#manager!yixing

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder / I'm in the mood for...

Feb 12th

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1. hello!! this is for yizhan fic finder, do u guys know the title of this story: wyb needs a date for an event bcos his date for years found a new partner. his manager suggested finding an escort(?) just for events then he found xz. i think there's a scene where xz do all the talk during that event bcos wyb isnt good with it. then there's a scene where yixing wants xz after wyb's done with him, something like that. i think i also remember the red carpet scene where the reporters shocked about xz and they like him or something, thats he's so handsome or what.

FOUND! The Upgrade Clause by fyredancer (E, 40k, YiZhan, Modern AU, Non-Famous XZ, Sugar dating, Mutual Pining, Blow Jobs, Love Bites, Sex Talk, Happy Ending)

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[aphrodite1288]

Now that Kyungsoo has left SM, do you think SM will exclude him when there’s a group activity or comeback? I feel like they’d be petty enough to do that (it isn’t like it hasn’t happened many times before and that was when he was still contracted to them plus their relationship must be very tenuous at this point anyway).

What is Kyungsoo's Situation and Future with SM?

So I'll explain something to everybody here, since not everyone knows,

So until now all of the members signed "Group activities" Contract and "Exclusive Solo activities" Contract with SM ,

Except Ksoo! Who didn't sign the Exclusive solo activities Contrat because that would be managed by SooSoo Company. So since he said he still can be in Exo's schedules and activities after his official contract ends in November 3rd, means he signed the "Group Activities contract"! Just like Donghae and Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun from Super Junior.

Whereas Tiffany and SNSD members who left they didn't sign the group contracts so they cannot Use "SNSD" Group Name or their stage names because they're all owned by SM. Which is why Tiffany's stage name was changed to "Tiffany Young" she can't use "Tiffany" to introduce herself because that's SM's credit.

Same thing for Lay/Yixing, this is why he can't use "Exo" or "Lay" anymore so he calls himself "Lay Zhang" or "Zhang Yixing " because he officially left SM with no Group contracts so yes he won't be on Any Exo schedules unless Exo want to and they can make him an exclusive contract for that, which I don't think would happen anytime soon.

So we'll wait until after November 3rd, If Ksoo still introduces himself as "Exo's D.O" or "D.O" then we would know he sighed the group contract and only the Exclusive "Solo activities" contract that was not signed, which means he would be in Exo's Comeback schedules IF HIS SOOSOO COMPANY ALLOWS HIM and it Doesn't Overlap with his Solo Company's schedule, which I'm sure he will manage and solve with Nam Kyungsoo since it's his company as well, so I believe he would organize his schedules so that he won't be absent in Exo's Schedules. But of course we would expect him not to show up in every show or every fan event or every variety show with them. He might miss some !! Because now the SooSoo Company will manage BOTH his Music and Acting Careers.

And I don't think Ksoo would give up his stage name "D.O" or "Exo".

[exouniverse]

Dance With Me

Pairing: Lay x gn reader

Genre: fluff, birthday fic

Warnings: none

Summary: Yixing thought he would not see you the day of his birthday due to an already scheduled concert that day, but you had already planned a meticulous surprise to dance with him at this concert and celebrate his birthday.

Word count: 1.3K+

A/N: Here we go with another birthday fic. I really hope you like it. Happy birthday Yixing!

MASTERLIST | MOODBOARD

“I miss you.”

Your reaction was immediate; you bit your lip before you could tell him about everything you had planned. You had never been that extra for anybody; it had taken a lot of energy to even talk to so many people. He just couldn’t know that you were closer to him than he thought, not yet.

The hours were running so slowly that it was feeling almost urgent to let him know, but you had to be more patient. You contained your excitement and let the words out, “I miss you too!”

“Agh! I’m so dumb, I forgot to schedule a break on my birthday and now I’m about to go do the sound check without you here.”

“You are not dumb!” You protested, “a little distracted perhaps, but you were too busy and probably managing way too much at the same time—“

“Aw don’t lecture me, please,” he begged, almost too cutely to really let it go, “I know, I’m sorry, I keep trying to do everything all by myself.”

“You’re so cute, Yixing! I’m not lecturing you, you do you, as long as you’re healthy and happy.”

“I’m happy and I have you, so that’s the greatest bonus.”

“Aw stop it birthday boy, go work hard and make you and your fans happy.”

“Will do, I can’t wait to see you.”

“See you, happy birthday, sheep!”

You had held your laughter for so long, and even Yixing’s concert producer next to you joined in the laughter after the call. You really went all out with this surprise. Yixing had sent you so many videos of his new song’s choreography. The music video had just been released about a month ago before the small tour had started, but you knew every step even before it came out. You watched the release of the MV with him and he had made a comment that sparked an idea in your mind: “I love this choreo so much, I wish I could’ve danced it with you.”

You’re no dancer; he knows that, but he has said that he wants to dance with you the choreographies of his songs so many times that you have lost count. You’ve danced together, of course, but at some parties you’ve gone to and in the comfort of your home, just being silly. However, this is something bigger and completely different from random dancing, people are going to see you dance under the spotlight. This is definitely something you just do for love.

“How is he so easy to surprise?” The producer asked.

“Don’t ask me. And I’m really not good at acting so…”

“Well, this will be smooth landing. Let’s get you ready.”

The entire crew that was assigned to you followed both you and the producer to the practice room that was available near the venue for you to do the last rehearsal. Yixing had a whole community of dancers, but not all of them were dancing the same songs or the same parts. You didn’t need many anyways. Four dancers, a makeup artist, two people from the lights and sound crew, and an assistant producer were what they assigned you. Luckily, you had planned to only dance to the bridge and the dance break of his new song, so the last rehearsal only took about forty minutes, and the dancers and the lights and sound crew managed to leave on time for the sound check. Next, it was time for you to get clean and ready so after showering, the makeup artist did your hair and makeup and helped you with your clothes.

The assistant producer was fast; she got you to the venue in no time. The concert had already begun as planned. Yixing wasn’t supposed to see you around, so you had to be there after the opening act’s last song. You did have to manage not to be caught when Yixing came backstage to change his clothes so you remained in the green room during those couple of moments.

Myeon: Y/N Y/N when r u coming on stage?

You: just 2 more songs! Keep your cam ready 🙈

Myeon: oooooh we’re all excited! are you nervous?

You: oh hell yeah 🫠

Junmyeon sent you an audio message. It took you at least a couple of times to listen clearly because of the music and fans singing in the background, but you managed to hear Baekhyun, Sehun, Minseok, and Junmyeon encouraging you and cheering for you. The laugh that they brought out of you relaxed you enough to take a deep breath and head backstage to the little elevator at the center of the stage.

The last song before your surprise began, nerves fluttered in your stomach. The four dancers you had practiced with joined you backstage to prepare for the next song. They swiftly changed into their outfits, matching your own and Yixing’s, ready to blend in on stage. Sooner than you could realize, the dancers signalled you it was time. You inhaled deeply, trying to steady your breathing, and followed them to the elevator. Suddenly, the melodies became even more familiar than before, each note and bass drum beat ingrained within you. The small elevator began lifting you up in perfect sync with the music. Your first step faltered momentarily under the lights, but the dancers skillfully guided you into position, ensuring a smooth transition.

As planned, the choreography brought you closer to Yixing for the bridge, and with an intended pirouette you managed to face him. He froze in his tracks, a mix of confusion and surprise gradually transforming into a radiant smile. For a moment, it was just the two of you, lost in each other’s gaze. His body kept moving through muscle memory alone, but his eyes remained fixed on you in disbelief, as if he had been daydreaming about you dancing beside him.

The dance break was originally supposed to be a way for him to go change outfits one last time for the last songs of the concert—including the encore—but tonight, the crowd roared in surprise as cake and flowers were brought up on stage. He took the flowers from one of the dancers and looked at the audience, but as you grabbed the cake from the assistant producer, you started singing “Happy Birthday” and his bewilderedness was now directed at you again.

“Look at the camera for me,” you signed to the audience where the guys were filming all of his birthday surprise. He was even more excited to see his buddies, yet even more confused at what was happening, but he still waved at the camera that Junmyeon was holding.

“Happy birthday, Yixing! I couldn’t wait to see you, so I just took the first flight and managed to enter from backstage,” you joked.

“Really? How… when did you…?” He asked, which made all of the people aware of the surprise laugh.

“No, baby, I had it all planned,” you sweetly smiled at him and you heard the roaring crowd cheer, “thanks everyone for allowing us to celebrate Yixing today. I’ll let you enjoy the rest of the night.”

“No, wait a second,” he held your forearm, stopping you, which almost made you drop the cake. One of the dancers took the cake as Yixing grabbed your hand. Yixing beamed at you and pulled you close, “dance with me again?”

You positively nodded and the lights turned back to the set for the bridge and dance break once more. Yixing smiled at you and took his place next to you. As you started the choreography, the crowd cheered and your friends continued to film just the two of you dancing up on stage. Yixing couldn’t be more happy to see you move to the beat of his song, with the moves he choreographed and had been so excited to someday dance along with you.

[the-casual-cheesecake]

WHAT A GREAT QUESTION, ANON! I have been wildly (and uncharacteristically for me, an ex omegaverse hater) obsessed with omegaverse Exos since I got into Exo, and my thoughts on them recently changed drastically, so what good timing you have! 

I’ll first start with saying that I don’t like betas, and never include them in any thoughts about omegaverse. I just think they’re boring– though I do have friends who have managed to make them VERY interesting; I just think I don’t have anything insightful or interesting to say about them myself.

And for a second note, I think it’s important to describe what I think omegaverse is for really: because it has many meanings that change based on who’s writing in it. For me, omegaverse makes most sense as a formalization of power dynamics. One could make the argument that it’s inherently kinky (and in fact, I do). It’s less about inherent sexuality OR gender, and more about inherent power structures and how someone could play with them. This is not to say that interesting discussions can’t happen in omegaverse about sexuality or gender– because they absolutely can and do, but I think mostly, it’s about biological power, in a way that our actual society thinks exists and tries to enforce (violently and forcefully), that is actually made real via omegaverse.

For the Fandom Olds among us, this interpretation would not come as a surprise, considering omegaverse took the place of BDSM AUs in fandom!

A third note, all of my omegaverse content always and forever will be poly! Poly packs 5eva!!! 

ANYWAY, EXOS!

[vibrates] they are pack, your honor… 

Pack alpha: Minseok

Alphas: Junmyeon, Jongdae, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo

Omegas: Yixing, Baekhyun, Jongin, Sehunnie

Minseok:

As the oldest, and from the fact that Minseok in canon refused to be Exo-M’s leader, it just makes so much sense for him to be the pack alpha but not the band leader. He has the character of a supervisor dom. He’s not involved with everyone in the band and entangled with them– because, frankly, they are too loud and too messy, and he has no energy to deal with so many people needing his attention and involvement. But he is a steady presence that they can all depend on. He listens to their problems and pets them about them. He scruffs the alphas into place when necessary (and reassures them that even if they fuck up, he’ll be there to help), and spends time with the omegas when they need him, and makes sure that their needs are taken care of and that they don’t feel too lost in the pack. 

I’m pretty sure that even in omegaverse, Minseok is queer, and he probably prefers alphas to omegas; less mess, and more satisfaction in bringing them to heel.

Naturally, the person he’s closest to in the pack is Jongdae, this is canon in any and all universes. They’re the gossip husbands, drinking late at night and talking about the rest of the band like two intensely invested aunties, but being steady and gentle with the others the rest of the time. They probably sleep together, but they’re definitely not monogamous, and as in canon, probably are both aware that Jongdae would actually like to settle down with a mate at some point.

Minseok spends the omegas’ heats with them if they want him to, as do all the alphas– because the Exos are all very very busy and alternate being with the omegas depending on their schedules. His favorite is probably Sehunnie though, because Sehun is whiny but pliant and obedient in heat; the rest are complicated (will get to them!)

Junmyeon:

I imagine him to be as neurotic in omegaverse as he is in canon. He’s a sadist and is terrified of this fact. He takes his job as leader so seriously that it fucks with his head and makes him make very strange personal decisions. He’s an alpha and a dom, but the fact that he’s so scared of his sadism makes him show his belly to his pack and try so hard to be gentle and soft that the overcorrection makes him seem awkward instead. 

I think, if I were to transplant canon onto omegaverse, that Junmyeon did not overcorrect so hard until a while after debut; because at first he would punish the Exos for mistakes as harshly as a supervisor, and oooof that probably gave him such a headrush that it turned into kink for him IMMEDIATELY.

Junmeon is Like This in canon really, so what makes omegaverse so much worse for him is that it formalizes all the power dynamics in head in a way that makes it so easy to take advantage of. And he is so convinced the sadism makes him a bad person, that having omegas begging for him in heat, crying and in pain without him even having to do a single thing to them except be there, simply would take him to pieces. Just imagine canon Junmyeon with the power to bite someone and claim them biologically forever… the man wrote the Exos’ names on his damn body, he would lose his fucking mind!!!

Anyway, I think therefore, that Junmyeon is terrified MOST of Baekhyun and Yixing, the resident omega masochists in the band– and to an extent, Chanyeol, who is a masochist but not omega. So, I would imagine him being SO WEIRD with all three of them. Too strict and mean to Chanyeol, and so wary as to almost be avoidant of Yixing, and strangely both overprotective and overconfident in Baekhyun.

