… 1.27.2016

Sports Korea: SK Knights defeat Anyang KGC 105-79. Record moves to 36-2. SK Knights continue to show their dominance as Daniel Choi has 34 points and 12 assists.

…

“You’re killing it.” Mike shouted as he slapped Daniel on the back excitedly.

Both of them were in the locker room, Daniel about to shower after his tiring performance, but a win nonetheless. Mike handed him a towel from inside of his locker. 

“Thanks.” Daniel took the towel and began to dry off his sweaty hair. 

“You’re averaging 33 points a game, your team has only lost two games. You might win 50 games. That’s never been done before.” Daniel nodded.

Even the two games they had lost, one had been a game he had sat out of, with an injury that had been completely his fault.

“Anyways, you have 20 minutes before your next press conference. Get some rest and take a shower. I’ll be back to grab you.” His agent told him as he left. 

Daniel sat on a stool that was placed next to his locker. He quickly grabbed a change of clothes and headed towards the showers. Quickly washing off and relaxing under the hot water after his long game. 

When he finished changing into a pair of jeans and a black Givenchy hoodie. He sat back down in his locker room and reached for his phone.

Daniel began reading several current articles, one about his Forbes prediction and supposed rivalry with EXO. 

Not that he cared, but he wouldn’t mind beating them for the top spot, thinking back to his jealousy with their members friendship with Jiyeon. 

Then there was a strange article, he had not seen news tagging Jiyeon for a while. 

It was about her fall from popularity, about how she had only placed 11th in a visual ranking poll. Bull. 

He had met the number 2 and 3 winners. In his eyes Jiyeon should’ve taken the first spot going away. No one had the unique beauty that Jiyeon had. He knew it was a popularity contest, but he still wondered if she was disappointed to see it.

Just that thought made his heart ache.

He hadn’t talked to her since that night. 

When she had told him she was no longer comfortable with him. That was a month ago.

“Hey we got the press conference coming up.” Daniel glanced at Jungsuk who had gotten up from his seat and signaled for him to follow him. 

Daniel returned his phone to his gym bag and followed his teammate, there was a small room filled with at least 20 reporters and he, Eric and Jungsuk sat down in front of a table with mics.

The first reporter began.

“Eric, what are your thoughts on tonight’s 34 points by Choi Daniel?”

“I am always impressed by his skills, but tonight he also had 7 great assists to me and that’s what really shows how good he is as a player.” Eric responded with a well thought response.

“Daniel, are you currently dating anyone?”

Daniel sighed, this was always a question that came up, Korea unlike the NBA didn’t restrict the press conferences solely to sports reporters.

“Let’s please keep the questions sports related.” Jungsuk jumped to his defense. However Daniel signaled he would respond anyways.

“Our team has the best record in the league, and it’s because of everyone’s hardwork. Watching even our bench players work their tail off to make our team a better team inspires me to focus on what’s important. Winning. I want to make it to the top.”

“Lee Jungsuk, do you truly believe that in the playoffs you will defeat Ulsan’s Mobis Pheobus they were the strongest team in the league last year?”

“We are confident we can defeat anyone.” The captain responded confident, he hesitated before chuckling. “After all, we have our idol star right here.”

He poked Daniel who oversold his reaction and pain to show their kinship.

The reporters all chuckled.

“Daniel your thoughts on Son Heung min and you possibly making the top 10 Forbes Power Celebrity?” 

“I am not really worried about making any list right now. But I have seen Son Heungmin play and he deserves to make the list with what he’s doing in Europe.” Daniel responded, he was getting tired of the celebrity questions.

“If you have no more basketball related questions, then thank you for your time.” Daniel stood up and the rest of his teammates did the same exiting the room.

… 2.15.2016

Knewstoday: Scandal… is Jiyeon and Donggun over? Or were they ever?

February 15th, 2016

The movie Encounter where the two young stars met despite being scheduled to released last October has been postponed indefinitely due to many Chinese producers pulling out from under the production.

Speculation is that the public relationship of Jiyeon has caused too much of a plummet in T-ara Jiyeon’s popularity in China. The originally number 4 most Girl Friend Material winner, has yet to receive another sponsorship from China or Korea since then. 

While Netizens seem to have forgotten about her past scandals, a recent observation on a forum brought attention to a possible fake relationship.

