JOURNEY'S DEBUT

Long time, no see.

100 Days with ZB1 and I've been radio silent--but don't get it twisted.

I've been busy.

I just bought my first ever (and 2nd ever) lightstick? I have not one but TWO photo card collections! I'm a TikTok editor now??? And...

Guys, Matthew and I have smiled at each other--like...face to face.

No, this is not a delulu Y/N Tumblr post.

This is...

Journey's Debut

You can hear all about my adventures in my new podcast. (More info coming soon.)

For now:

I want to celebrate 100 Days with ZB1.

Just briefly. No pretty pictures and fun words like usual. Like I said, I've been busy.

But I want to reflect on the fact that 100, maybe 200 days ago...I didn't even listen to K-pop. Maybe a few songs here and there...but it wasn't my fandom.

One show, a really cool voting system, and a bunch of interesting personalities later--I played the tiniest role in someone debuting in a project group.

And maybe I thought I'd wipe my hands clean from K-pop after that.

Or maybe I thought I'd follow my 1-Pick's progress and check in here and again.

Maybe I thought I'd file "Zerobaseone" under one of many hobbies--fun for a rainy day.

And now.

Well.

Now, it's been 100 days.

And now I have lightsticks, and magazines, and slogans, and photobooth pics, and way too many albums?

And now I have something that I love very much, something that makes me happy, something that may be sorted into one of my many hobbies but is certainly in the top 3.

And now I have petals everywhere: roses in my jewelry, in my hair, taking up space on my emoji keyboard--

And now...I have Zerobaseone.

So...

Happy Anniversary, Zeroes.

And Happy 100 Days w/ you, ZB1.

Love you, Always. (나와 같이 걸어줄래? Always~)

--- Personal messages (in age order):

---

Jiwoong Hyung

100 days with Oppa! 🎉 Thank you for being a reliable hyung to the members and an adorable idol to zeroses! We love you Jiwoongie~ 💗

Zhang Hao

OUR CENTER its been 100 days with you! You’re cute and funny and a 100-day idol! We love you so much our jjang Zhang Hao 💗 Love you Always~ 🎻🎻🎻 나와 같이 걸어줄래? Always~

Sung Hanbin

Thank you for leading ZB1 for 100 days and thank you for leading Zerose straight into your heart. 💗 We love you MC Hambin 🐹

Seok Matthew

1-Pick ➡️ 100 Days. So happy it was you. 💗 (Alexa, play “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri)

Kim Taerae

Happy 100 Days to Mother Taraesa~ 💗 Our main vocalist and our main slayer~

Ricky

Young and rich, tall and handsome--those things may fade with time (unlikely!) but I will love you always (+100x more!)

Kim Gyuvin

100 days with our thoughtful and sweet ~moodmaker~ Gyuvinnie! 🎉

Park Gunwook

100 days with Gunwookie! 100 days of quick wit and big smiles! Here’s to 100 more! We love you Gunwookie! 💗

Han Yujin

100 days with our maknae! Zerose love you sooo much!!! We’ll grow with you and stay by your side! 💗🌹

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EVEN OVER EXO’S CREAM SODA????

I woke up this morning to the news that ZB1 just won their first award.

I’m just as emotional as they were.

You can see tears in their eyes and they perform their encore.

Their speeches were so heartfelt. Matthew’s…

You can tell how grateful they are: for where they are, for how far they’ve come, and for the support of Zeroze.

It’s so fruitful and so deeply beautiful to see their first win after voting so much during Boys Planet.

It feels like the finale episode all over again. Watching the artist you care about achieve something through your love and support.

Congratulations, ZB1!!!!! 0_1

I’m so proud of you. <3

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More ways to follow the Journey!

What the FRESH flying fuck is this???????????????

I've heard some groups have like 20 versions so I'm lucky to have only 2 but damn.

*And I thought I'd be okay collecting just one, but it's only 2 so now I need BOTH.

Where do GOs come in? Or those ppl that give you a Korean address?

IM LOSING IT???

Will any KPOP stores be getting them??????????????

