Huh?

[elearann]

Masterpost

New Atiny in the place

Masterpost of YS content I'd rewatch

Reflecting on Atiny Town

How I choose a bias and why so salty about AAA

Musing about RPF

Thoughts on SanSang

MinSang is another flavor

WooSang the 10-years best friends

KQ is a bitch not promoting Yeosang

[elearann]

There's a golden boy here and nobody is doing anything about it

I'll preface this by saying I've been trying very hard to not be that fan, the one who sees a pattern and will cry mistreatment when it's probably mainly negligence and sheer incompetence.

But at some point, as a Yeodungie, how can I not see and react to all those instances? The Lemon Drop line distribution (7 seconds, yippi). Almost zero individual or unit schedule in the first six months of 2026, while the rest of the members were clocking far more, just one first pitch given to us before his birthday. And now BAD (lemon drop 2.0), where he has almost no lines and appearance in the MV, in a choreography that put him far in the back.

Are we supposed to be okay with that? So now, I need to rationalize and theorize because I need to make sense of that. And I've got theories I'll write down here.

First theory: the IPO. KQ signed with Mirae Asset Securities in April 2025, KOSDAQ listing planned for 2026. And a company going public is a company in full risk-averse mode. You don't experiment, you don't build new pipelines, you push what already has a proven ROI and you leave everything else on the shelf. KQ's revenue basically doubled between 2023 and 2024 (65 to 115 billion won), almost entirely on ATEEZ's back. Investors are happy, the formula is working, why change anything?

Yeosang, who never had a solo pipeline built for him in the first place, just stays on the shelf. Not out of spite, out of extreme operational conservatism at the worst possible moment for him. Frustrating as hell but it tracks.

And honestly the IPO alone doesn't explain everything because this started way before Mirae Asset was even in the picture. KQ has never known what to do with his voice, and that's a production team problem that goes back to debut. And here's the thing with KQ: they famously run like a family, which sounds sweet until you realize it also means they don't fire people who aren't up to the job. The infrastructure didn't scale, they didn't renew the team.

Second theory, and this one is a bit more devious. Before signing with KQ, Yeosang was courted by 6 companies. Which means he (or his parents, he was a minor at the time) had actual leverage at the negotiating table, the kind most trainees can only dream of. What if he used it to secure a better revenue split on individual activities? Because if his solo schedules yield less for KQ per booking than group activities where the split is standard across all members, suddenly their lack of enthusiasm for building his solo pipeline makes a lot more sense financially. Why invest in someone where you pocket less?

And at renewal in summer 2025, same logic: if anything he had even more cards in hand as an established member of one of the biggest acts in the world right now. So those terms probably didn't get worse for him. It would explain something that's otherwise genuinely hard to rationalize: the commercial interest is clearly there (we'll get to that), but KQ acts like it isn't.

...Or maybe even better. Maybe Yeosang negotiated the right to have a say. I'm thinking about this now that we're seeing Alexander McQueen as a potential brand deal. So maybe he negotiated the right to veto and choose who he wants to work with, like what Mingi is doing with his One Studio and solo album (but I'll be honest, I think I'm giving far more credit to KQ with that last bit).

Last theory, and honestly the most frustrating one. KQ knows. They're not blind. Yeosang goes viral regularly, he trends, fans lose their minds over him in Wanteez, the BAD MV director literally hid 20 photos of him in the set decor to secure his screentime. The YouTube team puts him as thumbnail on the teasers. Yeondoogies are loud. People see it, happy or not about it.

But here's what I think is happening: KQ has collectively decided that his value is as a group asset, not a solo one. He buzzes within the ensemble, he's the one fans project onto, he's the Y/N of ATEEZ (and yes I'm still appalled that people actually call him that, but it's also accidentally the most accurate diagnosis of his structural position in this group). He generates engagement without them having to build anything around him specifically. Why would they change that math?

The shipping culture almost did their job for them in a way. Yeosang is in fandom content, but always in reaction to someone else, always as the one receiving rather than initiating. And KQ looked at that and went "great, he's visible, moving on." That he could be visible on his own terms, with his own pipeline, with the McQueens of the world apparently already knocking? Not their problem apparently. What an incompetent company.

