Chocolat, Volume 1 Book

Along with most of Korea's young women, Kum-ji is in love with the band DDL, especially its lead singer, Jin. Unfortunately, Kum-ji discovered the band later than most, and finds that the official fan club is already at full capacity. Unable to bear the thought of never meeting her idol, Kum-ji comes up with a plan: she will become a club officer for rival band Yo-I! DDL and Yo-I are frequently at the same events, so surely Kum-ji will have plenty of opportunities to meet Jin.

Needless to say, things don't go as smoothly as Kum-ji had hoped. The primary glitch in her plan comes in the form of E-Soh, one of Yo-I's singers. While absolutely gorgeous, he's also infuriating; he and Kum-ji immediately clash. Things only get worse when E-Soh realizes which idol Kum-ji is truely devoted to. If the truth is revealed, Kum-ji will be kicked out of Yo-I's fanclub, and blacklisted from DDL's. E-Soh promises to keep the truth to himself, with conditions: "Just one thing! You'll have to do *everything* I say. . . "

"Everything" turns out to involve a lot of menial labour. As well as having to put up with E-Soh's whims, and various petty chores, Kum-ji also has to put up with put-downs and abuse from other band members and fans: "know your place. . . Who do you think you are?"

Volume one has many familiar ingredients: a potential love triangle, subtext between beautiful male characters, rivalries, and plenty of obstacles for our plucky heroine to overcome. It's a solid beginning, but the story didn't really click with me. Kum-ji's experiences as a fan are so far outside my realm of experience that I simply couldn't connect with her. I've never idolized a singer or an actor, and the depth of her devotion towards a man she's never met, and doesn't actually know, was bizarre more than endearing. Perhaps this will change as Kum-ji begins to see her idols as actual people, and her love begins to show some sings of being connected to reality.