🏁 Coordinate 127: Inside the Belly of the Snake (2 Baddies)
A pretty long theory post discussing about the NCT 127′s 질주 (2 Baddies) MV and its connection to their lore.
(!) WARNING: This is a theory as it is not confirmed by SM entertainment nor members of NCT, so please don’t believe this 100%!
I was actually pretty excited for the release!! The intro and the beat really hooked me and personally, I am IN LOVE with their photoshoots. I have always liked racing concepts and I think NCT have always nailed them.
But all of this excitement for their concept, if I were to be honest, I had a lot of uncertainty of the lore connection in this comeback. Unlike NCT Dream’s Glitch Mode that clearly has a plot, this one doesn’t. But there are many points that convinced me of a theory.
The MV reminds me of aespa’s Hallucination Quest pictures. There is a snake and the Red Eye.
1. There are many snakes
We all know that there is one car that has a literal snake face on it, which I have mentioned in my Forever Only post. But there is actually more throughout the MV.
Although it is possible to make curve car tracks in real life, if you look at it closer, the tracks look like they slither around. They look like a bunch of snakes moving.
The tunnel at the back from this angle looks like how the head of a snake looks like from the back in the inside. Plus the two lights on the sides make them look like the eyes of the snake. So it looks like they are inside the snake.
Although this is just the shell of the car, in this angle, it looks like a snake’s head? The holes of the shell looks like a snake’s scales. This could also be a skull of the snake since this is not a whole car, this reminded me of Karina’s Hallucination Quest picture with the snake. But it is interesting that its from the car, since the first glimpse of the snake we had was on a car.
If you look at the round shape right under Jaehyun on the purple floor, it looks like the head of a snake. The two long shapes on the sides look like snakes too.
One more thing is this tunnel. I know for a fact that they use this tunnel with the lines to mimic what it looks like when a car is speeding up. The lines are supposed to show the speed movement. But in another way, it looks like they are inside of a snake. The most interesting part is what’s at the end of it.
2. The Red Force
It really reminds me of the Red Force or the red eye that we have seen in Winter’s Hallucination Quest; but most importantly, SM’s main enemy. I know that it has never been officially mentioned again in SMCU contents, there are actually many implications that it still exists (the best example is of course Winter’s picture). But I was sure of it after I saw the stick that Taeyong was holding. It literally has one red eye on it.
Just like what I said before, aespa’s Hallucination Quest pictures have both a snake and the red eye. This means that both the snake and the eye have association. Whether the eye is literally a part of the snake or, the Red eye is a bigger entity and the snake is one of its underlings. Even Taeyong’s eyes are somewhat red; almost look like he is under its influence.
3. Jaehyun and Jungwoo
Jaehyun and Jungwoo are like opposing in this MV. Jaehyun, almost in most of his scenes, was seen sitting on a throne. In Favorite, he got bitten by the snake and I theorized that he would be suspicious in this MV. I think I was right... He seems like he is siding with the snake. His eyes look dark and ‘dead’ at the end of the MV. I remember talking about how he doesn’t seem like himself in the Forever Only MV, so it could possibly be the effect of the snake bite from Favorite.
Meanwhile, Jungwoo was also sitting on something that looks like a throne too. But his seat was different and it doesn’t have a backrest. On here, he was surrounded by things moving very fast. It looks like he is watching everything from far.
Then at one point, both Neos stood and back facing each other under the rain. Rain has always represents as a medium of connection. I have talked about this shortly in another post, where water in NCT contents symbolizes Ether which connects the Neos. In this scene, they could be communicating but perhaps their standpoints contradict as they don’t face each other.
Both Neos have special roles and I’ve talked about it too. They are somewhat similar but Jungwoo has connection with SM’s butterfly. It seems like Jungwoo is still on the good side and confronted Jaehyun who is under the snake’s influence. Another speculation is that they could be connecting with the other Neos, perhaps even outside the unit, but we still don’t know that.
4. Smaller details
Yuta was seen inside a lift and this is included in one of the transportations used in traveling through Dream stages. He was going up and we can see the Neo City.
Some Neos were seen driving, I speculate that they could be trying to escape from the snake, which is why Doyoung looked somewhat frantic. But they could be using this to fit the racing concept.
Conclusion
The Neos are inside the snake and is facing the monster. They were under its hallucination during Favorite and it lured Jaehyun. Now, Jaehyun is already under the snake’s control, while Taeyong seems to have more direct association to the Red Eye; this could also have some connection to his SuperM trailer. Jungwoo confronting Jae, but we would see more of this next time perhaps. Some members seem to be aware of the monster and are trying to escape but I’m keeping my eyes on Mark and Yuta; aside from Tae and Jae, they were the only ones featured in the intro transition. Perhaps they are the next targets of the snake. The 2 Baddies in question could be Jae and Tae, but it could also be Jae and Jungwoo because they were opposing. But at the end of the day, we know that its just. 1 Porche 2 Baddies and 7 shades of rainbow.
