‘Discharged’ Monsta X Kihyun, Free Fan Event Success “I Gained Strength Thanks to Monbebe”
MONSTA X Kihyun had a meaningful time with MONBEBE (official fan club name).
According to his agency Starship Entertainment, Kihyun met with fans at the ‘2025 KIHYUN Fan Event ’TRIP TO KIKITOWN!‘ at Myeonghwa Live Hall in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul at 1 PM and 5 PM on the 8th. The fan event, which was held in advance for the 8th generation of Monbebe, sold out all tickets as soon as they went on sale, proving the enthusiastic interest of Monbebe who had been waiting for Kihyun.
After finishing the song, Kihyun greeted his fans whom he was meeting for the first time in a long time. He continued, “Today, I will be the guide for ‘Kiki Town’ and go on a town tour. He explained the concept of the fan event, saying, “I also participated in the stage production, and I decorated the video behind it and the stage with a ‘Kiki Town’ feel.”
Kihyun showed a ‘Kiki Town’ map with various destinations from a bakery to a playground, and said, “You need to change your shoes” before the full-fledged tour. While the fans were questioning the somewhat sudden statement, Kihyun took out a pair of flower shoes, and the fans who saw this were surprised and responded with loud cheers.
The first destination they headed to with Monbebe wearing flower shoes was ‘Kiki‘s God! Bakery’. Kihyun took out a cake with toppers in various shapes such as military boots, fallen leaves, 1213, and Mondungi, and he revealed related episodes while pulling out the toppers one by one. His signature witty banter made it impossible to take your eyes off him, and his top-notch trombone playing while talking about his military life drew admiration from the viewers. Also, the ‘1213’ topper, which had many Monbebes wondering, was revealed to mean that while serving in the military, Kihyun became a special warrior by running 3km in 12 minutes and 13 seconds, which brought much laughter to the scene.
The last topper Kihyun picked was the ‘12’ topper. Kihyun said, “Before I enlisted in the military, I told you about the ‘12 Ways to Wait for Kihyun’, and I’m going to check your homework,”, and right away, the homework check time was from January to June in the first round, and from July to December in the second round. The stage screen displayed homework verification photos of Monbebes that were actually uploaded to SNS, and various verification messages provided diverse enjoyment. Sometimes, the Monbebes who uploaded the messages would appear, causing surprise.
After checking the homework, Kihyun also wrote down “‘Kihyun‘s way to spend the year 2025 well’. I think it would be good to write down a few more with Monbebe” and took out a panel. Kihyun announced goals such as ‘Standing on a festival stage’, ‘Exercise consistently’, ‘Not looking at my phone for a day’, and at Monbebe’s request, he added ‘Have a concert’, ‘Release an album’, raising fans‘ expectations. Among them, Kihyun, who had been recommending to his fans to ‘not look at their phones for a day’, agreed with the cute objections of fans that they should look at a fan communication platform and deleted the relevant item, causing laughter.
The next destination was ‘Kikine’s Wish Bulletin Board’. In that corner, Kihyun left a deep impression by looking at the numerous wish post-its left by fans and trying his best to grant as many of their wishes as possible. Kihyun performed various dance challenges such as SB19‘s ‘GENTO’ challenge, Ive’s ‘ATTITUDE’, and ‘REBEL HEART’ challenge, and also performed a wide range of songs from short verses to long full verses such as WOODZ‘s ‘Drowning’, Jung Joon-il’s ‘Hug Me’, and MONSTA X‘s ‘Queen’, drawing admiration.
While his live performance, which seemed to swallow a CD, properly proved his nickname of ‘God of K-pop’, Kihyun showed powerful rapping that was hard to believe for a main vocalist through MONSTA X’s ‘ZONE’, ‘Fallin’, and ‘Rodeo’ stages. He surprised everyone by showing off his skills. Even though he was alone, Kihyun‘s explosive energy that filled the stage and the fans’ powerful cheering made it resemble a concert hall.
The final destination of ‘Trip to Kiki Town!’ in the heated atmosphere was ‘Kiki‘s Playground’. As the song started, Kihyun went around the first floor of the audience and gave Monbebe a mission to find a specific item, giving them a gift-like time by meeting them up close.
After that, Kihyun took commemorative photos with fans and recorded a special moment, then decorated the show by singing his solo song ‘Stardust’. Kihyun’s appearance while looking around the concert hall to take in all the fans and lyrics such as ‘The reason I shine’, ‘Thank you’ resonated greatly until the end, and Kihyun even moved fans by holding a surprise send-off party for them as they left the stage.
Kihyun said through his agency, “It‘s been a while since I’ve met Monbebe, so I thought a lot about how I could give Monbebe what they want. I was a little nervous, but thanks to Monbebe, I think I gained more strength, and it was a time when I was just happy. With the love you sent me today, I will work hard to meet fans often in the future. I want to thank everyone who waited for me for a year and six months.” I love you, Monbebe!”.
Meanwhile, Kihyun, who recently completed his military service and was discharged, has already caught the attention of K-pop fans with his outstanding vocal skills as the main vocalist of Monsta X. Kihyun, who released solo albums ‘VOYAGER’ and ‘YOUTH’ and performed at various festivals, has established himself as a ‘solo artist you can trust and listen to’, and plans to meet fans through various activities in the future.
Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com Reporter shine2562@donga.com
This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.
