Part 5: Let Me In

On November 30, 2016, two weeks after I'll Be There dropped, LOONA's official Twitter account would post the very first teaser for the group's third member.

This time, the girl's face was completely out of frame, and neither the image nor the caption revealed her name. Instead a date was given, alongside the phrase "Who's Next Girl?" The mysterious caption stated (via auto-translate) "LOONA. The third member who resembles winter is coming to you :D"

This would be the very first instance of LOONA's iconic "Who's Next Girl?" teasers; a first glimpse at the next member to be revealed, without any information about them. From this point on, each member would receive one of these teasers.

In the image itself, we can see a girl with long brown hair wearing a white poncho/dress, with a blurry white landscape behind her. But it wouldn't be until a week later that we would find out the identity of this mysterious girl.

With the next official teaser, the third member was revealed to be Haseul. (pronounced "hah-sull") Her representative animal is a white bird, and her representative color is green. She is associated with Reykjavik, Iceland.

(Note: Haseul's animal has always been referred to as just a "white bird." It is not a dove or any other specific species officially.)

This first teaser image is quite different from the glimpse we got before. Instead of a girl with long brown hair, we're greeted with a girl with short blonde hair. She wears a turtleneck sweater and suit jacket, and sits with her arm propped up to rest her chin against. With the entire image in black-and-white as well, it's a completely different vibe from before.

In an episode of LOONA TV, while dressed like this, Haseul says that she "became a man." She describes this blonde version of herself as "Haseul, the boy," and the long brown-haired version as "Haseul, the girl."

Other comments surrounding Let Me In emphasize this idea, so it seems clear that this white-haired Haseul is indeed intended to be a boy. Fans nicknamed this version "Boyseul" or "Birdseul."

For reasons that will be apparent later, I will be using the name "Birdseul" for this version of the character here on out. (I will also be using he/him pronouns for him, but please note that this is simply an assumption.)

Haseul's name is written in her representative color, green.

The second teaser image was released exactly 12 hours later. This would be the beginning of a pattern - two teasers would be posted each day; one of Birdseul at midnight, and one of regular Haseul at noon. (KST)

This teaser shows us Haseul with her long brown hair wearing another poncho/cloak, this time red with fringe at the bottom. She turns her head to face the viewer, her hair being swept by the wind. There is a rocky landscape behind her, and her name is written in green.

In the third teaser image, we once again see Birdseul, this time in full color. He's wearing the same outfit from the first teaser, and we can now see that his turtleneck is white, as well as a better look at his hair color.

He's leaning against a wall with some kind of mural on it, and Haseul's name is written in green.

In the fourth teaser image, we see Haseul again wearing the red cloak and looking back at the viewer. Her name is written in green.

In the fifth teaser image, Birdseul once again appears in full color, this time standing in a street. He wears a different outfit this time, a black knitted sweater over a white dress shirt and black pants. Haseul's name is written in green.

In the sixth teaser image, the final of Haseul's solo teasers, we see her once again turning to look at the viewer. She is wearing a black top with a golden necklace, and appears to be standing inside this time. Her name is written in green.

Two more teaser images would be released before the Let Me In MV released, featuring both Heejin and Hyunjin alongside Haseul. However, as they don't have much relevance until the next section, I'll wait until then to talk about them.

Overall, a clear dichotomy is established within these teasers: Haseul, with her more feminine appearance, and "Birdseul," with his more masculine appearance. Haseul is seen wearing color (red), while Birdseul is shown wearing exclusively black and white.

We also can see that Haseul is shown in the wilderness, while Birdseul is shown in urban environments. This is exemplified by where their photos were taken - Haseul's in Iceland, and Birdseul's in London. These locations were described as having "opposite charms."

The question though, of course, is why? Who is Birdseul? Is he meant to be Haseul, or a completely different person simply being played by Haseul? We have very little information to go off of at this point, so all we can really do right now is move on.

