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Korean celebrities are super private when it comes to their love lives. So when they do share information about their relationships with fans, it’s a precious moment.
On the MBC reality series called “Don’t Be Jealous,” Hyerim — formerly of the Wonder Girls — introduced her boyfriend of seven years to her fans. Shin Min-Chul isn’t an idol or actor. Rather, he’s a taekwondo champion.
Coincidentally, Hyerim’s father is a taekwondo grandmaster, holding a 9th degree black belt in the sport.
On the episode where the couple introduce themselves to the viewers, Shin pretends to go to the restroom. Instead, he comes back with a bouquet of flowers decorated with cookies with their likenesses on them. Hyerim tears up when she reads the words, “I love you just because you’re you.”
“These are to commemorate our first date in public,” he tells her.
Worrying that her fans may be startled by the revelation, she tells her boyfriend she wants to share the news with them herself via social media. The polylingual star handwrites two heartfelt notes — one in Korean and one in English. “Today is a special day for me,” she writes. “I’ve got someone who I want to share my precious moments with.”
Though she’s confident now is the right time to share her romance with fans, she also is worried they may react negatively to her.
She needn’t have worried.
As news of their relationship hit the mainstream media, Shin’s name began to trend at No. 1 on the search engines. Netizens wanted to learn more about the man who had won Hyerim’s heart.
In the middle of all this, Shin receives a phone call from a long-time friend, who admonishes him for keeping his relationship a secret. “All you did was do taekwondo and I felt bad thinking you weren’t dating!” she tells him.
Do I really think no one knew about their relationship? No. But I do believe the couple only told a few trusted friends and family members, who they knew wouldn’t blab about their relationship to the media.
Like many idols, Hyerim is multi-talented in the arts. But she’s also academically gifted, having won a scholarship in her first semester of college. For the past three years, she has been a student at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, majoring in interpretation and translation. In fact, her first job as a freshman at college was translating “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank to Korean from English.
When her boyfriend points the book out, she gets a bit shy, but you can also tell she’s very proud of all the work she put into the project.
Later, when she meets with one of her professors, the latter says she didn’t know Hyerim was an entertainer until she missed one class. Her (then) agency JYP sent a letter explaining why Hyerim couldn’t be there.
Fluent in Korean, English, Cantonese and Mandorin, Hyerim was awarded by the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs for making a video about travel safety overseas. Though she’s clearly got academia on her mind, Hyerim has options. After leaving JYP earlier this year, she signed with her bandmate Yubin’s new label, RRR Entertainment.
Throughout the series, the hosts make observations about Hyerim and Shin. Former “Produce 101” winner and I.O.I member Jeon Somi is wowed by Shin’s skills. She shares stories about her own 4th Degree black belt and how her instinct to position her hands in traditional taekwondo moves is at odds with how she’s supposed to display them as a dancer. (The other hosts include VIXX’s Ravi, former basketball player Heo Jae and MCs Jang Sung-Kyu and Jang Do Yeon.)
Have you been watching “Don’t Be Jealous”? Who’s your favorite couple?
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