The Story of Save Me

Save Me is a 15-episode webtoon that BigHit released in April 2019. The webtoon was announced on a Twitter account called Smeraldo Books and is currently available for free on the Naver webtoon app and website.  

The HYYH story of the Bangtan Universe features seven main characters, one that takes the name of each BTS member. Even though we’ve got all seven as main characters, the HYYH storyline does focus a bit more on Seokjin’s character as the protagonist. This webtoon follows him and his actions, and he’s the only character we have real insight into here.  

Save Me is set in Year 22, after the backstory established in the HYYH Notes leading up to April 11th of that year. There are more HYYH Notes that take place after Save Me, so it falls somewhere in the middle, during some of the rising action. This follows the trend of BTS’s content often being released in media res, or in the middle, rather than from the beginning.  

That being said, reading Save Me on its own prior to dealing with the mammoth that is the HYYH Notes can be beneficial, as it does contain story that introduces some really important events that become a central focus of the overall narrative.  

Save Me tells the original story of the HYYH timeline that takes place in Year 22 before Seokjin enters the time loop. We know the HYYH storyline actually starts in Year 9, (see Note from HYYH Book 1 dated in October Year 9). This Note is from when Seokjin is a child—the Year corresponds to Seokjin’s age. The later Notes follow the seven characters sporadically throughout the following years, ending (for now) in Year 22. If we assume that the real-world age differences between the Bangtan members were carried over to their characters, then we can figure out the age of any character for any give Note. 

Leading up to Year 22, we have HYYH Note entries from all the characters that establish their individual backstories as well as the group meeting each other and then falling apart. There are definitely important events mentioned in these Notes, so I explain some of the relevant backstory where needed in the summary below.  

Though there is backstory before Save Me, this webtoon provides the original course of events; as in, this is what happened to this group of friends after they went their separate ways, before Seokjin interferes. The Save Me logo contains a zero, and the HYYH Notes book contains a one, which indicates that Save Me happens before some of the content of the HYYH Notes. There are some crossovers with what happens in Save Me and what happens in the Notes, since Seokjin re-lives certain days many times.  

Below is a summary of each episode, and there’s a brief discussion at the end.

Summary of the Episodes 

In the prologue, Taehyung is backing away from a broken bottle with blood on his hands. Namjoon sits in jail with a lollipop which he drops to the floor, and Jungkook is walking along the edge of a rooftop. We see Hoseok fall down the stairs while in a hospital gown and Yoongi in a room that's on fire. Jimin sits alone in a hospital room, hooked up to an IV. Seokjin stands in front of a window with white shades, which he opens and sees himself reflected in the window. These are all images we’ve seen in the “I Need U” music video and Seokjin’s short film titled “Awake.”  

Episode 1 

Seokjin sits on an airplane from L.A. to Incheon. He later wakes up in the room with the window. He says it's been two years, and though he hasn't been away for all that long, he doesn't feel at home. He leaves the house. In the next scene, he's driving in his truck, and we know it's April 11th from the radio report. He drives past the school, which he hasn't been back to since high school, and he sees Jungkook standing in the crowd of students that are about to cross the street.  

There's a flashback to when they were all in school together. A teacher fusses at them for being lazy and gives them all detention. We see the storage classroom, which became their hideout. There's a scene of them enjoying their time together in that classroom. In the HYYH Notes text, we learn how important this room became to them.  

In the present, cars are honking at Seokjin to go, and he drives away. At a gas station while he's getting his gas pumped, Seokjin sees Namjoon working on a different car. He looks at him in his mirror but doesn't talk to him.  

Next, Seokjin is in his room, reading a red book. The main reason I mention this here is because in the HYYH Notes from later in Year 22, Seokjin picks up a red diary that a girl drops. I don’t think this has any correlation, since this happens in April of the same year.  

Later, he seems to have a dream where he's floating in water and all of the other guys are ahead of him with their eyes closed. Seokjin reaches out his hand to them, but then he wakes up. It's May 22nd now, and he wonders how they are and whether he should have walked up to them previously.   

