“Walk apart.”
“We’re already apart. You should stop being dramatic, Noona.”
Han Seungbeom’s famous fansite master, Kim Hayeon, and the owner of Han Seungbeom’s popular fan-channel, Kim Hasol, were currently walking briskly toward the venue where the fan signing event was taking place.
The older sister, wearing a solemn expression like a general heading to the battlefield, was the first to speak.
“…The blood loss was severe.”
1
She was already trembling at the thought of receiving her credit card bill next month.
Random draw? Did the concept of
random
even exist in the idol industry these days?
How many stores that drew by hand were even left for people to talk about randomness?
Machine draws couldn’t be trusted. In this harsh idol world, there were horrifying rumors that even if a machine draw was advertised, they would secretly rank buyers and cut off entries based on who spent the most.
But Kim Hayeon wasn’t too bothered by that fact.
Since she was going either way, it was rather more comforting for her if they ranked people. Lining people up with this method prevented the worst-case scenario, where one spent millions of won but still didn’t make it.
“Did you spend more money than when you were a fan of Overture?”
Her younger brother, who used to be a casual fan and had never been to a fansign before, asked her this clueless question.
“Of course. Being a fan of a top-tier idol is expensive. The fansign cuts are different.”
2
She was mentally prepared for how difficult it would be to win a spot for super rookie Pantheion’s fan signing event, as their debut album sales was insane and they debuted straight into the top-tier idol ranks. On top of that, this was Pantheion’s first fansign event after debut, so it wasn’t even possible to figure out their fansign cut.
In spite of their anxiety, both siblings burned their cards and managed to secure spots for the fansign event.
Kim Hasol, who had worked hard and always thought he would never spend money on his hobbies, suddenly got hit with a reality check after spending an amount that could buy a luxury item all at once. He asked with a gloomy expression.
“…Noona, is the fansign fun?”
“No. It’s annoying. Seeing the clear difference between the popular members and the unpopular ones with my own eyes is annoying, watching those toxic fans who think they’re best friends with the idols is annoying, and even the way the agency staff treats the fans poorly is annoying.”
Kim Hayeon, with a fierce expression as if she could kill someone, started listing all the things she hated about fansign. Kim Hasol tilted his head, looking even more confused.
“Then what do you go to them for?”
“Of course, I’m going there to be happy. I’m going to see them in person, hold their hands, and also take some legendary pictures while I’m at it.”
“The legendary picture with 30,000 retweets has really ruined you, Noona.”
Kim Hasol, who had never experienced a fansign event, secretly wondered what the point of this was as he parted ways with Kim Hayeon, and they headed to the fansign venue like strangers.
***
After arriving at the venue and drawing their numbered tickets, the siblings were happy to be assigned to the middle seats, but when they realized that they were right next to each other, they cursed silently.
“Please get out of my life.”
“Why did we end up with numbers right next to each other … This is really annoying.”
However, wanting to avoid dreadful terrible rumors like “
What’s the relationship between Seungbeom’s famous fansite master and the owner of the famous channel
?”, they zipped their lips and started setting up their camera without any physical contact.
When they had almost finished setting up, they heard fans around them screaming and cheering.
“Woaaaaaah!”
“One, two.”
“Hello, we are Pantheion!”
Pantheion had arrived at the fansign venue.
The members, following Han Seungbeom’s lead, immediately greeted the fans, and then had a light talk time.
“Seungbeom has really prepared thoroughly for today. He’s already prepared everything that fans might be curious about from early in the morning.”
With a gentle smile, Woo Kangwon skillfully opened the conversation. Then, Han Seungbeom, who was standing in the center, nodded and answered seriously.
“Last time, we had a mini fansign through the Survive IDOL event, and there were a few things that fans asked us repeatedly. So, to make sure we can have more time for other conversations, I’d like to address those things before the signing begins. NB … what was it again?”
“MBTI, hyung.”
