winner's 'remember' letters to ics

[seungyoon]

 

to. INNER CIRCLE♡

 

Hello Inseos!! This is your youngest/leader Seungyoon!!

 

I’m writing this letter very late at night so my handwriting is a bit disorienting and I’m feeling extra sentimental for no particular reason, hahaha… But thanks to that I’m getting another opportunity to look back and linger on the memories I spent with all of you. Every minute that we spent together for the last seven years have all been consistently amazing and just full of so many bright moments! The intense WIN! The nerve-wracking 2014 S/S! The excitement for the first concert! FATE NUMBER FOR, which notified a new start for WINNER! OUR TWENTY FOR, a record of our mid-twenties! EVERYDAY, which felt like a gift to both us and to you! EVERYWHERE TOUR, which let us meet GICs all over the world for the first time! MILLIONS, our attempt to gift to you a Christmas present but we ended up being the ones that received! WE, to make sure we didn’t keep you waiting for too long! CROSS,  a great adventure of sorts for us to show you a new side to WINNER! And CROSS TOUR, which we are all so fond of…(There were many other schedules and moments besides these but as I’m not trying to write a whole novel right now I’ve opted to write just the bigger events) 

 

All of these moments vividly play out in front of me as I write about them right now! And WINNER looks pretty great… That blue ocean looks beautiful…

 

To be very honest with you, there were a lot of difficult times, too. As you all know, we can’t express all those struggles as much as we’d like, and when we stand in front of the public we always need to have a smile on our faces. There are things that we still to this day cannot freely talk about. So there are just those sorts of pains that we can’t say anything about even as we receive all these misunderstandings and misjudgments!! And because I still wasn’t satisfied with where WINNER was at, there were times when I pushed both myself and the members to go up, to go even higher!! (Because I have a lot of ambition and greed…)

 

But as time passed, I came to a realization! A realization that came to me over multiple discouragements and frustrations!

 

It was realizing how indecent I was, trapped in my own greed, deserting the happiness of my members and our fans who were present and there by my side at that moment. 

 

So I decided to change a bit!! Actually it isn’t so much of a lifestyle change but more a change within!! I’m going to try to stop living only to chase after goals and results!! I just want to do what I can do. And if that too, doesn’t turn out the way I aimed, even if the results aren’t good, I won’t be discouraged and beat myself up about it. I’ll simply treat it as water under the bridge and continue walking down that road, so long as that path means protecting WINNER and Inseos!!

 

And yes, that’s right!! This is WINNER’s last album!  No, actually, this is the last album for WINNER’s first act! I know well that even if I say [the period of inactivity] won’t be as long as you think, it won’t feel like it!! Do any of you like American TV shows or movie series? Often those works take around 2 years, or even 5 years for the sequel to come out! So it’ll be just about that long! Of course, that’s a completely different situation to the one we’re currently facing, but we’re going to do everything we can so you don’t feel restless as you wait. Then it won’t feel like such a long period of time, hahaha!!

 

I’ve rambled on and on about some useless thingsㅠㅠ

 

I’m going to have to stop myself right here! I am so thankful to all of you, more than words can ever express!!

 

This is something I kept emphasizing during the CROSS TOUR!! The title for the movie of our youth is “WINNER”. Thank you for being with us and starring opposite us in this movie!!

 

I hope this album will be at least a little bit encouraging for all of you until the day we come back for WINNER’s ‘Part 2’!! With that, I’m going to go sleep!!

 

I love you, Inner Circle. I LOVE YOU ALL INNER CIRCLE

 

From. Yoon

 

 

 

[seunghoon]

 

Hi everyone!

 

This feels a bit awkward, but I think I’ve only ever received and never responded to your letters, so I’m sending my letter to you right now, carefully packed to the brim with my feelings.

 

I’m wondering if you’re wearing a scarf around in this chilly weather, or if there’s been something on your mind lately… As for me, I’ve been home, getting some rest, playing games, watching movies, just laying down before eventually falling asleep. I think I’m living with ease, nothing particularly major preoccupying my mind.

