TXT’s Real Magic

How The Star Chapter: TOGETHER gives perfectly imperfect answers to long-held questions about TXT’s musical universe

Spanning songs, music videos, short films, a webtoon, live shows, and even conceptual photo shoots, TXT’s world-building is second to none. With rich depth to match its breadth, it is worth not just revisiting from new angles, but from a new framework. Below is a suggestion for that framework: “The Abyss,” the term that best sums up the metaphorical space where TXT’s characters learn about life’s irony-laced, contradiction-riddled essence. “The Abyss” is a concept applied here in ways that ignore the traditional philosophical definition, and while “The Expanse” might sound more apt, “The Abyss” is the better term for capturing the full dimensionality and subversiveness of The TXT Universe.

Here is a thorough reminder of TXT’s literary influences and past eras, an analysis of their new material, and an explanation of “The Abyss” tying them together.

Part One: Key Context

Literary Inspiration Recap

The many ways TXT’s story draws from Peter Pan and The Little Prince are detailed at length here and here, but here are some key reminders:

In TXT’s “Name Chapters,” they go from seeing Peter Pan as a savior to a devilish fraud. He pitches Neverland as a place where all their dreams can come true, lures them there with empty promises, and then implores them to stay forever. Over time, TXT recognize that a true utopia is built on the opposite of what Peter Pan claims. A lasting utopia is not where one does not have to grow up or ever change, because time is frozen and only “today” exists; it is where people have to keep evolving and challenging themselves, because time marches on and they must always be preparing for the next “tomorrow.” Neverland claims to be a magical place because it is solely made of magic, but when TXT crash-land back on Earth, they learn that true and lasting magic is made of more complex substances. If everything is magical and produces a sugar high, nothing is truly magical and can produce a relative high. Ironically, the most potent magic requires reality checks.

TXT’s minisode 3: TOMORROW era is inspired by The Little Prince, a story that weaves different timelines together to show how the meaning of life comes from actively making it meaningful. A pilot crash-lands on a deserted island and befriends a boy he calls a “little prince,” the latter eager to tell the pilot about his planet-hopping adventures (some of the “planets” are actually asteroids, but that’s beside the point!). The narrator is relaying to readers the stories the prince has relayed to him, and this nesting-doll structure speaks to the unreliability of second-hand memory recall, the lasting impacts that make retelling stories worthwhile anyway, and the foolishness in thinking the past and the present can be entirely separate entities.

In TXT’s Neverland-focused eras, they learn that Peter Pan is wrong to treat “today” as a singular entity. That strips “today” of meaning; it needs “yesterday” and “tomorrow” to matter. That context brings complications with it that Peter Pan refuses to deal with, but TXT learn that dealing with them is what makes life meaningful. Once TXT replace Peter Pan’s outlook with the one shared by the little prince and the magical fox that the prince befriends, their “todays” are more vibrant and their “tomorrows” have infinite potential. By discarding Peter Pan’s short-term and zero-sum thinking, TXT can embrace life’s many ironies and necessary endurance. They gain strength from seeing the past as prologue, from entertaining preconceived notions but simultaneously entertaining ideas that have yet to come into full focus, and by keeping in mind that “living the dream” entails a willingness to believe in sights unseen. As the fox teaches the prince, what “really happens” is felt more than said or heard, and by feeling things deeply and fully, they can truly see what makes “real life” magical.

Concert Connections

The “ACT : PROMISE” concert dutifully demonstrated the deeper meaning within the group’s narrative. It started with TXT “crash-landing in a desert,” just like the prince and narrator in The Little Prince. One notable difference, though, was TXT’s inclusion of a railroad crossing in the desert, a possible nod to the magical train that takes them to “Magic Island” in their music videos; the train that takes them to “Platform Nine and Three-Quarters,” a Harry Potter-inspired vehicle for crossing over into the magical realm; and the theme of life at a crossroads that spans several TXT eras.

The text on the main stage’s screen read:

“Do you remember? The promise we made to each other at the world’s end? If you hear this voice, call out my name.”

The text blew away like sand in the wind, and coupling this transition with the fact TXT’s “Eternally” short film has seven chapters gives these lines from The Little Prince great significance:

"I think there are six or seven [people on Earth]... I saw them, several years ago. But one never knows where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots, and that makes their [lives] very difficult."

The Little Prince depicts life on Earth as being like one big desert, with seemingly endless empty space yet inhabitants who do not see that space’s potential. People would rather keep searching for something better than “put down roots” and focus on where they are. The prince recalls a conversation that he had with a train conductor about the tendency to care about getting away from something more than towards something. The prince sees grown-ups as lacking purpose and energy, and by going wherever the wind blows, they go nowhere in particular. They do not know where they want to be by tomorrow, and planning things to look forward to tomorrow is a skill they lack.