Seokjin leaves and goes to the gas station where Namjoon works and asks for him. The other worker tells him Namjoon isn't there and is currently locked up. A news report is seen on the TV in the background that reads "A high school student arrested for killing his father." From the HYYH Notes, we know this is referring to Taehyung rather than Namjoon.  

Seokjin goes to visit Namjoon. He offers to help if there’s something he can do, but Namjoon tells him there’s nothing to do. He says the person he beat up berated him for being poor. We get a flashback to Namjoon working at the gas station, where a rude customer yells at him for bumping into the mirror of his expensive car. The money the customer had tried to give him for the gas ends up on the ground, and the customer demands it back. He insults Namjoon and Namjoon responds by slamming the man onto his car. They go to the police station to file a report and the officer comments that the man isn't even really that injured and they should just settle. The rude guy laughs and asks if Namjoon can afford a settlement. Namjoon refuses to settle, so he ends up in jail. Seokjin recalls that it happened on April 11th, the day he saw him at the gas station and didn't speak to him. Namjoon tells him it was bound to happen since he's broke, so Seokjin should just leave him there.  

Seokjin asks about the others, but Namjoon says he doesn’t keep in touch. Then, Namjoon drops the real bombshell: Jungkook is dead, and so is Yoongi. Hoseok is in the hospital after a bad accident. He says he doesn't know what happened to Taehyung or Jimin. Seokjin is visibly shaken, but he's asked to leave as visiting time is over.  

Walking outside, Seokjin wonders if Namjoon would have not ended up in jail if he had just spoken to him at the gas station that night. He sees a crowd of reporters shouting at someone, asking if they really murdered their father. Seokjin realizes it's Taehyung, walking in a line of criminals with rope tied around his wrists and body. He calls out to him. Taehyung turns around to look at him. Of course, there’s nothing he can do.   

In the next scene, Seokjin is alone at the beach as he recalls them all being together and happy at the beach. He says they used to be happy just being together, but now everyone is miserable. He wonders if any of them were happy since they split up. As he sits on the beach clearly upset, a white cat appears and seems to speak. "If you could turn back time, do you believe you can straighten out the errors and mistakes and save everyone?" it says. This text appears graphically different than other speech bubbles—it’s stylized and blue. Seokjin looks at the cat and wonders if he's seeing things, but he says that he'd do anything to fix all the mistakes and make everyone happy.  

There's a graphic effect like a mirror shattering, and Seokjin wakes up in his room. He thinks he had a dream, but the date on his phone shows April 11th. As we’ll see going forward, this effect is employed each time Seokjin fails and gets sent back in time.  

Episode 2 

The first scene opens at the gas station where Seokjin sees Namjoon but doesn't approach him. As he drives off, Seokjin says he should have said hi to Namjoon. Suddenly, there's a loud thud and Seokjin's truck screeches to a stop. A body has fallen on top of the hood, and he recognizes that it's Jungkook. He's clearly dead, and Seokjin starts to panic inside his car. Someone asks him to step out of the car to see if he's okay, and everything starts to go blurry. The shattering effect appears again, and Seokjin wakes up in his room, thinking he had a dream, but he doesn't remember the details.  

Seokjin looks at the photo of himself and his friends, dated June 12th from when they were together in high school at the beach (cross-reference: HYYH Note Book 1, Jungkook entry dated June 12 Year 19). He says he misses them and wonders how they are, and he notes that something feels strange.  

Seokjin leaves and drives near the school, hearing the same traffic report as we saw in Episode 1. It's April 11th again. Seokjin sees Jungkook walking with other students, and his heart starts racing like it did when Jungkook's body landed on his car in his "dream." He wonders why that's happening, and the cars behind him begin to honk at him to move, so he drives off.  

At the gas station, Seokjin leaves without speaking to Namjoon again. As he drives away, he notices he feels like he's forgetting something important. He stops near a convenience store where a cop car passes by and he starts walking down the sidewalk. Suddenly, Jungkook falls to the pavement behind him, and Seokjin turns around to see him dead again. Everything shatters.  

