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ezamevolni · 1 year

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Jijinjung: Claws Out

When the story is hidden in the negative

Sunshine is also going MIA... maybe we could fight poison (tears) with poison (more tears) 🫠

Therefore here's a look back at 6 years ago.

Foreword (main content below the cut): wobbled back and forth on whether to post this or not but as you can see, I've landed on 'Y'.

I reason that with the cloak of Jinkook, I've already repelled like 92-97% of the fandom so my corner on the outlier won't cause any waves & there's isn't any true knowledge of the actual cause AND this is an incident from their distant past. A month ago I was determined to do a long written form version of that Jinkook jealous tiff from back in November 2017, this one:

Because I loved the analysis by With Jinkook/Kookjin from YT on it 💗

However, when replaying the fancam countless times to capture my silly lil screenshots and gifs, I found a different angle of the story that is much more plausible to me and unfortunately, not quite Jinkook-centered. It's a bit more like Jk got caught up in the middle of it.

The two leads are Jin and Jimin (again). So... this factored into my hesitation to post(Jinkook is still present but it's bittersweet).

⚠️ Contrary to the last petty argument pointed out between Jin and Jimin, this one implies a more serious fight. Please read at your own discretion. ⚠️

Please also remember that this is solely an outside perspective of the whole ordeal.

Due to there being no audible dialogue from the fancams and my inability to read lips and transcribe romanized Hangul, the content of the quarrel is still very much a mystery. Therefore, this analysis is highly interpretive.

I'm only going off the physical actions, looks, and reactionary effects visible from the fancams.

After this one, things will be back on track~ Got no more Jinmin cards hidden up my sleeve.

Alright, story time🌙

✨

It's 1 November 2017, and BTS had just returned to work after a short break over the last week of October.

Spirits in the team should be high because the members had spent their vacation relaxing or traveling; where especially of note was Jimin and Jungkook that went to Tokyo together (Oct 28-30). The Jikook trip was a pretty big deal because at that time no two members have ever travelled alone to another country before.

Their first schedule was performing for the Pyeongchang Olympics G-100 Concert, and Bangtan had gathered onstage for the ending ensemble song rehearsal.

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BTS were waiting on standby like the rest of the singers, and 2seok had a cute lil interaction at the very start of the video. Jin gestured for Hobi to stand on his right and when moving over, both reached around each other for some playful butt pats.

Take note of Hobi's surprise at Jin returning the playfulness, it seemed like Jin was acting a bit out of sorts in his eyes.

Almost instantly, a slick Jungkook slid into frame after and made sure to get close enough to Jin for his jacket to brush against his arm.

I won't derail into giving examples of Jk making his presence known to Jin whenever someone is threatening his spot. There will be no end to this post. But veteran Jinkookers, I know you have a montage of sulky Jk in your minds ready to go 🙌

And if you're unsure if Jk's subtle bump against Jin had anything to do with 2seok, don't fret for Jk will follow up.

Soon, all the singers were directed to move forward on the stage.

While trudging up, Jin turned around to tell Jk about something he pointed at and ushered him up to the very front (probably because he was going to be in the ensemble).

It's clear there weren't any signs of tension between Jinkook yet:

Notice that Jimin was also selected to sing for the ensemble but Jin didn't seem to care or acknowledge this, for he passed up Jimin in his line of sight when turning to Jk.

Soon they eventually ended up standing in these haphazard positions, with Jk in the front by himself, and Jin shoulder to Jimin:

Jin's disdain for Jimin is subtle still because he hadn't shown any obvious signs of hostility yet.

But we could glean some unpleasantry by when Jimin turned towards him and he remained staring ahead, not responding in the slightest. Jimin then turned back to the front without doing or saying anything else.

The tension had began brewing, but was still minimal.

Next up, is when the conflict starts to crystallize. And we have secretary Min Suga to thank for making it apparent. For a couple of significant things happened at the same time.

Firstly in the new positions they were at, Jk was in the very front so none of the members were in his field of vision. Now let's watch him do a ballet turn as he tried to nonchalantly check on 2seok behind him:

Peg how Hobi looked back at Jk like he felt Jk's eyes on him. And peg Jimin, who was just an instrument in Jk's play of nonchalance. He didn't bother responding to Jk although he said something.

Additionally, look at how Jk took advantage of the momentum to take a step backwards - to be closer to Jin - but simultaneously also leaned in to Jimin. Yeeahh.. wasn't the best move.

The second significant event was the eternal roommates' whisper conversation while Jk was doing his lil twirl. Yoongi leaned in behind Jin, said something to him and then with a whip of their heads, both looked intensely over at Jimin.

This was the first obvious sign of discord.

Now from the angle of the fancam, I'm not sure if Jimin could see Jin turning to look at him but almost like a response, Jimin leaned away and moved to the left, pulling Jk along.

Looked like he was using Jk as a buffer between him and Jin 😂

Then next... came The Glare.

(BTW I know I'm picking apart everything to shreds lol I'll provide a summary at the end for anyone who doesn't want these hyper-analyzed break downs)

Within a span of 3 seconds, a flurry of events set in motion one of Jin's fiercest expressions to date. Being Jin biased, I focus on him a lot and I can say this for sure, it's different from when he smolders on stage or blinks hangrily. On a good day, he's a pro idol and knows how to control his expressions in public, but this day he let out an emotion I rarely see him show.

The chain of actions went down like this: Yoongi first said something to Joon, then Joon leaned forward to whisper to Jk. Jk turned to his right to hear Joon better and when this was happening, Jin was gesturing at something and turned to his left as if reporting to Yoongi, but then you find out his real motive was so that he could catch Jk's gaze and give him this incredibly intense warning:

I will wither like a daisy sprayed with pure bleach if he looked at me like that.

Jin-san is big mad.

The Glare could be a little confusing as to why suddenly Jin was mad at Jk but a connection can be made. There was already something going on between Jinmin and when Jk didn't draw a clear line from Jimin, he incurred Jin's wrath as well. Leaning closer to Jimin? Walking towards Jimin? Hmph.

There's another layer to this: that Jk was also involved in whatever angered Jin. He had gotten a pass at first but when he didn't make a stand for Jin or show any remorse (roughly speaking), Jin decided to retract his leniency. I'm only adding this layer based off Jin's behavior since the beginning of the video - being extra touchy with Hobi and later on with Tae and B.A.P Youngjae. Just remember that he's in the middle of a quarrel so you can't take his 'cheeriness' to be what it is. Dare I say Jin was being chummy with others to elicit Jk's unhappiness? It does look that way.

Ultimately, The Glare is thanks to Jinkook's special relationship, giving us an honest display of emotions from Jin. You rarely ever see him losing his cool in public but when it comes to Jk, Jin won't hesitate to show what he feels.

*Side note: There's more to dive into on how Jk isn't very attuned to others' feelings so Jin has to make it extra clear when he wants him to know.

A glimpse of this trait can be seen here lol because when Jin glared that hard at Jk, Jk still didn't get it at first 😂

Right after Jin shot laser eyes at him, Jk was just freed from RM's whispering, so you'd think he would check on Jin or would be affected by the glare... nah, he turned around to start singing playfully with Yoongi:

Look at Suga humoring Jk 😂

Jk probably did get a hint that Jin was mad because after a beat, he turned to stare unabashedly at Jin as if observing him. Jin soon started to playfully sing at Yoongi and only paused for a fraction of a section for his gaze to land on Jk - and only then did Jk turn away...still looking dazed but he got it this time 😂

I'll save the deep dive into Jk's headspace for another time.

And hence why the difference to how Jin displayed his anger against Jimin and against Jk. Jimin cares and will be highly reactive to others' emotions, but for Jk, you gotta spell it out for him. And when he does get it (and does care) he's gonna be extra, extra affected. Simply because less gets past his walls and his lil internal soldiers are less experienced with warfare. Therefore for Jimin, he plainly got ignored whilst Jk got a big dose of laser eyes.

Then let's switch focus briefly to the two rappers in the back - Yoongi and Namjoon.

Here's Yoongi and Joon's behaviors during the brewing tension:

And here's RM glaring at Jimin for 3 seconds:

These looks... Their reactions to the Jijinjung conflict was what really made me believe the Jikook trip by itself wasn't the cause of the tension. tbh I also don't see Jin getting so riled up two days later after Jikook arrived back in S.Korea. If anything, it felt like something that just happened before the fancam where Jimin did something to offend Jin, possibly involving Jk. I'm a Jnkkr so that might sound like I'm suggesting those two made out behind Jin's back or something but NOOO!! Not in that direction. Pls don't go there, delulu is welcome here but it has to have some moral limits. Honestly, I've got no idea...if you think you do, pls dm me ✨ I need some enlightenment.

(Can you guys believe we're only 1 minute into the fancam? LOL🕺🏻 Don't worry, the most important actions already occurred. I'll be fast forwarding through the remaining 3 minutes.)

Previously, I called him Secretary Min Suga because he seemed to have a grasp on the whole situation from start to finish and played advisor to various members.

Sin's second whisper conversation started up when:

Look at how Yoongi gestured for Jin to come closer so he may rest a whole elbow comfortably on the length of his shoulder. And Jk was listening.

In fact, after Jin heard something and went 'EH?' in an irritated manner, Yoongi continued talking and then Jk reacted to the convo by looking down and leaning away sulkily:

It's quite clear that Sin weren't chatting about dinner or the weather; it had something to do with Jk. Subsequently for the remainder of the video, Yoongi's little glances at Jk and Jimin also gave most of the content away. It also looked like Jin's final answer mouthed to Yoongi's questions was 'I don't/didn't know' ...hm.

At this point Jinkook who were standing pretty close together at first now had this ocean wide of a gap between them.

Later on, Secretary Min also whispered with Leader Kim and Jk saw this and wanted to hear the contents. Yoongi rejected Jk with a shake of his head and a kind smile.

🥲 Jk and Jimin were being shut out by the rest.

Meanwhile Jin, the one who's slighted, didn't seem to want to show too much negativity so he was doing his best talking and singing along with Hobi and Tae on the sidelines. Those two might not look like they were aware but they were, they're just choosing to stay above it.

As mentioned earlier, Jin got chummy with Tae. When Tae started mimicking the solo singer belting out a high note, Jin played along.

Tae had placed his hands around Hobi and Jin's shoulders, then moved to only Jin... just in time to catch Jungkook watching from the corner of his eyes:

Poor Tae... gotta say Jk's glare was much more effective than Jin's at making the other party shrink.

...Refer to the video for how distinct the mood was between the two groups: Jimin and Jk~ singing stiffly during their lines and those not in the song~ having fun lip-syncing. It's also noticeably how Jimin hadn't spoken or interacted with anyone except Jk.

My heart ached when Jk spotted Jin having fun during his second verse, and Jk tried to catch Jin's smile but failed.

How dare you ignore Jk. I'm sorry. But like how dare you Jin.

It must have been especially uncomfortable for Jk when he saw Jin throwing himself onto B.A.P. Youngjae, as they were dismissed from the stage:

His eyes never left Jin when walking off

Jk's unhappy gaze trained onto a specific direction

Hobi had also seen Jin and Youngjae, and seemed to be semi-reassuring (?) Jk by gently ushering him away.

