Straight up, this had me like 👀

On BTS’ side, collectively, a somewhat surprising set came out with the 6 of Pentacles and the 8 of Pentacles. As a group in a very superficial sense, they see Sasaengs as “just part of the job.” Surprising, not surprising. Shit like that is what they get briefed on in media training. It’s not an uncommon thing as we all know, and it’s just an everyday occurrence for them, something to be expected on their end. Nothing emotional came out with this either, so it’s a very general overlay with them and I imagine that comes from the fact that they can’t do anything about it even if they wanted to.

Then on BigHit’s side, it was really fucking weird because this set of three cards came out together — the 3 of Pentacles, the 5 of Wands reversed, and the 7 of Swords. Again, very 👀 because this literally makes it look like BigHit works directly with Sasaeng fans. Like, the 3 of Pentacles is pretty literal with collaborative work, and then the reversed 5 of Wands being like “THIS IS NOT A HOSTILE SITUATION,” and then the 7 of Swords making it all sneaky and shit. Not to mention the fact that the 7 of Swords lines up with BTS’ 2 of Swords where there is a suggestion that they are aware of this “collaborative work” but don’t acknowledge it or really apply it to anything.

After I spent like 20 minutes developing my own conspiracy theory I pulled again for clarification and the Queen of Pentacles popped out with the 7 of Wands and then it made sense and wasn’t as scary anymore. Pretty much BigHit’s view is in the money. Sasaengs are very lucrative in the sense that they blow money on merch like crazy. The more obsessive a fan is, the more likely they are to spend money to get shit with their idol’s face on it, you know? Not to mention there’s a lot of press in sasaeng related scandals. So, the Queen is focused on the money, the profit in the obsessive fans, but then the 7 of Wands is like that bit that “keeps them tame.”

That was something that bothered me still though. The 7 of Wands is not really batting them away, it’s just sort of keeping them in line. So… what we’ve seen so far with sasaengs and obsessive fans, all those crazy videos and shit, that’s all expected and accepted by the company. Again, it’s “part of the job,” but there’s still an effort towards keeping things regulated. So, not a lot of security and shit, but they’ll defo do their part and blacklist people that break their regulations to set an example and make threats with lawsuits… I guess.

With that, the 7 of Swords and the 2 of Swords is more like BigHit having this information, having these regulations or whatever, and sharing them with BTS (duh) and the guys collectively using it as a shield of comfort. It’s almost like they completely block it out, they ignore it because they know all they have to do is report it when it goes past the line of what is acceptable and it will be handled. From our perspective, what is acceptable is like at a level 2 where fans are just crowding around them at an airport taking pictures on their phones, still giving them space, not touching them, but from their end what is acceptable is more like a level 8.

Just in general, on both sides, it’s very cold and indifferent. There’s not a lot of emotion to any of the energy surrounding the issues with sasaengs. BTS seem completely detached as a group, not a lot of individual or personal energy coming through here for them, and BigHit is very focused on the money and then the well-being of the guys… in that order because BUSINESS.