A tamed wolf. What a contradiction. Wolves are usually portrayed as wild things that can’t be tamed, but &TEAM flips the script in “The Wolf Who Loved Red,” the prologue video for their second Korean EP, “Mark on Me.” The video borrows from the traditional fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood,” where a wolf deceives the titular character to lure her into a perilous situation. &TEAM’s wolf, though, is drawn to the warmth of the girl who extends a hand to him, and he sets out to learn her ways, wholeheartedly—seeing his promises as sacred and understanding the beauty of waiting, putting in the effort to keep moments of laughter alive, and therefore rewriting what could have been a tragic ending into a happy one. In other words, learning to cherish her. Even a wolf can be tamed—and gladly so—by someone he wants to protect.

A dark space, cold air, dry cracked lips, frozen eyelids. In “The First Mark,” the trailer for the album, the members of &TEAM are seen isolated, trapped in ice, like a lone wolf curled up in a cave, staring out at the world beyond. There are repeated close-ups of some kind of marks or symbols scarred into their bodies. A scar, after all, is also a mark that a wound leaves behind as a trace once it’s healed. If you don’t want to remember how you got that scar, and if you’re afraid someone might misinterpret it, then chances are it feels like a defect to be hidden. But what if someone came along—someone who could read the story behind it? Or, as the voiceover in the trailer puts it, what if you met “the first to read my wound not as a scar but as a mark”? As hands gently trace the boys’ frozen wounds in the video, and they begin to breathe together and share each other’s warmth, light floods the darkness and the ice melts away. Having your scars seen not as flaws, but as traces of a story—marks with meaning behind them—by someone who sees you for exactly who you are may be where understanding—of yourself and others—and love blossom from.

The title track off “Mark on Me” describes an intense longing for someone as &TEAM sings that “you can paint me in your colors.” Ironically, that intensity comes through in the most subdued movement &TEAM has ever brought to a choreographed performance. In the past, the group has leaned on group formations or larger-than-life moves to express the restless energy of youth, battles with the outside world, or fights that take place inside an uneasy mind. Here, though, &TEAM moves about the space in a roundabout way, at other times holding their bodies still with only a slight wave motion, projecting a more mature aura. The music follows suit, opening with a minor piano melody that unfolds slowly, and the group singing in low, restrained tones and delicate falsetto before building to the chorus. The song and dance are sprinkled with enticing details and hand gestures, but the restraint remains at all times. &TEAM has long used the werewolf characters and lore from their “DARK MOON” series to build themselves a more complex image. In the context of the story, a mark is a form of love only a werewolf can carry through with, one rooted in loyalty and devotion, a vow to remember and hold onto someone forever—a mortal’s promise to always remember that special someone, in the next life and in the next, even if that other person can’t remember them back. When factoring in the special meaning behind such a mark, the longing &TEAM expresses here isn’t about reaching out to someone but can instead be seen as fully welcoming them in. Hence the restraint—this isn’t about imprinting yourself onto someone else, but imprinting them onto yourself.

The depth of &TEAM’s resolve, as embodied by the mark concept, comes through as compressed energy just waiting to be released in the music and choreography. In the chorus of “Mark on Me,” &TEAM pleas, “Take me down … Tame me now,” solemnly swearing to “Forever, leave your mark on me.” Where the verses hold their energy in check, the chorus lets it loose, riding a surge of synths as the group jumps in perfect unison, creating the illusion of hanging suspended in midair. The group also uses all the space around them by stretching their hands out all together. In the performance for the second track, “Good Boy,” &TEAM clenches their fists and raises their arms as if flexing their strength, pounding their chests menacingly. Throughout the dance, they move with wide strides, layering in the seriousness and speed with which a wolf charges. They almost sound like they’re barking commands during the hook, with vocals bordering on combative. It’s the wildness of the wolf pushed to its extreme, reflected in the line “I can’t be tamed.” But as the ironic title “Good Boy” hints, &TEAM doesn’t use that power in an aggressive way. Instead, they hand over the reins so that “my leash is in your hands.” They can’t be tamed, and yet, here they are, clearly choosing to be.

The album is an honest look at the full range of emotions that accompany love. “Love Jang,” for instance, is a nostalgic ’90s-vibe song about a shy soul writing their emotions down, running through all their bashful feelings with lines like, “Do you ever get frustrated with me?” You can almost hear the joy in the wolf’s voice as he learns happiness from Little Red Riding Hood in lines like, “Your smile and the warmth in your voice / Wash over me like a dream.” “Empty,” on the other hand, feels more like an admission of long-felt fear and hollowness, and therefore the reason to need that other person in your life. But being able to show that kind of vulnerability is also what makes it possible to take another step forward. It’s like the sense of certainty in “Accelerate,” where they reassure you with, “You might be scared but trust me just this once,” because they “want to go faster” together. The emotional high point of the album is the closer, “Night to howl!” As the line “I won’t hide anything from you” makes plain, “Night to howl!” is bursting with emotion and the rush of electric guitar. It sounds glorious, the howls (“awoo”) that punctuate the chorus making the most of the song’s soaring melody. &TEAM takes the lonely call of one wolf to its kin and turns it into a serenade for someone special, much like the tragedy-turned-happy ending that Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf rewrote for themselves.

Since debuting, &TEAM’s music has moved between inner and outer conflict. With their “First Howling” series, they turned inward, listening to the feelings churning inside them, and found their way to a common “us,” discovering like-minded companions, the way wolves recognize each other by howling. United in the end, those wolves steeled themselves to protect what needed protecting and carried on with their fight with the outside world. But “Mark on Me” marks the first time where they turn away from inner turbulence and other conflict altogether to focus purely on their longing for that special someone. TAME ME and CRAVE YOU—those are the concept photos that visually distill the latest album. I crave you—but it’s me who ends up being tamed. I once embodied the very concept of wildness itself. Now, I’m telling you I’m ready to be tamed. If you find me, understand me, and hold me close, I’ll gladly hand over the leash and become a good boy. The mark that was once nothing but a trace of old wounds and scars is reborn as a different kind of mark—a vow to remember the one they’re destined to be with. The same one they’ll remember long into the future. They eagerly set aside their werewolf instincts and make the most solemn promise their kind can offer. “Mark on Me” is love given with everything you have—a kind of devotion only a werewolf could offer.