BEYOND THE STORY BTS

CHAPTER 1

SEOUL

13–20
Korea’s busiest crossroads is in Seoul’s district of Gangnam, near Sinsa
Station. Those driving down the Hannam Bridge over the Han River into
Gangnam will pass through this crossroads before heading to different parts
of the district, like Nonhyeon, Cheongdam, or Apgujeong. When there’s a
lot of traffic, drivers might be staring up at the traffic lights for tens of
minutes, waiting for their turn, which is why the subway is probably the
best way to get to Sinsa Station, if that’s your destination.
But if your destination is specifically somewhere near Exit 1 of Sinsa
Station, that’s a slightly different story—for example, if you happen to be
heading for the Cheonggu Building, which in 2010 housed Big Hit
Entertainment, later known as HYBE.
Seoul, Gangnam-gu, Dosandaero 16-gil 13–20. Even with the address,
it’s not easy to find the Cheonggu Building if you have never been to
Gangnam or the Sinsa Station crossroads. According to the KakaoMap app,
the distance between this building and Exit 1 is 568 meters. But it’s
impossible to tell from the map that the building is near the end of a steep
incline. Nor that several pivots along the way are necessary in order to
reach it. Unless you’re driving there with the aid of GPS navigation, it
could be a bit of an effort and wandering around to find Cheonggu
Building.
______I was at a loss.
Such was the case for Jung Hoseok, who would debut three years later
as j-hope of BTS. After signing a trainee contract with Big Hit
Entertainment in April 2010, he was undergoing training in his native city
of Gwangju when the company ordered him to move into the Big Hit
Entertainment trainee dormitory near the Cheonggu Building in Seoul. He
arrived on December 24, 2010.
______I was so scared. It was Christmas Eve and the streets were full of
cheerful people, but I couldn’t get my bearings at all

Never had he ridden the Seoul subway or experienced Christmas Eve in
trendy Sinsa-dong. This was an area with high foot traffic, even for Seoul,
but the elusive location of the dormitory was as intimidating to j-hope as the
crowded subway or the unfamiliar vista of the Sinsa neighborhood.
______I kept saying, “This is frustrating!” and ended up calling the then
head of A&R. “So, how do I get there?”
After his call, he “kept going straight, and like, somehow and
somehow” to use his words, and finally arrived at the dorm. This was the
beginning of his dorm life, which he had been looking forward to since the
day before and which he still remembered vividly ten years later. On that
day, however, he was in for a shock.
________SUGA was there in his underwear (laughs). There were leftover
trotters in the sink, laundry strewn on the floor, and everyone
walking around in their underwear. ‘I guess this is dorm life?’ I
thought.