Male Idol Who Vanished From The Industry Returns As An Affluent Businessman

A male idol who left the spotlight of the K-Pop industry years ago has made a triumphant return to the public eye, not as a celebrity, but as a successful business owner.

The idol in question is Ju Young Seok, a former rapper from the four-member boy group, SMASH, that made their debut in 2008. While promoting with the group, he assumed the stage name Naru. Ju was a part of SMASH until September 2014 ,and after leaving the group, he took a sabbatical from the entertainment industry altogether. However, the ex-idol recently reappeared through a YouTube channel, Taek and Joon.

In a video where he appeared as a guest, Ju shared his roller-coaster journey since leaving his group. He admitted that the road to finding his new career was rocky because at that age, he had no other experience apart from being an idol.

When I quit the entertainment industry in my early 30s, I couldn’t do anything. The gap with my friends was huge. They had already built careers and grown, but I was at rock bottom.

— Ju Young Seok

He admitted that he had to juggle multiple part-time jobs even while being active as an idol. It was during this time that a friend working at a bakery suggested that Ju work with him. He recalled, “I worked at a bread factory during the day, delivered for a Japanese-style izakaya, and a laundry factory at night. I was juggling three jobs.” Recounting the double life he led at that time, Ju mentioned that after returning from his concert in Japan, he had to go back to work immediately. Swinging back and forth between standing on stage in front of a cheering crowd and then putting on his red gloves at the laundry was emotionally draining. However, looking back, Ju was thankful that he got to experience such different lines of work.

After stepping away from the spotlight, Ju felt a strong determination to establish himself again. He revealed that after working at a bakery for a year, he started his own bakery business around 2017. He worked day and night with a “customer first” mindset to meet his sales targets, and the results were awe-inspiring. Ju Young Seok’s business ended up becoming a bakery chain, and at the peak of his business, it was operating 15 stores throughout Korea! “Some even generated over ten times the monthly rent in sales,” he recalled proudly.

At the same time, the former idol also admitted that his business plan had some errors. “I worked as hard as possible to save on labor costs and tried my best to make things succeed,” he stated, adding, “Without this structure in place, I had to pioneer it. There were many trials and errors, and numerous problems arose.”

However, Ju is far from being done with his business. He revealed his plans to launch a new brand that would address the previous problems. He joked, “I sometimes wonder if I had worked this hard during my celebrity days, wouldn’t I have reached the very top?”

Talking about his reason to reappear in the public eye, the former idol mentioned his fans, saying he wanted to greet those who still remember SMASH. “Everyone is working hard. I hope you remember us fondly.” His sincerity was met with an equally warm response from viewers, many of them fondly remembering the group and their music.

• “He really worked so hard. It seems like people who succeed have a reason for it.”
• “I used to listen to his ‘Get Your Swag On’ with Tony An all the time. I can’t believe so much time has already gone by.”
• “’Get swag on, get-get-get swag on’ Tony An + SMASH…I really enjoyed your music back in the day. Thank you.”
• “Youngseok really lived such a hardworking life. I’m so, so happy that he succeeded 😊
• I hope Hyunjun oppa, Jeongsu, Mingyu, and Minsu are all living happily somewhere too…”
• “I still listen to SMASH’s songs even these days. They bring back a lot of old memories. Anyway, I kind of want to go check out that bakery too.”