Kim Jong-guk opens up about 21-year-old variety show days on '고막남친'

Kim Jong-guk appeared as a guest on KBS2TV 더시즌즈-성시경의 고막남친 on August 14, opening with 제자리 걸음—a track he noted had reached No. 1 seventeen times.

The episode pulled archival footage of a 21-year-old Kim Jong-guk on the variety program 체험 삶의 현장, catching 옥돔 (red tilefish). Host Sung Si-kyung set the scene: "That's the scary period I was talking about. He was 21 at the time." Kim Jong-guk looked at his younger self and didn't hold back. "Is he a celebrity? He doesn't look like a celebrity. Who would see him as a celebrity?"

Sung Si-kyung had his own 체험 삶의 현장 clip: his time at a braised pork feet restaurant. "I burned the hair, washed it, boiled it, sliced it, and delivered it," he recalled. He couldn't cook back then. It was genuinely hard.

Both men explained why they'd signed up for this stuff in the first place. Sung Si-kyung remembered the show's writer showing up regularly at 뮤직뱅크, making an impression and handing out chocolate. Kim Jong-guk was direct about it: "Back then we had to do things like that to be able to appear on music broadcasts, so we did it."

The whole episode kept circling back to one question: was Kim Jong-guk scary or warm? Sung Si-kyung told him, "You were a scary presence back then, but now when I see you, my heart warms up, hyung." Kim Jong-guk pushed back—he'd always been warm. Sung Si-kyung wasn't buying it. "Even now when you glare, it's a bit scary" got the biggest laugh of the segment.