starrrjh

[starrrjh]

shy cutie jongho … tumblr will not let me upload the gifs i made nooooooooooo working on that for tomorrow…

[starrrjh]

[ 2HO ]

BILLBOARD ARTIST

[starrrjh]

jongho and finding his safe place

a really, really long essay written by someone who's been an atiny and a ribo [jongho biased] since 2022, and since then stalked all previous content as well as religiously keeping up with everything recent. and I'm also a little obsessed with jongho. 

warnings: i’ve never written meta before. This is just me throwing up some of my thoughts regarding The Jongho because @storkmuffin provoked my ateez illness (showed vague interest). This post will not be organized and probably not even coherent. in that case, pretend i didn't write anything.

let's start with the basics. choi jongho debuted with ateez around a week or two after turning 18 in October 2018. he's the youngest member in the group, 11 months younger than wooyoung and a little over 2 years younger than seonghwa. he joined KQ probably early 2017 (unsure) and was the seventh member to do so. before that, he was a trainee at TOP Media Entertainment. jongho has the longest trainee period out of all members of ateez, having started at age 12. his entire family consists of athletes (mother played basketball, father played baseball, younger brother in archery), but his parents were still very supportive of his interest in singing and his idol career. jongho once had a heartfelt emotional speech trying to express his gratitude to them for their support in one of ateez's concerts (2022) and broke down in tears because of it. this is relevant, I promise. 

In recent years, Jongho has revealed, through tiny, tiny tidbits amongst a multitude of interviews, that his previous company wasn’t a very nice place. Obviously, he said it very straightforward and neutral, putting the focus more on himself and what he did instead of what the company did to him that caused him to do it. But from what we learned through this — his company was highly emotionally abusive. It practically killed his confidence and gave him his chronic fluctuating insecurity. His vocal instructors outright mocked him for trying to learn to sing and be an idol because of how allegedly bad he sounded. He’s said that people even told him to give up on this career because he wasn’t fit for it. Now Jongho’s natural personality plays a big part in how he survived this and still got to where he is now. He is sincere with his whole heart and there is little else in the world he loves more than singing. And he’s strong. He relied on that strength a lot — there was no other way to make it in his previous company. He’s shared other things too — the company made the trainees bow hundreds of times every day to teach them ‘respect’, etc. We don’t really know much else direct information from that time.

We have seen the consequences of it, though. By the time Jongho joined KQ, he seemed traumatized. I don’t mean to use that word lightly but that is what it looked like. Most of what I’m saying about his pre-debut stuff is from Jongho and San appearing on a show called “Eunchae’s Star Diary”, where he shared all of this. He said that once he actually left the trainee dorms for fifteen days. 

JH: “I ran away from the dorms because I was so exhausted. I had trained for three years and moved companies, and I wanted to rest before finding a new one. But people around me told me to audition at KQ, and when I did, they reached out to me on the same day to sign a contract. At that point, even after signing, the debut date only seemed to get further and further away. I was so young. I just thought at this rate, time will just keep on passing. So I thought that I couldn’t do this anymore and I’d rather just go to college. So I packed up his stuff and left without really making anything official with the company.”

Lots to unpack, especially considering that right after this, he said the only reason he came back was because one of his close friends really reassured him and told him that he was good enough (!!) for this, and that gave him the confidence to try again. Now when he tells this story to the interviewer, he’s half-smiling, emphasizing that he was just really tired, and quickly moving past the actual running away part to focus on the fact that he came back!! Debuted successfully! And he’s always reminded of how glad he is that he came back!! 

This is a trend with Jongho whenever he allows himself vulnerability — he tries to play it off, tries to smile and joke to make it seem light-hearted even though he’s saying really serious things. Yunho is good at acting but Jongho is an actor. Too good, most times, especially back in their rookie years. He’s very strict with himself, always has been — he’s good at doing things when he has an idea of what he wants, because he has enough random skills that he can figure it out. But emotions and personal relationships aren’t so clear cut — you can’t always be so single-minded about what you want, you don’t always know what you want. Aaand there’s Jongho’s primary issue.

Surviving through such a long training time is already harsh, especially since Jongho had been doing it from the age of 12 (!!!!) and in a bad company to boot. To quote San on this one, “He seems adult-like/mature in other people’s eyes but… in my eyes, he is a dongsaeng who I think couldn’t help but become mature due to many situations.” In ATEEZ’s first few years after debut, Jongho’s main image was the mature maknae-on-top, the youngest who acted like the oldest. Atiny joked that he often looked so stoic/cold/serious that it seemed like he was questioning why he was even in this group at all, often during super chaotic group moments. 

He was adamantly against being associated with cuteness or showing emotions. Whenever he did either of those things, it was against his will. Outside the stage Jongho didn’t really let himself visibly get close or be comfortable, with both his fans and his hyungs. I’m referring to on-camera stuff by the way, personal life is a bit different. Back then his on-camera interactions with his hyungs — the type of interactions that aren’t totally fanservice or unavoidable, the genuine stuff — was very limited. He didn’t let anyone touch him outside the rare instances when he started it first. He still does that of course, but back then it was a law being enforced, not just preferences. His ability to always keep a poker face caused the problem of making him seem totally unreachable and emotionless. 