On December 11, 2016, the teaser video "[Teaser] 이달의소녀/하슬 (LOONA/HaSeul) "소년, 소녀 (Let Me In)" was released. The coinciding promotional tweet read (via auto-translate) "LOONA (HaSeul) ["Let Me In"] Teaser Video Released!! What will winter girl HaSeul look like?? 😊"

Like all the teasers so far, this one doesn't give us anything that isn't also included in the MV itself, so we'll wait until then to discuss.

The next day, another teaser was released, titled "[Teaser] 이달의소녀/하슬 (LOONA/HaSeul) "Iceland."" However, like the other "location" teasers, this one simply consists of photoshoot behind-the-scenes footage, and thus doesn't contain anything relevant for us to talk about.

The day after that, another teaser video was released. However we also won't be talking about that one here, as this was a teaser for The Carol, which will be the subject of Part 6. Same with the "London" teaser that came out the next day, which was also for The Carol.

With all those teasers out of the way, all that's left to discuss before we dive into the MV itself is its surrounding promotional material.

The official tweet promoting the release contained an uncropped version of the image used for Haseul's "Who's Next Girl?" teaser, allowing us to see her face and more of the landscape behind her.

"Let Me In" has a different title in Korean, that being "소년, 소녀" which translates to "Boy, Girl." This relates to the song's lyrics, which we'll discuss later.

The description talks about "Heejin's colorful-vibe pop in 'ViViD' and Hyunjin's longing of first love in 'Around You'" and how the world of LOONA expands with Haseul. It describes how Haseul was revealed with "a short-blond tomboy concept as well as a long-haired girl concept across day and night," and states that she "has a charm that both boyish and girlish traits coexist in her," which is exemplified in Let Me In (AKA Boy, Girl.)

The song itself is described as "a blockbuster track that starts as a calm winter ballad before strings roar over like a blizzard." So let's venture into that blizzard and watch the MV for Let Me In!

This MV has a lot to talk about, and it's also the first instance of a lot of LOONA music video staples: running, standing in dark voids, etc. Also, no spoilers, but this MV will be very important in the future, so I'll be sure to include absolutely everything that might be of note here.

We begin with some gorgeous sweeping shots of Iceland as the song begins, and the Korean title of the song is shown on screen in white text.

We then see a yellow truck driving across the barren landscape, which Haseul is riding in, She is wearing red, and sings with her eyes closed as she leans against the window.

Suddenly, we get a shot of an eye opening, with some very familiar-looking blonde hair...

We get a better look at the inside of the truck, only to realize that it's being driven by... nobody? The wheel turns all on its own, but Haseul doesn't seem to be surprised by this, simply continuing to sing. We can see her outfit better now, revealing it to be a simple, bright red dress with a bow at the collar.

Aside from Haseul and the absent driver, we can see feathers hanging from the rear view mirror - one pink/red, one yellow, and two white ones. Heejin's color is vivid pink and and Hyunjin's is yellow, so perhaps these feathers could be connected to them?

Hanging by the driver's seat, there is also a dreamcatcher, with a pink/red feather, yellow feather, white feather, and blue/teal feather. Dreamcatchers are charms that originate from Native American cultures. They are typically hung over beds as protection, as they are thought to catch any harm in the air like a spiderweb.

In the back and on the roof of the truck, we can see that someone's taped up illustrations of birds.

The truck stops, and the right door opens all by itself. Haseul gets out and notices something on the ground:

A diamond. Not just one though - there's a whole trail of them. She crouches down to pick one up.

We then see a new scene of Haseul in a dark void, surrounded by tree branches. She wears a patterned poncho, with its main colors being white, red, navy blue, and yellow.

After this though, we get to see where this trail of diamonds leads:

...A crashed plane.

This is a real plane out in the middle of Iceland, near Sólheimasaundur. It was a Douglas C-117D transport aircraft (serial number 17171) from the U.S. Navy, which was forced to land on November 21, 1973 due to severe icing conditions. The whole crew of the plane survived, but the remains of the plane were left behind. The wreckage is still in relatively good condition, and is a popular tourist attraction in the modern day.

Haseul sits on the remains of its left wing, singing.

Right afterwards, we get a new scene of Haseul in a different environment, a grassy field dotted with ice and snow.