 

I hope you’re doing the same.

 

With both Jinwoo and my enlistment ahead this year, and our group’s wish to share new music with you before that happens, we’ve been pressed for time. But all of us got together to prepare this album, and I hope you’ll like it. As you can tell from its title ’Remember’, the album might be a bit sad, but I’d like for you to ‘Remember’, because I’m going to remember until I’m 90, no 100, no until the day I close my eyes..

 

As long as you remember, I think we’ll still have that electricity sparking through our wire. 

 

From our debut stage, to our first concert, to when we went to Sweden and worked hard on shooting a music video that never came out, to when I got hurt ahead of our Japan tour, to the moment WINNER appeared on TV as models for a CF, to the day I adopted Haute, to when we appeared on the fan meeting stage after the difficult time, to our recent Cross Tour, I think they were all precious. They were moments for me to learn something and to grow, and I believe that all of you who were there to watch this happen grew along with me. My motto is, ‘There’s no such thing as a useless experience.’ I don’t think any teacher out there can teach the things we learned in the time that we spent together.

 

To strive for your dreams means constant loneliness and difficulty. But I believe I was able to do well and come this far because I was lucky enough to have all of you by my side to help me and be my strength. I’m full of all this gratitude that I can’t completely express. 

 

Even family members get upset with each other over misunderstandings. So how can we, when we’re not blood-related, expect to never have any discontentments or things to be upset about? But I think despite that, because we were able to trust and wait for one another whenever one of us needed some time to rest, all these moments and the time that we spent made us even stronger. 

 

You’re reassuring and reliable because I now know how strong this is. 

 

Thank you. 

 

I may become mentally mature and like a middle-aged man, but let’s try to at least perpetually keep my face as an oppa still in his 20s. I’ll work hard by not drinking and I’ll do my best to work out and take care of myself. 

 

See you when I’m 31 years old.

 

- When time passes and you think of me, just say my name, 

   Seunghoon♡

 

 

[mino]

 

Hi, my Inseos. It’s me, Minomino. 

 

Since this is a handwritten letter, I feel kind of embarrassed and awkward. But I’ll use this ink to write out my feelings in its entirety, stroke by stroke, so I hope you’ll appreciate this ^^

 

The powdered-up babies of Team A that were full of spirit as they said their greetings have grown up now to be adults who must respond to their country’s calling, and now they write a greeting asking all of you to wait for them for a little while. It feels strange.

 

Mr. Einstein was wrong. My time went by faster than the speed of light.

 

It was the same for you too, right! I guess the gravitational force between us is strong ㅎㅎㅎ

 

2014 S/S, EXIT, Fate Number For, Our Twenty For, EVERYD4Y, Millions, WE, CROSS — these stages of WINNER’s journey only take up all but a couple lines. However, the various durations of patience we had to endure and the activities and promotions that felt all the more special to us as a result of these periods of inactivity; all our 'memories'—the word we must resort to in order to illustrate all the days we spent together because we can't think of a better, clearer word to describe them; the precious moments that we can’t record because we can’t put down it into words—I'm so thankful for the fact that we get to share these precious feelings with you for a long, long time. How special is that? My heart flutters with excitement at the thought of all the memories we'll make with each other in the future. 

 

And that blue ocean I would see every time I stood up on the stage...I think I'll be able to vividly draw it out even when I've become old and grey.

 

When that time comes, let’s trade a single strand of our white hairs with each other. Can't give you two strands, though. ^^

 

Anyway, I’m just always thankful for you and I always love you and stuff.

 

There are limits to placing all 200% of my sincerity into expressions that use a few words and sentences

So instead, from here on out, I'll let you feel and experience it thoroughly, for a long, long time. And if I had to conclude this by saying something that’s somewhat cool…

 

WINNER…

WINNER goes up because you exist.

 

Bye 👋🏻

 

 

[ you can check out a translation of jinu's letter here ]