Beyond The Story

Chapter 1

Seoul

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.

About a month and a half before this, in the beginning of November, Min Yoongi—who would debut as SUGA of BTS—had arrived at Sinsa Station Exit 1, just as j-hope would, and was looking for the dorm.