LOONAVERSE/Analysis/Not Friends

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==Synopsis==
As the members of Loona explore the world outside of the Loonaverse, their roles and powers change. JinSoul traps HeeJin and gains power over her. Kim Lip tries to help HeeJin escape, while Yves is able to climb towards the heavens for the first time since falling from Eden. HeeJin attempts to escape on her own, but is caught by JinSoul. Kim Lip and Yves work together to help HeeJin escape and they succeeed. HeeJin is no longer above JinSoul or below her, but her equal.
==Main Theory==
We can view Not Friends as being a sort of "filler" within the Loonaverse. Because this song only features 4 out of the 12 members and was released without any official promotions or subunit debut plans, we can assume that this music video exists to provide more context to events that are occurring within the loonaverse at this time. Not Friends serves as a bridge between Paint the Town and the next release. An example of other "filler" videos include Around You, My Sunday, OEC Reveal, etc. These videos help to put events of the Loonaverse in context, but aren't incredibly important to the plot. We can also confirm this by the fact that Not Friends doesn't have lore featured in the description.
The opening shot of the music video is HeeJin in a white dress, walking towards a group of armed men. Here we see her not walking on the ground, but on tables under glass chandeliers. This supports the theory that HeeJin is the god of the loonaverse, as she walks above where everyone else does. The color of her dress signifies her purity and holiness in this world.
We then see HeeJin's right eye in purple light. This signfies Choerry, as the light is her color (purple) and she is the only member of ODD EYE CIRCLE to have a right odd eye. She is also the only ODD EYE member not featured in this song, which suggests that here, HeeJin not only represents herself but Choerry as well. The light turns blue as we see her entire face.
HeeJin raises a gun and fires a shot at a man sitting at the end of the table she's standing on, except the shot is in reverse. We've seen this throughout the Loonaverse (X X teaser), with the idea of the möbius rewinding and time jumping backwards. This event happens later in time.
HeeJin is then handcuffed in a room while JinSoul circles her. We can see that HeeJin is dressed similarly to Yves in new, which suggests that she's sinned/left Eden, just like Yves did after she bit the apple.
Kim Lip stands in front of a mirror, with a joker in front of her. In a deck of cards, the joker has its own suit, separate from the other cards in the deck. In card games, it can be extremely powerful or extremely useless. Traditionally, a joker would hold a marotte except the one Kim Lip looks at is holding a key. She then draws a smiley face with eyes crossed out on a mirror.
We then see a spiral staircase, a combination of the location Eclipse took place in with the color schemes of Egoist. This staircase symbolizes climbing to the heavens, or Eden. We then see Yves, the first girl who fell from Eden, climbing this staircase.
Now let's discuss the men the girls are shooting in this video. For this, we look to the official description of Paint the Town. "Finally conquering the LOONAverse with their own strengths, LOONA then discovers a bigger world that they have never known about." The only inhabitants of the Loonaverse are the Loona members, which suggests that this music video takes place in a different place entirely. As the members have destroyed the möbius strip and untied as twelve, they now explore the world outside of the Loonaverse. In this place Yves is able to climb to the heavens, HeeJin sins, Kim Lip finds a key to herself, and JinSoul holds more power than she ever has before. This new world turns the lore and established dynamics of the Loonaverse on its head.
We can tell that JinSoul holds power here as she's the one who's keeping HeeJin captive. She circles HeeJin while HeeJin is handcuffed and holds a television with HeeJin on the screen. This tells us that outside of the Loonaverse and the world HeeJin created, JinSoul is more powerful than her. It's also important to note that the men never attack JinSoul, which suggests that they work for her.
We then see JinSoul standing in front of a keyhole, most likely meaning she's trapped HeeJin and Kim Lip found the key to rescue her. While this is happening HeeJin attempts to escape from her but since HeeJin doesn't have the key, her escape is fruitless.
Both Yves and Kim Lip mirror each other, as they walk down hallways. Yves holds a black rose, in contrast to the red rose she ate in Love4eva. While red roses symbolize love, black roses symbolize death and mourning.
Kim Lip and Yves face off, just as JinSoul and HeeJin are doing. But why would Kim Lip and Yves fight? There's a few possible reasons. Yves may want the key from Kim Lip as JinSoul does, or its possible that Kim Lip doesn't want Yves to ascend, as she's now able to do outside of the Loonaverse.
Next, a yellow car drives around (orbits) a light blue car. This most certainly symbolizes the relationship between Go Won and HyunJin, as we've seen throughout the Loonaverse. The two of them are connected. For the context of this music video, HeeJin is heavily connected to HyunJin as Yves is heavily connected to Go Won. We see Yves circling HeeJin in the yellow car, as HeeJin sits on top of the blue car. This could mean that Yves is watching HeeJin and she knows HeeJin is in trouble.
In the next scene, JinSoul catches HeeJin trying to escape. HeeJin surrenders. JinSoul continues to keep HeeJin trapped. We then see Kim Lip on a motorcycle as she surrounds JinSoul, while JinSoul sits in chains, reminiscent of her scene in Egoist. Kim Lip is seen in purple light, just as HeeJin was earlier.
HeeJin manages to break free from JinSoul, and we see the beginning of the music video played once more. Yves is caught, but manages to eat an apple beforehand. Now that HeeJin's free, she swings on a swingset in JinSoul's color. Kim Lip, Yves, and HeeJin celebrate at an amusement park, similar to the one from HeeJin's debut teasers.
In the final scene, we see HeeJin on top of a car and looking up at the moon as it changes to her and JinSoul's colors.
Category:LOONAVERSE/Analysis