KAIST Friends Reveal Seo In-young’s True Side After 18 Years... "She Was a Kind Older Sister Without Any Pretense"

[Sportschosun Reporter Jo Yoon-sun] Seo In-young’s friends from KAIST shared a heartwarming story, saying she showed sincerity and dedication.

On the 17th, a video titled "A High School Graduate Seo In-young Who Entered KAIST, Where Only Geniuses Go (+Recent Update on Daebul University and Im Du-hyeok)" was released on the YouTube channel 'Seo In-young's Gaegwacheonseon.'

In the video, Seo In-young reunited for the first time in a long while with KAIST students Im Du-hyeok and Im Yoon-min, who had appeared with her on Mnet's 2008 program 'Seo In-young’s KAIST.'

After hearing that Im Yoon-min is now working as a plastic surgeon in Gangnam and that Im Du-hyeok is on the design team at Lotte Hotel, Seo In-young made a bitter expression and said, "While you were working peacefully, your older sister was scraping the bottom." When she asked, "How did you feel when you heard about me?" Im Yoon-min replied, "I thought, 'She got married. She came back.'" drawing laughter.

Recalling the time Seo In-young filmed at KAIST, Im Yoon-min said, "She was giving an English presentation, and she didn’t understand the meaning at all, so she asked me to write it out in Korean. I would write it down, and she kept memorizing it." He added, "I told her, 'No one expects you to be good at studying, so why are you working so hard?' and she said she hated doing things half-heartedly."

He praised her, saying, "I also got my best grades that semester. Seo In-young was working so hard, so I felt like I couldn’t just go on TV and slack off. It was a positive influence."

Im Du-hyeok also said of Seo In-young, "It felt less like I had met the celebrity Seo In-young and more like I had gained a kind older sister."

Seo In-young later brought up the past controversy over her use of abusive language and asked, "How did you feel when trouble happened to me?" Im Du-hyeok answered, "I thought it must have been hard. Being honest is not always a good thing, but it wasn’t done with bad intentions or a bad heart." He added, "It wasn’t like that, so I wondered why people only took it that way. She was truly without pretense, and apart from filming, she even took us to events."

Im Yoon-min added, "There were times when she followed our schedules with us all day." Seo In-young then showed her affection for the two, saying, "They even came over to my house to hang out. I just liked being with them. We rode around together in my van."

When asked whether she seemed like someone they would keep seeing for a long time, Im Yoon-min said, "Even when the show ended, she told us, 'It would be natural if we couldn’t see each other often, so don’t be too upset about that. Take good care of Du-hyeok.' If she had said, 'Let’s keep seeing each other. Let’s meet often,' it might have felt less sincere. I thought she was very mature."

He continued, "Every few years, when Seo In-young seemed to be reflecting on her life, she would contact us and say, 'Hope you're doing well.'" He said they occasionally stayed in touch even after the broadcast.

Seo In-young said, "I missed them. I contacted them from time to time when I was on a dark path. Everything was sincere."