t answer, but a look was exchanged between Hongjoong and Wooyoung. The other boy went off to the captain’s quarters and returned with an hourglass moments later.

“What is that? It looks so cool.”

“It’s called the Cromer.” Wooyoung explained, handing it over to you. “We don’t use it as much anymore, but it serves another purpose now.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

You only pondered on that for a moment before the Cromer floated up into the air and away from you. DO had stepped away from the group, and the Cromer flew over to him. In the blink of an eye the hourglass had shattered, but all the pieces remained in the air. All the glass was separated and you could tell DO was focused on it. One moment there was glass and then it turned to sand. You had no idea what was going on, let alone as Kai stepped forward and allowed the sand to pour down onto his hand.

“What are you doing…” You mumbled. 

“Remembering something long forgotten.”

“Why are you going there?” Hongjoong asked.

“We can’t keep running.” Suho stated. “We have to face our enemies head on.”

“What does that mean?” You questioned.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Chen assured. “Promise.”

“Kai?” Suho said.

“I got it.”

You didn’t know what that meant, but you watched as DO put the Cromer back together as if nothing had ever happened. It returned to your hands and you looked it over in awe.

“You could stay a while.” Hongjoong suggested. “Get some rest and prepare.”

“Can’t keep pushing things off.” Lay said. “But thank you.”

“If you guys need any help, you know where to find us.”

It was sad to be saying goodbye to new friends so soon, but you went wherever EXO went without hesitation. You hoped to see them again and get to know them more when the time comes. You gave the Cromer back to Yeosang, and they all wished you well. Sehun and Chanyeol took your hands, and you all said one last goodbye before you closed your eyes, ready for the next adventure. The quiet and calm of the open sky faded into the sounds of nature, and you opened your eyes to find yourself surrounded by trees.

“Woah… where are we…”

“Some place we never thought we’d return to.” Baekhyun mumbled. “Come on, we have some place to go.”

“You guys really need to stop being so cryptic.”

“I know, sorry. We’re still processing everything too.”

You followed the boys through the words, quite intrigued by the fact they knew exactly where they were going. After a while you came to this cabin. It seemed abandoned with nature having taken it back, but it all retreated as Lay waved his hand. You went with the boys inside, seeing all the dust that’s been collecting. Sehun was quick to blow that all away, but a silent stillness remained.

“So… what is this place?”

“An old home.” Xiumin said.

“Are we staying?”

“For the foreseeable future, yes.”

“Then we should start cleaning up.”

Your bright spirit was a bit of a contrast with the rest of the atmosphere, but the others agreed with you. The others helped you clean up, making this place feel more like a home. While cleaning you found an interesting picture. It was a group photo of the boys with a handful of unfamiliar faces. There was something strange about this whole place you couldn’t quite put your finger on, and this picture added to that uneasiness. Before you could dwell on it more you heard Lay calling out to you, and you made your way to the back of the cabin, finding a greenhouse. You stepped into a garden you had never seen before, amazed by its beauty.

“Wow…”

“This is an old garden of mine, and you can see the plants have taken very good care of each other.”

“They must have missed you.”

“I missed them too.”

“What happened here? I saw a picture of you and some other people. Was this home before you met me?”

“For a long time it was, but we had to flee.”

“So why are you back now?”

“Cause we need to fix things.”

“Fix things?” You thought for a moment. “Is RF the reason you left this world?”

“Yes. This place was home, and then we wound up being held captive. When we escaped, we left this world in their hands. We have to correct that mistake.”

“That’s dangerous… facing RF head on… especially if the two of you have history here.” “I know, but it has to be done. For starters we need to check in with old friends.”

“Old friends?”

“You can meet them later.” Kai said as he entered the garden. “We have to find them first.”

“And how are you gonna do that?”

“A lot of remembering.”

Kai stepped forward, going into the garden and sitting himself down. Some vines crept over, wrapping around his arms and waist. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, making you wonder what he was doing. You had never seen Kai in the garden like this before.

“Are you picking anything up?”

“I can sense them… but it’s faint…”

“It’s been years at this point. Will that be enough or should I look for them?”

“No. This should be enough.”

After a while longer Kai opened his eyes, the vines moving away and releasing him. He gave you a big smile and came over to press a kiss to your cheek.

“Suho, Sehun, and I will be going out for a bit. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“What? Can’t I go?”

“This place is unknown, and it’s best if you stay here where it’s safe.”

“Then why not bring our house here?”

“We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. Besides this place was the blueprint of the home we have now. Stay and be good.”

“Alright… don’t be gone too long.”

“Hopefully we won’t.”

The trio went off, and you focused on making this old place feel new. Kai scouted ahead first to make sure no one would get hurt and that they could lay low. Alleys always worked in their favor.

“Where are we?” Sehun asked.

“No idea.” Kai admitted. “Since the frequency is so faint I can’t get an exact location, but they have to be around here somewhere.”

“So like a needle in a haystack.”

“At least I narrowed down the search, didn’t I?”

“Don’t fight.” Suho reminded. “We have no idea what they’re like anymore after all this time. We might not be welcomed. Just lay low and don’t draw attention.”

The area they were in wasn’t that popular, but there were still plenty of people around going about their day. They seamlessly blended in, walking down the street and looking around. Nothing much had seemed to change about the world, but that wasn’t entirely a good thing. While walking Sehun had gotten a strange feeling, stopping before a building.

“Sehun?”

“There’s something about this place.”

“What place? A dojo?”

“I can’t explain it.”

“Wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.”

The three went inside, seeing that the place was empty, except for one gentleman. They were cleaning the weapons rack. They began their welcome speech and turned around, only to cut themselves short.

“Suho… Kai… Sehun… is that really you?”

“Surprised to see us. Shownu?”

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

Shownu ran over to embrace the three in a hug, still processing that they were really there. So much had happened since they last spoke. There was a lot to catch up on, but something else was more important.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t think you’d return.”

“We have to right our wrongs.” Suho explained. “We’re sorry we took so long.”

“It’s just incredible to see you now.”

“What about the others?” Kai asked. “How are they?”

“I’m not so sure. We don’t keep in touch. It was better if we remained separate. Although for a while I was in contact with Wonho, but he hasn’t been around in months. I’m worried something happened to him but I have no way of finding out.”

“That’s alright. We plan to reunite everyone. If you don’t have any pressing business, we could go now.”

“Absolutely. It’d be so good to see everyone’s face again.”

Once again Kai relied on a faded feeling, going ahead to make sure everything was safe before returning for the others. Shownu did need a moment to recover from the nauseating feeling of teleportation before they could continue. It was another small town, but nothing vastly unfamiliar to Shownu. Neither of them knew where to look so it was back to walking the streets. Although this time around they had someone with a slightly better eye than them.

“Have you been avoiding me?”

“Huh… Shownu!”

Wonho ran over to hug his hyung, embracing them tightly with disbelief clear on his face. This seemed like a dream, more so when he realized his friend was not alone.

“You… is it really you?”

“Long time no see, right?”

“I can’t believe this.” Wonho stated. “What’s going on?”

“We’ll explain later, right now we’re just trying to find everyone.” Suho said. “Did you keep in touch with anyone?”

“No. Only Shownu, but that didn’t last long.”

“How did you find me anyway?”

“It’s a bit complicated… I received a watch in the mail with some instructions and a location… I was hesitant to use it but when I did, I found my way to you.”

“That must be what I sensed.” Sehun said. “The energy from you traveling back and forth. Without it we might not have found Shownu so easily.”

“I’m glad I could help.” Wonho teased. “So who are we looking for next?”

“No idea.” Suho admitted. “We’re just going to the nearest signal.”

“Got it. Ready when you are.”

“You’re very eager.”

“It’s been a long time.”

“I know.”

The five of them made the journey to their next location. Another town, and another needle in a haystack. Still, the more of them they found, the better they all felt. This time around everyone was surprised to find Minhyuk with Changkyun in a cafe. The reunion there was far bigger than the last.

“Have you two been in touch this whole time?” Wonho asked.

“Not consistently.” Minhyuk admitted. “Changkyun would stop by once in a while to check up on me, nothing more.”

“I have incredible timing don’t you think?” Changkyun teased. “I’m so happy to see you all, but also surprised.”

“When we get back to the cabin we can talk.”

“That place is still standing? I would have thought for sure RF would have destroyed it or something.”

“They’d never be able to get close.”

It was great to see each other, but they still had others to find. With the next jump some had gotten used to the nausea, and others not so much.

“Gosh, that always feels weird.” Changkyun commented. “So, who’s here?”

“We don’t know.” Kai said. “Just following a feeling.”

The group walked around for a while. They weren’t sure who to be looking for but once again Sehun had a strange feeling. He led the group inside a building, finding Jooheon behind a glass in the middle of work.

“Jooheon.”

“Hm?” The boy got up. “You… oh my gosh.”

