1.) "I NEED U" ORIGINAL VERSION MV: (summary)

The I NEED U Original Version MV was practically just the other members' stories on how and why they died (except for Seokjin and Taehyung, who were pretty much the only people alive till the Prologue.) It was mixed up with some scenes in the Prologue though because some parts are cut from the other (ex: campfire, etc.) Keep in mind that these two videos are greatly interrelated.

Yoongi lit his motel room on fire. It can be concluded that he suffers from pyromaniac mentality since he always carries a lighter with him (even during Prologue) because he settles things by igniting fire like how arson does. He dies in his fire-engulfed room.

Hoseok overdosed himself with anti-depressant pills. He walks along the bridge, collapses, still struggled to open his eyes and move but eventually doesn't make it.

Namjoon smokes cigarettes in the gas station he works at. He later drops it, trigerring fire, engulfing him with everything.

Jungkook was a runaway teen who ran into a harsh fight. As he was about to cross the road, he was hit by an approaching car. He also dies from it.

Jimin reads a note while in a tub overflowing with water. Halfway the I NEED U Original Version MV, he slowly submerges into the water and drowns his worries along with himself in the process.

Seokjin survives after attempting to suffocate himself by burning poisonous Japanese white flower petals in his room. He was later seen opening the curtains to his room, a sign that he somehow thought of opening the window to let out the suffocating scent. He lives till Prologue (and is the only one to really survive till the end)

Taehyung's case wasn't clear in the I NEED U Original Version MV though. He seemingly roams around with too many thoughts in his mind but finally decides to stop by a run-down apartment and sees a man hurting a girl in school uniform (which I assume was his sister). He grabs a shattered bottle then uses its pointed glass shard to stab the man (who was later found out from the Prologue to be his Father) It's in the part where he lies down a mattress, holds out and crumples a Polaroid of his dad carrying him when he was still a baby.)

What happens after this was clarified and continued in the first scene of the Prologue video, where Tae was seen crying with bloody hands. He probably ran away and got to where he was then.

But take note that at the end of the I NEED U Original Version MV, the only people whom the camera focused to were Seokjin and Taehyung, hinting that they're still alive and the others were not.

2.) ONSTAGE: PROLOGUE MV

So here I simply divided the Prologue into five (5) parts based from the cuts and intervals of the video.

> FIRST PART OF THE PROLOGUE:

So my guess was right when I thought Tae was connected to Seokjin somehow. I think he's the 'hyung' Tae calls (on the phone) at the start of the video, where he says "Hyung…I want to see you hyung" before the MV starts. Being Seokjin as the 'hyung' doesn't necessarily mean that they are brothers or something. It can mean that he's the oldest amongst their group or he's the only one alive, aside from him that he can meet up with and who will understand.

You will notice that Taehyung comes at the scene first, plopping in a mattress in the middle of nowhere, contemplating about what he did. Then, rustling of leaves can be heard from the members' running. Namjoon, Hoseok, Yoongi, Jimin and Jungkook were already dead. They were just a figment of Tae's imagination. He hallucinates that Namjoon was pulling him up to stand. He hallucinates that the other members were still there…still alive to cheer him up and to carry on.

Seokjin, on the other hand, comes a bit late with a hand camera. This was it. This was him and Tae's meeting place.

One theory here is that these happenings were from the past. That Seokjin joins them after Jungkook notices him and gestures for him to come over. You will notice that Seokjin only walks toward Tae here and hugs him – one proof that they're the only ones there. As they hugged you will notice a flying butterfly in the frame (meaning that the members’ entities came like a butterfly.)

He continues filming Tae with the other members in the process. These happenings were not from Seokjin’s imagination. Something like this really happened back in the days. His camera holds proof that those scenes were just flashbacks of past happenings. The MV somehow incorporated past from present events but in reality, Seokjin and Tae were the only ones left.

"You can smile as long as we're together."

The Prologue plays past memories that Seokjin had kept track of in his camera. He always carried it with him because he wants to relive those moments he had which he filmed with the members.

When he films a butterfly, which usually symbolizes a spirit that has come in order to check up upon someone they loved, another scene pops up – the one with a whooshing plastic bag in the air with no one there. (This literally means no one's there, just the other members' beings or spirits in the form of the wind and the butterfly.) Shortly after, a scene shows up where Tae draws graffiti behind Namjoon but from the same frame and place where the plastic flew, none was drawn. None was there.

