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(Written August 17, 2025)
Welcome back to our wild
pirate band known as ATEEZ and their double-dating adventures! I’ve been looking forward to this all
week. Let’s dive back into the pile of
crazy.
We’re starting with Wooyoung in a confessional. He’s asked what has been his most challenging moment in ATEEZ so far. He says that when the band first debuted, their television performances sometimes got cut off right after the first verse. He’s grateful that the fans stuck with them.
Reddit gave me some background. Because ATEEZ is from a small entertainment company, they were often pushed aside to make room for big label groups. Not only were their songs shortened for music shows, but they were not greeted politely by other groups, and sometimes the show’s production team would conveniently forget to tell them important things like the dress code.
No wonder this group is so wildly aggressive. Such treatment really justifies their “us against the world” vibe. I’d be royally pissed off, too.
Now we pick up where we left
off last episode, with Wooyoung and Hongjoong speeding around the Han River on
jet skis. Hongjoong is having so much
fun, we may never see him again.
“It’s such an open space, I could really go wherever I wanted,” he tells us. “There was no set path.” This is turning into more than a fun date. This is therapy for our work-obsessed captain. The production team actually has to chase after him and tell him to come back.
We cut back to the band in the studio, watching the footage and marveling at how fast he’s going. Hongjoong is still excited as he talks about it. The thrill hasn’t left him. He doesn’t even hear the others teasing him about constantly losing his baseball cap in the water.
Now we return to San and
Seonghwa and their fine dining omakase experience. Their main course has arrived. It’s tenderloin Chateaubriand, which Google
tells me is a special occasion dish, often served for romantic dinners or
celebrations. We get close-ups of the
steak as it’s cooking. I can smell it
through the screen. The chefs put salt, butter
sauce, and white truffle on it, and now I’m getting more turned on than I was
last week when our boys were flirting with each other.
As San and Seonghwa savor every bite, moaning and sighing in appreciation, I’m wondering if this show should have a food porn warning label.
San cools things down by
talking about how pigs are used to find truffles. We cut to Seonghwa in a confessional who says
that San has a very shallow knowledge of food and mutters to himself while
eating. This show gives me a lot of
laugh-out-loud moments like this, because everything these guys say is being
watched by the entire band in the studio.
Back in the restaurant, the
chef brings out another beef course. The
studio goes silent with envy. We can
hear San and Seonghwa chewing and swallowing through their clip-on mics, and
again, my toes are curling from how hot this is. This band is doing really strange things to
me. I think they’re doing it on
purpose. Seonghwa takes a bite of steak
while maintaining eye contact with San, and I almost pass out.
Thankfully, we cut back to
Hongjoong and Wooyoung on the Han River.
It’s time for a ride on a banana boat.
Because of the speed and instability, they fall into the water a lot.
Back in the studio, Hongjoong offers ATINY some advice: “If you’re in a relationship and you want to end it, take them for a banana boat ride in the Han River.”
“I’ll never drink banana milk again,” Wooyoun says.
We now join Yunho and Mingi
on their walk through a birch forest. It’s
so lush, green and peaceful, and the boys surrender to the serenity.
It doesn’t last long. Technology intrudes. Their cell phones beep with the question of the day, submitted by bandmate Seonghwa: “What do you think is cool?”
Mingi says coolness is the free feeling that comes from a natural look. “Being raw is cool,” he says.
Yunho agrees, saying he tries to bring out the coolness of his inner self rather than try to look cool on the outside. That’s why he likes spending so much time in nature. It keeps his inner self at peace. Mingi prefers good food and zoning out in saunas.
They get into an interesting
discussion about feeling cool as opposed to when other people tell them they’re
cool. I like that we’re slowing down a
bit in this episode and getting more thoughtful. There’s more to these guys than the wild
outlaw image they often project.
“Self-esteem will rise and fall,” Mingi declares, “but it’s not good to keep people that try to bring your self-esteem down because of their jealousy and envy. The people that cut you down by telling you to improve on something in the name of giving advice are not necessarily people who will be helpful in your life.”
Mingi needs to write a book.
Back to the Han River. Wooyoung and Hongjoong have changed into dry clothes and arrive at a restaurant overlooking the river. They need something else in their stomachs besides the river water they’ve been swallowing all day. (“I drank it through my nose,” Hongjoong complains.) Before getting on the banana boat, they had made a bet that the first person to scream would have to pay for lunch. Now, they agree that they should probably cancel that bet.
