[17.02.12] A Chronological Timeline and Conclusion of the T-ara Scandal, Dispatch's interview with T-ara's staff

[craZy]

 

On February 9th, a former staff spoke out on Hwayoung playing victim and revealed shocking messages from Hyoyoung to Areum. Diadem chose not to report the story as we associate with Hwayoung no longer. However, for everyone’s reading and to finally conclude this 5 year long scandal, we wish to present Dispatch’s true and detailed chronological report of the scandal.

Hwayoung left the group on July 30th 2012. On this day, Core Contents Media (now MBK Entertainment) announced that Hwayoung’s contract had been cancelled unconditionally. Hwayoung said, “fact without truth” on her personal SNS. Which is the truth? What is real? What truth was omitted and what is the reality that exists?

Let’s start with the reality:

Hwayoung appeared at the airport assisted by managers. (24th)
Performs only one song (Day By Day) at Budokan. (25th & 26th)
Hyomin posted on her Twitter, “difference in determination.” (25th)
Hwayoung refuses to go up on Music Bank’s stage. (27th)
Official announcement of Hwayoung leave. (30th)
1 to 5 are undebatable facts, but there are some realities omitted from the situation’s background. Hyoyoung did not reveal the reality at that point, and T-ara’s explanation fell on deaf ears.

Reality without facts? 5 years have passed since then.

On February 9th, 2017, the incident resurfaced. Why Hwayoung received assistance, why Hyomin posted that tweet, why Hwayoung was left out of music bank… the background of the incident was exposed. Is what the staff said real? Is it the omitted truth from the “fact without truth”? Or is it nothing?

Dispatch met up with 6 staff who worked with T-ara in 2012, stylists and managers, and asked about the incident 5 years ago.

AFTERNOON OF THE 25TH

The catalyst to the scandal is the tweet Hyomin made on the 25th. “Difference in determination.” Dispatch asked the staff for the reasoning. They said, let’s take a look from the dressing room of Budokan on the 25th.

“The members were all sensitive. It was their first Budokan concert and Hwayoung missed out on the rehearsal for it. She had taken personal time. Hyomin was referring to that part of the situation.”

What was Hwayoung’s reaction? Another staff mentioned Hyomin’s reaction at the time.

“Hyomin of course talked to Hwayoung. ‘Don’t be like this.’ Hwayoung just raised the volume on her headphones. It was perceived as her not wanting to talk about it. Hyomin gave up on trying to converse and left.”

Hyomin tweeted on the 25th at 16:54 “the difference in determination.” It was 1 hour before the concert.

AFTERNOON OF THE 24TH

The T-ara members sympathized with Hyomin, Eunjung also quoted, “we should look out for the people around us,” agreeing with Hyomin. Soyeon likewise tweeted, “difference in Determination + Attitude + Consideration.”

Why did they all voice out similarly? It was the topic of the day they arrived in Japan on the 24th of July. The person responsible for transport explained the incident on that day. Hwayoung looked for a hospital even in Japan. She said she needed a leg cast. In the end, 7 members of T-ara headed for Budokan while Hwayoung headed for the hospital.

“Just like what the hospitals in Korea said, the hospital in Japan also said a leg cast was unnecessary. It would heal naturally, but it did need extra attention.”

Even so, Hwayoung’s next destination wasn’t straight back to Budokan. Hwayoung left for the hotel, and the absurdity of especially mentioning this whole thing is the nail art part.

“She said she wouldn’t be able to perform at the concert anyway so she may as well rest at the hotel, and since we’re resting at the hotel, might as well get some nail art in the mean time. This reached the members’ ears.”

24TH, THE BEGINNING

T-ara began practicing the choreography formation for 7 members. It was called the “Without Hwayoung” version at the site. The concert officials told Dispatch, “they changed formations for approximately 22 songs. Not only the members, the sound system, lighting and other staffs had a hard time as well. The rehearsal went on for approximately 8 hours.”