Another possible theory here is that these were all just imaginary. As the others were all dead, Seokjin was trying to convince himself that they are still alive. That there's still something…something happening in the whole MV. In the entire Prologue video, the butterflies could only signify the members as just wandering souls, entities with memories who checks on Seokjin if he survived, if he’s moving on. On the other hand, this second theory implies that Tae knows for a fact that the others were gone and that he’s planning to join them just a bit later in the Prologue.

Then the first part ends with Seokjin still filming and Taehyung climbing up the wall to stand near its edge (hinting thoughts of suicide) but the others just waves at him to back off, and so he does.

> SECOND PART OF THE PROLOGUE:

It starts with Namjoon puffing air on the mirror. He then precedes writing, "You need to survive," according to the English subbed video. We can safely assume that he intends to relay this message to Seokjin. The 'you' in his statement meant Seokjin since the others were evidently gone.

Why write it in the mirror when Seokjin’s just there, he can easily tell him this, right?

Well unfortunately he can't because he's dead. He writes the message through the mist of his breath in a mirror because that's the only possible way he can let Seokjin read anything he wants to tell him.

Namjoon tells Seokjin that he needs to survive even now that they're gone. He knows it will take a lot of time to heal and a lot of pain to get over the loss of five friends (members) all at once. He fears that he may lead to what have become of them. Namjoon also tells Seokjin this because maybe he knew Tae's plans of committing suicide so he must be strong. He must stay alive for their sake even if it meant leaving their memories behind. Even if it meant forgetting the people who kept him alive, Seokjin must survive!

Not long after, the campfire starts and we can assume that it was a flashback before everything (in I NEED U Original Version MV) started. Seokjin pulls out a Polaroid of somewhere he wants to go to with the members.

He says, "We…shall we go here?" getting each of the others’ approval.

Hoseok answers enthusiastically, as expected of his anti-depressant-medicine induced state.

Taehyung just nods, he might as well do what Seokjin wants, he’s planning to be gone anyway.

Namjoon only averts his gaze and smiles lightly.

Jimin smiles his safe and hesitant smile, not sure if he can still go with the others (being in his suicidal frenzy and all).

Yoongi doesn't even answer, instead his eyes were fixated on the lit up flame in his hands.

Jungkook need not answer though; he has run away from home anyway so why not go anywhere they pleased.

They all got problems and it's obvious through the way they responded to Seokjin's invitation. The second part ends with Jungkook putting out the flame in the lighter, putting out Yoongi's worries with it.

> THIRD PART OF PROLOGUE:

They go somewhere in a pickup car which Seokjin drives. (I don't know if this was the place in the Polaroid, the one he wanted to go to with the members but it’s one of the possibilities.)

They enjoy and do lots of running, laughing, jumping and filming of one another. They had their fun until the last scene, showing the members seated behind the pickup car with Seokjin still filming the waves from the driver's area.

According to someone I recently talked to, you will notice that during Seokjin's filming of the waves before this part ends, the side mirror of the car doesn't reflect anyone of the members from the back area where they're supposedly sitting (maybe Seokjin went back alone and this scene leads to the last part of the Prologue where he's seen alone in the car.)

> FOURTH PART OF THE PROLOGUE:

Seokjin drives them to a gas station (where I presume was the one Namjoon was working at in I NEED U Original Version MV) to refuel. Namjoon is seen doing it himself and it looked a lot like the one he's working at so that's my guess. He then asks Seokjin to lend him his Polaroid camera.

Why not borrow his hand cam instead? I think it's just for videos and it has a separate symbolism. The dead members can't possibly get a hold of the hand camera because it was Seokjin's representation of them. 

Why encourage the use of Polaroid throughout the video? Well, simply because it cannot be altered or edited. Photos can be directly developed the moment you take them. All the more convincing that he was actually with no one at the end of the Prologue and that he was alone all along, with Tae dying with the others shortly after jumping, but let's talk about that later…)

Then Namjoon snaps a picture of Seokjin and Yoongi, gets in the car, shows it to them when it finished developing and puts it in the car's compartment box.

This part ends with Hoseok carrying a bag of food to the car's back area where the maknae-line is seen peacefully sleeping.

