#Kpop industry

[cardboardheartss]

New ADOR CEO Mini Reading

⚠️DISCLAIMER! TAROT CARDS ARE NOT 100% ACCURATE! TAKE EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT! IF MY INTERPRETATIONS ARE INCORRECT FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!⚠️

Was Kim Joo Young sent but HYBE to work with NWJNS : 3oP, KNoC, AoC rx

Oh lawd… she was in fact sent by HYBE and trust… it’s not gonna go that well for NWJNS career if I’m being very honest. This women has not one ounce of creativity or love for music or just this Kpop industry in general. EXTREMELY UNCREATIVE!

Kim Joo Youngs thoughts on NWJNS?: 10oS, 7oW, KoW, The Magician, 7oC

Have they already met? Seems like she thinks that they disappointed that she’s replaced MHJ, very stand off ish energy from the members. Apart from that she thinks that they are creative and put in hard work in their careers, also believes that she will have to catch up to them or their level of creativity and dedication to the musical arts.

Min Hee Jin’s thoughts on Kim Joo Young : The Hanged Man, 9oS, 6oW rx

She really has no interest in that women, she’s just worried about NWJNS reputation?! She worries about how they will fall from grace due to the change of her position in the company and how fans will also not be in support of the new CEO because well… her work and management won’t be on par.

(I agree with her too, as i had mentioned, we’ll pray for NWJNS 🙂‍↕️😪🙏🏽)

> initially I wanted to do a reading on NWJNS members thought on this women but I decided not to but as I was picking up my cards to shuffle them again… 3oS came out of the deck by itself 🤕💔

Outcome of ador/NWJNS with Kim Joo Young being in control : The Moon, 5oP rx, 5oC, 8oC, The Hierophant rx, Temperance rx, 5oW rx, 8oW rx

This is a MESS!! I can imagine some people from ADOR actually resigning, and these are workers who actually put in so much emotion and time into NWJNS and their own careers too but I truly do see them leaving! There will be a lot of conflicts in that company, this CEO may even end up abusing her position as time goes by. Stagnant energy, no passion or drive from other workers from the company… like there will no longer be such actions taking place :

@psychicreadsgirl

Some employees will just have to accept their work circumstances with this ceo and just tolerate each other…🤷🏽‍♀️ because damnnn, A LOT of things are going to change, and it’ll most probably not bring any GENUINE peace whatsoever!

[growingwithem]

Donghae, Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk formed a team for a game and decided to call it "Forever SM" 😂

[jaetyun]

How different boys planet trainees would ask you on a date; a thread!

sung hanbin, gunwook, ricky, taerae, hong hai, keita & gyuvin x gn!reader (all separately) (established friendships with all of them)

genre: tooth rotting fluff, implied school au with hai and gyuvin

wc: 2.4k

a/n: for my friends lani yen and lulu 🫶

Park Gunwook

swore he was a rizz god

not that he was overcompensating, gunwook was just a confident man!

“im an attractive guy! i dont see why i wouldnt have a shot?”

that was, until he met you

the reality was.. he was anything but a rizzler 💀

giggling like a schoolgirl at a joke you had made, gunwook covered his mouth and quickly cleared his throat. he was not gonna give himself away! in his head, the stone face could come off cool and mysterious. like, he was imagining your very inner monologue! ‘woah! this guys different.. he doesn’t laugh easily. i wonder what he finds funny… i wanna kiss him right at this moment!’ yup! that was definitely you and surely *not* his own thoughts. just to really sell his tough guy-sona, gunwook knew he had to make eye contact. intimidation worked on his dog, why wouldnt it work on people too! although.. he didn’t remember his dogs eyes being this mesmerizing…

“gunwook! are you even listening??”

“i would love to.”

your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, causing gunwook to snap back to reality. he sheepishly smiled, blinking a couple times before laughing.

“sorry i-“

“you’d love to what??”

gunwook laughed. not the ‘😭😭’ or the ‘😂’ laugh, the ‘ha.ha.ha’ laugh. he waved his hand, clicking his tongue while trying to think of a bluff. not like that! he would not love to take you on a date and most definitely would not love to date you! so why couldnt he say that out loud?? his mouth seemed to betray him, coughing out pathetically, “ha! what do you… how.. youre.. are you free this friday?”

You chuckled, a sound that melted his heart and any remaining tough-sona left in him. dammit! where did he go wrong? gunwook swore his intimidation was foolproof! still, he couldnt help but shyly bat his eyelashes as you responded to his simple request.

“id love to.”

Ricky Shen

ricky doesn’t strike me as someone who’d make the first move

“i dont chase, i attract” sort of mentality

it usually worked out for him

that was.. until he saw you getting too close to someone else

you barely made it around the corner before being jumpscared by the tall blonde, who was leaning against the wall waiting for you. his eyes practically burned with envy when you appeared in his view next to them

he frowned, looking at you and simply ignoring their existence. “you ready?”

“for..?” you tilted your head in confusion, giving him a slight side eye.

“Our date.” ricky frowned, no hint of sarcasm in his voice. this only proved to confuse you more, giving a couple of hard blinks before being dragging along by the taller male. you quickly waved bye to your friend, whisper-yelling at ricky once you were down the hallway.

“are you serious right now?!” you yanked your hand away, making him stop. he turned around, still looking as stoic as ever. ricky nodded, pulling out his card.

“a steakhouse or italian?”

Sung Hanbin

a very romantic man

wants everything to be perfect. you already know he bought a box of chocolates and everything

“so what if its cheesy? its sweet!”

he had valentine’s day marked on his calendar, hyping himself up with each day be crossed off leading up to it.

hanbin gulped, nervously fidgeting with the gifts he bad bought you. you already had a foot out of the electric doors of the building he was waiting at the entrance of. your eyes lit up seeing him, awkwardly waving while walking up to the boy.

