Scatter_88mil

Unthinkable. If anything, Hwayoung would be crazy to return at this stage. The more I see it, the more it looks like management and KKS is far more to blame than the T-ara members themselves in this entire debacle. Hwayoung's return isn't going to solve the issue at all - if anything, it'll make things more hectic than they are. Now that he's seeing his own cashcow potentially becoming flops and even CCM's collapse, the whole world has finally turned against him, albeit at a costly price. He's getting what he deserves - flak from the public. Not just fans of T-ara - but everyone out there. I think it's about time the original members really make their own statement, whether if KKS likes it or not. The baffoon clearly has no idea what he's doing at all. I'm wondering how CJ Group is handling all this - it's only a matter of time they'll step in to intervene. Clearly, KKS is failing everyone to a whole new level.

Strangely, on the bright side (call me a weirdo if you want) but I think they could use this time to actually recuperate both mentally and physically, considering how badly overworked they are.

I thought this would happen. Next thing I know, the drama Soyeon is in is going to be affected too.

I'm curious as to how the ratings for this drama may turn out.

I refrained from making a comment till now because frankly, I see a lot of people taking sides, some being delusional and others simply raging on without any sense of real rationality. And it disgusts me. I understand everyone is in shock, frustration and anger but seriously - have some decency to try not to stoop that low. I myself am pretty surprised by the news but for some of you out there I talked with - yes, Hwayoung's departure was very likely before this announcement was made. It was bound to have happened - after all, Soomi of 5dolls followed the same fate earlier. For me, I never understood Hwayoung's addition to the group because the background story and reasons as to why she was added are frankly, quite unacceptable. Entering a well-established group under such circumstances is definitely by no means, absolutely ridiculous. Idol rappers for the most part aren't even seen as real 'rappers' since the K-hiphop industry itself is pretty well established and popular on its own right. On my take - I'll have to admit some sort of bullying did take place - or at least outcasting (mind you, the two don't always go hand-to-hand necessarily). And it is inexcuseable to condone such things. However, CCM obviously handled this terribly - not even SM would stoop this low. What was hoped to be a clarification to clear things up once and for all became an even bigger mess. For those expecting T-ara to make their own statement in regards to the issue - I wouldn't hold your breath for it. Even if they did, what they say would be clearly scripted and not something purely out of their own heads. Even if they WANTED to, they don't really have much of a choice but end up being puppets. CCM is obviously trying to avoid all ounces of responsibility by clearly making a smear campaign against Hwayoung and blaming its OWN employees. If it continues to keep this up any longer, I'm really afraid that a boycott of all T-ara merchandise and activities is what will be the only thing that will really knock some sense into KKS - especially since the current members aren't saying anything and likely won't be. This is a real serious case of incompetence, mercilessness and dare I say, a clear example that Kpop isn't about fluff and smiles. I even have no doubt that KKS may even go as far to physically abuse his own groups just so he can be dominant over them. And suffice to say, the excuses are downright pathetic and unbelievable. You'd have to be be dumber than a brick to believe such nonsense. In the long and wide shot, CCM is to be ultimately blamed for. What the original members did is inexcuseable and we can only hope they'll redeem themselves one way or another. However, CCM and KKS are the deep root of the reason to this happening. As explained, why fix something that's not broken? 6-ara was functioning just fine overall (despite strong possibilities of tension between Eun/Ji/Min and So/Bo/Qri) and the last thing you'd want is a newbie thrown into the middle. On T-ara's part, I actually find their behavior - while daunting, immature and horrifying - quite understandable. They have after all, been overworked since debut and the last thing they want is a new member riding along their popularity and hard work since Day One. Ultimately, if anything, CCM should seriously reflect on its system. T-ara has clearly given signs that they WANT to remain as 6-ara - they could have handled this a lot more better, but I don't blame them for wanting to reminisce their past. After all, things did seem much more stable for them back then. Hwayoung, personally, for her own safety was much better off not being in T-ara in the first place if you consider the original members' position. Considering the original T-ara definitely are pissed at their CEO and management for understandable (and even rightful) reasons, they've made it clear that no one else is welcome. From this point and now on, I believe it's best for T-ara to remain as six members. Areum and Dani should take this incident as a very serious example and actually reconsider about being part of the group. Hell, I don't like Areum and Dani myself - but for their safety, I heavily advise that it's best that they stay away from T-ara - completely. Adding more new members is going to make things even worse for both T-ara and CCM by the long shot. For all you out there still protesting Hwayoung's unjustly booting - take a second thought. She's free now. Free from misery, horrendous schedules, a pathetic company and a rabid baboon who dares to call himself a CEO. The least we can do is wish her to live like a normal human being and live out the rest of her days at the utmost best and peace as possible. I think Hwayoung herself as realized she got much more than what she bargained for and I don't blame her for that. In the long run, I believe this is merely just the beginning of a series of bad events. I can't predict the future myself but for sure, relations between CCM and T-ara are likely to deteriorate even further and I think everyone should brace theirselves for more unfavorable crap to occur this year. That, is all.

