When Stars Align – With Eyes East

“Is there anything Seulgi can’t do?”

It happened. Friend, it finally happened. For a while, I’ve been meaning to write at least two blog segments (these posts are supposed to come in threes), one about Irene & Seulgi’s new release Tilt and the other about issues facing international fans of K-pop, so this new development would’ve completed the match-three puzzle and into this world a blog post’d be born. But I’m afraid I can’t do that. This one stands alone. Last July, I’d mentioned that Gyuri of Kara opened a YouTube channel seemingly with the express purpose of one day inviting on her idol Seulgi of Red Velvet. As she’d express how much she’s been a longtime fan, I’d watch Seulgi hang out with countless other idols – including Gyuri’s own groupmate Youngji. What a traitor! I know how hard it is for such in-demand people to coordinate their schedules, but finally, the stars aligned – Seulgi has a new album to promote, and it’s Gyuri’s birthday.

It was a rough week. Rough morning, too. I woke up at 2:00, 5:00, and 7:00 and remembered each instance. So when I saw that thumbnail at the topmost, leftmost spot on YouTube (you know me too well!), I just about cried. I didn’t, but I did feel a lot better. At that point, there weren’t subtitles, but I still got the gist, and perked up every time I heard keywords like “Youngji” and “Jiyoung.”

So, the story is, Gyuri’s people coordinated with Seulgi for a birthday surprise, setting it up like a small fan gathering. Yoona had something similar recently, a livestream I missed because it was at 4:00 a.m. I’m not up at that hour. A staff member even leads Gyuri into a birthday room (with a red velvet carpet), eyes closed. Kudos, by the way, to Seulgi for carrying a birthday cake across a room and not dropping it. And Gyuri’s reaction? She screams into her hands and immediately falls to the ground.

This is not Seulgi and Gyuri’s first time speaking with one another, though the first instance was at an awards show. They’ve also been texting for a while now, and we even see their chat log is full of “kekeke.”

After a brief interlude where Gyuri demonstrates her nighttime routine (the part of the video she was paid for, I imagine), we switch POVs to Seulgi as she arrives at the venue. Apparently, she’d texted Gyuri last week “I’ll see you next week,” and then remembered it’s supposed to be a surprise, so when Gyuri texted back like “Really?” Seulgi was like “No.” That is hysterical, but it also makes Seulgi nervous, standing outside the birthday room, as Gyuri’s pretty perceptive. The staff member assures her that Gyuri will likely be fooled a little. “Would she be fooled if I covered my eyes?” Seulgi says, covering her eyes. Doubtful.

So, Gyuri arrives, and she’s led into the room. She stands there with her eyes closed for a moment, and when prompted to open, she’s surprised that there’s nobody around. “Why is it only me?” And then video of Gyuri plays (I assume from this one, which isn’t subtitled), where she talks about why she started the channel: “To meet Seulgi.” And then the curtains part and Seulgi comes in. “Oh, my, oh, my, what should I do?”

Gyuri’s reaction is very relatable. I’ve never met one of these K-pop idols before, but I know my instinct would be to move away. And be on the verge of tears. I’d also have no memory of the moment; as Gyuri stumbles around the room, she keeps saying “Oh, my, oh, my” for, like, a minute.

They sit down at the table, and I love that while Gyuri barely touches the food – too excited – Seulgi goes into Seulgi mode and eats pretty much throughout. Gyuri then explains the behind-the-scenes, that the staff had cooked up quite the conspiracy, starting with “accidentally” letting her onto the surprise party idea, and then backpedaling. Gyuri then goes through the Tilt photobook, which is the edition I very nearly preordered, but went with one of the more standard editions. While she’s displaying photos of Seulgi, Seulgi reaches over to move a hair out of Gyuri’s face. “Don’t flirt with me!” Gyuri pleads.

Gyuri tells the story of how her fandom was solidified by “Russian Roulette.” Watching the video, she wondered, “What is it about this person that steals my gaze like this?” and from there, she kept “gradually falling” for her. Kudos, again, to Seulgi for taking all of this in stride. She’s not a vain person, so I imagine such face-to-face praise would be uncomfortable, but she’s engaged and conversational. I mean, Seulgi’s a pretty mellow dude in general, and she’s pretty much the same here as she is with Irene, Red Velvet, or the ‘94 Line. Apparently, when the ‘94 Line was gathered for drinks, drunk Youngji got the idea to FaceTime Gyuri to show off Seulgi. What a troll! “Is it okay for such a cute creature to exist?” Gyuri recalls thinking, receiving that call. Seulgi asks her if she’s been practicing for the upcoming Karasia tour in Japan, and Gyuri’s like, “Yeah,” as she’s staring at Seulgi. And then she just says, “You’re so cute.”

“I’m trying really hard to be a lot calmer than usual,” Gyuri notes, moments before taking a photo of Seulgi’s shoes. This is too much. Seulgi asks what Jiyoung and Youngji think of this famous fangirling, and Gyuri reports that Jiyoung’s gotten over it, but Youngji still brings it up. Apparently, Youngji recently said, “If you see Seulgi, you have to see her with me, too.” I mean, yeah, I’d love to see that, too.

A study in body language

I have to say, it was fun watching this video without subtitles, but now knowing what they were saying? Wow. Gyuri is fangirling so hard it’s almost unbearable. Toward the end, a staff member suggests the balance game to get a better sense for Seulgi’s tastes, and Gyuri’s like “YES.” The whole time, she’d been fishing for preferences in food, alcohol, and hobbies to nail down the details of future get-togethers. They’d just been talking about how they didn’t like action movies, and so the first round of the balance game is: action vs. romance. Three, two, one – Seulgi says “Romance,” and Gyuri says “Action,” and immediately freaks out because she got her wires crossed. “I must be crazy.” Round three is call vs. text, and Seulgi says “Call,” and Gyuri says “Tex– call.” Seulgi suggests that Gyuri should answer first.

At one point, Gyuri raises an idea she revisits at the end, after Seulgi has left and she’s dabbing her eyes. Being such an intense fan of another idol gives her an empathic understanding of her own fans. That’s the Gyuri I know. The joy and borderline horror of this video was watching the total destruction of someone I’d first describe as “cool.” She’s the leader of her group, and she gets along with everyone (super awkward energy with Jiyoung, though), and she comes off as fun but self-aware. God, she’s a mess here. It’s amazing to witness.

After realizing she didn’t get an autograph (even though she did)

And it was worth the wait. I assumed that their first meeting would be a more scripted event, part of a formal promotion, but this was just as produced. Gyuri’s team did a great job putting it together, and Seulgi was such a good sport. I do hope for her sake that their next date is more… normal? No cameras – even if I don’t get to see it, that’s okay. Unless Youngji’s also there.

“Unnie.”
“How can you say such beautiful things?!”