🌗

The tension that built during the span of the rehearsal fancam did not go away in the remaining parts of the day. In fact, I'd say it culminated at an all-time high during the ending performance of the ensemble song that night.

Before getting to their official performance at night, there's another fancam where they were by themselves.

Their group rehearsal for DNA and Fire:

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For the most part I couldn't see anything off but some instances did give away the individual member's mental state.

Example, during DNA, Jin and Tae were relaxed enough to be playing around with each other

Much like they were before during the ensemble song fancam.

Then between the two songs, BTS practiced a short segue into the second song and it's not common to see Jk with his head down while Jin was talking and then fully turning his body to block him out... (starts at around 4:07...I've hit the pic limit lol)

Jk also seemed tired and out of it during Fire:

'Tis why I say when he's affected, he's really affected.

🌘

I don't think a point-by-point break down is necessary for the ending stage Butterfly of the night. The tension was evident and consistent.. and made me super uncomfortable to rewatch once I was aware of the atmosphere and the split down the middle of the group.

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There's also another angle from a different fancam, where you could see Jimin and Jk at the front row by themselves while the others stayed back.

Cameras and eyes were trained onto them so everyone was doing their best to smile and sway to the music. But these genuine kids... they can't ever hide their emotions entirely which for this case is heartbreaking to watch.

The two singing (🐥🐰) were standing there with their hands clasped together, the trio (🐻🐹🐿️) on the right seemed to be pretty cheerful while two remaining (🐱🐨) at the back weren't as stiff but also not quite relaxed. The whole group dynamic was off that night.

And Jk especially couldn't hide how bothered he was... like when he spotted Jin 'having the time of his life' (probably not tho), he who was also softly lip-syncing a moment ago, stopped short:

Another angle + extended reaction after:

Later on when the fireworks started startling everyone on stage, Jimin and Jk reacted in that 'tense but still wants to give some reactions' sort of way (like me at a birthday karaoke bar) while everyone behind them were literally running away.

Yeah...it was not a great day for the whole team overall.

🌒

Dear reader, if you've come this far and still aren't convinced that Jinmin were locked in a standoff during the entire day of Nov 1, as always BTS will clear the air themselves. (The Jinkook side of things was louder and I'm sure you could follow my train of thoughts better 😉)

The outro to this whole debacle can be found in the AskAnythingChat interview released half a year later in April 2018. WOOPDIDA!!!🧚🏽‍♀️ Yee, it's connected to November 1, 2017. Who knew that meme of a video had traces of drama gun powder eh😏

Because the interview happened only a mere 2 weeks after that day:

One of the many times I'm thankful for their hair colors that found me the filming date.

I believe those who had watched the interview already know the parts I'm about to mention. (3:37 & 5:12)

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Even if you've never seen the whole thing you've definitely seen I LOVE HAMBURGER AND SPRITE✨

The basic structure was MC Jin reading the questions in English and the rest answering the questions to the best of their ability.

The question that gave the baby chick a chance to finally strike back against his Jin hyung on camera was this:

WHAT DO YOU GUYS ARGUE ABOUT THE MOST?

I could almost see the wheels turning in Jimin's head as he got ready to strike LOL

"Maybe you." Jimin said in a serious tone, pointing at Jin.

And everyone seemed a little confused because the atmosphere was still goofy a second ago. Then the Kim brothers all chorused in response ("What-What-Mo?"), to which Jimin simply repeated what he said in Korean, and everyone suddenly got the reference. When everyone's reactions were in unison, that's when you know they're thinking of that same, specific instance.

MC Jin had to continue the interview so he went, "Ahh~ EE, what kind?" Well now that you've brought it up...say it.

At the counterattack, Jimin got flustered and said, "Eohh... sorry." Eh, never mind I can't say.

Which prompted the whole team to start giggling. Yes.. he couldn't say what exactly and apologized quickly. (Also, I found it cute that Tae leaned forward when Jimin was hesitating, like he was warning his chingu with his eyes, 'Are you really going to say it?' and then laughed when Jimin just went "sorry.")

And the speed at how RM moved it along ("OK." That's enough) and Jin following with "Ok, ok, next question!" Jimin was also suddenly co-hosting, "Ok! Let's go, next question!" Teamwork✨ y'all.

Overall, from the tittering laughter and amused reactions, it's clear that they had all gotten over the argument and were no longer harboring residual unhappiness.

However, it was a pretty big quarrel after all and maybe the baby chick just wanted to get the last word in.

As one jab wasn't enough for his unserious Jin hyung, there came a second 😂

Double whammy. I think Jimin was satisfied with this final blow because Jin played along 😆 This was probably the last time we got a glimpse into this disagreement. I'd say it ultimately ended on a good note because the whole team was feeling good about cracking jokes, and neither of the two leads seemed to have taken anything to heart.

Conclusion time.

So an 'incident' had occurred on or before November 1 between Jin and Jimin, where Jimin seemed to have been the provoker. Jin was quietly freezing Jimin out, when out stepped Jk, not grasping the situation and only concerned about all the skinship his Jin hyung was getting. It's likely the conflict also had something to do with Jk because Jin seemed to be holding it in at first, but finally exploded at him on stage with a warning glare. Jk soon got the message and was adversely affected for the rest of the day as well.

The tension spread quickly throughout the team and while some were able to excuse themselves from the drama, some were stuck in the middle of it. The tension did not dissipate all day and was especially strong at the end of the night. How the quarrel was broken up is unknown, but likely was not dragged on because of BTS' policy: talk it out before the day ends. So although we didn't get to see the resolution, there probably was one once they were all alone.

About 2 weeks later, the guys were in America for their promos and attending the AMAs. During one casual interview, Jimin found an opportunity to 'strike back' at his Jin hyung for freezing him out on that cold November day. Jin took it in stride and everyone could finally relax about the whole ordeal.

Regarding the content of the fight:

It couldn't be something as simple as Jin being jealous over the Jikook trip. I say this because of how quickly and surely Yoongi and Namjoon sided with Jin. Their reactions seem to indicate that Jimin was the party at fault. Simply jealousy couldn't have incurred such a strong response from these two cool-headed cats.

Another aspect solely regarding Jimin - he's generally a very caring and considerate person, so whatever he did probably wasn't something he felt like was deliberately wrong. It's possibly a clash of values or an accident of some sort. Unfortunately Jin did take offense to the cause, and subsequently, everyone except Jk seemed to take Jin's side. Later on his jabs at Jin in the AAC interview also showed that he still felt defensive or maybe wronged over the whole ordeal. I don't know what was at the core of their fight but for some reason, I think I'm siding with Jimin again for this one. Just based off how everything looked, I didn't like the way the boys froze him out. (Jimin, did you maybe destroy Jin's pink hoodie? What other heinous crime could it be)

✨

Lastly, I have this small piece to add onto the validity of the existence of the Jinmin squabble...

At the Macau stop of their Wings tour on Nov 4, Jimin had to sit out on choreography due to muscle pain in his neck and shoulders. As someone who has frequently experienced stress before in the same manner, I believe the conflict might have had something to do with Jimin's health issues.

More footage on Jimin and BTS during that period can be found in their documentary series Burn the Stage and various fancams. As Jimin was in a vulnerable state, I won't be showing anything here, feel free to look them up.

But do watch this if you need a wholesome reason to cry because you will over how everyone took turns cheering Jimin up during Spring Day:

He's too hard on himself I feel. It seemed like everyone had already let go but he was still dwelling on it alone. Look at how all the members were joking around him 🙆 That's why this team is a team y'all. They never leave anyone behind if they're down.

Personal note: I think I get how Jimin felt because I've also had instances where I acted carelessly and caused someone to be upset, and this in turn stressed me out and I couldn't stop thinking about the situation even after days have passed.

BTW I really appreciate you who took the time out to read this post 💛 I tend to overthink a lot when writing about more 'negative' stuff so I start to get woooordy LOL I probably can't change how my brain works in the short term but perhaps after posting more, I'll get the hang of cutting to the chase 😁

Anyways, I'm glad I was able to tell this story years later as a fan because I'm that secure in their friendship and bond. There are ups and downs in any great friendships, and I'm here for all of theirs.

So that's my interpretation of the Jijinjung tussle. 🌙

#jin #jimin #jinmin #I'm all for my loves but drama & dot connecting are my passion #fighting is what makes people grow closer #jungkook #jinkook #kookjin #long post

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vkyu · 2 years

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➴ bts rp ad

hey! as the title suggests, i’m looking for rp partners.

please note that i rp strictly on discord rather than any other platform. i would like to roleplay bts member x member, mxm or fxf (with cis-swapped members). additionally, i’d prefer that my partners were 18+. here's some information on writing preferences if you’re interested:

writing style ;

i write in 3rd person. in terms of length, i write literate to novella, but i am okay with semi-literate roleplays as well. that being said, i tend to lean towards a higher word count. i will not rp with or against one-liners because they lack the substance and detail i’d like to incorporate within the story.

ships ;

yoonjin, namjin, jinmin, 2seok, taejin, jinkook, jikook, hopekook, yoonkook, namgi, taegi, and taekook. although the bolded pairings are ones i’m highly interested in, the other ships are still my favorite. in general, i have a strong liking for any seokjin or jungkook pairing since i mostly play as them. on occasion, i will play taehyung, namjoon, or yoongi. i'm always welcome to try a hand at other ships, having experience with all pairings and their dynamics.

nsfw ;

sfw or nsfw is fine as i find plots without smut equally as engaging. i like to switch, but i will play a strict dominant or submissive muse if you’re more comfortable in a certain role. preferences on positions in certain ships, along with kink discussion can be discussed privately.

plots ;

i’m a huge fan of common tropes such as enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, and exes to lovers. i’m flexible with ideas and enjoy plotting with my partners too. with the exception of incest, scat, watersports, and age regression, i will write anything. there aren’t any aus i’m opposed to, as long as they don’t include my listed triggers. i enjoy a multitude of themes, ranging from supernatural to idolverse to college aus.

that’s all! like this post or pm me if you’d like to rp and i’ll get back to you <3

#bts rp #bts rp ad #bts roleplay

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dearweirdme · 11 months

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/719999490076065792/is-it-just-me-or-did-tk-stop-mentioning-each-other

i feel like BECAUSE of the paris fiasco everyone is watching every move of taekook to the point they have an expectation and when it doesn’t come they spiral a little. like even if he didn’t talk abt jk on his tannie live, he did mention not sleeping all night at the airport :)

i think ur very right abt how the clips were more abt bts as a band but u can see him wanting to show us 2seok a lot probably because they’re not here rn

Hi anon!

Oh absolutely! Last night when I watched Tae’s stories being posted, I just knew I’d be getting an ask like that.

I’m glad Tae chose to do it like this. He’s such a great guy. BTS is the other great love of his life. He also knows what people want to see from him and yet he did not give in.

