It was a special day for BTS as they were seated on stage for the ARMYs in a fan meeting. They were celebrating their 100 days and it was time to read their personal letters to the ARMYs. After some funny banter and sad music in the background to set the mood, as well as the dimmed lights, Rap Monster goes first to read his letter. Jennie, seated in between Suga and Jin, eagerly listens to his heartfelt letter.

“I am Rap Monster. When I look at ARMYs, these thoughts come up. I wonder if I’ve ever supported and cheered on someone so passionately. Looking back, I realized I used to live only caring for myself and I find that really embarrassing. Back then, expressing my feelings for another person was doing something I wouldn’t even think about doing. I knew one way or another we would get hate, but meeting our ARMYs truly changed and is still changing my outlook on the world and my life. I learn so many things from you all every day. The thing that I’m most scared of is disappointing you all. It’s because like I always say, without you all, I don’t exist.”

His words made everyone ‘aw’ as he lets out a short chuckle. “ARMYs, there’s a saying that if someone fulfills their dream, it becomes the dream of another. I want to be that kind of person. I want to be your dream. I think that’s my role. Tomorrow will be better than today, and the day after that will be better than tomorrow. I, Rap Monster, will work towards being an artist and leader like that. I love you, all.”

After everyone’s applause, it was Suga’s turn. “Hello, ARMYs. It’s Suga. Thanks to our busy schedules, my body is always tired but meeting the ARMYs who cheer for us always gives me energy. ARMYs are the reason Bangtan exists. I’m not good at saying embarrassing things and I can’t express my feelings easily but I trust that you all know how I feel. I love you, and thank you. ARMYs, I love you!”

When it was Jin’s turn the ARMYs ‘aw’ when he starts to tear up. “Truthfully, in the past I never had much thoughts that this was enjoyable. When I think about it now, even while I was preparing to debut, I remember always wondering if this was really the right path for me and this prevented me from trying a lot of things. After meeting our ARMYs, I’m thankful because I’m smiling a lot more and have become a more positive person. I’ll work hard from now on to make you all smile and show a better side of myself. Thank you.”

Once Jin finished, it was J-Hope’s turn to read his letter. “As a trainee, I always wondered when I’d be able to stand on stage and how it’d feel to hear the loud cheers from the people who genuinely like and support me. My fantasy became a reality and now I’m here, making music, receiving love from fans and working hard on promotions.” He reads.

“Truthfully, I can’t believe it. I loved dancing so much, I didn’t study and often left the house early in the morning to practice. After suffering for a long time, I finally got the chance to go to Seoul. The people who were the happiest for me were my parents. At that moment, my dad’s smile…” He trails off, tearing up while he’s hit with a chorus of aws. Before everyone knew it, every started tearing up.

Jennie managed to fight back the tears, blinking quickly. “Ah, J-Hope, lower the intensity a bit and try reading it, again!” Suga speaks up on the mic, earning a few laughs to lighten up the mood..

After J-Hope pulls himself together, he continues reading. “More than anything, our ARMYs who love us, thanks to you all, I’m really, really thankful. To be honest, each day is tiring and difficult but I believe that the sole reason I can make it through is because of our ARMYs. I want to say thank you for always coming to cheer for us. Just like our lyrics, I want Bangtan to leave an imprint on the world. Our ARMYs, I love you.” He smiles and wipes his tears with a tissue.

---

Before Jennie knew it, it was her turn as she looks down at her paper, taking a deep breath. “Ah…actually, I’m going to read from the heart.” She sets the paper down and looks up at the ARMYs as they whoa and cheer.

“Okay Smartie. Trying to show off, I see.” Suga mumbles on his mic, as everyone laughs.

She lets out a short, low chuckle before getting serious, looking back at the crowd. “It’s…hard for me to express my emotions. I try to keep them to myself and not really get too emotional, but when it comes to you all, I can’t help but express my love and appreciation for how much support you’ve given me. My family…” She breaths out shakily and closes her eyes.

ARMYs aw and some yell, “We love you, Jennie~” and “Don’t cry~ It’s okay!"

“I’m so thankful for them for allowing me to do this...“ She exhales again and pauses, looking down. “Sorry. This was much better in my head.”

“You all right, smartie? Do you need some smarties?” Suga asks while everyone starts to giggle.

“Ah, that would be great, actually.” She turns to him.

“I brought them, just in case. Free of charge.” He takes one out of his pocket and hands it to her.

“Wow! This is the nicest he’s been to me all day.” She laughs and pops one in her mouth.