Following the text’s disappearance from the main screen, here is how the concert opened:

“The screens showed rain, lightning, and blustery winds as TXT rose up from an underground platform… Blue spotlights shone on them as a Morse code message played, which is part of both their ‘TOMORROW’-era album and reminiscent of the Morse code message in their debut song, ‘CROWN.’ A gold crown dropped down from the ceiling, as they stood together and stared up at it. YEONJUN took and wore it, seconds before the ‘sky’ turned a fiery orange and the blustery ‘winds’ blew even harder.”

It is no accident that many of the above details recur in the TOGETHER-era “Beautiful Strangers” music video: changes triggered by lightning, a blue spotlight (the color of the warning lights for the impending meteor shower), a gold crown (which SOOBIN wears in the pre-release concept video, as opposed to YEONJUN during the live show - more on the connections between these two characters later!), and communicating in a way that does not require saying a word. Keeping Morse code and symbolism as storytelling go-tos keeps this comment from the fox relevant: “Words are the source of misunderstandings” (emphasis added)!

TXT’s search for their “names” requires sifting through past memories, which explains both why the concert setlist lacked a chronological order and why a montage of past music video scenes played in a circle in the middle of the “present day” background. Interspersed between past video clips were scenes of TXT’s “home planet.” Enhancing the “back to the beginning” theme were the props that doubled as video Easter eggs, plus the choice to perform “Sugar Rush Ride” in a Korean “Buchaechum” style, complete with traditional robes and fans.

The theme of mirroring was also prevalent during the show. One of TXT’s props was a set of full-length mirrors, and during “Deep Down,” an optical illusion made them look like they were ghostly spirits dancing with their own reflections.

Text appeared on the screen during concert interludes. Here is some of it, combined as if one monologue for clarity’s sake:

“Floating in the air before me, a light of a distant memory flickered. Even though I’m afraid, I must go farther down… The moment I encountered the light, I knew it instinctively… what I was chasing… I am the ancient future… I’ve been by your side the whole time. As you wandered your own path… you kept stepping of your own free will… A promise looking at the same place… we dreamed the same dream. While you had forgotten me, I fell into a long sleep… But it was just a nap… if you remembered the promise and intend to keep it, I will shine by your side again… make me shine. Tame me... Now I have to take one step at a time with my own two feet toward the place where we made that promise to each other… the name I’ve finally found so that I can live as a dreamer…”

These words reiterate core TXT story themes: the past being prologue (“the ancient future,” “distant memory”...), the clearest answers coming from the darkest depths (“I must go farther down… The moment I encountered the light, I knew it instinctively”), and an openness to reassessing what they thought they knew (a long sleep was really “just a nap”).

The show ended as it began, with beams of light shining down on the members in the “desert,” spaceships ready to take them back home. This followed a performance of “Magic Island,” after which TXT made the crowd pinky-promise to spend “tomorrows together” with them. The members stared upwards while joining hands, a camera zooming in on the hand-holding for emphasis. This was a “back to where the story began” moment on every level: TXT’s concert ending with a recreation of the tour’s promotional poster, TXT’s fictional characters ending in the desert while thinking of the return home, and the final text on the screen following up on the opening text:

“I remember the promise we made to each other at the world’s end… You and me, I remember our name.”

The “ACT : PROMISE” concert brought to life TXT’s search for their “true names,” an ultimate example of the journey mattering more than the destination. They found a path forward by visiting their past, they envisioned an ideal reality based on their time in a magic-filled alternative world, and their fulfilling journey left them back where they started. By seeing possible answers, rather than restrictions, in life’s apparent contradictions, TXT found the answers that were inside of them all along, lying dormant and waiting to be awakened by each other. They knew deep down that being directionless did not mean they were aimless.

“Eternally” Connections

TXT’s “Eternally” short film is illustrative of the same themes as their live show and their most overtly literature-inspired eras.

The film starts with a chapter titled “The Night of the Last Day.” The opening text reads as follows:

“On the night of the last day, the world lay in shattered ruins. Darkness descended on the boys and the night. Memories of a destined future draped slowly over them. The boys asked as they wandered the nightmare maze, ‘Are there no other choices for us?’ The boys were thrown into confusion…”

The film goes back and forth between a “dream world” and “reality,” terms used just for a lack of better ones. The line between the realms remains porous, as indicated by things like a magical die still being in SOOBIN’s possession after he “wakes up,” and the symbolic presence of a pool of water in both realms. (Several chapters include a close-up of spilled water, and HUENINGKAI appears to walk on water when trying to reach the other four members up in the sky. The sky ripples as he walks towards the doorway the other four stand in, which is parallel to his own doorway.)

The members’ presence in “reality,” in their dance practice studio where things are “normal,” versus in the “dream world,” which looks desolate and dystopian, keeps changing. Flashes of lightning are just as likely to cause the sudden transitions as flashes of the dance studio’s lights. This is one of many examples of the different realms being more comparable than one first assumes. In both, a powerful but normal and involuntary flash affects what happens next and where.