#anon #Taehyung #taekook #insta stories

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kimchokejin · 2 years

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this is about me/my blog i guess

howdy! 🤠 thanks for stopping by. this is a bts hate blog. i reblog a lot of gif sets, memes, text posts, etc. and talk too much in the tags. i don’t really make things aside from what’s already here

most of my personal info is already in my description so i’m honestly not sure what to say lol. i have tag game stuff and posts that resonated with me if you’re just trying to get a ~vibe~ but if you want to know more about me for some reason, feel free to message! sometimes i can take a long time to respond but i do like to talk to people! especially about bts or just music in general

believe it or not i am an adult 😬 so just in case i would like to ask that minors don’t follow/interact. sometimes i say things on here that i don’t think i should say in front of minors and i don’t want to put anyone here (including myself) in an uncomfortable position. thank you for understanding!

also just a heads up that i am white if that informs your decision of whether or not or how to interact. if you are white and reading this and have never heard of white supremacy culture (which is so much more prevalent and sinister than i think a lot of us realize), please check out this website (that blew my mind tbh and i’m just not sure how many people have seen this masterpiece?) and let’s talk about it 😊

ummm this was my result for my bts personality quiz that i am still embarrassed about yet still trying to improve. as you can see i project onto taekook a LOT luv u babes <3

ummmm i also made a bts song ranker

THAT’S_MY_(a few months ago)_OPINIOOOOOOON.gif

a long, unrequested, incomplete but occasionally updated list of things i will NEVER shut up about:

disaster libra jimin

rm drunk tweets

hobi’s (alleged) joints

tae’s espn

jin’s masochism

expensive girl namjoon interviewing pharrell for rolling stone knowing in the back of his mind that expensive girl exists and will never be deleted from the internet

yoongi being THAT fucking funny and no one noticing

namjoon never having some goddamn peace and quiet…ever.

vmin in the rm studio tour vlive

foreheard jin

feral tae

fluffy blonde jimin (my greatest weakness)

jin’s shoulders

namjoon spoiling everything

hobi’s frog doll with the tiny penis

namjoon. like just look at him i'm sorry

jungkook making fun of rrrrap monsta in the year 2021 namtaekook making fun of jimin's dance move in save me in the year 2022

daydream hobi SHORT HAIRED HOBI MORE MV HOSEOK YTC IN BUSAN HOBI

“let the beat in”

alt boy gen z icon jk

happy yoongi :)

lachimolala/carobonara (still)

tae in the glass case (and namjoon’s face)

tae having “just one bite” (and namjoon’s face)

jimin shy dancing

jin setting off fireworks in the morning

vmin sticker betrayal

rm putting rap monster as his legal name

rm insisting his sweatshirt is on right side out when the pockets were literally inside

rm not knowing they’re live

the spanking game

j-hope’s “keep one rolled” shirt J-HOPE’S CONDOM SHIRT

but also the whole keep one rolled/legalize it/heroin trifecta

when rm asked bts what food they liked in america that they couldn’t get in korea

jinmin fart skit

rm saying wow to yoongi’s butt

bts trying to cheat on taped run episodes

jungkook getting caught taking jimin’s tissue

tae pretending to get drunk off a water bottle?

anpanman 180524 (rip namjoon)

“oh hyuuuuung” *finger guns*

SHE SAID SHE SAID SHE SAID SHE’S FROM HAWAII

tata mic

“yeah baby i’m nervous!”

namjoon learning and growing over time <3

the lies behind your eyes fake love cover

the bwl dance set to juice by lizzo

this picture of 2seok

the memetic capabilities of the tragically overlooked bts hybe-sanctioned animated fanfiction universe story app

#about me #making this a year late because i'm pretty sure only 2% of people use desktop at this point #a carrd? in THIS economy???

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ugh-yoongi · 11 months

Note

16, 20 and 21?

hi, tysm for asking!

16. Mixtape or solo work you liked? ah, i honestly like all of them, but "people" is probably my favorite song of all-time so yoongi's mixtapes are very near and dear to me.

20. BTS unit you admire and you want to see in the future on stage (again)? i need to see yoongi & hobi do huh?! together, but aside from that, i am begging for a 2seok subunit. idc what it is.

21. Do you have a certain artist you want BTS to collab with in the future? tbh i am not the target audience for most collabs, not even just with bts. i still haven't recovered from namjoon posting that gecs song on his story so he could fully cater to me and do that. maybe jungkook could return to his emo roots and collab with any band i listened to when i was thirteen.

#jewel answers

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whipped-for-kpop-fics · 4 years

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Not Horny

You can find the Halloween request post here :3

Thank you for the request @heyitsmeee2 , I hope you enjoy this idiocy 🥺 Request; “ seokjin is a demon and he's supposed to haunt like the reader or a member or smth but they woke up and he got scared and got scared into being human and he doesn't know how to get back to demon hood again “

Kim Seokjin focused leading to 2seok, I guess. (SeokjinxHoseok) Genre; Crack. Demon au Warnings; Profanity. Sexual references and jokes but no sex acts, implied or explicit. Word count; 2.2k

Summary; Seokjin is a dumbass demon and Hoseok is a dumbass human. This is how they wound up stuck together thanks tot heir own idiocy.

If you were to look up the term "boneheaded" in a dictionary, you would find a picture of Seokjin pasted there- though you probably shouldn't tell him that because the terror triplets enjoy their tails and wouldn't like damage to come to them if the elder demon were to find out their joke. Regardless of how exactly Seokjin's picture from decades ago wound up in the dictionary, the fact of the matter is, it's pretty fucking accurate. As much as he liked to act like he knew what he was doing at any given time, Seokjin did in fact, not have the slightest fucking clue what he was doing at any given time. Which is as good a place as any to start this story.

You see, the thing about demons is they aren't as willing to venture into the human realm as much as human history likes to claim. Humans, in a word, suck and no demon likes to deal with humanity's shit for longer than absolutely necessary. So it's never exactly been unusual for demons to play games to palm the work off to the loser. Now usually, Seokjin somehow manages to pull the age and superiority card to get out of human duty but for some reason on this night, he forgot that particular ace up his sleeve and got dragged into the game. And of course, he lost due to pure idiocy.

"We've been playing this exact game for millennia now, how do you still get caught two steps in?" Yoongi sighed, looking relieved at not losing for the first time in at least a century and a half while also looking as if he didn't understand exactly what made up the elder entity before him- it's idiocy and lame jokes, in case you were wondering.

"You're all cheaters!" Was the elder demon's retort, standing from his space on the balcony overlooking the arena- where their damned soul playing pieces were suffering for their sins- to point accusingly at his friends.

"We're demons," Namjoon deadpanned.

"And I am your hyung! Respect me!"

"No," The terror triplets replied in sync and Seokjin flopped back into his seat with a resigned sigh.

"Here's the information, go scare the life out of a human!" Jimin cheered, smiling serenely from the bottom of the pile he and his two troublemaker soulmates (ha, get it, because they deal with souls) had made by Yoongi's feet where they were wrestling in a way that would not stay family-friendly for long. He had one clawed hand extended to the eldest with a slip of almost ripped paper in between two of the well kept, and currently painted deep blue, talons.

"If humans got one thing right, it's technology," Seokjin huffed, getting up to snatch the paper away and read the information provided. Just a name, an address and a summary of the contract the human signed.

"Carrying paper is such an inconvenience, oh no, who cares about trees anyways?" Namjoon replied in a sing-song sarcastic voice. If he had paid attention to the expression on the younger three demons faces, he would've realised he still hadn't quite grasped sarcasm for the art form it is. He should really take more private tutoring with Yoongi.

"As you pointed out earlier, Joon-ah, we're demons," Seokjin replied and then in a flash of smoke he was gone, or as least using the distraction to sprint away towards the portals.

"One day, he'll accept that we don't believe he can just dis-" Yoongi started to speak but Jeongguk spoke up in an awe-filled voice.

"Whoa! Did you see that?!" The youngest exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the spot the eldest was only moments before. "He was there and then just- poof! Whoa," He flopped down over his fellow trouble makers laps.

"I really worry about the influence Jin-hyung is on the kids," Yoongi said to Namjoon while the terror triplets spoke excitedly and dramatically to one another about how cool Seokjin was for knowing how to use smoke portals, a feat only achieved by the most intelligent of demons...so Seokjin would never learn honestly, but the kids didn't seem to realise that obvious fact.

"Ew," Was the first sound out of Seokjin's mouth when he stepped through the portal and into the human realm, he had stepped out into the brightly lit apartment of his victim. It was tidy and clean and smelled like burned toast. "Even Joon-ah doesn't burn toast." He grumbled traipsing through the apartment towards where he heard a male voice scatting along to a song that was most certainly not designed for scatting.

Dancing around his bedroom was Jung Hoseok, 26-year-old performing arts student and all 'round good guy. Except for the fact he signed away his soul two years ago for a pair of the ugliest shoes Seokjin has ever seen, which lived pride of place in protective packaging on a shelf in the living room. “Shoes that expensive and rare aren't for wearing” was what Hoseok had stressed to his friends many times over when they arrived in the mail- let's not dwell on the fact Hoseok knew he hadn't ordered them as he simply would never be able to afford them and genuinely believed he had a secret sugar daddy for two straight weeks.

Hoseok shimmied into his bathroom and flung his shirt blindly back towards the dirty washing hamper.

"Should I follow?" Seokjin mumbled to himself while crossing the room to drop down onto the soft bed. "It would certainly be a good story to tell the guys, I bet he'd flail spectacularly in the shower-" But a high pitched scream cut him off followed by another that came from Seokjin's own mouth as he tumbled off the bed in shock and hit his head on the hardwood flooring.

Bare chest heaving and hand clutched over his heart, Hoseok shuffled a little further into his bedroom to grab some form of weapon in hopes of protecting himself from the intruder. He waited, whole body tensed with his fight or flight instinct rampaging through his veins but the lump on the floor didn't move. "Uh, hello?" He called out shakily. No answer. "Excuse me, mister burglar? Are you dead?" With cautious, terrified steps, Hoseok edged closer to peer down at the unconscious male. "Hello?" He reached out with his foot to nudge the other's leg.

"I'm not playing hide the sausage with you, Tae, leave me alone," Seokjin mumbled.

"Uh, I'm not Tae, whoever that is."

After a handful of tense seconds, Seokjin was suddenly scrambling to his feet and turning to stare at the human before him with wide eyes.

"Why the fuck did you scream like that?!" He demanded.

"You were laid on my bed! I don't know you! How did you get in here?!"

"Stop shrieking, you made me hit my head and now I've got a headache," Seokjin complained while lifting a hand to rub at the impact site at the top of his forehead just before his hairline. And then, he noticed something, or more specifically, the concerning lack of something. "Horns!" He bolted past Hoseok to enter the bathroom and stare despairingly at the perfectly clear and flat expanse of his forehead, not even a single hint of his shined to perfection smoky grey horns. "I'm not horny!" He wailed, collapsing to his knees dramatically while his hands gripped the edge of the sink.

"Does that mean you'll leave now? I don't want to be caught up in whatever depravity you're into."

"What did you do to me!?" Seokjin screamed, turning a glare onto the human who yelped and stumbled back a few steps but that wasn't what Seokjin wanted. "No! My heat vision!"

"Your what?"

"Heat vision! I know you humans have it in your fantasy books and little people plays, the ones on the glass screens."

"Do you mean movies?"

"Yes! That one!" Seokjin pointed at Hoseok.

"Right...you need an ambulance. Seems kind of messed up to call an ambulance for my potential attacker though so I'm not sure where to go from here." The human admitted, twisting his hands around the trophy he still gripped tightly, just in case.

