A Korean star has become a hot topic due to his unrecognizable recent appearance.
On July 28th, TVING Sports posted a short video on its YouTube channel. In the clip, Jung Geun Woo, seeing Hwang Jae Gyun with his long hair tied up, remarked, “He looks just like actor Jang Hyuk?” to which Hwang Jae Gyun responded, “Chuno!,” a reference to the drama The Slave Hunters which Jang Hyuk starred in.
He joked, “Someone has to go and beat someone up,” and added, “I’m planning to grow my hair until it can be tied up. I’ll keep growing it until no comments tell me to cut it. Even if one such comment comes up, I’ll continue growing it,” drawing laughter.
What drew more attention than his long hair was his markedly thinner face. As wrinkles became more noticeable every time he smiled, netizens reacted with comments like, “He looks older because he lost too much weight,” “Is he sick?” “I didn’t recognize him at first,” and “He looked better with more weight.”
Hwang Jae Gyun retired as a baseball player last year. He had been publicly dating Jiyeon, former member of the group T-ARA, since 2021, married her in December 2022, but divorced by mutual consent in October 2024 after two years. Afterwards, he signed an exclusive contract with SM C&C and made a fresh start as a broadcaster.