Kathrina

formerly @vindicatedtruth on Tumblr || @vindicatedtruth on Twitter (X) and Tiktok || vindicatedtruth (behindtintedglass) on AO3

[vindicated-truth]

Rereading the Star Trek fic I wrote when I wasn’t even a Carat yet and didn’t even know SEVENTEEN existed—

And how—how did I manage to come up with the number “seventeen” and “two six” when SVT’s debut date is May 26th?!

… was I predicting my own future back then?

[hauntedlanterns-deactivated2022]

 It doesn’t matter if he’s your son or not, because he even has you in the palm of his hand. 

[vindicated-truth]

In anticipation of his return from the military in less than a month:

For Carats and Kpop fans who have yet to meet him—

This is Yoon Jeonghan of SEVENTEEN.

[chwedout]

11 YEARS OF SEVENTEEN for eternity ₊˚⊹♡

[vindicated-truth]

Artists Against AI

In an era when artificial intelligence (AI) is alarmingly encroaching on creativity and copyright, SEVENTEEN are artists who are blatantly, loudly, and immovably protesting against the use of AI, precisely through their own artistry—unquestionably declaring their stance through music of their own creation.

In their award-winning performance of their song "Maestro" at the 2024 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), where they were awarded the daesang (grand prize) for Album of The Year and Artist of The Year, they open their stage with this:

A robot acts as the conductor that SEVENTEEN and their dancers seemingly try to follow, yet it is clear that the resulting music is discordant and everything is in disharmony.

It is here that S.COUPS, SEVENTEEN's General Leader, steps forward and grabs the baton from the robot, declaring without a doubt who the real Maestro of that stage should be.

The Two Captains then follow suit, with S.COUPS now relinquishing the baton to Performance Team Leader HOSHI, who now takes centerstage as is his command, as Vocal Team Leader and Producer WOOZI reclaims control of the music as he plays on the piano.

HOSHI is now the real Maestro of the stage, WOOZI the real Maestro of the music, and S.COUPS the real Maestro of the group and their rapt audience.

SEVENTEEN's three leaders will always be the only ones the members will follow.

Here, they declare without a doubt who the real Maestro are:

It will always, always be human creators.

You can watch the full performance here.

[vindicated-truth]

Carats discovering Beyond Evil in 2026 LET’S GO 😆

Also this is very niche but seeing the vocal unit introduce themselves on Knowing Bros in that particular scene, Dongsik would have loved fellow mischievous rule-breaker Jeonghan.

Behold the criminal mastermind of SEVENTEEN:

[vindicated-truth]

Observing that fandoms (in general) formed post-2020, during and after COVID, aren’t as enduring as fandoms before it.

I’m still getting comments on fics I wrote 10-15 years ago—particularly from Lord of the Rings, Person of Interest, and Star Trek—which means its fandoms continue to endure, even if it’s quieted down from the peak of its hype.

Fandoms formed during and after the pandemic seem to be products of its time: more fleeting, less deeply invested, meant to be a temporary escape, as people retreated into media as distraction and entertainment, rather than as a true hobby.

It explains a lot about the way fans act in fandom nowadays—callous and judgmental and demanding—because unlike the fans pre-COVID, they do not treat fandoms as the sacred communities that you nurture and protect, whose members you take time to uplift, and not tear down.

Fans during and post COVID treat fandom spaces with less respect because they don’t see fandom as a community to invest in, but rather, as a commodity for their entertainment.

Everything is monetized. Everything is a competition.

Fandom just became another tool for capitalism.

[vindicated-truth]

One advantage of never having used AI is that I don’t even know what AI writing looks like, so I don’t have to be conscious or hyperaware of making sure I don’t “write like AI” and just write as I’ve always been writing for DECADES.

And if anyone comes across my writing and says it “reads like AI”, it says a lot more about that reader because THEY are the ones more attuned to AI.

I refuse to use it so that I will NEVER be conscious of whether or not I’m writing like it.

