The story behind Park Jung Min’s dark subconscious; ROMEO
Note: This is not officially stated by Jung Min or released by Victor Entertainment. This is just an assumption based on the knowledge of Japanese fans about their myths, beliefs of their own culture.
1. What is the Japanese myth?
Shinigami which happens to be a Japanese legend that revolves around Gods of Death is the myth of this story. If you’ve read the Japanese manga ‘Death Note’ then you might be very familiar with this term. Shinigami are death gods and they have their civilization established underworld and they have a King who rules the society. Shinigami are more like the Asian version of Grim Reaper.
1. What is the Japanese myth?
Shinigami which happens to be a Japanese legend that revolves around Gods of Death is the myth of this story. If you’ve read the Japanese manga ‘Death Note’ then you might be very familiar with this term. Shinigami are death gods and they have their civilization established underworld and they have a King who rules the society. Shinigami are more like the Asian version of Grim Reaper.
So while western cultures believe in Grim Reaper as something that is ruling death, Japan culture believes it’s Shinigami. This Shinigami folklores started in 18th century. An article says that while Grim Reaper brings you death, Shinigami’s job is to escort our soul from this life to the next one when we die. <- this beleief is in Asian cultures which is called Reincarnation. Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists and Shinto’s strongly believe in Reincarnation including myself. (I’m a Buddhist). Shinigamis are in the form of ‘Kami’ which basically means spirits that exist in nature. Our cultures believes in Kamis as ancestors that bring us good fortune if we treat them right if not then look forward to worse scenarios. Shinigamis work in pairs or groups to achieve their goals. The only Shinigami I’m familiar with is Maraya (A Buddhist shinigami belief which happened to take the role of three beautiful women while Gautam Buddha was trying to achieve enlightenment. Maraya [demon] appeared as Tanha, Arti and Raga which respectively means Greediness, Boredom and Passion. This was to distract Buddha from gaining enlightenment because one who enlightens does not carry any of these 3 things)
According to ‘Arres’ from 박정민 soompi forum she states that she read an article about Shinigami and that there were many death gods in their world and one of these death gods were called ‘RO’. <- term familiar hah?
So from what she read, Ro happens to be a very handsome, attractive powerful Shinigami who is very stubborn and disobedient. He was holding an immortal youth and beauty that never died out. As a Shinigami he had special powers which gave him the benefit of turning a pure human soul into something dark and evil just by his touch. So this main King of Shinigami world wasn’t immortal and he needed human soul’s to live on; more like gaining more time to live by someone else’s life time. Since RO had the ability to turn human souls into something dark the king ordered RO to bring human souls for him to live on. So RO’s mission was to go to the human world, deal with beautiful young souls who still have a lot of lifetime to live on, turn them evil and hand them to the King of Shinigami for him to suck their soul and gain lifetime for him. So things were going great until … RO fell in love! tadaa… He fell in love with a human girl! So the love story was going mighty fine until the human girl started getting upset of what kind of a world this RO lives in. I mean c’mon, they are death gods. Who wants to be with a person named as a ‘death god’. xD
So when the human girl got burdened with how RO’s world works she probably left him. This led RO to get very upset and build hatred against his world. As a result of this RO went back to the Shinigami world and destroyed their world into pieces. And finally he stood against the king and fought with him which ended up as RO being defeated by the King. The king banned him from their world into a liminal state of limbo and hell. That is more like having no place to go and the same thing just circles around you while you wait for survival. But since RO had special powers to connect with humans even from earlier so even though he was in a liminality period he could still win human’s soul and bodies with his powers.
2. So how does Shinigami connects to ROMEO?
First connection – The folklore and Romeo’s Give Me Your Heart Music Video.
So from what she read, Ro happens to be a very handsome, attractive powerful Shinigami who is very stubborn and disobedient. He was holding an immortal youth and beauty that never died out. As a Shinigami he had special powers which gave him the benefit of turning a pure human soul into something dark and evil just by his touch. So this main King of Shinigami world wasn’t immortal and he needed human soul’s to live on; more like gaining more time to live by someone else’s life time. Since RO had the ability to turn human souls into something dark the king ordered RO to bring human souls for him to live on. So RO’s mission was to go to the human world, deal with beautiful young souls who still have a lot of lifetime to live on, turn them evil and hand them to the King of Shinigami for him to suck their soul and gain lifetime for him. So things were going great until … RO fell in love! tadaa… He fell in love with a human girl! So the love story was going mighty fine until the human girl started getting upset of what kind of a world this RO lives in. I mean c’mon, they are death gods. Who wants to be with a person named as a ‘death god’. xD
So when the human girl got burdened with how RO’s world works she probably left him. This led RO to get very upset and build hatred against his world. As a result of this RO went back to the Shinigami world and destroyed their world into pieces. And finally he stood against the king and fought with him which ended up as RO being defeated by the King. The king banned him from their world into a liminal state of limbo and hell. That is more like having no place to go and the same thing just circles around you while you wait for survival. But since RO had special powers to connect with humans even from earlier so even though he was in a liminality period he could still win human’s soul and bodies with his powers.
