Ateez's Full Storyline Explained - Part 1
Masterlist
I'm gonna cover the Diary Entries/Diary Film before we tackle Inception MV in the next post since all three tie into each other but, as the only written medium, the Diary Entries are the most elaborate and provide the foundation on which the Inception MV is built.
Fever Part 1 Diary Entries:
Side-note: All future albums from Fever Part 1 onwards come in three versions - usually titled A, Z, and Diary Version. If you purchase the Diary Version, you'll find a series of diary entries by the members in the photobook - that's how the storyline gets told. This album, however, is a bit of an exception. There are still three versions but this time, the Thanxx Version includes just one bonus diary entry on the back of Hongjoong's large photo, but we also get the regular Diary Version which comes with a bonus booklet that includes all main entries.
Thanxx Version Entry:
Note: This entry is also being read by a female voice for Track 1 on the album, indicating that someone later found it. Who exactly is unclear. However, it's not the writer as will later become evident.
The entry begins with the first person narrator recounting an incident where an adult asked him what his dream was
From his entry:
As if my dreams explained who I am... When I said I have no dream, the look on the adult's face was like to the child with no name. The look was familiar to me.
He talks about how life passed him by: try to get good grades to please his parents, walk the same path each day, expression unchanged
Many books tell me, look at the stars in the night sky and become the person who shines bright like those stars. But, the stars that I looked up to in the sky did not shine at all. So I continue to walk, looking down at the floor.
It was then that a child walked up to him and told him there was nothing down there to look at, that he should look up
He describes the child as weird because the smile on his face was bright but his eyes were just like his own
They began to hang out together from then on; they would turn up the music and dance
Eventually, those hang outs became the times he felt truly alive
My heart pounding like it's about to burst and this tingling feeling coming up from my fingertips started to take over me. Was there ever another moment where I wanted something this bad? One by one, more children started to say my name. The path that I only walked with one other person became a path to many. Slowly, the word 'I' became 'ours'. Wandering around with this unknown fever, as we looked above our heads, stars seem to shine bright. Today.
The identity of the author is unclear, unfortunately, because going based on the events and some of the word choices, it seems like Hongjoong but later on, we'll see Yeosang's diary entry outright re-use parts of the final lines above
Diary Version Entries/Diary Film:
I highly recommend watching the Diary Film before you read on! It covers all entries in a very pretty, artistic way and will set the vibe for what's to come.
The Intro describes the location of Ateez's hideout: leave the city behind, head through a deserted side road and past a maze of cement walls to find a factory entrance with a 'No-Entry' warning sign
It's surrounded by wild grass, the only sign of visitors: a trampled path made by several sets of footprints
From a distance, you can already hear a familiar beat
Following the path, you'll find a deserted warehouse with rusty iron gates
The first person narrator (likely Hongjoong) enters and finds his friends - the sight makes him smile
From the entry:
These are faces I never got tired of seeing every day. This is our own space. Laughing, crying, arguing, dancing, and singing. A space where our dreams came together. Our hideout, our own world, separating us from the adult world. Right now, it is a moment void of compromises and tameness, it is the moment before we opened that door.
From Hongjoong's entry:
I don't want to be forgotten as if I never existed.
He talks of how he feels different from the people on TV who're performing under bright lights, but he still wants to be a star like them so he can be seen from everywhere
Maybe then, his family will notice him
Even if it were by coincidence, I wish I could meet them at least once. If my family could get back together like before... I miss the warmth of our living room.
His family split up, each of them moving away and leaving him behind where he now found his new family in Ateez
He met each of them through music, by performing in their hideout
Just thinking about them warms my heart! I really hope we can achieve our dreams together! My family, the music I love, and our dreams... We must keep them.
Seonghwa watches a girl perform by herself and feels something in him change as the music from her headphones reaches his ears
He feels the world fall away
From his entry:
Common sense, rules and this tough world didn't have power over her moves. Right this moment, my world broke along this snowy road. [...] She dropped a bracelet that had "Be Free" engraved on it. Ever since that day, I went to the same place at the same time.