WHAT ARE THESE COMPETIONS?????

A GO gets you the member you want but...i kind of want the thrill of opening it up the album and being surprised. even if it's not my bias, i want the kpop experience of opening an album and pulling a card.

But will I be disappointed later by not drawing Matthew?

...maybe I could trade it later at an event? Another new experience!!

And I have 48 hours to figure this out.

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--> Saved as a draft here but then I saw:

A VIDEO CALL?????????????

And also:

Just did my first GO???

It was TERRIFYING. I'm not 1st in line, but I don't think 3rd is TOO bad. I'm getting two albums for sure from Americans who will ATTEMPT to give me my bias, so I'd say we're doing okay.

I wanted both versions so I had to pay double the price but it wasn't too bad. They promise you both versions if you buy an even #, they promise to try and give you your bias, AND it comes w/ a cute lil Cat card.

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NEW UPDATE??????

I am now a part of a fixed slot??? Meaning, I'm attached to every event in which a new photocard comes out and I'm always guaranteed to be sent Matthew's??? I'm ASCENDING.

KPOP IS SO WEIRD.

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K-POP B/LOG:

*A lie. Told you so.

More ways to follow the Journey!

Group orders!!!

I'm writing this at to 11pm bc I just discovered a group order. For Seok Matthew photocards. Based in America????

(We'll talk about my discovery of *photocards later!)

Now, I'm marginally familiar w/ group orders, bc remember, I hail from the land of Thai Drama.

From what I understood / have seen, a person who, like, has an addy in Thailand can do a group order and then send out to the ppl in the country base. I have seen these all the time for Thai merch, but have NEVER seen one for America. Maybe I should look harder and stop spending so much shipping money from GMMTV. (Lmaooo.)

ANYWAYS.

So I follow this fansite, as in, notifs on. (**FANSITES? ANOTHER THING WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT??)

Anyway, so they're reblogging a bunch of group orders in diff countries for their merch.

AND THEN BOOM: one for America???

And I look into it, I'm like aww, the slogans (again another blog post, bc? ***Slogans? Why do they exist? What are their origins? What do we use them for?) Either way I want one for the Kpop experience, but more importantly, I want to have the opportunity to purchase one irl.

For the same reason I haven't gone on Mecari to buy an adorable Matthew photocard--I want my first photocard, my first slogan--(or any "first" of an item that can be purchased at an event or traded)--I want my first experience w/ those to be irl.

****(Again I'm not only going be a Kpop girlie saving money bc she's only spending on one group but ALSO a Kpop girlie saving money bc she wants to experience things irl before succumbing to purchasing all her merch digitally.)

ANYWAY the GO. I'm shook bc there's one in America?

Immediately I deep dive and it takes me to this site and I register. I look into the GO's main account and all of the rules, etc and do my eyes deceive me THERE ARE ZB1 BDAY CAFES IN AMERICA???

I'm thinking to myself, why are these not being heavily promoted? I would take my butt to Texas.

anywayyy, so i'm SHOOK

Not only that ZB1 DOES have american cafes happening, (I'm trying to start like a north american event fanbase, when i get to like a level 5 kpop girlie, so i'll hit you up them to help with promotions).

Right, so not only SHOOK that zb1 DOES have fan cafes in america BUT ALSO group orders??? Again, ive never seen an AMERICAN one, so I'm looking at all the previous slogans that were group orders and they HAVE:

- FREEBIES (a new kpop word for me and i'm using it wrong in this instance bc these are not free)

- little knicknacks form the birthday cafe that kitten (fansite) threw that I wanted to go to. but didn't not bc I said to myself "no you can not take off work to to go to korea. i promise matthew will probably come to kcon la, and also you live in north america. he is a native, so he will come back; ZB1 will tour. save money for kcon la."

but there IS A GROUP ORDER FOR THE ITEMS so I look and i'm v picky. i don't need anything cafe themed (as in, items that match the theme of the cafe they held), bc remember? I didn't experience, i don't need it. matthew themed items tho? im in. almost got the stamp stickers, bc how cute would those fan letters be?? and then i remembered you need an international stamp and THEN realized it was not stamps, but actually just tape???

