Sorry for the very late greeting. And sorry for being MIA for so long. But anyway, I just want to share my encounter with 4Minute when I went to Korea last Feb for Lunar New Year, and last month for 4Minute’s anniv.
3 February 2011: Lunar New Year Encounter
So last February, me and yesungfan decided to roll the dice and pay 4Minute a visit for Lunar New Year. So before leaving the Philippines, I decided to buy a few boxes of Philippine milk candy (Goldilocks) as a gift. I only bought a few thinking that if I bought a truckload of candies, they would only go to waste if I won’t be able to get them to 4Minute. And boy was I wrong. So wrong.
Earlier that day, I got my 4Minute Diamond CD, which included a free HUH poster. Then, me and yesungfan dropped by Artbox at Coex Mall to buy some wrapping materials. To top it off, we also bought a cute heart-shaped card, which I filled with incoherent spazzy messages.
Poster on top.
BTW, this was when Jiyoon almost abandoned Twitter.
Spazzy much?
After getting all the materials we need, we headed straight to Cheongdam.* We arrived at around 830 pm and stayed at the Dunkin’ Donuts shop across JYPE building. That Dunkin’ Donuts shop is one of a kind. It has like a wall of fame with autographs from various JYP artists, including JYP himself. So we did the gifts and card there and finished around 930 pm.
My cheap gift.
Finished product hehe.
Dunkin' Donuts' Wall of Fame
Ze man himself.
*In case you were wondering how we found Cube’s building, we cased the joint when we first went to Korea, which was last December. It isn’t too difficult to find. Just take Line 7 of Seoul’s subway system, get off at Cheongdam station and go out at Exit 9. Then, you can just take a cab and ask to be dropped off at JYP building. Cube’s office is just a stone’s throw away from there, literally. But me and yesungfan were being adventurous that time so we took the hard way and tried to look for it by foot. If you’re familiar with the area, it will only take about 15 minutes to reach Cube’s building from the train station.
So off we went to Cube. As soon as we got out of Dunkin’ Donuts, I was already shaking, and it wasn’t because of the sub-zero temperature. Excited much? Plan A was to just leave the gift outside the building. But Cube’s office was at the 3rd floor of the damn building and I was worried someone else might find the gift and throw it away or something (though Koreans are very honest people and don’t pick up stuff that aren’t theirs even if no one is around).
Cube's office is at the 3rd and 4th floors of this building.
4Minute pride!!!
Beast fans.
So there we were, outside of Cube’s building. No one else around but us. It was very quiet and seemed really late but it was only about 9:30 pm. When we saw the front door slightly ajar, we said “screw this, we’re going in.” In case you were wondering, security guards are almost nonexistent in Korea. I guess this goes with the whole honesty thing, although there are CCTVs almost everywhere. So us being foreigners, we thought “if we ever get caught, let’s just play the foreigner card and say we just wanted to give 4Minute gifts for New Year.”
All the lights inside the building were off as the stores below Cube’s office were closed. But as we were going up to the first floor, the lights suddenly went on and we kind of panicked a little bit. When we calmed down, we realized that they were motion-sensor lights. When we reached the second floor, our steps became slower, heavier. Each time anticipating what the hell is gonna happen next. In my mind, I think I might be more relieved if Cube’s office was closed or if one of the managers saw us and told us to just GTFO of the building. But you know what they say, strange things happen.
So we finally managed enough courage to go all the way up the 3rd floor, which is where Cube’s office was. And my jaw really dropped with what I saw.
Cube's office before the lights went on
KYAAAAAA!!!!!!!! It's open!!!!
Yeah the office was wide open! Well not wide open but it was open enough for me to see what’s inside. And the most shocking part is that NO ONE WAS AROUND!!! Saw there we were, mindblown, incoherent, and spazzy. All we could do was take pictures of the outside of the office, which eventually turned out to be a good idea since no pictures are allowed with 4Minute when inside the building. Anyway, I’ll let my pictures speak for themselves.
Inside Cube.
Some sort of poster or something plastered on one of the glass windows inside. No idea what the Hangul says.
I was so tempted to go inside and sit in one of those couches and take pics.
I wanted to take this home with me!
Sneaking in.
So tempting to go in, no?
Sweet eh? I got so nervous that I even took a leak in the restroom down the hallway haha. And there were toothbrushes in there! I wonder who they belong to? Hmm… And it’s not like no one else was renting in that floor.
So yeah it was picture-taking galore. I think we got contented taking pics and said, “OK, let’s just leave the gifts right here at Cube’s front door.” But just when we were about to do that, I heard really loud laughing coming from inside the office. Yeah the lounge was still empty, yet I could still hear the laughs from outside. That’s how loud the laughs were. And it was coming from just one woman. And I know exactly whose laugh that belongs to. Yep. Exactly the same, only louder. And after that, I thought, “we can’t leave now!”
It was like a WTF moment. Since I was certain at least Jiyoon was there, I didn’t want to leave but what are we gonna do? I don’t want to wait forever cause that would be creepy and a waste of time. At the same time, I really wanted to give the gifts to any 4Minute member, directly. And just while we were torn on what to do, something even more wowsome happened. Like what that 4Minute song said, dreams really do come true.