She is wearing another poncho/dress, this time mainly tan/white with red, green, and black patterns.

Suddenly we get hit with a few quick shots, right after each other:

A diamond falling into a pile of diamonds, in what looks to be some kind of knitted bag.

A close-up of Haseul turning around to face the viewer, with her eyes out of frame.

A zoomed-out shot of Haseul in the grassy field, staring out at some mountains in the distance. We can see the back of her outfit in this shot, showing us the extended pattern on the back as well as the fringe on the end.

We get some more quick shots, this time with Haseul closing her eyes, followed by a blurry figure who we can now clearly tell is, in fact, Birdseul. For a split second, a diamond flashes over his left eye.

We see the diamonds sitting in a bag again, and then this shot of Birdseul standing on snowy ground in a black void. Once again, a diamond appears for a brief moment, this time floating above him.

Haseul picks up the diamond she was looking at and puts it in the woven white bag she's carrying, which can now see is the bag we saw the diamonds in earlier.

We see the diamonds on the ground again, and then Birdseul in the void again, this time with heavy light blue lighting over him. He's also in full focus this time, so we can get a better look at his outfit - a white garment made entirely of feathers.

Once again, for a split second, a diamond appears, this time obscuring his entire left eye.

Right afterwards, we see the shot of Haseul with her eyes closed from before. She opens them, and for a moment a diamond also appears over her left eye - though instead of the realistic image from the shots with Birdseul, this one is a simple outline illustration of a diamond.

Haseul sings more in the grassy field, and then the scenery suddenly changes to this black landscape covered in ice, with her wearing the same poncho from earlier in the black void and on the plane's wing. This part of the MV was filmed at Iceland's Diamond Beach.

Haseul looks around and crouches down, spotting another diamond on the ground.

As she reaches for it, the image of a diamond that's been appearing in the shots with Birdseul flickers over it for a moment.

Suddenly we see something new - a trail of paper planes. We watch as one flies in and lands on the ground, right in front of the actual crashed plane. For a moment, two illustrated outlines appear over it.

First a paper plane, then a bird, and then the same paper plane but larger.

Haseul approaches the crashed plane and begins looking around. She glances out one of the windows, and then we see Birdseul in the void again.

Very quickly, the bird outline illustration from before flashes over him, then a real image of a white bird, and then the same bird but larger. There's also a lens flare right at the end of the shot.

Haseul sings amongst the branches some more, before we get a very interesting shot.

Birdseul stares at the viewer, coming into focus, before the shot cuts to Haseul, tilting her head up and opening her eyes in the same motion as him; almost as if he's turning into her.

The next shot is notable as it's the first time in the MV that we see Birdseul being the one to sing. Not only that, but the lyric he sings is incredibly interesting: "Will I be you? Or will you be me?"

We'll come back to this later, as I believe analysis of this aspect of the MV is best left for after we've gone through everything else. But definitely keep it in mind as we continue.

Right after Birdseul sings that line, we get this shot of Haseul standing alone in the void. This time she isn't surrounded by branches. Instead, this shot closely mirrors the ones we've been seeing of Birdseul: empty and far away.

We cut back to Haseul looking through the window of the crashed plane, and now we see what she's looking at:

Birdseul, standing outside in the distance.

Haseul watches as he slowly turns his head, seemingly to look at her.

And after more shots of the plane and Haseul singing in front of it, we see him turn around and begin to walk away.

As the bridge begins, Birdseul walks through snow in the dark void. We see him with his back turned to the camera, and then several images flash above him:

An illustration of a plane.

An illustration of a bird, different from the ones we've seen before.

The real bird that we saw before, and then the previous bird but larger.

Illustrations showing the steps for making a paper plane.

And finally, an illustration of a single paper plane.

We now go back to Haseul walking through the black Diamond Beach landscape. She notices something on the ground, only this time it's not a diamond.

It's a pair of white feathers.

Haseul stares ahead blankly, as images of Birdseul and the illustrations of birds flash rapidly on the screen.

She's staring at Birdseul, who stands at a distance in front of her. Once again, he has turned to look at her wordlessly.