[vindicated-truth]

Dunno if anyone from the Person of Interest (POI) fandom still remembers me—it’s been 8 years since I last wrote for the fandom—but it’s still the one I’ve written the most stories for.

POI was ahead of its time: it tackled the dangers of artificial super intelligence—yes, AI.

In fact, its protagonist and main creator of said AI—Harold Finch—is the first to warn people that AI would be catastrophic when used by the wrong people, and the first to refuse to hand over complete control to it.

Fast forward a decade later—and he’s 💯 right.

I wish more audiences knew of this show. A lot of people didn’t like the moral upstanding it tended to veer into at times, but the thing is, the show was 💯 correct in continuously proving that AI should NOT be given control in human decisions.

Fast forward a decade later, and who would’ve thought that the Pope of all people would declare AI a dangerous pathway to evil. I’m not even religious, but I’m glad a person of significant power is declaring a rightful war against AI.

Harold Finch was right.

And so is the Pope.

[vindicated-truth]

Being each other’s most precious memory—and capturing it

[vindicated-truth]

It’s the way Minje is physically the biggest and strongest of all the members, but immediately dials back his strength when it comes to Keiju.

He’s so, so gentle when it comes to Keiju 🥹 And so open and welcoming of Keiju’s bright, enthusiastic affection 🥹

[vindicated-truth]

Starting with this:

The easy way they hold hands, the way Minje folds his entire giant self so he can fit himself into the tiny space of Keiju’s arms and shoulders 🥹

[vindicated-truth]

The way Keiju blindly reached for Minje behind him, the way Minje reacted with a surprised and curious “What?”, the way Keiju grabbed Minje’s hand just to press his cheek against Minje’s palm—

Their random moments of tactile, tender affection like this makes my heart feel close to bursting 🥹

(I really should make a video compilation, there’s so many)

[vindicated-truth]

There’s a running theme of nostalgia and yearning in 5th gen boy group music as it tackles coming of age as an inevitable separation, and the desperate extraction of a promise to meet again after going their separate ways.

It’s holding on to youth in the most heartrending manner: holding on to memories, and to the people, in the hopes of meeting them again.

All three songs by TWS, AHOF, and KickFlip have the lyric 다시 만나 (dasi manna), which means “I’ll see you again” or “Let’s meet again.”

[vindicated-truth]

This was my favorite part of the whole one hour live:

Keiju shyly asking if Minje knows the singer (Fujii Kaze), and then telling Minje he hopes he can cover the song someday, because he loves the song and he thinks it fits Minje’s voice.

Then Keiju starts singing the song to Minje—even looking at Minje as he does so, as if singing it to him—with Minje concentrated on listening (even though he might not understand the lyrics because it’s in Japanese) and even trying to sing the song himself in the end, much to Keiju’s amused delight.

There was something pure and earnest and vulnerable in this moment: wanting a dear friend to sing for you a song that you love, and that friend trying their best to grant that wish immediately, even though he does not know the song nor the language, because it’ll make you happy.

There’s something pure about this kind of friendship. This kind of love 🥹

The lyrics Keiju sang to Minje:

“Whether the sky is dawning or dusking We're gonna transcend thеm all Things change, and we can do nothing about it Just letting go, feeling lightеr, and becoming filled” 明けてゆく空も暮れてゆく空も 僕らは超えてゆく ああ 変わりゆくものは仕方がないねと 手を放す、軽くなる、満ちてゆく"

[vindicated-truth]

This was my favorite part of the whole one hour live:

Keiju shyly asking if Minje knows the singer (Fujii Kaze), and then telling Minje he hopes he can cover the song someday, because he loves the song and he thinks it fits Minje’s voice.

Then Keiju starts singing the song to Minje—even looking at Minje as he does so, as if singing it to him—with Minje concentrated on listening (even though he might not understand the lyrics because it’s in Japanese) and even trying to sing the song himself in the end, much to Keiju’s amused delight.