“hey!”

“hanbin! whatre doing here? are these.. for me?” you look up at him curiously, eyes softening upon seeing his exicted smile. hanbin was quick to nod, handing you the flowers. then the chocolates. then a teddy bear. then the bag of candles and bathbomb. than the valentines card he handmade. all you could do was shake your head in shock. “you didn’t have to..”

“but i wanted to!” and its true! hanbin had spent so much time and energy into trying to make everything perfect that he came across overbearing. you had gotten used to it with his absurd amount of gift giving, bit even this left you in awe. he resembled a puppy, his imaginary tail wagging excitedly.

the sight was something you couldnt help but shyly chuckle at. “well thank you. happy valentines” hanbin.. hadn’t planned this far. his brain was sent into overdrive trying to find an appropriate segway to pop the question. he found himself opening his mouth, but not words coming out.

you tilt your head at hanbin, waiting to see what else he has in store. knowing himself, he was surprised he didn’t end up buying all of korea just for you. he awkwardly held out his hand, gesturing for you to take it (how he thought you would with your arms filled, youre not quite sure)

“shall we?”

Terazono Keita

doesn’t hesitate

“what good would stalling do?”

such straightforward thinking

“if you like me, you like me! if you dont, you dont”

he never second guessed his philosophy until he met you

keita shook his head in disbelief, shoving the singular flower he had bought into his friends face. “what do you mean? i thought you couldnt go wrong with flowers??”

zhang hao smiled condescendingly, pointing at the shriveled petals. “not when you had them for *weeks* now and never had the guts to actually use them” he responded flatly. keita clicked his tongue, mumbling “everyone finds them romantic hao…”

“i dont find a half wilted daisy very charming” keitas head was already ready to retort, but he quickly hushed hao away once he saw you walking towards their direction. he smiled, his personality flipping a switch as he met you in the middle.

“oh! keita, here’s that cd you let me borrow“

“nah, keep it.” he hummed, quickly shoving the white daisy in his back pocket. keita was sure hed come around to giving it to you next time! just like the last 5 times..

your eyes beamed, your grip on the plastic softly tightening. “..really??” keita nodded, taking in account your excitement. “what, do you like that band?” your pupils were practically sparkling, nodding wordlessly.

“not like. *love*” jackpot! fuck the flowers, keita had a new plan.

“well y’know.. they’re coming around town next month.” he shrugged nonchalantly, glancing at you to gauge your reaction.

“deadass??”

“ill buy a ticket if you do”

you laughed, nodding along in agreement. “alright, sure! tell me which seat you get so i can be next to you”

“okay, why dont we talk it out over dinner?” you were left unable to resist his not-so-hidden advances. his cheesy 😎 expression had you giggling like a child. “you bet. should i wait for you?”

he waved you off, shaking his head quickly. “ill catch up with you.” after you exchanged thumbs ups and you had vanished, keita turned around to zhang hao with a giddy smile.

“am i smooth or what???”

hao sarcastically clapped

“only took you 6 tries”

Kim Gyuvin

so thoughtful and organized

“i spend too much time thinking about you to not be this thorough!”

and thorough he is

has a backup plan for his backup plan

now he just needs to courage to actually do it

gyuvin mumbled under his breath the speech he has rehearsed for when you left class. he nodded once satisfied, proud of the script he had memorized. that night the boy had created a chart of every scenario and outcome depending on what you’d respond with. once he felt satisfied, gyuvin wrote all the answers and cue words onto his hand with some pen. even with all his planning, he still feeling those butterflies as hard as ever watching you leave your classroom.

“you know that bowling alley that opened up recently?”

“why, wanna go together?”

“oh it’s just down by- what?”

this was NOT a scenario he had memorized, and gyuvin quickly glanced to his hand to see what he should say.

“i asked if you wanted to go to the bowling alley with me.”

gyuvin hadn’t found his answer in time, and decided to just wing it.

“oh! umm, it’s just-“

alright winging it over. his brain seemed to turn to mush in your presence and without a guide he’d honestly end up scaring you away. what he *didnt* expect was you scaring him away instead.

you gently grabbed his wrist, pulling it closer to you to read what was on his palm. “what is this?” he quickly yanked his hand away in embarrassment, shoving it in his pocket. “oh y’know! just uh.. to help me on a test next period.. ?”

“i didn’t know your test had my name on it.” you chuckled at him, seemingly very amused at his now completely flushed cheeks. not only did he have your name written about a thousand times, he put hearts around each one. gyuvin opened his mouth to respond, but words seemed to fail him. you put a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to reality a bit.

“gyu. you never answered my first question.”

“what is it?”

“do you. want to. go to the bowling alley. together?”

Dang Hong Hai

so shy

like please save him

he’ll talk about every little interaction while twirling his hair

“i borrowed a pencil!!” “… a pencil?”

fails to actually be able to speak to you though

hai had always been awkward when talking to you, so it was no surprise when you waved to him in the hallway he said nothing. it was also not a surprise when he never mentioned it later in class. what *was* a surprise was seeing him talking with a friend at the end of the hallway, resting against the locker nonchalantly. the nerve of that guy! and he didn’t even seem to notice your waving. you’re not sure why he suddenly switched up, but you’re gonna get answers out of him.

the answer you were not expecting is walking up to them and hearing your very name come out of his mouth. “we’re basically friends now!”

“really? arent you using the term too broadly here.”

“no i swear! we even wave to each other in the hallway now!” he cheered, seeming to gush at the idea. his friend pretended to be shocked, dramatically putting a hand over his mouth.

“woah, we’re taking big steps here. from pencils to waving?? might as well be official”

hai frowned, shaking his head. “i’m telling you all that’s left is asking for the insta!”