While they wait for their
ramyeon, the question about coolness pops up on the phones of the rest of the
bandmates on their dates.
Hongjoong says being cool means not being afraid of anything. After seeing him swallow half the Han River today, I believe him. Wooyoung says coolness is being humble and kind.
San says coolness is recognizing your own self-worth and being kind to yourself, which puts him in the same camp as Mingi. Seonghwa agrees and wishes he could give that same advice to his younger self. He says he used to be really hard on himself, but thanks to his friendships in the group, he’s gotten better.
As the conversation continues, we learn that Seonghwa’s favorite concert experience so far is their performance at Coachella. He says he still gets teary-eyed when he watches it.
I remember the day after that
Coachella performance. I went on YouTube
and saw hundreds of videos of audience phone footage of the show and started
clicking on them to watch, and the videos would suddenly freeze and vanish
while I was watching them because YouTube was racing to take them down for
copyright issues. Not only was the
performance electrifying, but the feeling of racing from one YouTube video to
another, trying to outrun the copyright police, was a thrilling feeling that
I’ll always associate with ATEEZ.
YouTube actually contributed to their outlaw vibe that day.
Our boys get another text. It’s a question from Hongjoong, inspired by their song “Bouncy”: “When was the moment you most wanted to smack a fellow bandmate?”
Oooh, this oughta be good.
Back at the river, Hongjoong answers his own question after spending an afternoon losing numerous baseball caps and being thrown off a banana boat: “Right now, it’s Wooyoung. You asked me out on a date and then made me drink river water!”
“I drank it, too!” Wooyoung protests.
For Wooyoung, the answer is Yeosang. He says when the group managers give them instructions, Yeosang takes a while to understand. As a slow learner myself, I get it. I’ll take that smack for Yeosang.
Hongjoong also gets frustrated when his bandmates don’t check the group chat, especially before concerts when there’s a lot to sort out. He often posts messages asking for the band to decide on two options for a performance, and he gets responses like, “OK.”
I feel my blood pressure rise because I get the same responses from my own co-workers. I’ll type something like, “Should we schedule the meeting for tomorrow or Wednesday?” and someone will respond, “great idea!” and it’s a good thing we all work from home, or I’d be running into their offices to smack them with their own keyboards.
Back in the studio, Wooyoung
tells us he’s had to turn off notifications because Mingi kept sending totally
unfunny reels and memes. Oh, lord. Mingi is my mom.
Mingi says whenever his opinions don’t match the others, he wants to smack everyone. During their first US tour, he and Yunho almost got into a fistfight and had to be pulled apart by a fellow bandmate. He doesn’t remember what the fight was about now.
Yunho doesn’t even remember the fight. “We’ve been together almost ten years,” says Yunho. “We’ve almost smacked each other a few times!”
Seonghwa says he would smack both San and Wooyoung. “You guys bother me too much,” he says. “When we make eye contact, you guys always do something, like suddenly tying up my arms and tickling me.”
“You feel disappointed if no one bothers you,” San shoots back.
“Right, it does get boring,” Seonghwa concedes.
Out of curiosity, I looked up
their living arrangement. They still
live grouped together in dorms, but each member has his own room. The rooms look small, but I’m glad each
member has his own private space to get away from the others for a while.
Wooyoung livestreaming from his room in 2023
The teacher has already cut out the characters that represent each of the ATEEZ members. Yeosang and Jongho are much better at painting then they are at pottery-making, adding details to the characters and bringing them to life.
Back in the studio, the boys present their finished projects, including the cups, which actually turned out great.
We move on to the next question for the group. “Was there a time you couldn’t avoid something, so you just had to enjoy it?”
Back at the Han River,
Hongjoong says it was the waterlogged date he just had with Wooyoung. Wooyoung says it was when the band first went
on Immortal Songs, a South Korean music program, and only had two days
to prepare. When it all came together
perfectly, Seonghwa actually cried onstage.
ATEEZ on Immortal Songs, August 2020
Wooyoung and Hongjoong get a text that it’s time to move on to the next date spot. This is a date that Hongjoong has set up. Our captain promises a super VIP experience but won’t give any other details.
