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KWON DONGWOOK's 'THE CLIMAXXX' (2024): K-POP's MOST SHOCKING BODY OF WORK TO DATE, AND WHY IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING.

TW: Mentions of drug abuse, overdose, the COVID-19 pandemic, suicide.

On technicals: The CLIMAXXX is the second full album of fictional south korean rapper and NTCD member Kwon Dongwook, released on February 26th, 2024 under MINDBEND Studios, a subsidiary of MBN Entertainment, his parent company - probably to distanciate the project from NTCD and other Idol acts by the comglomerate as much as possible. It contains 11 tracks and a runtime of 35 minutes. Physical printing included three versions: Death Neon (above), King Tough and Mr. Giggle.

Initially marketed as a high concept album telling the story of 'King Tough', a made up luxurious character going trought an internal journey while driving back home, Kwon Dongwook's second full album caused extreme commotion on it's first day of announcement: from the scandalous first bathc of teasers, the complete broadcast banning on all 11 songs, as well as the attached note from MBN meticulously detailing his schedule for the entirety of the year, which included a one month long tuor exclusively in South Korea in March, followed up by a 6 months long hiatus and eventual military enlistment on the end of the year.

However, a week after The CLIMAXXX's release, Dongwook's upcoming hospitalization into a rehab facility in New Zealand alongside many private medical documents were leaked online - including positive drug tests and two past overdose reports in the last 3 years -, blowing his new musical era completly out of the window, and turning the whole world's attention into the shocking private life of a key integrant of one of the biggest boybands to come off Asia.

With Dongwook's legal and contractual fate still going by undecided and minimaly disclosed, the silence makes the lines between his real life and the album's mythos turn blurry, and might finally answer the question: why was The CLIMAXXX made? An impersonal album that was seen by many as work of excentric creativity now turns into a raw documentation of a man trying to come to terms with his own upcoming artistic, inner personal and physical death.

A long and badly covered up history of impulsivity, ambition and violence circles Dongwook in such a way that the efforts made by his fans, company and family wouldn't ever be enough to contain it for very long. What happens to a nightlife king when his reign comes to an end? That's the one question the narrator King Tough seems desperate to know as the album goes on. What exactly will be his climax, and who will be there to see it?

THE TRACK BY TRACK BREAKDOWN.

01. FREAK | *Title Track

Dongwook quick starts the album with an upbeat yet clear warning: this won't be another Any Song (2020), BTBT (2021) or any sort of easy to dance to hit that became his registered signature as a soloist. With pessimist lyrics counting down to the end of times, King Tought is presented to us a modern Dyonisius, singing: 'It's not a festival / Technically speaking, we're in decadence / This is a message from the god.' Following by the lens of the album's storyline, this is party or, speaking more methaphorically, the state of mind Dongwook's narrator is coming from: one that finds nihilistic enjoyment in debauchary.

FREAK is still by far the most market friendly song on the entire album, despite being the 'noisiest'.

02. Haidilao (feat. BARSCODE and LeeLimo)

Altought LeeLimo and BARSCODE - alter ego of Dongwook's fellow rapper and NTCD college Code Leeyao - take over the majority of Haidilao with a verse each and the chorus, they seem to keep up their lyrics according to the characterization of King Tough as he begins to leave the 'bland guys' behind to leave with his car.

Haidilao, meaning deep fishing, comes from a chinese proverb meaning 'hopeless endeavor': once again keeping the pessimism and emptiness of his lifestyle. The use of fishing imagery can also be a referennce to HILL, a high caliber club Dongwook has been known to frequent with his friends, located in Hongdae: their logo is a fish hiking up a mountain.

03. Kiss The Ring

Kiss The Ring is the first instance in the album where Dongwook seems to almost forget to stay in character, or simply decides to drop it on porpuse: many references to his actual career as a K-Pop Idol start to appear in the song, with him infamously recalling being offered sex by a fan in front of his bandmate Cain - which Cain himself confirmed to be a real instance recently in a now deleted Instagram live.

The song's first euphoric brag lines in the verses soon all disolve into a melancholic melody as Dongwook seems split between finding strenght to keep up the confident and uncaring act of King Tough, while being confronted by the isolation of his own reality while driving: 'Chasing dreams I cannot define / The nauseous rewinds.'

04. SEOUL DRIFT

In Seoul Drift, Dongwook makes a direct parallel between a car ride taken in 2023 - where his album narrator is, timeline wise - and 2021, at the heat of the pandemic, once again clearly mixing in his personal experience.