Jooheon rushed out to embrace his brothers, tears stinging his eyes. Suho and the others let them have their reunion, aware they hadn’t seen much of each other in a long time too.

“What’s the reason behind all this?” Jooheon asked. “I thought we’d never see each other again.”

“It’s a long story.” Kai said. “But we’ll get to it. We just need to find the others first.”

“About that…”

“What?”

“I… I wish I could have told you all this sooner… but Kihyun… he was in a car accident…  he’s…”

“I’m so sorry.” Suho mentioned. 

The news took everyone by surprise, although Sehun had been looking around. Once again he felt something was off, except it was different this time around. He stepped away from the group, and Kai noticed, following him.

“Sehun, what is it?”

“I’m not sure… but I feel like someone else is here…”

“Someone else?”

Kai wasn’t sure what Sehun meant, but he had his own way of figuring things out. He closed his eyes and took a moment, then disappeared. Moments later he returned and threw someone to the ground. This person had a visor covering their eyes like some VR headset, and seemed to be wearing some kind of armor.  The others had noticed this as well.

“What the heck?”

“This person’s been spying on us. Any ideas?”

“RF let us go.” Minhyuk said. 

“That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t keep an eye on you.”

“They weren’t following us.” Sehun added. “So they must have been here keeping an eye on Jooheon.”

“Me?”

That’s when the spy decided to move, making an attempt to run but Kai was quick to follow. The two engaged in some quick combat. This person was skilled, but Kai’s powers gave him an advantage. He managed to land a hard kick to the face, causing the other to slam to the ground. There was the audible crack of the visor and then all movement ceased. Shownu and Suho flipped over the spy, realizing a familiar face was under the mask.

“Kihyun…”

Everyone was confused and shocked. The news they had just been told suddenly became a lie, and this brought up so many questions. They all agreed that they couldn’t stay here for much longer so Suho made the call to go back home, taking everyone with them.

“Clear the table.”

Shownu called out orders as he carried Kihyun inside, Jooheon quickly wiped everything off the nearest table. Everyone gathered around as Kihyun was laid out on the table, helping to get the gear off of him. Others that had heard the commotion came to see what was going on, although there were no time for greetings. Things were taken off Kihyun to make him more comfortable, but the visor wouldn’t come off. 

“So…” Minhyuck spoke. “How do we get that off him? Seems attached to his face and I don’t wanna… what if I hurt him?”

“You won’t.”

Another voice caught everyone’s attention. They all looked over at the door, seeing a tall figure hidden under an umbrella walk in. Once the group had gotten to the old house Suho made it rain to cover their tracks and it was pretty bad outside. This person seemed pretty clean, barely a drop of water on their umbrella, and not a speck of mud on them despite the surrounding woods. The umbrella was lowered, Hyungwon revealing his face.

“There’s a button on the left side of the visor. Press it and it will come off without issue.”

No one moved but Minhyuck, feeling around and finding the button. When he got the visor off he tossed it to Chen. Kihyun didn’t react, the other boy starting to shake him.

“Kihyun… Kihyun, wake up.”

“He won’t.” Hyungwon said. “And I suggest you don’t fry the visor.”

“What do you mean he won’t wak-” Shownu said but was cut off.

“It was supposed to be me!” 

Jooheon yelled, storming over to Hyungwon. The older boy didn’t move, not at all afraid of the other. It was clear Jooheon wanted to fight, but Wonho was quick to run over and step in front of Hyungwon, holding his arm out. Shownu and Changkyun had moved as well, grabbing Jooheon and pulling him back despite his protests.

“It was supposed to be me!”

“Jooheon, what are you talking about?” Changkyun asked. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I was supposed to be in the accident! Not Kihyun! I saw you there, Hyungwon, I saw you there at the crash site!”

“What?” Shownu’s grip got tighter. “Jooheon, stop this and explain yourself.”

Jooheon kept glaring at Hyungwon, wanting to punch him, but he stopped fighting when Shownu asked. The two holding him waited a moment, making sure he was calm before letting him go. Wonho stayed with Hyungwon, but wasn’t sure what was going on.

“I’ve always felt that something was off about the accident.” Jooheon began. “I’ve had dreams of it, where I’m the one in the driver’s seat, it felt so real, too real, to just be a dream. I remember seeing you there when the ambulance took Kihyun, and then you disappeared. It was supposed to be me right? You changed that somehow. Why? It should be me on that table!”

“I couldn’t let RF get to you, I’m sorry.”

“Wait, you’re saying that Jooheon’s dreams are real?” Minhyuk asked.

“Those aren’t dreams, but memories of another timeline. I’m surprised you retain fragments of the accident.”

“So this…” Changkyun was mumbling. “This was what you needed to change?”

“What?” Shownu questioned. “What are you talking about?”

“Hyungwon came to me once, long before the accident, he asked me for a favor, said it was important. He needed to change something in the timeline, told me when and where Minhyuck would be, asked me to look after him, keep him safe for as long as possible.”

“Wait, you’ve been in contact with Hyungwon this whole time?”

“Yes… yes, I have.”

“So, that’s how you found me? I found that watch, a customer left it. I was just messing with it, I didn’t know it…” Minhyuk trailed off as he came to a realization, looking at Hyungwon. “You left that for me! You wanted me to use it!”

“Yes. It’s why I left one at Wonho’s place too.”

“It was you? You… you set us up?” Wonho seemed hurt. “Why? WHY!?”

“I needed a distraction. You’re all on RF’s radar, if you were found to be time traveling they’d focus on you since you were messing with the timeline.”

“You gave one to Kihyun too!” Jooheon questioned. “Didn’t you! You knew he would feel guilty over what happened and would want to change it! Why didn’t you just stop the accident!”

“You don’t think I tried to stop it, despite knowing better. There are things that are fated to happen, that accident was one of them. It was going to happen, one way or the other, if not at that moment, then later. Every attempt I made to change it ended the same, Jooheon was severely hurt and taken by RF. I couldn’t stop it, but I could change who was taken.”

“Why! WHY!”

“What did you do?” Changkyun growled. “Kihyun didn’t just get into the driver’s seat…”

“I did what I just did here. I showed him the truth, the accident can’t be stopped, and I gave him the opportunity to save Jooheon.”

“No you manipulated him!” Jooheon spat. “I see no reason why it shouldn’t be me on the table.”

“It’s because of me.” Lay spoke up. “Isn’t?”

“Yes.” Hyungwon nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Wait, what? What does Lay have to do with this.”

“Everything.” Xiumin added. “Jooheon, you know more about Lay’s plants than any of your friends. If RF got to you, they would learn that and… well I suppose Hyungwon knows what the outcome of that is.”

“You’re seriously defending him? He’s the one who betrayed us, who turned Baekhyun in, when you asked us to look after him.”

“We did.” Sehun got up. “But not Tao, right Hyungwon?”

“Yes. Tao asked me to bring Baekhyun in, he knew it wouldn’t end well if he was kept from the group any longer. I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Shownu asked.

“Cause he told me not to.”

“So you just betrayed us?” Wonho said. “You picked him over us?”

“That’s not it.”

“That’s exactly what you did!” Minhyuk yelled. “You betrayed us! And stayed with RF when they gave us an out!”

“He made a promise.” Kai added. “Isn’t that right? Tao could see the future if he focused with Luhan at his side. He knew what would happen if Baekhyun stayed away from us. He knew what would happen to him, to the others, and that we’d escape, but he knew we’d be back too. So, he needed someone to look after this world in our absence.”

“Yes.” Hyungwon admitted. “I made a promise, and that meant gaining RF’s trust, even if it meant losing you guys. I’m-”

“Don’t.” Wonho interrupted. “I don’t want to hear it, just wake Kihyun up and go.”

“I… I can’t… he’s comatose.”

“What!”

“The visor… it controls him, he’s lifeless without it.”

“So that’s what my fate was.” Jooheon said. “Comatose.”

“No… no it wasn’t. Messing with the timeline has a price, even when you find a loophole.”

“You… you killed him!” Changkyun shouted. “You killed Kihyun!”

“I’m sorry.”

Changkyun charged at Hyungwon, but he disappeared before he was grabbed. The boy fell to his knees distraught. He felt partially guilty for having helped Hyungwon in his plan, not knowing what the outcome would be. Shownu went over to comfort him, Wonho screaming as well and punching the wall. Minhyuk had fallen to his knees as well, holding Kihyun’s hand, his own silent tears falling.

“Fix this.” Jooheon looked at Lay. “You can heal him.”

“The mind is a far more complex thing to heal.”

“But you can do it.”

“I… I don’t know.”

“No, the answer is yes, you can fix him!”

“Jooheon, I don’t-”

“Don’t give me that crap, you can!”

“I don-”

“Maybe we can.” Baekhyun interrupted. “When Haechan and the others were stuck in the inbetween they were pretty much comatose. You woke them up, so you could-”

“We knew where their minds were, knew where to go and get them out. We have no idea where Kihyun is, he could be brain dead for all we know.”

