Become a Star

“It originally started off as Chae Woo-Jin’s Fancafe, but due to the serious circumstances, it became a place for anti-fans to gather for them to rally against TM and Blue Fit,” replied Kang Ho-Soo. [1] [2]

After hearing Kang Ho-Soo’s response, Hwang Yi-Young looked even more baffled. Kang Ho-Soo gave a brief explanation to Hwang Yi-Young, who did not know that Woo-Jin used to be a TM trainee. As Chae Woo-Jin’s manager, he had gotten Woo-Jin’s background information from CEO Jang. Thus, he knew a lot of things about Woo-Jin that even Woo-Jin himself was unaware of.

“Wow! Woo-Jin used to be an idol trainee? It suits him, but for some reason, it feels like it doesn’t suit him that well.”

“It seems like the leader of the group bullied Mr. Woo-Jin because he wanted to become the main vocalist. When Blue Fit debuted without Woo-Jin because of various reasons, it must have completely taken Mr. Woo-Jin’s fans by surprise since they were enthusiastically waiting for his debut. Nonetheless, Mr. Woo-Jin was still with TM back then, so his fans kept silent out of fear of messing things up for him with his agency. But ultimately, Woo-Jin still left TM. Thereafter, his fans came together to establish ‘ Wish Baragi’. They gave Woo-Jin the nickname ‘Genie’, coined after the genie’s lamp that grants wishes, thereby naming their fanclub ‘Wish Baragi’.”

Initially, the Fancafe members called each other ‘baragi’, but it eventually became ‘barag’. It was funny how the barags mistook Chae Woo-Jin’s name as Choi Woo-Jin. Since there was no way of getting information about a trainee, Wish Baragi was a fanclub that was created without any proper information.

Chae Woo-Jin’s high school was a place where students were obsessed with academics. Most of the students there were more interested in the core subjects – Korean, English, and Math, rather than the entertainment industry. It was a school where grades came first.

In order to do what he wanted, Woo-Jin hid the fact that he had joined an entertainment agency until the very end. Woo-Jin managed to pull this off because not only was he the top student in the school, he was also in the top 0.1% of the country. When Woo-Jin told his teacher that he would be more comfortable studying at home, his teacher had trusted him and allowed him to do so.

Of course, neither Woo-Jin’s teachers nor his classmates knew that he was an idol trainee, except for his close friends. More importantly, he was in an all-boys high school, where no one was particularly interested in the entertainment industry with the exception of girl groups. Nobody from his school would coincidentally spot Woo-Jin when he went to TM's headquarters for work. It was the same in college. The strikingly handsome Woo-Jin had always been at the center of attention, but nobody could imagine that he had dreamed about becoming an idol. This was especially true since he barely interacted with his classmates or anyone else in college because he did not actively participate in any activities. Thus, there wasn’t much room for rumors to spread.

Additionally, the fangirls who waited for Woo-Jin in front of TM’s headquarters did not cross paths with him during their daily lives – their social circles did not intersect. Most importantly, they had always thought that his name was Choi Woo-Jin instead of Chae Woo-Jin. Even when they had heard that Chae Woo-Jin was the most handsome guy in school, they would snort and say that he was nothing compared to their beloved Choi Woo-Jin.

And the biggest factor was that his agency had prevented any information from getting out so that they could create a sense of mystery in preparation for Blue Fit’s debut. However, because Chae Woo-Jin had been released from TM, his fans could not get any information about him. As a result, they had almost zero information about Woo-Jin. That was how Chae Woo-Jin’s fans, who loved him for his great looks, ended up creating Wish Baragi, becoming anti-fans of TM and Blue Fit while waiting for Woo-Jin’s return. One of the members must have mistakenly heard ‘Chae Woo-Jin’ as ‘Choi Woo-Jin’, and they gave him the nickname Genie.

“I know that shortly after Blue Fit debuted, there was a very organized group of anti-fans that rallied against them. Is that by any chance…”

“Not all of them were anti-fans, but it’s more or less an anti-fandom group. Wish Baragi Fancafe is now a secret page, and they are no longer accepting new members, so it’s not exactly active anymore. At their peak, I heard that there were more than 5,000 people, and a number of them were just anti-fans of Blue Fit and not fans of Woo-Jin.”

