From Hero close to zero

By Baek Byung-yeul

Rain

When Rain entered his compulsory national duty 21 months ago, he was the life of Korea’s "hallyu" party, a K-pop megastar who leveraged his popularity into Hollywood stardom.

Now, for the first time in his illustrious career as an entertainer, he finds himself at a crossroads leaving the military. After wasting an enormous amount of good will on a slew of scandals involving his behavior as a serviceman, Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, may have been irrevocably damaged as a cultural product.

The 31-year-old was officially discharged Wednesday and was greeted by some 700 fans, many from foreign countries, upon his exit from the Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan, Seoul.

The screams were as loud as jet engines and tears flew like rivers, but Rain didn’t seem to be in a mood to address his fans for a second longer than he absolutely had to.

"Thank you for coming. I will do my best (as an entertainer)," he said, briefly managing a sorrowful smile between the gloom on his face, before hopping into a van and disappearing less than a minute later.

It would have been difficult for him to stay long enough to soak in the cheers when he has become an uncomfortable presence beyond his shrinking circle of fans.

It seemed that Rain, who had been embroiled in a number of scandals related to business investments before he entered the military, was managing to stay out of trouble wearing the uniform. Then he began to shoot himself in the foot repeatedly in 2013.

In January, Rain was caught taking more days off than he was allowed to as he met with his love interest, actress Kim Tae-hee. After being exposed by the media, Rain was placed under probation for seven days.

Then last month, an in-depth news program by SBS television caught singers Seven (Choi Dong-uk) and Sangchoo (Lee Sang-cheol), who were serving in the same unit as Rain, visiting a massage parlor after midnight following a performance at a function in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, the previous evening.

Rain wasn’t at the parlor, which doubled as a brothel, but drank with Seven and Sangchoo until 10 p.m. the previous night, breaking curfew.

He signed with a new management agency, Cube Entertainment, in May.