[snug-gyu]

the kind of greed they talk about in the bible

[elearann]

I like this song very much

This cover could have been his personal song - I love they even integrated the banana milk reference in the MV

[updateez]

I’m waiting for that touch

[hearthwrm]

𝖬𝗂𝗇𝗀𝖲𝖺𝗇𝗀 𝖬𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌

──────────────────────────────

my favorite aspect of it (that is their friendship) is this awkward, warm honesty surrounding them. plenty of times, people think being awkward is inherently something negative, but i view it as a neutral state. us being social creatures will naturally cause awkward moments--however, how one reacts to such moments is what matters.

mingi, it appears, has decided to just go with such moments. roll with the punches. mingi seems to move in life with this clumsy sort of warmth, like a fawn learning to walk and stumbling about. tall, lanky limbs are sluggish but ultimately well-meaning in their movements.

it's endearing. it's fragile. it's authentic‐-please spare some grace if he may bump into your person!

yeosang seems to enjoy watching the state of mingi simply being. sometimes joining, but other times--most times--he observers with this sort of fond look in his eyes. perhaps, to someone like yeosang, who itches to break awkward moments as quickly as they arrive, it is fascinating to watch someone just... ride such waves. yeosang holds no contempt when mingi bumps and tugs him along into whatever he may be doing.

it's this honesty in his awkwardness that comfort yeosang, in my eyes. there is no expectations here... it it simply just kang yeosang and song mingi. and, in turn, it is this acceptance that comforts mingi too. here is only yeosang, who will take one as they are.

YEOSANG: mingi naturally has really high energy, so he was super hyped and excited. at ending stage, mingi was next to me, and we were kind of at the back. so i told him, “with energy like yours, you should be up front,” and i pushed him toward the front. i told him to go to the front and be confident, and i sent mingi forward. then, wooyoung saw that and helped send mingi forward too.

[thirstkanaphan]

Thirst's Top 10 of 2025: Yeosang

10 Times Yeosang Went Viral

His Bouncy solo for the KGMAs

2. Covering Money by Lisa

3. Legacy mv

4. His birthmark rose makeup by LeoJ

5. Blonde Yeosang's debut

6. His opening for Guerrilla

7. Fudanshi King

8. His photoshoot for Esquire

9. The Gym Selfies

10. This

[thirstkanaphan]

One more entry for this post

[elearann]

Who does shipping better than Ateez themselves?

[elearann]

Musing on AllSang: #WooSang

I thought I would have time to write about all pairings before year ends but nooo. I'll continue this serie in 2026 😅

WooSang for today (again, my opinion/extrapolation/imagination)

It’s difficult to keep track of their common story since a lot of different stuff are said/written by different people on the internet (including the two protagonists themselves). Anyway, I do think the rhetoric “two best friends joining and debuting in the same company because they wanted to be together” is from a marketing standpoint stronger than just “they got lucky and couldn’t stay in BigHit anyway”, whoever the first leaving BigHit

They are very comfortable together which is a joy to see, despite ys avoiding wy’s kisses like a plague, but ys never really does the shifting eyes likes he does to San’s flirting

Every introverted people should have their extraverted friend to help out, so I’m glad they're friends. Their personalities do compliment each other very well -> I positively love their last live together

WY does have a charming personality and his social network is without a doubt huge, while YS is a quiet homebody. Since I’m very much like YS, I guess YS feels he’s fine with only a couple of friends, wy among them. Does YS feel a bit jealous though? Guessing again: since nobody can dethrone him as the proclaimed ten-year best friend, he is probably taking comfort in that.

WY looks like he has a quick attention span and go even faster through hobbies (and maybe relationships as well even though I think if he likes you he won't change his mind easily). I can imagine ys becoming salty once or twice per year (yes) and wy quickly making sure to show him attention again. Ys feels like a low maintenance friend to have, which is very nice in my opinion.

