Influencer Hong Young-gi, once known as Korea's original "eoljjang" (best face), revealed she has lost roughly 42 million won on cryptocurrency investments, with individual coin positions down as much as 93 percent.
According to Sports Seoul, Hong posted a short video on her social media on October 15 showing her crying at a cafe, captioned "this isn't even all of it." A screenshot overlaid on the video displayed her crypto portfolio, with losses ranging from minus 42 percent to minus 93 percent across the coins she held. She added that her actual losses were even larger than what the screenshot showed.
The tears on camera, however, had another source. Hong later clarified that she had been moved by a gratitude journal written by her husband. "For stocks, I cried in my heart," she wrote, prompting a mix of sympathy and laughter from followers.
Netizens responded with comments like "this is me too," "holding on is victory," "mine is worse," and "don't cry," empathizing with the losses.
Hong first became widely known through ComedyTV's 'Eoljjang Shidae' in 2009 and now works as an influencer and business owner running online shopping malls. In 2015 she was pushed to over 400 million won in debt over fraud allegations against her father, but she rebuilt her career, with her beauty and fashion businesses recently recording about 1 billion won in sales.
The post has since drawn a wave of sympathetic -- and self-deprecating -- comments from fellow retail investors.
