Choi Soo-jin, author of Occupied House, mentioned BTS, Hobi, and On The Street in their book! It appears to have won a Literary Award and was published this year. I'm summarizing the pieces of information I've gathered below from several tweets:

  • Hope on the Road is one of three short stories that comprises the book. All of them are set in the future.
  • The character, Chanran, is a second-gen Korean born in Chicago and is a street dancer.
  • Chanran is curious about j-hope's hometown so he makes a trip to Gwangju, but a major protest leaves him trapped there.
  • Chanran chooses to stay because his name means "hope/radiant" and Gwangju's name means light, so he believes hope will shine brighter in the dark.
  • The lines from On the Street are quoted and highlighted by the characters: "For the path I’m on to become one of hope, I give my all" to parallel the situation. The character shares that the phrase "나 구태여" implies a deliberate effort, that whether or not hope will come, it has to come.

Sources from X/Twitter!

by uhgoodbadbye