“you downloaded insta just for-“

“what??” that’s all you could say, caught completely off guard by their conversation. honghais mouth fell open, slowly turning to you with a :0 expression. “how much of that did you hear…?”

you looked between him and his friend, then him and his friend, back and forth back and forth.

honghais face was completely pink, burying his face into his hands. there was a moment of silence between you two.. both at a loss for words on what to say.

“i’m *so* sorry! i just-“

“you could’ve just asked..” you mumbled, pulling out a paper and quickly writing something down.

“please just- forget this! again i’m so-“ you placed the paper against his chest, waving to him before turning around and walking to class.

“well, you fumbled.” hai quickly hit his friends chest, looking at the paper in a panic.

on it laid your insta and number with a smiley face.

“let’s hang out :)”

Kim Taerae

always wondering how you won’t pick up on his flirting

the flirting in question: sending you tiktoks he finds funny

one of his usuals is making songs for you and having you tell him what you think

at this point, he wants to get straight to the point and finally pop the question. his method of choice is through song like always

the two of you had picked a spot to hang out together, to let taerae “show a new song he’s been working on” for the most part it was true! and you had never questioned his intention for the serenades, chalking it up to ‘he liked the genre!’

taerae began the rhythm, humming along to the guitar he began to play. you nodded along, closing your eyes to truly listen to the music. the lyrics were a lot more direct then normal, straight up sounding like a cheesy love confession. when you heard the strings no longer make a noise, you opener you eyes and began clapping.

“your lyricism is improving! it’s a lot more poetic this time!” you noted, earning a chuckle from the boy.

“are you curious why it’s better?”

you shrugged. “i guess. what is it?”

“this time i had someone in mind~” he gives you a look, one that screaming there’s more questions he was begging you to ask.

“is that right? who’s the lucky one” you entertained, resting your hand on the palm of your hand. your elbow rested on your knee, giving taerae your utter attention.

“guess.”

you jokingly started to look around you two, examining everyone else walking around the park. squinting, you pretending to consider some options in the crowd, only to turn back to him with a cheeky grin. one last glance from the left and right, you landed on one last option. you slowly raised your head out of your palm, pointing to yourself with only half sincerity. taerae shyly nodded, giving you all the confirmation you needed without saying a single word being exchanged between you two.

“seriously?” you pointed at yourself with more emphasis, and he softly laughed before pointing to you as well. you both continued to feed each other giggles, seeming to telepathically communicate. you finally cleared your throat, trying to silence all the leftover snickers. “well? what’re trying to say mr. singer?”

taerae straightened his back, running his hand through all the strings of his guitar before saying in a sing-songy voice (that did not go with the riff at all) “will you go out with me? ♪”

you began to cackle, clapping in laughter at his cute nature. you pretended to ponder the question, tapping your chin with an index finger. “sorry what was that? i didn’t quite catch it.”

“will you go out with me? ♪”

you leaned over to him, plucking a random string and mimicking his singing.

“yes i will ♪”

[timetraveltodystopia]

Will seunghan come back to riize?

Will Seunghan come back to RIIZE?

Cards: the hanged man, and the two of wands.

There's a future good prospect for the group. This decision let stuck SM after so many petitions of the international fans, stans and netizens of the comeback of Seunghan. In the meantime, he's out of the group or he will be in hiatus, but after that decision and wrong decision, because of the pressure of Knetizens, he will be back. He is probably reevaluating the big decision he will have to make and the big difficulties he will have to endure.

[thisonegirl]

Enough is enough.

I’m am utterly devastated and disgusted by the behavior of the K-“fans” in regard to Seunghan.

Nothing that boy did and I mean nothing at all justifies such vitriol and cruelty and to think that this is somewhat of a norm is appalling.

This is a human being. Period. He is just like you and me and - as shocking as it may seem (eyeroll) - he had a life before debuting. A life he has the right to live as he deems fit as long as he hurts/harms no one. And this is the same for every other idol in the industry. He is someone’s child, just like you are and he has feelings, just like you do. He and his loved ones do not deserve this type of pain and trauma over something as trivial as dating (before he even fucking debuted).

A lot of k-pop stans use k-pop AS therapy rather than WITH therapy and at this point some of you need to be put it straight-jackets and padded rooms.

I’m saying this as someone who is not even a fan of the group, as someone who is not as active on the k-pop community (other than with SEVENTEEN and BTS, preferring to watch in silence from the background), nor familiar with 5th gen groups : You are ruining this community with your toxicity and sick delusions, and most importantly ruining the lives of actual people with the amount of trauma you’re inflicting on them. This is abuse and harassment, and it is NOT normal/okay.

Please remember that they are humans just like the rest of us, deserving of the same life experiences we indulge in.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Suddenly so many controversies surrounding Hybe. What's going on?

I'll be honest, i dislike that company, but it's hard to believe they are secretly "sabotaging" every other group in kpop, big or small, even the ones that aren't their competition.

Even if Hybe was the one that leaked pictures of that Riize guy, it was Riize's own fans that demanded he be removed and sent funneral flowers, and it's Riize's own company that bent down to fans' pressure and let him leave or made him leave. Imagine if the fans had behaved like normal people and ignored the dating pictures? All that would not have happened. If we gotta blame, their fans and their label need to be blamed too for the mess.

I find Hybe's strategies of monitoring the competition disturbing to say the least. Using DC Inside established methods? Is that how low they can get? In the past year, the company has been surrounded by controversies and so far there haven't been any real consequences to anything they have done.

But in the case of Seunghan, I think he's a victim of a really broken system which apart from Hybe (which as of now seems to have contributed to spreading rumors), it also includes a section of the group's fandom and SM for legitimizing such an inhumane treatment from so-called fans and validating their requests, which will have consequences for the entire industry.