Confirmed - Hwayoung just got the boot. It was just released at Naver.

If that's the case, I honestly think that it'll be a lot worse because the number of people that are pretty much demanding Hyomin, Jiyeon and Eunjung as well as Boram and Soyeon to a smaller degree to get axed is just beyond any reasoning while there's fans that are already leaving or in the midst of preparing to do so (from what I heard anyway). Promoting continuously even in the middle of something big like this is just plain idiocy. How will they even fair out in performances? They might as well be facing black oceans wherever they go. It's like driving a car when the engines are just seconds away from blowing up. I swear, not even KKS will be able to wriggle out of this one so simply - now we're down to just 6 minutes O.o

@FreakyFlyBri - couldn't agree any more. Although I still have my suspicions that something bad indeed has been going on for quite a whle, there are quite a few serious plotholes that need some real explaining - that's for sure. Well, we're now less than 15 minutes away from the announcement taking place.... Everyone - buckle up for the worst. I'm feeling a bit sick already.

Yea, anti-fans - especially the Koreans ones can be a really insane lot. Reminds me of that ugly cesspool of a group Tajinho - the guys that slandered Tablo to incredibly extreme lengths and even involved the police, up to the point that the head honcho of that pathetic excuse of a group had to face the court and had the balls to say that he refused to accept what wrong he committed. What also peeves me off is that fangirls in particular seem to form up the most of the bashing towards T-ara. I mean, not so long ago, Nickhun almost potentially could have KILLED someone while drunk driving and there were a bagload of fans that claimed 'OPPA DIDN'T MEAN IT' and along with defensive comments that were simply laughable - but when it came down to T-ara's issue here, they pretty much went on to slander the members left and right without putting much thought into it like rabid hyenas. Christ, it's like they're accepting potential manslaughter but got go apesh!t on something that is nowhere near as close to it when human lives are at stake. Double standards....ugh;;

Which also goes to say, while Hyoyoung's pretty much irrelevant in the Kpop scene for the most part, the same can't be really said when inside CCM. I'm fairly convinced that a lot of bitterness between everyone in CCM erupted after that 5dolls scandal - and going by the fact that she too has some serious involvement with this chaos, I believe it actually raises the stakes of both the Ryu twins getting kicked out of CCM. For Hyoyoung, she's at an even worse position than both T-ara and her sister since she doesn't have the popularity, fans and is a member of an already badly disgraced group that likely won't be coming back anytime soon. Taking all this into account, Hyoyoung is at best, completely expendable in CCM's viewpoint.

Call me curious but what about Hyoyoung? She's obviously involved as well but I've yet to hear anyone say a word about her (for now anyway). Personally, I find Hyoyoung's involvement somewhat ironic - it's understanble that she's concerned for her twin sister but the irony is that the group she's in (Co-Ed and 5dolls) underwent a similar situation, resulting in Soomi getting the boot - and at least in Soomi's words, practically the whole group turned against her - which would also include Hyoyoung as well. That would definitely mean that Hyoyoung herself isn't exactly innocent herself if things are looked at a wider scale (aka internal problems within CCM's groups).