"I can't attack you, silly human, your soul wouldn't belong to us then. I was only going to scare you or indirectly cause your death, not physically touch you."

"That does not settle my mind at all," Hoseok mumbled.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Even if I did still manage to cause your demise, I couldn't claim your soul, my powers no longer work."

"Right, hm, okay. Right." The human backed up until his bed hit the back of his legs and then he dropped down to sit.

For a while, they both stayed in their respective rooms, in their respective minds, caught up in their respective woes. Seokjin about somehow losing his demon identity- a feat only Seokjin and his boneheadedness could achieve honestly. Hoseok about the stranger having a minor breakdown in his bathroom while weeping about being "not horny anymore", which Hoseok was glad for because he didn't want to have the mental war with himself about the morals of falling into bed with an inhumanly attractive burglar; while also wondering which emergency service would be best suited to deal with the situation.

"It's decided." Hoseok jolted back, almost falling from his bed in surprise at the sudden close voice. Seokjin was only a metre away and standing with his hands on his hips. "Seeing as you somehow turned me human, you will provide food and lodge for me throughout the duration of my stay in the human realm until we find out how to return me to my demonic state. When that happens I will finish what I came him for and drag you back to hell with me where I will personally oversee your torture for all eternity for doing this to me."

"Uh, hang on, what?"

"What?"

"How hard did you hit your head? Demonic state? Hell? Human realm?"

"Yes? I don't see your point." The pair stared at each other for a moment before Seokjin understood where the human's confusion stemmed from and he let out a hearty and entirely out of place laugh that honestly only concerned Hoseok further. "Right, I always forget, you humans don't believe in our existence, except where religion is concerned. Silly humans, we've been around long before the concept of religion was thought up by your ancestors."

"My family isn't religious," Was the only thing Hoseok had to respond with so that's all he said.

"I meant humanity in general, not you specifically," Hoseok grunted in response, not that it particularly meant anything, it was just a noise to fill the gap Seokjin's sentence left. "I am a demon and I came to claim your soul that you signed away for those hideous shoes in the other room. Honestly, of all the things, those?" Seokjin shuddered. "I am disgusted but not surprised by what humans find beautiful."

"I won those in a competition," Hoseok replied, feeling twice the amount of offence as required by Seokjin's honesty for the sake of the shoes themselves; they didn't have the ability to be offended so obviously it was down to Hoseok to be it for them. Obviously. Maybe Hoseok's picture could make a special appearance next to Seokjin's in the dictionary, something small and comparable to fine print in comparison to Seokjin's loud and glaringly obvious.

"A competition?" The demon- or not demon, whatever he may be- replied blankly. "And answer me this, little human, what competition was that exactly?"

"I don't remember, I must've been drunk when I applied."

"Oh you were drunk, for sure but it wasn't a competition you applied for. You signed a contract to promise us your soul so long as you got your ugly ass shoes."

"Wait, hold on a second. I was drunk and you still let me sign away my soul?"

"Hoseok, sweetie, we're demons, it's not like your intoxication level matters to us. We thrive on chaos and trickery."

"You know my name." The human mumbled, shocked at the fact for some reason. As if everything else so far was perfectly normal and every day.

"Well, yeah." Seokjin looked a little bewildered and concerned and for a moment wondered if Hoseok had been the one to hit his head and not himself. "I can't take a portal to a claim if I don't have their name and address."

"Oh, right, yeah, cool, right. Portal."

"Yes, portal."

Silence stretched on between the pair and Seokjin could practically see the sanity oozing out of Hoseok's ears and dripping down his bare, lithe chest. And oh, that's a thing. Hoseok's only in his boxers. Cool. Nice.

"Nice," Seokjin repeated his thoughts aloud without even realising. The human looked up at the sudden sound. "What's your stance on boning a demon recently turned human?"

"Uh,"

"Purely hypothetical, unless your stance is very down to bone a demon recently turned human, in that case, I require a live chicken, two gallons of goats milk and the screams of the innocent on loop."

And somehow, somehow despite all that, Hoseok didn't kick the elder man out- he didn't state his stance on boning a demon recently turned human either- but instead, he pointed to the pull-out couch and spent the following months learning to live with another being as the pair searched high and low for a way to return the boneheaded former demon back to the fiery depths from whence he came.

(If you listen carefully, you can hear the cackling of the terror triplets as they watch on from Namjoon's viewing crystal but that’s another story entirely.)

15 notes · View notes

ze-eternalmarsh · 2 months

Text

Name: Let's Take a Love Bath Baby

Ship: 2seok (Hoseok/Seokjin) - BTS

Rating: Explicit

Category: M/M

Wordcount: 3,575k

Type: One Shot [Part of a bigger story (a Ghost Hunting AU with has Namgi and 2seokkook endgames) being posted as threads on twitter under the "Phas AU Threads" post here]

Tags: smut, fluff, sexual tension, gentle sex, vanilla, bathtub sex, overstimulation, prostate milking, sleepy cuddles, emotional constipation, friends with benefits/fuckbuddies, sleeping together, childhood trauma, light angst coming untouched, sleep deprivation

Summary:

Seokjin sighs, taking a step towards Hoseok and grabbing his waist again. “I still want to do stuff too. What if we just… take it slower today? Maybe take a bath and I can help you relax?”

Hoseok opens his mouth, ready to remind Seokjin of their arrangement, but he quickly closes it.

Maybe it's okay for it to be a little more domestic? If they still fuck, it should be fine if he lets Seokjin take care of him a little, right?

"If you can 'help me relax' in the way I want then yeah," he flirts.

Seokjin pulls him closer, grabbing his chin to kiss his lips before smirking. "I can definitely do that, yeah.

Or: Hoseok and Seokjin don't do feelings, especially Hoseok. But Seokjin still wants to help Hoseok feel better so they compromise and fuck in the bath. And Hoseok doesn't know how to deal with anyone taking care of him.

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becomewings · 3 years

Photo

The Most Beautiful Moment in Life <I’M FINE>

BTS Universe Story Highlights, pt. 3 / 4

« pt. 2 | » pt. 4

Introduction

The following sections for JiMin’s and HoSeok’s arcs are 4.5k and 4k, respectively. As with pt.2 of the series, I have included “tl;dr commentary” at the bottom of the post after a section of additional thoughts. This commentary summarizes the parenthetical asides I made throughout the summaries and may be of interest as standalone reading to those who have already played the game yet would like to review its connections to the BU texts and MVs.

Content warning: contains references to death, suicide, suicidal ideation, child abuse, domestic violence, blood, homicide, depression, trauma, PTSD

This guide contains major spoilers and includes references to other BU media

Do not repost, copy, or quote without permission

Stopped Time

SeokJin’s primary goal in JiMin’s story is to free him from the hospital psychiatric ward to which his parents have him committed before he gives up on life. Much like his sudden, unexplained absence in The Notes 1, JiMin is not even present in the first two episodes except for an introductory cutscene. In a hospital hallway on an unspecified date, he plays on the colored tiles and stops when he reaches “the line” by the exit door. (This line marks the end of the psychiatric ward and is first described in his 11 May Year 22 entry in The Notes 1.) Everything goes black except for JiMin and the door. A nurse taps him on the shoulder, bringing him back to reality, and hands him pills.

The playable story begins on 22 April Year 22 with SeokJin attending a meeting organized by the patrons of the Songho Foundation. Seo HyunJung, the city’s Deputy Mayor, suggested it to SeokJin’s father, Kim ChangJun, at the inauguration ceremony. (SeokJin attends the inauguration ceremony on 11 April in many loops; it plays out in episode 2 of JungKook’s arc.) SeokJin scans over the crowd, reflecting that while the pretext of the meeting is to discuss community development, in reality it is a social gathering to advance individual careers. These sessions make him uncomfortable, but this time he is attending of his own accord with the intention of meeting someone.

This someone is a woman who actually approaches him first, introducing herself as Sim SeonMi. SeokJin knows that she is JiMin’s mother. He has met her in previous loops but needs to pretend that this is their first time meeting. His goal is to bring up JiMin naturally and persuade her to discharge him from the hospital. Before he can broach the subject, the high school principal, Jo JinMyung, joins them. SeokJin uses his arrival as an opportunity to bring up school and guide the conversation toward JiMin by first asking if they know each other. “We’ve met a few times at gatherings. I was told her child used to be a student at our school,” answers Jo JinMyung. “Ah, really? I attended Jeil High too,” says SeokJin. Sim SeonMi looks taken aback, and he asks for her child’s name. She tries to avoid the question by saying that they probably won’t know each other due to their age gap, but when pressed again she relents. “His name is Park JiMin.” “I know JiMin! We were close. Is JiMin doing okay?” SeokJin responds brightly, wondering if she will provide an empty lie. Instead, she excuses herself with the claim that she needs to greet someone else.

SeokJin quickly wraps up with the principal and begins to casually approach her again. He stops when he overhears two women mention her name. “There’s no gathering she doesn’t attend these days. Looks like her husband’s star is on the rise, thanks to her efforts…” The player has the choice to listen quietly or butt in. If SeokJin stands by, they speculate that she was invited because her husband’s company is one of the patrons. If he interrupts, they caution him to stay away from her. In both routes, SeokJin learns that Sim SeonMi doesn’t have the best reputation and that rumors of her hospitalized son are spreading. Their blame on her helps explain what underlay her hysteric responses in previous loops.

Though it’s uncomfortable, SeokJin reapproaches her when she is alone. She greets him a little coldly. “You don’t have to be so formal to me. I’m JiMin’s friend,” he assures. “Is that so? How friendly you are.” Sim SeonMi smiles awkwardly and keeps looking elsewhere as though for an escape. “It would’ve been nice if JiMin’s father was here… He’ll join me another time, so you can say hello to him then.” “Yes. I’ll make sure to bring my father along then,” SeokJin replies, hoping to snag her attention. Her eyes change at the mention of his father. “Shall we do that, then? It’ll be even better with the Assemblyman.” SeokJin brings up JiMin again by either asking if he still attends Jeil High or how he’s doing. Her uneasy answers are “These days? Yes… Of course” or “...He’s fine,” respectively. SeokJin requests JiMin’s phone number, rendering her silent for a long moment. “That’s a bit difficult. I’m not sure I can give out JiMin’s contact information without his approval.” SeokJin attempts to convince her by stating that they were close friends in school yet lost contact when he studied abroad. But all he gets from her is, “Then I’ll ask JiMin, and make sure to contact you if he says it’s okay.” Sim SeonMi taps him on the shoulder and quickly walks away.

By 25 April, SeokJin still hasn’t heard from JiMin’s mother, so he decides to visit her and reveal that he knows JiMin was admitted to an inpatient psychiatric ward. Uncle JunHo, his father’s secretary, intercepts him before he leaves the house and asks where he’s going. SeokJin either answers that he is heading to school or meeting a friend to work on assignments. He declines a ride from JunHo in the first path but can’t conjure an excuse to not accept in the second. In both, JunHo comments that it’s not easy being the family of a public official and that he noticed SeokJin engaged in a long conversation with Sim SeonMi at the meeting. SeokJin explains that she is his friend’s mother, and JunHo advises him not to get too friendly with her because she doesn’t have a great reputation. In the second path, he also adds information about JiMin’s father that catches SeokJin’s attention because he has not heard anything about the man. Apparently Park JinWook is one of the foundation’s board members. ‘He’s pretty remarkable. He entered as a researcher and became a board member… The one thing that people like him want most is connections,” JunHo muses. He cautions SeokJin to “be wary of any advances [he] can see the intent of.”