T-ara arrived in Seoul from Ulsan at 3 AM on the 24th after the Ulsan Music Core special was over on the night of the 23rd. The members only got roughly 3 hours of sleep before heading out to Japan again.

“Everyone was exhausted and the 8 hours of rehearsal only made it worse. If Hwayoung joined the rehearsal, or even arrived on the scene and explained herself, the time would’ve significantly shortened. ”

On that day, Hwayoung did not come anywhere near the rehearsal site. It was unclear if she did or did not get her nails done too. The manager at the time did not personally ask the nail artist. Excuses like they couldn’t get a reservation were made.

AFTERNOON OF THE 26TH

There was a difference in ache and the difference in pan was huge. Hwayoung’s pain is only existent to herself. She made up her own diagnosis that she needed more rest in order to avoid a more serious injury. Misunderstandings piled up and they turned into distrust. They looked at things differently.

T-ara wanted to personally hear an apology and appreciation of their had work, but Hwayoung only apologized at the press conference in front of reporters. On the other hand, Hwayoung wanted to hear, “it’s okay, don’t worry about it,” as a form of consolation but the members were already disappointed with Hwayoung’s attitude. They couldn’t understand the logic behind heading straight back to hotel and not attending the rehearsal. T-ara and Hwayoung spent 3 days and 2 nights of schedules together like that and returned to Korea. Afterwards, things spiraled out of hand. It was at the Music Bark dressing room on the 27th.

AFTERNOON OF THE 27TH

This is the part that was never disclosed previously. It was not an information even the staff who posted on the online communities knew. The reconciling part. Eventually the timing ruined everything. The following is the testimony of a staff member who has been close to T-ara and in his private life

“Hyomin tried to start a conversation. She sincerely wanted to address the problem. Hwayoung saw that sincerity too. She said, ‘I got it,” she walked alone afterwards and practiced by herself. Her expression was different.”

According to this staff, the situation was thought to be resolved with that. Then Hwayoung’s unnie, Hyoyoung, sent out the text messages exactly 1 hour before Music Bank went live. Dispatch also got in touch with another staff in the dressing room at the tine. She witnessed Areum’s expression turn serious, the members gathering together and Hwayoung’s perplexed expression.

“Areum‘s face stiffened. It was a scary expression. She of course asked for help from the unnies. Hyomin immediately asked Hwayoung to resolve the situation. Hwayoung left the dressing room and was on her phone crying.”

The staff also added her own guess.

“Hwayoung may not have been comfortable in Japan by herself. She may had complained to her sister. But Hyoyoung didn’t know at the time, that they had reconciled and had sent out those text messages looking out for her younger sister. This totally split up the members.”

27TH, AFTER DINNER

Water had been spilt. There was nothing else to be done. Then the assumptions started pouring in. Witnesses of “Hwayoung running out crying” will cry out it’s bullying. Afterwards, rumor like “Hwayoung was force-fed rice cake,” “Hyomin stabbed Hwayoung’s eyes,” “Borarn broke Hwayoung’s umbrela,” “Jiyeon did not high five Hwayoung,” started pouring in. T-ara did explain, but they had already become suspects of bullying. They believed nothing. Hwayoung neither confirmed nor denied the case. Instead, Hahm Eunjung tried to stop the drama by coming out clean for the fist time.

“It’s true there was a clash of opinions between the members,  but using this to further exacerbate the bullying controversy really hurt me. Through distortion of facts. I’ve been hurt a lot and saddened by it.”

T-ara and Hwayoung walked their own separate paths. Just like that 5 yeas had passed and Hwayoung appeared on a talk show. She called the incident “something that could’ve happened.” If you have to determine who’s at fault, there won’t be an end to it.

Hyomin tweeted about Hwayoung’s attitude
Hyomin’s tweet offended Hwayoung
Hyoyoung’s threat after Hwayoung is offended
Hwayoung booted after Hyoyoung’s threat…

If any one of these occurrence was omitted, it wouldn’t be as dramatic as today. To summarize, it’s not about whether or not it would have happened.

