The Science Behind THE Mingi Crashout
On today's episode of talking very confidently about things I know nothing about, the topic is Yungi (pt 1 out of 3). I would like to start off this essay by saying I don’t think either of them are or were into each other in the gay way (whether they’re into men at all I do not know, and I honestly don’t consider it relevant to this conversation), and even if someone had a crush on the other, it probably was Yunho (I will further elaborate on that on Yunho’s part). Mingi does not have the necessary subtlety to do the multiple-year-long gay yearning a lot of the shippers like to credit him for. If Mingi was into Yunho, Yunho would know, and I genuinely do not believe he would be chill about it. He’s a perfectionist who curates his public image almost obsessively. Mingi being into him would be the ultimate curve ball. Whether the feeling was reciprocated or not, it would put an immediate end to the fanservice. He’s a control freak through and through, and genuine attraction is too unpredictable of an external factor to introduce to the whole gay-for-pay, flirting-with-the audience-by-flirting-with-each-other bit.
This, however, does not disprove the fact that Mingi fucking loves him. Camera be damned, he regularly cuts open his chest, plucks his heart out and hands it to Yunho with an expression that says “Do you like it?”. It’s a shocking amount of transparency to display in privacy, let alone in front of an audience. And Mingi does that shit often. He does it so often, that, every time they do the forced and slightly uncomfortable sit-around-and-talk-about-our-feelings variety bit, Yunho preemptively gives him the please God, please don’t do this right now look. And although I think being this candid on camera cannot be good for him, I can’t help but find it admirable. The amount of emotional intelligence it takes to be able to not only recognize your own feelings to this extent, but to be able to express them eloquently and without inhibition is honestly impressive.
What surprises me even more, is that he makes these grand statements, without expecting Yunho to reciprocate. He lets him laugh, blush and deflect, and as long as he lives up to his standards in their private time, he does not mind having him play hard to get. Which brings me to my main point.
The Science behind the Mingi Crashout.
I have no doubt that Mingi knows exactly what he wants out of every relationship in his life. That extends to Yunho as well, whom I believe he sees as an extension of himself. To him they are a Unit, both in life and at work. He puts Yunho on a pedestal above the rest of the members -and oftentimes other people in general- and when he doesn’t recognise that, the Mingi Crashout happens. It is not jealousy, it is annoyance that his perceived partner in life (because that’s what they are at this point) does not recognise their bond.
A good example of this is the infamous moral loyalty argument. It’s a clip most ateez enjoyers know by heart, but I’ll narrate it nonetheless.
The clip starts with Yunho (who’s wearing a fuckass purple top hat made out of cardboard), standing in front of a mirror, talking with Yeosang and Seonghwa.
“You’re doing a live with Wooyoung?” Mingi who has just walked into the conversation asks. Yunho knows Mingi, so before he even turns to face him, he already knows he’s upset with him. There’s a reason, after all, why Mingi is the only member who’s seemingly out of the loop about the live.
He immediately goes on the offensive.
“It was booked earlier than you.” He says, giving him the full Yunho experience, bobba eyes focused on him, with a polite smile that’s threatening to leave his face at any minute now. His expression is saying, not now dude. If Seonghwa had not intervened, he would have taken the hint.
“Mingi’s upset again.” Seonghwa says, doing what he usually does, but rarely gets credit for. He instigates. Yunho, riding the high of Seonghwa’s approval, takes a jab at Mingi. This is the first of three occasions where Yunho has the chance to deflate the situation, but accidentally escalates.
“Why are you even upset?”
Mingi, who was just about to leave this conversation, gets annoyed.
“I can’t believe this.” He says, clearly flabbergasted. He knows that Yunho knows why he’s upset. Yunho is restless.
“Why?” He keeps asking, failing once again to let the storm pass. Mingi isn’t like him, if you ask him why he feels a certain way, he will tell you. And he does.
“I always film reels with you, but why do you never ask me to film one?” He complains. He tries to keep his voice somewhat playful, but his face is dead serious. If he smiles, it’s out of awkwardness. Mingi’s stance is clear. He thinks that Yunho is betraying Yungi, the work unit. In a group as competitive as ateez, them being a duo is something that works for the both of them well enough. They have different niches. Filming together helps them both expand their audience, without necessarily clashing with each other. And yet Yunho had chosen to do a live with Wooyoung, who is less of an amplifier and more of an active competitor.
Yunho gets that, so Yunho, as he does, deflects.
“I didn’t ask him to do it. It was a promise with Atiny.”
This isn’t good enough for Mingi, and he does the closest thing to sending a “k.” message that he can manage in a face-to-face conversation. He’s not pleased with Yunho’s response—because that wasn’t what he asked. He doesn’t care who arranged it; he cares that Yunho didn’t try to plan something for the two of them to do together. Still, Mingi has always been relatively reasonable, so it’s clear he’s about to let it go. Seonghwa is pointing a camera towards them after all.
Yunho and his almost obsessive need to take control of the narrative, drops the ball once again.
“This is a misunderstanding.” He demures. “Mingi gets jealous too much.” He confidently catapults himself into mutually assured distraction. Now Mingi is angry for real. His work oriented grievances turn personal. This is no longer about Yungi the work unit, this has become about Yungi the friendship.
“It’s not jealousy.” He laments, and then the line comes. “I prioritize relationships with people. You abandoned my moral loyalty.”
Now, I never understood why this line became as much of a meme as it did. Mingi is not joking around, he’s picking a fight. He might as well have been saying, I always put you first, but you never do.
Yunho, for the only time during this two minute clip, gets offended. The customer support smile disappears and his voice drops two octaves. He does not appreciate this. He might be lousy with his business obligations to Yungi, but he does not think this is true for their interpersonal relationship.
“I’ve planned it since the ninth grade.” Mingi prepares to drop one of the most romantic lines he’s ever said to Yunho on camera, right after calling him fake and a cheater.
“Everything I do with you.” He says, rightfully giving Yunho whiplash. You cannot go from attacking someone’s character to declaring the importance of their presence in your life and not completely disorient them.
“I spend a lot of time with you!” Yunho whines. He feels wronged. He takes care of Mingi. He knows he takes care of Mingi. The accusations do not please him.
“So you forgot how precious our time spent together is?”
At this point, Seonghwa, the real instigator of this fight jumps in. He has gotten what he wanted and has decided it is time for the argument to end.
“This is what Ateez fights about in the waiting room.” He declares, Yunho looks into the camera and he’s back in business mode. The customer support smile returns, but it does not reach his eyes. His fingers are gripping into that chair for dear life.
“Is it wrong to do a vlive for atiny?” He deflects again. Next to him, Yeosang who has been anxiously jumping in between jabs, trying to defuse the situation, pretends to eat popcorn. His pretty face cannot fool me, he did not enjoy that.
The clip ends, and although Mingi won the battle, the real winner of this situation is Seonghwa, who masterfully directed both the camera and Yungi into turning Mingi’s mini sulking moment into a full blown argument. Meanwhile, Yunho’s still wearing his little cardboard tophat.
I only have one closing statement to make.
KQ, you should’ve edited that out.