“Yes, I’ll tell you about our MBTI and other basic information.”
When Han Seungbeom momentarily faltered, Lee Danbi, who was next to him, calmly assisted him, causing the fans in the venue to burst into laughter.
“Just as expected, Seungbeom doesn’t know much about those kinds of things.”
The reason everyone was laughing was because of the
“Han Seungbeom Failed MZ Gen Theory
3
” that had been consistently mentioned among the fans. The theory began from Pantheion’s reality program.
[This is the first time I’ve seen a twenty-year-old wearing wired earphones.]
[The Captain doesn’t even know meme well. As far as I can tell, it seems like he knows it less than Nicholas and Zen do.]
[Yuda and Seungbeom’s time … flows differently]
The way he slouched on the sofa, which didn’t look like someone just turning twenty, the way he drank coffee as if it were medicine, and his insistence on using old-fashioned items that today’s kids rarely use, like wired earphones, led to the spread of the “
Uncle Han Seungbeom Theory
“.
Of course, Han Seungbeom didn’t reveal his natural self that much in front of the camera.
However, this situation arose from the exaggerated interpretations of fans who felt a sense of incongruity between his usual laid-back demeanor and angelic appearance, coupled with the members’ comments like “
Seungbeom-hyung solves all the problems
” and “
Sometimes Seungbeom feels older than me
“.
Han Seungbeom, who had no idea why the fans were laughing, blinked a few times before grabbing the microphone and reciting the
MBTI survey results
in a blunt voice.
“Woo Kangwon ENFJ, Baek Kiryang INFJ, Lee Hwayoung ESTJ, Han Seungbeom ISTP, Do Yuda ENFP, Nagi Zen INTP, Lee Danbi ESTJ.”
The fans, who wanted to know but never expected to find out this way, hurriedly wrote down what Han Seungbeom was saying.
‘No, I’m really grateful, but … is this right?’
Kim Hasol, while diligently writing down the MBTI information, couldn’t shake off those thoughts, but it was something that couldn’t be helped. After all, Han Seungbeom was a serious efficiency addict.
Han Seungbeom, who had a slightly puzzled expression on his face as if questioning, “
Is this really what makes you all happy?
“, smiled with a sense of pride as he watched the fans excitedly chatting about the newly acquired information about the Pantheion’s members.
Then, without mercy, he moved on to the next one.
“Next, height and weight.”
The next set of Pantheion members’ physical information had the fans buzzing. It was because Woo Kangwon’s height and weight were at a level that ordinary people would rarely hear about.
“Over 100 kilograms … How is that possible? That’s almost double Seungbeom’s weight.”
“…He’s 193 cm tall and has such a muscular build, so it can’t be helped. He’s someone who’s been working out.”
Woo Kangwon, who picked up on the fans’ comments, turned red in the ears and stammered as if he was a little embarrassed by the excessive attention.
“Y-You guys were surprised by my weight, right? It’s because I’m tall and have a thick bone structure. It’s not because I gained weight … Back when I was an athlete, I had to manage my weight, so I was a bit lighter then.”
With a body that was clearly not overweight, there was no point in trying so hard to convince the fans that he was, in fact, not overweight. In the end, the chaotic atmosphere in the venue was settled with Han Seungbeom’s brief words.
“For someone at that height, it is natural to weigh that much.”
‘…How would he know that? Seungbeom is 179 cm.’
Even though Kim Hasol had such a question in his mind, he kept his mouth shut, faithfully following Kim Hayeon’s advice of ‘
don’t make any personal comments
‘.
After wrapping up the talk time filled with shocks and dopamine from the constant supply of bait
4
, the actual fansign event began.
.
.
.
After a while, it was the siblings’ turn, and as Kim Hasol was receiving the autograph, he doubted his eyes for a moment.
“Hello.”
“S-S-Se-Seung, Seungbeom-ah. H-H-He-Hello.”