There was something pure and earnest and vulnerable in this moment: wanting a dear friend to sing for you a song that you love, and that friend trying their best to grant that wish immediately, even though he does not know the song nor the language, because it’ll make you happy.

There’s something pure about this kind of friendship. This kind of love 🥹

The lyrics Keiju sang to Minje:

“Whether the sky is dawning or dusking We're gonna transcend thеm all Things change, and we can do nothing about it Just letting go, feeling lightеr, and becoming filled" "明けてゆく空も暮れてゆく空も 僕らは超えてゆく ああ 変わりゆくものは仕方がないねと 手を放す、軽くなる、満ちてゆく"

[vindicated-truth]

Daydreaming in the midst of the night You brush my thoughts and sweep my sleep away After so long, now, I miss all the times It’s unnecessary There are plenty more times we’ll miss anyway It’s painful to face you The answer we want to hear Knowing it, the feelings are twisted The scars and guilt become tangled again The walls are tightly closing in

—

Keiju’s heart jumps as soon as he sees the name on the caller ID.

It’s a strange feeling, this mixture of elation and dread: the instant joy of hearing from him after being gone for so long—and knowing exactly the reason why he’s calling now, of all times.

The vibrating phone is loud in the silence of the night. He grips it tight, letting it bring life back to the nerves of his fingertips that have gone numb in the cold.

The call keeps going. It looks like he’s not going to hang up anytime soon.

He’s expecting Keiju to pick up.

He swallows. With a shaking hand, he taps the screen and brings the phone up to his ear.

“Moshi moshi, Maru-niichan?”

The surprise in the sudden ensuing silence speaks volumes. Amaru’s tone is curious. “You’re out in public, aren’t you?”

Keiju smiles wanly at how Amaru knows him so well that he instinctively replies in Japanese too. “How did you know?”

Amaru’s tone is wry. “You only ever speak in Japanese there when you don’t want the people around you to understand what you’re saying. Where are you? You’re not at the company or the dorm?”

“No, I’m—” Keiju hedges, “—outside.”

There’s a weighted pause at the other end of the line. Then, a soft query:

“Are you by the Han river again?”

Keiju smile trembles. Sometimes he wishes he isn’t so transparent—especially to someone as keen as Amaru. “Are you monitoring me through the public livestream of the CCTV cameras or something?”

“No.” Amaru briefly hesitates.“I watched today’s KickKick episode.”

Ah, Keiju thinks in resignation. There it is. The reason for the call.

Amaru’s tone becomes gentle. “And you always go alone to the Han river when you’re troubled.”

Keiju leans back to rest his head against the bench. The night sky is pitch black, starless due to the snow.

“I’ve been avoiding him, onii-chan.”

“I know.” And it speaks volumes about the depth of their friendship that Amaru doesn’t even have to ask whom Keiju is talking about. “Kyehoon-niichan told me about it.”

Keiju feels his pulse quicken—though perhaps he really should have expected that the rest of the members are also in constant contact with Amaru. They’re still a team, after all.

And it makes sense that their leader is keeping tabs on all of them.

Keiju bites his lip. “Is he mad?”

Amaru sounds surprised—and disappointed—that it’s the question Keiju first thinks to ask. “No, Keiju-kun.” Keiju feels chastised, even though he knows it’s not Amaru’s intention. “Kyehoon-niichan is worried about you.”

There’s a significant pause, before Amaru pointedly adds: “Both of you.”

Keiju’s grip on the phone tightens. “Is—is he okay?”

Amaru sounds confused. “Kyehoon-niichan?”

“No.” Keiju’s voice is timid. “… Minje.”

“Keiju-kun.” It tugs at Keiju’s heartstrings, hearing Amaru address him like that. Like Keiju is somehow… fragile. “Shouldn’t you know better than the rest of us?”

And it’s an arrow piercing straight through Keiju’s chest, the way Amaru voices it out plainly and clearly, like it’s an indefatigable fact of life:

“You’re the one who loves him the most.”

