When it had first been discussed about taking a break, Grace had been completely all for it. The period from 2017 to 2021, felt to Grace, as one of the busiest periods. Even if they were resting, they were still working and not much actual time off had taken place, at least not for her. The month break before filming Bon Voyage: New Zealand had been filled with more work than she realised so this actual break had been a blessing.
But then came the talks of military service, solo projects taking precedence over group projects and then living apart. They had all bought their own places a while back, using the dorm for work which meant they were still living together more than they were apart. The pandemic saw them quarantine together before they were allowed to separate, but even then they were still together.
Grace, who had finally felt comfortable in her identity as the only female member of BTS and being the only female at Big Hit, suddenly felt lost. Without the boys, who was she? Without BTS by her side, who could she claim to be?
So she went into seclusion at her own apartment, appearing for schedules and work then going straight back home.
The military service was something they all had to do, apart from Grace, and they had all been prepped for it. Seokjin had even wanted to go before Butter came along, but then the pandemic hit and before their Busan concert, he wanted to go but they told him to prolong it for ARMY and then go after the concert. Grace had felt guilty as she knew how much Jin wanted to go and just get it done so he could come back, all the boys had felt like that.
But they also had felt excited about finally doing their own solo things. Grace didn't.
Bang called her into the office one day, alone and sat her down to have a good talk. To ask her how she was, what was going on in her head and how she was feeling about everything. And finally, she could be honest: she was going to be alone, she was going to be the only member of BTS left and when the boys came back, would they even want to be part of BTS again?
A fear of being alone, to be the only one standing on stage and proclaiming to be part of one of the biggest groups on earth. It scared her.
So Bang put together a team: Sejin was recalled back to be her personal manager, she got her own make up team and stylist, then a team of bodyguards. Big HIt was going to start treating her like the female soloist that she could have been from the beginning.
All of them began to plan Grace's future career around the boy's solo career, allowing her to attend their schedules undercover while also working on her own. A massive contract with Alexander McQueen was signed with her to be the face of their fashion show in London, another contract was signed with Hyundai for Grace specifically and she signed another contract with Samsung.
Another contract was signed with Louboutin for their famous red bottom heels, allowing her to be the new face of the company but they also signed up to do her heels for future performances.
She managed to secure a deal with Balmain, meeting the creative director Olivier Rousteing in Paris, for designing future performance costumes alongside Big Hits styling team.
Brands and companies were vying for Grace's attention but she only selected a few, not wanting to interfere with other idols who had previously worked with certain brands or had current contracts with them. She felt like no one should overshadow the other and no fandom should play off the other.
With all boys signed up for the military, Grace was now clear to announce her own projects. BTS twitter page was updated with black images, no details, other than the words: Here She Comes. A week later, a schedule was updated with the dates but nothing to suggest what those dates meant. Everything and everyone was tight lipped, no one knew any ideas.
Finally, the big reveal came on Grace's birthday when she went on V-LIVE to announce a new album was coming as well as a tour, having taken a leaf from Yoongi's book. Ticket dates and the schedule would be announced soon but a music video would be coming in two weeks.
Once the announcement was made, Big Hit changed their social media layouts to feature Grace. ARMY began their own countdowns, even celebrities were going on their own social media to show off their excitement. Teasers were posted through the coming days, and finally, on the big day, the video music of 7 Rings was posted. The video exploded over the internet, the reference to BTS in the video wasn't missed and the seven dancers were also a key point. YouTubers reacted to the video with glowing reviews and by the time they had released their reaction videos, BigHit posted the tour dates and locations.
She would start in Seoul, then onto Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York then into Paris, two nights in London, and two nights in Manchester. She would then go onto do a few more dates in Europe before flying out to Asia, starting in China, the Philippines, then Japan then back to Seoul for the two final dates.
The tour sold out within minutes, with one more date added to Los Angeles and New York as well as Japan. Then the news came that there would be a BTS tribute concert, for a live audience and live streaming with the boys being able to watch in their military barracks. It happened to land smack in the middle of Grace's tour, with BigHit refusing to say whether she would be in attendance or even performing though the likes of TXT, Seventeen, GOT7, Stray Kids had already confirmed they were performing.
When the night came and the concert opened to TXT performing a medley of BTS' older hits, the opening chords to FIRE played and Grace rose from the middle of the stage. Not only did she perform FIRE, she did DOPE, BAEPSAE, BLACK SWAN, FAKE LOVE, BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS then ended the night with DIONYSUS, MIC DROP & IDOL. Her performance was the highlight of the evening and reviews came flooding in about how she managed to do eight parts perfectly, including rapping, and dance everyone's parts with seven male dancers and still put on a performance.
It became clear to everyone that whether she was performing solo or a BTS track, there would always be seven male or female dancers (sometimes both) and there would always be a hint of purple somewhere to signify her connection to ARMY. Grace had once again proved, despite her worries, that she was BTS through and through.
Her tour would conclude with the date of BTS' anniversary when all the boys would be finally released from their military enlistment and BTS would be complete again.