Kpop Republic: Part Uno

So I finally started typing my fan account on MS Word and I'm not even halfway done with it yet but it's already nearing 2k words so I decided to split it into two parts! I don't know when I'll be able to post Part Dos because I have a lot of deadlines and long tests this week but I'm pretty sure I'll be done with it by Saturday. To compensate, I'll link you guys to the fancams that I've managed to upload today. I'm still not sure if I'll upload my other fancams because as I said before, I sound crazed. 

Anyway, Kpop Republic: Part Uno under the jump break! (And links to the fancams at the end of this post. Fair warning: this is 1,885 words in MS Word. I apologize in advance but if you make it all the way to the end, I salute you)

Before the concert:

I know that people usually skip this part in fan accounts but I want to be able to read this ten years from now and still be able to reminisce everything that happened last Saturday. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to remember as many things as possible.

So I arrived at Manila sometime after 7:30 and my sister and I took the bus to the Taft Station and rode the train all the way to Ortigas, where we had breakfast at the McDonald’s in El Pueblo. We initially planned on meeting up with my brother (he was also in Manila for a seminar) and having breakfast at Makati but we were running short on time. I really wanted to go to NAIA Terminal 1 since that’s where EXO-K and SHINee will be arriving but my sister wasn’t up for some early morning airport mayhem and to be honest, I wasn’t as well. I wasn’t even sure if the rumoured 8:15 arrival was true and I didn’t want to risk messing up our schedule. Plus, before our flight, my sister just got off from work and I can understand that she was hella tired and I was running on just two hours of sleep as well. I wanted to be well-rested before the concert so after breakfast, we took a taxi cab all the way to Manang Nuala’s (my sister’s friend) apartment. I got to sneak in on Twitter for a few minutes and I found out that Sehun and Kai actually arrived at Terminal 3 (the same as mine) and I sort of made whimpering noises. To make matters worse, I also found out that Minho had MC-ing duties and wouldn’t be able to make it in time for the concert. My spirits were dampened at that point so I decided to just sleep the negativity away and my eyelids were also screaming for well-needed shut-eye.

I woke up around 1 in the afternoon after a fitful sleep and decided to get ready. By this time I was already feeling jumpy what with pre-concert adrenaline making me feel restless and excited. We left Manang Nuala’s apartment sometime before 2 pm and since we had a lot of time to spare before the concert actually started, we decided to commute instead of taking a taxi cab. But lo and behold, it started raining. Hard. And Saturday afternoon traffic in Manila when it’s raining is the worst. I wanted to bawl. What was supposed to be just hour-ride away turned into an hour and 45 minutes. I arrived at the Araneta Coliseum close to 4 already. Upon arriving there, I immediately scouted the place for people giving out free support banners and I was on the look-out for Koreans selling official merch from Korea. I was going slightly crazy because I kept on asking random people where they were getting their support banners from and they just kept on telling me that fanclubs were giving them out and every time I do manage to get hold of the ones giving out the banners, they ran out already.* Insert sad face that will rival Sehun’s.* So I gave up looking for support banners and focused on buying merch instead. I managed to buy a BWCW shirt that’s a little too big for me even though it was their smallest size available (ugh why am I so tiny), an EXO-K pencil case (don’t ask why, it just looked pretty), and official light sticks!!! I almost sobbed because it’s always been a dream of mine to finally own them and they were so pretty. I must admit that the ones I bought from the Koreans hurt my wallet because I had to buy one for EXO-K and another one for SHINee but they were so pretty and had certain members’ names on them aaaahh!!! Sadly, they ran out of D.O light sticks so I bought Kai’s instead but I was lucky enough to have gotten the last Taemin light stick. Hallelujah!