Unfortunately, idols are considered a commodity for kpop companies and for some of their fans as well. As long as they have no real protection (like an actual real working union), they will continue to be at the hands of corporations who will continue to use them however they want. And what is unfortunate as well but understandable because they are taught to watch their own interest in such an industry, veteran idols should speak up more and try to work towards changes in the industry. Otherwise, who else to do it if not them, a new generation?

[beautifulpersonpeach]

I was a bit surprised to see that mhj specifically said that newjeans had approved the statement saying that belift had copied newjeans' concept with illit. I'm not the type of person that thinks that you're a bitch for asserting position or your value, so this isn't where I'm coming from, but, especially in an industry where it's so rare to see groups say anything negative about other groups, particular junior groups I would think, it was quite the strong, swift position to take. Do you foresee newjeans continuing to engage publicly with this scandal, and how would you think taking an active part in this would affect their brand?

*

Ask 2:

bp in your opinion is there any chance that in this Hybe/MHJ situation there's a buried kind of double-blind motivation?

Like the kind i've seen attributed to E|on Musk, where he creates a big scandal to provide cover when he's doing something much shadier (and then maybe it gets out of hand, like the TwiX thing lol)

You've said you're pretty familar with the corporate side machinations - could Hybe be purposefully airing all this, sure to stick it to MHJ, but also to temporarily drive down stock prices for idk easy shares-repurchasing? Or even allowing a mess they can blame for having to report lower numbers to shareholders for whatever reason: boycott actually impacting profit, hedging against lower-than-predicted bts returning numbers, etc.

Or is this too convoluted of conspiracy thinking and BPD/HYBE/MHJ, and by extension from your recent posts basically 'corporate kpop' entire, are really just that transparent and petty?

*

Ask 3:

Might be a stupid question because I honestly don't have any clue about corporate businesses and how they work. But in the light of this scandal and how BigHit/Hybe developed over the last years: would you say this is what you get when you become too greedy instead of concentrating on what you were good at?

*

Ask 4:

in your opinion, is mhj truly an indispensable part of newjeans creative output? Also, do you see any way that hybe would let newjeans leave with its name and discography if they try to break their contract to go with mhj like some people are saying?

*

Ask 5:

I’m seeing a lot of discussion about whether newjeans will try to leave with mhj and break their contract with hybe, but I don’t see this as a realistic scenario, and I especially don’t see hybe letting them leave with their name and discography. You mentioned that there are a limited set of options now, but is this even one of them? In my mind, newjeans as a concept either stays at hybe, with or without mhj in whatever capacity, or can’t really exist legally

*

Ask 6:

Also this has given everyone (kpop stans, ARMYs, journalists) the go ahead to drag Newjeans in order to "defend" Illit, BTS, Riize, etc by throwing (again) dozens of plagiarism accusations and trying to discredit everything the group has done and achieved. And it was started by Hybe themselves... I have no words, bpp

***

I think these six asks capture most of the talking points in the asks I've received since yesterday, so I'll use these to answer your questions.

The sheer amount of spin happening in the media right now is ridiculous lmaoo. With the mention of BTS in the "escape files", ARMYs have predictably moved from shady bystanders to actively joining in the negative spin, spreading rumor articles and many are now attacking the girls themselves. But honestly, this is nothing less than what I expected. NewJeans is the most popular group in Korea, the 2nd most valuable IP only behind BTS, and Min Heejin is the brains behind the operation - an achievement she's insisted on taking full credit for since inception. Leaving the only option for whoever is masterminding this from within and outside HYBE, to destroy her reputation as an executive completely to diminish her value to outside investors, and weaken the fan support for NewJeans given how closely they are already associated with MHJ. And that's what is happening. It impacts every group at HYBE and nearly obliterates the viability of NewJeans.

For HYBE, it's a tolerable loss given there's only one year left before BTS returns and closes that earnings gap in mere months. Whoever took this action sees it simply as resulting in a numerical loss that can be soon corrected, but personally, I disagree, for the same reasons I objected to HYBE's acquisition of SM even though on paper it made numerical sense.

Anon in ask 1: I can understand your surprise but sad as it is to say, I expected that response from MHJ. She's a creative, not a PR exec or an MBA-credentialled suit. I'm not sure how familiar you are with ADOR's press releases in general, but anybody who reads them can tell there's almost no corporate doublespeak, no vague allusions, nothing that shows it's written by a typical media-trained PR person. Which is why most people, including you, take that statement to mean NewJeans agrees with MHJ that Illit copied them (it's a possibility), when in reality the language shows it could refer to them agreeing with MHJ's assertion that HYBE hasn't duly responded to her requests about inter-label discrimination, or other related matters. That's the kind of detail a trained PR person would be sure to include, to minimize the fallout to NJ, but just as with the press release on Cookie, the one on Minji's rival sasaeng, the response to Hyein's veneer rumours, and practically every press release ADOR has put out, the language is unsophisticated.

"Do you foresee newjeans continuing to engage publicly with this scandal, and how would you think taking an active part in this would affect their brand?"

NewJeans has so far not engaged publicly with this scandal. MHJ has mentioned them to signal any separation between them will likely be contested. It's leverage. If they do take an active part in this scandal, it will completely destroy their brand. Like, it's already on life support. Anything more and we might as well say their last rites.

*

Anon in ask 2: I'd say that's not a conspiracy exactly but it is kinda pushing it. Anytime there's a stock dip it's a buying opportunity, and HYBE is always guaranteed to be a Buy so long as BTS is slated to return within 12 months of the stock event. But we simply don't have any clear indications that's the case now given the timing doesn't quite line up. If anything, that is more like the 4th order side-effect.

And yeah, people on the corporate side, not just in k-pop, are many times just that petty. But it's also true this case has been sensationalized in particular ways to appeal to k-pop stans specifically.