[+10,763 -9,535] “This is a speculation, but after going on public dates almost exactly once a week, the couple seems to date only once every two weeks. The love between the two always seemed forced, as you’d be hard pressed to find anything more than them posing with people as a couple. Then there is her fan love for SK Knights and Daniel Choi. While she is far from the only one, T-ara Jiyeon has missed a total of two of the 20 home games and been attending and cheering them on almost every game. If I was her boyfriend I’d question why she has watched more games in person than gone on dates. Seems fishy to me, like perhaps she was looking for a way to get rid of the hate and stumbled upon Lee Donggun.” 

[+8,763 -8,213] “I think she or her agency might’ve set this up. But it definitely failed, while less hate is being given, her popularity has fallen and I doubt she’ll ever debut again. What a fail for Bully Jiyeon. I’m glad we’ll never have to watch her dumb movie.”

Though there are definitely far fetched aspects to there comment, there is support to these accusations. It’s become a subject of debate among netizens, and will undeniably cause a response from the agencies soon.

/////////////

Top Comments:

“This is stupid that people really think that they are not a real couple. Not every relationship is like in dramas. Just chill on the hate towards her. They’re probably together stressing over this dumb reaction.”

“I really hope these people aren’t right, I don’t see any reason they would be in a fake relationship. It’s not really beneficial to Lee Donggun, so I think it’s false. But netizens are often right about these conspiracies.”

“I knew it, Bully Jiyeon just wanted a way to escape her deserved scandal. Don’t stop the hate, let’s disband T-ara and their horrible influence on all the other good idols!”

… 3.16.2016

KOREABOO: Lee Donggun appears on Happy Together and confirms his relationship is going well.

Mar 16, 2012

On this past weeks episode of Happy Together. The actor for the upcoming confirmed drama Gentleman of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop, and finishing his promotions in China, appeared on the show Happy Together. 

During the course of the show he discussed his experiences promoting in China and popularity there with his Chinese drama “Hello Mr. Right.” However, the topic quickly changed when Yoo Jaesuk, asked him about his father. 

The handsome actor explained how his father was more conservative from a small village. How his father often criticized his actions on shows. But when asked about was his father’s thoughts were on his open relationship he responded he didn’t ask about it.

However, with the subject on his relationship he mentioned her, and talked about it briefly. Stating when asked about his public dates:

“We began our romance publicly because of the confidence we had in our feelings. We are still very much in love, I might say she loves me a little more.”

He garnered many chuckles from his comment, however the main statement seemingly addresses the several rumors regarding a fake relationship. 

The two celebrities are very much in love.

… 

“Oppa, are you insane?” Jiyeon sat in disbelief staring out the window of her apartment, the darkness of Seoul amplified by the black feeling in her heart.

“Jiyeon, they were catching on, what was I supposed to do?”

“Oppa… why?” 

Jiyeon hated she was so helpless. 

He didn’t do anything that wasn’t reasonable put in his situation, people were beginning to question the validity of their relationship, of course they needed to act.

All the fears she had about at the beginning of their relationship were coming to fruition. 

But what could she say? 

Arguing was impossible. She couldn’t tell him the real reason she wanted the relationship to end was. The truth.

“We can’t end it right now, there’s too much suspicion. Let’s wait a few more months and do a few more dates and then you can end it.” 

As usual Donggun oppa made sense, for the sake of both of their careers she had to keep this up. 

If she ended it now she might ruin her career and worse... she could hurt him too. She had hurt enough people with her selfish actions, the thought terrified her. 

It won’t happen again. It won’t. 

“You’re right oppa... you’re right... let’s end it later. Thank you.” She struggled to hold back her sobs, not wanting him to hear her pain.

“Jiyeon-ah, do you really not want this to continue?”

He didn’t deserve to have to feel guilty. Not the way she did. Knowing she would never love him, she had made the final decision. This was her fault…

She hung up before answering.

No longer able to hold her heartbreak in, she slumped against the wall a disheveled heap of emotions. Grief pouring out into regret in the form of a flood uncontrollable tears.

Maybe it was the emptiness in her life that caused her growing pain. No schedules, no shoots, no comeback, nothing to distract her from the true source of her sadness. Every day seemed like another painful torment as the only source of a distraction was following his games.

Was this it? Was her career over? She had made money. But she had also had to pay damages and for losses from companies after the several scandals. It wasn’t like she didn’t still have money. But it felt disappointing… 

That’s when she saw the bottle of sleeping pills. Again, in times of desperateness sleep was what she needed. If she could just sleep off her worries, perhaps she’d make it another day.

