she's the oldest ateez member (seonghwa is a year and four months younger than nyla)
she's taller than hongjoong and san, making her the third shortest
she's apart of five "lines" in ateez: MATZ (hongjoong, nyla, seonghwa), demon line (hongjoong, nyla, san, seonghwa), hyung/elder line (nyla, seonghwa, hongjoong, yunho), rap line (hongjoong, mingi, nyla), princess line (mingi, nyla)
favourite colour is purple, followed by grey
her hobbies are learning new dance styles and journaling
her specialty is choreography (she works heavily on all of ateez's choreographer - aided by her good friendship with several dancers of bbtrippin)
she's friends with uzin and charlie park of bbtrippin + bada and lusher of bebe
she has two tattoos - a nine-point star on her left shoulderblade for ateez and five stars (three purple and two white) above her right kneecap for her family
wants more tattoos, just can't decide what to get
she's left handed
she has six piercings - vertical labret (lip), first and second lobes (both ears) and her left helix
her rapper/producer tag is "YU2" (audibly: "Youuuuuuuu 2!") referencing her last name. In performances she throws up a peace sign and then flips it down when her tag plays.
she plays the drums and the electric guitar
her favourite music is metal
her favourite artists are KORN, BABYMETAL, System of a Down, Kendrick Lamar, TABLO and Rihanna
her musical inspirations are BABYMETAL, Tom Morello, Childish Gambino, and Yoon Mirae
loves space and star themes - many of her personal items feature star or constellation patterns/detailing
her biggest fears are falling objects and fireworks
her favourite foods are udon, onigiri, and curry
she loves spicy food
is a heavyweight drinker; can drink a lot but doesn't often
only tends to be affectionate with people she's very close too
would describe her personal style as "leather grunge" and "skater chic"
her nicknames and their reasons are:
nii - a cute/short form of nyla/neela; most often used by her brother and mom
kq queen - kq's first female trainee and her position in the group
cosmo - a nickname created by her brother but used by ateez occasionally, mainly due to her love of space
right-hand - technically ateez's position name for her in place of "sub-leader", also has been used by atiny to refer to hongjoong and nyla as a pair "hands of heaven" (see ateez relationships)
tsina left it up to a vote to bss for her songs… so chaos ensued.
2023 - teddy bear by stayc (slayed but was embarrassed and hid behind seungcheol afterwords)
2024 - XO by enhypen (had fun and ended up doing it again after caratland bcs heesung and niki found her in the hybe building and wanted her to do their dance challenge with her)
For fans of SEVENTEEN, IVE, and PRISTIN, the early days of SEVENTEEN – namely through the lead up-to-their debut was difficult and filled with drama. For the longest time, the controversy of the unfortunate “Seventeen3” made up of Kwon Chaeri, Tsukino Inari (TSINA), and Zhang Juyin, haunted SEVENTEEN’s rookie years, as well as the people effected by it – mainly because it was a whole mystery. But the truth behind of it all has finally been revealed – by the people it effected most.
In the pre-debut days of SEVENTEEN, when the main content was SEVENTEEN, a few trainees were introduced that are not part of the SEVENTEEN lineup nowadays. There is of course, the four boys that were part of the lineup originally (hence their name) – Jang Doyoon, Samuel Kim, Shin Dongjin and Yao Mingming, along with three girls, the previously mentioned Chaeri, Inari, and Juyin. As the now known lineup was settled, it became known to fans and the industry, as well as the SEVENTEEN members themselves that PLEDIS was introducing Chaeri, Inari and Juyin to the public as early promo for the “New Generation Project”. This Project was announced as PLEDIS’s new phase of groups. Like After School (who debuted in 2009) and NU’EST (debuted in 2012) who were often considered to the “younger brother group” of After School, PLEDIS was going to be a boy-group, likely SEVENTEEN, and then once the group had exited its rookie years, likely a year or two, it would debut SEVENTEEN’s younger sister group – off of established trainees Chaeri, Inari, and Juyin. However, as we all know, that apparent Project was scrapped – or rather altered with PRISTIN’s debut in 2017, and it led to the drama of Tsukino’s - SEVENTEEN’s TSINA’s debut.
But now, seven years after SEVENTEEN’s debut, we are finally getting answers from the people themselves. With SEVENTEEN’s first contract renewals, many were curious with how it would change – but no one expected the changes to be made. Alongside with much-needed enforcements of personal respect and better treatment for SEVENTEEN, it appears that contract renewal has allowed for members – namely TSINA and S.COUPS to speak up about the debut years.