Yea I noticed this one too months ago as well. If memory calls, Jiyeon didn't even follow Hwayoung's Twitter until at some point earlier in the year for undisclosed reasons. I can't really fully connect the dots on what it has to do with Hwayoung moving rooms back when they were dorming together but Eunjung aside, I'm supposing Soyeon may be seen as a 'lesser evil' - IF it is true that Hyomin and Jiyeon aren't what people believe them to be (although personally, I do think those two with Eunjung are likely the most suspicious lot for the time being). One thing for sure - some sort of hierarchy in the group based on individual members' popularity and income is highly likely to exist. Fighting in the dorms is difficult to imagine - even for me - but fighting and being an outcast are two wholly different things, even though they do fit in under the category of bullying at times. Hell, I was an outcast myself at some point in my life but I wouldn't go as far to consider it bullying.

What can I say, AKP is hardly any more different to the K-news sites out there - and just as image cracking since its the main news portal for international fans regarding the Hallyu Wave as a whole. Assuming by his surname, Johnny is a Korean himself and the way I see it, media sites owned by Koreans or based at Korea blow everything out of proportion to unnecessary lengths. As a Korean myself, this is why I find it highly difficult to trust them - hell, the K-press even still thinks that North Korea can beat South Korea in conventional warfare (which is a big bagload of bogus) I fear that the number of antis may exceed the number of fans considerably, if not already by now. Boram's Twitter unfollow issue has literally become the second-highest top issue in AKP and aside from Boram herself (said it too many times), people here - especially Boram's fans - also need to consider how her sister's handling this mess as well since she's debuting under the group D-Unit in August 1st. That is some seriously bad timing. And what about the members' families and friends? Not only it's T-ara and fans that are getting flame here and there but also very potentially, the members' loved ones.

Honestly, I'm pretty much sickened with what's going on in AKP right now. Bashing of the members aside, there's even people who are going as far to claim that KKS shouldn't even be blamed when he's the one who's basically the root of this whole issue here. I'll concede that he may have had a point that certain members are 'prideful' but calling them lazy is simply uncalled for and HE'S the one who hadn't been doing his job properly in the first place. Ignorance, ignorance, ignorance.....*sigh* Quoted from the Zealot in Starcraft 2 - "It is said that ignorance is a bliss...Tell me, is that true?" Unfortunately in Kpop, no, it isn't a bliss at all. In fact, ignorance is what makes Kpop like a complete cesspool. Guys and girls, prepare for the absolute worst to happen. This isn't going to be pretty.

Even if CCM doesn't, I think everyone here should really prepare for the worst to happen. This is more or less the biggest idol scandal of the year so far.

True, Boram's family isn't one to be taken lightly - if memory calls, her grandparents were also quite starts of their heyday as well so in effect, this makes her a third-generation celeb of her family, soon to be followed by her sister debuting as part of some group called D-Unit. Although I don't know exactly how much power her parents have, I'm somewhat concerned that it's not as big as netizens make it out to be. If Boram's got some serious backup from her parents and whoever's in the inner circle of their connections, then it should have been able to prevent CCM from overworking the group like slaves in the first place, or at least let them some more time to breathe and rest. Honestly, even though Boram is the oldest and looks rather incapable of pulling off actual bullying herself, it's possible that the tradition of formality based on age is twisted a bit in K-pop - rather than age, it all goes to depend on who earns more and who's more popular, seemingly (Suju can testify to that very easily). I know that age definitely isn't take into much concern in the military and it is more focused on rank (at least in the experience of people I know, relatives included). She seems more likely just a figurehead or a puppet if such hierarchy in T-ara does exist. The rumor of Hwayoung signing in with Cube Ent. also seems pretty intriguing as well. It's curious how she managed to find the time to even sign a contract with them and Cube is definitely taking a bit of a gamble if this turns out to be true. Which also goes to say, Hyoyoung's position in CCM is just as much in danger as well.

