#╰ to be written in ink is to be immortal — [ snapshot. ]

[fcble]

SOCIAL SNAPSHOT ! [ 2/5 ]

Fable’s YouTube channel currently has 1.6 million subscribers and 639 videos. The channel was launched in late 2017, though no videos were uploaded until the spring of 2018, when the group’s lineup was finalized and slowly introduced to the public. The majority of their content is split into five main categories, most of them containing smaller sections.

ON THE RECORD is Fable’s main variety show. The seasons air sporadically, often centering around large events in their career. Currently, there are five seasons.

경천동지 / TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM — The first season, which followed the group from the end of their debut preparations to the beginning of their debut promotions, ran for eight episodes in almost real time, from July to August 2018. It’s often used as a baseline for demonstrating the group’s growth. Common sentiments are “It’s so nice to see that Haksu and Andrew don’t hate each other like this anymore” and “Remember when they used to be scared of Jaeseop?”. They tried very hard to be funny and it was very obvious.

LIVE IN ASIA — Taking a bit more of a relaxed approach to variety, their second season was filmed during their first Asia tour. The six episodes aired in September 2019, shortly after the tour concluded. They split into four pairs to complete an almost Amazing Race-style scavenger hunt around the cities they were visiting. The winning pair was Kiyoung and Andrew.

겨울방학 / WINTER BREAK — The third season showcased Fable’s first company-sponsored vacation. They stayed on Jeju Island for a week and a half, filming the ten episodes that aired from January to March 2021. Since filming took place during winter, they spent most of their time indoors, except for one rather sad visit to the beach.

AROUND THE WORLD — During Fable’s world tour, they brought back the format of the second season. Season four is comprised of seven episodes, released from September to October 2022. This time, they competed in two teams. Andrew is a two-time winner, accompanied by teammates Haksu and Intak. Other highlights of this season include Eunsu’s brief participation via FaceTime, and guest appearances by Mingeun and Andrew’s families.

축제 2023 — Aptly named for the current year, the most recent season has twelve episodes, aired inconsistently from April to August 2023. In celebration of Fable’s fifth anniversary, the season accompanied the release of their second full album and its repackage, featuring conceptually related trips around Korea.

BY ◯◯, also known as the BYLINE SERIES is the solo content of each of the Fable members. The videos range from vlogs to covers to whatever else is on their minds. The upload schedules are determined by the members themselves. In order of popularity, the smaller series are:

BY HAKSU — As arguably the most popular member, it makes sense for his videos to perform the best. Haksu was also the first to start uploading solo content in late 2019. He tends to release a lot of song covers with a few much-beloved vlogs sprinkled in between. Andrew can often be found playing a piano accompaniment in the background.

BY BYEONGHWI — In some alternate universe, Byeonghwi is a YouTuber instead of an idol. He has a knack for being engaging on camera—a skill that also serves him well in his current career—framing shots, and editing it all himself. As a result, he uploads about once a month. Each video is an event, as they show off the ordinary lives of himself and the rest of the group.

BY MINGEUN — If there’s one thing Mingeun’s going to do, it’s cover a song better than the original artist, at least according to the comment sections on his few videos with their comment sections enabled. Most of his videos are vocal or dance—sometimes both—covers of kpop songs he likes, indie pop songs Andrew introduced to him, and whatever else he’s listening to at the moment. He has a few very popular covers, though most are not.

BY YEJUN — When it comes to Andrew’s individual videos, they’re almost indistinguishable from any of his livestreams. They all take place at night, and his nights are almost indistinguishable from each other as well. He goes to the twenty-four hour convenience store, he tries to write music, he stares up at the few visible stars in the sky—all captured in 480p.

BY KIYOUNG — Judging solely from Kiyoung’s videos, it’s very difficult to tell that his job is being an idol. Sure, the other members make brief appearances in his vlogs here and there, but most of them show off more of his life outside of work. Most of his friends aren’t idols, and their faces are carefully blurred out or hidden in each of his videos, making it look like he shares his meals with a bunch of apparitions.

