2PM’s “Wild Bunny”: The Shocking Idols

“Guh-jit-mal, guh-jit-mal,” Jun-ho rapidly repeats in his low voice. Ten minutes before going into shoot, Jun-ho, clad in the style of comedian Lee Shin-young, is playing a game with his stylist where the two toss between each other the syllables of the word ‘lie’, pronounced ‘guh-jit-mal’ in Korean. The player who stumbles is the loser. Upon winning the game, Jun-ho walks onto set with his trademark smile which makes his eyes form in the shape of a crescent moon. Jae-beom, already feeling upbeat, holds onto the standing mic, lost in singing. “What, you think you’re in a live cafe?” jokes Jun-ho, who in a good mood, pretends to act indifferent. As the boys finally take their places, Nickhun arrives on set separately after wrapping up a previous schedule and leans his tired body on the sofa, after which the wee-hour shooting begins.

“Ah! I’m so embarrassed!” shouts Woo-young. It is not because of the camera or because the press is watching. As a close-up photograph of him appears full-size on a screen up front, the exhausted Nickhun springs to his feet and bursts out laughing. Like so, the members of 2PM have a kick out of their own jokes. Jun-su throws in comments now and then in Korean dialect. Chan-sung is wearing socks that have frogs on them. Jae-beom, who does not quite understand his script, gulps down water and wipes off sweat while taking a short break. “I can sleep later in the car,” Jun-ho says while stretching out his arms, pretending not to be tired. And Woo-young says in a grown-up manner “Let’s not take this too seriously and just have fun with it tonight.” These idols who always seem to expose too much of themselves in front of the camera turn out to have slightly tucked away the mature side to them. These wild rabbits will continue to keep the older female fans throughout the country up tonight.


Reporter : Yoon Hee-Seong nine@10asia.co.kr
Photographer: Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr