[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit, and we are archiving the posts here on our site. You can find the original Bible Study posts here.]
Welcome to another bible study that has been sadly posted late because of Life–but maybe that should just be the new normal. This one will be posted in two parts because my irl friend Murklin decided to join us this week in our quest to take the diary books more seriously than anyone has ever taken them, and amazingly, a third person made it even longer than normal. I know; a feat.
Also, inspired by some actual religious ceremonies I attended this week for family reasons, we’re testing the waters of a new closing prayer to our bible study practices. A bit of a call and response situation. Please feel free to suggest additional ones as we quest for the best prayers to guide us on our Enlightment.
And with that, let’s get started on Wooyoung’s page, “It’s different this time”
01: what are your thoughts on the page?
GD: Are you ready for Enlightenment?
Murklin: Doubtful
BobbyJ: I did not forget to start the playlist this time
GD: Should we call you Murklin? if we need to directly address you?
Murklin: I don't know
GD: Well, we will.
BobbyJ: Otherwise she'd be outing herself to all three of our readers
GD: I think she's one, so really just the other two, maybe just one
Murklin: That maths
GD: But you know.. protecting one's identity is very important for Enlightenment. Like a cloak that one wears in a cult. Anyways, shall we begin with our Thoughts?
BobbyJ: Why does this page feel like it's after the break up? Like he's looking back over their memories together. He's obviously not in the warehouse with everyone else. He seems to be at an audition?
GD: I think it seems off that Wooyoung seems to be at an audition without the rest of them? So, it would make sense if they're not Together-Together anymore. Unless they're all trying to chase down their goals of being stars separately and not together.
BobbyJ: Well we talked about it last week--how Hongjoong, Yunho and Wooyoung are pursuing music for reasons that aren't connected to the others. So it would make sense that Woo has carried on chasing his dreams after the break up.
GD: I guess my question is: was there a time where their goal was to succeed as a single 'dance team' together? or was the goal always to support each other as they succeed on their own?
I have always assumed they were doing the first--they wanted to succeed together as a group
BobbyJ: I feel like there was. Otherwise, what was the point of breaking up? The problem wasn't necessarily that they were friends but that they were friends with a Dream.
Murklin: (do we only refer to what's on the page?)
BobbyJ: There are no rules, just chaos and enlightenment. The enlightenment is optional.
GD: I suppose in principle we only refer to what's on the page--that's never once happened in practice.
BobbyJ: It would be easier if it were our first time reading. I know too much, is the problem
Murklin: Well path to many and I becoming ours from yeosang's page. Some of them had singular dreams like wooyoung's. That changed.
GD: That sentence haunts me. Anyways, right, perhaps, the dream is a little more amorphous?
BobbyJ: I feel like it's just "togetherness" and "music"
GD: A solitary dream, morphing into togetherness, and then back to solitary when togetherness is not an option. We know they don't necessarily have the same Reasons for the dream, anyways.
BobbyJ: Wasn't the translation of that line something like realizing that the path you're already on, there are other people on it with you?
GD: I don't remember exactly what it was, but yeah, Papago did translate it differently than how it is in the book, and then i really cried over that. It's like "time is mutable"--KQ translated it into a thing, but that's not necessarily what the words say.
Murklin: Or wooyoung has Hongjoong, Seonghwa, and Yunho on a pedestal and feels he has to achieve something on his own to be on their level? In the film he's rushing back to the warehouse after beating his stage fright.
BobbyJ: Is that what's happening??? Wow I interpreted so differently all these years. Oh no it's so much sadder now.
Murklin: Oh lol well maybe. What did you see?
BobbyJ: I had always viewed it as all post break up and Woo has his moment but then when he returns for another moment, he's locked out. Like those "friends" were temporary and can't replace his true people.
GD: well now I'm going to have to watch his scene
BobbyJ: I think bc the warehouse and the dance warehouse are both warehouses. Visually, the locations looked the same to me.
Murklin: I thought it was like a parking garage. They have beds there in inception
BobbyJ: The thing is, in the Teezerverse, it's hard to know when a thing is a Thing and when it's just a thing.
GD: First, Wooyoung looks great during this era.
[5 minute pause]
And that's all I have--sorry. I don't know why I said first.
Murklin: I was waiting
GD: Well, I thought I would have more, but I didn't
BobbyJ: I'm noticing the motorcycles for the first time and thinking of Yunho's surprise biker gang in the epilogue.
Murklin: He obviously rode to the street performances on his very cool motorcycle
BobbyJ: Also what I didn't realize was that the locked door at the end was the warehouse and not the parking garage which I realize now. And am deeply and inconsolably sad about forever.
