The archive · Content & Film · Product decision · 2020–2022
HYBE's In the SOOP: BTS resting in a forest cabin becomes the show
Pandemic-cancelled tours left BTS no stage, so HYBE sent them to a cabin to rest — and made the rest itself a content franchise.
HYBE (Big Hit Entertainment)
What it had to solve
In 2020 the pandemic cancelled BTS's touring, concerts and stadium moments — the live events that idol content usually orbits — while fans were stuck at home and anxious. HYBE, the entertainment company behind the group, asked what content could exist without a stage, and answered with a reality show whose entire premise was that the seven members would rest.
How it works
In 2020 the pandemic stripped BTS of touring and stadium concerts — the live events idol content usually orbits — while fans were stuck at home and anxious. HYBE, the entertainment company behind the group, answered with In the SOOP ('in the forest'): a reality show whose premise was that the seven members would go to a countryside cabin and simply rest, cook, talk and take up hobbies.
The show inverted the K-pop content formula: no stages, no challenges, no competition to win. Coverage described the members taking a break from their regular work to pursue hobbies at a lake-side cabin, and the second season's tagline was 'Between the everyday life and the rest.' Fans wanting more could buy longer Weverse cuts for $27.99 a season, and Season 2 was filmed in a house the production said took about a year to plan and build.
Rest became a franchise rather than a one-off. The format was extended from BTS to SEVENTEEN, and in September 2021 HYBE and Hyundai Department Store opened an In the SOOP pop-up at The Hyundai Seoul themed 'a healing forest at the heart of the city,' drawing crowds with QR entry and purchase gifts at 150,000 won and up. In July 2022 Airbnb announced the PyeongChang estate used for BTS's Season 2 would host two guests for one night at $7 — a nod to the seven members — recreating the exact rest the show sold.
Why it lands
- The pandemic took away idols' stages and fans' live escapes; a show about doing nothing met both absences with the same remedy — rest.
- Structuring content around rest rather than competition inverted the genre's engine: there was no winner, so nobody had to perform.
- Selling longer cuts and a second season proved rest could be monetized as premium content, not just filler between comebacks.
- Because the format lived in its premise rather than in the members, it transferred from BTS to SEVENTEEN and into retail and hospitality extensions.
What it did
Rest proved repeatable instead of one-off: the show's second season was broadcast on a national network and sold as paid content on Weverse with extended cuts, and the same format was extended from BTS to SEVENTEEN. HYBE and Hyundai Department Store then carried the world offline with an In the SOOP pop-up, and Airbnb later offered the Season 2 estate as a paid stay.
What you can take
When a star's core product — live performance — becomes impossible, sell the absence of it: content that lets idols genuinely rest gives anxious fans the same permission to stop.
Since then
In the SOOP became a repeatable HYBE franchise: after BTS's two seasons, the format ran with SEVENTEEN, and the show's world moved offline. An In the SOOP pop-up ran at The Hyundai Seoul from 3 September to 31 October 2021, themed as a healing forest in the city, and in August 2022 Airbnb hosted two guests for one night at the PyeongChang Season 2 estate for $7, recreating the members' rest as part of its 'Only On Airbnb' campaign.
Sources
- Idol bands pop-up in Seoul to put fans at ease amid pandemic
- BTS In the Soop's Season 2 Return
- Unique summer getaway at BTS: In The Soop Estate
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