Korean Media News

Hongdae tea time with BTOB, “Fall into the charms of the 7 men~”
[Jang Jinlee Reporter] On the afternoon of a weekday in May, we met up with the members of BTOB in front of the streets of Hongdae. The members, who had been filled with tiredness from their busy schedules, smiled as soon as they came out of the car. We met the members for an interview so we decided to talk like what an interview implies.

Instead of asking the same old questions with the same old answers, we wanted to see BTOB’s real appearance and charms. We could ask Naver hyungnim what their title song was and how many songs were on their album anyways.

Maybe it was because of the freedom you could feel on the streets of Hongdae, but the BTOB members who looked like a stereotypical idol ready to say their greeting turned into boys you can find in the neighborhood.

As soon as we entered the cafe, the members were even more excited. BTOB members start gawking and talking all over each other at the iPad menu. Their charismatic idol group image was long gone and they all just looked like boys in their 10s and teens in their 20s.

It take more than 10 minutes for BTOB to pick their items from the menu. Peniel, who can’t drink anything with coffee inside looks for sweeter things on the menu, Minhyuk and Changseob start to question their order earlier and think about changing what they had ordered. After long consideration, each of the members chose they like to drink and nodded with a smile of satisfaction.

From the BTOB members, Minhyuk has the most memories in Hongdae. Minhyuk stated, “I went to a cram school here. I lived near the Shinchon and Hongdae areas for a long time.” Peniel, who is from Chicago, commented honestly, “I don’t really know Hongdae too well.”

While we were taking pictures at the cafe, BTOB members were the happiest because of the many manga and character figures. The members weren’t pretending to read, but they were actually all over the cafe pulling out mangas like little boys.  The various plastic models attracted BTOB’s attention as well. When the reporter commented that all he knew was Keroro, the members started to get excited and pointed out the others saying, “That is Kiroro. That is Dororo, Tororo…”

While we were at it, we decided to ask some typical questions idol groups get asked. When we asked who was the crybaby of the group, all the members eyes turned to Minhyuk without a word. We later found out that Minhyuk had cried so much at the Showcase, their debut stage, causing other members to get teary eyed. He started to deny the fact saying, “I just ended up crying. I really don’t cry often, but I was overwhelmed with emotions.”

The members who are in charge of brightening up the mood was Sungjae, Ilhoon, and Eunkwang. Peniel was in charge of reactions and English. He had that he was absorbed into learning Korean these days and had a proud expression on his face when he started to mumble the different Korean words he learned from the older members. But when the reporter said the word ‘Sungchikam (Achievement)’ he made a sad expression as he asked for the meaning of the word, winning over the other members with his cuteness.

BTOB’s mascot is Changseob. But Changseob had completely denied the fact. “My official concept is Sang-Male. It means whatever I do, I look like a real man doing it.” At Changseob’s words the other members laughed saying that “he looks cute even saying that.” Then Changseob commented with a firm face, “I’m the real one with charisma, but after the showcase I think my appearance changed 180 degrees. This year I will remove the word “cute” from my name.”

Ilhoon was close to be the one in charge of charisma, but the members started attacking him saying, “He is fake charisma. He is way too cute.” To this, Ilhoon commented cautiously, “I’m all over the place. I think I’m a different person on stage. I’m trying to limit how much I talk.”

Meanwhile, BTOB’s Asia Special album ‘Born to Beat’ was released and they plan on hitting the Asian markets. With the album holding the new song ‘I Stole Her Lips (Irresistible Lips)’ BTOB plans to conquer Asian markets as well……

CREDITS : JOYNEWS (SOURCE), YONGISM@BTOBEATMEDIA.TUMBLR.COM (TRANS)