VERIVERY - Theory time (all MVs are connected)
In the following I will list all hints and strange correlations of the MVs in chronological order with fitting screenshots. I'll connect everything in the end of the post.
Starts with a clock which is backwards turning -> time-jump backwards (?)
First time that reflection-aesthetics are used
Kangmin stares at screens, sees sth the viewer doesn't see (4.1), and falls backwards/down (4.2) -> Kangmin knows sth we don't know, whatever it is must be so bad that it made him "pass out"
Again starts with hint on time-sphere, the time-jump pulls us into a world which ain't reality
Kangmin throws another (?) frisbee
They take many photos, which the members seem to collect
IMPORTANT: The mysterious old TV when Kangmin is "shot"
From Now MV - it starts...
Time in focus once again (backward jumping)
Kangmin gets ignored as if he isn't even existent
Hoyoung shoots a weapon which causes planets to collide and fuse (3.1), the after-effects seem to pass by members (3.2)
IMPORTANT: The clocks tell us sth very interesting - The "universes" collided already around 6.24am/pm (3.2) ... and Kangmin is seemingly invisible at 6.45am/pm (2). This means, the "collision" happened before he turns "invisible" -> collision = cause for Kangmin's (future) creepy condition (?)
Tag Tag Tag (official MV)
The mysterious old TV from Ring Ring Ring MV, Yeonho uses it
Blindfolded Minchan sees naked feet, which is weird because before everyone wore shoes
Kangmin whispers "Tag you're in", then it gets creepy
Someone (hereby referred to as "creature") stands behind/next to Kangmin, he smiles creepily and the "creature" claps
That "creature" takes a pic of dongheon -> He's tagged
Hoyoung's reflection does sth entirely different from what he himself does (2nd time the reflection topic is used in an MV)
Kangmin hides from the "creature", which clearly looks like a clone of himself -> "Evil Kangmin"
Kangmin's shoes with an invisible Kangmin in it -> Invisibility topic is back!
"Creature" behind hoyoung (invisible), "creature" which gets noticed by the filter app (invisible)
Kangmin hides in closet, barefooted person aka "Evil Kangmin" aka the "creature" approaches the closet (10.1) [you might have screen brightness on 100% to see it]
"Evil Kangmin" (no shoes) stays behind, leaves into darkness, Minchan is the only one who notices (EDIT: There’s one additional scene, in which Kangmin stands alone in an empty swimming pool (?), blindfolded)
doesn't seem connected, however suddenly appearing words in the bottom right corner "I can't tell dream from reality" [starting from min 2:07]
Kangmin (possibly "Evil Kangmin") gets blindfold off, seems ready to play (Also note that Tag Tag Tag ended with exactly that blindfolded Scene)
Minchan being the first to notice the clone (Notice: In Tag Tag Tag he also was the first/only one to notice)
Kangmin goes after Kangmin-clone/Evil Kangmin, he says "Show me your face"
The face recognition modus from Tag Tag Tag seems to be back
"Mein zweites ich" = German for "second me" and several other expressions to express a second personality
While Minchan runs away, a strange time distortion happens (again time jumping?) - he gets hit by an explosion and disappears [IMPORTANT: Everything in the running scene has some "space" vibe to it, as if he's not on earth but in space -> Remember the colliding planets]
As soon as Minchan disappears, one of the Kangmins also disappears
Kangmin stays behind alone, in the spotlight (see ending of Tag Tag Tag)
Notice: Everyone seems to have a clone at some point in the MV, these don't necessarily seem friendly. -> especially Minchan seems to have a key position here, because he's the only one running away
Return of the old TV, shows happy memories OR dreams -> Dongheon is watching it as the voice says "why am I there" (Notice: "there" instead of "here', strange expression which hints on the fact that the scene in the TV is not where he is supposed to be)
Not sure if important, but it's Kangmin who whispers all the whisper parts
Someone searching his way through the darkness
Hoyoung facing someone else (Kangmin-clone?)
Minchan and Yongseung covering each others eyes
The spotlight from Lay Back with Kangmin in it
Minchan to be the last to fall down (Notice: The lyrics in Minchan's part talk about how one must hurry to still take a photo of him/catch him -> before he disappears ?)