On January 8th, two days ago, Tsukino Inari (TSINA), Choi Seungcheol (S.COUPS), Lee Jihoon (WOOZI), Kwon Chaeri, and Zhang Juyin released a joint statement through Tsukino’s personal management MOON& about the situation. Why is it coming this late, with SEVENTEEN’s contract renewals having finished in July of last year? An NDA, that according to the statement, all members of SEVENTEEN, Kwon Chaeri and Zhang Juyin along with others involved in the previously unnamed girl group project were coerced into signing by PLEDIS upper management. One that has just expired for SEVENTEEN. The statement reveals that while other former PLEDIS artist and staffs NDA had expired, the other parties had stayed quiet until SEVENTEEN, Kwon, and Zhang were able to speak on it.
The statement reveals much of the treatment to a deeper extent that the PLEDIS trainees had been put through from the years of 2013-2016. The beginning of the statement starts from 2013, detailing with the departure of four of SEVENTEEN’s planned members, PLEDIS decided they need something more to keep them relevant in the industry. Thus the idea of an established sibling-group project to be put out, attempting to mimic the success of SM and JYP. Choi states that as early as February of 2014 was he approached with promises of SEVENTEEN’s debut and the proposed Project: Next Generation. It was with Tsukino, Kwon, and Zhang’s introduction to SeventeenTV that Choi along with the three girls were informed by PLEDIS managers and board members – including CEO Han Sungsoo – of the plans for the fourteen-member girl group JEWELZ, which Tsukino would lead.
The Seventeen formula was to continue with JEWELZ. Tsukino Inari was to lead the Hip-Hop Unit of Im Nayoung, Kang Yaebin (Rena), Kyla Massie, and Huh Yujin. Kwon Chaeri was to lead the Performance Unit of Kang Gyeongwon (Yuha), Zhou Jieqiong (Kyulkyung), and Park Junghyeon (Xiyeon). And Zhang Juyin was to lead the Vocal Unit of Bae Sungyeon, Kim Minkyeung (Roa), Jang Eunwoo and Kim Yewon (Yehana). The statement lists the group was planned to have a “cool girl-next-door” concept and Bumzu was to be the main producer behind the group, along with the Unit Leaders Tsukino, Kwon, and Zhang participating creatively. Additionally, it is listed in the plans for the leaders to debut first in pre-debut mini-unit, called CROWNS, a year after SEVENTEEN’s debut with a feature on SEVENTEEN’s first comeback. The statement mentions that at this point Lee Jihoon and Bumzu were on the fence with the debut plans, stating that it would make SEVENTEEN’s debut year difficult. However, all parties agreed, and an agreement was signed. It was then that the future members were brought on board to the plan, and began training together in a group setting, as well as practicing and becoming close with SEVENTEEN. The leaders of both groups also started working together closely. At this point, on December 10th, 2014 all parties – the future JEWELZ members, Choi, Lee, and Bumzu were asked by Han Sungsoo and PLEDIS board members signed an NDA for the creation of the new project. All parties signed this NDA.
However on April 14th 2015, six days prior to the beginning of filming for Seventeen Project: Debut Big Plan all parties were now given a new NDA to sign – minus Bumzu. The plan for JEWELZ was to be shelved, as the excitement for SEVENTEEN’s debut was “enough” according to company representatives. All members of the now defunct JEWELZ would continue training as Pledis Girlz, while the former leaders – Tsukino, Kwon, and Zhang, would now have to compete for their spots in SEVENTEEN. All members of SEVENTEEN, Pledis Girlz, and the unofficially named “Seventeen3” were threatened with removal from their trainee groups, blacklisting from the industry, and fines if they did not sign the NDA.
Kwon states that she, “felt as though the company had completely betrayed her and her friends, but that she had no choice but to sign, as she and her family did not have the financial means to recover from the fines.” Kwon continued, revealing that several years down the road, despite her being quite talented, PLEDIS management had apparently only chosen her for JEWELZ and Project Seventeen due to her “coming from a poor family and not having the means to say no to the company”. Even worse, it had been a former PLEDIS manager that had told Kwon that, during the time she spent on MIXNINE attempting to debut.
Zhang followed this up, aiding Kwon’s story by revealing that her family was also financially unstable and she too had learned years later from a different former PLEDIS employee – one who had not worked on the project or anything that Zhang had been involved in – had mocked her for “being picked because she was poor”.
