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pushingtothedgeHi hi! Welcome to my overgrown 'Jungwoo is my favorite son' thesis!
Before we begin, I feel like you need to understand the History here, because. Well. I just want to explain how i go here.
For the very recent past, what happened this summer is that I accidentally made friends withbonda while she was getting dogpiled for supporting Extended Dream Theory but to short ver it, it was renjun girl, renhyuck real, and I, as someone who does not know anything about dream to this day (this is a hyperbole, Jeno is my favourite) I of course fully agreed, and I guess I'm weird enough to be entertaining? So now we're friends.
Even more recent past, yesterday I created this acc so I could read another incredible essay on the greatness of nct dream, written byperlocutionary and while I do agree with like... 99% of things in that, I do want to extend on the Jungwoo Situation, especially because I feel like not everyone understands how vital he is.
On the more faded-into-obscurity, I sort of got into 127 back in.... early 2019? Maybe? Couldn't tell you honestly.... It was first JCC of course, because it's somewhat easier for me to engage with someone I speak the same language with, and then I went to BKLYN BOYS and then it struck! I saw jungwoo and he was weird in every scene and endearing in most and tipsy in the last, and I was sold! Here He was! My new boy! And then... I found out he went on hiatus so of course I watched every video he was in. And then i adopted him as my favourite neurotic mess of a boy!
Then i found two incredible pals on twitter who are accidentally both haechan stans, and also accidentally the best conversationalists ever. so with birthdaygrackle we haved delved deep into 127 relationships in the past half a year, and a lot of thoughts were cooked up with her.
And for the most recent, today i was sitting on the tram on the way home and i was thinking about the overlap of all my past and present biases, and i found that i tend to pick faves that are essential in holding together a group, and are also a bit hysterical (doyoung, seungkwan, seongwha, + rip hoseok). of course there are other people who are also essential in holding together the group, but there's always that second person that helps on the emotional front. Also as a heads up, i might use other boygroups (svt, atz) to compare nct to.
Again, I must disclaim that idk anything abt nct pre-2018 and even that is quite spotty, because I have better things to do than struggle through 20+ mins of second-hand embarassment for a bunch of men who don't even like each other all that much, but all this still adds up to me having Some Thoughts, because I am a chronic overthinker, as I'm sure it's obvious by now.
Also. English isn't my first language and I won't be emotionally invested in rereading this so.... do with that what you will.
So jungwoo.
The thing with jungwoo is that. I think currently he's the glue.
So the way 127 is, is that they're a mess of incredibly awful coworkerism, and they don't particularly enjoy each other, save for a few very notable exceptions (dotae who are married, as is common knowledge, and jaewoo but i'll talk more abt jaewoo a bit later on, and dohyuck but in a different way).
And according to thesis posted by leaf, one must come to the conclusion that this mess is caused by multiple things at once, but in list form:
1. wide age-range (6yrs)
2. almost everyone's an only child/little brother
3. shuffling of the lineup
And here, with the third point we have arrived to jungwoo! Of course, before jungwoo was "welcomed" - or, more like, 127 was forced to include jungwoo in their ... group? dynamics? - there was the late addition of johndo, which. Sonically doyoung was of course massively helpful, because taeil can't sing everything, and haechan had still a lot of growing to do. Now we are past this, and 127 has 3 very formidable and distinct main singers, which doesn't leave much room for the rest (jungwoo, jaehyun, but most of all.... john + yuta), but a bit more on that later.
So jungwoo was added to 127, after a bit of a run in nct u, in 2018, dont ask me when. but! i explicitly remember his shaky voice, his all-consuming nervousness, his trembling hands, and how prone he was to crying. my poor tearful paper doll! I love nobody more than nervous wreck jungwoo! but unfortunately 127 are not me, so they were mostly confused, except f or the perfect neurotic hyung, doyoung, who will collapse into a pile of ashes if denied the right to take care of someone else, regardless of whether they need it or not.
And. Jungwoo had every right to be nervous. first of all, he can't help it, because this is just his personality, secondly, i'ts fully reasonable to be a nervous ball when you have a debut that is two years late compared to the rest of the group, and they're already a full group, and the fans hate you, and while the fans find out late, you're explicitly here to replace another guy who's been there since the beginning and is actually integrated (?) into the group dynamics. Well. I'd cry too.
So i understand. But based on the videos, most of 127 literally didn't know what to do with him, because 1) they were in an entirely different phase of life 2) seemingly nobody else had the same issue in the entirety of nct 3) again, they're all younger siblings, and seem to be unable to conceptualise how to take care of an overemotional stranger. Because i think jungwoo never got to train with them prior to his debut? But also. Jungwoo's source of anxiety is something none of them can relate to: all of them come alive on stage and the y love performing. Of course, they get nervous before going up on stage, but that sort of debilitating fear seems completely alien to them. They just couldn't understand what jungwoo was going through at the time. So while i understand that they were caught off guard, I do not know what would've gone down had doyoung not heard his calling instantly and took jungwoo under his wing.
But unfortunately that wasn't enough. While I Should Not Speculate, jungwoo took a long hiatus, and came back a changed boy. jungwoo has decided that he will create an idolsona so impenetrable, that even his group members won't be able to tell what's actually going on. He returned with an entirely new humor code, a new batch of gags, and a new goal to pursue: make everyone laugh at him.
Congrats to Jungwoo on his new idolsona! While lot of things changed since jungwoo came back with kick it, you can really see that he's much more integrated into the group, they adore him a whole bunch, and generally everyone seems to be enjoying his presence. Most everyone has at least one personalised inside joke with him, and he acts cute to almost everyone. But is that all? Definitely not! Please look at the breakdowns fo each member's relationship with jungwoo down below.
The title makes it sound like jungwoo is a doll jaehyun is allowed to play with, and while jungwoo is a doll, its not like that (read coin-operated boy by pinkbluepairs on ao3 for some jaewoo dollification which i agree with about 90% and was fully enjoyable).
Doyoung is suuuuper neurotic (don't think of this as a psychological term, think of this as the way seungkwan gets hysterical if he gets voted out on mafia dance, bc they're the same person on some level). Doyoung is a natural caretaker. It has been a long time since doyoung got to take care of someone :( (looking at you, jaehyun).
