Fever Series, Treasure Series, The World Series, Spin Off: From the Witness, and Golden Hour Part 1
This is a post in collaboration with 1117AM for a Lore streaming party. Please use this summary as you listen along to the playlist curated for the Korean releases related to Ateez's storyline. For information on the timeline, worlds, ancient artifacts, and characters in the Ateez storyline, please refer to my Ateez Lore: The Who, What, When, and Where of it All post.
Fever Series
World A - Diary Film, Ateez Fever Road, Inception, and Thanxx
Ateez befriended each other in high school and used an abandoned warehouse as a hideout, of sorts, to hang out, sing, dance, etc. Each member had their own reasons for joining the group:
Hongjoong dreamed of being famous to bring his family back together
Seonghwa was ruled by lists and to dos and saw dancing as a way to be free
Yunho saw music/dancing as a way to honor his music loving brother who recently died
Wooyoung was dealing with stage fright and Hongjoong, Seonghwa, and Yunho helped him to overcome that
San was lonely due to his family constantly moving and befriended the members
Jongho discovered his love of music through the group after a basketball injury
Mingi often cut himself off from others through listening to music since he was often bullied for being poor and Wooyoung brought him Into the group
Yeosang was the last to join the group, as he went to a different school and was highly controlled by his father, but he too found joy and freedom with the group.
However, the group did not stay together and happy for long and the warehouse was closed. Hongjoong snuck in and was sitting alone when he was contacted by his future self, who I will be referring to as Halajoong, in a dream and gifted the Cromer
which he then used to bring Ateez back together again through delivering messages to the members through dreams of his longing for them to be together again (see Inception)
which allowed them to break free from the adult control in their lives (see Thanxx)
and ultimately reunite in the warehouse.
World Z - Fireworks, Eternal Sunshine, and Déjà Vu
Once they did return to the warehouse, the Cromer sent them to Strictland where the Android Guardians attacked them to steal the Cromer. They were then aided by the Grimes siblings who explained what Strictland, the Black Pirates, and Halateez were and also asked Ateez to help them retrieve the girl's voice that was stolen by the Andriod Guardians. The group decided to split up to both look for the Grimes girl’s voice and find Left Eye, the only person the Grimes siblings knew who had knowledge of where the Android Guardian’s bunker was, which was where they were holding Halateez captive (see Fireworks).
Group 1 went to find the Grimes girl’s voice, a shining blue bead inside thick yellow smoke. They sent Jongho into the smoke to collect the bead but he inhaled it and started to hallucinate (see Eternal Sunshine) and walk towards a cliff, but was saved by Yeosang and they were able to find the Grimes girl's voice.
Group 2 went to find Left Eye in the junkyard in order to ask him where the Android Guardian’s bunker is (see Déjà Vu).
Left Eye led them to the bunker where Hongjoong met Halajoong for the first time in real life. Halajoong told Hongjoong that he called him there to continue their work and change their world. Halajoong then transferred his uniform to Hongjoong and the rest of Ateez by asking Hongjoong to put his hand against his through the prison glass.
They were told to run before the smoke receded and the Android Guardians could see them again. While Hongjoong was with Halajoong, Yeosang stole the Cromer back but the Andriod Guardians caught up with them as they were leaving and during the fight for the Cromer, Yeosang turned it in order to send Ateez back to the past/World A, and smashed it.
Leaving himself stranded in Strictland.
World A - Turbulence and The Real
Ateez realized they were back in World A without Yeosang and knew he had been captured by the Android Guardians. They were depressed because they thought he might be dead but then Yeosang’s drone appeared to the members cluing them into the fact that he was still alive and able to contact them somehow by sending his drone (see Turbulence).
Giving them renewed hope to keep fighting and to find a way to save him.
After a week in the past of World A, Seonghwa saw an article about a religious group, Scienslaver, trying to steal a Mayan artifact that looked like the Cromer Yeosang destroyed. Ateez decided the only way to get back to World Z/Strictland to save Yeosang was to steal the artifact themselves.