While Tsukino was the most financially stable of the three – though not by much – she had dealt with taunting from former staff members and stylists who had said to her face that, “[she] was only considered for JEWELZ and put in SEVENTEEN because she would attract scandal” and that “they only kept her because they knew she was sending all of her money home to support her dad and wouldn’t be able to pay off her trainee debt for several years” – even though she had trained much shorter than the rest of them, minus Minghao. Tsukino also states that she had not been able to fully read either NDA at the dates of the signing – as Korean had always been difficult for her to read – and even when she asked for the NDA/contract in English or Japanese, she was refused and laughed at. This lead to a rather infamous and disgusting part of her Seventeen contract that took several years for her to learn off – that she was not allowed to contact her family without direct permission and supervision – leading to Tsukino, her family, and SEVENTEEN learning that the company kept a record of all text messages, phone calls, and photos on Tsukino’s phone. Tsukino, SEVENTEEN, and her family now believe this to be the main reason behind the questionable leeks that lead to Tsukino’s 2018 Red Light Scandal.
With the expiration of the NDA and all parties free to speak on it – the statement has also included some of SEVENTEENs contract negotiations and why the matter was not brought to higher courts. All parties affected by the prior NDAs were paid $1.8 billion KRW in emotional reparations by the former and current PLEDIS board members involved, all existing board members minus CEO Han Sungsoo retired, CEO Han Sungsoo is required to cut his personal salary for the next seven years, the PLEDIS division of HYBE LABELS is required to keep translators and cultural advisors on payroll, all contracts have to be written issues in both Korean and English, and all members of SEVENTEEN are given allowance to manage their solo activities through a company that is not PLEDIS (such as Tsukino recent company MOON&)
While the contract negotiations may seem like a lot, most fans and netizens are agreeing that they are necessary and well-deserved given what the company/perpetrators have put the affected parties through.
her favourite colours are black, silver, and burgundy
her special handheld mics have always been a chrome silver, and since 2023 is covered in "scribbles" which was later revealed to be all of the members signatures so that she 'always has seventeen with her' when performing
she rarely uses a headset mic, perfering to use handheld, but when using it she's been wearing a headset with silver in-ears
her favourite gem stones are rubies and yellow diamonds
her favourite foods are katsu-don, kimchi jigae, paella, and fruit salads
she almost exclusively has kept her hair long her entire career
her favourite animal is a capybara but her second favourite (and representative) animal is a fox
is quite athletic - since 2020 she has been consistently working out and packing on muscle - something the other members LOVE to show off
enjoys gaming - mainly stardew valley, minecraft, valorant, and story based games (obsessed with elden ring and baldurs gate 2 & 3)
loves reading - her favourite genres are comics/graphic novels, science fiction, and fantasy
favourite books/series are fullmetal alchemist, the hunger games, and the percy jackson universe
she has four different drivers licenses: a South Korean Class 1 General License, an International Drivers Permit, a Japanese Class 1 License, and a FIM Motocross License
she is considered by the other seventeen members to be one of the scariest when mad
is a very light drinker; as such does not typically drink or choose to drink
she’s a cuddly drunk; which the members abuse as it is time they most likely can get physical affection from her
as you can guess, she is not big on physical affection and tends to avoid or shy away from it - can be called touch-averse
whenever missions make her "kiss" members she kisses one of her fingers and then pokes the members
hates being given said missions
never gets the missions on gose, in debut variety shows tended to give her those messages
when members get physical missions they obvi still respect her boundaries while being competitive as hell
that being said the three members that can get away with most physical affection are woozi, minghao, and wonwoo - the first two don't seek out affection normally and the last doesn't normally do it to her in public
is a very clean and tidy person, needs her personal spaces to be clean and tidy
a fourteen person dorm practically killed her
despite being 'icy' and less emotive, she is quite funny and endearing - something fans love
has a lot of cursed memes that she doesn't care about
face-palms a lot
also particularly known for the early years speaking her unfiltered thoughts to fans in spanish bcs pledis didn't have a translator
certified idiot 90% of the time but people think she's smart
she is she just has no energy for bullshit
despite not having a position as a dancer she is a quite talented one, she's been noted for having a certain grace to her dancing while also being sharp - her musicality is amazing
speaking of musicality she is talented in both writing lyrics and songs - though she usually stays away from producing as she prefers woozi's or bumzu's producing, but she's been trying it out more
has written almost all of her raps on seventeen tracks and goes through and works on all of their raps
as a multilingual and part of the foreign line, she is very strong on her diction meaning she has a tendency to correct korean members on their diction - especially in raps
also the reason for her nickname 'bullet-mouth'
other nicknames and their reasonings:
nari - shortened from 'inari' and her korean name
queenie - for her importance in the group and mannerisms
human vivienne westwood - from the amount that she wears, her love of the brand/designer, and her career with them
foxie - from her name, representative animal, looks, and 'slyness'
daredevil - for her love of extreme speed and sports
inari is bisexual, though not openly, and has a preference for men. she's only been in a few actual relationships in her life as she falls on aromantic spectrum.
