Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting ARMYs who’ve come to see me while visiting Korea. Some even traveled all the way to Damyang, the small, mountainous town in the southwest where I was living during the COVID pandemic, a place so remote there’s no railway train stop, only a handful of buses from Seoul each day. One of them, Diana, an ARMY from Barcelona, visited me in Damyang with her daughter Anais, and we became close friends; we’ve kept in touch ever since and always meet up whenever they return to Korea.
Whenever I meet fellow ARMYs in person, I’m always struck by the same feeling: it’s as if I’ve known them all my life. That was certainly the case last Friday evening. It had been finals week at my school, and I was buried in grading reports and essays. After a quick dinner with colleagues, I headed to Jamsil to meet five ARMYs from Scotland, Switzerland, and the United States. Though it was our first time meeting face-to-face, there wasn’t a moment of awkwardness or hesitation. We talked and laughed as if we’d been friends for years.
Maitane, from Switzerland, had long been one of my closest ARMY friends online; we’d communicated through Twitter from 2017 or 2018 until I left the platform earlier this year. Meeting her in person felt uncannily natural. There’s truly nothing like the connection between ARMYs. I still don’t know what it is that allows us to bond so quickly, but it simply doesn’t happen with others the way it does with ARMY.
That night, after our gathering, I rode the subway home, crowded and thick with the scent of people returning from Friday night drinks, while listening to Map of the Soul: 7. I found myself thanking BTS for connecting me with so many wonderful people across the world. I was supposed to meet everyone again for wine on Sunday, but after helping an old friend with home repairs on Saturday, I got sick and had to cancel. What fun it might have been…
One incident from Friday still troubles me. After our meeting, I helped my friends hail a taxi outside the Jamsil Lotte Hotel. One ARMY, visiting all the way from Edinburgh despite an injury, bless her, had to move around in a wheelchair. When the driver arrived, he refused to take her once he saw the folded wheelchair. I tried to explain it would fit in the trunk, but he was adamant. A hotel employee quietly confided that the driver simply didn’t want to take a passenger with a disability, or, perhaps, foreigners at all.
I felt deeply embarrassed and disappointed as a Korean. We reported his license number, hoping his company would hold him accountable so he wouldn’t treat anyone else that way. After nearly thirty minutes outside the hotel, we finally got a venti taxi and my friends made it back safely.
Anna, Jackie, Maitane, Roxy, and Sarah, it was truly a joy meeting you. Please take care, especially you, Jackie. I look forward to seeing you all again the next time you return to Korea.
