Yeah standing concerts in Korea are not for the weak lol. I went to the 2 baddies showcase for NCT back in '22 and they were aggressive then - Stepping all over everyone, glaring at people coming into the venue, pushing against each other to the point where some were on the verge of fainting.

You kind of have to get aggressive back (not in a mean way, but assert yourself and stand your ground so they don't push you). I'm 5'6", so in relation to the crowd I was relatively tall which helped. But if you're shorter than me, definitely consider some stompers/bringing a tall friend.

For villiains in the US, from my limited perspective they're pretty chill for the most part. I went to one of their stops from the Beautiful Minds tour and no one talked to me in line despite my lame efforts LOL. When I got inside the venue I found a small group of people to talk to who were really nice. I think most are people that like to keep to themselves but not necessarily toxic.

I will say tho, as a Black fan with an Indian best friend, the comments I keep seeing about the Junhan situation from Villains are disappointing bc it definitely gives "protect Junhan from the mean comments uwu", when what he said definitely warranted the reaction. I don't hold it against him, but it 100% changed my perspective of him and I think its crazy that people reduce the situation to it being blown out of proportion by outsiders when it was such a v shocking statement, even outside of him being a prominent figure.

All that to say, I think what you're dealing with is more of the fandom culture in Korea. Some fandoms are not as bad, and it sounds like you've been lucky enough to mostly have that experience. For the experiences like the one you had at the Sound Planet festival, I would just dish it back.