Sasaeng fans discussed their stalker-like lifestyle on 'Cultwo's Veranda Show', attempting to explain why they do what they do.
One regular fan revealed the difference between a regular fan and a sasaeng fan sharing, "We like our oppas with an innocent heart. But sasaeng fans follow them around their private lives 24/7." A former manager also shared from his own experience, "Of course they go to their house, and they are also present at the studio and broadcast station. It is really a dangerous situation because they use sa-taek [sasaeng taxi, illegal taxi that sasaeng fans take to follow celebrities around]."
When a former sasaeng fan, who lived the sasaeng lifestyle for four years from her 2nd year of middle school to 3rd year of high school, was asked why she became a sasaeng fan, she revealed, "Because I can talk with the celebrities directly. When I'm around their dorms or wherever, I can let myself be known to them and I can have a conversation with them. We can become close so that's why I would go there. Whenever a celebrity notices me, I feel satisfisfaction. Possessiveness."
Another six-year long sasaeng fan revealed, "Just to see them for three seconds, we wait thirty hours because we like those three seconds. We would use the newspapers as bed sheets and sleep in front of their dorms. At first we did it because we like the members, but later on we did it because we became addicted to it. The sasaeng taxis follow the celebrities' vans really well. The sasaeng taxis even compete with each other. While riding in a sasaeng taxi, I realized that I could end up dying this way," revealing that sasaeng fans sometimes put their lives at risk to catch a glimpse of the celebrities.
A professor who has been studying the mentality of sasaeng fans revealed that it is this competitive edge that seems to be further driving them. Being able to have the bragging rights to tell their friends that they even know the social security number of celebrities, they feel as if they will earn recognition from other sasaeng fans.
A current sasaeng fan was also interviewed and shared, "I used to run after TVXQ and now I've moved onto another group. Sasaeng fans include a wide range of ages from people in elementary school to their 40s. Some pregnant women even come and stay up all night. There are also a lot of Chinese and Japanese fans."
The fan also pointed out that the worst kind of sasaeng fans are the ones who touch or hit the celebrities, and recalled, "Once a member was walking out and a sasaeng fan went behind him and grabbed his hair, making the celebrity fall backwards. That celebrity hurt his tailbone because of the incident. She did it because she wanted to be remembered even if it was in a bad way."
Tip: kkexprtpop
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