“Then take him there.” Shownu spoke.

“What?”

“Take Kihyun’s mind to the inbetween, if he’s truly alive then you’ll find him there, right? And you can bring him back.”

“Do it.” Jooheon said. “Whatever that is, do it.”

“We can’t just do that.” Suho said. “The inbetween isn’t our place. We didn’t wake the others up, we helped one of their own go in and get them out. We can’t-”

“Then call your friends! Get them to do this!”

“Jooheon-”

“What do we have to lose?” Minhyuk added. “We didn’t know what had become of  Kihyun until now, but this isn’t living.”

“The inbetween becomes a personal hell if you stay there.” DO said. “It’s not-”

“Kihyun put himself in a car accident.” Wonho cut in. “He knew the consequences then, he’d understand them now. So whoever you need to call, call them and try to save him, that’s all we’re asking.”

It got quiet. Suho looked around at everyone, the decision had fallen to him. He took a breath then looked at Lay, nodding his head.

“Lay, DO, with me. Xiumin, you and Chen know what to make, the garden here is like the one back home, so you should have what you need. The rest of you look after y/n.”

You had heard the commotions from before, but Baekhyun had you stay hidden just to be safe. Nothing that was spoken made sense to you, not until the end and talking about the inbetween. You peeked your head around the corner, seeing this person unconscious on the table. Everyone seemed busy with things so you carefully approached them. You looked at them for a while before someone else approached. They looked you over and then pulled you into a hug.

“Y/n!”

You didn't react, confused as to who was hugging you and why. He had such a huge smile on his face, but it faltered when he saw your confusion.

“Y/n, it’s me, Wonho, we grew up together, remember?”

“What?”

“We went to elementary and high school together. You disappeared a few years ago, we thought you were dead.”

“Wait, what? You’re saying we know each other?”

“Yes.” Wonho pulled up a picture of you and him together. “What happened to you?”

You were quiet, staring at the picture, then you looked over at Chanyeol who was in the room. The sad look on their face told you everything you needed to know.

“I’m... I’m from here, this world is my home… why don’t I remember that! Why don’t I remember my past!”

You started to panic, drawing a blank on your childhood, on everything before knowing them. Cahnyeol took a step towards you but you backed away.

“No… what’s going on… why don’t I-”

“A lot happened when we met.” Suho added, having overheard things and coming over. “We met by chance and you helped us but RF caught up to us, we couldn’t just leave you for them to do who knows what so we took you with us. We never planned to come back here and we couldn’t return you either. We didn’t want you to feel home sick… so we made you forget your past…” 

“I…” 

You had tears in your eyes, the lack of memories making you feel so lost. Your past had always been a fuzzy thing, and when you thought back on it something else always came up to distract you. This wasn’t how you thought you’d get answers. Even if you did know Wonho you felt nothing familiar about him.

“It’s our fault. We got you involved, we never meant to, I swear, but we had to keep you safe.”

“Did you?” You spat, eyes flashing black for a moment. “What you did… was it really for my own good… or for yours.”

You stormed out, not wanting to hear anything anymore, having some new information to deal with. Once you were gone the others looked at each other, then Wonho.

“You knew y/n?” Suho questioned.

“Yes, and I thought I knew you too.”

#exo #suho #xiumin #lay #baekhyun #chen #chanyeol #do #kai #sehun #exo au #exo scenarios #exo imagines #kim junmyeon #kim minseok #zhang yixing #byun baekhyun #kim jongdae #park chanyeol #do kyungsoo #kim jongin #oh sehun #ateez #monsta x #shownu #wonho #minhyuk #kihyun #hyungwon #joohoney

[jongbross]

Hi <3

I’ll be honest there’s one thing I wanna discuss, it’s Lay’s situation in exo. I’m kinda new fan so I’m wondering if you could tell me your opinion about it. I don’t know him much and I’m curious why he’s like he’s still part of exo when he doesn’t appear in promotions for years ? The sad truth is international fans are more ot9 while korean eris are rather ot8. If he’ll ever come back with exo I’d be really surprised, but if he really ‘left’ then it has no sense claiming to be part of the group.

I didn’t mean to be rude, it’s just my opinion with no intention to offend Lay or anyone.

Have a nice day! 🫶

this has been laying on my inbox for a while, but everytime i tried to answer, something happened - so i'm sorry for taking so long.

well, you weren't rude, don't worry, darling! it's okay 💕 and it's also okay to have an opinion like that.

for me, yixing is still part of exo. i love him just as much as i love any other member, and i have never, ever lived a single moment from him with the members. i'll believe that he's an exo and defend him on it till the day he says "hey, i'm not part of the group anymore".

there's a lot of factors that i believe it helped his current situation. first of all, sm's treatment towards him wasn't the best one, let's be for real now. him being the first member to debut solo says nothing to me, tbh. then, i think that when he saw he could do much better without sm, he eventually grew apart from exo (not individually, but as a group) - and that's okay. he found himself as an artist, and that's what most artists wish for, you know? this being said, i think all of these took a part on why he hasn't fully come back to the group (and to be 100% honest with you, i don't think he ever will), but at the end of the day... he made a promise to us, a literal promise.

when exo started to fall apart and members started to leave, all 9 of them made a promise to us, that they would be here with us. so yixing may not be active in the group, but he's still an exo because of that, and that's why he always claims himself as an exo member. now, i wouldn't be sad if he ever left the group, but i can see why he doesn't, at least not officially. when we say exo is 9 forever, that's what i mean, at least - they're 9, no matter what; they will always be 9, because they're the 9 who believed in their dreams and capacity and overcame so much just to be together, you know?

anyways, i love yixing so so much. he was so underrated in exo, he deserved and still deserves so much love. i'm not joking when i say he's one of the best artists i ever had the chance to meet in this life - he's like, the most complete artist. i love him, truly. 💘

#j talks

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP have you heard the news about Baekhyun EXO suing SM for not paying him and trying to get him into an 18 year contract????????!!! Day XXXXX of SM being a shithole of a company like they keep proving that Hybe dodged a bullet not being able to acquire them 🤣🤣🤣 but fr theirr really fumbling the bag so bad like im not even an sm stan or a stan of any sm groups but i feel really bad for all of them!!!! If there ever was a villain it would be an sm bec of their ultra evil corp practices!!!! Capitalist business will always be evil but SM bar is so low atp. Do you think sm will be able to survive in the long term???

*

Ask 2: PART4 OF THE SM DRAMA BPPP Lmfaooooooooo. It's hilarious to me how kpopies are acting brand new about SM's abuse of their idols. Didn't you say SM holds the record as the most abusive agency in existence? And SM stans just pretended like HYBE is the worst thing known to man when Bang PD was apologizing to SM idols while Chris Lee was coercing Pink Bloods to not side with HYBE. No wonder SM stans project their narratives on Hybe artists all the time. It's envy and jealousy and some kind of self delusion prolly eh? I feel bad for CBX but at least they're standing up for themselves.

*

Ask 3: i always saw the sense in hybe buying sm. the idols are great and would florish with the kind of artistic freedom and high payments hybe offers their artists. hybe kept talking about changing the company culture and better management framework. but sm stans were so against it to the point they looked irrational and that's when i fully understood their hatred for hybe and anything connected to bts. i mean why would they say no to better pay and better contracts and accept their favs getting mistreated under sm? after the latest chen baekhyun lawsuit, i can't help but feel sad this industry is beyond saving and the fans are directly responsible for why.

***

Hi Anon(s),

Anon in ask 2, there's really no need for the tone you're taking in that ask. I understand the schadenfreude, but it's frankly not necessary, especially considering it's the artists who have the most to lose in this scenario.

Like I said during the HYBE/SM/Kakao drama, I personally would have advised HYBE to not acquire SM because there are fundamental cultural differences in how both companies are run, as well as significant intangible costs that would render the financial benefits moot. Also, HYBE underestimated the extent of animosity SM stans have to anything related to BTS. Can you imagine if that acquisition happened and this lawsuit story came out? Who do you think would be the scapegoat dragged to hell and back for SM's decades-long history of abuse, slavery, and neglect?

JYPE is a much better acquisition target for HYBE as it's easier to realize accretive synergies, they're closer in company culture, and the company is significantly better run than SM. The only issue is JYPE would be more expensive to acquire than SM. If you recall, I said SME remains the cheapest of the Big3 companies to buy, and so the returns HYBE would realize from that target would dwarf the others in the near-term, but over time would normalize to zero.

And so,

I was incredibly relieved when Bang PD pulled back from pursuing that acquisition, and felt kinda vindicated when he cited some intangible/indirect costs as reasons for pulling back. Because I'm sure whatever he saw the longer the process dragged on, the more he realized the rot in that company just runs too deep.

