I don’t know if thinking this way counts as giving myself false hope, but I kept thinking about this all night yesterday. 😭😭

In K-pop, it’s actually not uncommon for a member to suddenly go on hiatus or leave a group. Setting aside cases involving scandals, even when there is no scandal, the way companies announce a member’s departure and handle things afterward is rarely as strange as Belift’s response this time.

So what I want to say is that I feel Belift, and possibly even HYBE, may have intentionally handled this entire situation in the way it

is unfolding now.

For now, I’m not going to talk about the real reason behind Heeseung’s departure, and I’m also putting aside all the speculation and rumors from the past few days. Just looking at the company’s way of handling this, it feels like everything—from the sudden withdrawal announcement, to having Heeseung post a farewell message to fans, and even the anger and backlash from fans afterward—was already within the company’s expectations.

Because no matter whether Heeseung had conflicts with the members or issues with the company, any normal company should know how much public backlash and commercial loss a sudden announcement like this would cause. Instead of directly announcing his departure, they could have chosen a softer and more gradual approach. For example, they could have started by saying that Heeseung would be unable to participate in upcoming group schedules for personal reasons, then slowly reduced his public activities, and only later announced a hiatus or confirmed that he would not renew his contract when it ended. That kind of approach would obviously have reduced controversy much more.

But Belift did not do that. On the contrary, they even specifically responded to Billboard, directly shattering fans’ hopes. That kind of move not only feels like it was meant to escalate the situation on purpose, but also comes across as deeply disrespectful toward fans. On top of that, removing Heeseung from group photos, dealing with pre-recorded group content that had already been prepared, and separating his fancall schedule from the group’s activities all make this feel like far more than an ordinary case of a member leaving a group.

That is why I feel there must be something else planned behind this situation, and that it will not be as simple as what is being presented on the surface: “leaving the group and then transitioning into solo activities.” Because if the company truly only wanted to preserve both Heeseung’s individual value and the group’s value, while also avoiding awkward encounters between both sides afterward, then there was no need to handle things in such a drastic way. There was even less need to make so many moves that almost look like they are trying to completely sever ties with him.