With the leaking of his private documents, it's been revealed that Dongwook had an opiote overdose on July 2021; giving the post chorus repetition of, 'I'm alive / I'm alive' as he gets a craving for parties and distraction take on another meaning, and resignificating the flashback as a possible PTSD symptom.

05. Shower Song

Shower Song is, undeniably, not a track that can or tries to hide behind the King Tough moniker. In fact, it introduces a new alter ego that only appears on this song: Mr. Giggles, that can be read to represent the celebrity side of Dongwook, the bridge between him as a person and King Tough. Mr. Giggles is the vision on the mirror that guides him trought the avoided act of showering, and reminds him to keep up with the facade of being fine.

The 'Sins of the week' line can be safely assumed to be a reference not only to the consequences of party life, but also to Dongwook's trainee year under New Wave Music and BBC's Boy Of The Week Project, and as consequence, the first arguable jab directed at LOOPiN - the first off the album, but as is believed by many, not the first off his career.

06. Love Drug (feat. LILILIU)

Dongwook opens up the introspect Love Drug by asking who is he and apolozing for it right after, and it's hard to deduce who's speaking: if he's adding another layer to the character King Tough or reminiscing over something exclusive about himself. But not only in lyrics and tone is track six different, the longer it's given attention, it seems to explain the split perspective he adopts on The CLIMAXXX, that at it's core seems to read as a struggle between choosing addiction or connection. In the chorus, whoever's narrating seems to have already made up their mind: 'Love is drug / I don't think you're the right one for me.'

LILILIU, the featured artist, is none other than Air Castle's Li Lihua, a long time friend and labelmate of Dongwook's.

07. Let off steam

Living up to it's name, Let off steam is a vent song filled with repetition delievered with a drunk sounding flow. The song has been quickly associated to be partially, or even entirely about Dongwook's relationship with LOOPiN's J.J given the tongue in cheek 'loop' pre-chorus and the overall regretful sentiment of the track.

Like many people in Dongwook's inner circle, he and Jiahang met while clubbing at HILL in early 2022. Rumors of animosity between Night Child and LOOPiN were growing strong at the time, and the sudden friendship was originally seen as a PR stunt. However, the constant proximity of the duo was perceived as something truly legitimate up util their mysterious falling out on November 11th - which matches the date The CLIMAXXX began production.

08. (Traffic) JAM

(Traffic) JAM is perhaps the clearest song about substance addiction in The CLIMAXXX, seeming to come from a true moment of sobriety of the narrator, ironically enough: when asked by someone to explain 'the drop' that keeps him hooked, he compares the vicious cycle and the adrenaline rush that's associated with getting intoxicated to being unable to get out of a moving car.

At the outro of (Traffic) JAM, Dongwook pleas to have someone by his side to convince him to stop going overboard, someone to make him step on the breaks in front of red lights.

09. Love Is Anaconda (feat. Kael)

In a similar vein to Love Drug, Love Is Anaconda is another track of regret and aversion to sentimentality, but this time more rooted in Dongwook rather than any of his alter egos.

The singer featured on song, Kael, has yet to be identified.

10. FWB

Another The CLIMAXXX song solely attached to a person is FWB - 'Friends With Benefits' -, who describes almost in detail socialite and tech heiress Yang Jiyeon, the oldest friend and nightlife companion Dongwook has to date. The 'Till I go to hell' outro even sees to take direct inspiration from Jiyeon's ankle tattoo, which reads: 'I live like it's a party'.

The pairing met in mid 2020 thought mutual acquaintances. Although Jiyeon has denied ever being in a sexual relationship with Dongwook through the years, the Idol's unwillingness to do the same, as well as his lash posture regarding attacks of fans at the model has been a constant topic of criticism about him.

Differently from any other of Dongwook's solo endeavour, Jiyeon is yet to promote it or talk about it. Given the current situation, is likely she never will.

11. Honey! (feat. HOSUNG)

Dongwook equals both himself and the subjects of his infatuations as something sweet in doses in the closing track of The CLIMAXXX, Honey!, surprisingly featuring IDOLMAKER's Hosung on the last lines, who's still on hiatus.

Extending the vague lyrics of Honey! to a generalization of all the relationships in the narrator's life isn't far fetched - deep down, he's once again aware he's not interested in connections or actual redemption, he just craves to not be alone when he's under the influence. It exposes a pattern of behavior, a clear game of cat and mouse where both the writer and his moniker comes out as the one on top always.

