[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit. You can find an explanation of what Bible Study is all about here.]
Happy Sunday! Today we are talking about Hongjoong, and more specifically, we're talking about HalaTeez through the lens of Hongjoong. This is the last bible study before The World Ep: Fin will release, and we will be hit with some new diary pages and lore that somehow shows everything we've ever thought is wrong. So enjoy the naivety will you can!
01: where are we in the story thus far?
Bobby: Hongjoong today
Oh it's another juicy entry
Not sure I have the brain for it
GD: I don't remember where in the story we are to do our where we are in the story
Bobby: Allow me
So, the whole gang (ot8, Left Eye and Grimes siblings) have traveled on a boat to the vacation island where the android headquarters is in an old art gallery. They are there to rescue Halateez (aka, the Black Pirates). When they enter the gallery, it is filled with yellow smoke that has knocked out the guardians. Woo says that they are passed out drunk. They find the men in Black Fedoras in a glass prison and that's where we pick it up today.
02: thoughts on the page
GD: I have several thoughts and I'm not sure where to even begin
Bobby: On Hongjoong's page or on the old stuff
GD: Hongjoong's
Bobby: The first thing I saw was "the men in black fedora that WE met in OUR dreams"
GD: YES
I was literally typing that
I think we've always said how halaJoong came to Hongjoong, and that's really all we discussed. But we know a lot of the action happens off page, so there's nothing to say that the other boys weren't visited by their hala counterpart as well
Perhaps that's why they all ended up at the warehouse.. they were all told to go there
Bobby: Makes sense
Halajoong does say "we called you here"
GD: I also noticed the "we are captured here, and somebody has to do our work"
He doesn't ask to be saved or broken out
Bobby: Right. Like, he knows their work is finished
Passing of the torch
GD: So it does give some evidence to the theory that they called them because they were captured/or knew they would be captured
Bobby: Did we talk about how perhaps halateez had lost their passion?
GD: I don't think so
Bobby: I'm certain this thought isn't my own. But I feel like we were wondering what caused
Halateez to call Ateez over
Like, what triggered them to pass off the cromer when they knew it was the only thing keeping them from being captured
GD: You have not seen Doctor Strange, have you?
It's the one recent Marvel movie that I enjoy
Bobby: I've seen the first one one time
GD: Wait.. maybe it was avengers
Well
Anyways
In a marvel movie
Doctor Strange looks at all of the possible outcomes for the future and decides that the one that gives them the best possible chance of success for beating Thanos is the outcome where he gets captured. So he sacrifices himself sort of to do that
I always thought that's what was happening with Hala
Like they were setting up the chess board
Bobby: Right. I've always thought they must have traveled into the future and seen that they couldn't defeat Z on their own
Assuming oneTeez isn't a thing
GD: Yeah, my theory is similar. And this doesn't really give any evidence that proves otherwise.
"This world needs a change" is interesting to me
Because you know, Hala has been fighting.. and don't seem to have gotten very far. Like, yeah, they've avoided being captured--but the world hasn't woken up, etc.
It does remind me of the mockingjay in Hunger Games
and also makes me think we should circle back to reading that book or the new one in that series
Bobby: Reminds you of the mockingjay in that Halateez are just a symbol of the revolution?
GD: More the idea that they needed to become the symbol of the revolution in order for the world to wake up
Bobby: Like, the world needed a symbol to gather under
GD: Like they could keep fighting by themselves, and not getting anywhere, or they could become the symbol
Bobby: Hence the scarecrow
GD: Exactly, yes
Bobby: I really do think that you were the one who brought up the idea that Halateez realized they didn't have enough passion to bring down Z's regime.
Which means that Hala Hala isn't Halateez
It's Ateez after accepting the mission. Because they DID have enough passion. Their hearts were awake and whatnot
GD: Sometimes I come up with good ideas that I don't remember.
I know that I've always believed they could contact this set of ateez because they could feel their passion through time and space
Bobby: It's interesting because Ateez were so beaten down in their home world.
All split up and alone and sad. Doesn't scream passion
BUT
If we go back to the idea that Halateez had already seen the future, by many theories of how time travel works, they would have seen Ateez in the future because they had already made the decision to return to the past and summon them. So they saw Ateez's potential
For instance, I just read this really wild time travel book maybe a month or two ago
Called the Jane Eyre Affair. Very good and fun, but I hate the guy she ended up with.
Anyways, at one point, the main character is in the hospital and a wormhole opens up and she sees herself in a car that she does not own and she gives herself a message. Later on the book, she buys the car bc she had already seen that she WOULD buy the car, and when she ends up in a wormhole for a whole other reason, she remembers that she needs to go visit herself in the past while she's in the hospital to give herself the message that would send her on her journey to where she ended up.
GD: t's a little like Prisoner of Azkaban
Bobby: Yes, exactly
It's also how the time travel works in The Time Traveler's Wife
GD: If you consider it in that light, it makes halaJoong's original conversation with Hongjoong make a lot of sense, I think?
Because didn't he seem sort of annoyed and dismissive?
Which he probably would be if he knew what was in store for him and saw him sitting around moping over something that was truly just not important
Bobby: Right. And we had said before that he was annoyed bc Hongjoong was totally focused on the wrong thing
It is frustrating that Halajoong pulls the "there's no time to explain" trick
Also interesting that the smoke is providing cover and is about to fade. Almost like it was planned that way
GD: Right, which sort of goes back to my “have halateez been setting the chess board up?” question
(Also, this reminds me of Break the Wall for obvious reasons)
Bobby: Yes. We know that there are other black pirates. Halateez weren't working alone. So, they could have had some of their people set off some sort of smoke bomb situation for this purpose.