Suddenly, Haseul starts running towards him as fast as she can. In her haste, the diamonds she's collected start spilling out of her bag onto the wet ground. She pulls something out of her bag, eventually coming to a stop.

That something is a slingshot, which she immediately readies.

As she aims towards Birdseul, who simply continues to stare at her, unmoving, Haseul says in French: "Je ne sais pas par où commencer," which translates to "I don't even know where to start."

The fact that it's in French is interesting, as Haseul herself has no ties to France. But Heejin does, with her representative location being Paris. So far we haven't seen Haseul with either of the previous members, but perhaps this could indicate some connection between the two?

As the camera shifts its focus, we can see that she's loaded the slingshot with one of the diamonds she's collected. She pulls it back and, right as the final chorus starts, fires.

The diamond finds its target, hitting Birdseul directly in the chest. Feathers fly off his body as he crumples to the ground. Strangely, his face appears completely blank as he goes down.

After he's hit, we get close-ups of him singing in the void, once again contrasted with Haseul doing the same thing.

Haseul rushes over to where he fell and crouches down.

Where Birdseul fell, Haseul picks up a lifeless white bird. She stares at it in her hands with a blank expression, and then the MV ends.

By now, I'm sure it's clear why I decided to use the name "Birdseul" rather than "Boyseul." Not only is he consistently paired with images of birds and dressed like a bird, but here at the end he seems to turn into a bird. That, or he was a bird this whole time, and was only metaphorically being represented as a human. It's not entirely clear.

Something important to note is that although we see Birdseul continue to sing after he's shot, it was confirmed by Haseul in an interview that the bird at the end is in fact supposed to be dead.

Thus, these scenes of him singing afterwards are likely not diegetic. (i.e. not meant to be taken literally/not canon to the story)

This MV presents us with a lot of questions. Who was driving the yellow truck? Who led Haseul to the plane? Who sent the paper planes? And of course, the main question that we've had since the initial teasers: Who is Birdseul?

Before we finally discuss that though, there's one more thing I have to mention. Multiple LOONA music videos have 4K Vimeo versions which were uploaded by Digipedi, the company which produced the vast majority of LOONA's videos.

The reason this is relevant is that some of these Vimeo uploads are actually different from the official uploads. Let Me In's Vimeo version in particular has several shots that aren't seen in the final product.

I will be covering any notable differences for all MVs where they exist, but do keep in mind that since this content isn't included in the official uploads, it's unclear whether they are officially considered "canon."

At the beginning with the truck, we get some close-ups of the items inside. One shows us some pictures and blueprints of airplanes, which we weren't able to see in the official upload.

Later on, we also get a better look at one of the paper planes on the ground. It's hard to make out the words, but it seems to be an index. I can make out some phrases such as "Order of the British [Empire]" and "star," and the word "military" seems to pop up multiple times. So perhaps this is a history book about war or something?

I can't find anything online about what book this might be from, and considering I can only make out a few words and they're very general terms, I don't think it's worthwhile to try and find out. But if anyone wants to take on the challenge and manages to figure it out, please leave a comment!

This shot is interesting, as we see Haseul singing with her palms facing upwards. Usually we tend to associate this pose with someone reflecting on themself and their actions, or going "Whyyyy!?" so it's interesting that she does it here. (This is before she shoots Birdseul.)

The rest of the MV plays out basically the same, just with slightly different editing, except for one thing:

When Birdseul is hit with the slingshot, the entire shot goes red, really driving home the fact that he is being killed here. (Screenshot has been brightened a bit for better visibility)

With that though, we have officially gotten through all the content this MV has to offer. There's a lot that happens here, so before we do any further analysis or speculation, let's quickly go over the order of events one more time so we know exactly what we're working with.

Haseul arrives in a yellow truck, which is seemingly driving itself. She finds a trail of diamonds and picks them up, which leads her to a crashed plane. She explores the plane before seeing Birdseul out the window, and chases after him.

Once she catches up to Birdseul, she uses a slingshot to shoot one of the diamonds at him, seemingly killing him, and the MV ends with her holding the lifeless body of a white bird, which seems to represent him.

