Korea Scouter TV interviewed an ex-sasaeng fan to learn why she started being a sasaeng and how she stopped.
… Follow their favorite K-Pop stars everywhere, and often, invading their private life. Some sasaengs take it easy and just follow their favorite stars everywhere using a car or a taxi without ever causing them physical harm or ever approaching them, but some have gone to the very extreme as gathering a group, collecting money, and buying a house right next to their favorite star’s house and then constantly monitoring their favorite star’s movements.
— Korea Scouter TV
Thanks to Korea Scouter TV, we gained a little insight into what leads sasaeng to be the way they are.
The first question is what she did before she became a sasaeng. She explained that she used to be a student who attended boarding school. Her grades were excellent and she was satisfied with her student life.
Before becoming a sasaeng fan, she never thought she would become one herself, and because of that, she felt those people were pathetic.
I thought what are those people doing? Do they have nothing better to do with their lives? How pathetic.
— Former Sasaeng
When asked whether she listened to K-Pop before becoming a sasaeng, she said that she actually only listened to songs from the popular charts and most of the music she listened to was American!
As for what made her decide to become a sasaeng fan? She didn’t even notice when it happened.
At the time, I enjoyed watching a lot of YouTube when I was bored. A lot of choreography/dance videos of K-Pop stars were becoming very popular at the time. Without any thought, I started watching a (band name) choreography video, there were many people but one person really stood out in the video. His dancing lines were so beautiful and he was so handsome. They had nametags on their bodies so I looked at it and found it was (member name).
— Former Sasaeng
After learning who he was, she searched for him on Naver and Google wanting to learn more about him.
Perhaps these are the symptoms if I can call these symptoms and how this all started.
— Former Sasaeng
At first, she was just satisfied with listening to the group’s music whenever she had time. But eventually, she became obsessed with spending time looking up boyfriend memes and could only talk about him when hanging out with her friends. Her obsession began to detrimentally affect her grades.
Upon returning home to Korea, she began to hang out with old friends who also liked the same group and said that aside from attending concerts, they also go to restaurants and cafés that the band goes to.
And back then, as a young kid, I got jealous. I would say, ‘Take me with you, I wanna go too.’ But I had to go back to America to finish my education. And I didn’t want to go back. So I decided to take a gap year from school.
— Former Sasaeng
She shared that her family didn’t know the reason for her gap year because she was embarrassed about the reason.
I knew sasaengs were bad so I was embarrassed to tell people that I wanted to take a break from school to become a sasaeng.
— Former Sasaeng
Instead, she told her family and friends that being abroad was too difficult so she didn’t have to disclose the real reason.
Korea Scouter TV asked how she got money to support her sasaeng activities as she was still just a student, and she revealed that she never worried about money because she got a lot of money from her parents.
In addition, because she could speak English, she took on part-time jobs such as translating to make extra money. These types of jobs offer flexible scheduling, which allowed her to pursue her sasaeng activities.
Regarding the schedule of sasaengs, she shared that not all sasaengs have the same daily schedule.
There are cafes or places where people can sit and wait near famous entertainment companies. If I stay there, I can see other people who are like me. (Have the same purpose.) People with really nice cameras are probably journalists or sasaengs, right?
— Former Sasaeng
She said sasaengs will wait in cafés and if they hear their idol is going somewhere, they will go to the location and wait.
Some people wait until the celebrity is done with their schedule and follow them to their house.
— Former Sasaeng
As for how sasaengs get their information…, as for this former sasaeng, she used social media to find her information.
Also, according to my sasaeng friends, if you see the internet cafes, there are people called “top seeds.”
— Former Sasaeng
According to Korea Scouter TV, “top seeds or homma are internet words that are used to describe super dedicated fans.” It’s important to note that not all top seeds are sasaengs.
She was a sasaeng for about a year and a half and ultimately decided to stop because she wasn’t a sasaeng for very long and lost motivation once the idol she liked began dating a girl group member.
While she admits in retrospect that it doesn’t make sense, she genuinely believed that being a sasaeng would lead her to be close with that member.
I believed I could at least become close to that celebrity by being a sasaeng. I thought he could become my boyfriend, or at least become a buy friend of mine. I think I had a reality check.
— Former Sasaeng
The reality of her beloved idol dating someone else was the catalyst to snapping her back to normal.
Finally, her message to sasaengs is this:
I feel like that time you spend as a sasaeng really hurts your heart. No matter how much money you spend following that person, nothing changes. What doesn’t work, doesn’t work. After that period ends, you will feel extremely empty because you have nothing left. Instead, if you turn that attention and love towards yourself and to the people who really love you, I believe you can become a better person or have much better experiences or meet new people who are willing to love you. There is a saying that says, ‘You only live once so do everything you can before you die,’ but being a sasaeng is definitely not one. Don’t do it. Just don’t do it. If there’s a celebrity you really like, listen to their music a lot. I think that should be enough.
— Former Sasaeng
Watch the video in its entirety below:
