Reservation starts 1 hour before
Various strategies planned
But 'frustration' as 120,000 waiting users appear
By around 9 PM, the number reaches about 520,000
Reactions like "Why are there so many filial son and daughter hopefuls?"
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Gyumin] “Everyone has a plausible plan. Until they actually ‘book’.”
The reporter and their parents recalled this famous quote by renowned pro boxer Mike Tyson after finishing ticketing for singer Lim Young-woong’s (31) concert.
At 7 p.m. on the 7th, when there was finally no appointment after work, the mother exclaimed, “Today is the day,” and urgently ordered the reporter to turn on the computer. Without even having time to wash up, the computer was powered on and ‘Lim Young-woong’ was searched on a portal site.
One online bookstore site was exclusively handling his concert ticket sales. It was confirmed that his Seoul concert would be held over three days from the 12th to the 14th of next month. The seats were divided into grades in the order of VIP, R, S, and A seats.
Quickly, the reporter and parents began to devise a ‘strategy.’ They discussed questions like “On which day, Friday or the weekend, did fewer people book tickets?” and “Regardless of seat quality, which seats would people aim for based on price differences?” The reporter was confident, having booked standing spot number 4 at an overseas singer’s concert a few years ago.
After a 20-minute discussion, they decided to use two computers to book VIP seats for the 12th and R seats for the 14th. However, 8 minutes later, the reporter got busy with writing an article. Meanwhile, the mother informed that bank transfer payment was restricted on the booking site. They hurriedly prepared credit cards again. Then, with 15 minutes left before booking started, the article was completed, but seeing that simple payment registration was possible on the booking site, they quickly registered cards on both IDs.
The ticketing for singer Lim Young-woong's concert resembled a battlefield. On the 7th, at 7:59:59 PM, the booking button was clicked, but there were about 70,000 people waiting, and an hour later, the number of people waiting had increased to approximately 520,000. Photo by Oh Gyu-min moh011@
Finally, at exactly 7:59:59 p.m., the moment marked by the server time alert ‘Navyism’?which was often used during university course registration?they clicked ‘Book.’ But there was no response for 20 seconds. The next screen they faced was a square box showing 72,254 people waiting and an estimated wait time of 20 hours and 4 minutes. They met in despair with the parents who were waiting in the opposite room. The mother even sighed, saying the waiting number showed 128,510 people.
The real-time reactions were varied. On the comments within ‘Navyism,’ some rejoiced with “Success lol,” while others left failure reviews like “No response even when clicking,” and “Why are there so many aspiring filial sons and daughters?”
Noticing two seats available for the Sunday performance for a brief moment, I quickly clicked, but as expected, it was sold out. Photo by Oh Gyumin moh011@
The ticketing for Lim’s concert, which started without dinner, was not over. Even during the meal, the laptop was not turned off, but the screen turned off and on briefly while they looked away. Because of that, the waiting number increased again to 517,995. However, on another PC, the waiting number began to decrease exponentially. They entered the booking screen with high hopes but, as expected, it was sold out. They noticed two S seats open on Sunday for a brief moment and clicked, but the ‘pros’ were different. Thus, after a long and grueling booking battle of about an hour, they were defeated.
The path of ‘filial piety’ for the mother and the eldest aunt, who are fans of TV Chosun’s ‘Mr. Trot’ contestants, ended like that. Still, having booked tickets for singer Youngtak’s concert a few days ago, they consoled themselves with half a success.
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