The most pressing thing we need to discuss is who Birdseul actually is, but this is a question that requires a lot of analysis. To start, let's analyze his scenes.

Throughout the MV, Birdseul is repeatedly shown alongside images of birds, diamonds, paper planes, and real airplanes. Thus, we can connect all of these things to him. The trail of diamonds and trail of paper planes lead to the crashed plane, which then leads Haseul to Birdseul himself. Did he leave this trail, or did someone else want to lead her to him? It's left ambiguous.

The imagery itself is interesting. Both birds and planes can be connected to the concept of flight, and paper planes are obviously meant to be reminiscent of real airplanes. Haseul's representative animal is a white bird, but perhaps there's an actual reason for that.

Flight is often used as a symbol of freedom and independence; not being weighed down by problems and being able to do whatever and go wherever you want. Flying in dreams can also represent a spiritual journey, or a need to zoom out and see things from a broader perspective.

With this in mind, perhaps Haseul is experiencing some kind of struggle and is longing for a freedom that she doesn't currently have? We don't have any context for why she's here in Iceland or what her usual life is like, so it's hard to say.

The one thing that doesn't seem to fit the flight theming is the diamonds. Diamonds often symbolize unbreakable love and have historically been used for engagement rings. However, they're most commonly associated with strength and invincibility due to their status as the hardest natural material in the world.

It's not exactly clear which of these meanings makes the most sense in the context of Let Me In, but there is another possibility. Clear diamonds, like the ones in the MV, look similar to ice, which would fit in with the setting.

Going back to Birdseul though, he is also clearly connected to the crashed plane, which is featured heavily throughout the MV. The question again is why. Was he on the plane when it crashed? Or is it simply meant to be symbolic?

The latter is the simplest explanation. If flight (and thus planes and birds) symbolizes freedom, then perhaps the crashed plane is meant to symbolize a loss or lack of freedom. It was once free and able to fly, but is now stuck on the ground.

Haseul is led to the crashed plane and subsequently Birdseul, so perhaps this is meant to symbolize Haseul coming to a realization about a lack of freedom; either her own, or Birdseul's.

The other explanation requires a lot more context. Why was Birdseul on the plane? Where was he going? Why did it crash? How did he survive? How long has he been here? All things we have absolutely no way of knowing. And if Birdseul really is an actual bird, then that wouldn't really make sense. It's entirely possible, but we really don't have anything to go off of with this interpretation.

Something interesting is that in an interview, Haseul says that the bird in the MV has a secret. (translated here) With these different interpretations, this secret could either be something more conceptual, like struggles with freedom, or something more literal, such as what happened with the crashed plane.

Then of course, we have what is likely the most important scene in the MV - Haseul killing Birdseul. The question that immediately springs to mind is simple - why? Once again, let's analyze this scene to see what we have to work with.

When Haseul first spots Birdseul, she chases after him. Once she catches up, we get this interesting moment where she just stares at him for a moment, with this sort of blank expression.

To me, it looks like she's coming to some kind of realization or decision. She looks like she can't believe what she's seeing, freezing for a moment before actually springing into action.

Whatever the reason, she only stops for a brief moment before running towards him and frantically pulling out her slingshot. She doesn't seem to hesitate much either before shooting him, which on its own tells us a lot about the relationship between these two.

Whoever Birdseul is, Haseul seems to want to kill him/get rid of him. However, after she actually kills him, she immediately runs over and holds his body in her hands.

Her expression is still really hard to read here. She doesn't look particularly happy about what she's done, but she doesn't exactly look very upset either. Again, to me, it kind of looks like she's in shock; like she can't believe what she did, and is just sort of frozen in place. But it's hard to tell if she regrets her actions at all.

All this being said, it still feels like we're no closer to understanding what Birdseul's deal is. Before I say anything else though, this is when I'd like to bring up one of the main inspirations for Let Me In's music video: The Little Prince.

The Little Prince is a story written in 1943 by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It follows an unnamed narrator whose plane crashes in the Sahara desert, where he meets a young boy named "the little prince," who says he used to live on a small asteroid called "B 612."

