Running with Jin in Goyang—I’m preserving the moment!

I started writing this on the plane on the way to South Korea, and imagined looking out at a view as glorious as this at the exact time that the chorus of the song With The Clouds started blasting through my headphones.

A sense of excitement filled me in anticipation of Jin’s first solo concert in Goyang. Jin (Kim Seok-Jin), the eldest hyung (older brother in Korean) of the South Korean superband BTS, was launching his first ever solo concert tour, and ARMYs couldn’t be more thrilled. The first of the seven to enlist in the military in December 2022, Jin was the last of the seven to launch his first solo album, and the third among the members to embark on a solo tour. 

He is also known as the Silver Voice, or his most common alias, “Worldwide Handsome”—a term he comedically coined for himself in 2017 that has stuck ever since. He is the eldest member of BTS, and the first one to enter and be discharged from the military. First recruited mainly as the band’s visuals, he truly discovered his niche in singing. 

With hard work and long hours of practice, Jin overcame his shyness and transformed into a singer with a voice so emotive and melodic that you feel every note, every word in the song. He evokes so many emotions in his performances, and with a very intense visual that can easily switch from very cute and boyish (albeit mischievous), to his drop-dead looks. One of his most endearing qualities is his ability to empathize and connect with people. 

As a singer, he has songs and a voice that have a way of resonating with his audience, making them relate to the emotion he is trying to evoke in every song. 

Given the other side of his character, Jin is an extremely funny person, who uses humor to break the ice and make himself appear less intimidating. He’s become known for his dad jokes and his contagious “windshield-wiper” (as ARMY calls it) laugh. 

After his military discharge in June 2024, he became a very, very busy man. He held a fan showcase the day after and immediately started filming thereafter. Apart from guesting in several variety shows, just two months after his military discharge, Jin launched his own variety show, Run Jin, a spin-off of BTS Run BTS variety show that aired on the BangtanTV YouTube Channel and Weverse. The show has Jin carrying out several missions, sometimes solo but usually with surprise guests, ending up in hilarious situations. The missions are suggested by the equally hilarious staff of Run Jin—and what makes it even funnier is that Jin appears totally oblivious to what is coming, yet handles everything like a pro.

Jin the funny guy is not entirely new to ARMYs; he has always been such a goofball, his positive mindset being one of his most endearing qualities, alongside his  le-JIN-dary Windshield Wiper laugh. The idea for this show came about as he was winding up his military enlistment, and while the other members were still in the service; he thought the fans would be lonely in the six months between, and wanted to cheer us up. That thought alone was what kept him running.  

The show aired every Tuesday from August 2024 to May 2025, with a total of 36 episodes. 

In November 2024, Jin released his first solo album, HAPPY, giving ARMYs a taste of Rocker Jin in I’ll be There and Running Wild, beautiful duets with Wendy from Red Velvet (Heart on the Window) and Taka from One OK Rock (Falling), and a heartfelt, gut-wrenching tribute to ARMYS in I Will Come To You (which he wrote while in the military because he missed ARMYs so much). As always, with all BTS members, the artistry goes above and beyond. HAPPY was such a vibe, and as the title implies, the beats, melodies, and lyrics spread such positive energy to listeners. He celebrated its release with The Jin ‘Happy’ Special Stage, a free, two-day fan showcase in Jangchung Arena in Seoul, and livestreamed via the Weverse app. The showcase highlighted Jin as a performer, with his strong vocals and the dynamic production. His ability to form a genuine and sincere connection with ARMYs made the event a lasting memory. 

In April this year, when we all thought that Jin would be resting and focusing more on variety shows while awaiting the military discharge of the remaining five members, he surprised us with the announcement of his second solo album, ECHO, which has a wonderful integration of subgenres in Jin’s favorite genre, rock, and displays his love for band music. My personal recommendation is to take a deep dive into the track, Nothing Without Your Love, to appreciate the grand string arrangement and production of this song, and Background, for its beautiful yet heartbreaking lyrics and Jin’s ability to convey raw vulnerability and pain. The tracks were so well integrated that the album is, not to be biased (*wink*), not one to miss. Finally, as he wrapped up the episodes of Run Jin, he announced a world tour as culmination. Hence, here we are now. 

ONE.FOR.THE.BOOKS. These words truly sum up our surreal experience that was Kim Seokjin. 

To open the Goyang concert, he emerged in his custom embellished Gucci denim combo, looking like the superstar he really is. No fuss and frills as he appeared and approached a buzzer at the end of the extended stage, casually walking and hyping up the excited crowd, and finally saying the iconic Run Jin catchphrase, “Do-Jeon!” (“Challenge accepted!” or “Bring it on!”) before hitting it. ARMYS erupted into cheers, and fireworks were set off as the vibrant beats of Running Wild started playing. The energy was high from start to end. 