She was a blooming flower that had been picked too early. 

She gulped down three, anything to stop the choking and suffocating feeling she felt. She slammed her fist into the wall.

This isn’t the life I wanted. This isn’t what stardom should feel like.

Life hadn’t been fair to her. But what could she do? Blaming and diverting seemed to be the only answer.

Thinking of the flower, thinking of her analogy, with its only value being something to look at.

The flower had probably died… alone in an empty glass vase. 

“You’re not alone anymore.”  Daniel’s voice eased into her ears as she lay against her pillow. Her head sinking into the soft cushion that she was used to leaning against.

She had long since pretended to fall asleep, enjoying the loving comments he would comment to her when he thought she was sleeping. He was probably still laying beside her gazing at her. His goofy grin that showed only his upper teeth, the kind of smile that spread joy to anyone who saw it.

“I’ll be right here for you. Even if I’m not beside you… I’ll be here for you.” He rested his head against her back, his mid length hair brushing against her nightgown as she felt his breath against her skin.

Could love be felt? If it could, she was definitely feeling it at the moment. The way it tickled her spine, and rushed to her heart. A feeling of tranquility that settled on her.

After ten minutes she decided that it was safe to assume he was asleep. She gently turned her head and saw that he was fast asleep behind her. Eyes closed, and a peaceful expression on his face as his head was only inches from hers.

“Thanks for being there for me…” A chill fell upon her as she said this. “I don’t know if I can allow you to do that.” 

She was worried, what would he sacrifice? How far would he give up on his own dreams for her? She couldn’t allow that.

… 3.19.2016

Sports Korea: SK Knights end historical regular season with only 4 losses finishing 50-4, never been done before. Daniel Choi also had a historic season with 34.4 points a game and 8 assists per game the most by a player since 2005. With the first seed, SK Knights will automatically qualify for semifinals, playing their first game on April 10th. 

…  4.10.2016

POV: alternate broadcast and first person

Daniel Choi and the SK Knights run onto the court as the fans cheered. The whole stadium was filled as the Anyang KGC appeared on the other side of the court. Posters and cutouts of Daniel’s head filled the bleachers and every seat filled. 

He stared up into the crowd. Row 10, seat F. He had memorized exactly where Jiyeon usually sat… and Jiyeon was there.

She was barely noticeable from his view. But it was her, a blur of long brown hair, cute large eyes and pale skin. Daniel knew without a doubt it was her.

For a second, just a second he felt like they were in their own world. Ignoring the shouting crowd around them, his teammates stretching, and the cameras rushing around to film them. For a second it was just him gazing directly at her. Jiyeon.

The other team was introduced and they began to introduce the home team. His teammates were called on after another, before it was his turn.

“Finally, starting at point guard, 188cm tall, Choi Daniel!” The crowd made a roar so loud it felt like it had never been heard before. Everyone was on their feet as he stared into the audience.

Daniel laced up his shoes as usual and strolled onto the court as the team began to warmup. He had confidence in himself, he had practiced harder than ever before. He wasn’t going to lose.

He caught eyes with the opponent team’s best player a towering African American player named Julian Newman.

“Your run ends here.” Julian said knowing that Daniel was one of the few he could talk trash to in English. “The fans here are about to see a huge disappointment.”

Daniel didn’t respond, his completely focus on the game. Stretching as usual near the middle. 

“In the end you’re just one of them. A puny Asian, it’s simple genetics you’ll never beat me.” This time Daniel was triggered by the comment.

“How was the NBA draft?” Daniel asked rhetorically. Taunting the giant.

He knew that Julian had never even stepped into the NBA because of his lack of talent yet he had some sort of racial superiority complex. 

“Shut the up. The only reason you were drafted is because you’re Korean and they felt bad for you.”

Daniel nodded grinning.

“Maybe you’re right.”

He was determined, he had been worried he might not have enough motivation but he was sure he did now. 

“Then beat me. Beat me and I’ll admit it on National TV. Better yet. Just score more points than me in any of these three games.” He challenged him.

“Three games?” The giant caught off guard by his banter. 

“That’s right. That’s all it’s going to take.” 

Daniel turned away cooly and walked towards his teammates. Readying himself to put on another performance.

Just wait.

