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somewheric · 10 months

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230725 "21st Century Boyz": Younghoon Interview for Arena Homme+ (ENG)

We’ve heard you were cast while eating bread at the convenience store. What did you have to eat this morning?

YH: My first meal today was the musubi available at the photoshoot site. It was delicious. (laughs) I’m not the kind who eats well in the morning. I make sure to eat lunch and dinner instead.

What do you have on days where you have a photoshoot like today, or on days where you think “I did well today”?

YH: I drink whiskey. I like Jack Daniels and Balvenie. If I go home, wash up, and drink [whiskey] on the rocks before bed, I’ll feel that “I’ve worked hard today”. (laughs)

The yakgwa pastry is popular these days. What are some of your recent interests?

YH: Vintage. We’ve been going a lot to Japan these days so I went into a vintage shop and bought two or so shirts and I’m wearing them day and night. It was a brown shirt that had all this paint on it so it was strangely eye-catching. I tried it on and immediately bought it. Ah, I’m into something else too: dried salmon. There’s dried salmon in every convenience store in Japan. I buy a lot of it every time I go there. It’s so delicious.

We’re always curious about what kind of things an idol buys when they go abroad but vintage shirts and dried salmon sure are unexpected. If your company said “starting from tomorrow, enjoy one week of vacation, do everything you want,” what would you want to do?

YH: Ohh. First, I think I’d go home. I want to meet with my friends in the neighborhood, go on a long overdue date with my family. To be honest, I don’t really like going abroad. Because I’m too scared of planes. (laughs) Even so, if I had a vacation I’d want to go on a trip with my family after a long time. Either Tokyo or Okinawa would be nice.

So you plan vacations like any office worker. What’s your preferred stress reliever? Personally, I start by ordering chicken.

YH: I discovered while working that I'm surprisingly not the kind to get stressed. There’s been times when I couldn’t sleep for days, so of course my body got tired. But I’ve never felt like “I’m annoyed”, or “I don’t want to do this”. Even if I get annoyed, within an hour I’m over it. I don’t even think “I shouldn’t be stressed”, I just don’t get stressed? So with that I realized [mine] is a really well-suited personality for this job.

You’re a good member of society. Earlier during the shooting you were eyeing a watch in the studio. Are you into watches?

YH: I really like watches. I feel good just looking at them. I don’t wear one everyday but looking at a ticking clock makes me happy.

Do you have a collection too?

YH: I have about 4 or 5 at home. I only buy the bracelet models for watches.

We’ve heard that you bought gifts for your parents and for your older brother with the first money you earned in your life. Did you gift them watches at the time?

YH: Yes. (laughs) I gave watches to my older brother and to my mom, and I gave shoes and a belt to my dad. It was my mom’s birthday recently so my brother and I collected our money and bought her a bag as a gift.

What was her reaction?

YH: Funny thing is, we’ve been thinking of buying her a bag for a while now, but my mom picked it up first and said “buy this one for me”. So we bought that one, of course. Her reaction was really good.

I’m scared my mom will see this interview and give me a call. Did you ever think of using a stage name? I’m curious to know if there were any candidates.

YH: Back when the company told us to choose a stage name, I picked “아이” (T/N: Literally “A-I”, pronounced as “eye”), “i” in English. There was no special reason, I just thought it looked cool. (laughs) The company rejected it. Now I’m grateful that they did.

You’re famous for your love for your dog, Bori. Let’s have a “Bori pride” moment.

YH: It’s “our Bori”. (laughs) If I go back home after six months, she recognizes me right away. She greets me and cries for a good few minutes. Then she takes me to my room, which has been empty for a while. Usually Bori sleeps on the bed with my mom, but when I go home she needs to sleep in my bed.

It’s moving to have a dog with you often.

YH: Absolutely. I hear that when I’m not home, she doesn’t even care about my room. Even so, she always greets me so enthusiastically, for that alone I’m very grateful and very proud. She’s the most lovely existence in my life.

We’ve heard you like BTS’ V among artists. Do you have a role model now?

YH: I don’t. If I pick a role model, I could start unknowingly copying them. Now I have a strong desire to become a cooler and better Younghoon who receives love from fans.

This year marks 6 years since your debut. Is there anything you felt has changed about you since that time?

YH: What changed the most is how I feel about the fans. During debut, I used to think “why do these people like me?”. Of course I’m grateful. But then again, I had released one song as a member of THE BOYZ and was thinking “but will they like it, what can I do to repay them”. Now I’m not that wary. I like the fans very much as well. My relationship with TheBs is that we have formed a bond over time. It’s more than just living up to their love and expectations; now I think “I must give these people reasons to like me”, “they shouldn’t be ashamed to say they’re a fan of Younghoon.”

This is a vague question but to Younghoon, what kind of person is a cool person?

YH: It’s a person with manners. When you see someone being rude (T/N: with no manners), you start wondering [what the person does] when you can’t see it, right? You think “that person must be like that everywhere”. Likewise, a person with manners makes you think “that person must be kind to everyone”. Being a good person isn’t that big of a deal. I think that a person who says “thank you” with a smile after buying something at the convenience store won’t behave like a rude person anywhere else.

Last question. What kind of singer, what kind of person would Younghoon like to be 10 years from now?

YH: A singer who does his best at his job. I want to be remembered as a singer who liked and treasured his fans. I’ll be in my 30s so I’d like to be doing what I want even better than now. If it’s hard, that’s fine. I’ll be happy if I’m in my 30s enjoying doing my best at the things I want to do.

(source; translation may contain inaccuracies!)

#long post #t:younghoon #younghoon #i:arena #230725 #the boyz #interview #kim younghoon

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