Fans of SM groups make up a majority of the whole k-pop fandom, and so a lot of narratives, behaviours, and beliefs that permeate k-pop, come directly from SM stans which as I've said before, is directly fostered and structurally supported by the company itself and has developed over literal decades. When you see people decry mistreatment of their idols and what not, it's because that is what they know. They've seen this shit before, but they've been forced to rationalize it in a way that absolves them of guilt for paying the salaries of the executives they've seen their own idols cry in court about being abused from.

The sad thing though, is that the company has successfully conditioned many of the fans to downplay, ignore, or accept what has been plain to see for decades. It's been common knowledge for years that SM uses a loophole to bypass the legal contract lengths and I've talked about this before. When Jessica Jung wrote a whole book about the extent of abuse in SM, it was Exols, Shawols, MeUs, and other SM stans going after anyone who talked about it and called her a liar, and rather claimed the abuse is happening under other agencies instead (they're not entirely wrong but it's more complicated than that). This sort of thing has happened more times than I can count.

And so it goes, until the SM idols inevitably file a lawsuit, which has happened every 2 - 3 years for the last two decades, and the fans are forced to confront the reality that they're funding what essentially amounts to an enslavement empire run by an unrepentant group of despots.

The competitive environment in k-pop causes them to redirect that anger and they project it on everyone else, the most accepted target being BigHit/HYBE and HYBE groups - despite having zero proof for anything of the sort happening in BigHit. The industry is notoriously cut throat and no company in this industry, both in Korea and internationally, is blameless, including HYBE, but like I've said before, there's levels to this shit. And again, SM is the absolute worst of the bunch.

I often see what people here call mistreatment under BigHit, and choose to keep my mouth shut because a lot of those claims pale in comparison to the rest of the industry to the point it sounds like first world problems. I mean, so much worse is the baseline in this habitat. Also, I trust that the idols themselves who have more information that any of us do, to ultimately stand up for themselves. BTS basically proved this in 2018 and 2019 when they showed they have independent legal representation separate from HYBE, a protocol that HYBE actually encourages for their artists (contrast that with SM's statement of "outside forces" lol), and that any incidence of discord or lawsuits from BTS so far have been proven false. The idols can stand up for themselves and always do, and that's what we're seeing with Chen, Xiumin, and Baekhyun. I wish them luck, and this time around, it seems the fans are taking their side rather than demonizing them as happened with Jessica.

But given the years of conditioning SM has done, this won't be the last time we see something like this from that company. The fact that every 2 - 3 years they're taken to court by their idols for the very same thing and nothing ever changes, and the fans continue funding the machine perpetuating so much abuse, doesn't give me much hope.

For newer fans it can be interesting to see things I've alluded to in the past happen in real time, so let's see how it all plays out. I'm personally hoping that this time around, I'm very wrong in what I think the conclusion of this fiasco will be.

#kpop #sm entertainment #hybe #bighit #kpop industry #fandom behaviour #bts #exo #fandom discourse

[prapaiwife]

helloooo what are your favorite music groups? i've seen you post about shinee who i LOVE so i was wondering who else u are into :-)

Hi OMG my favorite groups there's a lot but SHINee is my ultimate favorite like their my first grout that brought me into K-pop and I cannot go a day without playing their music 🥹 but I really love exo my most listened to with SHINee. Then Tomorrow by together (txt) they are neck in neck with SHINee, day6 I loveeeee them so much, loved their comeback. The Boyz!!! I saw in person actually amazing live😭. OH ATEEZ I saw them on tour as well literal beasts on stage another ultimate group for me like guerilla live was an outer body experience that I will love to relive over and over again. Seventeen, bts, 127, dream, enhypen, monsta x, 2pm, oh a Japanese rock band called one ok rock AMAZING DISCOGRAPHY I highly recommend luxury disease one of my favorite albums ever!! And Got7 can't wait for their reunion after military is done!! P1 harmony I mean the bsides the title tracks are just impeccable 😫

#SHINee #ateez #exo #one ok rock #enhypen #the boyz #ask box #ask me anything

[zaewriteshere]

Guardian of the Protocol

Interrogations

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

AO3 Link

Masterlist

You expected the oldest to be the one to ask the first question, but you were surprised when a younger, black haired woman did.

“What is that little machine floating next to you ?” Lynn turned to her, unimpressed. 

“I’m Lynn, and please refer to me as a person. I’m not an it or a what, thank you very much,” They replied with disdain. 

“Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to sound offensive,” She apologised, sheepish. You nudged your ghost, encouraging them to be a bit more social… Even though they were strangers. Ultimately, it was Lynn’s decision. You wouldn’t force them to do anything.

“It’s fine,” They mumbled, a bit upset, but genuine. 

“And you ? Who are you ?” Questioned the exo, looking at you with... Looking at them closer, they weren’t looking like any exo you’ve encountered before. Maybe they weren’t one. Either way, it was hard to read their expressions. You said your name again, not really knowing what to say. 

“I’m also a guardian, if that means anything to you,” You shrugged, and at the confused look the others gave you, you figured it didn’t mean much. 

“And that means ?...” Questioned the older human. 

“It’s complicated,” You sort of explained, sheepish.

“How did you end up there ? We went there just a few dozen minutes ago.” Asked another man, younger and darker skinned. 

“I teleported there ?” You answered tentatively. 

“How ?” Asked the fifth person, a woman with a slight tan.

“I went through a portal in my world, then ended up next to a satellite.”

“What is your world like ?” Interrogated the non-exo. 

“Nothing like this one, for sure,” You said somewhat more confidently.

When would they stop asking the hard questions that you didn’t really have an answer to ? You wondered, not wanting to be discredited or worse, in their eyes.

“How can you tell ?” Asked the older man.

“You don’t know what a guardian is. You also seem technologically impeded. Even the technologies that we have on Mars aren’t that old…” You explained as best you could without sounding offensive. 

“That would explain the existence of Lynn…” Muttered the black haired woman.

“Hey ! I am not a robot,” They said, offended, “Well, not just a robot,” Lynn continued, mumbling. 

You yourself didn’t really know what your ghost was, besides that they were created by the Traveller… And had the duty to guide, help, and keep you alive. 

When asked, they always darted around the subject, admitting that they didn’t know by themselves.

“Then what are you ?” Wondered the robot, mechanically. 

It kind of freaked you out, if you were honest. The exos that you knew were… More lively. To be fair, they were once human. Was it the case for this robot as well ? It didn’t feel like it, but maybe they were all on “mission mode”. 

Though, you could tell your ghost was getting annoyed. You intervened, trying to be the mediator in all of this.

“Let’s not invalidate anyone's experience or existence. We are all living beings with emotions and a story, can we live it at that ?” They all nodded, some more eagerly than others. You sighed.

It was gonna be a long day.

“What do you know about Omega Earth ?” The senior human asked with a “tell me all that you know”, look. 

What Earth ?

“Is nothing a valid answer ? I’ve never heard of an alternate Earth. Most I’ve seen is an imaginary world…” Lynn said, thinking. At the look of confusion, you quickly added : 

“Long story.”

The oldest of the group had an expression that was screaming that he wanted to know more. Or at least was expecting some sort of debriefing at the end of the mission.

So far, he reminded you of commander Zavala.

But you could tell they were different, in some ways. 

They had to be.

If you were honest, you were already missing your home, not feeling at ease in this new place – new world – of undefined rules and beliefs. It felt alienating.

You shooed away the thoughts. You mustn’t be distracted from the task at hand. Which was to find a solution for your endeavour.

“Where exactly did you teleport ?” Asked the white woman, adjusting her glasses.

“Let me show you,” You said, understanding that Lynn wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore, if you trusted their aura. 

And so you jumped back up, but at the surprise gasps behind you, you weren’t supposed to be able to do that. Turning around, you tilted your head, arching an eyebrow – they couldn’t see the last part, you were still wearing your helmet that hadn't taken it off yet – but shrugged and waited for them to do much smaller, shorter jumps than you were capable of. 

After what seemed like an eternity, they were all ready for you to show them where you landed, the two women seemingly very interested in the answers, having some sort of sensors out and turned on.

You guided them back to where the void cleared up, and you didn’t hear the sensors presenting any form of anomaly.

“Here,” you simply indicated, going to the exact location – or at least, to the best of your ability – and stepped aside to let the women work. 

You watched as the robot observed you like a hawk, as if you were about to go crazy and attempt to kill them all. You crossed your arms and sat down cross legged, hoping that’ll soothe their fears.

They valued their colleagues, you could say that much. And you understood, feeling the same way about your friends.

The little that you had, anyways. You didn’t have a fire team anymore, since both of them died during the Red War. 

It left you feeling lonely, but you refused to be in another team, fearing losing them as well. So, you spent your time fending for yourself, and you were good at it. 

Until recently.

Going back to reality, you observed the people around you. 

The two women were still observing the spot that you previously left, taking samples and observing their rudimentary technologies, looking for anomalies. 

The men were watching them do their work, though you could tell they all kept an eye on you, apparently not trusting you just yet. 