Now, let’s compare this to him presently, as of July 2025. jongho doesn't really have that Too Mature image like he used to. sure it's still joked that he's more sane than all of the group combined, but he's cute. This is fact. the members are in a constant state of cooing over him directly and indirectly. he gives everyone cuteness aggression just by existing. he willingly, very enthusiastically participates in aegyo. He almost always either has someone hanging off him or is himself hanging off someone. The members, with increasing frequency, mention how jongho’s getting cuter and more maknae-like as he gets older, and jongho is happy with this fact. Jongho allows himself to be more open on camera/infront of fans — his ending ments at concerts being one. His livestreams and fromm texts as another. In one of his voice-only lives, Jongho actually says that he is thankful that he’s the maknae of ATEEZ, that he has his members to take care of him. And you’ll see that he has an abundance of on-camera ‘interactions’ with the members — laughing at them, giggling with them, watching them with a big fond smile, whining and pouting and bitching at them, irritating them ruthlessly. He has opened up, especially after his hiatus in 2023. Jongho’s multiple injuries are a whole different matter entirely and a completely separate essay on how it made him even more closed-off and changed him as a person, I’m not getting into that right now. BUT after his last hiatus, you can really see the changes in his persona and him visibly getting more and more comfortable. That interview where he talked about his trainee life — actually, nearly every instance he’s mentioned his pre-KQ life was after this hiatus.

Let’s get back to the emotions aspect. Both Jongho himself and the members have remarked that he’s sort of really bad at expressing his emotions, and while they’ve grown and learned enough to now have resolved most of the issues regarding this, it used to be a big issue. He couldn’t properly communicate what he wanted, and he wasn’t confident enough to try and push the issue when the members (obviously) didn’t understand what he meant. 

Exhibit A

JH: I have the least chemistry amongst ATEEZ members. 

He goes on to explain that he feels left out whenever everyone else pairs up, and is jokingly trying to say that the older hyungs should try out different chemistry between each other so no member felt like they were alone. Jongho says it too lightly — he has his characteristic half-smile, big gestures, slightly unfortunate phrasing and comparisons. And of course, he’s afraid to actually bring this up seriously, which is why he mentions it in this totally lighthearted setting where they are literally playing a debating game and have to refute eachother. Which Hongjoong does, passionately, dragging Jongho through the mud and snitching that he just doesn’t play along for any of the on-camera member duos. That’s not really what Jongho had meant. He’d been referring to genuine chemistry — he wanted to spend quality time with the members in a way that was natural outside of work. But he’s too scared of being so vulnerable, and he’s certainly not going to push the issue on camera.

Jongho displayed his insecurity regarding his relationships with the members twice more on camera (once during ateez’s 1N2D episode in December 2023, once during their Off The Record content earlier this year). A repeated occurrence! The two other incidents are different from the first, though — here he brings it up in a more appropriate setting and tries to be a little less avoidant. In both situations he’s reassured appropriately by the members. Both incidents are followed by a change that implies that there were private resolutions as well (the first time with mingi and the second with wooyoung, who both follow the incident with distinctly more time spent with him. And loving him to bits, in wooyoung’s case). And there’s the difference.

Pre-debut Jongho, traumatized and so tired, barely seventeen and forced to grow up so much that he never actually seems his age unless he consciously lets himself, which he never did. Rookie Jongho, slowly developing his relationship with the members — admiring them so transparently, adoring them (not in a romantic sense. Jongho loves these guys), wanting to be close with them and be young with them but struggling to do so. And rookie ateez, as well — infinitely patient with him and always considering him The Maknae™ in the way that actually matters instead of the aegyo and fanservice stuff. Letting him take the lead and explore what he wanted but also manhandling him into conveying what he wanted to properly. 

And of course — current Jongho and ATEEZ. Grown up and visibly so much more comfortable with being vulnerable. He’s confident in his relationships now, much more than before, and he appears to actually be closer to them too (such as the aforementioned Hanging Off Eachother. And him almost always mentioned atleast one hyung per conversation. Per topic, actually he has to relate it to one of them Always. Plus the other members always mentioned doing this or that with him, hanging out with him, going somewhere.). He lets himself feel emotions and tries to sincerely talk about them. Whenever he gets the opportunity to speak seriously he does. Concert ments and fromm texts and livestreams and interviews. Of course, he still constantly bothers the members. Teases them, irritates them, provokes them for no reason (they indulge him and don’t retaliate often), but now its more because thats just how ATEEZ relationships are (copious bickering and bitching and enacting civil war on each other), not because he doesn’t know how to take up space without feeling insecure about it. Jongho found his safe place with the members and after all these years he’s finally managed to let himself exist comfortably in his life.

If anyone is interested in really, visually seeing that growth, I’ll just leave these two links here with timestamps.

ATEEZ 2nd Anniversary Interview [Jongho at 13:05] [Jongho, his demeanor and the things he says here as well as the other anniversary content video are a whole different can of worms tbh]

ATEEZ 6th Anniversary Interview [Jongho at 25:50]

If you’ve stuck around for this incoherent ramble, thanks for reading! as ever, you could say i’m speculating these idols’ personal life, being deeply parasocial, etc, etc. really, at the end of the day it's all just fiction vaguely based on real life. What do we know about these idols personally?

end! eight makes one team.

