MINGYU and SEUNGKWAN of K-pop boy group SEVENTEEN shared how strict their agency was to them in their early debut days.
On July 13, the first episode of boy group MONSTA X's leader SHOWNU and another boy group NCT's member JUNGWOO's new YouTube show "NOPOGY" was released online.
This episode of "NOPOGY" featured their close friends MINGYU and SEUNGKWAN.
While they all chatted together, MINGYU and SEUNGKWAN brought up the relationship between MONSTA X and SEVENTEEN.
MINGYU mentioned, "MONSTA X debuted about a week before SEVENTEEN. But even that week made you seem like sunbae," jokingly adding, "We could hardly look at you in the eye."
SHOWNU chuckled and commented, "Really? It's just a week. We're not that sunbae to you guys."
He continued, "I do remember seeing you guys a lot at music shows. We used to promote for like 8 to 9 weeks whenever we released albums back then."
He then asked, "You guys don't play Mafia game in your waiting room anymore, right? I still vividly remember seeing you guys playing Mafia game back then while waiting for your recordings."
SEUNGKWAN replied, "We don't play it nowadays, but during our first and second albums, we played a lot. Ah, it was really fun."
Explaining why SEVENTEEN used to play Mafia game by themselves in their waiting room, he said, "Our agency was very strict with us at that time. They only allowed us to spend time with each other and didn't let us talk to other groups."
SEUNGKWAN shared, "If I talked to other groups, I would get in trouble with the company staff. I still remember getting a warning after talking with the members of MONSTA X."
MINGYU then expressed gratitude towards SHOWNU, saying, "PLEDIS was the first company for all the SEVENTEEN members, so we didn't know anyone else in the industry. Many groups seemed to know each other, but we all just trained at PLEDIS, so we knew nobody. But MONSTA X members approached us first and started conversations with us. I'm still thankful for that."
SEUNGKWAN added, "Yeah, so I was always eager to chat with you guys, so I'd sneak over to talk with you. But then our company staff would catch me and ask, 'Are you seriously going to keep going back and forth like that?' Back then, we even had to go to the restroom in groups of three."
Surprised, JUNGWOO asked, "You had to go to the restroom in groups of three?"
MINGYU confirmed, "That's right. If I needed to go and no one else did, I had to wait until someone could come with me," recalling the strict management by their agency during their early debut days.
(Credit= 'KBS Kpop' YouTube)