Another speech bubble that resembles the one that appeared next to the cat appears now in a different color. It reads: "Am I too late? You could've been the one I was looking for. If you've already sealed the pact, open up your eyes and see straight." Seokjin gets up and shouts "Who are you?" at the voice. The unique speech bubbles appear again and read: "This is the world you have to live in and the fate you must go through. You won't make it out here alone in this entangled destiny. Here's how to remember the loop. Once you open your eyes..." Everything shatters again and Seokjin seems to recall memories of everything up to this point: Namjoon in jail, Taehyung being arrested, and Jungkook dying. He also recalls the first time a voice spoke to him (which appeared in blue text instead of yellow). Seokjin stands in his room, trying to process what's happening. He doesn't have a clue, but notes that the voice was different from last time. Then he realizes that the days seem to be repeating themselves.  

Episode 3

The scene opens where Episode 2 left off, and Seokjin realizes he's gone back in time. He gets in his truck and notes that it's April 11th again. There are some scenes showing Taehyung drawing graffiti, Hoseok working in a fast food restaurant, Yoongi playing the piano, Jimin sitting alone in a hospital room, and Jungkook sitting at his desk in school. Seokjin wonders if he can make everything right.  

At the gas station, Seokjin greets Namjoon this time (cross-reference: scene from the end of the “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” Japanese music video.) Seokjin tells Namjoon he just got back to Korea, and then Namjoon has to go help another customer. Seokjin watches the rude customer yell at Namjoon and throw money at him. Seokjin steps in and picks up the money, handing it back to the jerk and telling him to leave. He prevents Namjoon from punching the guy and the guy finally leaves (cross-reference: HYYH Notes from ANSWER, Seokjin entry dated 11 April Year 22). Namjoon awkwardly thanks Seokjin and asks him why he's there. Seokjin thinks back to Jungkook jumping off the roof and knows he has to find him before the end of the day. Seokjin asks Namjoon if he keeps in touch with Jungkook, but Namjoon says no. Seokjin rushes, saying he doesn't have time and must find him now. Namjoon asks if he's in trouble, but Seokjin says there's no time to explain now. Namjoon tries again, but Seokjin tells him that one day they'll all be together again and that they should go to the beach when that happens. Seokjin hurries off and Namjoon stands there confused.  

Seokjin goes to Jungkook's house to ask where he is. The voice over the doorbell says that he should still be at school and won't be home until after 10pm. He goes to the school and asks the teacher, but he isn't there. Seokjin doesn't know where to go, but he remembers the building, so he tries to go there.  

Namjoon is walking around when he spots Jungkook by chance. He calls out to him, but he can't cross the street until the light changes. When he crosses, Jungkook is nowhere to be seen.  

Seokjin is in the vicinity of the building he thinks Jungkook is at. He recognizes the convenience store and the police car. He sees a crane and thinks he has the right building, so he rushes up to the roof, but Jungkook isn't there. He wonders if he can really trust his memories. 

Episode 4 

Jungkook walks alone and brushes past some punks on the street. They call out to him, and he just keeps walking. They go after him and beat him up (cross-reference: seen in “I Need U” and HYYH Note from HER, Jungkook entry dated 11 April Year 22).  

Seokjin recalls his memory and realizes it isn't the right building. On another building, Jungkook climbs up on the ledge (cross-reference: “Euphoria” music video, HYYH Notes from ANSWER and HER, Jungkook entries dated 11 April Year 22). Someone calls out to him before he can jump.  

Namjoon is yelling at him from the street below, telling him not to move. Jungkook stumbles and starts to fall, but Seokjin catches him. Seokjin tells him he's been looking for him all day and asks him what he was doing out here alone. That triggers a memory for Jungkook where his mother fusses at him, asking him where he had been all day and telling him not to worry his father (cross-reference: seen in HYYH Note from HER, Jungkook entry dated 11 April Year 22, where we learn a bit of Jungkook’s family background). 

