Here’s Where You Can Buy These 'The King Eternal Monarch' And 'It’s Okay To Not Be Okay' Books

Even though K-drama and K-pop has successfully penetrated the mainstream market (thank you, Netflix and Youtube!), getting access to legitimate Korean merch continues to be quite problematic for fans. Especially in these times where we live for online shopping and deliveries, living in a country with unreliable postal system is tough!

To go around this problem, people would usually enlist in group pasabuy (a word play on the Tagalog word pasabay), where one person would order for everyone so they can share the shipping fee. Some smaller Instagram or Facebook stores have also popped up, offering the same services for a minimal fee.

But, of course, there’s always a fear that the pasabuy can go south, someone backs out and the shared shipping fee goes up, or a store you thought you can rely on suddenly turns out to be bogus. Too bad they aren’t DTI registered!

This is why it’s nice to finally come across legit online stores like Custom Mood, where you know you can trust that they will deliver their promise: which is to procure your official K-drama and K-pop merch for you.

Custom Mood just launched last August 1, but it is created by a solid team behind many Asian and Korean experiences in the country—FanLive. FanLive was one of the promoters instrumental in the promotion of previous Korean acts here last year, including Momoland, NCT127, Red Velvet, and The Rose.

Because of the pandemic, FanLive’s usual activities of bringing in Asian and Korean acts like rising K-pop group Noir, HYO of Girls Generation, and Thai band TEMPT, were put to a halt. So instead, they’re redirecting their efforts to bringing a small piece of that Korean experience to fans in whatever way they can.

Aya Villa-Real, co-founder of FanLive, shares, “We created Custom Mood with FanLive’s vision of continuing great fan experiences. We wanted to create a space where creators like artists, athletes, bands, Youtubers, and influencers can connect with their fans through thoughtfully designed products. We also wanted to create a platform for fans to get their official merch easily and safely. Custom Mood aims to be a marketplace for entertainment lifestyle in the Philippines.”

Aya is also the author of the very first locally produced fanbook that tackles the beginnings of Korean culture in the Philippines titled, Hello Hallyu. The book was released in May this year under ABS-CBN Books, and dives deep into how hallyu or the Korean wave started and prospered in the country. It also features four of our favorite K-drama and K-pop stars: Park Bo Gum, EXO, Momoland, and Noir.

Hello Hallyu is also available for purchase on Custom Mood.

What we’re buying

The King: Eternal Monarch Novel Book

Since we’re not yet over the cliffhanger (of sorts) finale of The King: Eternal Monarch, we’re definitely ordering this original The King: Eternal Monarch Novel Book by RHK. Published in June, the two books contain a novelized version of the series, with official photographs included. The kilig never ends! Relive the adventures and love story of Lee Gon and Detective Tae-eul through the two parallel worlds with this book!

The King: Eternal Monarch OST

To accompany our reading experience, of course, we’re getting the official The King: Eternal Monarch album. It contains two CDs with 13 songs and 22 scores, a photobook, and a mini poster. So much bang for your buck!

The King: Eternal Monarch Photo Essay

This one is a bit more bulky at 516 pages, but it’s filled to the brim with so many exclusive and official photos from the series! It’s also published by RHK and is hardbound for all you collectors out there.

It's Okay to Not Be Okay - Ko Moon-young's Storybooks

It's Okay to Not Be Okay is definitely everyone’s current binge, and we’re all tuned in to the story of the initially cold-hearted Ko Moon-young (Seo Ye-ji) and Moon Gang-tae (Kim Soo Hyun), the guardian of the psychiatric hospital.

Guiding each episode in the drama are books supposedly written by Moon-young, mirroring lessons and values to be learned from each book and episode. To feed the curiosity of people who want to know the stories of these books, publisher Wisdom House came out with four (so far) story books that tell the stories of the fairy tales that we’ve seen in the series: The Cheerful Dog; Zombie Kid; The Boy Who Fed On Nightmares; and The Hand, The Monkfish.

Each story book comes with illustrations and retails for 900 pesos each. You can now pre-order them from the Custom Mood website, and they’ll give you free translation notes to help you understand the book (since it’s written in Korean).

Apart from K-drama merch, Custom Mood also has a ton of K-pop merch such as official light sticks of BlackPink, NCT, and WayV, BlackPink face masks and How You Like That caps, and NCT 127 phone cases.

Shop smart and shop safely!