Here’s How Your Favorite K-Pop Idols Are Keeping Boredom At Bay During Coronavirus Isolation

Try some of these activities out yourself.

Recently, South Korea has been heralded for its proactive approach to managing the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic. However, until the infection rate slows down further, all your favorite idols are still being asked to practice social distancing as much as they can. So, what are they doing with all this new-found free time? Here are 5 ways some of the biggest groups have been keeping boredom at bay—why not try them out yourself?

1. Making dalgona coffee

Dalgona coffee seems to be the biggest trend in the world of K-Pop and beyond right now. Almost every idol has tried it or thought of trying it over the last few weeks.

Named after a traditional Korean candy, this delicious cold drink is made by whisking instant coffee, sugar, and water together hundreds of times until it forms a thick, velvety foam. Apparently, it takes at least 400 stirs to make this coffee work—but idols have plenty of time on their hands right now.

Some of the stars who’ve made it include TWICE’s Mina, A.C.E Byeongkwan, and The Boyz’s Hyunjae.

2. Playing Animal Crossing

It’s been about a week since Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched, and the game has been all over social media since. So, it’s no surprise that plenty of idols are hopping on the hype too.

This cute Nintendo Switch game involves calmly and slowly progressing through simple tasks like fishing and building to bring a new island to life.

Some of the idol Animal Crossing fans include TWICE’s Jihyo and Mina, BLACKPINK’s Rosé and Jennie, and Red Velvet’s Seulgi—who actually named her island after the group’s fans, Luvies.

[trans] “Luvie Island”

3. Making DIY crafts

Everyone has those crafts they’ve seen on Pinterest but never had time to bother attempting, and your idols are no exception. Except now, they have all the time in the world. A.C.E is one group that’s been trying out a lot of DIY ideas.

In one live broadcast, Donghun and Jun even crafted their own face masks—smart given the shortage of mass-made masks right now.

4. Live streaming mukbangs

Finding yourself eating more now you’re stuck at home with nothing else to do? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Idols are making the best of their new-found hunger with plenty of mukbang live streams. CIX’s BX recently took to live broadcast to show fans a recipe for scrumptious kimchi fried rice.

5. Hosting free concerts

For K-Pop fans around the world, one of the saddest parts of the COVID-19 pandemic is that concerts are being cancelled and postponed. Most Korea, Japan, and Asia-wide events are no longer going ahead, and BTS just announced the postponement of their North American tour too.

Thankfully, you don’t have to go to a concert in person to enjoy one. Many groups are starting to host free concerts online for fans in need of some cheering up. Golden Child streamed one of their past concerts on social media as a surprise for fans. The whole concert included 24 performances and attracted 650,000 viewers over 3 hours.

Onewe performed in their practice room for an hour on live broadcast and even included a couple of covers to keep things fresh.

And BTS will be joining James Corden for HomeFest, a special Late Late Show episode where stars perform on TV from their homes.

BTS To Guest On James Corden’s “HomeFest” For “The Late Late Show”