#id.xlnc

[idolizenews]

XLNC RETURNS WITH ‘WHEN YOU LOVE SOMEONE’

1. [ +915, -186 ] Ah seriously, I can always trust XLNC when it comes to music videos ㅠㅠㅠ They’re always so interesting to watch for the stories~ XLNC fighting!!  2. [ +512 , -102 ] As expected of KJH, the music is so good ㅠㅠㅠ The lyrics are so beautiful too ㅠㅠㅠ 3. [ +273 , -59 ] It’s pretty but... it’s so boring for summer.... 

[idolizenews]

XLNC CONTINUE PROMOTING IN JAPAN WITH ‘STOP THE RAIN’

1. [ +394, -36 ] XLNC always have such dependable music....but as an XL-ENT I really hope Koala T promotes them in Korea again soon...please come back ㅠㅠ 2. [ +302, -27 ] Their Japanese releases are seriously so solid, but...I’m worried Koala T will just ship them off their forever??? I wish they’d finally get a hit in Korea... 3. [ +217, -19 ] I was just bored and clicked on the song from the portal...they’re actually pretty good?? I’ll need to check out their other releases ㅋㅋ

[idolizenews]

Did any other XL-Ents out there see his photoshoot with Dazed & Confused?? Honestly, I was so shocked when I heard he was featured in the magazine alone like this ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Thank you, Dazed & Confused for choosing him ㅠㅠ 

He also shared that he normally wouldn’t have done a solo photoshoot like this because of his fear of cameras, but after talking to Haneul he decided to give it a shot ㅠㅠ Ah, they’re seriously so sweet.. 

POST RESPONSE | [ + 104 ] [ - 19 ]

1. [ ㅇㅇ ] I know you’re his fan OP, but don’t lie to yourself like this... Did we see the same photos? It’s so obvious it’s his first photoshoot, he looks so unnatural and awkward trying to pose ㅋㅋ  2. [ XLNC왕자 ] As a fan, I’m so proud too ㅠㅠㅠ He looked so good too, especially for his first solo photoshoot!! I hope he does more in the future ㅠㅠ 3. [ ㅇㅇ ] I didn’t even know he was an idol while flipping through the magazine... Not because I didn’t know who he was (although I didn’t know that either until now...), but because most of the photos were just of his body or where he wasn’t looking at all ㅋㅋㅋ 

[idolizenews]

He even showed the leftover meals that he cooked for the XLNC members ㅠㅠㅠ He seems so dependable now... meanwhile my own older brother is... ah... ㅡㅡ;

But anyway, I’m really liking him a lot more lately, is it just me? I don’t know, or maybe he’s just growing up well because he really looks more handsome these days ㅋㅋ Or maybe I’m just hungry ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ But seriously... his food looked so good? His members are so lucky, I want to try Seojin’s food too ㅠㅠㅠ

POST RESPONSE | [ + 168 ] [ - 15 ]

1. [ ㅇㅇ ] Hul, I want him to cook for me too... wow he’s really my ideal type, handsome and good at cooking ㅋㅋ 2. [ 서진짜멋있다 ] Me too OP, I was so freaking surprised when he suddenly said he loves to cook?? He really doesn’t seem like he would, but ah.. he’s just full of hidden charms ㅠㅠㅠ 3. [ ㅇㅇ ] Doesn’t it just seem like he’s trying to appear less cold to the fans though? ㅋㅋ If he’s so passionate, why did he only mention it now?? Did they realize his mysterious image is... hm...

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON XLNC’S LEAD VOCAL, DRUMS CHA MINHO...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: Damien CURRENT AGE: 21 DEBUT AGE: 18 as indie / 20 under KJH TRAINEE SINCE AGE: N/A COMPANY: KJH ETC: has a checkered past riddled with potential scandals

IDOL IMAGE

Damien is the member who would be the first one to turn on any of his other members or call them out on something in games if it would mean he would come out on top. And he always does it with such skill, the feigned innocent looks, always pulling the 'don’t be mean I’m a foreigner’ card at every given opportunity despite the fact he understands and speaks Korean perfectly. As it turns out, Damien is simply an incredibly good liar and rather prides himself on that fact and has decided to use it. But he never turns on members out of spite or hatred, he’s always laughing about it, mastering the variety skill of completely poking fun at everyone and keeping games interesting while keeping himself likeable. Damien, at heart, is just a troublemaker who just really likes winning.

Nothing at all is really known about his life before he came to Korea and appeared for the first time with XLNC. All that is really known is that he was raised by his father in Australia and his father still lives out there. Beyond that, Damien has never deemed it necessary to talk about his childhood or what it was like, always brushing off the questions with lazy shrugs of his shoulders and bright smiles - “ah, it was nothing interesting.” He has never talked much about the relationship he has with his family which had led to speculation about what sort of childhood he did actually have. But he simply never talks about it and never plans to, preferring fans only saw of him what he wanted them to instead of what they might assume from his background.

When it does come to his members, Damien understands the bond they have and he wouldn’t lose it for anything. He considers them his second family, willing throw down everything he had for each and every one of them. Though he might act like a cheeky and annoying younger brother on more than one occasion, it is his way of showing affection. He’s usually found resting his head on one of their shoulders and clinging onto their arms or even deciding to sit on them instead of a chair. Fans have even gone as far as calling him something akin to a puppy, headbands with dog ears are a common thing handed to him to wear at fan signs. It has also been noted that he is more than capable of picking out his members quite easily from behind. “I’m a drummer,” he would say with a grin, “I see the backs of these guys more than I ever see the front.”

But of course XLNC is about to be raw and real music and it is also a role he took too rather well. Nothing comes above the music and the moment he steps onto that stage and sits behind his drums and the mic, he is in the zone. There is no messing around, no stupid smiles when they are performing. The performance is all about the song, trying to deliver the best that they can and playing as though this might be the last time they ever get to perform. His on-stage persona is quite different to the personality he displays off stage, and it has sometimes gotten him backlash, people calling him 'fake’. But he has never let it bother him. When he and the rest of the band are playing time just seems to stop and he let’s all the emotion and passion he has for music flow out. And even off stage he speaks about his love of music and how finding it helped him in ways people could never understand. No one could ever question his passion for his craft and how much he loves what he does. And that is his own way of showing emotion. Maybe it’s just not what people expected.

