Looking back on the past year, the pandemic’s unforeseen impact — along with the tension between governance and the governed, openness and control — and the Russia–Ukraine war accelerating global de-integration, have together cast a pervasive sense of apocalypse. This collective unease gives rise to a dystopian self-reflection, revealing the conflict between people and authority, freedom and restraint, order and chaos — a dualistic tension of fear, control, and composure beyond words.