#notot7

Out of pure masochism, I turned on a gossip channel about BTS today. Because, well, I am a masochist.

One of the main topics of the episode — which I clicked on because it claimed to discuss the recent threats against Jimin — was, of course, Taehyung.

And just to be clear, I’ll repeat it again: I’m not a hater.

I’m not saying “Tae is bad” or throwing random negativity with no factual ground. I don’t comment on someone’s looks, behavior, or art through my personal dislike. I’m just sharing an observation — a thought — because I can, and because I have the same right to speak as everyone else. Also, I don’t play the “silence game” that so many jikook accounts accuse so-called OT7s of… while doing the exact same thing about a different topic.

So. The video — which doesn’t even pretend to be unbiased — pointed out that Taehyung’s fan interactions lately seem to be heavily filtered through “Taekook goggles.”

Now let’s all pretend to be shocked.

It honestly made me laugh. In a weird, perverse, slightly inappropriate way, sure — but still, I laughed. Because I’m human. I know what confirmation bias is, and as long as I can recognize it and detach from it, I consider the issue neutralized.

But because I’m me — a creature wandering the internet with a brain that connects dots no one asked it to — my thoughts drifted straight to BT21.

Did anyone see that coming? Yeah, me neither. xD

I like their official channels for the same reason I liked that video: they have a long, funny history of highlighting Chimmy and Cooky’s… let’s say, deep emotional bond. Nothing revolutionary, but it always makes me giggle. Especially when I remember that in one official setup, Chimmy has a framed photo of Cooky’s tail on his shelf. A photo he apparently took himself — back when Cooky was flexing his imaginary muscles in front of a mirror.

Come on. That’s hilarious.

Anyway, you might be wondering how one topic connects to the other. Let’s get to the point.

Something’s up when the official BT21 account chooses this kind of illustration for Jimin’s birthday post.

You see where I’m going with this? No? Okay, let me spell it out.

In this image, Chimmy is celebrating his birthday — blushing, tongue out, holding a colorful cake while the other BT21 members snap pictures of him. We see their little paws and phone screens from different angles. Now, let’s take a moment to appreciate that Cooky’s screen seems to be zoomed in on Chimmy’s adorable little nose. Let’s all cherish that, because it’s cute. Cooky doesn’t care about the context — only the nose matters. Adorable, right?

But wait… one of the phones is showing something different! Instead of Chimmy, its camera — supposedly pointed at him — actually shows Tata. Oh my—

Okay, I know, it’s just a random cute drawing from the internet. Except… no.

First of all, BT21 has an official, very direct connection with BTS. The members didn’t just design the characters — they based them on their own personalities. Which makes the whole Chimmy–Cooky dynamic funny enough already, but in this context… it feels a bit like a spicy little commentary on real life, doesn’t it?

And here’s why I bring it up:

Almost nobody talks about BT21 through the lens of jikook. Which is a shame, because it’s hilarious.

The timing — it’s Jimin’s month, and he seems to be going through a rough patch. The image itself draws attention to something many of us notice but don’t quite know how to put into words (or don’t dare to). Even though Jimin looks like the golden boy of the media, it comes with a heavy dose of hate. People have been pointing out that in some recent fan interactions, he seemed distant, even tired. I’m not talking about his birthday live — awkward lives are just so Jimin. He’s not built for solo livestreams. I mean the sadness in his eyes during Fashion Week or that beach video with the others. Even the photos posted before the whole mess started didn’t show the usual sunshine he used to be — there was something quieter there, more inward. Like he was carrying too much, even while smiling.

And, well… it kind of confirms my theory that we’re looking at someone who’s a little jealous of attention.

Sure, you can call it coincidence. But I’m an artist — or at least I used to be before switching fields — and I know how these things are made.

Ideas like this illustration aren’t born fully formed in one sitting. It’s a process. You have a rough concept, you sketch, you add elements where intuition (or well-trained visual instinct) tells you something’s missing. Those choices come from deep-rooted associations, subconscious symbolism. Even if it’s just cute art of cartoon animals, someone still had to think: “Hey, what if one of them takes a selfie instead of a photo?” Then, “Let’s make it Tata.” And then they added it.

That same someone also knew that Tata’s bright red face would stand out in this color scheme — draw attention, just enough to become a visual focal point.

Following that line of thought, I didn’t come here to say, “Tae is bad and even BT21 knows it.” What I am saying is that a certain pattern of behavior — one that’s been repeating for weeks, even years — can absolutely be interpreted this way. And it says something when even BT21 seems to acknowledge it, intentionally or not.

And look, even with all my reservations, I’m not going to claim it’s about “malicious intent.” To me, it’s just another piece of evidence pointing to a simple lack of respect for boundaries.

Because even if Taekook were real — which I seriously doubt — Tae’s ongoing exhibitionism about it, especially when we know the reasons behind Jimin’s struggles and can name them clearly, feels less like love and more like a lack of empathy. Or at the very least, a lack of understanding of the entire situation.

So I “stole” this screenshot from @bangtanhoesthings. For the sake of my mental health. And to illustrate a trend I’ve been noticing ever since I started calling myself ARMY.

It all started exactly two days ago. I was thinking about posting something. Most of my posts are chaotic brain dumps written in one sitting. Works for fanfiction. Works when I write about Jimin. It’ll work for occasional Tumblr blogging too.