I think wy can also go into moodiness, has time when he needs to be alone and just cut the rest of the world off - and ys can respect that and not take it badly if wy is in one of his weird mood

WY is a very protective person; you can also see it with his dongsaengs. It’s very easy to want to baby YS, and WY is lucky enough to be close and be able to do that – and actually ys is still fine having wy mothering him. I find pretty funny wy tendency to feed people, especially ys, which happens frequently in their last 2025 contents

WooSang is a ship harder for me to see with a romantic perspective, they look more like an older (wy) and his younger brother(ys), despite ys actually being the older one in that relationship.

If I squint harder, I’d say ys brings the dom out of wy (just watch those compil video on yt or just their last 2025 vid -> have you seen where wy feet were, making ys yelp and tense up so hard?? 🫣 ) and ys is his eager victim – because man, are you not taller/stronger/buffier than pretty wy??

Thanks to ys, wy had made kissing his national sport – after so much training, he's now the best at stealing kisses. wy can be proud.

[elearann]

Musing on AllSang: #MinSang

My second favorite pairing involving Yeosang

Some first impressions:

There’s this assumption they’re not going along, propagated by Ateez members themselves (with the more recent mention in Ateez+) and always refuted by YS that it isn’t true. I guess that at the beginning they were very awkward with each other + the mobile phone accident had helped cemented the thought in the fandom. Nevertheless, in the small tidbits of their lives than they are willing to share with us, I only remember YS mentioning hanging out with YH, MG and San (and I shall say YS is not often sharing with who he’s hanging out as the homebody he is). He actually calls dates the hanging out he’s doing with MG, which is very cute

I feel the two of them are actually comfortable with each other, and YS obviously finds MG very entertaining – he’s the one hyping him during concerts where MG goes literally crazy and looks genuinely amused at Mg’s antics. And MG looks like he loves the attention he’s getting (“focus on me!”) and absolutely loves when YS is witty since I guess they have a similar type of humor. YS is not wary of MG since MG is not the type to try to kiss him out of nowhere like some Ateez members I won’t name….

Because they seem to hang out privately but never really mention it until asked, you can’t help as a shipper to beg for more. I haven’t seen it in older videos but in more recent one, you can find occurrences in which MG is suddenly all over YS, like a big dog rough playing with a smaller one 😂 I dunno, maybe to annoy Choi San (I know JH do) or just because MG is sometimes so full of love and energy, he needs to exteriorize on someone (usually YH, sometimes WY, San or YS)

Now in my imagination:

YS seems to give in more easily to MG’s physical touch because he probably feels MG actually needs it (vs fanservice), and actually accepts the manhandling with a serenity I envy

My thoughts on MG: he might have been a proud asshole as a trainee and as a young adult, wanted to fly higher and faster than anyone; then got broken by the harsh reality of idol life; had to take a break to rebuild himself and successfully done it, transforming himself in a humbler, savvier, stronger MG… but maybe still sustaining a form of fragility than made the fandom call him a princess, a cutie pie – despite the fact his a big man and plays with a rough and unrestrained metal/punk image. I feel two members are particularly coddled by the others: YS + MG. Jongho is too mature to really be coddled, he’s only playing dongsaeng when it’s convenient and fun for him! And MG is also being coddled by YS, because MG is clearly Ateez’s princess so probably YS is playing along

In the recent content, MG is really straightforward about government ships (I think Ateez is the only group I hear mentioning that marketing strategy about themselves) and he’s very professional about that – at least he’s trying. Except that YH, that trolling guy, is not always playing the same tune, leaving MG yearning alone. Probably MG is not happy about that. Maybe that’s why he took the executive decision to occasionally ship himself with YS instead. As I wrote yesterday in my SanSang essay, YS feels like a safe guy to play the shipping game with (WH = far more dangerous).

Hopefully we’ll get more of that unit, I don’t remember seeing both of them alone in Ateez content or variety shows appearances. Maybe in 2026

[elearann]

Musing on AllSang: #SanSang

I wanted to write an essay on all the pairings involving Yeosang, so here we go.

I’ll start SanSang since it’s probably the most “controversial”. I’ll preface by stating I do love shipping and boy love for reasons that I won’t explore here. I don’t see harm with shipping, IRL or not, same sex or not – under the condition it’s not making people uncomfortable and without falling in the delulu dimension.

