On “R U Next?,” YUNAH chased her dreams to make sure her answer to that question was yes, getting right back up again anytime she stumbled. And then, she met the other members of ILLIT. Together, they live up to the meaning of that name: to be anything and everything, and to keep people on their toes wondering what they’ll become next.

The recent episode of “It’s Okay to be Slow” with you and WONHEE was fantastic. Are you still practicing “slow aging”?
YUNAH: After that slow aging episode, it’s been more like fast aging for me. (laughs) I do try to eat more consciously and slowly when I remember, but I just end up chewing really fast. (laughs) But when I do manage to eat slower, it stretches out the time I sit down for a meal, so even if I eat less, I feel more satiated.

You’ve also done a fair bit of cooking in your videos. You have, however, mentioned before that you’re slow with your hands. How do you feel about cooking or making things?
YUNAH: I like putting things together and cooking. DIY candy counts as cooking, right? (laughs) I like making anything by hand. And since I’m slow at it, it actually helps create more content. You get to see when I mess up and when I take my time, and more importantly, since everything takes longer, I get to spend more LIVE time with GLLIT. I mean, it’s nice to just chat randomly in the practice studio or vocal room, but when I’m making something with my hands, interesting situations keep coming up. I like that it lets me interact with fans more and spend more time with them. If there’s something else hands-on I can do, I’ll try streaming that, too.

Is there anything in particular you’d like to try?
YUNAH: I don’t know if it’s really possible, but someday I’d like to give doing a gaming stream with GLLIT a try. I saw BTS do one with their fans for a birthday and it looked like so much fun. I usually just play “Overwatch,” but I think some simple Flash games with GLLIT would be good, probably. (laughs) Maybe something light like “Goose Goose Duck” or “Crazy Arcade” with online multiplayer could be good.

Moira is your go-to “Overwatch” character, right?
YUNAH: Yes, she’s the one I’m best at and most confident with. I usually team up with a friend and work as a support duo. We do all the healing for the team since each one usually has two supports. But here’s the thing—you can check during the game to see how much damage you’ve dealt or healing you’ve done, and Moira, who I always pick, usually lags behind on those numbers a little, so my friends are always like, “I told you to stop picking her!” (laughs)

Then why do you keep using her?
YUNAH: First of all, she’s easy to play. “Overwatch” is all about hitting your target, but with Moira, you don’t even need to aim—you just hold down the button and you’re good to go. Plus, she’s got great survival skills. Even if my whole team dies, I can manage to stay alive by myself. But, since she’s a support, she’s not great at dealing damage, but her healing isn’t overpowered either. So, I’ll be the last one standing, and when the others revive and start shouting, “Where’s our support?” I head towards them, only to end up dying on the way. (laughs)

Now that you don’t share a bedroom with anyone, it must be even better for gaming, right? (laughs)
YUNAH: Having my own space has definitely led to me playing “Overwatch” and chatting on the phone with my friends more often. Oh, but even when “Magnetic” hit No. 1 on the charts, all my friends talked about was everyday stuff, like what they ate that day, without saying congrats or anything! It felt a little awkward to bring it up myself, so I just moved on. (laughs) But honestly, I think they were just trying to be considerate so I wouldn’t feel put on the spot. They’ll deliberately avoid asking about it even if they’re curious.

That’s some serious ride-or-die energy. (laughs) You’re such a natural mood setter that even the silly dancing you do to clear your head feels totally in character for you, so I was curious what you’d be like around your friends.
YUNAH: I act like that in videos hoping that whoever watches will find it fun. Plus, I do want to try and be entertaining, and I know people find it fun.

What makes you want to make people smile like that?
YUNAH: I want to look after GLLIT. GLLIT’s adorable in my eyes, and they love us unconditionally—and it’s really hard to find people like that. To get the kind of immense love from them that you get from a parent or your best friend is such a remarkable thing, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I want to look after them and give back even more than I get from them.

So unconditional love is given to your parents, close friends, and GLLIT—but no mention of your younger brother? (laughs)
YUNAH: Does my brother even fall within the realm of love? I never even told him I love him. Loving my younger brother … I think “care about” is a more accurate way to put it. We’re really not that close, to be honest, but I care about him a lot more than it might seem. When it comes to appearance, though, I can say with confidence that we do not look alike.

Do other people think the same way?
YUNAH: They say we do look alike. But come on—I’m not buying that! (laughs) Maybe there’s a tiny resemblance, but even my mom says we look less and less like each other over time, so I just decided to agree with her. Plus, all my brother’s best friends know me, and they’re like, “How could you be related to the same YUNAH from ILLIT?” (laughs)

Such a typical sibling relationship. (laughs)
YUNAH: I actually mentioned this while shooting a video before, but he never answers my calls. Even the rest of the group said they’ve never seen him answer. And I’ve almost never called him by name in my life. I usually just say, “hey you!” (laughs) My mom always tells him he needs to wake up or come eat, but when he refuses to get up or leave his room, I yell at him, like, “Hey, we told you a hundred times to wake up!” and then storm back to my room. (laughs)

What about your de facto younger sisters, the other ILLIT members?
YUNAH: For one thing, they all wake up on their own just fine. If I do have to wake them up, I go, “Hey such-and-such, time for us to get up!” (laughs) And then with MINJU and MOKA especially, I try to pay extra special care with them because they’re always losing their stuff. I always tell them to take good care of their things but they lose the same stuff over and over again. At one point, I started wondering if I was babying them too much or making them feel pressured since it’s stuff they can take care of on their own, so I thought maybe I should just leave them alone, but then MINJU left her wallet somewhere and walked away, so I had to pick it up and give it to her. If something’s in my line of sight or it’s something they can’t handle, I try to keep on top of it.

