Lee Jun-young on U-KISS days: 4 hours lost in Shibuya, 20+ songs learned in 3 weeks

Lee Jun-young sat down for You Quiz on the Block episode 350, which aired July 8 on tvN, and walked through what joining U-KISS in 2014 actually cost him.

He arrived with three Japanese phrases: good morning, good afternoon, thank you. The rest of the group was already fluent. His first real test came fast. Dropped in the middle of Shibuya with instructions to find the dorm on his own, no phone, no help. "I got off in front of Power Records and went up, and it took 4 hours to go a 15-minute distance with broken English and Japanese," he said. That day he made a decision: learn Japanese, no exceptions.

The language gap was only part of it. Joining an active group mid-run meant absorbing everything the others already knew, immediately. He re-recorded tracks and drilled choreography simultaneously, mastering over 20 songs in three weeks. After music broadcast schedules wrapped, the older members clocked out. He went to the practice room. "I spent more time at the company than the trainee friends," he said.

Now 29, he's blunt about whether he'd do it again. "If they asked 'do you want to go back and do it again?' I don't think I could. That's how hard I worked."