By this time, it was close to 4:30 already and we still haven’t had our lunch yet so were fucking hungry. We decided to find a restaurant in Gateway but before entering the mall, there were fans with a table outside Starbucks selling EXO ballers but it was pretty crowded and our stomachs were practically begging for food so my sister just promised that we would go back after eating. I was reluctant to go but I was hungry as well so we went to the third floor and ordered food at some Thai restaurant that I forgot the name to. While waiting for the food to be served, I heard some loud shouting coming from the 5^th floor and my blood ran cold. I looked at my sister and I could tell that she was thinking what I was thinking and she simply said, “Go.” Upon hearing that magic word, I immediately grabbed my camera and my phone and ran to the 5^th floor at the speed of light. I didn’t know my way around Gateway since I’ve only been there twice (my 1^st time being Super Show 2 lol) but I’m fucking thankful that my sense of direction did not fail me in that dire situation. Because I was running like my life depended on it, I kept on bumping people and saying, “Excuse me” and “I’m sorry” and I’m pretty sure there must have been dirty looks thrown my way but I only had one agenda in mind that I really couldn’t bring myself to care. I reached where the fans were crowded together in record time and before I could ask someone what was happening, everyone started screaming again and I was just there in the middle of it all thinking, “What the fuck is going on?” Then bouncers came and told everyone to quiet down and keep calm and of course no one obeyed. I sort of got a bit annoyed at this point because some of the fans kept on pushing and shoving when I was trying my best to remain rooted to my spot and I was reminded that there are really some fans who don’t know how to give people some fucking space. Plus, they kept on complaining so I just went to the side and watched and waited. I overheard certain conversations from people and it turned out that the Press Conference had just started and they saw the groups come in and SHINee was also eating in one of the restaurants. To be honest, this made my heart race, knowing that I was in the same building as SHINee and EXO-K and I also wanted to wait but my sister texted me to go back because the food was getting cold so I gave up and went back to the third floor. I was pretty disappointed while eating my Thai chicken and barbecue, especially when I would hear people shouting and screaming. After eating, we went back to Starbucks to buy the ballers that I’d seen but when I got there, they were GONE. I was feeling really down at this point because the ballers were really cool ugh. Afterwards, I tried finding some more SHINee merch but there were NONE!!! I didn’t even get to buy a single SHINee shirt, all I had with me was my Taemin light stick. I don’t know if it’s because there weren’t any people selling or they ran out because it was pretty late already but man, I felt so guilty looking at the things I bought and realizing that they were mostly EXO. Sigh.

After my failed mission on finding SHINee merch, I finally decided to line up. It was already 5:15 and there were planning on opening the gates at 5:30. I went over to the Green Gate and lined up with the other VIP Diamond and SVIP ticket holders. My sister left me alone already since I figured I could already manage by myself. While lining up, I made a friend!!! Her name’s Mika and she came all the way from Vancouver for the concert and she was really pretty and cool and nice. Her bias is Key and I told her that if Key got to see her, he would like her because she looked fabulous. She even admitted that she got a boycut and dyed her hair blonde to match Key’s style and she was all dressed up like Key too. When I told her that my bias in EXO is Kyungsoo, she said that Kyungsoo and I would look ~good~ together because we’re both small and cute, according to her teehee. I spent the remainder of the time lining up talking to Mika and we exchanged Tumblr urls. She was very very easy to talk to and she was really nice to me despite our age gap (she’s 22). Then at around 5:30, they finally started letting people in and when the personnel finished checking our bags and our tickets, Mika started to run and I don’t know I started running with her lol. She asked me why I was running when I had a reserved seat while she still had to try to get as close to the stage as possible because she was in the pit and instead of replying, I just sort of laughed. Before she entered the pit, we hugged and told each other to have fun and to keep in touch.

After Mika and I parted ways, I bought some food and a bottle of water before going to my section. I wasn’t really in a hurry because the concert was due to start at 7 pm and I was assured that no one was going to take away my seat. When I was done eating my fries and walking around aimlessly, I finally entered the coliseum itself and I was so shocked to see how near my seat was to the stage I think my mouth was hanging open or something. People were just beginning to enter as well and it was already noisy because the fans were getting pumped up. During the next hour, they kept on showing K Rep’s TV commercial on the wide screens above and all the invitation videos done by the groups which just made everyone scream and go wild. It was pretty amusing. Fifteen minutes before the show was bound to begin, I started receiving text messages from friends and family telling me to enjoy the concert and I was immensely touched u____u But Mom probably sent me the best message because it went like this, “How I wish I could be there with you when you finally get to see Taemin but I’m already happy that I made your wish come true ;)” I swear I could feel my tear ducts struggling to keep the tears in. Mom is seriously the best guuuuuuuh. I called her and talked to her and cried and then I called Joy and cried some more and then KC called me and I promised that I would call her if ever EXO sang XOXO because she really wanted to hear it live.

AND THEN THEY DIMMED THE LIGHTS AND THE CONCERT FINALLY BEGAN DUN DUN DUN…

*to be continued

Fancams as promised:

1. Close-up Fancam of Taemin
2. Close-up Fancam of Chanyeol
3. EXO-K's Growl Performance