I REALLY fought myself not to get the photocards (pcs), bc they're not official pcs, so it's really only meaningful to me to have them if i gotten them at the cafe for the experience

They also had Matthew playing cards???? ADORABLE.

So I was like let's geit itttt. But I'm being super careful w/ my budget to prep for (a july event that i can not tell you about until later) and kcon la in august. meaning your girl can't spend money asap until next pay day.

But I don't want to miss out, so I submit the GO form. and then hop over and leave a little twitter msg. a little DM.

and boooooo, for very unfair reasons, i am being hatecrimed and bullied from getting--

i'm totalllly joking. for completely valid absolutey fair reasons, i'm gonna miss the group order this time.

but this gives me enough time to prepare for the NEXT group order.

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--> I saved this post as a draft so I could go call my KPOP friend to ask her about GOs,

but BEFORE I COULD:

ZB1 ANNOUNCED THEIR DEBUT ALBUM

(a can of worms bc album??? Cafe??? But MOST IMPORTANTLY:

GROUP ORDERS. This is FINALLY my chance to group order!!! In fact, I found out about the album THROUGH the GO Post!

And YES I do want my first album to be something I go buy. Especially bc there are enough K-pop stores around that I wonder if they’ll be getting the album (stay tuned for a blog post where I call every store.)

But joining in on GO gives me the chance to specifically grab an album with a Mathew PC (I think?) and then I’ll buy a second one irl for the experience and in case there’s something tied to getting more than one (again it’s own blog post is needed here, bc fan signs? Fan calls? PCs????

WHAT IS GOING ON???)

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K-POP B/LOG:

Photocards - They're collectible cards of either selfies or photos of idols that aren't released online. The first group to introduce photocards was Girls' Generation. They would only include a single card per album. With that, you'd only know which photocard you receive after you open it.

**Fansites - Fansites are extremely dedicated fans that attend domestic & international events to take HD photos and fancams of an idol. They often invest more time in the idols than in their personal lives.

***Slogans -A “slogan” can mean one of two things: a thin towel sold by the company with the group's name and design on it, which is the “official slogan,” or a banner (paper or cloth) made and distributed by fans at concerts or other events

**** A lie. A lied through my teeth here. Please see next post for context.

More ways to follow the Journey!

THERE IS A KPOP CONVENTION AT THE ANIME EXPO PLACE?

HEELLLLLP

*record scratch*

*Freeze frame*

Yep, that’s me. (Not really.) Freaking out over boys a million miles away. I bet you’re wondering how I got here.

Hi I’m Journey, nice to meet you!

So here’s the thing: I’m brand new to K-Pop fandom.

I’m not new to fandom (anime, books, etc.) and I’m not new to K-Pop (in that I’ve always been aware of it; listen to some of the music; I have friends w/in the fandom, etc.) But I have never been in the K-Pop fandom—that all changed w/ Cha Woongki. 

One day, I'm scrolling through Tiktok and see this:

and I’m like it’s giving

queer~,

it’s giving

Reality TV~.

Already my two favorite things. So, I search up the source material, and boom: Boys Planet pops up. 

I jumped right in, wondering if I’d even be into it (Because I have a short attention span when it comes to tv sometimes)—

I got hooked.

Cute, talented guys around my age?

Also some very much giving girlypop?

ALSO competing?

(The survival aspect killed me sometimes as an empath. Stop emotionally destroying those boys please.)

I can’t remember when I started watching the show...maybe half way through the season airing? But I immediately jumped into live voting.

I was super excited, and even thought, "if some of my Top Picks make it into this little group...

...will I be stanning a K-Pop group?"

Then it happened. I went from juggling a few Top Picks, to finding the one.

My BIAS* (which I did not know at the time, because what is K-POP?):

Seok Matthew.

I was like... "him. I’m rooting for that one. I love his talent, he's super freaking cute, and I’m sad when he gets sad on the show."

...and right on time. Because, now, instead of having the option to vote for three Top Picks on the app...we could only vote for one. 