Ok, but let's actually look at that a bit: taking care of taeyong is different, because that's his Husband! and also, much more importantly, the dynamic is entirely different: taeyong is older than him, and they mutually take care of each other. taeyong is doyoung's leader, but doyoung was also his solace since predebut. they are very balanced and they're most trusting of each other (even if tyong loves cucking doyoung with baekhyun - when will he be back from the war?? TTT). taking care of jaehyun was and is different, because they literally divorced each other and didn't interact on screen for about two years.
So then jungwoo came. jungwoo came in and he was the equivalent of a soaked, shivering puppy. and doyoung couldn't really help himself, but really, thank god for that, because who else could've done what doyoung has done for jungwoo? doyoung was there for him each step of the way, kind, warm, overprotective and very pretty. they were fully obsessed with each other for about a year, absolutely in love and dedicated to one another! there's that pic of dowoo in a glass elevator and it literally looks like they were just caught kissing. the aquarium date! doyoung genuinely finds him the cutest and to this day thinks he has the best chemistry with jungwoo when it comes to work. what's not to love?
After jungwoo returned, doyoung's unbridled obsession waned as jungwoo has grown into idoldom/developed a brand new personality. It doesn't mean that doyoung likes him less, in fact it means that they have finally separated in a way you have to wean a foal from it's mother: now it's healthy, now it's normal.
And then it was time; jungwoo has become a new person, has reintegrated into 127, and had received a roomate: jaehyun. And then doyoung handed jungwoo over to jaehyun, but imagine it more llike a baby begging to be on someone else's lap, and his mother allowing it to be like so.
Ok tangent. but. all jaehyun does is mourn stuff: his long-lost maknaedom, his lost same-age friend (do they even talk anymore? sorry i just dont care abt winjae or whatever), his lost role, his lost tour, and possibly every brand deal he has lost to other people ever. thats okay, thats cool but man, what a sad way to live when you're that hot. Which.. does jaehyun even enjoy being so hot? does he even enjoy being an idol? he loves to preform, but the rest? who knows. not me. maybe not even him.
However. Jaehyun does enjoy jungwoo. thinking about use of banmal. thinking of matching beanies on purpose. thinking of jaehyun calling jungwoo cupid. thinking of jaehyun grabbing and slapping jungwoos ass with the biggest smile on his face. thinking of jaehyun winding up his wind-up piano to help jungwoo fall asleep. thinking of jaehyun dancing jungwoo's solo backstage, facing jungwoo. jaehyun booping jungwoo's nose out of nowhere, while jungwoo laughs like pure sunshine and flowers. and mostly, thinking of that radio show where jaehyun said jungwoo's voice is so adorable and cute it lingers in his ears until he falls asleep, that his smile is addicting, and if there was an angel, it'd be like jungwoo.
well, what is there to say? Its Love.
But don't be confused, the Love didn't come easy!! After jungwoo's addition to nct, there are multiple vids of jungwoo just acting weird, his humor code completely off from the rest of nct, and jaehyun just staring at him not understanding anything.
I don't reeeaaally know what happened, because both of them are pretty closed off when it comes to their personal life, but it's interesting. I remember that jaehyun seemed actually pretty excited about getting jungwoo to sleep. during their ncitizen day (?) live he relayed how jungwoo had a hard time falling asleep in the beginning (w beds like that, i think it's reasonable), but then jaehyun found the cure by winding up the diny wind-up piano on his shelf, and jungwoo slept like a baby. Because to be honest, even when he didn't understand him, even when he was bewildered by anxiety-riddled bouncy or too-still jungwoo, he was fond of him.
But with jaehyun it's a fluctuating thing. while he doesn't disclose a lot of things, to me it seems like these things have a deep impact on how he's feeling at the moment. for the most of 2020 he didn't really seek out jungwoo and barely played alond with him (looking at you, bowling vid, i'm still mad!). I guess it could be due to lockdown. one day he was slapping jungwoo's ass and the next whole month he would barely lay eyes on him. I'm sure i'm missing a lot here, but it does seem like 2021 is where he came back to himself, and found energy to indulge jungwoo on camera as well.
I could theorise that jaehyun needed time to let winwin go, but i just don't care for winwin like that, and i think there were bigger things at play: they needed to learn each other, and then relearn each other, and both of these two-fold, for their private life and their on-came presentation is very different i'd assume. I'd guess that's especially hard when you live in the blandest rooms possible.
Anyways, somehow jaehyun ended up very head-over-heels for jungwoo, and trust, it's reciprocated. as sparse they used to be, lately they've been very explicit, with jaehyun grabbing a handful of jungwoo's ass on the sticker set, with jaehyun calling jungwoo cupid and angel. johnny rightfully thinks that jaehyun's favourite is jungwoo.
Also tinhat time but if you paid attention, lately jaehyun and doyoung have been not only polite but cordial,friendly. jaehyun sent doyoung a cofee truck. did you know that this is becasue of jungwoo? jungwoo is jaehyun's favourite, but also doyoung's favourite after taeyong. there is friendship to be found in being concerned for the same person, and on particular dojaewoo days, i kinda really believe that's what happened. jaehyun is kind of shit at disingenuous interactions, so i do think their rekindling of friendship is real. there are also the 2-3 dojaewoo photoshoots.
Mark is the dongsaeng-sunbae that is actually the hyung. but is he? Jungwoo is hyung by dongsaeng-ifying himself, if you reaaaally think about it.
Ok so backtrack, i get that this might be hard to process at first. the thing is, as we all know, that mark is jungwoo's sunbae three (four?) fould, and is considered more talented. He has enormous amounts of experience compared to jungwoo. But he's also jungwoo's dongsaeng. How to bridge this gap? good question! For it to be answered, you also need to consider that mark is a hyung sometimes, but he's rearely the cuddly-type of hyung, he mostly has to be a wrangle-type hyung, but even then, he's kinda bad at it.