The scene cuts to the exterior of an apartment building after SeokJin has either driven himself or been dropped off nearby by JunHo. He considers the public assessment of JiMin’s mother: she works hard to elevate her husband’s status but ignores her own son in favor of the family’s reputation. Sim SeonMi happens to step outside before SeokJin enters the building. She looks wary when he says, “I haven’t heard from you, so I decided to come see you myself.” In an effort to persuade her, SeokJin begins with either “I want to see JiMin” or “I came to see you because I know everything.” In the first path, she lies about not getting in touch with JiMin yet because he is studying abroad in the U.S. SeokJin is stunned by this egregious falsehood. “From what I’ve heard… JiMin’s locked up in a hospital. He’s at the Gyeong Il Hospital, isn’t he?” A similar reaction occurs in the second path from the point of SeokJin mentioning the hospital. Sim SeonMi hardens and objects to the phrase “locked up,” stating that JiMin is an inpatient because he is sick. “SeokJin, I appreciate that you’re worried about JiMin… But I’m his mother, and that means I know what’s best for him.” The paths converge as she tries to leave, claiming they have nothing left to discuss. Persuading her to release JiMin from the hospital seems impossible. “I’ll look into it on my own. I’m going to see JiMin, no matter how hard you try to stop me,” SeokJin warns. Sim SeonMi glares at him, voice low and cold. “‘SeokJin. If I can give you a word of advice… Adults have reasons for everything they do. You should forget about this.”

The beginning of episode 3 visits JiMin’s perspective on 27 April. He has relocated temporarily to the surgical ward due to an injured wrist. After treatment, he returns to his hospital room to find his mother arranging some items she brought. JiMin approaches nervously, wondering if she thinks he has caused a problem again. “It doesn’t look too bad, thankfully,” she remarks, glancing at his wrist. Her concern is unfamiliar yet welcome. “Do you know a Kim SeokJin? He said he attended Jeil High.” The mention of SeokJin surprises JiMin, but he tries to answer passively because of her angry tone. “Yes, but why are you suddenly ask—” “Did you contact him?” Sim SeonMi interrupts, halting her organizing to stare at him. “Why are you so immature? Do you ever think of anyone outside of here?” Injury throbbing, JiMin doesn’t know how to respond. “If you want to leave, tell me why you’re doing this. Tell me instead of embarrassing me by contacting some random person! Is that why you hurt your wrist? To rebel?” she demands. JiMin tries to explain this isn’t true, but she doesn’t listen. “I’m really tired, too. How many years has it been? How long do I have to suffer because of you?” Sim SeonMi leaves, the rant having done little to expend her anger. JiMin knows that her worries are pointed at herself, not at him; he is someone who makes life harder for her. He decides not to talk about anything else because he doesn’t want to make things even more difficult for her.

The story cuts to SeokJin loitering outside Gyeong Il Hospital, mulling over what action to take since JiMin is moving out of the surgical ward that day. (The date is unspecified in the game, but in The Notes 1, he is scheduled to return to the psychiatric ward on 16 May.) SeokJin knows that he will be the first suspect if JiMin disappears now and that he must act carefully since he was unable to persuade JiMin’s mother. As the day grows dark, he spots Sim SeonMi rushing into the hospital on her second visit. SeokJin hurries after her, worried that something happened to JiMin. The panicked voices of a medical team emerge from JiMin’s room. Doctors crowd around someone laying on the bed. “No, JiMin!” SeokJin hears Sim SeonMi scream followed by the sound of shattering glass.

The loop resets, and the game rejoins SeokJin on 10 May standing at a road and reflecting on the last failure. “If JiMin isn’t saved while he’s in the surgical ward, he makes his choice days after he returns to the closed ward. But it happened too quickly this time. What pushed him?” he wonders. He recalls Sim SeonMi’s final words before the loop ended. “No, JiMin! I’m sorry. I was wrong! You can see your friends; you can do anything you want… So please, open your eyes!” SeokJin realizes that he may have caused Sim SeonMi to act out of the ordinary, which in turn affected JiMin’s choice. It’s his fault, and he made JiMin suffer more. He thinks, “Even though I’ve experienced losing my friends before… No matter how many times it repeats… It never gets any easier.” SeokJin decides to abandon persuading JiMin’s mother to avoid provoking her and reverts his plan to sneaking JiMin out like in earlier loops. But first, he must focus on a more pressing issue—rescuing HoSeok after he collapses on the bridge that day.

After a cut, HoSeok awakens in SeokJin’s car and is shocked to see him. “Wow, is it really you? How long has it been?” “Lean on me for a bit longer. You didn’t hurt yourself when you fell?” SeokJin checks. HoSeok assures him that he’s all right and asks how SeokJin saw him. When SeokJin says he was just passing by, HoSeok remarks, “Wow! That’s so weird. Thanks for saving me.” It’s the first time SeokJin has heard something like this. He remembers JiMin in a previous loop telling him, “This is where I should be.” Does JiMin really want to leave the hospital? SeokJin believed that he did, but now he’s less confident. “HoSeok. If you had someone in front of you who wanted to die because living was too difficult… What would you do?” he asks. HoSeok answers without hesitation, “Well, I would help them.” “Even if that person doesn’t want my help?” says SeokJin. “ Isn’t helping them the right thing to do? Even if you don’t know why they want to die… They need to keep living for something to change,” HoSeok muses.

SeokJin drops HoSeok off at Two Star Burger before returning to the hospital alone, his friend’s words sticking with him. Even though JiMin isn’t guaranteed to be happy when he leaves the hospital, he needs to stay alive to have even the opportunity for happiness. Still uncertain how to proceed, SeokJin heads to the hospital lounge to organize his thoughts before visiting JiMin. Through an open door, he spots JiMin trudging down a hallway. SeokJin either calls out to him or watches him, but the latter is the result regardless because JiMin doesn’t hear him in the first path. JiMin stares at the door as people come and go and eventually returns to his room.

On 7 May, JiMin roams the hallways of the 5th floor surgical ward. He was moved there about ten days earlier after he ran into someone and fell. The surgical ward is not too different from the psychiatric one: the hallway is a little longer, and it has a lounge in the middle. But the freedom to move around in this space brings him joy that he doesn’t have in the psychiatric ward. He even wanders around at night when no one is around and dances in the lounge. Despite this newfound freedom, his body stops at the same point in the hallway—where the psychiatric ward ends four floors above him. After reaching his line again, JiMin returns to his room. He assumes a student occupied the bed before him because he finds a forgotten workbook in the nearby drawers. Remembering that he used this workbook in school, he flips through and reads the notes scribbled in the margins. “I want to go to a PC cafe, too…” he murmurs, spotting the note “wanna go to the PC cafe later?” JiMin finds a haphazardly folded paper tucked into the pages and unfolds it curiously. “Career… plan?”

The story cuts to 10 May with SeokJin, from a hidden vantage point, watching JiMin sit in the hospital lounge and read a book. It reminds him of their days in the classroom hideout. “He seems okay right now.” SeokJin receives a call from Uncle JunHo about the scheduling of a Songho Foundation seminar. During their conversation, a loudspeaker announcement summons JiMin to the 2nd floor physical therapy room. He drops the book and runs out of the lounge. Once finished with the call, SeokJin tries to find the book JiMin was reading. He doesn’t see it among those scattered around the lounge and thinks that JiMin must’ve had a reason to hide it. Hoping it will provide him a clue to understanding his friend, SeokJin hunts around either the window or trash can with no luck before turning to the vending machine. After scooting a bookcase out of the way, he is finally able to rescue the item. SeokJin deduces that the workbook doesn’t belong to JiMin because it’s Year 2 material and JiMin was admitted to the hospital in his first year. He finds the detached sheet with two different types of handwriting and determines which belongs to JiMin. The game provides a quick flashback shot of JiMin filling out the paper. “Aspiring Career Path: Will I be able to go to university too? Scholastic Activities: What should I learn in Year 2… Extracurricular Activities: Join the dance club HoSeok started.” SeokJin wonders what JiMin felt as he wrote in the answers. He considers how JiMin people-watched from the hallway and looked happy reading the workbook. “You want to leave, don’t you?” SeokJin thinks. “Let’s get out of here. So you can be the one to decide what kind of life you want to live.” He resolves to break JiMin free.

On 11 May, JiMin stops at the invisible line in the hallway again. He stares at the door before turning around and bumping into someone. He is shocked speechless when he realizes that it’s SeokJin. The next episode continues from this moment but switches to SeokJin’s perspective. He calms JiMin down before bringing him to the lounge, giving the excuse that he was in the hospital to visit someone else. JiMin’s cheeks are hollowed, his hands skinnier than normal. SeokJin wonders if he can inspire JiMin to act if he tells him that he’ll be able to do all of the things he wrote on the career plan once he leaves the hospital. He either asks, “JiMin, are you injured?” or “How long have you been in the hospital?” In both paths, JiMin refers to his wrist injury and the time he’s been in the surgical ward rather than the psychiatric one. He looks grim when he can’t give a proper answer to either “When do you get discharged?” or “Are you sick?” “I think I have to go now. It’s almost time for treatment, too…” JiMin stands to leave, avoiding his gaze. SeokJin rushes after him and blocks his path, knowing this might be their last chance to speak if they say goodbye already. “JiMin, I’m here because I know everything. You want to leave this place, don’t you? You’ve been here for two years.” JiMin steps back but doesn’t run away. “I just happened to hear… how your mother locked you in the psychiatric ward,” SeokJin explains. JiMin shakes his head with a frightened expression. “No. I’m here because I’m sick.” His eyes falter when SeokJin presses, “JiMin, I can help you. Let’s get out of here together.”

Short flashbacks play from JiMin’s perspective alongside his thoughts: “At first, I wanted to leave. I called my mom and cried until my voice went hoarse, asking her to take me home. That I didn’t want to stay here. But she didn’t listen. Because this is where I should be…” Aloud, JiMin speaks in a voice that sounds like he has given up on everything. “Even if I leave, I’ll eventually come back.” SeokJin shakes his head. “What’s important is how you feel. JiMin, you really want to stay here? That’s okay with you?” Depending on the players’ choice, he either continues, “Do you really not have anything you want to do?” or “‘You really want to stay here in the hospital?” In the first path, SeokJin tries to remind him of something he must want to do like studying or dancing. “I don’t… have anything like that,” JiMin lies. In the second path, JiMin says it’s better for him in the hospital because outside people treat him like a freak. SeokJin remembers the women whispering about Sim SeonMi and her hospitalized son at the Songho Foundation meeting. In both paths, JiMin is pale and shaky. SeokJin decides to ask one more time. “You don’t want to go outside and see your friends?” JiMin seems to perk up at the mention of “friends,” but he does not respond or lift his gaze. SeokJin’s parting words are, “Think about it, JiMin… I’ll come back to visit again.”

