On March 10, 2026, Belift Lab announced that Heeseung would be leaving the K-pop boy group ENHYPEN. He’ll stay under Belift Lab and will pursue a solo career. The remaining members, Jungwon, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-ki will carry on as a six-member group.
The announcement threw ENGENEs (ENHYPEN’s fandom name) into chaos as the news came completely out of left field. And right in the middle of a packed schedule following the release of the group’s seventh EP, The SIN : VANISH back in January.
While the fandom tries to wrap their heads around Heeseung’s departure, the one thing I want to know is: what’s going to happen with his character Heli?
The Dark Moon Universe Heeseung is Leaving Behind
ENHYPEN is known for their dark, romantic vampire concept, which has a whole fictional universe built around it.
The original story began in 2021 with the music video for Drunk-Dazed, and was eventually turned into the webtoon called Dark Moon: The Blood Altar. The webtoon ran for 70 chapters between 2022 and 2023. Recently, it became an anime that premiered in January 2026 and is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Dark Moon reimagines the members of ENHYPEN as vampires attending a school called Decelis Academy, each with their own name, personality, and supernatural ability. Heeseung’s character is Heli. He’s the oldest of the vampire brothers, captain of the school’s Nightball team and is described as being patient and warm-hearted. He also has the ability to read people’s minds.
Heli is, in some ways, a fictional version of exactly who Heeseung’s role in ENHYPEN: the oldest, the one holding the others together.
What Happens When a Member Leaves a Story-Driven Group?
Over the years, more K-pop groups have been experimenting with concepts that tell a story with LOONA, TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT), ATEEZ, aespa and old school BTS being popular examples.
It’s a smart strategy because fans don’t just follow the music, they follow the lore. They keep track of character arcs, examine the symbolism found in music videos. Fans invest their time and emotions in a narrative that extends beyond a single album.
The catch is that these universes are made with the assumption that the group will stay the same. Every character is based on a real person. The story and the group are meant to move together as one entity. When a member leaves, nobody has a clean answer for what to do next.
It’ll be interesting to see how Heeseung’s departure will impact the Dark Moon universe. The original story is over but ENHYPEN’s initial vampire concept lives on with every comeback. Then there’s the anime. So far, it hasn’t been renewed for a second season yet and it’s possible it’ll only have one season.
But what is Belift Lab going to do if they decide to revisit Dark Moon and the vampire brothers? Will Heli continue to be a main character?
Belift and HYBE have a few options. They could keep Heli in future Dark Moon installments. They can argue that the characters were always inspired by the members rather than being literal avatars. Heli was always a fictional vampire, not “Heeseung playing himself.” Also, Heeseung is still with Belift Lab as a solo artist, which is better than if he left HYBE entirely. That distance gives them something to work with.
Another possibility is to not continue the Dark Moon universe with the ENHYPEN characters. The webtoon is done. The group is in a period of transition. Belift Lab could decide to start fresh with an entirely new storyline while still keeping the group’s vampire concept intact.
Or they could let Heli disappear. Future projects could shift the focus to the remaining six characters, and give some excuse to explain away his absence. That’s the most probably the most likely option.
The Industry Has Been Here Before… Sort Of
The K-pop industry has navigated members leaving lore-heavy groups, but not in situations like this.
EXO debuted in 2012 with twelve members and a large-scale mythology. Each member was an alien from another planet with a specific superpower tied to the “Tree of Life”. It was ambitious, and fans loved it.
Then, between 2014 and 2015, three Chinese members Kris, Luhan, and Tao left the group following legal disputes with SM Entertainment. In 2025, Baekhyun, Chen and Xiumin were officially inactive due to legal issues regarding their contracts, while Lay’s participation varies due to tensions between South Korea and China.
The group went from twelve to nine then six, and SM’s response was to pretend those members/characters never existed. They were just gone. Over time, continuing the EXO Planet arc became less of a priority for SM. Meanwhile, all the members of EXO have shifted their focus on their solo careers.
NMIXX is the first JYP Entertainment group formed with a defined story and fictional universe. However, the concept was still developing when member Jinni left the group in late 2022. Her departure came shortly after the group began their first major global campaign with Loewe and released teasers introducing their fictional world.
JYP adjusted by focusing on promoting the remaining six members. Future releases continued the group’s concept without referencing Jinni. Because the NMIXX universe was still in its early stages, the company was able to modify it with no problems. Once a universe becomes more established, making such changes without pissing off fans becomes much harder.
The difference between JYP and SM’s responses shows there isn’t a one-size-fits-all playbook for situations like these. Heeseung’s departure and the uncertainty it creates around Heli shows that debuting idols with story-driven concepts has its flaws. It makes you wonder if, realistically, you can fuse a real pop group with a fictional, ongoing universe in the long term.
That model works beautifully when the group stays together. But priorities change and life likes to curveballs at you when you least expect them. At the end of the day, these universes are built on real people. You can’t write out their stories like they’re characters on a page. Maybe that’s what makes the storytelling aspect of K-pop so fascinating, and so fragile, at the same time.
