I've only thought of these instances in fragments so I didn't know how much there could actually be related to their first meeting... apparently really a whole lot OTL Part 2 is going to be a lot longer than Part 1 because I ain't doing a Part 3. meh.
I've also seen threads on twitter before, but trying to compile them from scratch based on memory is hard...
But thanks to this exercise and my desire to make things entertaining I learned how to screen capture, make gifs and resize shxt. this dinosaur is evolving hoho
Before going into Jin's version of events, the latest addition to Jk's chamber of lies: from the newly released Memories of 2021, Jk is shamelessly tricking his members with what June 4th means again. 'Oh you think that? Oh, ok.' 🌝
During the filming for their jacket photoshoot the members were discussing what each of their 6-digit serials meant, so Suga asked Jk "Is that when you came to Seoul?" "Yes! When I came to Seoul!"
Then Jk 👀 > Jin (next to Tae)
See Part 1 when he says it's the day he moved into the dorm.
(This kid is so happy and cute whenever he gets away with mentioning his anniversary on camera 😭❤️)
Disclaimer: this one goes a little into shipper territory. Anyways, it's based on opinions and observations.
Because June 4th is Jinkook's anniversary of when they met, Jin is part of the equation. However with Jin, he never mentioned the 'date' itself but rather only the event.
That day, the new trainees were asked to observe their sunbaes, so Jin knew he had to gather at the practice studio with the others. While talking and laughing with friends, Jin walked through the door without much thought. He was ready to take a seat and turned his head slightly towards the crowd on the floor. As if the bright flash from a camera went off, he blinked and squinted from the sudden glare. There was no camera nor did the sun suddenly shine through the low ceiling of the studio, but Jin did suddenly meet the straight gaze of a 15-year-old boy. The round eyes were clear and bright, like a baby deer's caught in the headlights of an oncoming car- (added for dramatic effect)
The two locked eyes and for a heartbeat, the universe stopped short.
Blood rushed to Jungkook's head and made a whooshing sound, so loud he could barely hear the handsome older guy's question "Who are you?". Jk sat there for a beat, then being sensible, he quickly realized that it would be rude to have his elder come to him so the kid unfurled from his anime girl seated pose, stood up in a rush and walked towards the older boy. Jin smiled as the kid introduced himself all flustered "Ah! My name is Jeon Jungkook!" The two exchanged greetings properly and sat down side by side, hearts thumping oddly fast.
Reads like a fanfic because it's my romanticized version.
Ok I'm allowed a delusional pill once in a while. this whole space could come crumbling down at any second
Before getting into it, I'll make my excuses first - I won't be able to remember all the instances of Jin mentioning [the first time he saw Jungkook at 15yo with big doe eyes] because there's too many, it feels like a blur with their 613 million hrs of content... It's also because Jin tends to mention it in fragments, sometimes the whole thing, sometimes just the eyes, sometimes in a passing remark... I'm not confident about collecting ALL
BTW Jin too seems to have a case of misremembering things.
Other than 'Jeon Jungkook', '15 years old', and 'doe eyes', details seem to be changing all over the place...
Not going chronological because it doesn't matter, this is one of my favorite instances:
170219 Jin's Face Photo preview via Vlive
When he stopped talking for a brief second to look at Jk's photo, and then started to tell the story of seeing Jk for the first time I could tell how fond he was of Jk.
Jin's retrieval cue for memory of first meeting: Jk's side profile.
He talked about Jk for the longest , and ended the live because he thought of Jk, missed Jk, and wanted to go see Jk.
In this live, Jin said Jk was sitting on the sofa, which might be the only time he mentioned this.
Very recently, when the script called for them to reminisce their past selves, Jin seized the day to cue doe-eyed Jk:
210709 A Butterful Getaway with BTS
They were supposed to answer questions as their younger selves for the show segment and technically they all agreed on their ages at debut, which would make Jk 17yo but Jin called on Jk while saying 15yo instead. Some of them did discuss using other ages, like Jin's one was the most absurd ~2yo. But Jk wasn't shown asking to use a different age.
In Jin's mind, Jk must have remained 15 for a long time.
Look how happy he was when Jk tried to imitate his 15yo self. Jin's always one of the members laughing hard after Jk tries something funny.
Going back in time, this should be the earliest instance Jin talked about meeting Jk for the first time on camera:
151220 BTS Star Talk HK
Here, Jin sounded like he'd been waiting his turn and had rehearsed the whole thing before when he spoke. I don't really need to write out what's in the screenshot, it's the same story.
