The Smeraldo blog mysteriously appeared before the Love Yourself: HER comeback in 2017. It provides the lore and background story related to the fictional smeraldo flower, which makes an appearance in the BU. Seokjin also tweeted a photo with the fictional flower, a month before the album released. This tweet led to the discovery of the Smeraldo blog on Naver, which was created on July 4, 2017 and already had several posts at the time of its discovery.

On the original blog, the first nine “stories” were posted, but they were later deleted and reuploaded in 2018. After the original stories were reposted in 2018, only two new stories (the 10th and 11th) were added. Additionally, there were slight changes to the 1st, 8th, and 9th stories, as detailed below. The blog was then inactive until July 10, 2020, when the posts were deleted and again reuploaded, with some changes to the content.

Below is a summary of the smeraldo posts, as well as a timeline and a link to my translation archive (that contains all versions of the smeraldo blog).

*Note: I’m in the process of updating all BU content, including the smeraldo video which is out of date!

The First Stories

The first story introduces the florist “Testesso” (Italian for “yourself”) who opens the blog to write about the smeraldo flower and playing cards (smeraldo also means “emerald” in Italian). He mentions that he is opening a flower shop that will specialize in smeraldo flowers. He went to the U.S. to attend a lecture on these special flowers, but missed the lecture due to getting the date wrong. Instead, he attended a lecture about playing cards and in doing so learned about the smeraldo flower. He provides a photo of the flower and notes that the “flower’s language” is “non potevo dire la verità” which is Italian for “the truth that couldn’t be told.”* Of course, this will sound familiar to fans, as 전하지 못한 진심 (The Truth Untold) later came out on Love Yourself: TEAR.

In the second story, the florist says he plans to open his smeraldo shop in Korea in September 2017 (which is when BTS’s HER album released). His motivation for doing so is to bring happiness to people via flowers. He posts a photo of his delivery truck and the renovations happening inside his flower shop. Both the delivery truck and the renovated flower shop later appear in the HYYH Notes.

In the third story, the florist says the smeraldo flower is “the flower of legend” and describes how it was discovered. He notes that in 2013, a friend he met at the playing cards event five years prior called him to tell him someone had discovered smeraldos in real life. He shares a screenshot of an Instagram post from June 12, 2013 (the date of BTS’s debut). The Instagram user is “amare_0” and is supposedly a traveler who found the flowers growing in northern Italy (“amare” means “love” in Italian, so if we combine this username with the florist’s name, we get “love yourself”). The florist writes that historians and florists claimed the flowers were smeraldos, and that they were growing in “the city of Smeraldo,” which had been a village in medieval times. After the Black Death, the village ceased to exist and the location became a forest. He ends the post by saying that the flower became a sensation and many other places tried to grow their own smeraldos, but had no success.

In the fourth story, the florist relates the legend behind the smeraldo flower. He says that in the “city of Smeraldo” in northern Italy in the 15-16th century, a man with a grotesque appearance lived in a small castle. Supposedly, this man was born from a powerful duke and a gardener, and since he was not a legitimate child, he was sent away for his safety. The man lived in the castle alone and hated everyone. He grew flowers in his garden, and one day, a girl stole some. The man was angry and watched his garden to catch the girl. Eventually, he pretended to fall asleep so he could follow her after she stole the flowers. He learned that she was very poor and was selling the flowers for a living. The man wanted to help the girl grow her own flowers, but he worried she would be scared of him due to his appearance. So, he resigned himself to growing more flowers for her. He wanted to make a flower that she could sell for a higher price, so he worked to create a flower never seen before. After he succeeded, he placed the flowers in his garden. The girl never showed up again, and the man later learns of her death. The florist notes he’s not sure if this is just a myth or not and wonders what would have happened if the man had the courage to show his face to the girl, revealing the truth. The florist also relates the smeraldo story to his own story; he says he had a crush on his friend from the playing card event and they decided to go see the smeraldo flowers together in Italy, but now he now has a wound that time cannot heal. Of interest is the name of the “city of Smeraldo” which is listed as “La città di Smeraldo” in Italian, which correlates to the Italian title of The Wizard of Oz (La città di Smeraldo di Oz, or The Emerald City of Oz).

