The Most Beautiful Moments In Life - The Notes 2

BTS began forming their own "Bangtan Universe" with The Most Beautiful Moments In Life Part one, part two, and followed by Forever young. The story is about a young group of friends dealing with internal struggles which ends up separating them. This story was elaborated through music videos, notes later turned into a book, and a webtoon. It explores difficult topics like suicide, depression, and self-worth. Also, the desire to turn back time; feeling that you must take on the world and save everyone. This occurs when a major division between the friends happens due to problems they have within their view of themself. 

BTS released "Wings" with Herman Hesse's book "Demian" as a base of the narrative. The group has grown into a world of temptation, as told by the title track "Blood, Sweat, And Tears." Boy meets evil is the introduction as they're fighting internal and external conflicts. Facing their own demons. The next album, "You Never Walk Alone," interludes to the love yourself series by including allusions to "The One's Who Walk Away From Omelas;" a story that bases a town's happiness off of one child's misery. Essentially, BTS is walking fans out of their own Omelas to find true joy instead of hiding yourself to please others. Other books include "Into the Magic Shop" and psychological theories from Carl Jung's teachings. In fact, Hermann Hesse was a patient of psychologist Carl Jung and his theories are evident in Hesse's work. Jung's Map Of The Soul is also inspiration to BTS' work influencing their plot and characters as a motif to their overarching themes of self-discovery, understanding, and love.

Although each era is different, digging deeper into the lyrics, videos, and story reveals a full circle. Understanding everything happening requires a bit of research but it's worth it because of how much depth is in Bangtan's work. It really is a deep sea dive getting into the fandom. Using symbolism and allusions to books gives something for fans to search for.

Characters

The characters in the fictional Bangtan Universe use the BTS members’ real names :

• Seokjin has signed a contract to turn back time to save his friends from terrible tragedies, but is tortured by reliving these tragedies because of the repeating time loop. But Seokjin’s obsessive desire to rescue them from horrific situations causes him emotional  pain. Again and again, Seokjin is trying his best to piece together how the incidents connect and prevent the accidents from occuring, but it’s starting to make him numb. After a while, seokjin begins not caring about the problems everyone is facing and only wants his pain and the time loop to stop. This affect is a punishment from the contract, causing Seokjin to forget his memories; memories that made up his self, memories of his friends, and moments they spent together. Over time, Seokjin’s character begins dissolving.

• Jimin was traumatized by witnessing a violent abduction in the Grass Flower Arboretum. As a result, Jimin suffers a series of seizures due to PTSD and begins lying about what he saw. Because of this, Jimin is left at the psychiatric ward.

• Namjoon lives in the container village where the poor reside and struggle to survive. Namjoon is the head of his family as the oldest son and the family’s burdens rest on his shoulders. He has to work multiple jobs to pay off his father’s hospital bills; one of those jobs being at the gas station, which is a reappearing scene in Seokjin’s time loop.

• Taehyung is suffering violent abuse from his drunk father. Because of this, most of his time is spent away from home, recreating his dreams with graffiti art. Taehyung is the only other person in the friend group who is aware of the multiple timelines and vividly dreams of past events Seokjin has faced. However, Taehyung can also see clips of the future. It’s up to the others to trust Taehyung and Seokjin and understand how they can work together to break the time loop and save everyone. Trust is a major point within the story.

• Hoseok is a talented dancer who is struggling to come to terms with abandonment, after his mother leaves him at a carousel when he was a child. His relationship with Seokjin is strained when he learns that Seokjin’s father is behind the redevelopment plan that will tear down the orphanage he grew up at. 

• Yoongi, in every timeline, has died by a fire he intentionally starts in his apartment. It’s implied that Yoongi feels responsible for his mother’s death caused by a house fire, therefore his chosen method is death by fire. Both Yoongi and Jungkook deal with suicidal thoughts in the story, but the two connect through their love for music. Yoongi is a skilled pianist, but gave up after struggling with depression. Once the time loop was broken, Yoongi survived.

• Jungkook feels out of place and confused about life. It leaves him seeking out dangerous situations and toying with death, until he suffers a fatal car accident. 

Plot

In The Most Beautiful Moment In Life Notes 2, Taehyung decides to confide in Namjoon about the odd dreams he keeps having, and Namjoon trusts Taehyung after a lot of contemplation. Together, they figure out Taehyung’s dreams are events that either have happened or will happen. Their discovery also leads them to take preventative measures to save their friends and help Seokjin remember his moments with them. 

“In the dream. Seokjin simply watched everything, detached. But in reality, he always interfered when we were in trouble. How could I discern what was real and what was a dream? I couldn’t forget Seokjin’s face that I had seen in the dream. Was he helping us or was he pushing us into a certain future?”

Along the way, Namjoon and Taehyung discover that Seokjin’s father has secretly created a redevelopment plan that negatively affects Namjoon and Hoseok. The collateral damage the friends face due to the business plan creates tension between the group and Seokjin, who’s becoming distant due to suffering through the multiple time loops.

“This was the price. Having the happiest memories disappear from me and forgetting the precious people around me. I realized what kind of horrible contract I had signed up for.” 

However, the only way for everything to be resolved is if the friends come together and accept each other and themselves.  To explain, The Notes 2 revolves around what it means to survive, what is our purpose, how do we accept ourselves, trust our friends, and cope with trauma. The story also talks about how our experiences, choices, and relationships shape “the map of our soul.” Each character is struggling with internal and external conflicts that not only separates them from their friends, but leaves them feeling worthless. The characters have to realize that their struggles shouldn’t pull them away from those they love nor make them feel less because of their challenges. 

“What I had to do was accept all my errors and my mistakes as a part of myself. The one and only person I couldn’t save was me, and I had to forgive, accept, and love myself. That was the only answer.”

Seemingly, the group has resolved their complicated relationships by the end. Well, exceptfor Jungkook. While the friend group has revived their trust and care in each other, Jungkook believes he cannot trust them. After they withheld information from Jungkook to hopefully lessen his anxiety after the car accident, Jungkook is suspicious of them. 

“Even if they were to tell me  now, nothing would change. If you make a fault, there will be consequences. If you lie, you should be ready to pay the price.”