Here's the earliest instance ever of them bringing up their first meeting in a Japanese magazine:
141022 Haru*Hana vol. 22 (cr. yoogamin)
For a unit interview with Jin, Jk and V (the J reporters sure know what they're doing), he bought it up. And again, the case of ever changing details... is it the same day or a couple days apart? We'll never know.
No matter about that, the important part is them meeting, and during the meeting, Jk had big doe eyes and was 15yo. And it was June 4th.
You know how good students only memorize keywords to bring out the whole concept during exams? I feel like this was what they did. Boil it down to the essentials then someday, when time allows, they're going to tell us word for word, what they wore, what the weather was like, what they said, if their knees touched... they can save it for the wedding, honestly. I don't really care that much.
Moving on. Another excerpt from their Japanese content:
2018 JP Fancafe vol. 4 (cr. kocchi)
Jungkook...Bambi eyes...practice room...
Plus I'm laughing at how Suga, RM and Jhope were referred to as just 'the rappers' 😂. Out of all the things from that day, Jungkook was the most important.
Jin did go on to say that RM left a strong impression on him with his dancing, but then I also recall during their BTS Begins VCR, Jin made sure to place Jk in the memory too by pointing at him and exclaiming "you were there too!" when talking about RM.
If anyone has read this far and is thinking wow, he really does talk about Jk and his doe eyes a lot, think about how often more the members have to listen to him. Just the amount of times he might have said it on camera but didn't make it to the final cut, or to friends and staff, or after one beer too many, "Did you know the first time I saw Jungkookie...his doe eyes-"
Because thanks to Jin, Jk is now permanently associated with deer eyes:
200524 RJRJ via Vlive
RM instinctively went "Jungkook..." after hearing Jin say 'deer eyes'. There's also a fox in the drawing but it's like he didn't even see the fox. Jin only picked it because of the deer. The bias.
At this point, I think it's safe to assume the members are primed to know Jin and Jungkook joined Bighit together, and how cute Jin thought Jk was when they first met.
210219 BE.T.S💜 via Vlive
A trivial coincidence: this live was exactly 4 years after Jin started reminiscing about Jk in the middle of promoting their merch aka the first instance mentioned.
RM automatically said 'eyes of a deer' to Jin saying 'Jungkook...15 years old'. A true leader listens, and therefore is more easily primed than the others.
Of first meetings, I know a few other pairs like Jihope, Namkook and Taejin are also famous for them but they don't mention it without prompting like Jinkook does. Tbh I think Namkook and Taejin's stories are way more interesting than Jinkook's like one has 'honey thighs' and the other has 'dirty dancing'. Jinkook only has, what, their eyes met from across the room? And??
But to Jin and Jungkook, it's clear that their meeting with each other has the most significance. The sheer amount of times they talked about it. I'm not even touching on anything else from their relationship, like the 11 years from that point onwards that they've spend together. I've just written some essay length compilation on just one day. I'm impressed and horrified.
And then let's circle back to Jk for a sec. Taking a deeper dive into shipper territory here
So did we all think Jk's obsession with June 4th 2011 ended with him talking about it any chance he gets?
No no no, he inked it.
The screenshot of Jk's new tattoo artist IG story.
Behold, not edited:
Yeah no I didn't draw the numbers, the tattoo artist did and added that sticker.
For context, Jk used to just have the skeletal hand in the middle. The new tattoo artist added color and the surrounding extensions.
So. What do you know, 20110604 again. Before seeing this, I didn't even imagine this tattoo would have anything to do with Jinkook. Before the artist's hint, zero idea; after, omg it's so obvious.
And that emoji... that's the finishing touch. What, the artist is embarrassed because Jk joined BTS...?
The little ❤️ in the corner too. That's really sweet.
He deleted the story within an hour of posting. 🤷🏻♂️
Understandably, those who know that see this post will get it instantly.
And it took me a second to realize that boi had the date tattooed on him since the beginning.
First round, he got only BTS/Army related ones (Just a random thought does anyone else think the initial tattoo on his shoulder looked like a whale not an angel? Just me? Ok), the next round he got this hand sign and the tiger lily. (I'm saying 'rounds' tentatively because it looks like Jk got multiple tattoos during a few single sessions.)