BY INTAK — For a music producer, Intak makes videos with extremely poor audio. His are always ASMR-esque, but with a shitty phone microphone instead of a more professional one. He shows off his music production process, speaking as little as possible. He tends to leave it to the editors to write evocative captions for his accompanying visuals.

BY JAESEOP — Jaeseop’s videos come once every few months, usually immediately before or after promotions. It’s become a running joke that an upload from him means a comeback is right around the corner. Almost everything he shows off in his videos was previously seen in the more frequent uploads of the other members. When it comes to putting together his own solo content, he does not have a single original thought in his head.

BY EUNSU — A now defunct series. For a few months between when he started the series and when he left the group, he interacted the most with fans. He would give requested advice to fans based on his limited knowledge from his lived experiences. The comment section of his videos would often correct him, or argue that he should not be listened to.

LEGEND OF FABLE is another one of the group’s reality shows, produced in conjunction with Mnet. Its six episode run spanned from February 12, 2020 to March 18, 2020. Very loosely inspired by the Joseon era story The Tale of Cho Ung, the members played the roles of eight princes vying for power. Fitting in with their concept, their various activities somehow managed to extol Confucian values in the twenty-first century. The result of the casual competition was indecisive, leaving it up to the fans and viewers to debate who would have made the best theoretical ruler of Korea.

A second season was rumored to somehow follow Kim Manjung’s The Nine Cloud Dream and assumed to air some time in 2021. There have been no updates since then.

OFF THE RECORD is the overarching playlist for all of their behind the scenes content. This includes:

PLAY-BLE — Most of the behind the scenes content is within this series. Everything from MV filming to concept film shootings to recording studio behinds can be found here.

AIR-BLE — Extra broadcast videos is the second of the behind content categories. This is mostly just compilations of moments where someone turned a camera on backstage at a music show. It also includes a bit of extra content from their concerts, tours, fansigns, and other live performances.

STAGE-BLE — The more fun performances are also considered behind the scenes content. Normal dance practices, themed dance practices, live practices, part switch versions, etc. are all grouped together. The most popular of these is a Goblin (2016)-themed dance practice of their 2020 song, 꽃처럼.

The last category of content is all of their music videos. On very rare occasions, they’ll film music videos for their b-sides. It’s much more likely for them to release live or other similar performance versions. Their most-viewed video remains their 2020 breakout hit, 가자, sitting at 74 million views.

[sylus-hds-7213]

Wrapped in tissue paper that smells vaguely like her perfume—orange blossom and something warm underneath—is a framed photograph. But not just any photo. It's an aggressively candid shot of Sylus looking tired, coffee in hand, caught mid-eye-roll. In the corner, she’s written (in smudged pen and barely legible, lowercase scrawl): “the moment you realized i was right, documented forever. happy birthday.”

Attached to the back with washi tape is a tiny envelope—wax-sealed, with a little “L” pressed into it. The letter inside reads:

Sylus,

I hate that I won’t be there on your birthday. Truly, deeply, in a way that makes me want to rearrange the universe or at least yell at a flight attendant until the laws of time bend in my favor. But, alas. Here we are.

So instead, I’m giving you this: a very serious, incredibly heartfelt birthday gift. Early. You're welcome.

Now, the part that actually matters:

I’m sorry I won’t be home. I know it’s not the same, and I know you’ll pretend it doesn’t bother you because you’re thoughtful like that. But I wanted you to have something here. Something that reminds you that you are loved—loudly, stupidly, unapologetically. I love you more than I know how to explain most days, and certainly more than can be contained in one letter. Or a book. Or a library.

You are the safest place I’ve ever known. You make the noise in my head quieter. You see me in ways I never expected anyone to, and somehow you still stay. That matters more to me than I can say.