… 4.16.2016

Sports Korea: Daniel leads the SK Knights past the Anyang KGC completely defeats them in 3 games of a possible 5. Daniel Choi scores 30, 36, and 32 points. No game is close. SK Knights will play in the finals against reigning champion Mobis Phoebus. 

… 4.20.2016

SOOMPI: The wait is over Forbes list is out! Exo 1, Choi 2.

April 20th, 2016

Yesterday Forbes released its Power 40 Celebrity Ranking, the anticipated list had many questions such as who would make coveted Top 10. Many also questioned where huge breakout Athlete’s such as Son Heungmin and Daniel Choi would rank.

The list is out.

1: Exo. No surprise here 2015 was a huge year as EXO’s hit singles Call Me Baby, Playboy, and Love me Right all were fantastic songs and highlighted all the handsome idols.

2: Choi (Daehan) Daniel. Many questions about where he would land, but I think this is perfect. Daniel Choi with 8 million instagram followers now, and having sold out every basketball game he played was truly the Basketball Idol this year.

3: Kim Soo Hyun. Where else would you place such a heart throbbingly handsome actor? My love the Star’s Alien still seems superhuman to this day.

4: Kim Yuna. The pretty and elegant figure skater deserves no less than 4 and truly shined with the most watched CF for Nature Republic. 

5: Jun Jihyun this beautiful actress with her charm and class undoubtedly tops off the top 5.

The others included Son Yeonjae the rhythmic gymnast at 6. Lee Seung Gi the famous actor and entertainer at 7. Ryu Hyun-jin the popular baseball player in the MLB at 8. Son Heung min, the handsome and young soccer player at 9. Finally, SNSD at 10.

Are you surprised by these Rankings? I am thrilled to see our EXO idols and Basketball idol take the top two spots.

/////////////////////

Top Comments:

“OMG Exo oppas take one and Daniel oppa takes two. I’m so happy. All love to both of them and can’t wait to keep supporting both.”

“I’m so proud of our Basketball idol. With the championship round coming, I can’t wait to cheer him on. I know he will win now that he has this in the bag.”

“I wish nothing but the best for all of these celebrities and can’t wait to watch our Daniel oppa take the win. Cheers from all of his fans!”

… 4.28.2016

Sports Korea: Daniel Choi leads SK Knights to their first Championship. Series is won (4-0). Daniel Choi wins playoff MVP averaging 35 points per game. Daniel has 40 points in his last game.

… 

10

9

8

7

Daniel stopped dribbling the ball. Sweat pouring from his forehead as he stared up towards the scoreboard just to confirm that what he saw was truly the truth. 

120-89

6

5

4

The time continued to tick down. His teammates were already shaking hands with their opponents. Even Yang Donggeun, the trash talking hater gave him an approving nod. He met eyes with Eric who was grinning wide eyed.

3

2

1

The buzzer rang signaling the end of the game.

Daniel tossed the ball in the air and jumped up and down as he and his teammates all ran together celebrating their win. Confetti poured down from the ceiling, the red bits of paper a sign of their victory.

The crowd was going nuts as almost 7,000 present fans and another 6 million viewers were celebrating as well. He high fived Moonbin before looking for more of his teammates. 

Locking eyes with him he ran over to Jungsuk and was pulled into his large bear hug. 

“Good job Daniel. We couldn’t have done it without you.” He whispered into his ears. He could see the tears of joy falling from his captain’s face. 

He was overjoyed as well. Unable to contain his own excitement, he felt himself get lost in his emotions.

Everything he had worked towards, all of the pain, all of the disappointment it all seemed to unleash. This was his greatest accomplishment, and this wasn’t the end. 

He found himself sobbing happily.

Jiyeon…

He wasn’t sure what happened next. His mind suddenly filled with thoughts of her he rushed over to share the celebration with someone else.

There was a beautiful cheerleader, and for a second... just a second, her clear white skin, long brown hair, with his vision blurred from the tears. It was comforting. He felt his arms draw her in, as she happily obliged joyfully reciprocating the embrace. Her slim body leaning against his as he embraced her tightly. Tears sliding down his cheeks.

“Congratulations.” Her voice was genuine, but it immediately snapped him from his trance.

It wasn't Jiyeon.

He quickly moved on, giving her one last smile as looked for Eric in the sea of people jumping and celebrating around him.