*

Anons in ask 4 & 5: The options available are:

MHJ leaves HYBE and NewJeans stays in HYBE

MHJ leaves HYBE and NewJeans leaves with her

MHJ stays in HYBE but is demoted from her exec role and NewJeans stays in HYBE

MHJ stays in HYBE and keeps her exec role and NewJeans stays in HYBE

None of these options are good, but the worst of these evils is option 2. If the members attempt to leave with her, there's no pretty way to say this, but they'll be done. I'm not even going to waste time writing all the ways HYBE and k-pop stans as a whole will rip them to shreds, all I'll say is that whoever is attached to these girls should consider taking a 6 months sabbatical away from k-pop entirely once that news breaks. The law is not on their side and public opinion, especially after all the 'leaks' and spin from HYBE in the last 72 hours, certainly isn't on their side either. It would be career suicide.

"in your opinion, is mhj truly an indispensable part of newjeans creative output?"

Personally, I think yes. Every label at HYBE had similar initial monetary investment as NewJeans and ADOR had, and other groups from the Big 3 have had even bigger investments and resources at their disposal. There isn't a single group, both within HYBE and outside HYBE, that has yielded the same results as NewJeans in the same period of time. Illit comes close, but even with their achievements they haven't reached the same (positive) notoriety as NewJeans did at debut. All HYBE groups have access to HYBE's youtube channel, connections and resources, and yet the achievements of BOYNEXTDOOR, LE SSERAFIM, ENHYPEN, and even ILLIT, are nowhere near comparable to that of NewJeans. And I agree with MHJ that she's the primary reason why. Having access to resources is only one part of the equation. How you allocate those resources and what you do with it is far more important, and this is where MHJ and ADOR excels relative to other sub-labels.

NewJeans without MHJ will not be nearly as threatening to everyone else in k-pop, and I suspect this is one reason there have been calls for her to be removed from managing the group since their debut.

*

Anons in ask 3 & 6: Yeah there's a fair bit of greed on show here. Generally, for a lot of people in this industry, greed is good... unless the greedy person is a woman. Because the only thing more central to nasty corporate tussles like this, more than greed, is ego.

I'm not trying to play the gender card, but sometimes I do wonder why there are no articles like this about people like Jaden Jeong and Simon Jakob given the reputation those men have in corporate circles, where top officials (in this case, within HYBE) are saying they cannot possibly work with MHJ because she is "overly and excessively opinionated". I'm highlighting this article because despite the initial paragraphs of spin, that bit is the only thing consistent with MHJ's claim that this attack from HYBE started because she'd filed a whistleblowing report on toxic inter-label competition and followed up an email that said quote:

"..is this deliberate obtuseness and unapologetic behaviour consistent with HYBE's founding philosophy of rebelling against unfair practices in the entertainment industry?"

I mean... in corporate Korea, I can see how they were sick of her shit and it was only a matter of time before she got the boot.

The insidious thing about spin is that it mixes the truth with lies, making it easy for people to accept it wholly. It's entirely possible that MHJ wants more compensation, more autonomy and independence, feels that Belift and other companies borrowed her ideas without full credit, and that she was unsupported by HYBE HQ. It's entirely possible that she took actions such as monitoring fan feedback of the group(s) she suspects and filing a whistleblowing report to build a case - according to both MHJ and others at HYBE, these are complaints she's apparently had since last year, but none of those things would justify HYBE's response nor is it enough to turn people against her.

What I find particularly interesting about this case, is that everything that decisively incriminates her of the more sensational and sinister allegations, comes from the person of VP L or CEO A - a person who only joined ADOR in January 2024, shortly after which HYBE received their first tip-off that MHJ was planning to escape. It's VP L who titles documents with the equivalent of "TOP SECRET DO NOT TOUCH" on company computers... the same guy that's supposedly a double agent working in favour of MHJ and ADOR but is situated within ADOR, not HYBE, where simple logic shows he'd be most useful. Unless he's situated right where he's supposed to be.

Anyway...

HYBE has requested for a shareholder meeting on April 30th where they'll likely table the motion for MHJ to resign regardless of what's found in the audit. Far as I know, she's completed the audit questionnaire but not surrendered her laptop as HYBE has requested. Given the play is for HYBE to kick her out while continuing to manage NJ, I can see how she'd rather die than surrender her laptop and hand over her ideas (and potentially incriminating info) to HYBE on a silver platter for them to use in her wake.

Every way this shakes out is bad news for HYBE groups IMO. So long as NewJeans keeps quiet and sides with HYBE, they'll be somewhat okay. But regardless of the fallout from HYBE cannibalizing itself, all HYBE groups have no choice but to take it on the chin and bide their time until BTS comes back to capture the attention back to them.

I hope I answered all your questions. IMO there's really no point talking more about this until there's a firm conclusion.

[goldenhallyu]

Why Sulli is one of my biggest inspirations

Hello i'd like to share some of the reasons why Sulli (aka Jinri) is one of my favorite people in the korean entertainment industry and why she is such an inspiring woman. I also provided links to several articles so you can read more in depth about certain amazing things she's done.

!Note that south korea is a highly conservative and misogynistic country. Especially in the idol industry, women are judged for every single little thing they do. Sulli however decided to lean against the standards set for female idols and always did as she pleased and what she thought was right. It's sad that only now after she passed netizens are being nice and supportive towards her. I'd like to share some of the reasons why she was such an inspirational woman and why she should never be forgotten!

1.Going Braless . Sulli didn't like wearing bras

and would often post pictures of herself while not wearing one. Of course this shouldn't be considered an issue at all but even western countries often still take offense to it fsm so obviously highly conservative korea was very unhappy about her decision and would send her lots of hate and call her vulgar names for it. She never stopped doing it though.

2. Abortion Rights

Sulli is pro choice! She celebrated South Korea changing their anti abortion laws which ofc was yet another reason for people to hate her.