Hilariously, he and Sehun click very comfortably, because Sehun isn’t a masochist or a sub. He’s just very into being indulged and having things done for him and to him, and it makes him vibe enough like a sub that it’s hot, but not enough to terrify Junmyeon or cause him to have intense sadistic emotion about Sehun. This also means they’re not super compatible actually lmao, they’re just comfortable enough that they stick together.

I think Junmyeon and Minseok have an interesting relationship, where Minseok would like to be hyung and head alpha for Junmyeon but Junmyeon is too weird about being perceived to be submitting to anyone that whenever Minseok tries to support him, Junymeon just pretends to be Fine™ harder.

Generally though, Junmyeon is a good leader. He’s incredibly competent when it comes to the band’s relationships with management, and he’s incredibly protective and invested in the wellbeing of his pack members. All of his weirdness sort of impacts him internally, but it works to present him the way he desires his image to be externally.

Yixing:

[vibrates] He… the baby… 

He’s an omega and a sub. He came into the band with much Trauma™ (familial, as in canon D: ), which made him need so much affection and love that it makes him seem hungry. He pushes himself so hard that it makes him ill often, and it makes it difficult to care about him, because to do so means people have to constantly love him and see him be hurt. He doesn’t have the instincts that lets him trust people to catch him if he falls, so he simply always feels that he’s on his own, even if he isn’t.

In omegaverse, he probably has very difficult heats. Trauma and hormone fuckery do not go well together in any universe, so his heats probably fuck with his emotions massively. And the fact that most of his injuries are spine-related, means that his pelvic floor is just fucked, and would mean his heats actually physically hurt!!!! 

The emotional part means that during his heats, he clings so hard to the people next to him to make sure they don’t leave, that he leaves bruises and scratch marks. He probably cries and howls if any of the alphas get up to get him food because he’s scared they’re not coming back and that he’ll be abandoned. He probably wants to be mated and sobs when he isn’t, even though outside of heat he would know it would be a bad idea to mate.

The physical part means he’s in miserable (very unusual) pain throughout.

This makes it a large ordeal to deal with for the pack. Especially considering they are all so tired and so busy and barely have time to rest anyway. And the fact that they have a rotational system for alphas spending time with the in-heat omegas so they don’t miss schedules, which in Yixing’s case simply doesn’t work. 

They do love him, but he’s difficult to help. It stresses everyone out and makes the alphas feels horrible and bad at their jobs.

Yixing probably gets on suppressants at some point and simply never comes off them, especially when he starts spending more time in China without any pack around :( 

Outside of heat, he smells sweet and is comforting to be around. He’s so skin hungry that he’ll always want to cling to a pack member when they’re home, which they are only happy to do. And he’s good at being hyung to the younger members. He’s also massively good at his job as an artist, it just, you know, kills his body oops… TT

Being away from the pack does make everything worse for him, though. It’s a sore subject for Junmyeon and Minseok especially, that they let one of their pack omegas run off that way where they can’t help him at all. It makes everyone sad.

[Cake lies down on the floor] Yeah… Yixing… 

Baekhyun:

He’s an omega, a sub, and a sadist (masochist too, fun combo!) Baekhyun is highly invested in being important to everyone. He wants to be loved so much that he wants to own all the Exos and be owned by all of them, but he’s very aware of how this sounds so he’s just privately insane about this, but publicly all jokey and fun, rather than deeply intense.

The fact that he’s a sadist makes him a strange omega for alphas. So, I bet Baekhyun enjoys being with the omegas most often– bet it almost makes him think he’s like Minseok, and likes omegas more than alphas; but that’s not true. What he really needs is an alpha who would put a hand on his neck and put him in his place but also lets him bite and scratch and be mean to them as well. He needs to sub for his health and well being, but he also needs to feel that it’s safe to sub by being allowed to do horrible things to his alpha/dom and feel like he has power in the relationship. Subbing is so so vulnerable for Baekhyun, it makes him terrified to his bones, but he also wants it really badly.

Anyway, as in canon lmao, Minseok finds Baekhyun too messy and difficult to deal with, so he just flirts and toys with him a little, and probably sleeps with Baekhyun during heats if he’s needed, but doesn’t really let Baekhyun in his bed outside of heat. 

Chanyeol is too vulnerable to deal with Baekhyun’s barbed wire words and pointy claws, he takes it too personally, and Baekhyun has to be careful around him. Though when Baekhyun is careful, they’re good friends, and Baekhyun does enjoy sleeping with him and toying with him a little. 

Sehunnie is probably Baekyun’s go-to for sex outside of heats (points to the unreal amounts of Baekhyun biting Sehun photos in canon.)

Junmyeon and and Baekhyun are insanely compatible but they have no idea. Junmyeon is terrified of being too much and hurting people but if he actually does hurt Baekhyun (sexy), Baekhyun would lose his goddamn mind. Because Baekhyun needs intensity most of all, he needs to feel like his partner is obsessed with him: and Junmyeon is the most intense person in this band.

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun probably have good sex, but Kyungsoo has absolutely no tollerance for Baekhyun trying to exercise power– which is hot! But you know, it doesn’t let Baekhyun relax entirely with him. It’s the same with Jongdae probably, except Jongdae is nicer about it. 

Chanyeol:

He’s an alpha but he’s not interested in holding power over people, it makes him deeply uncomfortable. He’s not a dom, and not a sub, but he does enjoy power games when they’re meant to bring people closer together and build trust. 

He frequently goes through periods of being super insecure about how he presents as an alpha, and trying to be more masc and domineering, but it only ever ends up making him feel worse. And during those periods, he often feels like going to the other alphas for help and support is a weakness and tries to do everything himself, including figuring out his own mental blocks– this almost never works.

He clashes with Junmyeon a lot, because he both wants Junmyeon’s attention and admiration and praise, and wants Junmyeon’s to see him as an alpha and respect his authority, and Junmyeon is, as stated before, WEIRD about power things!!!

Though Minseok knows how to be good to Chanyeol and often compensates where Junmyeon fails. So does Jongdae, though he spent a while not really understanding why Chanyeol is the way he is and why he struggles with the things he struggles with. 

Kyungsoo’s steadiness and assuredness in himself makes him a good friend to Chanyeol. It helps to look to Kyungsoo when Chanyeol is in flux and feels like nothing is static enough to hold onto. 

Sechan are like canon Sechan, naturally. They are weird about power dynamics together in a way that helps both of them. It makes Chanyeol feel at ease that he’s not holding any power via the fact that he’s alpha or hyung over Sehun, and it makes Sehun happy to feel like he holds Chanyeol’s leash and can make him do whatever he wants. What Sehun often wants Chanyeol to do though, is to take care of things for him: take care of food and buying things, and making sure Sehun is comfortable, to fuck Sehun well and not make Sehun do things, and to praise Sehun in front of other people and let Sehun bask in the fact that he’s getting everything he wants. All of this makes Chanyeol feel good and useful and like a good alpha! It’s great! 

Jongdae:

He’s one of the people I hesitated for a very long time before assigning an omegaverse dynamic to. I eventually settled on alpha because he’s a caretaker and – although subtle– is actually a little bit of a control freak. He also finds too much contentment in, for example, calming Baekhyun down and making him behave, for him not to be some sort of flavor of dom. 

He and Minseok fit well together because they both respect hierarchies a lot, and they respect inner pack workings. They also have the same casual but firm way that they approach their own internal moral compasses. They’re both stubborn and hard to convince to change, which makes them both comfortable, considering they are also both very influential and find it easy to change other people just by being around. They make each other feel safe to exercise the full breadth of their inherent power without the threat that this would affect the other in any way.

The fact that they are both doms, however, makes them incompatible long-term as sexual and romantic partners, even though they adore each other and probably do sleep together often. It’s a fact they are both aware of– though I am unsure if they both feel the axact same way about it. I change my mind often about this. Is Minseok sadder than Jongdae about this? Are they both just Fine? Don’t know. I’m not a Xiuchenist for real, but I do believe in them! So, I find myself thinking about this often. 

Jongdae, like Minseok, finds Baekhyun too much to deal with. But he finds Junmyeon funny and gets less stressed out about the fact that Junmyeon won’t let him help than Minseok does. Because Jongdae isn’t the pack leader and he’s younger, he finds it easier to insert himself into Junmyeon’s business and meddle sometimes, without stepping to hard on Junmyeon’s toes. 

He is soft with Yixing, and is sad for him, but Jongdae is very strict with himself about things which he cannot change, so he doesn’t let himself dwell on this often. 

It took him a few years to understand Chanyeol’s little neuroses but he did eventually, so now he knows how to care for Chanyeol and that satisfies him greatly.

He’s generally very gentle and full of advice and pets for all younger and older pack members.

He has a stroke of sadism in him, but it’s not consuming like Junmyeon’s is, and he’s Normal about it. It’s very to do with sex for him, rather than his personality.

Kyungsoo:

He’s an alpha, and he’s possessive as fuck. He’s also a very sensible person, and has decided very early on that he will not be getting romantically involved with any of his members because they’re all insane and they’ll drive him out of his mind if he wants to go full possessive alpha on them! 

He does think Jongin is incredibly hot and is very soft with him. He’s also known to be soft with Sehun, though he’d never admit to it. 

He’s a neutral party in the pack, though he has a deep sense of justice and will stand with whoever he thinks is wronged in an argument. 

I don’t have many Ksoo thoughts, he gives me a headache, his personality is impenetrable! Sorry 🙈

Jongin:

You might have noticed I’ve not spoken much about him with the other members, and that’s because I firmly believe that, while he is a part of this pack, he’s bonded to Taemin. Taemin is his alpha, and they are each other’s persons. Jongin only spends heats with the pack when Taemin is unavailable.

In the Exo pack, Nini is soft and baby. He lounges over the alphas and scents the other omegas and takes care of them. But he’s also stubborn and strong, and because he’s been mated for such a long time, thinks that all the others and their weird relationship problems are so tiring and silly! 

That’s why he gets on with Kyungsoo a lot. Kyungsoo does not have weird relationship problems, because he simply has no messy relationships in the band XD They get to make fun of the others from their little cocoon. 

Nini knows how to depend on the others to help him, and he’s very good at being a stabalizing and sensible influence in the pack.

Him and Taemin make each other so much better, and take care of each other’s needs so well that Nini effectively doesn’t need a pack. They just add to his life and he adores them. It makes him a very steady presence.

Sehun:

He effectively takes the role of a pack omega but not because he needs it, because the pack does. It’s good for them to have someone they can spoil and love this way. He gives them the opportunity of all feeling like they get to take care of him and be good for the pack by doing so; and by doing so, he gets to comfort them and take care of them without them feeling like they’re asking for care. 

Sehun has large emotions about the pack, he needs all of them, and feels like they all need each other. He’s mostly quiet about it, though, he’s not a words person. He just flops in someone’s lap when he’s having emotions.

As in canon, he’s been in love with Chanyeol for years, but it takes them an insanely long time to work out what they are to each other. This lands Sehun in Junmyeon and Baekhyun’s beds often. 

He’s an omega, but not a sub or a dom. Like Chanyeol, he enjoys toying with power dynamics broadcast trust. Though he would melt into the center of the earth if Chanyeol bit him and mated him. And he would die if Chanyeol had a collar on and let himself be ordered around by Sehun. It’s all very deeply unusual and not standard bdsm XD 

I feel like I talked about Sehun’s relationships with the other members throughout the answer above, so I won’t repeat them here! 

Anyway… wow that was long. Anon, I am so sorry if this is way more than you expected!!! I hope you enjoy it regardless!!!!!!!! I have many thoughts about this, clearly! XD 

[happyzyx]

[ARTICLE] Lay Zhang Signs With Range MEdia (EXCLUSIVE)

Range Media Partners has signed Chinese actor, singer-songwriter, dancer and fashion icon Lay Zhang and will represent him globally across all areas. 

The 31-year-old star, who operates under multiple pseudonyms including Lay and Little Sheep, rose to fame as a former member of K-Pop boyband EXO before launching a solo career, already is a household name in Asia, boasting more than 80 million followers across social media.

As an actor, he stars under his full name Zhang Yixing in the Chinese box office smash “No More Bets,” which has earned more than $527 million in China to date, becoming the country’s biggest hit of the summer. Zhang is now the youngest and fifth-ever Chinese actor to reach this box office milestone. “No More Bets” also received a limited release in the U.S. on Sept. 1. 

Next year, he will be seen starring opposite Jackie Chan in the film “A Legend.” His other film credits include films “The Island” and “Kung Fu Yoga,” and he has also appeared on the TV series “Go Fighting!” and “Idol Producer,” serving as a judge and host on the latter.

Since his rise as a core member of EXO, he embarked on a solo career, with his debut EP “Lose Control” hitting No. 4 on Billboard’s U.S. World Albums chart. He is the first Chinese solo artist to hit the Top 25 on the Billboard 200 and the first Chinese solo artist to hit Top 5 on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart. 

In August, Zhang’s “Grand Line Tour” concerts in Shenzhen and Beijing immediately sold out, with more than 30,000 tickets purchased within seconds of going on pre-sale, leading to additional concerts being added in Shanghai, Nanjing and Chongqing.

