After the hip-hop group Bangtan Boys (BTS) was accused of sajaegi (inflating sales numbers by purchasing large quantities of albums), reportedly outselling BIGBANG on the physical album charts, Russian fans gathered online to defend BTS.

The suspicion originally arose from BTS’s ranking on the Hanteo Chart where BTS’s newest album, In the Mood for Love Part 1, ranked higher than BIGBANG’s Made Series-m. Since the accusations, Bit Hit Entertainment said, “Big Hit Entertainment doesn’t have the resources to do such a thing,” while netizens also cleared up suspicions of BTS’s alleged sajaegi.

“Hello, I’m writing on behalf of the Russian A.R.M.Y. The Russian Army includes fans not only from Russia but from its neighboring Russian-speaking countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. There has been so much criticism and harsh comments against BTS. In response to this, we decided to voice our opinion. We would like to introduce ourselves to the reader and ask a few questions. First of all, we would like to tell you how many BTS fans we represent, and how much we love BTS. Do you love BTS as much as we do?

There are approximately 70,000 fans, and we’re growing in number everyday. On Korean websites, it’s easy to find comments that ask who BTS are. It’s amazing how a group that’s gaining so much popularity worldwide is not being recognized in its own country. We’re fans abroad but we care a great deal about the artist’s work, the quality of their music, and their appreciation of fans. We’re very thankful, and this is why our fandom is so big. And what do you care a great deal about?

It breaks our hearts that BTS is being accused of chart manipulation. We’re angry about it. There really is a huge volume of BTS album purchases. Rather than just being suspicious about it, think about the fans abroad. There are a lot of us–a lot more than you think, not only in Russia but in countries I have already mentioned; and we buy a a great number of albums together. We each buy two albums. This is because purchasing their albums is the only thing we can do to support BTS. Have you ever thought of it that way?

And speaking of V, who ever said it was V’s fault? V.I.P? We never heard anything from the BIGBANG fans. In Russia, the fans are on good terms, both within the fandom and with each other. All fandoms are in shock after seeing so many hurtful comments against V. I really wonder who’s behind all this.

We hope to find out the answer.

And we would like to let you all know how sincere and supportive we are as a fandom. We wake up in the middle of the night to watch the BTS performances live because of the time difference. We always vote for BTS. We love BTS and believe in their success. We try to always be there for them especially in tough times. We do BTS-related Twitter trending campaigns. We hope to make the BTS members happy by doing these activities. We couldn’t just sit and not do anything this time amid the manipulation controversy.

Lastly, we would like to thank the Korean A.R.M.Y, for supporting BTS in ways we foreign fans can’t. We would like to see BTS happy from now on. That’s why we’re always going to be by their side and continue to support them. We are A.R.M.Y!”

Source: Netizen Buzz