A recently leaked voice recording of NCT‘s Haechan quickly made rounds on social media. The call was initially made by a sasaeng to who they believed to be either his alleged girlfriend or his younger brother’s girlfriend. The sasaeng sounded annoyed in the recording when they realized that Haechan had picked up.
알계가 녹음본 지웠대서
해찬이랑 해찬동생여친인지 해찬여친인지 전화받은거 녹화본 올림#해찬 #NCT pic.twitter.com/coJR9s5qwB— 호카손자 (@hoooootguy1) January 12, 2023
- Sasaeng: “Sigh, hello. Why is it oppa that’s picking up?”
- Haechan: “Hello?”
- [silence]
- Haechan: “Ah, you really don’t know when you should be scared. I’ll be suing you. I’m hanging up.”
Of course, the call itself was wrong on the end of the sasaeng. But just how did the voice recording end up being leaked? Read on to find out more.
1. The bad blood between fans and Haechan’s siblings
As fans are naturally curious about the family members of their idols, multiple fans closely follow those around Haechan, including his younger siblings. It has been some time since fans began to notice that Haechan’s younger brother had been showing off his relationship with Haechan. On the same day that Haechan sent a Dear. U Bubble message about returning home in late 2022, his brother posted a photo in a brand new Porsche.
This later led to fans guessing that Haechan had purchased a car and drove it home. As owning cars at a young age as an idol may either damage one’s image and affect their privacy, many fans were upset at Haechan’s brother for wanting to show off.
I can prove I’m a fan. I’m a fan of Haechan’s, but because of his siblings, I really want to leave the fandom. I can’t believe such a kid is his family… If your sibling is a celebrity and an idol, then you should be more careful as their family member. But his siblings enjoy the attention and continue to make things obvious and cross the line… Last time, his younger cousin tried to brag and even publicized Haechan’s travel history when he got COVID… I honestly don’t think that such people can be humble by his side. It’s the opposite… If they cared about him, could they do that? I guess they could want to show off, but the fans have to bear the brunt of it… No matter what scandal or rumor Haechan got torn down by, the core fans actually got stronger but the only thing that cools down our love is when his family acts like that. I really don’t like them… They say birds of a feather. I don’t like his family, so I’m reminded of them when I see Haechan. They’ve been creating scandals for being attention-seekers amongst the fans a few times over, so I don’t know how they can continue to be so brazen. I can’t separate Haechan from his family or anyone even if I try to keep my feelings apart.
— Fan
Since those incidents happened around the third week of January 2023, things blew up once more.
2. Haechan’s brother’s girlfriend riles up fans
It started when Haechan’s brother’s then-girlfriend posted a story of an ITZY song. She captioned it with the cryptic message, “I almost got slapped because this is a banned song. Curse my playlist.” Egg accounts on Twitter cast speculations that it was due to the sensitive nature of Haechan and Ryujin due to past dating rumors. They then guessed Haechan must have been in the car with the girlfriend and brother.
It was then claimed that Haechan’s brother’s girlfriend had purposely posted an Instagram story where you could see notifications from a “Donghyuk Oppa.” Donghyuk is Haechan’s real name.
해찬이가 아프다고 엔시티 127 미국 콘서트 투어 빠지고 술 먹었다는 증거 여깄는데 이 확실한 증거를 부정하는게 마치 사생이랑 좆목한 음성 해찬 목소리 아니라고 부정하던 병신해프들 같음 술마신 다음날 듣는 주파수를 죽겠다며 공유해달라는게 술마신게 아니면 뭐노 #이동혁 pic.twitter.com/WuRtrsK2Mx
— NCT (@NCTout36824589) January 12, 2023
The story was of a YouTube video, accompanied by the caption, “I was screen-recording this to send to Lee Dong Min but what’s up with this oppa?” The incoming notifications from Donghyuk Oppa read, “please share the link. Please. Imma die.”
Fans guessed that the texts referred to being hungover and called out the girlfriend for purposely recording the moment to post. Furthermore, the girlfriend also posted another story that was implied to be from Haechan.
- XX Oppa: “Come take your AirPods.”
- Girlfriend: “Where are they?”
- XX Oppa: “The house.”
- Girlfriend: “Yeah, what I meant was where in the house.”
- XX Oppa: “Oh, LOL, by the counter in the bathroom.”
The caption with the story talked about drinking together the previous day.
What’s up with this oppa? Yesterday when we were all drinking together, and I said that I lost my AirPods, he said he would throw them out if he found them, but now he’s saying silly words.
— Girlfriend
3. Haechan’s brother accused of befriending fans
Fans began to step up one by one and accused Haechan’s brother and girlfriend of being attention seekers. His brother was accused of trying to befriend select fans and girls through his brother’s clout.
- Brother: “Are you not gonna marry anyone if it’s not Haechan?”
- Girl: “Well, that’s not it.”
- Brother: “I have Haechan’s DNA. Can you feel it?”
- Girl: “LOL.”
- Brother: “Well, if that isn’t the case, then let’s get married.”
- Girl: “Me? With you?”
- Brother: “I’m joking.”
More screenshots were also posted with claims that Haechan’s brother, known to be named Lee Dong Min, had befriended some fans on Instagram and created a private messenger group chat.
[screenshot of group chat with Dong Min’s message, “I hope that only good things will happen this year.”
- Fan 1: “Bullshit lol”
- Fan 2: “LOOOOOOL f*ck. No but”
- Fan 1: “F*ck that chat has 4 of us including Lee Dong Min. He ruined the mood.”
4. The leak
After the matter blew up, fans grew increasingly angry. The recent stories from Haechan’s brother’s girlfriend implied that they went out together drinking when Haechan had taken a break from touring due to health issues. The overall anger led to the voice recording being leaked, accompanied by the accusation that Haechan had intercepted the call to the girlfriend’s phone.
No official statement on any of the matters have been given yet, although the brother’s girlfriend in question has stepped up to clarify that they have broken up. She also denied claims of personally meeting Haechan. Watch this space for more on the counterstory!
