NCT Faces a Turning Point as Ten and Mark Chart Different Paths Beyond SM

Ten Leaves SM, But Not Necessarily NCT

On April 6, SM Entertainment announced that its exclusive contract with Ten would end on April 8, following what the company described as deep discussions about his future direction.

Unlike the wording surrounding Mark, however, SM made it clear that Ten’s relationship with Way V and NCT may continue in some form. The company said it plans to coordinate with Ten so that he can still take part in future group activities.

Ten echoed that message himself. In a statement shared through Instagram, he said he intends to continue spending time with fans “as Ten of NCT and WayV” while also beginning a new chapter as a solo artist.

He explained that as he approaches 30, he found himself asking bigger questions about the kind of person he wants to become and the kind of music and image he wants to present going forward. That self-reflection, he suggested, led him to seek a new environment and a new challenge.

Mark’s situation appears more final.

According to the earlier report, the rapper and singer will depart SM Entertainment and all NCT units as of April 8, closing out a 10-year run that has been central to the group’s identity since debut. That distinction gives his departure a heavier symbolic weight. Mark has long functioned as one of the structural anchors of the NCT system moving between units, bridging different sounds and lineups, and embodying the multi-unit experiment in a way few other members ever could.

As a recent analysis from WikiPickyMedia pointed out, Mark’s departure feels less like a routine contract ending and more like the closing of a defining “Neo City” chapter. That reading helps explain why his exit is being felt on a structural level, not just an emotional one.

Whether or not that interpretation proves fully true, it reflects the scale of what his absence means.

NCT has always been defined by fluidity. New units, rotating combinations, evolving structures the group was never designed to feel static. But these recent developments raise a more difficult question: how much change can a system absorb before it starts to feel fundamentally different?

That question becomes especially sharp in Mark’s case. Few members have been as closely tied to the brand identity of NCT across multiple generations and subunits. Ten, meanwhile, has been essential in giving WayV its distinct color and international reach. Losing one member while potentially retaining another in partial form does not create a neat narrative. It creates a transitional one.

A New Chapter, But Not the Same One for Everyone

The most telling part of these announcements may be that both artists are talking about the future in their own language.

Ten speaks about self-discovery, challenge, and continuing with NCT while growing as a solo artist. Mark’s reported departure, on the other hand, has been framed as the start of an entirely new chapter beyond the system that helped define him. That means the story here is not simply that two SM contracts ended. It is that two artists reached the same structural milestone and chose different ways to step beyond it.

For fans, that may be the hardest part to sit with. Not just that things are changing, but that they are changing in different directions. And for NCT, that may be what makes this moment feel so significant.

Not because the system is ending.

But because it is clearly entering a version of itself it has never had to be before.