The Emotional Journey Of Ticketing, As Described By K-Pop GIFs

Seeing your favorite K-pop artist live in concert is an exhilarating, euphoric event unlike any other. But before you get to enjoy this experience, you have to go through a long, arduous, and emotional process to get there: ticketing. If you’ve ever had to endure the frustrations of buying K-pop tickets, you’ll identify all too well with the GIFs below. And if you’ve never been through the process but are planning on buying tickets in the near future… well, here’s what to expect. Best of luck!

Rejoice!

You’re browsing the internet, catching up on the latest K-pop stories, when you hear the news: your favorite artist is coming to a city near you!

Assemble your concert crew

You call your K-pop friends ASAP to let them know that they need to clear their schedules — this concert is mandatory.

Be (momentarily) shocked at the exorbitant price of tickets

Wait, they cost how much?!

Convince yourself it’s worth the money

It’s fine, really. You just won’t buy things like clothes or toothpaste or food for the next few months, but who needs all that, anyway?

Strategize

You and your friends begin to scheme and devise a plan, deciding which sections and seats you’ll aim for.

Doomsday

The hour has finally arrived: tickets are going on sale! It may be the middle of the workday, or halfway through your afternoon class, but you’re running away from these responsibilities like:

Mentally prepare yourself

The ticketing website is open on your computer and phone, and whatever other devices you have. Your fellow concert-going friends have reported that they are similarly set up, and you reassure yourself that someone in the group is bound to have good luck. You take a minute to collect yourself, say a prayer to the concert gods, and begin the countdown.

3… 2… 1….

Go time!

Ticketing is live, and your heart just leapt into your throat as you wait to see which seats you can grab.

Note: if you are one of the wizards lucky few who manages to find your dream ticket on the first try, then feel free to skip to the final GIF below, and then tell us your secret in the comments.

Refresh

Ok, so your first attempt wasn’t successful. Not to be deterred, you refresh the page and try again.

Refresh more

… and again.

Simultaneously refresh all your devices

… and again, on all your devices, seamlessly transitioning among them like an Olympic athlete of ticket-hunting.

Hope that others give up

Don’t all these other ticket-seekers have things to do? Can’t they give up already, at least just long enough to allow you to get a ticket?

Try not to panic

It’s around the 20-minute mark now, and you’re starting to get a little worried.

Reassure the website that you are not a robot

You know things are looking dire when you’ve refreshed so many times that the ticketing platform mistakes your determination for automation:

If you keep at it, the system will begin throwing more and more difficult robot-dissuading challenges your way: Select all squares with street signs. Select all squares with squares. Select all squares with the square root of the number of times you’ve clicked “refresh” in the past hour.

Refresh MORE

But you are not going to give up that easily!

Start to wonder if you actually are a robot

To be honest, the endless circuit of refresh, wait, repeat is starting to feel a little automated. You don’t even know if you actually control your hands anymore. All you know is refresh. Refresh is life.

Start to panic

You’re definitely not a robot, if the impending sense of dread and angst is any indication.

Succumb to madness

How much time have you spent on this? Are there seriously no tickets? Maybe this concert isn’t actually happening. Maybe it was all a conspiracy.

Shed some tears

How did this happen? You had a plan!

… Maybe shed a lot of tears

And throw some maniacal laughter in there, while you’re at it.

Give up (for now)

You close your computer and put down your phone. You’re too tired and defeated to care at the moment.

Go back to the drawing board

Disheartened but not deterred, you re-group with your friends and discuss how to proceed from here.

Resort to Plan B

You resign yourself to scouring the internet for tickets whenever you can, because something is bound to pop up in the months before the concert. Waiting in line for coffee? Better check resale websites. Walking to class? Time to scroll through buy and sell groups on social media.

Success!

Finally, you found a ticket! It may not be perfect: it may be more money than you had planned to spend, or a seat much farther away than you had hoped to be. But you know what? You’re going to this concert and you’re going to have a fantastic time. And that’s what matters!

Hey Soompiers, which of these GIFs do you relate to the most? Let us know in the comments!

hgordon stays up way too late on weeknights marathoning K-dramas and trying to keep up with the latest K-pop releases.