> FIFTH PART OF PROLOGUE: 

The last part starts with Jungkook holding his hand to his eye, worrying and contemplating about life decisions and what's ahead of them. He was later joined by Yoongi, consoling him as what Jungkook did to him when he put out his 'flame of worries' during the campfire scene. He then patted Jungkook's shoulder for assurance and the younger smiles (hinting that Yoongi helped ease his thoughts down.)

(But…I think this scene has more to it. I personally felt that this scene was them in the afterlife or something. That Jungkook wonders what will happen after they completely vanish in that world. He was too young to die. He doesn't know what to do or where to go. That’s when Yoongi suddenly sits beside him, assuring him that he’s not alone, that everything will be okay and that Jungkook has them even in afterlife and even after their souls and memories perish in that platform. So yeah, I don't really know. Well, back to the Prologue happenings…)

Yoongi gestures for them to wake the others up, to sit and witness the sun set together. They managed to wait for the sun to set and watched as it reflects the setting of the day – the setting of the sun together with their dilemmas.

Notice here that Tae sits beside Seokjin. Then as he saw the plight of steel scaffolding from where he is sitting, he looks to Seokjin (to his living hyung) one last time. It can mean an implication, something like “Sorry hyung, I need to go and atone for my sins. A life for a life.”

He stands up, puts his hood on as he came up with an idea upon seeing the height of the scaffolding. He became determined to end his life then and there, in front of everyone else. He decided to join the others in the life after as he climbed up the plight of steel. Seokjin looks up surprised and confused then filmed Tae to get a closer look of what he's trying to do. Tae glanced back down for the last time, seeing the others >

gesturing for him to come back down (I don't think so though, in the first part of the Prologue you can clearly see that the gesture was backwards but if that's really irrelevant then maybe they're really telling Tae not to continue his obvious suicide attempt. It's also safe to say that they're preventing suicide to happen since it's not good for those who would watch the MV having same thoughts, given that Koreans are mostly suicidal and that their target audience were the youth, it probably meant stopping Tae from jumping.)

-Or-

gesturing for him to jump and continue his attempt of joining them in the afterlife (Butterflies also symbolize freedom and suicide so as it might be unlikely for some to believe that they’re actually telling Taehyung to jump, some say this was the true case. But knowing BTS and BigHit, I can't help but think this assumption is wrong. They would want nothing more than to make their fans happy and cheer them up through their music and all. But if they're trying to stick to the concept of butterflies and suicide, this theory is most likely possible.)

Either way, he looks down at them and just smiles. Tae’s smile signifies that there's nothing they can do because he has already decided (remember his first failed attempt on the first part of the Prologue) that he wants to finally end this. So he lets out a last sharp sigh before running towards the edge. Then, he jumps.

P.S.

Remember that the last scene in I NEED U Original Version MV is a landscape of a gray sky and still waters. It resembled the Polaroid more, the one Seokjin was holding out in the campfire scene of the Prologue, the place where he wants to go.

If that were the case and if that was really where Seokjin wanted to go to with the members, then the campfire scene was indeed a flashback before everything in I NEED U Original Version MV happened. And that was proof that they never got to go there together. The last scene of I NEED U Original Version MV somehow implies afterlife and that the members did reach the place (but because they died). The dead members were the only ones who had the chance to go there.

Back when Seokjin asked them one by one for approval, they secretly agreed because they all have one thing in common. They all have one thing in their minds – they were determined to end their life and they promised each other that they'll fulfill Seokjin’s desire to go to where he wanted them to be…and there they were.

Lastly, upon realizing that the last scene of the I NEED U Original Version MV focused only on Taehyung and Seokjin, it meant that they were really the only ones left to continue to the Prologue video. (But unfortunately, Tae commits suicide in that video, leaving only Seokjin at the end of everything.)

***

The last scene of the Prologue was a frame of Seokjin, fondly looking straight to some direction as if he was reminiscing something and as if he was watching the other members play with the water and sand from inside the car. It's as though he was viewing and rewinding the moments caught on his camera in his head and that's when he remembered the photo which Namjoon took using his Polaroid. He remembered it to be in the car's compartment. He gets it and to his dismay, he realizes he was alone…all along.

THE END

As what Namjoon had tried telling, Seokjin needs to survive and live…so the memories of the other members will continue to live on and will never be forgotten…and that someone would be able to remember that they, altogether, existed as entities of that cruel world.

A/N:

crossposted the story on AO3, (click link for the downloadable copy) >3<

Much love,

alylylove