[News] Kim Hyun Joong (김현중) - Superstitions, bling, and Chinese chess

Credit: entertainment.xin.msn.com

Text: Joanna Goh
Photos: Joanna Goh & Wenting Ang
Videos: Teng Siew Eng, Tay Yixuan & Fiona Lin

Repost with full credit, Please.

Korean actor-singer Kim Hyun Joong surprised fans when he relayed his desire to high-five all 3,000 concertgoers at his first Asia Fan Meeting in Singapore held last night. It was icing on the cake for everyone present when he selflessly continued that act of generosity and topped it up by presenting all attendees with a U:ZOOSIN t-shirt and brooch.

Anything for the fans, he says, and we're not even counting the dollars and cents (read: sense) involved in this exchange...

The "luckiest guy on earth" to be doing what he's doing right now, Hyun Joong's recent two showcases in Yokohama, Japan, sold out in mere minutes; tickets were balloted to pick 20,000 lucky concertgoers out of 60,000 applicants.

Rating his own performance thus far, the humble chap says he still has "a long way to go" to reach out to a global audience and "if there are 100 steps towards reaching my goal, I feel that I might be at my 10th step so far."

For someone whose mini-albums are accompanied by complicated dance choreography that gets "increasingly challenging" with each album, the 25-year-old assures he'll be dancing for "as long as my bones are still intact". Fans might even get to see him flaunt his guitar skills in future promotions and albums since he used to be a bass guitarist in school.

This charismatic poster boy of Korean beauty goods and preppy threads is as random as random gets. With a title album titled 'Lucky Guy', Hyun Joong shared a lesser-known tidbit about himself at his interview with xinmsn at Fairmont Hotel Singapore, and spoke about his superstitious habits.

"I'm not entirely superstitious for a lot of things but I have certain sides to myself. For example, when I have a good dream, I might go out and buy the lottery (laughs)," said Hyun Joong.

Then he continued, flashing a toothy grin, "Yeah, I just struck the lottery last week and I won 5000 Korean won."

"Five dollars (chuckles)," he carefully adds.

When xinmsn mentioned his crystal encrusted iPad casing of crystals with a U:ZOOSIN character, Hyun Joong admits that flamboyant bling is not his cup of tea, but he tries to use it whenever he can "because it's something made by fans".

So what's he into these days after his previous fixation with Paladog in 2011?

After mulling over the questions for a good 10 seconds, he quipped, "Chinese chess".

"I learnt it when I was young and used to play it when I was young. But I didn't use to be good at it in my younger days and it comes with practice. Whenever I play against the computer, I may win two rounds out of three rounds [now]."

Despite looking knackered having touched down less than six hours ago, Hyun Joong cut himself no slack during the 16-minute-long interview. Although our plans to do a mini show-and-tell with Hyun Joong on his 'five travel necessities' was scraped by the management at the eleventh hour, the Korean star made up for it with his earnest answers, and struck us with his unabashed sincerity, unflinching love for fans, and of course, his 4D (aka eccentric) personality.

Is it even any wonder why he's so adored by thousands around the globe?