I started my journey into Kdrama in 2020 when I exhausted Western drama of my choice as well Chinese drama ( I am an ardent martial art China drama or Wuxia since my elementary school days and now I watch to help with my language lesson ). I half expected to get bored or only enjoy 1-2 Kdrama but loo and behold I get sucked right in to Kdrama, hook line and sinker. I do not want to count how many I have watched, sufficiently to say by now I can understand some of the conversation without subtitle and can tell when the translation sometime incorrect or have a different emotional taste than the original dialogue.
18 months later and 20kg less ( it accompanied me during my diet days ), as Covid subside and travel open, Indonesia is back into destination for concerts and… fan meetings. It is not complete for heavy duty fan like me without attending a fan meeting. With Fanny and Lucky we keep joking about making fan meeting as one of our girls night out activities ( which hopefully we will if we can get our hand on upcoming Ji Chang Wook fan meeting ! ). What my besties don’t know is I am more desperate to experience fanmeeting than them even though still I also want someone I am reasonably adore and a fan of to make it worthwhile, not just anyone.
Therefore when Lumina Enterprise announced Hwang In Yeop to do a fanmeeting in Jakarta, I jumped at the chance and hunted down the ticket. As a fan of True Beauty second lead Seo Joon ( the sight of him in biker jacket or singing toki doki make my heart skip a beat ). I was unashamedly counting the days until my very first fan meeting. I am not a devoted fan who knows everything given my hectic schedule wouldn’t allow me to have the space for it, so I spend enough time before the event to know a bit more.
It wasn’t a waste, I tell you, because this HIYLIY ( the fans name means family ), really knowledgeable and they are of different segments of age. I was very worried I will stood out 20 years older than the rest of the fan but luckily there are those near my age ( I probably still 10% the oldest still haha ). The event was held in Kasablanka Hall and while it wasn’t packed, it still is well attended with super excited fans ( including me).
The fan meeting is organized into several class with different charges, just like any concert, the more expensive the closer to the stage and the more benefit. Different organizers have different ways and then of course the stars will have their riders too. With Lumina, they do lotteries so those who pays for lower benefit can still get lucky and experience and bring home more souvenirs. I bought the most expensive ticket to get me as close possible with the actor of course.
On the day, as I walked into the event, it is really an exciting scene with a lot of women excitedly brought banners and letters for HIY. I am super excited to get signed poster and then proceed to queue on the entrance. The event started with HIY sung ( very well ) some of his songs. There are games that is fun and brought the participants closer to HIY. We saw him eating Indonesian food and also most memorable scenes from True Beauty. Including the monumental Toki Doki song. He took time to meet his audience with very nice gestures as well as for me hi and bye scene where you get to have very brief interaction. For some lucky ones they get to do more interaction such as fan signing or press conference – as always am not that lucky.
Picture 1. The waiting area of the fan meeting, very well attended !
Picture 2. My very first PC
Picture 3. The event from where I sit.
It is my first taste and I thoroughly enjoy the event, more than the event, the enthusiasm and love from the audience really touching how one actor can get the love of Indonesian audiences. It is a great entertainment for Kdrama lovers like me. For sure I cant wait for my next fanmeeting !
