Yook Sung-jae and Lee Sang-yun bid farewell to “All the Butlers” this week. Watching them leave the program feels like a family member is going away somewhere far away.
And they are, especially for fans who stuck with the show since it began in December 2017. The two were fixed cast members of the show along with Lee Seung-gi, Shin Seung-rok and Yang Se-hyung.
Sang-yun is leaving because he wants to focus on his acting career. While BTOB member Yook Sung-jae is set to enlist in the military service soon. They had a graduation ceremony along with their master, Go player Lee Se-dol.
From awkward to comedian
It’s hard not to think about how much they’ve grown since the first episode. The four looked awkward together when they were still feeling each other out.
Sang-yun, especially, looked out of place. It was his first variety show and he was in an unfamiliar territory. He spoke very little, and was very formal to all of them. The other members respected him and always told him that they are in awe of his Seoul National University diploma. Binary codes would often appear above his head whenever he would start thinking.
Some of his finest comedic moments came accidentally. Like when he didn’t bury his face in the snow while all the members did because he thought they were playing tricks on him again.
Going to Los Angeles and meeting Master Shin Ae-ra was the breakthrough Sang-yun needed. In a heart-to-heart open forum, he revealed that he felt that he was a burden to his co-members to the point that he wanted to quit.
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He relaxed in the following episodes after receiving the assurance he needed to hear from his co-members. His quiet demeanor balances their noise, he was told.
Sang-yun tried so hard in every challenge. His high tolerance for pain, competitiveness and smarts made him win most of the prizes their masters offered.
The actor worked so hard to keep up. Dancing is not his forte, yet he danced several times. He stayed up all night to learn BoA’s “One Shot, Two Shot” dance moves. It paid off eventually when he won the rookie award for entertainment in the 12th SBS Entertainment Award.
“It felt like a beautiful journey,” Sang-yun said while tearing up.
Beloved maknae
Sung-jae’s 3D personality was an instant fit for the show. He flattered Seung-gi early on when he stuck a sticker on his face when they were instructed to pin it on photos of people they want to learn from.
The Seung-gi-is-my-role-model became the inside joke that everybody was in. He was their savage maknae often dropping truth bombs unexpectedly, shocking his hyungs (older brothers). But they took care of him just the same. In one episode, Sang-yun drank a lot of bad-tasting medicinal tea so he would not end up drinking the bulk of it.
We saw him grow on this show. He often talked about BTOB and how much he treats them like his real family because they went through the same stuff together. He said that he feels the same way to his “All the Butler” hyungs.
In their LA trip, he called himself Six Cash. His fans adopted it and made it his pet name.
“I am jealous of the person who will be taking over my position,” he said on their last meal together. “If he’s good, I would feel bad about it. If he’s bad, I would still feel bad about it.”
His hyungs were touched with his honesty. Seung-gi told him that, “it is not easy to be as good as Sung-jae.”
Welcome anytime
The members acknowledged that Sung-jae went through a lot during the graduation rites. They said that he is the adorable one who overcame Sang-yun’s oversharing, Seong-rok’s impatience, Se-hyung’s over-the-top-energy, and Seung-gi’s pressure to make him his role model.
“However, he has not learned enough, yet. Hence he is allowed to return here anytime,” Seung-gi said. The words made Sung-jae smile.
Yook Sung-jae said that he would like to come back to “All the Butlers” in the future. Thus, fans of the show will hold him on that.
Wanna One’s and Fantagio actor Ong Seung-woo will be a 1-day apprentice in the next episode of “All the Butlers”. Watch all episodes on VIU.
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