Seokjin asks again why Jungkook was up there, and Jungkook tells him no reason. Namjoon comes running up to the roof to where they stand. At that moment, Jungkook’s cell phone rings and we can see that it's Yoongi. The scene cuts to Yoongi's phone, which shows several unanswered calls to Jungkook. He's flicking a lighter on and off as he sits in a motel room (cross-reference: “I Need U” music video). In his mind, he sees a burning piano and himself as a young boy.  

Episode 5 

We pick back up with Seokjin asking Jungkook why he was on the roof. Jungkook brushes it off. Namjoon asks what happened to his face, and he lies and says he bumped into a wall. Namjoon knows it's a lie, but Seokjin gives him a look that say not to push it. Seokjin asks Jungkook if his parents wouldn't be worried that he's out late, but he doesn't respond. His phone rings, and it's Yoongi.  

In the next scene, Jungkook, Seokjin, and Namjoon rush into the emergency room, so it seems that someone call Jungkook's number from Yoongi's phone since it was the last number dialed. They watch as doctors work on Yoongi, who has burn marks and an oxygen mask. Yoongi starts to code and the doctors try to shock him back to life, but he flatlines. As they watch him die, everything shatters again and Seokjin wakes up in his room with tears in his eyes. He leaves his home again.  

We're back at the scene where Jungkook is about to get beaten up by the punks on the street, but before he can, Seokjin grabs him by the hood and pulls him into an alley. Seokjin tells Jungkook and Namjoon to stay there, and they're both confused as to what's happening, and Jungkook is confused as to where Seokjin came from. Seokjin runs off and Jungkook asks Namjoon why he's there, and Namjoon says he was dragged there too. Namjoon asks if Jungkook keeps in contact with Yoongi. Suddenly, Namjoon gets a call from someone, saying something about police.  

Seokjin ends up at a motel, asking if Yoongi is there. The woman working the front won't give out guest information, but when Seokjin tells her he might set fire to the building, she suddenly pays attention. 

 Namjoon and Jungkook go to the police station, where Namjoon grumbles that Seokjin left them and they don't know where he is. Namjoon turns to Taehyung, who they had gone to the police station to pick up, and asks him if he has kept in touch with Yoongi since Seokjin was looking for him. Taehyung says he's seen Yoongi in his dreams. A group of policemen rush by, saying a suspected arsonist is at large. 

Episode 6

Seokjin and the woman from the motel are watching security footage, trying to find Yoongi. Seokjin thinks they found him on the tape, but the guy turns around and it's not him. He looks out the window across the street and sees fire coming from a different motel. Everything shatters again. 

Seokjin re-lives April 11th again, this time stopping the first time he sees Jungkook at the crosswalk at the school. He immediately asks if he keeps in contact with Yoongi. Jungkook is surprised but Seokjin is in a hurry so he presses him. Jungkook recalls the last time he heard from Yoongi, where Yoongi seems to be lying down depressed. In that memory, he tells Jungkook to get lost. Jungkook doesn't tell Seokjin any of this. Jungkook admits that he's seen Yoongi.  

Seokjin puts Jungkook in the car with himself and Namjoon, and Taehyung is also there. They drive to the part of town where Jungkook saw him last, and Taehyung interjects that this isn't where he saw Yoongi. Namjoon points out that Taehyung only saw him in a dream. As Seokjin wonders why Yoongi's location keeps changing each time when Namjoon and Jungkook's location doesn't, a truck skids on the road in front of them and Seokjin can't stop in time. He hits it head on, and it appears that the others are either severely injured or dead. Seokjin seems to be barely conscious as he thinks that it's his fault. He says that the future keeps changing because he keeps making changes in the past. Everything shatters again. 

Seokjin is in his room again, this time drawing a map and trying to strategize how to save everyone. He plans it out exactly, thinking that if he does it just right, he can save everyone.  

