South Korean men are obliged to enlist in the military between the ages of 18-28. The law, which was implemented in 1957, has quite a few exemptions, but being a K-pop star is not one of them.
No matter how the career of the idol is going, successful or not, they are required to do their compulsory duty. All the BTS members fit the age bracket of serving their country. Meaning, they are going to leave their career behind to head to the military soon.
But, since Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook are at the peak of their career at the moment, it is surely tough for the industry to lose them while their superstardom status is still highly in demand all over the world. To prepare for their absence in the K-pop world, a special animated edition of BTS WORLD is reportedly in the works.
BTS WORLD is a storytelling simulation game developed by Netmarble Games. It was launched worldwide on Apple Store and Google Play on June 26, 2019.
What made BTS WORLD unique is the fact that the characters in the game are not just some avatar, but the BTS members themselves. Although the storyline is fictional, players can virtually interact with Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook in the game. The best part? Fans get to control the journey of the boys in BTS WORLD.
When the time will come that Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook head to the military, it is impossible for them to shoot the scenes for BTS WORLD. But, this is where the power of animation come in handy.
Soompi, recently, reported that game industry representatives revealed that Netmarble already began production of the animated version of BTS WORLD in July. As expected, fans reacted to this update.
“Of course, my [delusional] head wanted to believe that BTS would be able to record enough stuff in advance and in between enlistments to keep the game going, but I'll take an animated version too!,” one ARMY commented on Reddit. “They're preparing material for at least 5 years, uh? We really shouldn't rush through the game, then, hahaha,” another one wrote.
While it was not confirmed if the reason behind this idea is to prepare for BTS military enlistment, the report kind of makes sense. Instead of completely vanishing from the scene, fans will still feel the presence of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook through the animated version of BTS WORLD.
