The Kicked Out K-Pop Trainee Who Became A Force To Be Reckoned With

A former YG Entertainment trainee came back stronger than ever after being kicked out by none other than Yang Hyun Suk. Thankfully, that dismissal wasn’t the end of his idol career.

When AB6IX‘s fifth and final member was unveiled, many fans recognized him as one of the most high-profile YG Entertainment trainees at the time, Jeon Woong (who now goes by the stage name Woong).

At the time, Woong was considered by fans as part of the “Silver Boys” that consisted of the male trainees most expected to debut. He was even one of the few YG Entertainment trainees who made an appearance on YG Future Strategy Office.

In addition to this, Woong appeared on Stray Kids’s debut survival program during the “YG vs. JYP” battle. He wowed J.Y. Park with his beautiful vocal tone and his acrobatic dancing. When asked, Woong revealed that he was actually a former JYP Entertainment trainee, being good friends with Bang Chan, the leader of Stray Kids.

I JUST LOVE HOW BANG CHAN & JEONWOONG STARTED MOCKING EACH OTHER#StrayKids #YGtrainee pic.twitter.com/7nibeFLNbD

— em. (@milaennium) November 21, 2017

However, when YG Entertainment aired its debut survival program YG TREASURE BOX, many fans were shocked to see that Woong was completely absent from the program.

After a long absence, fans were shocked but ecstatic when it was revealed that Woong had been training at Brand New Music. After months of speculation, he was able to explain why he left YG Entertainment.

During one of the monthly evaluations in YG Entertainment, Yang Hyun-Suk … suddenly he called me to his office and said … ‘After this monthly evaluation, Woong does not need to come to practice anymore.’ I really cried a lot then.

— Woong

Given that Woong had one of the longest training periods, this would have been heartbreaking, considering all the effort he had put in at YG Entertainment. However, with all the hard work he had put in during his time at JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment, he decided to keep on going. In a surprising twist of events, Woong found himself at the same company as people he used to train with years ago at JYP Entertainment. Woong was reunited with Daehwi, Donghyun, and Woojin, who were all former JYP Entertainment trainees.

Finally, Jeonwoong was told that it was confirmed that he would be debuting in the new boy group AB6IX. His first reaction was to tell his mother the good news but both of them couldn’t hold back their tears.

It’s official, I’m going to debut. We’ll debut as 5 together … Ah, don’t cry.

— Woong

After so many years of training, drawbacks and waiting, Woong finally achieved the dream that he had always wanted ever since he auditioned for JYP Entertainment as a kid.

As a member of AB6IX, he became one of the biggest “Monster Rookies” of 2019. AB6IX surpassed 100,000 sold copies of their debut mini-album B:Complete, becoming the fastest of all debuted artists in 2019 to reach that feat.