Hi Moon!! I hope you are doing well!🩵 how are you? how is university?
I was just thinking about mei today for some reason and had a couple of questions. feel free to ignore any! i just wrote down random questions that popped up in my head😭
what was trainee life like for mei? especially considering her hearing disability. did the members (or even pledis) do anything to help her
how did people find out that mei and yoongi were siblings? was it something known prior to debut or revealed somehow later on?
has mei produced for any other groups/soloists? if so, who and which group/soloist is her favorite to work with?
what were the initial reactions of netizens about mei being in the group?
what were the initial reactions of the boys when meiying joined the svt lineup?
what were some of the stupidest reasons mei got hate?
what does her relationship with the members look like?
Hi Lovely! I'm doing very well, thank you, and I hope you are too! I transferred not that long ago so I can't say for sure, but so far the university has been good! I'm in a class that talks about the psychology of addiction so I'm right within my interests. I could never ignore any, so let's gooo!!! 💕
• Trainee days were exhausting for the young girl especially considering that both companies added schedules to an already busy life ; BigHit with the 'Commitment' movie filming followed by promotion, and Pledis with BIGBANG performances. Mei had to wear oxygen masks nearly every single day because the physical pressure was destroying her body, but in the trainee's mind there were no other options so she kept pushing through. When it comes to her hearing disability, it surprisingly did not affect her life that much as she had been living with about 75% since she was 5 years old, so she had time to adapt throughout the years. While Pledis did nothing to help, the members took it upon themselves to collect money to replace the hearing aid that Fang had bought her - which she bypassed quite often unless working with music directly (so producing).
• BigHit uploaded an announcement regarding the adoption when it was legalized, and people found out that Yoongi had become Meiying's legal guardian through an early days vlog, where it was very briefly mentioned. While the audience was rather small at the time, the information spread rapidly when T.O.P announced that he had been mentoring the young trainee.
• Meiying had been working with many outside artists like ATEEZ, TXT, ENHYPEN, Taemin, Jackson Wang and more, but she has the softest spots for BND and CORTIS as she's been working with them since debut. The producer loves being able to teach younger artists about the industry, performance, music, rap, etc., since she feels that she can protect them from dangerous mistakes that way, and it does help that they always hang onto their senior's every word. (Rumors have it that despite refusing every company's offer in this regard, she may have taken an unofficial protégé)
• While some netizens expressed their excitement towards the unprecedented concept, most were unhappy and claiming that Meiying was not going to bring anything valuable to the group - even suspecting that T.O.P had given significant amounts of money to Pledis for his protégée to debut.
• The Leaders were resentful towards the company for not having consulted them about this beforehand as they knew that having a female member would place their success in more jeopardy than it already was, so naturally they were initially weary towards their new maknae. Hoshi realized that the young girl was hard working and resilient, no matter how much pressure he placed on trainees to practice complex choreographies, so he eventually began liking her and they became very close very quickly. When Woozi began working alongside his new co-producer, he found himself fascinated with her artistic view of music, and found comfort in having her at his side, so they eventually developed a special friendship. S.Coups, who already had an immense weight atop his shoulders, resented the newcomer almost immediately as he believed that she was going to be the reason behind his downfall - always claiming that she was not working hard enough, that her skill level was not on par with other members, etc., though it truly was not personal.
Jeonghan thought that the idea was strange and possibly dangerous to their debut so naturally he was shocked, especially since nobody had told him that this was going to happen when he joined, but found Meiying cute and took to her easily. Joshua was pretty indifferent to the addition, keeping his distance since they both struggled to speak Korean and could not really communicate. Jun was overjoyed to have another Chinese member and immediately took her under his wing, acting as a guide to the country, culture, language, and future bandmates. Wonwoo watched multiple press conferences preceding the release of 'Commitment' so he was pretty excited to be working with a child actress, though he was too shy to approach her. Mingyu heard the rumors that T.O.P had begun mentoring someone, but he was the only member that knew they were about Meiying, so he was thrilled to be debuting with his role model's protégée. DK was curious as to why she wasn't joining the female trainees but wasn't really against having her in the lineup as he thought it could be a refreshing concept. Seungkwan was the most concerned maknae line member since he knew that they were prone to drama, dating rumors, and outrage, so while he did not hold the same 'disdain' as S.Coups did, he was weary and avoided getting close to her as he believed she would be kicked out anyway. Vernon didn't really care much when he initially believed that she was going to be removed from the lineup by Pledis, but was pretty open to the concept as the months passed by since he could see how much she trained to make this work. Dino was happy to have someone younger than him join the group but was shocked when they announced that it was a girl, though he didn't really mind since she was always really nice and never made much noise. (The8 wasn't in the lineup when she joined, but when the childhood friends reunited in the dorms they cried for minutes on end).
