A mischievous boy who loved playing outside
The earliest memory I have is when I played with a dog when I was a little kid? That was the time when I went on an outing to somewhere, and I had fun, playing with a dog that was about the same size as my body at the time. I was probably around 3 or 4 years old. It became my friend (laughs). Come to think of it now, the dog must have been much bigger than me, but I didn’t get hurt at all. That must have been because the dog was going easy on me when playing with me. What a good dog!
I was a very mischievous boy. I was a kid who loved playing outside. But I hated studying. I often got scolded by my mom. At school, I ran in the corridors and ate school lunch earlier than I should (laughs). I participated in a school B-boying contest though I wasn’t good at all. In my first year of middle school, I sang 2AM’s ‘This Song’ at the field trip.
Catching the dream of becoming a singer at the first audition
Hearing that, you might think that I had a dream of becoming a singer since I was a kid, but even at the time when I was on the audition show, it wasn’t that I had a definite goal because I had a dream of becoming a singer. At that time, I went there thinking “What will be will be,” partly doing it for fun. But when I arrived at the audition hall, I was shocked by the crowd and was intimidated. Being surrounded by so many strangers, I was dispirited. Maybe that was the time when I began being shy around strangers.
Though I didn’t really think seriously about it when I participated in the audition, luckily, I was found by the company personnel and got training as a trainee, and now I have accomplished the dream of becoming a singer. At that time, I received offers from several companies, but the reason I chose this company is because of RM hyung. And I felt intuitively that it was a company that I could trust. I don’t know why. But, in fact, I think RM hyung is a person who will succeed in whatever he does and I also had this groundless confidence “I will succeed. I will definitely succeed.”
As I practiced, I came to love dance and music more
During the trainee years, I was so shy that I totally lacked sociability. But after V hyung came, my shyness improved a lot. V hyung and I have a lot in common in terms of personality. Thanks to V hyung, my shyness was gone. The closer I got with V hyung, the more I liked him.
Honestly, I wasn’t that into hip hop before I debuted. I saw members (*he used ’hyung’ in plural form) doing raps, but what I liked was calm music. I learned dancing after I joined the company.
It was after I debuted that I understood the importance of dance. After I debuted, I came to think that I want to dance better, which made me to practice all the more harder. It was the same with music. I thought about what I should do to grow more, and that made me to expose myself to a lot of music, and I ended up loving music more.
The stage is my all
Continuing together in the times to come
I still remember clearly the time that I first met the members. Among them, RM hyung’s first impression is the strongest one (laughs). When I went into the dressing room, there was RM hyung who was only wearing underwear. I was very surprised (laughs).
I said earlier that I chose this company because RM hyung was here. I’ve never forgotten the happiness of being a member of BTS, not one moment. It’s when I’m on stage that I feel it especially strong. I really love the moment when seven of us stand on a big stage and sing in front of ARMYs who are cheering for us.
What I hope for the time to come is for all of us to walk together in the future as we have done so far. I only wish that we could go up and perform on the same stage without anyone missing. I want to be with the members for a long time. I hope there will be only good things keep going on forever.
So, there isn’t really anything that I want more than the present. Since the stage is my all, the stage is the most important/precious place to me, though I also want to do events, variety shows, magazines, and music videos that will make ARMYs happy and I am happy to make them happy. When I stand on the stage, I feel an emotion that no other can feel, boiling up inside of me. I don’t know how to explain this because words can’t express it… It feels like an attack in my heart, or something going beyond that. So, the stage is a very important/precious place to me. I want to continue to stand on the stage as a member of BTS together with them all.
Translated by @JJK_Times twitter.com/JJK_Times
*Translated into English based on the Japanese to Korean translation by @mondomizel1 and crossed checked based on the Japanese to English translation and the scan by @rei51244
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