Recently, fans watched an old video posted on aespa's official YouTube channel earlier this year, titled "Today, I am a Western culinary chef".
In the video, Winter appears with the famous Napoli Mafia chef - the champion of the Culinary Class War program - who guides the female idol on how to make fresh noodles.
While putting the dough into the noodle rolling machine and thinning the noodles, Winter suddenly looked straight at the camera and said: "Hey, are you watching?".
When Napoli Matfia asked: "Who are you talking to?", Winter smiled and replied: "I asked everyone if they were watching".
Although the subtitle on the screen reads "MYs (aespa fan community), are you watching?" - implying that the female idol is talking to her fans. But many people think that Winter's words are aimed at Jungkook (BTS).
They analyzed Winter's tone and expression, especially the use of the word "Hey" intimately, which sounds unusual when talking to fans. Previously, if she wanted to communicate with fans, the female singer often said clearly "MYs".
On social networks, viewers left comments: "Isn't it too obvious?", "She looks like she's enjoying a stimulating feeling"... Other comments criticized Winter for "using fans as shields for dating".
Although many people admit that idols have the right to date, there are still opinions that "publicly implying a romantic relationship while still maintaining a fan-based image is beyond the limit".
The dating rumors of Jungkook and Winter initially originated from speculation about couple tattoos. Netizens noticed that both Winter and Jungkook have tattoos related to dogs in quite similar positions.
Fans also "scrutinized" more photos and videos, pointing out similarities in the accessories that the two used, including bracelets, shorts and in-ear headphone designs. Some even believe that the fact that the two artists painted their fingernails the same color on the same ring finger is an implicit publicity sign.
In addition, Jungkook's participation in aespa's concert during military leave was also dug up in online discussions. Previously, Jungkook rarely attended concerts of HYBE Group's girl groups, so his appearance at the SM Entertainment girl group's concert is considered unusual.
Especially, because Jungkook himself, Winter and the two management companies were silent, neither confirming nor denouncing, the rumor could not subside.
A few months earlier, when Jimin (BTS) was involved in dating rumors with actress Song Da Eun, HYBE quickly clarified that the two were just an ex-lover relationship. But this time the company did not speak out to explain Jungkook's case.
In the Kpop fan community, the company's failure to respond to a major rumor from idols, or a superficial response that "We have nothing to say", "This is the artist's private matter" is seen as an admission.
