Osaka - the Event II

Finally the curtain rises, all 5 characters are standing there in their costumes. I admit I am quite fond of EJA and Philip Lee too, but where is our MAIN MAN? Then, a small door opens in the center and there ….. HE STEPS OUT! Yong Joon, a man I have been watching, reading, thinking, talking, writing, drawing, dreaming about in the past 2 1/2 years is right in front of me. Ok, miles in front of me, but still we are both existing in the same space, same instant, same air! I try to use my binocular to look at his facial expression, his eyes, his lips, his smile, but he’s really really too far from me. I can only see a little tiny figure of Damdeok, so I decide to abandon the binocular idea. I rather see him in flesh with my own bare eyes, no lens (well more or less, I confess I’m pretty nearsighted), no screens between us, just the air which transmits the sound, breath and hopefully my thoughts.


Yes, he lifts his beautiful head and looks at his cheering family, he waves and starts to smile but I cannot see his misty eyes. We are all applauding, cheering, waving back, anyway we can do to show him how much we love and miss him. Everyone there only has this one single man in their minds, imagine all these energy being channeled to him, you think he can feel the vibes?


Then the stage is taken over by the Hwachun and Guemool people fighting, so all 6 stars retreat to the backstage. When MSR steps backwards, she trips; luckily our Yong Joon and Jumoochi react fast enough to lift her up.


Then the 2 MCs come up to introduce Joe Hashashi and the orchestra. Now I love the soundtrack of TWSSG and admire composer Hashashi’s talents, but this mini-concert lasts for a good hour and 15 minutes! I keep thinking : Is Yong Joon coming out soon? At this point, I am very thirsty and hungry already. Luckily, I still have a bottle of green tea and dear liezle has given me some dried mango, these sustain me for the day!


Next, all 6 stars return on stage again. As you all know already, they sit on the barstools and being interviewed by the MCs. By now, Yong Joon has changed into a suit and white shirt, very handsome of course. This interview lasts for an hour and HRH gets his even share of 1/6 of the time. Sorry for keeping watch of the time, by now 2 hours and 15 minutes have passed in this supposedly 3 hours event and Yong Joon has only spoken for 15 minutes max?! Excuse me for being so close-minded, but whenever HRH is present, anyone around him just dissipates. Hehe, but I have my survival strategy, I take out my binocular again and just aim at that gorgeous man as I can’t understand the interview anyway.


You know what follows the interview already? Right, The costume guy comes up and talks about, what else? The costumes! Let’s say I give up tracking the time by now because I practically doze off in this segment. The highlight (at least to me) is this young singer performs one of the theme songs ‘Approval’ and his voice really captivates me. The melody of ‘Approval’ conveys this feeling of sadness and hopelessness, which is pretty much how I feel at this point.


I am just about to give up, after all it’s almost 5 o’clock now. Suddenly the walls down the left side of the stage open up and the sisters in that section start to scream. I can’t believe my eyes, I saw a float type of thingy moving out very slowly. I mutter to myself, “Am I seeing it right?” I look at the wide passageways between the sections, then it dawns on me that he’s going to go around the stadium. The float is so high, it’s obvious that it is constructed at the same level as the second floor. Lucky lucky sisters on that level and also near the aisle.


Yong Joon is up there, smiling, waving, holding his heavy-duty camera and start clicking away! He looks so beautiful in his ‘funky’ outfit, I swear it’ll look tacky on other guys, but he looks so classy in it, boy are we prejudice or what? I am still very very far from him cause my seat is not near that wide passageway at all. Still I realize this is possibly the closest distance I will ever be able to get to HRH. So I tell myself, “Jaime, glue your eyes on him, remember this moment. This is the closest you’ll ever get. Take a mental picture of him and keep that image in your memory forever.” So I freeze, blank out all the noise and everything around us, fixate my eyes only on him – his glowing face, CLICK; his luscious hair, CLICK; his sincere gaze, CLICK; his genuine smile, CLICK; his gentle waving, CLICK. I capture all these images and imprint them in my mind that I will not allow myself to forget. Up to today, whenever I close my eyes, this image of him will come up in front of me.


Now having said all these, this moment really lasts for only a few seconds before he turns away to wave to the sisters on other side again. The float slowly moves farther and farther away from me. I can only see the back of him, waving and nodding to his family and their overwhelming response. Whenever he turns to one side, the fans on that side all scream, jump and cheer. Any little gesture coming from him will generate a huge reaction, that’s how commanding his presence is. Of course when you are inside the dome, you only get that few seconds of him passing by your section. The rest of the time, you just cheer with everybody else, all those precious blowing kiss, heart gesture, victory sign, thumbs up, pointing and teary eyes scenes are only known to me afterwards.




This lasts a good ½ hour, I think. Next PD Kim and each star come up individually to talk about their future plans. Yong Joon comes on last to talk about his plan on WLS animation and ‘Kami no Shizuko’, then joined by everyone to bid the audience goodbye. I thought the show ends quite abruptly as I expect Yong Joon will spend more ‘alone quality’ time with his longing family. I dare say 99.9% of the women entering the Dome only have him in mind, but I guess after all this is a TWSSG Premium Event, the title says it all, doesn’t it?


As I am walking out of the dome, 2 sisters behind me are talking in Cantonese. I get curious so I say ‘Hi’, as I remember bb said something about a big group coming from Hong Kong BYJFriendsForever for this Osaka event. They are so friendly and immediately take me to meet their fellow sisters. They look surprised when I introduce myself and everyone greets me very warmly. I love to linger on and talk some more Cantonese but I am supposed to meet cloudnine like, 10 minutes ago? So I bid them goodbye.


You know there are so many fan groups’ gatherings around Osaka in these 2 days? Since most fans are converging at Osaka from all over Japan and overseas, this is the most convenient time for these fan circles to hold their gatherings. Unfortunately cloudnine and I have to miss kiyomi’s ‘April Snow & Now’ party. There are really so many reasons to stay but only 1 reason to go – Home! (personally I think this is a strong enough reason)


I remember bb once wrote about she wasn’t sure about returning to Seoul knowing Yong Joon was still staying in Samchoek. I think I can understand it now, my heart lingers knowing Yong Joon is still staying here tonight. Will he go out to look around Osaka? Will he take a casual stroll along the riverbanks? I think of Cinderella having to run out of the castle leaving her Prince Charming behind when the clock strikes midnight. Now I am not saying I am Cinderella, but cloudnine and I really have to run for our lives to catch the Shinkansen. Hehe, the Shinkansen is like our horse carriage, if we miss it, we will really be left with a pumpkin and 4 mice on the street! So we run and run and run (in heels and dragging our luggage along), cutting through crowds, keep apologizing ”sumimasen” to every person I bump into. Towards the end, we practically make an Olympic 100-meter record dash and narrowly jump on the last car just 2 minutes before the train pulls out of Shin-Osaka station! Suffice to say, after no food and drink for the whole day, we grab everything that’s edible from the food cart and I present to you, our dinner! sorry, not very appetizing, isn't it?


I lean back, look out the window as the train moves further and further away from Osaka (and Yong Joon); my body is weak, my mind is blank and my heart is empty. I know I will have a lot of to digest - my first sight of Yong Joon, my first encounters with a lot of Bae sisters, my first star chasing experience; and where do I go from here? ........