Ateez's Full Storyline Explained - Part 2
Masterlist
Inception (A-World)
As already implied by the song title, the entire MV takes place inside a dreamscape which gives us some leeway when interpreting the imagery
Additionally, it also helps us align it with the storyline: we're seeing the time right before their reunion, meaning they've already parted ways quite some time ago and are now beginning to forget about each other, just like Hongjoong described in the Outro
We open on Yeosang in the violin practice room which we already know he doesn't feel at home in before we cut to the classroom we saw San in in the Diary Film
We see Seonghwa in a room reminiscent of a detective's office; a place in his dream that likely represents his search for the 'Be Free' girl
Yunho is in his brother's old room/recording studio while Wooyoung is in the parking garage where his solo dance-battle took place
Hongjoong, of course, is in their shared hideout and San in his room which is already filled with packed boxes - his family's move to another city is imminent
We then get to see Jongho on the burning basketball court and Mingi trapped in a decrepit hallway - likely a reflection of his mental state which must have been worsening since he parted ways with the only people he ever felt fully accepted by
As the song continues, the lyrics become more desperate, speaking of a "you" they're desperately chasing after in their dreams, a "you" they cannot live without because it would mean going back to the way thinks were and they cannot bear the thought of continuing to walk in circles whenever they're awake
The dream around them begins to warp, the classroom floods, their surroundings are set ablaze (sick-ass use of practical effects by the way - it's so stunning)
In order to determine who this "you" is, we only have to look at what we already know: what are they missing that they previously had? Each other. A shared dream of making music and performing. A place to call home where they felt comfortable, loved, and accepted. That's their "you".
As the song then keeps building and the chaos in the dreamworld keeps escalating as a result of their powerful emotions, Hongjoong finds himself confronted with his own body asleep in a bed at the end of the hallway
He sprints toward it and jumps, diving through his own body and the bed into a dark empty space (once again, the visuals in this MV, the camera work - ah, so stunning)
His actions result in everyone waking up back in their own beds
We get some final glimpses of the chaos that had been going on in the dreamscape: the books flying around Yeosang in the practice room, the fire in Seonghwa's room and a familiar shot of Hongjoong in the warehouse which we could already see in the Diary Film
He's surrounded by floating objects, a gravitational anomaly that will later become associated with the travel between realities (for more info on that, you can read on chronologically in the masterlist or go straight to my entry on the Cromer)
The final shot is of Hongjoong alone in the dark empty space.
Now that he's awake, he feels lonely again, without a family
He does not yet know that he'll soon meet a man in a black fedora in his dream and be reunited with his family