Other things that stay the same yet differ between realms: the members’ presences, sometimes 2D and with fantastical features, like wings or horns, and sometimes “normal;” the fact the members connect with each other, sometimes communicating via stares alone; and the reliving of fuzzy yet acutely impactful memories, like being approached by a motherly, ghostly presence after getting lost, and TAEHYUN trying and failing to get the attention of YEONJUN, who turns out to be unconscious or asleep (while wrapped in vines and streaked with purple paint, details to put a pin in for later).

Text on the screen during the film includes these lines from chapter two: “Please stop this recurring nightmare every night,” “Your hand that’s just out of reach,” “Memory’s maze,” and “I always tear up after waking up from a familiar dream.” That chapter is titled “Song of a Star,” indicating TXT are getting closer to rekindling their inner lights, since the older song “Nap of a star” has a lowercase “s.” But they still do not fully grasp what makes them shine: each other. This realization takes years to strike them and is represented by the 2025 song title “Song of the Stars” (emphasis added).

Text on the screen at the end of “Eternally” reads as follows:

“In the blink of an eye, the boys felt they’ve returned from a long journey. The widening space between us, scribbles that unfold before our eyes, wade again through this dream. In fear, the boys asked, ‘Was it all nothing more than a dream?’ The boys did not know that this was but the start of the chaotic turmoil.”

As usual, contradictions abound. What seems like the most eventful journey is internal and instantaneous, the stuff of dreams is the stuff of painful memories they trudge through, and what feels like the ending is only the beginning.

Another ironic twist is how TXT try to communicate clear messages by writing on foggy mirrors. Plus, text on the screen during the fourth chapter reads, “Which side do I need to trust?” Implicit in that question is the assumption that there are only two sides to consider and that one must be picked over the other. This black-and-white thinking is what keeps TXT feeling trapped and fearful. It’s what blocks off mental avenues for discovering what is really “real” to them and what they want to and/or can make real. The overarching irony is that what makes TXT feel the most constrained are mere thought confines.

Part Two: Narrative Patterns

Finding Clarity Through Questioning Everything

TXT have long struggled with feeling constrained by absolutes:

“My choice… will become a reality… Choosing between A and B… it’s not easy… I need you to tell me.” (“What if I had been that PUMA”)

“I’m confused… Don’t know what’s right...” (“No Rules”)

“Everything… is about good and evil.” (“New Rules”)

However, in “Everlasting Shine,” they realize that what makes the future bright is insisting upon a life in which “There [are] no clear distinction[s] between angels and devils… this world is full of contradictions.” Living in a shade of gray is what makes their lives more colorful, like fewer doors are closed to them. This is represented well in concept photos for the minisode 3: TOMORROW era. Their vehicle straddles a fork in the road, and the text on its side reads:

“We made a promise when we were very young. That’s the reason I have to live for tomorrow.”

A white star is next to that vehicle’s text, and a white star covers The Star Chapter: TOGETHER, too. Also, in the TOGETHER-era “Beautiful Strangers” video, an electronic sign on a vehicle says “THE END HAS NO EXIT,” while another side of it adds “UNLESS YOU CREATE ONE.”

Just because it feels like a dead end has been reached does not mean that it has. In fact, the places where dead ends appear the most immovable might actually be the most worth trying to bust open! (This justifies YEONJUN’s character’s behavior, for reasons explained later.)

Change as the Only Constant

Trees play a key symbolic role in TXT’s videos. To live as dreamers, envisioning things beyond words, requires finding their roots, which they directly address in “Resist (Not Gonna Run Away)” when they say, “I’m putting down roots next to you,” and when the text at the start of the TOGETHER-era video “Take My Half” says, “I could gather all my branches to create a forest just for you.”

Another key symbol of something that changes yet stays the same at the foundational level is a butterfly. A butterfly symbolizes how something can be the same yet drastically different over time, more beautiful because of what it has endured and because of the time it has spent “trapped” somewhere. TXT’s story and that of the narrator in The Little Prince involve journeys that are more internal than external; they get stuck in static environments (TXT in Neverland, the narrator on the deserted island) while being emotionally transformed (TXT after returning to the “real world,” the narrator upon hearing the prince’s stories and the morals within them).

A butterfly also represents ongoing fragility. Butterflies can flit away in a second, much like the memories TXT constantly try to catch and keep. But the feelings stirred up by their presence linger, making TXT’s butterfly metaphor in “Forty One Winks” apt:

“A kiss like a butterfly’s wing / A meaning stronger than words / That’s all I need.”

Butterflies’ presence is a reminder that life’s beauties are best seen as not mutually exclusive from life’s negative traits. A butterfly is impactful and small, delicate and strong, irreversibly changed and technically the same thing it always was. To see a butterfly as just one thing or another would be to retreat to the black-and-white worldview that TXT have abandoned, hence the butterflies’ colorful presence as they “escaped Neverland” via boat on a rainbow of (digital!) ocean waves during the “ACT : PROMISE” concert. Besides concert special effects and backgrounds, butterflies take flight in TXT’s music videos, most notably in “Nap of a star” and in several TOGETHER-era videos.

