Photo = Screenshot from BTS Weverse

 

[Hanteo News = Reporter KANG SUYOUNG] BTS’ V calmly opened up about his health.

 

After finishing the '2026-2027 BTS WORLD TOUR 'ARIRANG'' concert in Baltimore, U.S., on the 11th local time, V held a live broadcast with JUNGKOOK. During the broadcast, he revealed a hearing issue he had not previously shared with fans, saying, “No matter what you do, health comes first.”

 

“I have never told ARMY, the fandom name, this before, but it has been about two and a half years. My ear got worse,” V began, adding, “If my right ear hears about 100%, my left ear only hears about 30%. So I have been taking medication consistently.” Because the live broadcast screen was horizontally flipped, some reports mistakenly described it as his right ear, but looking at the direction and placement of the logo on V’s T-shirt, it can be seen that the ear he cannot hear well with is his left ear.

 

What he said next revealed the process by which V belatedly faced the issue. He said, “Even after it got worse in the military, I was surrounded by people who exercised and had a fighting spirit, so they said, ‘It is a matter of mental strength.’ After that, I was kind of hypnotized too and thought it was a matter of mental strength,” adding, “Now, I am going to the hospital diligently.” In other words, he had suppressed the signals his body was sending as a matter of willpower under the atmosphere around him, and only now is receiving proper treatment.

 

This is not the first time V has belatedly shared a health issue. In March of last year, during his military service, he surprised fans by posting on a fan platform, “While working out hard, one of my ribs went out and then came back.” It was news he shared almost in passing only after he had already recovered. This hearing issue, too, was something he had not told fans for two and a half years before bringing it up for the first time during a live broadcast. It is an attitude of not wanting to worry fans even in difficult moments, but it is also something that makes fans feel concerned after the fact.

 

In the same broadcast, V also answered a fan who asked him for life advice. He said, “Do not live while comparing yourself,” adding, “The moment you envy someone else’s life, ability, or financial situation, you lose the battle with yourself.” He continued, “Do not compare yourself with others and envy them by thinking, ‘Why can’t I be like that?’ Live each person’s life in that person’s own way,” adding, “Focus on the tempo of your own life.”

 

The two stories may seem like different topics, but they ultimately point to the same place. Instead of being swayed by standards set by others or comparisons with others, one should focus on one’s own body and the pace of one’s own life. Hearing, in particular, is a more important asset to him than anything else. Due to the nature of his job as a singer, he wears in-ear monitors on stage, is exposed to high-decibel sound throughout rehearsals and performances, and frequently uses earphones and headphones in daily life as well. For someone whose job is to hear and handle sound, a hearing issue goes beyond a simple health problem and touches the foundation of his career. The fact that such a hearing issue was suppressed under the phrase “a matter of mental strength” clearly shows the reality of an artist at the very top, where strength and perfection are often demanded as a given.

 

It is easy to cover the warnings the body sends with willpower, and difficult to acknowledge and reveal them oneself. That is why V’s calm confession feels far from ordinary. Even behind a dazzling stage, an artist ultimately lives in the body of one human being, and listening first to the signals that body sends must come before anything else. The weight of sincerity carried in his simple words, “No matter what you do, health comes first,” was not light.

 

grace@hanteo.com

 

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