After being discharged from the military in early December, Park Seoham returns to the spotlight with a fan meeting on 6 and 7 Jan 2024. Both of these events were available offline and via a paid livestream with Genie Music's app STAYG.
The fan meeting itself did not feel like two hours with these various segments in between performances. We gained a little insight into Seoham's photo collection before, during and after his enlistment as well as an introduction to his new merchandise and how these items were created.
Music performances included a cover of Fin.K.L's White and Buzz's You Don't Know Men (I've realised a lot of idols sing this at Noraebang and I can see why now). The random dance challenges in the "digesting trends" segment were fun. The second date allowed Seoham to redeem himself when he did his homework and came prepared this time. Hearing KNK's KNOCK really hit home.
His dance cover of Jungkook's Seven was delightful and the fact he is still in close contact with some of the members from his BigHit trainee days is heart-warming. Kim Seokjin sent him a bottle of his Honey Jar Of Butterfly Wine which is what J-Hope also received.
"Demo" was a new self-composed song that a friend helped with and it was shown exclusively at the fan meetings. Unfortunately the mp3 is only available on the fan cafe which is open to those based in Korea only. You can't have a fan meeting without a Q and A session with the fans writing their questions on post it notes. We also have the official announcement of Seoham's fandom name and it is SaSeoham (as in Box for lines in one's address).
Park Seoham managed to entertain and woo the fans plus MC Park Kyeong Rim with his charms. It was his first public event (aside from hosting awards at 2023 APAN Awards) so his nerves did pop up now and then which was understandable and it was rather endearing how he often missed some cues from the MC e.g. when he left the stage and came back too early.
However fans could see him warm up and settle on stage later on and in the second fan meeting date. He couldn't hold back the tears near the end of the second fan meeting because he was incredibly touched by the support and wanted to give back to the fans. I truly hope the new company will support and give him many opportunities going forward.
STAYG offered 30 fans a chance to get a 1:1 video call with Seoham if they purchased an "ALL DAY PASS" during the purchase period of the fan meeting tickets. This was a lottery and winners were announced on the third day of January. Anyone who won a spot had to do a pre-video call/test call earlier in the day and then have the main video call after the second fan meeting.
I missed the last opportunity for a video call from his 1st fan meeting in December 2021 but you had to purchase an extra ticket to get the video call booked so I was genuinely shocked I managed to win a spot this time.
Due to the time zones, I had to wake up very early for the test call which came about 30 minutes after the designated time. A member of staff held a sign in English, Korean and Chinese and I had to read the instructions and rules which included showing photo ID then checking the video and sound were ok on my end. Through KakaoTalk, I received the actual video call half an hour later and without realising it, a minute and a half breezed by. I wish I could say more especially if I was fluent in Korean but the staff waved and said thank you before ending the call for both parties.