#totally fascinating

Well, here goes nothing. 

EXO member Baekhyun’s predebut and debut era gf: in 2012, shortly after EXO debuted, someone dropped on “nate pann” a short video and screenshots of Baekhyun hanging out and looking cozy with who was allegedly his gf at the time, backstage at a music show. The gf was revealed to be a member of a nugu girl group that debuted in 2011 and disbanded shortly after. Anyway, “Growl” hadn’t come out yet and EXO weren’t that popular at the time, so the pics gained no real traction and disappeared from the face of the earth. Meanwhile, Baekhyun was busy going around and promising fans that he’ll always belong to them and will remain single till he’s 40 *Insert massive eye roll* 

August 2013, “Growl” came out: if there is just one thing most people probably know about EXO, it’s “Growl”. The song shot them to unseen heights, quite literally, overnight. Music shows, radio shows, interviews, fan meetings - EXO was suddenly everywhere, both in Korea and in China, and their fandom grew exponentially, from “we’re stanning them because they come from SM” to “ we’re stanning them because, omg, we love that song”. Meanwhile, Baekhyun seemed to have realized the power of parasocialism and was leaning HEAVY into it (I will not go into his old instagram posts even for the sake of research, I refuse). He got known pretty quickly as the “parasocial one” in the group, which gained him a sizeable amount of (borderline sasaeng) fans and shot him at least a few steps ahead in terms of popularity. This, coupled with EXO’s sudden explosive rise, soon spread the obsessive behaviour to the rest of the members in varying degrees. Baekhyun’s fans, however, remained unbeaten. 

September 2013, EXO’s sasaengs fans crashed Baekhyun’s brother’s wedding: Baekhyun’s brother was getting married and EXO, of course, were invited. Fans, somehow, found out when and where, and promptly decided to ruin the whole thing by appearing uninvited. The photos from that time, btw, are simply abysmal - fans standing on chairs, shoving cameras in EXO’s faces, demanding autographs; Baekhyun in the centre of it all, obviously trying and failing to get them to leave, the rest of EXO looking completely paralysed, and the bride and groom shoved somewhere in the back, forgotten. The incident made so much noise that it leaked outside of the EXO fandom. Both fans of other kpop groups and the GP started commenting on the leniency that SM was showing and the lack of security measures, especially given their artists’ history with sasaengs (the most notorious case being Yunho of TVXQ getting poisoned at a fan event). The complaints, however, fell on deaf ears, and the wedding disaster was just the beginning. 

October 2013 - May 2014: EXO’s sasaengs’ behaviour not only continued but got even worse. Breaking into EXO’s dorms or dressing rooms became just another Tuesday for fans, and for reasons beyond me, they seemed to have a particular affinity with D.O’s stuff. A listing claiming to sell his used boxers broke confinement and made it onto the GP news. So did the photos of the members having to form a literal human chain so they could use a public bathroom (or any public facility, for that matter). People, once again, raised their eyebrows, shook their heads and wondered what the hell SM was doing. Rumours that someone from the inside was facilitating all this and leaking information started circulating. And if you’re like: “Uh, I thought there were members in China, too? What about them?”. Well, same thing, only that the sasaengs were Chinese instead of Korean. They filmed Chinese member Tao while he was showering and then outside of his hotel room in his bathroom robe. Finally, last for this period (but by no means least) - a sasaeng fan posted a photo of what they claimed was Baekhyun’s call log on his phone. The call log showed Girls Generation’s Taeyeon as the top recent caller. Under the photo, they wrote: “Byun Baekhyun, you better not be dating Taeyeon. Because, if you are, I’m warning you, I don’t know what I’ll do.” They were referencing EXO’s breakout hit “Growl”. 

And with this final notable example of incredibly creepy fan behaviour, that turned out to be freakishly foreshadowing, we’ve reached the first big “earthquake” with magnitude of around 7/8 - Baekhyun was, in fact, dating Taeyeon. 

However, as this ask is going to get too long if I continue, I’ll stop here for now. Do tell if you want me to continue. 

submitted Feb 2, 2026

In two words: Thank you.

Well I think that’s what I’m trying to work out.  Because I think before his BLM I would have said that Harry has just chosen to withdraw.  He’s chosen to adopt a very minimalist approach on social media, chosen to work very hard not to say anything in interviews and chosen not to take an approach from lyrics where there’s lots of space between the words.

But then a time comes where he wants to make a statement - and it sounds like it was assembled by AI after reading many other white people’s statements.  

And maybe that’s just a matter of being careful and trying to be respectful.  But it did make it feel like maybe it’s not much of a choice as it used to be.  And if you don’t use your voice over a long period of time, maybe you do lose it.

why did I pick it up?

I adored the first two books in this series, they were super awesome and I adored how realistic the love story was and all the characters and races and history that we were learning, plus all the amazing exoctic places we got to see in our world.

  who would I give this book to?

Anyone looking for a truly unique teen fantasy series.

  where did I read this the most?

I read the first half of this book on the couch and it’s all timelapsed! I read the second half in another marathon session in my room because I was leaving on vacation in a few days and needed to give it back to work before I left!

  when will/did I get this signed?

I almost went to meet her at the Houston Teen Book Con, but it was the day before I was to leave for CO, hopefully she’ll be back to Houston and I’ll get another chance, I really adore her style and world building!

  what did this book make me feel?

Her world building really stepped it up in this book, it was so completely epic and amazing, I wonder if she’ll write more in this world or not? I don’t know, or really care, it was so good just the way it is. I was seriously awwed by the continued world building in this last book, I’d have thought everything we needed was out there by now, and so I was truly and wonderfully surprised with how it turned out.

  how many dragons was this book?

The Story of Science, BBC, 2010. I'm watching this on my Global iPlayer app, on which it's called The History of Science and seems to be a modified version. Episode 3 genuinely blew my mind. And through this series, I learned the chemistry as a discipline exists because some dudes really liked blowing things up. This series is making me a demonstrably more interesting human being.

For your enjoyment:

1. What is Out There?

2. What is the World Made Of?

3. How Did We Get Here?

4. Can We Have Unlimited Power?

5. What is the Secret of Life?

6. Who Are We?