Most of the story is spent detailing the journey of the prince and the people he met, and it comments on how children often have more open hearts and minds than adults. However, for our purposes, the two most important moments are the little prince's encounter with the fox, and the story's ending.

At one point, the prince encounters some rosebushes and becomes sad, as he believes that the rose from his home planet, whom he fell in love with, isn't unique. He is found by a fox, who wishes to be tamed and says that taming something makes it go from ordinary to special and unique.

This makes the little prince realize that his rose was special because she meant something to him; he had "tamed" her. In the context of the story, "taming" is less about domestication, and more about establishing a meaningful relationship.

The reason this is relevant to Let Me In is because this concept of "taming" is directly referenced in the song's lyrics:

In the official subtitles, this line is translated as "becoming more used to you," but the specific term used is the same one used in the Korean version of The Little Prince to mean "tamed."

This part plays during the bridge, when Haseul finds the feathers on the ground.

The most obvious parallel between the stories, aside from the initial premise of the plane crash, is the ending. At the end of the book, the little prince talks to a snake who says he can send him home. The prince says goodbye to the narrator and tells him that even if it looks like he has died, it's simply because his body is too heavy to take back with him. He warns the narrator to not watch him go as it will upset him, but the narrator stays with him anyway.

The prince tells him to look at the stars and think of the prince's laughter, as it will make it appear as if the stars are laughing. He then allows the snake to bite him and falls down. However, the next morning, the narrator is unable to find the prince's body, leaving his fate ambiguous as the narrator repairs his plane and leaves the desert.

With this in mind, it once again brings up questions about Birdseul's fate. It looks like he died, and Haseul stated that he was dead in that interview, but perhaps like the little prince says, he actually went home? (Though we don't know where that would be.)

And of course, you can interpret the little prince having simply died at the end of the book, so it's hard to make any definitive statements one way or the other. Regardless though, the end of Let Me In is definitely supposed to parallel The Little Prince's ending.

Just like ViViD's parallels to Alice in Wonderland, it's important to keep in mind that these stories simply serve as inspiration for parts of the Loonaverse, and likely aren't meant to be one-to-one parallels. How closely the two resemble each other is a matter of personal interpretation.

Now, let's stop beating around the bush and finally try to answer the biggest question of this MV: who is Birdseul?

He's played by Haseul in a wig of course, but who is he actually meant to be within the story? Well, although the specifics are up to interpretation, I think there's a pretty clear answer if we pay attention to what we're told.

Earlier, I mentioned this shot, where Birdseul almost appears to turn into Haseul, and the line that Birdseul sings along to right afterward: "Will I be you? Or will you be me?"

I think it's pretty clear that Haseul and Birdseul are meant to be the same person, or versions of the same person. This concept is brought up again and again, both in the music video and outside of it. In the chorus, Haseul sings:

Haseul and Birdseul are contrasted throughout the MV; as this interview says: "In the music video for 'Let Me In,' Haseul approaches us... as a pure girl and sometimes as a dream-like boy." (translated here)

This concept of Haseul appearing as both a girl and a boy was all over her teasers. Like I mentioned then, she described these two appearances as "Haseul, the boy" and "Haseul, the girl."

In Let Me In's album description, it was stated that "both boyish and girlish traits coexist" in Haseul. Even the song's Korean name ties into this, as it's literally called "Boy, Girl."

Because of how prevalent this concept is in the surrounding material, and how Haseul and Birdseul "becoming each other" is repeatedly shown through both the visuals and the lyrics, I think the most likely explanation is that Haseul and Birdseul are in fact the same person.

(I will be moving forward with this assumption for the rest of this analysis, but please keep in mind that this isn't confirmed and other interpretations are completely valid!)

In the lyrics of Let Me In, Haseul sings about her heart being dark, before the person she's singing to barged in and awakened her world. She says that "it can't be a coincidence" and asks this person to melt her cold heart.

Most prominently though, at the end of the chorus she sings "The girl is the boy's girl," harkoning to the song's Korean title. At the end however, she adds "The boy is the girl's boy," before the song ends on "The girl is the boy's... wish."

