(I don't know if I'm supposed to post this, but if I'm not allowed to, you just can just comment on this post for me to take it down & I'd gladly do it^^ )
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Because it will be hard for Eunice to get on the computer, she emailed me her written fan account and asked us to post it on her behalf. She left instructions to post her account with accompanying pictures to have a better visual of her experience.
This is her written account in her own words. This has not been editted by the 2ONEDAY Team.
QUOTE
Fan account at JYPE building, Friday, February 26, 2010.I arrived in Korea Friday, February 26 a little after 7am. I arrived at the hotel around 9am. I quickly connected to the internet only to find out that Jay wasn’t coming back. The big news about Jay’s personal mistake during his AAA promotions had been announced while I was still flying to Korea. I was in utter shock. Just so big that even as I write this fan account on Sunday night, it STILL hasn’t hit me yet…. But I realized that I needed to get my butt over to JYPE and see the situation there cuz apparently there had been some problems when this news was first announced. (like the building being trashed)
It took less than 10 minutes to get to the JYPE building from the Coex hotel.
The weather was really nice that day. A little cloudy but still around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, since there are tall buildings all around, there was very little sunlight there.
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I arrived around 2:20pm. It was such a strange feeling to be able to see the building right in front of my eyes. The building I had seen ever since becoming a fan of 2PM and 2AM. There is a Dunkin Donuts that is right across the street from the building. One side of it opens up so people can sit both indoors and outdoors. There were at least 60 fans or so hanging around DD talking and looking at the JYPE building. There were about 10 fans or so posting up notes or just reading the Post-Its and other things stuck on the building. The JYPE building is at a 4-way intersection without any lights or stop signs. There is barely enough room for one car to get through, but somehow cars managed to magically slide past each other. (Kinda like in Harry Potter….lol) When I first got there, there wasn’t much traffic. However, as the day went on, the number of people increased exponentially, as well as the traffic.
As soon as I got there, I took some pictures and video clips of the area and headed over to the building.
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However, only after about 5 minutes, I heard a bunch of shouting in front of the Dunkin Donuts. There was a crowd of about 50 girls and so I ran over to see what the commotion was about. The girls were surrounding this one guy with a camera. I don’t remember exactly what they were talking about, but in general, the fans were pissed that the journalist was taking pictures of the building/fans. They did not want the media to take pictures because they have a tendency to twist information. The journalist was arguing back that he had already taken the pictures. The fans kept telling him to leave…. After their small argument, the girls dispersed and I saw the journalist check his camera and say, “I took the picture, let’s go.” Even after he left, there were at least about 10 other people with cameras and camcorders who came and left during the 3 hours that I was there. Whenever the fans saw the reporters/journalists taking pictures (even from afar) they all were saying things like, “Wtf! Why are they filming from over there?” while continuing to yell at them to stop it.
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My initial reaction when I got to the building was a shock at just the sheer number of girls there mulling around and the amount of post-its. From writing on the windows to the walls to the cement ground to even Post-Its stuck onto the staffs’ cars, I just did not know where to start reading. Since my main job was to document everything, I started taking pictures like crazy. There were messages of love to Jaebum and the other 6 members, pleas for Jaebum to return, demands for JYPE to hand over Jaebum, and even uses of 2AM’s and 2PM’s title songs- “Park Jaebum, even if I die, I can’t send you away. I am not tired of waiting.” I especially liked the poster that read, “JAY=AND, JYPE=END” and a Post-It that read, “1 person pulled (lead) 6 people. Can’t 6 people pull 1 person?” There were also messages regarding Sunmi from WG, “We’ll wait for you, Sunmi.” There was also a Paris Baguette poster that was covered in writing. Some of the comments were, “[member name] are you the same [name] that we used to know?” “Personal problem? What is it?!” In the front of the building, there was a ball of something wrapped up in foil. It looked like an oversized Hershey kiss. I immediately wondered if it was poo, but didn’t ask anyone about it. It somehow disappeared and later saw it opened in the parking lot and inside of it were like 2 Korean pastries. >.<
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I put up a few Post-Its of my own for 2oneday.com. I signed them, “2oneday.com, International Fansite for 2AM and 2PM.”