A tree doesn’t grow to reach a certain height. A butterfly’s journey does not end with a specific requirement regarding where to fly. The little prince does not tell the narrator stories or befriend and routinely visit the fox for specific outcomes. And TXT’s story is also about contentment without a destination. They do things just to do them, because doing them makes their lives meaningful. Knowing there is still “far to go,” as they sing in “Thursday’s Child Has Far To Go,” actually motivates them more than if they were close to a finish line. They love “Chasing That Feeling” in the present tense.

The importance of constant forward movement is represented well through this detail connecting the “Chaos Chapters” to The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY. In “LO$ER=LO♡ER,” the members perform on the back of a moving truck. In “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You),” one member wears an arm cast with “LOSER” written on it in red marker that is written over to say “LOVER” instead. One of the SANCTUARY era’s key words is “LOVER,” which is spray-painted on the related concept photos alongside messages like “OUR STORIES MUST GO ON.” The formats change, while the message about keeping relationships going remains.

TXT relish a state of in-betweenness, adding significance to their winter-set videos. Whether set among bare branches or a fully frozen-over landscape, the videos indicate heading towards spring but not being there yet. Winter is when YEONJUN is comforted by the other members in “Nap of a star,” after seeing a creature that looks straight out of a child’s nightmare. A wintry forest is where TXT reenact childhood memories, like playing “Musical Chairs,” while acknowledging a mirror world in the TOMORROW-era short film; this situates the nostalgic scenes in the present day, pairing change with what’s familiar. Winter is key to the “Chaos Chapters” as well, indicated most succinctly with the song “Frost” and the lyric “Meaning frozen behind the name.” And in “Over The Moon,” TXT sing that their winter “melts away” thanks to someone they love who is their “tomorrow” and provides “[o]rder in [their] space and time.”

One more symbol that captures TXT’s complex emotions at transition points: sunsets. Sunsets are reliable yet indicative of a page turning. They are the time of day when literal magic happens in TXT’s universe, and they sing in “Blue Hour” about wanting to stay “trapped in the magic.” They love not being “out of the woods” yet!

The little prince loves sunsets, too, and he recognizes the layered emotions associated with watching them. Sunsets are a farewell to the day and a welcome to the next one, prompting one to reflect on both the good and bad of the now-past and the changing present. As the prince puts it, “one loves the sunset, when one is so sad...” Sunsets resonate with those who know what it is like to see both beauty and sorrow in missing someone or something. Sunsets resonate with those who have stayed fully tuned-in to their surroundings, those who have learned to keep their feet on the ground and their heads in the clouds.

Holding Onto What’s Out of Reach

As both the “ACT : PROMISE” live show and many TXT videos show, hand-holding plays both literal and metaphorical roles in TXT’s story. The members are not just looking ahead but reaching ahead, always trying to connect.

When the little prince cries because there is a disconnect between how important he and a grown-up (the narrator) think his questions are, the narrator holds him as he sobs and feels helpless:

“I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him, where I could… go on hand in hand with him once more. It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”

In “Beautiful Strangers,” literally and metaphorically, the TXT members go “hand in hand once more” after teaming up on a shared mission to save SOOBIN.

As described previously:

“Seeking to make sense of what triggers ‘the land of tears’ to understand someone at a deeper level is something to which TXT routinely allude… ‘The sadness we shared is my clarity,’ they sing; they understand each other more intimately than they would if they focused on just stopping the crying, rather than stopping the invisible sources of it.”

As the narrator puts it:

“One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed.”

“Tamed” is the term used by the fox to describe bonding with someone. He says it means “to establish ties” and involves loyalty over any specific use of language. As detailed more later, SOOBIN is “tamed” in “Beautiful Strangers,” which explains the close-up of him crying. Along with eventual smiling, to “establish ties” makes eventual crying unavoidable. Openness to companionship comes with opening positive and negative emotional floodgates.

Coexisting Fate and Autonomy

It might seem hypocritical for the little prince to criticize the adults at the train station for traveling with nowhere in particular in mind while he also has no clear destination, but there is a crucial nuance that differentiates their directionlessness. While they all travel without seeing a specific place in their futures, the prince travels (on journeys both literal and metaphorical) while at least envisioning specific people in his future. While “taming” the fox, he routinely visits him; when he travels to his home planet, he is eager to reunite with his cherished rose; when he bids farewell to the narrator, he reminds him they can reconnect any night, if the narrator looks for him up among the stars. (These examples are not all technically of people he sees in his future, but in line with the story’s “Emotions matter more than words” lesson, the word “people” is used here; the prince bonds with plants, animals, and real people with equal emotional investment.)

TXT’s lack of a destination is along the same lines as the prince’s, not the grown-ups’, because they keep each other in mind as they move forward. They do not need a road map, but they do need motivation to strive towards “tomorrow,” and they serve as each other’s encouraging guiding lights. They mention being those lights for each other in “Deep Down”:

“I tried to run away… But destiny is truly cunning / The light that brightly led me / I now know it has always been you.”

