oneus lore?

Oh, this new ONEUS lore is very interesting, indeed. This is lore lore.

ONEUS have had... bits and pieces of lore in the past. They had Lived era, which was the lore-iest of them all. For the majority of the part, though, they had a concept, and the concept was derived from some sort of plot, but it was never solid storyline, and that was fine: I quite like stuff like that. (Referencing: Valkyrie and A Song Written Easily.) Whatever Trickster has going on, though—partially the theme itself, and partially the execution of it so far—is exactly my shit; I can't define it any clearer. I began grinning so hard out of pure awe in the midst of watching this first trailer. Perhaps, I will be keeping tabs on all of the new content dropped this era.

Either way, here my crazy brain goes:

(This is a digest of my observations and current noted intel gathered from "ONEUS(원어스) 'TRICKSTER' - EP.1 Trickster : The Choice is Ours".)

This is a great setup. I need more background information—and that's absolutely perfect and exactly how a good mystery concept is supposed to be arranged. I'm thrilled and filled with inquiries already. God, I love thinking about this stuff. Is Hwanwoong behind it all, or does he just know it's happening? Does Youngjo know—his phone closed to a suspicious queen-of-decayed-hearts card, and he didn't seem to find it out of the ordinary at all. Where was Keonhee? (He's so cute, by the way. T^T) And what about the hooded figure—what's their deal? They have to be a key. I doubt they're the 'trickster' themself, though. No, that would be way too easy...

I filtered through the frames of Hwanwoong's rapid memory flashes at the beginning, and I noticed that he kept seeing Dongju—eyes hidden, but lips curled up in a slight smile the second flash. What could that mean? Dongju was kidnapped at the end, wasn't he? How does that tie in? I think it's reasonable to theorize that the hooded person killed Dongju—or, at least, killed the soul inside him and, perhaps, as bizarre as this sounds, possessed him or mind-controlled him. No, hear me out! This was inferred from the person's bloodied hands during Seoho's frightening encounter and Dongju's sly, ominous smirk in Hwanwoong's visions, when his real character is shown to be rather apprehensive and jittery towards the end. But, maybe not—maybe Xion is fine: wherever he was transported, he was given some water! He should be hydrated and healthy and fine right now, right? Albeit trapped—taking into account all the "NO EXIT" signs—and likely being prepared for interrogation, as the chair across from him is just waiting to be taken up, but he's probably fine, right? (Could this place be the factory that Keonhee was at? I see a possible resemblance.)

Hwanwoong also saw a split road sign and pills of two colors, seemingly being presented to the camera in a way that persuades the offeree to make a decision. I took these symbols as relating to the "Choice Game" Dongju was forced to play—the one that resulted in his theoretical demise. ("Yes" or "No", the sign Dongju saw said... you know who has a song named precisely that? I wonder if the lyrics will have clues. Just kidding, RBW are not that smart. Still, it'll be fun to see if my superbly deranged mind can pull anything out of it from my ass. I'll take a look at that at some point in the future.) Hwanwoong also saw glimpses of six people—presumably ONEUS—with bags over their heads, being trucked away in a vibrant red overtone that reminds me of a certain No Diggity music video.

Youngjo must be the signature narcissistic, attention-seeking character who is dislikable at first but later on proves to have compassion, after all. Or, you know, he's the character who dies first. Is Seoho the token stuck-up iljin who eventually becomes heroic somehow, then? Where does Leedo fit in all this? His scenes seem to have the least connection with Geonhak himself. As in, the events are intriguing (the uncanny and unsettling reoccurring imagery of clowns—of the 'trickster'), but I can't seem to place his character's importance or draw his motive from the surrounding details. He picked a queen card, so that makes both he and Youngjo queens—though Youngjo's card image was noticeably more sinister than Geonhak's boy-and-the-moon depiction. (I wanted to mention that this style of find-and-fathom progression reminded me of Billlie's lore; the girls also discovered connections through enigmatic playing cards that they found showing up at random places. I love this method. It's like they're being left a trail of clues of which they have to link and decipher.) I can't figure out any more hints to the main idea of ONEUS's plot on Geonhak's part, though—like why he decided to go in the menacing clown funhouse. The only symbolic meaning I can pull from it is that the 'trickster' is everywhere.

All this rounds me back to Keonhee and, perhaps, my most burning question of all: where was Keonhee, and what was he doing there? Where could he be that he would genuinely think there could casually be a detonation-prone bomb lying around. It obviously seems to be a factory of some sort, but this doesn't provide the answer to why he's there in the first place. His expression is hard to figure out. I can't make out whether he holds an expression of familiarity and boredom (in which, he has been at this place plenty of times before) or lost confusion (in which he also has no idea where he is). Though I know he's not an esteemed actor, I feel like there should be something he was told to show in his face by the director, still, and that could help my aimless investigation. Anyway, Keonhee seems to be looking for something specific and set on that objective—because why else wouldn't he pause to investigate the strange, beeping box a little more, after he realized it was safe? If he was lost, wouldn't he want to check out if whatever was in the box could help him in his escape? But, no, he just pouted and strolled on past it. He's not dumb, so I'm inclined to think he has some sort of extra knowledge. Could Keonhee know more than we're seeing, then? I'm super interested in this. 

Also: note that, based off the timestamps on the CCTV cameras, Keonhee's scene happened nearly four hours before Seoho's encounter with the hooded figure. Both were on the same day—ONEUS's well-known debut date next year. There should be a reason that "Cam 01" and "Cam 02" were placed at these two locations specifically, shouldn't there? ("Cam 02" is directly pointing at the beeping box, almost as if it's waiting for something to happen to it… or for someone to do something with it. Perhaps, Keonhee was smart for not touching it.) Could these events be related, then?

And a final, bigger question: what are the six characters' connections with each other? Ravn and Seoho obviously didn't know each other, but they're the only ones who have physically interacted so far. Hwanwoong may know, or at least be aware of, Dongju's existence from his visions. What about Leedo and Keonhee, who have no visible interactions with the others' characters?

Sorry, this was a quick flurry of thoughts and severely disorganized. I know I took some wild fucking leaps, especially from just this intentionally unrevealing teaser, (the ridiculous Dongju theory... LMFAO,) but this is how my brain runs at all times. Just bear with me; I openly acknowledge I am literally just saying shit. I needed to jot these down immediately before I forget I have the ability to form comprehensive thoughts, because this ONEUS trailer had my head whirling in an instant. Apparently, I managed to get a lot more out of this than I initially thought, because I swear to god: I did not think I had this much in mind when I began this. Well, whatever; here are my initial hypotheses of ONEUS's upcoming Trickster era. If they maintain the enticing finesse these trailers have, I foresee more of these to come from this mentally disturbed head of mine.

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