Running Man's Ji Seok Jin Is Close Friends With BTS Jin For This Reason

One of the cast members of Running Man, Ji Seok Jin, revealed that he’s close friends with BTS‘s Jin for a specific reason.

On an episode of Radio Star, the MCs read a letter sent by a staff member who worked with Seokjin on his radio show, Ji Seok Jin’s 2PM Date, which revealed his friendship with Jin.

The staff member said Ji Seok Jin is not usually friendly or kind to others on the surface, even close friends, but that they accidentally saw a text Seok Jin had sent BTS’s Jin which revealed his soft nature.

“He was writing a really lengthy message. It felt like he was writing a love letter.” — Staff Member

Seokjin admitted that he was close with Jin since Jin appeared on Running Man two years ago. Although Jin only came out for a short time to play a game, the two became close… because they share the same name!

“Because his name is also Seokjin! His real name is Kim Seokjin and mine is Ji Seokjin. I felt some sort of spiritual ‘purpose’ from him. I felt spiritual ‘purpose’ from him as if ‘I want to become friends with you’. He even said ‘I really wanted to meet you.’ So we exchanged numbers. I don’t usually exchange numbers.” — Ji Seok Jin

He supported Jin when BTS ranked #1 on the Billboards Chart by messaging him and playing only BTS songs on his radio show.

“I messaged him and on top of that, when they ranked #1, we had our radio show dedicated to playing all BTS songs. I messaged Jin [to tell him] and he replied. He’s really nice.” — Ji Seok Jin

Ji Seok Jin even revealed that Jin texts him out of the blue, sending him messages and photos of his travels!

“It drives me crazy. I even get messages from Jin all of a sudden. ‘Hyung-nim, I’m in LA.’ He even sends me pictures… It’s not that he’s lonely, he feels the warmth from me.” — Ji Seok Jin

When the hosts couldn’t believe he wasn’t just a “grumpy old man”, Seok Jin shared texts between the two on TV, showing Jin’s selfie and accompanying message “I’m handsome haha”.