화양연화/HYYH NOTES & STORY – THEORY & EXPLANATION

In attempt to understand all these jumpy notes throughout the entire LOVE YOURSELF album series, I believe the majority of us have been focused on trying to order all the notes chronologically to try and see a linear timeline.

But the reason this isn’t getting us anywhere is because the timeline..s are NOT linear! So we need to shift our focus away from this idea of interpreting all these events in a chronological order. The existence of time travel in this narrative is the very EVIDENCE that the timeline is not linear. It’s more like a spider web. So let’s take a look at something else, something that might be giving us a hint in understanding this complicated web.

The structure of the notes in all 3 LOVE YOURSELF albums is it. This is the HUGE, KEY CLUE in explaining EVERYTHING.

Based on this theory, each album represents a timeline. This is evident in the content of certain notes and the changing, varying pairings of members in each album.

HER: Timeline A – no time leap has taken place
TEAR: Timeline B – time leap has taken place
ANSWER: Timeline C – fusion of both timelines

But before I get any deeper into this, I need to explain the most important key in understanding this all: THE STRUCTURE.

For the above timelines to make sense, you must understand that we can only know this information by looking at certain KEY notes among the many given to us.

The LOVE YOURSELF series contains 3 albums, and each contain a set of “HYYH The Notes”. There are 4 versions of the notes per album.

HER: Versions L, O, V, E
TEAR: Versions Y, O, U, R
ANSWER: Versions S, E, L, F

For each set of notes, each member has 3 different entries throughout the different versions:

To understand this, let’s use Seokjin and LY HER as an example.

• Seokjin’s note entry #1: is in versions L, O, V, E
• Seokjin’s note entry #2: is in versions L, O, V
• Seokjin’s note entry #3: is only in version E

Our biggest key in understanding the notes lies in entry #3 of each member.

Each member has a note entry that is exclusive to only ONE VERSION per album. I’ll call this the “exclusive note”.

The exclusive notes are our key to EVERYTHING. It explains the current timeline that the album and that member are in, as well as the member pairing corresponding to each timeline.

First, I’ll explain how to understand this chart.

I mapped out the dates of each note per album. The DATES are what differentiate between each member’s note entry 1, 2, and 3.

Highlighted = exclusive notes.

You’ll notice that certain members end up pairing up by having their EN in the same album. 😱

 

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1. 📀 LOVE YOURSELF 承 ‘HER’

Member pairings:

• SEOKJIN (alone)
• YOONGI-JUNGKOOK
• NAMJOON-TAEHYUNG
• HOSEOK-JIMIN

These are the pairs we already know from the HYYH story narrative that we are used to. Please also look at the content as well. THE EXCLUSIVE NOTES OF EACH MEMBER CORRELATES TO THEIR PAIR. Their narratives relate, are consistent.

YG & JK
→ connected by relationship in past events revolving around the piano

NJ & TH
→ connected by brotherly relationship, Taehyung aspires and longs to be in Namjoon’s presence, and depends on it

JM & HS
→ connected by friendship, Hoseok knows of Jimin’s situation

If you read through the content of each exclusive note in HER, we can see that in this timeline, no timeleap has taken place. So we can hypothesize that this one might be the “original” timeline.

* LY HER = Timeline A, no timeleap has taken place

———————————————————————

2. 📀 LOVE YOURSELF 轉 ‘TEAR’

Member pairings:

• SEOKJIN (alone)
• YOONGI-JIMIN
• NAMJOON-JUNGKOOK
• HOSEOK-TAEHYUNG

A change…!?
Yes, a change occurs because a TIMELEAP has taken place. Now the events, situations, outcomes have changed, causing the pairings to change too.

YG & JM
→ YG seems to come to JM’s rescue in both entries. But … YG = fire, JIMIN = water (represents opposing forces..?)

NJ & JK
→ JK constantly looks up/seeks to become adult like NJ. But this makes NJ uncomfortable.

HS & TH
→ HS is present during the scene w/ TH father.

In exclusive notes of TEAR, we can see that a timeleap has taken place.

* LY TEAR = a timeleap has taken place.

This is my personal hunch, but I believe this is also where we are currently at in #SAVE_ME.

———————————————————————

3. 📀 LOVE YOURSELF 結 ‘ANSWER’

Member pairings:

• SEOKJIN (alone)
• YOONGI-JUNGKOOK
• NAMJOON-TAEHYUNG
• HOSEOK-JIMIN

We’ve returned to the original pairs!? What happened…?
Maybe the answer had been there all along, to accept things as is.
Back to the beginning…? How things were before…?