Damien is an idol of many sides. That Australian drummer with the cute accent when speaking English. The calm and collected passionate and emotional drummer with sweet vocals at the back of the stage behind his drum kit doing what he does best. Or the dumb puppy clinging to his members and leaning against them at every given opportunity because he seems to think they are more comfortable than a couch.

IDOL HISTORY

TW: ALCOHOLISM, DRUGS, UNDERAGE DRINKING, UNDERAGE SMOKING, VANDALISM

Cha Minho came first.

New Years Eve 1997, five in the afternoon, a hospital in Incheon, Cha Minho was born. His parents were fully unprepared and had no idea how they were supposed to raise a child together, but the two of them were willing to try. And try they did, the first couple of years of his life he was a happy child. But stress is a killer and his mother certainly started to feel it. He was only two years old when his mother started to come home less and less, always smelling of alcohol and other substances, sometimes bringing home strange men when his father wasn’t around. The police were called multiple times, and then one night, his mother simply never come home at all and to this day he has no idea what happened to her. And he supposes that deep down he doesn’t really want to know the answer.

His father didn’t take it well, the bad memories he had in Incheon kept eating him up, so he decided to seek a new life with his son somewhere else, to start again. And that was why a couple of months before his third birthday, he and his father moved to Brisbane, Australia.

This is where Damien Cha began.

Though he was a happy child and very outgoing and smily child, he was also a very loud one, banging on pots and pans to create as much noise as he possibly could just for the sake of making noise. That was why his father decided to sign him up for drum lessons, hoping that banging on something a little more productive would help him stop creating so much destructive noise. And it did somewhat, he continued to bang around on things, but at least this time it was to a proper tune and not just creating noise for the attention. And he loved his lessons, his talent with drumsticks and finding rhythm was quite apparent, his teachers in his younger years praising his good ear and willingness to learn.

When he hit middle school the real problems started for him. Constant complaints about teachers for his bad attitude, the constant need to rebel, the kids he hung around with outside the school building, skipping his classes, vandalizing the building with old graffiti cans. Even his drum teacher had her worries when Damien stopped paying attention in his classes. His father was more than stressed, always shouting and yelling and grounding him, stopping his drum lessons for awhile to try and punish him, but it never really worked. Their house was just constantly filled with the sound of raised voices, Damien and his father screaming back and forth with each other every time they were in the same room. Which thankfully for the neighbours was not all too much as his father was always out working for long hours

He hit his early teens and the behavioural issues only got so much worse. He got into bloody fights at school, bullied his classmates, got arrested multiple times and got himself a juvenile record. And then he got his hands on alcohol, started hanging around with the older teens and school where they corrupted him further. Got him drinking, got him addicted to nicotine, gave him drugs and got him high, got him into serious trouble with the law. And the drugs and alcohol only made him angrier and angrier. Before all too long, Damien was going down the same dark road his mother once travelled back in Korea and his father couldn’t stand to see it.

The intervention came when Damien was fourteen and what only felt like weeks before he finally got into trouble he wouldn’t be able to get out of. His father started sending him to expensive therapy sessions. At first, the stubborn and angry teenager he was only wanted to rebel, refused to talk, tried to punch multiple of his therapists. But slowly he started to calm down, actually started talking about his feelings and what he was going through. The lack of a maternal figure seriously hurting him, his need to have a proper parent with his father always away working. He felt hurt and lost and betrayed, which caused him to become upset and lash out. It was what was causing all of his bad behaviour.

His therapist suggested music therapy for him, using the drums to try and be more open about his feelings, Damien retreating away to practice whenever he felt the need to rebel instead of going out and causing trouble. And with many many therapy sessions and actually sitting down and talking with his father and the promise that he would be around more for his son, and with a little help from some prescribed medication, Damien started to really mellow out and started to turn into the happy kid he used to be. Of course he still caused trouble, but it turned into more playful trouble than anything serious. Messing around with classmates like a typical teenager, laughing and playing jokes on each other and pulling stupid pranks and dares.

He got himself clean of everything, no more drinking or smoking and no more drugs. He broke ties with the older boys he had been hanging around with, apologized to his teachers and his classmates for his behaviour. Damien and his father even mended their broken relationship, acting more like a father and son than they ever had. Things were good again. The teenager had fallen in love with his drumming again, pouring most of his attention into practising more than anything. He found his true passion was music, spending hours and hours listening to his favourite tracks and drumming along on his own drum kit. He even joined a band with some of his classmates, the five of them sat in the same room for hours on end jamming away. It truly made him happy, made him feel a real bond of friendship and he started getting more comfortable with the idea of having people to rely on. But it was just for fun and when graduation rolled around, the five of them went their separate ways and the band was disassembled, but the boys remained friends, deciding one last trip together before they all went off the their respective colleges.

They settled on Seoul. And that was where Damien ended up getting scouted by an indie-label looking to sign him for their upcoming band project. A Korean band had been playing, but an argument had ensued and the drummer had stormed off, leaving the group without a drummer for the last few songs. Enter from stage left Damien with a grin and happily announcing that he was a drummer and he’d be happy to take over. And with no much of a choice but to stop early, the guys had agreed and he sat in for their last few songs. He never really expected anyone of mild importance would be paying attention. But no, he was wrong, apparently.

Of course when he phoned home and told his father that yeah, he wasn’t actually coming home his father panicked. There was an argument over the phone, but Damien was determined. And there was no much his father could really do from another country, his son was a legal adult and that was the end of that, he could do what he wanted. Eventually his father did give him his blessing and Damien ended up extending his visa and signing with the label.

But it was a struggle to suddenly get used to everything different. Speaking Korean on a daily basis again was weird to get used to despite it being his main language with his home life. Also the chance in scenery was the pain and he always found himself complaining about the cold weather simply because he was used to it being far hotter. And there were other things, foods he could no longer his hands hands on, formalities he wasn’t so used to, remembering to speak formally to strangers and all the different words. It was hard to settle properly, but he had new people to rely on and he was pretty damn determined not for it to become a issue. He was going to do this.

And do it he did, he was paired up with the other prospective band members and they became XLNC. The training was hard simply because he didn’t know any of them from before, but the more they hung out and the longer they practised the more Damien started feeling comfortable around them, he might even say that he was confident they could make this work. Sue they might only be under a small indie label, but it was better than nothing. Certainly better than back in Australia with no label and having to think about getting a proper job or going to college (lord forbid that).

