[Hanryu Pia] Almost Weekly! We Made Block B's "Bikipedia"! - Park Kyung Edition

No.4: "Sharp Mind" Park Kyung, depending on how difficult it is, tension will rise up!?

Receiving the baton touch from Taeil! The second person to make a feature is the main character of our October edition, Park Kyung who has had a big success in varieties recently!

This interview took place over the summer. Let's start with the photo-shoot. Following the photographer's requests, Park Kyung made poses one after the other. As the shutter cut off, he switched from cool gazes to soft smiles and various expressions.

The shooting continued in a relaxed mood, the photographer said "move towards the lens, and stretch out your hands cheerfully". As asked, he unexpectedly raised his arms with an expressionless face (try imagining him as a Jiangshi from the old days!). With a totally non-cheerful pose, he made the staff burst out laughing at his 'premeditated crime'.

T/N: Jiangshi is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. 

In addition, he was asked to do a little bit of a cute pose by squatting……, he stretched his Achilles tendon slightly and he went like "ouuuchhhh……". Throughout, it became a harmonious shooting. ※This photo can be found in the magazine!

And then! He went for the interview. When he found the interviewer, he greeted by saying, "It's been a long time, how have you been?". This frankness is Park Kyung's charm. During the interview, we talked while laughing, he'd tease me and not answer me by saying things like 'it's a secret~', as I handed him the questionnaire homework (!), he threw his head back so much that he nearly fell down from the chair. Through his numerous innocent reactions (?), he enlivened the interview.

For the first part of Park Kyung's interview, we approach the childhood of the friendly and always bright, Park Kyung.

If it's difficult, depending on the degree of difficulty, tension would likely rise up

"From a young age, I was fond of standing out and was a kid who liked to be in front of the class. When I was in elementary school, I attended an English cram school, I also played the lead in an English school play. Since I entered middle school, my brain started to clear up (lol), I started to show a talent for studying".

"In every subject, there was nothing I couldn't do. Specially things like science and math, I have not received a prize just once or twice. A child prodigy? They wouldn't go as far as to call me that but I did get called a talented student".

He's currently appearing in the TV show "Problematic Men" where only entertainers with a keen mind appear to solve a variety of difficult problems, and have a sophisticated talk (?). Among the prodigies, he was referred as a "math prodigy" at first glance. Which isn't surprising since the subject that has been his strong point since middle school is math.

"During middle school, I received special education in math (for gifted children). Only one person was selected as a representative from each school to take the test, when I passed I had to go to something like a cram school. From all over Seoul, I think there were about 50 people. During the weekends, after school was over, we gathered to solve math problems".

If it's difficult, depending on the degree of difficulty, tension would likely rise up. When it was decided that he would appear in "Problematic Men", he bought a book of math exercises, downloaded math apps, remembered the equations, formulas and how to resolve the problems. By the way, his nickname in middle school was 'Donkey'. What's the meaning of it?

"Do you know Donkey? It's a character that appears in the movie 'Shrek'. They said our smiling faces looked alike, all throughout middle school I was called that. Did I hate it? Not at all! I mean, isn't it sweet? (lol) It's a nickname you don't get easily".

However, when he became a middle school third grader, the talented student Park Kyung had an incident…….

"I entered a rebellious period. I just played around without studying. As a result my grades dropped. I decided to study abroad if my grades reached an average high school level. My parents had the policy of letting me do what I wanted to do when it came to my education so they supported me".

Initially he went to the United States and when he was in the second grade of high school, he transferred to a high school in New Zealand. Now that I think about it, I feel like I actually have not listened much of Park Kyung's English....... as I said this, he added "I'm not good at speaking English in public".

"My English level? I don't know whether I can say I'm good or not, I can understand everything the other party says and I can say almost anything I want to say. When it comes to English, aren't there people who are very good in it despite not being native. Because of it, I feel somewhat embarrassed (to speak it). When it's necessary, I use it only as much as I need to".

By the way, when it comes to Japanese he gives the same reason, "I don't speak it much". Perhaps it's his unexpected perfectionism.

No.5: Park Kyung's closest 'friend' since his high school days was...?

In October, we'll zoom into 'aiiight' Park Kyung's friendships! The second part of Park Kyung's interview approaches more to the character that is Park Kyung.

The closest 'friend' he's had since his high school days is?

Next I asked Park Kyung about his dreams. What type of dream did you have since you were young?

"I always dreamt I earned a lot of money. Isn't it cute? (lol). In order to nurture our sense of independence, our mother did not give us much pocket money. Even when there was something I wanted, I couldn't buy it cause I had no money to do so, 'In the future, I'll become rich no matter what and I'll buy everything I want!' I pledged".

Such a boy eventually succeeded in the entertainment world to the point that he can now joke about it "Thanks to you all I'm earning a lot (lol)". Seems like he was able to faithfully fulfill the pledge he made during his childhood (?).......

"I'm someone who is not concerned about small change. For example, if I'm comparing two items I don't think about buying one of them cause it's cheaper. I can buy both or buy the best one according to its performance without thinking of the price. Do I worry about my old age (savings)? Not at all......".

His current dream is to buy a house. His goal is to have a big and luxurious house in the Gangnam area! Such Park Kyung seems to spend his money especially in cars and fashion.