We were delighted with the appearance of Yena on the first day, where she and Jin gave an electrifying performance of Loser, and of Wendy on the second day, where they showcased their vocal chemistry in the powerful harmony of their voices in Heart on the Window. Cowboy Jin also made a steaming debut in the performance of Rope It, a catchy song where Jin explores a little of country with a twist of rock, and my gosh, he spun that lasso round ARMYs’ hearts, indeed! 

In between songs, Jin did what he loves most: mingle with ARMYs and laugh. The concert was highly interactive and fun, an unprecedented concept in K-pop that integrates a variety show, noraebang (karaoke), and concert, all rolled into one, always starting with “Do-jeon!” The overall vibes were truly amazing: There was non-stop laughter, old inside jokes, new jokes, playful banter, and of course, the iconic Super Tuna performance in a silly costume of ARMYs’ choice. Only BTS and ARMYs can roast and tease each other in their own special way. It truly felt like seeing an old friend. 

In between songs, Jin did what he loves most: mingle with ARMYs and laugh

He also paid tribute to BTS in a medley of Butter, Dynamite, and the two most emotional songs for ARMY: Mikrokosmos and Spring Day. He sang it for the members and he sang it for ARMY. On the first day, BTS members V, RM, and j-hope watched with the BTS’ parents, looking at their eldest brother with immense pride. Jimin, Jung Kook and Suga watched on the second day, looking just as proud as the members on the first day, singing along with their brother in the audience. Emotions welled up upon hearing the last two songs of the medley, as well as the live fireworks version of The Astronaut, and I couldn’t help but just absorb everything in the moment. Tears fell when, at the end of Spring Day, ARMY continued singing the last part as Jin closed his eyes, swayed, and relished the moment with a smile. It was a song of longing and yearning to meet each other again, and now, with all seven members back together, they will meet ARMYs again on a Spring Day.  

After the song, Jin said he honestly didn’t know if he could perform the song without the members, but thanks to ARMY, he was able to do so, and he hoped to sing this song with the members soon. 

Another memorable highlight was the re-emergence of two classic favorite songs from the previous BTS eras: the first ever live performance of the melancholic acoustic ballad, Abyss, with a brand-new piano arrangement, and the emotionally captivating Epiphany, which was last performed live in 2018. Finally, the concert ended with ARMY TIME, a portion in all of BTS concerts where they show banners and posters made by ARMY, and a video showing the highlights of Run Jin, while the artist got ready backstage for the encore performance. 

He eventually returned onstage, clad in his official concert merch, while the beginning notes of Epiphany started to play. After the performance, he joked about how ARMY knew it when it was a really old song, and he thought that we might like to hear it again after all these years, so he prepared a performance ot it. He  explained how the Run Jin tour was a spontaneous idea from the director and himself, and how thankful he was to the company, BigHit, for making it happen. He then conveyed his immense gratitude to ARMYs and, like a friend, started discussing his initial ideas for his concert, which ones worked and didn’t, and scolded the bugs that he kept swatting away from his handsome face. 

Before the end of his spiel, he pulled out a camera and took a video of the audience so he could keep a memory of the moment. On the second day, he even went as far as to borrow the large camera of the camera director to film the audience. He moved on to the final set with a song that, as he said, “has never started with my voice, even if it’s a solo performance,” as he believes it should “start with ARMY.” He left the stage and scanned the crowd, looking for the person who would begin the first 13 notes of Moon, a song that symbolized him as the Moon and ARMY as his Earth, and which portrayed his love and dedication to their fans. This was a major TOTGA (The One That Got Away) moment for me—he stopped in front of us, and chose the ARMY beside me. I couldn’t believe I was literally at arms’ length from my ultimate bias, gazing at his gorgeous face in my first BTS concert in Korea, my first time seeing him in person EVER. 

Even if I wasn’t chosen to sing, I was beyond grateful to just be in the same place as he, to witness this amazing concert, and to be able to hear my favorite songs live. It was truly an amazing experience that I will never forget. This is also why I decided to write about it. I wanted to preserve all the emotions I felt during those memorable two hours of pure joy. For me, it truly felt that the Run Jin concert, like the Run Jin variety show, was a brainchild of Jin, specifically made with ARMYs in mind. 

It wasn’t for just the public or casual fans. It was for their faithful fans, who laughed with them, cried with them, and never left even when they enlisted in the military. It was for the fans who waited ever so patiently since 2022 for them to return. He curated and chose every song, every production design, every costume, every joke, and every challenge for ARMY. Finally, he imagined what it would be like to film Run Jin with ARMY, and decided to conclude the Run Jin series with ARMY as his last special guest. 

This is the special bond between BTS and ARMY. We stan each other, and we stan each other hard. 

For post-concert depression: 

My favorite RunJin moments: