#sorry i went into a big tangent lool idk if this actually answers your question

[haedalkoo]

Hey, how have you been? I wanted to ask you something if it’s not too much trouble.

I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to rewatch Hobi’s birthday Wlive with the official Weverse subtitles, but I have a question.

I know that pronouns in Korean can be a bit tricky, and because of that, Weverse/Hybe often translates things in a way that makes sense in another language, even if it’s not a word-for-word translation. But when Jimin, Jungkook, and Hobi were talking, Jimin said—according to Weverse subtitles—that since he doesn’t know how much he can/should share with us, he’s been staying away from ARMY on purpose.

My question is, was he talking about just himself or about him and Jungkook? Because I saw several translations on Twitter saying that Jimin actually said that since he and Jungkook don’t know how much they can share, they’ve been keeping their distance from the fandom. If it’s not too much trouble, could you explain the difference or share your opinion on it? Thanks in advance!

Hey!! This is a good question, and honestly a hard one to answer because it could be either way. Nothing in Jimin's speech indicates he's talking exclusively about himself, but he's not including the both of them explicitly in the sentence either. It's up to the listener to assume.

In my opinion, however, I think he may mean both of them. A couple of sentences before, he clearly says "there are seriously a lot of stories/anecdotes the two of us made" and the both of them go on to say they don't know how much they can share, and if they do, army may run away. I think what Jimin says about keeping their distance is a sentiment both of them share (my translation of what he says would be 'even though we're being careful and not seeking out armys so much, we really, really miss you.' It's a bit less harsh than 'keeping distant' imo).

Either way, one of the loveliest parts about Korean is that there's not a clear-cut distinction between the individual and the collective. What I feel, my brothers and sisters also feel. I could go into boring details about linguistics and the way languages shape society, but there's a reason why the use of 'we' and 'us' are so broadly and ambiguously used in korean, or why friends are referred by the same word as you'd refer to your actual brother or sister (I mean words like hyung, noona, etc.) This is surface level, or perhaps simply more obvious, but this sense of collectivism (what's yours is mine, what mine is yours) sneaks into every aspect of the way koreans speak.

That is to say, the line between 'me' and 'we' is far more blurred than it'd be in a language like English or Spanish. In Spanish you may ommit a pronoun, but the verb form gives all the information away ("estoy": 1st person, singular; "estamos": 1st person, plural). More so, I personally feel like Jimin would've specified in some way that he meant he's the one pulling away, instead of speaking for the two of them, if JK hadn't agreed with the decision. That, or JK would've bickered with him, scolding him for not greeting armys so often (tell me you can't picture this exact conversation!)

So it doesn't really matter that Jimin meant himself or the two of them, because honestly, can you really separate the two of them? The same people that give up on eating carbs if the other is on a diet even when they're on vacation, the same people that share an infinite number of inside jokes only the two of them understand, the same people that willingly enlisted together... everything about Kookmin, from their actions to their language choices, tell me that they exist in a tandem. 'You are me, I am you.'