Even Though We are Apart

Written by satovic

Translated by flowerbossa

Finale

19:00

Kim Tei-ssi announced "Yong Joon-san has a present for you!" and explained an exciting event that among the 10,000 in the venue, 3 lucky persons whose seat number is chosen by a lottery will get an autograph from YJ - he will hear the person's name on the spot, and sign the pamphlet of the Christmas event in front of their eyes. Oh, this is great! What a wonderful idea! This makes us feel that even though YJ is far away from us, he is actually participating in this event, don't you think? It would be so nice if he we could have him participate in the B.S.J. final event next February - even just for the lottery^^


Kim Tei-san then called out to the studio in Seoul.

There was a white box in front of YJ which was divided into 3 sections.

In the first section, there were cards indicating "seats in center section", "arena seats" and "stand" respectively. In the next section there were cards indicating the row numbers such as "Block D Row 29". And the last section contained cards with the seat numbers.

The seats on my right and left were empty. If and when the seat on my right side is called, I will stick my butt in it immediately! The same goes with the one on my left. First one there wins! Yeah! I went into combat mode, lifting my body slightly from my seat.

BUT! There was another problem. Although the big screen in the front and the monitor hanging from the center of the dome had been showing the studio in Seoul, the latter changed to show the happenings of the venue, and we were only able to see Yong Joon in the monitor in the front. Well, that is OK from the viewpoint of showing the winner's expression, but the problem was, in order to build up the excitement, aiming for a drum roll effect, they started to swirl the spotlights all around the venue, making it hard to see YJ's face. That was somewhat disappointing. Nothing to whine about, but if it weren't for that small fault, the lighting plan was perfect! And because the sound, images, MC and songs were all so wonderful, it was too bad that they had to make that mistake.

Even though it was hard, I tried desperately to see him and concentrated on the big screen far away, and in the meantime, the first card was drawn - "center". Kim Tei-san said "please show us the card!" and replying "Ne (yes)", YJ showed the card towards the camera. He looked like a kid, and so cute~! I know it's rather rude to be calling a 36 year old man "cute", but can I help it? Cute he is!

The person who had her seat number called jumped up, but for some reason the person in back of her jumped up with her and got into the camera, so we weren't able to tell who the winner was. OK, I know you're excited, but you're making things awfully confusing! After the winner gave out her name, YJ immediately wrote it on the pamphlet, and not giving the winner time to sink into her happiness, he immediately started to shake the box getting ready to draw the next card. Because there was not enough time, YJ was carrying out his job briskly, and the way he was going about it was funny that laughter filled the venue. I wonder if he wrote her name Hangeul. Alphabet? It couldn't have been hiragana (Japanese)?

When he drew the second number, it was from the arena, but to our surprise, the seat was not occupied. YJ confirmed with the director in front of him, "one more time? I should draw one more time, right?" and shaking the box again, he drew another card. It was so funny seeing him going through this in a brisk manner that I wondered why he gave this impression, and it occurred to me that we have never had the chance to see him act in haste. It's not like he is panicking, but it was quite funny seeing him taking on the task so single-mindedly. YJ who is usually so elegant was drawing the cards hurriedly, shaking the box up and down in haste, and waiting to sign the next name in earnest. And without as much as an interval, he goes onto the next one. With the help of Ryu Seung-Su-san, the final person was decided.

A simple task like drawing a lot and signing his autograph is beautiful, elegant, slightly funny, sophisticated and cool... I never thought that being able to see Yong Joon no-cut in real time action would be so fun and make me so happy!! What a charming guy! I feel bad to be saying this about an actor, but the natural Yong Joon is so wonderful. People who go to see him at the location sites regardless of the notices on the official sites asking them not to, probably can't help going in hope of seeing this natural YJ.

