Jan-Sasaengs are the worst

I heard the door open and close. Joonjae walked in, looking tired. His usually sleek black hair was matted with sweat. He slumped onto the chair next to me.

'When did Tae arrive?' Joonjae asked pointing at hyung's direction. Even though Taewon hyung was a year older than him, Joonjae never referred him as hyung. Most Koreans would find that rude. But Joonjae was born and raised in America till he was fifteen. That was when he packed up his bags and came to Korea to train as an idol. We were also taken aback by Joonjae's lack of honorifics. But we got used to it.

'He arrived a while ago,' I said. 'Busy shoot huh?'

'It was okay,' Joonjae said indifferently. He was never the talkative one. Fans perceived him to be the stoic, silent type and it drove them crazy. Personally, I find it annoying. As a chatterbox, I could talk non-stop for hours. But from Joonjae, all I get are 'hmmm', 'uh-huh' and a lot of 'okay'.

'Did you read the news?' I asked, trying to be as casual as possible.

Joonjae took a few seconds to reply. 'Yes,' he finally said. I waited for him to say something, but he did not say anything more.

'So,' I clapped my hands excitedly. 'Did you hook up with your co-star?'

Joonjae gave me a disgusted look. 'No,' he said irritably.

'Oh come on! Eun-sung Noona is one of the hottest women of Korea. And it's not a secret that she likes you. What's the harm in dating her?'

'And have sasaengs on my back?' Joonjae said drily. 'I'll pass.'

Ugh. Sasaengs. As much as we loved our fans, it was annoying to live under their constant scrutiny. Especially the sasaengs. These are the extremely obsessive fans, who seem to think that idols are their properties. Most of them are delusional and deranged. Some are even dangerous. They can go to extreme lengths to stalk idols and celebrities. All three of us were almost in a car crash because of one such fan. They would tear our souls apart if any one of us dated. Or worse, get married. We hate it, but cannot do anything about it.

'Sasaengs?' Taewon hyung was finally awake. 'Did they do something again?' he demanded. 'Joonjae, are you alright?'

'I'm fine,' Joonjae replied. 'I was just saying that if I started dating, sasaengs will stir trouble and I don't want that.'

Taewon hyung nodded in relief. Hyung always got paranoid whenever sasaengs came up. He despised them wholeheartedly and even issued restraining orders against a few. But somehow, those so-called "fans" managed to worm out of legal punishments.

We heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see the makeup crew waiting outside.