GD: I guess my thought is that Wooyoung's scene can be interpreted as both happening before or after the break up, and that either way, I'm not sure it matters because it's saying the same thing
BobbyJ: Was he not there for the break up? Did no one tell him?
GD: I think it's a metaphorical running to the warehouse?
BobbyJ: Did he go back hoping against hope that his friends would have returned?
GD: Like, he felt their presence, and then remembered they weren't together or couldn't be together
Murklin: Also sad
BobbyJ: Was it just muscle memory? Like when I accidentally take my older, stupider way to school in the morning bc I'm completely out of it?
GD: It might also be memory? It's shot weirdly. The light is weird--like the way it is with Seonghwa and his bracelet.
BobbyJ: Is there a translation of what the sign on the door says when he's locked out?
GD: Probably, but I am unsure of how to get it. I have something completely unrelated but I've been holding it and can't hold it any longer. This pages gives us our best timeline information. We learn Wooyoung did meet Hwa, Yunho, and Joong on a street performance, which ties him to Yunho talking to his brother about "on days like this, we would have gone to the Han River for some street performance"--which makes me think that Yunho perhaps had been doing street performances with his brother prior to doing them with the group. It also tells us that they're not just kickin back in the warehouse hanging out. They're putting in some work to make the dream happen and make themselves known.
BobbyJ: It sounds like all four of them were performing since Woo says that they all had something he didn't have. But we also know Hongjoong never met Yunho's brother and Yunho didn't want to go to the Han River without his brother. Okay. I'm building a timeline. As I do.
GD: That means Yunho has grown since his entry. But as to your door translation question, the top says “a warning door”. It’s so dark it’s hard to read well enough to translate it. And then at least a bit of it says “publishing, ltd. Co” so it’s possible it’s just standard do not enter stuff.
BobbyJ: I'm missing a piece. Here's my timeline with no explanation:
Yunho meets Hongjoong; Seonghwa meets Yunho and Joong; Wooyoung meets YH, SH and HJ at a street performance; Wooyoung recruits Mingi/Wooyoung befriends San; Yeosang fixes the drone; Jongho
GD: lol "Jongho does something"
BobbyJ: It's just a big shrug from me
GD: I think for sure the first 4 are right; it's a little strange to me that we never get any real clarity on how Jongho, San, and Yeosang really ended up here, but I guess that means it's not that important
BobbyJ: We know HOW Yeo gets there; we don't know WHEN. But I feel it must be post-Mingi, which is maybe why they looked like people Yeo would run from. Poor little delicate Yeo.
GD: Well Yunho also in a biker gang, so another good reason for Yeo to run
BobbyJ: It's possible Jongho is also there before Yeo
GD: It's a little... strange? that wooyoung is talking about big entertainment agencies when he looks like he's joining an underground dance crew? Like that's not an audition for a big company.
BobbyJ: I don't think it's supposed to be an audition. He mentions auditioning in the past, but not that that's what's happening now.
GD: this is him just trying to make new friends? But they don't actually replace his old friends?
BobbyJ: That was always the vibe I got
Murklin: Offered an audition. Not necessarily accepted. Afraid to take that next step
BobbyJ: He says "Once I felt their look toward me" which feels like it implies he did audition somewhere.
GD: Seonghwa's cheering words to him are interesting. Is this "Seonghwa's way" that San talked about? When San mentioned Seonghwa's way it always sounded pretty forceful, but this is some pretty soft stuff. I guess it made me wonder if Seonghwa's way was a little more... go with the flow. It would be the opposite of how he was before the bracelet
BobbyJ: He's not really saying anything revolutionary. Not that he has to. But it feels like a missed opportunity to have him say something thematic
GD: Really the only glimpse we get of a post broken snowy road Hwa saying anything
BobbyJ: So far, yeah. He has a Moment in the Epilogue
GD: mmmm.. a mere 50 weeks
BobbyJ: Next year we'll get to talk about it
GD: For now, I'll just have to let go of any hope of understanding what "Seonghwa's way" is and why it's so notable that San would mention it
BobbyJ: Not that this has anything to do with Wooyoung. But I think the idea is that Hwa made up his mind to make a change in his life. That was his Way. And San feels he needs to do the same. Though I still fail to see what sort of change would make a difference in his situation that was out of his control
GD: This is not related, but a thing I really like about Wooyoung's page is that we learn that he sees himself differently than others see him
Murklin: For sure
GD: it's always really resonated with me, and it's pretty easy to read real Wooyoung into his page, more so than some of the others. Like, we know that their real selves inspired their characters, but some of them it feels more disconnected or at least not as visible
BobbyJ: I'm having a bit of a verb tense issue. Woo's entry is framed as he's somewhere about to perform for someone. The first few lines are present tense--he's freaking out and wants to run away. He has a flashback of being afraid to audition in the past but then remembering Hwa's words of wisdom and being able to smile even though his friends weren't there. It's all out of order because then he flashes back to meeting them. And then at the end, we're present tense again "My legs are tense" but then it's back to past tense when he says "the chain that was tying my body, was magically released". Please, someone--what is happening
GD: I think you should read the last "was" as "is". I think it's meant to be present tense but tense is, I think, often assumed in context. And I think you'd need a very savvy translation to perfectly translate the nuances of English verb tense. Like, I am a native speaker and former English teacher, and I am rarely capable of getting English verb tense perfect.
