Today marks the official opening of the “Min Yoon-gi Therapy Center” at Yonsei University’s Severance Hospital. Over the years, BTS have given not only their music but also immense generosity, extending their hands to countless causes and lives in need. Their philanthropy is not an ornament but an expression of their humanity, and it is this humanity that binds us to them with such affection.
When I search for a BTS song that carries the essence of that spirit—the impulse to comfort, to heal, to help others—I think of J-Hope’s “Piece of Peace.” In honor of this day, luminous with meaning, here’s my translation of that song.
The other day, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts when the host mentioned a recent poll he had read in a magazine. The question posed was simple: if given the chance, would people in their forties and fifties return to their twenties? The response was resoundingly “no.” Hardly anyone looked back fondly on those years, which they remembered instead as a time of job-search anxieties, failures, turbulent relationships—both romantic and otherwise—and sleepless nights haunted by an uncertain future.
As an educator who has taught at both high schools and colleges, I live in the daily company of the young. Compared to many of my peers, I am more familiar with the ethos of the current generation, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, I see my students struggling with the very same hardships that the middle-aged respondents in the poll were so reluctant to revisit.
J-Hope, a contemporary of my students, knows well the immense weight carried by today’s young adults. He was born into a modest family in an economically underdeveloped region scarred by tragedy (the Gwangju Massacre of 1980) and arrived in Seoul with nothing but talent and dreams. His early years as a trainee, and later as a BTS member, were riddled with uncertainty and adversity. Yet he endured, while thousands of others with the same aspirations fell away each year.
With BTS’s meteoric rise, J-Hope’s fame and popularity soared as well, but he has remained humble, never forgetting his roots, just like his BTS brothers. His generosity has reached many, among them students at a vocational school in his hometown, as well as victims of typhoons and COVID-19. Most of all, his songs seek to bring encouragement and hope to those who need light in their lives.
“Piece of Peace” is one such song. J-Hope opens the first verse by likening life to takes from a movie. Like actors on screen, we are bound to “NG” (a Konglish acronym for “no good,” meaning to mess up), and pain is an ever-present companion. He draws on the rarely used Buddhist expression 고해 (goh-hae, 苦海, “a sea of suffering”) to describe this condition, and then pairs it with 봉쇄 (bohng-sweh, 封鎖, “blockade”), using it poetically to convey the shutting off of oneself from others, fading into isolation. J-Hope has a gift for distilling entire worlds into two nouns joined by a preposition, a skill also on display in his lyrics for “Dionysus.”
The first verse concludes with his gesture of comfort. To those disheartened, he offers not just words but sustenance:
Let me offer encouragement to you:
Make your own rules for happiness,
And follow them without hesitation.
Let me feed you with belief,
Filling you up like a plain and hearty piece of cake.
The second verse is dedicated to the countless young Koreans struggling to find work. For more than a decade, unemployment among those in their twenties has remained painfully high, only worsened by the pandemic. Many of Korea’s largest companies have announced hiring freezes, leaving young applicants adrift. J-Hope layers this verse with metaphors and analogies—too many to detail here—capturing the shame of settling for menial or poorly paid jobs, the sting of temporary work, and the despair of knowing that relief is not near at hand.
In the Pre-Chorus, he absolves the young of blame and pledges his aid without hesitation. And in the Bridge, the heart of the song, he utters with compassion, 나 도울래 (nah doh-wool-lae, “I want to help”), because 그들 같은 나였기에 (geu-deul gaht-eun nah-yuht-gi-eh, “I was once in their shoes”). He longs to brighten their dreams, to banish their nightmares, and to bring them peace of mind.
It is a bold aim, yet one that J-Hope and BTS have pursued with remarkable sincerity. Through music, through words, through actions and philanthropy, they continue to touch lives and offer hope to humanity.
Lyrics:
Verse 1:
Take 1: Get to Know Yourself
Take 2: Find Your Dreams
Take 3: Achieve Your Aspirations
Scenes of our lives run like a movie
We’re prone to blunder and be consumed by grief
I can only speak for myself,
But I empathize with your sufferings
(they say) No pain, no gain
(But) pain is a constant for us, always
Forcing us to shut ourselves off,
And that’s how (some people) fade away
Let me offer encouragements to you:
Make the rules for your own happiness,
And follow those rules no matter what
Let me feed you full with beliefs (about yourself),
Filling you up like a piece of plain and hearty cake
(let me offer you) Piece of peace
(let me) Be that piece (of cake)
Piece of peace
Chorus:
If I could, I would be a source
Of energy and sunshine
I wish I could be a piece of peace
Verse 2:
To young job applicants:
(in these times of high jobless rate)
Your situation is an uncomfortable subject
Although you speak in unison as one entity
To complain about the (employment) problem
And to hope for a pragmatic solution,
Things are not breaking your way
You’re often herded to take backward steps,
Wondering where are the proverbial two forward steps
Society considers only specific jobs as worthwhile;
Anyone with a part-time job is viewed irrelevant
The low wage is making your efforts go to waste
The remedies they offer you are dismal,
Like a dry spell that withers new sprouts
You shout from the rooftops,
But the world refuses to listen to you
Pre-Chorus:
Yah (Hey),
It’s not your fault
Don’t let the obstacles stop you;
Keep striving to achieve what you want
Yah (Hey),
If I could be that piece (of cake),
I would offer my aid without hesitation,
To the young people of my land first
Chorus:
If I could, I would be a source
Of energy and sunshine
I wish I could be a piece of peace
Bridge:
I want to help,
For I was once in their shoes,
And all I had was my passion
I’ll brighten up their dreams; no more nightmare
Peace of mind will be right there
I want to help,
For I was once in their shoes,
And all I had was my ambition
I’ll brighten up their dreams; no more nightmare
Peace of mind will be right there
Chorus:
If I could, I would be a source
Of energy and sunshine
I wish I could be a piece of peace