Eric almost tackled him from behind, yelling at him, bouncing up and down shaking him furiously.

“WE DID IT! We did it!"

He knew his parents were watching, he knew his sister was watching. 

Jiyeon, are you watching? This is what I can do…

He didn’t care what anyone else said, today he was at the top. From now on he would take what was his. 

…

Jiyeon watched with tears in her eyes as the team about 20 meters below her celebrated like they had won the lottery. She was overjoyed her self. Her manager Jooyoung couldn’t contain herself as she jumped up and down with everyone else. 

Strangers were rejoicing, hugging anyone they could find, and Jiyeon remained in her seat. So happy that she felt streams of pure joy fall from her eyes.

Pride. That was what she felt. She had known that this was what he was capable of the first time she had watched him play. Now everyone else in Korea knew it too. 

Daniel Choi. The basketball idol was now Korea’s Hero. She knew this win meant more than just an organization winning, it meant more than just an added accomplishment. This win meant that Korea had another sport to cheer for. Nationalism in Basketball. He had brought it back and this would only be the beginning. 

Jiyeon knew what everyone in this building knew, this would be a stepping stone for Daniel to move from. He hadn’t even reached his peak yet, he may have just scratched the surface. 

That was why, Jiyeon felt gloom at that moment as well. She was watching him, her Daniel, slip farther and farther away from him. He was already someone who was out of her league, and just now, the gap had gotten wider.

Goodbye Daniel. 

She had said these words out loud to him. She had repeated them in her mind a million times over the last few months. Now, she committed them to her heart.

… 5.1.2016

KOREA DAILY: Basketball Idol Daniel Choi’s win means more than just a championship

May 1st, 2016

Daniel Choi jumps up and down and hugs his team captain then finds a beautiful cheerleader who had jumped into the celebration. He hugs her as well and we all blush at the sight of two beautiful people celebrating the moment. Both were crying at that moment, tears of joy falling from their face. A photo of this took over the front page of naver.com today as the search engine celebrates the SK Knight’s win right along with us. 

When Daniel (Daehan) Choi won the SK Knights their first championship it was a beautiful sight, but had an even more meaningful foretelling. Daniel Choi, dubbed the Basketball Idol, has recently placed second in Forbes Power Celebrity ranking surpassing in popularity the legendary Kim Soohyun. He is currently 22 years old. Meaning that he is only beginning his ascent to stardom.

The handsome basketball player is being quoted as returning Basketball to Korea, a sport that had not seen attention since Seo Jang Hoon. Now with all due respect to a legend, Daniel Choi is miles better, he’s better than every player in the KBL and its not close. But more than just his handsome looks and skill, it is his style that really attracts viewers to keep watching. 

Similar to an idol, he moves smoothly, he has good hesitation and misdirection. Combined with his ability to pass to people we forgot were playing the game and shoot from the distance of Busan to Seoul and still make the bucket. He is the total package. He is the Korean Steph Curry. 

Then there’s the young man’s maturity and charming personality. His coach responded in an interview about him saying.

“He has the maturity of a 30 year old when it comes to practicing and making sure the team is in order. But plays like a 16 year old, so carefree and flashy. I don’t know how we got him from the NBA but its a undoubted win for Korea.”

Daniel Choi, a current American citizen revealed he had actually applied for Korean citizenship a couple months ago and will be admitted into a special Government program to speed up the process. Though he will not compete for the Korean National Basketball team at Rio De jenaire for the 2016 olympics. He is slated to possibly join the 2018 Fiba Asian games team to compete with Korea.

Daniel Choi will start once again hosting Basketball camps for young girls and boys under 18 with help from the NBA World Organization. He also is becoming an Adidas sponsored Athlete, while Adidas also will begin sponsoring the KBL itself signing a 90 billion won contract. MBC also revamps contract with KBL offering a 60 billion won contract in exchange for continued sole streaming rights the largest contract it’s ever received. Daniel Choi is bringing basketball back to Korea.

Be watching this summer as I’m sure a new wave of commercials and variety shows will feature the young star.

////////////////////

Top Comments:

“PLEASE go on Running man. I need for him to be on a variety show. Daniel I love u <3”

“I literally have the naver picture as my wallpaper, it’s so cute… and I wish that was me hugging him.”

“Seeing him that happy really brightened my day, I am glad to see all of Korea celebrating such a strong win and I hope that he’ll be on some variety shows soon.”