YG & JK
→ JK about to jump but YG calls, YG room on fire but JK comes

NJ & TH
→ TH dreams (foresees?) bad outcomes, NJ brings TH to his senses

JM & HS
→ JM saves HS from falling, HS rescues JM in escaping from hospital

As we return to the ORIGINAL pairings, things seem to “work out”. Maybe this was the pattern of fateful events that had to take place that a time leap shouldn’t interfere?

But there must be some small change for things to work out this time?

* LY ANSWER = fusion of both timelines.

———————————————————————

Now! You guys might’ve noticed that I hadn’t explained Seokjin for each album. The reason:

SEOKJIN is the other KEY in understanding all this.

Did you notice anything odd about SJ, other than the fact that he is always alone?

The date. Look at the dates of his exclusive notes.

The exclusive notes, which are our HINT to everything, always has Seokjin on APRIL 11. We know this is the date he timeleaps & always returns to.

THE SAME DAY HAS 3 DIFFERENT OUTCOMES = 3 TIMELINES

THEY’RE BASICALLY TELLINGUS THE ANSWER HERE IN SEOKJIN’S EXCLUSIVE NOTES!!!

😱

And so the return to the original pairings indicates a couple things:

• SJ can’t be the one to save everyone alone
• Members need to save original pair
• Maybe everything needs to return to its original place, but with a newfound realization about the self… an EPIPHANY…?

And this, brings us to this very important scene of EPIPHANY, in ANSWER. The final album of the LY series … which also wraps this entire theory up.

What Seokjin finds, is that the answer was always there. It lies in the starting point.

But through this journey of timeleaps, they have an “epiphany” and acquire something that becomes the ultimate factor which differentiates Timeline C from A & B.

That is? To LOVE YOURSELF 💜

Value yourself, your life, your existence.
Regardless of your circumstances, your pains, your regrets and bad memories.

Only this way, will you find your way to the map of your self, to your true self, and ultimately, happiness.

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I hope this perspective helped you understand the story! This has been on my mind for quite some time and I’ve finally had the chance to lay it all out.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

And for anyone who would like to translate, please go ahead, with credits 🙂

– yoon ☁️

[The Tenth Story]

Korean-English translation: yoon @cafe_army
Original content: blog.naver.com/testesso/221345128484

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testesso
2018. 8. 24

The opening day of <Flower Smeraldo> has approached as tomorrow.
At the moment, I am looking through the shop for the final time. I got worried because of the typhoon, so I found myself unable to just stay home.

On my way here from Jamsil Station, a lot of rain fell and wind blew as well.
But to my relief, as time passed, the typhoon calmed down and I was able to slightly lessen my worries.

I cleaned up the area around the shop that had became untidy due to the typhoon and when I looked around inside as well, the fact that <Flower Smeraldo> was opening its doors tomorrow began to hit me.

I actually wanted to take a photo of a full view of <Flower Smeraldo>, but due to the bad weather, the photo didn’t come out as well as I thought.
Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be out of the typhoon zone, as I would like to show you the best!

Well then, I will go home, looking forward to meeting you all in this place tomorrow, along with the Smeraldo.
I’ll see you tomorrow!

 

[The Ninth Story] Information regarding the opening (English Translation)

Korean-English translation: yoon @cafe_army
Original content: blog.naver.com/testesso/221343703455

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testesso
2018. 8. 22

Hello, this is florist Testesso!

A few days ago, the interior and construction for the flower shop <Flower Smeraldo> was completed. So today, I plan to finally tell you information regarding the opening of <Flower Smeraldo>.

<Flower Smeraldo> is located near Jamsil, Seoul, and the opening date has been decided as <August 25th>.

The above photo is the <Flower Smeraldo> image on the shop’s awning. Isn’t this flower shape created based on the Smeraldo so pretty? On August 25th, if you come find a shop with this same image on its awning, you can meet with the Smeraldo.

If I look back, there were many events leading up to the opening of the shop. Things that I could not foresee cropped up here and there. There was even a time when my qualification and evaluation documents that I sent to the Smeraldo Academy got lost in transportation, so I had to send it twice.

The worst was when the first Smeraldo sent to me from Italy was not in the freshest state that I wanted. Due to the worst heat wave of the year, it had withered while being shipped. After many ups and downs, I was able to prepare it to its finest state, but for me, it was a really nerve-wracking moment.

With those troubling incidents now passed, I am so happy to be able to announce to you this opening notice. <Flower Smeraldo>, the only place in Korea that you can meet the Smeraldo. Please visit, and meet the beautiful Smeraldo in person, and take in its scent.

Well then, I’ll be waiting in Jamsil, August 25th!

What is the Smeraldo Academy (TSA)? (English translation)

Korean-English translation: yoon @cafe_army
Original content: blog.naver.com/testesso/221334197757

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testesso
2018. 8. 7

Because the Smeraldo is a flower that is so rare and difficult to grow, after the Italian colony was found, a movement to create an association that was centered around the International Academy of Horticulture, local Italian horticulturists, and florists was set forth.