In the next scene, Seokjin has saved Jungkook and had him call Yoongi. Yoongi is at a restaurant drinking. He answers, and Seokjin asks him where he is. Yoongi hangs up and ignores other calls. Yoongi seems to recall his father yelling at him about music and the piano, saying that he's like his mom and that if he wants to kill himself the same way she did, then go ahead. Yoongi ends up back at the motel with his lighter. He lights a piece of composition paper on fire and drops it onto some spilled alcohol, causing a fire to start.  

Episode 7 

There's a flashback to Yoongi playing the piano in high school in the storage classroom. Jungkook comes in and puts a couple of desks together so he can lie down and listen (cross-reference: HYYH Note from HER, Jungkook entry dated 25 June Year 20). A teacher comes in and finds them, and he slaps Jungkook, knocking him down. Yoongi steps in between the teacher and Jungkook. After this, there's a notice of expulsion for Yoongi posted. It's marked June 25th.  

Seokjin sees smoke coming out of a motel that he's driving by, so he stops there and runs to Yoongi's room. He pounds on the door and when no one answers, he gets the fire axe and busts the door open. He carries Yoongi out who seems to faintly recognize that it's Seokjin. 

At the hospital, Seokjin waits for Yoongi to wake up, hoping that everything is fixed now. When he wakes up, Yoongi blames Seokjin for not letting him die. He asks him why he saved him. Seokjin realizes that he thought he had saved him, but it wasn't enough.  

A month later on May 11th, Taehyung is drawing graffiti when the police spot him and he begins to run. He ends up at Namjoon's container house and goes inside. Namjoon asks him what he did this time, and they hear the police looking for him outside. Taehyung asks if he can stay the night.  

Episode 8 

Taehyung has a dream that he's submerged in water, much like Seokjin had in the beginning. He sees Jimin and tries to reach for him, but Jimin is being pulled down by an unknown hand. Taehyung wakes up in Namjoon's container and asks him where he thinks Jimin is.  

In the next scene, Jimin is sitting alone in the hospital. A little kid asks him why he's there and then suddenly collapses. Jimin calls for help, but Hoseok, who was in the next bed, says that it's okay. He says the boy fell asleep like he does because he’s narcoleptic. Hoseok is in the hospital because he fell outside by himself and smacked his head, from the supposed narcolepsy he’s had since he was young (cross-reference: HYYH Note from Persona, Hoseok entry dated 10 May Year 22). 

Hoseok recalls that they saw each other last two years ago, when Jimin had a seizure at the bus stop. Jimin says he doesn't know how long he's been here because his clock stopped ticking (cross-references with “Run” music video and HYYH Notes from ANSWER and the HYYH Book, Hoseok entry dated 12 May Year 22 and Jimin entry dated 11 May Year 22).  

In the next scene, Jimin overflows a sink with water and puts his head in. It's not clear what he's doing. He seems to recall the Flower Arboretum sign, blood spatter on the floor, and himself as a child running away. He gets scared and struggles, and we see the scene of him submerged in water being pulled down by an unknown person. Jimin snaps out of it and takes his head out of the sink.  

Taehyung and Namjoon walk down the train tracks and Taehyung tells him that he's been having a weird dream. He says he sees Yoongi trapped inside a fire and Jimin drowning in water. Namjoon tells him it's nonsense and asks if he wants to go see Hoseok. He perks up at that and runs ahead. As he does do, Namjoon sees bruises on the back of Taehyung's neck.  

Namjoon and Taehyung go to Two Star Burger where Hoseok works, but they tell them he's in the hospital. They go to the hospital to look for him.  

While walking down the hall, Hoseok overhears some of the medical staff talking about Jimin, overhearing that Jimin's parents forced him to be hospitalized.  

The medical staff walk down the stairs, and further down, we see Seokjin waiting.  

Episode 9 

Seokjin thinks back to when Yoongi asked him why didn’t he just let him die. He apologized to him and asked him if he could turn back time, would he go back to when they met and change anything. Yoongi just tells him to leave. Seokjin leaves while contemplating if he can really save Yoongi, since he saved him against his will. He thinks that there may be no point, but even so, he can’t give up.  