The universe unveils who their true guiding lights are in due time, a message framed in “Dear Sputnik” as follows:

“If I hold hands with you… My wounds become bright signs… We met like it was a miracle.”

In the TOGETHER-era videos, when four TXT members try saving the fifth one, SOOBIN, the flaming house he is trapped in is their sole light source for a scene. Being a savior is a two-way street. Also indicative of how he needs them and they need him are the “wounds [that] become bright signs” that SOOBIN and YEONJUN have in common. SOOBIN wraps his arm in bandages after smashing a mirror in “Good Boy Gone Bad,” and YEONJUN appears bloodied and bruised in “Beautiful Strangers.” There are visible scratches on YEONJUN in other videos, too, and on SOOBIN in the TOMORROW-era short film. YEONJUN’s and SOOBIN’s characters’ bond (elaborated on more later) is a testament to how, when an inner voice tells TXT who they are supposed to “tame,” who they are willing to get scars for speaks louder than words.

Seeing Beyond Sight

The fox explains that “taming” is an underrated and important action to make sense out of what would otherwise be an unmemorable blurring of endless days into each other:

“To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…”

After bonding, “today” suddenly matters, as the fox and prince need and anticipate each other’s visits. The prince will no longer appear like just another human in the woods, and the fox will no longer look like just another woodland creature. Even if they were to encounter a huge crowd of people or foxes, they would unquestionably know which one was their friend.

A TOMORROW-era “Concept Clip” includes these lines:

“Hundreds, if not thousands, of roses may be in bloom, but only one could save the boy from loneliness… he patiently waits over and over again…”

Even if “the boy” is around “[h]undreds, if not thousands, of roses,” he still “patiently waits” until he sees the one that he will instantly know is his rose.

As the fox puts it, “The eyes are blind. One must look with the heart,” and once people are able to “look with the heart,” they can see past arbitrary labels. This is why TXT are content with the ongoing nature of their search for “names,” and it is why they often sing about a “savior” without elaborating. They know they will learn who earns the “savior” role eventually and trust the universe with the timing of that reveal.

It matters that the three main characters in The Little Prince are nameless, and it matters that TXT take on different roles at different times. YEONJUN embodies the prince in the “ACT : PROMISE” live show, whereas SOOBIN wears the crown most often in the TOGETHER era. HUENINGKAI is most often associated with fox masks, but BEOMGYU carries one at a bus stop in the TOMORROW-era short film (interestingly, HUENINGKAI’s solo “Dance With You” video ends at a bus stop!). TXT’s role-playing is not so cut-and-dry, though. They often play multiple roles at once, the point being that their form - magical or “human,” childlike or grown-up - doesn’t matter compared to their essence. That is why their role-playing even extends to animals!

In the song “PUMA,” they voice pumas who escape a zoo and confront the “alien” world outside of their enclosures. Their primal instincts are naturally out-of-place, but they find some comfort in one familiarity in the “outside world,” which is the night sky:

“[I]n the moon, I see my mother’s face… In the dark, the door opens...”

The “door opens” to a memory in “Beautiful Strangers,” too:

“I call your name / Like a child looking for their mother / My voice is getting louder / Following the strength you gave me.”

“Dreamer” also describes feeling like a lost and confused child while finding some solace in the search for cosmic signs:

“Like a newborn child… I follow you… Even when it gets dark, the starlight is shining / One step closer, following the light…”

TXT play the role of both a parent and a child, and their intrinsically linked fates and stark differences are represented well by HUENINGKAI and BEOMGYU in “Beautiful Strangers." There is a tender moment when the two lean against each other. They look ready for a peaceful nap, despite an unfolding apocalypse! This is a variation of a scene in both “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)” and “Blue Hour;" TXT members literally lean on each other during turbulent times.

HUENINGKAI and BEOMGYU’s comfort with each other is also notable because HUENINGKAI often wears wings and BEOMGYU wears a hoodie with devil horns. The “angel” with a supernatural form and the “devil” with a “normal human” form look even more at home than the member in an actual home, SOOBIN!

SOOBIN is the loneliest character of the five in “Beautiful Strangers," despite being surrounded by the most people the most often. He feels isolated because of having no “other half;” he can literally see lots of people but is still patiently waiting to metaphorically see who he will know instantly is the one meant to “complete” him.

Like every other moral of TXT’s story, their message about needing others to feel whole is a nuanced one. They see it as a false choice to either come into one’s own or help others come into theirs. More than that, they see the potential for one of those only being possible with the other. They find themselves through each other, something HUENINGKAI addresses in “Dance With You”:

“I become your mirror as I reminisce about you.”

“Fully, I give myself to you, and you give yourself to me / Then the two of us become one.”

The “becoming one” premise is addressed in “Lonely Boy (The tattoo on my ring finger),” too:

“We became one when we held hands / A half-star was left alone…”

And in “Resist (Not Gonna Run Away)”:

“I hold your hand, I become one and only / As much as I want you / You need me, too.”