Here my thoughts and suppositions (and of course it’s only my opinion, we can agree to disagree if we don’t share the same view)

It’s cliché – very cliché! Remind me of one the first boylove manga I’ve read “ViewFinder” released in the early 2000!! Can you imagine the nostalgia 😂There a pursuer and the pursued, a dom and a sub, both beautiful and in a pairing esthetically pleasing to the eyes from a more heterosexual point of view. It’s leaning very heavily on role play; I personally found that both funny and appealing - I know others find that cringy

Yeosang is my ult and San my first bias, shipping both of them is win-win for me since they’re my two favorite members - and did I mention they were both beautiful and pleasing to the eyes together?

Yeosang is not as playful around San than WY or MG but San is forcing him out of his comfort zone, which is both good (I like to see YS pulling out of his perfect idol image) and kind of awkward (if you’re an introvert and someone if forcing you to say “ily” in front of an audience when it's against your nature… see that live video for instance where obviously YS is not psychologically ready for San's affection)

IRL they don’t seem to hang out that much (at least based on what they are telling Atiny, and I won’t be surprised if a lot of things are not shared publicly). It’s surprising than San is so pushy with that ship (clearly more into it than YS). I don’t think it’s a KQ marketing strategy since it seems there are more people against than for that pairing, so I can only imagine San taking the decision alone and running with it, taking for granted that of course YS would not disagree (I’m pretty sure YS is one of those ppl who can’t say no for what he would consider minor things).

Why so?

Maybe San was fed up with the WooSan pairing and wanted to play a different role, as a pursuer, and YS was the best candidate in Ateez to do so. In older videos, San had always been very affectionate with YS but it was far more lowkey than nowadays. It is probably not too much of a hassle for San to just be more vocal and touchy-freely about the affection he already has for YS

Maybe he genuinely likes roleplaying and his best pal Wooyoung didn’t want to play anymore (I think WY is very clear on his own career objectives and how he wants to reach them. And probably to be known as a part of WooSan is not on his agenda –even if he has no problem to be a known boy-kisser 😋 but that is just proof that WY is very confortable with his sexuality, whatever that is, and that us as mere fans should not ask to know). So San has to choose the next best candidate in his eyes, aka YS

Maybe he knows there is a disparity of popularity between them and finds it unfair, trying to help YS in his own way

Or maybe he just has a boy crush coupled with cuteness aggression like the fanboy I’m sure he can be. He’s just lucky enough to be close to YS and able to do things other Yeodungies would like to do as well but can’t! YS has a type of beauty I feel is not threatening to men, and he’s not oozing a kind of sex-appeal that can put someone into gay panic. In a way YS feels very safe to love and pamper (oh boy someday I would love YS to play reverse uno on San and see San all flustered)

From a pragmatic point of view, I do think it helps YS get more exposure. For instance, in their recent Ateez+ series, without San’s antics, YS wouldn’t have as much screentime. Bad thing is that for some fans it's tempting to reduced YS to a Y/N role (I’ve discovered recently y/n means and let’s say I’m still appalled than some people are actually calling Yeosang Y/N…..).

Other bad thing is because of that ship, some hardcore WooSan fans are derogatory towards YS (again me very appalled by the fact there are people who can hate someone because a fictional ship). And probably YS is feeling the same as WY and doesn’t particularly want to be known as a part of a BL pairing, if he had to choose

Recently in their Japanese fan meetings, I feel Yeosang is beginning to feel more comfortable having San clinging to him. I’m pretty sure he sees doing fanservice with members as a part of his idol job, like doing fanservice with Atiny (and strangely he has no problem saying ILY to basically numerous strangers, but is flustered when an Ateez member says it to him. I’m pretty much the same, but I react the same way for everyone!). If it was not the case, he would have asked San to stop, and I’m also pretty sure San would have complied immediately.  Hopefully they will have fun doing fanservice in the future and create plenty of material for fans to edit videos and gifs with

I personally like that pairing because I actually like all pairing involving Yeosang, since I’m a very simple woman. The dynamic reminds of old school yaoi and it’s strangely refreshing in our modern world.

