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The ONF Multiverse Theory

OMG?! Are your eyes right? Am I back with another kpop theory?

Yes. The answer is yes. It literally says Theory on the title, come on.

I’m sorry. Can you already sense this theory has driven me to madness? Because it has. If you thought MONSTA X’s time traveling shenanigans were complicated, oh boy… You’re in for a good one. Anyways for those of you who might not know me, my name is Orion, but you can call me Ori, and today I bring you my take on ONF’s story that they’ve developed through the MVs. Thought this would be a good time since they’re in the MS and won’t be putting out more confusing MVs to disprove my theory soon.

If you like this theory, consider checking my other theories here. Also, I recommend you have a death counter at hand, you’ll need it. And now, let’s dive into the theory.

TW: So much Main Character Death.

Some things to consider

Before we fully go into the theory, I want you to know and acknowledge that we’re going to be dealing with space-time travel, multiple universes, and the fact that Hyojin has like three different hairstyles per music video (I wish I were kidding). The videos are mostly chronological from ON/OFF to Why, and from then on, your guess is as good as mine. I also want you to know I have two possible alternatives for how to organize the story in the MVs, and I’ll be addressing both of them to the best of my abilities. I hope it’s not too confusing.

Universe 01: Opening the Gates to the Multiverse (ON/OFF to Why + New World)

ON/OFF starts our story with one of the most interesting settings I’ve seen in k-pop and yet it’s never addressed again: humans did a Wall-E and left Earth. Throughout the MV we get to see a sign in the Cinema Paradise movie theater that says “Now it’s over. The end of the world. Destroyed. Last day. Place where of it is gone. We still have hope.” This is accompanied by signs of a spaceship under the title of “Journey to space: You can go anywhere, dreams come true”.

[Picture: Screenshot from ON/OFF that shows the posters described previously.]

Basically, the Earth was coming to an end and humans decided to jump ship. On the spaceships, they fabricated androids that they sent back to Earth to heal it and send a signal back to them once they deemed the planet habitable again. Laun is the one to send the signal in the end, as we see him operating a machine. The signal is received (as shown by the “Upload Complete” and the “Signal Detected” screens) and humans make it back to Earth, symbolized by the Astronaut looking out the fancy window and the “meteorites” coming down to Earth which are spaceships.

[Picture: Four-picture collage. Top left picture shows Laun using the machine to send the signal. Top right sounds a screen displaying the phrase “Signal Detected”. Bottom left shows a meteorite falling. Bottom right shows an astronaut taking off their helmet.]

In Complete we see more symbols of sending messages, such as the flare Laun fires, or the smoke bomb E-tion is holding. Laun is also seen with a similar looking machine again, and we get to see the meteorites/spaceships falling to Earth once more.

We Must Love (WML) is where things start getting a bit complicated story-wise. We don’t have anything that points to this, but it’s probable that after coming back to Earth, they got the androids back and kept them at base while working on other things. At the same time, the company that created them starts working on something new: space-time travel. I believe that they decided to test it on Laun without telling him much of what it was about. The others figured it out and tried to stop it, but it was too late.

[Picture: Screenshot from We Must Love of Laun looking back at the members as they run towards him after he activates the time-traveling watch.]

Laun wakes up in the middle of a forest, with, at best, very spotty memories of who he was, at worse, he remembers absolutely nothing. He remakes his life. Meanwhile, the others make it their personal mission to find him. We know from the Making Film that U was actually left behind, probably because he was the second youngest at the time. J-Us was helping through hacking while the others were on the ground looking for him. E-tion manages to find him once but accidentally activates the watch before he gets close to him. Hyojin also finds him, but realizes they’re simply too late.

[Picture: Three picture collage. The first picture is of Laun waking up in a forest. The second picture is of E-tion looking at Laun through the train tracks after activating his watch. Thirs picture is of Hyojin encountering Laun in front of a Vietnamese train station.]

It is through J-Us’ hacking that we’re first introduced to the multiverse. If we look closely at the screen that displays Laun’s information, on the bottom it says “Address: South Korea, Earth, Universe 01”. This immediately implies that there are more universes, so from now on I’ll be adding a tag before the names to specify which version of them I’m talking about, and those tags will correspond to the subtitles of each section, so in this case, it’ll be U1.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from We Must Love of J-Us looking up information on Laun. The information is displayed ona window screen, part of the information includes the “address” mentioned before.]

Now, here is where I have an issue with how the timeline progresses. Technically it would make absolute sense, plot-wise, for Beautiful Beautiful (BB) to happen after WML and before Why, though there are a few details that are contradictory. On one hand, no one has died yet, and J-Us’s plot of being arrested fits nicely. On the other hand, BB looks way too advanced to be happening at the same time as Why, and it looks way more similar to Goosebumps (GB), though we do see flying cars in Why. There’s also the fact that the development of the relationships of the characters makes no sense if we transition from BB to Why, and I know Why has to happen before Goosebumps (GB), so for now we’re not going to count BB as part of U1, but I’ll keep you updated if that changes.