(I'm also glossing over the fact that he tattooed the single letter 'J' on his ring finger during his touchup session right before vacation ended. You can tell it was recent from the 2019 airport photos because of how pink the flesh looked around the ink and how deep and shiny the black was. That's the look before the tattoo scabs and heals fully.)
I guess he decided the previous version was too subtle.
11 ~ 6 ~ 4
like holy
When I discovered I could spot the 11, 6 and 4 in the hand without the newest add-ons, I thought my shipper brain was in overdrive. I'm being delusional. Not everything is related to Jinkook I know that!!
If we didn't look for 'numbers' in the tattoo, one will never know about 11.6.4.
Because... maybe he is into hardcore heavy metal🤘🏽 That's why the skeletal 'sign of the horns' tattoo. Or he could have meant it just as 'rock on!' because he's a singer. So I dug a bit more to see if my observation stands.
Quick and easy, a simple search determined it's not some fluke that 11.6.4 can be found. Jk forced the '6' and '4' to both appear in his tattoo. I will explain.
Some examples of skeletal 'sign of the horns':
The drawings all somewhat follow human anatomy and this rule: either the thumb reaches the pinkie and forms the figure 6, or it doesn't and allows 4 bones to be shown across the palm. Jk's one has both.
Tattoos are usually made with consultations and depending on the artist, they take input from the client to varying degrees. Jk's tattoos are clearly all very personal to him and not from flash or ready-made originals. Especially his first round of tattoos in 2019, seems like he went in with self drawn designs or clear ideas of what he wanted.
So if he didn't ask for both the thumb to reach the pinkie to form a 6 and also have 4 bones show across the palm, the artist is highly unlikely going to suggest this weird combo in his drawing. Highly.
110604 is a really, really special date to him.
And wait, there is more.
Maybe the most significant and yet subtle way they've brought the date to our attention is through their songs. My two lovebirds are rockstars and like rockstars, they'll write about each other and romance.
During Festa 2019, Jin released Tonight on June 5th midnight KST. Then exactly one year later on the same day in 2020, Jk released Still With You.
Why June 5th? Can't know for sure. It could be caution, or something more nutty like 'it's still June 4th somewhere in the world' ... who knows. But it can't be ignored that the 2 songs are released right on the cusp of June 4th and 5th. It's the tipping point into the next day, displays as the 5th, but could still count as the day before.
And if you place the two songs side by side and read the lyrics, it's a matching set. And if you read the lyrics, it might make sense why midnight, why nighttime, and how specific certain details in the song can't really reference fans or pets...
Noticeably, Jk's verbal mention of June 4th really started around the beginning of 2021, after both songs have been released and his tattoo has been on show for more than a year.
Compiling things now might make it look 'obvious' but hindsight is 20/20, and he's tried to make the meaning of June 4th appear as ambiguous as possible.
On the other hand, Jin has been consistent. He used to talk about their first meeting almost every year, and shows signs that he remembers till now. Out of the two of them, I would say Jin is the better expert at hiding in plain sight. I shall have much to say on this topic someday.
So to sum it up the 2 of them had used the date to release songs, and had it tattooed, talks about it a lot...
And just to reiterate, Jk said:
"Kookjin Jin Jungkook" joined at the same time.
Another little thing pertaining to them joining BTS:
Both of them sang This Song by 2am for their auditions. Both didn't do very well with the song 😅 But nonetheless they came to meet eo.
*Tbh I don't know how popular this song was for auditions so it could just be a probability thing.
Lastly, June 4th happens every year during 🌈Pride Month🌈
It's hard to believe in fate or destiny these days but between them, there are really a lot of coincidences that doesn't seem like real life✨
(Right now my tl is being filled with clips of Jinkook moments in Memories of 2021 and as always offbeat, I'm making a post about their first meeting instead of fawning over these new interactions...
let's get it)
🤓
Bro I had no idea I'd be able to make a whole post centered around just one date:
June 4th 2011
~20110604~
Basically, when editing for fact checks and grammar I realized this post had turned into a compilation of Jk's obsession with 110604. Jin... he's obsessed with something else (part 2?). It got a bit long so I decided it'll be broken into parts.
So to summarize first, June 4th 2011 is the day Jinkook met each other.
Both of them have been pretty consistent with how they try to bring up this first meeting when talking about anything at all. Even if the topic is remotely related, here they go, here's their chance.
Part 1 is almost entirely centered around Jk's mention of the date. Like nothing else. Not the details of what happened on that day, just this date, these numbers.
