Hui Talks About PENTAGON's Experience On "Road To Kingdom," Being The Leader Of The Group, And More

Talking about how he became the leader of PENTAGON, Hui said, “Among the members of [PENTAGON], I was the second to join after Kino, and Ibspent a long time as a trainee. Because of that, I think the agency trusted me to take on the role.”

Hui shared how he thinks of himself as a leader, saying, “I’m a kind leader. The background image on my phone says, ‘Thoughts of a kind leader.’ When promoting, there can be moments when you want to stand out, but whenever I feel that way, if there’s another member that does something better, I don’t get greedy. That’s how the team does well. And it’s not just me. The whole team is like this. If a member of the group goes out for a solo promotion, we encourage them and want them to do well. We sincerely want the best for each other.”

Asked if he feels any pressure as the leader of the group, Hui said, “Rather than feeling pressure, I do feel lonely at times. When I don’t see satisfying results after working, it’s hard, but thinking that I can’t be feeling down if the members are also having a hard time, I try to keep myself from feeling that way. Because each thing I can say can affect the atmosphere. I feel like I need to take on the role of comforting others, so there are times when I feel lonely. I used to talk to Jinho hyung whenever I felt that way, but now that he’s in the military, I’m really feeling his absence.”

Hui said that he’s begun to rely on all of the members when he’s having a hard time. “At least once a week, we try to all get together to talk, although when we get together, we mostly talk about work.”

Talking about the group’s decision to appear on Mnet’s “Road to Kingdom,” Hui said, “The decision to appear on the show was easy. Though we were the oldest group among those participating, that wasn’t important. Honestly, there’s a limit to the kind of performance that you can put on while on a music show, but on ‘Road to Kingdom,’ I felt like we could do it all, so we decided to appear. It would be a great opportunity for us and somewhere we could learn a lot.”

Asked if it was difficult personally arranging all of PENTAGON’s competition songs, Hui said, “We felt that if we did it ourselves, we could do better and put on much cooler performances. We have asked others for songs before, but it was always better when we did it. Even when preparing for performances, if we thought we’d like to add something, we could make the changes right away. Once we decided on a concept, we needed to create a draft an appropriate arrangement, and that process was difficult. Because it was five song over the course of three months. I put so much into it that if I were asked to do it again, I’d have to think about it.”

Hui chose “Basquiat” as his favorite “Road to Kingdom” performance. He said, “We did everything we wanted to in that performance. Before going on stage, we thought about the path we’ve come down so far, and we wanted to put on the performance with a kind of desperation. The members performed with similar emotions, so I think the teamwork really shone through.”

On their collaboration with ONF, Hui said, “We worked with ONF for our third performance, and the teamwork was really great. I wanted to highlight each of our strengths, so I said I would arrange the song. I think it was a good collaboration, and we got much closer with the members of ONF while practicing together. We gained a lot while on ‘Road to Kingdom,’ but best part of it all is the friends and colleagues we gained.”

Hui chose TOO as the group that caught his eye during the show. “They did so well. The members of an idol group can’t be standardized. If some members lead, then others need to support, and TOO had that balance and teamwork. In particular, I was surprised at how good Chan and Kyungho were.”

PENTAGON’s 4th debut anniversary is coming up in October, and Hui commented, “I think we’ve done well so far, but there are some things that I wish had been better. I think whenever we did something, we had way too many thoughts and concerns. It would’ve been great if we found what we did well and expanded on that in various directions, but because we were thinking too much, it’s like we weren’t really able to find our style. Like we mainly did powerful performances, but gained popularity for light and fun music. On the other hand, both of those are our style, so I think that might be the kind of music we put out in the future, as well.”

On the group’s goals moving forward, Hui said, “First, it’s getting No. 1 (laughs), and being with PENTAGON for a long time. I had an overlapping schedule with Leeteuk one day, and I asked him what his dream was. He said it was to do well for a long, long time. PENTAGON wants that too. We have so much left to do.”

Source (1) (2) (3)