As a global brand ambassador, Zhang is currently working with Hublot, Sprite, Fila and Bang & Olufsen. He was Calvin Klein’s first Chinese global spokesperson for their underwear and jean lines and the first Valentino, Converse, Perrier, MAC and Daniel Wellington spokesperson in China. 

“Lay Zhang is exactly the type of artist Range was built for. He’s a true multihyphenate with global appeal,” said Range Music managing partner Cory Litwin and Range co-founder and CEO Peter Micelli in a joint statement. “With the recent breakthrough success of his latest film, ‘No More Bets,’ his presence onscreen shows big box office potential.”

Zhang, who is fluent in Mandarin, Korean and English, joins a Range Music roster that has made impressive strides since its inception two years ago. The division launched its own label in partnership with Capitol Music Group and Virgin Music & Artist Label Services and represents a wide range of talent including Jack Harlow, Saweetie, Justin Tranter, Cordae, Midland, Murda Beatz and Nicky Romero. The division earned seven Grammy nominations this year, with Nova Wav nabbing two awards for its production and songwriting work on Beyonce’s “Renaissance.”

[blu-joons]

When He Finds Out Another Member Used To Be Your Bias ~ Exo Reaction

Xiumin:

A gasp came from Minseok as he managed to find one of your old accounts, chuckling away to himself as he read through a few of the tweets that you had posted that were all to do with the group.

“Chanyeol is so funny, isn’t he?”

It sent a shiver down your spine as Minseok read through the tweet that you had posted from when you were younger. “That was years ago, you can’t hold that against me now Min.”

“I love how tall he is, I bet he gives good hugs,” Minseok replied, reading out another and ignoring what you had to say.

You threw your head back where you sat, letting go of a loud groan. “How many of these are you going to read out to try and make me feel bad for having Chanyeol as a bias?”

“As many as it takes to make sure that you know that you should be tweeting this about me now,” Minseok told you.

“I tell you in person,” you sighed, bringing your head forwards again, “thanks for reminding me to deactivate that account.”

“I’ve got my eye on this now.”

Suho:

Your head sunk down as Junmyeon took the photo out of your dad’s hands, getting a glimpse of you from years ago. You knew straight away what the photo was of, unable to bring yourself to look at Junmyeon.

“Is that Jongin on your shirt?”

Your head slowly nodded, flustered and embarrassed as a scoff came from Junmyeon. “Not now, but at the time, I think it’s fair to say that Jongin was my favourite member.”

“You liked Jongin?” Junmyeon frowned, looking across as both of your parents nodded in reply before you could argue.

A sigh came from you as Junmyeon handed the photo back to your dad, “why did you guys have to get that photo out today? Why do you always try and embarrass me?”

“It’s funny,” Junmyeon assured you. “Actually, can I have a copy, I would quite like to show that photo to Jongin too.”

“No!” You immediately yelled out, taking Junmyeon’s hands so he couldn’t take the photo from your dad as he offered it.

“I’ll get you one, don’t worry.”

Lay:

Your smile was sheepish as Yixing looked to you in surprise after browsing through one of your albums. You had forgotten what was in there until Yixing pulled out your old Kyungsoo photocard that you had.

“This isn’t who I thought it would be.”

A nervous chuckle came from you as Yixing looked expectantly across at you, pushing the photocard across for you to take. “I got it a long time ago, probably when you guys debuted.”

“I dread to think how much you paid for this,” Yixing laughed, “did you only have the money to buy one, and chose Kyungsoo’s?”

You nodded in reply to Yixing’s question, “I thought I’d told you before that when I first found out about your group that Kyungsoo was the member I was drawn to.”

“No,” Yixing firmly told you, “I spent all this time thinking that I was your favourite member of the group since day one.”

“Sorry,” you sniggered, catching Yixing’s head shaking out of the corner of your eye. “Although, things have changed now.”

“I better be your favourite now.”

Baekhyun:

You didn’t quite know where to look as Minseok asked you whether Baekhyun had always been your favourite of the group. Your silence spoke volumes, especially as you looked across at Jongdae at the same time.

“Jongdae used to be your favourite?”

You could hear the shock in Baekhyun’s voice, knowing just how dramatic he could be too. “I mean he still kind of is my favourite too, you never forget your first bias guys.”

“Was I your second bias back then?” Baekhyun asked you next, “am I your bias now or do you still prefer Jongdae to me?”

Your eyes rolled as several questions were fired your way, “I just used to like Jongdae, but now that I’m dating you, of course, you’re the member that I like the most.”

“No one can ever find out about this,” he warned you, “I’ll get teased to shreds if the boys know you liked Jongdae the most.”

“I’ll stay quiet,” you assured him, taking a hold of his hand. “You really are my favourite member now though Baekhyun.”

“Good, so I should be as well.”

Chen:

The look of confusion on your friend’s face as you introduced them to Jongdae let him know that something was wrong straight away. He gave it a moment, hoping that they would explain their expression.

“Y/N always was a fan of Sehun.”

You didn’t know where to look as you felt Jongdae’s eyes narrowing across at you as soon as your friend spoke. “You thought that she was going to be best friends with Sehun?”

“Well, when we were younger, Sehun was the one from your group that she spoke about,” you friened informed him.

Jongdae was stunned as he looked between you and your friend, “whenever you’re with Sehun you barely say a word to him, are you still shy around him or something?”

“I don’t like being around him because I’m scared that I’ll admit that he used to be my bias,” you confessed to Jongdae.

“Sorry,” your friend interjected, realising that she had completely dropped you in it with the truth about your favourite.

“I’ll never let this drop Y/N.”

Chanyeol:

A look of bemusement appeared on Chanyeol’s face as he looked over your old Exo album that you had managed to dig out, only finding one signature on it, that of Minseok, right in the middle of your album too.

“How come you didn’t get mine?”

You smirked across at the pout on Chanyeol’s face, looking back over the album. “I literally only got Minseok’s that day, I had to queue for ages, but it was definitely worth it.”

“You didn’t want to queue for me?” Chanyeol frowned, looking up at you with his wide eyes in an attempt to guilt you.

You nodded confidently back across to him though, “at the time I didn’t want to queue for anyone other than Minseok, but of course, that would never be the case now.”

“I can’t believe you used to like Minseok the most,” he muttered, “what did he have that I didn’t to be your favourite?”

“You’re my favourite now though,” you encouraged, chuckling across at Chanyeol, “isn’t that what’s most important now?”

“I guess you’ve got a point.”

D.O:

Your head shook behind Kyungsoo as he noticed Junmyeon walking into the dressing room, unable to ignore what he had found out just a few days ago, deciding to let Junmyeon know his new information too.

“You used to be Y/N’s bias you know.”

Junmyeon’s eyes widened at Kyungsoo’s sudden admission, looking to you in surprise. “Did I?” Junmyeon asked you almost in disbelief, hearing the bitterness in Kyungsoo’s voice.

“It wasn’t like a bias, you were just my favourite, it wasn’t that deep,” you tried to defend, your voice trailing off too.

Junmyeon nodded back at you as he looked at the disgruntled expression that was on Kyungsoo’s face, “please tell me that I used to be your favourite member?”

“Used to,” you agreed, “because if someone else wasn’t my favourite member then I’d never get to live it down, right?”

“Absolutely right,” Kyungsoo interrupted, “whilst you’re dating me, I’m your favourite member, idol, person, absolutely everything.”

“Of course, my absolute favourite.”

Kai:

Your eyes glanced down as your mum began to speak, letting Jongin know exactly how long you’d been a fan of the group for. You’d kept quiet about much of your support, but she wasn’t quite so willing.

“I was expecting to see Yixing though.”

Your body froze as Jongin’s eyes snapped across to look at you, a puzzled expression on his face. “Why would they expect to see Yixing? I don’t suppose that he was your favourite?”

“Favourite, Y/N was obsessed,” your mum interrupted before you could reply to Jongin, “he was all that she talked about.”

Your head shook as you looked to your side and met Jongin’s eyes, “I wasn’t as big of a fan as she’s making me out to be, and I’m not as much of a fan of his now.”

“How come I’ve never found out about this?” Jongin asked you, “I hope he’s not your favourite now,” he added too in reply.

“She only talks about you now,” your mum quickly reassured him, “those days of being a Yixing fan are long gone for Y/N now.”

“Good, and so they should be too.”

Sehun:

Your head shook as Sehun pulled out the photo that he found in your bedroom, noticing you stood with Baekhyun at one of their fan meets. You didn’t know what to say as Sehun turned around and looked at you.

“Where’s your photo with me?”

Your shoulders shrugged as Sehun studied the photo closely. “I don’t have a photo with you because back then when I went to your show, you weren’t the one I wanted a photo with.”

“You didn’t want a photo with me?” Sehun gasped back across to you, throwing your photo away, “what was wrong with me?”

The offended expression on his face only made you chuckle more, “back then I was definitely more of a Baekhyun fan than a Sehun fan, I never thought I’d meet you.”

“And now?” Sehun pushed, desperate to make sure that he had taken top spot in your life, “would you still choose Baekhyun for a photo?”

“N-no,” you stuttered, hearing another gasp come from Sehun, “I don’t need a photo with you anyway, I have you right here.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

---

Masterlist

[rancidtae]

ARCADIA’S LULLABY | CHAPTER 4

Genre: Mafia AU. Vigilante AU. Sci-fi (AI). Warnings: non-consensual drug use Pairing: exo & Original Female Character (Jung Jiah/Kang Rina) - Kim Minseok/Original Female Character - Zhang Yixing/Original Female Character Word count: 5k chapter summary: while the team is tailing Rina, Baekhyun gets hit with a feeling he thought he'd forgotten. a/n: I feel like a bunny calico critter scattering easter eggs here and there. btw this is where our flashbacks start, so keep an eye out for the date tags at the beginning of each scene

remember what's gone before not loaded with regret

masterlist meet the characters

081222 - 11:00 pm

Byun Baekhyun's a homebody. Always has been.

As the overseer of, well... everything, project manager, and human tech support, his days consist of sitting at the base of operations, otherwise known as home. You’ll find him surrounded by his monitors, headset always in place, eyes everywhere at once.

If there’s a security camera or a mic near, he’ll have eyes and ears on the scene.

Guaranteed, baby.

But he's not against changing the routine from time to time. If anything it’s healthy for his back. He’s 30 now. Paying for years of bad posture is proving to be unavoidable. 

And when it came to this, he had to see it for himself, right?

Because what better opportunity than being hit with the discovery that your childhood friend, who you considered dead for the past decade, is out there, alive?

And if that’s not enough of a plot twist, get this: someone just put up a generous price on her head. 

He’s here to make things a little less invasive after tampering her security system. Sending Sehun, a stranger, to enter her personal space while she’s out at a party simply felt wrong. Granted, he hasn’t seen her or spoken a word to her for at least a decade, but that’s what happens when you think someone’s dead and you’re not the type to fuck around with the Ouija board.

But they spent their childhoods and the uncomfortable purgatory that teenage years are together. They held a funeral for mintchoco, the tiny little lizard at Arcadia, her father’s Arcade joint, and buried him at the park two blocks away. She framed some guy for distribution of tentacle porn at the church youth club because he burned him with a cigarette. He was there for her first breakup and her emo phase. She burned his eyebrows off playing hot potato.

You don't just forget about things like that. It all must count for something, that’s what he tells himself as he pushes the door to her empty apartment open.

“Hi, Rina.”

“You know she’s not here, right?” Sehun says behind him, the entrance corridor’s light turning on make him jump and clutch his heart.

He forgot the guy was there. It's always the same with him and Jongin, they walk so quietly, it’s like dealing with a couple of overgrown cats.

“Yep, I’m aware. I’m just practicing.”

He’s spent the last week thinking about what he’ll say to her once Yixing stops gatekeeping her attention, suggesting a sturdier doorlock might be too much of a giveaway. 

This is it. A typical small loft made of white walls and laminated floor. A small bathroom right by the entrance, a compact c shaped kitchen with a short bar table and two chairs tucked in. The living room consists of a simple green Ikea sofa with a table and a tv in front of it. There’s also a desk next to a globe lamp and a bookcase. It has little to no space available, all the books fit snugly into place.

It’s… cozy, homely down to the details; small potted plants, a quirky variety of mugs, more plants by the balcony, a cat rug on the narrow stair leading up to the open mezzanine. There’s a messy bed up there, just on top of the kitchen.

Sehun hates those. It's common knowledge. He always hits his head on the ceiling.

Speaking of, he's flicking through her vinyl collection. “She’s got good taste.”

“How is it?” Junmyeon asks through the line. He’s back at home with Kyungsoo. They're overseeing the operation while Jongin, Jongdae and Chanyeol are tailing her.

Fucking weird. 

It’s undeniable; someone lives here. This is the space of a functioning adult. It’s hard to picture her when she was neither of those things when they last saw each other.

“You can take a look for yourselves,” Baekhyun says, finding the perfect spot for the nano cam on a frog figurine. “All good, Kyungsoo?” 

“All good,” he confirms. He sounds stiff, more than usual.

Baekhyun’s not any less uncomfortable than him about planting spying devices on her, but everyone agrees and understands why it’s necessary. Usually, he’d just hack into her tv camera or her laptop, but none of those devices gave a decent POV. 

