HYBE Internal Documents Seemingly Confirm Suspicions That TXT’s “0X1=LOVESONG” Was Written Based On A Yeonjun X Beomgyu Fanfiction

Fans have been suspicious for years that TXT‘s “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)” was based on a famous OTP Yeonjun and Beomgyu fanfiction for years. The fanfiction, Mad Summer, was posted on PostType by a writer called Kyrie. The fanfiction became so famous that an official book version was eventually released with the names changed. As such, the writer only releases their story on PostType for a short period each year as a service to fans who still want to read it with the original names.

Suspicions were raised since 2023, when the fanfiction experienced a huge boost in virality despite having been published years prior. Fans found too many similarities between the lyrics and music video for “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)” and Mad Summer. Here are a few of the most obvious similarities.

1. “Bottomless Pit”

The word for “abyss” or “bottomless pit” in Korean is often “shimyeon.” Mad Summer used the unique word “mujeogaeng,” which is a term unfamiliar to many Koreans even. “Mujeogaeng” is used in the lyrics for the song.

also english thread on why 0X1 = Love Song seems to be inspired by mad summer (the legendary korean beomjun fanfic + the parallels)

starting off with the lyric from the song

“From this bottomless pit
You're the only (one) shining gold
Now I can't stop thinking 'bout you” pic.twitter.com/jVLofFxHBi

— alina❤️‍🩹 (@vixengyu) September 25, 2023

2. Romeo and Juliet

According to this fan, Mad Summer‘s Yeonjun loves the movie Romeo and Juliet. One of the most iconic scenes from the movie is the fish tank scene where the two leads meet for the first time. A similar scene appears in the music video.

3. “Say You Love Me”

The lyrics to “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)” contain the lines “say you love me, say you love me.” In the music video as well, Yeonjun hums the song in the outtro. A famous paragraph in Mad Summer reads “Yeonjun suddenly looked back at Beomgyu. Beomgyu answers [redacted]. ‘Love me, love me, say that you love me.’ Yeonjun follows Beomgyu’s humming and continues, ‘go on and fool me.‘”

| @vixengyu/X

4. Drug theme

In Mad Summer, Yeonjun is a drug dealer and Beomgyu passes away because of drug usage. The theme of drugs is prevalent in the music video and lyrics for the song, which read “Please use me like a drug.”

5. Heaven theme

Mad Summer relies heavily on the theme of heaven and redemption. In the lyrics to the song, the lines “I probably can’t go to heaven. It doesn’t suit me. There’s no place for me in heaven” are present.

Although it could have been a coincidence, fans wondered how so many themes were used at the same time. Their suspicions were seemingly confirmed when HYBE’s internal report was revealed at a recent audit. The report contained information about Mad Summer as a famous fanfiction amongst the fandom. It showed that the staff were acutely aware of its presence and content.

Report snippet | theqoo

Mad Summer: a fanfiction that was released around early days of debut. Not sure if the writer is just being sneaky, but they only release the fanfiction for viewing occasionally so as to self-manage any issues that arise. Perhaps that’s why it became a total hit amongst the 4th generation fandoms. Last week, it began trending on X that they made it public again for the first time in a long while and [redacted]. … Thanks to the fanfiction, in the early days, fantasies about the Yeonjun X Beomgyu OTP grew too big. But the two bicker a lot in real life, and the members also have the vibe of cousins who spend the whole summer vacation together, so it wasn’t a good environment for OTP stans to be active. … Currently, 4th generation fandoms are not active on PostType, but the fanfiction is almost weirdly popular. We feel that it is as it seems to be linked to how it reminds of the past-generation fangirl vibes.

— HYBE Report