K-Pop Fan Recounts The Time She Met A Trainee, And It Turned Out To Be NCT’s Johnny
A TikTok has gone viral due to a K-Pop fan revealing they met NCT‘s Johnny pre-debut!
Selm (also known as SEM and @laji_bollalla on TikTok) has been a K-Pop multi-stan since 2011. She recently went viral on TikTok, participating in a popular trend.
In this TikTok trend, content creators briefly recount a story before revealing a big plot twist. They use the “Image Spin” feature and play a remix of PSY‘s “Gangnam Style” and Steve Lacy‘s “N Side.”
@koozebane “Gangnam Style” by PSY x “N Side” by Steve Lacy #popculture #gangnamstyle #fyp
In Selm’s video, she remembers how her friend asked if she wanted to meet a K-Pop trainee…
The big shocking reveal was that the K-Pop trainee was none other than NCT’s Johnny!
Since uploading, the video has gone viral with 1.3 million views! And because she got a lot of comments requesting a storytime, she delivered a new video.
Selm explained how the meeting came about. She herself is close friends with Johnny’s mom’s best friend.
To clarify, I am really, really close friends with this Korean ahjumma. And as a result, I became acquaintances with Johnny’s mom. They are BFFs, so they’ve known each other since way before Johnny was born.
— Selm
So, as the original video said, the Korean ahjumma (“aunt” or middle-aged, married woman) asked Selm if she would be interested in meeting the said K-Pop trainee.
Back in 2015, I was at this Korean ahjumma’s business, and she asked if I wanted to meet her friend’s son, who was a K-Pop trainee.
— Selm
Selm tried to find out more information, such as which company he was a trainee at. All she knew was that it was SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, or YG Entertainment.
I did ask if she knew about like what company he was in and stuff, and she’s like he’s in the big threes. …I’m a K-Pop fan since 2011, and back then, there were only big three companies, SM, JYP, and YG.
— Selm
She tried to research to find out if there were any current K-Pop trainees from Chicago, Illinois. It turned out that the pre-debut training team SM Rookies had one member, Johnny, who was from Chicago.
So, I did a quick search, and I did notice that SM Rookies had one member from Chicago, Johnny, and it was funny because she didn’t even tell me his name. So, I was like confused.
— Selm
The day came for Selm to meet the friend’s son, and it was, in fact, Johnny! Although she knew there was a possibility it could be him, she was still shook.
He walks in with his mom, and I was shooketh, to say the least. I was screaming inside the whole time, but on the outside, I was very calm and collected. I was very surprised by myself.
— Selm
They hung out for about half an hour, conversing. She remembered him being very tall and exactly as all NCTzens know him to be: both nice and funny!
So, he was there for like thirty minutes. We had a small conversation here and there. He was really nice. He was really funny… And he was really, really tall. He was only wearing flip flips … but I’m almost 5’6″, and he was literally towering over me.
— Selm
Johnny’s mom and her friend asked Johnny and Selm to pose for lots of pictures in various poses. So, Selm showed lots of cute pics, but she confessed at the time it made her shy.
It was just so funny and awkward at the same time, and we were both shy for some reason.
— Selm
Selm remembered one especially amusing moment. Johnny’s mom had encouraged them to exchange contact information, but the two were worried about potential scandals.
One funny thing that happened… His mom was like, ‘Oh, why don’t you guys exchange Kakaos?’ And I was like… He literally looked at me, and I looked at him terrified. I was like, ‘No, I don’t want to be on Dispatch.’ No… I was like, ‘No, it’s okay. This is fine.’ I’m just glad he knows I exist.
— Selm
Selm not only got photos with Johnny. He gave her an autograph too, wishing her good luck with school because she was still in college at the time.
She added that that was not the only time she had met Johnny. She later even met NCT and said she might share more stories in the future.
I did end up meeting him again a few more times, and I also met NCT as a result.
— Selm
Part 1 of her NCT meeting story is already up! Watch it below:
@laji_bollalla Meeting NCT pt1! as promised 🥰 #nct #nctzen #nct127 #kpopfyp #kpop #johnny #taeil #jungwoo #taeyong #mark #jaehyun #yuta #haechan #doyoung #meetingfamouspeople #meetingidols #greenscreen
Watch her original TikTok videos below:
@laji_bollalla my smol y/n moment 😩😮💨😌#johnny #nct #nct127 #nctjohnny #johnnynct #kpop #kpopfyp #kpopfyp #엔시티 #엔시티127 #엔시티쟈니
@laji_bollalla Reply to @laji_bollalla #greenscreen i think I’ve covered the main story😅 but might post more about other occasions🤩
