#ateez wave

ateez 9th member au

moon's reaction to ateez first win

masterlist ☾ requests are open feedback is always important to me!

Moon felt her body relax as the makeup artist fixed her foundation. She was so, so tired.

She barely had any sleep last night, going to sleep late in the night, after another round of endless practicing and checking if everything was okay with their schedule, and waking up before the sun even rises this morning. 

Happy Birthday, Wave!!

so i discovered ATEEZ the day before my wedding and now i’m unwell (a true story)

The beach condo smelled like sunscreen and salt air. Both kids were sandy, sun-tired, and starting to get that late-afternoon feral energy that meant naptime was no longer optional. It was a survival necessity.

“Movie time,” I announced, in that fake-cheerful voice parents use when they’re really saying “please, for the love of God, be still for ninety minutes.”

My fiancé was outside on the balcony, beer in hand, watching the waves. Tomorrow we’d be married. Just us. No circus, no distant cousins, no seating charts. Just a beach, an officiant, and the four of us.

Perfect.

“What movie, Mama?” my five-year-old asked, already climbing onto the couch.

I scrolled through the options, looking for something that would hold their attention. Something animated. Something with talking animals or princesses or…

K-Pop Demon Hunters.

I stopped scrolling.

“That’s a weird title,” I muttered.

“What’s demon hunters?” my three-year-old asked.

“Probably too scary for…” I clicked on it anyway, just to see the description.

In a world where evil spirits threaten humanity, only one group has the power to stop them…

“This looks stupid,” I told no one in particular.

I pressed play.

Look, I can’t explain what happened in the next hour and forty-seven minutes.

I can tell you that my kids fell asleep within twenty minutes, as predicted. Right there on the couch, sandy and drooling and perfect.

I can tell you that I didn’t move from that spot.

I can tell you that when my fiancé came back inside and asked if I wanted to go for a walk before dinner, I held up one finger. Wait. Without taking my eyes off the screen.

“What are you watching?”

“Shhh.”

“Are those… Korean pop stars?”

“They’re demon hunters.”

“Right. Obviously.”

He looked at the kids, asleep. Looked at me, fully awake and sitting six inches from the TV like I was five years old myself. “You good?”

“No,” I said honestly. “I think something’s wrong with me.”

But I didn’t turn it off.

The movie ended. Credits rolled. I sat there like I’d been physically struck.

My fiancé was reading on the balcony. The kids were still asleep. The sun was starting to set over the ocean.

And then something clicked in my brain. One of the groups in the movie, the Saja Boys. They’d mentioned something in the credits about being inspired by a real K-pop group. What was it?

I picked up my phone and typed into the search bar with the desperation of someone who knows they’re about to make a terrible decision.

Saja Boys inspired by kpop group

And there it was in the results: ATEEZ.

I clicked on the first music video result.

“Inception.”

Wait, no. That wasn’t right. I scrolled down.

“Wonderland.”

Still scrolling.

“Hala Hala.”

And then I saw it. The thumbnail that would ruin my life.

“ATEEZ (Illusion Stage - The Real : Inception Ver.)”

No wait, that’s not it either.

“ATEEZ (INCEPTION Official MV)”

Actually, you know what? I don’t even remember which one I clicked first. I just know that somehow, I ended up on a music video.

No. I’m lying to myself. I remember exactly which one it was.

“ATEEZ (In Your Fantasy - English Ver.)”

I clicked it.

“Just one,” I told myself. “Just to see if they’re actually good or if it’s just movie production value.”

I pressed play.

And that was it.

That was the moment everything changed.

Three hours later.

“Babe. Dinner.”

“Uh huh.”

“Babe, the kids are awake. We need to feed them.”

“Okay yes just…” I held up my hand, eyes glued to my phone. “Just one more video.”

“You’ve been saying that for two hours.”

“This one is different. This one is called ‘Hala Hala’ and apparently they wear these black contact lenses and…”

He leaned over my shoulder. On my screen, eight men in all black were doing choreography that looked vaguely dangerous.

“What happened to the demon hunter movie?”

“That was THREE HOURS AGO.” I paused the video, wild-eyed. “These are the guys who INSPIRED the Saja Boys from the movie. The demon hunters were based on THEM. And I…” I gestured helplessly. “I think I understand something fundamental about the universe now that I didn’t understand before.”

“They look… intense.”

“They have LORE,” I said, with the unhinged energy of someone who’d fallen down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. “There’s a whole storyline. Multiple universes. Time travel, maybe? I’m not entirely clear on that part yet but I WILL be.”

That night, after fish tacos and showers and getting the kids into bed, I sat on the balcony with my laptop.

My fiancé joined me, handing me a glass of wine.

“So,” he said carefully. “Big day tomorrow.”

“Huge day.”

“Getting married.”

“Yep.”

“You excited?”

“So excited.” I was pulling up another music video.

He watched me for a moment. “Are you… having second thoughts?”

My head snapped up. “What? No! God, no. I’m…” I gestured helplessly at my laptop. “I’m having eighth thoughts. Maybe ninth thoughts. Thoughts I didn’t even know I could have.”

“About us?”

“About THEM.” I turned the laptop around. “Look at this choreography. LOOK at what he just did with his body. That should be illegal. That might be illegal in some states.”

He squinted at the screen. “They’re very… synchronized.”

“They’re artists. And I…” I set down my wine glass with perhaps too much force. “I’m getting married tomorrow. TOMORROW. And I just discovered eight Korean men who apparently have knife choreography and an entire fictional universe involving revolution and alternate dimensions, and I’m THIRTY-FOUR YEARS OLD with TWO CHILDREN and I can’t just…”

“Just what?”