One camera is aimed at the entrance and another is angled from the kitchen. He puts the last one on a corner of the living room, looking in from the balcony. He does his best to avoid her bed upstairs.

“You hid them well?” Jongdae asks. Everyone’s on the line tonight except for Yixing and Minseok. “You know it won’t be pretty if she ever finds out.” 

“I’ll come back and take them off myself once we’re sure she’s clear.”

“She can throw a fit if she likes. Faking her death means she loses privacy rights.” Chanyeol says.

“Alright Vladimir,” Baekhyun shakes his head at the amused glance Sehun gives him from the kitchen. He looks like a Barbie trapped in a Polly Pocket house.

“I’m just saying. Be an asshole, get treated like one.”

The recent discovery of Jung Jiah has had polarizing effect on the team. No one’s been more vocal about their discontent with her than Chanyeol, but that’s to be expected, and Kyungsoo’s sulky as well, spending more time with his plants on the terrace.

While Jongdae and Junmyeon remain as neutral as they can, Yixing’s with him on this one. The two agree that as long as they’re in the dark when it comes to her whereabouts, passing judgment on her is not a fair move.

Minseok, on the other hand, has been making himself extra busy at work, all death-trap eyes when he thinks people are not looking, no feedback during meetings when she's brought up, so that’s bound to be interesting. 

There’s of course a Kim Namjoon factor around her that they can’t ignore.

Minseok and Junmyeon got home that Friday night with the certainty that he knew, and that he intended to drop the revelation on them. 

One thing is clear in the middle of all that confusion, he wants to use her as leverage. He waited until Minseok signed the syndicate deal, successfully infiltrating the organization after months of negotiations, and put her on the table like all five of Exodia's card reunited.

But that doesn't explain the biggest mystery of them all. How did Kang Rina go from being locked up in a federal prison in the middle of nowhere, to the center of Seoul's crime ecosystem as a uni student/journalist under the name of Jung Jiah?

New name, new life, writing for a newspaper, pissing off the wrong crowd, a deadly post it note with Kim Namjoon scribbled on it attached to her head.

“How’s it going in there?” Sehun asks.

“So far so good. Jongin approached her. She's acting tough, but she doesn’t look too upset about it.” Chanyeol says.

It’s too bad that Jongin turned off his mic. There’s a bet going about whether or not she’ll respond to his charm. Jongdae swears Jongin’s everyone’s type when he works his magic, but Baekhyun disagrees. He’s too tall, too young and he’s missing the cat eyes.

For now, Baekhyun's putting the emotional shock to the side and handling this like she set a life-sized board game for them to figure out. If there’s one thing he had in common with her, is being a mystery enjoyer.

There are smartly placed storage cabinets everywhere to save up room like in most of these small single-bedroom apartments. She’s made good use of her entryway closet, it’s stacked with winter shoes, coats, all sorts of bags, and two or three umbrellas.

“Sehun, get your hands out of the fridge, you didn't even wash your hands.” Kyungsoo scolds. 

“She has cat food, but I don't see a cat” Sehun hums. “And for the record, Baekhyun was going through her underwear drawer before he set up the cameras.”

“What?”

“See how he’s not even denying it?"

Baekhyun might’ve fought the false accusations, but he happened to be going through her coats and just noticed a barely noticeable irregularity on the wall– a seam where there shouldn’t be one. Pushing everything to the side and inspecting the interior more closely, he runs his hands along the smooth wooden surface.

Wood, not wall. 

And exactly like he was hopping, there’s a line there, he feels it.

“Kyungsoo, I left the security UI tab open, can you do something for me real quick?” he asks, using his phone flashback to inspect the sides of the closet, finding a blank outlet. 

“Sure.”

“Look through the 220 volts outlets and devices. Uh– there should be one for the ac units, the washing machine, the water heater, cooktop…” he starts counting with his fingers “It’s definitely a circuit of its own.”

“I see a weird one, it doesn't have a name though.” Kyungsoo mumbles.

“It’s a date,” Junmyeon says. “October 10, 2020. Does that sound familiar?”

No, but they can figure that out later. 

“Can you try that one? Just poke it, see if anything happens.” 

And just like that, a section of the wall springs forward with a quiet click. Baekhyun just can’t help the delighted grin that takes over his face. He loves his job, he really does. It's unfortunate that her name came up and she's in danger, but she doesn't disappoint.

“Gotcha, Rinrin.”

“Can you stop talking like she’s there in the room with you? It’s creepy.” Jongdae says.

Chanyeol calls his name. "I think you’re losing that bet."

“What makes you say that?” he asks idly, pushing the door open. 

“She just looked at Jongin like he’s nothing more than a piece of meat.” 

“Jongin, if you’re listening, reel it in, alright? Overdoing it might blow in your faces.” Junmyeon warns.

Fuck the bet, Baekhyun thinks, he’ll pay for Jongdae’s meals for the rest of the year after this. This, right now, is promising to be a goldmine. 

He crosses the threshold, exits another closet just like hers, and finds himself inside the adjacent apartment.

“Baekhyun?” Sehun calls out. He crawls out of the closet and looking around in awe. “Wow. She’s definitely wacky.”

“Kind of” Baekhyun laughs airily, making his way inside and turning on the lights on.

It’s the exact same layout as hers, only mirrored, absent of any furniture other than a desk and a simple chair. It feels more spacious like this, and the temperature is not warm, nor cold, just at the right spot to feel comfortable. 

But there's a wall, and things take another turn. Sehun and Baekhung stop and take it in.

“Not kind of, totally wacky. Something is seriously wrong with her.”

“She got it from her dad.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Kyungsoo asks like he fears they'll say they found human bones.

“I’ll send you pictures in a bit,” Baekhyun assures, attention sucked in.

Now standing in the middle of what should be the living room, the grin slowly relaxes to a curious, careful little smile.

Just what have you been up to, huh?

“Wait, hyung, how’d you know she’d have something like this?”

271111 - Eleven years ago

She called his name and said,

“There’s something I want to show you,”

Baekhyun gave up on the Spiderman-themed decorations. The guys would arrive in about half an hour with drinks, food, and cake for Chanyeol's 19th birthday party, just before the rest of the people they invited, and if Minseok made it, he'd absolutely fix and organize everything to his meticulous standards.

So he jumped from the chair, dusted his hands, and followed her into the backroom.

There was a time, when they were kids, when he envied her so much he sometimes questioned their friendship.

How could he not? Her father owned an Arcade, and that alone gave her a 1% kind of privilege over all the kids at school. Mr. Kang was probably the coolest adult he knew. Everyone liked him at school; he was the teacher that let people hang out in his office and gave free coding lessons on the weekends.

To sum it up, Rina always had it good. She inherited his smart genes, so she didn't have to work herself to the bone to get into a good school, and even if she failed academically, she'd definitely inherit Arcadia.

Now, as a 19-year-old and as a part-time worker for her father's Arcade, Baekhyun had started to feel a hint of pity for her.

It began when she brought up her suspicion about her father hiding something—a family on the side, a shady job, gambling addiction. Chanyeol and Jongdae dismissed her worries and called her paranoid.

And honestly, Baekhyun kind of agreed with them, he just wasn’t that upfront about it. Eventually Rina moved on, started dating some flower boy that was way more into her than she was for him, got her hair done, and that was it. 

But late afternoon, when he was getting rid of paperwork from months back and had nothing better to do, curiosity and boredom got the better of him. He sat down and paid attention to the numbers.

Things didn’t add up.

Arcadia was barely making any profit, sometimes not even enough to cover his salary. Granted, Mr. Kang had inherited the building, so he didn’t have to worry about rent. The electricity bill, the water bill, and maintenance costs were consistently covered. Baekhyun had no idea how much being a math teacher paid, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t nearly enough to get Mr. Kang out of the red.

That was two months ago, and Rina didn’t have much of a reaction when he mentioned it, so that was that. Assuming that she’d moved on for good, it didn't cross his mind until pay day came and Mr. Kang acted as relaxed as always.

It definitely didn't come up as he followed her into the dreaded utility closet where they had once encountered the biggest, fattest spider ever.

Then, she opened the wall right inside the closet.

A door. Where he never knew there was one. Because it was a wall. And walls usually don’t open or have hidden hinges like that. 

But this one did.

Hesitating but kind of curious, he followed her down a dimly lit set of stairs, his hands trailing along the wall.

There was always something about stairs when you don’t know where they lead you. Fear pulled at his gut. 

“Say rinrin...” he began, voice wobbly.

“Mhm?” she responded, her unbothered tone added to his unease.

“This seems kind of unsafe, don’t you think?”

“You’re good, don’t worry,”

That didn't reassure him much, but being Rina, how bad could it be?

Before he could play off his concern with a joke, cold lights blinded him. The peeling paint on the walls and outdated vinyl floors gave the basement an eerie feel. A chill started to get to him, this room wasn’t heated. 

Not that they could afford that anyway.

Rina waited for him at the bottom, red beanie on top of her head, washed-out strands of blue highlights coming down her shoulders.

“Dude.”

“Alright, I’m going. You kind of look like a zombie flick character in this lighting, by the way. Like you just got bitten, but people just can’t tell yet.”

The basement sprawled out before them, larger than any basement Baekhyun had seen. Endless pipelines crisscrossed the ceiling, and despite the layers of dust, it looked and smelled relatively clean.

It really was cold as fuck.

The was a desk in the middle of the room, with a chair he recognized—a high-end, back-friendly model. Crazy expensive. 

But that wasn't it. Several empty server racks lined the back. Baekhyun had never seen that many in his life.

“Wow.”

“Right?”

On the desk were two quad monitor mounts, a keyboard and mouse. Everything covered in a light layer of dust.

“I looked through the paperwork the other night,” she said, watching him curiously hit some keys. “I found blueprints. They didn't include this, but the utility plans mentioned a basement.”

He counted up to fifteen rack cabinets around them, all empty except for one, tucked away in the corner.

“You’re the only person who knows about this,”

His head whipped in her direction. 

He felt kind of proud first, knowing that he’d been the first person someone trusts with something. She had Kyungsoo, Minhee, Minseok, and now her lovesick boyfriend. Chanyeol and Junmyeon as well. But she chose him. 

But then it settled on him. She’d just put the responsibility of being the only other person to know about this place.

She’d been right all along. 

Mr. Kang was hiding something, and it all led down to this basement. Baekhyun knew it looking at the cluster of servers. It just had to.

081222 - 11:30 pm

Sehun is, once again, going through her personal belongings. So far he’s found a loaded 22 under the bed, a brand new set of throwing knives wrapped like a Christmas gift inside her closet, and a hideous khaki jacket with tangled up faux fur on the lapel and cuffs.

“Why is Baekhyun quiet?”

Baekhyun’s sure taking his sweet time back in the eerie mirrored apartment, deep in a trance induced by all the information on the wall-sized bulletin board.

Sehun took a look at his eyes, realized that he wasn’t even listening to him, and decided to give the guy some alone time.

Everyone’s emotional these days.

Earlier today, Baekhyun told him that things could ultimately fall into his and Jongin’s hands, seeing that they're the only members of the team not compromised by personal involvement. He didn’t think much of it then, now it looks like he might've been right.

“He’s busy.” he mumbles, eyeing the small desk just opposite her bed. He has to bend his back to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, his neck is starting to strain.

Stationery junkie. Explains the bulletin wall. She must take her Pinterest boards extra seriously.

Junmyeon is not happy with the lack of explanation. “Doing what? Why is he still in the closet?”

Chanyeol cuts in. “I’m not gonna make a joke out of that sentence. But I could, if I was in the mood. I’m just not.”

“He found a hidden door inside the entryway closet, it’s connected to the other apartment. She has the creepiest bulletin wall. She has pictures, documents, maps. Nothing related to Lee Chungjae, I think.”

Whatever intel she has in there, it looks like years' worth of work. 

Sehun is more concerned about how a journalist can afford double rent in this economy and how she got a secret security door installed without the building owner finding out and getting a hefty lawsuit.

He's kind of impressed..

Chanyeol sighs. “She has a fucking death wish.”

“No. She has a job.”

“Oh. That's definitely not a work thing, that shit is personal. Stalker levels of information. And she definitely doesn’t want anyone getting their hands on it.”

He would've approached it differently—nothing as flashy as a whole wall filled up with evidence. But he respects her for staying on the analog side of things.

If there's something they know in their line of work, is that digital means vulnerability.

But still, it took Baekhyun less than an hour to find his way in there, perhaps even less time than it would've taken him to find it if she stored everything in a bulletproof server.

All the effort, surely a few paychecks of investment, all for someone to go through that door and just find hard evidence on everything.

“Guys, this is gonna be awkward,” he says, pausing before further investigating her pink skincare mini-fridge. “But she’s got– uh, a fuckton of downers in here.” 

He’s seen some shit in his own time, but nothing like this. Several crystal bottles neatly lined up next to her toner pads and chemical exfoliator.

“Ok,” Junmyeon says, very carefully. “What– what kind?”

“Isoflurane.”

"That's not even a thing. You just made that up."

“You're joking.”

“Isn’t that... anesthesia?” Jongdae asks, but it looks like he already knows the answer.

"Anesthesia!?"

Sehun would love to know how she gets her hands on it. Few substances are as meticulously handled as anesthetics. 