Lol if Soyeon, Eunjung, Hyomin, Jiyeon and Boram were kicked out, then T-ara might as well just disband altogether while Areum and Dani just get shipped off into a new group. There's no point calling the group T-ara if 5/6s of the original members are kicked out. God, netizens can be a wild bunch. Honestly, if this were the case, I think Qri may follow suit as well. She's likely involved in this mess but the thing is that she was simply not there when the Twitter issue came about (hell, maybe she was just asleep or just didn't really care about whatever bitter relations there were to begin with - she is generally the quiet one after all). What I don't get is why it's only Boram that unfollowed Hwayoung whereas the others have yet to do so. Boram doesn't really look capable of even bullying anyone (bad health, small stature etc.) and looks like she can be easily pushed over by the other members, especially those that are more popular and have a higher income. I just don't think she may have done this purely out of her own will. It just doesn't make any sense.

I think CCM's already on a slow road to collapse, considering that all their other groups have failed to bring any form of sufficient revenue and not even T-ara's revenue is going to keep them floating above forever.

I'm honestly worried about Soyeon. With the recent chaos that just broke out, there's an undeniable possibility that the guys in charge of the drama may possibly replace her role with someone else in an effort to save face and ratings. Even if Soyeon managed to last through, it's going to be hard for her to cope with the stress due to the intense schedules.

Haha, speaking of White (I lost my faith in K-horror a long time ago but White was exceptionally good, plot-wise) and Eunjung, it also comes to remind me that Eunjung was able to portray her character very well in Dream High 1 (personally, I think she and Kim Soo Hyun were the only ones who managed to make the drama barely watchable as Suzy, IU, Taecyeon and Wooyoung's acting was just horrendous) - a character with also some degree of unfavorable behavior. Which goes to say, it almost looked as if Eunjung had no problem playing such characters at all O.o KKS's Midas' Touch has indeed expired. Prior to 2009, CCM had vocal powerhouses that were very popular on their own right - such as SG Wannabe and SeeYa, while also housing one of Kpop's most veteran queens - Lee Hyori. Then he came to debut Davichi, which was also popular on its own right and praised for their talent but honestly, things seemed to go downhill slowly for him starting with SeeYa's abrupt crisis and T-ara was the only group that kept the company afloat until now. He's clearly got no experience in managing an idol group prior to T-ara (this effectively makes his decades of experience completely useless as Kpop is now idol-reliant) and is definitely not willing to change and reform with how things are run, something even SM had gone through (albeit in a hard way, starting with DBSK). It's as if he's stuck in the past or something. Possibly, I suspect CCM moving buildings may have something to do with its flopping groups. No doubt, idol groups cost a huge load of money to prepare for debut and judging how terrible the groups you mentioned have done in sales, it's bound to put a lot of financial loss on CCM - plus, it was formerly based at the Gangnam district, where building/living/housing costs are among the most expensive (if not THE most expensive) in all of Seoul and probably, all of Korea. Not even T-ara's revenue seems capable of keeping them around and Gangkiz was a massive hit-or-miss gamble with too many stakes and risks at hand. The Kpop music (and Hallyu as a whole) scene this year has indeed taken a huge lot of hits this year. Aside from CCM/T-ara related issues, there was Open World Entertainment, JYJ and their sasaeng fans, 5dolls with Soomi/Chanmi/Eunkyo, Nickhun's drunk driving incident and even government attention.

