[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit. You can find an explanation of what Bible Study is all about here.]
In the final chapter of the penultimate Fever diary, we come face-to-face with one of the ACU's biggest mysteries. And also another one of the ACU's biggest mysteries. And maybe we even solve one.
Bobby: It's gonna be a rough one today
Things to wrestle with
GD: Whew boy
Yes
Bobby: Are we ready then?
GD: Yes
Where are we in the story thus far?
Bobby: After meeting with Halateez, the boys get separated from Yeosang who is able to locate the cromer and bring it back to the group with guardians following behind him. He tosses the cromer to Hongjoong but gets captured himself. The guardians demand a trade. Hongjoong throws the cromer back to the guardians, Yeosang intercepts, and breaks the cromer. The light flashes and that brings us to the outro
GD: And now, the big one
01: thoughts on the page
GD: What are your thoughts on the page?
Bobby: So many thoughts
First, San is me when a member is on hiatus
GD: For starters, I want to say that San's little counting bit.. I feel that on a visceral level
Bobby: For real though
GD: Good our shared brain cell is firing today
Bobby: Like, I count them all since Mingi was gone
In every picture
I can't not
GD: I wasn't even part of the fandom when Mingi was gone, and I still count them
this is...
Only mildly related, but I'm going to say it anyways
It's been in my thoughts since it was announced that Junghoon wouldn't be promoting with xikers
And like, as a fan, it is very painful to miss a member not on stage, but I am also incredibly grateful that these members are allowed to take breaks and take care of their health and well being when the time arises
GD: I think any fan who doesn't want to support something because all members aren't present are part of the problem. It's so unfair to force a member to come back before they're ready just because the fans think the rest of the group should also take a break if the member isn't performing
Bobby: Yes, that's full nonsense
GD: Yeah, I admit that I think there is something else going on with Junghoon, but that's also not really my business.
The bottom line is that everyone involved has decided he is not ready to come back, and thus, he won't.
Bobby: I was thinking about this this morning
I think it was yesterday that I saw some roadys tweeting about how they wished Junghoon could be involved in some way. That it's not fair for him to sit out of everything when the only issue we know of is his knee (? I forget actually)
But I do wonder if KQ has some sort of clause in their contracts. That if a member is on medical leave, they are on FULL leave. In order to prevent people coming back to work before they're fully able.
I know that one of the things that BBC's are mad at KQ/Seven Seasons about is that they think they forced one of the BBs to work injured
GD: Well, I know when I was on medical leave when my appendix ruptured, that was true.
Like, as a teacher, you're expected to work through basically anything
But once I was on literal medical leave where the government was involved because I wasn't allowed to work, they wouldn't even let me sign into email
I was not allowed to do a single thing
Bobby: Yeah, it's a liability thing
Let's say they let Junghoon come in to record and he hurts himself on the stairs, he might have a case
Theoretically
GD: From what I understand, he had a pretty serious injury
Which he had at the start of their career.. like the fanbase has changed, their popularity has changed, the venues they're performing at have changed.
For me personally, I would find it hard to jump back into that after a huge injury with a high risk of re-injury
Bobby: Right--like you said it's ABSOLUTELY none of my business but I could fully understand if there were a mental-emotional component at play here
GD: Exactly
But to bring it back to this bible study
We often think about what it means for the fans, and what it means for the member who is injured, but I think we often forget about the rest of the members
San here is a reminder
I always think about that concert in LA where Jongho had to leave in the middle of it because of an injury, and how ATEEZ pulled themselves together to put on an amazing show while being worried about their friend
Like I could never
Bobby: It reminds me actually of that one performance we were watching when Nmixx were just. . . off. And it was right after Jinni had left
I don't actually have any sort of idea of what Nmixx are like "on" as I'm not a fan, but I remember someone pointing out that they'd just lost a member and that's why they were just kinda struggling that day
From my perspective anyways. It's hard when you stan Ateez
I do think that choosing San's perspective for this entry is interesting
GD: The three characters we really get any sort of info from are San, Hongjoong, and Wooyoung
Bobby: You mean narratively speaking?
Like what's going on?
GD: Like in the outro--those are the 3 characters that either act or say something
We don't get any reaction from the rest of them
Bobby: Too many boys for one outro
Somebody should Midnight Sun the diaries
GD: I guess I'm curious as to why those boys. We have Hongjoong, who we see coming into his own as captain. We have San, who was the one for whom the team was The Thing. And then we have Wooyoung.
Bobby: Perhaps it's just his personality
To speak up when no one else can
It's wild to me that Hongjoong has been sitting on the couch with fistfuls of sand, blood, and broken glass
Do we think Wooyoung is implying that Halajoong has died? Or had his life force drained, been zombified?
GD: That's what I was wondering too
Perhaps he's just saying yeosang will be captured like them.. but that would be pretty obvious if that was true
Bobby: Yes, he was literally captured
Maybe he means put inside a glass case?
GD: It seems like he must think that something beyond being imprisoned, no?
Bobby: Yeah, if he can't bring himself to finish the thought
And when the drone comes they're like "he's alive still"
So they are worried he's dead
I feel like it's possible we just solved a mystery
GD: I like.. actually think we did?
We've been right all along. Hala is dead. Long live hala.
Bobby: I think that the BTW tour was our last glimpse of Halateez
And how fitting
I do feel like Halazia was a very Big Obvious Clue
But that's just me
Shall we address the Elephant
The drone
Outside of a One-Teez theory, the drone doesn't make sense
GD: Okay
Here's the thing
I feel like there is some piece missing about how halateez was able to learn so much about the world of a and bring a cromer there while still being in the world of z. And yes, I know all the dreams stuff and eclipse and whatever. But they brought a physical object from one space into another through a dream.
