Overall summary of ATEEZ’s storyline so far because the other post is too confusing for me (¼)
I apologise in advance if this one gets very long I’m just summarising everything I’ve got so far! Let me know if I’ve missed anything!
- A religious organisation known as Sciensalvar was created in 1999 by scientist Henry Jo. The religion believed that humans were the collection of energy, and ‘human concerns from an uncertain future could be resolved by science’. In various statements, Henry Jo mentioned a Mayan relic, shaped like an hourglass, which he claimed contained condensed energy that was the key to saving the world
- The Mayan relic was indeed an hourglass artifact that imitated the Moon’s movement. There were many theories about its exact purpose, but one clear, established theory was that the relic was used for ceremonial purposes
- In ATEEZ’s storyline, we know this hourglass relic as the Cromer, which creates new timelines/dimensions whenever it gets flipped
- ATEEZ uses these timelines to travel towards the treasure, and they all have individual treasures (e.g. Yunho’s treasure is seeing his brother again, Hongjoong’s treasure is being a star and performing, etc) but they also have another combined treasure: staying together, as in the 'real world’ circumstances are forcing them apart
- Yeosang’s parents were the ones who got ATEEZ kicked out of their hideout as Yeosang was deviating from his family and routine by singing and dancing with the members, and playing around with machines such as drones
- Mingi voiced his thoughts one day and said that their 'dream was a luxury’, that the time he spent with them meant nothing to him. Jongho got mad and punched him, which reinforced Mingi’s fears of being alone. It was after this incident that they starting drifting apart, then getting kicked out of their hideout heightened that even more
- Hongjoong was upset; he was supposed to be their leader, but he had failed to keep them together. While sleeping at the warehouse a man in a black fedora came to him in a dream and gave Hongjoong the Cromer, telling him about its abilities
- When Hongjoong awoke, he dismissed it until he saw the Cromer beside him. While mulling over the situation, he inadvertently flipped it and the members came back to the hideout. Hongjoong used his thoughts of the members being together and unconsciously transported them to an alternate dimension along with him
- The members didn’t believe Hongjoong about the Cromer at first, because everything looked the same. But giant men (questionable as they 'did not feel like people’) in white suits burst into the hideout, and they were searching for the Cromer
- Hongjoong saw a piece of glass on the ground and threw it at the giants, confusing them and giving the members time to escape
- As this new dimension was similar to the 'real one’, they were able to make their way to a hiding place safely. However, they sensed subtle differences in this dimension (e.g. in their 'real world’ there had been some water flowing and a giant rock near their hiding place, but in the new dimension these were missing); the new dimension was a décalcomanie
- A décalcomanie is the process of transferring pictures or designs to another medium such as glass, but in Korean its meaning is a mirrored image that is only at first glance identical but upon closer look you start noticing subtle differences; basically a doppelgänger, and in this case also gave them a sense of déjà vu because it was all so familiar
- While the members were resting, the giants attacked them. The giants started dragging Wooyoung, which injured his ankle, and the members rushed to save him, but ended up losing the Cromer to the giants. The members were saved by a mute girl, who took them to a cave, where they also met her brother. They introduced themselves as the Grimes (lol) siblings, and the boy explained that the giants had taken his sister’s voice
- According to the Grimes siblings, the fourth industrial revolution in science and technology brought an expansion of human lifespans to 200 years. As lifespan increased, the amount of compulsory education also increased, so 40 years of education was needed to learn basic knowledge and simple principles in the new world
- The central government wanted to create their own utopian society by using an AI system that made it possible to remove and control every unpredictable variable. It was able to predict all possible outcomes, but there was one problem it was not able to solve - human emotions
- By applying deep learning technology, the AI considered human emotions as a 'bug’, and found a new market platform for estimating individual energy, which was known to be unpredictable, and trading it
- The central government prohibited all kinds of art and exercised control over the trading platform, which caused things like sensitivity, emotion and free will to fade away, and society became ruled by efficiency and logic. People were materialistically affluent, but weren’t truly happy
- This new world was presided over by someone known as ‘Z’. Using small chips implanted just under people’s ears as well as other methods of control, Z would regularly preach to the public and assure them that a perfect world would be one without emotions
- However, men in black fedoras began to appear, who would sing, dance and attract people. They helped people escape control of the government, and these people along with the men in black fedoras began to form a Resistance called the 'Black Pirates’
- Obviously the government weren’t too happy about this and put the men in black fedoras on the Wanted list, but were unable to catch them as these men were able to teleport thanks to the Cromer
- The government put in new Android Guardians (the giants in white suits) who were effective and were able to catch the men in black fedoras
- At this point in time in the story, to Seonghwa the Black Pirates and Resistance did not matter, all he wanted was to get the Cromer and get everyone back home to the 'real dimension’
- In order to find the Cromer, they had to get to the Android Guardians’ bunker, but the only person who knew about the bunker was Left Eye, the manager of the 'Strictland’ who lived in a dump
- As they made their way towards the 'Strictland’, Yeosang felt good because he was with his friends and he was able to decide his own life. He felt guilty though because his father had orchestrated them being kicked out of the hideout, which led to all this. Yeosang didn’t want to return to the 'real dimension’ and return to the world his parents had made for him
