Yoo Jae Suk Interviews Kwanghee And Kim Jong Min For Manager + Refund Sisters Picks Stage Names

Sep 05, 2020

On the September 5 episode of MBC’s “How Do You Play?”, Jimmy Yoo (Yoo Jae Suk)’s project to launch the girl group Refund Sisters (Lee Hyori, Uhm Jung Hwa, Jessi, and MAMAMOO’s Hwasa) continued.

During the episode, Yoo Jae Suk met with producer and entertainer Lee Sang Min, who had also advised him on SSAK3 earlier this summer.

Lee Sang Min said, “Just the four of them in the same room is enough.” But he advised, “The producer has to take care of relationships within the group. You have to make sure a fight doesn’t break out between the four members. If they don’t speak out about issues right away, they’ll fester inside and the group will end up disbanding. Art is born through conflict. There is no great song that was made without some conflict.”

Lee Sang Min also shared, “I worked with Uhm Jung Hwa while she went through at least two boyfriends,” taking Yoo Jae Suk by surprise. Lee Sang Min continued, “Jessi is the most difficult one. I knew her before she made her debut. I liked her voice a lot, but her personality was the same.”

He then asked about Lee Hyori’s “boyfriend” (her husband, Lee Sang Soon) and talked about how being caught dating in public used to be a violation of an artist’s contract. “There was an article in the contract that said it wouldn’t be a violation if your partner was more famous than you,” he reminisced. “People were told never to go on dates near the Han River in the Jamwon neighborhood, because reporters would always be there.”

Yoo Jae Suk began his second round of interviews for Refund Sisters’ manager, after interviewing Yang Se Chan, Jo Se Ho, and Jung Jae Hyung last week. This time, he interviewed Kwanghee, with whom he worked on SSAK3, and Kim Jong Min.

Kwanghee bragged about his ability to make friends, but when Yoo Jae Suk asked him to prove it, he failed to get close to the shop owner and a PD whom he had just met. Kwanghee also took Yoo Jae Suk aback by forgetting to address him as “Jimmy Yoo.” Kwanghee complained, “Why do you contact me so much these days? You text me a lot. You tell me that we should meet, but then you pretend it was coincidence and give me a present. Are you embarrassed?” Yoo Jae Suk ended up disqualifying him from the interview within 15 minutes.

Kim Jong Min had been recommended for the interview by Lee Sang Min. The singer and entertainer talked about his past audition experience, including the time he auditioned for SM Entertainment. “They said I should be a dancer rather than a singer, so I thought I didn’t make it and didn’t go,” he said. “At the time, the dancers were Moon Hee Jun, Kangta, and Jang Woo Hyuk.”

He also shared that he knew the members of Refund Expedition well. “I was a dancer for Uhm Jung Hwa,” he said. “She took care of me a lot. I was with her like a bodyguard.” However, he added, “I’m awkward around Lee Hyori. We’re the same age, so one day she started talking informally to me. She said that we were friends, but then she spoke formally again.” Asked what he would do if he met on her the street, he said, “I’d just keep going.” If Lee Hyori spoke to him first, “If she called me informally, I’d say, ‘Yeah?’ and if she spoke formally, I’d say, ‘Yes?'” He added, “Hwasa is a huge gain for the music industry. Jessi is rough on the outside, but tender on the inside. I can understand whatever she says.”

Due to heightened restrictions around the spread of COVID-19, the members of Refund Sisters met with Jimmy Yoo online. Lee Hyori caught everyone’s attention by appearing from her house in Jeju Island with her husband, whom she introduced as “her boyfriend George Lee.”

Yoo Jae Suk then revealed the group’s official stage names. Lee Hyori was “Chun Ok,” Uhm Jung Hwa was “Man Ok,” Jessi was “Eun Bi,” and Hwasa was “Sil Bi.” While the other members ate hamburgers, Lee Hyori did an impromptu cover of Uhm Jung Hwa’s “Invitation” with Lee Sang Soon. Complaining about the members eating on camera without her, she threatened, “I’m going to kiss him” but the other members said, “You didn’t do it for real.”

She then asked Yoo Jae Suk why he didn’t interview So Ji Sub for the manager position as she had requested. However, Hwasa made everyone laugh by continuing to eat while the other members argued about the manager position. Jessi said that she hadn’t understood the contract, which had been in Korean, and Yoo Jae Suk gave her a spontaneous Korean test.