In the end, time is constantly running fast, the high keeps o running low, and King Tough Kwon Dongwook is, for better or worse, stuck staying the same.

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ night child / ntcd . #fictional idol community #fake kpop group #kpop fanfic #kpop oc #kpop addition #:DDDDDDDDD

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THE GROUP

Very few coed groups can touch IDOLMAKER in fame, concept ambition and of course, number! Set under the managment of MBN Entertainment and japanese game developing studio FURTA since their conception in 2016, IDOLMAKER is a franchise like no other, setting their ever expanding roster of K-Pop Idols to voice act playable chracters in their sci-fi asymmetrical multiplayer survival game, Crewmaker Battle Universe. If that doesn't already make them unique enough, the group functions under a voting system, meaning comeback lineups and asthetics get voted on by their fans, MAXIs, via their official website.

IDOLMAKER, often shortned to IDMK, defies all odds and rumors of there being no such thing as healthy competition: united like a true dream team, with some people having ties going deeper then blood amongst them, they know that while stuck inside of a trancherous money empire like MBN, all they can really do is watch each other's backs and pray for the worse won't get them.

THE MEMBERS.

1st Gen - i. Yoo Eunhyuk. / ii. Jung Eunyoung. / iii. Hong Seunggi. / iv. Baek Yoojin; 2nd Gen - v. Yuthakon 'Ring' Chaiprasit. / vi. Lee Gayoung. / vii. Yang Taehyeon. / viii. Grace Elizabeth Lao; 3rd Gen - ix. Kim Hosung. / x. Kwon Dabin. / xi. Jeon Jeonghun. / xii. Cho Yejung. / 4th Gen - xiii. Im Daewon. / xiv. Yoneno Tomomi. / xv. Chuya Yuzuriha. / xvi. Nakashima Kina; 5th Gen - xvii. Kim Ilseong. / xviii. Julia Lee, Lee Haseon. / xix. Jang Wookjin. / xx. Tabitha Choi.

THE CONNECTIONS

LOOPiN - Colleges: While the bubblying romance between Seungsoo and Gayoung is what brings the two groups together, the friendship and music exchange between LOOPiN and IDMK is what keeps them all together. Seeing Dylan's growing necessity for friends outside of his band, Ring and Tabitha attempt to take him under their partying set of wings, not without it's fair share of complications. In order to get back on the good graces of his fleeting, long distance situationship with former Boy Of The Week member Kohei, Daewon attempts to reunite him with Haruki, his good pre-debut friend, as well as get to the bottom of who sabotaged him out of the project back on the day, and why.

NIGHT CHILD / NTCD - Rivals: With IDOLMAKER's company being a subsidiary of MBN, they've had one too many sour encounters with NTCD. Yongho has the nasty habit of never letting Seunggi, IDMK's main rapper and his once boyfriend, take a step without his consent now that they're reunited; Hyunbin's obsession on pursing Tomomi has tired her and every single one for her members beyond cooling down; Josh's rising influence over the innerworkings of the company reminds Hosung too much of his deceased and despised brother.

MBN'S GOLDEN AGE SENIORS (EXTENTH & SUNDATE) - Rivals: A misguided game of 'Senior Romance Speedrun' with the founding groups of MBN, EXTENTH and SUNDATE, has left the majority of the IDOLMAKER members heartbroken, embarrassed and more importantly, pissed off. Still, Julia ignores the years of historical battles between the two as she finds herself in the middle of an office affair with SUNDATE's golden girl, Park Suhyun - a desperate attempt to subside her intese feelings for her icon, Yoojin. Little does she knows, she's not the only IDMK member that she's secretly trailing along. Recently discharged from the military, Grace's never forgotten first love and ex-boyfriend, EXTENTH's Changmin, asks her once for her hand in marriage, as well as for Grace to retire from daunting Idol life with him.

[REDCATED] - ???: After [REDACTED], a private country club in center Seoul -- one that deems itself as a 'place for connection between former child stars' -- gets a grip hold of Taehyeon, suspicion of their members real intensions, motivations and face of leadership rises in Eunyoung and Yuzuriha. A spiralling Hosung takes dangerous inspiration in [REDACTED]'s 'detachment' and 'healing' methods, to Dabin and Jeonghun's utter horror.

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ idolmaker . #fake kpop group #fictional idol community #kpop fanfic #kpop oc

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sihyeon · slay ending fairy · 230905

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ sunyoung . #last one <3333 I just <3333

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sihyeon · 230908

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ sunyoung .

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SIHYEON | 230825 • SLAY @ MUSIC BANK

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ sunyoung .