Here is where we get a little bit more Möbius Stripy, the artifact Ateez stole from the museum and saved from Scienslaver in World A WAS the Cromer Halateez was using in World Z! Older Halajoong gave the Cromer Ateez stole from the museum in World A back to his younger self in the Diary Film, but in this part of their storyline, Ateez used the Cromer, in essence for the first time, to return to Strictland in order to save Yeosang (see The Real).
World Z - Halazia
Meanwhile, back in Strictland, Yeosang was being held with the other captives of the Andriod Guardians in a glass prison without any light seeing lines of Resistance fighters, including the Grimes siblings, standing in front of his prison with their biological energy stolen covered in black fabric. (see Halazia)
He was in so much pain that he wished his emotions would be stolen or that the Android Guardians would just kill him
while still trying to hold onto control of his soul.
Treasure Series
World Z - HALA HALA, Say My Name, Pirate King, and Treasure
Once Ateez returned to the Strictland version of their warehouse with their "new" Cromer, they changed back into their Halateez outfits (see HALA HALA)
and then journeyed back to the Android Guardian's bunker to save Yeosang.
Yeosang heard the sound of a trumpet and the Android Guardians ran out towards the sound and started to fight a group of men in black fedoras (Ateez in Halateez garb) (see Say My Name).
While they were gone, one of the men came to save Yeosang.
He removed his mask and revealed himself to be Seonghwa. He then helped Yeosang escape from his glass prison.
Once Yeosang was saved, I believe Left Eye asked Ateez to join the Black Pirates (see Pirate King).
Their knee jerk reaction was probably, “Sure!” because what high school boy doesn’t want to be an anarchist?
After Ateez gather together to start their mission of changing Strictland by inspiring the Black Pirates and others to keep dancing and singing, they start searching for their "Treasure” which I think is to have others enjoy their music, both in real life as Ateez the group and in Strictland since true enjoyment of music comes from emotions. When people can enjoy their music, that means they have access to their emotions again and are free from the chains the central government has placed on them.
World Z continued - Illusion, Crescent, Wave, Wonderland, and Answer
I think reality hit them pretty quickly though. They realized how hard the task set before them really is and started to think about how nice it would be to be kids again, which caused them to fall into an Illusion where the stressors of their filling the shoes of Halateez could fall away. Anarchy is cool but it’s also pretty hard.
Throughout the song, they hear people shouting, "Let me free" and see the shadow of Halateez reminding them of the importance of their task. This leads them to begin to “open their eyes” (see Crescent).
Hakuna Matata - they are not going to worry about what lies ahead because they are going to get through it together (see Wave).
Ateez is now ready for their fight (see Wonderland, their battle hymn).
They have fully become Halateez and they have found peace with themselves. The are ready to start the actual work (see Answer).
The World Series
Still World Z - Sector 1, Guerrilla, Bouncy, Crazy Form, and Crescent Part 2
One of their first missions was to perform in the square of Sector 1 and spread flyers with the message “You are valuable by yourself. No one can define you and no one can control you. Being alive is imperfect and it is beautiful to be imperfect. Read poetry, draw pictures, listen to music, dance, and sing. Therein lies your own answer.” [Black Pirates]
They hack into systems of the central government to spread a message of freedom (see Guerrilla).
They also used breakers that Left Eye developed using failed government chips found in his dump to disable the chips behind people’s ears, break them from the control link, and lead the people to a black link the Black Pirates used if they made the choice to connect to it.
The Black Pirates were searching for the location of Z, the leader of Strictland (Henry Jo of the Scienslavers. See it all connects! → Möbius Strip!!) but hadn’t found him yet, so Ateez’s next mission was to target Prestige Academy as a way to gain access to the children of the elite members of Strictland and also save the brother of a boy who came to them for help after he broke free from control.
Ateez disguised themselves and infiltrated the school to carry out their missions.
While saving the boy's brother they met Thunder, the Prestige Academy "hall monitors", but were able to not be caught having real emotions and continue their rather elaborate plan to awaken the students and faculty of Prestige Academy using groovy music, neon-colored paintings, a ball of light that acted as a mirror, and breakers (see Bouncy).