2. So how does Shinigami connects to ROMEO?
First connection – The folklore and Romeo’s Give Me Your Heart Music Video.
So the music video starts off with ROMEO in a white outfit lying on the floor with a blood bottle in his hand. He looks exhausted and more like dead. So why is there a dog? To represent evilness, because that dog does not seem very tame. It has chains around his neck and he barks angrily. But ROMEO seems calm and beautiful. Now that’s the first connection. RO was a beautiful, handsome young man with eternal beauty but the video merges both evilness and beauty by putting a dog in the video.
Second connection - According to Arres from박정민 soompi forum she states that when second scene starts you can suddenly see ROMEO with chains and more like being trapped inside something. His eyes turned red and his clothes all black. His face carries a vengeful expression that is dark, scary and evil. This explains the death god RO’s real background and also his liminal period. The moment is set in a graveyard indicating that this space has no life or nor escape (I study film xD) Also Arres states that it proves the exile of RO from their world such as being in a dark place after being banned from his world. This is to show how RO is now taking human souls and bodies and turn them evil after throwing away his calm beautiful outlook.
Let’s connect GMYH lyrics to this (only some parts)
“How long will this tragedy repeat itself?”
“I’m attacked by the far away past, is this my punishment from that day?”
“If you want to step forward I’ll be your support, but even that wish won’t come true”
“Oh, light Please cut through the sky and shine on me”
“Oh, the voice that calls for your name Please let it reach you…”
“I want to save you from the approaching darkness”
“Take my hand, Give me your heart”
1. Stating about the liminal period because he got no way to escape from it.
2. He’s obviously remembering his girl whom he loved and asking the King whether this infinite cruel period is his punishment.
3. He’s stating that if the human girl wants to take a step forward about their love life he will support her but since he’s trapped and he has no way to help her at all.
4, 5 & 6 He asks the girl to listen to him without ignoring her. It seems like someone is going to hurt her maybe the King for falling in love with RO.
7. He’s asking the girl to become like him?
Third connection - So what does ROMEO means?
ROMEO means LOVE.
According to the article Arres read it says that it’s a bit of weird for someone that dark and mysterious to choose such a name as their identity. Darkness and evilness does not represent Love but it did for RO. Because RO was a dark person but still he fell in love.
Again GMYH lyrics -
“The rubble I passed”
“Even love hurts people sometimes, so we become afraid”
“I want to heal the devastation that you can’t confront”
“One by one Can I?”
1. The hardships he went through in his life.
2. Establishing the fact that he is someone who once loved a person.
3 & 4. The girl is pretty much hurt, maybe the King or someone actually punished her and he wants to take her pain away. (Imagine ROMEO coming to you and saying ‘Give me your pain’ while you are sick *fangirling*)
okay back to the story..
Fourth connection - As you continue to watch the video you’ll realize that ROMEO is living as a very rich, respected man which is same as RO. They set the scene by showing his house; luxurious furniture and setting. They have the utmost facilities and nobleness. And he drinks fine red wine (A very luxurious drink). This is another connection to prove how RO and ROMEO might be the same person.
“How long will this tragedy repeat itself?”
“I’m attacked by the far away past, is this my punishment from that day?”
“If you want to step forward I’ll be your support, but even that wish won’t come true”
“Oh, light Please cut through the sky and shine on me”
“Oh, the voice that calls for your name Please let it reach you…”
“I want to save you from the approaching darkness”
“Take my hand, Give me your heart”
1. Stating about the liminal period because he got no way to escape from it.
2. He’s obviously remembering his girl whom he loved and asking the King whether this infinite cruel period is his punishment.
3. He’s stating that if the human girl wants to take a step forward about their love life he will support her but since he’s trapped and he has no way to help her at all.
