A recent shared anecdote by the casting director, Nominmi, recounted a marvelous moment during the preliminary rounds of “Superstar K,” when BTS’ Jungkook was pretty young, much before becoming the BTS’ Golden Maknae.
The casting director described Jungkook’s persona as a halo growing around him. She was immediately taken by his striking presence and handed him her business card on the spot, moving quickly to catch his immense talent.
“During the Superstar K preliminaries, there was a kid with bright, sparkling eyes who seemed to have a halo glowing around them — so perfect! I was enchanted and gave them my business card and got their contact info. He’s famous for receiving a ton of business cards; there were really so many casting directors that day. So, not wanting to miss out, I offered a contract right away.”
Nominmi bypassed all formalities with the now-idol, a rare exception to the Kpop industry norms. Even more telling was the competition with other music agencies, like Seoul Station, which were waiting to meet Jungkook for five minutes. However, Jungkook’s father rejected other offers and stated the idol was going to sign with BigHit Music.