Seokjin goes to find Yoongi in the hospital, but they tell him Yoongi was discharged last month.  

In the next scene, Yoongi is with Namjoon, Taehyung, and Jungkook at the hospital. Hoseok is in Jimin’s room and receives a phone call. He asks Jimin if he wants to see the others, but Jimin refuses. Hoseok goes to see the others alone, and Taehyung asks if he keeps in touch with Jimin because he’s been thinking about him. Hoseok doesn’t answer.  

Namjoon runs into Seokjin in the hallway and asks if he’s there to see Hoseok—Seokjin hadn’t known Hoseok was there.  

The next day, Hoseok thinks he sees a woman who looks like his mom. He starts to slip down the stairs. The scene cuts to Seokjin running into Jimin at the hospital. Medical staff rush through the area with an injured patient, and Seokjin sees Hoseok lying on the gurney with a very injured ankle. Everything begins to shatter again.  

Episode 10 

Seokjin wakes up again on April 11th. He is still determined to fix everything. He tapes the photo they took at the beach on June 12 to his rearview mirror and puts sticky notes of the guys and their locations on the dash of his truck. He checks off Namjoon and Jungkook, leading us to believe he saved them again.  

On May 10th, he goes to the bridge Hoseok is going to fall on. He catches him, puts him in the truck, and drives off. Hoseok wakes up, surprised to see him. He takes his medication and there’s not much else he can do. Seokjin asks if he knows what’s causing the narcolepsy, and Hoseok doesn’t answer. Hoseok has to go to work, but before he gets out of the truck, he notices the sticky notes on Seokjin’s dash. He asks what it is, but Seokjin won’t tell him. At work, Hoseok wonders what’s going on.  

Later, Hoseok meets up with Namjoon and tells him how Seokjin showed up at the right time. It happened to Namjoon too, and he feels like something is off. Hoseok gets on a scooter and Namjoon warns him that they’re dangerous (cross-reference: HYYH Note from Book 1, Namjoon entry dated 17 December Year 21, where Namjoon previously slid on a scooter and another young boy in the village died from a scooter accident).  

As if it were foreshadowing, Hoseok nearly gets into a wreck on the scooter when he cuts across traffic to try and catch up to Seokjin’s truck. He had sent him a text, but Seokjin hadn’t responded yet. This leads into the beginning of Episode 11.  

Episode 11 

Hoseok barely avoids being hit by a car. As Seokjin drives down the road, he sees Yoongi walking. Yoongi goes to a motel with his lighter, and we see him light some music on fire.  

Hoseok eats at a convenience store, wondering why Seokjin hasn’t answered him. He sees Seokjin drive by, so he rushes out of the store to follow him. He sees Seokjin carrying Yoongi out of a burning motel. They rush Yoongi to the hospital and as the doctors tend to him, Hoseok recalls the sticky notes. Hoseok asks Seokjin if he knew it was going to happen. He continues to question him, but Seokjin tells him he can’t explain right now. Hoseok goes to the lobby to wait.  

Hoseok thinks he sees Jimin in the hospital, but it turns out not to be him. He nearly slips on the stairs, and Jimin shows up behind him to stop him from falling. They sit down to talk and Hoseok realizes that Jimin has been there ever since he had a seizure at the bus stop. Hoseok recalls being abandoned by his mom as a child and says he knows what it feels like to feel stuck in time. Hoseok asks Jimin if he wants to get out of the hospital, and Jimin struggles to answer.  

Episode 12 

Namjoon gets a call at night from Hoseok, who yells into the phone that something is definitely going on. Taehyung is there with Namjoon.  