The Android Guardians appeared to try to capture Ateez and while they were escaping the boy was recaptured and Seonghwa went back to save him but was intercepted by the Thunder leader and he left with her.
Upon hearing the news of the infiltration of Prestige Academy and the awakening of the elite students and faculty there, Z killed the principal of the school.
Seonghwa surprised everyone when he returned to the bunker with a map of the Disposal Site from the leader of Thunder and told everyone they could save the boy, because Thunder was actually a rebellion group and the leader put a GPS tracker in the boy's pocket before he was taken.
The members used blue butterfly androids to help explore the Disposal Site before entering it by driving their van through the fence to create a scene so they could enter into the Android Guardian's bunker undetected (see Crazy Form) They split into two groups: to save the boy and rescue the other prisoners held there by using the Cromer to send them back to the bunker. However both of these were a trap. Thunder helped to save Ateez at the bunker and the boy's brother, discovering the boy was working with the Android Guardians the whole time, talked sense into the boy.
There was yet another scuffle over the Cromer and the boy and his brother both died along with the Head Guardian when they fell into the furnace. Ateez used the blue butterflies as bombs to blow up the Disposal Site as they left. They then met up with Thunder and Seonghwa learned their leader had actually been awakened by the Grimes siblings and her goal was to get a job close to Z once she graduated so she could bring him down.
Ateez used the Cromer to return to World A, leaving behind the Thunder leader who graduated and infiltrated Z's workplace to meet the man himself.
Z was killed and those who wanted to reclaim their emotions were able to. Black Pirates and Thunder established a way for everyone to coexist and Ateez became the heroes!
World A - Dreamy Day, MATZ, IT's You, Youth, and Everything
Back in World A, Ateez had to return to their normal lives but had to live with their World Z experience without talking about it with others who did not experience it with them. At first they experienced the euphoria of arriving back home safe and alive (see Dreamy Day). But once reality set in, they each had a different emotional response to their experience.
Hongjoong and Seonghwa experienced anger and a want to destroy the current system and maybe even start to try to bring down Sciensalvar before they took control (see MATZ).
Yeosang, San, and Wooyoung were dealing with their own trauma responses which were causing them to feel anxious, lost, overwhelmed, trapped, angry, fearful, and vulnerable once that the real danger of World Z was behind them (see IT's You).
Yunho and Mingi were trying to look back on their memories to understand why their youth was harder with more sadness than the adults in their lives were claiming it to be. They were trying to learn about themselves through those memories and eventually came to a sense of acceptance where they could let go of the turmoil they brought and just keep the lessons (see Youth).
Jongho was dealing with a great sense of loss. What was once precious to him became familiar and he forgot about the preciousness. His important memories became regrets. He had lost his original dream of basketball, then lost the innocence of childhood when he went to World Z (see Everything).
Golden Hour Series
Ateez decide to follow their dream again upon their return to World A but now, three years later, with the reality of needing to earn money to live and follow their dream, they drifted apart and were living outside of that dream (see Work).
Hongjoong became a best selling novelist with a book about their experiences In Strictland.
Seonghwa became a firefighter due to his desire to save people and his memories of those he could not save.
Yunho became an archeologist, searching for more ancient relics like the cromer that could possibly send him and the members off to another world and a new set of adventures.
Yeosang, seeing Ateez leave their dream because of lack of money, invested in the stock market in order to earn enough capital to start his own business and reinvented himself as a leader of the investment world.
San started a food truck and used it to travel around and experience new people and locations discovering that most of the people he met never realized their dreams either.
Mingi was scouted on the street and became a model for a high end designer which then turned into a lucrative modeling career.
Wooyoung became a flight attendant because he could still give safety presentations and use the plane as his stage.
Jongho's love of music continued by becoming a singer songwriter that led to being a producer and vocal coach.
At this point in the storyline Ateez are trying to move on by putting their memories into an empty box and sending it away.
They are hoping that the others can leave everything behind as well and move on to something better. This is where we have been left in the storyline. It's a sad place to end and I hope we get a reunion with the next comeback and a new fun journey. Fin (for now).
コメント