[Fan Account] My Seoul Encounter with Kim Hyun Joong

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Who would have thought that as I’m about to enter into another milestone in my life age-wise I would still be a fan girl. Hey, didn’t I just do it 25 years ago when I was 15?~ there you have it revealing my true age~ Sure there has been a series of guys that I’ve gone gaga over…there was Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves among many…and then there was Kim Hyun Joong. Till now I have no idea what drove me to like him. Looks? Sure he’s a cutie but admit it there’s lots of cuties out there too. Style? I do like his style, it spells sophistication, but then again there’s plenty of sophisticated guys out there too. Personality? Yup his 4Dness is hilariously appealing and adorable. I guess it’s gotta be the whole package…Kim Hyun Joong’s overall aura and power that pulled me deeper and deeper into his world. Constantly seeking and wanting to know more about him, meet him, get to know if he really is all that. All these led me to Seoul, South Korea to see him finally for the very first time. And oh boy what an experience!

Bravely venturing into another country  I found myself sweating in anticipation despite the biting cold weather as I touched down in Incheon. Met with a Thai friend and together we rode the bus to Myeong Dong where our motel was. Managed to checked in despite the language barrier. I swear I’ll learn Hangul the next time I come to Korea! Met a few more Thai fans and altogether we went out to start our first adventure of the day. Passing by the underground shopping area on our way to the subway I was amazed at the amount of idol related products on display! From calendars to notepads to wallets, stickers, posters, phone cases, diaries, photobooks…name it they have it. And equally amazed to see Kim Hyun Joong’s face plastered all over the items. There are dozens of idols in the kpop industry but proud to say that Kim Hyun Joong related items are among the best sellers as reported. As you walk in each and every stall you’ll see a little bit of Girls Generation, a little bit of TVXQ and JYJ, even a little bit of Jang Geun Suk. But Kim Hyun Joong dominates  the scene with his face and name attached to almost all items. Come to think of it where did Super Junior go? Don’t get me wrong. I do love SuJu. Was looking for some of their stuff for my SuJu fanatic friends but didn’t find anything nice. 

       

After exhausting several minutes and money we hopped aboard the subway and zoomed our way into Nam Dae Mun market. Gotta try all those yummy street food, that pancake thingee..oh to die for! Spent an hour or 2 around the market gathering…yes more Kim Hyun Joong stuff…and visited a shop that apparently belongs to Hyun Joong’s uncle. Won’t name names and place for confidentially issues but the ahjumma there was really nice and conversed with us saying that Hyun Joong is so busy these days that they barely see him. 

Next stop was back to Myeong Dong which is in the heart of the trendiest shopping district in Seoul. Passed by several The FaceShop stores on our way to Lotte.  Tempted to buy more TFS products even though I have a lot already but TFS products are so cheap in Seoul! I swear like it’s 5X more in the Philippines and USA. But gotta resist the urge coz God knows I don’t need any more TFS products.  There’s plenty to last me a year. Haha.

 

Lotte Department store has everything to offer for everyone. Home to famous brand names Chanel, Prada, Gucci and such, we didn’t stop for a second but weaved our way instead to Star Ave where the best of the best of Hallyu were in display. Of course I just had to touch Hyun Joong’s handprint there and pose with his giant billboards and posters. Saw busloads after busloads of Japanese tourists visiting Lotte as well and all rushing to have their picture taken beside Kim Hyun Joong’s billboards. Such a sight to see!  Ended the trip to Lotte with…what else…more shopping for KHJ goodies. Gosh there’s just nonstop influx of KHJ goodies everywhere! There’s a section there in Lotte mainly dedicated to Kim Hyun Joong’s stuff. No other Lotte endorser had a section like that. Flooded with people all wanting KHJ items we managed to get ourselves a good amount of KHJ stuff. Thank God they accepted cards. Running out of Korean won by this time.

     

With aching legs and feet from all that walking and aching arms and shoulders from carrying Kim Hyun Joong goodies we hurriedly went back to our motel to deposit our stuff and took off again for Ilsan where our very nice Korean friend was patiently waiting for us. We proceeded to Jaksal Ilsan where as expected there was a long line to enter the restaurant but since to taste a Jaksal chicken is a must for every Henecian we endured almost 2 hours of standing in line amidst single digit weather temperature. As I was about to feel my ears and digits getting frozen a nice ahjumma came out and handed us blankeys to use. Shortly after Hyun Joong’s very own eomma came out and very apologetic that we had to stand in line for a very long time. Such a nice and sweet lady. Pretty and sexy too! No wonder KHJ turned out as he is.

