Years after bidding goodbye to South Korea and K-pop, Taiwanese former singer Kuanlin has left his fellow Wanna One members emotional with updates about his new life.
In an episode of the boy band’s new reunion variety show Wanna One Go: Back to Base released on May 5, the 24-year-old is seen reuniting with his former groupmate Sungwoon at Beijing Airport.
Their time together was captured and subsequently watched by the other members – Jisung, Minhyun, Seongwu, Jaehwan, Jihoon, Woojin, Jinyoung and Daehwi – together.
Kuanlin revealed for the first time publicly that he is currently working in a film production company, learning scriptwriting and involved in short film projects.
“I’m really just a salaryman now,” he said in Korean during a meal with Sungwoon and the crew. “It’s reassuring.”
Wanna One was formed through the second season of the reality competition show Produce 101 in 2017.
After the group disbanded in December 2018, he and Wooseok from Pentagon formed a K-pop duo. In July 2019, he requested to terminate his contract with his agency Cube Entertainment as he claimed they had signed an exclusive contract with a third party on his behalf without informing him.
He then moved to China, where he made his directorial debut with the short film Winter and Summer Fight in 2021 – which won five awards, including Best Director, Best Film and Best Actress, at the Rome Prisma Independent Film Festival.
‘It’s meaningless if we aren’t all together’
When asked about how he felt about his current state of life, Kuanlin candidly responded: “I’m really happy now… Rather than becoming a singer so quickly, I like seeing myself moving forward slowly through my own efforts.”
Sungwoon was surprised at his improved Korean and Kuanlin attributed it to his lingering feelings for the country. He shared: “When I first came to Beijing, I didn’t have many friends and my family wasn’t here. I really craved Korean food, but I had no one around to ask. So I had no choice but to cook it myself.”
Upon hearing this while watching the video, Jisung choked back a sob, remarking: “That’s so heartbreaking.”
In a moment of tenderness, Kuanlin pulled back his sleeve to reveal a tattoo writing “807”, which symbolises WannaOne’s debut date.
“If I had to pick a day in my life that deserves to be celebrated or if I had to choose a day that I personally value the most, I think I would always say it’s Aug 7,” he explained. “We worked so hard and that was the day we saw those great results.”
Listening to him, Sungwoon stayed silent and then admitted: “I think I’m going to cry.”
The other members watching the footage also looked highly pensive, some seemingly close to tears.
In a separate segment, Kuanlin was brought to a room to watch a video letter prepared by the Wanna One members.
In Seongwu’s message, he said: “The name WannaOne and the synergy and power we have is when we’re all together. If there’s a chance for all of us to gather, I think it’s best to do it if we possibly can.”
Similarly, Minhyun spoke: “It’s meaningless if we aren’t all together. It would be great if we could do this [reunion] together.”
Reflecting on the messages, Kuanlin admitted: “I miss you guys, I’m so grateful that you even made a video letter for me. You guys haven’t changed at all.”
However, he made a long pause as if carefully choosing his next words, then said: “But since I’ve retired and made up my mind to pursue this path, appearing on TV is a bit of a burden for me.”
The honest confession broke the members who wept. Jihoon even had to walk away from the rest to collect his emotions after crying.
Later in the episode when Sungwoon was back at the airport to return home, he cried at the thought of leaving Kuanlin, who also burst into tears and couldn’t face him.
“You went through so much,” said Sungwoon when they embraced, before leaving to pass through immigration. However, finding it hard to walk away from their encounter, he kept looking back and waving at his junior.
Apart from Kuanlin, group member Kang Daniel was also not present for the group’s televised reunion due to his military service, which he began serving in February.
Wanna One Go: Back to Base is available on Viu.
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