[starrrjh]

you are fantastically susceptible to all of jongho's most basic jongho-isms. by the way, jjongst is one of jongho's old YouTube content series where he used to sing various osts/songs. he's done around five as part of jjongst, and some more covers as the "special clips" content line of the ateez YouTube channel.

here's the latest one (from multiple years ago, unfortunately). there's a special cookie at the end too. https://youtu.be/PgMJkFKiFok?si=jCURAVGaVXc-7Xt4

you should reeeeally watch his most recent live after the drunk one. https://youtu.be/wZrlkVZg7Nc?si=bEZ9o0WefX9qVq44 pt 1 and https://youtu.be/0wF62DS5zLk?si=w0qJXw8WXCep0j7a part 2. it's great.

if you want to get even more deeply parasocial about jongho and feel all warm and fluttery may i suggest this pop live (https://youtu.be/lIYM0ggkW68) because i sat through the whole thing without understanding almost any korean and still felt like a blushing medieval maiden getting serenaded by a troubadour (which. to be fair. that is almost exactly what that live was)

ask sent 2025.7.22

Uh. So I didn't actually want to get very parasocial about Jongho. Because, you know, I'm not. I really am not. I am about Yunho, and probably also San, and Seonghwa too, and um, Wooyoung.... but NOT ABOUT JONGHO. Liking a likable person is not being parasocial! I said, confidently.

But then 120 seconds (seriously, at exactly the 2:00 mark) into this Jongho Pop Toqtok Live, from 2024.11.21, I realized ... I have to liveblog this.

oh FUCK me.

Here goes.

I've seen Jongho Pops before - right after the first March 2025 concert, for example, and recently, the slightly drunken one he did after the contract renewal (where he later turned it off and went barging into San's room after barging into his Pop, as audience). He speaks in mostly 반말 to his audience usually, in a way that's very different in tone and approach from the way Wooyoung does it, or how Mingi, who tends to switch between 반말 and 존댓말, does it. Jongho posits that most of the people in his chats are going to be younger than him, which is interesting because he is the maknae, and when he uses 존댓말, he does it the way an elementary school teacher addressing a class full of children does it, to model proper 존댓말 grammar, almost.

It's very, uh, like Big Oppa (큰오빠). You know in big families where like, your mom has several older siblings, and Big Uncle is the eldest in that family, who then has an eldest son, so that when there's a dozen cousins all crowding together in one place, he's everyone's Big Oppa? Or maybe you don't know. But just go with me. This sort of Big Oppa is super useful, because he allows even the Ultra Unnie types like me to look at him and go, You know what, if he's here, it's under control, so I'm gonna take the responsibility backpack off now. IT'S ALL YOURS DADDY-O. Jongho has that vibe, to me.

Or so I thought.

And then at the 2 minute mark Jongho, sitting on the floor in a hoodie, with his Yunho-ish face all oval and pretty, and his big square hands hugely close to the screen (this can NOT be happening) says, "I JUST REALLY WANTED TO DO A LIVE TODAY FOR SOME REASON." Fiddle fidget fiddle with the fingers. Then he says, "I haven't washed yet, so I can't go on the bed" - pats the bed - "so I'm doing it on the floor, like this."

So. Many. Questions. What? Who made this rule, that you can't lay down on your bed unless you're freshly showered every single time? Does Jongho usually do his Lives from bed?? But the two I saw weren't at all from bed. What?

Jongho apparently made his own version of that Bruno Mars and the blonde Black Pink girl song, 아파트. And then he's singing 아파트 which even with Bruno Mars being involved was to me an unforgivably stupid song, just, fucking hideous, and he makes it sound so beautiful. Plaintiff and wistful.

He says, in his Big Oppa grammar, that he wants to give people a room tour, but there's nothing to see, because he doesn't really decorate. There's basic furniture, a PC, and shopping bags that need to be tidied. As a compromise, he shows everyone his absolutely enormous bed. It's huuuuuge. I like his sheets - they look soft and comfy. He has two fluffy pillows like a normal human. The pillow cases match the duvet cover.

Jongho says that is bed is a Large King. He got the biggest room, and he wanted a 'full' room feeling, so he bought the biggest available bed. But even with this super Large King bed, his room still feels really big. "That's why I'm always in my bed."

.... I have been missing out. Why don't Jongho ults advertise this more? Why are you gatekeeping? He's just always in his bed? What? Also, spending a lot of time rolling around in bed is very me coded. I approve.

The more I think about it the more I'm like... So someone who is in Ateez is actually capable of having a cozy-comfy set of bedclothes (unlike the bed of ascetic psychosis that is Yunho's, men's prison aesthetic that is Mingi's, of course he would have navy sheets a la San etc).

While I'm thinking this Jongho leave the screen then comes back with ... a guitar. He sits back down on the floor. He's unzipping the guitar, saying he hasn't touched it since that last Live. Then he's tuning it, looking down, and he looks so much like Yunho from this angle. I am not OK. Mom, my stomach feels weird. I think I might throw up.

Jesus - He's using his own voice as the tuner for his guitar. Uhh?? Does he have perfect pitch??