      

My Thai friend was eyeing that cute waiter at Jaksal, I wonder who he is.~keke. After a sumptuous dinner of chicken and that yummy soup~what’s it called again I forgot~ and my very first taste of soju!~ we approached Hyun Joong’s eomma. I personally handed my gifts for Hyun Joong to her and she was all smiles as she said kamsahamnida. Got to shake the hand of the lady who means the most to Hyun Joong, what an honor. She also gave us Jaksal membership cards. Uhmm can we talk about franchise please? Just kidding.

It was getting late and our Korean friend drove us back to our hotel passing by notable places on the way like the area where Hyun Joong and “Emily” filmed for Infinitely Seoul promotion.

Slept for a good number of hours, woke up to twitter updates that fans were already queuing since early am for KHJ merchandise at the fanmeet venue despite the rain and the cold. Not contented with all the shopping we did of course we wanted KHJ official goods but really not up to queuing for hours just for that. Decided to forego queuing and waited for 2 more Thai friends to arrive then off we went to Namsan Tower which was only a walking distance from our motel. Spent a few hours there riding the famous cable car and enjoying the sights. It’s another must see and must be place for any Henecian not only because of BOF but also because of Hyun Joong’s CF for Seoul promotion. And c’mon need I mention that Namsan Tower is one of Seoul’s main attraction? 

 

Mid afternoon we rushed to the venue hoping to be able to still purchase official goods. To our dismay the line remained incrediblely long! Despite the fact that people were hoarding KHJ goodies KeyEast must have anticipated this and produced thousands of goods coz we still managed to buy the much liked UZoosin hoodie, lighsticks and such. Behind their tents there were dozens of boxes filled with merchandise. I tell you this boy is raking in $$$$ in merchandise alone. Exhausted and hungry we sat down and eat tteokbokki, our first meal of the day…at 4pm! My first time to eat it and it was so good! Now this part you can’t fully trust me…it’s either it really tasted good or it just tasted good coz that was my breakfast, lunch and dinner all eaten altogether at 4pm. LOL.

 

Met another friend who’s a 63 year old grandma but so young at heart and such a big supporter of Hyun Joong. She was kinda dismayed that we all had floor seats but she didn’t so I was very happy that we were able to help her get a floor seat as well. It was really meant to be. She got the last floor seat available! Gave her my extra Jaksal membership card which doubled her happiness. An SUV was parked just in front of the venue where KHJ’s bodyguard Mr Jeong was seen getting some stuff out. Met our Korean friend again who gave us more goodies! She’s just the nicest.

By 5pm people were slowly entering the venue and we were handed free notepads from KeyEast with pictures of a very handsome Hyun Joong playing in the snow. Made our way to our respective seats and as I sat there in anticipation I began to palpitate still not believing that I’m about to see him for the very first time. I looked all around me in amazement at the thousands of fans who love Hyun Joong. I noticed a vacant area in the mid upper section and I wondered about it a bit then around 5:40pm I saw Mr Jeong leading a bunch of people towards that area. To my surprise it was Hyun Joong’s eomma and relatives! They were there to witness his first fanmeeting for 2012. Awww that was nice of them.

 

Event started promptly at 6pm.

This is it, I thought. No holding back the feelings of anticipation, excitement, awe and disbelief. And yes all that I felt as Hyun Joong emerged from the middle of the stage in black get-up singing his Intro song “Let Me Go”. Ahhhhhhh the deafening fan chants! The sea of green lightsticks all around Jamsil Gymnasium! Thousands of screaming fans all adoring The King of Asia! Never felt so proud and happy for him till that moment. Wanted to capture each moment on my camera but at the same time wanted to just enjoy the show and stare at him, perplexed and excited I tweeted away to share live updates for the rest of the world to know, empathizing with those who weren’t able to see him perform live. “Break Down” followed and I was a giddy teenager watching him perform that oh so hot cat daddy…haha. A dashing debonair Kim Hyun Joong performed “Please” in between video presentations of LUCKY photoshoot and 2012 Calendar making. Then much to my happiness an angel in white appeared and rose up to the stage singing my all time favorite ballad of his, “Thank You”. I think I just died of happiness right on. Appropriately enough he sang “Happiness” shortly after, ha what a coincidence.

The talk session that followed was quiet lengthy, again I swear I’ll learn Hangul soon! Was nosebleeding a lot but thanks to another nice Korean fan who was sitting beside me I was able to comprehend bits and pieces of the whole convo. Highlight of the talk session was the surprise appearance of his lovely dogs Art and Matic! Oh they were so cute!!! And you can tell Hyun Joong is a very proud daddy showing off Matic’s skills onstage. The way he said “Bang! Bang!”…you can see that playful inner child in him.