We can assume that these lyrics (or at least some of them; remember that the contents of the songs themselves aren't always completely diegetic) are directed at Birdseul. Him being the one to suddenly appear and "melt her heart" would fit in with the way she comes across him in the music video, and we already discussed the lines about them becoming each other.

However, the song just being a straightforward love song in the context of the Loonaverse runs into two problems: that Haseul and Birdseul seem to be the same person, and more pressingly, that Haseul kills Birdseul at the end of the MV. Which y'know... doesn't really line up with her just being in love with him or something.

Going with the assumption that they're the same person, I think Let Me In can be interpreted as some kind of personal journey that Haseul is going on, represented by her being split into these two versions of herself.

We previously discussed how Birdseul is connected to the concept of flight, and thus symbolically, freedom. If we take this completely literally, then that would mean that by killing him, Haseul is destroying her own freedom... which doesn't seem particularly likely.

I think more likely, killing Birdseul is what gives Haseul freedom. Perhaps that's why Haseul was led to him in the first place.

Consider Birdseul's expression when he gets shot - it's completely blank. And when Haseul initially raises her slingshot at him, he doesn't make any attempt to move or say anything. He just stands still and continues to stare at her - almost like he's accepted his fate.

With this in mind, I think it's possible that whether it was Birdseul or someone else who left the trail for Haseul, Birdseul exists as an obstacle for her to overcome; some part of herself that she has to symbolically kill in order to grow as a person. Sort of like a phoenix - this version of Haseul has to die in order for a better version to be reborn.

It's hard to determine what problem(s) Birdseul represents with the amount of information we're given, but whatever they are, that is what I believe his "secret" is that was mentioned in that interview. (The secret could also simply be that he and Haseul are the same person, but that feels a bit too obvious.)

It's also interesting that the final line of the song is changed to "The girl is the boy's wish," rather than "The girl is the boy's girl" like it's been for the rest of the song. In the context of just the song, it can obviously be read as this boy wishing to be with this girl.

But in the context of the music video, this seems to mean that Birdseul wishes for something having to do with Haseul. With what we've already discussed, perhaps this indicates that Birdseul wishes to be like Haseul, or maybe even that he hopes his death will help her. As always, it's up to interpretation.

Even with this interpretation, there are still a lot of questions left: Who was driving the yellow truck? Why did Haseul come here? Who left the trail of diamonds and paper planes? And what exactly is Birdseul meant to represent?

Much later on, we may or may not get some more information regarding these questions, but for now we'll just have to wonder.

Before I conclude this section however, there is one more interpretation of this MV I want to discuss. I want to preface this part by saying that I do not think this was the intended meaning, and this is simply, like I said, an interpretation.

That being said, I'd be remiss to not mention that there is a very compelling trans reading to be found in the story of this MV. We are presented with a male and female version of Haseul, and the lyrics question whether one will become the other. And in the end, Haseul kills her male self.

If we read Haseul as a trans woman, then what I said about Birdseul's death granting her freedom is recontextualized as her ridding herself of her former male identity, and becoming free to live as her true female self. This also recontextualizes the final line, "The girl is the boy's wish," as literally stating that Haseul was a boy who wished to be a girl.

This can even connect to the original teasers. Haseul is shown in the wilderness, while Birdseul is shown in the city; perhaps showing how she presents as a boy in public, but is able to be herself when she's alone.

Again, I obviously don't think this is the intended story of this MV, but as a trans person myself, I find this interpretation really compelling and fun to think about, so I wanted to bring it up here.

Now though, we have finally reached the end of this section. To summarize what we've learned from this MV: Haseul is a girl who seems to be dealing with some kind of internal struggle, which culminates in her killing this other version of herself. Unlike Heejin or Hyunjin, we can't really get a great grasp on her personality or day-to-day life just from this video, but she certainly has a different vibe compared to them.

We've seen Heejin and Hyunjin together, but now it's time for all three members to meet. I'll see you in Part 6, where we'll discuss The Carol!