“Just BE INSANE about this!” I was talking too loud. Definitely going to wake the kids. “Except… wait. No. That’s not true. I’m a Swiftie. I literally own forty-seven versions of the same album. I’ve made Taylor Swift my entire personality since I was sixteen. I am FULLY CAPABLE of being insane about things.”

He was definitely trying not to laugh now. “So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is if I found them when I was twenty? Twenty-one? Before I had kids? I’d be on a plane to Korea RIGHT NOW. I’d have learned every single dance and probably broken several bones doing it. I would have been UNHINGED. More unhinged than I already am about literally everything I love.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m getting married on a beach tomorrow and I have to figure out how to be a reasonable amount of unhinged about the fact that I just watched a performance that fundamentally altered my brain chemistry.”

“A reasonable amount,” he repeated. “Like with Taylor Swift?”

I paused. “Okay, bad example. But I have KIDS now. That’s different.”

“Is it though?”

I didn’t have an answer.

Later, much later, after he’d gone to bed and the condo was quiet except for the ocean, I stayed up.

Just one more video.

Then another.

Then a guide to all the members.

Then a deep dive into their company history.

Then every single dance practice I could find.

At 2 AM, I finally closed my laptop.

Tomorrow, today, technically, I was getting married. On a beach. With the two best kids in the world watching. No big production, no stress, just us.

And somehow, in the midst of that, the day before the most important day, I’d fallen completely and irrevocably into something I hadn’t expected.

All because I put on a random demon hunter movie for naptime.

I looked at my phone one more time.

“No,” I told myself. “Sleep. Marriage. Responsibilities.”

I lasted forty-five seconds before clicking on one more dance practice.

The next day.

We got married at sunset. My daughter wore a white dress she’d picked out herself. My son carried the rings in his little three-year-old fists like they were treasure. My husband (husband!) cried when he saw me.

It was perfect.

Small and perfect and ours.

And when we got back to the condo after dinner, after the kids crashed HARD from all the excitement and emotion, my new husband sat down next to me with his phone.

“So,” he said. “I may have watched some videos while you were getting ready this morning.”

“You WHAT?”

“The one with the traditional Korean outfits.”

“‘The Real’ Heung version?”

“That’s the one. And that other one you kept pausing last night.”

“Which one?”

“The one called ‘Inception.’ That one’s actually really good.”

I stared at him. “You watched ATEEZ videos on our wedding day?”

“You were watching them at 2 AM the night before our wedding day, so I figured it was important.”

And that’s when I knew I’d married the right person.

Two weeks later, back home.

Laundry. Grocery lists. School schedules. Back to real life.

Except now my Spotify is completely different. My carefully curated Taylor Swift playlists now have “ATEEZ” folders right next to them.

My YouTube algorithm is unrecognizable.

And my kids know all the words to “Wonderland” phonetically, which means they’re essentially just yelling sounds, but they’re yelling them with CONVICTION.

“You’re still into this,” my husband observes, not judging, just noticing.

“Yeah.”

“Like, REALLY into it.”

“…Yeah.”

“Like Taylor Swift into it?”

I pause mid-fold of a tiny shirt. “Getting there.”

“Is this forever?”

I think about twenty-one-year-old me. The version who would have been absolutely feral. Who would have made this her entire life. Who would have been unmanageable.

But then again, twenty-one-year-old me made Taylor Swift her entire life and she turned out fine.

And then I think about thirty-four-year-old me, who discovered ATEEZ the day before her beach wedding, who watched a demon hunter movie during naptime, who fell into something completely unexpected at the exact wrong (or maybe right) moment.

“Probably,” I tell him. “But like, the same amount of forever as Taylor Swift.”

“So very forever.”

“Very forever.”

My daughter runs into the room, singing “WAVE” at the top of her lungs, pronunciation absolutely butchered but energy absolutely perfect.

“That,” I say. “That level of forever.”

He kisses my forehead. “At least you’re consistent.”

Three weeks later.

I finally texted Kayla. My best friend. The one who’s been subjected to my Taylor Swift obsession for years.

So I may have discovered ATEEZ

Her response was immediate: OH NO

The day before my wedding

OH NO NO NO

I’ve watched every music video seventeen times

My daughter is going to be SO smug about this

Wait why

She’s been trying to get me into them for months. She’s an ATINY. I can’t believe you found them without her help

…should I be concerned

She says you can bias anyone you want

What does that mean

Except Mingi. You can’t bias Mingi.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

He’s hers. Those are the rules. You can have any of the other seven.

And that’s how I learned about bias rules. About claiming members. About the very serious business of K-pop fandom etiquette.

“So,” I told my husband that night, “apparently I now have seven boyfriends.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, eight technically. But only seven are my boyfriends. The eighth one is off-limits.”

“I’m concerned about where this is going.”

“It’s a joke. It’s a thing ATINY do. 8 makes 1 team, but 7 of them are my boyfriends and one is just… a really cool guy I admire from afar?”

He stared at me. “You’ve lost your mind.”

“I’m a Swiftie who discovered K-pop the day before her wedding. I never had my mind to begin with.”

“Fair point.”

Present day.

My kids think it’s hilarious that Mommy has “two music obsessions.” They’ve learned to recognize both Taylor Swift AND ATEEZ songs within the first three seconds.

My Spotify Wrapped is going to be utterly chaotic this year.

And honestly? The timing was absurd.

But I wouldn’t change it.

Twenty-one-year-old me would have been on a plane to Korea.

Thirty-four-year-old me just pulls up the concert footage during laundry, makes “8 makes 1 team but 7 are my boyfriends” jokes, and respects Kayla’s daughter’s claim on Mingi.

And that’s probably better for everyone.

Especially my credit score.

WAVE - ATEEZ

Across the sea

Ateez: Wave