Nelson Obrador’s social media feed is a fulfillment of every fanboy and fangirl’s dreams.
In one of his latest photos, he sits on a street with his back against a concrete post. It looks like a regular OOTD shot for the ’Gram. Except that the spot is where actress Lee Ji-eun/IU sat when she was filming a scene for the K-drama “Hotel Del Luna.”
Nelson describes himself as a fanboy of K-pop and K-drama and a “filming locator.” He means that he looks for filming locations of his favorite dramas. He has been living in Seoul since 2015 where he works as a machine operator in a factory. His contract ends next year but he hopes it will be extended.
“For me working here in this country is like a dream come true,” he said. His feed really looks like a dream.
He frequently updates it with photos and videos of South Korean celebrities like Park Seo-joon, Nam Joo-hyuk, Seo Kang-jun, Big Bang’s T.O.P., Lee Min-ho, Shin Min-ah, Son Ye-jin, Lee Hi, Park Shin-hye and Song Ji-hyo to name a few. He also has photos and videos of K-pop groups like BTS, Blackpink, TXT, GOT7, Winner and EXO.
In one of his posts, he shares his conversation with Sandara Park where he was able to tell her, “Ate Dara, ang ganda niyo po!” The singer-actress laughed at his candor and readily gave him an autograph when he asked for it.
He said that he started liking K-drama when he was in high school by watching dramas dubbed by local networks. The love for K-pop was developed by listening from the radio and watching music videos.
His ultimate favorites are Lee Min-ho, Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo. In K-pop, he likes Blackpink, Gfriend and BTS.
“When I came (to Seoul), the first thing that came to my head was how do I see my idols here?” he said.
One of his discoveries is that when you live in Seoul, you get to attend a lot of free fan meeting events. He said that there are numerous fan signing event to all the products that they endorse. Whenever he has the time, he said that he goes to those events.
The key, he said, is being members of the fansites of the celebrities that you follow. You also have to remember that since events are free, you must be early at the location to get a good spot.
He said that he normally spends around P5,000 a month chasing after the stars and going to the filming locations during his days off. Mostly it goes to food and transportation because the event itself is free. Extra spending happens when he really likes a group and decides to watch a concert. It is expensive living in Korea, but he tries to save his extra cash to fund his trips around the city.
He said that he created a group called K-Pop Hunters. They are overseas Filipino workers who chase after the Korean stars during their free time.
“I have a lot of memorable meetings but my favorite is meeting Song Joong-ki’s father. I visited his hometown in Daejeon. Mr. Song is really nice. He entertained us, telling a story about his son. I also meet Joong-ki’s sister and his nephew,” he said.
His family and his friends are happy that he meets all these stars. His mother is so proud of him that she reshares all articles and posts about him. Nelson hopes that he would be able to inspire other fans like him to pursue his dreams.
But he offers a piece of advice.
“Always love our own culture and country. If you have a goal in life or things that you make you happy, you can always find a way,” he said. “But as a fanboy, it is the best thing that happened in my life.”
Follow Super K! on Facebook.