Now this is fully just thinkin thots for no reason, but i also think that mark has a hard time asking for physical (and probably emotional too) affection. in dream he just gets it without asking for it, and over time he has learned to ejoy it to the fullest, but 127 doesn't really operate like that. so while mark might or might not register it that he needs it, to have it is something noticeably good. and jungwoo gives it to him, not even without question, but under the guise that jungwoo is the one who needs it. mark's dormant hyung tendencies are then pleased that he is the one to help someone. so with that, jungwoo is actually the hyung by leading mark into learning how to be a good hyung. Mark sunbae-dongsaeng-hyung-dongsaeng to jungwoo's hoobae-hyung-dongsaeng-hyung.
But past this, mark actually really loves to hang out with jungwoo. he embraces his weirdness and he loves how fun he is, he finds him talented and multifaceted and good at his job. He also looks up to jungwoo simply because jungwoo is great at variety, is incredibly gentle, calm and kind, and they're also close in age. Mark is eternally grateful that jungwoo gracefully extended the possibility to mark to drop the honorifics.
And even more importantly, mark loves to baby jungwoo. I think the dreamies were never his to baby, and he enjoys being allowed to do that. He finds jungwoo absolutely adorable and endlessly sweet. they can spend hours cuddlying and sleeping together, and mark, unprompted, will tell jungwoo how cute he finds him. All this to say is that i don't actually think they treat each other like same-age friends (disclaimer: I'm not korean and i don't live in a society with a rigid age-hierarch), instead it's more like they both think they're the hyung? they both seem to feel very obligated to take care of the other one, and find the other very sweet and cute. But also, they respect each other mutually, and look up to each other. I also find it interesting that this is the only relationship in the group that mark formed as an adult, much more on his own will than the rest, and it is very balanced and kind and loving. They got very close to each other, because they find each other to be a very good companion in idoldom and everyday life it seems.
Ok remember what i said about 127 looking to jungwoo for entertainment? that was haechan's job. what now?
jungwoo is a threat to haechan. a threat, but only group dynamic-wise. haechan is just too good, and asm is very invested in his presence, and jungwoo simply will not be able to catch up to what tow groups' worth of exposure can get you. or can he? i think he had more solo activities/limited group activites in the past 1,5yrs than haechan. Justice For Haechan!
WHile haechan doesn't perceive jungwoo as a threat on stage, but it's definitely an issue off stage. jungwoo knows this too.
So where do we see this? Everywhere. if you think about it, jungwoo and haechan rarely interact, and they have their own respective gag cycles or whatever you wanna call it. It's interesting that the two strongest variety members don't integrate their humour and build off of each other (á la svt), but instead divide up the members, the bits, the time between the two of them. sm also noticeably promotes jungwoo more on solo/duo variety shows than haechan, even though haechan is more established.
And on the divide of members... mark is of course crucial here, in theory. Its interesting then, that in actuality it doesn't seem to be? haechan is never bothered by markwoo's mutual adoration, but he does complain that yuta doesn't find him cute. I find that very fascinating but i don't know what's going on actually.
On the other hand they both seem to be very aware that they can't become close to one another. In the To You clip haechan asks jungwoo to rely on him and 127 more, and jungwoo chooses haechan on weekly idol as the memmber he has yet to eat with. Later they mend this, and since then jungwoo mentions sometimes that haechan, like a good hyung would, buys food for him.
I also think they have the same issue as mark and jungwoo. haechan has seniority, but jungwoo is alost 2,5yrs older than haechan. I think because of this they're both a bit scared of overstepping boundaries, and they seem to not yet understand one another. however, as much as i can guess, they are working on bettering this? i hope in a few months'/years' time we can have a fully integrated, perfectly in sync variety duo, one that i know they're fully capable of. Because right now with jungwoo holding back around haechan, they don't fuse talents and they travel entirely different orbits. TT I just really want them to be friends!! but i know theyre working on it!
It's interesting to me though, how it's the same root problem (seniority) but with a completely different solution. But i also think haechan enjoys jungwoo less than mark does. So maybe that's a contributing factor?
Now that i've talked about jungwoo's ex, jungwoo's current boyfriend and jungwoo's dongsaeng-sunbae-hyungs, i wanna talk about the rest of 127, and how they come into play.
Jungwoo is a threat to johnny.
wait, preface: i am a johnny anti. not like OUT WITH JOHNNY anti, bt more like i find him deeply annoying, our humour doesn't match basically at all, and i don't think he's particularly talented in any way. he's a mediocre dancer in the group, and they can't even hide it because he's so big. it's also sm's fault, but he gets the most awful english lines in the weirdest almost-rap style that just... ruins songs for me (wakey-wakes wins for jungwoo part but loses so massively thanks to the johnny opening that i literally can't listen).
So jungwoo is a threat. jungwoo came in with like a decade less of trainee experience and was better than johnny despite being terrified to his bone marrow. jungwoo came in and his vvoice was angelic, and he's prettier than johnny, while being the same height.
So jungwoo, i think less consciously than now, had to find a way to appease johnny. to find a way into his heart. while jonny is an only child, two years into his career he's a practiced hyung with about 15 younger members, so of course his heart responds when he's taksed with someone as floudering and gentle and scared as jungwoo was back then.
After hiatus jungwoo has cememnted his new persona, gained much more traction than before it, and got his hands on more parts than ever before, further reducing johnny's chances at getting lines. But he has found a way to be good for johnny even after his hiatus: now he jokes along with his overly tacky jokes that johnny used to do alone. he worked hard to become a partner for johnny in that way.
But this is all my very uncharitable reading. Jungwoo said that johnny was a very reliable hyung to him, and johnny said that he finds jungwoo important, presumably both to himself and the group, i do genuinely think they enjoy each other's company, but neither of them is the other's first pick.
I'm also a yuta anti almost the same way i am a johnny anti. you might ask why i am even stanning 127. am i? hmm. ok the thing is my actual faves are scattered across groups (give yangyang to me! i want him in my uni so i can talk to him once a month and enjoy it bc hes fun and a bit naive) so i have to endure people i don't wanna endure for the sake of looking at my actual faves.
With all that said. jungwoo is a threat to yuta. Yuta also only has few lines, few center parts, and is not a standout on variety. The more members there are, the fewer opportunities for yuta to solidify himself in the public consciousness.
