Here's How To Read BTS' Webtoon To See If Jin Can Save BTS' Lives In The Bangtan Universe
BTS is the gift that keeps on giving. If you aren't already living in the fandom stratosphere but have slowly but surely been picking up on the BTS movement, welcome. I'm about to blow your mind. Along with their incredible stage performances and music videos, BTS also created the Bangtan Universe, aka an alternate reality which features fictional character counterparts for each BTS member. Don't worry, I'll get into it. But for now, some fans might be wondering how to read BTS's webtoon Save Me to unravel the mysteries of the Bangtan Universe and see if their illustrated boy SeokJin saves his illustrated friends JungKook, TaeHyung, JiMin, NamJoon, HoSeok, and YoonGi.
It's a lot. You ready?
In early January, BTS started a new Twitter account called @Smeraldo_Books which as part of the Bangtan Universe. The universe is continuously expanding and unravels throughout short films, stories, animations, posters, album notes, and now, BTS' webtoon called Save Me. In the multi-part tale, the BTS members are in various states of peril and Jin's character, SeokJin, is trying to save them. (Big important note: The plotlines played out and explored in the Bangtan Universe have nothing to do with the members real lives.)
OK. Everyone with me so far?
The webtoon is available on the Line Webtoon app by Naver and includes the following synopsis:
Seven boys. Best friends. Their fates intertwined through the good times together, but also the tough times, as they have gone their separate ways and suffered greatly as a result. When all is almost lost for these boys, one is given a special chance to go back in time and help his friends fix the mistakes that led them down this path. He’ll do anything to save them, but can he? Or is he too late?
Guess who the one with the special chance to go back in time is?
You got it.
It's your boy SeokJin (as fans already suspected based on analysis of the boys' past music videos).
@Smeraldo_Books gave each boy a small caption to let readers in on the internal dialogue of their favorite characters. Jin's reads: "Would I be able to straighten out the errors and mistakes and save the others? I didn't grasp the depth and weight of this question."
Dun, dun, dun!!!
Fans can follow the story by downloading the Line Webtoon app and keeping a close eye on @Smeraldo_Books feed. Right now, three of the sixteen episodes are available for viewing for free, including the Prologue, Episode 1, and Episode 2. You're even able to read the next two episodes now if you're willing to spend a bit of cash (it costs about $0.50 to buy a fast pass to read new episodes before they become available for free after a short wait period). Fans can expect a new episode to go up every Thursday until April and trust me, you don't want to miss this.
To save you a little bit of confusion, I found two versions of the app on my Applications store. If you're non-Korean speaking, this is the one you want:
The Korean version is called "Naver Webtoon."
As a chill little short cut, you can also follow this @Smeraldo_Books tweet straight to your language of choice. Here, you'll be sent directly to the illustrations and can dive into what the heck Jin is going to do for his friends.
Hang in there guys, at least until next Thursday when the new episode comes out!
It's wild out there in the Bangtan Universe.
