[Exclusive Interview] ”OnlyOneOf” talks about their first impressions of each other and their hairstyles

Korean boy group OnlyOneOf gave an interview to wowKorea ahead of their fan-con at Yamano Hall on the 26th and 27th October, where they spoke about their passion for the show and their weapon(!?), their abs. The members themselves admit that they ‘can't stop talking’ and talk a lot about their passion for the performances as well as about their abs, which are also their weapon (!?).


Q. Please give us an introduction to the group, including the origin of the group name.

Nine: We named the group ‘OnlyOneOf’ with the goal of ‘becoming the only one in this world’.
JunJi: Then let's all say hello to each other.
All: Hello, we are ‘OnlyOneOf’.


Q. This is your first visit to Japan in about seven months, what would you like to say to the lyOn (‘OnlyOneOf’ fans) in Japan?

Mill: Last time we performed in Yokohama, but this time we are performing in Shinjuku. We are honoured to meet so many lyOn fans and we would like to repay them with a more enjoyable performance. Please come a lot.


Q. Please tell us what you wanted to show most or what we should expect from the fan-con at Yamano Hall on 26th and 27th this time.

YooJung: This time, in addition to dance songs, we have prepared a lot of vocal songs. I think fans will enjoy them.
KB: In addition, we plan to perform many Japanese versions of songs, so please look forward to them.


Q. In your videos and photos, ‘OnlyOneOf’ is characterised by showing off their masculine beauty while displaying their vivid abs, can you explain a little more about the concept called ‘Weaversexual’?

Nine: Actually, we are a team that emphasises musicality rather than abs as our main concept. But we also emphasise the masculine side, and the concept of ‘Weaversexual’ was born. I think we added the German word ‘Weaver’, which means ‘SUPER’, and this is how we came up with this expression. But this time the costume doesn't look like this. (Refer to the photos in the article.)
wowKorea: Will you show it on stage?
Nine: It depends on the costume. Please check it on stage.


Q. It takes a lot of effort for all members to maintain their clear abs. How do you adjust your daily diet and exercise?

KB: To be honest, I don't usually manage my menu thoroughly. In order to be able to maintain it all the time, I separate the season and the off-season. During the season, I try to manage my menu well and keep my body fit, and during the off-season, I try to have time for refreshment.
Nine: Once the activity starts, I immediately go into management mode, but once the activity is over, I go into a rest period. During the rest period, I eat as much as I want and take a short break from exercise to relax.


Q: I understand that you have a unique world view and concept, with the units being divided into different units from ‘Instinct Part.1’ and each unit having their own solo songs and couples. Can you tell us more about this world view and concept? Also, the drama Bump up business, which was filmed with the units, was recently broadcast in Japan, how was the filming? Do you know which units your fans like? Furthermore, if you were to change to a unit that you think works well with each other, how would you change it?

Nine: Our concept consists of each unit being a couple and developing solo songs. The concept has one integrated worldview, but we want people to enjoy our expression through its songs and moods more.
Mill: Filming ‘Bump up business’ was the first acting experience for all of us. We were anticipating how the fans would react to the filming, and we thought that we would be able to attract more new fans.
JunJi: If we were to change units, I would be interested in the ‘Gyu-mil’ couple of KB and Mill. I'm interested in them because they are the eldest and youngest son and they seem to be able to utilise each other's personalities.
YooJung: I think fans would be pleased if these two, who look like ‘Tom and Jerry’, play serious love scenes.
Mill: I don't want to, and I've never imagined it (laughs).
KB: Yeah, I don't seem to be qualified to say no first, but hand m.
Nine: I feel satisfied with the couples that our agency has put together, and whenever fans make a lot of requests at fan signing events, such as ‘I want these two to do a couple’, I overlook it, thinking ‘that would be interesting too’.
Mill: I'm definitely going to look over it.


Q. Starting with the Tokyo and Osaka shows in March, you have been on a world tour with many shows in the US, Europe and even Asia and Oceania over a period of about four months.

JunJi: I'm interested in the members' impressions. Among them, I'm interested in Rie's impression. You cried a lot while performing on the tour.
Rie: Personally, if I hadn't chosen this kind of profession in my life, I wouldn't have been able to go to so many places. In a way, if our fans didn't like us, we would never have met them, but we were very grateful that they came so far to visit us and support us. It was really emotional.
JunJi: During every encore, you would turn around and cry. Then I approached him and said, ‘Brother, what are you doing?’ And when I approached him, he was crying...
Mill: When I set my goal as a singer, my second goal was to do a world tour. In Taiwan, our fans surprised us with a video of us performing, and when I saw it, tears flowed. It was really emotional for me to feel the love and support from the fans.
YooJung: As the members said earlier, it was a really good experience for me to experience something I have never experienced in my life through the world tour, meeting many lyOn people and visiting diverse places.


Q. You have recently set up a personal Instagram. How did you set up each ID and what is the background and meaning behind it?