Some more examples of lyrics about the loyal and ongoing process of only shining with “your” help:

“I met you and created countless tomorrows.” (“Higher Than Heaven”)

“Only when we’re together / Will tomorrow become reality.” (“Over The Moon”)

“Let's gather together forever… Until we're shining again.” (“MOA Diary (Dubaddu Wari Wari)”)

TXT know they will find out their “names” eventually, as long as they continue to actively create “tomorrows.” Direct “names” might never feel firmly impressed upon their memories, but continuing to grasp for them is what’s most important. All they need is a general idea of where to reach, which is something those they have bonded with offer them.

TXT can go “hand in hand once more” with each other once they stop resisting destiny and start prioritizing believing over seeing. The circumstances that are assumed to clash might actually not, and TXT patiently watch the chips fall where they may.

Part Three: “Beautiful Strangers”

(Since there is so much overlap between what unfolds in the “Beautiful Strangers” music video and the short film, for simplicity’s sake, “in ‘Beautiful Strangers’” is the phrase repeatedly used in this essay to describe what happens in both. Some details might actually only apply to the short film and not the music video, or vice versa, but what is important to remember is just that this is all happening during the “Beautiful Strangers” and TOGETHER era.)

The TOGETHER-era videos do an excellent job of emphasizing the strange ambiguity of reality. The lines between and among presumed opposites are always blurred: what are dreams versus nightmares versus reality, what is imagined versus a legitimate memory, what is from the past versus in the present, whether the members are in their supernatural forms in the “magical world” or the “normal” one… Are the black-and-white snippets flickers of memories from TXT’s waking days, while the colorized scenes are all in their heads, or is it vice versa? Is it a mix of both? Do the members go from a fantasy world into reality to save SOOBIN or just go back to the past while wearing their fantasy-world indicators? Are the scenes set in the past also dreams? Are the scenes set in the present actually premonitions? The possibilities are meant to be endless! At the same time, the answers are there; they just require searching deeply for them. Finding the answers requires what TXT prove to have: an eagerness to keep wading back through the fog of memories, a relentless yearning to reconnect, and an ability to see what is intangible. As the text at the start of the “Deja Vu” video - which also weaves together black-and-white and colorized recollections - puts it:

“Since some things are precious, but invisible to the eye, we forget them as life passes by.”

TXT keep the doors to their past unlocked to retrieve those “precious” but fleeting things. This is the reason why “Beautiful Strangers” starts and ends with the same scenes (although, sticking to the “Change is the only constant” theme, while the beginning and ending match, between them is every kind of scene change imaginable, from changes in the pacing to the camera angles).

Besides the time loop and messy mixing of the stuff of dreams with reality, one of the most meaningful aspects of “Beautiful Strangers” is the emphasis on looks being deceiving. They dramatize this point by physically obstructing their own views: HUENINGKAI wears an eye patch (in earlier eras, too), TAEHYUN tries to get a better view of who needs rescuing by covering one of his eyes with his hand, and there is a quick close-up of hands covering SOOBIN’s eyes elsewhere.

Adding on to the “not what it looks like” theme are SOOBIN’s scenes in what resembles his childhood bedroom. The camera pulls back to reveal that what has looked like just his bedroom is a small corner of a crowded warehouse, full of partying young adults who act oblivious to him. Wearing his crown, in front of star-printed wallpaper, and with a stuffed toy, SOOBIN looks every bit the part of a lost and lonely child.

In TXT’s early days, each member introduced himself with a video associated with a different set of flower colors. SOOBIN’s were primarily blue and white flowers, and in “Beautiful Strangers,” he has a birthday cake with blue and white icing. His cell phone is in the cake, surrounded by five lit candles and playing a news broadcast about the impending meteor shower. Like the “Beautiful Strangers” song title, this scene is simultaneously representative of the beginning and the end, the familiar and the unfamiliar. While he is invoking nostalgia, he is also reckoning with a world that is about to permanently change. The ones who help him navigate these changes are his four fellow “candles,” lights for him as much as SOOBIN becomes a light and a reason to exist for them.

Once news of the impending apocalypse spreads, the warehouse partygoers panic and scramble in all directions, sloshing around in shallow water while they do (recall the shallow water that draws a commonality between realms in previous TXT videos). Amidst the chaos, the TXT members see memories flash before their eyes (although, as always, all memories could really just be products of their imaginations, and vice versa; the word “memories” is used here for lack of a better one). Some of the images that flash across the screen show the members in the crowded chaos, while others show them standing there in their fantastical forms and with no one else around. These memories (again, or these dreams, for lack of a better word!) are just fleeting fragments, yet they stir up deeply-buried feelings. The sense of going through something, not past or around it, makes them feel alive, so it is during the chaos when they experience “Eureka!” moments. Feelings of deja vu and anemoia both surface during split-second scenes, like flashes of lightning revealing what is “precious” and "invisible to the eyes.”

