My Personal Opinions on Minsung's Dynamic (2024)
Disclaimer: I am not trying to pass off my opinions as facts. This is my personal interpretation of what is laid out right in front of us. I could be completely off base because I don’t know these guys personally, so take this with a grain of salt and feel free to disagree!
THE YEARS KEEP GETTING LONGER 🫠
I honestly thought this year would be shorter than last year because of the long break Skz had during the first couple of months, but luckily Minsung have been Minsunging enough to make my video the length that it is.
But as far as Lee Know and Han's interactions go, I feel like they - Han in particular, especially - look at some of the songs he’s released this year - found their footing/identity, at least compared to prior years. Lee Know is noticeably more playful with Han (on camera, at least). They seem a lot more comfortable to show that side of themselves.
Except for a few mentions here and there, they remain quite private and guarded about their hangouts. 80% of the time; it’s ALWAYS fans asking them about their hangouts or sightings. They hardly ever bring it up themselves. What came as a surprise and caught me off guard (not really surprising when you think about it) is them MOVING IN TOGETHER. It came out of left field, but it’s very much them.
We also kicked off this year with the Two Kids Show episode and since then (if my and some other peoples’ thoughts about them are correct) they haven't been shy about showing/telling how much they mean to each other and how special their bond is.
I was one of the people who were skeptical about Hold My Hand having anything to do with Lee Know until I saw the repetitive stages (the transition of LK and Han shaking/holding each others hands, Han literally saying “Minho Hyung, hold my hand” while catching LK off guard the first time he did it, and THEN Han saying that the fans understood what he was trying to convey with the song - outside of the more obvious overall meaning of it being an ode from his current self to his past self.
I’m certain some of the members and others have seen the many international fan theories about Han’s song. (At the very least Chan would have, and he would have relayed it to Han, but I think Han would likely try to look at the many different theories across social media on his own for a song he wrote himself.) I also wonder if Korean fans were theorizing as hard as international fans were and what they came up with if they did.
When putting all of that together, it comes across a certain way and Han himself knows that. (If they are purely platonic, it would mean they don't mind that some fans perceive them that way. In that case, more power to them and the fans that ship them.)
People can write this behavior alone off as FS (which I think they’re taking advantage of if you see my 2023 opinions and what I'm about to say later on in this essay). But, to me, it doesn’t explain away the many other things we’ve witnessed them do.
One moment I thought was interesting in the body-language-never-lies department (during the Bocau concert) was when Lee Know was waving his mic toward the audience when the members were taking turns singing their part of the song. As SOON AS HAN APPEARS ON THE SCREEN, he STOPS and his full attention is now on him, completely away from the fans. Then, he returns his attention to the fans when the screen switches to another member lmfao. Like, these two legitimately care about each other so much.
Then, there’s the “STAY Let’s be together for 100,000 years” Big Baby/Little Baby YT Live where the two were all huddled up and close. Han saying “We live together!” and seeming gleeful about that fact in a concert (where he answers the fan’s sign) is so sweet.
Some moments I found really funny:
-The happenings (if ykyk) at the SBS Gayo Daejeon Summer concert. What were they thinking- like, girl, what the fuck-
-Han checks LK out and goes "Oh!" when he crouches down during Day 3 of the Seoul concerts and does a full circle around to appreciate the view. 😃🔫
From all of the concert & fan meet footage we’ve got this year alone (and holy shit, there’s a lot). There’s literally no reason to think that they secretly dislike each other (you'll have people trying to insinuate that as pushback against the more passionate shippers). At the very least, they have a special bond/friendship. You can fake getting along with someone on a basic level on camera, but to have this much chemistry and gravitation towards each other - a lot of it is really subconscious, too - (i.e. They’re always looking at each other when something funny happens/when one gets embarrassed, they always talk to each other during the ‘ments, LK always uses Han as a fidget toy, etc.) can’t be faked and not with the amount of footage we’ve seen of them for nearly a decade.
I also wanted to make an interesting parallel:
Plenty of people (at least the ones curious about inter-group dating) know about Seungho and B.nish of D.I.P. They came out as an actual couple on Instagram Live a few years back, and they've been dating each other since they were trainees, as of that Live.
A few weeks ago, I was thinking about those two when working on the video, and the age-old question, "If two bandmates were “secretly" dating within a group, would they try to interact as little as possible or hide in plain sight?" came up. My opinion has always been that it depends on the individuals involved in the relationship and the types of people around them (different people with different personalities and lived experiences won't always approach something like this in the same way).
Sooooo I did a little bit of digging to see how those two interacted on camera and came across this video:
Look at 4:54, 6:05, and 6:52 (B.nish is the cute guy with the black shirt/orange patterns and Seungho is the guy with the blonde hair with shaved sides and leopard outfit). Or just watch the whole thing cause there are many little moments throughout the video.
The part where they link arms at 6:05 with one another reminds me of LK and Han linking arms in SKZ Code EP59 (around 1:11:35 in the chronology video where they played sports). 😭
Then, I went on Vlivearchives to check out their page to see how they would interact in unedited content that spans for a long time ~ which we’ve also seen Minsung interact in: the concerts and live streams, for example.
Link (B.nish is green shirt dude and Seungho is black hat dude) - Skip to 27:49-28:00, 34:58-35:09, 36:30, 40:15-41:03 and look at their body language compared to the other members (or look at 27:49 to the end if you have time).
and Link (B.nish is guy in blue cardigan, Seungho is guy in black t-shirt/black hat) - Skip to 47:00-48:00, 51:48-52:00, 1:17:22-1:18:03
AND OH MY GOD LOOK AT THEM!!! The vlives remind me of how Han/LK behaved in the YT live where they came up with the big baby/little baby nickname!!! BN/SH behavior also really mirrors how LK/Han are during concerts and how their body language - even when they're not speaking - says a lot.
So,,, the point is that I'm still on the side that thinks idols can absolutely take advantage of skinship (something not unusual between male friends in Korea, and especially in the environment where idols are in) and/or shipping culture to hide in plain sight. On the other hand, I think some people would try to hide away from the camera as much as possible. It really depends on the person at the end of the day! If there were more confirmed instances where two members in a K-pop group date each other, we could get a better overall representation of how they would handle this and how it would look on camera.
In addition: SNH 48, a C-pop girl group, I can name TWO instances where intergroup dating has occurred:
The member who cheated on a member with ANOTHER member (some of us might know about this haha) - the two members in the original relationship had a VERY fanservice-y stage (Link).
FengXiaoFei&WangJiaLing (the link is a compilation of some of their interactions. They came out as a couple after graduating from/leaving the group. Fans have speculated about them long before they came out cause they weren't hiding it. 🤯)