Like I said, we were just standing around, not knowing what our next move will be when all of a sudden, someone was coming down from the 4th floor. And when she walked past us, I realized it was freaking Sohyun. She just walk past us like it was a normal thing and me and yesungfan just stared at each other, shocked, while all I could muster was “Sohyun!” in a normal voice. You see, I’m not the type to scream and cry or whatever and act like a lunatic when I see my favorite idols in person. It’s more like I just smile and try to wave just to say hello like a normal person. It’s not me trying to do consciously act that way to look cool or something. I’ve just been like that ever since. So when Sohyun walked in front of me towards Cube’s office, I was just starstruck and like “woah, what just happened? Wasn’t that Sohyun?”
Funny thing, I’ve imagined before what I would say in case something like this happened haha. Lame. I’ve always prepared myself to say something like “hello, I am 4Minute’s no. 1 Philippine fan. Please accept this. Thank you and come back to the Philippines.” But no. That didn’t happen.
Well we were still in shock mode when this time, Hyuna comes out from the elevator. I guess she stopped dieting already. And she was really pretty and cute. When she walked past me (I was standing near Cube’s office door hehe), we said hello and she looked back at me and waved back. So cute that I almost fainted.
So me and yesungfan were thinking of what to do. Will they come back out? Should we wait? WTF is the plan? So I asked yesungfan to take pics discreetly in case I get an autograph from them.
And just before we were finished planning, Jiyoon comes out of the office and used the stairs to go to the 4th floor. She was wearing her favorite jacket, with barely any makeup on. So curious me checked out what was on the 4th floor and found out another Cube office, probably where they practice and train. So when Jiyoon came back down, I tried to make contact. I said something like “Hi Jiyoon!” but she just kinda ignored me I guess and went straight back to their office.
Luckily for us, one of, I’m guessing, Cube’s female managers came out and talked to us. Nope, I’ve never seen her before, but her English was really good, which was perfect cause I basically speak zero Korean. Hyuna came out too, leaning on the door, standing across the manager.
I said that we were from the Philippines and we came bearing with (cheap) gifts for the Lunar New Year. The manager was translating for Hyuna and Hyuna was like “ooh, Philippines!.” She was really very friendly (which is why I just laugh when her haters say she’s slutty and a biatch, etc.) and she was really chatty to us too, some random fans who just invaded their building, perhaps illegally. And she came across as really sincere, someone who likes meeting fans. As I consider myself a rational fan and someone who can be sarcastic at times, it’s very easy for me if someone is being sarcastic or fake or a hypocrite.
Anyhoo, I asked where 2Unnies were and manager said they were at home. I also asked if they were leaving for Japan (although I already knew they were gonna leave the next day). Then I asked Hyuna if she could sign my (newly purchased) poster, and being the sweet girl that she is, she said yes of course.
So I whipped out my marker and rolled out my poster and Hyuna pinned it across the wall and signed it. After giving me her autograph, she called out Jiyoon and asked her to sign my poster too! How sweet, no? Yeah, Hyuna haters, Hyuna is really a sweet and thoughtful kid off stage so you can just STFU with your nonsensical arguments.
I was kinda disappointed with Jiyoon cause she was silent the whole time. Girl didn’t speak a thing, far from the aegyo-filled image she projects on TV. What makes it more disappointing is that she was my favorite member to boot. But it’s all good. I still ♥ her anyway. And she’s still my favorite member.
So we said our goodbyes and I said thank you, and they went back inside their office when Sohyun comes out, about to go home. But of course I asked her to sign my poster first. While signing my poster, I talked to her a bit in English. Her English was really, really, really cute haha. I asked the same questions I asked Hyuna earlier (lame!) like where Gayoon and Jihyun were. She said “uhm, uhm, home!” Haha so cute really. She was unsure of what word to use I guess and was looking at the ceiling while answering haha. Then I asked (again) if they are going to Japan, and she said “to-to-to…” and I finished it for her, “tomorrow?” and she said yes haha. Really amazing.
Sohyun signing my poster.
So I handed her the gift, the paper bag and said goodbye and thank you, of course. She took the elevator going down, holding the paper bag with cheap polvoron in it. And we were so giddy, we realized we could’ve taken the elevator going down with her!!! Wahaaaa! But we figured that would be too invasive already. We didn’t want to come across as creeps now do we?
We came out of the building looking intoxicated, uncoordinated and speechless. We were asking each other, “did that really happen???” multiple times to make sure we weren’t dreaming. It was really crazy.
It took a while before everything started to sink in that wow, we met 4Minute, three of them at least, in Korea, in their own building! And got their freakin autographs! You know the craziest part of all this? Shortly after this little escapade, Cube revealed that they have a new address. Haha. The previous address was 125-6, 3rd Floor, Cube Entertainment, Gangnam-gu, Cheongdam-dong, Seoul. Now, if you check out Cube’s website, you’ll notice that the listed address is 4F, 125-20 Chungdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-957, which was supposed to be at the LH Building. But in my next fanaccount, Imma tell you that it’s all crock!! Haha. Just wait for it.
So that’s my story. It took 3 freaking weeks for me to finish this haha. Sorry about the super delay. I didn’t really plan to write about this memorable encounter, but I wanted to write something for 4Minute’s 2nd anniversary so I thought this would be a nice story to share to all 4Minute fans. Sorry it took so long to finish.
But wait, there’s more! If you thought this was exciting, wait for my next one. It was so surreal and unbelievable, you gotta read it to believe it! So again, Happy (and very belated) 2nd anniversary 4Minute!!! 4Minute 4ever!!!
My signed poster.
