Apparently famous people come here to bowl and Taeyang in particular has been spotted and had his picture taken by fans. Next is Butterfinger Pancakes which is supposed to be a really good breakfast foods place that is always crowded and always requires lining up. This was no different when I went and my friend told me G-Dragon likes to eat here.
I also noticed a lot of plastic surgery places everywhere in Apgujeong. I think it is the part of Seoul that has the most people getting plastic surgery because everyone here is wealthy and can afford such procedures.
I still had a lot of time to spare so I decided to go to the Galleria which is a high class department store in Apgujeong. Thinking back on it, I wish I never entered this building. Everyone in there looked like they were attending a wedding or were guests of honor to some banquet. They were all dressed very well and were ready to throw their money around. When I was walking around I just wanted to look at one of the price tags for a Woman’s blouse just to see what I’m dealing with and it was over $800. I immediately took my fingers off of the merchandise and proceeded to walk more cautiously to avoid the possibility of damaging anything. I also took a look at a T-shirt and it was about $130 o_o. As I walked through each floor of the Galleria I began to feel like the shop workers were staring at me and thinking that I couldn’t possibly be here to shop. I was also afraid to take out my cellphone to check the time because I was afraid that if they saw that it wasn’t a smartphone it would be a dead giveaway that I had no business (or money) being here. I also tried to take a picture of a T-shirt that I liked but as soon as I snapped 1 photo a clerk jumped in front of me and said no pictures.
Yes, I was definitely paranoid for the 30 minutes that I was there. So I left and just went to hang out at the SM building to wait for my friends. There, I met 2 Japanese girls. Yuri was from Japan and was just visiting Korea for a few days to see if she could catch Super Junior as they came or left the SM building. She was actually going to be flying to Vietnam in a few days to watch Super Junior’s concert live too. Her favorite member is Leeteuk and she bought him a gift from the Galleria (omg what a dedicated fan….). The other person was Nanako and she was a Japanese exchange student who was a fan of SHINee. I got to know them a little and exchanged Twitter and Facebook information just build my network and keep myself informed about SM artists.
My friends Courtney and Hillary finally came around 4PM and we proceeded to wait and just talk. There was an ajusshi who was the security guard and he came out and started talking to us. He asked us who we were here to see and then he would proceed to tell us whether they were inside of the building or not. He confirmed that SNSD wasn’t there and that Yuri was there in the morning; SHINee was not there; and only Leeteuk from Super Junior was present. He said he usually gets bored sitting there on his 12 hour security watch shifts so he likes to come out and meet the fans from different parts of the world. He was a very understanding and kind man that would come out from time to time and joke around with us by saying things like ”go sleep and eat” or “Khanh……go home!” Haha. We asked him if he knew when certain artists were supposed to come but he replied by saying that if he ever leaked the schedule he would get killed (even did the whole hand slicing the neck motion).
Yuri had to leave at 6PM but she really wanted to give her gift to Leeteuk and there was no guarantee that he would come out by that time. Yuri decided to stay a little longer and it was about 6:10PM when Leeteuk came out, waved at us, got into a van which pulled out with the passenger window all the way down as he waved as us and also took Yuri’s gift. She was ecstatic and I was so happy for her. She is absolutely lucky for being able to come at the right time and just lucking out on having her favorite member be there to accept her gift in person.
Then after, a white van pulled in and Seohyun came out of it! I barely got a picture of her back when we were asked to not take pictures. Seohyun didn’t even acknowledge the fans calling out to her like Leeteuk did and she just proceeded to go into the SM building.
After all of this excitment, Courtney, Hillary and I decided to go to Cofioca, which was the bubble tea place where I met Amber last time. I had no idea that this place was so popular amongst idols because I never actually stopped to look at the shop the last time I went and just got my Amber autograph and left. This time, when I looked at the walls, I saw autographs from SNSD, SHINee, G.NA, U-Kiss, Rainbow, DBSK, f(x), Wondergirls, B2ST, Kara, Super Junior, etc.
I got the Taro Bubble Tea. The best boba drink I have had in Seoul thus far.
We then went back to the SM building for a little while longer to see if we could catch a glimpse of Seohyun leaving. As it was getting late, a taxi driver who parked his car on the side of the street near to where we were standing came over to us and started a conversation. He started telling us all of these details about SM artists like Where DBSK’s, SNSD’s, and SHINee’s dorms were. He told us general areas for them but for SHINee he even went into the floor and apartment number. He then told us about how there was a gym that a lot of celebrities work out at and Minho, Jonghyun, a few Super Junior members, Baek Ji Young, and Kim Jong Kook go to. He also told us about a bar called “74” where Seohyun, Kara’s Nicole, and other celebrities went to last week to celebrate 2AM’s Jinwoon’s birthday. And apparently Onew from SHINee goes jogging a lot near his dorm area. Finally he got into relationship stuff. These things I have heard before as rumors on the internet which were never proven true or false, but this would be the 2nd time hearing it while in Korea. The first time I heard these relationship pairings was when I met Serena, the hardcore f(x) fan from Taiwan who knows hardcore Korean fans that have stalked their favorite idols long enough to know who they are dating. Even though they have pictures, they choose not to post and release them because it would hurt their idols. So hardcore fans do truly stand by the love for their idols and even though they invade the privacy of these artists, they do know when to protect that privacy and keep it private. Anyways, so this man tells us that Taeyeon and Leeteuk have been a couple for about 3 years and that Yoona and Donghae are also a couple. He has seen Leeteuk sneakily drive up to SNSD’s dorm and pick up Taeyeon to take her out. The first time I heard this information, I took it pretty hard because to me, all of the members of SNSD are pure angelic beings that only concentrate on performing and singing careers. The fanboy side of me refused to believe even the slightest possibility of such accusations, but the logical side of me knows that these people that we call “idols” are nothing more than human beings with the same desires and needs. Who is to say they shouldn’t be able to find love just because there are millions of people out there who would do anything to be with them. Again, these are still technically just rumors but I think they are true. Rumors don’t just start out of nowhere and there is always some truth to every accusation. In these cases, a little more than just some. But I am happy that Taeyeon is dating. Being a celebrity and having your life under the spotlight shouldn’t take away your freedom to pursue such a simple thing as dating.
Anywho, back to the creepy guy who knows everything. He finally whips out his business card and basically tells us that he stalks SM artists for a living. I don’t exactly know how it works since he was driving a taxi around. I guess he stalks full time and drives people around on his down time. He said that if we give him our phone number he would let us know when he spots our favorite artists and he will probably want to collect money afterwards. It was eye-opening to hear all of these things, but this was just too much. What he does for a living is just dirty and pathetic. Prying into the lives of people and invading their privacy to which he would then broadcast to various other people sounds like something the lowliest of people could try to make a living off of. As much as I love SNSD and would like to know where they are at to run into this, this is neither the way nor the context of how I want to do it.
We told the guy that we had to go home and headed to the subway after a long day of waiting around for our favorite artists to make an appearance. But tomorrow SHINee is supposed to be performing in Seoul so there’s something else to look forward to.
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