In the 11 years since his debut, HWANG MIN HYUN has been a member of a K-pop group, an actor and a solo artist, recently releasing his first mini album, Truth or Lie. He’s also developed a number of hobbies, like photography, fragrances and vlogging. But whatever he’s up to, HWANG MIN HYUN is always persistent, serious and passionate. Here we take a look at how he lives his life his way no matter when, where or what he’s set his mind to.

HWANG MIN HYUN’s routine

HWANG MIN HYUN keeps himself healthy in a variety of ways in his day-to-day life. On a 2019 episode of Home Alone on MBC, he makes his bed, cleans out his fridge and organizes his display cases and toiletries according to his established routine and cleans his home top to bottom. The products he uses in the show trended after that, as did the product he used in his vlog two years later in 2021 to protect himself from splashing when doing the dishes. He also maintains a thorough dietary routine, taking a variety of supplements before and after meals and eating salad on days after he felt he overate. He even eats a less typical selection like chicken breast and cherry tomatoes on his “Late Night Snack Eating Broadcast.” He explained that he sticks to his routine because “you shouldn’t try to be an idol if you’re going to keep on eating everything you want. You have to take constant care of yourself so that if something important comes up suddenly you won’t be caught off guard and can feel like you’re always ready for anything.” This shows not only that HWANG MIN HYUN is clean and health conscious but gives some insight into his attitude toward being an idol, too.

HWANG MIN HYUN’s tastes

HWANG MIN HYUN’s love for photography is no secret to his fandom, Hwangdo. He spent time sharing insights with fans during a live, deciding in the end to buy a camera because, in his words, “I want to be able to capture things better than with my phone, which isn’t quite enough.” Now he takes his camera with him because, “If I see some beautiful scenery, I feel like I should take a picture of it to share,” and he takes plenty of photos that capture his perspective. He felt “it’s good to share with Hwangdo what I’m interested in and what makes me happy when I see it,” which led him to start his photography account, Optimus Sisun, where he uploads pictures for his fans that he takes when traveling, filming for TV and just living his everyday life. HWANG MIN HYUN’s passing interests tend to spin off into major hobbies, and the same happened with fragrances. In November he got on Weverse Live and told his viewers about which fragrances are best for winter, which he was using lately and talked about the fragrance he had chosen specifically for the season. He doesn’t just talk about brands and types, either; he’s a true fragrance aficionado who shares tips on how to layer two or three favorite fragrances and how to use them more efficiently in a “cologne shower.” He’s also considerate of others’ preferences and doesn’t push his own, saying, “It has to match your tastes, and if you try something that doesn’t match, it’ll make you feel light-headed, so I recommend you visit a shop to test fragrances in person before you buy.”

HWANG MIN HYUN’s acting career

HWANG MIN HYUN is also an actor, having first appeared as the lead in the 2020 drama Live On then in parts one and two of Alchemy of Souls in 2022. He’s always fully prepared, whether that means showing up early to talk worrisome parts over with the action team or making time to rehearse while waiting to film. That would explain why everyone was talking about his dual-wielding swords scene from Alchemy of Souls in addition to his acting. He even thought about learning boxing to get a feel for action sequences in advance because he wants to give them a shot even though he doesn’t “know what roles I’ll play in the future.” He also managed to lose weight between filming the two parts of Alchemy of Souls despite only having a month to do so. He said “there were a few times I had to act like I was in pain before but I thought I didn’t do the best job and took a hit to my self-esteem, so I practiced extremely hard. There’s a lot of scenes where I get hurt in part two of Alchemy of Souls and other important scenes so I thought there was no way I could go on like that and that I had to improve and I put in lots of effort.” Thanks to all his preparation and taking his role seriously, HWANG MIN HYUN is able to put on spectacular performances in a field that’s entirely new to him.

HWANG MIN HYUN’s songs

When HWANG MIN HYUN released Truth or Lie, his first solo album, he said, “I hope people will think that I can pull of this kind of music too.” Considering how poetic his old songs were—including his first Korean solo song “Universe,” “EARPHONE,” his cover of one of his favorite songs “Your Ocean,” the song “Tree (Just Watching You 2)” from the Alchemy of Souls soundtrack—you can really see a side he’s still been hiding away in his impressive performance of the aptly titled “Hidden Side,” the single off Truth or Lie. As much, he was determined to “prepare for it like a new artist would since it’s a fresh start for me,” and to that end he put in a lot of effort, including retaking vocal lessons a year beforehand. Thanks to his hard work, he not only gives an intense performance on “Hidden Side” but also shows off beautiful vocals on “Honest.” Despite 11 years in the field, he continues to seek change and works hard for a long time for it. When asked about staying in the field a long time to make the music he wants to give people, HWANG MIN HYUN responded, “I want to make music that sounds and feels uniquely ‘me.’”

HWANG MIN HYUN’s vlog and more

HWANG MIN HYUN keeps a careful record of everything he works towards, everything he does and everything he likes. He filmed video selfies for his vlog even while busy with filming for TV, his routine from the day before that his fans were always asking about, practicing scripts and just taking a break, and edited it all into “Seo Yul’s log”. He even periodically took video when he went on vacation and made it into the six-part HWANG-log in Iceland. HWANG MIN HYUN talked about how “Hwangdo told me not to push myself while on vacation, and I didn’t. Iceland was on my bucket list and Hwangdo wanted me to complete it so I wanted to do it with them,” and so he filmed everything for them. And because he “wanted to do it with” Hwangdo, he worked hard on every little detail of the vlog, down to the captions, handwriting and pictures. HWANG MIN HYUN is constantly taking care in his daily routine and putting in the effort to be the best version of himself—and he makes sure it’s all on the record. It’s thanks to his incredibly passionate work ethic that he’s managed to share the past 11 years of his life singing and acting with Hwangdo.