“Getting back on track, I just want to say that...my family, they have made a lot of sacrifices for me and I’m happy that they allowed me to be here today. Although I was only a trainee for a very short amount of time, I hope to inspire people with my singing and dancing.”

“To be honest, not a lot of Americans can say that they were able to be apart of a K-Pop group, and I’m grateful that you all have given me the chance to prove how passionate I am about this opportunity. Thank you for welcoming me with open arms, allowing me to show you my strengths and weaknesses while in this awesome group. I will continue to stay positive and I hope you look forward watching me grow. I will continue to work hard with BTS and get better every time I perform. Although I still have a lot to learn here in South Korea, I hope that you continue to support me through my accomplishments and struggles. I love you, all.” The corners of her lips curl up into a bright smile as she bows while everyone happily applauds and cheers for her.

“Hello, ARMYs. I’m the member in charge of attractiveness in the team, Jimin.” He jokes.

“Maybe it’s because we’re still rookies but the promotions for our second album seem to be flying by so quickly. You all probably don’t know this but as a trainee, I really didn’t know if I’d ever get to debut. My training period was only a year and was one of the shortest out of all the members but…” He trails off and covers his face with his letter.

“Jimin-ssi…yes. I…I don’t know what to say to comfort you…” Suga speaks up to him while everyone laughs once again.

Pulling himself together, Jimin continues. “Really, I cried a lot, was exhausted and thought about giving up frequently. But after having debuted like this-ah, I’m sorry.” His voice gets shaky as he tears up.

“Please wait.” Suga asks the ARMYs.

“Don’t cry!” Jin adds.

“Aw, Jimin…” Jennie looks on with a sad expression.

Pulling himself together again, Jimin speaks up, again. “It’s so fun, amazing and dream-like that I can sing, dance, pose and act silly in front of you all. As the days pass by, I want to develop and show you all a better side of me. ARMYs, I hope for you to always be by our sides and watch us grow. To the ARMYs who love Bangtan and I, I love you all! Thank you!”

After the cheers, V was next. “Hello, how are you, all? I’m V from Bangtan, the group that has already reached their 100th day since debut. The fact that I’m a singer now, I still can’t believe it. Everything is still fascinating and the fact that I can speak like this in front of our fans is exciting, difficult and makes me feel so many different emotions. There are still things that I don’t know and are new to me but I’ll work hard to improve and hope to become a Bangtan that ARMYs can be proud of. Our ARMYs, I love you.” He smiles.

“Jungkook, are you crying? Okay, the last member is Jungkook!” J-Hope announces.

“Hello, I’m Jungkook. I try hard to tweet, post on the fan cafe, and write letters, but it’s harder than I thought. To bare someone your honest self and true emotions, that’s something I find really difficult to do. Having promoted up till now, I developed a small but big goal. I want to become a singer that can touch people with his voice and also to become such a singer that people can, without hesitating, proudly and being not embarrassed at all to say “I’m a fan of BTS!”. You are all such an important existence to us, so I feel really upset when you say that you are sorry. I hope that we can be thankful for each other. I believe that as time goes on, we will continue to make memories together and will even be able to talk to each other simply by making eye contact. ARMYs, I really love you, all. Thank you.”

After Jungkook’s letter, J-Hope begins to speak. “And like this, we will be wrapping up Bangtan Diary Ch. 1, Autumn. It was really…really…really touching. How was it? How about we get everyone to talk about how they felt?”

Jin goes first. “First of all, I want to say that I’m sorry because I think that I’m the one who made the mood like this.” He laughs. “I also want to say that every single thing our ARMYs say to us pose as a great strength. We’ll be a Bangtan that will never disappoint you so please continue watching over us! Thank you!” He bows.

“I love you and thank you.” Jungkook says before he covers his face with his letter and ends up crying. Everyone aws while Jennie starts feeling her eyes sting as she fights back the tears.

“Ya’ll really gon’ make me ruin my makeup, today, huh?” She fans herself as she tries to get rid of the developing tears in her eyes. Everyone ends up laughing at her comment while she cracks a smile herself. Her comment lightened up the mood as Jungkook pulls himself together.

“I always try to show that I love you all and am thankful but it’s still extremely difficult.” Jungkook mentions. “But now I’ve managed to show a little bit of how I feel here, so…I love you.” He wipes his tears with a tissue.

“Really while getting to be here like this, I think I’ve realized what kind of person I am and have to become.” Rap Monster says. “ARMYs, we’re really thankful that you exist. We’ll work really, really hard. Thank you! Up till now, this was Bangtan.” He stands up with the rest of the members. “2,3!”

“Thank you!” The members of BTS bow.

Notes