But the road they travelled was not paved with gold like he had hoped. They found it hard to find their footing in the ever changing musical industry, their struggling company not helping matters. It was a long two years with very little in the way of recognition and, on more than one occasion did Damien consider calling it quits, either out of desperation or complete exhaustion. But it was his members which stopped him, they had signed up for this together and they were going to go down together – if it ever came to that. But he was thankful he had to others to rely on during their tough times, he grew incredibly close with his band members over the two years in that small company.

KJH suddenly buying them from their old company and basically pressuring the group to sign with them was something he never saw coming. But they were being handed a carrot and Damien was more than happy to take it with very little complaints or questions. Anything to get out of their struggles and finally let the whole world hear their music.

Of course, there were some issues. Suddenly going from one company to another was hardly an easy transaction to make and he could feel some tensions, but XLNC stuck together and that was all that really mattered to him. He knew that if one member quit, then he would end up going as well. They were a group and it was going to be all four of them or nothing at all, just the way he wanted it. This was his new future and he was almost willing to say it looked bright. Though he knows it’s not going to be easy and there is going to be a lot more work put into things, a lot of his time suddenly spent practising harder, but the they have finally got a good footing, a start, and he’s eager to see it grow

While there is still some apprehension, worries that his troubled past will come back to bite him and he’s also aware that he has never told KJH about his… problems, he’s hoping no one is ever going to find out. So long as he gets to sit behind his drum kit and make music and make their fans happy then he’s happy as well. This was the start of a new journey together and Damien was simply quite eager to see where it took them and what would be waiting for them at the end.

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON XLNC’S MAIN RAP, LEAD VOCAL, BASS MIN HANEUL…

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: N/A CURRENT AGE: 20 DEBUT AGE: 18 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: N/A COMPANY: KJH ETC: this member is involved in lyric writing

IDOL IMAGE

Despite being an indie band, it was safe to say that KJH had XLNC firmly under their thumb. And that meant controlling how each member appeared to the public- if the original members of the band were restricted, then Haneul was more or less a puppet for the company. Of course, to play it safe, they give him the most boring storyline possible, so as not to upset the original fans. He starts off as the flower boy- the pretty one, the icon of a bubbly rookie but not the one meant to be saying very much, doing very much, more or less just there as a placeholder, a space filler. After that it’s the story of how he grows. A showcase of rare moments of genius, then hard hard work and a few emotional breakdowns here and there, and finally bam, real talent and the fans were the ones who helped him do it. In contrast to his more rough-around-the-edges (and dare we say it, raw and real) bandmates, Haneul is expected to be the perfect one, the good boy, a mary sue story with just enough heartbreak in it for the fans to buy into.

Of course, like any good story, it has just a tiny bit of truth in it. Haneul’s always been fairly friendly, mostly calm, and a good boy when he wants to be. His smile is too pretty to be considered fake and of course that plays into both his and the company’s advantage- despite being almost entirely written up on a piece of paper during a company meeting, his facade fits perfectly. Haneul can be the perfect statue: there’s no need to talk too much about a song he didn’t write, think up new details to stories that didn’t really happen, get frustrated over things he knows he can’t change only to expose even more vulnerabilities for the knets to latch onto like vultures. That’s everyone else’s job. It’s all too easy to play innocent and shy and docile, the rest of his personality just comes as a ‘pleasant surprise’ when he does show it.

That’s what makes the ploy real, of course. Haneul’s usually playful, plenty clingy, just enough mischievous and even the slightest bit of a playboy. Or what’s what the watered down version that KJH presents to the public. In truth he is all of those things and far more, a charming player with too much wit and too much ambition for his own good. Other times he is sharp minded, sharp tongued, a waking cactus ready to prick anybody who gets too close. But even he knows that it’s not in his favour to be this bold- perhaps if he was in a typical idol group, but not with XLNC. Instead, all the ambition and rebellion is written off as being passionate and free spirited, falling into the funnel of whatever they deemed as ‘emo’. On stage, he is expected to be cool and charming- or depressed, or angry, whatever the song calls for, he acts it out. And yet off stage Haneul has to play nice, like the stage was just for performance and well- both of them are, really.

The only thing that the company allows, that he allows himself, are brief moments of weakness. Briefly lapses in his golden personality, shows of the vulnerable teen inside who can still cry, still scream. And yet for the sake of a good show, these moments have become just as manufactured as the next. Sometimes Haneul can’t tell what he’s really feeling anymore, but as long as the fans gobble it up, that’s fine, right?

IDOL HISTORY

Haneul’s life was one of the things that KJH liked to dig out and show off over and over again, and yet it was not nearly as glorious as they made it out to be. Yes, he was born to a family of artists, but they had never been celebrities, they never lived in fancy houses, never were the musical geniuses people thought about. No they were rather plain, some third rate singer that had enough time on his hands to pursue a full time job on top of occasional gigs and a classical musician that, despite never being home, made just enough to keep up their modest apartment. Being born into his household meant that from young, he had no misguided dreams about what it was like to pursue the path of an entertainer. The starving artist trope was all too real and, as time went on, music just existed to be less and less of something that was enjoyed and more as a burdened tool that could not perform well enough to grant them the life they wanted to lead.

He was never encouraged to go down the same path his parents did- quite far from it, all Haneul’s parents wanted from him were good enough grades, a solid university, and some boring office job that could cost him (and them) comfortably through the rest of their lives. And for much of his childhood that’s what he had followed. A free spirit hammered down to a neat and tidy uniform, a lopsided smirk straightened to the perfect schoolboy’s smile, at least 16 teeth showing in every school photo. Perhaps that was when he got so good at acting, so good at pretending. If it made his parents happy and in turn benefited him, then it was okay to keep at it for a little while longer. And then when he grew up, he dreamed, he’d be the biggest superstar, far better than his parents would have ever dreamed of. And for a while he had almost thought this would come true.

But life had a way of toying with him, didn’t it? In elementary school, his mother died unexpectedly- just a run of the mill hit and run but of course, there was no saving her. Life crumbled away after that. It wasn’t at all like the tv dramas; his father never drank, never hit him, just squashed down Haneul even more and killed the young child from the inside out. Perhaps that was when he broke. Middle school found the teen packed away to some mildly prestigious boarding school half a city away. Middle school also found him… never where he was supposed to be. Yes, he went to most of his classes, yes, his average was at that rocky 90%, but what his parents never knew was that the rest of his time went to busking on the streets, in cafes or around Hongdae at night, wherever he could get his hands on and wouldn’t get kicked out of just because he was a lanky kid with a half broken mic and some soundcloud mix of beats.