In the interview, YJ himself claimed that he is always able to work hard because his family is always at the location sites from early morning, rain or shine. If what he says is true, what is the meaning of the notices on the sites pleading us not to go? Next time, maybe I should go too! If he would do a live broadcast like this at least once every six months, I could perhaps hold back~ (I'm trying to threaten BOF^^)

So, after the autograph session for the 3 lucky ladies out of the family of 10,000 was over, it was finally time for YJ's last speech.

"I didn't think it would be over so quickly." Hey, you're the one that went through the lottery so hurriedly! Many fans probably shared my reaction.
After giving his heartfelt thanks not only to the family, but to the staff of the concert and event, he said, please have a merry Christmas with your family, and added his usual greeting, kongan hashigo, henbok haseyo. And after handing the mike to Seung Su-san, he put his arms around his shoulder.

While thinking, oh that lucky guy, Seung Su-san said jokingly after grabbing YJ's arm that was placed on his shoulder "everyone, you must envy me for this okkedonm (friends so close that they have their arms around each other - this phrase might be familiar to you from YJ's MV). But you see, though YJ is here, he actually has his arm around all of you~." How nice^^ When SS-san had the mike, he ended up doing most of the talking and YJ was just sitting by his side enjoying himself, but it just made me happy to see him relaxed like that. When YJ was talking, SS-san handed him a Santa doll, and they fooled around. SS-san said that he would try to visit Japan soon, but it would be nice if the two of them would come together next time, and give an enjoyable interview. Perhaps they would be here on promotion for the "Winter Sonata Animation" project.

In the end, he always thanked Kim Tei-san and also congratulated her on the arrival of her baby adding "you are beautiful as always". Wow, he's like an Italian I thought, but after they ended the broadcast Kim Tei-san hastily tried to explain "he didn't say pretty, but he meant you are looking well in spite of giving birth to a child". Of course she didn't want to have an audience of 10,000 turn against her! She was desperate! Kim Tei-san - she REALLY knows how we family feel^^v

So, the broadcast from Seoul ended. but because the audio line was still alive, Kim Tei-san favored us with a nice arrangement. "Everyone, since the meetings held in Japan in the past were all promotion events of movies and dramas and not a fan meeting, you were probably not able to say what you really wanted to say to YJ-san (showing concern for his co-players). You should have something you want to him. Shall we say it together? We can't call him pae-ha anymore, so... Yong Joon-ssi, saranghaeyo!!" She led us to call out to him, and the 10,000 of us screamed "Saranghaeyo!"

They certainly did a thorough research on wuri family's feelings for YJ when they wrote a script for this event. The direction had a touch delicate indeed, and it grabbed our hearts.

Then, we were to sing the famous Christmas song "Silent Night" together, and the 3 singers came out again with a card with the Japanese lyrics in their hands. On the screen hanging from the center of the venue, the lyrics was shown, and while everyone was singing along watching the screen, YJ appeared on the big front screen in a wipe mode.
OOOHHH, he's still connected~~~! The people who were only watching the lyrics on the central screen may not have noticed it until later, but because I was familiar with the song from singing it every year at church and I could sing it without looking at the lyrics, I was able to notice him immediately. I was never so grateful that I was a Christian as in that moment - just joking^^ YJ noticing that he was shown on the monitor, pointed to it with the expression of "ah!" He continued to wave at us until the very end, and the screen gradually began to focus on the letters Merry Christmas on the Christmas tree, and with Kim Tei-san's Merry Christmas! the event was brought to a close.




AH, I was satisfied, satisfied, wholly satisfied! Even knowing the whole thing was a production, that's okay. To the staff of BOF, I would like to thank you for a wonderful Christmas with Yong Joon! I was able to recharge my batteries for the Valentine's Day event we are planning to hold in February. I'm ready to go full sail for the last event of our site B.S.J. !

I would like to thank the readers of this report, too!

I wish you a merry, merry Christmas!

Love forever,

satovic

YJ-ssi was not just being "nice" about Kim Tei-ssi's appearance - you can see for yourself^^ 　flowerbossa

(photo from Kim Tei-ssi's official blog)