The next day (12 May), SeokJin reflects on his failure to persuade both JiMin and his mother. “What can I do to help JiMin get over his fear and gain courage?” he wonders. The career plan comes to mind again with JiMin’s notes of college, studying, and dancing—the things he wants to do outside of the hospital. This prompts SeokJin to remember a day in the classroom hideout when he filmed HoSeok dancing. On the sidelines, TaeHyung complimented HoSeok’s moves and asked if JiMin could dance like that. Gaze full of envy and longing, JiMin answered, “No. How could I do that?” “HoSeok! JiMin says he wants to try!” TaeHyung called. Flustered, JiMin tried to stop him, but HoSeok looked over. “Do you want to try?” JiMin insisted that he couldn’t, but TaeHyung pushed him forward and HoSeok gladly demonstrated the routine. JiMin hesitated at first to attempt it alone but began to move at their encouragement. In the present, SeokJin believes that he has found an answer in this memory. “TaeHyung, who pushed him forward… and HoSeok, who believed that he could do it. Maybe one of those two will help JiMin muster up the courage.”

SeokJin picks TaeHyung to help him persuade JiMin, considering that he was the first person to notice how JiMin was feeling when they watched HoSeok dance and helped JiMin take action when he hesitated. (We know from The Notes 1 that SeokJin’s later, successful choice ends up being HoSeok instead.) On 13 May, SeokJin visits TaeHyung’s convenience store to explain JiMin’s situation, and TaeHyung immediately agrees to help. Late that night and with little planned, they sneak into JiMin’s hospital room. Sensing their presence, JiMin turns on the light and is especially surprised to see TaeHyung. “We’re here to get you out of here, JiMin,” he says. “Did you think about it?” SeokJin asks. When JiMin hesitates, TaeHyung presses him to answer honestly. “Park JiMin, do you like being here? Staying here is awful! Let’s leave. You can think when we’re outside.” TaeHyung forces JiMin to his feet even as he hesitates and protests about the impending night rounds, although he does not push TaeHyung’s hand away. SeokJin knows this is hasty but decides to trust TaeHyung. Out in the hallway, he reflects that if even he spoke the same words, JiMin would not agree. SeokJin has encountered moments like this before where his friends solve problems that he cannot fix alone. “TaeHyung seems to be JiMin’s answer, just like YoonGi needed JungKook,” SeokJin thinks. (JungKook saving YoonGi is not a solution that played out in YoonGi’s story, but this is a familiar theme from Notes 1 and forward.)

The elevator arrives as they turn the corner, its doors opening to reveal Sim SeonMi. SeokJin warns, “Hide. It’s JiMin’s mom.” She walks past without noticing them. SeokJin quickly presses the elevator button, but it has already left. “JiMin, quick!” TaeHyung calls. “TaeHyung, I just…” “You can’t look back,” TaeHyung says firmly. He and SeokJin pull JiMin towards the stairwell, but JiMin stops walking. “What’s wrong?” asks TaeHyung. JiMin’s expression is on the verge of crying yet also angry. “I can’t,” he whispers. “Park JiMin, we don’t have time for this—” TaeHyung is interrupted by Sim SeonMi’s distant voice. “Where’d he go? The bathroom?” SeokJin tugs JiMin’s arm, but he looks afraid again. “SeokJin, I… I can’t do this. I don’t think I can.” SeokJin either soothes JiMin himself or has TaeHyung talk to him. In the first path, he takes JiMin’s trembling hand. “It’s safe for me here.” JiMin shakes his head. “No, JiMin. Something bad will happen if you stay here,” SeokJin cautions. “No, I have to stay here. That’s what’s right. I want to stay here,” JiMin insists. In the second path, SeokJin shoots TaeHyung a look, and TaeHyung in turn scans over JiMin. The tapping sound of shoes rings through the silent hallway. TaeHyung begins, “JiMin, if you stop here…” The paths rejoin when Sim SeonMi spots them and calls to JiMin, face livid as she approaches. “Oh… Mom.” The color drains from JiMin’s face. “Please… Please! Can’t you just stay put?” she demands sharply.

TaeHyung attempts to intervene, introducing himself as JiMin’s friend. Sim SeonMi does not look at him even when he explains that JiMin didn’t expect their visit and they were just taking him outside so as not to disturb the sleeping patients. SeokJin chimes in too, hoping their flimsy excuse will work, but Sim SeonMi orders JiMin back to his room. Looking defeated, JiMin trudges out of sight. Sim SeonMi finally turns her gaze on SeokJin, regarding him with the same expression as she utters the same words from the last loop. “I didn't know you were JiMin’s friend.” She warns them not to visit him again like this because he is very sick and it will interfere with his treatment. Before coldly turning to leave, she touches TaeHyung’s shoulder for a moment. (This same gesture was given to HoSeok in the hospital after JiMin’s seizure at the bus stop on 15 September Year 20 in Notes 1.) Her presence is like a wall separating them from JiMin. (SeokJin’s observation echoes HoSeok’s feeling that she was drawing an uncrossable line between them that September.) TaeHyung yells after her, “What’s wrong with him?! You can’t even spare the time to talk to us?!” SeokJin cautions him to stop. “Let me go! JiMin! Park JiMin!” TaeHyung’s voice rings loudly in the hallway, but no one answers. As they leave the hospital, he asks, “Do you think JiMin will be okay?” SeokJin cannot respond because he knows the truth: when JiMin returns to the psychiatric ward, he always makes the same awful choice.

The story cuts to JiMin sitting on his hospital bed and staring at his feet, unable to face his mother. He regrets following SeokJin and TaeHyung. “It was a lie, wasn’t it?” Sim SeonMi asks. “What those kids said earlier. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?” JiMin apologizes, throat catching. “What were you going to do? What could you possibly do outside of this place?” she demands. JiMin remembers all the things he thought about alone in the lounge: going to school, making friends, and learning dance from HoSeok again. “I want to live a regular life. It’s nothing that special. Why is it that I’m not allowed to dream?” he thinks. “JiMin, let’s focus on getting better first. When you’re all better… I’ll let you do whatever you want once you’re discharged. But you know that now isn’t the time. Let’s do it when you’re back to normal,” Sim SeonMi advises with a power in her voice that he can’t fight. Questions pile up in his head: what is getting better, and what is normal? But he holds it in and nods, not wanting to make things any more difficult for her. “Okay, Mom. I will…” As he speaks, it dawns on him that he’ll never get to leave the hospital.

JiMin moves back to the psychiatric ward after SeokJin and TaeHyung’s visit. The place is still the same: a man mutters that he’s not crazy; a child stays glued to the window, waiting for their mom. “And then there’s me, unable to progress because I’m locked in the past. If nothing changes even as time flows, how is it any different than time standing still?” On 19 May, JiMin stands in the bathroom with the water running. He sees and hears the falling drops as rain and smells a sharp stickiness. Reflected in the water in the sink, he sees a vision of himself on “that day.” (This is referring to 6 April Year 11 and the events of the arboretum, first introduced in that dated entry in The Notes 1 and revealed in full on 12 August Year 22 of The Notes 2.) “...I hate it.” JiMin covers his eyes. “I want to forget everything. I want to rest.” The glass shatters, concluding his arc.

Someone Left Behind

HoSeok’s story opens on 11 May Year 22 with SeokJin providing some chronological context. So far, he has not made it to June once in the loops because HoSeok collapses from his narcolepsy and JiMin is still trapped in the hospital. SeokJin can encounter JiMin naturally if he admits HoSeok to the hospital after his collapse on 10 May, but HoSeok has an accident in the hospital stairwell and falls into despair over his leg injury. (10 May is the date HoSeok collapses and wakes up in the hospital in The Notes 1, and this is likely the moment referenced by his bridge scene in the I Need U MV.) Even if SeokJin prevents that accident or helps HoSeok avoid admittance to the hospital entirely, his narcolepsy grows worse over time after 10 May. SeokJin determines that he needs to control HoSeok’s narcolepsy in order to save him, and he heads to Two Star Burger where HoSeok works to begin earnestly investigating.

A cutscene plays out at the restaurant: HoSeok, wearing a manager’s tag, watches two friends eating at a table while someone places their order with him. His expression is distant and briefly sad until he catches himself and smiles brightly at the customer. When the door chimes, he greets the new visitor and realizes it’s SeokJin. This is apparently their first time meeting in this loop because HoSeok heard from the other guys that Seokjin returned. SeokJin asks how he’s doing, and HoSeok replies, “Me? Same as usual.” SeokJin knows that “same as usual” means HoSeok’s life has a set, monotonous routine: working his part-time job, going to dance practice, and occasionally visiting the children’s home. Sometimes, he also comes to the bridge over the river and watches the scenery. The scene transitions to this location later at night as SeokJin narrates this. He stands at a distance so HoSeok doesn’t see him. HoSeok’s out-of-character, melancholy expression worries SeokJin. He hasn’t observed any changes to his friend’s daily routine, and HoSeok hasn’t collapsed recently—so why does he keep collapsing on 10 May?

The narrative cuts to 3 May. (I double-checked the dates and can only assume that this is a new loop, although a reset is not specifically mentioned—or else the opening date was a typo.) SeokJin mulls the situation over alone for a while but ends up going to NamJoon out of frustration. NamJoon and HoSeok share similarities, and they’re both responsible for other people. Believing that NamJoon knows HoSeok best, SeokJin visits his container. NamJoon greets him warmly. JungKook is already there, killing time after school. SeokJin mentions that he saw HoSeok a few days earlier at Two Star Burger but couldn’t really talk to him because he was busy. NamJoon suggests inviting him to join them after work and bring some hamburgers too since JungKook is hungry. SeokJin either calls HoSeok himself or lets JungKook call. In the first path, HoSeok says he’ll come as soon as SeokJin mentions that a few of them are together. In the second path, while JungKook is on the phone, SeokJin asks NamJoon how HoSeok is and learns that he practices dance at the cultural center every day. SeokJin wonders if HoSeok is pushing himself too hard. The paths rejoin: before HoSeok arrives, SeokJin inquires about his narcolepsy too. NamJoon doesn’t know much except that he’s still taking medication for it and seems to be doing okay. It seems that no one dares to bring it up since HoSeok doesn’t speak about it openly. The conversation trails off while they wait, although it’s not awkward—it reminds SeokJin of old times together.

HoSeok arrives with a cheerful greeting, wafting in the smell of fresh hamburgers. “These hamburgers were hand-made by the employee of the month!” He rustles through the bags and produces a kid’s meal boxed toy, giving it to JungKook. “Here’s your Children’s Day gift!” JungKook pouts that he’s not a kid but seems pleased to receive a gift even though it’s a couple days early. HoSeok explains that he has to be at the children’s home on 5 May. NamJoon asks if they’re hosting an event that day. “It’s not really an event… I’m going to see the families,” says HoSeok. He plans to bring hamburgers and play with the kids rather than bring gifts. SeokJin is surprised to hear that almost twenty children, ranging from young kids to high schoolers, live at the home. “‘That’s more than I expected. It must be fun when everyone plays together.” HoSeok invites him to come along to take photos of everyone, and SeokJin agrees with a high-five. NamJoon declines because he’s too busy, and JungKook hesitates. HoSeok assures him not to feel pressured, causing SeokJin to reflect on how he has always been the “mood-maker” whose cheerful personality eases awkward situations and defuses disagreements. While lost in thought, he notices HoSeok taking out his medication. “How are you these days? Do you feel better?” NamJoon checks. “Hmm. I don’t have any symptoms, but I shouldn’t be skipping these.” A grim expression flashes across HoSeok’s face. SeokJin thinks, “It doesn’t mean he’s alright just because he smiles in front of people.” He guesses that HoSeok must feel scared of his condition, not knowing when he’ll collapse next. It’s not enough for SeokJin to prevent the accidents he can see or to stop HoSeok from getting injured—he must save him from the fear that isn’t visible. SeokJin resolves to find out what makes him collapse. Even if the condition isn’t curable, discovering the cause might help HoSeok get better.