He holds a bottle in his gloved hand and reads the label. If he remembers correctly, isoflurane vaporizes at room temperature, so it makes sense that she keeps them here. Inside a skincare fridge, though? Who even thinks of that?

But she sleeps with a 22 under her, so there’s that. Absolutely fucking wacky.

“But she doesn’t look– you know? She seems healthy. Yixing says she looks great.” Kyungsoo argues, sounding really against the notion that she might be using. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“There’s something called high-functioning addiction.” Chanyeol counters.

“I know that. But it doesn’t make sense.” 

Sehun agrees.

We’re missing something here.

Frustrated, he moves on to a plastic storage box under her desk. The first thing he finds, much to his surprise, is a bunch of packaged gas masks.

She’s meticulous. She carefully set up the door and the wall at other apartment. But Baekhyun found it. Easily. Like it was child’s play.

There’s a package underneath the gas masks. Blue filter replacements. Enough of them to make him stop in his tracks and his stomach drop.

He recognizes this grade. They’re made specifically for toxic fumes and chemical substances.

He slams his head against the ceiling.

“Fuck!”

“Sehun?” 

Sehun rips the plastic with his teeth, hastily puts a mask on. And runs down the narrow stairs.

“It’s a setup.”

He runs down the corridor. 

Inside the closet.

Pushes the door. Enters the mirrored apartment.

And there’s Baekhyun, sprawled on the floor, motionless.

Unconscious.

081322 - 01:45 am 

They’re usually better than this.

As in, most days in this job don’t end up with two people in the emergency room, and someone donating blood.

Turns out he has the same blood type as Miss Nut Nut. 

The night came to an end in a blur, and then things slowed down to an almost unbearable pace. Thankfully Dr. Jangmi picked up Junmyeon’s call immediately and made sure Baekhyun and the girl –who got in the way of a bullet, successfully this time– both had the best attention. As soon as possible.

Naturally, and thanks to the fact that they knew what substance he was on, Baekhyun gets discharged first, within hours.

He looks like he’s seen better days, pale skin, dry lips, IV drip next to him as Jongdae wheels him inside the private waiting room. Still, he flashes a boxy grin, rolling his eyes at the different looks of concern he gets.

“Wait, listen– it wasn’t that bad. I think I could be a drug addict in another life.”

Some find that funny, some don’t. Overall, everyone’s relieved to see that he feels fine enough to joke around.

“How’s she?”

“Still in surgery,” Kyungsoo says, holding an empty cup of coffee between his hands. 

It’s been a while since they’re all in the same room at the same time. There’s always more than one person missing, even when they go out for a meal and drinks at night. Usually, it’s Jongdae and Minseok, sometimes it’s Yixing.

“Is it bad?”

Jongin blinks down at the floor, fresh out of the shower, with a fresh set of clothes on. His whole shirt and lap were soaked in blood. Through and through. Sehun took a look at him and let him know that he would kill it in any Japanese horror movie, and congratulated him for surviving his interaction with Miss Saw.

“She lost a lot of blood, but they have it under control. They’re fixing up an artery right now.”

Minseok walks in, tie undone, bags under his eyes, a cloud of tobacco around him. He closes the door behind him and nods at Baekhyun, coming to rest a hand on his shoulder.

Jongdae offers to get another batch of coffee.

“You alright?” 

“A little drowsy, but it’s cool.” he fixes his throat. “It’s like waking up from the best worst nap ever. Uh– she knows, by the way.”

Minseok’s fingers running through his hair still, Baekhyun fears for a moment that his fist will close. His scalp is too sensitive.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Jongdae, be a sweetheart and get me some water, please. I’m still,” he grabs the handles of the wheelchair, ignoring the awaiting eyes on him. “figuring this thing out.”

“What does she know?”

Jongdae forgets about the coffee and gets him a bottle from the fridge.

"For fucks sake, Baekhyun."

He holds a finger up, taking short sips and making sure to wet his lips. Kyungsoo stands up and swiftly grabs the bottle from his hands.

“Talk.”

“That is incredibly rude, I almost died tonight.”

“And you still can. Start talking.”

“Ok. Alright. Look, she doesn’t know know, but she’s… well on her way there.”

All eyes are on him, as if waiting for the punch line to drop, or for him to start laughing and tell them how bad they fell for it. 

Junmyeon’s careful blink means he knows there is no such thing as a joke going on at the moment. “What are you saying right now?” 

“She knows about High Tide. She doesn’t know know about the Arcadia Initiative, but she’s… I don’t think she’s that far off. Oh, and there was... something called Project Selene." 

“Is it ok to talk about this here?” Sehun asks, side-eyeing Jongin, and finds that his face is contorted in a strange grimace. 

Junmyeon stands from his seat, running both hands through his hair, sounding breathless. “How’s that even possible?”

“She talked to Krystal, they met at some point. She must’ve been one of her sources.”

Sehun wonders if his ears are deceiving him. “What?” 

“I’m sure of it. She saw my tattoo and mentioned a friend who had one just like it. Red, back of her neck. It had to be Krystal.”

Chanyeol’s voice is hoarse and quiet. His hands hang between his thighs, a grimace wrinkling his face.

“That’d be shitty, wouldn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“After Mr. Kang... you know. She was right about him from the start.” he chuckles humorlessly “And now when she’s close to finding the truth, if she-- if she doesn’t make it--”

Baekhyun cuts him off.  “That’s fucked up, man.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I was angry and I got distracted. This wouldn’t have happened if didn’t stall.”

“It’s not your fault.” Kyungsoo protests, put off by the fact that he’s considering such a thing, looking around for backup. 

“We all made the call. I could’ve stepped up, talked to her and got her out of the city for a while, and we could’ve avoided this.” Yixing follows, putting his hand on Chanyeol's shoulder. “So don’t blame yourself, Chanyeol. We’ve had a rough night, but she’s stubborn. She’ll pull through. Dr. Jangmi's helped us out of worse before.”

“It was a delicate situation, we all knew there was an added risk.” Minseok's tone is unreadable. But there’s nothing new about that.

“You’re right.” Yixing nods. “We’ll discuss what we’ll do about... everything Baekhyun found in its due time, once she recovers. And we’re all cool-headed.”

“Yeah. Let’s just... deal with this later.” Junmyeon says. There’s a haggard look on his face, but his bloodshot eyes keep staring at a specific spot on the floor, probably already thinking of the implications of this revelation, of the consequences, and the possible moves to make.

Jongin and Sehun share a look. The tension has risen again, as it has several times this week when the subject comes up. Every single time it feels like an argument is imminent and shit will hit the fan, though it never quite gets there. 

And it only adds up for the next time.

“What’s there to discuss?” Minseok asks in a tone that leaves no space for answers, regarding Junmyeon and Yixing with a coldness in his expression that takes Sehun by surprise. "Isn't it obvious?"

His tired expression from before and heavy eyelids have sharpened to a stern mask they’ve seen only a few times since he met him. It’s not usual that Minseok talks like the eldest, so when he does, the room stills and holds its breath.

“The second she learns the truth this will make it to The Chronicle’s front page. When that happens, this all goes down, we go down, and she goes down. They won’t be this sloppy.”

Junmyeon looks away, jaw clenched. Chanyeol keeps his eyes on the floor. Jongdae looks out of the window at the view from Kyunkook Hospital. It started to rain a few minutes ago, and he can’t tell if the timing is terrible or soothing. 

“She's not a risk we can afford to take.”

Baekhyun looks down at the diluted blood filling up the drip chamber in his hand.

Only Yixing looks directly at Minseok while he’s speaking. His expression gives away nothing.

“Jung Jiah can never know the truth. She got close, and that’ll be it. We'll make sure of it.”

[what-if-nct]

hihi today's reminder is real ones remember the Chenle Yangyang version of the morning sex post lol

Hii! Oh my gosh I'm surprised you even remember it was Chenle and Yangyang. Yes definitely a real one. I literally forgot about that post till I saw it. There's some I remember. Like Renjun and the anger management sessions. Clown fucker Yuta and whatever the hell I got going on with Jungwoo like this story goes far. And I'm enforcing it on Hyunjin cause they give me similar vibes. Also realized I like the same two men but in different fonts. The Chanyeol, Johnny, & Bangchan type and the Yixing, Yuta, Hyunjin, Jungwoo and Yeonjun type. Anyway, it's more like storylines I remember. Also the NCT and Megan Thee Stallion lore runs deep.

Like you can't tell me this isn't the best damn thing to happen in NCT history. The way they allowed it though. And it kept going when I'm that bitch was the first words. As much as I'd love a Megan Thee Stallion x NCT Collab I don't know if their ready for her. But Doja x NCT was made for each other. But Stray Kids x Megan The Stallion would be perfect.

[fff777]

Watched behind the scenes for Kun & Xiaojun at Weibo music awards 2023

I'm still kind of :< about Renle not being able to promote the same way that WayV does. SM has been letting Renle promote in China but in a different capacity. Xiaokun got a behind the scenes video for weibo music awards but Renle didn't even though they were at the same event, on the stage at the same time. My interpretation is that Renle are part of Dream which is still considered a kpop group, and so Renle are considered kpop idols. WayV is part kpop group, part cpop group, part global pop group. And because of that, they're "allowed" to be associated with Chinese entertainment.

Dejun said he liked matcha one time and from then on the manager always ordered matcha for him, sigh.

Hong Kong style food today? I can't really see what's in the containers though.

Dejun said that Renjun was lookin sexy <3 but he hadn't changed yet. So Dejun was commenting that he was looking sexy in an outfit we don't get to see him in lol.

Kun was most excited about seeing JJ Lin and he kept adjusting how to address him.

Qian Kun and Xiaojun were also excited about seeing Zhang Jie and Zhang Yixing gege and Jia'er ge T_T

Kun is wearing a typical suit but Xiaojun has a band around his torso

Renle are here. They are dressed in white <3

Xiaojun is friends with Bai Jugang and said hi to him because they hadn't met for 7 years

The boys

[aphrodite1288]

Jongdae's contract with SM ends tomorrow. Let's see what he does.

As I said to maintain the Title "Exo" and be able to own it and perform their old songs they Must all have signed the Group contract but the exclusive solo contract they have a choice to either renew with SM which will be shitty because they all get super weak promotions from SM for their solo projects and even their band projects but they can't just leave, (Like Yixing did you see him now he's not able to introduce himself as Exo's Lay, he can't even use his stage name "Lay" anymore which is why he changed it to "LayZhang" and I explained to you this issue and gave examples with other old SM artists). OR! make their own companies to manage their solo career under them.

Wait til after November ends and we'll see all of the Exo's out if that shit hole! They'll only meet for group content and they'll finish their group contract as per what SM dictated them which will be for a long period I'm sure SM tends to threaten to remove the band's Titles if they don't accept to renew the 7 years or 10 years group contract yep you guessed it right this is Sabotage and Exploitation !!hopefully SM one day if they finish the contract would give them the credit for their Band Title "Exo" or they have to change it like how "Be2st" did and changed it to "Highlight".

But I'm ready to see my babies outta that shithole and be free after November end!!

[sophluorescentmusing]

TANGERINE!

Junmyeon’s sat through seven chemistry interviews—each with a neutral party present (their lead manager) to ensure that reactions remained subdued. An idol group will always have growing pains, but the company takes extra care when it begins to mix secondary-presentations into all the other considerations. EXO will not be too extraordinary; only four of the members have a secondary presentation. But, they are the first in the company to mix between all three presentations: alpha, beta, and omega.

He twists the ring encircling his thumb. It’s a chunky metal, and he likes it because it has a faint weight to it. Junmyeon would not say it aloud, but the ring helps to ground him. It helps him feel centered in his body, in himself. And he needs centering right now. 

He’s met the beta of the group—Zhang Yixing. 

He’s met the omega of the group—Oh Sehun.

He had not known there would be another alpha besides himself.

The door opens. 

Noh Yongmin slips through the crack in the door, and though he has never had a scent other than the very human smell of clean laundry, or the amalgamation of scents acquired from riding the train system, as he takes a seat he brings with him a new scent. 

Tangerine: a bright, citrus-sour, teasing scent. 

“Baekhyun’s waiting outside. Are you ready to meet him?” Yongmin asks. He’s prodding Junmyeon to give him the reality: are his hackles rising at the scent of another alpha (a strong scent at that)? Or, is he capable of remaining pleasant? Junmyeon’s never been the sort of alpha to get into it with others. He’s mild-mannered, keeps to himself just enough to avoid any misunderstandings. The scent of the stranger—of this Baekhyun—behind the door arouses nothing more than curiosity (bright and simple). 

“Is he ready to meet me?” Junmyeon quips, smiling with the corner of his mouth. He folds his hands over his lap and hides his fidgeting fingers. Without any further preamble, Yongmin calls to the closed door and a beat later, it is being opened.

The scent is far stronger when Baekhyun steps into the room. It might be his gait (slightly awkward in manner, but oh so confident); it might be his expression (cocky, self-assured), but Junmyeon’s hit with the startling, and undeniable realization that Baekhyun is the best thing that could have happened for a group like theirs. He’s what Junmyeon’s been missing in all the previous groups they tried composing around him. Junmyeon sees someone who is going to will himself success one way or another, and he’ll drag everyone attached to his name up into the echelons of fame with him. That’s good to have in an idol group. Loyalty. 