I also think it's hard to endear oneself to yuta. i can't tell you why i think that is, but i do think it's hard to do. And i actually do not understand how they became friends. yuta has these "fixation phases", and he has yet to let go of mark, but he is still very indulgent with jungwoo. It's also an interesting dynamic, because somehow, while jungwoo demands yuta to act out an animal, jungwoo is the one who comes off as childish, as beneath yuta.
Unfortunately i don't quite understand yuta, so if anyone has yutaxjungwoo thoughts, hmu.
Look. idk anything abt taeil. why is he an idol? he could be a soloist without an abundance of public appearance requirements, and there'd probably be more space for growth musically as welll. So i don't get it. he's also, like perlocutionary has noted, a very non-hyung hyung. I have no idea why that is. i do think that taeyong is a very dependable leader, but it's clear he needed a lot of support for a long time, and it's interesting that it he never really got that from taeil, not in the way i see in other groups (seongwha is famously a good support for hongjoong, he gushes about seonghwa's support a lot).
so he's a weird thing of a mathyung, but he is nice to all the rest, and they seem to adore him and find him funny. with jungwoo he's always very lenient, forgives his pushy physical contact easily. but i can't really tell you anything more specific, sorrryyyyyy! hmu w taeilxjungwoo theories!
taeyongie is a very very nice boy who is also very nervous but very much not in the way jungwoo is. as i mentioned above, jungwoo seemed to be terrified of fucking up so bad that it actually hindered his performance. iirc taeyong did seem very concerned about him several times, and i'm sure the situation caused him a lot of headache. i'M sure it's also due to a lot of different reasons as well, but he seems much more relaxed now that this issue has also been resolved.
I also can't say much on taeyong and jungwoo's relationship, but i do believe that taeyong loves all his boys equally, even if he has his favourites. he's a very dedicated and kind leader, and jungwoo did mention it a while ago that he is a very reliable person to jungwoo.
again, if anyone has taeyongxjungwoo takes, hmu.
Ok now that i have said all that, how can i support my fantastically stupid little take that jungwoo is the glue an not haechan? i might have been a bit in over my head, you could say. you might be right, but i am a little basset hound and i will march through everything regardless of whether i should be there or not, and i will push my agenda just like so until the very end.
Jungwoo is the glue because he shapes himself just enough to be the ideal for everyone. he knows he can't be everyone's favourite, and he is very well aware that he's nobody's favourite (wrong, actually, looking at you jaehyun, and sometimes mark is very tempted as well). he works very hard to be absolutely non-threatening, and to always keep the mood as light as possible. he barely ever talks about his own problems and i don't remember him sharing and embarassing story about another member. if he jokes in a way that the butt of the joke is not himself, it's always about people who he knows can take it. To once again cite perlocutionary, 127 talents are very bottom-heavy, which shows a lot in their joke-style as well: they don't really make jokes at the expense of the hyungline. doyoung is the notable exception, who is of course unreasonably talented. jungwoo abides by this internal rule very pointedly. you could point to the yuta lion gag, but isn't jungwoo the one who comes off as childish for demanding something like that? yuta comes off as a nice hyung who is complacent to his dongsaeng's every demand, and for once he isn't the one initiating a weird setup. You're welcome, yuta. jungwoo plays along with johnny, pulls jaehyun in, shows off the cute sides of mark, shines a lifht on doyoung's emotional sides in a positive way. the ones he doesn't really touch are taeyong and haechan.
I could also argue that jungwoo is a natural fixer, the way doyoung is as well, but he blends in more seamlessly. jungwoo wants everyone around him to feel good, but if not good, better at least. he wants to be useful but not in a noticeable way. he wants to be a part of the group, he wants to not be a hindrance, and the best wayhe found to do that is by "fixing" each member one by one.
As an additional note, and an interesting thing to consider is that the wayv members (+sungchan) all remember jungwoo as a leader figure who was a very good guidance figure and someone they looked up to. it's all in there, in him, it's just taken a new shape to suit 127.
So: jungwoo is perfect, and he's an integral part of 127 at this point. they look to him for fun and playfulness, he's accessible to every member, he's the perpetual middle child and he is the butt of the joke most of the time. while jungwoo is a paper doll that would perish without his boys, luckily 127 - with or without realising - take care of him well enough (see: jaehyun, haechan and doyoung buying him food all the time, taeil cooking meat and jungwoo getting to eat some of it). they all know taht he needs to eat all the time, and they aloso indulge his cuddliness (mark... markie... thanks pal). I miss the kisses though.
And after i've said all of this, i have to point out that 127 are extremely weird and their relationships off-cam barely translate on-cam, because for some reason they've decided to almost completely divorce their everyday lives from their on-cam-sona. which i'm not saying they should stop doing. but also a llot of times it's not very believable and also weird to see (looking at you, yumark kick it). this all might not connect to you, but it is connecting to me, and that's all that really matters.
I hope you've enjoyed this read, at least a bit, and if you comment in a nice manner i will be crying from joy, even if you disagree with me on my tinhat jungwoo thesis. Please comment. Please be nice. You can tell me i'm wrong, but not in a mean manner, and if you do tell me i'm wrong, tell me why. I wrote this in an afternoon and night so... there are definitely things wrong w this.
Also, for the cited sources: some are not accessible for everyone. That's okay, that's the authors' right. I will not tell them to open up for everyone, because as every fandom, this fandom also contains bad-faith individuals who would rather inflict pain on people than read a sentence they don't agree with without taking action. If you can access these links, pls be nice about it.
Many thanks to birthdaygrackle for enduring literally every jaewoo thought i ever produce, and for brainstorming a whole bunch of 127 dynamics with me for kicks despite being a dream stan, and also tobonda, who taught me everything i know about dream, dreamwidth and how to embed videos on twitter.
Works cited:
fwcu(2021).🐻🦊. URL:https://fwcu.dreamwidth.org/13204.html(downloaded:2021.06.)
perlocutionary (2021). As A Toxic Dreamzen, The Essay. URL:https://perlocutionary.dreamwidth.org/950.html(downloaded:2021.11.03.)
pinkbluepairs (2021). coin-operated boy. URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34240762 (downloaded: 2021.10.)
Jungwoo is Perfect
reasons
Before we begin, I feel like you need to understand the History here, because. Well. I just want to explain how i go here.