[elearann]

Tumblr algo I don't get you

So there's this thing when I'm following ppl and naively expect to see their future posts on my “Following” tab, but no?

Or only from some ppl and it usually show me old posts because I didn’t engage on them?

I dunno

[elearann]

Musing about RPF

Yesterday I was having dinner with my longtime friend and was bombarding her with kpop musing she doesn’t care about at all, but because I’m her very dear friend she still listened to me.

I’m occasionaly a fanfic reader/writer, but until now only for fictional works and characters. For RFP it’s still a bit touchy for me to either read or write – and I kind of want to, but there this thing with kpop: as I wrote in a post just yesterday, it has become kind of personal.

Dealing with fictional works would mean for me accepting to take a crystallized idol persona, crafted by the writer, separated from the person that is the real idol. It could keep similitude with the real person, or it could be very different, depending of the writer skills and will. The main point is that it would no longer be the real person, which is only normal; it would become a fictional character in a fictional work with its own appeal.

And here are the risks. I’ve seen that happen in other fandoms. A fanfiction writer takes an existing character, born from an author, and makes it its own. Some authors will care, other won’t. Nevertheless, the fanfiction writer will interpret that character as they wish, and sometimes ignores some traits, or some changes/growth of the original character because it doesn’t fit their fanfiction’s narrative.

When it’s about fictional characters, I don’t see a major problem, except on copyright, original author’s will, etc.

When we’re speaking about a real person… the risk is at some point, we may prefer the fictional character instead of the real person. Like ignoring the existence of the real person and only take what is needed (the crystallized idol personae ; crystallized because we will take inspiration of the real person at a given moment in time, like an instant photography) and discard the rest. It’s fine if it’s not widespread but if a fanfic becomes really popular, wouldn’t it be dramatic for the real person? On the other hand, would they win more fans thanks to that? But fans with a wrong kind of expectation?

And of course, what about the opinion of the real person? They may not care about fanfics written on them, but what about characterization? To make a story a bit interesting, you need a plot, an antagonist, you need to create events – good or bad. I’m not even mentioning smut here, but well I guess since it’s all about Ateez, our boys won’t be surprise at all by that since they’re already so good at shipping themselves… but what if a writer made a member evil, overly-ambitious, or made them a victim, a hopeless little thing? Would they be hurt by that?

I don’t know, I’m only musing here, I kind of want to open AO3 and see what there is and maybe also write because it’s a past-time of mine, I’m still hesitating.

[elearann]

Theory on how we select a bias and still salty about AAA

I’ve read several times than fans with a bias are similar to their bias. I don’t think so? For example, my bias is Yeosang, my personality is very different from his (INTJ here): I am not soft spoken, I am a very frank person and a pro at reality checks offered to anybody that asks (including to c-level people in boards I had to attend for of work because apparently I don't care about consequences), I don’t fear conflicts and sometimes thrives in it (survival instinct kicking in).

But I do recognize some of my personality traits in what I perceived in him though, and it makes everything suddenly personal. If you don’t like him, then you don’t like me. If you are overlooking him, you’re overlooking me.

I’m introverted, I can be perceived as the weird one, I always overshare unimportant stuff but keep close to my heart all my private thoughts. Nobody really knows me, and it’s for the best. I am not particularly ambitious, but I work in a field with a lot of competitive people – and because some people believe in me, push me up, I also have learnt how to step up my game and play aggressively to survive, even if it’s against my nature.

All this because I’m older, savvier (hopefully) – and because I’ve learnt the hard way that being seemingly harmless can be a good strategy when you’re young, but it could be poison on the long-term.

Harmless and overlooked = less competitors likely to take you down. I can see how it could seem a good strategy for young and pretty Yeosang, who had a first bad experience at Big Hit already (I imagine in my head a lot of things here, we will never know). But then it sticks to you, and here you are with him struggling with an image he doesn’t want to keep, with staff around him with a certain perception of his capacities and skills. I’m projecting here – See how women are still facing that glass ceiling? From harmless to competent, there is a long way to go.

