ex hardcore fangirl here. i was the most active from 2013 to 2017, when kpop wasn't as easily accessible worldwide.
my everyday life was filled with waking up at 3am to look for updates, then getting ready and going to school at 7am. but even at school, i still actively follow my group's activities and support them. 4pm school finished and i don't go home because i need my school's wifi to fangirl some more.
like if they're having a comeback?
wow the amount of internet data i spent to constantly stream, vote, looking for stages and shows where they appear in, chasing achievements after achievements... it's no joke.
i have 38 accounts and that's only for Mnet, every single one i used to vote the group i love.
i learned english then learned korean so i myself can fangirl better. learned wordpress just so i can make a blog to guide other fangirls in my country how to support the boys more.
oh i also forget to mention that i need to save up most of my pocket money because fangirling, buying albums, sending gifts, going to events, sharing freebies, (i never went to concert but concert tickets would cost even more), etc — supporting the people i root for and trying to make them reach new heights cost A LOOOOT of money. i never spend as much money as when i was fangirling.
TL;DR
we fangirls willingly support them despite everything—spending hours every day, so much energy, and most of our MONEY, "investing" in the boys because we love them and what they do and we want them to last for a long time, to be found more, to keep doing what they're doing. we almost don't have a life of our own.
and the idols? they CHOSE that life, too.
so it's unfair when we abdicate our lives to them, for their wealth and happiness and success, only for them to neglect their own job and the fangirls (their literal investors) to DATE when the fandom itself don't even have the time energy nor money to date.
it's intense and fulfilling, but also unhealthy after reaching some degrees. i'm autistic, so going all-in is my specialty, so i'm somewhere between healthy and unhealthy lol.
Right? Being an idol is only their JOB. The only thing fans are entitled to is their professional life, not their personal one. Why should obsessive immature fans be able to dictate how idol's live their life, throw tantrums and ruin careers when they don't get what they want? You may not want to be rude, but I genuinely think fans like that need to be institutionalized/seek professional help because that level of parasocialism and possessiveness is not normal nor healthy. Just because the fans are lonely and miserable does not mean their favorite idols should, too. Sorry but I'm a Carat that saw Joshua get harassed to hell and back for dating rumours, so this topic pisses me off.
this will sound ignorant, but quoting from others: just like how japan are "used" to sexualizing child / lolicon/shotacon, romanticizing normalizing and pushing yaoi, yuri, and 2D porns... or westerners are fine with PDA, or some countries are more closed or conservative.... it's also just how the culture is there in south korea.
in the first place, the company and the system itself are the ones that offer and shape and push the "idol" concept that we now know of—perfect in every way, always smiling despite everything, owned by the fans, etc.
so young people who gets constant exposure and doesn't YET have access to different perspectives ride the "unhealthy" system because *that's the norm.*
global fans, as they say, don't have the right to judge the way they live and what's considered "normal" there. kpop is originally their thing, not our thing. (we will also see the torn and scorn between local loviewers who wants to keep testar in korea when they're planning to go global later in the story)
and seeing many examples of rooted tradition—everywhere in the world, not only in kpop industry—i understand where they stand.
though i think there's nothing wrong if we speak about "treating idols more human" AS fellow humans—not as "outsiders".
the globalization, how easily voice carries on the internet, and "parasocial" term that's been spreading lately also add new perspectives to their unhealthy "tradition". but it doesn't mean the norm will shift immediately just because we—whether as outsiders or simply someone who supports humanity—demand it so.
i've seen lots of changes since a lot of idols have global culture / not only south koreans background now.
so, yeah, THAT is the norm/culture in reality, and that's also brought up here in DoD.
lololol stop worrying about the side characters xDDD
If it helps, he actually did more than just have a girlfriend which caused problems for the group but it won't be revealed for a long time. (basically he didn't just date someone, he actually genuinely didn't care enough about the group's success so he deserved to go).
I know Min Junghoon basically got eliminated because they found out he had a girlfriend. So he went from being like top 5-7 right… until they found out he’s a normal human being that dates and has a girlfriend.
That’s sad but also I don’t understand why is that detrimental to their careers. Not even trying to be rude just truly curious.