Stories about how BTS has had a positive influence on people we probably hear a lot. But the story below will probably make most ARMYs sympathize and find ourselves and our friends in it. Because BTS becomes a rope, connecting people together.
The OP in the story wasn’t originally an ARMY. The way she became an ARMY is because she found BTS to be her and her best friend’s mutual interest. In the story OP told, she said: “Someone once said to me that BTS comes when we need them the most; I wasn’t sure if that was the case for me. I was introduced to BTS in September 2018. I remember I had just finished volunteering for the Asian Games and I missed my best friend, so we had a sleepover. She sat me down and showed me videos of BTS while we were eating. Even though I had heard their music on the radio once, I didn’t know BTS at all at this point, but I sat there and watched my best friend smile as she explained why she loved them so much.”
She continued: “To be honest, I don’t know if I was an ARMY immediately after that; I didn’t even like BTS that much back then and saw myself as a casual listener. But, for some reason, I kept listening, and researching, and updating myself on their activities. Sometimes I got bored, sometimes I found a song I didn’t like or content I didn’t like, yet I still wanted to understand them better. I couldn’t put my finger on why”.
She also said that, like many others, there were many disagreements between her and her friends during the time they grow up. After arguing, they even ŀöṩẗ contact. She told that: “You see, we have been friends since high school, which means it has been almost a decade now. We were as thick as thieves, partners in crime; like Abbi and Ilana or Taehyung and Jimin, you might say. When we first met, people thought that we’d known each other our whole lives. And yet, we had bad days; so bad, in fact, that we fought and ŀöṩẗ contact.”
But then, BTS helped her realize that she needed to look at her relationship and herself. The OP realizes that it is necessary to correct mistakes and become better. And one of the ways to save their friendship is to become an ARMY: “Another year pαssed, and I had enough. I wanted to make amends, and I knew this time would be different. This time, I reflected on our friendship and on myself. I had uncovered layers of knowledge of why we didn’t work, and how we could. So, through another third party, I asked her if she could unblock me so I could call her. In what I think was the most dramatic and touching moment of my life, we cried and laughed and reminisced about the past, and felt hopeful about the future.”
She said that BTS showed up when she needed it most and saved their friendship: “I have been trying to love her better ever since. Little did I know that it involved becoming an ARMY. I guess I did find them when I needed them the most: they helped me grow closer to my best friend”.
Maybe it’s because of the way BTS interacts with each member and they also come from friends, learning how to be attuned and complete as a group, that their friendship has made us understand that how precious we should cherish our friend is. Surely among us, many people thanks to BTS have new friends, thanks to BTS, become closer to their friends and thanks to BTS, have friendships that cross borders.