If there's one thing I know about Mingi, it's that he loves a hyung. And they love him too. Whenever he is in the presence of an older man, they cannot help but want to treat him like a princess and then do terrible things to him.
Daesung took one look at Mingi rocked him in his lap like a baby.
So I'm making a very unorganized list of Mingi's hyungs. I am excluding his actual hyung and the two most important hyungs in his life.
do you know how hard it is to find a picture of them together?
Yes, this is cheating, because we're talking about a group of hyungs. But these guys adore Mingi. When asked to describe his dancing style, they said “first of all, he’s the most cutie-patootie babygirl princess to ever exist.”
Want more proof? Watch the Belgium vlog. Mingi is so excited to be included in their excursion. He looks like a lost baby chick the entire time, trailing after them.
There are a handful of important manager-hyungs in Mingi's life, all of whom indulge him to varying degrees. There was handsome manager (miss you, king); there was the manager who was a head shorter than Mingi but nonetheless rubbed his back to calm him down like a child;
There's the manager whose face Mingi used as a phone wallpaper for years, and who may or may not be the same manager whose picture Mingi put on the back of his photo case, like a pc.
Of course, we must talk about Hot Springs Manager-hyung, who went on a very special trip to Japan with Mingi and became the main character of his vlog.
Mingi refers to this hyung as "the closest hyung that I know." There's been some speculation that he's the same hyung who he went to Japan with, but we don't know for sure.
k-mingtis have had their eye on this hyung for a while, who they refer to as "jak-hyung," an abbreviation of "studio-hyung."
...they have some pretty juicy gossip to share...
"Jak-hyung's existence is fascinating once again. Traveling with Mingi. Okay. Also close with Mingi's mother. Okay. Going to the sauna with Mingi and his mother. Umm... Okay. Spending time with Mingi and his mother during the holidays. Why?"
To quote k-mingtis: umm.. okay.
This is a bit of a deep cut! Mingi met David Kim when he styled Mingi for his Marie Claire feature a couple of years ago.
From David-hyung, we know more about Mingi's endless generosity and care. You work with him once, and you become a friend for life.
They seemed to really hit it off...
If Mingi likes you, he remains loyal to you. David has since styled Mingi for multiple fashion week events.
this is the only pic I could find of him, from his profile. He's been styling Thai and Korean celebs since before 2020, so I'm inclined to thing he's older...I'm gonna call him a hyung for the sake of the narrative.
I saved the most important hyung for last. DJ Raiden has been Mingi's cherished hyung for a while now, bringing Mingi to fancy parties as his plus-one, introducing Mingi to famous artists and musicians, inviting Mingi to attend his DJ set during a major EDM festival, where he played a remix of Mingi's solo track Autobahn...
As previously stated, Mingi is a loyal dongsaeng. He likely pulled strings to get Raiden invited to BST Hyde Park to do a DJ set, which Mingi attended. He happily danced to Raiden's remix of Roar, surrounded by a ring of stern-looking bodyguards.
Woosung from The Rose. There's some lore to this one! The Rose is Mingi's favorite band, and according to Woosung during a concert Q&A session, Mingi was originally supposed to feature on his song 'Never Let Go,' but couldn't because of scheduling differences.
Booba. Ateez's beloved staff photographer-hyung, who always takes the best shots of Mingi.
He clearly dotes on Mingi, from the clips I've seen of him following Mingi around at send-offs. He's always leaving the cutest comments on his IG posts!
Wetboy. I just learned about Wetboy. Apparently that's his name. He's been friends with Mingi since at least 2023 when they did a dance challenge together, but he came to my attention recently by hyping up Mingi's solo debut Dinero.
Teo Yoo. Remember when one of Mingi's side quests had him line-dancing with the guy from Past Lives?
Anyway, it's Mingi's world and we're just living in it.