The start was trivial, emotion played a part, misunderstandings happened, and then T-ara were treated like monsters. Hwayoung become an icon of ‘Pico.’

***

Source: Disptach via Naver
Translation: Stew

[Emperor Ryu]

Firstly, thanks for posting this up, craZy.  It is unfortunate this forum has decided to remove Hwayoung from here, although after 5 long years and wanting to be rid of this, it's quite understandable, and I hope you'll forgive some members, including myself, from mentioning her from time to time, since she did help the group a whole lot to their successes way before that incident began.

Secondly, I do have some inquiries about this, . . . 

Question(s) 1:  Why is the naver article going backwards in the explanation?  Hwayoung was injured on the 23rd, which sort of makes the "24th, The Beginning" part ignoring this truth.  Especially when the whole nail art portion happened in Japan later on that week?

Question 2:  Were members' tweets before the Budokan concert, after initial reports stated they were uploaded after it?

Question 3:  Were ankle injuries considered as an unimportant risk factor in the group and company?  I understand back then people were comparing injures amongst the members, however that didn't focus on the main issue, which was the condition of Hwayoung's ankle.  Ask any veteran professional sports player with experiences and knows all about ankle injures, and you'll get some interesting perspectives about it and why such injuries are not ever taken lightly.

Question(s) 4:  Did anyone ask why the staff members were terminated/resigned in the first place?  Are these the same staff members whom admitted written complaints to Kim Kwang Soo on the 30th?

I do have more questions regarding this ex-staff member's information, but highly unlikely they'll get any answers beyond a reasonable doubt, such as, why does this person have paper copies of the messages between Hyoyoung and Areum?  Can MBK Entertainment confirm these messages?

[aidie]

For question no 3. She really can just perform while sitting right? Why didnt she? At least they dont need to cover her part.. instead she want to do her nail. She can go to rehearsal and sing her own part.. why she didnt do that.. theres many other idol can do that.. why cant she?

[aidie]

1 hour ago, Emperor Ryu said:

Firstly, thanks for posting this up, craZy.  It is unfortunate this forum has decided to remove Hwayoung from here, although after 5 long years and wanting to be rid of this, it's quite understandable, and I hope you'll forgive some members, including myself, from mentioning her from time to time, since she did help the group a whole lot to their successes way before that incident began.

Secondly, I do have some inquiries about this, . . . 

Question(s) 1:  Why is the naver article going backwards in the explanation?  Hwayoung was injured on the 23rd, which sort of makes the "24th, The Beginning" part ignoring this truth.  Especially when the whole nail art portion happened in Japan later on that week?

Question 2:  Were members' tweets before the Budokan concert, after initial reports stated they were uploaded after it?

Question 3:  Were ankle injuries considered as an unimportant risk factor in the group and company?  I understand back then people were comparing injures amongst the members, however that didn't focus on the main issue, which was the condition of Hwayoung's ankle.  Ask any veteran professional sports player with experiences and knows all about ankle injures, and you'll get some interesting perspectives about it and why such injuries are not ever taken lightly.

Question(s) 4:  Did anyone ask why the staff members were terminated/resigned in the first place?  Are these the same staff members whom admitted written complaints to Kim Kwang Soo on the 30th?

I do have more questions regarding this ex-staff member's information, but highly unlikely they'll get any answers beyond a reasonable doubt, such as, why does this person have paper copies of the messages between Hyoyoung and Areum?  Can MBK Entertainment confirm these messages?

The the copy for the conversation is really good evidence..when the time like this happen.. when t-ara have already move on.. why did they bothered talk about this again? Lets say the mc ask.. in every program.. the must give the question before interview.. why cant she denied to answer that question.. for 5 years..t-ara trying to protect her.. she got to starring in drama and so on.. what if they told the truth 5 years ago? Where do you think hwayoung will be? Hwayoung really doing bad move.. really...she just need to let go. Now its her own fault..im sorry but she deserved it..

