Given the behavior of various newer Hybe acts not expressing any respect to BTS, it seems Hybe is not waiting for its return.
TWS and Illit do not know BTS, and it is unlikely that they will show any respect on it.
This being allowed to occur means there is no preferential treatment for Big Hit acts (BTS and txt) over other a under the Hybe umbrella, and while Pledis, an acquired label, now has a new group TWS, who is competing against IU for the Yearly #1 in Melon, there are no new acts coming out from Big Hit. It seems given the way things are going, TWS will become Hybe's newer generation boy group (whatever Zico is doing has been buried, no one really caring about it, and Zico himself seems to be more interested in his own activities)
The question some people had asked is
"Why Hybe did NOT run a unit, composed of the younger four, while the older three were in the military?"
They could have dragged their military service till 2025 and given that the ruling party, more keen to send them to the military, lost badly in the general election earlier this month, it is probable that with the rise of Taylor Swift the younger four would have gotten the exemption. Instead, Seventeen (and by corollary probably TWS too) will get the exemption. (SVT has 2 Chinese, 2 Americans and the leader who got his exemption so 5 of 13 members won't attend the military, making it possible to do tours when the other 8 members might serve in turns)
As a result Seventeen became the act which sold the most albums in last year, although its reaches outside of Asia are still quite limited. Will Seventeen or TWS respect BTS now? I doubt it.
The younger four, or yioungest three depending who you ask, were the 'core' of the group, and the older three, I have to say, were less essential. It would have been possible to do world stadium tours with the younger four, "RJVJ", which would have kept Taylor Swift from having the biggest tour of all time and out of the Person of the Year title, which won't be surpassed by any singer, ever.
Now anything BTS might do after they are discharged is meaningless since they can never defeat Tahlor Swift again. Never. I have debunked the longer run theory some Koreans had floated around, showing the collapse of IU earlier on this year, although IU did maintain her positin thanks to Yoon Mirae and Tiger JK pulling a Fifty Fifty on Bibi.
Once the momentum is lost, it is only a slower decline, like Drake playing second fiddle to Taylor Swift during the last November battle between Jungkook and Taylor Swift, with Drake, SZA and Doja Cat, plus the Beatles, becoming sidekicks for the UMC singer.
I do think that the RJVJ unit would have kept the BTS fervor going. Now it will have to start from scratch, ridiculed by TWS and Illit.