There was just a couple of them, not-yet-grown children forming up some semblance of a rock band as soon as they each got to know the basic chords on the guitar. It wasn’t of course, what he had dreamed about. But those nights where he snuck out, occasionally stealing drags of a cigarette or a swig of beer after shows- it became his everything. It was as if Haneul had a double identity- one where he was the perfect student his father expected him to be, and one that was every bit a wild delinquent as the ones that people spat at. And he found that he liked the second one better. The act, it wasn’t him, but music /was/. And it was beautiful. He knew he couldn’t keep it forever, but for as long as it lasted, Haneul would cling on to the tiny bit that kept him alive. So when some KJH scout wanders up to him and passes that fateful business card- how could he say no?

That’s how Haneul left, left the boring life he had behind. It had taken a few angry phone calls, perhaps, a trip home where more than one curse was thrown around and furniture with it and Haneul couldn’t even quite remember how he did it but- he went back with signatures scrawled unwittingly across some paperwork. The then 16 year old was filled with no, not dreams, but ambition and plans to prove himself to the world and most importantly, as better than his parents. And like always it was too late when reality caught up. The company had been interested in his appearance, that was all. His vocals certainly weren’t up to par, nor his rap. Yes, Haneul could play the guitar and write a little, but so what? If they didn’t see a fit, then no amount of hardwork would ever amount to anything. It was almost two years of that, a constant rollercoaster between anticipation and then never ending disappointment. Then KJH decided to sign XLNC. At first, that had nothing to do with Haneul. But perhaps indie bands were never meant to be like idols, because the people certainly weren’t… and soon enough there was conveniently a spot for a bassist and KJH just so happened to have somebody who could play. Wonderful, wasn’t it?

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON XLNC’S LEAD RAP, LEAD VOCAL, LEAD GUITAR YOO JINHWAN…

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: N/A CURRENT AGE: 22 DEBUT AGE: 18 indie / 20 with KJH TRAINEE SINCE AGE: N/A COMPANY: KJH ETC: KJH is interested in pushing this member on variety

IDOL IMAGE

Jinhwan has a bit of a reputation as a flower-boy face with a playboy personality. Despite never having experienced a dating scandal, Jinhwan usually grabs attention for charming the cast on whichever variety show he appears on. Within XL-ENTs, he’s known as being one of the most relaxed with fans, often allowing XL-ENTs to blur the line of what is appropriate interactions between idols and their fans. He’s well-liked by male fans as well, as he isn’t the type to get embarrassed by their affections and encourages the same as he does female fans. Jinhwan is also a notorious lurker on social media, but he isn’t secret about it, and is known to like or reply to fans’ comments and tweets with hearts, laughter, or other emojis. He enjoys and thrives off of the attention– he’s even admitted that his favourite thing to hear from fans is, “I like you even more today than yesterday.”

Despite his friendliness with the fans, though, Jinhwan isn’t one to reveal deeper aspects of his personality to the public. The sensitive and prickly sides of his personality are glossed over with sweet-talk and brazen faux-confidence. As such, fans often complain that Jinhwan can be a bit of a mystery in some respects, commonly declining to clearly answer questions about more personal aspects of his life, such as his family, life before debut, or any sort of relationships– romantic, friendly, or otherwise. However, he only jokes about this when fans try to call him out– “If I told you everything, then there would be nothing left to be curious about~”

This leads to fans absolutely adoring any softer side they see of Jinhwan. He’s good at hiding any emotion other than happiness, so when something slips out, it’s even more satisfying for fans. His only openly emotional moments are when he’s performing and in his element, meaning his fancams are popular among his fans for proof of Jinhwan’s more emotional side. Occasionally, his secretly soft side can be seen when he’s talking about XL-ENTs. “I just want us to make good music, and the fact that you’re all here to support that… It’s the most important thing in the world to me.”

IDOL HISTORY

1996.

Jinhwan is born on June 17, 1996 in Incheon, the first and only child of his family. They’re modest, maybe bit on the well off side— his mother, who works as an administrative assistant, doesn’t make much, but his father works as an airline pilot, so they’re comfortable. He’s the first in his generation, meaning that the focus is always on him as a child, always under pressure to do well— something that he resents, later on, never having an interest in school. The only thing Jinhwan has ever loved, ever put any energy into, was music.

2001.

When Jinhwan is four, his parents sign him up for piano lessons. It’s something they think is important, a valuable skill for children to learn, an appreciation for the arts combined with the dedication of a craft. Jinhwan adores it, practices all the time, with a dedication that his parents embrace, at first. They take pride in their son’s hard work, take pride in his skill, show him off to the rest of the family. He doesn’t just love it, he’s good at it, too, learning to read sheet music as he learns to read hangeul, training his ear so his pitch is perfect. It’s a treat to their parents, to see their son excel so clearly, but they don’t yet realize the storm that was brewing.

2006.

Jinhwan is ten when his parents sit him down at the kitchen table, spoon dug into his rice, and tell him they’re moving to Japan.

He takes it well, all things considered. Jinhwan’s friendly enough, but he’s an introvert at heart— there isn’t many people at his school that he’ll miss. And it’s not like he isn’t used to travelling and plane rides, since his family vacationed often, sometimes for entire summers. Moving is a bit harder, since he’ll have to learn another language, but Jinhwan doesn’t mind. So he just shrugs at his parents, eats a spoonful of rice, and says okay.

He’s only there for a year, which is fine by him, the length of his dad’s contract. It’s enough time for his Japanese to develop, picking up the language quickly between school and his young age. It isn’t enough time for him to make friends, though— who wanted to be friends with the foreign kid who was just going to leave anyways? So instead of making friends, or joining clubs, Jinhwan listens to music. He develops a taste for Japanese rock music, since it’s what’s available to him, the Korean wave not reaching Japan yet. But it’s enough to keep him company until he’s back home, reunited in Incheon with his piano again.

2009.

As soon as Jinhwan puts his hands on his first guitar, he decides that it’s the only thing he ever wants to do. It’s his thirteenth birthday, and his parents get it for him as a surprise, wanting him to branch out from the piano. He was already great at piano, already excelled, and they wanted to see if he could carry the skill.

