SHINee's Key Surfaces After 7-Month Hiatus With a Summer Day at His 3.8 Billion Won Home

SHINee's Key posted a short personal video on the 4th showing an unhurried summer day with his two dogs, Comme des and Garçon, the first substantial look at his private life since he withdrew from several TV programs last December. The post carries a quiet caption, 'The Kims' Summer,' and that low-key framing fits where Key is in his public arc right now.

The video moves through a wide garden lined with pine trees and manicured lawn, with Key and his dogs wandering at an easy pace. One sequence opens onto a broad view of the Han River, visible from the property in a way that makes the space look more like a resort terrace than a private residence. Viewers were quick to note the setting.

The home is not new to public attention. Key's residence in the same complex had been featured on MBC's long-running variety show I Live Alone, and it was reported at the time that he entered the lease at a jeonse deposit of 3.8 billion won, a lump-sum rental arrangement common in Korea where the tenant pays a large deposit upfront in lieu of monthly rent, and the landlord uses that capital during the lease period. The complex itself is well known in the industry as a celebrity address: entertainer Seon and his wife Jung Hye-young previously rented there, and broadcaster Kim Sung-joo, actress Go Ara, and actor Park Hae-jin are among those reported to have owned or leased units in the building.

Key's step back from television came in December, after he became caught up in what was widely referred to as the 'nurse injection' controversy. He released a handwritten statement acknowledging that he had not been attentive enough to those around him, and quietly left I Live Alone along with a few other programs he had been appearing on.

He returned to stages in May, when SHINee performed together as a full group for the first time in a while, headlining a standalone concert at KSPO Dome in Olympic Park, Seoul, and then following it with shows at Belluna Dome in Saitama, Japan. The summer video, modest as it is, marks another small step back into public view.