Prologue: A Decade of HYYH — And the Story I Never Planned to Write

April 29th, 2025.

Today marks exactly 10 years since BTS released The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 — or, as we fondly know it, HYYH (화양연화, Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa).

I wasn’t there when it first dropped. I wasn’t an ARMY yet.

I didn’t even know what HYYH meant — or that it would come to mean something to me someday.

Back then, I was just someone who loved music in all its forms — jazz, funk, J-rock, classical — but somehow convinced myself K-pop was a universe I didn’t need to enter (you can guess that I was absolutely wrong). 

Years later, as the world locked down and life as we knew it paused, I stumbled into BTS’s music almost by accident.

What began as curiosity — a casual click, a “who’s that guy?” moment — became a complete, irreversible reprogramming of my soul.

Today, in honor of the album that changed everything for BTS, ARMY, and unknowingly — for me too — I want to share my story.

The story of how I went from a skeptical outsider to a full-blown, sleep-deprived, existentially spiraling ARMY.

Of how Tiny Desk, Twitter chaos, fan theories, and the deeply human sincerity of seven young men took over my life.

This isn’t a guide. This isn’t a recruitment pitch.

This is a messy, chaotic, emotional love letter to a journey I never planned, but now wouldn’t trade for anything.

This is:

The Unplanned BTS Obsession.

Or, how seven strangers – and millions of strangers who love them –  taught me about art, grief, healing, and what it really means to belong.

Welcome to my rabbit hole.