Before coming together to save SOOBIN, the members show conflicting instincts through duos’ dynamics. They appear to faintly recognize each other, knowing they have seen each other before somewhere but not remembering where or what their names are. Feeling like and not like strangers explains the quick turnarounds. Moments when a member seems to be rescuing another one quickly instead look more like a member fending for himself, and vice versa. For example, YEONJUN aggressively pulls TAEHYUN out of a guard’s chokehold, taking his place (whether that was the intent is unclear). After seeming to head for the exits, TAEHYUN slips on water, and as if that fall triggers a memory - the recognition that they are not strangers after all - TAEHYUN goes back for YEONJUN. Later on, one of them looks like he is drawing a weapon to use on the other, but that is no longer the case after the next blink-and-miss-it scene, when YEONJUN tenderly adjusts the vines that cover TAEHYUN, as they stand alone. After that flickering memory, the two speak volumes without saying a word. They lock eyes and YEONJUN nods, before fleeing with TAEHYUN’s arms firmly holding onto his own.

YEONJUN also connects with SOOBIN. Besides the shared crown symbol, both characters hold on to a sentimental stuffed toy, YEONJUN while a doorway to the past goes up in flames in “9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)” and SOOBIN as he anticipates a different kind of apocalypse in “Beautiful Strangers.” In “Nap of a star,” SOOBIN comforts the antler-bearing YEONJUN after a nightmare, and now, YEONJUN is back in his antler-bearing form when rescuing SOOBIN from a burning house.

YEONJUN rips off one of his antlers and uses it to puncture through a wall that looks very solid before it is suddenly just a flimsy sheet. After cutting through the wall like a piece of paper, YEONJUN flies up and crosses over to “the other side,” where SOOBIN levitates and appears unconscious or asleep. Going to the “other world” where YEONJUN can fly after using the antlers that are part of his magical-world form is only one of the layers of confusing reality-surreality blending! There is also the fact that SOOBIN could be dreaming, and the fact that as they float in the air, the scene below them is the pre-apocalypse-warning party scene. The moment is a freeze frame of the past, the climax, and foreshadowing, all at once.

“Beautiful Strangers” and the related short film consist of paradoxical snapshots. The memories TXT most firmly refuse to give up are the slipperiest ones, the people who matter the most to them appear the most elusive, and the moments that are the biggest deal to them are the shortest, fastest scenes imaginable.

Part Four: “The Abyss”

TXT’s musical universe is the ultimate oxymoron: real magic. It shows life with more realistic texture than other artists because it shows life with more surrealistic texture than others, too. It turns every single question into an open-ended one and is about nothing and everything. It ultimately explores life’s multifacetedness by revealing the stagnation and emptiness at its core. At the same time, it shows what it means to change that core.

Peter Pan, The Little Prince, and The TXT Universe are all about upending everything one thought one knew about the meaning of life. Once all preconceived notions are gone, what is left is a blank space, unanswered questions, a void to be filled with past memories and future-focused promises. The meaning of life comes from actively working to fill this void.

While holding the little prince as he sleeps, the narrator sees the prince for who he is at his core; he sees his soul beyond the surface:

“I said to myself: ‘What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible’... What moves me so deeply… is his loyalty… the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep… And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind…”

He goes on to say:

“I realized clearly that something extraordinary was happening. I was holding him close in my arms as if he were a little child; and yet it seemed to me that he was rushing headlong toward an abyss from which I could do nothing to restrain him…”

TXT are on their own inevitable yet voluntary run towards “The Abyss.”

“The Abyss” is where they land after escaping Neverland; in the music video for “Chasing That Feeling,” they sing about how they have “prepared to die” but land somewhere underground. They do not just chase magical light sources while moving through the city; those lights first form while they are still underground.

“The Abyss” is alluded to with a quote at the start of the “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)” music video, from Kang Yu-Jeong’s “Manhole, the Exquisite Metaphor for the Hole in Life.”

“The Abyss” is what they fill up with flowers in “Good Boy Gone Bad.”

“The Abyss” is the ditch in “Eternally” where YEONJUN finds a (presumably) dead version of himself, streaks of blood in place of the streaks of purple paint that cover him in a dream-like meadow in a different chapter. Also notable from this scene where YEONJUN stares at himself in a ditch is the presence of glowing blue and green eyes, much like the blue and green lights on the guards’ helmets in “Beautiful Strangers.” Someone or something is routinely watching him from the darkness, and whether that surveillance becomes helpful or hurtful depends on a mix of chance and choice.

“The Abyss” is a metaphorical place TXT address in countless lyrics, including these:

“From this bottomless pit… When I'm sinking alone / Angel who one day appeared… I know it's real, I can feel it.” (“0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)”)

“Endlessly trying to escape / But in the end, I meet myself and the horns / In the pitch-black darkness.” (“Deep Down”)

“Falling is beautiful / I gladly sink / To the other side of the sky.” (“LO$ER=LO♡ER”)

“On the edge of the cliff, your light leads me / Making me a winner.” (Also “LO$ER=LO♡ER”)

“Reality is the bottom… Hit me like lightning.” (“No Rules”)

“The deeper the darkness, the brighter this night shine[s]… No darkness in this world… Will last forever. Someday, it will glow…” (“Bird of Night”)

In The Star Chapter: TOGETHER era’s photo shoots, “The Abyss” is what the members stand in metaphorically in the “Afterglow” series, glistening with blood and sweat in a hellish landscape. It is also what they stand above in the “STARLIGHT” photo series, on jagged, cliff-like boulders.