4, 5 & 6 He asks the girl to listen to him without ignoring her. It seems like someone is going to hurt her maybe the King for falling in love with RO.
7. He’s asking the girl to become like him?
Third connection - So what does ROMEO means?
ROMEO means LOVE.
According to the article Arres read it says that it’s a bit of weird for someone that dark and mysterious to choose such a name as their identity. Darkness and evilness does not represent Love but it did for RO. Because RO was a dark person but still he fell in love.
Again GMYH lyrics -
“The rubble I passed”
“Even love hurts people sometimes, so we become afraid”
“I want to heal the devastation that you can’t confront”
“One by one Can I?”
1. The hardships he went through in his life.
2. Establishing the fact that he is someone who once loved a person.
3 & 4. The girl is pretty much hurt, maybe the King or someone actually punished her and he wants to take her pain away. (Imagine ROMEO coming to you and saying ‘Give me your pain’ while you are sick *fangirling*)
okay back to the story..
Fourth connection - As you continue to watch the video you’ll realize that ROMEO is living as a very rich, respected man which is same as RO. They set the scene by showing his house; luxurious furniture and setting. They have the utmost facilities and nobleness. And he drinks fine red wine (A very luxurious drink). This is another connection to prove how RO and ROMEO might be the same person.
Then he suddenly walks on the table making all his luxurious plates and everything fall. Between this you can see cuts of him wearing black and dancing, that’s to remind us time to time that RO is actually evil. And then finally the wine glass breaks. Maybe that’s to state the fight RO had with the king. Because he starts singing in an evil face indicating revenge. So that’s him trying to destroy his world. And then it shows clips of his house kind of destroyed, spoiled-food, furniture with spider webs around them and ROMEO just stares at them. That’s showing how RO destroyed his world. But then ROMEO is thumping on a door that has chains on it; he has no way to escape though he has destroyed the place. That’s stating how RO was trapped inside a world in a liminal period.
Fifth connection – Jung Min appears! Yep that is the beautiful ROMEO but he looks like Jung Min. And Jung Min is the utmost opposite side of ROMEO. That’s to show that once RO was a beautiful young figure that had no hatred inside; this little part is presenting RO’ life story.
GMYH lyrics again –
“Amongst the surrounding noise, a soft kiss”
“The two of us can surely find happiness together…”
“I will never let anyone take away your dreams”
“So please trust me to protect everything you have”
1. First he was so beautiful and young.
2, 3 & 4. He falls in love and gives her the ultimate happiness and hopes.
And there we go… right after the ‘white ROMEO’ he starts struggling and crying and he turns evil in the white costume; his eyes red and his face evil. That’s the final period of RO; the hatred version. White ROMEO covers in blood and suddenly turns black along with his surroundings. He splashes water; one of the ways of showing hatred, anger and destroy.
Then ROMEO starts splashing water a lot, clenching his teeth and screaming showing his anger. Trying to see escapes and release him from this liminal period. But in all scenes at the end he’s either at that graveyard, or at the pond or the dark place where he’s dancing. All these 3 got no roads to go out, they got no exists. He’s trapped forever and everything just repeats around him.
Then ROMEO starts splashing water a lot, clenching his teeth and screaming showing his anger. Trying to see escapes and release him from this liminal period. But in all scenes at the end he’s either at that graveyard, or at the pond or the dark place where he’s dancing. All these 3 got no roads to go out, they got no exists. He’s trapped forever and everything just repeats around him.
In the final scene of the video ROMEO shows a saddened expression and disappears into the water. That’s to indicate that RO… never found his past life again.
P.S- If all this is true then Jung Min must be a very creative person to read and explore a Japanese legend this widely while understanding every single detail of it and then focusing on one character to represent himself and generalize the whole idea into a Music Video. His imagination is massive; creativeness is massive. Well after all he’s Park Jung Min isn’t he?
Article by @DeeHudgens94
Main source: Arres of 박정민 soompi forum
Sub Sources:
ROMEO’s Give Me Your Heart Official Music Video – courtesy of ROMEO, Victor Entertainment and Colorful Records.
Kincaid – Shinigami; Angels of death
Wikipedia – Mara
Japanese Mythology and other Folklore – Kami and other spirits
Grizz – Shinigami and Death in Japanese culture
[For the analysis article RO’s story according to ROMEO’s Midnight Theatre album CLICK HERE]