SEOUL-- Hybe, the corporation behind K-pop sensation BTS, said Thursday it will expand its business to web-based comics, novels and gaming by creating original content featuring its artists.

Bang Si-hyuk, founder and chairman of Hybe, unveiled the plan during an online briefing, where he shared future plans for the company's business that has been expanding under the motto of "boundless."

"I've been using words like 'global' and 'connection' very often, but now I think such expressions have been embodied," he said. "I'd like to describe the past six months (of the company's path) as being 'boundless'."

Hybe will continue to blur boundaries between countries, culture and industries in the future to provide K-pop fans with ample experiences related to their favorite artists, he said.

For this, the company, which also has popular K-pop idol groups such as Enhypen, Seventeen and Tomorrow X Together, will collaborate with artists of various fields of the pop culture industry to create web-based cartoons, novels and animations with members of their idol groups as main characters in the coming years.

Hybe then unveiled an impressive array of four original series to be released on Naver Webtoon next year. The first one will be "7Fates: CHAKHO," a story inspired by a Korean folk tale about seven tiger hunters who form a squad to take revenge for their loved ones. BTS members will be featured as the seven hunters in the series set to go into service on Jan. 15.

Three other originals on the 2022 slate are "The Star Seekers," "Dark Moon" and "Crimson Heart," and they will also feature Hybe artists.

A computer game about BTS will also be released in the first half of next year, according to the company. The group will take part in the production process, it said.

During the briefing, the company also announced that it will get into the NFT business through a joint venture with Dunamu, the largest South Korean cryptocurrency operator. The new technology will allow fans to have unique ownership of digital content and merchandise to be produced based on Hybe artists' intellectual property, according to Hybe.

Hybe also unveiled a plan to cultivate new international K-pop groups.

Hybe America, the U.S. branch of the South Korean company, will hold global auditions to create new girl groups in partnership with Geffen Records under Universal Music Group. Hybe is also preparing for an audition program to launch a boy group in Japan, according to the company.

Source: Yonhap News Agency