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KIM HAEGON && OH SUNYOUNG , THE LOVERS .

"This is not a love story, but love is in it. That is, love is just outside it, looking for a way to break in." (x)

A SCENE (1K / 1,089 words.)

--- set on December 2022, a week before Christmas.

"Can I come in?" Haegon asks the shut door, lips hovering the wood, forehead resting against it. “Yongie– Yongie, it’s me.”

He hears steps, a crack, the sound of keys being unlocked.

When the door swings open, Haegon is faced with a Sunyoung that’s in shambles – messy hair barely contained in a ponytail, eyebags the color of asphalt, her tee sliding off her left shoulder. She had gotten drunk, she had said when she texted: was drunk and missing him, thinking of him, wanting to hear his voice, touch his face.

She looks so unlike how he found her on that first night – standing by the fog machine, fluorescent light painting her whole body pink, the two of them surrounded by music loud enough for Haegon to feel the bass on the center of his chest, on his teeth.

He had looked at her from across the room then forced his head down to his beer, to his shoes. As if, he thought; If only.

Haegon knows now that it was Sunyoung who found him, that she perfectly framed herself to be kept, like a pearl ready to be turned into the centerpiece of a necklace, set to sit close to the chest.

Not even his chest, at that. Haegon was just the box she would temporarily reside on, would use to–

Mask gone, show over, and she’s still as beautiful as a dream, enough so to knock Haegon’s breath away, to turn him into an ice sculpture.

For a long moment, none of them dare to move forward. But they don’t move backwards, either – it’s the motivation Haegon needs to force his gaze up, trembling, trying a smile that he knows looks crooked, vulnerable, horrible.

Sunyoung wears a similar uncertain expression on her face, until it melts into the one he loves; close mouthed smile with the eyebrows descending. (A picture of regret– No. Affection.)

She opens her arms wide, showcasing the whole land that is her chest and the crook of her neck, and Haegon is bolting to be near her before he can even think about it, almost falling apart when he feels her hugging him back just as tight on his waist, then up his back, near his shoulders.

“There, there,” Sunyoung says with a breathy chuckle, running a soothing hand up his hair, contouring his nape. “It’s okay now, baby. You’re okay– Okay with me.”

"I'm sorry– I’m so sorry I left, I– I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, I’m never– Never again," Haegon whispers, rambles faint enough to be just puffs of air near her ear. He feels her shake her head against his temper, hears her mutter a melodic sounding ‘Shhhh’.

“I’m sorry I let you leave,” Sunyoung secrets back, now sounding just as teary. “I missed you so, so much, Haegon, I– I thought I fucked everything last time, that it would be the last last time, and I couldn’t leave it be how– God, I haven’t even been breathing normal, you– Did you miss me? Even now that you know, did you still–"

Haegon can only nod and nod, exhilarated and overwhelmed, as he lets her coarse his head out of its hideout and angle his mouth to hers.

Naturally, they kiss unnaturally: Haegon had always been a too eager kisser, Sunyoung a stiff one, and they haven’t done this in way too many months, enough to feel like a whole lifetime ago.

(Weeks before their last fall out, Sunyoung had already stopped kissing him. Haegon, who had always been too afraid of rejection to ever dare to reach first, waited. When nothing came he learned to want nothing.)

Now, they bump on every single corner of the entrance’s walls, and on the living room’s furniture and then the ones in her bedroom – Haegon steps on a bra, on a lighter, on three cans of beer that make a rattling sound that makes them both laugh, breaking their mouths apart.

He sits on the edge of her bed and has to close his eyes as the familiar smell of Sunyoung’s herbal candles catches up to him, her skin bathed in perfume as she sits on his lap.

“Hey,” she says, breathy, smiley, an inch away. She hooks an arm around his neck and the other skates down his arm. “Hey. Look at me. Can I talk for once, before anything else? Honesty hour. How do you like that? Let’s make it a rule, okay? Can it be a rule? A you and me rule?”

“It’s a rule,” Haegon says, absently.

He feels– tired, as he does when they just talk. His left foot is dormant, he feels it and taps it against the red rug, feels like there’s bees on it.

"Being apart," Sunyoung prompts, tracing an ever lasting circle with her thumb against one of his wrists, "Really fucking hurted me. It’s important that you know you did it. You've hurt me."

"You've hurt me first," Haegon tells her, tone just as even.

To that, Sunyoung flashes him a flat and crude grin, one that’s not trying to be charming for once. He thinks he sees her shoulders spasm, like she wants to shrug it off but also wants to hold it in.