On 5 May, SeokJin meets up with HoSeok at the children’s home, which is located near Yangji Stream. HoSeo looks happy and explains that visiting there is like coming home. They bring their respective gifts of hamburgers and snacks inside, and all the kids rush to HoSeok in excitement. One of the home’s staff greets them. HoSeok introduces her as Kim JungHee. He calls her “auntie” and regards her as someone who has been like a mother to him. As SeokJin helps her set the table with food, he thinks that the children’s home feels like an ordinary family home and HoSeok looks like the dependable older brother among all the kids. After taking all the requested pictures later, SeokJin joins HoSeok to watch the children play outside. “You’re on good terms with the kids,” he observes. “I’ve only been out of the children’s home about three months now, so I know them all,” HoSeok explains. (He moved into his rooftop room on 25 Feb Year 22 according to that date’s Note accompanying the Persona album.) SeokJin either comments, “Auntie seems like a great person. She treated me well and we’ve only just met,” or asks, “How old were you when you first came here?” In both paths, HoSeok speaks with visible adoration for Kim JungHee. In the first path, he mentions that although she’s scary when mad, she never gets angry without a reason. “Auntie JungHee is just… like a mom. She’s mom.” In the second path, HoSeok answers that he was seven when he moved into the children’s home. He describes how Auntie would sing him songs that his mother listened to instead of a lullaby when he had trouble falling asleep, and that was the first time he cried after coming to the home. SeokJin begins, “Then, HoSeok, when you were little…” But a boy’s cries interrupt him before he can ask if HoSeok experienced narcolepsy when he was younger. “What’s wrong, JiHun?” HoSeok asks in concern. The sobbing boy shows him a broken toy rocket. “My mom… gave this to me.” HoSeok is at a loss because it looks impossible to fix. “I’ll bring you a new one next time. Don’t cry, JiHun. Okay?” The boy keeps crying despite HoSeok’s attempts at consolation. Before SeokJin can think of another tactic, HoSeok speaks up, drying JiHun’s tears. “JiHun, do you want to go with me to see a real rocket?”

At HoSeok’s request, SeokJin drives them both to Yeongsan Bridge, one of the bridges that crosses Yangji Stream and that HoSeok frequents. SeokJin is perplexed about what could count as a “real rocket” as they head to HoSeok’s usual spot on the bridge, and JiHun appears suspicious but excited. “Look over there!” HoSeok points to the train departing Songju Station in the distance, picking up speed on the tracks. “Wow!” JiHun exclaims. “What do you think? That rocket looks cool, huh?” asks HoSeok. “Rocket? That’s a train,” says the boy. “Look closely! It’s a rocket.” HoSeok beams. JiHun asks HoSeok why he calls it a rocket. HoSeok explains that the front end of the train is pointy like a rocket and that it takes people somewhere far away. (He also refers to the trains as rockets in his 4 July Year 22 entry from The Notes 2.) SeokJin realizes that from his vantage point on the bridge, HoSeko has been watching the train that leaves Songju. “JiHun, you can wish on the rocket, too!” HoSeok describes how the rocket can carry dreams because the people who ride on it have dreams. JiHun wishes to become famous so his mom can find him. HoSeok falls silent for a moment before resuming his chatty demeanor. Together they wish on the rocket for JiHun to see his mom again. JiHun asks HoSeok what he wishes for so they can wish it on the next rocket. HoSeok whispers in his ear. “Wow, you too?!” JiHun exclaims. HoSeok shushes him, so SeokJin does not learn HoSeok’s answer.

After dropping JiHun off at the children’s home, SeokJin and HoSeok relax at a bar. HoSeok thanks him for his help that day. SeokJin asks if HoSeok visits Yeongsan Bridge frequently to look at the trains. HoSeok smiles bashfully over his drink and explains that he liked visiting it when he lived in the children’s home. “Is that when you came up with the rocket story?” SeokJin asks. HoSeok replies, ‘Yeah. The people getting on the train look so cheerful and happy. It almost makes me want to get on there with them, too.” He stops abruptly and calls out to a customer on his way out. The young man is introduced as DongJin, a friend who also grew up in the children’s home. SeokJin invites him to sit with them, hoping that he knows more about HoSeok, but DongJin declines since he’s with other company. Before departing, he mentions that he will stop by Two Star Burger to see HoSeok soon. After his friend leaves, HoSeok tells SeokJin more about his childhood. SeokJin understands why he considers the people at the children’s home his family.

A little tipsy now, HoSeok brings up another memory. The whole family at the children’s home goes to Yangji Stream on August 30th for the yearly fireworks, but when he was about nine, he had to be admitted to the hospital for a check-up. SeokJin either asks, “Did you miss the fireworks that year?” or “Were you sick?” In the first path, HoSeok describes how he snuck out of his hospital room and up to the rooftop to watch the fireworks. Along the way, he found a little kid crying in the stairwell who was looking for his mom and wanted to leave, and he brought the boy to the roof so they could view the fireworks together. He doesn’t know who the kid was or remember his face. (See the Additional Thoughts section at the end for who I hope this kid really was!) In the second path, HoSeok answers that he was falling asleep without explanation but the doctor said there was nothing particularly abnormal. SeokJin tries to ask a leading question to get him to reveal more, but HoSeok’s expression is grim. The paths rejoin with HoSeok asking SeokJin if he has attended the fireworks festival too. He looks wistful when SeokJin replies that he went with his family when he was younger. HoSeok brings up DongJin again. “He’s a really lucky guy. Even though it was pretty late, he got in touch with his parents and moved out to go live with them.” His eyes reflect bitterness. “DongJin and I… both dreamed of going to the fireworks festival with our parents. I guess he’ll achieve his dream for the first time this year.” SeokJin recalls HoSeok’s rocket story and asks if that’s the dream he told JiHun about earlier. HoSeok dismisses this: his dream now is to become famous for dancing. SeokJin remembers him mentioning this in high school. “Right, you said you wanted to become famous as a dancer so it would help you find your mom… Are you still dancing because of that?” HoSeok says that was why he first started but he grew to really love dance. “You don’t have any plans to go find your mom, then?” SeokJin asks. “Why would I go anywhere? My home, work, and friends are all here.” HoSeok laughs, but it seems like he is just holding on rather than truly feeling happy. “I just… like where I am.”

Episode four begins on 8 May, Parents’ Day, in HoSeok’s perspective. As promised, DongJin visits him at Two Star Burger and asks if he can get a job there because he needs money. HoSeok is taken aback since DongJin supposedly has moved out of Songju to live with his father after reconnecting with his family. “What happened to your self-reliance support fund?” DongJin confesses that he gave it all to his father, who said that he needed it to buy them a house but hasn’t contacted him since receiving the money. “I think my expectations were too high. They abandoned me once. Why wouldn’t they abandon me a second time? I wish I hadn’t met them…” DongJin’s voice wavers. HoSeok assures him that his father must be busy looking for houses. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll contact you soon. I’ll look into a job for you.” DongJin thanks him multiple times before leaving. After work, HoSeok returns to the bridge and leans on the railing. He often does this even when there are no passing trains—watching the flow of the river empties his mind and puts him at ease. But the calm water cannot still his thoughts today. He thinks about the many children at the home who want to be reunited with their parents, including JiHun, DongJin, and himself. HoSeok is honest about his feelings, acknowledging that he envies DongJin for being able to contact a parent, even one who let him down. He closes his eyes and remembers the day his mom abandoned him at the carousel. In the memory, she hands him a chocolate bar and instructs him to count to ten before opening his eyes. The screen goes black after “three,” and at “nine,” the player hears the sound of someone falling. (The carousel memory is also depicted in the Highlight Reel.)

The story cuts to the next day, 9 May, outside Two Star Burger. SeokJin is uneasy knowing that HoSeok collapsed yesterday, two days earlier than he normally does in the loops, and hovers nearby to keep an eye on him. HoSeok announces that he’s heading out for a delivery and heads outside to the delivery scooter. A passing woman reminds her daughter to count before crossing the street. “One, two, three…” HoSeok watches them cross the street and collapses again. “HoSeok!” SeokJin cries. He gets permission from the restaurant manager to take a still-unconscious HoSeok home to his room that overlooks all of Songju City. SeokJin helps HoSeok onto his bed before looking around his room. The player has a choice to look at the items on the desk or a familiar planter on the dresser. In the first path, SeokJin clicks past the screensaver on HoSeok’s laptop and sees that the web browser is open to an audition information video for a famous international dance team. (This may be the same dance team that one of his friends from the children’s home successfully auditions for, referenced in HoSeok’s 4 July Year 22 entry accompanying the Tear album and 7 July Year 22 entry in The Notes 1.) He remembers HoSeok mentioning that he’s happiest when dancing and knows that he still runs Just Dance, the dance club he started in high school. “I’m sure he’d do well if he applies,” SeokJin muses. In the second path, SeokJin recognizes the plant as the one HoSeok tended every day in their classroom hideout. He wonders what HoSeok was thinking when he brought the plant home and how he feels caring for it. The paths rejoin with HoSeok stirring on the bed, mumbling “Mmm… Mom… Don’t go…” SeokJin recalls that HoSeok called for his mother when he fell asleep in high school. “Is the memory of losing his mom related to his narcolepsy?” he thinks. “Are you okay, HoSeok?” SeokJin asks when HoSeok opens his eyes. HoSeok is confused to find himself at home. SeokJin explains that he happened to see him collapse as he was passing by and assures him that he spoke to his manager. “HoSeok, you know how you keep collapsing… The hospital doesn’t know why yet? You don’t have any idea what makes you collapse, either?” he presses. But HoSeok shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

On 10 May, HoSeok receives a call from one of the younger kids from the children’s home while getting ready for work in his apartment. The kid informs him that Auntie JungHee isn’t working at the home anymore because she has been diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer. She is scheduled to have surgery, but the chances of success are low. HoSeok’s mind goes blank, and he hangs up. When he rushes outside, he runs into SeokJin. “I stopped by because I was worried. Are you headed out?” asks SeokJin. Consumed with the thought of getting to Auntie, HoSeok says he needs to visit JungHee and doesn’t have time to ask why SeokJin is there. SeokJin follows, offering him a ride. The player chooses to have HoSeok either get in the car or refuse the ride. In the first path, HoSeok pretends to be calm when explaining the situation to SeokJin, but his voice noticeably trembles. In the second path, he declines because he’s afraid that speaking about it will make it come true, and then he runs to the bus stop.

