There’s a saying in Korea: While you’re waiting for someone to return from the army, you’re gomsin, or wearing rubber shoes. On December 21, 2021, ONF member MK enlisted, followed by WYATT and J-US on the 27th and then HYOJIN and E-TION the next day, leaving U behind as gomsin five times over. Then, earlier this year, on June 27, all five of them finished their service and returned home, turning U from gomsin to kkotsin—metaphorically wearing flower shoes to symbolize having waited patiently until his friends came home. We asked U how he passed the deceptively long days until his groupmates returned from the army.

The rest of the group enlists together

U: We felt it would be better for them to go all together at once since they’re similar in age and it would reduce the amount of time we had to spend with parts of the group missing.  It was a tough decision to make and we talked a lot about it. It would mean going a year and a half without any activity for the group and I was worried about being alone, but then I figured they’d all be back soon enough and in the meantime I could wait it out with [our fandom] FUSE and then get back to having fun as a group. So I thought, Okay.

Living alone for the first time

U: I would never say this in front of the others, but it didn’t feel as long as I expected. (laughs) But when I first found out I’d be going from living together to living alone, I felt really lonely. Up to that point, we always ate together and did everything together, but I felt so bored and lonely doing things by myself. They used to always ask what I was up to whenever I was doing a Live and join me but once I was alone there was nobody around to join. Honestly, until they came back, I missed them every time I started a Live. They kept in touch with me a lot even after they went into the army, and even when they were on leave and must have been missing their family they still came to our place and kept me company. FUSE also kept me in good spirits over Live and by sending me letters so I got through it more easily than expected.

Musts for living alone: sleep under the Moon, drink yuja tea and do puzzles

U: The place where I stayed during that time was such that I could see the Moon perfectly while lying down so I always fell asleep looking at it. I started with doing a whole 1,000-piece puzzle from start to finish and was so tired after doing one that I only did maybe one or two more after that. (laughs) I had a cup of yuja tea once or twice too.

​Solo life tip 1: Get good at grouting

U: When it comes to housework, I think the bathroom should be the cleanest room in the house. It’s really bothersome to see mold in the bathroom when you’re taking a shower. If you regrout the tiles it doesn’t take as long to clean the bathroom and if you do maintain things properly you only have to do it once a month. So I’m planning to do it at the new place we moved to too.

Solo life tip 2: How to cut back on energy bills when using air conditioning

U: Everyone’s using air conditioning a lot these days. And seeing how high electricity bills are getting, it’s normal to worry. But if it’s hot when you get home, you should turn on your air conditioner and set the fan to max and the temperature to 18ºC. That’ll cool things down really fast. Then, once the room’s around 23 or 24 degrees, adjust the temperature to where you want it to be. I spent a lot of time looking this up and they say it’s best to bring it down to a low temperature first and then set it where you want.

​Cooking for the others when they were on leave

U: I figured I should cook for the others whenever they came back since they were working really hard. I wanted to make them things I had tried making while they were gone that had turned out well, so I made a list beforehand: Grilled mackerel, suyuk, beef bulgogi, kimchi fried rice, tteokbokki, ramyeon tteokbokki, kimbap, kimchi jeon, japchae, kongnamul bulgogi, janchi-guksu, hot soba, dry curry, hayashi rice, bacon and egg over rice, mapo tofu, fried shrimp, okonomiyaki, pasta with meaty tomato sauce, carbonara … (laughs) But there was one time they came back unexpectedly and asked me to cook for them, so I said, “Guys, I don’t have anything to cook with right now,” and just made them some ramyeon. But another time, when the fridge was stocked, I said, “Guys, I can make this and that now,” and whipped them something up. I made HYOJIN budae jjigae and kongnamul bulgogi and he said it tasted like it could be from a restaurant. I made J-US some kimchi jjigae and he’s the type to tell you straight whether he likes a dish or not, so I was really happy when he said it was good. The other members all tried my food, except for WYATT, because he was the only one whose time off didn’t line up. That was a little bit of a letdown.