They walk through a parking
lot, and Hongjoong opens the passenger door of a red Porsche convertible. Wooyoung is like a kid on Christmas until he
finds out Hongjoong is driving. Now he’s
very nervous. “I’ve never driven stick
before,” Hongjoong casually tells us. “I
WANT TO GET OUT!” Wooyoung yells to the production team.
Thankfully, Hongjoong gets the hang of it by the time they hit the highway. They drive alongside the river and head into the city, marvelling at the smooth ride. “How much does this car cost?” Hongjoong wonders, mentally checking his bank balance.
Back in the studio, we learn that bystanders saw them driving around and posted photos on Twitter. (I refuse to call it X, and apparently the show does too.) Our boys were all over social media by the end of the day.
Now back to the forest with
Mingi and Yunho. Time for them to move
on to their second date location, this one set up by Mingi. When Yunho asks where they’re going, Mingi
replies, “What to hear something fun? I
never die alone.”
“What are you talking about?” Yunho asks nervously. Mingi just repeats it and smiles. So much for the quiet, peaceful day. And wait, is Mingi saying he makes a habit of dying? Does he die a lot? I knew it. He’s a vampire, isn’t he?
Mingi says he’s glad the rain has stopped. When asked if the rain would interfere with the date activity, he just says, “Not exactly, but we’ll have to see.”
They make their way to a
nearby road. “What I prepared is
extreme,” Mingi says, “so I rented an extreme car.”
“Aren’t you overdoing it?” Yunho asks. “I’m Song Mingi,” is the response. My question to the production crew: is Porsche sponsoring this show?
Our boys have to keep the top
up because it’s raining. They’re also
bigger than Wooyoung and Hongjoong, so while those two could sit comfortably
next to each other, Yunho and Mingi are a bit cozier. (Fun Fact:
They’re known as the group’s Twin Towers.)
Yunho, who clearly knows how to drive stick, is relaxed behind the wheel. They cruise away from the forest and head out to whatever Mingi’s got planned. The rain stops, so they drop the roof.
Back to the restaurant with San and Seonghwa. Another beef course is served. At this rate, these two will eventually pass out in meat comas at the table and never get to the second date.
They talk about comfort foods their grandmothers made for them as kids and how taste is tied to memory. As they finish up another course, they get texts with another question for discussion. I’m a little bummed at the timing. I wanted to hear more of their childhood stories.
The question is from San. “Did you have any moment that you felt was fate?”
We cut to the different date couples as they answer this question. For Wooyoung, it was meeting the other band members. He calls it the greatest blessing in his life. More on this in a minute.
Hongjoong says it was when he decided to put the group
together. I did some research. Hongjoong
played a crucial role in ATEEZ existing in the first place. KQ Entertainment wasn’t looking for trainees,
but he sent them a demo, hoping for a composer job, and wound up being signed
as their first trainee. Over the next
year, the other seven members joined. I
would definitely call that fate.
Seonghwa remembers his first impression of each group member. Hongjoong was excited and high energy. Yunho wore a black hoodie every day, and Seonghwa had never seen a tall kid dance so well. San approached and greeted him first with a handshake. Yeosang wore a beanie and was strikingly handsome. Mingi wore cargo pants and was very shy. Jongho had dark circles under his eyes that aged him, so Seonghwa was surprised to find out he was the youngest. Wooyoung wore a school uniform and was open and friendly.
We cut to the red convertible. We learn that Wooyoung was the member the others weren’t sure about. They didn’t know if they would be able to get along with him. Wooyoung was the last to join, after the others had already bonded.
That must have been intimidating. I can’t help remembering
when I.M was thrown into the mix on No Mercy.
But Wooyoung’s open, friendly attitude won the rest of the group over. He also had help from Yeosang, who had trained with him at another company and convinced the others to give him a chance.
We see clips of the group when they first came together, and
they look so incredibly young. I never
would have predicted they’d turn into the monster group they are now. It was definitely fate.
Sitting in the convertible, Wooyoung thinks about everything the group has been through. He says, “In my whole life, whether I live one hundred years or more, if I look at the big picture, we are spending the brightest time of our lives together. This is the part that shines the brightest.”
We end this episode on this beautiful note. This was a very different episode from the previous one, and I’m glad the show slowed down to give us a more mature, insightful look at this group and how they came together and interact with each other. I liked getting to know this group better.
Prepare for another vibe
change next week, when Yunho and Mingi go paragliding. See you then!
Episode 3: Dancing Like Butterfly Wings
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