<\/p>\n
XngHan is nervously fidgeting with small rubber bands.<\/p>\n
The singer and former member<\/a> of K-pop boy group RIIZE<\/a> arranges the ripped-up pieces of one into a smiley face: two straight eyes, a nose and dopey grin. Then, giving it an elastic halo, he points out the display to his manager like a kid seeking approval from a parent, laughing, before snapping back into business mode. For the better part of the past hour, the team has been sleepily standing by in an L.A. dance studio while students in the adjoining space pick up the choreography from his recently released solo debut, \u201cWaste No Time<\/a>\u201d \u2014 an experience he\u2019s going to cap by making a surprise cameo.<\/p>\n This U.S. trip, which consists of three \u201cfan sign\u201d events in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles, is about as far out of the soft-spoken 21-year-old\u2019s comfort zone as it gets. After chatting one-on-one and signing albums during the meet-ups, he models for \u201cphoto time,\u201d where fans seated inside the hotel ballroom yell out a string of hand-heart and cat-ear pose requests. (\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty awkward time for him, but it\u2019s pretty entertaining for us,\u201d one of his reps quips.) Yet the overall tone is one of celebration, the lightness of coming out the other end of something.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing them in person is what made me happy,\u201d XngHan (born Hong Seunghan) tells Billboard<\/em> a couple of days later in early September. \u201cI\u2019m really shy, so I\u2019d always [thought I] preferred talking to our fans online.\u201d Back home, he\u2019s used to playing the shrinking violet, he explains, \u201cBut here, I noticed our fans were even shyer than me. It really seemed like they wanted to say something, but they were so nervous that they weren\u2019t able to say what they wanted to say.\u201d<\/p>\n For good reason, emotions ran high. When XngHan was put on indefinite hiatus in 2o23, with his future as a K-pop idol basically becoming a giant question mark, fans in the West were particularly vocal<\/a> supporters for his reinstatement, remaining relentlessly by his side. Even now, around the corner from the fan sign, the pink wall of SM Entertainment\u2019s old Koreatown office has been plastered<\/a> with uplifting messages directed at XngHan. (By the end of the month, a rainbow of sticky notes also went up near the company\u2019s main HQ in Seoul; he left an individual reply<\/a> to each and every one.)<\/p>\n \u201cI received a lot of energy from the fans,\u201d he reflects on the trip\u2019s last day. \u201cThey were very sincere, so I thought that I would want to meet them again soon.\u201d Below, the singer recounts highlights from the milestone fan sign tour he\u2019d like to \u201cleave a record of\u201d and shares exclusive polaroids. Watch more moments here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n