Seokjin sits at Yoongi’s bedside and says he doesn’t remember how many times he’s been through this. But, he still says he won’t stop trying. Seokjin runs up the stairs to find Jimin but is met with Namjoon, Hoseok, and Taehyung all coming down the stairs with Jimin. They’re there to break Jimin out, but Seokjin worries that this time loop will fail and he doesn’t know what would happen if they break Jimin out. He’s worried about a bigger accident. Seokjin blocks their path. Taehyung argues with him, and Seokjin thinks about how he hasn’t seen Jimin’s final moments and doesn’t even know why he’s in the hospital. Hoseok tells Seokjin how Jimin is there because his parents locked him up for two years. Seokjin relents and tells Jimin it’s his decision.  

Jimin flashes back to his mother leaving him in the hospital because she can’t handle him. Jimin seems to envision a black substance around his feet, which he attempts to scratch off in a tub full of water, appearing to even damage his skin with the force of his scratches. Next, Jimin is submerged in water again, and he recalls the Flower Arboretum and the blood spatter. He sees the black substance dripping off his body and then flashes back to the present, where he sees it around his feet again. He tells them he wants to get out.  

They make a run for it, but they run into Jimin’s mother. She makes him go back to his room and asks if those were the kids from high school. They fight about Jimin’s hospital stay and Jimin yells that locking him up isn’t right and that she’s just embarrassed of him. His mother slaps him and blames him for his seizures. She complains that he puts her and his father through hell. Jimin cries, alone in his room, noting that in the two years he’s been there, today was the first day he had visitors.  

On May 12th, Seokjin sits at the hospital when he hears medical staff yelling for Jimin. He’s locked himself in the bathroom, and they pry open the door. Seokjin bursts in to find Jimin in a tub full of water, likely attempting to drown. He goes to pull him out.  

Episode 13 

Seokjin shakes Jimin who is still alive and wonders how much pain he has to go through and if he can save them. Jimin asks Seokjin to get him out, and Seokjin runs with him and puts him in the truck. While they drive, Jimin sees the Flower Arboretum sign and freaks out, jumping out of the car and running into a construction zone. Seokjin wakes up again on April 11th. The white cat is in Seokjin’s room.  

Seokjin doubts that he’s able to save everyone, even though he thought he could. He sits in his room all day, upset at his inability to save the others. Since he does nothing, April 11th starts over again.  

This time, Taehyung shows up at Seokjin’s door. Seokjin is confused, and Taehyung says he saw Seokjin in his dream but he’s surprised to actually find him at home. That gives Seokjin the strength to carry on. Seokjin acknowledges that if he does nothing, the cycle won’t end.  

After a cut, Seokjin shows up at Namjoon’s container with Jimin, and the other guys are all there too. Namjoon offers to let Jimin stay there until he’s ready to go back home. It seems that Seokjin succeeded, and he says they should go to the beach.  

Episode 14 

All of the guys play around with sparklers, happy while spending time together. On May 20th, Taehyung comes out of the police department and walks home, not wanting to go in. Taehyung walks in to his dad in a rage, yelling at him and slapping his sister. He flashes back to the past where he was a child and his sister (or possibly mother) tells him to hide in his room when his father is beating her. Not able to watch or take the abuse any longer, Taehyung takes an alcohol bottle and runs at his father. In the next scene, Taehyung cries as he looks at the blood on his hands and clothes (cross-reference: “Prologue” video).  

Elsewhere, Namjoon and Seokjin talk about Jimin looking happier now. Seokjin asks about Taehyung, and Namjoon says he missed his call and tried to call back, Taehyung didn’t answer. Namjoon recalls the bruises on Taehyung and how he tends to hide his personal life. The episode ends with Hoseok pulling up to where Namjoon and Seokjin are, saying that something happened with Taehyung.  

Episode 15 

The final episode opens with Seokjin rushing to the police station where there’s a crowd of media around Taehyung, just like in the beginning. They’re asking him why he murdered his father and why he didn’t speak up about the abuse sooner. Seokjin pushes through the crowd and calls out to Taehyung, and everything shatters again.  

Seokjin wakes up in his room again, realizing that he got careless and wasn’t able to save Taehyung. He’s determined not to fail this time.  

