K-pop fanatic

Daniel

The latest hit song from my favorite k-pop group blasted through my home theater as I tidied up my one room self contain, swaying my hips and vibing to the catchy beat of the song.

My landlady wasn't necessarily the nicest person I've ever met, but she went straight to being one of my favorite people in the world, when she one day decided to give me her home theater which she had earlier wanted to dispose off.

A notification sound from my phone suddenly interrupted my clean up session, causing me to pause as I looked at the old clock hung on the wall. It was 11pm.

Excitement pumped through my veins, as I flung the broom I was holding across the room, and immediately fetched my phone. I scrolled through the apps on my phone until I saw the app I was looking for. YouTube.

Euphoric Dreamers, otherwise known as E-dreamers, were to release the MV of their latest song—the one I was vibing to earlier—and I had very high expectations.

I immediately went to their YouTube channel, and there it was—the long awaited MV for "Dynasty" had been released just a minute ago. Displayed on the thumbnail of the video was Jay, the visual of the group, and the one and only man, I had never felt ashamed to fawn over. The young man was like a fallen angel.

I clicked on the video, and the familiar energetic and anthemic track with a strong beat exploded through my speakers. All seven members of the group were shown in one frame, and they were wearing classic black-colored suits with unique metallic accents which gave them a sophisticated, and powerful look, matching the concept of the song.

Joon, the main vocalist of the group sang the first verse with his powerful voice, which never ceased to surprise me every single damn time, and I couldn't help singing along.

In the land of dreams, where legends are born,

A story of power, a legacy adorned.

We rise as one, united and strong,

Our voices echo, a dynasty's song.

The chorus followed right after, and this was sang by the harmonious duo of the group, Shin and Ken. Their voices were two forces joint as one, creating a blast.

We're the rulers of our destiny,

Building bridges for all to see.

With hearts ablaze, we conquer all,

A dynasty rising, we'll never fall.

I was so engrossed in the video, enthralled by their amazing vocals, surreal visuals, and dynamic choreography. The rap line of the group also delivered in terms of their facial, and body expressions.

The only thing I found dissatisfying was that, just like I had suspected when the music was released, my bias in the group, Jay, indeed had the least lines, yet again. I only felt comforted because he had the most screen time, and even led the dance break in the music video.

A satisfied smile formed on my face, as the music video ended, and I definitely would have watched it ten more times if my phone wasn't low on battery percentage. There was also a power outage while I was watching the music video, and I had failed to notice until after I was done watching the video.

I sighed, as I went over to the comments. In just five minutes of the music video being uploaded, it had already garnered a whopping amount of fifty-thousand likes, and still counting. If it continued like this, the music video was surely gong to hit a million likes or more, in less than a day.

I smirked proudly, as I also clicked on the like button, and commented thus, 'The long awaited MV is finally here, and my boys as always, didn't disappoint. Especially Jay, this comeback is definitely his era!' I then tapped on loads of heart and flying kisses emojis

Just like my comment, so many other commenters praised the group for a good job well done. Some praised their biases, and some even started a mini war about who in the group was better than the others. There were also those who went about preaching in the comment session about how stanning just one person in the group and being against the others was so stupid, and that they should support all the members as one. They call themselves OT7.

And of course, there were also the jobless haters, who were criticizing the group for meaningless reasons. Why stay up at night and wait for a k-pop group to upload their music video, only for you to watch it, and speak ill of the group?

I planned to battle words with the haters, but then I saw that the other Euphoria squads—otherwise known as E-squad—were already standing up for the boys, so I decided to let it go.

My phone finally went off, but before it did, I saw that the likes had already reached above seventy-thousand likes.

With my phone going off, I suddenly felt so empty on the inside, as I could no longer avoid the problems I was trying to push to the back of my mind by making myself happy with the one thing that was keeping me sane—Music.

Life was pretty tough, especially for an black American orphan like me. I had a mental health condition called Intermittent explosive disorder (IED), and it's been tough getting myself to be under control, which had cost me a lot.

Loss of jobs, opportunities, and friends… until I eventually found my source of healing. E-Dreamers was the first ever k-pop group I came across, and through them, I discovered that music could actually be my salvation. I couldn't even remember the last time I even had a mental episode. I even spent time to learn Korea, just so I could keep up with them whenever they went live, and there weren't English subtitles available.

I still had no friends though, which was kinda good in a way. There wasn't anyone who would push my buttons, and trigger my condition. Also, with no friends, I wouldn't get to be made fun of, that I was a k-pop fanatic.

Since most k-pop fans were females, males like me who love k-pop sometimes got made fun of, and called feminine or gay for loving k-pop. Such prejudiced mentality.

That aside, I still had to pay my rent by the end of the month, which was actually the next day. The new job I got as a salesperson in a supermarket could barely feed me, talk more of paying rent.

I sighed, as I closed my eyes, trying to force the thoughts of my problems aside. Think of something positive, I said to myself, and then the face of Jay appeared in my imaginations.

I smiled, as I said, "How I wish I was half as handsome as you. Maybe opportunities might have been knocking on my door by now. I wish I could be in your shoes, and have things be so easy for me."

After saying those words, I slowly drifted to sleep.