So let’s continue with Why. New World’s (NW) lyrics are actually a great tool for explaining what’s happening in Why, and the Road to Kingdom performance also makes references to it. After losing Laun and realizing what the company was making them do, the rest of ONF feel it is unfair and decide to run away and create, almost literally, a new world. They probably get this information from the company, and decide to look for The Cube.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from New World. The members stand behind The Cube, holding six keys towards it.]

We don’t know much about The Cube other than it is necessary for them to create the new world, it is probably what allows travel between universes (as opposed to space-time travel within the same universe), and you need six keys to unlock it. At the end of the video, we see that most of them are facing The Cube, so we can assume they managed to unlock it, but it is not without a price.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from Why. The Cube floats above a building in a small island, as comet-looking things fly off from it.]

One of the teasers, also called “signal clues” (#11), shows us a slightly blurry picture of Hyojin at the end of Why taking off the silver mask, with a very prominent word slapped over it: CLONING. In signal clue #9 we see pictures of all the members, but there’s two Hyojin pictures with an equal sign between them. The first one says Error, while the second one says Why along with Hyojin’s serial number. Yes, what I’m proposing here is that Hyojin was cloned, probably by the company, though maybe as a side effect of them using untested technology, and Clone!Hyojin (now known as C!Hyojin) became corrupted as part of the process went wrong.

[Picture: Blurry picture of C!Hyojin taking off the silver mask, overlayed by green text that says, among other things “cloning” in full capital letters.]

We know the technology they were using was unfinished because E-tion writes about it in signal clue #9 as well. We also know that E-tion is carrying with him a USB called “storage of ONF”, we don’t know for sure what it contains but it might be their original memories. This is what I managed to decipher from the text.

“We came to know the matter of illegal chips (...) (entered) the laboratory secretly, and tried to do Time Warp by (stealing?) illegal chips in an unfinished (state). And (...) warp repeatedly (because, …) (illegal) chips and felt (human) (before), he started (recording).”

[Picture: A sort of collage with pictures of all the members, including the two Hyojin pictures and the text described above.]

After C!Hyojin gets corrupted, we see him literally eliminate U1!Hyojin from existence. J-Us learns about this, and looks for him to confront him, and although we don’t see it happening, we have every reason to believe J-Us is dead too. For one, we never see him fire the gun against C!Hyojin, and most importantly, he gets surrounded by C!Hyojin’s minions, so I think it’s safe to assume he did not make it to the new world.

[Picture: Two picture collage. The first picture is of U1!Hyojin coming undone while C!Hyojin takes the mask off in front of him. The second picture is of J-Us standing in front of C!Hyojin’s army of masked people.]

There’s a few other things and questions I have about Why that we don’t get an explanation. Why was Wyatt in a tube? Why were E-tion and U fighting? How did MK get all his advanced technology to work in that abandoned building? As for Wyatt, I think he was either captured and put there, or he put himself there to escape his misery and then was woken up by the others. E-tion and U were probably fighting because it’s possible that E-tion wanted to stop U from doing something dangerous, him being the baby and all, but U did not want to be treated like that. MK’s shenanigans are the fruit of k-pop lore magic. In any case, with 4/6 making it to the new world, we are done with Universe 01.

Death count:

Hyojin 1

J-Us 1

Interlude: Were ONF humans?

This is perhaps one of the most complicated questions to answer in the theory. We don’t get any clues that they could have been humans before being turned into androids until we see the text in signal clue #3, which I’ve copied to the best of my abilities here:

“They were originally (...) Humans made their memories digitalized as they evolved and then they got into Android like (...) such evolved case. But, they became Android, and (...) was only remaining in records but their feelings disappeared.

Meanwhile (...) hacker (...) came to know the secret too late, visited the vast (...) with the Multiverse like multiple universe and did hacking (...) to deliver the illegal chip online in order to look for them (...).

A person who first found its clue left the secret place (...) who maintained a close relationship to him. He wandered (...) in Multiverse (...) its trace. Two got together in the end, but there was not much time left to him.”

[Picture: Teaser from which the text detailed above was obtained.]

We also get a couple more references to it in BB and Popping. In the News program in BB we get a text that says “(...) machines and become the humanoid.”. In the Making Film for Popping, Wyatt says that the heart projected onto his chest is because he’s hesitant about choosing between being human or robot. So it is very, very likely that ONF voluntarily turned themselves into androids in order to be able to take care of Earth while humans returned, and then they were used by their company until they decided they didn’t want that anymore. It’s definitely a plot point that I feel should be explored more.