For the very recent past, what happened this summer is that I accidentally made friends with
bonda while she was getting dogpiled for supporting Extended Dream Theory but to short ver it, it was renjun girl, renhyuck real, and I, as someone who does not know anything about dream to this day (this is a hyperbole, Jeno is my favourite) I of course fully agreed, and I guess I'm weird enough to be entertaining? So now we're friends. Even more recent past, yesterday I created this acc so I could read another incredible essay on the greatness of nct dream, written by
perlocutionary and while I do agree with like... 99% of things in that, I do want to extend on the Jungwoo Situation, especially because I feel like not everyone understands how vital he is. On the more faded-into-obscurity, I sort of got into 127 back in.... early 2019? Maybe? Couldn't tell you honestly.... It was first JCC of course, because it's somewhat easier for me to engage with someone I speak the same language with, and then I went to BKLYN BOYS and then it struck! I saw jungwoo and he was weird in every scene and endearing in most and tipsy in the last, and I was sold! Here He was! My new boy! And then... I found out he went on hiatus so of course I watched every video he was in. And then i adopted him as my favourite neurotic mess of a boy!
Then i found two incredible pals on twitter who are accidentally both haechan stans, and also accidentally the best conversationalists ever. so with birthdaygrackle we haved delved deep into 127 relationships in the past half a year, and a lot of thoughts were cooked up with her.
And for the most recent, today i was sitting on the tram on the way home and i was thinking about the overlap of all my past and present biases, and i found that i tend to pick faves that are essential in holding together a group, and are also a bit hysterical (doyoung, seungkwan, seongwha, + rip hoseok). of course there are other people who are also essential in holding together the group, but there's always that second person that helps on the emotional front. Also as a heads up, i might use other boygroups (svt, atz) to compare nct to.
Again, I must disclaim that idk anything abt nct pre-2018 and even that is quite spotty, because I have better things to do than struggle through 20+ mins of second-hand embarassment for a bunch of men who don't even like each other all that much, but all this still adds up to me having Some Thoughts, because I am a chronic overthinker, as I'm sure it's obvious by now.
Also. English isn't my first language and I won't be emotionally invested in rereading this so.... do with that what you will.
So jungwoo.
The thing with jungwoo is that. I think currently he's the glue.
jungwoo neuroticism + idolsona
So the way 127 is, is that they're a mess of incredibly awful coworkerism, and they don't particularly enjoy each other, save for a few very notable exceptions (dotae who are married, as is common knowledge, and jaewoo but i'll talk more abt jaewoo a bit later on, and dohyuck but in a different way).
And according to thesis posted by leaf, one must come to the conclusion that this mess is caused by multiple things at once, but in list form:
1. wide age-range (6yrs)
2. almost everyone's an only child/little brother
3. shuffling of the lineup
And here, with the third point we have arrived to jungwoo! Of course, before jungwoo was "welcomed" - or, more like, 127 was forced to include jungwoo in their ... group? dynamics? - there was the late addition of johndo, which. Sonically doyoung was of course massively helpful, because taeil can't sing everything, and haechan had still a lot of growing to do. Now we are past this, and 127 has 3 very formidable and distinct main singers, which doesn't leave much room for the rest (jungwoo, jaehyun, but most of all.... john + yuta), but a bit more on that later.
So jungwoo was added to 127, after a bit of a run in nct u, in 2018, dont ask me when. but! i explicitly remember his shaky voice, his all-consuming nervousness, his trembling hands, and how prone he was to crying. my poor tearful paper doll! I love nobody more than nervous wreck jungwoo! but unfortunately 127 are not me, so they were mostly confused, except f or the perfect neurotic hyung, doyoung, who will collapse into a pile of ashes if denied the right to take care of someone else, regardless of whether they need it or not.
And. Jungwoo had every right to be nervous. first of all, he can't help it, because this is just his personality, secondly, i'ts fully reasonable to be a nervous ball when you have a debut that is two years late compared to the rest of the group, and they're already a full group, and the fans hate you, and while the fans find out late, you're explicitly here to replace another guy who's been there since the beginning and is actually integrated (?) into the group dynamics. Well. I'd cry too.
So i understand. But based on the videos, most of 127 literally didn't know what to do with him, because 1) they were in an entirely different phase of life 2) seemingly nobody else had the same issue in the entirety of nct 3) again, they're all younger siblings, and seem to be unable to conceptualise how to take care of an overemotional stranger. Because i think jungwoo never got to train with them prior to his debut? But also. Jungwoo's source of anxiety is something none of them can relate to: all of them come alive on stage and the y love performing. Of course, they get nervous before going up on stage, but that sort of debilitating fear seems completely alien to them. They just couldn't understand what jungwoo was going through at the time. So while i understand that they were caught off guard, I do not know what would've gone down had doyoung not heard his calling instantly and took jungwoo under his wing.
But unfortunately that wasn't enough. While I Should Not Speculate, jungwoo took a long hiatus, and came back a changed boy. jungwoo has decided that he will create an idolsona so impenetrable, that even his group members won't be able to tell what's actually going on. He returned with an entirely new humor code, a new batch of gags, and a new goal to pursue: make everyone laugh at him.
Congrats to Jungwoo on his new idolsona! While lot of things changed since jungwoo came back with kick it, you can really see that he's much more integrated into the group, they adore him a whole bunch, and generally everyone seems to be enjoying his presence. Most everyone has at least one personalised inside joke with him, and he acts cute to almost everyone. But is that all? Definitely not! Please look at the breakdowns fo each member's relationship with jungwoo down below.
dowoo and the handover to jaewoo
The title makes it sound like jungwoo is a doll jaehyun is allowed to play with, and while jungwoo is a doll, its not like that (read coin-operated boy by pinkbluepairs on ao3 for some jaewoo dollification which i agree with about 90% and was fully enjoyable).
doyoung
Doyoung is suuuuper neurotic (don't think of this as a psychological term, think of this as the way seungkwan gets hysterical if he gets voted out on mafia dance, bc they're the same person on some level). Doyoung is a natural caretaker. It has been a long time since doyoung got to take care of someone :( (looking at you, jaehyun).