“Kim Junmyeon~” He introduces himself with a slight bow of his head. “EXO’s leader.” 

“If EXO makes it to debut,” Baekhyun quips. He takes a seat—doesn’t sit in the chair straight on; instead he sits crooked, with his legs straddling the corner of the seat and stretching out under the desk comfortably, possessively. “Byun Baekhyun. EXO’s something,” he continues, mirroring Junmyeon’s own introduction. 

His eyes are dark—they don’t have that characteristic alpha glint to them, but they most certainly have a glint of mischief, of calculation. Baekhyun doesn’t feel dangerous, but he feels enigmatic, chimerical. Junmyeon has the distinct sense that this man does not show his real face, his real expression, to a stranger. Again, Junmyeon thinks that this is a man made for fame.

Baekhyun clears his throat: “No raised hackles?”

Junmyeon shakes his head. “You?” 

“I’m scent-blind; they’re never raised.” 

Oh. That explains it all. Why Baekhyun’s pumping out pheromones strong enough for a beta to scent them easily. Why he seems so relaxed in the face of Junmyeon’s own scent. Why the company even bothered to give a group with two alphas a shot. Junmyeon’s surprise shows on his face, because Baekhyun grins (bashful-not quite) and huffs out something of a laugh: “Solves a lot of problems, doesn’t it?”

“I’m sure it creates others.” Junmyeon’s practical enough to think ahead.

[cigaretteparfum-library]

I Isekai’d Myself From the Afterlife Before the Angels Had the Chance to Assign Me Heaven or Hell and Now I’m On the Run with Hot Guys in Another Dimension Because ACAB Also Includes Heaven Lapdogs

Yes, that is the title.

Genre: Isekai fantasy Rating: M(18+) Pairing: Fem!Reader/EXO Content: Isekai tropes, Fem protagonist, angels, mentions of various religious beliefs, nudity (not explicit), stupid jokes and scenarios probably only I find funny (thowwy), pretty excessive use of the word mid, Yixing and Kyungsoo got introduced in the last third, slightly inaccurate title because technically she already got assigned a place but whatever Word count: 5k

Taglist: @eternalnostos - once upon a time you said you wanted to read something I write should I eventually publish it .... Probably not what you asked for but hey. :>

01.

You were born exactly nine thousand and a hundred thirty days, twenty-three hours, and fifty-seven minutes ago—and during all those times, you have barely achieved anything remarkable.

    Despite all of your best efforts, people barely spare a glance to look at you. You were such a docile child that your own parents often forgot you existed; far too occupied by your more rebellious sister only an hour older. Your grades in school were okay: always a few decimals above the minimum score to pass; maybe exactly one point if you were particularly lucky. All the clubs you tried to join during those years were either inactive, got disbanded soon, or required monthly administration fees way above your allowance. You had a few friends in elementary school, in junior high, and then high school—but none so close that you managed to stay in touch past graduation. While most of your peers continued to university or college, you settled for a below minimum wage job at a minimarket chain. Money wasn’t exactly a problem, though, because your parents still financially supported you out of obligation and societal norms. You know them only as much as they know you—which is to say: not at all. But you know a little bit more about your sister who now makes over three times what you make by working in a bank, if only because she likes to boast and will literally not leave you alone.

    But the gist of it is this: You are mid. You are so mid that the word mid itself would rather not have anything to do with you. You are fine; not good, not bad—just fine. And because of that, you have only been cruising through life, letting each day pass without doing much except fulfilling the bare minimum of what you’re supposed to do.

    And that is why, precisely nine thousand and a hundred thirty days, twenty-three hours, and fifty-nine minutes after you were born, walking past a construction site where they were lifting a huge metal beam that falls right above your head and killing you may be the most remarkable thing that happen in your life—

    You die on the morning of your twenty-fifth birthday, but you don’t even actually make it past the last minute of your twenty-fourth year.

In a blink of an eye, you’re transported elsewhere.

    You stand in a long, singular line of people in the middle of pure white nothingness, among other people who look just as confused and disoriented as you. “What’s going on?” you hear someone ask before you get the chance to. “Where am I? Who are you people?!”

    YOU ARE INSIDE THE SPACE OF ASSIGNMENT, a voice booms. It comes from everywhere: it comes from your sides, from your front and back, and also inside your head. Your mind recognises it as something otherworldly, perhaps even divine—but it fills you with dread and sends a chill down your spine. Whatever the source of this voice is, you don’t like it. ALL OF YOU STANDING HERE HAVE DIED. WAIT FOR YOUR DEEDS TO BE JUDGED—YOU WILL BE ASSIGNED A PLACE IN HEAVEN OR HELL.

    “What the fuck—” another voice from somewhere in the queue shouts. “I’m an atheist! You’re telling me now that god and afterlife exist?”

    THEY ALWAYS HAVE.

    Someone else clears their throat. “Does this mean I have attained moksha?”

    I CANNOT SAY.

    “From what religion are you?”

    I CANNOT SAY.

    Amidst all of the chaos and shouting questions and confusion, you realise that you are now able to see something far ahead: some kind of a throne; or maybe a desk is more appropriate. A massive figure sitting behind it is bathed in bright light—no, the figure is the source of that bright light. You have to squint your eyes to see, but you think that figure has a dozen of folded wings on its back and several heads above what should be its torso, looking down at whatever poor bastard is standing before it. Once every few moments one of the wings touches something in front of it, and when that happens you move closer to where that being sits.

    You look behind you and there seems to be a far longer line compared to what’s in front of you. People die like flies, you realise. But the judging process—or assignment, as the voice said—goes about on par with the speed of which people are dying and appearing. The dread in your stomach multiplies by tenfold when you notice that the desk and the looming figure behind it are even closer than before. While all the new people farther behind are shouting many variations of the questions you’ve heard only moments before, you look down, trying to plant your feet on the ground—it’s no use; you keep moving forward either way.

    WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO FIGHT IT? the voice asks. You look up and there it is: the source of that voice.

    It’s an angel; you’re sure of it now. Four feet standing apart—your height barely reaches the middle of its shin. You crane your head back and squint against the light emanating from this figure, somewhere around its head—heads, to be precise. Two hands on each side extending to create wings that hold one massive sword—pointed directly at you.

    LET GO OF YOUR FIGHT. IT IS OF NO USE.

    “But I—” Your frantic eyes dart to the start of the line up ahead. You are now maybe only forty people away from it. “I’m just some gal. I never do anything good or bad. How am I going to be judged?”

    One person removed from the line. YOU ARE NEITHER THE FIRST NOR THE LAST TO BE NOTHING OF REMARK.

    In other words, you’re just one mid among billions of mids that the angels have judged—assigned. You shut your eyes close. Another person removed.

    YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. YOU NEED NOT TO BE ANYTHING OF SIGNIFICANCE TO HAVE YOUR PLACE ASSIGNED.

    Those are the same things you’ve told yourself over and over and over and over and over again in your life. When your parents asked what will you aim to achieve in life. When your sister asked if you ever dreamed to be something more—something less boring and mundane. You always said: It’s okay to not have high achievement. There’s no sin in being mid. The remarkable are few; the mids are majority of people.

    How quick death changes things. What used to soothe your insecurity is now what threatens to fling you over the edge of panic. You don’t even know panic attacks are a thing that can happen in death. You don’t even know that you can experience panic attacks.

    There is no relief in those words. Suddenly you realise how little you’ve made of your life. How little you’ve done. Your life flashes before your eyes as several dozen more people removed from the line: it’s nothing. From birth to death, you can’t recall any moments that make you particularly happy, sad, or angry; moments that make you feel ashamed or proud. There is only one thing—

    Regret.

    Suddenly you don’t want to die. Suddenly all of this becomes real: you’ve died, and there are only nine more people before it’s your turn to be judged. How did you even die? It wasn’t some grand defeat after battling an illness for a long time, like your grandfather; it wasn’t some tragedy born out of a heroic sacrifice, like your aunt—no; you died because you got unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you didn’t look up. The construction workers probably didn’t even notice that you were there until you went splat.

    No, no, no. No no no no no. You absolutely cannot go out like this. There are so many things you have yet to do! In fact, the list is so long that you may as well say there are still everything to do. You existed, but you haven’t lived—you’ve never lived. And you can’t even blame it on other people—you were far too content to be nothing remarkable. Now, that feeling of content morphs into a feeling of loss. Fear. Regret. An insurmountable weight of regret.

    Two more people left before your turn. LET GO OF THE FIGHT, the voice warns you for the last time. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT YOU CAN DO NOW.

    No, there’s still something. There has to be.

    The seven headed angel with a dozen wings and no limbs judges the deeds, and each time it makes its decision one of its wings touches what you now can see as a golden staff laid atop the desk. When that staff is touched, the person being judged disappears and the line moves forwards. An idea strikes. Maybe it’s some sort of a transportation device. Maybe, if you’re able to touch it ….

    But how? The desk is as massive as three adults standing on top of each other, and eleven more standing in a row. Only a part of it peeks through the top edge of the surface—you can’t possibly jump that high.

    Then you’ll have to climb.

    You move forwards once again, and as the last person standing before you is being judged, you squint your eyes against the light, trying to find something to grasp and hook your feet on to climb. Just touch it. You just need to try to touch the staff; that is your last and only hope.

    The other angel that spoke to you has moved back and you’re as good as non-existent to the angel doing the judging. The feet of the desk are intricately crafted depictions of people seemingly with eternal joy on the left and unending torment on the right, with each crafted body of a person about half of your height. Before you let your dying mind think and open the gates for the second-guesses to flood in, you dash out of line and start to climb.

    “Hey, look at her!”

    “Oi, what the fuck?!”

    “Is that allowed?!”

    As commotion begins to erupt and you feel a sudden heat coming from everywhere, engulfing your entire being, you grit your teeth and keep scaling the foot of the desk. You’ve never climbed before; never had to. But the fire lit inside your chest burns with only one thought:

    I want to live.

    A force tries to yank you away from the leg—must be the angel. You bite down, clamping your toes on the sculpture and your fingers clawed. The force grows stronger—it’s like being sucked by gravity right behind your back—but your will is even stronger than that. Who knew you had it in you? Then you hear the whoosh of something swinging before the pain of your back being slashed explode. You scream. You climb higher.

    INSOLENT HUMAN—

    I want to live.

    HOW DARE YOU—

    I want to live.

    GET BACK IN LINE.

    I want to LIVE.

    You get to the top and all seven heads of the angel behind the desk turn towards you. For a moment the light dims enough for you to be able to see the entirety of its seven faces, and it’s all eyes staring directly at you.

    And its voice, calm, a stark difference of the other angel huffing behind and above you, simply says:

    YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED HELL.

    “Well, fuck you!”

    You leap just before the gravity sucks you back, and for a split second, your fingers touch the staff.

    You touched it.

    The force that has been trying to keep you away from the staff—from the judging desk—flings you back, farther back, past the blurring faces of people staring in shock, and even farther back, until you pass the last person who has died during this moment, and you don’t stop.

    There is a constant sound that fills your ears as you shoot backwards, and it’s only when your throat bleeds that you realise it has been the sound of you screaming. The heat that engulfed you has morphed into fire burning your hair—your clothes—your skin—until you feel nothing as it has burnt all of your nerves and now begins to consume your bones as well. But your consciousness remains, floating somewhere inside your skull, even as you are blinded in all of your senses. And there is only one thought:

    I touched it.

There are noises.

    There are a lot of noises.

    And the smell—of something burnt, but also: the smell of dirt. The soft smell of dense trees you never noticed until the small forest near your house was cut down in favour of new houses. The pungent smell of insects. The smell of skin, iron, and sweat.

    You blink your eyes open and it explodes. Something vibrates in your throat—your vocal chords, screaming. Your limbs flail as you scramble to shut your eyes; the bright light penetrates past your lid even after you close them, and it hurts. It hurts so bad after those moments of utter blindness when you—

    When you flew.

    There are more noises, some that you’ve heard before: voices of people; of men. They speak in a language you don’t understand, but their tones are frantic and—maybe—worried. Hands wrapped around your arms, around your shoulders; they try to pry your hands away from your eyes but you cry and you cry and you try to push them away—or push yourself away—but you can’t make right from left and you bump into something solid and warm.

    You scream. You quiver. You realise you’re as naked as a newborn. You feel something soft wrapped around your body—a cloak. The voices soften and a hood is pulled above your head. Something flat and cylindrical pressed on your lips while steady hands flat on your back between your shoulder blades. That thing pressed on your lips is tilted gently and your head follows; cold, fresh water flows in.

    At that point, keeping your eyes closed, your own hands grab the water container. You expected your palms to meet a bottle, but it’s instead flat and wide. It doesn’t matter—you snatch it away from the hand that previously held it and greedily gulp down its content until you choke and you cough, spitting a little bit of water—somewhere.

    You gasp and you fold your body forwards, clutching your fist to your chest, you feel the rapid heartbeat inside. Under the shades of the hood you finally dare yourself to open your eyes, and you see your thick bare legs peeking out of the cloak—and the cracked, dry ground underneath them.

    You pull your hands away from your body, staring at them in awe as you curl and uncurl your fingers on your palm, not even caring about the water container you just dropped and now spills water into the ground. One foreign hand reaches out over your legs you instinctively press together to avoid contact—but it’s only interested in retrieving the container. The voice that belongs to the body behind you speaks again, calmer now, with a gentle tone that has a hint of curiosity in it.