Making a mix for the MK’s military show

U: I was at home one day when suddenly I got a message from him: ​I have to put on a show for the army. Can you make a mix of some songs? I told him I do video editing, not music, and that he’d be a lot better off asking MonoTree. But apparently it was a simple job, so I ended up doing it myself. He gave me a guideline to work with, like, “Take this part from this song, and this part from that song,” then I basically trimmed and spliced the clips together. And then I got another request: “Could you throw in this part?” Then I ended up feeling like the mix was too long so I said I would cut it down, but then it felt too short so I added some back in. It took me around 40 minutes to make it. He sent me a video of the performance later and I could tell he worked really hard. “Good job!” (laughs)

​Special delivery!

U: For Christmas, I shipped off a care package to each of the five of them. I sent thermal wear since it was cold and threw in some snacks. Then I took a look at them and thought it’d be nice if they could cheer them up a bit, so I drew on the boxes and got on Weverse Live to ask FUSE what they wanted to say to them, and I wrote it on the boxes myself. I actually thought they would have already had thermal wear, but after they received their gifts they all got in touch with me to say thank you for sending them. I thought it was really sweet when they said it helped them to get through the winter.

Cheering from the audience at the army festival

U: I was curious what it would feel like watching ONF perform since it was the first time for me. What I noticed most was how cool they looked in uniform with their bodies toned up. It felt a lot different seeing them dance in uniform than what I was used to. It reminded me again that I’m in a group with some great, impressive people and, at the same time, how great our songs are. (laughs)

​Commemorating the end of service with a snapshot

U: The other members joined the army together but didn’t leave at the same time, so I wanted to capture a record of them coming out one by one. So first MK and I took a picture together, and we said, “All six of us will be here next week.” We took a photo with the four of us after that and then the next day we took another one, this time with all six of us. It was hard to believe. There was no mistaking how happy they looked. (laughs)

Back to living together

U: The others needed a little space when they got back from the army so we decided to have separate rooms, living three people each in two different places. I’ll tell you something about when we were making plans for our new homes: The most important thing is always how big each room is. HYOJIN and WYATT said, “I don’t care if I get a small, medium or big room,” so they got their rooms first, then the four of us asked, “Who’s going to be with Yuto?” They couldn’t decide, so they left it up to me to choose. Basically everyone wanted to be with me when we were splitting ourselves up because I’m tidy. I ended up picking J-US and pairing with him, and then HYOJIN immediately said, “I’ll take them in my place, then.” And that’s how the three of us ended up together. We have a lot of promoting coming up and J-US and I are in charge of dancing, so we talk a ton about choreography and dancing, but if we were living in different places it would have been hard if we had to talk on the phone instead. I chose to stay with J-US because we were going to have a lot to talk about but he didn’t believe me. He says I only said that because I was too embarrassed to admit I like him. (laughs)

Keeping the house clean

U: It was a busy time when we all lived together and there were a lot of us so I did laundry often, so I would just toss my towel in the laundry basket right after I showered, but when I was living by myself it got musty and smelly. So now I dry my towels and sweaty clothes before putting them in the basket and after I do laundry I leave the door to the machine and the drawer for the fabric softener and detergent wide open. I still take care of all that but HYOJIN does too. HYOJIN and I have the exact same MBTI so we have similar personalities and we’re both clean people. Just this morning, J-US said he would hang up his towel later but he ended up moving onto something else. By the time we were going out, he still hadn’t hung it up, so I told him, “You have to hang this up.” (laughs) That’s how you keep the place clean.

​Kkotsin at last

U: I was a little lonely spending that time apart from them but just like what E-TION was saying at our fan meeting event, being alone made me realize just how much I missed everyone and how much I wanted to be with the other members. For a year and a half, all I could think about was how I couldn’t wait for the six of us to be back together and working as a group again. So I love that we’re back together and practicing, holding fan meetings and spending every single day together.

Kkotsin with FUSE

U: The last time we had a concert was during COVID-19 so FUSE had to wear masks and they weren’t allowed to cheer. But I was so happy I got to see their faces and hear their voices at the recent fan meeting. I almost cried when we were waiting backstage and I could hear them all singing along to the instrumental version of “Popping.” And while we were on stage I felt like the teamwork and energy we’ve had all along reached a new level. Now all the members will be able to see FUSE together!