You wondered what you had to do to earn their trust. You tried not thinking too hard about it, silently observing them work, pondering if you could help in any way but… Technology wasn’t your forte. Especially alien ones. Was it really considered alien at this point ? You didn’t know.

All those questions were starting to give you a headache. 

“That’s weird,” Mumbled the black haired one, furrowing her brows. She cursed under her breath, “I’m not seeing anything abnormal so far,” She paused, turning to everyone, looking at you from the corner of her eyes, “Which means that whatever happened here, there’s no trace of it left.”

“Maybe you simply cannot detect it with your tools and current technology,” You tried, not liking where this was going. “I would propose my help but I’m really bad at technology in general,” You said, still thinking of a better solution. You looked at Lynn, who, sensing your gaze, turned to you and simply said :

“I’m not sensing the anomaly anymore. Not ever since the void cleared out.”

You sighed. That was both great and bad news

It meant that the Hive probably couldn’t reach here, not unless opening another portal, which would alert your ghost. The bad news was…

That for now, you had nowhere to go. 

Granted, you could ask them for any directions to go for a shelter. Whatever this place was, something happened to it and you didn’t feel comfortable staying here for the night, but they didn’t seem to trust you at all. You had to think of the right time to ask this. 

“What happened ?” You heard the darker skinned woman ask you, turning to you with a glint of curiosity in her eyes.

“I went through a portal. It led me here,” You bluntly stated.

“Did you know where you would end up ?” Questioned the darker skinned man, crossing his arms.

“Nope.”

“Then why did you go through ?” asked the non-exo.

“A possible death is better odds than a certain one,” You shrugged, nonchalant.

They all looked at you in incredulity. It made you quietly chuckle. 

“So… You were about to die, and you just decided that going through a random portal was gonna be the solution ?” Rephrased the apparent leader of the group, the elder man. 

“A magic portal, might I add,” Piped in Lynn, and you could tell they were slightly angry at you for making such a rash decision, but you had been with them long enough to know that they understood your actions.

“Are you okay ?” Asked the tan woman, with seemingly genuine worry.

“Oh I’m fine,” You reassured, “I wasn’t really hurt. It was just, ‘I know death is coming, so might as well try the unlikely’, kinda deal.”

They all looked at you as if you somehow grew another head in the span of a few seconds.

#ao3 fanfic #x reader #gender neutral reader #valorant #yoru x reader #yoru x you #fanfic #long fic #guardian of the protocol #destiny 2 #slow burn #gotp

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I’m sure jungkook already had ideas about this going in, but I can’t help thinking about how much better all of the rappers in bts are compared to Jack Harlow and central cee. It says a lot about who gets elevated in the music industry. Like jungkook was so spoiled with rap line 😭 I wonder if it’s something he noted. Tbh, and I don’t know if this makes sense considering how much more recognized they are, but being a western pop star doesn’t seem like all it’s cracked up to be success-wise. There are a lot of people that make music that’s played heavily on the radio and heavily listened to, like kid laroi maybe, but idk if I’ve ever met a kid laroi ‘fan’ or if people really go to his concerts or physically buy his albums. Most likely he’s taking pennies from Spotify, and that’s probably what most of them do if they’re not Taylor swift. K-pop fan engagement is a different beast bc the fan culture is very much about actively engaging with the artists - going to concerts and buying albums and hyping them. You’ll more directly receive the love from your fans, which boosts you up more. Since most people aren’t going to be successful in either industry, I think I’d rather be in kpop since it might feel more rewarding in the moment

Yeah, the BTS rap line is infinitely superior to Central Cee and Jack Harlow - from flow to lyrics to looks to charm lmao.

It's true that success in the West a lot of times seems to mean people knowing who you are because they heard of you or heard one or two of your songs on the radio and not even by choice. Those artists make money from ads, performances, their label, but may not really have that many real fans. The Kid Laroi is famous, everyone in a given age group knows who he is, but he probably wouldn't fill a stadium in a heartbeat like Jungkook would, no matter how big the stadium. Even in a market like Europe, where The Kid Laroi is way more mainstream, Jungkook would still sell out any stadium over him, even if all the seats were filled with foreigners who flew in to see him. It's a bit unfair that, despite this reality, Jungkook will probably never be mainstream the way a lot of American artists are.

But American artists make a lot more money than kpop artists, work less in general, and often have more creative control and personal freedom. I wouldn't say that it's better to be a kpop artist. If you think The Kid Laroi is being paid pennies, than how much do you think most idols make? And he's just starting out. There's also a question of trainee debt, harsh beauty standards that male pop artists at least can probably evade, a grueling workload, less creative and personal freedom in general, etc. It's one thing to be BTS and another thing to be anyone else. Even Exo are all leaving SM and they're at the top of the industry. The pop industry is also exploitative, full of controlling executives, and ugly inside out, but I'd be willing to bet it gives artists more opportunities in the future. Music wise, I'd rather be an idol, and agree that the bond idols and fans share is much more interesting than what Western artists and their fans have, but I doubt that, as far as personal happiness and fulfillment go, being an American artist, pop or not, is less fulfilling than being an idol. Plenty of American artists have really solid fanbases and It opens a lot more doors too.

I don't know, both industries suck for sure.

Thanks for the ask!

#ask #bts #jungkook #text #thanks for the ask!

[sanstropfremir]

Hey! I hops life has been treating you well! And warning for a long and convoluted ask incoming (which is pretty par for the course for me). I’ve been going down a Yunho (U-Know Yunho to be precise lol) rabbit hole and I’m curious how you think he compares to other male SM solo artists especially Taemin (though I think it would be interesting to compare all SM solo artists like BOA or Taeyeon and Hyoyeon for the purpose of this ask im just thinking about the dudes). Cause I feel like him, Taemin, and Kai all fall on different ends of the same spectrum that’s distinct from some of the other SM solos like the other Exos (except I might add Baekhyun in there but I’m just not familiar enough with him) as they tend to tackle that darker sexier sound. I’ve been thinking about how when people say a male solo artists is making taemin lite music it’s usually actually closer to Yunho’s more recent stuff. Like taemin has kind of become short hand for dark male solo concept especially if it’s on the sexier or high concept side when that’s not always an accurate comparison. I’ve seen this especially with Wonho which is really interesting to me cause in my mind he falls way more on the Yunho end of the spectrum than Taemin (by like a long shot). And this could also be cause the kpop circles I run in are way less familiar with Yunho to make that comparison in the first place, I was just wondering if others like you that knew Yunho would agree with me. I also found it interesting that Taemin went solo before Yunho even though TVXQ are the older group so I wonder he affected Yunho’s music at all. Cause Yunho kind of seems like a more, I don’t want to say masculine, definitely more of a player, conventionally sexy foil to taemin’s more unhinged (satanic?? Fantasy? Horror-adjacent? I can’t really describe it accurately but I mean TVXQ has down their share of that too) sensual side and I can’t tell if it’s cause of the age difference between them, their group concepts (I mean TVXQ are the grown men of the kpop industry in my mind and I have no doubt they play a role in inspiring any “manly” or mature concept and Yunho’s concepts seems to follow pretty closely to TVXQ’s image in a way that Taemin doesn’t at all with Shinee), or their own artist personas and careers- taemin has always been viewed as the “feminine” one and you’ve talked a lot about how he’s both rejected and embraced that image overtime in his career. And to further complicate this I don’t really know where to put Kai between them cause he has the more overt sex appeal in Mmmh, and in his image over all, that Yunho has but also is more sensual and softer (subtle?) dance style that seems closer to taemin (or at least taemin’s image I’ll be the first to admit that my understanding of him as an artists doesnt always align with his actual output and the expectations I project on him) so I guess he goes in the middle. But peaches does really stand out as a sort of softer lighter storybook concept (which I love cause I feel like we don’t see traditional concepts that are more feel good) so that kind of throws a wrench into my theory and I guess thats what I get for treating artists’ output as a monolith and for comparing them😅. This ask is getting very very long and I’m late for class so I won’t continue but I did have some idea about where Xiumin’s recent comeback fits into this roster of artists but I’ll save that for another day lol. As always thanks for your input and I hope this makes at least some sense to you!

i stopped photo editing to answer this lmao bc i think this a very interesting question/thought experiment etc etc

firstly, most people will make the taemin comparison for male soloist because he is significantly more well known as a soloist, and part of that is that he's famous for being a soloist; an extension of which is the disparity between his solo work and his group work. now there are two points i want to fork off into from here:

-> the first is that it's a flawed comparison to place yunho, taemin, and kai on a spectrum because they're not derivatives of each other in the way that a spectrum would imply; what they all are is derivatives of rain. every dance-based male soloist is, via some lineage, a descendant of rain, whether it's through the skills line (taemin) or the 'masculinity' line (yunho) or a mix (kai). baekhyun doesn't factor in here because he's almost purely rnb based and therefore a kangta derivative.