Universe 02: Parallel World - Dream (Sukhumvit Swimming)

In one of the social media teasers for Sukhumvit Swimming (SS), we see the phrase “Parallel World: dream”, so it is quite possible that everything happening in SS is a dream, and if so, it’s very likely a dream from the characters in Popping. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a reality itself. I remember seeing a video of a person explaining that their dream-self had a separate memory of events that happened in their dreams, and while wild-sounding, I don’t see why the characters wouldn’t be able to dream of other dimensions.

Even the director of Popping kind of confirms that Wyatt has nightmares about C!Hyojin about how he killed them all in other MVs, so it’s entirely possible one version of the boys might be dreaming about other versions of themselves. It also makes sense for this to happen, since The Cube is now active and all that.

[Picture: Social media teaser taken from instagram, the description contains the phrase “Parallel World: dream”, as stated before.]

We don’t have very clear context of what’s happening during SS, however, the visuals lead me to believe that this is what would have happened to Earth had the humans not left to try and save it. I like to imagine that in this universe, they stayed and brought upon the end of the world. Androids still got developed, but they got very different jobs. J-Us here is like a sheriff / policeman. I don’t remember the name of Wyatt’s cart but it’s like a space-time traveling taxi. E-tion was sent to explore other planets. Hyojin and MK went rogue, one holding people as time hostages while the other is a pirate. And U… well he’s in a party?

Through the video we see, mostly, very destroyed and rundown cities. In fact, towards the end we see Wyatt sitting in his little cart just watching everything being blown to smithereens. In another shot, we see E-tion contemplating the end of the world as spaceships fly away from Earth, so it’s very likely that U2’s Earth is as good as gone.

[Picture: Two picture collage. The first picture has E-tion sitting on a small planet, facing the camera while behind him explosions go off over the Earth. The second picture features Wyatt sitting in his little cart while he watches over the very destroyed city.]

There’s also the very obvious storyline between Hyojin and J-Us. One being a criminal and the other law enforcement, they eventually end up facing each other, with J-Us emerging victorious at the cost of Hyojin’s life. There is one scene where we see Hyojin’s death being reversed,so I think it was just J-Us trying to find another solution that wasn’t killing him, yet they still end up like right at the beginning with the train, so I don’t think there was another solution. It’s almost a time loop, if you will.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from Sukhumvit Swimming. The camera is on the floor, we can see J-Us’s blurry boots in the front as Hyojin falls in the background, defeated.]

Now we’re faced with the glaring question of… why was everyone dead around J-Us at the end of the video while he held Hyojin? Well, remember this universe is parallel to another, it’s in the teasers. We don’t get to see how they die, other than Hyojin, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t dead. It’s very likely that they died at the end of the world, but despite the lack of information, we can’t ignore the obvious.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from Sukhumvit Swimmin of J-Us holding onto Hyojin’s body while the rest of the members lay around him.]

Death count:

Hyojin 2

J-Us 1

E-tion 1

Wyatt 1

MK 1

U 1

Universe 03: Back to the ice-age (Popping)

Popping is absolutely one of my favorite title tracks and also one of the MVs that makes me the saddest because of their fabulous acting (Hyojin’s expression as the debris and the missile head towards his spaceship???? Priceless). It’s also like, the one MV that can stand alone almost perfectly, and it’s the complementary dimension to the one in SS (the connection between the two was confirmed in the MV Making Film).

I fully believe most, if not all of them are human throughout this MV, except perhaps for U, who we see leaving the spaceship without a suit. We know the possibility of androids existed in this universe, because like mentioned before, Wyatt explains in the Making Film how he has a scene where he debates between remaining human and becoming an android, so it’s likely U chose to become an android. His code being the only one shown in the MV is a good supporting detail of this.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from Popping. Wyatt is working on a computer and behind him is a door that features U’s code: YO-425-83.]

In this MV, all of them went to school together to become astronauts and do research at space stations. However, it is very likely that they either discovered something they shouldn’t have, or they became C!Hyojin’s target simply by existing (since it’s still unclear if C!Hyojin is employed by someone or not). Either way, the robot-cops we later see again in BB and GB come looking for them, and U decides to sacrifice himself to save the others.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from Popping. U stands outside the space ship, holding a detonator as he is surrounded by the robocops from Beautiful Beautiful and Goosebumps.]

Meanwhile, the others are preparing to send J-Us and MK away with the information or whatever research they were doing, since they are targets now. J-Us makes it out alive and arrives at an ice planet. MK isn’t so lucky. As he’s preparing to leave, a missile destroys his spaceship, with another moving very rapidly towards where Hyojin, Wyatt and E-tion are left. The missile doesn’t collide with the main room, so they have a few more minutes of life until C!Hyojin arrives and finishes them off (as confirmed by the MV director of GB).

