Hello everyone!! How are you doing?
HYYH THE NOTES 2 was released in September , 2020. We got a successful resolution to Jin’s arc- culminating in him finding the map of his soul, learning about his father’s past and perhaps finally seeing an end to the time-travel. However, some questions remain unanswered, such as Jungkook’s increasing mistrust towards his hyungs, and that chilling epilogue. Here are some theories/ points I had in mind while reading the notes:
- THE EPILOGUE
The epilogue begins with a mysterious date: XX XX Year XX
The date seems to suggest that he has been transported into a dimension beyond time and space. The space has been described as “dark”, “sticky”, “slippery”, and Jungkook felt as if he was floating in “sticky air”. Then, the chapter proceeds to give us this :
“There was a big hole below me-a huge, bottomless, gaping hole. I looked up again. saw the moon at a faraway distance. I was floating somewhere between the moon and the hole. And suddenly,
I had a thought: That is not the moon. That’s a big hole in the sky.”
That brings to mind 2 things:
a) It is probably the day Jungkook had an accident, 22 May Year 22, but in a different dimension. On the day of the accident, Jungkook had described seeing an upside down moon. The same moon seems to appear here.
b) This is a wormhole that he has fallen into. In MOTS:7 Notes, Jungkook described seeing a sinkhole with shimmering light. At that time too, I theorized it could have been a wormhole, and now it seems that he has entered a wormhole itself. The whole description recalls to my mind the Blood, Sweat and Tears Japanese MV.
2. CHOI GU HYO’S UNSOLVED MYSTERY
Choi Gu-Hyo is Kim Chang Jun’s friend who disappeared in high school, leaving ChangJun shattered. According to a news report, on the night of his disappearance, he had received a call to come to the music room in the annex of the school building ( which is now the storage classroom that Jin and his friends had hung out at). Another blog article that Jimin had searched claimed that the Principal ( Jo Jin Myung) had been involved. It was also claimed that the Principal and Kim Chang Jun had been enemies in school. Based on these, it can be assumed that something happened between the Principal and Choi Gu Hyo, causing him to disappear. It is likely that Woo Hyun Sung, the psychiatric ward uncle who told Jimin about the map of the soul was also present at the scene as he voluntarily admitted himself into the hospital after that incident. After the incident, Kim Chang Jun was reported to have gone crazy, combing the whole city down to find his friend.
One day, he was found collapsed in the same music room, after which he quit school, returning next year as a changed man, devoid of any warmth. The descriptors used are ‘cold’, ‘lifeless’, just like how Seokjin had become after signing the pact with cat about the hint to find the map of the soul. Thus, it is clear that Jin’s Dad was also involved with the cat. However, loose ends remain as we are never told what happened that night.
My theory is that we are not yet done with this story. The Principal keeps showing up in the BUS Story game as well, always leading to bad consequences- such as deliberately shifting Jungkook to a new school when he grew closer to Seokjin ( Jungkook’s chapter). We may see a full explanation of what Kim Chang Jun actually went through that night and the year that followed in the next Notes.
3. THE MAN IN THE KHAKI OVER-COAT
In The Notes 1, we are introduced to an old guy in khaki overcoat, who gets into a brawl with some violent men the night Taehyung and Jungkook had gone to Munhyeon ( 24 July Year 22). Taehyung felt that the man reminded him of his own father, always on the drink. In the Notes 2, on the same date, Taehyung once again meets a drunkard- and even carries him home on his back. Taehyung wished to stay besides him and listen to his stories, but left.
Why repeat an un-named character twice? Clearly he is someone important. My theory is that the man could be Choi Gu Hyo. The man has been missing for a long time, and what if he happens to be this drunkard ? It would explain why the character was given this much importance, and perhaps in the next Notes, we could see Choi Gu Hyo being found and playing a bigger part in the story.
4. DUBU
Dubu is the name of the dog Taehyung had kept in Year 21. Strangely, he has not been mentioned even once in both the books, but his presence is alluded to in the Graphic Lyrics, Stigma, and the last page of HYYH Notes 1. It is shown in the last page, that the dog went missing in the month of October. The month in Stigma MV is also shown to be October, and the MV is full of scenes alluding to Taehyung’s first time in prison.