I'm getting super excited. He's making the guitar sound pretty during tuning. This bodes really well.

THEN HE'S PLAYING AND OMG HE'S GREAT. He sounds fabulous. Then he says, "Oh it's been so long my fingers are all stiff." Liar. Jongho is playing beautifully. And now he's SINGING. He's not remembering all the lyrics or anything, but he sounds SO GOOD. I don't know this song, but wow he has such a beautiful voice - oh wait I know this song!! - OMG NOW AND FOREVER I WILL BE YOUR MAN!!

Of course he sings this as his first song. This is so Jongho. Large King.

HIS ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION IS PERFECT.

Why didn't I know this? Did I know this?

Then he starts another song, and he's a very very proficient guitarist, and WHY IS HE IN THIS BAND, and then he stops and complains about not remembering the chords.

He tells you, the viewer - not asking, but telling - that it's fine that he doesn't remember the chords or all the songs. "It just looks cool, to do a live while holding a guitar." Jongho says he doesn't remember all the chords to all the songs he knows, so he can't show us as much as he wants. Then he just stops talking and goes right into playing Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven.

Uh.

What the hell is this super ultra mega flex move?? Isn't Eric Clapton one of the Great White Men of Guitar?? HE'S SO GOOD.

Then he starts strumming something else, that I don't know, but dude, Jongho is a guitarist. Why did I not know he was a guitarist as well as an operatic singer?

As he's reading the comments, he's playing scales all pretty, not looking at his fingers, which is another flex. He says, "It's a little frustrating that I can't recall something to play!!"

Then he remember something and starts singing a silly ditty in Korean about not... crossing.. your legs? He's smiling as he does it, because he's being silly. I don't know this song, but Jongho just elevates everything he sings so I'm not sure how to react.

He starts singing another song about I don't know you, but I want you, and then he stops again, and says, "I really want to play you something! But it's making me crazy because I can't remember the any of the chords!!"

Then he goes to get a folder, and starts flipping through the pages. As he reads, Jongho says, "Oh but there's only lyrics in here!" As in, no chords. He stops on a page, muttering about chords, chords, chords. Then, reading from his own notes (?), he starts to sing another song while accompanying himself on guitar.

Jongho has such a lovely voice, such superior singing technique. He just owns it. Him just singing casually, without conviction, uncertain of the song, the notes, the beat, is still so beautiful and musically solid. He interrupts himself laughing because he gets twisted up, and it's also fine. He's just playing around on his guitar, muttering he's forgotten, can't remember, what was it, I dunno, and then he reads a comment: "This feels like peeping on me while I practice?"

He's saying chord names to himself, trying to figure it out as he goes.

I was so, so right to say I'd buy tickets to whatever solo event Jongho ever wants to have. He can do this - exactly this, the stop and go of it, and making faces trying to remember, and telling us, I don't remember, I can't recall over and over.

"This is a piano score, not a guitar one," he says, flipping through his folder again.

He plays piano too?

"Thanks to Atiny, I've come to a day where I open this really old sheet music. Wow I practiced songs like this one too? Oh this really takes me back."

He finally finds something he thinks he can use to sing. Jongho looks much more at ease with a guitar than Hongjoong, who acted frankly like he was afraid he might drop it while performing in concert.

OH HE'S PLAYING STING! HE'S PLAYING A STING SONG! I KNOW THIS SONG - WHAT IS IT WHAT IS IT??? HE SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE STING RECORDING'S GUITARIST??

Jongho launches into a story about how in Germany he was 'playing around' with the guitar with Gyro (??) hyung and Joongjae (??) hyung, until someone told him, "Just play then." At some point Jongho played a song that Hongjoong knew, so they sang it. So now Jongho is singing on the upper end of his range, but very gently, and I'm completely won over again.

This is incredibly stress relieving.

He was playing very delicately thus far. Jongho says, "I've been playing it gently because it's night, but at the time I played like this," and now he's just playing like he's a folk singer giving a concert and

WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME JONGHO IS A GUITARIST?

So then Jongho says, "There is not a single song I remember~~~" and closes the guitar strumming portion of this Live Pop, but I am very thrilled anyway.

"It's now time to communicate!" he says. Jongho is so stern.

Showing us the lyric sheet for the song he sang on the Limousine service song. I'm very intrigued by the glyphs he's marked on his lyric sheet to remind himself to do downward scales while he sings (whatever the correct terms are). He also has a different sheet where he phonetically noted how the original singer pronounced the words in performance, so get to verisimilitude. This is so interesting. I love when people discuss nuts and bolts of their craft.

Flipping through the binder again one last time, Jongho sets it aside, saying, "Farewell, My Memories. I shall see you later."

He asks the chat if they know a song, 아름다운 이별. He finds the lyrics, and he starts singing:

눈물이 흘러/ 이별인 걸 알았어 (from the tears flowing/I knew it was farewell) (what the fuck is this song omg)

And he does this desperately sad, husky fade out for each of 흘러 and 알았어 and CHOI JONGHO! YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! YOU HAVE ME BY THE THROAT - STOP STOP STOPPP

Then he says, Eh, my throat is all scratchy, I can't do it properly.

I both very much want and also VERY STRONGLY do not want him to sing it properly, because trust me, thousands will die and tens of thousands will be injured but it will also be so beautiful.

