There was already a line outside ZM-Illenial cafe when I arrived at 10:30 a.m., a queue snaking around the building despite the drizzle. The cafe is in the Nam District of Busan, South Korea, some 15 minutes away from a sun-bathed coastline that draws tourists from all over the country. ZM-Illenial has become a major attraction in its own right, not for its coffee drinks or pastries, but for its proximity to K-Pop royalty: The cafe is owned and operated by Park Hyun-soo, the father of BTS member Jimin, who is affectionately known in the fandom as “Papa Park.”
Luckily, Angela, a friend and fellow member of the ARMY (the BTS fan association), had gotten there earlier and saved a spot in line. Our group is mostly 40-something professional women from Southern California, and we had both been in Seoul for the week-long BTS celebration called Festa, which brings ARMY members from all over the globe to the Korean capital. After the main event, we hopped a train to Busan to pay tribute to Jimin and fellow member Jungkook, who are both from the city (a mural is dedicated to the two at Gamcheon Culture Village).
ZM-Illennial is one of many stops on an unofficial BTS tour of Korea. In Seoul, devotees travel to band members’ former first dorm (now a cafe), the site of their company’s first headquarters (the building is covered in fan graffiti), their Gangnamdol character on K-star Road in Gagnam, the Seoul forest garden named after member j-hope, and the Hybe skyscraper in the Yongsan district, which is the current headquarters for the both the band and the company built around it. There are sites around the rest of the country too, including member hometowns, Japanese restaurant Ossu Seiromushi co-owned by member Jin and his brother, Café Far Ben owned by the sister of BTS’s leader RM, and the filming location of travel documentary In the Soop in Gangwon Province.
ZM-illenial is a particularly great stop along this route: It feels like a museum, a pop star’s closet, and a pilgrimage site all rolled into one. The first thing we noticed when we finally got through the line was a long table covered with flowers, banners, trinkets, and notes dedicated to BTS or Jimin. Though there are other decorations, most of the decor is dedicated to Jimin, like a shelf holding a row of hats he’s worn, sandwiched between fan-made drawings, or artist Lee.K’s portrait of Jimin that was displayed at the 2022 Focus Art Fair in Paris at the Louvre Carrousel. The space was crowded, with groups of ARMY clustered around tables and sofas throughout the cafe, like delegates from a mini United Nations.
The long menu includes elaborate French-style patisseries, cakes, coffee, cold brew, iced teas, yogurt, and even lemonade dyed BTS purple. A bin of salt butter bread across from the main counter was almost empty, but I snapped one up at Angela’s request. When my order was ready, I was surprised to see that the person who placed the iced tea on my tray was Papa Park himself. He’s become well-known for hugging visitors and even signing items. We watched from our table as he graciously accepted gifts thrust at him by a group of enthusiastic Brazilian fans, before making it clear that he didn’t want to be in any photos.
Despite the merch wall, Park doesn’t seem too invested in exploiting his son’s cult status. The cafe’s website seems defunct, its Instagram is sparsely updated, and an email address isn’t readily available. When I called, Park politely declined a request for a statement, and he was always too busy serving customers and running the shop to talk during my visit.
Nina, a BTS fan from Lyon, France, did have time to talk. She had come to the cafe with a fellow ARMY member from Serbia. The two had become friends online and were meeting at ZM-Illenial for the first time.
“I enjoyed the desserts,” Nina, a pâtisseur herself, told me. “I love discovering new things about Korea. But with all the BTS related stuff, it’s especially cool. Taehyung is my favorite, but I support all of them.” She admitted she doesn’t listen to any other K-pop.
Over the course of my stay, I also talked to Tonia (a software engineer), her bestie Tammey (a police officer from New York), and Philip and Hilary (an older Australian couple), all there because of BTS. I watched as a Filipino ARMY member photographed a pair of Jimin bobbleheads.
To locals, ZM-illennial is a place to relax, to take a drawing class, or engage with their neighbors. But as I left, watching a group of friends pile out of their rideshare as I got into mine, the cafe seemed like the center of a much broader community. Fans come to feel closer to our favorite artists, sure, and to celebrate our shared passion. But more importantly, visiting ZM-Illenial brings us closer to each other.
Additional photo illustration credits: Christine Terrisse
