This article is by Shin Ha-nee and read by an artificial voice.

"If you're not flying, please leave the line!" bodyguards shouted, voices sharp over the early-morning ruckus playing out at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul. It was 6:50 a.m. on Friday, and rookie boy band AHOF was attempting to make its way to the security checkpoint, flanked by guards pushing against a flood of fans.

Smartphones, held high like lightsticks, documented every step of the idols' journey, from a brief photo session to their slow advance toward the security gates. Fans and reporters trailed behind the group like a school of small fish while puzzled travelers, simply trying to catch their morning flights, were swept up in the chaos.

The scene lasted for about 10 minutes, but the crowd had been in the making for much longer.

By 6:20 a.m., not long after the sun cleared the horizon, there had already been at least two dozen people clustered near Gate 1 of the airport. Some were holding slogans for their favorite boy band, others gripping what appeared to be high-end cameras.

When a dark van pulled up to the curb, many flocked outside the gate with their lenses raised, but it was a false alarm.

Meanwhile, through Gate 3, Twice's Sana appeared at around 6:30 a.m., wearing a white cap. The crowd there instantly chased her up to the third floor, rushing up the stairs, cameras clicking rapidly as she took the escalator.

And that was only the beginning.

Even after AHOF's fans shouted "Goodbye" and "Have a safe flight," the crowd barely thinned. Roughly two-thirds of the crowd stayed put, with some standing on ladders and stools for a better view.

Over the speakers, the airport repeated announcements warning against the thick crowd and the use of ladders, yet no one budged.

Soon enough, the full roster of SM Entertainment's acts began to arrive one by one, set to depart for Japan to perform at the SMTown 2025 Live concert in Tokyo.

'This will never change'

While travelers seemed largely awed and intrigued by the rare sight, the airport's daily workers appeared far from impressed.

"This happens almost every day, perhaps except for a day or two in a month," said an airport worker who spoke on condition of anonymity, as he wasn't authorized to comment publicly.

"I hear there are constant complaints, a lot of them, but there's no solution to this," he said with a helpless laugh. "This will never change."

True to his words, such a spectacle is almost a daily ritual at both Gimpo and Incheon International Airports, where K-pop artists constantly come and go for their packed overseas schedules - and so are the ever-present controversies that follow.

In a livestream on fan platform Weverse on July 28, V directly addressed the issue, saying, "Airports aren't private spaces. Everyone uses them."

Earlier that month, the BTS member's outing at the Incheon International Airport, en route to Paris, drew a massive crowd that trailed him with smartphones raised.

SM's rookie girl group Hearts2Hearts was also embroiled in a controversy back in March, when a traveler, unable to pass through the terminal due to the crowd, shouted in frustration, "We need to depart as well!" with profanity, fueling online debate over the disruption caused by celebrities' airport appearances.

Roughly three months later, the girl group once again found itself in hot water, this time due to allegedly excessive action by security staff as a female fan claimed that a bodyguard had assaulted her. SM Entertainment countered that she was an obsessive fan, or a so-called sasaeng, which the fan denied.

Airport turns mini runway

Long before the practice of fans flocking to airports for a glimpse of their idols was a media ritual that began in the early 2010s, where reporters photographed stars in so-called "airport fashion."

Now, the airport runway is nearly a formal part of the promotional calendar. The dynamic escalated further when fans began securing arrival details through illici...