Keiju shivers. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

He pulls his jacket closer over himself and tucks in his scarf tighter around his neck. He underestimated the cold tonight.

Seoul has always been colder than Tokyo.

“I’m scared, onii-chan,” Keiju confesses. “I’m scared of how… intensely I feel for him. I thought—I thought I was hiding it well, or at least that I still have some semblance of control over it, but for a celebrity fortune teller like Park Sungjoon-sensei to even pick up on it—”

Keiju stops to catch his breath mid-outburst. Amaru is noticeably—knowingly—silent, allowing Keiju the space to sort through and somehow make sense of his maelstrom of emotions.

He’s always, always felt so much.

Too much.

“I’m scared,” Keiju’s breath hitches, “of Minje-kun finding out.”

There’s a rustle at the other end of the line. At this time of the night, Amaru must be getting ready for bed at his family’s home in Saitama. “Keiju-kun,” he starts carefully, “do you really believe that at this point, Minje-kun is still unaware that you have feelings for him?”

“I’m not scared that he knows,” Keiju says quietly. “I’m scared that he doesn’t know how much.”

He hears a familiar creak at the other end of the line; Amaru must have laid down in bed. Keiju smiles, a little envious of how Amaru must have been sleeping at regular hours lately—unlike the rest of them.

They still have to travel to Gwangju later. Sleep will not be on a bed for them—but on a bus.

It’s the price they pay for a glamorous idol life, Keiju thinks a little bitterly.

“Do you remember that Japanese proverb about the sun?” Amaru asks suddenly. “The sun does not know good, the sun does not know bad.”

“The sun illuminates and warms everyone equally,” Keiju continues softly.

He can hear Amaru’s smile in the way he speaks. “There’s no place on earth that isn’t touched by the sun. No place on earth to escape its light.”

Keiju’s throat tightens. “Onii-chan.”

“No person who escapes your love.” Amaru’s tone is gentle. “He knows, Keiju-kun. Minje-kun knows how much you love him. You’ve never really been able to hide it, because you can’t. That’s just how the sun is. Its destiny is to shine and give light. And your destiny is to give love.”

Keiju pulls his legs up and crosses them, tucking his feet under his knees. He tilts his face up and lets the snowflakes kiss his cheeks.

“Onii-chan.” His voice is trembling now. “Do you think—is it possible that—he feels the same way? Does he—can he—love me back?”

Under the glow of the lamplights, the snow looks like rain. The only difference is that it’s much, much colder when it hits his skin.

“Keiju.” And there it is again—that tone Amaru takes on when he doesn’t want to break Keiju. “He already does. Minje-kun loves you so much he doesn’t know how to say no to you. He always, always puts you first.”

Keiju squeezes his lids against the sudden pricking at the corner of his eyes. He wants to believe it’s because of the snow, but the tightening of his throat betrays him.

His heart feels so, so heavy.

“Whatever you ask of him, he gives it to you. Whatever you need, he moves heaven and earth for you to have it. That’s how pure his love is for you. Because that’s also the kind of person he is. He loves without reservation.”

“Then why,” Keiju whispers, “do you sound so scared?”

He hears a sharp intake of breath.

“Onii-chan.”

The vision of the lamplight is starting to blur. Keiju closes his eyes.

“Are you scared I might end up hurting him?”

The wetness that spills over his cheeks is warmer than the snow.

Am I really that unworthy to be loved by him?

Amaru seems to be carefully choosing his words. “Minje-kun’s love for you is so earnest and pure he will do anything to be close to you. But you’re the sun, Keiju-kun. And anyone who tries to fly too close to the sun—”

“—ends up getting burned.”

Keiju lets out a shaky exhale and furiously swipes at his eyes before the wetness turns into ice. “I understand, onii-chan,” he says tonelessly. “I’m too much for him.”

“No, you don’t. And no, you’re not.” Amaru sounds pained now. “Okamoto Keiju, you are the sun. Your destiny is to be in the sky. Your destiny is to shine. And I don't want you to come down for anything or anyone. I don’t want you to ever dim your light. Not even for love. Not even for someone like Choi Minje.”