Jongho continues, "It goes generally like that. Don't you think that I'd do it better now, than I did back then?" Yes. And you're threatening me and I don't like it.

AUGH HE'S DOING IT AGAIN. HE'S SINGING AT MEEEEE -

혼자만의 사랑의 ... 내가 사랑했던 것 만큼 / 너를 미워하면 잊을까/ 이별까지도/ 사랑할 수는 없었기에

Oh Holy Virgin save me - this is that Kim Gunmo song but Choi Jongho is a vastly superior singer to Kim Gunmo and he's trying to kill me THIS LIVE NEEDS TO COME WITH A WARNING LABEL. Also, why is he making me like these soppy fucking songs this much while only singing two or three lines from them at a time??!??!

Now Jongho is talking about 쫑스트 and I don't know what that is, so skip. And now he's singing another song. The other thing that's great about Jongho is that he has FANTASTIC diction while singing, In Korean. His pronunciation is superior to both Yunho and San, who are better than the rest. I am thrilled that I can hear every word. i can just take dictation from what he's singing:

창가에 요란히 내리는 빗물소리 만큼 시린 기억들이 내 마음 붙잡고 있는데 갈수록 짙어져간 그리움에 잠겨 시간을 거슬러 갈 순  - and he stops himself.

Jongho goes to get propolis candy, which he eats on camera after explaining that it's Good For Your Throat. He bought it off of coupang, he says. Brand doesn't matter. He's got the team ring on, the one that married him to seven other men in the Order of Ateez, and he shows it. Mouth full of candy, he warbles, "This is edible. It doesn't taste bad!"

What is 쫑스트?? Jjongst?? What is this? He says, If I sing a song from a medical drama, do I have to sing it at a hospital? Wouldn't that be ridiculous though?

Now he's talking about drama - the demon prosecutor or whatever (my pilates teacher told me she was watching this last year), and he wants to watch something else with "Gangnam" in the title, with Ji Changwook (whose name I've heard but I don't know his face).

We're now in the Ajumma Jongho part of this chat, and I'm totally discombobulated. 'I'm wearing the slippers I recommended!" he says, and shows his home footwear. What is happening?

"Oh look at the time!" Jongho says. There's a Music Bank thing he has to do tomorrow. Laughing, he says, "I wasn't pretending to not see the Duck Pajama request," then he correct himself, "Okay I was. I was pretending not to have seen it. I admit it." This is another insider joke. I don't know what this means. What's the Duck Pajamas?

"Anyway I have to wash," he says, and starts wrapping up. "Thank you for watching this Live, where I've been muttering to myself and playing guitar and stuff. So, everyone - Good night!" He gives us a cute little salue. "Bye!"

I am. Wrung. Out.

Hey. Hey, anon? Hey. We need to talk. You said - you said!! - "feel all warm and fluttery" and I think maybe, just a little bit, you were setting me up for something. Hey? HEY. Ma'am? HEY. [passes out]

[starrrjh]

muffin!! i was re-watching stressor things (oh, times where that whole "universe" platform existed...) on yt, and suddenly wondered if you watched it and if you had things to say about it— feel that its not brought up that often anymore, hands down my fav atz variety material (scaredteez my beloveds)

and i suddenly started to question and ponder in my mind: what atz member would do best during a zombie apocalypse? and here are my detailed thoughts about it:

san and jongho: the physical strength of the team. they would manage all the fighting and brute force that comes with a zombie apocalypse. jongho gives off the vibe of someone that would get too confident with a zombie horde and die tragically because of it. san would be more careful

yunho: ...that man is going to bloom in this environment (not really bloom perse because it is a zombie apocalypse after all, but just have more chances of survival). he could do anything— lead the group if hongjoong ends up dying, getting food and resources, socialize with any other survivor groups and do some networking/Social Abilities™, his downfall would be mingi

mingi: i love the guy but lets be #real... i dont have much hope for him in this scenario 😭😭 but i think he would be put into the task of cooking with wooyo and hwa, maybe even scavanging for resources or managing them

hongjoong: god im completely clueless about this man. I don't think hes surviving chat 😭😭 he would trip and get eaten by the zombies. hes the task assigner and manages resources with mingi and hwa

hwa: i have hope for this guy. he knows how to cook and could probably get into gardening since he has the time for it now (he knew how to take care of a pet moss☝️ I have hope). he would also manage the group's overall mental health/wellness (trying to make them be somewhat sane in a hard situation like this)

wooyo: wellness manager, and would focus more on defense and scavanging, alongside cooking. a vital member in this scenario (might become a healer in the run)

yeosang: cooker, scanvager and defender, also always has walkie-talkies charged and might use some technology to make things easier (limited because of it being an apocalypse) would mostly be in group with woo or san, has tactical gear and medicine always on his person.

overall verdict: they would survive, only if they are together. one of them gets killed and the group's stability/mental health slowly goes down.

-verdad anon (this is an open debate, everyone is free to join in 🫶🫶 xoxo)

OK this is so wholesome that you ended this thought with, essentially, 8 makes 1 Team. This is probably the correct Atiny answer. My answer is going to be wrong, and possibly offensive, but I'm hyper because this is the day before the first In Your Fantasy concert so Idgaf.

what atz member would do best during a zombie apocalypse???