YooJung: My ID is ‘yoocopie’. I crossed the ‘Yoo’ in my name ‘YooJung’ with a Korean snack called Choco Pie. Choco Pie is a Korean confectionery that also means ‘sharing feelings’, and since my name is Yoo Jung, I chose ‘yoocopie’ as a play on words.
Nine: My Insta-ID is ‘noventanine’ - I wanted to use ‘Nine’ meaning ‘nine’ because I was born in 1999, but I couldn't use it because there are many IDs that contain ‘Nine’. Therefore, we decided to look for other words that mean ‘9’. After looking at all the movies in the world that really contained the word ‘9’, we found ‘Noventa’, which means ‘90’ in Spanish. I combined ‘Noventa’ for ‘90’ and ‘Nine’ for ‘9’ and came up with ‘noventanine’.
KB: My ID is ‘kowabooonga’. I was looking for a name that had a ‘KB’ in it but also had meaning, and I liked the word ‘kowaboonga’, which means ‘hurray’, the feeling you get when you ride a wave in surfing. I just love surfing, so I thought it was perfect and decided on ‘kowabooonga’.
JunJi: My ID is ‘no.junji’. I used to give all my character names as ‘not JunJi’, ‘not JunJi’, ‘isn't it JunJi’, etc., which is why I decided on ‘NoJunji (not JunJi)’. I also remembered my grandfather telling me to be No.1, so I crossed the ‘No’ in No.1 with JunJi and decided on ‘no.junji’.
Rie: My ID is ‘hooopixx’. My real name is Lee Seong-ho, so I combined the ‘ho’ in my name with ‘pix’, which means photo, to make ‘hooopix’ at first. To indicate that there is more than one photo, I added an x to make it ‘hooopixx’, which means ‘Song-ho's photos’.
Mill: My ID is ‘millionysl’. I really wanted to just use ‘million’, but it was already in use, so I added the first letter of my name ‘ysl’ to make it ‘millionysl’, which I like because it seems to contain Mill and lyOn together.


Q. Looking at ‘OnlyOneOf’'s styling, you have tried many different hair colours and styles, what has been your favourite style so far and any interesting stories related to it?

JunJi: For this story, I really didn't like my hairstyle back then, but I had a style called the ‘visual abandonment cut’, where the fringes covered my eyes. However, thanks to my unique hairstyle, a lot of people noticed it. Once, a cinematographer saw my hair in the toilet and said to me, ‘Aren't you JunJi?’ I was so happy to be noticed by him. That episode comes to mind, but I think the hairstyle I had at that time was interesting and a style that left me with a lot of memories.
YooJung: I have as many episodes about hairstyles as JunJi, but there was once a time when I had very long hair. At that time, we went out for shabu-shabu and a man suddenly handed me his business card and asked me, ‘Are you married?’ He asked me. So he asked me if I wanted to attend a party at the end of the year, if I wasn't married. I did some research and found out that the company offers a service for women of marriageable age to connect with men at parties. But they thought I was a woman and gave me their card. Also, when I went to exercise, I was changing in the changing room with my hair tied up because it was in the way, and one of them was very surprised when I opened the door and walked in, thinking I was a woman.
Mill: JunJi and YooJung, together they only had one eye, they both had the most unique haircuts.


Q. I would like to ask you about the relationship between the members. What were your first impressions of each other? Tell us about where and how you first met and how the distinctive group OnlyOneOf was formed.

Mill: I met Rie for the first time on the day of the audition. Actually, we met first than the other members, but at that time Rie had a very friendly, first-time atmosphere, like a university student who had come to Tokyo from the countryside. I was also from the countryside, so I remember feeling a natural affinity with her. That day, Rie auditioned before me, and to my surprise, she came out within two or three minutes. I thought, ‘Did she fail?’ I thought to myself, ‘I'm going to make a strong appeal’ and went in for the audition. But when I walked out after the audition, Rie had finished so early that she hadn't even finished tying her shoelaces yet, and I was a little worried that we might both have failed. When we parted, we said that it would be nice if we could meet again at another company, and I was really surprised when the office contacted me later and we met again.
Rie: The audition went by so quickly for me too, I had no idea whether I would pass or not. So I was really surprised when we met again.
As for my first impression of JunJi, I had a strong impression that he was a ‘practice bug’ (a Korean expression meaning someone who practices a lot). When we first started practising, I was always impressed by the way he stood in front of the mirror in the practice room and danced. Seeing that, I felt that he would be successful in whatever he did.
JunJi: When I first saw Mr KB, I thought, ‘Wow, he looks like an actor’. He looked a bit like the actor Song Joong Ki, and he seemed very quiet. But one day, we had time to talk like friends and KB suddenly started telling me a series of interesting stories. That's when I discovered a new side of him, that he is surprisingly funny.
KB: My first impression of Nine was that she was a very polite person. At first I thought she might have completed her military service, but I was surprised to find out that she is actually a high school student. Moreover, he was a simple high school student with a strong dialect, and I remember thinking that it would be a bit difficult to correct this dialect.
Nine: So, is that the end?
KB: Yes, it's over (laughs).
Nine: My first impression of YooJung was that he seemed the scariest of the members. But although he looked scary, he was also the person who made me want to get to know him the fastest. I was very happy when YooJung played pranks on me during dance lessons and I wanted to be friends with him. Even now that we've become closer, I still feel that YooJung is like a soft sundubu.
Mill: YooJung is really like a university student in Seoul, and has a very ‘weaver sexual’ vibe.
YooJung: When I first saw Mill, I felt very close to him because he is also from Gwangju. My first impression was that she was naive, mischievous and cute. I was very impressed by the way she introduced herself with her short, bobbed head and spoke in dialect, ‘18 years old, Lee Yong Soo, 55 kilos’, and I still have a strong impression of that initial impression of her. I think he has grown up really well now.