Yet, she never returns and he has no way to contact her
Regardless, the way he views music permanently changes
I can no longer distinguish the structure, code, or the genre of the song. Only the lingering feeling of that day remains.
Yunho's entry is a one-sided conversation with his brother, likely taking place at his brother's grave
From his entry:
Hey brother, you look like you are in such a good mood today! The weather is so good as well. Even though I was running to see you, I didn't even feel the heat.
He tells him about his day, how they would've gone to Han River together and how he's been planning to rid of his brother's old guitar but couldn't bring himself to do it
But since it's a guitar you cherished so much, I just left it out of sight because it seemed like you abandoned your dream.
He continues to tell his brother about Hongjoong and how he was someone he felt he could talk to when things get tough
He is a person I admire on both an artistic and humane level. Thinking about it now, you both kind of look alike? I think you guys would have gotten along if you'd ever met each other.
He tells his brother how he can laugh again, thanks to Hongjoong and the other members and how it's helped him avoid the painful memories and focus on achieving the dreams his brother couldn't
I will make them happen: the boys and I will make it happen. When that time comes, you must wake up from the long hibernation. I want to show you all of it! I'll be back tomorrow. Good night!
Yeosang talks about how he was originally never good with mechanics until he started to dismantle a speaker
As time went on, every time he felt suffocated, he would begin to dis- and reassemble appliances and instruments
His parents are the ones who always make him feel like this; they have his entire life planned for him - one routine repeating over and over again each day
From his entry:
That day in that shabby warehouse, a bunch of guys I'd normally run away from asked me if I knew how to work a drone. This whole encounter was a bit strange! I actually was lost and wandering around. The sound of music was what brought me to that place. From that day on, I went there every day.
He falls in love with dancing, describes it as a mind-blowing activity not even the memory of his parents' worried faces could hold him back from
For the first time, I felt alive.
From here, we get a paragraph that can also be found in the bonus entry from the Thanxx album, as I already mentioned when we discussed it
However, where the Thanxx entry reads: "Slowly, the world 'I' became 'ours'. Wandering around with this unknown fever, as we looked above our heads, stars seem to shine bright." This one ends as follows:
Slowly, the word 'I' became 'ours'. However, now I must leave the 'ours'. If I back out, everything will be back to normal, the scattered members and the stolen hideout. I'm sorry, guys.
From San's entry:
I was always laughing, but I always felt lonely. I just couldn't open up or maybe I've never had the time to open up. Every time I got closer to someone, I had to move.
He has to move again today but at least this time, he can talk about his feelings with his friends
As soon as I saw them, I knew right off the bat, they're like me. Oh, Seonghwa was a little different. He never tried to do anything the traditional way, he was always 'HIS' way.
It was his dad who told him they'd have to move again but the words hit San differently this time since he finally found a place he felt like he belonged
What should I say to Wooyoung? Thanks to him, thanks to my friends, I was able to perfect my dance moves. Bobo, what should I do? What? You want me to do it 'MY' way?
The entry ends here, leaving it unclear who "Bobo" is but they get mentioned again in the Fever Part 2 Diary Entries
From Mingi's entry:
Music was my haven, my escape, my one and only relief. When I felt like dying, I would listen to music. I wasn't afraid of death! People who never lived in poverty would never understand this feeling.
The people around him looked at him as if he were an alien and laughed at him for wanting to die when he's just an "immature high school student"
I guess it is uncommon for someone my age to feel that way.
He doesn't remember a lot of names from his years spent in school since no one ever talked to him and, even when they tried, he simply wouldn't answer
But Wooyoung was different.
He's been with Mingi since elementary school and would always stick to him during breaks, even when Mingi would never bother to partake in the conversation
Wooyoung would tell him stories about their classmates, his favorite songs, American dancers and the other Ateez members he worked with outside of school
He always tops it with that signature laugh of his, which naturally made me laugh. Out of shyness, I started calling him "Woo-Ong". Ah, that unique laugh of his. He was the first friend I've ever opened up to.