BobbyJ: Okay. That lines up with the Diary film. I'm getting ready to teach verb tenses and it's making me sweat.
GD: As it should. I am sorry for the sleepless nights to come. Speaking of the last line though: a nice call back to Wooyoung in chains in Wonderland. Or call forward? Call at the same time? Since I've never managed to make a timeline I was happy with, I don't know what it's alluding to
Murklin: Yes. I've always liked that allusion
BobbyJ: Right? Obviously symbolic, but do they both symbolize the same thing? And is it similar to the meaning of Yeo's chains in halazia?
Murklin: Hm. Yeo does not seem particularly hindered by his halazia chains
BobbyJ: So his are more like a burden he's accustomed to carrying. Woo's Wonderland chains are keeping him bound and he needs Mingi's help to break free. Wait: Woo helps Mingi connect with the others and Mingi helps break Woo's chains in Wonderland
GD: In some ways, Woo broke some of Mingi's chains, depending on the metaphor you think the chains represent. So interesting that it's not thoughts of Mingi that break those chains.
BobbyJ: I think in Woo's case, they're holding him captive. And since I believe that Treasure and therefore Wonderland are post-Fever pre-The World it shows remarkable Mingi growth.
GD: Do we have any unaccounted for chains? (woo here, woo in wonderland, yeo in halazia)
Murklin: San in halazia
GD: Ah yes, pulling on the chains
BobbyJ: Interestingly there are also chains on the new Wanteez poster
Murklin: The purple in the Wonderland chain scene is very hongjoong halazia as well
GD: Would anyone make the argument that the hala hala masks have chains?
Murklin: Yes
BobbyJ: The Halateez fits have a lot of chain action altogether
GD: Excellent. I have nothing. Did anyone ever find out what the numbers behind Hongjoong in halazia mean?
BobbyJ: Yes--Bluebird
Murklin: And the chains for the white masked man
GD: ahhh the Ode to Joy stage too. Isn't he dragging a chain at the beginning?
Murklin: Yes
GD: Well, I feel like this is all great stuff for the mental murder board. Any more thoughts on
Wooyoung's page before we do our bible practice? We didn't discuss the picture
BobbyJ: He's in the parking garage is all I have. The camera feels weird though
Murklin: Like that security camera
BobbyJ: Intentional
GD: and I do have a Thought--is it blurred?
BobbyJ: No?
Murklin: Mine looks clear
GD: Like behind the railing, it's weird? Like it's blurred? Or is that just something my small mind can't comprehend?
BobbyJ: Depth of field. Woo is more in focus than the background
GD: but the white?
Murklin: I do think there's plastic wrap on the railing or behind it
GD: is it plastic wrap?!
BobbyJ: Yes
GD: So something my small mind couldn't comprehend then
BobbyJ: No, I think it's actually wrapped around the railing–No I'm wrong–It's behind.
GD: HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE. There's a Reborn Rich OST Album with two Jongho photocards?!?!!?
BobbyJ: WHAT SINCE WHEN
GD: I DON'T KNOW. NOT A SINGLE ONE OF MY SO CALLED FRIENDS TOLD ME ABOUT IT
[We went on to discuss purchasing options for a good 20 minutes and then ultimately purchased some, so if you’re interested in acquiring one of your own, they’re available from Makestar]
GD: Anyways, so on the picture, there's some plastic wrap around these barricade things
BobbyJ: yes
GD: The camera thing you guys were talking about seems much more relevant now that I understand what's happening at the bottom of this picture
BobbyJ: It's giving me two things
Eyes on Woo, making him nervous; soulless
Future strictland surveillance, Eyes in the sky
Murklin: Real wooyoung's fear of cameras
BobbyJ: Yes yes
GD: Right, it just seems exceptionally easy to read real Wooyoung into all of this. I think the color composition of the picture is also interesting. I think it's the red pipe running through.
