It is 2015 and Kim Taehyung had just experienced the pressures of being a K-pop idol. His group, BTS, broke through the Korean mainstream media and was enjoying commercial prosperity. But with that success came with a price. To escape the overwhelmi...
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Taehyung downed the last bits of pastry with a swig of coffee and sauntered on to the Ontario Travel Information Centre located inside Union station. He might as well arm himself with resources to guide him through the city, if he wanted to make this trip worthwhile.
The lady at the OTIC booth showed him a heap of brochures when he asked what a tourist like him could do on a frigid, winter day such as today. There was a smile present in her answer. "Today's not as chilly as last week."
Taehyung looked at her as if she had horns on her head, "Wh... what do you mean.... this... this is nn.. not cold for you?"
The young woman chuckled and said, "No... minus five is average during this season so we just get used to it. It's when it dips down to double-digit temperatures below zero, before we freeze to death."
"Oh," Taehyung muttered to himself while rubbing his palms around his cup of java. Unsure whether she was jesting with him, Taehyung still considered it best to grab a warmer coat on his way.
After getting directions from the nice lady at OTIC, he looked down at the stack of glossy prints in his hands.
There were so many places to choose from: the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), the Distillery District, the Entertainment District, Rogers Centre and a slew of others. And of course, you cannot visit Toronto without visiting the CN Tower.
The lady offered him other suggestions, such as the Ripley's Aquarium or the Toronto Zoo, but Taehyung had seen one animal too many back home in Seoul.
Debating where to go first was easy for Taehyung. He loved shopping and so he headed underground and rode the four-minute subway ride to Eaton Centre.