“So you’re saying that there were already more than 5,000 members, including anti-fans of Blue Fit, in his Fancafe even before he debuted? Wow~ Woo-Jin is incredible.”

Naturally, it was hard to maintain the number of members as time went by. It was not easy waiting for someone whom you knew nothing about, for more than two years. However, since Chae Woo-Jin had finally debuted, the members of his Fancafe from back then remembered him and those hardcore fans were drawn back to him once again. Thus, Hwang Yi-Young felt that it would be easier for him to form a fandom.

“Ah! Come to think of it, CEO Jang made sure that Woo-Jin came to headquarters through the underground parking lot! Was it because CEO Jang didn’t want Woo-Jin to show his face when he leaves the building? I thought it was strange when CEO Jang asked Woo-Jin to keep a low profile around headquarters when CEO Jang was also the one who asked Woo-Jin to create some exposure for himself. So that was his intention.”

“Perhaps among the fangirls outside headquarters, some of them might be Wish Baragi members. They became anti-fans of TM due to Woo-Jin’s incident, and they also turned their backs on other idols who were from TM. It’s kind of surprising that CEO Jang is hiding Woo-Jin from them.”

Due to the rise of Hallyu tourism these days, the area around the agency had become a tourist attraction. As such, the number of people who gathered in front of the agency’s building to catch a glimpse of their favorite idols and celebrities increased. There were so many visitors that the nearby malls tailored themselves to appeal to the new influx of tourists.

Because of that, the well-known celebrities did not enter through the main entrance on the first floor. Instead, they would enter via the underground parking lot. Sometimes they would show their faces to make their fans happy. The people who used the main entrance on the first floor were people who were still relatively unknown, or trainees who had not debuted yet. In the past, that was how Woo-Jin increased his exposure by showing his face to the girls who were waiting outside TM.

Initially, the number of people who saw Woo-Jin only ranged from the tens to hundreds, but shortly after, due to the fans’ network, people started talking about him and shared the pictures they took of Woo-Jin with each other. As a result, Woo-Jin became a hot topic of discussion in the community on the agency’s website, and gradually, the number of people who paid attention to Woo-Jin started increasing. Most of Wish Baragi’s members found out about Woo-Jin in that manner and eventually became his fans.

Those girls had admitted that they were suckers for handsome men and they were not ashamed of it. At this moment, Kang Ho-Soo and Hwang Yi-Young were making fun of Wish Baragi’s solidarity and perseverance. They were simply crazy fans who started fangirling solely because of his looks, but they did not know how deep the camaraderie they had forged with each other because of their mutual aversion to TM and Blue Fit. They did not start calling themselves ‘barags’ for nothing.

Wish Baragi’s Fancafe, which started with 5,300 members, had more or less maintained those numbers even though the club was not as active as it used to be. Although there were a lot of members who joined because they were anti-fans of TM and Blue Fit, it was still known as a Fancafe where fans who fell in love with Chae Woo-Jin’s looks gathered.

Some time after Chae Woo-Jin fell off the grid, they stopped recruiting new members, and the Fancafe turned into a private page. Nonetheless, they still secretly maintained the Fancafe as a medium to rally against TM and Blue Fit, while waiting for Genie’s return. This was because they believed that there was no way someone with his looks could live an ordinary life, and that Genie would definitely return to the entertainment industry. Finally, their Genie had returned, and their wish had come true.

<Barags, I am sure that all of you have seen Death Hill!! Our dear Genie is back. Naturally, that passionate kissing scene must have been heartbreaking for all of you, but even so, that scene was so beautiful that it made me cry. I’m just thankful that Genie came back to us after becoming even more amazing then what we’ve expected. As such, after a long discussion that lasted till dawn, the mods team has decided to get your votes pertaining to the direction that Wish Baragi should go towards from now on.

You will be voting to see if you want to keep maintaining our secret Fancafe and to continue with our TM and Blue Fit anti-fandom activities! If not, we would like to hear your valuable opinions on whether we should release the private information to the public, and focus on being a public Fancafe for Chae Woo-Jin.