Ok, but let's actually look at that a bit: taking care of taeyong is different, because that's his Husband! and also, much more importantly, the dynamic is entirely different: taeyong is older than him, and they mutually take care of each other. taeyong is doyoung's leader, but doyoung was also his solace since predebut. they are very balanced and they're most trusting of each other (even if tyong loves cucking doyoung with baekhyun - when will he be back from the war?? TTT). taking care of jaehyun was and is different, because they literally divorced each other and didn't interact on screen for about two years.
So then jungwoo came. jungwoo came in and he was the equivalent of a soaked, shivering puppy. and doyoung couldn't really help himself, but really, thank god for that, because who else could've done what doyoung has done for jungwoo? doyoung was there for him each step of the way, kind, warm, overprotective and very pretty. they were fully obsessed with each other for about a year, absolutely in love and dedicated to one another! there's that pic of dowoo in a glass elevator and it literally looks like they were just caught kissing. the aquarium date! doyoung genuinely finds him the cutest and to this day thinks he has the best chemistry with jungwoo when it comes to work. what's not to love?
After jungwoo returned, doyoung's unbridled obsession waned as jungwoo has grown into idoldom/developed a brand new personality. It doesn't mean that doyoung likes him less, in fact it means that they have finally separated in a way you have to wean a foal from it's mother: now it's healthy, now it's normal.
And then it was time; jungwoo has become a new person, has reintegrated into 127, and had received a roomate: jaehyun. And then doyoung handed jungwoo over to jaehyun, but imagine it more llike a baby begging to be on someone else's lap, and his mother allowing it to be like so.
jaehyun
Ok tangent. but. all jaehyun does is mourn stuff: his long-lost maknaedom, his lost same-age friend (do they even talk anymore? sorry i just dont care abt winjae or whatever), his lost role, his lost tour, and possibly every brand deal he has lost to other people ever. thats okay, thats cool but man, what a sad way to live when you're that hot. Which.. does jaehyun even enjoy being so hot? does he even enjoy being an idol? he loves to preform, but the rest? who knows. not me. maybe not even him.
However. Jaehyun does enjoy jungwoo. thinking about use of banmal. thinking of matching beanies on purpose. thinking of jaehyun calling jungwoo cupid. thinking of jaehyun grabbing and slapping jungwoos ass with the biggest smile on his face. thinking of jaehyun winding up his wind-up piano to help jungwoo fall asleep. thinking of jaehyun dancing jungwoo's solo backstage, facing jungwoo. jaehyun booping jungwoo's nose out of nowhere, while jungwoo laughs like pure sunshine and flowers. and mostly, thinking of that radio show where jaehyun said jungwoo's voice is so adorable and cute it lingers in his ears until he falls asleep, that his smile is addicting, and if there was an angel, it'd be like jungwoo.
well, what is there to say? Its Love.
But don't be confused, the Love didn't come easy!! After jungwoo's addition to nct, there are multiple vids of jungwoo just acting weird, his humor code completely off from the rest of nct, and jaehyun just staring at him not understanding anything.
I don't reeeaaally know what happened, because both of them are pretty closed off when it comes to their personal life, but it's interesting. I remember that jaehyun seemed actually pretty excited about getting jungwoo to sleep. during their ncitizen day (?) live he relayed how jungwoo had a hard time falling asleep in the beginning (w beds like that, i think it's reasonable), but then jaehyun found the cure by winding up the diny wind-up piano on his shelf, and jungwoo slept like a baby. Because to be honest, even when he didn't understand him, even when he was bewildered by anxiety-riddled bouncy or too-still jungwoo, he was fond of him.
But with jaehyun it's a fluctuating thing. while he doesn't disclose a lot of things, to me it seems like these things have a deep impact on how he's feeling at the moment. for the most of 2020 he didn't really seek out jungwoo and barely played alond with him (looking at you, bowling vid, i'm still mad!). I guess it could be due to lockdown. one day he was slapping jungwoo's ass and the next whole month he would barely lay eyes on him. I'm sure i'm missing a lot here, but it does seem like 2021 is where he came back to himself, and found energy to indulge jungwoo on camera as well.
I could theorise that jaehyun needed time to let winwin go, but i just don't care for winwin like that, and i think there were bigger things at play: they needed to learn each other, and then relearn each other, and both of these two-fold, for their private life and their on-came presentation is very different i'd assume. I'd guess that's especially hard when you live in the blandest rooms possible.
Anyways, somehow jaehyun ended up very head-over-heels for jungwoo, and trust, it's reciprocated. as sparse they used to be, lately they've been very explicit, with jaehyun grabbing a handful of jungwoo's ass on the sticker set, with jaehyun calling jungwoo cupid and angel. johnny rightfully thinks that jaehyun's favourite is jungwoo.
Also tinhat time but if you paid attention, lately jaehyun and doyoung have been not only polite but cordial,friendly. jaehyun sent doyoung a cofee truck. did you know that this is becasue of jungwoo? jungwoo is jaehyun's favourite, but also doyoung's favourite after taeyong. there is friendship to be found in being concerned for the same person, and on particular dojaewoo days, i kinda really believe that's what happened. jaehyun is kind of shit at disingenuous interactions, so i do think their rekindling of friendship is real. there are also the 2-3 dojaewoo photoshoots.
maknaeline relations
mark
Mark is the dongsaeng-sunbae that is actually the hyung. but is he? Jungwoo is hyung by dongsaeng-ifying himself, if you reaaaally think about it.
Ok so backtrack, i get that this might be hard to process at first. the thing is, as we all know, that mark is jungwoo's sunbae three (four?) fould, and is considered more talented. He has enormous amounts of experience compared to jungwoo. But he's also jungwoo's dongsaeng. How to bridge this gap? good question! For it to be answered, you also need to consider that mark is a hyung sometimes, but he's rearely the cuddly-type of hyung, he mostly has to be a wrangle-type hyung, but even then, he's kinda bad at it.