GD: And the yellow smoke that's here... is it the same yellow smoke that's here? Because we know that's a run off of burning memories, and there's no reason to think they would be burning memories at the bunker unless it was some sort of recreational use of the smoke
That's why they have a dump
Bobby: Hard to say, but perhaps the black pirates found a way to transport the smoke
Bring it from the dump to the gallery where the guardians wouldn't be expecting to encounter it and wouldn't be on their guard
They obviously aren't immune to it. So that would be why they would hire a scrub to work the dump
Oh wait--the next page literally says the android guardians are burning up good memories and getting drunk on the hope
Or drunk on the smoke from the hope
GD: So it is recreational
Taking the best memories
Bobby: And only the bad memories would be in the dump?
GD: Well
Bobby: Or the worthless ones
GD: Yeah
I'm just thinking about Left Eye at the dump
Like.. he wasn't living in the good memories of his daughter
Bobby: Was he not?
GD: I mean, it didn't seem to me like he was happy? or 'drunk on hope' as the android guardians are?
Maybe I'm misremembering
Bobby: I had assumed he wasn't happy because they forced him out of the smoke and to remember his daughter was dead
GD: I think I've always assumed it was like a 'would you rather remember the bad or nothing
at all'
And mostly what he was remembering was his grief and loss
Bobby: Hmm. . . when they lure him out of the smoke, his reaction is instantly anger and then sorrow/guilt. If he were having pleasant memories that suddenly faded, would anger be the emotion he would feel as the hallucination fades?
Perhaps he is just living overwhelmed with the guilt, but guilt is better than nothing at all, like you said
GD: It is the quick jump to anger that I think has always made me feel like he wasn't having a nice time with his memories
Because if he was... wouldn't he be immediately sad? burst into tears? be inconsolable?
It would be like reliving the loss
But you know, people react to grief differently
It's possible he could be living in mundane or even happy memories
Bobby: Maybe. But for him to be violently angry when the hallucination hasn't even fully
faded away doesn't suggest happy tea party with his daughter
The elephant in the room here, I think, is the "indescribable energy" that causes them to switch clothes
GD: Mmn. Yes
Well it's indescribable
I don't know what we're supposed to do with that
Bobby: Feels like we've left the realm of sci-fi and entered into fantasy
Bc indescribable energy feels like magic to me
GD: I have a couple of thoughts
Bobby: But I suppose we do have a cromer so. . .
GD: "Soon after" could be some sort of foreshadowing that's more like 'and eventually'
The other being that wearing their black suits is a metaphor
And the other being that they really do somehow give them their clothes
Bobby: Well, San says in the next entry that he's "dazed by the black suit thing"
Not to keep reading ahead but it's right there
GD: Terrible
So they magically change clothes with halateez
Is there a merging? A merging is what I long thought happened, but I've grown away from the merging idea
I'm not sure that I like it
Bobby: It doesn't happen right away if it's a thing. Again, in San's entry, Halateez are still there and in prison
GD: Right, I guess I assumed they put some of their energy into them? Like a part of their soul? a halahorcrux if you will
But like I said, I'm not into the theory, and I don't think it's good
"Change each others clothes" is a weird extra power for the cromer to have
Bobby: I don't know what to do with it. It kind of suggests that the clothes themselves are magical
It is interesting to me that whenever they "play" halateez, they do wear the exact same uniform. Like, they've never had a halateez reinterpretation
Not really, not with the full get up
GD: It's not the worst theory.
Bobby: Does San even fit his old Halateez uniform I wonder
GD: There's no way
Maybe they cut the back out of it
Bobby: They would have had to
The real reason Halateez is dead
Can't wear the uniforms
GD: Hard to believe San was such a tiny baby
Bobby: Look at this child
GD: What a fabulous shirt omg
I do want to talk about this Break the Wall line because I won't get anywhere with the magic clothes
But it just reminds me of many real life conversations you and I have had about being an atiny Specifically. "If we earn things easily, we could lose them easily."
Like the success that we do have feels so sweet because we have had to work for it
Any music show win is a hard fought battle, and so when they happen, each one is precious. They're never expected
Bobby: This is kind of what I was talking about when I said that groups that had to work hard for their success were stronger than groups that didn't
Granted "strength" is not a quality that the kpop industry knows how to measure or get people to vote on, so who knows how valuable it is really
GD: Perhaps it is a thing that will be measured by longevity
I'm just thinking about all of the groups who... lose members, or stop making music as they get older
What if ateez doesn't
What if they really do make music together forever
Bobby: Truly, we have been so lucky so far. Members being out for even a short time is the absolute worst. I can't imagine someone leaving
[Editor’s Note: At this point Bible study becomes fully derailed by a discussion of the Immortal Songs concert.]
03: praise and prayer
Bobby: We've fully lost the plot. Shall we praise and prayer?
GD: Yes, praise and prayer
My praise is for the intern who has gifted us with some truly incredible concept photos this time around. I appreciate the way this album feels extra special for fans, but also has a cool concept that any newcomers could enjoy.
Great work, as always, intern.
Bobby: Considering that we still have almost a full month ahead of us until the album drops, I am grateful that so far we have no audio, other than the teaser at the end of Bouncy.
Because I do not think I could handle it. I know that will change soon, but I'm grateful for now
Be the light?
GD: Halazia
And there we have it! Next week we will back to dive even deeper into Hongjoong's entry to uncover the secrets of the universe.
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