Dubu means tofu in Korean. In Korean culture, when a person gets out of prison, they are offered tofu to eat- as a symbol of purification. We see a reference to this in Dear My Friend by AgustD as well. Here is Doolset’s explanation of the lines :
. In the Notes 2, we see the following exchange between Taehyung and Hoseok:
You came empty-handed?”
“What do you mean? You called in the middle of the night to pick
you up, and now that I’m here, you complain about me being empty-handed?”Namjoon said, “He means you don’t have tofu with you.”
“What?” I looked at Taehyung in utter disbelief. “It’s not like you got dragged to the police station
for the first time. You want tofu now?”Making it obvious that he was disappointed, Taehyung said, “I keep coming back to this place because I haven’t had tofu.
HYYH NOTES 2, PAGE 130
Now that we have had the context of what tofu means, it gets easier to understand Taehyung’s teasing about not having eaten tofu. But for me, I felt this goes deeper, and is probably a reference to his dog, Dubu. The first presence of Dubu is connected to Tae being imprisoned in Stigma, and for me it implies that the dog’s disappearance is connected with Taehyung’s frequent visits to the police station.
5. JUNGKOOK AS A MAIN CHARACTER ?
This is probably a theory that most will share , and that is Jungkook will take on a more central role in the future. He has been set up as an observer of some sorts, in Fake Love as well, and in The BUS Story Game.
Moreover, he is the only known character, apart from Jin, who has made contact with the cat. JK’s arc so far has been dependent on his hyungs- and as the youngest of them all, focusing on this can actually lead us to a good story about identity development. He needs to find a sense of self that is healthy- attached to his friends, yet aware of his personal needs.
6. THE CAT AND JUNGKOOK
I think that JK and the cat made a pact as well, and it is likely to be related to his constant wish to die. At the time of the accident, the cat appears, and asks him if he still wishes to live, even though life would be more painful than death. Judging by the fact that Jungkook did not die, we can assume that he chose to live.
This new Jungkook after the accident is a changed man, who is resentful of Seokjin ( who he believes was behind the accident) and his friends. In fact, in one scene, he climbs up the hospital railing – in a similar way to his earlier habit of standing on the railing of the construction site. But this time, instead of wanting to die, he decides angrily that he refuses to be the sacrifice for someone’s happiness, and won’t die willingly.
“I wouldn’t die even if it were to make someone happy!” I spat out the words to the lights.
HYYH NOTES 2, PAGE 136
This new found desire to live however comes at a price- he ends up losing trust in all his hyungs, to the point of wanting to shoot them in a video-game scenario. The BTS Universe Story trailer also ends with Jungkook, sketching his road accident as the others fade into background.
7. THE CAR ACCIDENT
It is widely believed that Jin caused the car accident on 22 May. JK himself believes it to be Jin. However, based on the account given by Jin himself, I believe that someone else is deliberately trying to frame Jin. On his way back, Jin almost collides into a fast moving car, and ends up skidding against a guard-rail. When he looks back, there was no car on the street. Jungkook believes it to be Jin because the car is similar to his, but apart from that he has no other evidence. He sees the dent marks on Jin’s car and assumes he was correct, but they could just be because of the skidding.
Then, who hit Jungkook? I have two theories for this:
One is that Seokjin’s father arranged for a car similar to his to cause this misunderstanding. Jin’s father is not shown to be very encouraging of his friends, and sometimes it feels like he and his circle go out of their ways to keep them apart.
My other theory is that it was the cat’s doing. It seems more likely since we have a note from MOTS:7 Album Notes that talks about JK seeing green and blue beads changing into headlights. That scene is reminiscent of this scene from the TU:
And as we saw in the screenshot from the trailer , the cat was present at the time of the accident. Maybe it has to do with the pact he formed with the cat.
Apart from these, as per my previous analysis of the back pages of the Notes 2, it is highly likely that some existential themes might be present in the next Notes.
Well, these are all the theories/thoughts I have. I would love to hear what you think, and if you have theories of your own, feel free to comment or DM me at my Twitter.
Map Of The (B)Universe 