‘Describe your feelings when you witnessed a blood relative with a crazy personality who you thought would never lose to anyone, a veteran of the idol fandom world, a disgrace to the family, a born fighter, suddenly become a shy, delicate flower. 30 points.’
“Why are you trembling this much?”
“Because Seungbeom is just, so, so handsome. Uhuhuhu.”
‘Uhuhuhu?’
How long had it been since he had heard such a composed voice from his blood relative?
While Kim Hasol was brushing off the goosebumps on his arms, Han Seungbeom skillfully grabbed Kim Hayeon’s hand. Then, as if to calm her trembling hand, he tightly intertwined their fingers and looked up at Kim Hayeon.
“I’m sorry. I’m nervous and my hands are sweating so much…….”
“It’s okay.”
Han Seungbeom shook his head as if it was no big deal, then he signed the autograph while staring directly at Kim Hayeon’s face.
It was already public knowledge among fans that Han Sungbeom always looked at the other person’s face when talking to them.
‘She said that when she was Frick’s fan, she only saw Jongsu’s head. What if she faints?’
But no matter how much she mentally prepared herself, it must have been quite difficult to actually deal with it, as Kim Hayeon froze and couldn’t ask any questions. As time passed with only sounds like “U-uh…” filling the air, Han Seungbeom gently started the conversation first.
“You came to the first competition last time, didn’t you?”
“Uh, how did you know?”
“You were holding a slogan with my name on it back then, and I was worried because your face was really red. Thank you for supporting me from the beginning.”
Hearing those words, Kim Hasol immediately sensed that Kim Hayeon’s sanity was done for and closed his eyes to express his condolences. Unfortunately, Han Seungbeom’s onslaught didn’t end there.
“Your hands are still so cold. I usually have a low body temperature, but yours are even colder, Hayeon-ssi.”
Without letting go of their intertwined hands, Han Seungbeom gently placed the back of Kim Hayeon’s hand on his cheek. Shocked by the sudden contact with Han Seungbeom’s face, Kim Hayeon trembled as if she’d been electrocuted and let out a muffled scream, slamming her other hand on the desk.
“Ouch, your hand is going to get hurt.”
In the meantime, Han Seungbeom had finished signing autographs and was still holding onto her hand. Kim Hayeon, unable to escape, found herself face-to-face with Han Seungbeom’s face at close range.
“Is there anything else you want to say?”
“…….”
Unable to meet Han Seungbeom’s eyes, Kim Haeyeon nodded vigorously in response, her head bowed low. Han Seungbeom, however, lowered his head to look directly into her eyes, staring intently into her eyes. Then, he smiled softly and said,
“I love you too.”
At that, all of the fans sitting in the vicinity turned to look at Han Seungbeom, their jaws hanging open.
Just as all the fans were awestruck by this ridiculous response from a rookie who was barely 20 years old and had never done a proper fansign before, the staff’s strict announcement cut through the silence.
“Please move.”
Kim Hasol, who, like the other fans, dropped his jaw at Han Seungbeom’s actions but inwardly felt frustrated by Kim Hayeon’s inability to make the most of the precious time, lifted his head confidently and moved forward to face Han Seungbeom.
“Ah, uh, hello, S-S-Se-Seungbeom-ssi.”
And then, he broke down.
‘Ah, I’m just like my Noona.’
Kim Hasol, who quickly realized his reality, stared blankly at Han Seungbeom, who was showcasing an unreal level of beauty right in front of him.
“Hello.”
Seeing him at this distance, his appearance was incomparably better than when he saw him on the screen during the competition.
‘His face is the size of a palm. His eyelashes are long. His eyes are amber. His skin is flawless. His hair looks soft. His way of speaking is affectionate. He smells good.’
“Hasol-ssi, see you again.”
“Thank you…….”
And when he came to his senses, his turn was already over.
Until now, Kim Hasol’s brain had only been programmed to recognize people of the same sex with the simple label “
same species, ew ew
“. It was only natural that this unfortunate brain, faced with Han Seungbeom in person, suddenly overloaded with excessive information and came to a complete shut down.
