Hye Jin Lee

And they're from the small company.

So that was kind of like an attached to the industry framework.

But now that they've become this global superstar, it's their Korean-ness, their Asian-ness that makes them the underdog.

So we do see how they're still holding on to the underdog narrative, but the target is a bit shifted.

And the word 총놈 reflects their underdog identity.

And this is another thing that I want to point out is that BTS is not just seven members from Korea.

None of the members are from Seoul, which is the capital of Korea.

And that's also a big part of BTS positioning themselves as underdogs.

In Korea, everything centers around Seoul, so if you're not from the capital of the country, you're kind of considered to be less sophisticated or not part of the mainstream.

So seven members not being from the city of Seoul also allows BTS to kind of position themselves as chon-num, or as the underdogs.

And this is really highlighted in their earlier song called Paldo Gangsan, or aka Satoori Rap.

which was, I think it was in their first mini album, Oh, Are You Late To, which was released in 2013.

And we see the members doing rap, but using saturi or dialect from different regions or from the parts of the country that they're from.

It's a really fun song if we can play it and listen to it a bit.

And what's so funny about the song is we hear Suga, who's from Daegu, and J-Hope, who's from Gwangju, kind of interacting in their own dialects.

And then RM, who's from Irsan, which is close to Seoul, but not quite.

It would be kind of like Orange County to LA kind of a thing.

But he's representing Seoul.

So that's why he says Seoul state of mind in that part of the lyrics.

And he calls the other members who are from different regions, Cheondomder.