Recently though I feel he’s trying to push the boundaries a little… After all, if I take a step back: he’s still young at 26, at that age not a lot of youngsters are assertive in the professional field. He chose to be an idol though… he is fighting against time, with military coming soon. I will cheer on him until them, but I’m afraid that if nothing changes in a short time, his potential will sadly go to waste. Such sad thoughts.

Maybe he’s content with what he currently has, being part of Ateez which is a successful group. That would be nice if all members were on the same wavelength, which I don’t think so, and it’s only natural. There is Yunho from Ateez, and simply Yunho. San from Ateez, and then purely San. Again, it’s just human – see BlackPink for reference. What I wish for Yeosang is him having an enough level of success for him to survive on his own, and not to be perceived irrelevant by the industry... which is the case today (see AAA for reference). Me still salty? noooo

[elearann]

Reflecting on Fandom

Atiny is the strangest fandom out there. I mean no shade by that, since anyone shall do absolutely what they wish and I ultimately think there’s a lot of different way of being a fan. But Atiny, in my subjective opinion, is quite different of other kpop fandoms I interact with, albeit from afar I have to confess.

Atinies don’t seem very organized. Except for GO to order merch or albums, to win raffles or fan calls, it seems there is nothing to coordinate fan projects or streaming/voting, apart from some calls from bigger individual accounts that I’ve seen trying to rally people. For instance, in some fandoms, I’ve seen unofficial fanclubs organizing coffee trucks for a specific event or a member birthday. I don’t think those things happen for Ateez? Atinies are mainly international fans, so it’s probably harder to organize stuff like that. The fandom seems diverse, with young and older fans around, who may not have the time (me included). It also seems Atinies are often multi-fandom fans, which is for Atinies a good thing (more fun!) but for Ateez kind of bad news (less dedication).

Atinies seem very laidback (except on X maybe). I see some discontent here on X on plagiarism, and a small bubble of discontent of Yeodungies to protest YS’ AAA treatment.

There is positivity having a laidback fandom, it means that probably if one of the members wish to suddenly date, he probably won’t get too much hate from some delulu fans. The fandom isn’t carrying a bad reputation like some other, more “protective” shall I say of their group and with enough weight to make some fuss. It's easy to be included in the fandom, people are having fun, which is great.

The setback of that laidback fandom if that nobody fears to disrespect Ateez since there will be no consequences. On another point of view, since Atinies are laidback, it’s also fine not to provide the best of fan experience: bad communication for events, last minute merch sales that are supposedly offline then online, late delivery for orders without communicating, etc. Being a small company is not an excuse; you do buy everyday from some companies and they know better to provide enough customer service so they can continue doing business. All of that, Atiny as a fandom seems to accept it. I find that astonishing. KQ is apparently not the worst out there concerning how they manage their group, but a fandom should be more demanding on some aspects and I don’t see Atiny is organized enough to be able to do so.

On another note, I realize that for the success Ateez have, Atiny on international SNS are not that many? who's gonna organize then.

[elearann]

When kpop is becoming frustration

Today AAA's perf was a lesson and a wake up for me. Yeosang didn't get any intro and almost no camera work for "Work" (or not at all, I don't even want to rewatch the stream to verify that).

Will he realize later? Was it planned like that from the start?

I don't know. What I know is that as an Yeodoogie, I don't wish to be disappointed/frustrated when I watch a kpop performance.

Nevertheless, I don't think it's sustainable to be a Yeodoogie long term like that. That's the wakeup call. Kpop is not supposed to make me unhappy. At some point, the hyper fixation that I currently have will ease and I will appreciate Ateez as a group and not as a Yeosang!Ult like it is now the case. And I won't care anymore that he has less lines, less visibility, less relevance than the other members. He'd be the cute addition to a cast of strong characters that are overshadowing him and will continue to overshadow him if he doesn't show his worth to the industry. Because it is that: for AAA (and all other broadcast studios) he's worthless, he's not popular, he doesn't need to be on screen. It's only a symptom.

Am I too harsh here? Maybe. Are there out there fans without any expectations? How lovely. Now I’m just buying everything tagged YS because I can and it's the only way to support him... but as I wrote, not sustainable long-term. It makes me sad.

[hyalinemin]