One year after Yoona left
Almost as soon as Yoona arrived our group was thrown into chaos. But when she left, it was clear we needed to rethink everything. Things were undoubtedly rough at home, but since we worked together too there was never a reprieve.
We eventually told our fans that we were going to take a brief hiatus from working together to develop our own projects. But it was always with the clear expectation that we would return to working together again. That after time we would once again be BTS, not just a collection of individuals who used to be part of BTS.
As time went on the idea of returning to work together seemed increasingly far off. Different members were making longer term commitments outside of the band and some had moved on from music to other interests altogether. A few seemed to thrive outside of the constraints of the band, while we could tell that others really needed the structure to remain engaged and productive. Outside of BTS they were just bereft without a sail or a plan.
By now we were wealthy enough that nobody had to work to earn money, but I still worried sometimes about those few who seemed more directionless. I offered to help them by producing a few songs for them, but it seemed without the joy that we used to have working together, there really was no point.