Chapter 5

It’s a Good Thing Fanwars Only Happen Online

Confessions of a K-Pop Stan Blog

GXY Breaks Records and Makes Headlines

Hello Everyone, its your girl Angel G here from my hotel room at the Grand Troy Hotel in Seoul giving you the latest and what’s made this Dear Astra jump up with joy is the nearly 2 dozen articles that popped up after GXY popped off with their 3rd Mini Album Rock Galaxy. Here are some of the titles below.

‘A 2 year old group charts high for the first time in their career’

‘GXY Breaks All Their Previous Sales Records’

‘GXY’s Rock Galaxy sells 75,236 copies in one day!’

‘GXY Breaks previous record set by The Xtremes’

‘Moonlight Eyes Reaches 8 million views in less than 24 hours.’

My boys, our boys sold 75,236 copies in one day tripling the sales of their previous album and their song Moonlight Eyes debuted at 40 on Kiwi Chart, 45 on Glo, 25 on Fairy at 19:00 and their B-sides also charted. By 23:00 Moonlight Eyes peaked at 18 on Kiwi Chart, the most difficult chart to enter for male idols.

I am buzzin so much I can’t sleep. I just want to stream until I pass out. All the members posted their thanks on their social media accounts. It was so touching how happy everyone was. I can’t tell you how many videos there are of Dear Astras crying on Tiktok and Instagram. And no, I didn’t post mine and yes, I did cry too.

Tomorrow or I should say today is their first stage performance of Moonlight Eyes and I will get to see it up close at Music Time. Of course, I will be blogging about the entire experience.

See you then my lovelies.

Angel G Out

‘Gel, you done with the blog entry?’ called Sunny from the sitting room.

‘Nearly, just posting it now,’ I called back before clicking ‘post’ on the screen. Then I shut my writing laptop and joined the girls in my sitting room. Because I had easily the largest hotel room, we decided to gather in mine so we could stream together.

‘Did you see that video of Minho sobbing Tony posted?’ Liz asked, holding up her phone to me.

‘Of course, they have to tease the maknae for getting emotional,’ I muttered but I am smiling just the same knowing they were all probably really emotional after seeing the chart results. I could hardly believe it when the clock stuck 19:00 and we refreshed the chart to see Moonlight Eyes already halfway up the chart.

I actually panicked because I usually scroll all the way down to the bottom of the chart and then work my way up. My heart stopped when I didn’t see them but then Sunny screamed, and I kept scrolling to find them at number 40 right above their B-side track ballad ‘The Trouble With Love.’

‘How are the MV views?’ I ask taking my seat on the sofa with them. My hotel room looked rather like a three-room flat and it lived up to the name Princess suite with its high ceilings, a pink canopy bed, marble on nearly every surface, one of those fancy chrome shower heads that point down, a large vanity mirror complete with complimentary makeup from the top Korean beauty brands. Like Liz would say, it was cowing lush. I felt like I’d been thrown into a fairy tale.

‘I don’t believe it, the views are frozen again,’ Liz exclaimed scrunching her eyes.

‘It’s them init? Those antis posting emojis in the comments to get the views to freeze or get deleted.’

‘It gets better,’ said Sunny her eyebrow creasing as she showed me a headline on her screen but everything was in Korean. There are pictures of GXY but that’s all I can make out. I know it’s a Korean portal site for rumours and gossip.

‘Sweetie, what am I looking at?’

‘Some Knetz are accusing OWE of chart manipulation.’

‘No!’ Liz and I said in unison.

‘That’s bang out of order,’ growled Liz and she swore under her breath in Welsh.

‘I bet you anything it’s those Sixes,’ said Sunny

If I hadn’t been knackered, I would have been screaming and shouting the moment Sunny said those words. But I was seething inside at the thought of that fandom spreading malicious lies about GXY. The Sixes were The Xtremes fandom and they hated us. The Xtremes and GXY debuted around the same time and they’ve been rivals ever since. The Sixes hated us Dear Astras and do whatever they can to undermined us. It didn’t help that The Xtremes were from a much bigger label and had a massive fanbase not to mention they were more successful and the Sixes were kind enough to remind us of it every chance they got.

It didn’t matter to them that the members actually got on pretty well. GXY’s Seungyoun and The Xtremes WonX both went to the same performing arts school. Sixes and Dear Astras would always be at odds with one another. It just so happens that The Xtremes are performing today too but this week is the last week of their promotions. Their latest song Bad Luck is number 5 on Kiwi Chart. Peaked at number 2 behind the hugely popular girl group Spyder’s song Black Widows Web.

‘Don’t worry though,’ said Sunny scrolling down the comments. ‘Looks like most people don’t believe it.’

‘Who would?’ said Liz. ‘If OWE had the connections to chart manipulate then they would have done it way before now or better still, made them chart higher than 40. Their peak on the easiest chart to chart on, Fairy, is only at 18.’

‘More to that there’s no point in them chart manipulating,’ I argued at once turning from the article I wanted so much to comment on myself. ‘You can’t artificially create popularity. Not in a place like Korea. Not when real popularity can be measured as easily as the volume of fanchants a group has.’

‘The Xtremes fanchants sound like an army drill,’ said Liz frowning. ‘GXY’s fanchants sound more like junior cadets.’ The three of us started laughing then Liz let out a huge yawn.

‘I’m bushed, enough active streaming for me,’ she said. ‘One needs her beauty sleep if I am going to see GXY up close in the morning.’

‘You’re right Izzy,’ said Sunny. ‘Lets trot off to Bedfordshire.’

I chuckled at this. ‘You sound like my mum.’ And that’s when it hit me. ‘Oh my giddy aunt.’

‘What?’

‘I didn’t phone home, I promised my mum I would as soon as we landed. She must be going frantic.’ I made a mad scramble for my mobile while the other two headed for the door.

‘Right then, you phone her, and we’ll see you in the morning.’

‘Night, night Gel.’

‘Night.’

I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten to phone her but I was preoccupied with GXY when we landed. I didn’t even know what time it was in Cardiff, I just rang home as soon as the girls shut the door. It rang a full 4 times before someone picked up.

‘What kind of time do you call this?’ came the irritated voice of my mother.

‘Hi mum.’

‘Lina? My Lina?’

‘Yeah mum its me,’ I couldn’t admit it even to myself how good it was to hear her voice and to hear her call me Lina.

‘Harold! Come down, Its Lina! What took you?’ she scolded but in a playful way.

‘This and that.’

‘Your Da couldn’t sleep until he heard from you.’

At those words I clutched my heart and felt a pang of guilt.

‘Petal?’ said the deep baritone that was my father’s voice.

‘It’s me.’

‘Oh my petal I miss you.’

‘I miss you too.’

‘I saw your planet today.’

‘You did?’

It was the planet that he saw the day I was born, Callisto. Discovered by my name sake Galileo.

‘And speaking of planets, there’s an exhibit in Seoul of my work at the National Science museum and Planetarium, you must see it.’

‘Oh wow I didn’t know that.’

‘Didn’t know if you’d have time to see it, with one thing or another.’ There was the merest trace of sadness in his voice like he felt I was drifting from him and the thing that made us so close.

‘Dad, I will never not want to see your work, I’ll make time to see it. I promise.’

‘Alright Harold let her go to bed, its 2 am there, off to Bedfordshire with you Lina.’

‘Yes, mum. I love you; I love you too dad.’

‘We love you, talk to you soon.’

I hung up the phone feeling both relieved and worried.

I missed them so much already and I’d only been in Korea hours.

Was I really going to survive a whole two months without seeing them?