“The Abyss” also takes several metaphorical forms in the TOGETHER-era solo music videos. One of these is “Ghost Girl,” in which YEONJUN compares a former lover to a hallucination and tries to remember what she looks like by painting blindfolded. He can really see her in his mind when he looks with his soul, and his intuition guides the paintbrush until he paints her by not painting her. He backs up to reveal his canvas has a woman-shaped outline on a red-painted background. He immortalizes her presence through the absence of color. The empty space on the canvas is the most meaningful part to him.

In BEOMGYU’s “Take My Half,” he sings about life’s pleasures slipping away quickly “through the gaps in [his] tightly-clenched fist,” being a reservoir for a loved one’s tears, and feeling lighter and happier after giving things up:

“The empty space I gave… now filled with happiness… The more I have, the emptier I feel… I won’t be confused about what I really want anymore.”

Clarity comes from viewing “The Abyss” as a good thing. Just like TXT gain clarity about what life is really all about after getting away from Peter Pan’s shiny objects, BEOMGYU gains clarity by looking inwards and questioning what he really wants, not just today, but tomorrow. He is no longer so distracted that he can only see what is within immediate reach; he can now envision what is farther down the road. This introspection requires trusting his gut instincts, and those instincts explains TXT’s trust in fate as they march onwards.

The setting of the “Take My Half” video reiterates how empty spaces are filled with the most meaning for BEOMGYU. He sits inside of a hot air balloon that stays on the ground. He carries a box with him and is eventually surrounded by more boxes. They appear to be empty, or at least, their contents remain a mystery. But they seem to have sentimental value, and he cannot part with them. (Perhaps they spark his deja vu. After all, “Take My Half” was filmed at the same location as the “Deja Vu” music video!) The use of a box further seems notable because of TXT’s webtoon characters’ search for their “true names.” One of them, Viken, discovers his “true name” is “What was in the deepest corner of the box.” This might be an homage to the myth of “Pandora’s Box,” where the “deepest corner” contains hope - the ultimate “invisible to the eyes” material that makes tomorrow worth “seeing.”

What makes it possible for life to be so convoluted is the fact it is an empty vessel. It is a space for people to fill and transform as they wish, as many times as they wish, with whomever they wish, for as long as they wish. Life is truly what people make it, and all that people need in order to make it count are things already in them. As TXT’s metaphorically dense story attests, life is malleable, as abstract as it is concrete, as certain as it is not. Life can never be fully understood, and its enigmatic qualities are what make it worth living.

Part Five: Conclusion

To say that TXT’s story has become repetitive misses the point. The intent has always been to keep circling back, revisiting prior chapters and lessons to stay mindful of how active the influences of the past remain on the present and future. “They’ve done this before” is the intended response, and having no cap on the number of times they can do it again is what allows them to stay dreamers for life.

TXT’s chapters never end with cliffhangers, either, and not just because their story never really ends! They do tell the audience how each chapter ends; they just tell them by showing them. When people - TXT included - ask themselves things like, “What is my name?,” “Where am I going?,” and “Which choice is right?,” the universe responds, “Come on, you know the answer! I don’t need to tell you!” Their search for answers - for “names” - involves poking the sleeping answers inside of people, the things people know deep down but believe they don’t, forget they do, or assume they have “gotten wrong” under the misconception that there is a cut-and-dry “right” answer.

It would be reductive to say TXT’s story is one that uses fantasy elements to tell relatable tales. They do something more profound and complex. They use fictional storytelling not just to relate to people, but to challenge them and ask themselves where their notions of “fictional” come from in the first place. They tell people where to find life’s answers - what is “real,” what “magic” can become part of their lives, how things are “named” - by getting them to look at things with fresh eyes. By taking a good influence from their time in what is solely a fantasy land (the imaginative, childlike worldview of Peter Pan) and implementing it in reality, they expand what it means to “name” and to “tame.” By showing what “real life” is not, they teach what it is.

From the vantage point of “The Abyss,” there is nothing to lose or hold onto, so it is not a conduit as much as a container. It is not a passive placeholder; it is a metaphorical space, but it is designed for actively plumbing all philosophical and emotional depths.

The ultimate reason why TXT’s world-building stands above and beyond other artists’ is because TXT do something trickier than channeling emotions into visuals and sounds. They channel emotions into visuals and sounds without watering the emotions down in the slightest; they tackle not just easily-named emotions, but emotions at the most intuitive and visceral levels. Their communication’s effectiveness is not despite but because of its complex and detailed layers.

Overall, whenever one tries to “name” what TXT is saying, one just needs to accept the beautiful strangeness of an answer’s absence.