-> the second is that it is valid for people to be making that comparison to taemin because most younger idols are going to be using him as reference, and because a lot of these younger idols are following his method of creating a separate solo persona from their group. yunho does not have that distinction. he is quite literally the face of tvxq, and therefore inextricably bound to the group's identity because there are literally only two of them. if they were, for example, still a five member group, he might have had more a chance to diversify himself a bit, but that's a bygone point because we don't live in that world. the reason tvxq made it through the split and maintained being an extremely successful group is very likely because of yunho's singlehanded determination. obviously changmin does care about the group, but as we've seen with his solo work, he's much more of a musical chameleon; he's more focused on dabbling in widely different genres that interest him. yunho's solo music however, is pretty consistent in sound and also not all that surprising of a leap from who he is in tvxq. so by that observation, i would say there isn't actually a difference between uknow yunho and uknow the soloist. his artistic identity is tvxq, in a way that he can't separate, unlike how taemin can separate from shinee. and following that point through, no younger soloist can really be compared to him because his history and group image are so integral to what he does. that's why there's like a negative number of young idols that every attempt to cover a yunho song, bc the vibes of something like follow or thank u would OBLITERATE anyone under the age of 30.

if you were to look at just aesthetics and music styles, sure on the surface there are some younger idols that unintentionally skew more towards some of the stuff that yunho has done, but in the end that's because they're all under the rain umbrella.

#kpop questions #tvxq w #tvxq #yunho #taemin meta #i know i've talked about this before in a post somewhere. but yunho's only comparable peers are literally like. junsu and rain #both them COULD cover a yunho song if they wanted to. but again. their vibes are wrong. they don't have the same desperation #to be completely honest i actually think it's unimportant to compare the literal aesthetics/music style of solo artists #and instead you need to compare HOW they approach those aesthetics styles etc etc #like you could say that taemin kai yunho and baekhyun have all done dance based 'dark sexy' concepts within a relatively close timespan: #criminal (sept 2020) mmmh (nov 2020) thank u (jan 2021) and bambi (march 2021) #but that doesnt take into account the fact that all of them approach the concept of 'dark sexy' totally differently #and each according to their own contexts #i dont think you can put all of sm's soloists on a big scale of similarity of music and aesthetic #i mean. you can bc duh theyre all gonna look and sound similar bc they share resources #but that's not seeing the forest for the trees in terms of actually analysing and understanding a soloist's work #this is basically just a very longwinded way of me saying that i dont think there's anyone that makes solo work like yunho #i guess you could argue that kai is actually the most similar to yunho since he doesnt have a real distinction between solo kai and exo kai #but again its different bc he's got a wider array of genres he's willing to try and exo is not the same as tvxq #but again again its not about relating them to each other. its about relating them in comparison to rain #answers #text #like when i say taemin is more popular i mean like. 1.2 million monthly spotify listeners vs 30k. its not an insignificant difference

[enchxntingneo]

no like i can't let it go, i'm still so upset :( long rant about sungtaro/nct/sm ahead

i mean we always knew that sm is terrible at managing their groups but experiencing it in real time as a (relatively) new kpop fan is infuriating... i only got into kpop/nct in mid 2021 so i didn't experience the peak of 3rd gen but from what i hear exo was dominating back then, like especially watching the pre-covid mama clips it's kinda crazy! obviously they're still crazy popular now but if you look at the impact on the current kpop scene they're not really there anymore and i get that has to do with the members enlisting too but i've seen plenty of exols (and fans of any other sm group) talk about how sm will abandon older groups in favour of the shiny new thing. for exo it was nct but now it seems they're doing it to nct in favour of the new non nct boy group that sungtaro + the rookies are supposed to be a part of. i get that they're trying to keep up with current kpop trends and probably want to compete with all the other new bgs but i really feel like they're cutting the nct concept short for no reason. if nct isn't as big as they had hoped it's bc they're mismanaging them!! if they spaced them out correctly i really feel like they could have easily debuted the japanese nct unit plus another korean nct unit, since that's what they seem to be going for with the new one, and i really think they could hold their own within the current 4th gen/upcoming 5th gen climate. obviously i'm gonna be biased as an nctzen but it really doesn't take much thinking to see they're underutilising the fuck out of the nct concept and now they're punishing the members and the fans as a result...

and ig they're hoping to have a good chunk of nctzens follow sungtaro to the new group but it's really not fair to us or them. if they're going out of their way to separate the new group from nct so much doesn't it defeat the purpose to drag nctzens with them into the new group?? like i'll definitely support them bc i've grown attached to them now but it feels like it's gonna be infintely harder now to establish them as their own separate group with their own disdinct voice as they will always have nct's shadow looming over them now, so i feel like a lot of us will just see them as an unofficial nct unit regardless...

this whole thing is fucked but i think what's especially cruel is shotaro got into sm FOR nct and they made his dream come true only to let him waste away for a few years and then rip it away from him again? like that's fucked... also sungchan gets on so well with all of them, i always look forward to him and jungwoo interacting!! like he trained with so many of them, the rookies too, it just feels so cruel for no reason. but ig now we can only hope for the yearly sm town interactions... :(

another thing i've noticed is the fandom's unanimous reaction to this news being very negative. i feel like with the lucas situation the fandom kind of split in half but it seems everyone is unhappy with this. the only remotely positive reaction i've seen is ppl saying they're happy sungtaro will actually finally have a fixed group and will actually get to be proper idols. i really wonder what k- and j-fans reaction to this is but i can't imagine they're very happy either

considering that sm was actively making merch with sungtaro's likness for nct home, ccomaz and the sanrio collab up until recently this definitely feels like a rushed decision. or maybe not rushed but this didn't seem to be a part of their long term plans until very recently, like welcome to nct universe just happened!! ig most likely shohei's injury unexpectedly set their plans back and i'm guessing sungtaro and the rookies were given the choice of delaying their debut within nct or this. and obviously we can't know but if that is what they chose i can't fault them for it. as much as we like to make the unemployment jokes, i'm sure it hasn't been fun for them, like universe was the last nct album and that was in 2021! and sungchan didn't even appear in a music video for it!! considering maw and 90s love are 2 of nct's best performing songs ever, it seems stupid even just on a purely monetary level to not do anything with them. so as much as this sucks i am really happy for them that they'll get to have a proper group now.

i really wonder about the rest of nct too, like seeing yuta's reaction today i can't imagine they got much of a heads up about this or that they wanted this either. first off, i want to sit down with yuta and shit talk sm so bad asdfshjfsdjds like you can tell that man is fed up! and rightfully so!!! considering we're coming up to contract renewal season it makes me wonder who in nct will leave... i feel like i can't see anyone in dream leaving (for now) but in 127 yuta and taeil have been pretty vocal about their discontent. taeil not getting a solo when he's now at risk of getting shipped off to the military at any point feels disrespectful, ik he's spoken about being unhappy about not having anything to do. i was also watching some of the 2 baddies promotional stuff back and you can definitely tell he was not having it back then. he seemed so unhappy and disinterested and who can blame him when he gets a miniscule amount of screentime? considering they gave him so much more screentime in ay-yo i feel like he must've had a big talk with someone behind the scenes and good for him!! i just hope that this continues and isn’t just a temporary change to appease him. and i rly feel like yuta could probably write a book on the ways sm constantly mistreats him, so it wouldn't shock me if either of them were to leave at some point. winwin is another candidate imo, he's so distant and elusive lol like he's building a pretty solid career for himself in china but he keeps making appearances with wayv every now and again so i really can't tell. nct def seems to be his sidegig tho and not the other way around, so i also wouldn't be shocked if he eventually dips. sm is rly fumbling the bag, like how is the supposedly limitless group losing members at such a high rate... sigh

ALSO apparently the new nct japan unit will be formed through a survival show... yuck 😬 sm has always historically stayed away from that, so i wonder if the new management changes and sm 3.0 have anything to do with that. regardless, i won't watch it ESPECIALLY if there are minors involved. i thought they learned their lesson after all the nct dream shit when aespa debuted with all of them being 18 and over and the rookies too. i'm really hoping they're not gonna regress into old habits... also from what i’ve seen from any other survival show, it never feels very fun or fair to the participating trainees, like i never watched stray kids’ survival show bc my heart hurt for them. i also really don't think that a survival show fits into nct's concept like AT ALL, especially at this stage of their career with 3 established units that all came together without a survival show. i feel like if they really wanted to go down that path they should've made that the concept for the non nct bg, that way they would also feel distinctly different from nct, but ig not 🙄

ofc i'll support sungtaro wherever they go but i wonder if we can bully sm into putting them back like dreamzens did for dream's graduation system, like just make the new bg be another nct unit and literally everyone will be happier for it!! ig it will probably have to come from k-czennies since they never care what us i-fans have to say lol but if there is a boycott i'll do it!!

