"Isn't it okay if you just click the mouse a few times and get 10,000 won?"
A story has emerged about a person who helped a friend book concert tickets for singer Lim Young-woong?whose tickets are notoriously difficult to get, as hard as picking stars from the sky?and ended up being ostracized by acquaintances after giving only a 10,000 KRW token of appreciation.
On the 16th, a post titled “Is 10,000 KRW too little as a ticketing tip?” was uploaded on an online community. The author, A, recently asked a member of a hobby club to proxy book tickets for the Lim Young-woong concert in Sangam held in May. A said, “We weren’t that close, so I didn’t expect much, but they gladly agreed to help, so I was thankful.”
On the day of booking, A failed to get tickets, but the friend succeeded in securing two VIP seats. The concert was so popular that 3.7 million traffic hits flooded a venue with about 50,000 seats, turning it into a fierce “piticketing” (ticketing battle so intense it’s like bloodshed) war. At that time, tickets priced at 187,000 KRW were resold for up to four times the price, reaching 800,000 KRW.
A sent thanks and the ticket payment to the friend who succeeded in booking. Along with the payment, A also sent a gifticon worth about 10,000 KRW as a tip. He said, “The friend said they would enjoy the gifticon, so it ended warmly. But then I got a call from the hobby club’s management.”
A said, “If I just clicked the mouse a few times and got 10,000 KRW, isn’t that fair?”
The management asked, “Is it true you gave a 10,000 KRW gifticon as a tip for the last Lim Young-woong concert?” A replied, “Yes.” Then the management asked again, “Is it true you gave a 10,000 KRW gifticon as a tip for booking two VIP seats at the Lim Young-woong concert?” Feeling upset, A said, “It took less than five minutes and just a few mouse clicks, so isn’t 10,000 KRW fair? Do I have to tip as much as a scalper’s price?”
After this incident, A was ostracized by the hobby club members. He said, “When I speak in the group chat, no one replies, and even at gatherings, no one talks to me,” adding, “There’s someone I have a crush on in the club, but even that person ignores me, which hurts.” He lamented, “I did give a tip, so I don’t understand why I’m being ostracized.”
Netizens who read the story responded with comments such as, “You couldn’t get tickets yourself and asked someone else. Saying it was just a few mouse clicks,” “If it was just a finger twitch, you could have done it yourself,” “10,000 KRW is really a joke,” “And VIP seats? That’s shameless,” “If you resold on Danggeun Market, how much would that be?” “They probably put their own work aside to help,” “Beware of people like that around you,” “This probably isn’t the only reason they’re excluding you,” “If you live like that, no one will help you,” and “You should have at least bought them a meal.”
Meanwhile, as ticket scalping for famous singers’ concerts and sports games has become a major social issue, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission recently prepared measures to punish all premium price transactions and improve the reporting system. Scalpers are becoming increasingly professional by using macro programs to secure seats and then reselling them immediately on secondhand trading platforms. Accordingly, the Commission recommended the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to improve the system by establishing measures to eradicate unfair trading. Considering the low effectiveness of current laws that only punish cases involving macros, the focus is on supplementing these regulations.
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