There's an aspect of this that links up with how they present information on camera (camera awareness): one of them tends to 'claim' a thing special to the both of them as something individual, and the other half would remain quiet. More often so it's Jin who is quiet and Jk who claims it. (Oof, consistent with Jk's obsessive streak. "What's mine is mine. What's yours is mine.")
Note that Jin isn't unaware whenever Jk brings it up. His reactions are always interesting.
Examples given below, Jk tends to fib a little about what the date means.
He usually gives a vague answer - it's the day he joined Bighit, or the day he joined BTS, or the day he joined the dorm. Tbh all these explanations are similar but it's interesting that he can't get his story straight for such an important date.
He's disproved his words over the years numerous times too.
Like during the behind-the-scenes for their Dope MV he held up the police baton and said the numbers [20110424] was probably the date he was cast, the day he joined BTS. Subsequently, a lot of armys trend #xyearswithjungkook every year on April 24th.
Another instance that disproves Jk's claims is during that chaotic JijinJung vlive. Jin was struggling to tell a 5 sec story of Jk mispronouncing an English word and in the midst of Jimin teasing Jin with selfcam mode, Jin and Jk were also arguing about the logistics of when they first met:
According to Jin, it's the day Jk first went to the practice studio, and Jin had been there a couple days before. Meanwhile Jk believes they both went to the practice room on the same day, and threw in the tidbit he already signed the contract by then.
The specific day wasn't mentioned but Jk insisted that he and Jin went to the studio on the same day.
During their new year countdown for 2020, filmed in the morning in NYC, the guys were chatting randomly to pass time until the clock hits KST midnight and RM brought up how the 2010s were meaningful to him because he spend it all with BTS.
The three rappers started chatting about the topic and in the midst, Jk went o.o for a moment as he recalled something and stuttered as he tried to chime in 'Mine, mine was 2010...June...June 4'.
Then RM reached out to ask Jk to repeat himself since they were speaking over each other just now. So Jk repeated June 4th and said he thinks he joined the company on June 4th.
During Run BTS Ep 133, Jk mentioned that he arrived in Seoul in 2011.
They may have filmed this episode around the beginning of Jan 2021 because Jin made a comment~ a new year has come. I rewatched a bit of the intro to see who prompted Jk to bring up June 4th and it was himself. Jhope, "it's 2021." Jk's mind: 2021 minus 10 years is 2011, 2011 is the year I came to Seoul... and btw [June 4th] y'all.
To that, Jin happily replied saying they were there together...
And the editors tied everything up with a ribbon in the subtitles [Met Jin on June 4, 10 years ago].
(which reminds me I have to do a post someday about BTS content editors. Those guys ship Jinkook way too hard. Esp. the BV editors.)
During 3J unit interview on You Quiz in March 2021:
Again, what prompted him to mention June 4? Can't be exactly sure, there's cuts in the footage. But the interview topic atm was their dorm, where the host YJS mentioned Taehyung and Namjoon had brought up their dorm and then asked the trio how dorm life was like. Jhope went into explaining how they all used to live together and he was glad they have separate rooms now. Then YJS asked, 'how about you, Jungkook-shii' and the first thing he says is [see figure above].
Just broadly speaking, who remembers the day they move into a new place that clearly?
When they all got to choose their own 6 digit numbers for their Butter jacket 'mugshot':
During their comeback vlive for Butter, Jk explained why he chose this number:
The day he moved into the dorms, he says.
Ok. Twice he's brought June 4th up in relation to moving into the dorm. Maybe that's just it.
But here's what the officially released HipHop Monsters webtoon says:
It's a day off: June 3, 2011. The difference isn't significant. Maybe he misremembered, that's all.
It's just that he's been 'misremembering' everything but 110604. Mountains will move and oceans will become deserts, but Jeon Jungkook will not stop mentioning June 4th 2011.
Jk will put down 110604 any chance he gets:
*In the Seom game developer notes.
The most recent mention of the day without the date itself:
He said 'the day' and 'that moment' which points to a pretty specific time and date.
I don't know if you've heard of this day, but I heard Jk mentions June 4th 2011 a lot.
The war flashbacks Jinkookers all get whenever 110604 comes up.
Also, look at Jin's proud little smile after Jk spoke. Cute af.
In conclusion, June 4th has been established as a very important day to Jk. Out of all 6 other members, only Jin has ever been associated with June 4 as well.
Could Jin be part of the reason why June 4th is so special to Jk?
(see title and beginning of post and Run BTS 133 for answer)