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I noticed that there was a journalist with a cameraman filming parts of the wall. I thought to myself, “I should ask him if he can include my Post-It note too since I did come all the way from Chicago,” and went over to him and said to him in Korean while pointing to my orange Post-It note, “Can you make sure to film this too? I’m here as a representative of international fans.” He looked at me in surprise and said something along the lines of, “Oh really?!” and I told him, “Yes, I’m from Chicago,” and he immediately asked me if I was willing to do an interview and I asked him where he was from and he said, “tvEnt” and I said okay. I then started preparing what to say in Korean and he told me not to worry and that it was okay to answer in English. When the other fans noticed that I was talking with the reporter, they started crowding around us saying, “No, no interviews! The Hottests leaders don’t want fans doing any interviews! Leave her alone!” The reporter argued back, “Well, what’s the big deal? She’s not part of your group anyways! She’s willing to do an interview, so let me conduct it!” They all kept telling me that I had to refuse the interview and even putting themselves between me and the reporter.
Since I had pretty much just gotten off the plane that day and I hadn’t had the time to read the news about the latest 2PM announcements, I wasn’t aware that Hottests were told not to talk to the media. I started getting nervous because I didn’t want to come off as a careless fan and in the end I told him sorry, but no interview. And when the other fans saw that he wasn’t going to interview me, a lot of them went away, but then the reporter started casually talking to me again, asking me why I was there. I started telling him about 2oneday and how there were 2PM fans from all over the world. The fans noticed us talking and got all defensive again and kind of yelled at him to leave me alone while he defended himself by saying that he was just asking me because he found it interesting that I was all the way from the States. I told him that I was there mainly because of the 2PM conference the following day and the other fans all of a sudden got super interested. After the reporter left, they stared at me like an animal at the zoo. I guess they were shocked that someone all the way from the States had flown to Korea for a meeting. When they asked me if I had sent in an application and I told them yes, they said, “Daebak!” and “That is so cool and amazing!” Some people asked me if I knew where it was, and I told them, no, since JYPE was sending the information by email that night.
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While reading some of the notes, I noticed that one said, “Wating for Jay.” There were two girls next to me and so I told them, “This is missing an ‘I’” and they didn’t understand me at first and then when they did, they added the ‘i.’
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Since I was super cold (remember, no sunlight ) I decided to hang out at the Dunkin Donuts for a little bit. There were a bunch of girls just sitting there staring at the building so I was wondering if they were waiting for something or someone and decided to chill there for a bit too. The place was tiny and there were no seats available, but I ordered a Hot Chocolate and stood around, just listening to the girls who were there. Most of them were talking about 2PM and it was interesting to listen to people talk about it like it was a normal conversation topic. In the States, I’ve only discussed this kind of stuff online with other 2oders. There were girls criticizing the other members, talking about how bad they felt for Jay, etc. I kept asking different girls if they were waiting for something, but they said no. One girl even said that she wasn’t even a 2PM fan, but a fan of a trainee, which was surprising. While waiting, I think I saw a few trainees go in and out. However, since I have no idea who JYPE trainees are, I had no interest in them.
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After awhile I headed back to the building and took more pictures since the walls were now even more covered with Post-Its. In the front of the building, there were like 4 girls doing something and I kept hearing them talking about glue. I was confused but decided not to ask them what they were up to and just took some pictures in silence and left. I decided to back into the Dunkin Donuts since I was so cold. I bought myself a glazed donut and found a seat. I started writing more Post-Its.
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While doing so, I noticed a man had arrived in the front of the building and he kept pressing the button to get buzzed in. However, after like 30 seconds of just pressing and it apparently not working, he got on his cell phone. I realized that the girls had put liquid glue on the doorbell so that you couldn’t press down the buttons. I heard other girls in the Dunkin Donuts talking how liquid glue is really easy to take off once it dries, so it’s not a big deal. Soon after he got buzzed in I decided to put up my Post-Its and went back to the building walls. At this point there were probably over 100 girls there. There were even MORE Post-Its and I even saw a girl spraypainting the back wall in red, “Are you ignoring the Leadja? Jinyoung-Gura Power!!! 쓔” I took more pictures and by then, there were bouquets of white chrysanthemums with 2PM’s first two albums on top. Also, by the end of the day, a graffiti sign that had originally said, “YOUR MOM WAS LOOKING FOR YOU” had turned into, “YOUR MOM WAS JAYLOOKING FOR YOU.”
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In general, I was happy to see that there wasn’t any litter on the ground. I noticed that everything was thrown away in this huge orange plastic bag.
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Around 5:20pm, I was tired and cold and decided to take few last pictures of the building before leaving and stood by a convenience store that was across the street. Suddenly, I heard the beginning to a song that sounded very familiar and it was 2AM’s “Even If I Die, I Can’t Send You Away.” I thought it was just a radio, but it was actually the music video shown on a tv screen on the mart’s window! So I forgot about 2PM for a little bit and watched the music video in awe along with 2 other girls who were watching it with me.
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After that, I soon went back to my hotel.
BTW, for those wondering, I'm Korean-American and this is my first time visiting Korea in over 13 years.
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