WINNER’s Mino and ITZY’s Yeji Have Known Each Other Since Before Her Debut

They’re basically cousins, except not blood-related. It’s complicated.

On the third episode of Things That Make Me Groove season 2, ITZY‘s Yeji and Lia were the special guests. They quickly became comfortable with the three hosts, WINNER‘s MinoSuper Junior‘s Kyuhyun, and Sechs Kies‘ Jiwon.

Still, since it was their first time meeting, the five spoke formally to each other until Mino dropped honorifics when talking to Yeji. This surprised everyone until Mino revealed that he and Yeji were actually good friends.

| 채널 십오야/YouTube

Mino and Yeji have known each other since before she debuted, but it’s hard to categorize their relationship. They’re friends, but they’re also like a family.

He’s my dad’s friend’s wife’s nephew.

— Yeji

Jiwon was understandably confused, and when Mino tried to explain it from his side, he even got confused about how to word it.

To keep things simple, Jiwon advised Mino to just say that Yeji was his younger cousin. They don’t share a drop of blood, so it’s a forced relation. Still, family friends are usually as close as actual family, so it wouldn’t be too farfetched to consider them related, especially since they met at a family gathering.

The first time they met was when Mino decided to visit his aunt’s place after not seeing them for a while. Coincidentally, Yeji’s family was also spending time with his aunt’s family, so Mino ended up having dinner with Yeji’s family. Yeji’s parents told Mino that Yeji was also aspiring to be a singer, and since Mino had debuted, they wondered if he could take a look at her performance and give her advice.

Usually, people would be shy performing in front of a stranger, no less an idol. However, Yeji was completely confident in herself (as she should be) and even pushed away the tables at the restaurant to make space for her performance.

Her bold attitude and ability to deliver made such a good impression on Mino that he suggested that Yeji go straight to Seoul to audition instead of waiting any longer. It’s evident that Yeji listened to his advice since she joined JYP in 2015, and ever since then, she’s only continued to grow as an artist, impressing not only Mino but the whole world.

It’s funny how the world can be so big yet so small, and Mino and Yeji’s friendship was so unexpected but adorable. You can watch Mino and Yeji’s “SNEAKERS” challenge here (although Mino’s doing it in Crocs):

@intomino

#mino x #yeji for #sneakerschallenge 🫶🏻

♬ SNEAKERS – ITZY