    Turning your head around, you squint to look at that person. It is indeed a man: maybe a few years older than you, but not by much; strong brows, heart-shaped lips, and short hair. He speaks again, but you only shake your head.

    “I can’t—” Your voice is hoarse and it sounds alien. “I don’t understand—”

    The man speaks again—or maybe it’s a question, judging by his raised brows and higher tone at the end. You shake your head, and he gestures … something. “I don’t—”

    The other man speaks. He’s still cloaked and his face is shrouded with shadows, but you’re able to catch a glimpse of a dimple on his cheek and pouty bottom lips. He doesn’t speak to you—not now—and the other man on your right responds.

    Both of them rise and the cloakless man offers you his hand as he speaks gently. You tighten your grip on the front of his cloak wrapped around you before accepting his help. His grip is strong and steady, but not overpowering, as he pulls you up to stand. Your legs stagger for a moment, and both men have their arms stretched to keep you steady, but your feet manage to find their footing without you falling.

    Birds chirp as they fly in a group way above your head in the sky and the wind rustles the leaves and the grass—or what’s left of them anyway.

    As you look around, you realise that you are standing right in the centre of a massive crater where everything in it has died. Outside the perimeter trees stand and grass softly dances on the ground; it’s all green and lush—except the circle about as big as your city hall. Some dark, big logs lie on the ground, facing away from you; sticks cracking and splintering from them. Those were trees.

    “Am I alive?” you hear yourself asking. “Is this hell?”

    The men speak and they try to get your attention while your mind replays the last few moments that you remember: of your entire being slowly burning away, of the gravity pulling you away in that room of white nothingness, and that seven-headed angel telling you that you were going to hell. But how is this hell? Even the sculptures on that desk of judgement depicted torment as some representation of hell. This is … this is something else.

    And then you remember: you touched the staff.

    The staff. Maybe it worked. Maybe your spur-in-the-moment, entirely-bonkers-completely-out-of-pure-guess method worked. Maybe the staff was a teleportation device and when you touched it—

    One of the men—the one still cloaked—shouts. Your head whips towards him, then back around when you notice him pointing at something behind you, and for a split second before the impact: you see the staff flying towards you.

    “OW!” It thwacks squarely on your face with enough force you send you tumbling backwards. The men move quickly to help you up again just after they assisted you to stand—but then the cloaked man accidentally touches the staff and he hisses.

    He hisses?

    The cloakless man throws one side of your cloak to better hide your exposed legs after you fall, but you’re too busy trying to find that staff on the ground to spare a thought about decency at the moment. It’s laying a few metres away from you; rolling off after assaulting your face and maybe after the cloaked man accidentally hit it away. You scramble on all fours to quickly reach it and—there is no doubt. This is the staff.

    You hold the length in your hands. It’s much smaller now, but you remember its head—the part that peeked through the edge. It was four handles curving away from the centre like a fountain with a flat top; the base engraved with inscription snaking up to where the four handles depart from the staff. As you run your fingers over the engraving, you somehow understand what it says: Behold the power bestowed by the grace of The One, for it accomplishes function as desired.

    Below the engraving is thirteen rings that reflect lights with a rainbow effect to your eyes; the gold disappearing. It stops right in the middle of the staff where it turns into a smooth and naked surface, leading to its end where it mirrors the top with the four handles; only it has one right instead of thirteen.

    Slowly, you stand. You cradle the staff in your arms like a baby, then you let your grip on its girth loose until its bottom touches the ground; a booming sensation shakes you to your core.

    You look at the two men and they look just as startled as you.

    Your legs are still a little bit too unsteady for you to walk, even if you have been able to stand upright. The staff is quite sturdy and balanced, and while its top, reaching up to your chest, is slightly too tall for you to walk and hold it by its four handles, you can wrap your hand around the part the inscription is engraved instead.

    Just before you take your first step properly on your feet, you feel that chill of dread running through your body. The men all scream as they press their hands tight to their ears and you hear your name called by that voice you still remember from the space of nothing.

    YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND.

    The voice—as it was previously—comes from everywhere, but without even looking you know where the angel truly comes from. You turn your head to your left and there it floats on the sky: with its three heads, four winged hands, and four feet planted flat on air as though it’s standing on something solid. Your stomach churn—you are certain all of its eyes are fixed on you.

    It calls your name again with that same booming voice echoing inside your head. YOU HAVE DIED, AND YOU SHALL REMAIN DEAD. GIVE UP THE FIGHT NOW OR YOU WILL REGRET IT SOON ENOUGH.

    “RUN!” you shout to the men. “Go!” You limp past them. “Run away! GO!!”

    But then the wind blows and the angel floats right in front of you. That one sword—your back twitches when you remember its slash—pointed to the ground; not at you. THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING.

    You hold the staff up high. When the angel speaks again, its neutral tone now carries a hint of mockery. THAT STAFF ONLY OBEYS SERVANTS OF GOD ITSELF, the angel says. AN INSIGNIFICANT HUMAN LIKE YOU—

    “Behold the power bestowed!” you shout, completely ignoring what the angel is saying. “By the grace of The One! For it accomplishes—”

    YOU HAVE DIED, the angel lifts its sword, its blade glinting under the midday sun. TO DEATH YOU SHALL RETURN.

    “—function as desired!”

    The sword swings down and the earth splits in two underneath your feet. You stare up at the angel, somehow it doesn’t look as big as it once was—then your field of vision widens when each half of your cut body drifts away from one another.

    But I want to live, your halved brain thinks.

    HELL IS WHERE YOU SHALL FIND YOURSELF IN, you hear the angel continues despite being sliced clean in half. NO MORE CHANCE OF BEING JUDGED OTHER—

    The solemn and neutral face of the angel drops as your bodies rise and knit itself back into one. BUT THAT—

    Your hand wraps around that inscription engraved to the staff, its words clear in your mind as it vibrates under your grip, releasing an odd warmth that spreads to your whole body as that fire once again lights inside your chest. But it’s different than the fire that burns you down to your core; it’s not the angel’s fire—it’s yours. And the staff has responded to you.

    For the second time.

    “I guess I am an angel now, too,” you hear yourself saying.

    The angel finds its resolve back. It lifts the sword once again with harder determination on its faces. I SHALL NOT DETER. YOU WILL DIE—

    You open your mouth to scream, “Away!” and the staff burns in your hand when you swing it hard towards the angel. It can’t have possibly made contact with it, but as though blown by a torpedo the angel is flung backwards and away, flying far into the sky until it’s nothing more than a quickly fading glint of light.

    Your chest rises and falls with each deep breath that you take; the staff gradually loses its fire and with it—its warmth. You return it back to its position as a cane to keep you steady and you slowly turn around, finding the two men curled up on the ground, hands still flat on their ears, tears running down their faces.

    “You guys okay?” you ask, taking one unsure step closer. They may be strangers, but since you woke they have been nothing but helping, and you feel like it would be rude to pretend like they don’t exist. “I don’t know if I can help you stand, I’m sorry—”

    “What was that?!” the cloakless man shouts. “What just happened?!”

    “Long story,” you say. It’s actually not. “But anyway, it’s—”

    You stop. And you stare down at the two men while they try to push themselves off the ground with shaking limbs. “Wait,” you hold one hand out, “pause. I can understand you?”

    This seems to also be news to them. “I can understand you,” the cloakless man responds. “No, we can understand you.”

    The cloaked man tilts his head back under the hood. “You speak Wahjani? What was all that, then?”

    “Wahja—no,” you correct, “you are speaking my language.”

    “No,” he retorts. “You are speaking our language.”

    “No, I don’t!” You fling both hands out to emphasise, and you lose your grip on the staff. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” you grumble as you try to retrieve it.

    One of the men speaks—but it’s back to that language you don’t know. You look at him, eyebrows knitted and eyes wide. “What?” you ask.

    He blinks, staring at you perplexed. He repeats what he just said but it’s no different—you still can’t understand a word that he’s saying. “I don’t,” you say through gritted teeth, finally reaching the staff, “understand you.”

    “What the hell?” the cloakless man mutters. Now it’s your turn to be perplexed. “You suddenly switch languages.”

    All three of you instantly shift your gazes to the staff in your hand. “Is it …?” the cloaked man asks, doubtful but intrigued. You drop the staff back to the ground.

    “Okay, now try saying something,” you tell them. They stare at you blankly, shaking their heads after a moment of silent confusion. You bend down to pick the staff up. “Okay, how about now?”

    “By the Gods!” the man in cloak points. “It really is the staff!”

    “It must be,” you agree, observing the decorated staff in your hand, running your thumb across the inscription. It did perform its function as desired: you wanted the angel to be gone, and it helped you accomplish that. But maybe it also fulfils other things you are not actively wishing for at the moment. Surely being able to communicate is something to want.

    You’re interrupted from your thoughts by an awkward clearing of the throat. You divert your gaze and see both men are looking away, with the cloakless man vaguely pointing towards your direction. “I suppose,” he begins, “if we are able to understand each other, it’s—eh—it’s best to let you know that ….”

    His voice trails off while his complexion deepens. You look down—and your borrowed cloak is open. You have been thoroughly exposed. With a yelp you turn around and fuss with the front of the cloak, trying to find a way to keep them closed. The staff has fallen off your grip—again—so while you’re able to recognise the voice that approaches you from behind to be belonging to the cloaked man, you can’t understand what he’s trying to say until he gently puts his hand above your hand, and he pulls two ties from a hidden pocket on the sides. You hold the cloak tightly closed on your chest and your stomach while he secures them with a knot above your waist. “Thank you,” you mutter, too embarrassed to look up. Then you remember that your hands are not holding anything—and the other man hands you the staff. “Thank you,” you repeat once it’s firm in your hand. “To both of you.”

    They each nod while looking away. You can’t blame them—you yourself wish you can simply disappear into the ground. Your breath hitches as you quickly bring the staff to your chest. No, no, I don’t actually want that. Please don’t make me disappear into the ground.

    After a beat of suspense—and perhaps recovery from the awkwardness for the men—you release your breath and hold the staff as a cane again. “Anyway,” you say in a low voice. The men lean their head in closer. “Thanks for all the help. And sorry for all the … disturbance.” You grimace. What a criminally massive understatement. “I’m—”

    Then you stop. Should you introduce yourself? That surely is the right thing to do. But if this isn’t hell, and somehow your wish to live—not merely existing—has been granted by the staff upon that first touch, shouldn’t you take this chance to start anew? A clean slate where you get to decide everything to do with yourself—including your name. You never quite liked your parents’ choice, anyway.

    With the men expecting you to continue, you quickly pick the first name that pops into your head. It’s just a placeholder, you reassure yourself. I can change that whenever.

    But when they repeat your new name back to you slowly, as though tasting the way it’s sounding, you realise that you actually like it. Maybe even by a lot. It fits you like a glove and fills you with more joy than you can ever imagine a name is able to.

    “Well, I’m Kyungsoo, that’s Yixing,” the cloakless man says. “We were just trekking through the forest when we saw a meteor falling down. When we came to check—”

    “There was you,” Yixing finishes.

    You heave a deep sigh as you turn to once again take in all of your surrounding: the dense and tall trees circling the crater where you wake up in the centre of. Then you aim your sight to the sky—the same spot the angel first appeared earlier. “Do you …,” Kyungsoo begins, almost unsure, “... want to tell us exactly what happened?” You look at him. “It was really confusing—there was a sound, then there was this bright light ….”

    “I told you it’s a long story.”

    “And the nearest town is about three days by foot,” he says. Then he adds with a nod: “Believe me—we have time.”

    You consider that for a moment. He speaks as though he’s entirely sure that you’ll come along with them. Of course, that’s a logical assumption: until mere minutes ago it seemed like you couldn’t communicate with them. You are definitely not familiar with the area, and for all they know you came from outer space as a meteor. Moreover, as you assume they assume: you are a woman, naked and alone, with nothing but a staff and a borrowed cloak. They’ve seen what you’re able to do, so maybe they won’t try to do anything funny. And from your point of view, it’s clear that sticking with them would be advantageous—if nothing else, you can find your way out. You look down at the staff in your hand. Especially when you don’t even know if you’ll be able to use this staff like you did earlier.

    “All right, fine,” you finally say. “Lead the way. I’ll tell you everything I remember.”

[tea-in-june]

Some scattered notes on different gaiwan materials that I hope someone finds helpful:

Porcelain is probably the most common material you'll find a gaiwan made out of. Porcelain is a very fine ceramic, meaning it has generally lower heat retention than other ceramics. For more delicate teas (green or white), this is a feature because it preheats quickly and is less likely to stew your tea and make it bitter. For teas that require higher temperatures (like dan cong oolong), this makes thermal management and high extraction more difficult.

Celadon is a type of glaze made with iron oxide to create a green color (traditionally to resemble jade, other colors can be made). It often develops a cracked pattern which darkens as the cracks are stained with tea. Being a glaze, celadon can go on any given ceramic, but tends to be found on thicker porcelain or even stoneware. This leads to a higher thermal mass, meaning hotter steep temperatures and longer preheats.

Glazed stoneware gaiwans are less common, but certainly exist and generally have the highest heat retention.

