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Seoul, at last.

Hakdong Park sits near the old Big Hit building. The area looks completely ordinary, even a little run-down. Yet today, it holds a profound meaning, infused with the emotions of fans who have traveled here from every corner of the world. Walking along the park’s tree-lined path, I tried to catch a glimpse of the struggles and experiences they went through all those years ago. But I realized I am just one ordinary soul among all of these, taking one step at a time on this very ground.

A butterfly fluttered past, brushing against the wild flowers scattered across the grass.

1.

In Wild Flower, RM builds a world around two central images: fireworks and wildflowers.

Fireworks belong to the sky. They represent fame, success, and the spotlight. It’s the place everyone looks up to. Wild flowers belong to the earth. They are part of nature, one among countless others, existing in their most authentic state. When someone is pushed and becomes a firework in the sky, that brilliance often comes with the loss of self, just as RM sings, "When my dream devours me, when I am not myself." To me, true success is not the validation of others, but a sense of fulfillment within oneself.

Being "unknown" is something most dreamers fear. Yet in this song, anonymity becomes freedom. In a society where whoever speaks the loudest seems to dominate, RM chooses silence as his response. He refuses to lose himself in that distorted system. Fireworks only have meaning because people look at them. Wildflowers, though unnamed, possess a complete sense of self. The emotional journey of this song is one of moving from confusion to acceptance.

As Heidegger suggests, we live toward death. So much of our lives are shaped by the expectations of others. We follow trends, move with the crowd, and forget what we truly want. One day, we will all die. As the song says, “one day, I will return.” Knowing that our lives are finite, perhaps the choice before us is to become our truest selves while we can: to live authentically, and when the time comes, leave without regret. Like a wild flower, we bloom in the most barren of places, not because anyone is watching, but simply because we’re us.

2. 

People always say that the underlying tone of BTS is pain, and Namjoon always seems to be searching for the language to articulate it. He writes about love and hate, belonging and freedom, and those moments on stage where he feels completely untethered. Hearing Wild Flower for the first time, I couldn't help but wonder: What were you thinking when you penned these lyrics? Could someone who started in an underground practice room ever imagine a life like this before actually touching fame and wealth?

"From fireworks to wild flowers, from youth to eternity." This is my favorite line in the whole song.

During their youth, they chased fireworks. Fireworks are grand and dazzling, hanging high above everyone’s gaze. But once they actually reached that summit, the members spoke time and again about loneliness, pressure, and loss. It turns out that those standing at the very top also miss the days when they could just walk down the street in peace. In today’s assembly-line K-pop industry, a piece of work like this is rare. It isn't a repetitive, catchy track, nor does it preach superficial love or cliché self-empowerment. RM lays his purest, rawest heart bare before ARMYs, expressing both his confusion and his acceptance.

Are wild flowers the past? I don't think so. You can never go back to the past, and wild flowers don't represent who he used to be. Fireworks belong to the sky, while wild flowers belong to the earth. When a person finally no longer feels the need to prove themselves to the world, perhaps that is when they truly become a wild flower.

3.

The imagery in this song reminds me of The Great Gatsby.

Gatsby came from humble beginnings and was a classic self-made man of his era. Even though he possessed immense wealth and threw lavish parties every night that shook the entire city, he was never truly accepted by the traditional elite. After he died, not a single person who had revelled at his parties showed up to his funeral. I see voices criticizing him, calling him blindly vain and self-destructive. But I admire him deeply.

I believe it was the society that was wrong, not him. Until his dying breath, he chased the "green light" across water. In a way, he never forgot his dream. In a world of glitz and glamor where it is incredibly easy to lose oneself, holding onto a dream is a form of lonely courage.

This also reminds me of a line that I once wrote: "One day, when you open your eyes beneath a skyline of green and gold, what will you think about? Will you miss the days when you were still young?"

In the song, Namjoon screams with a raw, desperate rasp: "Where you go, where’s your soul, where’s your dream?"

Gatsby spent his whole life chasing that green light, climbing higher and higher from anonymity to legend, firmly believing that happiness lay on the other side of his dream. Yet, when he finally arrived in that world of "fireworks," what he found was not fulfillment, but a deeper void. As Fitzgerald wrote at the very end: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past..."

I am so grateful that Namjoon, after reaching the peak, is still searching for his true self.

4.

It’s not just limited to Namjoon and Gatsby. This is a cultural shock that every ordinary person experiences today. Whether it’s an international student crossing oceans for the "American Dream," a young person leaving their comfortable hometown to grind in massive cities like Beijing or Shanghai, or an adult facing a life turning point and feeling lost under immense pressure. This conflict is everywhere. We are used to living peacefully on the earth, yet we are swept up by the times, forced into a sky where we must constantly compete and climb.

In this process, we hope to be like fireworks, blazing brilliantly in the sky of society to prove our worth. Yet, deep down, we yearn to go back to being wild flowers, scattered across the earth, wishing only for freedom. Freedom is humanity’s ultimate destination.

Why do I love Wild Flower so much? Because no matter where you are or what your background is, you can resonate with it. And resonance is one of the most precious human experiences.

5.

Later on, I finally got to see that concert I had dreamed of for so long. The massive national stadium held 100,000 fans, with ARMYs from all over the world crossing mountains and seas to be there. Kim Namjoon stood at the very center of the stage, leading BTS, waving to the world.

At the end of the concert, fireworks exploded in the night sky, so beautiful that one tears up. They sang Into The Sun, their silhouettes slowly exiting into the light. Below the stage, 100,000 pairs of eyes looked up together, watching the sky fill with gold and green fireworks.

While talking with a friend about Wild Flower, she brought up a fascinating idea: “solitary authenticity vs. communal anonymity.” The phrase struck me immediately, and the more I thought about it, the more curious I became. In Namjoon’s world, what exactly does that “wild flower” look like? Is it about stripping away the noise in solitude and rediscovering one’s truest self? Or is it about dissolving into the vast crowd, finding comfort in no longer being watched, and embracing the quiet anonymity of ordinary life?

And when the applause fades and the smoke clears, both Kim Namjoon and those of us who have watched him will return to our own corners of the earth. May we all be free to pursue our dreams in our own way, and may we each bloom into our own flowerwork.