Moon
By Esther Yi, first published in The Paris Review
A woman finds herself thoroughly infatuated with a Korean pop idol after attending his five-member boy band’s concert.
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Plot Summary
Two years after their debut, a Korean boy band is now a global sensation selling out stadiums all across the world. The narrator has heard of them since through her roommate, who has spent a while trying to convince the narrator to join the bandwagon of fans. One day, the roommate offers her a ticket to their first-ever concert in their city. The narrator reluctantly obliges.
The concert is full of fans, and the five members of the Korean boy band perform. All five are named after celestial bodies, like the moon or sun. The narrator watches one of them carefully while all five sing about death and existence. After a while, the narrator feels like the one idol is singing to her and only her. She pushes and shoves her way to the front to get closer to him. The one idol is then tethered to a cable from above and levitates into the air, becoming smaller and smaller. The narrator feels like even though he is floating away, she will always come back to him again and again.
At home, the narrator repeatedly copies a handwritten note that the one idol addressed to his fans. She goes on her phone and joins a livestream that he is hosting. On the livestream, the one idol reads an outpouring of messages, and the narrator writes her own, all the while he talks about having just eaten at a buffet. She feels like only he and she are talking. She holds her phone close to her, as if to hold him tight. The one idol then says he is tired and logs off. The narrator flips through a book nearby.
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