Stepping into the world of K-pop fandom, many fans have had to face a rather “bitter” reality: a lot of idol-related content is released behind paywalls. From reality shows and behind-the-scenes DVDs to concert livestreams, paying to access exclusive content has gradually become part of fan consumption culture.

For fans with comfortable finances, this is not a big deal, but for many others, paying for digital content was still considered a luxury—especially around a decade ago. As a result, a workaround emerged: one person would purchase the content and then reupload it for everyone to watch for free on other platforms a few hours or days after release.

However, BigHit Music (then BigHit Entertainment) was known as a “copyright enforcer.” These videos were often taken down immediately due to copyright strikes, or, if lucky, would only stay up for a few days before disappearing without a trace. Unwilling to give up, ARMY tried every possible loophole, from creating private groups to sharing on platforms they believed BigHit couldn’t monitor—α¢¢ι∂єитally creating a legendary anecdote in fandom history.

Back in 2016, BTS released the first season of Bon Voyage—a travel reality show documenting the group’s journey through Norway, ѕωє∂єи, and New Zealand. The content was sold exclusively on VLIVE (the predecessor of today’s Weverse). When pirated uploads on YouTube and Dailymotion were wiped out by BigHit “in no time,” ARMY turned to a place no one could have expected: P*rnhub.

P*rnhub, the world’s leading adult video-sharing website, suddenly became an unintended “archive” for Bon Voyage episodes. Fans uploaded full episodes with an extremely clever strategy: giving the videos titles that mimicked typical adult content titles on the platform. They believed they could trick BigHit’s copyright monitoring system, αѕѕuming no one would think to search for idol content on an adult website.

Although the videos were eventually taken down, the term “X-Rated Hack” went down in history as one of the most inappropriate yet hilarious moments in fandom history. Naturally, after this incident, ARMY learned their lesson and stopped engaging in similar behavior. However, with BTS’s upcoming world tour just months away—where some concerts will be livestreamed as paid content—it just so happens that nearly 10 years have pαѕѕed since the Bon Voyage “X-Rated Hack” incident. Fans have brought up the story again, making it go viral once more on social media platforms.

Now, fans are much more aware of copyright issues and are reminding each other not to repeat the “mistakes” of the past. Many amusing comments have appeared under this widely discussed topic:

- The titles……. If I was non-army I would genuinely think it’s 7 boys doing it. Oh my god, our embarrαѕѕing past

- not the caption hell naw- imagine some bl addict discovering bts through p**n hub and becoming an army, sorry so sorry

- 7 cute korean boys have fun together. It was totally normal until it showed up on that website

- I wanna see these types of chaotic things again

- That’s where the fяєαкy part of our fandom came from

- remember when butter was the 2nd most played song in the hub too

- "Having fun together" and they were surly people who Clicked at it with the expectation for the 7 cute кσяєαn men to have a different kind of fun is crazyyyy and funny at the same time.

- The creativity and resorcefulness of ARMY is on a whole another level. It must have been epic

- Whattt ?????? Someone tell me this is AI. Army’s you guys are so cooked

- Wait how did bigнιт staff find it there, why are they on that website in the first place

- Hahaha as a baby army , I’m laughing and wheeezzing. I can’t with this fandom

- Bro I was on every platform known to man trynna get bonvoyage eps. 2020 I finished every bonvoyage during quarantine but I was watching it between 3 different websites

- i learn of p**nhub during my ARMY era.. i was such an innocent child who don't go visiting no p00rn websites before this

- Can never forget. I watched it there. Amies are just insane