Even for me, I can't help but feel oblidged to stick by the group at this time. This scandal may as well be T-ara's darkest hour and most biggest obstacle to go up against so far in their whole career since debut. We're looking at the possible destruction of one of the most popular girl groups out in Kpop and easily, it would leave a dark page for the history textbooks. It almost seems as if CCM's become the agency of bad luck in all of Kpop. T-ara definitely isn't the only group under CCM to have fallen into a messy situation, that's for sure. (SeeYa, Co-Ed and subunit 5dolls have preceded them) From what the T-ara members said themselves a long while back, KKs isn't the kind of guy to stop working - up to the point he's got a serious case of being a workaholic - which is definitely not healthy at all, seeing as how he doesn't consider T-ara to be anywhere close to being overworked or simply doesn't care. If I wanted a weak reason, he's probably too busy playing with those robot models of his wherever he goes. Lol. Supposedly, Qri is KKS's 'favorite' member. I don't know if this is true, but I did hear around that he seems to have some sort of preference over her, appearance-wise. This seemed to be based on how it was in Hello Baby.

Hell yes, agreed. Eerily, I recall that Eunjung and Jiyeon (White and DH2, respectively) played in roles where the idol groups they're in have some serious internal conflict going on between the members. Major deja vu. Regarding on the pleasure in knowning that the issue has definitely put a massive dent on even KKs himself, it's pretty clear that what he did so far has come to backfire on him completely. He's literally on the verge of losing his only real source of money and definitely, his bosses in CJ Group aren't going to be happy at all. Optimistically, it's possible even KKS's days as CEO are likely to be numbered. I won't even start to imagine just how much other agencies like SM, Cube, Starship, YG etc. are literally smiling over this since they now won't have to worry about any more serious competition for a good while. Though I think the central issue to that is that no one ever expected T-ara to take such nasty hit themselves - even more so than KARA and possibly, DBSK if things continue to get worse onwards. At this rate, if T-ara's still going to continue actively promoting even after this incident, then by all means, CCM would make things even worse by a considerably bigger margin than now.

I understand your frustration over the issue. On my part, it was definitely unwise of Eunjung, Hyomin and Jiyeon in particular to pull off such a thing. I wouldn't go as far to put Soyeon and Boram in the same amount of blame as those three over a variety of reasons but that's another story that I explained more than once out in the AKP forums. Though coming from a Korean, I can testify to their behavior just fine as I experienced it first hand back when I was at Korea myself. Hwayoung, arguably, didn't really contribute much from the group at all since Day One of her membership (6-ara fans would argue why T-ara never needed a 3rd rapper in the first place). On my part, I found it difficult to culturally and socially assimilate with the whole class since I lived overseas for most of my life but once I started acting like them and proved my 'worth' (that is, getting top scores for English, drawing skills and the list goes on), the whole atmosphere quickly cooled down and I enjoyed school as a whole. Which goes to say, that's how Korea's society system had gone for quite a while - newbies are expected to prove their worth to the veterans of whatever group (whether it be school, sports team or even a military unit) to be 'accepted' and if they don't have much to offer, then they're pretty much kept as outcasts - in Hwayoung's case, her rapping wasn't sufficient enough. Seen it happen all too many times around at Korea and it isn't a really pretty sight at all - but unfortunately, a norm. The same probably has occurred to other idol groups out there and as a whole, occurs within the public. T-ara's just one of the many. It's ugly, but that's simply how it is. I wouldn't go as to call them immature indefinitely since there's a lot of factors surrounding the issue here (Qri and Areum did likely sit out because they refused to get involved due to the risks but on Qri's part, I think she's on the same position as Boram and Soyeon - Areum would obviously be intimidated not to take part at all). The timing is more horrid since Korea as a nation had been bombarded with media reports regarding bullying and subsequent suicide amongst students this year - and the last thing netizens would want to hear about bullying is it occurring within an idol group, of all people. Long-term wise, I really think this incident should serve as a definite warning towards CCM as to what can really happen if new members are added in a group that's already well-established (conflict between 6-ara likely did occur but I'd say it was far more stable back then). If Areum and Dani are still planning to stay in T-ara, I think they should really reconsider and actually stay away from the group indefinitely - Hwayoung wasn't even accepted and it's been 2 years since she joined - and honestly, Areum and Dani won't fare any better at all, if not worse because they're even younger. Adding more new members in T-ara is a completely detrimental move at best - and the fact CCM tries to micromanage the whole group through threats and the like is obviously making things 10 times worse for both original and new members. If Hwayoung really does want to leave, by all means, I think it's the best for her to do so. If I was in her shoes, I would have left T-ara a very long time ago. Management has definitely played a signficant role into this mess happening by a wide margin. In a dark way, T-ara's just proven that they've indeed defied management and its idiocy (preferably, they could have done it with actual intent and with a lawsuit as I never thought they'd pull something like this even once) when it comes down to adding new members over highly questionable reasons. Judging from what's seen so far, T-ara seems pretty hellbent in going back as a 6-member formation - at the least, things seemed more 'fair' for them back then.

