When I first saw
the news yesterday, I was surprised by SM’s uncharacteristic gesture and haunted by suspicion, and so I did some research and wrote an extensive analysis…
First and foremost, why have we not heard of an uproar in the fandom before this official statement? The article places the date of the photos at October 20th, which means that the stalker fans had plenty of time to leak them, and yet they somehow surface in the press exactly one week later? One could argue that whoever took the shots used them to extort the companies for money, but if that were the case then there would’ve been no need to publicize this relationship at all.
Also, if the photos were indeed snapped by stalkers, then it doesn’t explain why Jonghyun and Shin Sekyung appear to be aware of the camera and posing instead of hiding:
This resembles a red carpet shot much more than it does a candid, and SSK is looking directly into the camera’s eye.
Considering the logistics of body language, usually when one swings their arm around another, it’d cause the person to lean in on the other person as they walk, and the free arm that’s inbetween the two would usually wrap around the other’s waist.
example. Instead, we have two people in rather stiff up-right positions who seem uncomfortable with their proximity.
They have such
forced smiles plastered on their faces. Their gazes are also aligned toward a common target near ground-level instead of gazing forward the way people naturally do when walking.
They’re once again affecting smiles and unnaturally facing directly forward, their eyes locked on something specific in front.
Also, this was taken within a second of the above shot judging by the position of his hand, yet the angle of the photo is drastically different, which suggests that there was a crew of people snapping shots. Do stalkers usually hunt in packs?
Here their expressions are indifferent and their body language further screams of distance as SSK weakly tugs on his sleeve.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that
something is off, in every single one of
their photos, they didn’t exchange eye contact once, which is such a natural response when interacting with someone you like. This whole shoot appears to be staged ahead of time as it makes no sense for two incredibly recognizable faces to hold
street dates if they intended to keep their affairs private. Generally, celebrities wear some form of disguise - sunglasses, masks, hats, etc, to prevent drawing attention. And if these two were plagued by stalkers, they wouldn’t pose happily for their cameras.
Also, none of these photos display the typical syndromes of paparazzi shots - they’re exceptionally clear, well-angled, eye-level, and often taken directly within the two’s field of vision, and nor is there any foreground obstruction suggesting that the the stalker might have hidden behind something to steal these shots. It should also be pointed out that the photo set apparently captured the entire process of their getting out of the car, walking several streets to SSK’s apartment, and Jonghyun leaving after presumingly dropping her off. All in perfect, non-blurry detail. The stalker must be quite a ninja to be able to tail them for the entirety of it without being caught.
The two were revealed to have gotten together as often as they could despite their busy schedules, having street dates mainly around Shin’s apartment.
If this is case, then why hasn’t there been sightings, much less photo evidence? Two famous celebrities strolling the bustling streets of Seoul for one month and we’ve heard nothing?
Another factor is Jonghyun’s injured leg, which was damaged in Indonesia on the 12th. He was in excruciating pain and prescribed rest for two weeks, causing SHINee to forgo their Hello choreo and perform sitting down to compensate. As one could see from
this fancam on the 16th, he was still limping quite badly, and on the 22nd he
went to the hospital once again for his leg. It makes even less sense for the two to walk around and strain his injury.
Let’s look at the timeline:
Oct 20 - Paparazzi shots taken
Oct 25 - Hinting of relationship on Sukira
Oct 27 - Publicizing of relationship, JYJ’s Injunction, release of SNSD’s MV
Oct 28 - Release of Shin Sekyung’s new movie,
Acoustic, which happens to center around music.
Also, take a look at SHINee’s
insanely packed schedule, they’re curiously free from the 25th-28th. There is no event schedule for the 26th, and on the 27th only Onew had his musical. On both the 25th and 28th, SHINee is only scheduled to attend Sukira, an SM radio show, so what they say on these appearances is completely under the company’s control.
I checked SHINee’s schedule some time during September hoping that they would be getting some rest, and I clearly recall marveling at the fact that SHINee had such a big gap on the aforementioned dates. At the time I was thankful for the vacation, but now it would appear that this entire matter was pre-planned at least 2 months in advance.
There is absolutely no need for SME to admit to their relationship so readily. In the past, SME had always vehemently denied such rumors despite surmounting evidence; these photographs aren’t even all that incriminating. And publicizing a relationship after merely 1 month for a moderately successful idol group with only 2 years under their belt? Suspicious. DBSK didn’t reveal who they were dating until 5 years into their phenomenal success. There is a chance that one of their agencies contacted the other because of Jonghyun’s constant promotion of SSK as his ideal type on Hello Baby, so if they were to manufacture a publicity stunt it’d tie in convincingly.
On the other hand, there is also the high possibility that they are truly an item, and their agencies simply decided to milk their relationship for publicity. But this calls the question as to why they fabricated such a blatantly flawed story, when having the two issue simple statements would have sufficed. This dubious move suggests that there is no relationship, and that the evidence had to be created in order to convince us of their authenticity.
If the relationship is real, then I am happy for them as everyone deserves love and intimacy. However, I can’t help but feel skeptical about the sudden exposure as it’s SM’s iron fist we’re dealing with, and the many coincidences make it all the more questionable. And ever since the announcement, every media outlet has been blaring news about the two - perfect padding to hype up the new releases. Cheap tricks SM, cheap tricks.
What do you think their intentions are?
