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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/imnanbaboya on 2024-03-06 20:26:56.

Quick Definitions

TVXQ are a K-pop group, a very long-lasting and frankly iconic one. They just caught up on their 20 year anniversary (and released their first Korean album in, like, 4 years!) last year, having debuted at the end of 2003, and they have as colorful as a history as that kind of lifespan suggests. Previous write-ups on this subreddit have covered things such as lawsuits, gay shipping, and crazy stalkers — that (and the fact that they have multiple write-ups here in the first place) says a lot about what kind of stuff TVXQ got involved with. Since this story takes place in 2004, TVXQ will be treated as they were then: a fresh-faced, 5-member group taking over the scene.

A few other terms to know would be Cassiopeia or Cassies, referring to TVXQ’s fandom; SM Entertainment, the company that made and manages TVXQ; and rotation, referring to changing out members of a group. Other than that, if you’re familiar with K-pop terminology, you shouldn’t have much problem navigating this. So, let’s set the scene.

(Also, a note before we start — a majority of the posts linked here will be in Korean, as most English fan forums from the time are long gone. I can’t speak much about what happened overseas, but there is this blog post from an international Cassie who was there at the time. It’s a good read — I recommend it for those wanting a first-hand account. I wasn’t there at the time, so I can only repeat and make inferences from what I read!)

The Rotation Rumors

It was 2004. After a 2-single run, TVXQ had just released their 1st full album, TRI-ANGLE, and their fanbase was as strong as ever. With this album came a “storybook” like their previous releases — a “storybook” in TVXQ terms is like your normal K-pop photobook but with more stuff. This storybook, however, came with even more stuff than usual; most importantly, it contained essays written from the group members’ perspective. One of these essays explained the process of forming the group: SM divided trainees into groups, choosing their lead vocalists to create a “dream team.” That was describing past events, as the storybook explicitly stated that this “dream team” was TVXQ’s predecessor. But the statement following, saying that SM was preparing various solo “projects” for the members of TVXQ, intensified the misconception. Cassiopeias — TVXQ’s fandom — saw this as TVXQ being a project group where members could leave for solo activities and be replaced. They could be replaced! They could be replaced, and no fan wants a group where their bias could disappear willy-nilly.

So TVXQ fans got worried. At first, it started as simple talk of a Chinese member, and fans were up in arms at SM Entertainment, TVXQ’s company. As far as taking action, some talked about boycotting TVXQ related products and protesting in front of SM (A fun note is that those who actually did protest in front of SM were told exactly what SM would say time and time again… that no one was being replaced). TVXQ’s fanbase slanted young back then, so a lot of people believed the rumor without questioning, but some cast doubt on this affair. All the while, during an uncertain time in Cassieland, one forum came upon the nation — a little place called the “Seryun Sejun Official Anti Cafe.”

Seryun Sejun, Please Disappear

There were scattered talks of a Seryun Sejun before the big fuss. Apparently, the “Seryun” part comes from a stage name the youngest member, Changmin, was supposed to have before going with Max. (TVXQ’s stage names were formatted like [stage name] [real first name], e.g. U-Know Yunho.) Back then, the rumor was the same, with Sejun replacing one of the original TVXQs, but nobody had any reason to believe it. Now, though, everybody was looking for a name to this menace, and Seryun Sejun came like a five course meal to a starving child.

The “Seryun Sejun Official Anti Cafe” (세륜세준 공식 안티카페) was founded on November 19, 2004, around the same time the rotation rumors gained traction. I don’t think the place started the rumors — it probably started from whisperings by the same people who spouted them in the previous months — but it’s a very important site in Sejun history. SGA, as it shortened itself (based on its Korean initials), was hosted on the (still-existent) Daum Cafe service, a place where anyone can make their own community. Think of it as a mix between a web forum and Reddit. But SGA paid host to a curious image of an incomplete TVXQ. Taken from the same storybook that started the mess, the picture depicts 4 members of the original TVXQ — U-Know Yunho (whose name I should note is misspelled in the picture as “Yunno”), Xia Junsu, Micky Yoochun, and Max Changmin — but where Jaejoong should be, a stranger is in his place. As this picture was on the front page of the Seryun Sejun Official Anti Cafe, this stranger was purported to be none other than Sejun, who would take Jaejoong’s spot in TVXQ.

The day after SGA’s founding, SM stated to news outlets that they wouldn’t be changing out anyone. At the time, the rumor was still new, so with SM’s statement it looked like it was starting to cool down. TVXQ fans were still worried, though, and they were still flaunting the “5 - 1 = 0” mentality. (Silly TVXQ fans, that’s not how math works!) But on November 21, 2004, something happened that would set the scandal aflame.

The Yoochun Crying Incident, and the Endless Rumor Mill

The 326th episode of Inkigayo, a show where K-pop artists come to perform and promote their songs, was aired on the 21st of November 2004. One of the many highly regarded artists appearing on that day was TVXQ, who sang their song “I Believe” — but during the performance, Yoochun burst into tears. Not just domestic fans, but international fans got worried — what could have driven Yoochun to tears? The answer that many Korean fans came to was that it was the member rotation. From this point, things got serious.

Sejun became the TVXQ fandom’s number one enemy in the blink of an eye. Not only was he going to replace Jaejoong, he had also made Yoochun cry! Everyone wanted to know who this menace was, and they flooded to SGA, making it reach 1,000 members by the 22nd. Some fans were enraged — like any good anti, Sejun’s detractors made disparaging nicknames, the most common of which being Segyun (meaning “virus” in Korean). Some used a calmer, more polite approach to protect TVXQ, believing the rumor, while skeptics kept their heads on the ground. Others thought more positively of Sejun, though they were not the majority by far. What’s definite is that a large amount of Cassies were under the impression that this was happening — there were pictures of this interloper, letters apparently written by members’ friends, even news articles seemingly confirming it. (We’ll get to those later.) It was an emergency situation.

But the funniest part of this is the rumor mill. The most consistent claim was that Sejun was Chinese, due to SM saying in another statement that they were planning to add a Chinese member. Sometimes Sejun was the son of Lee Soo-man, founder of SM Entertainment and number two enemy of Cassies at this point. There was that one post that claimed Jaejoong was in a coma and that 2 Cassies had ended their own lives? And according to one Naver KnowledgeIN post, Jaejoong joined YG after being replaced by Sejun. Then there was Makkang Joongi, someone who I couldn’t fit into the main section. Makkang Joongi had already been floating around before the rotation rumors, and after them he made a bit of a comeback as another potential replacer. This “Makkang” figure was actually the actor Lee Joongi, who was an SM trainee when TVXQ was being planned. From this, p…

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