3. Raised awareness on her public instagram about comofort women and showed her sympathy despite knowing she'll make her japanese fans upset by shedding light on it .

Japanese people often don't like to acknowlage their war crimes and felt very offended by Sulli for talking about it on her social media. Being the woman supporting feminist she is, she thought it was an important topic to discuss and posted about it regardless.

4. Openly shared her relationship

Dating is often completly banned for kpop idols altogether and only few dare to make their relationship public. Only in recent years have idols slowly starting sharing their relationship status. But back then idols tried their absolute hardest to hide that they're dating in fear of facing MASSIVE backlash, sometimes even receiving death threats. Yet Sulli openly posted photos of her and her now ex boyfriend on her instagram like any other normal person would.

5. Openly expressed her sexuality

making her own choices on when or how she decides to be sexy, taking all power from netizens sexualizing her against her will. This is a big issue in the idol industry, especially due to conservative views, a woman openly showing herself to be a self empowered sexual individual is looked down upon and seen as offensive. Netizens often called her mentally unstable, dirty, nasty and a wh*re for simply not wearing a bra or showing cleavage (which is quite scandalous in korea) or taking sexy photos as an adult woman! She talked about this and the double standards in depth in Persona:Sulli!

6. Defended herself

It's very rare for idols to stand up for themselves especially in such a blunt, forward way. Usually when idols have to apologize for the most mundane stuff, an official apology is issued through the agency but Sulli always took matters into her own hands.

7. Endured a massive amount of hate and ultimately left f(x) for the sake of protecting herself from hate and persuing her true artistic visions

She was constantly harrassed from her "attitude" to her looks, her views, her behavior and her talents.

8. Publicly discussed mental health, inlcuding her own struggles,

and based her solo debut around DiD. Mental Health was and still is very stigmatised in South Korea. While it's slowly changing, talking about such things back then was seen as highly controversial and people wouldn't be very understanding at all. Moreover netizens would think of idols to be ungrateful if they'd ever talked about their struggles.

9. Just overall always supported women and their rights. (girls supporting girls shirt, talked about being a feminist and wanting women to be equal on tv and defending fellow female idols).

Again, with Korea being a very conservative and sexist country, people sent her a massive amount of hate (mostly men) for speaking up about womens rights. This still happens to other female idols today when they declare themselves to be feminists.

10. Was unapoligeticly herself no matter what.

Always showing her personality and interests and voicing her opinions. She loved showing everyone how fun loving and free spirited she is . All she ever wanted was to be loved by others but she still didn't want to change her identity for others to do so.

11. Loved herself and her beauty

and would also voice it yet she was never arrogant or felt like she was better than anyone because she's pretty (Persona:Sulli)

12. She critizised the idol industry and the publics treatment towards idols (see Persona:Sulli)

13. Sent a low income student a feminine hygiene package for free

and planned to regulary send out packages to girls who couldn't afford to buy these products themselves. Unfortunatly she passed away before she had the chance to do so.

Theres so much more to Sulli. But these are some of the main points as to why I love her so much.

She endured the tremendous amount of hate for such a long time and despite feeling hurt she always remained true to herself. She struggled a lot but always continued doing what she thought was right and didn't apologize for simply living her life and being a feminist.

[cardboardheartss]

Kpop industry in the next upcoming years

⚠️DISCLAIMER! TAROT CARDS ARE NOT 100% ACCURATE! TAKE EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT! IF MY INTERPRETATIONS ARE INCORRECT FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!⚠️

2025

5oW, PoC, AoC rx, Strength, 3oS, The Hierophant, The Sun, 4oP

Well… more arising conflicts next year. Pretty sure we all know who the main culprit of these fights are from. It seems like the industry will continue debuting more groups, but the groups will lack A LOT of creativity and it’s possible that the members of the newly debuting groups are only in the industry for the fame and attention.

Seems like more groups will be experiencing more heartbreak (NWJNS) again in 2025, I see this group will still continue to fight? They’ll be whistleblowing like crazy and the girls will continue to pull up a front that they’re all good but it seems they’ll have major depression and anxiety for the remaining year.

2026

QoW, AoW, The Chariot, QoC, The Tower, The Empress rx

This year is the return of Min Hee Jin. She is coming back with receipts I tell you! RECEIPTS! She will possibly be whistleblowing about the dark side of the industry, or just exposing some people in the industry.

It’s going to shock people, it’s going to cause a lot of chaos. She will honestly be doing this purely out of spite and getting her lick back.

She will be exposing the corruption and dirty secrets of a major high up if I’m being fully honest and possibly some insider information about certain groups not getting along…

2027

2oS, PoS rx, 7oW, 4oW rx, 2oW rx, 6oW

Well her return truly shook up the industry a tad bit too much. I’m seeing the industry being completely stagnant this year, the higher ups will want to punish MHJ but they know that she also has even more dirt to reveal so their hands will be tied up COMPLETELY.

With her seeing the state of Kpop this time, she’ll end up leaving and actually being proud of what she had done. No remorse whatsoever.

2028

KoW rx, KNoP, 5oS rx, 6oP, 9oP

A greedy higher up will be forced to step down and no longer work in the industry, he’ll not want to leave but he will have no choice but to.

Whatever MHJ exposed; will help the people in the industry. It seems like workers will actually be treated better and paid well, more groups will get brand partnerships and equal financial support to create their work.

[growingwithem]

Credits: tinyhyukjae_

[neflheimen]

Btw that narrative of "idol X is my boyfriend/girlfriend if I can't have them no one can" only fuels the ongoing misogyny in SK. Idols are not fucking public property you don't get to dictate how their body look/how they act/who they hang out with 24/7 just because you spent 20$ on a fucking album.

That weird ass possessiveness/entitlement knetz are feeling is really fucking weird. The fact that idols of diff genders can't interact with each other without people immediately sparkling dating rumors is a huge problem. God forbid men and women form normal friendships or show each other affection without it being labeled as sexual.