It's all goods, mate. Everyone has their own moments of delusionalisms when it comes to their favorite groups (admittedly, I myself had gone through the same thing back when I was a huge fan of SNSD's Jessica from 09 to 10) and I know this may be a bit overdue, I apologize on my part for being a bit of a cynical asshat around here and AKP as well since it clearly bothered you, regardless if what I said was right or wrong (I myself questioned my analysis occasionally at times whether if it's accurate or not) I did predict that something bad was bound to happen this year but honestly, even I'm really taken a shock (and it just had to occur in the London Olympics AND on a date haha) - I just didn't expect something like this to happen so soon yet alone imagine the impact would be this massive. But honestly, some people are being a bit unreasonably harsh in particular to Boram and as a 'fan' (honestly, I'm actually not even sure what to call myself anymore with this chaos going on and yet I'm somewhat defending her along with Soyeon), all I can really do is explain it at rationally as much as possible. I fully agree with you on their near future though - for now, it's best that they be put on a long hiatus to recuperate - both mentally and physically. Priority-wise, they really do need a serious break from promotions because they look horribly exhausted on stage these days as well - call me an ass for this, but this scandal could serve as a gateway towards that - and a long good vacation of R&R was what the fandom as a whole had desired for prior to the member addition announcements. At this rate, the group's potentially headed down a road even worse than what DBSK, Hangeng and KARA had gone through so it's best to put things at a huge halt. Fate has quite a way of making such wishes come true :/ Regarding on the possibility of a member leaving....I seriously believe that everyone here should prepare for the worst - particularly those who are fans of Boram and Hwa Young. Whoever the ex-industry worker is, he's got a point - there's just no way Eunjung, Hyomin or Jiyeon would face getting the boot (personally I believe they're the real culprits in regards to Hwayoung) and Soyeon's position isn't easily replaceable either. Honestly, I think it's best if T-ara was simply left as it was - that is, the 6-ara days. It just seemed the most stable at that time period despite being not as popular at the time. I'd imagine that CCM's upper chief - the chaebol known as CJ Group has also thrown quite a fit about this and the possibility of them intervening behind-the-scenes can't be ruled out either. CCM clearly has lot a huge lot of credibility and made things even worse than it is for sure.

Honestly, I think Boram's getting more flame than what she deserves as a whole. It is definitely likely that relations between 6-ara in general and Hwayoung weren't exactly all that great. Add in that Boram also continued to struggle on with the schedules despite having some serious health issues so it is likely she may have. Also furthermore, Boram's personality isn't exactly what I'd I call anywhere near capable of bullying even a fly unless someone pressured or coerced her to do so (this could be Jiyeon, Hyomin, Eunjung or Soyeon to a lesser degree). With such a small stature, poor health and probably weak physical strength - not to mention she's just as unpromoted and with a similarly lower income in the group, it's pretty silly to think Boram would ever think that she could easily bully Hwayoung out of her own will. She is a 6-ara member herself after all so that can also be taken as a factor why she'd be pressured to keep distant from Hwayoung. Boram's also the oldest of the group so some age gap definitely plays as well (which probably also explains why Boram is more closer with Qri and Soyeon than the others).