JIHYO of TWICE
2016
friends to fwbs, fwbs to lovers, lovers to friends
The pair met during both of their group's debut and became close friends. One fateful night of drinking the others had fallen asleep led to the two of them hooking up and then dating for a few months. The pair broke up amicably and are still great friends. Inari may or may not have set Jihyo up with her rumoured boyfriend, Yun Sungbin.
public: never
shipname: n/a, hyori by friends
age-gap: 2 days
PARK JIHOON
2018-2019
friends to lovers, lovers to acquaintances
The pair met when Jihoon was still a member of Wanna One, as Inari had watched Produce Season 2 (mainly to support her friends), and they were later introduced at the 2017 MAMA Awards. It wasn't until the next year after hesitation from Inari to be dating a rookie and a younger man. The two dated for over a year before breaking up due to scheduling conflicts and falling out of love.
public?: yes, but after breakup, in 2021
shipname: naji
age-gap: two years
JEON WONWOO of SEVENTEEN
2020 - present
trainees to co-workers, co-workers to friends, friends to lovers
The bandmates have always been close once getting over their respective shyness, sharing hobbies and often finding themselves retreating into each other's spaces. Neither of them can really tell when their feelings for eachother changed, but a late night walk during the pandemic led to them confessing. In 2022 they purchased a condo in Itaewon together where they live. In July of 2024, Inari proposed to Wonwoo. The couple is planning on marrying after Wonwoo's military enlistment.
inari has had a love for fashion for quite a long time. growing up she was massively inspired by the likes of vivienne westwood and the visual kei style. as she became famous and in the general eye of the public, she has jumped at the chance to participate in the fashion world.
IRIS VAN HERPEN
Inari's first big break into the fashion world came with Iris Van Herpen a few years after their debut in 2019. In late 2017 she began posting short form videos to Seventeen's Youtube Channel where she would show Carats behind-the-scenes looks of how she designed SEVENTEENs looks for album concepts, red carpets, and events. She frequently invited PLEDIS stylist and her friend Yoon Sungmi on the show as Sungmi helped Inari execute the designs as well as just working on side projects with Inari. Another regular guest was fellow members Minghao and Mingyu, the three of them often considered SEVENTEEN's most fashionable. Inari at the time (2018) was greatly inspired by butterflies and would often use Van Herpen designs as her inspo. A video of hers, where she made a Iris Van Herpen inspired suit jacket for friend and labelmate NU'EST/WANNA ONE Minhyun, which he wore on the 2018 MMA red carpet, went viral and caught the attention of executives at Iris Van Herpen. Additionally, Inari had styled all of Seventeen in eye-catching suits, all with carefully embroired motifs of blue hydrangeas, butterflies, and personalized designs of their "assigned mascots". NU'EST W had also been partially styled by Inari, as she and Sungmi had personally embriodered butterflies and teal hearts into the members pocket squares.
Then in February of 2019, Inari was photographed for Vogue Thailand in Iris Van Herpen, and announced on the brand socials as a brand ambassador.
Inari would then break waves in the Kpop industry by attending the 2021 Met Gala representing Iris Van Herpen alongside Grimes (a known name in KPop), Gabrielle Union, Winnie Harlow, Tessa Thompson, Hailee Steinfeld and Valentina Sampaio.
Inari is still a brand ambassador, walking for Iris Van Herpen in Paris Haute Couture Week 2022 (January and July) and 2024 (June)
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
In 2021, Inari's childhood dreams came true when she was named a brand ambassador for Vivienne Westwood. After years of mentioning her love for the designer, creating her own pieces inspired by the brand and proudly displaying the few pieces she collected and owned herself, the artist became an ambassador of the brand she adored.
Then, in 2022 she attended the Met Gala representing Vivienne Westwood alongside SZA. Just weeks after the Met Gala, Inari was announced as a face of the brand and has been since.
She’s modelled the 2023 Bridal Collection, walked for Paris Fashion Week 2022 (March and September), Paris Fashion Week 2023 (March), Paris Fashion Week 2024 (March and September, and attended the 2023 Met Gala with Vivienne Westwood.
It's also been highly rumoured that Inari will be collabing with the brand on a special co-designed collection for their Spring Collection.