Bobby: Yes. How did Halajoong even know about Hongjoong
Again, OneTeez solves this problem
So, we don't know how long Halateez were active before they were captured. We also don't know if they had a mentor or found some sort of sacred text to guide them with the cromer.
We don't know how they got the cromer in the first place
The lights outside of the partially open door--feels like it suggests the drone came via cromer. But the cromer is broken. However, it could be someone from the future sending the cromer back in time in order to ensure that the seven don't lose hope
GD: Well, we know if we read ahead that there is another cromer in play in the exact place they've gone back to
Bobby: Right, but as it's currently secure (for the moment), it has to be someone from a different time
Have you ever watched any Doctor Who
GD: I have watched some
Bobby: Have you watched Blink?
The one with Carey Mulligan and the weeping angels
GD: Yes!
I even showed it to Geoff
So I've seen it multiple times
Bobby: Right. It's my favorite episode. Possibly my favorite episode of all TV everywhere
But the idea that the thing that was going to happen is always going to happen.
GD: One of the ideas that makes me most uncomfortable
Bobby: There doesn't exist an alternate timeline where someone doesn't send the drone back
Then don't watch Marry My Husband
GD: I'm thinking of a different show
Bobby: It's not finished yet, but it might frustrate you
GD: But there's an episode where something happens in a certain way in one timeline, but they go back and change something, and that same thing happens but it happens because of someone else
I don't know if that makes sense
Geoffrey was talking to me while I was trying to type it
So I may have lost the plot in the middle
Bobby: No that makes sense
It's what happens in Marry My Husband. She goes back in time to relive her life. So the same things are happening again, but in some cases she can avoid them. But then they happen to someone else. So the thing that's going to happen is always going to happen
I think the one thing that is very clear is that it certainly is not the Yeosang who is trapped in the glass case who sends the drone.
It's someone else--whether that be Yeo from the future or someone else
GD: Right, it could be an alternate timeline Yeo
It could be something that hala set up before they died if they did in fact die
Bobby: Like on their to do list before being captured
1. Send the drone, 2. Give the cromer to Hongjoong
GD: Right
Sort of Prisoner of Azkaban-ish
Bobby: But that would assume that they've seen that particular future
They knew Yeo in particular would be captured
GD: We have some evidence that they've seen the future or know the future
Bobby: So that's how they knew to summon Hongjoong. They'd already been to the future and already seen themselves call him and the others, seen themselves be captured, and seen their own deaths?
GD: It makes as much sense as anything, which is in fairness, not a ton
But I do think they must know something about the future because they bring ateez to them at the exact right time
Bobby: Well, it's literally what happens in The Time Traveler's Wife
Spoilers, I guess
GD: Well, in any event, it does give them hope, which is what sets them on their ultimate course
If Yeosang had made it back, this whole story probably disappears, right? They'd have no reason to go back and concern themselves with what was happening in Strictland at this point. If they'd all made it back safely.
But maybe that's the point.. I don't know. I'm sort of back on a OneTeez train
Bobby: I think OneTeez would be so incredible
Like imagine the last comeback before they head off to war, it's the end of the lore, and like the last shot we see is Hongjoong suiting up
And then it all falls into place
GD: Why did I decide against OneTeez?
Bobby: I feel like there's evidence against it
Things we have certainly discussed in bible study
I don't know what any of them are off the top of my head
GD: Right
I can't remember a single one
But I feel like I in particular had really decided it couldn't be true
Bobby: Yes, I've always been on the fence
OneTeez is my pet theory
But I know we have discussed things that have made me think "Oh I guess I'm wrong then"
GD: Yeah, I feel like I'd really ruled it out
Oh well
The only other note I have is that Wooyoung calls Halateez 'the black pirate'
Bobby: Yes. I had a crisis and had to look back to see if it was really just one person all along
GD: Lol so I did I
But we learn somewhere that the black pirates is the name for the whole underground resistance, of which halateez is just one part
Bobby: Yes
I think usually when Ateez are referring to Halateez they call them the men in black fedoras
But not always
GD: "Hongjoong swept dirt from the drone"
Wonder why it's dirty
I don't have much else to say about that
But it seemed a weird detail to me
Bobby: I assumed it got dirty when it crashed
Brushing the dirt off feels a bit like cherishing a thing that belonged to yeo
It's the "set it on top of a drawer" that really confuses me
GD: Also a weird detail
You're right
I'm thinking about the perspective again
Like, whose perspective it's written from. Because the last line says "we all surely felt it"
which implies its one of the unnamed boys that's telling us this part
Bobby: Well there's no pattern
In Z in pt 1, it's first person and clearly Hongjoong
In part 2 it's an omniscient third
GD: But the we implies this one is one of the boys
Bobby: Yes, but they also seem to have insight into how San and Wooyoung are feeling
It says "San could not believe there were only seven of THEM"
Is this just a translation error?
GD: Hard to say
That could be a guess
Bobby: It's Bobo
He's back
GD: Would be perfect
Bobby: Any further thoughts or shall we praise and prayer?
02: praise and prayer
GD: I think praise and prayer
My brain is sluggish because of a donut
I would like to praise the return of OSOS
Bobby: Yes. So nice
I really liked the new intro
My praise is Chief Emo Boy Mingi
My anti praise is not being able to listen on spotify but I also don't know how all that works
GD: Did you try listening on youtube music?
You can make little playlists which is sort of nice cause you can also stream some of Jongho's music on there
Bobby: Yes, of course it's on my playlist there
GD: It's also not nice because I'm used to spotify and I find the playlist making thing to be a hassle
Bobby: I'm also pleased the boys are having a nice vacation
Be the light
GD: Halazia
So, do you agree with our assessment re: the life status of Halateez? It of course remains to be seen. We'll be back next week with part 2.
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