Shine Seoul City Lights~ A BTS Encounter

My Ears Don't Like Exploding

My alarm woke me at 5:00 the next morning, and I jumped out of bed, immediately ready. I'd slept at 8 the day before, resting up for the big day. I was to dress in my normal clothes and bring my performance ones with me to the travelling van, where we'd drive to the performance stage. The concert started at 7:30pm, and would last for about three hours. We were to run through the concert twice starting at 3:00pm, with lights and everything. Then, a group of people who had paid extra got to come in during the second mic check at 5:30pm. People would start coming in at 6:30, and then the concert would start.

We had a tight schedule. I showered quickly and wore a pair of blue jeans. My shirt was a mint green. I left my hair down and sprinted back to my room to grab my wallet and stage clothing. I was going to wear red bomber jacket, white shirt, and black shorts today. I saw Yoongi oppa as he came out of his room, for once looking quite energized, despite the time. It was a contrast from his usual level of energy. He greeted me loudly and we walked shoulder-to-shoulder out to the front. It was still dark outside. There were two vans, one for D:fy and one for Bangtan. I would ride with D:fy, since there was more room in that van. The front was packed with people rushing around with bags and cameras and lights. What they were doing with the lights I had no idea, but I spotted a small man struggling to lift a tall light on a tripod and rushed to help him.

There were people telling me what to do and rushing me to different places. Everyone was distracted and in the dark, all I could make out was the chaos of running people filling the air with orders and questions. One man even came up to me and told me that he had finally found Camera 4A. I just nodded and told him good job, even though I was wondering why he'd thought that it was important for me to know.

I eventually found myself in a van filled with sleepy D:fy members. I sat next to Ha Joon oppa. Fang oppa sat right behind me and amused himself by pulling at my hair.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Good," I answered. "I finally got a full night's sleep yesterday."

"Yeah, me too."

We rode mostly in silence after that. Why had things suddenly gotten so awkward? I distracted myself by looking through Instagram.

We were supposed to arrive at the stage at around 7:30 where I'd get dressed and styled. As we drew closer to our destination, the van got louder and louder. D:fy were all talking noisily, laughing and snorting. I'd been in plenty of noisy school buses, but this was the same amount of noise coming from a sixth of the amount of people. I decided to be noisy right along with them, rapping in English and teasing Ha Joon oppa. We arrived right on schedule, and were rushed inside. There were a few pedestrians around, and they stared as the van loads of people poured out and started pulling heavy, expensive equipment and backpacks out.

The day was slightly overcast, but the sun had risen and was a faint circle in the sky. Even without direct sunlight, the air was humid and hot. The building with the stage inside was large and circular, with lots of windows. For some reason, the windows showed rooms with chairs and tables inside. Why did they have chairs and tables inside a performance building?

D:fy and I were ushered behind the stage and into a room with mirrors all along the side. The carpet was a vanilla color, and the walls were white. There were five large tables in the middle of the room, and about thirty chairs. Bangtan came in a few moments later, and I greeted them all, excited. My stylists took the first outfit out and I left to put it on. When I came back, everyone else had changed also, and were wearing their stage outfits. If we went out on the street wearing this, we'd look ridiculous.