"Because I like driving, I frequently drive around in Seoul. I often go in order to change my mood. For about one hour in the middle of the night, I play music loudly and drive away in high spirit. I often listen to POPS".

If we talk about Park Kyung's fashion, it's large sweatshirts. What do you pay more attention to when it comes to fashion?

"I wear loose clothes cause I want to hide that my body is thin. I usually wear a lot of comfortable clothes. I like to look monotone or chic. Ah, I like red too (lol). Besides that, I collect hats too. I have many big ones that cover part of my eyes. If I bend them downwards, they can cover my face. I have not been outside without wearing a hat...... probably not even once since debut".

Incidentally, he owns more than 100 hats. More than 85% left unused, he says the carboard is 'fertilizing'. And then we have something indispensable for Park Kyung's fashion (?) If we talk about fashion items, it's his insoles! What do insoles mean exactly for Park Kyung?

"Ahahaha! They're my friends (decisively). They've been the closest to me since I was in 2nd, 3rd year of high school because we're together every day. Even in private, I put on small ones no matter what. Of course at work, I use high ones! What are you going 'hahaha' for?".

As expected of Park Kyung who would turn even his insoles into laughter!

Now talking about hobbies. When I looked up 'Park Kyung's hobbies' online it said table tennis but when I asked turns out that's a thing of the past. So I wonder, what is he up to lately?

"Well. Drinking wine with my friends....... Once I drink, it gets fun so I end up drinking too much. I become more talkative. The other day I drank 4 bottles of wine between 3 people, after that we drank soju. This summer I went to ride a wakeboard. One of my acquaintances owns a shop in a summer resort in the outskirts of Seoul, I went with friends. My level? About 3? I'm still practicing my jump".

I asked "when you say 3 you mean out of 10 points?", Park Kyung said, "just 3". But is the full mark 10 or 5....... I'll leave it to your imagination (lol).

No.6: What's the meaning behind Park Kyung's "aight" that carries his passionate determination?

This time, it's the last part of the interview with the main character of October, the popular 'aight' Park Kyung.

I imitated Zico with all my might

In the third and last part, we talked about his favorite topic, 'music'. His encounter with music happened when he was about 17 years old, studying abroad in New Zealand.

"The study system of New Zealand did not match well with me. There were only 3 Korean students, there was no one that could understand me so whenever I felt frustrated I began to write rap influenced by Zico. At that time, Zico was studying abroad at a high school in Japan, I listened to the rap songs he uploaded online and I thought it was cool so I imitated him with all my might (lol). When I returned back to home-stay from school, I'd write rap songs and my friends and I had rap battles with New Zealanders. During school festivals, I also performed rap songs in Korean. It made me happy cause the students would encourage me saying I was cool".

Before long, he set up a team with Zico, it was the start of his independent activities.

"We'd upload the songs we made to SNS and then release them in a CD. Although not being able to work directly was frustrating, I think it was possible due to the fact that the both of us weren't in Korea. Don't Korean high school students study hard until midnight? In New Zealand school was over at 3 o'clock, we were free after it so I had the time".

After going back to his home country, he naturally joined the entertainment industry. He made his major debut together with his best friend Zico as Block B. However, he himself was once referred to as a talented student. Did your parents not oppose to it?

"They told me 'if that's what you want to do then do it'. Even if you're smart is difficult to get into a good college, even if you become an entertainer is difficult to succeed in it. My parents are really happy that I work actively in the entertainment world, they check all my activities on TV, magazines, Instagram and other SNS of course. They also give me advice from time to time. When I talked on TV about me drinking alcohol they warned me saying, 'wasn't the alcohol talk unpleasant?' (lol)".

One of the traits of Block B's songs is their lightness (in terms of rhythm). One of the reasons for it is the phrase 'aight' that has become a synonym of Park Kyung even now. During the production of 'Very Good', he had a hard time inserting it since Zico opposed to it. A lot of anecdotes like that remain but surprisingly the phrase 'aight' is a product of coincidence.

"I think in the beginning what I wanted to insert was 'LOL'. Maybe. It was one of the many versions I tried. It was popular to have a signal that indicated something like 'I appear from here on~'. The signal that you were about to sing you had to point it clearly word by word. So it became like 'Ah, Ah, I'. The second 'Ah' tends to smoothly fall behind the first one. Without putting any thought to it, you end up saying something like 'A~i' (lol)"

Then what does 'aight' mean to Park Kyung?

"If I had to put it into one word, it would be 'trademark'".

Park Kyung carries his passionate determination in just one 'aight'. His commitment towards music is unusually strong.

For that reason, his opinion conflicts with that of other members' not just once or twice.

"When my opinion differs from Zico or the members', I make sure to convey my own thoughts no matter what. Regardless of whether it can be accepted or not. When I worked on my solo, I talked a lot with the composer I was collaborating with. Whenever I came up with a good phrase I immediately thought, 'I want to work in it!' and regardless of where I was or if it was the middle of the night, I'd rush to the studio. Phrases 100% come to my mind when I'm in Korea. There were probably many times when that happened right before going to bed or while I was in a relaxed state".

Park Kyung who is the happiest when he's working in the music he likes with Block B. When we were talking about music, he sealed away his usual character and showed me his image as a true artist.

Translations by @GreeneryBomb