Fast forward to May 20th, and Taehyung is coming out of the police station. He meets Seokjin outside. In the truck, Seokjin asks what’s happening at home and Taehyung won’t answer. Seokjin doesn’t force him to talk and instead tells him to talk when he’s ready. Taehyung says there’s something he wants to talk about and tells Seokjin he’s been having a strange dream where Yoongi is trapped in a fire, Jungkook falls from a building, Hoseok has an accident, and Namjoon is in prison. He says he has the dream every night and Seokjin wonders how he knows these things. Taehyung says he’s in the dream, but he can’t remember what happens to himself. Seokjin’s alarmed.  

Seokjin drops Taehyung off at his house, and they can hear his dad yelling from outside. Taehyung runs off and Seokjin follows. Taehyung hits his father with the alcohol bottle and is about to stab him with the broken bottle when Seokjin bursts in. He grabs Taehyung and tries to stop him, but Taehyung pushes him off. Seokjin tries again, and Taehyung accidentally stabs Seokjin with the bottle instead. Taehyung begins to cry, and as he’s dying Seokjin wonders if he’s succeeded this time or if he’ll really die. Everything shatters again.  

Seokjin wakes up, and it’s April 11th. He recalls the words spoken to him: “You won’t make it out here alone… in this entangled destiny.” He realizes he can’t do it on his own, no matter how many times he tries. The webtoon ends with him looking at the photo they took on June 12th at the beach and the words “Once again, just like before, together with you all.”  

Discussion

Even though Save Me was released after some of the HYYH Notes, since it has that zero in the logo, it best fits as the first string of events that take place in Year 22. Basically every note we have prior to April 11th in Year 22 is static—that story doesn’t change. In the webtoon and the notes, we get multiple repeat days as Seokjin tries to save them all.

Time loops in narratives often operate on the idea that the character or characters involved will gain some sort of knowledge that will eventually allow them to get out of the loop. We definitely see that with Seokjin here, and Taehyung does have dreams that are actually true memories from previous iterations of the timeline. He has even more of those dreams in the HYYH Notes, and some of the notes lead me to believe that Taehyung eventually starts to figure it out. It’s possible that this story won’t be fully resolved until they all work together to fix it.

The Butterfly Effect also seems to be at play here because sometimes when Seokjin alters the past, it changes the future events, sometimes leading to character deaths. For example, when he gets several of them in the car to save them, but he ends up wrecking and killing them anyway. He quickly learns he can’t know what will happen from his change in actions—he could end up saving everyone or end up starting over on April 11th again.

We also know that Seokjin can’t die. He dies at the end when Taehyung stabs him, but that just takes him back to April 11th, so he has to survive too. Back before we had so much information on this story, some theorized that Seokjin might need to die in order to save the others, but we know that won’t work either. His death won’t bring about a resolution.

We still don’t know much about the white cat or how the time loop really works. Time travel is logically impossible, but it’s often used in science fiction or fantasy to create interesting “what if” situations—since it’s widely used in various ways, it’s possible that the BigHit creative team has made up their own rules surrounding this time loop and the white cat for example. We can’t really know until we get the full story. Some previously thought the white cat was a kitsune/gumiho, but it’s been confirmed to be a cat, based on the release of the HYYH Art Toys on Bighit’s merch app Weply.

I do not think we're dealing with parallel universes or anything related to the many worlds theory. I've not seen anything to indicate that this is anything other than a time loop used as a narrative device.

I think it’s also interesting that we see a little bit of something called the Novikov self-consistency principle. This principle basically states that the past cannot be altered, so even if someone goes back in time, they can’t change the outcome of events. Sometimes this principal is applied in fiction—stories that use this principle often have characters who try to go back in time to change something but either fail or end up causing the event to happen that they’re trying to prevent. An example of this is the fatal car crash that occurs when Seokjin tries to gather up some of his friends—he tries to prevent their deaths only to cause them. Even though we may see this principle sometimes, I don’t think it’s end-game. I do believe we’ll eventually get a resolution that doesn’t involve the characters ending up dead or miserable.