- When they got to the dump they found that, due to yellow smoke from the continuous burning of trash that was said to cause hallucinations, Left Eye wasn’t entirely sane (same tho)
- Wooyoung was grateful to the Grimes siblings for helping save his life, so he wanted to find the girl’s voice too. Left Eye also had his own story according to Hongjoong and the Grimes Siblings. Mingi found it annoying that they were helping the siblings as well and got annoyed at Wooyoung, calling him unnecessarily nosy
- The members split into two groups: those who would venture into a pile of trash that formed a cave to find the girl’s voice (Jongho, Yeosang and others) and those who would convince Left Eye to help them find the location of the Android Guardians’ bunker (Yunho, Mingi and others)
- Jongho wore a gas mask and safety line before venturing into the cave. The Grimes boy had told them that his sister’s voice looked like a shining bead with blue condensed energy inside. Jongho saw that the bead was deep inside the cave, almost hidden by yellow smoke
- As he went further into the cave he started hallucinating that he was in a basketball match with his teammates. He forgot that he was looking for something and became involved in the game
- It was the same game that had caused Jongho’s ankle injury in the 'real world’ and forced him to quit basketball, so he dismissed everything that had happened so far as an illusion and déjà vu, removed his mask and thought that the game was real
- The safety line around Jongho’s body stopped moving and, getting worried, Yeosang went into the cave with the last gas mask. He found Jongho intoxicated by the illusion and running towards a cliff
- Jongho in his illusion managed to turn the 'game’ around when all of a sudden he was on the ground. He heard a familiar voice through the illusion and he saw someone holding his arm, who looked like a doctor. The doctor began to say that Jongho would have no problem living his normal life, but would not be able to play basketball. Jongho was undergoing déjà vu, reliving his ankle injury and subsequent hospital stay
- Then, he heard Yeosang’s voice and saw his faint outline behind the doctor. Yeosang took the mask off his own face and gave it to Jongho, who began to see clearly and saw that they were sitting at the end of the cliff. Yeosang told Jongho that the Grimes sister found her voice
- Left Eye had been a good man with a small brand shop he founded after studying fashion design. He had been disqualified from the fashion house in the past due to his unfriendly appearance, but he had great skills and was a warm person with a passion. He had a daughter
- However, his daughter had been hit by a speeding car while trying to save a flower on the road. Due to the policies pushed by the government, people who had witnessed the accident thought that moving forward quickly was more important than looking around, so they just passed by, pretending not to see anything
- Left Eye’s daughter had died slowly and might’ve survived if people around her had acted, but unfortunately she couldn’t be saved. Left Eye fell into despair and became a different person.
- He became intoxicated by the illusion of his daughter created by the yellow smoke, and when the government found him wandering around the dump, he was selected by the Android Guardians as the manager of the 'Strictland’
- Yunho empathised with Left Eye as he had lost his brother so he knew what Left Eye was feeling. His intentions changed from just wanting to know where the Android Guardians’ bunker was to helping Left Eye as well
- In order to do this they had to lure Left Eye to a place where the yellow smoke was less severe, so that they could help him realise that the daughter he was looking at was just an illusion
- Left Eye started to attack the members (I assume for trespassing) and they managed to lure him into a smoke-free space. When his daughter’s illusion disappeared, Left Eye became even more furious.
- Everyone was unsure of what to do, but Yunho shouted 'Your daughter is dead! You’re denying it because you don’t want to believe it, but aren’t you already aware of the truth?’ Left Eye got mad and shouted 'I’ll kill you!’ while swinging a large bat
- Yunho dodged the attacks but Left Eye swung the bat even more recklessly, damaging everything it touched. Yunho however was not afraid. Despite his members’ warnings, he approached Left Eye, and saw that the hallucination was fading
- Yunho told Left Eye that his daughter’s death was not his fault, and that he had no thoughts of harming anyone in the first place. Left Eye let go of the emotions that had been locked up inside him and wept, wracked with guilt, thinking 'What if I hadn’t sent her there that day?’ Yunho felt that he was looking at a mirror; he experienced the same when his brother died
- Left Eye agreed to help them find the Android Guardians’ bunker, and everyone set sail towards the island where the bunker was rumoured to be
- On the way, while the members were asleep, Mingi overheard the Grimes siblings saying that the members would save the Black Pirates. They were watching a video of Left Eye’s daughter dancing, and were reminiscing the days when it was allowed to dance and sing
- Mingi, who in the 'real world’ previously expressed that he wanted to die, had a newfound appreciation for the beauty of it all: the sea, the Grimes siblings singing while Left Eye danced, and Mingi was able to let out a small laugh
- The late afternoon of the following day, they made it to the island. The island used to be a tourist attraction, but was unfrequented now that people considered taking trips and rest to be meaningless in the new world
- In case they needed to make a quick getaway, Left Eye and the Grimes siblings stayed on the ship while the ATEEZ members approached the Android Guardians’ bunker
- They found the bunker inside a gallery (ironic since they banned art and yet built their bunker surrounded by it). The members passed the empty lobby, some drunk Android Guardians, and saw men in black fedoras in a glass prison surrounded by smoke
- Hongjoong threw himself against the glass prison, but it wouldn’t budge. One of the men in black fedoras noticed him and said 'Finally, you are here’, and took off his mask to reveal that he looked like Hongjoong
- Hongjoong kept questioning the man, but he wouldn’t respond to those. Instead he simply said 'I don’t have enough time to tell you the whole story’, and asked for all the members to put their hands on the glass wall
- Hongjoong felt an energy sweep around them, and without noticing they were wearing the black suits. The man with the same face as Hongjoong shouted for them to escape before the smoke cleared