Jinhwan proves them right three times over. While he loved piano, guitar is all consuming— it becomes an obsession, and soon he’s never caught without a guitar in his hands. He plays until his fingers are calloused and blistering, up until the early morning to practice his favourite songs over and over. With the guitar, he can play the songs he likes to listen to, instead of classical songs his parents want him to play— it becomes his escape, his freedom. School falls away, friends falls away, everything cast to the wayside so Jinhwan could play his guitar, over and over, every second.

His parents realize their mistake soon, when Jinhwan’s grades start slipping. Jinhwan’s always been bright, a clever boy, but his interest in school was out of obligation more than anything. Now that he has something he loves, nothing else matters. They try to dissuade Jinhwan— set rules for when he can play his guitar, crack down on his homework— but it doesn’t work. Because even when they put a pen in his hand and his notebook in front of him, all that come out is chords and melodies, his brain filled with song.

2012.

Jinhwan doesn’t get into a good high school. It’s not like he’s ever tried very hard, and the fact doesn’t upset him in the slightest. His parents, though, are a different story. They scold him for it incessantly, bring it up often, you’re so bright, Jinhwan, if you just applied yourself you could go wherever you wanted. The damage has been done, though, so instead, they focus on Jinhwan getting the best grades possible, sign him up for cram school, make sure he goes. And he does, because he’s not a bad kid, doesn’t want to waste his money— it’s his time spent outside school and his cram academy that becomes a problem.

Jinhwan wants to be a musician. It’s not a new thing to him— he’s known this for a long time. But in high school, now that he’s older and has more freedom, it becomes an obsession. The rock and roll lifestyle becomes his dream— the parties and the touring are far off still, but one thing Jinhwan has access to is drinking. And with a group of friends of burnouts like him, none of them giving a shit about school, it’s something that’s easy to do. It feels good, to him, his stress melting away with the alcohol, when nothing matters other than having a good time. Jinhwan is careful about pictures, knows that if he wants to have a career later on this might not fly, but he’s not careful about his limits, often drinking more than he should when he’s stressed. He knows it’s not the best habit, especially when he’s only sixteen, but he can’t bring himself to care. He doesn’t think of stopping, until his mom finds out.

She keeps it from his father, a small mercy he appreciates, but she cries when she talks to him about it, and fuck if that doesn’t hurt. He kicks it for now, keeps his head down—not to focus on school, never to focus on school, but at least to stay out of trouble. Jinhwan just waits it out, counting down the days until his graduation happens.

2015.

Jinhwan’s graduation happens, and he starts sending auditions for in February, fresh out of high school, just a few months shy of his 19th birthday. He knows he’s screwed his chance at doing much else— it wasn’t like he had been going to an academic high school anyways, and his university entrance exam scores were shit. He didn’t care, though, since there wasn’t anything he wanted to do other than music. Jinhwan’s got a solid bit of confidence under him anyways— his guitar skills were solid, and he could definitely sing. He filmed something in his room, not thinking too much of it, nothing but him, a guitar and a webcam. When he sends it off, he doesn’t stress much about it, but within a few days, he had three offers for contracts. Despite the arguably better chance at success with the bigger companies, Jinhwan chose to join the smallest company in the hopes of more freedom, much to the disappointment of his parents.

He moves away from Incheon immediately, dropping everything to head to Seoul. It wasn’t a hard decision for Jinhwan to make— he had friends in Incheon, sure, but Jinhwan had always been the type to hold people at arm’s length, so he knew he wouldn’t miss them too terribly. Even if he did have people he was particularly close to, Jinhwan’s number one priority was always to become a musician. He told his parents that he was leaving, and despite their attempts to talk him out of it, Jinhwan remained set on his goals. He left his family’s house, and moved into a boarding house in Seoul to focus on his music full time. To say that his parents were disappointed in his choices were an understatement— they disapproved outright, and to Jinhwan, no matter what he did, he could never seem to win them over.

It doesn’t matter, though, once 2016 comes around and Jinhwan is able to start making music. They match him up with a couple other guys in the label, form a band out of four of them, tell them they’ll be called XLNC. They work together to start putting out tracks, playing to their strengths, moody, emotional, artistic. It works, for them, and Jinhwan is happy. There’s still struggle, still hardship— it wasn’t like their company was huge, and resources were scarce— but Jinhwan is making music, performing onstage, and that is the only thing that matters.

2018.

It’s the only thing that matters until it isn’t anymore. The resources get scarcer and scarcer, and in return, the company pushes them harder and harder, getting them to perform at every opportunity they could in order to make money. Jinhwan is exhausted all the time, his body breaking down, his hands constantly in pain from playing with no break and his brain hazy from lack of sleep. And it’s not just their bodies that suffer—they don’t have the money or time to take care of their instruments as well, and Jinhwan loathes as he sees things falling aparts. He just doesn’t expect it to be onstage.

They’re at a rock festival, playing the same songs they’ve been performing for months, when it happens. Jinhwan is playing his guitar, looking down at his hands, going through the motions, when one of his strings snaps. It hits him directly in the face, and for a moment, he’s stunned, before he feels the stinging burn of where it hit him, a welt invariably forming. It hurts, but the show must go on— so he keeps going, taking a moment to turn away from the crowd and get himself together before going back up to the mic. It’s hard to play when he’s down a string, but he manages, though that doesn’t stop him from being pissed as all hell when he leaves the stage, ducking away from the staff who try to help him, to make sure his pretty boy face isn’t damaged for good. Because it didn’t matter, if things were going to be like this all the time, if he couldn’t even play his music properly because the company was screwing him over.

But their saving grace comes soon after—an offer the boys couldn’t refuse, a big company swooping in to save them from obscurity. We saw the video of you boys at the festival, they say, we’re impressed by your music, you boys are professional. We want to offer a contract to all of you, to stay as XLNC but with us instead.

The promise of a big company is alluring, the fame and the resources to tempting to pass up. Jinhwan doesn’t think twice— he’s the first one to sign the contract.

2019.

He’s the first one to sign the contract, but everything at KJH is smoke and mirrors. They were promised fame, promised resources, and relative to what they had before, it’s what they got— but everything comes at a price. Jinhwan is used to the freedom of a smaller company, used to the creative input. Now, though, Jinhwan is always held back, kept from chiming in because the company had it handled for him. You’re an idol now, they tell him, you have other things to worry about.

