[Exclusive] Kim Sejeong Says I.O.I Comeback Fulfilled a Long-Held Dream

Actress and singer Kim Sejeong said her recent reunion with K-pop group I.O.I fulfilled a musical dream she had carried for years.

She thanked her fellow members and fans, saying the experience helped ease some of the frustration she had felt toward music and renewed her desire to remain passionate as both a singer and an actress.

Kim sat down with K-POPIT on July 28 at BH Entertainment's office in Seoul's Gangnam district to discuss her next project, the I.O.I reunion and the questions she has been asking herself about her career.

Closing One Chapter, Preparing for the Next

Asked how she had been spending her time, Kim said she initially planned to rest after completing I.O.I's reunion promotions.

"But the schedule for my next project turned out to be tighter than I expected," she said. "I've mostly been staying at home and preparing."

Her next project is TVING's "High School Queen," a working title. Kim said she chose the drama because it felt like a project that could bring together everything she had explored as an actress in her 20s.

"It includes action, historical elements, school drama and romance," she said. "It demands a lot from me as an actress. I wanted it to feel like a collection of everything I have done so far before moving on to new kinds of roles."

Most of her days are now spent reading the script and training.

"The only thing that really gets me out of the house is action school," she said. "The action is different from anything I've done before. My character has to look like a genuine martial arts master, so I'm learning both modern action and traditional martial arts."

Kim also admitted that learning how to rest has been one of her recent challenges.

"I only recently learned how to rest without feeling guilty," she said with a laugh. "I've begun to trust that even if I slow down a little, my future self will handle things. I also trust that even if I go quiet for a while, Sesang will understand."

I.O.I and the Dream That Once Felt Out of Reach

One moment from I.O.I's reunion promotions remained especially meaningful to her.

After the group's final recording for MBC's "Show! Music Core," Kim looked toward the audience and said, "You made my dream come true. Thank you."

She explained that the words came from a long-held wish she had carried during her solo music career.

"When I was promoting alone, there was a dream that felt like an impossibly high wall," she said. "I wanted to see an entire music-show fan section filled with people who had come for me."

She recalled standing onstage during a solo promotion and seeing only a small number of her fans inside the venue.

"I looked out at fans of other artists and wondered whether my music could reach them," she said. "I kept asking myself whether I could ever get over that wall. It felt so high that it sometimes left me discouraged."

Kim said there were moments when she cried while saying that singing made her happy. Those tears, she explained, also came from a sense of uncertainty.

"I wanted to keep singing, but I didn't know whether I would be able to," she said. "I had worked hard, but it felt as though there was no clear answer. I promised myself that one day I would get past that wall."

She eventually stopped thinking about the dream. Then I.O.I reunited.

"For our final 'Show! Music Core' recording, the entire fan section was filled with I.O.I fans," she said. "When I looked at them after the recording, I realized that the dream had finally come true."

She added, "I.O.I was the group that made my dream come true in my 20s. Now, in my early 30s, it has made another dream come true."

Kim said the tears she shed during the reunion were not about sadness or another separation.

"I never cried because I was sad that we would part again," she said. "I was thinking about the 10 years all of us had made it through. We are all doing well now, but we know exactly what each member had to go through to get here."

When "Suddenly," the title track from I.O.I's third mini-album "I.O.I : LOOP," reached No. 1 on music charts, Kim interpreted the response as encouragement from the public.

"It felt like people were telling us, 'You held on well, and you grew up well,'" she said.

Keeping Her Inner 'Peter Pan' Alive

Kim said the reunion helped lift some of the pressure she had placed on herself as a musician.

Her concerns about music, she explained, have always been different from those she experiences as an actress.

"When I act, I know my responsibility is to study the script and understand it as deeply as possible," she said. "But with music, I felt responsible for everything — the album concept, lyrics, music video and the overall direction."

She continued, "During the I.O.I promotions, I began telling myself not to carry all of that weight and to focus on the part that was actually mine."

Kim said she is now trying to identify the qualities in her own voice and music that she genuinely likes.

"For a long time, I wanted to make the music I liked, but I also kept chasing what I thought the public wanted," she said. "At some point, I lost track of what was truly mine. My previous single, 'Solar System,' came out of that struggle."

Keeping Her Inner "Peter Pan" Alive

Asked about her ambitions as an actress, Kim said she has one central goal.

"I don't want to become numb or let acting turn into a routine," she said. "I want to receive my scene partner's emotions well and do my part properly."

Her biggest wish, she added, is to preserve the "Peter Pan" inside her.

"By Peter Pan, I mean that I don't want to lose the intensity and excitement inside me," she said.

Kim said she sees people with that same energy throughout film and television sets.

"There are so many Peter Pans, from senior actors in front of the camera to crew members behind it," she said. "Even I sometimes feel myself becoming less sensitive, and I'm still young. That makes me respect them even more."

She added, "I want to remain passionate about acting for a long time and become the kind of senior actor who still asks the director a lot of questions."

Beyond Her Tough Public Image

Kim is often associated with a strong and easygoing "Teto" image, but during the interview she appeared softer and more sensitive than that public persona might suggest.

When asked about the contrast, she laughed.

"I'm actually much less of a Teto girl than people think," she said. "I just switch into Teto mode when I'm working."

Kim linked the image to the way she handles awkward situations.

"My MBTI is INTP," she said. "Teto is a mode I developed to push through uncomfortable moments. I could stay quiet, but instead I feel as though I have to break through everything. Then I go home, kick my blankets and regret it."

Her I.O.I bandmates have previously described her as more sensitive than expected, pointing to the way she decorates her diary.

"I like paying attention to small things," Kim said. "I love stickers, so I put them in my diary. I've also been into Lego lately. I arrange the pieces in a small garden I made and enjoy looking at them."

She added with a shy smile, "When the members saw it, they said, 'Unnie, we didn't know you were this girly.'"

Kim will star as Kim Chung-ha in TVING's upcoming drama "High School Queen," a working title based on the popular Naver webtoon of the same name.

The drama follows Kim Chung-ha, a Joseon-era queen and legendary swordmaster who is reborn in the body of a modern high school student named Kim Da-jin.