How I FOUND BTS... and became an ARMY.

How I FOUND BTS...

and became an ARMY.

By: Edsel E. Jeon

My painting. " Debut of the 7 "

Left it at Magnate, Busan

INTRODUCTION

Before I got into K-pop, I was already deep into K-movies and K-dramas. It actually started with Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War—the very first Korean film I ever watched. And honestly? It set the bar way too high. From that point on, it became my personal standard for what I consider “worth watching.”

Then came BigBang—the only K-pop group I listened to for a long time. From the moment I heard Fantastic Baby, I was locked in. Eventually, 2NE1 entered the scene, and of course, that included Sandara Park—who, up to this day, remains incredibly loved by Filipinos.

But when BigBang went on hiatus, I also drifted away from K-pop. Out of sight, out of playlist.

Meanwhile, my niece—still in elementary school at the time—was already a dedicated fan of BTS. Every time I traveled, I’d bring her BTS-related items, mostly fan-made merch. At that point, I was just the cool " Mommy Ed " supplier… not yet a fan.

" I have something for you... are they BTS members? "

My nephew went to New York and saw a very long line of people waiting to enter a shop. Curious, he joined the queue to see what was inside and later sent me a cute photo of him with—guess who—Kookie.

Neither of us had any idea who the character was back then.

My nephew is 13 years old already. With him is my pet, Jimin... :) The pajamas must jive with the theme.

Then one random day, while casually scrolling through YouTube, I stumbled upon a dance video titled Idol Choreography. I clicked. I watched.

I was instantly hooked with the song—the beat, the energy, the precision. Even now, Idol remains my favorite BTS song of all time. The guys in the video were insanely good. Naturally, I went to my niece and asked if she’d seen the " BTS " video.

Her response?

“They are NOT BTS… they’re fans doing an Idol cover.”

Plot twist.

At that time, the whole idea of posting dance or song covers online wasn’t as common (at least in my world), so I was genuinely impressed.

When I learned that they were just fans... I said, “I doubt the real BTS can dance as well as them.”

Yeah… that didn’t age well.

So, I did what any curious person would do—I searched for the real BTS Idol choreography video.

[CHOREOGRAPHY] BTS (방탄소년단) 'IDOL' Dance Practice

And in an instant… I got it.

It was J-Hope who caught my attention first—though I didn’t even know his name back then. His presence alone completely overshadowed the cover I had just watched. The energy, the control, the charisma—it felt like he owned the entire performance.

Then I found their live stage—specifically their performance at Mnet Asian Music Awards.

BTS - IDOL @ 2018 MAMA IN HONGKONG | 1080p 60fps

" What is this guy's name? "

And that… that was it. May 21,2019 at 7:01PM, the moment I went deep into the rabbit hole and decided to become Edsel E. JEON. lol!

To cut the story short, I’ve been in that rabbit hole ever since—and at this point, I’m pretty sure I’m staying here. Supporting them, enjoying the music, and occasionally laughing at how it all started… because of a dance cover I thought was better than the original.