So I think: what should I write? Maybe part three of my “Jimin vs Stereotypes”? Maybe finally something about BTS being a cultural phenomenon? Maybe that weird-ass queer-coded narrative I found while writing my thesis? I had time. My daughter and I were both sick. Writing seemed like the right choice.

Anyway. I’m running a fever, thinking about writing, considering whether the world is too dangerous to exist in — maybe I should live in a plastic hamster ball — and suddenly… Oh. The boys are active again. And I have to explain to my kid why I’m squealing at my phone and waking her up during summer break.

But I digress.

So. I’m watching everything — excited as hell, mentally preparing for fandom drama, hyped about short-form videos, Insta updates, Tumblr posts… The past two days I’ve been flipping between watching jikook, drooling over J-Hope’s concert (seriously dude, what was that cape for? Flirting?!) and replaying gifs. And then… I see that. And I remember exactly why (and how) I dug up my 12-year-old Tumblr profile.

You see, I was a baby ARMY. I didn’t even know that’s what we were called. I had already fallen deep — into Jimin — before it even hit me that I was a fan. And back then? I was naïve. I had no idea what this fandom was capable of.

Dumb, innocent me once asked under someone’s post why they thought JK felt “off” around Jimin. I was genuinely curious. I even asked how that aligned with him calling Jimin his comfort person. Five minutes later I turned off notifications.

Then I found this place. And now I live in a happy little bubble. But even here, I sometimes can’t resist poking the angry fandom raccoon with a stick — just to check if I really imagined it all. So I wander into taekook spaces. Into so-called OT7 territory.

And suddenly I feel like I landed in a parallel universe.

Not because I’m wrong. Not because I’m watching something different. I am watching the same stuff. I just can’t see what the hell they’re seeing. And it’s not shipping anymore. It has its own rules now. It’s a cult.

Say one thing that doesn’t align with “the narrative” and you get ripped apart like a rabid dog. It’s a religion. With core doctrines. And no matter what you say, someone’s gonna come at you with a combo of “forced,” “scripted,” and “Taehyung.”

And again — don’t get me wrong. I LIKE Taehyung. I really do. But through a screen. In edited clips. In filtered content. I like his voice, his looks, his dance, his humor — as long as I can skip it when I get bored.

I’m one of the few jikookers who is NOT OT7. And I say it with my chest. If I could cut Tae out of half the BTS content — I would.

Why? Because I swear I see a streak of healthy ego in him. Yes, healthy. It’s normal to want to be the best. Always. That’s human. But why does it bother me so much in Tae? Because I see it compared to the rest of the group. And in my opinion (heavily biased, obviously, I’m Jimin stan to the bone) — it’s just too much.

Tae started annoying me fairly early. He wasn’t attention-seeking in the classic sense. But that little drop of “look-at-me” energy? It was enough. And I started noticing patterns — behaviors that, unless decoded directly by him, looked like pure commercial strategy.

Back in the day, it was those “accidental” jikook moments being sabotaged. I could even argue that Tae and Jin were the biggest jikook shippers back then. But later? Going live just to mention JK? Skipping details so it sounds like a taekook fairytale? I might’ve ignored it — but JK kept showing up to quietly debunk those stories.

Gently. Subtly. Because he’s a good boy. (And God help him if he wasn’t — Jimin and Namjoon would have turned his ass into the Dark Ages.) But he DID it. Repeatedly. Patiently. While never once correcting anything Jimin said.

That paints a picture.

Add their “make-up” moment in In the Soop, and it’s starting to look like a pattern. A narrative machine spinning around Tae.

I won’t do a reverse-taekooker move and say “JK feels uncomfortable with Tae.” But I will build a sentence in a way that makes you think it. Because I’m a hypocrite. Like most people.

Now let’s swing back to jikook for a second.

JK’s been showing a new behavior lately. You know what it is? He’s been acting a little like Tae. He pops into live streams just to mention Jimin and then poof. Gone. Like he’s looking for an excuse.

And let’s be real — we live for it. We scream. We cry. We lose all function. JK breathes Jimin’s name and the Earth stops rotating. Another jikook clue. Another theory. Another spreadsheet.

You see — taekookers do the same thing. And it would be stupid to think the boys don’t know that. They know. They’re not blind or deaf.

And that’s what makes it worse.

Because if someone’s really your friend — you don’t keep throwing them under the bus like that. Tae does. He sets people up. JK has to come in and clean up the mess. And Jimin? Jimin ends up actually at risk.

PHYSICALLY. DAMN IT.

Him, his family, his hypothetical dog, two future grandkids, and some random celeb taekookers decided to ship him with this week — in unholy alliance with homophobes.

I’ll leave you with that.

Now — the screenshot. Apparently Tae “leaked” JK’s Instagram. But y’all — when that happened, the account was literally empty. No profile pic. No banner. No bio. Just a random placeholder name that sounded like a draft before legal reviewed it.

What does that tell us?

I don’t even care if it was Tae for real. There was no “confirmed” label yet when I wrote this post. What does matter is this:

He did it too early. He jumped the gun. And now we have another cute anecdote for the fandom highlight reel.

This man has no boundaries. Or at least… I don’t see any.

As I said in a reblog: Give it a year, and this will be accepted fandom truth. Like many things before it. Like many things still to come. Especially the ones involving jikook, taekookers, and BTS in general.

And it’ll be sad. It’ll be pathetic. And I? I’ll still be just as pissed off as I am right now.

THAT’S why I’m not OT7 anymore. I’m done. I won’t pretend I don’t see it.