So…this afternoon, Jung Il Woo had a fanmeeting in Kuala Lumpur! Malaysia! My country! It seemed so surreal at first, but I decided to go and try my luck if I could see him, even from afar. It wasn’t a fanmeeting organized by his management, but he came as an ambassador for Holika Holika, a cosmetic brand in South Korea. The event was a very memorable one for me because it’s my first time to join something like this.

(all photos belong to Holika Holika Malaysia Facebook Page)

The fanmeeting was held at Berjaya Times Square, a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. I thought it was going to be held in a private place and I was so happy to find out that the event was going to take place at the main stage of the mall. I arrived there around 12 p.m. and fans had started to gather around so early, although Ilwoo was only scheduled to make his appearance on 2 p.m.

Since the event was organized by Holika Holika, those who bought the products from the brand had the chance to stand in a place nearer to the stage, while some lucky buyers got the chance to take photos with Ilwoo and receive a poster personally signed by him. I wasn’t one of the buyers, so I remained outside the area but got myself a decent spot for me to get a good view of the stage.

Around 1 p.m., more fans were coming and the place started to become crowded with people, mainly women wearing purple (as the color theme for Holika Holika is purple). The deejay kept calling for the lucky buyers to fill up the space in front of the stage while waiting for Ilwoo to arrive.

Suddenly, some dancers went up onto the stage and Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ was played. They danced to the song, causing the fans to be more excited.

The emcee for the event went onto the stage and the crowd became even more hyped. He asked us if we wanted to make a surprise for Ilwoo, since his birthday was on September 9th and all the fans agreed to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ song for him. Some initially requested for 4 versions of the songs (and the emcee said jokingly, “You’re too greddy!”) but end up with three versions: Korean, English, and Malay. We even practiced singing once.

Finally…Ilwoo made his appearance! Everyone was so excited and the crowd was screaming loudly. People were waving at him and that included me. Haha I couldn’t help it, too excited! The emcee welcomed him and he smiled while waving back at the fans.

At first, the emcee ushered him to sit for the introduction and Ilwoo was about to sit when fans sighed because they won’t be able to see him clearly. So he decided to do the introduction and receive questions while standing. So sweet of him! We cheered for him and he smiled back at us happy fangirl

The introduction was like usual, with questions like “How do you take care of your skin?” “Do you find Malaysian food tasty?” etc etc. Ilwoo answered the questions in Korean and there was a female translator there. He said that he would make a drama comeback next year and also said “Saya sayangkan kamu! Saya cintakan kamu!” (I love you in Malay) to us. Boy, the crowd went crazy! Then, the Q&A session with press took place.

After that, the photography session for the lucky buyers were held but between the session, SNSD’s ‘Oh’ played in the background and fans started to sing the part “Oh Oh Oh o ppa reul saranghae” to him. He smiled widely. Cute! He even sang along to a song after that (couldn’t remember what the song was!).

The photography session took place and gosh, they were lucky souls! One of them even got the chance to take a couple photo with Ilwoo. So lucky! He went to the backstage for a few minutes before he went up again for the autograph session. I could only look from afar since I wasn’t the lucky ones. Hahaha! Ilwoo was so cool. He even went down from the stage and got closer to the fans for the press photos although the security personnels looked like they wanted to pull him back onto the stage.

What about the surprise plan? Apparently, the emcee totally forgot about it and luckily, someone reminded him about it. So during the final session, we all sang the birthday songs and Ilwoo looked touched+happy. After we finished, he smiled,waved and sent flying kisses to us. Again, the crowd screamed like crazy. He said “Saya cintakan kamu” again! Hihihi~ The event ended around 2.50 p.m. and Ilwoo danced to ‘Gangnam Style’ a bit on his way down from the stage. LOL.

The emcee said something about catching view of him and lots of fans ran after Ilwoo, but I was too tired to run. Haha! The fans left  but some still linger around and took some pictures with the cut out of Ilwoo. The cut out looked so real and I was surprised before, thinking that it was the real Ilwoo. Silly me.

That was one great experience for me and although I couldn’t get near to the stage, I still consider myself lucky to be able to see Ilwoo in person. It wasn’t an everyday chance to get to see him! Lots of fans turned up today and I hope that Ilwoo could see how many fans he have here! Hoping for a real fanmeeting  to be organized soon, and hopefully I can join it too. Hihihi!

Thank you Holika Holika for bringing Jung Ilwoo here and thank you Ilwoo for coming to Malaysia! Hope to see you soon! “Kami juga sayangkan kamu!” Heee

(the photos above aren’t mine..they belong to Holika Holika Malaysia Facebook Page)

These are the photos I took. They aren’t the best quality since I only used my phone camera. Still, it’s better than nothing but it’s all etched in my memory~

 

Went home with a happy heart, a sweet memory and aching legs. Hehe! But no regret at all~