This is how I think things would shake out:

Dies Immediately: San. Hongjoong.

Pairs up to Survive to the End: Jongho and Yunho. They take Yeosang with them, who also survives.

Can't cope but survive because they on principle refuse to be defeated by goddamn zombies: Wooyoung and Mingi, separately.

Figures out why the zombies are happening and implements an eradication solution: Seonghwa. Then he spends the rest of his life punishing Jongho, Yunho, Yeosang, Wooyoung and Mingi for letting San and Hongjoong die.

.... Did I just write rpf??

[starrrjh]

Jongho is such a manly man (positive)

And he has polar opposite approach to Seonghwa's seduction.

I respect and admire Jongho as a recording artist a lot. And when he DOES dance all out I'm always impressed. And he just seems so solid- at ease all the time, very clear in his likes and dislikes, able to take punches and roll with them and not take it all to heart. He seems the least high strung and most socially adept out of all of Ateez. Most of them are superfucking weird (affectionate) but Jongho seems as close to a normal upstanding young man that you can be and still be an entertainer in S. Korea.

During my viewing of Kingdom during the Fall of 2024, I was very taken aback by the clip of Han of SKZ watching to Jongho tear it up with a high note and going, 종호야~ in this half worried, half admiring way. He wasn't surprised - he knew what Jongho was capable of. It seemed that as a friend, Han was a little bit worried about Jongho taking a big risk of hitting a high note at maximum volume while live. Maybe, if Jongho and all-round-ace Han knew each other as rising trainees at different places, Han also knew of the massive disappointments and difficulties that Ateez as a group suffered right before Kingdom (world tour canceled due to Covid on the very day they were supposed to give their first performance in Spain or something, according to San).

In any case, Jongho has like, so many hyung. He's certifed and vetted as a Good Guy and can name drop endlessly. He is close with Astro. He's close with this or that guy (all famous people I don't know). So he lays out his CV of Hyung Who Have Confirmed Jongho Is A Good Guy, and then he goes, I've wanted to be friends with you, too. Very seriously, sincerely, without aegyo or flirting or hesitation. And he gets an unequivocal, entirely positive response 0.1 seconds later.

Wow boy~

I've wondered this more than once - if Jongho had been the eldest (I mean, Hwa is eldest and that hasn't counted for anything in this group) or the leader, what would Ateez have been like?

[starrrjh]

hiii i am curious to know why you think lemon drop is about eating pussy because i knew it was definitely sexual but eating pussy 👀? my brain is intrigued and i was wondering if there were any specific lyrics that really confirmed it since im not a full korean speaker (yet)

MINORS DO NOT READ.

I MEAN IT. DO NOT READ. DO NOT. NO. SHOOOO.

Mingi starts it:

온몸이 떨려 네 소리가 내게는 반주같이/ whole body trembling, your noises feel like accompaniment 쓰고 달고 그래 한 상에 차려진 luxury/ the luxury of multiple flavors set on one table 너무 나빠 / you're such a bad girl 더는 자극하지 마, brr, da-da / don't push me further (motorboat sounds!) 풀고 감아 돌리고 다시 담아 / unwind it, roll it around and turn it, fill it again Cassette tape 같은 그저 그런 영화/ like a cassette tape, an indifferent film

Whose body is trembling? His? Maybe, but he's observing, so I say more likely than not, hers. And if they were fucking there isn't time to observe this sort of reaction at leisure.

Her noises feel like accompaniment for two reasons. The head is far from the pussy and if he's doing it right she's making noises at the ceiling or the- UH - the other end, directionwise, from where he is focused. Because her head is likely to be tilted back, yes? Plus his ears might be muffled by thighs or by hands gripping them. This interpretation also comes from my being piano player - on a grand piano, you make the noises at the keyboard but the sound will emanate some distance away from you, you see? He's playing a key at one end and the sound is coming out the other end.

The literal translation for the 쓰고 달고 is bitter and also sweet but it would be TERRIBLE songwriting if in this song about cunnilingus, which this is, they actually went into describing what the pussy really tastes like. This is about the emotions of giving head - it's fun but it can also feel like work. And it reflects what Mingi said about love being imperfect but you should focus on him anyway. He's also had several drinks by this point, so I vote that he can't actually taste anything.

Simple point: HE'S EATING.

넌 너무 나빠 is literally You are too terrible but like, that's not how you'd say that feeling colloquially in English. No need to explain this one: brrr dada? Hello? The whole bit about unwinding and rolling and pouring is also surely too obvious. The indifferent visuals part of it is important. Exciting cunnilingus doesn't actually look like anything is happening from a porn point of view. And if you want to show a lady a good time, you actually need to take time, usually. So if someone wants to do the pussy eating correctly, you do kind of want the provocation to be not at high level because otherwise you might want to skip right to the next part.