In the fifth story, the florist links the smeraldo to playing cards. He discusses William Ashbless, an Italian noble and poet who loved playing cards. Ashbless discovered the smeraldo flowers in a rural village near the ruins of a castle. He asked around about the flower and heard the legend of the man and the poor girl. He named the flower “smeraldo” after the “city of smeraldo” and decided its meaning as “the truth that couldn’t be told,” based on the legend. He created “the flower card” and added it to his playing card decks, declaring the upright meaning of the card was “fruition” and “bloom” and the reverse meaning was “fall,” “end,” and “new start.” The florist includes a photo of the flower card, as depicted in a person’s hand. The florist notes that Ashbless is unknown, as are his cards and the smeraldo flower, because of power struggles between his family and other nobles, effectively erasing him from history. In reality, William Ashbless is actually a fictional poet created by James Blaylock and Tim Powers in the 1970s. 

In the sixth story, the florist talks about a painting titled Madame Lenormand on the Salon by French artist Jean-Francois Rolland. Lenormand was a French astrologer who performed tarot readings for noblewomen and eventually became an astrologer for Empress Josephine (Napoleon’s wife). The florist notes that there are many paintings of this woman with cards, and the On the Salon painting showed her holding “the flower” card created by Ashbless. The florist writes that this particular painting was destroyed in a fire, and only the part of the painting that shows the hand holding the flower card was restored, thus making that the only trace of the Ashbless smeraldo card. While Ashbless is fictional, Madame Lenormand was really a fortune teller during the Napoleonic era. From what I can find, Madame Lenormand actually did advise Josephine before she was an Empress. The On the Salon painting does not exist, and the artist name appears to be fake as well.

In the seventh story, the florist recounts the day he was supposed to leave for Italy with his friend from the playing card event. He saw her arrive at the airport with a cool-looking guy and immediately became insecure, hiding himself. His friend called him, but he didn’t pick up. He gets on the plane and hopes that she’ll come to search for him, but no one comes. In Italy, he goes to see the smeraldo flowers on his own. At night, he hears something outside his window that sounds like a knocking sound, even though he’s on the second floor. He doesn’t look outside. The next day, his friend’s brother calls to let him know that his friend died while rushing after someone at the airport and getting in an accident. He also learns that his flower shop for smeraldos in Korea has been approved. He believes fate ties him to the smeraldos, and he believes that his friend told him “the truth that couldn’t be told” before leaving this world.

*Note: This translation is from what’s written in the original Korean, but the Italian phrase is more correctly “I couldn’t tell the truth/I’m unable to tell the truth.” Thank you to @giftogbeide21 on Twitter for the Italian correction!

Tying Smeraldo to the BU

In the original eighth story, we finally get some concrete ties to BTS’s Bangtan Universe. The florist notes that he went to the construction site of the shop and a young man peeked in at the store and then came in. This young man was looking for smeraldos, and he wanted to place an order. The florist told him he could have the flowers ready by the end of August, and the young man agreed. The florist notes he feels like he has met the young man before. We see a photo of the written order for one bouquet of smeraldo flowers, and the name is “Kim Seokjin.” The paper also has Seokjin’s real signature on it. The florist mentions that he asked the young man why the flowers needed to be smeraldo, and the young man responded “because I want to be a good person.” The florist takes a note from Seokjin to deliver with the flowers, but he doesn’t reveal the content of the note. Later, this scene is written into the HYYH Notes, where Seokjin goes in to request the flowers in order to “be a good person,” likely meaning to be a good person to the one the flowers are for. The florist notes this as well and wonders what would have happened if he had revealed his sincere feelings for his own friend. He says that’s one reason for his work with smeraldos, to help others deliver their true feelings.

In the original ninth story, the florist relates in a short post that he got his first batch of smeraldos through customs and would be able to deliver his first order that day. The entry is dated August 30, 2017, and in the HYYH Notes, there are several entries for Seokjin on this date, where we find out what happens with this delivery.