#i've also seen ppl be weird on tiktok #first of all i have seen too many edits making it look like sungtaro died ashgbdsjkbv but that's just funny #its dozen fans lumping lucas in with sungtaro #like 🤨 #your man was KICKED OUT for good reason #dont act like they’re the same #anyways… this rant is way too long oops #but i just have so many thoughts abt it #sighhhhh #nct #edit: just remembered sungchan was in the beautiful mv so that was a lie lol but that must’ve been what barely 2 seconds of screentime? hm

[what-if-nct]

hiiii today's reminder is this might be just me but taemin's mv teasers and the new batch of pictures plus the heavy christian guilt symbolism he keeps adding into his songs are giving me strong closeted queer vibes. and that's not just me projecting/expecting queerness from him, I'm very very very strongly against assuming sexuality, but the mv teaser is giving me call me by your name summer followed by being sent to a religious boarding school because your parents found out about the call me by your name summer. something about the imagery just felt like the freedom of expressing your true self for the first time

Hiii, and I totally get what you mean, like the recent teaser kinda gave me the the same energy as the movie But I'm a cheerleader, if you've never seen it it's about a cheerleader who's family and friends suspects she's a lesbian and they send her to a conversion camp, she's completely unaware of her own sexuality but then she she falls in love with a girl there, there's a scene i watched at 12 that answered some questions i had about my own sexuality. So it did very much give that energy. But also as it went on I also got like a loss of childhood. Like the beginning felt like boyhood the joy of being an adolescent it reminded me of the Riize memories mv where they're playing in the water and they're carefree and happy. It was very much that energy but then having to be pulled away from that and put in a situation where you've lost your innocence and the childlike wonder of the world you had before experiencing something dark. But I could be reading too much into it. But I can't wait to see where it's going.

But speaking of, Riize, Wayv, Stray Kids and Taemin are all having comebacks at the same time I genuinely gave up on keeping track of anyone cause it's so much. What ever I see is just a draw of luck. There is a chance only one will actually catch all of my attention but I can't tell you who it would be but actually Riize might be the one cause don't hate me they're the only ones who've really held my attention. Like the 90s vibe really struck something for me. I thought their teaser was a 90s boy group throwback with that I'm sold. And Taro looks so good!! Stray Kids the teaser pics caught me but the newer mv teasers kinda lost me cause it's just not my vibe. Wayv honestly kinda got lost in everything literally so I have to refocus to them. I miss when all I had to worry about was exo. I haven't even watched the MV for cream soda my head is hurting just thinking about it. I think I'm going to need a kpop hiatus, I get easily overwhelmed. I'm tapping out it's too much. I just wanna drink tea and play with my dolls. I'm getting my scissors, someone's going to get a bob.

[suuho]

Have a good shift Kaz <3 also any thoughts on a particular bside you wanna share? I always love reading your takes so anything you wanna talk about

this is SO late, rina, i am so sorry. life is kind of busy lately, which is surprising because usually i am really lethargic in summer. the heat makes me just miserable, lmao. my frail body is absolutely not made to withstand these temperatures. very happy that it has cooled down in germany, tho (can't you relate?).

anyways. i had to let the album sit a little, return to it after a few days of not obsessively listening to it, but! it turns out my opinion remains the same. cinderella is my favorite bside on the album. i have a massive bone to pick with sm putting the unfinished song on the album (apparently having rectified that mistake for streaming, but it'll remain the unfinished song on the physical albums. like. lol, sm? you wanna chat?) but, whatever. god, i loved that song on initial first listen, and i still love it so much. it's soooooo pleasing to the ear, it sounds like it could have been on love shot, or like a little brother to lotto in a way? it's just. such a sleek, perfect little number. jongdae sounds marvelous here, i mean, when does he not but it is truly one of his best vocal takes. baekhyun and kyungsoo do such marvelous adlibs here, especially kyungsoo's right after baekhyun's riff, it actually. like. had me make a noise while i was walking home, lmao. his voice is just SO. so. it's like velvet. this is why kyungsoo could NEVER be in another group; no other group could compliment the tone of his voice as well as exo.

i also love no make up and love fool. once again, kyungsoo has just outrageously good vocal takes here, i love his little runs and trills. he is just so tonally solid. makes me crazy. no make up is the perfect r&b slow jam, very sexy, very tame, i need that bass boosted and deep enough to feel in my chest. minseok also sounds wonderful here, especially his harmony with baekhyun in the second verse (xiubaek serve). the outro of this song is just delicious. sehun has grown SO much as a performer, as a singer and as a rapper, and i never wanna hear a bad fucking word about him ever again.

love that on me kinda slay that is love fool; that post-chorus break down is soooooo cunty. LITERALLY, just. like. on me. a serve.

btw, i loved hear me out as a pre-release track but it is even better in the entire album; it makes so much sense now that this song would be on the album, it just fits perfectly. mwah. let me in, by the way, is number 2 on my on repeat right now, because i just think it is a perfect ballad. i just love that song and i reckon i will always love it.

so, that's pretty much a bit of what i think about the album!! thank you for your ask, and i hope you can enjoy your weekend. <3

#littlesunshinedae #ask

[n-agiz]

imma be honest - other than exo and got7 (mostly the 3rd gen bg's) boy groups nowadays aren't really my type. nct used to have an amazing array of songs, so much talent (especially with Mark and taeyong and ten, DONT GET ME STARTWD ON WAYV ARGHHH) but fuckkkk now with their new sound like sticker - it's driving me batshit insane. its just plain not doing for me unfortunately

usually when I hear a song, I prioritise coherence and good grammar, which most songs nowadays don't really have - new jeans, twice and stay c !!!!!!! arghhhh they really hit the nail so well !!!!! ALONG WITH G-IDLE TOO !!! GYU I MISS SOOJIN SO MUCH TBH !!!!! ahhh my kpop era was definitely a little cringy but auahahahah there were so many good memories there! 💗

waaaaah i agree with you on basically everything here wow ! i can't say much for got7 since i've never really taken the time to listen to their stuff, but exo reallyy has a superior discography idc what anybody says ! i've seen ppl compare them to bts and other groups and i'm always just like ? ? no hate to bts ! their older stuff is good ngl, but exo are literally on a league of their own lmao, there's no other way to put it yk.

and aaaaah i def get what you mean abt nct ! ! i've been a sticker + 2 baddies enjoyer since day one lmao but i have no problem in admitting that their discography has def seen better days ! ! nct as a whole has been so mismanaged lately it's insane :/ sungchan + shotaro debuted two years ago and are stil unitless. i think they're gonna debut soon in a new unit with the smrookies, but even then idk how much i actually like that idea bc although i really freaking want to see those two finally get under the spotlight, i can't help but wonder if a new unit won't just make everything worst ! mark + haechan haven't stopped since 2020 between dream & 127 schedules, nct 127 went basically one entire year without a comeback and had what ? two weeks of promotions ? once they finally got one ? i'm not even gonna talk about the fact that wayv haven't had any comebacks since early 2021 and we're still waiting to know if they'll continue as 6 or as 7 or what the heck is gonna happen with them in general. it makes me so mad seeing all these guys with so much potential and talent get left behind AND BY SM OF ALL COMPANIES ! you'd think such a big company would be exactly the one to be able to handle such a huge project but ig not.

boy groups in general but specially 4th gen ones i feel like have been leaning sm towards the noise music lane lately and although there's a select few that do it kind of alright, most of them are basically just making fans drift away from them. that's why i think all these girl groups have been doing so well ! their sound is experimental in it's own way and they all have their own vibe, but that just goes to show that you can do something new that will separate you from others while still producing good music. newjeans got where they are bc their sound was something new, (g)-idle try so many concepts and still manage to do amazing every time, ive, le sserafim, stayc ALL OF THEM have something unique that sets them apart but their music is still good and liked by most people, unlike what we've seen with boy groups yk — they'll have something that sets them apart but not for the best of reasons lmao.

kpop has been so insane lately and i honestly wonder why i haven't given up on it completely yet bc this industry is absolutely too much lmao. there's so many gems in it but companies nowadays only care abt money and, maybe without realizing, all they're doing is ruining their groups. we need more good music, not tiktok tunes and challenges AND VERY MUCH NOT US VALIDATION ! although i think it's great that 4th gen is so focused on making kpop a global genre instead of it having such a limited audience, i also think it's so stupid to have topping on the us charts as your main goal. idk maybe i'm wrong for this but it's just what i've been noticing as someone who has kind of been just listening to kpop and looking at it from afar instead of actually being super engrossed in the fandoms yk

#mail. #i rambled. again. oops

[baekxytocin]

100 Days My Prince - Part 88

Part 88 – Love Shot (Side 5 – 13 Minutes Performances)

Fluff

Character:

Baekhyun

Reader

‘There’s a blessing in disguise.’

480 words

After the EXO members performed Love Shot, the other singers also completed their performances as a whole group, solo and sub-units.

