At 4:10PM I decided to head first to Star Square to see what it's about, and was surprised to find the area very crowded. It turns out, Fromis_9 was here taking pictures with some lucky winners! I was surprised to see Fromis_9 again so soon, especially when they just landed a couple hours ago AND because their official KCON schedules are only on Sunday.
As a side note, a group of 4 approached me and complimented my jersey. It turns out, they were also from the same area and had made the trip just for Golden Child! I'm very happy to have met other Goldenness and especially from my area at KCON.
Afterwards I saw that Heize and Fromis_9 had already signed their mailboxes at Star Square. I'm still not 100% sure what Star Square is, but I think there are surprise events posted at the MWave booth where if you take a picture at the MWave booth and post on SNS with their hashtags during a certain time period, you will be entered for a chance to win a photo opportunity with the artist for that event. Then after that artist visits Star Square and takes the picture with the lucky fan, they sign their mailbox. About this mailbox - you can purchase KCON's official stationary set and write a fan letter to any artist and drop it into their box, and 1 letter will be chosen at the red carpet to be read aloud. The fan letters also include a spot for you to write your name and Twitter handle, which will be read out loud as well.
I decided to get in line for the red carpet, which is from 5:20PM to 5:50PM. When I got to the end of the line, the security guard falsely told me that this is the wrong line, and sent me across the convention grounds. After asking several more people, I ended up back at the original security guard, showed my red carpet pass, and was able to get in line at 4:45PM. With this fiasco setting me back at least 20 minutes, I was behind at least 50 more people than originally, which is upsetting. They let the line into the venue and I was inside by 5:03PM. At this point I was 6 rows from the front. The red carpet stage is only about 3 steps higher than the ground, so it was hard to see.
The event began early at 5:15PM, with an MC/translator running the event. The first guest came out to the red carpet at 5:17PM. To everyone's surprise, it was Jeremy Lin! He said that he's most excited to see Super Junior and spoke some more (but I can't make out the words from my video >.<). In total he was on the carpet for 1 minute.
Next up was Heize. The MC asked her a few questions and translated her answers. Then staff brought out Heize's mailbox, she drew 1 letter, and the MC read it out loud in Korean. (I think the letter was originally written in Korean, as the MC read other letters later on in English). Heize also posed for pictures.
Next was Stray Kids. The crowd instantly pushed forward and compacted the first few rows of people. The same routine occurred - posing for photos, answering pre-selected questions, and selecting a fan letter for the MC to read. I don't recall any of the questions the MC asked any of the artists...the whole event was a bit overwhelming and my intention was just to get an idea of how red carpet would be like tomorrow and what I'd need to do to maximize my time there.
Next was Pentagon.
Then Red Velvet came onto the red carpet. Quite a few people left after Red Velvet's turn.
Next up was Leslie Grace!
And lastly, Super Junior took the stage. Siwon spoke a lot of English and even read the fan letter in English himself.
At the end, a member of Super Junior walked down to the side to greet fans.
After the red carpet event finished, everyone headed out to get in line for the concert. My next post will be about my experience at the Saturday concert!
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