Mingi started to spend all his time with Wooyoung until he eventually also followed him to the hideout for the first time
The place where I could dream. They were friends who took me as I am. We cried, laughed, and made music together. They accepted me as who I am, regardless of where I live or who my parents were. I felt exuberant for the first time in my life. But now I'm getting scared. Can I really have a dream? Will it not be taken away from me?
Wooyoung recalls how his mind always goes blank and how he wants to run away whenever he tries to perform in front of an audience, regardless of how confident he feels when practicing alone
On social media, his practice video already raked in 100,000 views and many people, including big entertainment agencies, reached out to him, and yet
Once I felt their look towards me, I just couldn't move. I closed my eyes, trying to escape, and then Seonghwa's voice popped in my head: "Wooyoung, before you start performing on stage, remember these three things: 'Everything will be okay!', 'Believe in yourself!', 'You can do it!'" "He will be too nervous to remember THREE things! What kind of psychology book did you read?" "Yunho, are you making fun of Seonghwa again? Buy hey Wooyoung, believing in yourself is the key." Hongjoong is always good at putting everything into perspective.
Wooyoung smiles at the memory and feels their presence despite them being nowhere near; he gets back up
He has a habit of chatting in order to beat his stage fright and has trained himself to laugh when he's feeling shy
But even though he doesn't mind being teased for these habits, he still freezes when he feels the eyes of an audience on himself - his tricks don't work in this kind of setting
He recalls the first time he met Hongjoong, Seonghwa and Yunho at a street performance and how he saw something in them he felt he was lacking
Expressiveness beyond dance techniques and showmanship that captivated the audience. When I danced with them, I wasn't self-conscious and was able to deliver my best performances. My legs are tense. The first step, the step that I was never able to do, the chain that was tying to my body was magically released.
Jongho recalls how he's had his entire life planned out, everything centered around playing basketball... and then he got injured
He begged the doctor to let him get back on the field and play again but it was no use
I felt like I was drowning. No matter how hard I tried, I was still stuck in the exact same spot.
He tried to keep going but the moment he fully gave up on his dream, he felt lifeless
As good as being dead.
He sees his own lifeless eyes from before reflected on Mingi now as he punches him
Yunho grabs his throbbing hand after to keep things from escalating further
Mingi clearly saw the fist coming his way but didn't try to avoid it. His lifeless eyes are still haunting me.
Mingi had called their dreams a luxury, had said their time together meant nothing to him and decided to quit
Jongho couldn't hold back from throwing a punch then
Funnily enough, it was a heartbreaking moment for me but also the time I started to dream again. At that time, I didn't know how to reach out to a lost Mingi. Where are we, where should we go?
The situation with Mingi clearly reminded him of the way it had felt to lose his first dream which meant, amidst the chaos and heartbreak, he realized he'd unknowingly begun to dream again
The Outro, written from Hongjoong's POV as will later become event, begins as follows:
Even though I lost my dream and family again, there was nothing I could do. Everyone left and here I am, alone again.
On a hot summer day, they decided to go their separate ways since they began to view their shared dream as shackles that were holding them down
The scorching sun melted away even our dream of youth and made it disappear at the end of our feet.
Their problems were piling up, their shared promises kept getting put off and, eventually, they began to forget each other
It was then that Hongjoong began to see him in his dreams
The man in the black fedora, whose eyes you could only see through his mask. Somehow familiar but tired eyes. "You lost your dream, not because of the tough reality, but because you guys decided to. "Get rid of the idea that the world you see is everything. There are many dimensions and many realities in this world. The world I am in, the world you are in, are all real."
The man says he'd like to share more but is short on time
He calls the hourglass in his hand "the Cromer" and says it's the key to connecting the worlds
He hands it to Hongjoong before stepping back with his final words
"Follow your heart, the map is there."
When Hongjoong looks up from the Cromer, the man is already gone and Hongjoong wakes up, feeling lonely
It's then that he spots the hourglass on the table in front of him and watches as the sand begins to flow from bottom to top, indicating the Cromer's ability to time travel
The iron door then opened and I could hear the footsteps coming closer one by one. The guys then gathered around me with the same puzzled face.