Hongjoong takes over the next rap to say:

Oh my, drop it like it's too hot 시큼한 type, 자극 too much/ tart type, provocation too much 이건 fine dine, just good time/ this is fine dine etc 침이 고여 막 입가심은 lemon drop /mouth waters in a gush - wash it out after with lemon drop 입에 담기엔 넌 너무 naughty (Naughty) / you're too naughty to be placed in my mouth 눈빛 찌릿하면 머릿속에 parade (Parade) / when the electric glance hits, a parade inside my head 겨우 들뜬 맘 책임지길 바라/ i hope you do the right thing by my excited heart We're sweet and sour, then a period

Have you ever put your tongue inside a vagina? It's hot in there. It's also very um, provoking. And Hongjoong is eating too, but see, this is the personality difference from Mingi who is still saying super realistic things like love is imperfect and how all connection is bittersweet and stuff. Hongjoong just has nicer thoughts because he's a boy who likes saying pretty things. Hence fine dine, and see also, just a good time. His mouth waters so much saliva is pooling (literal translation for 침이 고여 막) and there's a lemon drop somewhere nearby somehow (is he just under her skirt at the goddamn bar??) that he's gonna rinse his mouth with afterwards. He needs the vodka mouth wash afterwards because you are too 'naughty' to have pouring into one's mouth neat ( 입에 담기엔 넌 너무 naughty).

Sometimes you look down (or up) (or whatever, however it is you receive cunnilingus, if you have a pussy - if you don't, I'm kind of sorry for you, because a clitoris is the best thing ever) but anyway! When you make eye contact while engaged in cunnilingus it is actually electric ( 눈빛 찌릿) and Hongjoong is the clever type so he's going to immediately go spiraling in a flood of words in his head. He's also hopeful that after the pussy eating is done, you'll do the right thing by him.

여기저기, ooh / here and there ooh 그저 그런 fools/ average so-so fools 걱정 마 난 그 반대, ooh/ worry not, i'm the opposite I ain't like that, ooh, yeah (I like that) 뜨거워 여름밤 열기/ it's blistering the summer night heat 너와 나 둘만의 party/ you and me, only for two, a party Yeah, I feel the heat going crazy Cheers to this night, 잔을 위로 / raise the glass upwards

Jongho also knows how to eat pussy. You actually don't want to poke or wander around much. You need to find the spot and STAY THERE. The rest of this doesn't need interpretation.

We take it slow, slow, slow I got what you want, want, want 누가 뭐래도, 도, 도 너 원하는 대로, 로, 로, come and slide in 뜨거워 여름밤 열기 너와 나 둘만의 party Yeah, I feel the heat going crazy (Oh, don't hesitate) Cheers to this night, 잔을 위로 (Just show me what you been feelin')/ raise the glass upwards

The repetition of the slow-slow-slow, want-want-want, 도-도-도, 로-로-로 is persistent and rhythmical for a reason. The amount of ways you have to move your tongue to make these sounds is also meaningful.

And you know they've said this thing about raising the glass twice? (잔을 위로). I translated 잔 as glass to keep in spirit with the fact that this is a song named after a cocktail, but 잔 can also mean cup. What's another word for glass or cup? Chalice.

You know. The grail. You know? The Catholic religious thing about The Holy Grail and the Uterus. There was a massive best selling (deeply stupid, but that's for another day) old ovel called The Da Vinci Code about what the Holy Grail really was that was also made into two movies starring Tom Hanks.

And finally, about lifting: Gertrude Stein, who was a lesbian poet and a genius and I'm very sure knew a lot about both cunnilingus and generally giving women orgasms, has this bit about lifting things on high to mean female orgasm in her poem titled, Lifting Belly.

I said it I mean lifting belly. Don't misunderstand me. Do you. Do you lift everybody in that way. No. You are to say No. Lifting belly. How are you. Lifting belly how are you lifting belly.

I rest my case. There isn't any part of this song that is not actually about eating pussy.

Disclaimer: There are no lyrics that really confirm anything and I'm pretty sure if we ask the eight (!!) people who wrote this song, six of them (EDEN, BL$$D,Maddox, Oliv, Olounder and Peperoni) would all say that it's just about drinking several cocktails in a row: A Lemon Drop (main ingredient: Vodka), another Lemon Drop, a Closer (main ingredient: Patron XO) drink a little bit of a second Closer (조금 더 Closer), before abandoning it for a Tequila Sunrise (main ingredient: Tequila). Mingi would say that he doesn't like flavored dental dams because he wants latex to taste like latex and he had a bad experience with bubblegum flavor once, but not confirm that the song is about cunnilingus. Hongjoong would scream and cry because he would agree with me but he hadn't realized that's what he was rapping about, and then run away.

Also alcohol is carcinogenic and mixing alcohol in this way would lead to a terrible hangover. Don't do this. Be nice to your liver.

P.S. Image provided by @heartseekerjhin There's a reason the Lemon Drop and the Blowjob are placed as consecutive options next to each other.

[starrrjh]

An exhibit of Jongho Gazing™️ at Yeosang on the occasion of Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈 (and Yeosang Month!)

Me too Jongho

Bonus!

Yeosang doing the Jjongstare:

[starrrjh]

ateez and the message of the golden hour series

the thought that started this whole tangent: golden hour part 3 feels inexplicably nostalgic and bittersweet. ateez are such Artists it genuinely astounds me sometimes because somehow they manage to make the overall message of their albums so abundantly clear without ever saying a damn word?

