How far would you go for your favourite K-pop group?
One fan broke into a hotel room, and even posted about it on social media.
On Monday (Aug 21), a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, went viral after gaining attention from angry fans of the K-pop boyband NCT.
"This was rushed because of the circumstances but the hotel key card though," wrote a user named Judy, attaching four videos of a hotel room, which she claimed to be occupied by one of the boyband members, Jaehyun.
In the videos, a jacket which is said to be Jaehyun's was seen on the bed. There was a lineup of what seems to be the members' luggage but there was no one captured in the room at the time.
Fans noted that the walls in the uploaded clips matched the background of one of NCT's livestreams within the same time frame, and tagged their management company SM Entertainment in the replies to alert them of the issue, calling it an invasion of privacy.
One fan told her to "prepare for jail".
Judy, however, claimed that she "didn't break in."
She posted screengrabs of text messages with a person named Sophia, who asked her how she got into the hotel room.
"I said it on the tweet. With the key card like a normal person," responded Judy.
She added that the video was taken 10 months ago and was "way past it being relevant". She also remarked that she was "purposely being vague" and provoked fans to "come up with whatever fan theories" they wanted.
Fans started bringing up past incidents, as Judy has been infamously known as a "sasaeng" — a Korean term for obsessed fans who stalk celebrities — for years.
She seems to embrace the term however, as an expose thread on X dated as far back as 2019 showed a Snapchat post of her and two friends calling themselves sasaengs.
The person who posted the thread revealed back then that they had shared the same hotel room with Judy, and the former was aware of NCT's private flight information.
More recently in February this year, she was spotted in NCT's YouTube vlog behind two of the members, Johnny and Mark. Fans flagged Judy's intrusive behaviour in the comments section before urging SM Entertainment to take action against her.
'An illegal act'
South Korean media reported yesterday that SM Entertainment will be taking "legal action".
SM Entertainment wrote: "The video is an illegal act that severely violates the artist's privacy, and we are collecting data on the person who first uploaded the videos and everyone who redistributed it. We will request the cooperation of domestic and foreign websites as well as law firms to ensure a thorough investigation is conducted."
Following the announcement, netizens went on Judy's X account to mock her.
"Going to jail over K-pop is so unserious," remarked one netizen.
"Girl did you get your colour analysis yet? I think orange would suit you," mocked another, referring to the orange uniform that prisoners in the US wear.
Though one might think that Judy would deactivate her socials or start panicking, she remained unfazed, posting yesterday: "Since we're talking so much about suing, let's see how the spreading of misinformation, harassment and invasion of privacy (from y'all and SM Entertainment) stands in court."
She attached screenshots submitting a form for an appointment to discuss legal issues with her university, and made a separate post with screengrabs of a conversation where she mentioned that she wanted to sue the "freaks" on X.
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