[Picture: Three picture collage. The first picture shows a missile coming towards MK’s space ship. The second picture shows Hyojin watching MK’s ship explode as a different missile heads towards him. The third picture shows C!Hyojin coming in through the same door U left before.]

J-Us is left alone on the ice planet with the camera MK used to record with. It’s unclear if the camera contained all the important information they were probably trying to protect or just the memories of their days together. Either way, J-Us is left looking longingly at the spaceship he arrived in, which, curiously enough, has the same logo we later see in GB.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from Popping of J-Us holding MK’s camera as he stands in the ice planet.]

Death count:

Hyojin 3

J-Us 1

E-tion 2

Wyatt 2

MK 2

U 2

Universe 04: The questionable one (Beautiful Beautiful & Goosebumps???)

Here is when you can start accusing me of just speaking nonsense because even I am not sure about this part of the theory. As I said before, BB could perfectly happen before Why, if it wasn’t for a few glaring details that just make it feel like too much of a reach. BB and GB have a very similar feel to them in terms of aesthetic and how advanced the society seems in both videos, so until proven otherwise, we’re going to assume they’re from the same universe.

There’s a few aspects that contribute to this point of the theory, for example the fact that they continue being chased, the existence of drones, the virtual city thing where the car was driving (which U is seen next to in GB so maybe he was driving it), and a few other details like that. So for now, we’ll assume it is the same Universe.

The entirety of BB is an operation to rescue J-Us from the police/government. In a social media teaser we discover he was arrested due to time travel, as it says “The time warp is possible, but the timeline has messed by past travels and classified as the first degree criminal.” Which is also part of the text we see in the news flashing through the MV. We have no idea why J-Us time traveled in this universe but I think it is not relevant for now.

[Picture: A teaser which includes several pictures of J-Us, with his code, SJ-777-77 on top of them. Under them is the text mentioned before and a bar code.]

All of ONF are a criminal hacking group, and they’re all wanted, but they manage to evade the police and rescue J-Us flawlessly. In the meantime, it seems like they were focused on hacking the entirety of the city to turn it into the City of ONF, which is why we see E-tion working on a machine that seems to be directly controlling The Cube. When he finishes, everything in the city is covered by the word “Beautiful”.

[Picture: Three picture collage. The first picture features Hyojin and J-Us celebrating the latter’s rescue. The second picture is an organization map of ONF, it’s a bit blurry but it details their occupation as hackers. The third picture is E-tion standing in an alleyway with his fist raised towards The Cube covered in the word Beautiful.]

After this, they have naturally become the most wanted criminals, because why wouldn’t they. Unfortunately for them, C!Hyojin has also made it into this universe, and once again he goes directly for U4!Hyojin. We can’t fully confirm he’s dead, but we do see him falling to the nothingness after breaking through glass so it is very safe to assume that C!Hyojin just pushed him off a building.

[Picture: Two picture collage, the first picture shows U4!Hyojin falling from a broken window while the second picture shows C!Hyojin staring as glass flies around him.]

It would also be worth noting that U4!Wyatt is having dreams with C!Hyojin, as confirmed by the director in the MV Making. Another fun detail from this is that we get to see U2!E-tion again, as he looks to the camera with a drone right behind him. This might explain his death in SS.

[Picture: Two picture collage. The first picture shows U4!Wyatt surrounded by 4 C!Hyojins holding guns at him. The second picture is U2!E-tion staring at the camera as a drone looms behind him.]

At the end of the music video, we see The Cube being connected to some sort of machine and turning orange. This is very important because before now, The Cube has always been by itself, floating in the sky and acting as a sort of door between universes. It being connected to something means that someone is probably trying to control its potential powers, and I would bet for C!Hyojin or whoever is behind him, if there is someone.

[Picture: Screenshot taken from Goosebumps of The Cube hooked unto a machine and turned orange.]

Death count:

Hyojin 4???

J-Us 1

E-tion 2

Wyatt 2

MK 2

U 2

Conclusions

I’m not sure there is a sensible way to conclude this theory because honestly, what even is going on? For now, I’ll try to summarize it in a few points:

There is a blood-thirsty clone of U1!Hyojin running around THROUGH universes killing as many versions as he can for a purpose we don’t know.

It seems that it is possible for one version to have access to memories of other versions.

Androids in this story are created by inserting memories of actual humans into robot bodies.

Someone or something might be trying to control The Cube for their own benefit.

As always, thank you so much for reading through this theory. If you would like to discuss it with me, or if you have questions, leave a comment or send me a DM or an ask. I’ll be sure to answer! And don’t forget to check my pinned for my other k-pop theories!

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