So eat the cake I left in the freezer (yes, it’s the good cake). Don’t let anyone else near it—especially Luke. I will find out.

I plan to make up for missing your birthday in every way I can think of. Prepare accordingly.

All my love, Lana

@stubbornlysoft

Sylus hadn’t meant to sit with the letter as long as he did. The soft crack of the wax seal breaking had felt far too ceremonial for something like this —but when it came to Lana, even the smallest things carried gravity.

The scent of her perfume curled in the air—warm, grounding. Like her. Like home. He stared at the photo for longer than he’d admit, thumb brushing over the glass where his own eye-roll had been immortalized. The memory flashed like a flare—her laugh just out of frame, the teasing glint in her eyes when she caught him at just the right moment. And the scribbled note in the corner? It tugged a smirk out of him, crooked and helpless.

But it was the letter that stopped everything else.

He didn’t move for a while.

The quiet of his parlour thickened around him as he read and reread every word. Her voice lived in the spaces between the sentences. Her warmth in the curves of every letter. That she’d thought of this—that she’d known exactly what to say—felt like both a punch and a balm to the chest.

He set the frame gently on the table, then held the letter to his lips for a brief second before folding it carefully, reverently. That was the thing about Lana—she didn’t just write with ink; she wrote with intention. Every sentence stitched into his ribs now. He’d carry it with him, maybe longer than she'd ever guess.

And gods, he missed her.

The pull in his chest that turned into something sharp and overwhelming. Her words weren’t dramatic or flowery—but they were hers. Honest and full of that sideways affection only Lana could deliver.

He swallowed hard at “You are the safest place I’ve ever known.”

The lump in his throat was sudden, heavy. She had no idea what it meant to him—being that for her. That she felt seen, understood, held, even when he couldn’t always find the right words. That she chose him in quiet ways like this. Through cake in the freezer and snapshots of stolen moments and smudged ink that said, I love you more than I know how to explain.

He pulled out his phone, his fingers lingering over the keyboard for a beat too long. Then he typed

💬 You wreck me in the best ways.

💬 That picture’s awful, and I love it. Because you were there.

💬 I’ve read your letter three times already. I’ll probably read it a hundred more.

💬 You may not be here but, you’ve left pieces of yourself everywhere I look.

💬 But I’ll still be counting the seconds until you’re home.

💬 You’re everything soft in a world that’s anything but. And I’ll take all of it. All of you. For as many birthdays as we get. Just us.

[fcble]

SOCIAL SNAPSHOT ! [ 1/5 ]

rkdgkrtn

With 1.2 million followers, HAKSU is the most followed member of Fable. He’s a few hundred thousand followers short of the official group account. He uses his account almost exclusively for promoting his career, posting all of his brand endorsement photoshoots and a few behind-the-scenes selfies.

He’s a bit more relaxed with his stories. He has two highlights: one named with the open book emoji and the other with the sparkly heart. The first is dedicated to Fable. After Haksu started using that emoji to represent the group, fans began to do the same. The second highlight is more personal, with pictures from his daily life that could be posts if he wasn’t opposed to preserving his aesthetic. He likes to post polls and then completely ignore what fans vote for.

peace__97

His personal account is a bit more relaxed. He’s mutuals with everyone he follows. His username comes from the English meaning of the Hanja character for his last name (康), and his birth year. His single highlight is a collection of almost every story he’s ever posted. He looks back on it now and then. Haksu also matches profile pictures with Intak, Andrew, and Byeonghwi on the loose theme of children’s cartoon characters. His is the titular character of Dooly the Little Dinosaur.

hand___drawn

The second most followed member is ANDREW. His account is characterized by his recent refusal to use his stage name—he’s the only one without his full name in Hangul on his account. He’s a very sporadic poster. He’ll post every day for a few days, and then disappear for three months. The ‘Andrew forgot his Instagram password’ jokes have been run into the ground.