BobbyJ: Red?
GD: orange?
BobbyJ: Part of it is red
Murklin: Yellow? Some warm spectrum
GD: the whole thing reads red to my eye
BobbyJ: I'm seeing yellow
Murklin: I'm more confused about the point of a black traffic cone
GD: I think that's why the red-ish pipe stands out to me? Because the traffic cones are so dark. Are Korean traffic cones black instead of fluorescent orange? Or is this a set design choice?
BobbyJ: They are black according to google
GD: I suppose that makes them make sense, though I guess still a choice to include traffic cones in the photo at all.
BobbyJ: It's unclear whether they are ALL black but some of them are, and it appears Choices were made for this set
GD: I find the way he's standing very reminiscent of Mingi. He's not half in/half out, but he looks like he's taking a step towards something
BobbyJ: He does say at the end "the first step, the step that I was never able to do"
GD: Doesn't look particularly happy about it
BobbyJ: I feel pretty confident this entry is actually post break up and it's interesting that it focuses on Wooyoung moving on
Murklin: Perhaps the picture is illustrating the first line
BobbyJ: Empowered by the happy memories, but he's still moving forward
GD: I almost feel like we learned more about Wooyoung from Mingi's entry than we do about him here? We do learn a lot about him here too, but idk, I feel dissatisfied with my understanding of what Wooyoung wants from all of this
Murklin: I think it's that self view vs others view. His self perception is a bit warped.
BobbyJ: Does it feel like he's revealing more of his flaws than anything else?
Murklin: I think it's similar to the other boys feelings
GD: It definitely seems like we're getting his fear instead of his motivations and goals. Like, is he in it because he loves dance like Mingi loves music? Does he want to be a star like Hongjoong? Does dancing make him forget his fears like Seonghwa (seems no)?
BobbyJ: Wooyoung's struggle is fully internal. Not like San or Mingi or Yeo specifically. So, it makes sense that that's what we're learning about here
GD: I take it all back; I've had a thought. We're getting different snippets of their time together from everyone, and it's revealing what is important about their character. So maybe the thing we need to understand for Wooyoung is that this is the moment that he realized it's not just the dance or music--it's about the people you're with. Like this is Wooyoung's "ah, it really is the friends you make along with way" moment that will motivate him to act in certain ways in the future stories because of his connection with these boys.
Murklin: With a dash of you don't know what you've got till it's gone?
BobbyJ: Like that moment when he hits the locked door is his realization
GD: yes! Like, this is when he realized what's important, and also that it's too late. So in the future, will we find him taking better care to make sure he can keep it?
BobbyJ: He's very pro-active in the story. More so than other members
GD: We're given no story reason for why what happens in Strictland is of any interest to Wooyoung--unless the story reason is that it's important to his friends, which means it's of the utmost importance to him
BobbyJ: Woo is very people focused. He's very concerned with the Grimes siblings, which interestingly seems to irritate Mingi
Murklin: Book mingi is an introvert who's already maxed out his social circle with wooyoung's music team?
BobbyJ: Can't say whether he's actually introverted, but he's very defensive. As in, protective of himself
GD: I definitely think that Mingi has Bigger Concerns than whatever is happening to the Grimes siblings, but we will need to wait approximately half a year to really fully dive into their relationship with the Grimes siblings. So, you know, buckle up.
Shall we go to our bible practice? Pretty sure we're scheduled for the writing one, which does fill me with dread, but perhaps that's good. One should suffer for their Enlightenment
BobbyJ: I feel like I've entirely lost the plot, so sure. Let's do it. But I'm also thinking of Woo flying in Turbulence. Because his chains are gone
GD: OH NO. Eternal Sunshine? Where it's San helping him fly? And then he flies on his own in Turbulence?
BobbyJ: A metaphor if I've ever seen one
GD: A thought. If it's true that he's motivated by the fact that he realizes how changed he is because of his friends and how important they are to him, really undermines all those Woo villain theories
BobbyJ: Yes exactly. The Woo villain theories have never made sense anyways
GD: I also feel like this really says something important about Eternal Sunshine; I just don't know what it is. Like, he's remembering his friends here and getting strength from that memory; Eternal Sunshine is about not wanting to forget
BobbyJ: It goes along with San discovering the loose memories on the floor, which suggests that desire to not forget went both ways.
GD: Well, I have lots of thoughts now, so let's just go to our sacred writing exercise
We will continue our discussion of Wooyoung, getting to the actual bible study part, in Part 2 of this post!
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