And I was finding that a lot of fans on social media weren’t struggling to select one. It seemed like every fan had one person they really were devoted to /excited about / cheering on. And I was like... "Well, that’s how I feel about Seok Matthew."

I mean, this happens all the time with Reality TV shows, right? We have a fave and we root for them with fellow fans. And maybe even vote.

But the energy of this—felt different.

Only 9 out of 18 guys were going to make it into that debut group**. It all was riding on the votes.

We, as fans, literally had their dreams in our hands.

There were Twitter polls where fans were exchanging and buying votes. Or working with fans of already debuted groups.

There will billboard ads across bus stations and on the sides of buildings advertising top picks. 

There was even this crazy moment where the fans decided who got the best part in the finale performance...all through YouTube streams?! As in, all the competing boys performed the part, and the video with the most views + likes would be awarded the part.

(It was CRAZY. Seok Matthew has just gone through a sad moment on the show and had been dealing with a lot of negative rumors. So, Seokryudans*** were PISSED. All that stress/defensiveness blew up, and w/in a day, the fandom got his views super high.

But get this? One of the most popular boys on the show [rightfully so, we love him] has a HUGE fandom, so they started competing with us Seokryudans.

Like, it was meant to be an 8 person battle, but the competition was ONLY between Zhang Hao and Matthew.

We were in the trenches. Streaming in the millions. SCREAM TYPING on social media.

Hao won.

(I’m almost over it.)

Anyway, so that crazy streaming war? Think of that vibe, but times it by 100000000—because this time we weren’t voting on a part.

We were voting on who debuted.**

We were voting on who got to follow their dreams versus who would literally have go back to their daily lives and struggles / head home / leave the country. 

It was intense.

...

Matthew debuted in the group!

 And two other Top Picks of mine: Gunwook and Hanbin debuted, too.

(*Moment of silence for some of my other faves that didn't survive this time around...

...including the icon, the legend, the one that started it all for me:

)

So, many talented boys didn't make it. But Gunwook, Hanbin, and the LOML Seok Matthew did!

And, throughout the transition from Boys Planet to the new group preparing to debut (through a lot of Tiktoks, birthday lives, and magazine covers, I’ve gotten to really fall for the charms of all the boys in the group—and now I really do love ZEROABASEONE.

And that’s when it hit me:

 I…

...really love a K-Pop group?

As in the background on my phone? As in my previous hyper fixation (*cough* My Hero Academia *cough*) almost replaced??

WHAT???

At least with previous hyper fixations, I had something to jump off of. MHA? Great, I know anime and cosplay.

Thai Drama? Yeah, you know, I’ve watched foreign TV shows before. I can read captions, I get it.

UlTING**** a K-Pop group? Wha—what is a lightstick? PC? What is—why would we collect plastic? Birthday? In a cafe??? Free..bie?

THERE IS A KPOP CONVENTION AT THE ANIME EXPO PLACE?

HEELLLLLP

*record scratch*

*freeze frame*

(Yep, that’s me. Newly formed K-Pop girlie, with only one K-Pop group...that’s she's obsessed with.

ZEROBASEONE is debuting as a new group, and I’m debuting as a new K-Pop fan.

This is Journey’s Debut.

...Let’s see how this goes. <3 0_1

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BONUS: I will be keeping K-Pop Logs for new vocabulary I learn / pickup / discover within the fandom, and end up using on the blog.

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K-POP B/LOG:

*BIAS - A favorite member within a group.

**DEBUT - Though “debut” is a word used for music genres other than K-pop, it's often used in K-pop to refer to a trainee who has transitioned to an idol by releasing their first official single (either as a soloist or in a group) or performing in public for the first time.

***Seokryudans - Name of Seok Matthew fandom; a play on the Korean word for pomegranate (seongnyu) and Seok.

****ULT - A bias refers to your favorite member, but it can change through time. Meanwhile, an ULT, short for "Ultimate," is that group or member who's your top favorite no matter how many idols and groups you like in the future.

~

More ways to follow the Journey!