They push him on variety shows instead, fill up his time with filming for those. Jinhwan knows how to talk, has a silver-tongued charm, feigns charisma easily. He’s pretty enough, tall enough, knows how to flirt and make friends. He knows what he can do, and he does it well, but it’s not what he wants. That doesn’t matter to the company, though— all they see him as is someone they can use.

His image is a cover up, though, nothing but a facade. In reality, Jinhwan’s sensitive to the what others think now that he’s in the public eye, meaning he’s prickly at the best of times and confrontational at the worst. And now that the company is pushing them on social media, making them post frequently, Jinhwan has access to all the opinions— the good, the bad, and the ugly. He’s constantly stressing about what people are saying about them, what the public thinks, how their music is charting. If anything is aimed at Jinhwan in particular, that hits him even harder.

He knows this, though, knows he’s doing this to himself, so he tries not to let himself get to the point of arguing or fighting with others, instead choosing to remove himself from the situation entirely and try to drown the feelings out. His drinking habit comes back, and he knows the members notice it, find it strange how he stays out so late, stumbling into the dorms until the early hours of the morning. Jinhwan tries to hide it from management, but he’s toeing a thin line— one day, he’ll get caught, and he bets it’s soon, but he doesn’t stop. Why deal with bad emotions when you can get drunk, flirt with someone cute, and drown those feelings out with good ones, right?

…Right?

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON XLNC’S MAIN VOCAL, RHYTHM GUITAR LEE YEONGSHIK…

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: King CURRENT AGE: 25 DEBUT AGE: 22 indie / 24 at KJH TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 21 COMPANY: KJH ETC: This member is involved with producing

IDOL IMAGE

“Aren’t you that kid from Hongdae?“ “Wait! He’s the guy that got kicked out of KJH!”

The frequency in which Yeongshik performed on the streets of Pohang and Seoul would certainly not go unnoticed. However, that does not mean he was popular or successful. In fact, any pre-debut images or videos of him on the internet cater more to his looks than his performance ability. Since his official debut as a member of XLNC, some of those images have resurfaced. KJH uses those pieces of media as a means to paint him as XLNC’s King: a passionate hard-working young man who is trying to redeem himself within the idol industry, and with a dream to change the idol music industry for the better.

KJH knew that asking Yeongshik to alter or fabricate a persona for the sake of the band would be more trouble than what it would be worth. Instead, they decided to use his troublesome trainee past, self-important personality in juxtaposition with his tenderness for fans, and a hard-working Northern Geoyongsan country-boy past to push a “tsundere” image. While some of the members were given the permission to keep their own names, KJH felt that if they kept Yeongshik’s very old-sounding name, it would not be easy to market to the younger generations. Instead, the company decided to take his calloused image in contrast with his love for his fans and gave Yeongshik the stage name “Young King” using the “Y” and “K” in his name, but later decided to shorten it to “King”.

KJH has given him permission to openly discuss his past life experiences, even that of his time in KJH if only for it to make the company shine brighter for mercifully allowing the poor misguided youth to return with all quandaries forgiven.

“But you never wanted to be an idol. That’s why you left KJH before, right? So why the sudden change of heart?”

When asked in their earlier interviews what changed his mind about being an idol, his answer is always very frank and honest: the support from fans. Whenever XLNC’s fans, XL-ENTs are brought into the interviews, King cannot help but become soft and a little emotional. He also admits that the hard-working attitude of his fellow members inspires him and keeps him accountable. KJH thrives off of this genuine part of his personality as a means to market his ‘calloused but softening heart’. Very rarely will King ever openly discuss his relationship with the company outside of expressing his gratitude for their resources. However, he has yet to publicly thank them for “saving his band from disappearing”.

“He’s the strong silent type.”

On stage, King exudes confidence and passion behind his guitar and his husky singing voice. However, the second a camera pans in his direction, his newly-discovered case of stage-fright causes him to close his eyes for the majority of the performance. When asked about it, or teased about it on variety shows and interviews, he tries to make jokes about him trying to appear more passionate. However, producers and bandmates find frustrating and annoying when they are trying to film. A lot of apologies are made throughout pre-recording and filming. Some of his fans try to defend him as they see it as a small peek to the softer core of his personality and the “true” Lee Yeongshik.

Generally for interviews and variety shows, the members of XLNC are given leniency as to how they are allowed to act. King willingly developed the persona of being the “black hole” of the group when it comes to variety. It seemed to come naturally with the group’s obvious emotional distance with King and Kings’ general lack of tact and awkwardness in front of a camera. He doesn’t know where to stand, how to stand, which camera to look at, and actually stare at the camera and not meander his eyes elsewhere. The few times that he does talk it usually involves his knowledge of music and fish– at which point it’s nearly impossible to get him to shut up. This has become the butt of many variety jokes and even further decorated his strange variety persona. He has opted to take an even further step back on more recent variety shows and silently encourages his members to be the star variety personalities. However, when it comes to playing games or physical activities on variety shows, he’s suddenly very involved and excited!

“We love ourselves a thoughtful King!”

With their fanbase in Korea, Yeongshik does what he can to support the people that have supported them. He likes to organize small gifts for the few fans that come to their events (usually using money out of his own pocket). At fansigns and fan meets he is very kind to fans, but in a very genuine way that often shocks the fans and the company. He hates acting cute for the sake of being cute and calmly refuses to do aegyo with a tight smile. Even though he likes to treat his fans with care, he also maintains a professional and conservative distance from them. For example, if fans try to act too familiar he gently tries to set them straight. Or if fans try to confess their love to him, he gently turns them down. His unwillingness to conform to these usual idol roles, while being completely within the bounds of his real personality, further feeds into the image that the company has carved for him.

When it comes to interacting with international fans, King absolutely cannot do English. He didn’t study it at all in high school, and can only introduce himself and his role within the band simply because the company forced him to memorize it. His pronunciation is hardly inteligible and he makes no effort to try and improve. This aggravates some of their international fans, but King has no problem playfully shrugging it off and insists that he’s simply not smart enough for English. He has made an effort to study beginner level Japanese before their promotions in Japan and is able to write in Hiragana and Katakana on his social media pages.

“Which member are you the closest to?”

