Onew could hear the screams of the fans as he heads towards the gate. He dreads the short walk from the gate to the car. Having screaming fans who want to takes pictures and touch you, does slightly disgust Onew. He can perfectly understand that the fans want to have a simple glimpse of him or a picture. What he does not comprehend is the fans’ need to grab him or push others to snap a perfect picture. Do they not understand the danger of large crowds? Do they not understand how demoralizing it is when a stranger grabs him? Do they not understand how 1000+ camera flashes hurt his eyes?

Onew shakes his head to clear it of the troubling thoughts. Right now he needs to focus on gathering his stuff and establishing a walking pace that cuts through the crowd quickly without leaving the rest of s behind. He knows Minho will protect the maknae, Taemin. Jonghyun is pretty good with crowds. Key is okay as long as he is in the middle. The usually formation will be Jonghyun leading, Onew following close behind, Minho and Taemin bringing up the rear, and Key semi-squashed in the middle. Their managers will surround them in an attempt to protect them from the wave of fans. Security guards were helpful, but not always reliable. Sometimes the crowd could overwhelm the security guards. Onew always feels sorry for the poor guys who have to push back hoards of screaming girl.

The doors of the gate open and Onew is assaulted by the shouts of the fans and numerous camera flashes. He quickly slips on his pair of sunglasses. He shudders when he remembers the one time he forgot and his eyes were seeing camera flashes for a few hours afterwards. Onew follows Jonghyun’s lead. The crowd of fan girls seems a little bit smaller than usual, but his eyes could be playing tricks on him. Upon reaching closer to the crowd, flashes of light appear in his vision. Onew smiles and waves to  a few cameras. He attempts to smile but cannot produce his megawatt smile. Being on the airplane can tire one’s body to near exhaustion.

One thought keeps running through his mind, “For the fans. For the Shawols. For the fans.”

The mantra keeps repeating through his mind as he walks semi-quickly through the crowd. He quickly steps to the side when a random hand almost grabs his bag. The bag holds his personal belongings and could not be grabbed by a random fan or the results would be disastrous. The crowd seems to surge a wave and the security guards press closer to him. His hand tightens around his bag as he hurries after Jonghyun. He takes a brief glance and is relieved to see Key, Minho, and Taemin following. One time, Taemin had his arm almost grabbed by a fan before Minho had appeared to save Taemin.

Onew can see the exit a few feet away. Outside the airport, a whole new crowd awaits SHINee. Fans that could not be in the airport due to certain restrictions camp outside the airport. The SHINee members exit the airport, and the fans camping outside seem to scream their hearts out. Onew hopes the company car is close. He also hopes that pathway is still clear. One time, they had traveled with TVXQ only to see that the massive amount of fans had made the airport stop to a standstill.

Thankfully, the path is still cleared due to security and the company car is close. The members quickly clamber into the car. Onew makes sure to give a wave to the fans before climbing into the car. The door quickly closes after the last member climbs into the car.

“Woot! We made it past the first obstacle!” Key shouts while pumping his fist in the air.

“Key-hyung, don’t exaggerate. It wasn’t that bad.” Taemin replies.

The members all chuckle. This time it wasn’t that bad, yet most of them couldn’t help but feel the crowd is an obstacle.

Onew smiles in the front seat of the car. One airport return down. Many more to go.

ALTERNATE ENDING:

Minho calmly points out something, “Look the fans have gotten even more faithful. They are following in cars.”

Key screeches, “Are some of them hanging out the windows with cameras? What are they doing? Are they trying to get a picture of us? This is just crazy.”

Meanwhile, Jonghyun is worried about other matters, “Driver-sshi, please be careful. Some of these cars next to us are swerving in attempt to get closer to our car.”

The driver nods and his grip on the wheel tightens as he concentrates to get the SHINee member to their destination safely.

Onew ponders what the fans will do next when one of the side cars swerve too close to the company car. SHINee’s driver swerves to avoid the car. A loud crash rings in Onew’s ear. Before he blacks out, Onew wonders if the other members are alright.

Within moments, headlines appear in the news: “SHINee members involve in accident. All 5 + driver dead upon impact”.

I feel terrible for making them die, but I feel the airport thing is really becoming a problem. The fans are not only endangering their idols but also other fans. If there is truly a kpop fan family, then shouldn't all the kpop fans take care of each other? If the fans truly care for their idols, shouldn't they know when it is too much?

Inspired by an article by allkpop: http://www.allkpop.com/2012/08/op-ed-airports-are-not-concert-venues

Usually, I think allkpop is a bit biased, but I've seen the fancams. I've seen other airport fancams on YouTube. And this article is quite logical.