Dongheon is still in front of the TV, the floor says "are you am I confusing dreams and reality?"
Kangmin covers Dongheon's eyes (remember, Dongheon was the one who got tagged by "the creature" in Tag Tag Tag)
VERY IMPORTANT: I think the lyrics of Photo are an extreme hint on all past happenings (see in the explanation below)
We have two dimensions, time and space. They are important for all MVS and the base for all explanations.
The time of the collision
The lyrics of photo, which hint on sth being taken away from them in the past
Clocks = recurring symbol for time
Photos = recurring symbols for memories
The unreal world in Ring Ring Ring
The collision of the planets
Mirror-world vs. Real world
The TV = recurring symbol for the clash of reality and fiction / our reality and another reality
Given this basic framework, I came up with the following theory:
Everything that happens before Tag Tag Tag, happened in the past, hence the backward time jumps in each of these MVs. Tag Tag Tag, Lay Back and Photo describe the current situation.
Starting in the past, Kangmin was confronted with knowledge about something terrible which would happen in the future (looks at screens - passes out). He decides to escape in some sort of dream world - remember that the frisbee-throwing already happened in Super Special, but here it happens again. Which could mean that Kangmin tries to hold onto the good memories and keeps them in his dream world. Notice that the TV appears here for the first time, and we assume the TV hints on the clash of reality and dream. Moreover, the TV appears in the scene, in which Kangmin gets "shot" (confetti) - and the planet-collision in From Now happens due to a shot. That seems to support the theory that Ring Ring Ring is not reality.
However this clash must have a deeper meaning, because as we can see when considering the different times shown by the clocks, we know that Kangmin turns "invisible" AFTER the clash of these worlds. But remember, up to here, everything happened in the past. The escape into the dream world, the collision - all that happened in the past.
Exactly this brings us to the plot of Tag Tag Tag. Here we are in the Now, and I personally assume that back then in Super Special, Kangmin saw the happenings of Tag Tag Tag, which made him pass out back then.
So in Tag Tag Tag we know, Kangmin gets approached and possibly possessed by some sort of evilness. It remains unclear if this evil is actually just his own dark side, or a literal "creature" which possesses him. But I assume it's his own inner evil self, which now breaks through. However he tries to fight it, hence he hides multiple times from it. Also the invisible person on the pictures might actually be GOOD Kangmin, which slowly starts to fade away. In the end, he stays back alone, barefooted, going into the darkness, which could mean that he lost the fight against his evil self, it took over and pulls him into the darkness.
What's important are two things: Hoyoung's reflection is not Hoyoung, possibly telling us that not only Kangmin is prone to get overtaken by an evil self. The next thing is, that invisible Kangmin "chose" Dongheon by tagging him. However the question is, if it was good Kangmin, who unfortunately already faded away - or evil Kangmin, who wasn't fully visible yet. One of these sides of Kangmin will decide on Dongheon's fate in the future.
Minchan's DIY MV moreover tells us about the fact, that we move here on that narrow line between reality and dream, and that one can't tell anymore what is the real world - the real self, and what's the "wrong" world and hence "wrong" self. In general, Minchan seems to be important. He was the one noticing Kangmin's condition, he was the one who saw him leaving into the darkness, he is the one who gives us the dream/reality hint.
In Lay Back, he's the first to notice the evil self approaching. I personally assume that it's evil Kangmin who's blindfolded in the beginning, because somehow his vibe is very strange. Yet good Kangmin still seems to exist, and one is chasing the other. Meanwhile Minchan got scared by his realisation and runs away, possibly trying to avoid to suffer from the same condition as Kangmin. The fact that everyone seems to have reflection-selves, hints on the same thing like Hoyoung's reflection in Tag Tag Tag: Each of them could be taken over by the evil self. They all seem to be confident to be able to withstand and even challenge the reflections. Moreover, the "mein zweites Ich" (~ second me) hints on the permanent existence of that evil self.
Only Kangmin, who already is sort of lost, and Minchan who is utterly scared, seem to have a problem with the situation.