Multiple Blog Versions

It’s important to note that some of the blog stories have two versions. On September 2, 2017, a post was made that said the blog was closing temporarily. After that date, the blog was inactive until July 4, 2018, when all the posts were deleted and the BU logo was added to the header image. Then, on July 10, 2018, a year after the first story was originally posted, the first story was reuploaded. Each story was then posted again on the same date that it was originally posted in 2017 (except for the ninth story, which was posted a few days earlier). The blog was inactive in 2019. On July 6, 2020, fans started noticing that the smeraldo blog posts had been deleted again. The reuploads started with the first story on July 10, 2020.

The 2017 version of the first story post said the smeraldo shop was supposed to open in September 2017, which also ended up being when BTS’s album Love Yourself: HER was released. The 2018 version of the first story changed the date of the shop opening to late August, which matched up with the release of Love Yourself: Answer. Likewise, the 2020 version of the first story also says late August for the shop’s opening, which led fans to believe BTS would make a comeback in late August. This proved true, as “Dynamite” was released on August 21, 2020.

There were also changes to the connected Facebook page and opening event posts. In 2017, the blog ran an opening event where people could send in their stories relating to “the truth untold,” and winners were selected to receive smeraldo bouquets and a gift. At the end of the event, seven winners were chosen, and they were sent “smeraldo” bouquets and a journal with a message written in Seokjin’s handwriting that states “I’m sending the truth that couldn’t be told.” This opening event was not repeated in 2018 or 2020. There was also a Facebook page for The Smeraldo Academy in 2017 and 2018, which coincided with a blog post that explained how the academy was established for researching smeraldos and screening sales outside of Italy (see post translation archive here). The blog post that linked to the Facebook page was only posted in 2017 and 2018; there was no blog post about the academy in 2020, and the Facebook page has been deleted. (Either BigHit decided this was an irrelevant part of the story, or the academy simply doesn’t exist in the current timeline.)

Additionally, changes were made to the eighth and ninth stories when they were reuploaded in 2018. In the original eighth and ninth stories, Seokjin orders the flowers and has them delivered. The florist notes that he felt like he knew Seokjin from somewhere. In the 2018 version of the eighth and ninth stories, Seokjin does not appear, and the florist just talks about opening the shop. He says in the 2018 eighth story that he goes to the shop not because he originally planned to, but because he just had a feeling he should. The florist talks about feeling like someone was going to come in, but no one does. It seems that BigHit has pulled this switch in real life to keep up with the HYYH Notes storyline where Seokjin time travels, causing others to have weird senses of déjà vu and for certain events to change.

In 2018, a few new posts were made that did not appear in 2017. On August 24, 2018, a post was uploaded that talks about the opening day of the smeraldo shop, which was set to occur the next day. This date coincided with BTS’s Love Yourself Seoul concert, where a Smeraldo Booth was opened. This booth sold smeraldo-themed merch during the two-day concert event.

The eleventh post was uploaded on September 3, 2018. The post thanks everyone for their interest in smeraldo on the 25th and 26th of August (BTS’s Love Yourself Seoul concerts where the Smeraldo Booth was open). The post also notes that they’ll be closing the blog to focus more on smeraldos.

In 2019, no new posts were made, but a Twitter account with the name Smeraldo Books was created in order to promote the release of the HYYH The Notes Book 1 and the Save Me webtoon.

The blog was then inactive until July 10, 2020, when they started to reupload the stories. The first two stories were the same as 2018, but the third story is completely different. In the new third story (posted July 15, 2020), the florist says construction on the flower shop was put on hold due to a typhoon. The florist missed going to the shop every day, so he went anyway one day. As he sat there watching the rain, he noticed a young man with an umbrella approach the shop. The florist doesn’t speak to the young man and simply watches as he stands outside the shop for about 10 minutes before leaving. (At the moment, it’s not clear who this is, though the popular guesses are Jimin and Seokjin.) The fourth story posted has the same content as the previous versions of the third story, where the florist talks about the discovery of the smeraldo flower. The fifth-eighth stories also follow this pattern (presenting the same content as the previous lore stories). The ninth and tenth stories are new.

