Or the real reason of why companies denies dating rumors.

Since it seems that 2014 is going to be the year for idols to finally start dating openly, I would like to address this. First of all,  companies do this,  not because they want to keep their artist's life private, or want them to protect from malicious rumors.

Simply enough, it's because is not good for business.

When you have a product (and idols are just that, products) you have to make people believe they need said product and therefore that they can have it, even if they can't; this is called 'the factor of attainability'. 

In the case of idols, this just enhances the fantasy of a bunch of really good looking guys/girls having eyes just for you (and the bazillion of fellow fans); for teen girls and boys, especially in Korean society where they have little to no liberty to have a meaningful romantic relationship - sometimes until college - k-pop idols are the closest thing to this type of interaction.

For companies, this translates into profit: the more the idols look like they have no life and only lives for the fans, the more lonely they seem to be, the more profit they will get because after all 'oppa/noona is the same as us!'

With the trend of idols revealing their boyfriend/girlfriend to the world, this is going to change. Companies will have to accept the fact, along with the fans, that after all is just a job and they have lives outside of it, like any other person in the world.

To be honest, I think the ones resisting the change are the agencies, since the new batch of kpop fans are mostly pretty level-headed, and most likely they will keep supporting their idols. 

The thing is, for agencies, openly dating idols it is a big problem, because of the logistics behind it. They will have to start thinking in how to manage the Media incomes, how they will want the relationship to look in the public eye (cross-coordinating if both happen to be in the industry) not to mention, dealing with breakups that have the potential to get very ugly, very quickly and it could end a career easily enough.

It's a lot of work, and it's a lot of money too.

Think that half of the new groups are teens or people in their early 20's, not the best age recorded for having steady, everlasting and mature relationships. The pressure of a public relationship vs. A secret one, is pretty much the same, which is a lot. Can you imagine dealing with heartbroken idols, those who aren't creative enough to pour themselves into writing a song like Junhyung? 

Now, agencies can pretend to not even know about these endeavors, when idols go dating openly, they will be held responsible for it. 

Fans will demand the agency take care of Oppa/Noona while they go through their break up, they will demand to let them have free time, they will demand to not push them into acting all happy and chirpy when they are not feeling well.

Pulling a member out of the group, it will mean to lose lots of money, time and opportunity which agencies won't be willing to lose, not without a fight.

So, pretending idols don't date or having them date in secret, is not only convenient, but probably the best business decision companies can make - having them dating openly - is not.

How much is this romance costing you, SM Ent?