My wallet and I took a trip into the heart of the K-pop photocard business machine. We barely survived.

• I first reported on the K-pop photo card business in June.
• Last month, I took a trip to Seoul, where I visited a chain of stores that sells photocards.
• A woman beside me splashed out $300 for one card. I spent a third less on a bigger haul.

I must ask you not to judge me.

In June, I reported on the “boy paper” phenomenon, the booming business of K-pop photo card trading. At the time, I was a casual collector of photo cards of Joshua Hong, a member of the boy band Seventeen. My collection was small, and I maintained it by organizing swaps with other fans.

I said at the time, with great gusto and bravery, that I’d never become a person who’d spend more than $10 on a photocard.

Three months on, after a jam-packed Seoul shopping trip, I can’t say that anymore.

What on earth is a K-pop photocard?

K-pop photocards are an integral part of fan merchandise, and a boost for the industry’s bottom line.

K-pop fans typically get cards free with the purchase of albums. A Seventeen album, for instance, can come with two to four random photocards per pack.

The sprawling variety aside, the fact that a K-pop band sometimes has over 10 people in it means that the chances of pulling your favorite boy could be slim.

The randomness of card distribution creates a serious business for collectors and sellers alike. Much like the Pokémon trading card game, where limited-edition cards can go for hundreds, if not tens of thousands of dollars, fans clamor for K-pop cards.

That’s where the secondary resale market comes in. Pocaspot, a TikTok-famous business, is a chain of stores in Seoul that functions like a seamless, fangirl-facilitating machine.

Happy scrolling, fangirl.

Pocaspot has two outlets in Seoul’s hottest tourist districts, Hongdae and Myeongdong. Each outlet has around a dozen tablets through which orders are placed.

Women with K-pop boyband paraphernalia hanging from their bags gathered around each tablet in twos and threes, shopping their way through the catalog with laser focus.

I joined their ranks and scrolled through a seemingly endless array of photocards. You can sort cards by band and band member for easy access. Customers who are looking for cards from lucky draws and limited-release runs can filter the selection via a dropdown menu.

On my first visit, I stood there for over an hour scrolling through the menus for the boy bands Seventeen, Stray Kids, and BTS, cross-referencing them with snaps of my personal collection.

Photocards can get very, very pricey.

Some photocards of Felix Lee, the Stray Kids member and LVMH muse, were very expensive. I couldn’t justify spending over 500,000 South Korean won, or $350, on one photocard.

Beside me, a woman — seemingly unfazed by what I considered an eye-watering sum to spend on a piece of paper — splashed out $300 for a photocard of Seventeen’s leader, S.Coups.

I watched in awe and fear as she marched up to the cashier with her credit card, and resolved to shop within my income bracket.

I did snap up a selection of cards in the $5 to $15 range.

Pocaspot says on its website that it has over a million K-pop photocards in stock.

That means it’ll take time for staff to locate your card of choice. I was shopping at the Myeongdong outlet after the day’s order cut-off time of 4 p.m., so I picked my cart up the next day.

I opted to collect my photocard haul at Pocaspot’s Hongdae branch. I spent just over $45 for seven photocards of Seventeen’s Hong.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get a card in an in-store giveaway.

I had traveled to Seoul in the first place to attend the opening leg of Seventeen’s world tour. I found out on Instagram that Pocaspot had organized a giveaway of random Seventeen photocards, and I managed to snag one at the Hongdae store.

I caved to temptation once more while picking up my first order, buying another stack of seven photocards for $70. This time, I was shopping in the morning, so I managed to pick up my order after 7 p.m., the same day.

Photocard collecting is not for the faint of heart.

Collecting cards is an addictive and costly habit — I spent over $100 in Seoul. The desire to catch ’em all is budget-breaking. However, if you’re attempting to flip limited edition K-pop cards for profit, you can get them graded and put in slabs for maximum preservation.

For now, I’ll stick to my cute binders of boy paper and try to keep my card budget as low as possible.

Check back with me in a few months.

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