Now this is fully just thinkin thots for no reason, but i also think that mark has a hard time asking for physical (and probably emotional too) affection. in dream he just gets it without asking for it, and over time he has learned to ejoy it to the fullest, but 127 doesn't really operate like that. so while mark might or might not register it that he needs it, to have it is something noticeably good. and jungwoo gives it to him, not even without question, but under the guise that jungwoo is the one who needs it. mark's dormant hyung tendencies are then pleased that he is the one to help someone. so with that, jungwoo is actually the hyung by leading mark into learning how to be a good hyung. Mark sunbae-dongsaeng-hyung-dongsaeng to jungwoo's hoobae-hyung-dongsaeng-hyung.
But past this, mark actually really loves to hang out with jungwoo. he embraces his weirdness and he loves how fun he is, he finds him talented and multifaceted and good at his job. He also looks up to jungwoo simply because jungwoo is great at variety, is incredibly gentle, calm and kind, and they're also close in age. Mark is eternally grateful that jungwoo gracefully extended the possibility to mark to drop the honorifics.
And even more importantly, mark loves to baby jungwoo. I think the dreamies were never his to baby, and he enjoys being allowed to do that. He finds jungwoo absolutely adorable and endlessly sweet. they can spend hours cuddlying and sleeping together, and mark, unprompted, will tell jungwoo how cute he finds him. All this to say is that i don't actually think they treat each other like same-age friends (disclaimer: I'm not korean and i don't live in a society with a rigid age-hierarch), instead it's more like they both think they're the hyung? they both seem to feel very obligated to take care of the other one, and find the other very sweet and cute. But also, they respect each other mutually, and look up to each other. I also find it interesting that this is the only relationship in the group that mark formed as an adult, much more on his own will than the rest, and it is very balanced and kind and loving. They got very close to each other, because they find each other to be a very good companion in idoldom and everyday life it seems.
haechan
Ok remember what i said about 127 looking to jungwoo for entertainment? that was haechan's job. what now?
jungwoo is a threat to haechan. a threat, but only group dynamic-wise. haechan is just too good, and asm is very invested in his presence, and jungwoo simply will not be able to catch up to what tow groups' worth of exposure can get you. or can he? i think he had more solo activities/limited group activites in the past 1,5yrs than haechan. Justice For Haechan!
WHile haechan doesn't perceive jungwoo as a threat on stage, but it's definitely an issue off stage. jungwoo knows this too.
So where do we see this? Everywhere. if you think about it, jungwoo and haechan rarely interact, and they have their own respective gag cycles or whatever you wanna call it. It's interesting that the two strongest variety members don't integrate their humour and build off of each other (á la svt), but instead divide up the members, the bits, the time between the two of them. sm also noticeably promotes jungwoo more on solo/duo variety shows than haechan, even though haechan is more established.
And on the divide of members... mark is of course crucial here, in theory. Its interesting then, that in actuality it doesn't seem to be? haechan is never bothered by markwoo's mutual adoration, but he does complain that yuta doesn't find him cute. I find that very fascinating but i don't know what's going on actually.
On the other hand they both seem to be very aware that they can't become close to one another. In the To You clip haechan asks jungwoo to rely on him and 127 more, and jungwoo chooses haechan on weekly idol as the memmber he has yet to eat with. Later they mend this, and since then jungwoo mentions sometimes that haechan, like a good hyung would, buys food for him.
I also think they have the same issue as mark and jungwoo. haechan has seniority, but jungwoo is alost 2,5yrs older than haechan. I think because of this they're both a bit scared of overstepping boundaries, and they seem to not yet understand one another. however, as much as i can guess, they are working on bettering this? i hope in a few months'/years' time we can have a fully integrated, perfectly in sync variety duo, one that i know they're fully capable of. Because right now with jungwoo holding back around haechan, they don't fuse talents and they travel entirely different orbits. TT I just really want them to be friends!! but i know theyre working on it!
It's interesting to me though, how it's the same root problem (seniority) but with a completely different solution. But i also think haechan enjoys jungwoo less than mark does. So maybe that's a contributing factor?
jungwoo glue
Now that i've talked about jungwoo's ex, jungwoo's current boyfriend and jungwoo's dongsaeng-sunbae-hyungs, i wanna talk about the rest of 127, and how they come into play.
johnny
Jungwoo is a threat to johnny.
wait, preface: i am a johnny anti. not like OUT WITH JOHNNY anti, bt more like i find him deeply annoying, our humour doesn't match basically at all, and i don't think he's particularly talented in any way. he's a mediocre dancer in the group, and they can't even hide it because he's so big. it's also sm's fault, but he gets the most awful english lines in the weirdest almost-rap style that just... ruins songs for me (wakey-wakes wins for jungwoo part but loses so massively thanks to the johnny opening that i literally can't listen).
So jungwoo is a threat. jungwoo came in with like a decade less of trainee experience and was better than johnny despite being terrified to his bone marrow. jungwoo came in and his vvoice was angelic, and he's prettier than johnny, while being the same height.
So jungwoo, i think less consciously than now, had to find a way to appease johnny. to find a way into his heart. while jonny is an only child, two years into his career he's a practiced hyung with about 15 younger members, so of course his heart responds when he's taksed with someone as floudering and gentle and scared as jungwoo was back then.
After hiatus jungwoo has cememnted his new persona, gained much more traction than before it, and got his hands on more parts than ever before, further reducing johnny's chances at getting lines. But he has found a way to be good for johnny even after his hiatus: now he jokes along with his overly tacky jokes that johnny used to do alone. he worked hard to become a partner for johnny in that way.
But this is all my very uncharitable reading. Jungwoo said that johnny was a very reliable hyung to him, and johnny said that he finds jungwoo important, presumably both to himself and the group, i do genuinely think they enjoy each other's company, but neither of them is the other's first pick.
yuta
I'm also a yuta anti almost the same way i am a johnny anti. you might ask why i am even stanning 127. am i? hmm. ok the thing is my actual faves are scattered across groups (give yangyang to me! i want him in my uni so i can talk to him once a month and enjoy it bc hes fun and a bit naive) so i have to endure people i don't wanna endure for the sake of looking at my actual faves.
With all that said. jungwoo is a threat to yuta. Yuta also only has few lines, few center parts, and is not a standout on variety. The more members there are, the fewer opportunities for yuta to solidify himself in the public consciousness.