The result, was the International Smeraldo Association (The Smeraldo Academy), based in San Francisco.
Though not large in number, many members who treasure and love the Smeraldo are gathered together. They facilitate a variety of experiments as a given, and also strictly audit the sales of the Smeraldo in regions outside of Italy.

The Smeraldo Academy logo

If you go to the official website, you can see details on the horticulture academy and other information.
I too, am an official member of this academy. 🙂

* Currently, access to the Academy’s Facebook has been temporarily limited. When I contacted acquaintances from the Academy, I found out that due to being in preparation for a renewal pertaining to internal affairs, access will be unlikely for the time being.

[The Sixth Story] ‘Madame Lenormand’ and ‘The Flower Card’ (English translation)

Korean-English translation: yoon @cafe_ARMY
Original content: blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=testesso&logNo=221330016577

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testesso
2018.7.31

There is a painting called <Madame Lenormand Sitting at the Salon> by French artist, Jean-Francois Rolland.
Madame Lenormand was said to be an astrologist of France who was treasured by Josephine, the Queen of Napolean. (It’s read in French as ‘Leu-no-reu-mang’ but for the purposes of convenience I will give up and call her as ‘Le-no-mund’.) Even before she became Queen Josephine’s personal astrologist, she had gained popularity from making tarot card readings for the noble ladies and had accumulated a mass fortune from doing so. It became known that the card she created, called the ‘Lenormand Oracle Card’ was influential to quite a considerable number of card decks. Even today, many tarot card sites and other places still sell the Oracle card decks.

▲ Inserted above, an illustration of The Court of Napoleon (Derby and Jackson, New York 1858)

Source: Wiki Commons

As famous of an astrologist as Lenormand was, there are many images remaining of her holding or reading cards. The picture above is one of them as well. However what we should focus on is not the picture above, but the painting <Madame Lenormand Sitting at the Salon>.
<Madame Lenormand Sitting at the Salon>, painted by French artist, Jean-Francois Rolland, is an oil painting characterized by a delicate touch and lyrical atmosphere. However, it was lost in a fire at the collector’s mansion. Because the collector of the mansion was someone known in the Napolean era for being a collector of paintings and materials that portrayed images of high society, they immediately recovered the painting from the scene of the fire and was able to restore it. Many paintings and materials have been restored through this kind of process, but only the area showing the card in <Madame Lenormand Sitting at the Salon> was able to be restored. That part is the very image in the card that I introduced in the previous post. The card that has ‘The Flower’ written on it is, although you may have guessed by now, a card in the ‘Ashbless Cards’ that was created with the Smeraldo as the model. This is the single remaining trace of the Smeraldo and Ashbless.

[The Fifth Story] The ‘Ashbless Card’ (English translation)

Korean-English translation: yoon @cafe_ARMY
Original content: blog.naver.com/testesso/221326843228

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testesso
2018.7.26

In my last post, I told the story of the Smeraldo. Do you remember that the first place I ever learned of the Smeraldo was at a playing cards conference? Haven’t you been wondering about the connection between playing cards and the Smeraldo? Today, I plan to tell you about a figure associated with the cards, ‘William Ashbless‘.

There are many facts known about Ashbless. He was an Italian aristocrat and a poet, and that was about all. Ashbless was also a figure of authority in the growing popularity of playing cards in 16th century Italy. He worked to the bone engrossing himself in creating playing cards to present at salons to the court and nobles.

It happened when he was heading to the countryside in order to recuperate. While Ashbless went around in search for a place with a hot springs or good-quality air, he sees the Smeraldo. An incredibly beautiful flower had bloomed there, so beautiful that it was almost impossible to believe its existence in this world amongst the ruins of a castle in a countryside. He asked the village people for the name of the flower, but there was not one person who knew. Then, he comes to hear the story of love entwined with the Smeraldo from an old woman.

As seen in his engrossment in playing cards, Ashbless was one with a romantic nature. The story of an ugly man and a poor woman moved him. On the spot, Ashbless created the flower’s name and its floriography (language or meaning of a flower). He derived the flower’s name from the village’s name ‘La Citta di smeraldo‘, naming it ‘Smeraldo‘. He decided the flower’s meaning as ‘the truth untold (non potevo dire la verita)’. And when he returned to his home, he created ‘The Flower Card’, inspired by the Smeraldo, and made it a part of his ‘Ashbless Cards’.

The meaning of the ‘The Flower Card’: when in the correct direction, it signifies ‘bearing fruit’, ‘blooming’, but when shown in the opposite direction, it signifies ‘the fall’, ‘the end’, ‘a new start’.

