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Fans both with and without tickets came from all around the world to meet and celebrate the group's 13th anniversary in a city-wide ARMY embrace. BUSAN — Tosin Ojulari did not have a ticket to BTS's "Arirang" concert in Busan. She came anyway. For her first trip to Korea, she flew from Canada to Incheon International Airport, then traveled another 400 kilometers (249 miles) south to Busan on a four-hour express bus. By Friday afternoon, she was standing near Haeundae Beach, where BTS songs drifted over the shoreline and fans moved between experience zones, photo spots and other festivities under the clear June sky. "As soon as the dates were announced, even though I hadn't gotten tickets, I booked my hotel within 10 minutes," Ojulari said. Born in Nigeria and now based in Canada, Ojulari has been a member of BTS's fandom, known as ARMY, for five years. She came to Korea for the Busan edition of "The City Arirang," BTS's citywide promotional project, which coincided with the anniversary of the group's debut on June 13, 2013, and its two-night concert run at Busan Asiad Main Stadium on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the first day of the concerts, Haeundae Beach became one of the main stages of that citywide celebration. A sand sculpture with the words "Keep Swimming" — a phrase defining the theme of BTS's "Arirang" era and its lead single "Swim" — stood against the deep blue sea as fans took photos, jumping and posing in front of it. The sand art was part of BTS's collaboration with the Haeundae Sand Festival, one of several local events folded into the Busan edition of "The City." Nearby, the "Love Song Lounge" hosted by BTS's agency HYBE ran from Friday to Sunday, inviting fans to write messages to BTS on red fabric banners, one of them reading, "Eight years of dreaming — now I can finally see BTS." For Ojulari, that was the point. Even without a concert ticket, she said, Festa week — BTS's annual anniversary celebration, marked by online and offline events — gave her enough reason to make the trip. "Even if I wasn't going to go to the concert, there would be things for me to see," she said. This year's anniversary carried added meaning for fans like Ojulari. It marked BTS's first Festa celebrated together after the group's military hiatus, which followed its 2022 "BTS Yet To Come in Busan" concert at the same stadium — the septet's last full-group activity before the break. "When I first met BTS, I was going through a lot," Ojulari said. "And I was like, before BTS comes back from the military, I'm going to have an apartment, a job, everything and then go see them — and that kept me going." Busan had been preparing for fans like her, with more than 110,000 visitors projected to come to the city for the two-day concert at Busan Asiad Main Stadium. They included not only ticket holders, but also fans who had come to Korea simply to celebrate BTS's 13th anniversary with fellow ARMY as the city joined in with media facades, local festivals, pop-ups and banners — some official ones from HYBE, and others fan-made — spread across major tourist spots. Annie, a New York-based fan from Thailand and an 11-year ARMY, also flew in from North America for her first visit to Busan and her first offline Festa. She arrived in Seoul first, joined an ARMY-themed tour there and then took a four-hour bus to Busan. Though she booked only one night in the city on Friday, she planned to return to Seoul before coming back to Busan by KTX on Monday for another ARMY-themed tour. "Yesterday, I actually went on an ARMY tour in Seoul," she said, wearing a purple shirt with BTS member Jungkook's name stitched on the back. "Even people who don't have tickets are here. I'm just happy to be with people from all over the world." For many fans arriving from Seoul by KTX, Busan Station was their first stop. Inside the station's Busan Eurasia Platform, a Welcome Center offered the first introduction to the Busan edition of "The City," with an informati...