DYNAMITE: A Jikook Story of 2020 ✔

Chapter Seven: Grieving the Loss of 2020

"We have a question from Cho Eunbyeol of BridgeEconomy: The World Tour was cancelled but you reached the top of the chart. How will 2020 be remembered by BTS?" asked Kim il-Jung.

Namjoon brought the mic to his lips to answer, but smiled and sighed into the mic, had trouble beginning his answer. YUP, thought Jimin, with a sad and ironic twist inside him. What a crazy year.

"Yes, that's right," Namjoon finally begin to speak: "The start of 2020 was pretty good, I think. We had our comeback, and we were preparing our tour. We were on schedule to go on tour.... Everyone had plans... Before spring, we had Covid-19 outbreak. We weren't sure what we should do. We became angry, that's what happened."

Jimin realized that Jungkook was nodding, he started to nod too. Angry. He remembered that moment, the canceled tour. The disbelief, the stages of grief they all walked through this year as they realized, it was canceled, not just delayed, not just a month, not just two months... a year ... that might be two years... he felt sick.

Namjoon continued, always the leader: "I don't think it's a matter of how will 2020 be remembered but how we WANT it to be remembered." Jungkook was nodding again now. "And I think for me, what I would like is for this Covid-19 situation to settle down." Jimin looked sideways at him, swallowed. "There are a lot of forecasts," said the leader, "we don't know what will happen in the future, what awaits us regarding this situation. But I hope that we can remember, when I look back: This happened. We couldn't go on tour. Because we couldn't go on tour, we couldn't meet our fans around the world. But! We had these achievements. Number one on the Billboard Hot 100, for one example. And I think I would like to remember 2020 as being: We did all this, we tried really hard. Not remembering so much that this is the start of a new era, there is no face-to-face interaction...but remembering that we were happy that we reached the top of the chart." He paused.

"But still I would be sad if that's what this year was remembered for. I would like to say in the future: That was a tough year. We couldn't go on tour but we had our comeback, we have Dynamite. We did all that we could, and we tried our best. I would like to remember 2020 as a year in which we tried our best. To do that, to remember this year as that kind of year, we're working hard and recording our performances. We're trying to do what we can do, in the position that we are in. That's what we would like to do, to keep doing what we can do where we are." Jungkook did a tiny hand clap. "I think it's going to be an unforgettable year for a lot of people." J-Hope was nodding and smiling, too.

"Listening to what RM was saying, in the future we hope we could say that 2020 isn't the end of the tunnel and that we could remember it as the start of a new hope." Kim Il-Jung summarized.

All the guys nodded and gave solemn, "Yeses" all around.

"And then our next question is from Ahn Jin-Yong, from Munhwa: I'm curious about the next steps. I'd like to hear from you - any specific goals or directions like "top the Billboard Hot 100" rather than abstract ones?"

Jungkook was starting to get antsy now and rock back and forth.

Jimin decided to answer. This was depressing, a press conference with no press, these questions that made them think about the canceled tour... maybe he could answer quick and it would be done soon.

"I will answer first. So you want something concrete and more specific..." His mind raced suddenly, they had no idea what would happen in the coming months. "But I don't think I can give you a clear-cut answer." He laughed at himself suddenly, good job volunteering to answer then. "I will try my best, though." Jimin felt cheered suddenly, as he looked into the camera. There were ARMYs on the other side...he decided to speak to them. "This is my opinion. Of course, we will try our best at whatever is in our reach. There are things we have to do and things we can do. In the future, we will continue to do the performances we can, we will prepare for them..." His mind raced, talk to ARMYs.. "The situation isn't very good with Covid-19 and the situation is dire." His eyes were misted suddenly. Jesus...