Her fingertip has gone still on his arm. When it moves again, Haegon feels it turn into a nail that pokes then digs, leaving a small dent on his skin.

"Don't leave again, Haegon-ah," Sunyoung says, somewhat coldly – a plea, on her own way. "I'm asking nicely, this time, for you to stay."

"Then don't kiss Minwoo again," Haegon counters, getting a hold of and pinching her ear lobe with little caution, rotating the stud of her earring in between his fingers a little roughly. "Don’t lie to me again. Don’t cheat. That's all I'm asking."

Sunyoung drags her face nearer, stops with their noses an inch from touching, looks him in the eyes. She says without uttering a thing, ‘Promise.’

Haegon closes the gap and kisses her once to show he understands, then again to chase the words she isn’t saying, swallow them and keep it in the safe within him.

A third kiss, because that’s what couples do, and that’s what they are again; a fourth in which Sunyoung takes a handful of his shirt, pushes and pins Haegon's back against the mattress, holds him in place.

Love is a grip tight enough to keep the blood from running out the wounds, and she has that engraved in her bones just as much as he does.

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ sunyoung . #&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ feat. loopin . #fake kpop group #fictional idol community #kpop fanfic #fake idol community #kpop oc

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THE GROUP.

Nation's Trophies, former Monster Rookies, 4th Generation Leaders  – all the titles attached to Night Child, mostly operating under the acronym NTCD, a fictional boy group under the south korean media tycoon MBN Entertainment. Debuting in late 2018 to massive success and never once losing momentun since then, NTCD is the crown jewel of their company, something near a second coming of acts like BTS or Blackpink.

A sinic band in private that can only ever bond over the cruel and sinister, they're in an almost deadly competicion against each other to see who's king. Detached from most things given their monstrous fame and magnum opus status inside their company, they only ever come down their shiny spot up the mountain to get violent.

THE MEMBERS.

i. Joseph 'Josh' Song - the Enabler. / ii. Kim Yongho - the Snake. / iii. Piyawat 'Code' Leeyao - the Fuckup. / iv. Kwon Dongwook - the Monster. / v. Jeong Jinsoo - the Creep. / vi. Park Gunil - the Nobody. / vii. Kim Hyunbin - the Freak. / Jang 'Cain' Inho - the Liar.

THE CONNECTIONS.

LOOPiN - Rivals: Mostly motivated by the existence of Dongwook, a former Boy Of The Week member who was violently quicked out of the project by Seungsoo's intricate plotting, and has been obsessing ever since with the idea of revenge, of humiliating them one by one. Left no choice but to trust Gunil with a deeming secret after an accident, Haruki constantly puts him under trust tests; J.J's complicated and ever growing involvement with Dongwook keeps exiling him from his bandmates, pushing Jiahang further down a bottomless pit.

IDOLMAKER - Rivals: With IDOLMAKER's company being a subsidiary of MBN, they've had one too many sour encounters with NTCD. Yongho has the nasty habit of never letting Seunggi, IDMK's main rapper and his once boyfriend, take a step without his consent now that they're reunited; Hyunbin's obsession on pursing Tomomi has tired her and every single one for her members beyond cooling down; Josh's rising influence over the innerworkings of the company reminds Hosung too much of his deceased and despised brother.

AIR CASTLE - Rivals: The MBN group debuting right after Night Child's massive rookie year, girl group Air Castle has had to tippy toe around their seniors and their habit of uplift them just to tear them all appart. Cain's constant attempts to get back at his ex grilfriend, main vocalist and main star Evelyn, by pursuing Lihua, a bandmate that hates her, might cause a civil war inside their dorms.

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ night child / ntcd . #fictional idol community #fake kpop group #kpop fanfic #fake kpop oc

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ლ ☇ CATSPLAIN™ is a side blog centered around world building for @intoloopin && (to be added.)

managed by @dogscomplex.

... DOSSIER ::

ლ ☇ companies: new wave music. mbn entertainment. vianfino. fine line entertainment group.

ლ ☇ acts: idolmaker. night child / ntcd. fairland. bbshell. wonderband. sweet-x. sundate. extenth. adrenaline. namesake. class act. loveline. pixel pixie. high hero. genie. midnestra. whimsic. time to bloom / tob.

ლ ☇ locations: hyll club.

#&& ⠀ [ . . . ] we bite and scratch and scream all night ⠀⸻ navigation . #fictional idol community #kpop fanfic #fictional idol oc #kpop oc #fake kpop group