I also think it's hard to endear oneself to yuta. i can't tell you why i think that is, but i do think it's hard to do. And i actually do not understand how they became friends. yuta has these "fixation phases", and he has yet to let go of mark, but he is still very indulgent with jungwoo. It's also an interesting dynamic, because somehow, while jungwoo demands yuta to act out an animal, jungwoo is the one who comes off as childish, as beneath yuta.
Unfortunately i don't quite understand yuta, so if anyone has yutaxjungwoo thoughts, hmu.
taeil
Look. idk anything abt taeil. why is he an idol? he could be a soloist without an abundance of public appearance requirements, and there'd probably be more space for growth musically as welll. So i don't get it. he's also, like perlocutionary has noted, a very non-hyung hyung. I have no idea why that is. i do think that taeyong is a very dependable leader, but it's clear he needed a lot of support for a long time, and it's interesting that it he never really got that from taeil, not in the way i see in other groups (seongwha is famously a good support for hongjoong, he gushes about seonghwa's support a lot).
so he's a weird thing of a mathyung, but he is nice to all the rest, and they seem to adore him and find him funny. with jungwoo he's always very lenient, forgives his pushy physical contact easily. but i can't really tell you anything more specific, sorrryyyyyy! hmu w taeilxjungwoo theories!
taeyong
taeyongie is a very very nice boy who is also very nervous but very much not in the way jungwoo is. as i mentioned above, jungwoo seemed to be terrified of fucking up so bad that it actually hindered his performance. iirc taeyong did seem very concerned about him several times, and i'm sure the situation caused him a lot of headache. i'M sure it's also due to a lot of different reasons as well, but he seems much more relaxed now that this issue has also been resolved.
I also can't say much on taeyong and jungwoo's relationship, but i do believe that taeyong loves all his boys equally, even if he has his favourites. he's a very dedicated and kind leader, and jungwoo did mention it a while ago that he is a very reliable person to jungwoo.
again, if anyone has taeyongxjungwoo takes, hmu.
Ok now that i have said all that, how can i support my fantastically stupid little take that jungwoo is the glue an not haechan? i might have been a bit in over my head, you could say. you might be right, but i am a little basset hound and i will march through everything regardless of whether i should be there or not, and i will push my agenda just like so until the very end.
Jungwoo is the glue because he shapes himself just enough to be the ideal for everyone. he knows he can't be everyone's favourite, and he is very well aware that he's nobody's favourite (wrong, actually, looking at you jaehyun, and sometimes mark is very tempted as well). he works very hard to be absolutely non-threatening, and to always keep the mood as light as possible. he barely ever talks about his own problems and i don't remember him sharing and embarassing story about another member. if he jokes in a way that the butt of the joke is not himself, it's always about people who he knows can take it. To once again cite perlocutionary, 127 talents are very bottom-heavy, which shows a lot in their joke-style as well: they don't really make jokes at the expense of the hyungline. doyoung is the notable exception, who is of course unreasonably talented. jungwoo abides by this internal rule very pointedly. you could point to the yuta lion gag, but isn't jungwoo the one who comes off as childish for demanding something like that? yuta comes off as a nice hyung who is complacent to his dongsaeng's every demand, and for once he isn't the one initiating a weird setup. You're welcome, yuta. jungwoo plays along with johnny, pulls jaehyun in, shows off the cute sides of mark, shines a lifht on doyoung's emotional sides in a positive way. the ones he doesn't really touch are taeyong and haechan.
I could also argue that jungwoo is a natural fixer, the way doyoung is as well, but he blends in more seamlessly. jungwoo wants everyone around him to feel good, but if not good, better at least. he wants to be useful but not in a noticeable way. he wants to be a part of the group, he wants to not be a hindrance, and the best wayhe found to do that is by "fixing" each member one by one.
As an additional note, and an interesting thing to consider is that the wayv members (+sungchan) all remember jungwoo as a leader figure who was a very good guidance figure and someone they looked up to. it's all in there, in him, it's just taken a new shape to suit 127.
conclusion
So: jungwoo is perfect, and he's an integral part of 127 at this point. they look to him for fun and playfulness, he's accessible to every member, he's the perpetual middle child and he is the butt of the joke most of the time. while jungwoo is a paper doll that would perish without his boys, luckily 127 - with or without realising - take care of him well enough (see: jaehyun, haechan and doyoung buying him food all the time, taeil cooking meat and jungwoo getting to eat some of it). they all know taht he needs to eat all the time, and they aloso indulge his cuddliness (mark... markie... thanks pal). I miss the kisses though.
And after i've said all of this, i have to point out that 127 are extremely weird and their relationships off-cam barely translate on-cam, because for some reason they've decided to almost completely divorce their everyday lives from their on-cam-sona. which i'm not saying they should stop doing. but also a llot of times it's not very believable and also weird to see (looking at you, yumark kick it). this all might not connect to you, but it is connecting to me, and that's all that really matters.
I hope you've enjoyed this read, at least a bit, and if you comment in a nice manner i will be crying from joy, even if you disagree with me on my tinhat jungwoo thesis. Please comment. Please be nice. You can tell me i'm wrong, but not in a mean manner, and if you do tell me i'm wrong, tell me why. I wrote this in an afternoon and night so... there are definitely things wrong w this.
Also, for the cited sources: some are not accessible for everyone. That's okay, that's the authors' right. I will not tell them to open up for everyone, because as every fandom, this fandom also contains bad-faith individuals who would rather inflict pain on people than read a sentence they don't agree with without taking action. If you can access these links, pls be nice about it.
Many thanks to birthdaygrackle for enduring literally every jaewoo thought i ever produce, and for brainstorming a whole bunch of 127 dynamics with me for kicks despite being a dream stan, and also to
bonda, who taught me everything i know about dream, dreamwidth and how to embed videos on twitter. literature
Works cited:
fwcu(2021).🐻🦊. URL:https://fwcu.dreamwidth.org/13204.html(downloaded:2021.06.)perlocutionary (2021). As A Toxic Dreamzen, The Essay. URL:https://perlocutionary.dreamwidth.org/950.html(downloaded:2021.11.03.)pinkbluepairs (2021). coin-operated boy. URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34240762 (downloaded: 2021.10.)