Suffice it to say that the members’ relationship with their main vocalist is rocky at best. Despite sticking through the debut, Yeongshik’s impulsive and selfish behaviour has been the cause of a lot of discomfort and awkwardness between the members. While he apologized for his past behaviour, and is currently making efforts to prove to his band mates that he is here to stay, the process is hard and grueling. The 25 year old, who has always been an independent lone-wolf, is now struggling to learn what it means to become part of a team; and while he doesn’t want to falsely force himself on the others, he is trying to do what he can in private and in the eyes of the public to show his appreciation and support to them.

In their behind-the-scenes footage on their group’s Youtube or live channels, King is more off-to-the-side and observant rather than participating in antics with his members. A lot of fans at the beginning of their debut interpreted this as him trying to appear “mature”, when in reality, he just hadn’t developed that level of closeness with his members. However, as time has worn on, King makes a little more effort to participate in videos with his members usually as the victim of their antics as he is often caught asleep on camera.

On his personal Youtube channel, King tends to primarily share covers of songs that he enjoys. The company allowed for this as a means for him to "release” the rock-side of him that gets repressed form the music he’s forced to do professionally. He has recently started to do reviews of music that has been released within the idol industry (again) as a means to develop a stronger understanding of the genres that he generally wouldn’t listen to. Of course, these videos are heavily edited and reviewed and monitored by KJH. He has asked permission from his company to have guest idols show up on his channel during these reviews to give more insight on the music, and, in the eyes of their respective companies, build partnerships and mutual advertisement opportunities.

Shortly before debut, he opened a Twitter and Instagram account to document his journey within XLNC and to interact with fans and other celebrities within the industry. On Twitter he often writes to his fans expressing his thanks, spams the promotional music show hashtag and shares snapshots of him working. On Instagram, King rarely posts pictures of himself, much to the disappointment of his fans. However, he often does live videos where he will do monitored Q&As, or will share sneak peaks of the latest Youtube video that he’s working on.

“You call yourself a King? Disgusting! Throw yourself back under the rock you came from, Faker!”

Despite his active online presence, hard-working image and rapport with fans and a handful of idols, there is a lot of negativity that still needs to be filtered. There are a handful of XL-ENT fans, as well as aggressive anti-fans that leave hateful comments on his social media pages. Some of these anti-fans suspect that something may have happened before their debut with KJH, given the sudden lack of closeness and chemistry between him and the other members. Some even go so far as to blame King for XLNC’s lack of success and popularity within the idol industry. For now, Yeongshik has been able to maturely avoid lashing out at these fans. But given his impulsive past, KJH is constantly on edge and have been trying to filter out those hateful comments.

IDOL HISTORY

1994 – Born in Pohang 2012 (Age 18) – Tried to promote independently in Pohang while working for his parents. 2013 (Age 19) – Moved to Seoul. 2014 (Age 20) – Tried to promote independently in Hongdae 2014-2015 (Age 21) – Applied and accepted as a trainee at KJH, but was kicked out; started his Youtube channel 2015-2016 (Age 22) – Successfully picked up by an indie-laebl; debuted with XLNC 2018 (Age 24) – XLNC signed with KJH; King threatened to leave the group, but ultimately decided to remain with the group

The Boy Who Would Be King:

Born in the popular port city of Pohang to a fisherman and his wife, Lee Yeongshik spent his entire life by open beaches and bringing his father’s catch to his mother’s stall in the famous Jukdo Market. Music was always tightly woven into Yeongshik’s life: from the music his father would sing while at sea, to the music played on television and radio. But nothing struck his heartstrings or energized him more than that of the rock bands Nell and YB (then known as Yoo Do-Hyun Band).

During his elementary and early high school years he would write lyrics about his life at school or the life of a fisherman’s son, and would remix these lyrics into his favourite existing songs or adjust the composition slightly. While in school, all of his efforts were put into his music classes. He learned how to read sheet music and how to play basic piano. As many teenagers his age tend to do, he challenged social constructs and would write poems or quirky songs that mocked the school system. More than once, his antics caused him some form of detention or other forms of acceptable punishment from his teachers.

For his birthday during his second year of high school, his parents gifted him with a second-hand guitar. Between work in the early morning, school throughout the day and remedial school during most of the early evening, the majority of his free time was spent learning how to play his guitar. Predictably, his grades began to slip and his parents encouraged him to find a tutor: a senior from his school. She appealed to his creativity and was able to make learning fun for him again, and he suddenly felt as though he could understand the meaning to the love songs he had been listening to most of his life. His mind wandered throughout the day at work, school and even tutoring to develop the perfect song to confess his love. When he was finally confident and proud of his creation and performed it to her, his feelings were not reciprocated and weren’t treated seriously. The broken-hearted boy immediately became jaded and bitter and deliberately filtered romance from his life entirely. Any confessions he received were met with cruel shutdowns. The once class-clown became the introverted, crass and outspoken loner.

The Call to Adventure:

As graduation drew near, he and his parents struggled to find a direction for Yeongshik’s future. Between a serious lack of financial security and Yeongshik’s terrible high school grades, post-secondary school simply was not an option. His parents knew he wouldn’t be happy taking over their business so they suggested that he try to pursue music. After graduating by the skin of his teeth, he worked for his parents in the morning and spent his afternoons and evenings busking on the busy streets of Pohang where tourism was the thickest. He would hit the markets and the beaches during the summer, and deeper into the city inside of bus and train stations during the winter. His music was a mix of his own prose as well as remixed covers of existing rock songs. Once he had made enough money, he moved to Seoul to live with his father’s estranged brother.

Yeongshik’s uncle was rarely home and made no effort to manage his small apartment to accommodate his guest. Yeongshik felt more than uncomfortable with his uncle, and would only go home long enough to bathe, sleep and occasionally eat the food his parents sent them. The rest of his days were spent busking in the afternoons and working in convenience stores in the late evenings and early mornings. He attended as many local indie rock events as he could afford, and even attempted to audition to perform. However, as a very young and  inexperienced soloist, gigs were impossible to come by. One of the venue owners suggested that he apply to an idol company if only to utilize their connections and resources. “You have the face and the voice to get in. Make the most of it and go.”