[Emperor Ryu]

4 hours ago, aidie said:

For question no 3. She really can just perform while sitting right? Why didnt she? At least they dont need to cover her part.. instead she want to do her nail. She can go to rehearsal and sing her own part.. why she didnt do that.. theres many other idol can do that.. why cant she?

At the Budokan Concert, back in 2012, Hwayoung did perform while sitting in a chair on stage, but only for one song, Day By Day.  According to the new information, backstage at the Music Bank show, that's when things blew out of hand amongst them all, hence not appearing on stage for that one.  This incident happened in less than a week's time.

4 hours ago, aidie said:

The the copy for the conversation is really good evidence..when the time like this happen.. when t-ara have already move on.. why did they bothered talk about this again? Lets say the mc ask.. in every program.. the must give the question before interview.. why cant she denied to answer that question.. for 5 years..t-ara trying to protect her.. she got to starring in drama and so on.. what if they told the truth 5 years ago? Where do you think hwayoung will be? Hwayoung really doing bad move.. really...she just need to let go. Now its her own fault..im sorry but she deserved it..

Let's be understanding here that the conversation was between Hyoyoung and Areum, not Hwayoung and Areum.  There's a difference.  As for why they brought it up after 5 years on the Taxi show, I think it's because people are still interested about it.  Cannot get any simpler than that, if you ask me.  It's quite possible both Hyoyoung and Hwayoung just wanted to voice their regrets and sadness about it, because it's still an unanswered topic, after all this time.  Cannot really blame them for wanting to put the past away just as much as the rest of us?  And technically it was this former staff member who was giving us this information, not the twins on the show.  The source of all this information is from this person who admitted to not being able to bear it anymore for the sake of all parties involved in the incident.  In other words, this person just gave up on T-ara, the Ryu Twins, and Core Contents Media/MBK Entertainment.  Hwayoung's and Hyoyoung's mentioning their perspectives during that episode was pretty much as being regretful and sad in their own career lamentations, probably missing the good times being with T-ara and the company.  Can't blame them for missing such good times back then.

As for Hwayoung taking responsibility for her own actions, she already did that long ago when accepting her contract termination with no conditions to the group and company.  She showed her good side through and through and apologized a great deal during the aftermath, please note, along side the rest of her group members whom also apologized for their parts in it.  The T-ara members even voiced themselves stating they didn't want the group to be broken apart either.  I don't see any reason for more vile absurdities after all this time.  As for Hyoyoung, her agency, B.A.M Entertainment issued a statement citing that from her point of view.  She was reacting to protect her twin sister without knowing what was really happening in the group.  Most comments that I've read about this part of the issue seemed rather accepting and a bit mixed up, as if though they wanted Hyoyoung to be Hwayoung, which is so impossible.  Which brings us full circle to this person giving us this information.  I find it rather dubious in nature, but with MBK Entertainment issuing a statement recently about that episode and this ex-staff member's information, it's like water under the bridge, and they don't really want to deal with it anymore.  Sentiments exactly with the rest of us.  One of the reasons why I understand this forum removing the Hwayoung section.  Sad, but understandable.

If you ask me if I hate Hwayoung and Hyoyoung and that they deserve more punishment from the public about it?  The answer is no.  Because there's still good in them, and people can make mistakes from time to time.  In this case, everybody involved made mistakes, including the antis/haters.  The only ones who are found innocent during this incident are the ones who only wanted no more suffering and wanted them to stay together, even hoping there's some friendship left amongst them.  They are the only victors in this ongoing civil war.

[Breaking_Heart]

18 hours ago, Emperor Ryu said:

Can't blame them for missing such good times back then.

Did they specifically express such a sentiment?

So, I think people are hating on hwayoung even though it's her sister who sent the nasty messages, because of how she faked/exaggerated her injury to skip a concert. In school, most if not all of us would have experienced that one slacker member in a project group. Such a slacker is usually detested. Ask yourself, would you be 100% forgiving and 0% angry at such a member? (Also, if I were the slacker in a group I would accept that the group hates me. I'd be surprised if they didn't. I would not complain about 'determination is not enough' or make lame excuses. But anyway.) These two scenarios are very similar. Hence people are hating her because her poor work ethic was the start of this whole controversy.