That’s so sweet of you—just like your nickname on Weverse, Roh Soojong. (laughs)
YUNAH: Oh, that reminds me of something. When I posted the “Bo Peep Bo Peep” challenge, someone left a comment using the meme “bo peop i dareuda” [moves are out of this world] saying, “Soojung’s the only one who’s bo peop i dareuda … she’s basically doing bo peop bo peop.” I can’t forget that. It was too funny. (laughs) And I talked on LIVE about how I listen to a lot of T-ARA, then the very first thing I did on “To All The K-pop I’ve Loved Before” was their song “DAY BY DAY.” I remember GLLIT really loving that, too.

You also covered “ID; Peace B” recently at the 2025 Weverse Con Festival. [Note: This interview took place on June 5.]
YUNAH: Covers let us show fans a completely different vibe compared to our usual songs like “Magnetic” or “Cherish (My Love).” It was especially fun to practice the dance moves for BoA’s song “ID; Peace B” since it’s got that old-school hip hop vibe we don’t usually do. Working on core routine moves like that felt like getting back to basics, plus the fans really loved that whole concept. But I always have to tell myself to contain my energy because once we get onstage I get absolutely hyped. I actually got a little over-excited again and later felt like I could’ve made the high notes sound a little nicer otherwise.

I didn’t even notice. (laughs) But really, obsessing over details like that is part of what it takes to perfect a performance, right? Was there any part in particular you really zeroed in on while working on your new album?
YUNAH: For “Billyeoon Goyangi (Do the Dance),” there’s a small detail in the line “c’mon heart, cut it out” (“simjang-a nadaeji ma”)—it’s in the way I split up “sim” and “jang.” Instead of just singing it like “simjang-a,” it’s more like “sim jang a,” breaking it up slightly to make the rhythm sound more powerful. And for the line “caught under a spell” (“mabeob-e geollige”), I made sure to sing “geollige” in one smooth phrase without any breaks. We listened to the demo version over and over, brainstorming with the producer to figure out how to deliver that exact vibe. Working out those tiny details was so tricky at first that it made me feel stuck, but after practicing it enough, it’s like second nature now.

You also got your name in the song credits for the first time with “Billyeoon Goyangi (Do the Dance).”
YUNAH: “Dance dance meow” was actually my idea. The label wanted a line that was just three or four syllables long and sort of childish but could still leave an impact. At first, I gave some ideas and carefully explained the reasoning behind each one, but eventually, I just started tossing them everything that came to me while brainstorming, even stuff like “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah” or “pika bling bling” that had no chance of making it in. When it came down to “something something meow,” we narrowed it down further until we got to “dance dance meow.” It feels kind of like how “super attractive” from “Magnetic” isn’t a phrase you’d come up with easily but is still so iconic. I’m really happy we landed on something like that.

You really have to be brave to keep suggesting things until something sticks like that.
YUNAH: Sometimes I’ll be there, wondering what would work, and then all of a sudden I know exactly what to do out of nowhere. (laughs) For example, for the PINK BOMB version of the concept photos, I figured out the angles and poses that worked best for me. And for the GLLIT version, I was aiming for a cool, photobook-like vibe. I even ran through it in my mind and practiced by myself using a sofa in front of a full-length mirror.

You must’ve gone through countless missteps before you were sure what to do. Just like you once said, “If you go into a challenge with a mindset to accept failure as its own kind of experience, even the impossible becomes possible.” What drives you to keep pushing yourself so you can achieve the impossible?
YUNAH: Honestly, it’s never easy at first. (laughs) My mind’s just swimming, going, “What do I do?” But this positive mindset of seeing failure as an experience helps take some of that fear away. If I got discouraged just because of one failure, I’d be wasting an opportunity that’s uniquely mine. For example, even if I make a small mistake while hosting radio, at the end of the day, I’m still the host, and it’s a unique opportunity. If I let my disappointment rage on because of just one mistake, it would only snowball into something worse. Failure is its own experience, and if I mess up this time, it’s just a learning experience so I can do better next time. So even when I slip up, I just try and focus harder, and then everything works out. (laughs)

You’ve also shared before that the reason you dreamed of becoming a K-pop artist was because “not making the cut just made me want it more.” Failure or being eliminated carries a negative meaning, but for you, it seems like it fuels your progress and growth.
YUNAH: Back during “R U Next?,” elimination simply wasn’t an option. There would’ve been no coming back from that. (laughs) Of course, I’m only human—I feel discouraged and blame myself a lot, too, but I try to find ways of thinking that are beneficial to my mental health. Even when you fail or get cut, you realize just how much you wanted it and how much it still matters to you. And you obviously can’t just sit with that failure, so you try again.

Can you talk about ILLIT’s path forward—constantly pushing the envelope, all the passion, your success, and chasing goals?
YUNAH: The name ILLIT means we can become anything and leave people excited to see what we’ll become. So our path forward means staying true, confident, and representing our generation, always opening up new doors to endless possibilities. I want our group to make people ask, “What’s next? What about after that?” We want to pique their curiosity and keep them excited for more.

That’s something only someone who went through “R U Next?” and became a part of ILLIT could say.
YUNAH: Exactly. (laughs)