wowKorea: How was the process of becoming a distinctive group with such a rich personality ‘OnlyOneOf’?
KB: We participated together from the auditions and spent a lot of time together and naturally became close to each other, and I think that chemistry became an important element in shaping the current ‘OnlyOneOf’.
YooJung: Since we were trainees, we practised together every month in various areas such as dancing, singing and writing lyrics, and received recognition. When deciding on our debut song, all the members discussed which song they wanted to do and decided together, so we created an environment where all the members could sing the songs they really like. Through this process, I feel that the colours of OnlyOneOf gradually came together.


Q. You have a great career in radio, especially YooJung, who has facilitated a lot of the shows. You also make a lot of guest appearances, but does YooJung have a role as the ‘DJ in charge’ of ‘OnlyOneOf’? If all members were to take on different roles within the group, what would they be? Also, if you were to be a radio DJ, which time slot would you like to be in charge of a programme?

YooJung: Rather than being able to appear on many programmes because I'm a good and interesting speaker, I'm from an arts high school and have many friends in the arts, so I was often asked to be a part of the group because of that. I'm sure that's what got me a lot of radio appearances. And actually, the other members are better talkers and more interesting than me. The writers and PDs were really happy when all the members appeared together or some of us appeared together. The flow of conversation is important in radio, and the members are really good at talking.
Mill: But there's one thing we're often told. We're often told, ‘I want you to do it in time’ (laughs). When we start talking, we can't stop, and if you ask us a question, we just keep talking. That's why we often don't get halfway through the script, and we never finish everything on time.
Nine: I'm usually only able to progress about one third of the way through the script. What radio time slot would you like to work on?
Mill: I prefer to be on at night, around 9-10pm. Actually, 11pm to 12am would be ideal, but sometimes someone's birthday falls on it. I don't want to lose that time, so I think 9-10pm is just right. I'd be happy if after the serial drama is over, people can relax and be like ‘let's listen to the radio’.
Rie: I like 11pm, I'd be happy if people could listen to my radio at the end of the day.
JunJi: I like 11pm too.
Rie: Why are you copying me? Let's compromise on 10.30pm then (laughs).
KB: Then 11pm for me too! (Laughter)
Nine: I would like to be in charge of the radio from 1am. I hope to be a DJ who chats happily and prevents people from falling asleep at the wheel.
YooJung: I want to be in the morning time slot and help office workers start their day. Actually, I've recently been practising ‘miracle mornings’ (efficient use of time to get up before 6am to exercise, read and engage in self-development). It was difficult at first, but once I got used to it, I feel that I have a better rhythm in my life and my body feels more energetic. I want to be a DJ who spreads health to listeners and cheers them up.

wowKorea: What are your roles within the group?
Mill: I'm in charge of rapping and energising. It's like a sports drink, it's an energiser.
Rie: I'm the sexy one in the team.
JunJi: I am the practice bug.
KB: I'm in charge of the ‘OnlyOneOf’ gals.
Nine: I'm in charge of Agee, and since KB is the gal, I'm going to go with ‘Agee’.
YooJung: I'm... a bit shy to say it myself, but I'm in charge of balancing the team. I'm in charge of neutrality.


Q. Finally, how long will ‘OnlyOneOf’ keep their abs on show? Also, what are your future plans and what would you like to say to your Japanese fans?

YooJung: I think self-discipline is an essential virtue for performers, so I think I can show you my abs for the rest of my life. The members have also started exercising and we are all training together and teaching each other, so we should be able to continue to do so.
Mill: Right now, there is an exercise boom among us and we are steadily taking care of our bodies, so I think we can be a group that can always show off our abs.
Nine: We are planning to do well on our schedule in Japan starting from the 25th and also greet our Japanese fans through Fromm. We will continue to communicate a lot through Fromm and as soon as we decide on new activities, we will tell you about them. We will do our best to make our fans happier than anyone else. Thank you so much.