Not long after, the stage goes dark again. After the next group takes place on the stage, the song starts first before the stage goes bright again.

“Wow! The First Snow!” you and your husband cheer, along with fans who cheer louder than you.

You sing along to the song and feel the song as if you are at Christmas again. Your husband takes a brief look at you. He is happy to see you enjoying the concert tonight.

As The First Snow ends, the show resumes with another singer. Right after the singer ends the song, the stage goes dark and now, you could see the familiar light decoration….

“Hubby, why do I feel that the light decoration is similar to your power, light?”

“Because it is my power. Did you just notice it?” and you could only nod at your husband.

“Hahaha, you must have focused on the performance only, you don’t even realise that’s my light power decoration hanging there. And since the light decoration has returned, I believe it’s EXO’s turn to perform again. I wonder what song they perform this time.”

And it turns out it is the sub-unit performance; the EXO-SC, Sehun and Chanyeol. They perform Fly Away first, then Rodeo Station second. Since you have known all of their songs, you easily sing along with them.

“WOW!!!! Suho Oppa sings with them at the Fly Away! That’s so cool!” you are getting excited.

“Who sings the original part? I forgot” your husband implores.

“Gaeko” you swiftly answer him.

Both of you continue to watch until the end of their sub-unit performances.

“It feels like there’s a blessing in disguise” you take a look at your husband. “What do you mean?”

“I am in the military service now. This is the time for EXO-SC to shine. Imagine if I haven’t entered the military yet, or have completed my military services, I’m pretty sure CBX will be the one who dominates the sub-unit part in the most concert performance.”

“Yeah, I feel that too” you seem to agree with your husband. “It seems like there were about 11-13 minutes of their total performances. From Love Shot, The First Snow, Fly Away and Rodeo Station.”

“That’s adequate enough” your husband feels proud. “Since the company has signed many artists, I feel the total time given to perform is fair” he continues.

“That’s great to hear that….” you and your husband smile at each other when there is an incoming text message. You open the message.

Yah! Is that Baekhyun? Come to the backstage now! We want to see him too!!!!

Xiumin

You laugh when your husband asks. “Who is that?”

“Let’s go to the preparation room, hubby. I think the members are really surprised now.”

To be continued….

Uploaded on: 30th January 2023

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[jongbross]

This may sound weird, but I think Sehun may find it hard to return love, especially in the romantic sense. I mean, he’s the youngest in his family plus the youngest in exo, so he’s been overloaded on love and affection. Obviously, that love is different compared to being in a committed relationship. So, for him, it might take him a while to open up. I think to back that knowing bros ep where Baek said that Sehun wasn’t interested in women (I took it as he wasn’t interested in dating), and I believe Hun said he wasn’t interested in marriage until he turned 30. I wonder if it’s just his lack of interest or that he might be somewhat afraid/concerned about opening up to someone else.

Sorry for this was really random, but I don’t have any exol friends to talk to about this stuff lol. 😂

it's okaaay, don't apologize!! i'm here for this 🫂

and i agree with you! i think sehun might have some issues to talk about his feelings in general, tbh - at least that's how i see him. he has always been the maknae, so i bet he was spoiled and loved so much, but that can make you feel like "okay how do i pay back all this love? what do i have to do?", you know? so he has his own way of showing love, i think i've commented with a friend that sehun is the loyalist person i know when it comes to a group. that's just him, i think.

so yeah, i agree with you. nice reading! 💘

#j talks

[angrykpoprants]

as someone whos been in and out of the kpop sphere for well over 10yrs and witnessed 2nd gen -> 3rd gen and now -> 4th gen i know of no other music genre w a history so organized(?) i think it def comes from the insanely fast turnover rate of kpop groups; the 7 year curse is very real and i would argue most groups legacy and peak can usually be distilled into a few years

for example girls generations peak influence was prob from 2009-2013 (gee, genie, hoot, oh, the boys, igab) although theyve had hits outside of that obviously 2009-2013 was still the most profitable w their tours and japanese and american debut and the members started mostly doing solo activities after 2015 notably taeyeon debuted with I in 2015 [so far gd and taeyeon are the most notable kpop soloists w longevity oh hyuna too but hyuna always felt more solo than 4minute or wonder girls]

for big bang i would argue it 2007-2012 (starting w lies, haru haru, tonight and alive eps) although its a bit harder to nail down w big bangs notoriously long hiatus and g-dragon (2008-2014 heartbreaker, one of a kind, coup d’etat) plus taeyang’s (2010-2014 i need a girl, wedding dress, eyes lips nose) solo careers following a different trajectory and peak (2014 mama) arguable that MADE (2015) was their real peak before enlistment and after long hiatus

exo (2013-2017), twice (2015-2020~), shinee (2008-2013), 2NE1 (2009-2014), bts (2015-2020~) [i personally think bts peaked musically between skool luv affair and wings]

you can do this w any group the point is kpops insanely high turnover rate and the industry’s obsession with young and fresh faces makes it so longevity/artistic growth arent as valued as something new (there are an insane amount of rising groups rn ask whos the 4th gen leader on twitter and there will be violence) and kpop idols go into their careers knowing its not sustainable and most will pivot to acting, modeling, going solo, or something else and very few reach any mainstream or critical acclaim as a soloist from a group (big bang’s individual solo work early in their definitely made them stand out among bgs of that era as shinee also all went solo rather successfully they did so after shinee’s peak popularity) i think bts used a similar strategy when giving each member a solo song in wings. there also is always the one person that become the face and most popular eventually synonymous (suzy in miss a, zico in block b, cha eunwoo in astro, wonyoung in ive, hyuna in 4minute) etc. with the group brand thats probably not the idea for the rest of the group but it profitable and kpop companies typically arent too invested in their artists going solo if they wont be successful (contracts are usually only last 7 yrs) [new kpop idols should thank jyj (former tvxq/dbsk) and their lawsuit for korea fair trade commission’s 7 year limit for entertainment contracts; kris luhan tao also continued the sm tradition of sueing for worker’s rights] anyways idk what my point is here ive just been in the kpop meta for too long i feel old and wise but the message to all kpop fans esp new ones… its all capitalism <3 i know some groups self produce or wtv but its all for profit think about why youre buying 6 versions of the same album when you dont even have a cd player and if thats you than more power to you buying things is fun just remember kpop is not that deep bc its run by corporate overlords i’ll leave this with some potentially obscure older recs: a fool of tears - big bang, black hole - shinee, express 999 - girls’ generation, signal - f(x), dont flirt - winner [yg’s who is next was emotional damage produce101 before p101] , change - hyuna, mental breaker - block b (underrated rap line park kyung zico p.o. also from a meta sense bts and block b are very similar bts got a lot more success prob due to smart musical choices and marketing and a little luck

^^^ I don’t really have much to say or add to it. I’m just going to pretty much post it as is. I mean, after seeing the same thing happen 10x times to every Tom, Dick, and Harry you know it’s inevitable.

[peppertaemint]

Now I'm feeling very uneasy and concerned for Taeyong. Not and NCT fan but I am an EXO and SuperM fan and got to know him through SuperM. That group is just 7 giggling happy pills lmao I have never seen a group so funny and happy before, they have great chemistry. Within that you can tell that Baekhyun, Taemin and Kai took the "younger" ones (there is legit only one year apart from Kai and Taeyong lol) but you can tell they took the younger ones under their wing especially Baekhyun and Taemin who Taeyong has mentioned were very helpful in helping him. He even mentioned something Baekhyun told him inspired his sword tattoo. All that to say I think SuperM was good for him because he didn't have to worry or stress out about being the leader. He could be taken care of by the senior citizens lmao I'm teasing with the last part but now to hear he was told that if NCT fails it's on him? Who on earth would tell him that? It's mainly on the company and ones in charge not him. That's unbelievable that anybody would say that to anybody. I wonder who told him that? I can't imagine Suho being told if EXO failed it was on him or if SuperM failed it was on Baekhyun. That's absurd. I am very concerned. I know he's still very close to Baekhyun (and most likely Taemin and Kai) who is serving as a social worker right now but I just hope he can go to him, or friends and family just outside the NCT bubble to confide in and doesn't keep the stress to himself. I'm just really bummed now. Hope Taeyong's okay.

For those who haven't read Taeyong's bubble comments, you can find them here.

I think the comments came across as a little shocking, though we all know it's a pressurized industry. It just seems that for something like NCT that has so many members and subunits, how can everything but on his shoulders? SuperM was probably a vacation for him. 💀

Taeyong certainly has a lot of seniors around to rely on and get advice from. I hope he's able to reach out to them or vive versa. I want to believe SM has learned from its mistakes but also that these young artists know that mental health struggles don't have to be taboo. And that prioritzing your health over your work means you can work better and longer.

Edit: Anon meant that Baek is doing civil service and it's TM who is a social worker. Idk what Baek's detail is 👀

#taeyong ask #nct ask #kpop ask #hope taeyong will be well