And what's worse is that companies are doing absolutely nothing to protect their artists but are happy to bend to these stupid ass demands. Dating bans are the stupidest thing i ever heard and only contribute to those aggressive behavior some "fans" show. Companies are practically encouraging stalking/sasaeng and obcesssive behavior with this shit and then everybody acts shocked when their favorite idol turns out to be suicidal.

[angryorbit]

A list of abuse that FIFTY FIFTY, the Kpop girl group behind "Cupid", was subjected too by their company ATTRAKT and CEO Jeon Hongjun:

FIFTY FIFTY were under constant surveilance by CCTV

FIFTY FIFTY had daily BMI checks

FIFTY FIFTY were not given proper meals

When the parents of the members brought them food, the food was thrown out and the members were insulted

One of the members ran away from the company due to stress, had multiple panic attacks, fainted, and woke up with a ventilator

FIFTY FIFTY members had panic attacks often

Whilst making around $4.5 million in US markets, the company forced FIFTY FIFTY to pay THEM $2.2 million.

CEO Jeon Hongjun lied about selling his car and house to support the group

CEO Jeon Hongjun lied about getting FIFTY FIFTY a dorm in an expensive part of Seoul

FIFTY FIFTY have filed criminal charges against CEO Jeon Hongjun for fraud

The staff of ATTRAKT have said that the 8 billion won invested in the group was not used for the group. Their debut album cost 1 billion won, and Cupid 1.25 billion won. The other 5.5 billion won has not been seen.

ATTRAKT has disclosed Aran's surgery without consent

EDIT: ADDED INFO BELOW

For 12 out of 33 months, the company gave FIFTY FIFTY zero money to pay for food. For the months that ATTRAKT did provide FIFTY FIFTY with meals, they spent $41 a month.

It was often the managers that brought FIFTY FIFTY food and not ATTRAKT, so ATTRAKT bared no expense.

It took NUTRITIONISTS AND HEALTH EXPERTS to complain before ATTRAKT allowed FIFTY FIFTY to eat at a nearby salad shop, but were only allowed to spend around $8.21 a day.

The CCTV surrounded almost all corners of their dorms and were personally viewable in CEO Jeon Hongjuns office.

The diet prepared by the agency only consisted of chicken and butter coffee.

Translated quote from a health trainer in 2021: "Lack of protein and vegetables. Please provide breakfast. Insufficient supply of nutrients, essential nutrients must be consumed. Konjac jelly should be used as a snack, not as a meal replacement."

It was not until July of 2022 that a nutritionist was consulted ONCE.

ATTRAKT claims they spent around 750 dollars a month on meals, but this includes the meals of multiple trainees, photographers and a fifth member that was supposed to debut in the group.

Translated quote from FIFTY FIFTY's legal representative: "The agency only provided each member with a menu, but most of the members took care of purchasing ingredients, cooking and eating, and reported to the company using photos."

There is revenue from FIFTY FIFTY's first album, but it was put directly into another company instead of ATTRAKT so they can avoid taxes.

ATTRAKT is releasing a remix of Cupid featuring Sabrina Carpenter mid lawsuit: it can be assumed this was done for the same reason Blockberry Creative announced a LOONA album after kicking out Chuu.

- Please do not send hate to Sabrina Carpenter and direct any negativity to the company

WE STAND WITH FIFTY FIFTY.

[loveanaox]

Enhypens personality Off Camera

(This was a request from @sungine , thank you so much for the request!)

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Jungwon

Cards pulled out: The hierophant, the fool reversed, knight of swords, temperance

Yeah so what im getting is that off camera he's a very traditional guy with traditional values here and there he shares it, off camera he still can be a bit reckless like all the kpop idols, cause we all know they're humans. A little neglectful. But even the cards say a leader lmao. Still witty, sometimes daring, very like single- minded. But ja

He's a balanced guy off camera and has a little bit of patience and calmness. It's like he doesn't let things get to him, but he only gets to himself. If you know what I mean.

Overall pretty good tbh.

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Heesung

Cards pulled out: Knight of pentacles, the tower, the hermit, queen of swords reversed

Okay damn, so off camera he is practical, logical, hard worker, making his dreams come true, but at the same time extremely chaotic, which causes him to like go home take a shower and think deep about what he has done and how chaotic shit is. Very pessimistic too which causes him to be very nasty at times and make cruel comments, bad at communicating too.

He's a good person deep down and he means well, but communication skills are bad and he's too focused on the bad and being perfect.

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Jay

Cards pulled out: four of cups, the empress, page of swords, seven of pentacles.

Okay so he's very in his head a lot and he's so in his head that he misses good opportunities for him and he even refuses some offers to him, idk if it's pettiness or just because he's so stuck in his head, but he had a lot of nurturing and creative energy, not shocked from all his Taurus placements.

But he's more on guard and tries to think before he speaks and tries to not get into arguments. But ja sometimes he questions things a lot. Too in his head, but nothing too bad. He should just get out of his head otherwise depression starts.

Overall chill, but ja something he should work on.

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Jake

Cards pulled out: Ace of wands reversed, chariot, seven of cups reversed and the devil reversed.

So I feel like off camera he does have a lack of enthusiasm and gets bored easily and has a blocked creative side. Idk what stopping it but I think he's fixing it rn. He's overcoming obstacles and has self-discipline and some will power in him.

He's too focused on materialistic things and I feel like he feels trapped, but I think he out himself in that trap not gonna lie, he tries to avoid these problems but I think he realized he can't now.