▲The Ashbless Cards

The Ashbless Cards became a sensation in Europe. But now, there are not many people left who remember the cards. The reason for this is because the Ashbless family lost to other influential beings in a fight for power and as a result, received the cruel punishment of being erased from history.

But as with all beautiful legends, there is just one part of the story that was not erased and remains to be remembered until this day. For this reason, the love story and Ashbless’ story were both able to come back to life. I will tell that story in my next post.

[The Fourth Story] The Legend of the ‘Smeraldo’ (English translation)

Korean-English translation: yoon @cafe_ARMY
Original content: blog.naver.com/testesso/221322854971

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testesso
2018. 7. 20

Do you believe that you are beautiful?
I once saw an experiment where people were placed in front of two doors. One read “I am beautiful” and the other read “I am not beautiful”, and the subjects were asked to choose which one they would go through.
If you were one of the subjects, what do you think you would do? The reason I am bringing up this story is in order to begin telling a story of love entwined with the Smeraldo.

The story of the Smeraldo dates back approximately to the 15th to 16th century and begins in a rural village in the northern parts of Italy. This village, called ‘La Città di smeraldo’ had a single, small, lone castle. In this castle lived a man with a very ugly appearance.

▲ A village in the northern parts of Italy, believed to be ‘La Città di smeraldo’

There are no details known about this man. It has been said that he is an illegitimate child of the Duke, an influential family of Florence, that the Duke fell in love with the gardener’s daughter and gave birth to an illegitimate child, that the man’s mother died while giving birth to him from excessive bleeding, that the Duke’s wife and children tried to kill the man, that the Duke then sent the man to escape into hiding. The rumours were plenty, but not one of them have been revealed as neither true nor false.

The man lived a lonely life in hiding in an obsolete world. Because he had received much hatred and criticism from his birth and growth, he did not open his heart to anyone, and if someone tried to approach him, he grew angry and hid. His only joy in life was growing flowers in his garden. Then, one day, a woman appeared near the man’s castle. The woman dressed in rags lifted her heels, jumped over the fence, and stole the flowers. At first, the man was furious and kept watch of his garden all night long. But in the moment that he dozed off, the woman picked the flowers and left once again. The same kind of night continued for a couple days, then the man pretended to doze off and watched as the woman came to the garden. He had developed a curiosity. Before he knew it, he found himself waiting for the woman. Then, one day, he followed behind her. In the place that he followed her to, with his body wrapped up in a cape, he came to know that the poor and frail woman was selling the flowers in order to make a living.

He wanted to help her. He wanted to teach her his way of growing flowers, and how to develop beautiful flowers. But, he could not show himself to her. She would be afraid of him, and it was obvious that she would not love his ugly appearance. As a result, all he could do was continue planting and growing flowers so that she would keep coming back.

The man decided that he would create a flower that did not exist in the world. He began to create a flower that the woman would be able to sell for a high price. The man stayed inside his castle and began to create the flower. After countless failed attempts, the man created a flower that did not exist in the world, and he filled his garden with this flower.

But from a certain point in time, the woman stopped making an appearance. No matter how long he waited, the woman did not appear in the garden. Worried, the man went down to the village with his face covered. But at that point, the woman had already died.

That was the story entwined with the Smeraldo. Whether these events really took place, or someone made up the story after seeing the flowers, is unknown. But every time I see the Smeraldo, I think of this story and have various thoughts. If the man had mustered up the courage, if he had shown his face and conveyed his truth, what would it have been like?
Of course, the woman may have run away out of fear, or she could have gotten angry. Because courage – it’s not an easy thing to have.

To tell the truth, I had a similar experience. It is about the friend I told you about in my last post, that I met at the playing cards conference. To tell the truth, I was in a single-sided love with this friend. This friend was very bright, cheerful, and full of light. After we heard that news of the Smeraldo being discovered and from then sharing conversations about the flower, we promised to go to ‘La Città di smeraldo’ together. It seems that this friend wasn’t completely uninterested in me, as she said for us to make sure we go there together.

I still think about those happenings to this day. My friend’s expression full of curiosity and anticipation, her short, quick steps towards me while wearing a big backpack, the day we excitedly made a promise, booked our flights, and discussed our schedule.

To me, those are moments I will never be able to forget.
And they are also scars that will not heal, no matter how much time passes.

LOVE YOURSELF: TEAR – 花樣年華 (HYYH) THE NOTES ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

LOVE YOURSELF: TEAR – 花樣年華 (HYYH) THE NOTES

KOREAN to ENGLISH translations by:
yoon ☁️

@cafe_ARMY (translation twitter)
@cloudarmy_ (personal twitter)

SEOKJIN:

YOONGI:

NAMJOON:

HOSEOK:

JIMIN:

TAEHYUNG:

JUNGKOOK: