[Youngju Heo's Column] Is the Pursuit of 'Hexagonal Humans' Leading Fandom to Virtual Idols?

[Creator World of Heo Young-ju]
Meaning of a person who is perfect in all aspects
Trend in content, marriage market, etc.
Question of whether perfection exists
Awareness that humans are beings who make mistakes

The keyword ‘Hexagonal Human’ recorded the No. 1 Trend Index for the 2024 Trend Keywords for the second week of April. ‘Hexagonal Human’ is truly the biggest trend of trends.

A hexagonal human refers to a person who is perfect in all aspects, including appearance, education, assets, occupation, family background, and personality. This keyword is usually used as ‘Hexagonal 〇〇’, with representative examples including #Hexagonal Idol #Hexagonal Athlete.

Blackpink’s Jennie is often mentioned as a hexagonal idol. Jennie is a character close to perfection, with a wealthy background born in Gangnam, overseas study experience, innate beauty and physique, and outstanding entertainment skills.

Shohei Ohtani, a superstar in Major League Baseball (MLB), is a representative example of a hexagonal athlete. Ohtani can be said to be a perfect hexagonal human who lacks nothing in terms of skill, character, appearance, diligence, occupation, and assets.

I have strongly felt the hexagonal human trend in various aspects of our society over the past month. Let's take a look at each one.

First, I realized the hexagonal human trend while watching the enthusiastic response to the Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won couple in the tvN drama <Queen of Tears>, which is currently enjoying immense popularity with over 20% viewership ratings.

Previous drama trends often featured stories of love between a wealthy male protagonist and an ordinary female protagonist. Viewers would immerse themselves in the ordinary female lead and satisfy their fantasy while watching the drama.

However, the trend has changed, and now both the male and female protagonists are becoming closer to perfect, hexagonal characters.

In the drama, Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) is the third-generation heir of the Queens Group, a CEO of a department store, and possesses a fantastic appearance and physique – truly a perfect woman. Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) was also born as the son of a local influential figure, graduated top of his class from the best university in Korea in law, works as a corporate lawyer, and has a perfect appearance and height – a hexagonal human with everything.

People were enthusiastic about this perfect hexagonal couple. Looking at the comments, you can see responses like ‘Please date in the real world too ㅠㅠ’, showing that they are deeply immersed in the two perfect individuals.

The second place where I felt the hexagonal trend was in the Korean marriage market. In Mnet's large-scale couple matching survival show ‘Couple Palace’, the most popular men were undoubtedly the hexagonal men.

In the past, even if someone had outstanding looks but few assets, or a good job but short height, if they excelled in one aspect, they would be socially recognized as having a successful marriage.

However, now, getting married to someone who possesses a little bit of each hexagonal characteristic is considered a socially recognized successful marriage, and a distorted hexagon doesn't receive social recognition, a feeling that is palpable. As this preference for hexagonal humans intensifies, SNS discussions include things like, ‘Only hexagonal men can get married.’

Finally, I felt the hexagonal human trend in an unexpected place: the excessive criticism of Le Sserafim’s Coachella performance. Le Sserafim delivered a perfect performance at the Coachella stage, but unfortunately revealed their insufficient vocal skills.

Foreign media gave them a score of 4 out of 5, praising their ‘good performance’, but Korean media and comments revealed a reaction of disappointment that went beyond criticism.

Of course, it's understandable to be disappointed that they weren't good at ‘singing’, which is the core of being a singer. Also, showing insufficient skills on a global stage could damage the overall reputation of K-pop, so criticism is valid. However, I could feel the fans' ‘disappointment’ in more detail, and I think the reason lies in the ‘shattering of the illusion of perfection.’

While the narratives of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation idols were stories of growth through hard work and starting from the bottom, what fans want from today's 4th generation idols is a ‘born-complete character’. Le Sserafim came from a major agency, rose to success from the start, and possessed a character that lacked nothing. However, when their lack of vocal skills was revealed in this performance, the immersion in the character was broken, and I could sense the fans’ significant disappointment with that.

Since when did idols become synonymous with ‘perfection’? Ten years ago, when I was active as an idol, each member only needed one specialty. Main vocal, rap, dance, visual, entertainment, etc. Each member only needed to excel at one thing. But now, all members must dance well, sing well, be pretty, have a good physique, and be perfect in everything.

Sakura, a member of Le Sserafim, responded to the criticism of people regarding the Coachella stage by saying, ‘There is no perfect person,’ and that statement itself is a truth and fact that we must accept. Truly, a perfect person does not exist. But since the current public and trends desire perfection, 4th generation idols must somehow package and portray themselves as perfect. It's a sad reality for 4th generation idols.

Thus, the hexagonal human trend is unfolding across society, including the content market and the marriage market, along with an obsession with ‘perfection’.

The hexagonal human trend shows the tendency of modern society to pursue perfection. But does perfection truly exist? No, it doesn't. Because perfection does not exist, it can be said to be a goal that we can never reach.

The reason the hexagonal human trend is problematic across society is that in the face of an unattainable goal of perfection, we come to feel ‘inadequacy’ as our default state of being.

A society where people feel inadequate in the face of unattainable goals and ideals is a bizarre and unhappy society. I believe that Korea's culture demanding hexagonal humans will ultimately make our society sick.

I suddenly wondered where K-pop fans pursuing hexagonal humans would eventually go. I predict that fans will increasingly gravitate towards virtual idols and fantasy.

This is because, while fans want perfection, humans are not perfect, so situations where the perfect world view is shattered, such as Le Sserafim’s vocal skills being exposed or Karina being revealed to be dating, will repeatedly occur.

These incidents that break the world view hurt fans. I anticipate that to overcome this disappointment, fans will trend towards pursuing ‘eternally perfect’ virtual idols.

It's regrettable that they are trapped in fantasy, pursuing an ideal that doesn't exist, and constantly experiencing disappointment and dissatisfaction with real humans. Real humans are sometimes ugly, sometimes incompetent, and make mistakes. That’s what being human is all about.

※ The author of this article is myself, andthis is a contribution to the Women's Economy Newspaper..