To be honest, while we did carry out anti-fandom activities, our end goal was to wait for Genie’s return. We considered ourselves Genie’s fans while carrying out anti-fandom-related business, but we felt that it is time for both sides to make a decision, because we are afraid it might cause harm to Genie.

The mods team will absolutely follow the wishes of everyone regardless of the outcome. Since this is an important vote for the future of our Fancafe, we have decided to give you ten days to vote before tallying the votes. I have sent out the message to all our members, but please spread the word to the other barags who haven’t been visiting the Fancafe recently. We look forward to receiving your precious votes. Needless to say, as for mistaking Chae Woo-Jin’s name as Choi Woo-Jin, we are asking you to remain silent about our shameful past.>

- I’ve voted. After abandoning the idols whom I used to like and waiting patiently, this day has finally arrived.

- I’ve voted too. Now that our dear Genie has joined DS, I think we should be thankful towards TM. I no longer have any resentment towards them. Chae Woo-Jin oppa~~

└ That’s right. We can now say thank you to TM. Frankly speaking, with Genie oppa’s face, it’ll be a shame for him to just be an idol. There’s a member who’s dying to be an actor but couldn’t make it (everyone knows who I’m talking about without me spelling it out right?), but our oppa is now an actor who is talented at acting!!!

- To be honest, I joined the Fancafe because I didn’t like Blue Fit. However, it’s been a while since I’ve become a fan of Genie. We should still do some anti-fandom activities, but now it’s too troublesome to put in so much effort into rallying against Blue Fit.

└ Me too! I didn’t like TM and Blue Fit, so I joined the Fancafe without knowing anything and ended up liking Genie. I hope things will be smooth-sailing from now on.

- I’ve decided to let go of the past. Our dear Genie has to do well from now on, and we cannot become his stumbling block. Also, I don’t know who Choi Woo-Jin is either. Hmm…

- Well, as for the amazing kissing scene, he’s both mature and handsome, I’m guessing that he should have at least been in a relationship before? I was more surprised to find out that he’s a business major at Korea University after looking at his profile! From what’s been gradually revealed, I found out that he was the top student of his school and he had a perfect score on the CSAT! What does he even lack? [3]

└ Unnie gave off the cool womanly vibes…hehehe

└ I was so heartbroken when I found out that he went to the military during his two years of absence.

└ Me too! I was surprised by Genie’s academic background. I know the reason why he went to the military and it made me sad, but I was also happy for him.

└ Genie has become more handsome since he’s been discharged!!!!

- I kept hearing about a guy named Chae Woo-Jin from my friend. She said he went to her school, but I kept ignoring her, and he turned out to be Genie. That girl!

└ Ah… Barag… T_T

└ Who the hell said his name was Choi Woo-Jin in the first place… Let’s cry together. T_T

- I’m happy about the fact that other people will know who I’m talking about when I talk about Chae Woo-Jin. Back then, I had no one to talk to about him apart from the members here. T.T

└ This is so true T_T

There was a sense of belonging among the members of Wish Baragi’s Fancafe, as they had been constantly carrying out fanclub-related activities. Most importantly, a lot of members felt that they did not have to hide in the dark anymore, since Chae Woo-Jin had finally debuted.

After ten days of voting, they had decided to erase the past, and only promote their Fancafe as Chae Woo-Jin’s Fancafe. As such, that led to the rise of a toxic group of fans, who were obsessed with good-looking men. They had regretted their past as sasaeng fans, and had come to possess the knowledge of anti-fandom know-how, allowing them to leave malicious comments with ease. This was the birth of a Fancafe that was armed with unprecedented persistence in the entertainment world. [4]

However, they had always been affectionate and polite to one person. Most importantly, they were clever enough to hide their true nature from their beloved star.

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1. Fancafe is a forum hosted by DAUM – a platform where idols and agencies communicate with fans. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

2. Anti-fans are people who criticize and rally against public figures, such as idols, or even companies. They tend to gather on forums and sites to share their mutual aversion. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

3. CSAT is the standardized test used in Korea for college admissions, like the SAT. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

4. Sasaeng fans are obsessive fans who stalk their favorite celebrities and engage in extreme behavior, such as invading the privacy of those celebrities. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

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