As Minchan runs, time distortions take place and he suddenly seems to be in an unreal, space-like dimension. As we remember from before, there was the collision of reality 1.0 and reality 2.0 symbolised by planets. So now, Minchan gets struck down by that collision as well (like Kangmin) and disappears in that other dimension. When GOOD Minchan disappears, one of the Kangmins disappears as well. My guess is that Minchan was GOOD Kangmin's anchor in reality, and when good Minchan disappears, good Kangmin now disappears for good. In the end, he once again stands in the darkness, however that spotlight around him signalizes us, that's it's GOOD Kangmin who is now surrounded by the dark, isolated from the real world and his friends.
Photo then is the fitting continuation - once again we are reminded of past, happy times, Dongheon watches these happy times on the old TV. The voice suggests that he asks himself "why am I there [in these memories shown in the TV]?" As mentioned before, "there" is used instead of "here", which implies that he does not belong into the world shown in the TV. Possibly because the things shown on the TV never were real, but always just were a part of that dream reality in which Kangmin escaped/lived back then. Kangmin once again is back with the whispering, and so far it seemed that the whispering symbolises the presence of EVIL Kangmin, but could also be that "faded-away" good Kangmin is the one whispering. As suggested before, the lyrics of photo seem to be especially important: They talk about memories being stolen from them ("stolen from me with [a] photo" -> remember how they took photos of each other in Tag Tag Tag). Moreover, "the moment I was touched, I held my breath" could be connected to the moment when the evilness approaches them. "Closely cut the line, coming closer thrillingly" seems to describe how reality 1.0 and 2.0 clash. "I might cross the line, turn back again every stolen moment from you, photo" could possibly mean that the members are willed to cross that border to reality 2.0 in order to bring all "deleted" memories back to Kangmin, and with that possibly Kangmin himself. I somehow believe that photo describes how one falls for the evil self/how it got Kangmin, and what the consequences are. "If you get careless for a moment, time out" could hint on time out/"pause" of one's own life, when the other self takes over one's mind.
At this point we then, for a last time, have good Kangmin (symbolised by the spotlight) who once again is alone in the darkness. But he seems to have lost all his strength and lies down on the floor, possibly symbolising that good Kangmin can't keep up the fight anymore. Then Minchan's part happens, in which Minchan seems to have (once again) a high importance. He's the only one who's still standing and sings "Quickly click now, catch me in a small frame, focus that gets more blurry when avoiding you". Possibly this means, that one must hurry to still catch him or rather to catch Kangmin, because this hint on a blurry focus when AVOIDING the person could mean that by abandoning Kangmin, one literally causes him to get "blurry" and disappear. They continue with "Starting countdown, there's no way to stop, before it gets too late". This could mean that there's no way to stop the inevitable future and takeover by the evil. They finish with "One thing to remember, turn back again every stolen moment from you" - So again, possibly the only way to get out of all that is by holding onto the good memories and trying to bring them back. After the song ends, Dongheon sits on the "are you am I confusing dreams and reality" floor, still in front of the TV. He shakes his head, possibly not knowing an answer to the question written on the floor, or as reaction towards the good memories on the TV. A possibility would be here, that he literally cannot remember these memories as they weren't real. The are you might come from the addressing of the other self, but since the other self is part of the actual self, the "are you" turned into the "am I". Finally, Kangmin comes from behind and covers Dongheon's eyes. We know that Dongheon was chosen since Tag Tag Tag, but what we don't know is why he was chosen. Moreover it's not clear, which Kangmin it is. There are two theories:
1. When Kangmin lied down earlier, evil Kangmin took over because good Kangmin gave up. So it's evil Kangmin who purposely overwhelms and confuses Dongheon, so he can take him with himself into the darkness.
2. It is good Kangmin who makes Dongheon stop watching good memories. Possibly because these memories don't exist and just are an illusion? Maybe Kangmin in the end is the only one who can look through all that mess and has to save the members, and not the other way round? Maybe in the end it's the members all being caught up in the dream reality, and only Kangmin can pull them out of it. Which would explain scenes like 1) Him taking off the blindfold (because he can "see") 2) The constant light around him, hinting on him being the only light in the darkness.
I think for the next MVs we can expect either someone trying to save them, or some more time jumping in order to explain how it actually came to all that, or HOPEFULLY both of it.
