IU's Brother Made a Wish to Earn More Than Her: She Had the Perfect Response

When IU asked her younger brother what his number-one wish was while they lay on a mat watching shooting stars fall, he did not hesitate: he wanted to earn more money than his older sister.

The moment comes from a video posted on the 26th to IU's YouTube channel leezium, titled Star, Please Grant My Wish (with bro). The two had gone outside specifically to catch the Perseid meteor shower, and the clip captures them lying side by side, gazing up at the sky, before the conversation takes a very funny turn.

IU's first reaction to the wish was a flat "Ay, that's not happening in this lifetime," which drew immediate laughter. But she did not leave it there. She followed up with a small detour into parallel-universe logic: "In some world out there, there's probably a Hoon-i who earns more than Ji-eun. Some version of you, among all the countless Hoon-is that exist." It is a playfully generous concession, and it landed.

When her brother repeated the same wish a second time, IU pulled it back with characteristic dry clarity. "You have to wish for something the stars can actually grant," she told him. "That one's a no."

Why the wish landed the way it did

The exchange works partly because of the very real gap it is gesturing at. In 2021, Hong Kong outlet the South China Morning Post named IU the wealthiest female K-pop artist, estimating her net worth at somewhere between roughly 39.5 billion and 57.3 billion won. Her real estate portfolio alone tells a story: a luxury apartment in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam purchased in 2022 for 13 billion won; a studio in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do bought for 4.6 billion won; and a standalone house in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi-do that reportedly serves as a private retreat, acquired for around 3 billion won.

Against that backdrop, the brother's wish reads less like genuine ambition and more like the kind of thing a younger sibling says knowing exactly what it will do to the room. IU clearly knew it too.

Fan reactions in the comments were warm and fast, with many pointing to the parallel-worlds riff as the highlight: it is the kind of offhand philosophical detour that feels very much like the person behind songs built on careful introspection. The chemistry between the two is easy and unperformed, which is part of what makes the leezium channel so watchable when she brings family into it.