[Emperor Ryu]

3 hours ago, Breaking_Heart said:

Did they specifically express such a sentiment?

So, I think people are hating on hwayoung even though it's her sister who sent the nasty messages, because of how she faked/exaggerated her injury to skip a concert. In school, most if not all of us would have experienced that one slacker member in a project group. Such a slacker is usually detested. Ask yourself, would you be 100% forgiving and 0% angry at such a member? (Also, if I were the slacker in a group I would accept that the group hates me. I'd be surprised if they didn't. I would not complain about 'determination is not enough' or make lame excuses. But anyway.) These two scenarios are very similar. Hence people are hating her because her poor work ethic was the start of this whole controversy.

They certainly talked about the times before the incident occurred during that Taxi episode, so I would think so.  Did you watch the entire episode?

Ankle injuries is something most people tend to underestimate, especially when your entire body is weighing in on it most of the time when standing, walking, and running around.  Again, ask any sports athlete who've had this sort of experience, and they will tell you such injuries are never taken lightly, with or without a casing on it.  Please look back at the former staff member's testimony, you'll see this person was not present with Hwayoung and her doctors at these hospitals, nor is medically qualified to make such a diagnosis, as pointed out earlier in the statement that this person was young and didn't know any better as well.  This person was only told that the doctors told her that there was nothing serious.  However, during that time it was reported that the doctors informed her to watch out for it and to be careful and report back if anything else develops.  Please take some time to look into the differences between and X-Ray, M.R.I., and C.T. Scans, and know that it is wise to get other medical opinions, not just one, if the patient is so worried about it very much.  People tend to forget about Hwayoung's ankle injury, just because sometimes she wasn't wearing the case.  Not to mention that it is okay for the patient to remove the casing if the injury is not serious, by the way.  No harm in having the casing just to be safe and sure too.  Is it wrong for Hwayoung to be concerned about her own ankle?  Did the staff member feel the sensations in her ankle to determine whether she was faking it or not?  Or more realistically, did Hwayoung inform this staff member what was going about her ankle every time?

As for the difference of will part, that was referring to the amount of sacrifice being given from the other members, despite the injuries between the members differ much, such as Jiyeon's injury at the time.  Not sure why the slacking part is there when someone has an injury and shouldn't cause more harm to it, there's not really a whole lot of things that person can do, especially for rehearsals.  I thought the nail art was a nice stress-relief for her at the time.

Both point of views do fit, but it's not the whole picture though.  Remember, that was only 6 of the 19 former staff members, and Kim Kwang Soo declined to give his input about it, knowing that it was reported at the time that he talked to Hwayoung and Hyoyoung at the time about it.  Yes, she was contractually obligated to perform on stage, but given how things unfolded backstage with Hyoyoung and Areum, things spiraled out of control that led to her contract termination.  Given how this person's point of view mentioning about the distancing between Areum and Hwayoung was the misunderstanding amongst them.  Hate them for a misunderstanding?  That to me doesn't sound right.

I think some people are overreacting when it comes to hating someone for a misunderstanding, no different for antis/haters whom didn't even know what was going on in the group, since it happened almost 5 years ago technically.  However, looking over the amount of comments online, it's significantly less compared to back then when it happened already.  Hating them after nearly 5 years about a misunderstanding?  I would question the sanity of these people's emotional states rather than hopping onto a bandwagon going absolutely nowhere with it.

[JetMagicHam]

Thanks for the article/updates! There are less news article about this issue in the most recent days. It would be nice if I could read Korean so I can see what the top comments are. Hopefully T-ara gets more Korean popularity for the comeback later this year!

[MinWin]

Nice detailed report there OP. I've always known they were innocent and i'm glad the truth has come to pass. Now those 5 years of struggle which they had to climb up, I hope they will become more successful than ever.