3 lucky fans were then called onstage and played a problem solving sorta game and 2 fans out of the 3 got to 

have their pictures taken and autographed by Hyun Joong. Felt kinda bad for the 3rd fan who wasn’t able to have her pic taken with him, but oh boy….wait and see….she’s the luckiest among the 3! She must have  done something really good in her past life! Haha.

Hyun Joong went on to sing “Love”, another ballad that i totally love hearing him sing. And hearing him say saranghamnida in the end….ughhh!  ”Dahaengida” followed and I almost fell out of my seat, ah how nice it is to finally see him sing it live! Remember the 3rd “unlucky” fan earlier? Well, as Hyun Joong started singing Dahaengida she was brought back onstage and Hyun Joong serenaded her! Whaaaaaaaaaaa major gasps and envy heard from all around the venue! A lovely romantic ballad turned comical as Hyun Joong did a literal interpretation of the lyrics with props like an ?instant noodle out of a rice cooker, a rose and an umbrella. Despite the hilarious scene in front of us it didn’t diminish the fact that he sang the song lovingly.

“Kiss Kiss” was another performance I was anticipating, his cute dance moves and smiles left me breathless. Lucky Guy behind the scenes popped out on the monitors then Mr. Lucky Guy himself all svelte and suave came out dancing “Do You Like That” and ‘Lucky Guy”. The entire gymnasium was up on their feet and dancing! I was fully engaged in watching or should i say ogling at him~keke~ that I couldn’t really figure out the dance tune that played after Lucky Guy. Like an extended version sorta? At first I thought he was gonna do that Latin groove he did at MAMA but it was different. It was equally sexy with some hip gyrations, I just love seeing him dance!

After sweating it out dancing it was time to mellow down a bit and he rendered “One More Time”. By then I was all relaxed and singing along. As the tune for the next song started playing my heart skipped a beat.    I knew he was gonna sing “I’m Your Man”, panicking i dug up the camera from my bag in order to capture the moment. By then my iphone batt was running low so I had no choice but to use my cam. Missed the beginning part of the song but managed to record most of it and as it was ending I saw that much dreaded green light pointer from one of the guards pointing into my camera! Whaaaaaaa I immediately turned it off before it got confiscated and just concentrated watching him sing the entire song for the very first time. What an honor to have witnessed this event! A lot of people wanting to hear him sing it live for the very first time and here I am right in front of him. And as I sat there still in euphoric state the lights dimmed out and that was the end. Huh? Andwae! Has it really been almost 2 hours already? Then fans started chanting ‘Kim Hyun Joong!” “Kim Hyun Joong!” to roaring echoes across the gymnasium.

The expected encore began with another much loved rendition of him, the acoustic version of “Because I’m Stupid” from Boys Over Flowers OST. I specifically remembered the first time I watched the video of him singing this song and making a mistake (Goodbye Jihoo event). This time around it was flawless and lovely. Then Artmatic and the rest of the dance team all came onstage to do the last performance of the night, “Lucky Guy” once again. As I was happily dancing and singing with everybody I can’t help but be sad deep within coz I knew those were the last few minutes that I will see him. And as he bade goodbye….seeing his smiling face, his happy aura and glow that night, the sense of fulfillment in his voice….i forced myself to not be sad. I will see him again. Might not be in the near future but I will see him again. For now I need to content myself with what i just experienced, albeit a brief encounter but exhilarating.

Reunited with friends outside the venue and we all chatted excitedly about the event as we walked towards the subway station. Much to our surprise we were halted in the middle of the road to give way to a passing car…..and perhaps it’s meant to be that Hyun Joong’s car just had to passed us by as we were walking home.  Screaming fans ran and followed the car but we calmly watched it sped away into the night. Goodbye Hyun Joong-ah! Till we meet again.

Wrapping it up I must say I am a very proud Henecian. To have witness Hyun Joong’s stardom in Korea was something beyond words. The Hyun Joong effect on the Henecians lives on. His power and magnetism, whatever it is that he possesses that weakens the knees of both the young and the old, has a strong enough grip on the hearts of every Henecians….that forever Kim Hyun Joong the performer will always be The King not only in Asia but in our hearts, that his ‘alter ego’ Uzoosin will forever be the God of our Universe, and that Kim Hyun Joong the man himself will forever be our number one…..OUR ONLY ONE.