The story cuts to HoSeok standing on the bridge, unable to remember how he made it to Auntie’s house after saying goodbye to SeokJin. He can only recall the face he saw through one of the open windows of Auntie’s house: JungHee laughing as she chatted with someone. The news of her illness and the low success rate of the surgery seems like a lie. She was the first person he could rely on after HoSeok lost his mom. He can’t shake off the vision of himself standing in front of the carousel “like an idiot.” Head spinning, he thinks, “I just wanted them to stay by my side. Is that too much to ask? What kind of terrible thing have I ever done?” The perspective switches to SeokJin as he watches HoSeok walk precariously across the bridge, looking both shocked and deeply sad. He reflects on his failed attempts to prevent HoSeok from collapsing here. Even if he stays with HoSeok like he did with JungKook or intervenes like he did with YoonGi, HoSeok always runs to JungHee’s home and then collapses on this bridge on his way back. SeokJin is aware that JungHee has cancer (so the first path of the branching choices has happened at least once, or he found out in earlier loops). The extra collapses of this loop weigh on SeokJin’s mind too. Something changed after HoSeok met DongJin, and SeokJin regrets taking him to the bar on 5 May. He looks on as HoSeok inevitably staggers and falls in the same spot.

SeokJin calls 119 and has HoSeok admitted to the hospital. As before, HoSeok is placed in the same hospital room of the surgery ward as JiMin. SeokJin decides not to visit him because he is afraid of running into JiMin and unsure of what will play out if he does. Now that HoSeok is in the hospital, there is no way to avoid the future accident in the stairwell. A few days later, SeokJin scopes out the scene. He mulls over the repeating scenario of HoSeok chasing down the stairs after a woman he mistakes for his mother. SeokJin connects the dots between HoSeok calling for his mother in his sleep and the way he cried in front of his Auntie’s house. “Everything has to do with ‘mom.’ If HoSeok’s narcolepsy is because of ‘mom,’ does that mean this accident is connected to the idea of mom, too?” In other loops in which SeokJin successfully prevented the stairwell accident, HoSeok continued to collapse more frequently until he eventually did so in the street. SeokJin contemplates how his condition apparently worsens after he sees a woman that reminds him of his mother.

The day after HoSeok is admitted to the hospital, 11 May, SeokJin invites NamJoon to meet him at a cart bar after his work shift. NamJoon brings up HoSeok first. Unable to say that he was the one to call for help, SeokJin pretends to be surprised that HoSeok is in the hospital. NamJoon reports that HoSeok had a minor concussion and is staying there for a couple days so the doctors can run additional tests. SeokJin wonders if HoSeok dreamt of his mother again and feels a pang at the image of him haunted by nightmares. He proceeds to tell NamJoon about their visit to the children’s home, meeting DongJin, and learning about the auntie’s illness. Cautiously, SeokJin proposes that HoSeok’s collapsing may be related to his mother. NamJoon mulls it over before agreeing. “I guess it could. Thinking about his auntie might have led him to think about his mom.” “I’m sure he feels like he’s losing his mother a second time,” SeokJin adds. NamJoon asks if he knows HoSeok’s wish to become a famous dancer in order to find his mom, although his dancing grew into a genuine source of joy. “So I thought… Dance had become Jung HoSeok’s cure. Something that helps him hold on. The thing that helps him bear something he can’t otherwise. That’s what dance is to HoSeok. Don’t you have something like that, SeokJin?” NamJoon regards him silently after this, leaving SeokJin much to contemplate. They promise to visit HoSeok together at the hospital. SeokJin hopes that if NamJoon knows just how much dancing means to HoSeok, he may figure out something from HoSeok’s reaction in the stairwell that SeokJin has missed. He just needs to figure out a natural way to get NamJoon into the stairwell at the right time.

On 12 May, SeokJin and NamJoon meet at the hospital. SeokJin suggests that they take the stairs since the elevators are crowded and lies about HoSeok being on the 3rd floor to strengthen his excuse. When they arrive on the 2nd floor landing, they hear footsteps and voices from above. The woman descending the stairs with a child is the one whom HoSeok keeps mistaking for his mother. SeokJin needs to stall until HoSeok comes down too, so he either suggests that they buy some snacks to bring or mentions that he may have got the wrong floor number and checks his phone. Moments later, they hear pounding footsteps and HoSeok shouting, “Mom!” NamJoon locks eyes with HoSeok and, unaware of what is about to happen, turns to follow the woman. “Ma’am! Excuse me!” Caught off guard, SeokJin is too late to grab HoSeok, who falls and screams. As he rolls on the floor clutching his leg, sealing the injury that will prevent him from dancing, the glass shatters.

SeokJin involves NamJoon in several more loops after that, but his attempts to save HoSeok end in failure. He wonders again if he should admit HoSeok to the hospital at all, but decides that if the incident is connected to HoSeok’s trauma, it needs to be solved rather than avoided. On a new 12 May, SeokJin stands near the hospital stairwell, prepared to intervene himself and ask HoSeok about his mother afterward. He spots JiMin emerging from the 2nd floor physical therapy room and pressing the elevator button. Hiding out of sight in the stairwell, SeokJin mulls over his options. If he prevents HoSeok’s accident, he still needs to get JiMin out of the hospital too—an effort that has been unsuccessful so far due to JiMin stopping at the exit or later having a seizure when they pass the arboretum. “Maybe the answer to HoSeok is… JiMin? What if… this incident is the variable between HoSeok and JiMin?” Heart pounding, SeokJin begins to hope that they can save each other. He doesn’t have enough time before HoSeok comes down the stairs to figure out what to say to JiMin and decides that he will just have to make the reason for his presence in the hospital believable. “JiMin!” he calls. “SeokJin? How are you here—” Looking shocked, JiMin steps back like he’s about to run away. SeokJin realizes that they haven’t met in this loop yet, and JiMin strongly dislikes people knowing that he’s in the hospital. With no time to explain, SeokJin leaves him behind and rushes into the stairwell. But he’s too late to catch HoSeok’s fall, and the story concludes with the glass shattering once again. (Based on The Notes 1, we know that the “successful” decision SeokJin makes in later loops is to stay out of sight when he calls JiMin. JiMin is puzzled by the silhouette he sees in the doorway and enters the stairwell just in time to catch HoSeok.)

Additional Thoughts

JiMin’s mother, Sim SeonMi, becomes one of the most fleshed-out adult characters in the BU narrative so far thanks to his story. We already knew the most about SeokJin’s father, Kim ChangJun, due to his role in The Notes 2. I’ve had an inkling of a suspicion that JiMin’s parents were connected in some way to SeokJin’s father, so I was satisfied to see this confirmed in the game. I’m curious about JiMin’s father and the lack of details surrounding him. He has only been depicted once in The Notes 1, when JiMin returned home days after sneaking out of the hospital with his friends.

Though it’s never explicitly stated in the texts, the Wings Short Film #6 MAMA depicts that HoSeok is diagnosed with Munchausen’s syndrome, a psychological disorder in which the individual pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of the illness. His prescription pills are actually placebos. On 16 May Year 22 in The Notes 1, HoSeok confesses to JiMin that his narcolepsy is fake, although he doesn’t feign symptoms on purpose.

I was personally a little disappointed with the lack of new information in HoSeok’s story. While his relationships with the auntie and other children from the home are explored in greater detail, the most significant plot points if his arc have already been covered as of The Notes 2.

I have no proof for this, but I want the unidentified crying boy who young HoSeok met in the hospital stairwell and brought to the rooftop to see the fireworks to be JiMin. If HoSeok was 9 at the time, then JiMin was 7. He has been in and out of the hospital since the arboretum incident (earlier that same year), so it is plausible that he had an overlapping stay with HoSeok in the summer of Year 11.

As mentioned above, the following “tl;dr” commentary summarizes the parenthetical notes I provided in the summaries in case you want to review them on their own.

Stopped Time — tl;dr commentary

In the opening cutscene, JiMin plays on the colored tiles in a hospital hallway and stops when he reaches “the line” by the exit door. This line marks the end of the psychiatric ward and is first described in his 11 May Year 22 entry in The Notes 1.

The Songho Foundation patron meeting that SeokJin attends on 22 April Year 22 was suggested by the city’s Deputy Mayor at the inauguration ceremony on 11 April. That earlier ceremony played out in JungKook’s arc.

Before the loop reset, SeokJin waits outside the Gyeong Il Hospital as he plans his next move since JiMin is moving out of the surgical ward that day. The date is unspecified in the game, but in The Notes 1, he is scheduled to return to the psychiatric ward on 16 May.

In this story, SeokJin picks TaeHyung to help him free JiMin from the hospital. He hopes that TaeHyung will be JiMin’s “answer,” just like YoonGi needed JungKook. JungKook saving YoonGi is not a solution that played out in YoonGi’s story, but this is a familiar theme from Notes 1 and forward. However, SeokJin and TaeHyung are caught by JiMin’s mother while trying to leave the hospital with him. We know from The Notes 1 that SeokJin’s later, successful choice ends up being HoSeok instead.

Before coldly leaving SeokJin and TaeHyung to rejoin her son, Sim SeonMi touches TaeHyung’s shoulder for a moment. This same gesture was given to HoSeok in the hospital after JiMin’s seizure at the bus stop on 15 September Year 20 in Notes 1. To SeokJin, her presence is like a wall separating them from JiMin. This echoes HoSeok’s feeling that she was drawing an uncrossable line between them that September.

At the end of the story, the vision JiMin sees reflected in the sink water of “that day” is referring to 6 April Year 11 and the events of the arboretum, first introduced in that dated entry in The Notes 1 and revealed in full on 12 August Year 22 of The Notes 2.

Someone Left Behind — tl;dr commentary

In the story’s opening, SeokJin refers to HoSeok’s collapse on 10 May. This is the date that HoSeok collapses and wakes up in the hospital in The Notes 1, and it is likely the moment referenced by his bridge scene in the I Need U MV.

When SeokJin observes that HoSeok is on good terms with the kids from the children’s home, HoSeok explains that he’s only been out of the home for about three months. He moved into his rooftop room on 25 Feb Year 22 according to that date’s Note accompanying the Persona album.

As he does in the game, HoSeok refers to the trains as “rockets” in his 4 July Year 22 entry from The Notes 2.

HoSeok’s memory of being abandoned at the carousel is also depicted in the Highlight Reel.

When searching HoSeok’s apartment, SeokJin notices the laptop’s web browser is open to an audition information video for a famous international dance team. This may be the same dance team that one of his friends from the children’s home successfully auditions for, referenced in HoSeok’s 4 July Year 22 entry accompanying the Tear album and 7 July Year 22 entry in The Notes 1.

At the end of the story, SeokJin hopes to gain JiMin’s help to save HoSeok but ends up spooking him because they haven’t met in that loop yet. Based on The Notes 1, we know that the “successful” decision SeokJin makes in later loops is to stay out of sight when he calls JiMin. JiMin is puzzled by the silhouette he sees in the doorway and enters the stairwell just in time to catch HoSeok.

Did you learn anything new from these stories that I did not specifically mention? Let me know in the replies or tags! Please stay tuned for part 4, featuring TaeHyung and the Epilogue.

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