• Borrowing Clothes ; Meiying has lived with her older brother in the group's dorm since the adoption so she would often be seen wearing BTS members' clothes, which people claimed was purely for attention seeking purposes.
'Supporting' Her Father ; When police revealed that Fang had been involved in criminal activity, netizens were expecting the young woman to hide anything that belonged to him as it would demonstrate 'support'. Meiying, however, kept wearing his necklace, kept the polaroid of them in her phone case, continued refering to him with the word 'father', etc., which sparked many accusations.
Having Scars ; Netizens criticized Meiying for not undergoing treatments that would reduce the scar along her spine and the one across her eye, claiming that she was 'romanticizing' violence even after discovering where they came from.
Crying Over An Award ; Meiying cried when receiving the 'Artist of the Year' daesang at the 2023 MAMA awards because the years had been so harsh on the producers, constantly working with the belief that they had let their team down as awards of this magnitude were not handed to them, so naturally it was a huge emotional shock. Some netizens claimed that she was trying to be cute and seem 'fragile' when in reality everything she had gone through throughout the years was just crashing down onto her. (Meiying unfortunately mentioned wishing that Fang was there to witness it so that did not go over well either)
• I've had the relationship drabbles in my drafts for the longest time, you have no idea... so while we wait for that to magically write itself I'll give brief rundowns!
S.Coups ; Meiying trusts him whole heartedly and although their relationship is somewhat complicated, he's an anchor, the person she knows she can turn to when the world is against her. Jeonghan ; Since he finished raising the maknae, they share many mannerisms and she sees him as an older brother, someone that she can trust with the most vulnerable parts of herself. Joshua ; They've been roommates for 6 years now so they find comfort in each other's company and have actually begun working as a 'married couple' in the sense that they make food for each other when schedules run late, go shopping for each other, ask about their return times, share household tasks, have late night hangouts on the couch, etc. Jun ; They're very akin to siblings as he used to care for Meiying when Yoongi could not in their earlier years, and while that has dimmed very slightly as they grew older, they continue to support each other no matter what by showing up to as many solo schedules as they can, no matter the time or place. Hoshi ; Meiying is his baby, he taught her everything that she knows about dance and calls her his 'little shadow' as she always practices with him so that he will not be alone, gladly testing out choreographies he comes up with late into the night. Wonwoo ; They're very quiet around one another but it's because they understand that sometimes the world just needs to stop, and they'll do things like photography, play video games, go on walks through 'romantic' places, all while simply being happy to be together. Woozi ; They keep each other alive in a sense as neither would eat properly, sleep properly or even rest if they did not have the other to force them to do so and they're in perfect artistic harmony with each other, so they can produce without having to share words, just brief movements or looks. The8 ; They're childhood friends and he was the person that made her voice appear for the first time, so they have always shared something far deeper than mere friendship. They're each other's other half, the person that they would die without - they meditate together, drink tea together, travel, talk about deeper aspects of life, and have rarely ever been apart. Mingyu ; Their souls are opposite to one another, one is wounded deeper than can be healed while the other radiates with the sun's brightness, but they balance each other, find peace in their significant other's arms, find love on their lips and forever in their eyes. DK ; Very much like two puppies playing together, always full of energy when around each other, bring out the purest of joy in one another, though they know how to tell when the other's happiness is a mask and easily take the weight off of their shoulders with honest words and warm embraces. Seungkwan ; They see the pain that the other withholds and find that it is easy to cry together, to vent about life, about people, about grief, about anything that has been chipping away at them slowly, and are quite the mischievous duo on a daily basis. Vernon ; There's something unspoken between these two in the sense that they will often share earbuds while sitting by the river and talk about philosophy, music, people and spirituality. They like going out at night together and it often ends in them chasing each other through the streets after one 'offensive' comment. Dino ; While Meiying has kept the hierarchy with the other members, it is rare to hear her call the second youngest 'oppa' despite their year difference as they find that they can let go of all expectations when they're together. They play around very often and love to game together, go shopping, film dance challenges, walk around the cities (especially in the U.S) and are overall just two younger siblings finding relaxation in their understanding of one another.
I hope you enjoyed reading all of that and thank you sooo much for the questions, you have no idea how much I love things like this! 🥰
Taglist ; @prbywoo, @angie-x3, @piratekingateez2001, @marissa-11, @bloomwinx65 , @rosemary-luvs