Isn’t it fascinating, Keiju thinks dimly, that when the snow melts against the skin, it can’t anymore be distinguished from tears?

“It’s lonely up here, onii-chan.” His lips tremble as he smiles sadly. “The sun is up here in the sky all alone.”

For the first time in all the time Keiju has known him—Amaru runs out of words to say.

A beep in his ear breaks through the silence. He hears a rustle at the other end of the line.

“Oh. Kyehoon-niichan messaged the group chat.”

Keiju blinks. He puts Amaru on speaker and taps on the notification.

He stares at the wording of the question.

‘Minje-ya, Iju-ya, are the two of you together?’

He can understand now why even Amaru sounds surprised. Thankfully, Keiju is spared from answering when their leader immediately receives a reply.

‘I’m still at the company, just about done practicing the choreography.’

“Why is Minje-kun practicing alone?” Amaru asks curiously.

“I don’t know,” Keiju murmurs, just as Kyehoon sends another message.

‘Well, can you pick up Iju wherever he is? The company bus is about to arrive soon.’

There’s a wistfulness in Amaru’s voice. “The next stop of the fan concert tour?”

“Yeah.” Keiju pulls his legs up to his chest and rests his chin on his knees. “Onii-chan?”

“Hmm?”

“Come home soon,” Keiju says softly. “Donghyeon-kun misses you the most.”

“… I know.”

There’s a gentleness in Amaru’s tone that strikes a familiar chord in Keiju.

“I miss him the most, too.”

Keiju smiles, a tender ache in his heart that understands. “Good night, onii-chan.”

“Good night, Keiju-kun. Hug Donghyeon-kun tight for me, will you?”

Keiju’s swallows against the lump in this throat. “I will.”

“And Keiju-kun?”

“Yeah?”

“I hope you find someone to be in the sky with you. So you don’t have to feel lonely anymore.”

Keiju buries his face on his knees. His fingers curl around the phone tightly as Amaru ends the call.

He startles when it suddenly vibrates again.

‘Iju-ya, there’s a two for one promo here in our favorite convenience store! Banana milk plus strawberry milk. You like strawberry milk, yeah? I’ll give it to you later on the bus.’

The watery laughter that bursts forth from him is unbearably fond, it feels like his heart is ballooning against his ribs. He hastily swipes at the sudden tears that fall for a different reason now, and taps out a reply.

‘You just want an excuse to buy the banana milk for yourself, Minje-ya.’

‘It’s a perfect pairing! I wouldn’t have bought it if it wasn’t for you.’

Keiju’s smiles as his thumb caresses the words on the screen—and laughs out loud when it’s Donghwa who replies.

‘Will the two of you stop flirting on the group chat and just message each other personally, god!’

He pockets his phone and stands, wincing a little at his aching muscles as he stretches his limbs. He’s been sitting at the park bench for a while. He takes a deep breath, allowing his emotions to settle.

He turns his gaze heavenward—and realizes the light that has been shining down on the bench isn’t just from the lamp post after all.

“Oh,” he says softly. “It’s a full moon tonight.”

—

Tears are falling again Endless tears are falling I feel like I know, no wait, I know now I can’t go on without you, I can’t let you go Why only now am I seeing you? Hold me Can you embrace me even though I’m far away? Well, don't know, I don't know too

—

also posted at AO3

—

Title and lyrics from "I Don't Know" by SEVENTEEN

This is a missing scene from we meet in the sky, and takes place in the same timeline. It's actually possible to read this first even before reading we meet in the sky, and the story will still make sense, because this is written as a companion piece, rather than a sequel. 

The resolution to this story can already be found in we meet in the sky. This is written to give more context and insight to Keiju's side of the story.

light a flame is the actual sequel, but you can choose to skip it if explicit sex isn't something you're comfortable with, or—especially—if you're underage. But what takes place there will be more powerful in its impact because of what this story shines light on.