In the 2020 ninth story, the florist sees a man on the news that looks familiar to him, but he isn’t sure. Seeing this man makes him recall another part of the smeraldo legend, which the florist says may or may not actually be part of the original legend. He describes how the man in the castle, after learning of the poor girl’s death, burns his smeraldos and his castle to the ground and then disappears. No one saw him again, though there was an unconfirmed sighting in Florence. The florist says he thought about the man from the legend while seeing the man on the news. In the 2020 tenth story, the florist says he’s going to a fireworks festival and that he hopes many people will come see the smeraldos. The festival is set for August 30 in Songju (where much of the HYYH Notes takes place—we get Notes about the characters attending this fireworks festival too). This story also lists the location of the Flower Smeraldo shop as being in Munhyeon near Dongil Cinema.

Thus far, the blog appears to be just another storytelling method, helping to make the story more real world and interactive. It’s possible that the smeraldo flowers are supposed to be symbolic of BTS themselves, as the flower was supposedly discovered on June 12, 2013, when BTS debuted. Perhaps the “traveler” who discovered them was Bang PD. We’ll have to wait to see if we get any more details on the blog. So far, they’ve not tied in the playing cards in any more depth, so that looks like a possibility for expansion in the future.

Smeraldo Blog Timeline

2017

• July 4: Smeraldo blog created

• July 10: First story posted

• July 12: Second story posted

• July 17: Third story posted

• July 20: Fourth story posted; “opening event” posted in a separate post

• July 26: Fifth story posted

• July 31: Sixth story posted

• August 3: Seventh story posted

• August 7: What is The Smeraldo Academy? posted

• August 9: Seokjin uploaded a selca on Twitter with the smeraldo flowers. Fans found the previously unknown blog soon after.

• August 15: Eighth story posted

• August 22: Event winner announcement posted

• August 30: Ninth story posted

• September 2: Closing post uploaded.

2018

• July 4: Posts deleted, BU logo added to the blog header

• July 10: First story reuploaded

  • Difference: Date of shop opening changed from September to late August (due to BTS’s comeback). Name of conference changed from “FLOWER 2012” to “Annual Flower Conference.”

• July 12: Second story reuploaded

  • Difference: Flower shop opening changed from September to August.

• July 17: Third story reuploaded

• July 20: Fourth story reuploaded

• July 26: Fifth story reuploaded

• July 31: Sixth story reuploaded

• August 3: Seventh story reuploaded

• August 7: What is The Smeraldo Academy? reuploaded

• August 15: Eighth story reuploaded

  • Difference: Seokjin does not visit the shop, but the owner goes in because he had a feeling he should.

• August 22: Ninth story reuploaded

  • Difference: The 2017 version was about delivering smeraldo bouquets to contest winners, but the 2018 version is about opening the smeraldo booth at Jamsil Stadium (where BTS’s concert was held, and there was a booth for fans to buy merch).

• August 24: Tenth story uploaded

• September 3: Eleventh story (closing post) uploaded.

2019

• No new posts. A Twitter account named Smeraldo Books was created and promoted HYYH The Notes Book 1 and the Save Me webtoon.

2020

• July 6: Fans began noticing the blog posts had all been deleted again.

• July 10: First story reuploaded.

  • Date still reads August, and the conference is still named “Annual Flower Conference.”

• July 12: Second story reuploaded.

  • Flower shop opening still set for August.

• July 15: Third story reuploaded.

  • Difference: Uploaded on a different date, with completely different content. The florist visits the shop and sees a young man outside in the rain.

• July 17: Fourth story reuploaded.

  • Difference: This version is the same as the third story from the 2017/2018 versions of the blog.

• July 20: Fifth story reuploaded.

  • Difference: This version is the same as the fourth story from the 2017/2018 versions of the blog.

• July 26: Sixth story reuploaded.

  • Difference: This version is the same as the fifth story from the 2017/2018 versions of the blog.

• July 31: Seventh story reuploaded.

  • Difference: This version is the same as the sixth story from the 2017/2018 versions of the blog.

• August 3: Eighth story reuploaded

  • Difference: This version is the same as the seventh story from the 2017/2018 versions of the blog.

• August 12: Ninth story posted.

  • Difference: This story is completely different than the previous versions. See post in translation archive here.

• August 22: Tenth story posted.

  • Difference: The story is completely different than previous versions. See post in translations archive here.

• September 3: Eleventh story (closing post) posted.

Smeraldo Translations

I’ve archived all of the blog post versions in my own translation archive. Click here or below for a list of all Smeraldo translations.

This page was last updated on 3/17/2021.