I've seen kpop artists explain their lyrics and concepts and break it down — and sure there's lots of pretty, touching, beautiful concepts done by lots of artists, but understanding the message of an artform by having it explained VS FEELING the message the art is conveying is another matter entirely. ateez have never quite Explained their message/lore/concept, not really, but everyone always has a fixed idea of what their music sounds like. the world series was about rebelling against oppression — and there's many ways people have interpreted this in the two years this trilogy was running (very literally, lore-wise, by overthrowing a dictator-like government), but everyone had similar interpretations that kept the core values of the albums and songs. then the golden hour series — and yeah everyone makes jokes about wondering how this concept was related to overthrowing the government — which is the point of the matter: it isnt about rebellion. the message has changed, just like how the treasure and fever series dealt with different things. the lore connects everything, sure, but it's very lose, and the lore is more about visual storytelling and the mvs, not the songs themselves. even then the series have noticeable differences — categorised broadly through world a and world z — but differences none the less.

then again, golden hour part 1 is different from parts 2 and 3, just like how part 2 is its own thing and so on. part 1 was success, happiness, riding the high, everything good and enjoyable in life, living in the moment. empty box provides a glimpse into a different outlook but even this song is very hopeful — the main message is about moving on from the past grievances and hoping for a better future. it's positive.

golden hour part 2 is yearning. there is a tangible loneliness, a DESIRE — that's the running theme of the song. man on fire is literally about them singing about this desire that feels like having swallowed a sun and feeling it burn you from the inside out (can also be about sex. another very interesting part of ateez — the way their songs do multiple things at once by keeping with their overall theme and also allowing them to explore various stereotypical concepts in the kpop manner). jongho sings about feeling a want/thirst thats so intense it feels like it's choking him. it's one of ateez's most desperate songs, so raw you can feel it like a physical force. on a related note, deep dive is one of ateez's most aching songs — notice I don't say sad because it's not exactly sad. I'm repeating the lyrics of the song here, but it's about emptiness. you've been trying to fly all these years, throwing yourself off of the cliff with your eyes wide open and your arms spread wide, striving in the hope that you will grow wings and propel yourself to the sky. you've fallen and failed and gotten hurt and died for this impossible dream and somehow you achieved it — you got your wings and you reached the sky and you glowed until you became the stars you were trying to touch. but... now what? you've been so desperate to achieve this place for so, so, So fucking long that you don't know how to exist now that you've gotten it. that passion, that yearning, it was everything you were. you killed parts of yourself in the name of this dream and you rebuilt yourself from nothing and you changed so much that you cannot recognise yourself except for that passion. and now you've gotten it — and you're alone. its a dark theme, and for all that atinys were crowing to get yearningteez back we sure didn't talk about it when we Actually Did. overall, entirely different from gh part 1 but also very much following a cohesive path — pt 2 is the aftermath of the success they WORKed to achieve in pt1.

now, gh part 3, dear lord I love this album so much. everyone is very much focussed on external stuff right now and it's only the first day, so the sexiness and the... blatant mistreatment of certain members is rightfully on people's mind more. but everyone who has heard this album has said one thing (as far as I've seen): this album, these songs, are very, very nostalgic. I don't know what it is about them, I'm not a professional in anything ateez do (I'm just pathologically obsessed with them and rotate them in my head all the time as a hobby), but this whole album feels very bittersweet end of a coming-of-age movie where the now settled grown up protagonist looks back at their past and for a moment feels all the happiness and joy of their youth rush through them, though it is tinged in nostalgia. alot of people are saying that various aspects of the songs/album/mv are callbacks to ateez's past discography, particularly the fever series. even the lore at the moment is about time travel and deja vu and being trapped in the past (something about wooyoung using the sopro to take ateez back to their youth). whatever it is, this album is very rose tinted. it's slower, melodic, charming — they're having fun but they're also acknowledging the difficult parts (something gh pt 1 outright avoided). now this house ain't a home is an incredible song, with a very touching individual message and overall about suffering through unseen or often overlooked struggles, trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel. it's sad, just a plain (not plain at all, but you get my point) sad song. then there's castle — hopeful, a safe place; you've come so far and endured so much, don't worry about trying anymore, just hold onto me and I'll let you hide away, take you to a brighter place. so there was bitterness, and there's hope, and there's mature fun, and there's... the bridge, which I really don't know honestly. but the message is clear: we've come a long way.

i really rambled alot here, this is all probably incomprehensible. it's just that ateez are so talented, so incredibly skilled at their art. they know exactly what they're trying to say — no word, note, or line is wasted. they're not "figuring themselves out" — ateez has never been about that. they've never been in doubt about their identity — which I think plays a big role in them never feeling like rookies, since being inexperienced is associated with trying to understand yourself. but ateez have always had a clear identity in their art and they've never, ever wavered on that. they've grown an incredible amount, both as a group and as individuals, and their music has grown with them but it hasn't quite changed. that's what makes ateez so unique, indescribably yet undeniable. they are artists, real, actual artists, creating and embodying their work in the way artists tend to — making something larger than themselves, a form of expression with so much depth that it can be interpreted in a thousand different ways. they aren't shallow at all, they aren't just a kpop group in the stereotypical sense that phrase is used. they are artists who happen to be Korean.