[INTERVIEW] Boy band INFINITE - Part 2

From left, INFINITE members Dong-woo, Hoya, Sung-kyu, L, Woo-hyun, Sung-jong and Sung-yeol. [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

10: I also heard you were preparing for your showcase in Japan.
Woo-hyun: It's slated for April. I think it'll be very meaningful because it'll be our first time holding a showcase overseas. And none of us have been to Japan other than Hoya.
L: I have a fantasy about Japan.

10: ...What kind?
L: Why are you looking at me in a strange way? (laugh) It's just that I heard about how we'll get to do our camera rehearsal a day in advance and they have good sound systems so I think we'll get to put on a good performance.

10: You're going to have to learn some Japanese as well. Are you ready?
Woo-hyun: I think... Sung-kyu is getting ready.
Sung-kyu: I'd received lessons before. Hajimemashite. Watashi no Sung-kyu des.

10: But the downside to leaving the translating up to one person is that you won't know what he's saying about you...
Woo-hyun: We do that much too.
Sung-jong: We trust him.
Woo-hyun: Hajimemashite. Watashi no Woo-hyun des. Arigato gozaimasu.

10: The biggest dream for new singers is to hold their own concert. If you get to do that one day, what do you want to show the audience?
L: I'm learning the guitar right now and I'm not good yet but I'll make a song that I'll sing for my fans if we get to hold a concert.
Sung-kyu: I'm expecting it to take seven years.
Sung-jong: I'd like to start by singing a song that I sing the best, and then dance a little while singing a segment from a trot song. And more than anything, I'd like to throw myself into the audience and have them carry me around.
Woo-hyun: You might die. (all laugh)

10: What would you do if Sung-jong was in danger after jumping into the crowd?
Sung-kyu: I'll have to jump in after him.
Woo-hyun: He'd already be dead though.
Sung-jong: I want to make a cool appearance by hanging on a wife, I mean wire, like they do in musicals.
Woo-hyun: What? Wife?
Sung-jong: Hang by my legs and fly!
Sung-yeol: I'd like to make our audience laugh by dancing comically or singing trot.
Dong-woo: (laugh) I would...
Woo-hyun: React.
Sung-jong: Dong-woo would get a VIP seat and watch what we're doing.
Dong-woo: Seriously, I'd just really like everyone to have fun. (laugh)
Woo-hyun: He laughs so much that there's rumor he laughs 100 people worth of laughter when he goes on a show as a panelist.
Sung-kyu: I'd like to sing an R&B song while playing the piano and also do rock music with a band.
Hoya: I'd like to put on a special performance that can't be shown on television, like a rated R concerts and put on a show that's steamy like Usher's.
INFINITE: Ohhhhhhhh!

Hoya [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

10: Sung-jong, it seems that you act charming a lot and speak softly but it sometimes seems like you have everyone wrapped around your finger. What is everyone’s thoughts on the youngest member of your group?
Sung-jong: I do respect everyone occasionally and…
Sung-yeol: Wait! He’s lying! We’re all actually quite shy so we were hanging out amongst ourselves while shooting the track and field competition for idols yesterday when we saw that Sung-jong was hanging out with other artists. So I went to him to hang out with them as well when he said to me, “What are you guys doing? You’re hanging out by yourselves again, aren’t you?” I mean, it’s not like he was wrong but…
Woo-hyun: You said, “Come with me if you have nothing to do.” Right? (laugh)
Sung-jong: No, it was just because I was curious what they were up to. (laugh) Anyway, I do respect them occasionally and I like that they take good care of me. But in a way, I sometimes feel like I’m the adult. Not once a month though… maybe once every few months?

10: It looks like you received a lot of love while growing up, seeing how you’re always so confident and at ease.
Sung-kyu: Well actually, when we were trainees… Wait, am I allowed to tell this?
Sung-jong: (laugh) Go ahead.
Sung-kyu: I told him one day, “You really look very pretty.” And to that he responded very seriously, “It’s hard to find someone like me.”
Hoya: That’s right. I was once on a music show with Sung-jong and he said, “I’m prettier” while looking at girl groups!
Sung-kyu: At least it’s cute because Sung-jong says it. It would be scary if someone like Hoya said it.

10: You’ll be taking your college entrance exam this year since you’re a senior in high school. Do you think the other members of your band will be of help in your studies?
Sung-jong: I’m guessing they will. They all graduated high school. (all laugh)
Sung-kyu: Yes, you’re right but man… Yes, we all graduated high school!
Sung-jong: No. I meant that you’re all more knowledgeable than I am…

10: Is there anyone you’d want to be partners with if you got to appear on MBC’s make-believe married show “We Got Married”?
Woo-hyun: Orange Caramel. There’s three of them so them with the three of us. Hoya, Sung-jong and myself like them.

Woo-hyun [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

10: What’s your mindset when you’re working with girl groups on variety shows?
Woo-hyun: We have to pretend we’re being goofy.
Sung-yeol: Goofy when we actually mean things? (laugh)
Dong-woo: Or you’re pretending to be serious when you’re actually just goofing around?
Woo-hyun: I goof around a lot on camera by saying things like, “There’s no reason to liking someone.”
Sung-yeol: And those are forbidden clips to fans.

10: Well it seems like Sung-jong is the one that doesn’t get nervous on television or when meeting female celebrities.
Sung-kyu: It’s because he’s confident. He knows that his looks aren’t commonplace. (all laugh)
Sung-yeol: He knows he has a face that works with every woman.
Sung-jong: Man… They’re killing me.
Hoya: I’m quite shy but Sung-jong is great at hanging out with the girl groups so he once asked me to follow him and introduced me to one of them. But it was so uncomfortable because it was so sudden!
Sung-yeol: I once asked him to take me as well because I want to become friends with them too but he took me and just stood me there while he chatted away with them.
Woo-hyun: Sung-jong, what do you talk about?
Sung-jong: All sorts of things like, ‘Hey, I had fun watching that program you were in,’ ‘You did a good job with that.’ Those kind of things.
Woo-hyun: Wow, did you even watch those shows?
Sung-kyu: Woo-hyun is actually very friendly as well but he’s the type that’ll prepare what he has to say and gets flustered if something goes wrong. Sung-jong is a natural.
Sung-yeol: I really thought it’s quite amazing. He’s extremely friendly. I once say how he went to miss A’s Min and said, “Min, I danced, ‘Breath.’” and she’d respond, “Oh really?” which would start the conversation. Then five minutes later, you’d see that they’ve decided to talk in the casual form of speech to each other.
Sung-jong: I’m the one that’s taken you there so you have to take care of the conversations. I wouldn’t know what to do being the third person.

※ Any copying, republication or redistribution of 10Asia's content is expressly prohibited without prior consent of 10Asia. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.

Reporter : Choi Ji-Eun five@, Lee Ga-on
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@