After stumbling down from the stage, Kim Hasol steadied his shaky legs and read Han Seungbeom’s autograph.
[To. Kim Hasol.
I watched the Heracles crossover edit video you uploaded. I’m worried because you must have stayed up all night editing it. Thank you. I hope you’ll continue to support us in the future.
–Han Seungbeom–]
‘Did I … tell him that I was the one who edited that video?’
Kim Hasol stared at the ceiling, spacing out.
And then, he thought to himself.
Ah, so this is why people go to fansign events.
I feel happy….
“His cheeks felt so soft…..”
“So sweet … Handsome….”
The camera recordings of the siblings walking back to their seats, looking like fools, went viral, and the ‘
Han Seungbeom Medusa Theory
‘ quickly began to spread.
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Translator’s Corner:
This is talking about money. She spent a lot of money. ↩︎
Fansign cut (팬싸컷) is the number of albums a fan needs to buy to have a chance of attending a fansign event
. 팬싸 is fansign, 컷 is cut off line.
You know, fansign is an exclusive event with a certain number of fans given the chance to attend. To “choose” the attendance, agency (or the distributor) would pick based on the album buyer. There might be some that got lucky and chosen, but mostly, it was given to people who bought the most.
Say, a super popular boygrup like NCT, who sold more than 1.000.000 copies of album every comeback, would definitely have “fansign cut” in the number of 100+. I heard you need to buy at least 300 copies to felt secure. But these numbers aren’t a public info. No one knew the exact number (well, some people knew, it was the kind of info that get sold), so for popular group, it was totally battle of money to buy as many albums as you can if you want to attend fansign.
But that’s popular group. In the case of mid group, 10 albums usually already enough. Even worse, for the really really unpopular group, just 1 album can get you into a fansign. The gap is really severe in kpop industry. That’s why usually in Korea, you would find a lot of people just giving away albums, since they only bought it to meet the fansign cut and only took the photocard, so the rest are being thrown away. ↩︎
In here, it only mentioned as “MZ”, but for context it refers to the “MZ Generation”. The MZ generation is a
term that refers to the Millennial generation (M generation) and Generation Z
, and is a new word in South Korea that suddenly became popular through the media in the early 2020s .
In South Korea, the MZ generation is a term that generally refers to the new generation that did not experience the military regime period or experienced it during their very early childhood after the de facto democratization. They are stereotyped as generations who were familiar with the digital environment and showing the characteristics of pursuing the latest trends and unique experiences that are different from others.
The “failed” here actually 탈락 means “One’s state of failing or being dropped by being excluded from a range” or simply “failed to pass”. It means Han Seungbeom is failing at being a MZ Generation since he didn’t act like one. ↩︎
Bait here is
떡밥, literally means “paste bait”
. It is for catching fish, originally made by mixing rice cake and soybean paste and making it like rice cake, that’s why it’s called
떡밥
, the
떡
(tteok) here is rice cake. It has variety of use in slang, but in fandom area, it usually refers to any kind of information or content that can generate excitement or interest among fans. ↩︎
Being a Sera must not be for the weak because imagine the grown up Seo Yutae, 190+ cm tall, with all those muscles, casually saying I love you while gazing into your eyes … I WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO LIKE ANY OTHER MEN WTFFF
And last time I checked I was INFP … I’m going to take MBTI test again later to fill my time in the car… but I’m actually surprised Nicholas is E????
Anyway I’m done packing (not really), so while waiting for my pickup, here’s another chapter : ) ARGH I’M FEELING DREADFUL ABOUT THIS WHOLE GOING BACK SITUATION, let me get job in one week please so I can move out … another city please …. asdfghjkl
OMFG I ALMOST LOST THIS DRAFT BECAUSE WP DIDNT SAVE IT, but thanks god i didnt refresh it and still able to copy paste it …