Yixing clay pots or gaiwans are unglazed stoneware. This means high heat retention, but also that they season with use. Tea oils seep into the pores of the clay and augment the teas made in the pot over time. Real yixing is expensive and often difficult to find, as well as more difficult to care for (no soap, only use one type of tea), but may be appealing to more experienced Gong Fu Cha practicioners.

Personally, I'm on a search for a nice thick celadon or stoneware glazed gaiwan. Thermal management is a pain because I like to take my time with sessions and drink a lot of oolong and puerh.

[saltypeanutnerd]

Substrats céramiques HTCC, Prévisions de la Taille du Marché Mondial, Classement et Part de Marché des 15 Premières Entreprises

Selon le nouveau rapport d'étude de marché “Rapport sur le marché mondial de Substrats céramiques HTCC 2024-2030”, publié par QYResearch, la taille du marché mondial de Substrats céramiques HTCC devrait atteindre 30800 millions de dollars d'ici 2030, à un TCAC de 5.7% au cours de la période de prévision.

Figure 1. Taille du marché mondial de Substrats céramiques HTCC (en millions de dollars américains), 2019-2030

Selon QYResearch, les principaux fabricants mondiaux de Substrats céramiques HTCC comprennent Kyocera, Hebei Sinopack Electronic Tech & CETC 13, NGK/NTK, Chaozhou Three-Circle (Group), Qingdao Kerry Electronics, Maruwa, Jiangsu Yixing Electronics, CETC 43 (Shengda Electronics), CETC 55, Shenzhen Cijin Technology, etc. En 2023, les dix premiers acteurs mondiaux détenaient une part d'environ 92.0% en termes de chiffre d'affaires.

Figure 2. Classement et part de marché des 15 premiers acteurs mondiaux de Substrats céramiques HTCC (Le classement est basé sur le chiffre d'affaires de 2023, continuellement mis à jour)

High-Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic (HTCC) substrates are essential components in various electronic and semiconductor applications, known for their high thermal conductivity, dimensional stability, and reliability in demanding environments. Several key drivers impact the HTCC ceramic substrates market:

1. Rising Demand for Electronics: The increasing consumption of electronics in various sectors like automotive, telecommunications, aerospace, and consumer electronics drives the demand for advanced electronic components such as HTCC ceramic substrates.

2. Miniaturization and Performance Requirements: As electronic devices become smaller and more powerful, there is a growing need for high-performance substrates like HTCC that can handle high frequencies, temperatures, and power densities while offering excellent signal integrity and thermal management.

3. Wireless Communication Technologies: The proliferation of technologies like 5G, IoT, and radar systems requires high-frequency, low-loss substrates for RF/microwave applications. HTCC substrates, with their superior RF properties, are in demand for these high-speed wireless communication applications.

4. Automotive Electronics: The automotive industry's shift towards electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) leads to increased demand for reliable and high-performance electronic components like HTCC substrates for sensors, control units, and power electronics.

5. LED Packaging: HTCC substrates are used in LED packaging applications for their excellent thermal management capabilities, enabling efficient heat dissipation and enhancing LED performance and reliability in lighting systems.

6. Medical Devices and Healthcare: The growing use of medical devices, imaging equipment, and healthcare electronics necessitates high-reliability substrates like HTCC for applications requiring biocompatibility, high temperature resistance, and chemical inertness.

7. Renewable Energy: In the renewable energy sector, HTCC ceramic substrates find applications in power electronics for solar inverters, wind turbines, and energy storage systems, where reliability, thermal management, and long-term performance are critical.

8. Industry 4.0 and IoT: The adoption of Industry 4.0 principles, smart manufacturing, and IoT technologies in industrial settings drives the demand for reliable, high-performance substrates like HTCC for sensors, actuators, and communication devices in automation and monitoring systems.

9. Demand for High-Temperature Stability: Industries such as aerospace, defense, and oil & gas require electronic components capable of withstanding extreme temperatures and harsh environments. HTCC substrates, known for their high-temperature stability and durability, are ideal for these applications.

10. Environmental Regulations: Increasing regulations regarding energy efficiency, hazardous substances, and electronic waste management drive the adoption of advanced materials like HTCC, which offer eco-friendly and sustainable solutions for electronic packaging and manufacturing.

These drivers indicate the diverse range of applications and industries that fuel the demand for HTCC ceramic substrates, emphasizing the importance of factors such as technological advancements, performance requirements, industry trends, regulatory compliance, and the need for reliable and high-quality electronic components in driving market growth for HTCC substrates.

À propos de QYResearch

QYResearch a été fondée en 2007 en Californie aux États-Unis. C'est une société de conseil et d'étude de marché de premier plan à l'échelle mondiale. Avec plus de 17 ans d'expérience et une équipe de recherche professionnelle dans différentes villes du monde, QYResearch se concentre sur le conseil en gestion, les services de base de données et de séminaires, le conseil en IPO, la recherche de la chaîne industrielle et la recherche personnalisée. Nous société a pour objectif d’aider nos clients à réussir en leur fournissant un modèle de revenus non linéaire. Nous sommes mondialement reconnus pour notre vaste portefeuille de services, notre bonne citoyenneté d'entreprise et notre fort engagement envers la durabilité. Jusqu'à présent, nous avons coopéré avec plus de 60 000 clients sur les cinq continents. Coopérons et bâtissons ensemble un avenir prometteur et meilleur.

QYResearch est une société de conseil de grande envergure de renommée mondiale. Elle couvre divers segments de marché de la chaîne industrielle de haute technologie, notamment la chaîne industrielle des semi-conducteurs (équipements et pièces de semi-conducteurs, matériaux semi-conducteurs, circuits intégrés, fonderie, emballage et test, dispositifs discrets, capteurs, dispositifs optoélectroniques), la chaîne industrielle photovoltaïque (équipements, cellules, modules, supports de matériaux auxiliaires, onduleurs, terminaux de centrales électriques), la chaîne industrielle des véhicules électriques à énergie nouvelle (batteries et matériaux, pièces automobiles, batteries, moteurs, commande électronique, semi-conducteurs automobiles, etc.), la chaîne industrielle des communications (équipements de système de communication, équipements terminaux, composants électroniques, frontaux RF, modules optiques, 4G/5G/6G, large bande, IoT, économie numérique, IA), la chaîne industrielle des matériaux avancés (matériaux métalliques, polymères, céramiques, nano matériaux, etc.), la chaîne industrielle de fabrication de machines (machines-outils CNC, machines de construction, machines électriques, automatisation 3C, robots industriels, lasers, contrôle industriel, drones), l'alimentation, les boissons et les produits pharmaceutiques, l'équipement médical, l'agriculture, etc.

[what-if-nct]

A husband and seven (7) boyfriends too? I admit to a more than passing curiosity to who they are as I can manage to get 4 or 5 but the last 3 stump me. The 5 being Lay of EXO, Hyunjin, Johnny, Jungwoo, and Chan. My one uncertainty is whether YangYang is in there or not....

A d on a side note, bless you for the posting of some of the latest Doyoung pics from his promo's. Man's looking so fine and I'm trying to be loyal but man is he testing me lol.

Oh yeah I don't really talk about all of my biases. Yixing and Chanyeol are my top two husbands, then Chan and Johnny are my new husbands. Hyunjin is my fiance. Still counts as boyfriend, then Jungwoo, Yuta, Jaemin, Hendery and Xiaojun are my boyfriends and Yeonjun is my secret boyfriend. There's no reason he just feels like he'd be a secret boyfriend. So 4 husbands, 1 fiance and 6 boyfriends. I also have three sons Shotaro, Heuning Kai and Soul

Ever since the debut of DJJ Doyoung has been relentless actually I think he's gotten too powerful. He is ready to wreck so many homes.

[synteis]

Xingdae Fight of 2015

N.B. This is a repost from my old Tellonym.

Jongdae and Yixing both belonged to Exo-M.

They have a one year age gap and Yixing is the elder. Jongdae joined very late and had a very short training period which was especially tough given that he now needed to sing in Mandarin which he didn't know before his audition. Although he had tutors and lessons and such, Yixing, who is a native Chinese speaker, took him under his wing and did a lot of coaching and teaching, both of phrases for interviews but also pronunciation for songs. My understanding is that Yixing also tutored Jongdae in dance, another area of initial weakness. Jongdae was an eager pupil who always credited his teacher and as they got older, started looking after Yixing in small and large ways, the most prominent example is attending Yixing's solo Pathcode shoot and worrying about him staying warm (27:33 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3rmasa).

Yixing had been making his own music since his trainee days and had the goal of releasing an album and/or contributing music to an Exo album. However, SM is very strict about how tracks and lyrics are accepted so artists typically have to compete with other tracks and win. Nevertheless, you can hear some of Yixing's early work in his Lost Planet solo 'I'm Lay' as well as in this SM Rookies practice clip of Seulgi and Irene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuxQa9_eSLQ).

After the first two Chinese members left Exo, Yixing wrote the music and Chinese lyrics+rap to Promise in reaction and this was his first song to be properly featured on an Exo album. However, because Korean is not his first language, he asked the Exo group chat for help and Jongdae was the only member to come down. Jongdae would adapt/write the Korean lyrics to Promise with Chanyeol ultimately writing the rap. This initial collaboration would spark a whole series of demos that they made together with Yixing generally contributing the music and Jongdae generally the lyrics. Jongdae would normally perform the majority of the vocals on the demos. The goal for Yixing was to prepare 100 demos to present to SM to show that he/they were ready for their own album for more of their music to be featured on Exo albums. This collaboration brought them even closer together and they were very affectionate with each other during this period. Ultimately though in late 2014 the USB with the masters of the demos was lost and never recovered. They were able to reconstruct Promise and there were a few non-master files of some of the songs but they had lost a huge amount of work.

Shortly thereafter, the remaining Chinese member outside of Yixing, Huang Zitao, who had had many injuries during his time with Exo and at the time had one severe enough he couldn't perform, started to make moves that suggested he too might leave. This period is very complicated and was very uncertain for fans and for the band because Tao's father got publicly involved in his quest to have Tao sue SM for mistreatment (largely bc of the injuries and how they'd handled them) while Tao had previously maintained he had no plans to leave ever. It's also clear that with the departure of the first two members, SM had been scrambling to sort out how promotions in China and Exo-M would work regarding both the two Chinese members as well as the two Korean members but Tao, as a Chinese member was clearly a key part of whatever plans they had.

At the same time, Yixing was in negotiations with SM that ultimately led to him opening his own Chinese studio which initially was supposed to be focused on managing his Chinese acting. His bargaining power was presumably strengthened by the loss of two going on three of the four original Chinese members given that Exo's original vision was fundamentally based in part on serving the Chinese market and expanding SM's reach in it.

Ultimately, Yixing opened his studio at the beginning of April while Tao's father's letter was published at the end of April.

In the middle of these two events is the Japanese fan meeting (https://youtu.be/lOHEypLdako?t=390) which contains one of the most iconic Xingdae moments: Jongdae picking Yixing as who he would be a fan of if he was an Exo-L and indicating it by backlogging Yixing whose face is hidden. The grin that spreads across Yixing's face as he gets picked is everything and Yixing ultimately breaks the chain they'd had going to pick Jongdae back.

The next time we see them together is for the May 30/31 concerts of Exo'luxion. In between the fan meeting and those concerts, Yixing begins filming for Go Fighting! (where he gets very close to the other Chinese celebrities on the show, all older than him), Tao's father's letter is published, Yixing has an injury on the set of GF and SM officially announces that they are in negotiations with Tao in the hopes of convincing him to stay.

NOW my personal read of the May 30th and May 31st concerts, both of which were performed in Shanghai, is that I think the May 30th concert is more or less normal between them. In the Chinese versions of the concert, Yixing performs 'My Answer' with Jongdae and Kyungsoo with Yixing largely providing piano accompaniment as well as some vocals. The vast majority of these performances are very tense and weird because Jongdae completely refuses to make eye contact with Yixing, even when he's initiating it or when neither of them is singing and Jongdae is also seemingly very adverse to being close to Yixing. For example, watch the May 31st performance and this one from August. l tend to use the My Answer performances as a marker for their relationship since it was clearly designed to take advantage of their chemistry and instead showed the breakup. HOWEVER I personally think that the May 30th performance, has basically normal interactions between the two of them.

I'll also note that unlike other fights in the band like Chanyeol and Baekhyun's Obsession era fight, I don't really think the other members took sides.

Take for instance, the two members outside of Jongdae who were closest to Yixing: Minseok and Baekhyun. On stage throughout the tour, they have fun together and in the Second Box we get the three of them at ease in their couple talks and roller coaster adventure. But we also don't see a rift between either of these two and Jongdae. This tells me that neither of them did anything either in terms of what sparked the fight or during the fight that the other members had a serious problem with.

Another factor is how long this fight last, it took until Jongdae's birthday in September for Yixing to publicly apologize and from October to March, we start seeing some signs of the rift healing though this is only fully confirmed by the November 2016 (a little under two years after the fight) when they do their double Lose Control/Hey Mama! promotions that it's clear that everything is forgiven between the two of them. So it was a serious fight between two people who are not prone to fights and which lasted a long time, which is less surprising given that they are both stubborn people.

SO this is what informs my XingDae breakup take.