The Refusal:

Feeling desperate, Yeongshik looked into each of the top tier companies within the industry and felt that KJH was the best fit, as they were well known for their artistic freedom and generally produced high-quality music as was proven with the debut of Atlas. KJH told him to leave his guitar at home and to come to vocal lessons and idol training. The vocal lessons were certainly helpful and it was here that he really seemed to excel and was praised for the unique husky and deep quality of his voice that was absent in most current idol groups. Here he learned how to control his voice more and began to push the limits of his overall range. However, his dancing lessons were an entirely different story. His entire artistic career had been behind the security of a guitar and never before had he ever tried to do any kind of dance. His lack of skill and very vocal stubborn unwillingness to learn marked him as a trainee with a poor attitude. His poor attendance for both dance and idol behavioural lessons had him threatened to be kicked out of the company. Yeongshik decided that his pride and integrity as a rock artist was worth more than the resources that KJH had to offer, so during his final review and threat to be kicked out of the company, Yeongshik uncouthly vocalized his desire to quit and dropped out of the company. Even though Yeongshik’s connections and friendships within KJH were very few (given his aloof personality), he didn’t realize just how badly he had burned some of those bridges. Rumours spread like wildfire about his poor attitude and laziness as an idol.

Meeting the Mentor:

Once again, Yeongshik returned to busking on the streets of Hongdae. During this time he had decided to open up a Youtube account to hopefully reach a broader audience. With his uncle rarely home, he had the ample quiet space to work and record. His channel featured some of his best street-performances as well as recordings in the apartment of songs he wanted to share in higher quality. The comments in his videos were met with a mixture of praises and firey insults from those who had heard about his departure from KJH. Any of his rock covers that featured Atlas’ songs or any idol group were immediately flagged and reported by his ever aggressive antis, and at that point he decided to abandon the idea of gaining views with pop-covers and became a fully-fledged rock cover artist while sharing a few snippets of his own lyricless compositions.

After some time, he was approached by a familiar-looking representative of an indie-label that Yeongshik had attempted to audition for during his first few months in Seoul. The agent had said that with his talent with a guitar and husky voice, he would make a great candidate for their new band that they were hoping to debut in the following year. Yeongshik immediately agreed to participate in the audition for the band. He wasn’t even remotely hurt by the fact he had gone unrecognized by the agent. He was ready now and that was all that mattered.

Upon his arrival, the judges were very quick to praise him for his perseverance in trying to make it in the industry both on the streets and online. They also complimented him on his improved vocals and talent with his guitar. However, his reputation with KJH had left a very dark mark on his resume. They still presented him the opportunity to audition and after hearing him sing a cover and then share one of his own compositions with his guitar, they decided that they would allow him to join the other candidates for the band to test his chemistry and work ethic.

When he was introduced to the other members of the band that were present at the time, he found that they were already quite close to each other. Yeongshik visibly struggled to make an effort to connect with the other members, though not because he didn’t want to. The musician had been so engrossed with his own personal success that he had never had to consider the thoughts and opinions of others before this moment. However, gradually over time he started to open up a little more and was more approachable. His rough Kyungsan-do exterior and accent still painted him out to be aloof and unfriendly, but his bandmates started to understand him a little more and eventually their openness began to reflect in their chemistry when practicing and training together.

Crossing The Threshold:

The following 2 years were a trying but glorious time for XLNC. Their fanbase was small, but they were undoubtedly recognized for their talents within their small indie empire. With their constant performances and appearances around the country, Yeongshik’s Youtube presence started to dwindle due to a lack of time to edit his videos and was focusing more on producing. He adopted instagram and while he didn’t necessarily post many pictures, he would use the platform for live streams to openly interact with fans. Yeongshik’s relationship with his fellow band members seemed to solidify itself a little more. He was still the strong silent type, or the type that said a little too much at the wrong time. The lifestyles of the other members were very different from his own– but all was forgotten and forgiven the second the group was behind their instruments.

Ordeal, Death and Rebirth:

As luck would have it, the indie-label was unable to financially keep themselves stable and they presented XLNC the opportunity to sign with KJH. With the skyrocketing success of Atlas and rise of Jawbreaker, Yeongshik theorized that the indies’ fall was entirely KJH’s fault; that the idol company had bought out the indie-label in order to easily acquire what success XLNC had built on their own. Yeongshik spared no one’s feelings when he told his bandmates about what he had experienced in KJH and threatened to leave the band if they agreed to join KJH. The company was more than familiar with Yeongshik’s explosive nature and had come prepared with the proposition of producing opportunities, unlimited resources and higher quality marketing to reach a broader audience. They allowed him time to think it over before officially signing on with the rest of the group. Eventually, after a few long arguments with his band members that lasted late into the night, Yeongshik begrudgingly agreed to sign with the the rest of the group.

KJH spared no expense in milking the purchase of an indie group and they were even more excited to promote their edgy rebirth into the idol industry. Yeongshik was renamed King, much to his disdain, and while he was given production rights he had no where near the freedom that they had allegedly promised. Each of his creations were immediately shot down and rejected claiming that they didn’t fit the new image and that he needed to try harder. There was little to no support given to him from other people within the company as they all took this opportunity to extract their revenge on his poor behaviour in the past. His bandmates held a grudge against him not only for his past that was affecting their future opportunities within KJH, but they were also still very burned by his threat to leave the group.

King began to relapse back into himself again and kept himself busy by reopening his Youtube account. It is tightly monitored by the company and a few videos were forced to be removed because of whatever excuses they decided to throw at him. He was lucky enough to have been given the option to turn his instagram account private and opened a new one under KJH’s strict supervision. His anti-fanbase resurfaced, angrier than ever at Yeongshik’s return to KJH. The company was kind enough to take on the task of constantly monitoring his accounts to try and remove as many of the death threats as possible, but it didn’t stop fueling the anger and disappointment within the musician.

Reward and Seizing the Sword:

While things are still rough now within the company, a year after their debut under KJH, King was able to acquire a few small victories. His first victory was in finally receiving his first production credit for the song ‘Still’. With KJH dangling their carrot of production credits in front of his face, and giving him the occasional pat on the head for his good behaviour, King’s temper and bitterness began to simmer. He grew to realize that he had no one to share these victories with. He longed for the days when he and his bandmates had good chemistry on stage and were able to actually stand being together and share in their victories. After opening up to one of the few seniors he knew within the industry, at their suggestion he began to slowly attempt to mend his relationship with his bandmates and other idols within KJH. It’s far from perfect, but the effort he’s putting in has some people scratching their heads and wondering if it’s worth giving him a second chance. KJH suggested that he start opening up his cover projects to feature other artists as a means to share promotions for each other, while they secretly hoped it would paint him in a brighter and more idol-friendly image.