The kid in the picture

grew up to become the leader of "Seventeen."

This cute baby

is the oldest out of these twelve boys.

This article is dedicated

to shedding light on the baby of the family, "Choi Seung Chul", aka S.Coups.

D. You're the oldest, and the leader of Seventeen but is the baby in your family. Do you have any siblings?

S.Coups : I have one aloof brother, two years older than I am.

D. How was your childhood?

S.Coups : My mother told me I was the type of child to disappear if she ever blinked. I was so active, I'd often have a lot of scars on my knees. I was raised by my grandmother an spent a lot of time with my friends.

D. Your dream as a child was to become a "Top star with soaring popularity."

S.Coups : I have a funny story actually. Teachers often assign students to write down their dreams for the future. But I didn't have any dreams yet at that age, so I left it blank.So the teacher wrote down "Top star with soaring popularity" for me instead. My teacher had a lot of love for us, for me. She would tell me that I'm handsome every day. So that's why she wrote that down for me. I think it was through that teacher, that I became who I am today. I'm so grateful.

D. Did you really not have any dreams?

S.Coups : I did want to become a gym teacher! I really liked exercising. I wanted to become a teacher to help others.

D. How did you become an idol? Were you scouted in the streets?

S.Coups : I was competing for a soccer game in middle school. I was good at the sport. But for some reason, I just didn't want to practice that day. I snuck out in the middle of practice but someone followed me out and asked "Are you with an agency?"

I didn't even know what the word "agency" met at the time. The person told me to go to a random location at a specific time. My dad however, told me that it's a scam and to not trust the said person.

So I didn't go to what was supposed to be, an audition and instead played with friends at an arcade. The person that gave me the card kept calling me. My friend told me he would come with me so we went together and it turned out to be an actual location.

D. How did the audition go?

S.Coups : The audition? I don't think I did poorly. Haha. I liked singing and rapping at the time, to the point where I would perform at school performances. I sang seniors "Monday Kiz's" Man. I think I did a good job.

D. You sang? But you're Seventeen's main rapper now!

S.Coups : Yes, I sang. I had initially wanted to rap but they asked me to sing. They asked if I could dance but I answered "No, I can't dance."

D. Were you immediately casted? 

S.Coups : No, I got a call around two to three weeks later. The staff had a meeting with my video. They had wanted to see me personally in Seoul, but of course I answered the call later. Haha.

D. Did you become a trainee right away?

S.Coups : Yes, that's right. I became a trainee right away. The company staff had asked my father "Can we train him right away?" I had hinted at my dad that I didn't want to start that day, but he answered "yes", and left. It was day 1 from that day on.

D. How was your training period? Was it not difficult?

S.Coups : Pledis Entertainment is infamous for being tough with their trainings. There are a lot of people who had left because they couldn't bear the amount of training. We trained till the am after getting there from school.

D. There's also an evaluation process every month, right?

S.Coups : An end of the month evaluation, yes. They had also assigned us songs to sing. We took lessons for dance, or watched a dance video, tweaked it to our style and was tested for it.

D. How were you given your role as a main rapper?

S.Coups : I had mentioned that I want to do rap consistently for two to three months. I really liked rap. They eventually allowed me to rap during my end-of-the-month evaluation and was satisfied with it.

D. We expect there to have been a lot of potential trainees to be put into Seventeen. How hard did you try to debut under Seventeen?

S.Coups : I didn't exactly try to debut under Seventeen. I just wanted to show a better version of myself. The thought that I carried with me at the time was "I need to survive." The ones who stayed ended up debuting as Seventeen.

D. How did you feel when you were chosen to debut under Seventeen? '

S.Coups : I was full of pressure, because it had just begun now. Even after the members were chosen to debut, it fell through at least 3-4 times. One member had said this during an interview once: We have lived each day as if we are debuting next week. And time naturally flew since.

D. Did you ever want to quit? At the time you weren't a leader, but a trainee along with the others as well.

S.Coups : Yes, I often did want to quit. Like I've mentioned above, our planned debut fell through a couple of times. That made me question if this the road I'm meant to travel. And on one hand, I was very envious of my friends. I too wanted to go out and play with them. On the other hand, I kept thinking to myself that something would come out of it if I tried hard enough. Haha.

D. Have you ever told family that you were going through a rough patch?

S.Coups : I'm not usually one to outwardly say that I'm not in a good place. However, when the debut plans fell through once again, I had called up my father and told him how I felt. My father told me to quit and drove his car all the way up to Seoul from Daegu. We both went to the dorm and moved my belongings.

But I didn't have the courage to tell my grandmother. I get very weak and vulnerable in front of my grandma. She was really looking forward to seeing me debut. Since my dad knew this too, he had asked me "how are you going to look your grandma?" Nothing much was said and I ended up going back to the company.

D.  Wasn't it tough to endure?

S.Coups : I've lived away from my parents since I was little so that part wasn't too hard for me. I spent more time with my friends.

That's why practice in general was a lot of fun. I like living as a big group. When one of us gets in trouble, we all do. When one of us is complimented, all of us are complimented too.

D. We think you'd have really missed your grandma.

S.Coups : There was one specific time where it was hard for me. Right before a month when we were set to debut, my grandma had suddenly fell after a sudden heart problem. If we were even a little bit late, she might've passed.

My father had kept that a secret. I had only found out after a phone call with my brother. My brother had revealed to me: Grandma is in the intensive care unit.

I cried really hard that day and went chaotic. I thought to myself "What am I doing when grandma is in that state." I didn't care about debuting at the moment, I was about to go back to Daegu. Thankfully, her surgery went well and that made me feel a lot better.

D. Do you act like you're the baby of the family?

S.Coups : My older brother is too aloof. Therefore, when I go home, I immediately become "cuter." I was raised like the youngest daughter of the family. I slept on my dad's arm as my pillow till I was in my first year of middle school. I held it really tight.

D. It sounds like your personality changed quite a bit after being given the role as a leader.

S.Coups : I'm a baby when I'm home. But it's all different the minute I land in Seoul. The footsteps on the way home is different too. I need to change accordingly and it's hard at times.

I'm the leader, but sometimes, I just want to let loose and be unapologetically immature. I want to be loud with my members and play around too. But I don't in fear that our group's image would be negatively impacted.

D.  Are you like this now too?

S.Coups : Not if it's just between the members and I, and our fans. But when it comes to variety shows or interviews, I'm still that way. It's tough. It feels like I'm supressing the person in me.

What I've come to realize is, that the way I act as the baby as the family, is who I really am. So I want to become a more playful older brother to the younger members.

D. Lastly, is there anything you'd like to say to your family members?

S.Coups : First and foremost, my grandmother! I think she'll be really happy when she sees that I did an interview alone. I'm doing just as well as you had always wanted me to. I don't ever feel small either. Grandma, please continue to care for your health. I'll call you more often. I'll go back home as soon as possible when I get some free time on my hands.

And dad, mom. I'll try to be a son you can both be proud of. Lastly, my brother, treat our parents well! I heard you've recently got employed. I hope you continue to do well. I love you, my family~

<Photos by=Hyojin Song(Dispatch)>

<Video by=Dai Jung(Dispatch)>

<Translated by=Justina Kim(Dispatch)>