Former ARrC Member Walked 155km After Disbandment and Hit 700K Views

Park Hyunbin is 20 years old, working four part-time jobs, and by his own account feeling freer than he ever did as a K-pop idol. The former member of seven-piece boy group ARrC sat down for an interview with Yonhap News TV recently, and his candid account of life after disbandment struck a nerve with viewers in a way that neither he nor anyone around him seems to have anticipated.

A 155km walk nobody planned to film

When ARrC disbanded in June, Park Hyunbin did what a lot of people do when they don't know what else to do: he started walking. He laced up and headed out of Seoul toward Jecheon, a mountain city roughly 155 kilometers away, carrying a backpack heavy enough to leave his shoulders and back aching for days. The whole journey took five nights and six days.

"On day one and day two I genuinely wanted to quit," he said in the interview. "But by day three I thought, 'How am I going to turn back now?' So I just gritted my teeth and decided to keep going to the end."

He filmed the trip for his personal YouTube channel,

, without any particular strategy in mind. The video hit roughly 700,000 views. Park says he wasn't trying to attract attention; he was just trying to get through a difficult stretch. The response, when it came, meant something different to him than he expected.

"People tell me they found comfort in my video," he said, "but I'm the one who read all those encouraging words and thought, 'Right, I'm someone who can do anything.' I'm happy just to be the kind of person who gets that kind of support."

Four jobs and a lighter mind

Park Hyunbin started training as a K-pop idol in September 2018, debuted with ARrC in August 2024, and watched the group dissolve less than two years later. By the time he sat down for the Yonhap interview, he was juggling two regular part-time jobs and picking up day-labor shifts at a Coupang logistics center and a construction site whenever he could.

He described the situation without complaint. "It's hard," he said, "but surprisingly, I'm not sure I've ever felt this at peace or this happy in my life. I feel like I'm the one in charge of my own life now, and that's what makes me feel the most free, like a bird that just learned it can actually fly."

There's something quietly striking about hearing a 20-year-old say that warehouse shifts make him feel more like himself than idol schedules did. It's not a story about failure; it's closer to a story about finally having room to breathe.

Park Hyunbin continues to post on Gwangjin City Boy and engage with fans there. Given that his first real viral moment came from walking alone through the countryside with a too-heavy backpack, it will be interesting to see where the channel goes from here.