i believe it lol! and quite honestly i don’t think this should come as much of a surprise at all given that jaemin’s underlying source of motivation for this career has always been the love he has for dream and the fans above all else… anybody remember this video where he was talking about cooking for his future family wisjekdkd. and he’s also been talking about government pensions and taxes since 2019 like my man is preparedddd. he’s ready.

relatedly, i’ve answered a cc 1-2 years ago regarding whether i think jaemin would completely disappear from the public eye once he retired and here is my answer to that:

“i think this depends on a couple of factors—mostly whether his notions of self-preservation will win against everything else, but also on the timing of when he actually retires in his career! if we’re following the trajectory of his sunbae male idols in sm, a lot of them go on to take other jobs in entertainment like acting or mc-ing so they never truly “retire” until a lot further down the road… i feel like by the time true retirement is an option, jaemin might have accumulated a strong desire to disappear completely from public eye (lol cap moon be like), but at his core he still does have that leo stellium predilection towards attention, fan affection, being on stage, and people generally thinking he’s hot 😭 so again, it’s really a question of which one of these aspects will rule out in the end—whether the latent love for fans/fan interaction/being on stage will be enough to continue serving as his tether to idol life.

i could maybe see him transitioning to more lowkey, lower pressure mc/variety role like some of his predecessors, but how much of that would be out of his own volition is up for questioning. i know it’s mostly sm controlling the opportunities he gets currently, but even then he doesn’t seem to have an inclination towards pursuing acting any further…which is kind of a shame given gestures vaguely handsome perfect face, but maybe he’ll change his mind down the road? kinda :doubtful: but i would love to see it.

all of that being said, it really would not surprise me if he ultimately ended up leaving the industry forever!! but if he does end up disappearing from public eye i feel like it won’t happen immediately post-dream, as i imagine it must be at least a little difficult to just excise a decade+ of idol life without at least a little bit of a transition, barring any unexpected situations… like it’s totally possible, but i feel like usual sm fashion is to slowly ease you out of it, especially if they see profit to be made. however jaemin’s hope to have a family and desire for family life is something that i’ve always kept in mind, and if he determined that leaving the industry completely was the best way to achieve that, i have no doubt that he would be able to do it! so i guess my answer is that he’s definitely capable of it, but whether or not he actually follows through would depend on his priorities and goals like 5-7 years from now, or whenever the next contract renewal after this upcoming one is.”