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iKON share leader B.I leaving 'felt unreal', K-pop fans say 'breaks my heart'

B.I aka Kim Hanbin was forced to leave his K-pop group iKON after being embroiled in a scandal in 2019

iKON has finally opened up after their former leader B.I aka Kim Hanbin left the group and fans were not ready for the tears. Back in 2019, B.I was involved in a drug scandal that forced him to leave iKON. While he has been cleared and is now successful as a soloist, fans were upset that both acts were not allowed to openly talk about the 2019 incident. Well, on June 3, on the variety show ‘Golden Clinic’, we had iKON’s Donghyuk aka DK, Junhoe and Bobby getting candid.

During the last week of May, we got a teaser of the episode that had the two fandoms divided as B.I’s fans were afraid that the editing or the words that iKON spoke on ‘Golden Child’ could harm the soloist. However, fans of all seven members knew to trust iKON who did not let them down as they shared their heartbreak over losing B.I. DK and Junhoe had previously commented in the teaser that they had felt apologetic and experienced a sense of emptiness after the incident.

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iKON talk about B.I leaving

In the actual episode, DK explained that the most difficult time for them had been when B.I left, leaving iKON without a leader which made them feel disoriented. Fans were shocked when he revealed, “All the members didn’t leave their rooms at that time.” Junhoe added that since B.I had been a friend of theirs and had lived with them for so many years, he could not accept the situation, “This team was the same since we were trainees. No one left the team ever. And we were doing so well and then suddenly one of us was leaving. Instead of feeling sad, it just didn’t feel real.”

With Junhoe saying that living with the reality felt bitter, Bobby further moved fans when he said, “We couldn’t even think ‘what do we do now?’...I think it’s the fact that someone who was with us for so long was missing that made it unbearable. The friend who was with us…for so many years disappeared.” Bobby added that he was even worried about iKON as a group, “Since the pillar-like member who did so much for the team was gone, I thought ‘is this the end of iKON?’”

‘Not me crying’

Fans have moved on and accepted B.I as a soloist and iKON as a six-member group, but they were moved by iKON’s words. One fan tweeted, “We must protect hanbin and ikon, always, and at all cost.” Another shared, “At least I can hear Bobby say ‘Hanbin’, it's been a while.  everything seems to never change, their love for each other.” One fan posted, “This breaks my heart.” Another fan commented, “Not me crying knowing they were having the hardest times back in 2019. I pray that they will all heal for what happened.” One pointed out, “It's been so long to see unblurred OT7 iKON photo in any Korean show.”