From BUS to WattPad

Moving On

Author Zmelio's shoes click across the slick floor of the infinite void that is the BTS Universe Story app's Black Background. She pauses to think as the sound of a Moonlit Piano fills her with nostalgia. The app is closing. This is the last episode she will post...ever. She decides she wants it to be a hopeful one. Instead of saying goodbye, she will announce the move to a new platform. There's one special thing she needs to take with her.

The camera pans. The mood shifts thanks to the jovial guitar of An Interlude. There he stands. Kim SeokJin looks like a prince in his Moonlight Outfit, a deep blue crushed velvet long coat, floral patterned lapels, and silver trimmed epaulets. This isn't the actual Kim SeokJin of course. It's the narrator, the foil, and the comic relief. The manifestation of Jin in author Zmelio's mind and he is a handful. Well, you'll see. We call him HM Jin, and it stands for High Maintenance.

"Are you ready for the move?" Zmelio asks.

He turns to her with a worried expression. "You know what? I don't have any stuff. What am I supposed to bring?"

Zmelio smiles, "Just your charm and good looks, sweetie. Anything else I can make just by writing it down."

He seems a little hesitant but he nods. "Ok then, let's go."

Zmelio turns to the camera and Jin waves. "We'll see you on WattPad, guys."

The camera zooms in on Jin's waist as he steps off the app. "Alright Jinnie, here we go." Zmelio coos. "3...2...1..." And the screen goes black.

They step out onto a sidewalk between a park and a city street at night. Jin inhales deeply and smiles. He raises his arms in a big stretch. He then strides briskly down the sidewalk in defiance of his fancy leather shoes. Zmelio, on the other hand, feels rather stiff and unsure of her body.

"Jin, where are you going? Come back!" She calls.

He seemingly ignores her, walks to the corner and looks around before turning and coming back. "I don't even know where we are," Zmelio whimpers.

"Seoul." Jin responds as he whisks by her to the other end of the sidewalk.

"Oh, really?" She replies enthusiastically, but then groans as she turns awkwardly to look at him. There is hardly anyone on the road. She expects Seoul to be more crowded. "Jin! Seriously, what are you doing? I can barely move!"

Jin jogs back to her side, "Can't move? What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know," she whines. "Maybe because my avatar on the BUS app had so few movements, it's harder for me to adjust."

Jin folds his arms with a smirk and asks, "Are you sure that's the reason?" He pauses with a glimmer in his eyes before adding, "Noona?"

Zmelio growls, "It's not because I'm older than you."

With a low chuckle, he claps her on the back, making her lurch forward awkwardly. "It's okay, noona dear. You'll figure it out and we'll be running through that park in no time." He starts looking around again, "Now where is that camera?"

She narrows her eyes, so that's what he's looking for. "There is no camera here."

He winks at her, "Oh, there's always a camera. Come on, where is it? I want to look at our readers and blow them a kiss so they know that I'm alright."

Zmelio shakes her head, "It doesn't work that way here. There's only what I write."

"Then write a camera," he frowns.

She sighs, "Even if I write a camera, the readers wouldn't see you through it. They can only see what I describe to them."

"You took me to a place where no one can see me?" he shouts with his head slightly tilted. "What good is it being this handsome if it isn't seen?"

"Trust me, this is our best option. It's where most people are going." He takes a couple of steps towards the park and she turns a few degrees in awkward bursts. "I can describe anything you are doing, and people already know what you look like."

He looks back at her over his shoulder and smiles, "They can visualize me if you describe it well. So...how good are you at describing me?"

Her face contorts a little, "Well, I don't know. It's not quite the same skill as the old editor."

He walks towards her with a devilish grin, but as he gets closer, his look turns to confusion. "Wait, your eyes are blue? I thought they were green." He eyes her suspiciously. "And your hair is longer and not as straight. You look...different."

She looks down at herself and her clothes morph too, from a stifling gray turtleneck to a plaid cotton button up shirt in autumn hues, comfortable jeans, and white sneakers. At the same time, her body loosens from the neck down. She stretches her fingers in and out and wiggles her toes. "Ah, I guess that was the problem. I was still stuck in that blonde 'woman in her 20's' avatar from the BTS Universe Story app. This feels so much better."

She looks up and catches her breath. Where there once was a cartoonish version now stands a very realistic looking HM Jin. Still in a velvety blue costume, but now the jacket is waist length, closed with golden buttons and rope-like detailing around the neck and shoulders. He is thinner, his skin a few shades lighter, his hair a few shades darker. His eyes look similar and yet, as we know from pictures and videos, when the real Kim SeokJin looks at you, there is a depth and intensity that no animation could capture.

"Huh," he murmurs. "I guess I'm seeing you for the first time." He looks to one side then the other as she thinks, "Oh no, I can't do this. This is too real. This isn't some cartoon where I set them in a place clip and tried to coax out emotions. If I write fan fiction here, I have to imagine the real guys, in detail. Then explain what they look like and act like...in detail. All while trying to write something respectful that the members would hopefully appreciate if they ever somehow stumbled upon my writing. I can't take this responsibility lightly."

Being that he's the manifestation of Jin in Zmelio's mind and hears all of her thoughts, HM Jin looks back at her with a knowing smile. "Hey, guess what?" he says. He ignores that she doesn't answer and continues, "It's ChuSeok." Zmelio scrunches her face in confusion. "You know, ChuSeok," he persists. "Korean Thanksgiving." She still looks at him blankly and he sighs. "Remember every fall, we put on hanboks and record a message for ARMY?" The light starts to dawn on Zmelio's face and he gestures to their surroundings, "Well, this is it! That's why the streets are so empty and we've seen mostly foreigners on the sidewalk. Everyone else has gone home to be with their families. But look at us," he adds with a smirk, "we have each other." He grabs her hand and pulls her towards the park, "Come on."

They stride swiftly through the park passing the few enjoying the uncharacteristically light foot traffic. Eventually they hear the sound of a crowd and see children on the outskirts chasing fireflies. Music fills Zmelio's ears and they pass a celebration of people cheering on women in Korean dress dancing in a circle. HM Jin presses on, leading them past the group to a set of stone stairs which takes them to the top of a small hill. A park bench under a tree reminds her of a park background in the app. But now she's forgotten the name of it.

Jin points up to the sky, "There! The harvest moon! Maybe we don't have family here or a big feast, but we can make a wish to the moon. And they say, if we make a wish to the moon on ChuSeok it is guaranteed to come true. So," he gestures to her to move forward, "make a wish."

She takes a step towards the moon, looks down at the women still dancing in bright costumes, then looks back up. Sensing the hesitation he whispers over her shoulder, "I wish for us to keep making people smile while you create worlds full of adventure."

Zmelio's brow furrows, "Who would have thought we would end up here? I was just curious how the editor worked in that app. I got sucked in, escaping into it while I was so stressed. Just as that stress resolved, they took the app away. But my mind is still so full. Full of stories that I never got the chance to finish. I have friends and followers, already on WattPad, waiting to see what I'll do next. How crazy is that?" She closes her eyes. "I wish..."