Now he's getting over his addictions and gaining control again. Yaya yaya

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Sunghoon

Cards pulled out: king of wands reversed, seven of cups, queen of cups, the emperor reversed

Idk this is confusing, so he can be very nasty and abuse his power and be a bitch, but still very emotional like nice and kindness and shit, womanizer bro. Anyways. He might break a lot of his promises

He has a lot of options and he procratinates a lot and has a lack of enthusiasm, I don't blame him.

But he's very controlling ngl and abusive, or abuses his power. He seriously needs to get a grip of himself.

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Sunoo

Cards pulled out: Nine of cups, five of swords reversed, two of swords reversed and four of pentacles.

So off camera he is still very cheerful, optimistic, confident and had a high self-esteem. But he can be a little relentless and be emotionally cold to some people and be like cold and gone.

He can be very indecisive and he holds onto his fears and anxiety a lot. But that's not all he holds on to, he holds on top people, his belongings, ect ect.

A little stingy ngl and ja very possessive.

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Niki

Cards pulled out: all reversed, knight fo swords, three of cups, ace of pentacles and ace of cups.

Damn. So he can be a little hurtful with his words and be sarcastic, sometimes a know it all, he goes with the flow and is a follower. So he just follows the group.

He had a lack of social life and friends which is sad and he has a lack of security and he can be a little stingy with his money, he's very heartbroken though. Ngl I can imagine, he basically doesn't even have a proper teenage fun years. He has blocked emotions and stuff. Shame man he just needs more friends and people that will hear him

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I hope you guys enjoyed the readings. Till next time. Byeeee

[yubnubforhire]

It’s kind of wild coming into the kpop fandom after spending most of my life only following western artists because the way that there is Always Content Coming Out is truly overwhelming sometimes I mean I spent TEN human years not seeing Stromae’s face except for a few interviews here and there and then I still dropped over $100 to see him when he came to the US and people still go to Lauryn Hill concerts all the fucking time despite the fact that she is often late or Simply Not There and yet the kpop industry thinks if they don’t keep releasing something new every few days then they will lose fans’ attentions and therefore sales

[beautifulpersonpeach]

A few days ago I responded to an ask, explaining that Korean K-pop stans overall are the more intense version of whatever you see on the international side, and that one way k-fans perceive international fans is that international k-pop stans are easier to manipulate and rile up.

For anyone who is aware of the subway scare and the supposed link to ARMY and BTS, pay very close attention to what’s happening right now as a case study demonstrating what I wrote, happening in real time.

As a quick overview:

1 - This happened about an hour before Yoongi’s live where he showed his tattoo

*

2 - About an hour after this happened, an ARMY coming back from Yoongi’s concert, watching his livestream on their way home, reacts to his tattoo by screaming while in the subway. They record themselves and post the video on Twitter. The tweet itself is deleted now so I can’t link it, but I’ll link the OG video in point 5.

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3 - After that ARMY posted their reaction to Yoongi’s tattoo, this Korean k-pop stan claims a fan screamed next to them on the train and caused panic and a stampede. This account’s most recent activity is from 2022, but the first thing they tweet in 2023 is that an ARMY caused a stampede because of Yoongi. Okay.

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4 - One of the followers of that account then retweets that account to post an edited version of the ARMY reaction video, blurring out the reaction on the train, and further linking the two events (1) an ARMY screaming about Yoongi, (2) a resulting stampede that needed police intervention. This video is then used as the basis for user posts and articles written on k-blogs which then get translated as user posts on Allkpop and Pannchoa.

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5 - For reference, this is the OG video from that ARMY showing what actually happened on the train. Note how there’s no panic in the train.

***

Basically, two events separated by about an hour are conflated on purpose by linked anonymous accounts on the Korean side, quickly translated into English and spread on the international side through k-pop gossip blogs like Allkpop, which Korean soft media (blogs etc) then picks up and takes as further credit to the underlying claims, though those claims are false.

And voila, a scandal is born.

Now, this isn’t to say BTS, ARMY, and people affiliated with them never do anything wrong and can never have a legit scandal. For example, I think anybody screaming for no good reason in a packed subway train is an idiot and should face some kind of consequence if harm is caused. But that’s not what happened here. What that ARMY did was stupid but harm wasn’t caused and Korean antis instead used it as an opportunity to link BTS with an incident that happened an hour earlier.

Occasionally, some of you might’ve seen me write about ‘manufactured controversy’ before, usually in passing when discussing something else. I remember I’ve mentioned it a few times such as during Jimin’s missed insurance payments scandal, during Jungkook’s Itaewon scandal, and also Min Heejin re: NewJeans (after just 5 minutes of looking at the original claims in Korean. The only thing holding the majority of the claims against MHJ together is sheer willpower and vibes atp). Someone has also asked me about hate ‘slave rooms’ before (context was Twice attacked by slave room hate) and I responded that hate in Korea towards people in the k-pop industry, is incredibly organized and insidious. And the bigger the target, the bigger the fall and the bigger the payout.

Please keep that in mind when you read shit online. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you. Become more media literate and learn how to think for yourself. Seriously. Because in this machine called k-pop, nearly everything about it is designed to suck you in till you have no idea which way is up. Pay attention, please.

2026 is still a long way off and we’ll have many incidents like this before then.

Good luck everyone.

[divinesangel]

what sort of worse things do you think yg make them go through? I think he is bit of a creep

will anymore truth ever come to light surrounding what idols go through? beyond dieting or poor mistreatment etc etc

in blackpink's case, it seems like what hurt them the most i guess was getting told one thing and then doing another. it's like they would get told that they would do certain things and they would feel happy about it, but then it would not end up happening at all (five of pentacles + four of cups). yg also seems to be giving this vibe of not really caring if their artists are overwhelmed or going through something emotionally. there's a member that wanted his support but didn't get anything.

yes. there are more things that will get revealed at some point, specifically by a woman or a female idol. it seems to be someone whose group got screwed up or something like that. because of this, people will get to know a bit more in detail what goes on behind the scenes.