vir2al.ly

The goal of Andrew’s personal account is to completely dissociate it from his public idol one. His name is nowhere to be found on it and he barely posts pictures of himself. He doesn’t even let all of his group members follow him. Most of his followers are friends and acquaintances from before he became an idol. His username is meant to contrast with his public username.

byeonghwiii

BYEONGHWI has a very professional public-facing account. His posts are mostly of himself, with a few pictures here and there of his group members. He also borrowed Haksu’s idea of representing the group with the open book emoji. He rarely uses his stories and saves very few of them as highlights. He’s had his username saved ever since he learned he was going to be a celebrity. He wanted something as close to his name as possible.

hwi_paramsae

His personal account is almost identical to his public one. He includes a few more pictures of his group members and fewer pictures of himself. He has posted to the wrong account before and not noticed. Byeonghwi’s stories feature Fable and himself. They’re named simply with Fable’s name and his username. His matching profile picture is Loopy from Pororo the Little Penguin.

itskiyoung

KIYOUNG'S profile is a study in brand friendliness. He's extremely career-forward. He's most active when Fable is promoting, but still posts regularly when they're not. His posts are captioned solely with emojis that match the color scheme of the pictures. Out of all the Fable members, he follows the most people outside of the group, including other idols, various actors, and a few Western celebrities. He uses his stories a lot more than he posts, though he rarely saves them.

take__5

His personal account is more of an insight into his daily life. Most of his posts are about places he’s going and food he’s eaten and things he’s experienced, usually without his group members. Kiyoung’s single highlight is commemorative of his favorite experiences.

ymg__08

The person most dedicated to the Fable brand—at least in public—is MINGEUN. He wanted all of them to put Fable in their usernames. No one else agreed. He didn’t want to be the only one to do it, so he decided to include the number eight instead. Despite being the last member to start a public account, he has the most posts because he can’t shut up. If he’s doing something, or Fable is doing something, Mingeun’s probably posted about it.

Other than his extensive number of posts, he also loves his stories. His three highlights are all essentially the same. He had to make three in the primary colors for his dedication to the Fable brand. Like Haksu and Byeonghwi, he uses the book emoji to represent the group.

gugugeun

Posts on Mingeun’s personal account rarely survive a few days before they’re archived. He uses the app incessantly, sharing pictures of his group members and his girlfriend more than himself. He matches usernames and profile pictures with Eunsu like they’re a couple. Their usernames come from both of them being born in 1999 (gu), and their profile pictures are Japanese comedy duo Ninety-nine.

i_jaeseop

JAESEOP’S posts are reserved for the very large events in his life. So far this includes graduating university (he would like to pretend everything before that doesn’t exist), debuting in Fable, and celebrating the fifth anniversary of his longest term relationship. Although his account is private, it’s pretty obvious to fans that it’s his. The username is his name, the icon is his face, and the bio includes Fable’s debut date. He receives many follow requests and ignores them all.

tak_kkaeda

INTAK does not use Instagram. He was coerced into making an account by Jaeseop and Andrew. He fought the boomer allegations and lost. Now he uses it solely to participate in the Fable Instagram group chat. He inadvertently has a closely matching icon to Haksu. They’re close enough in age to grow up watching the same show.

BONUS:

eunsu.yah

EUNSU opened his account shortly after leaving the group. He was the first to do so, sparking a trend among the remaining members of Fable. All five of his posts are from the first few months after that. He started sharing his daily, non idol life, and then he decided it was boring and stopped posting.

The five accounts he follows are the five Fable members with public accounts.

gugusu

More than anything else, Eunsu’s ratio is important to him. Even when he’s turned his account from an unassuming, average, display of his daily life to its current iteration, where he matches everything with Mingeun. It’s a miracle more of his followers haven’t unfollowed him. His posts are very carefully curated. He’s also the only person to not have a highlight dedicated to Fable.