'MZ wannabe icon' IVE's Gaeul showed off a surprising charm.
Recently, the YouTube channel 'Minumsa TV' uploaded a video titled "I love scary things…" smichu fan IVE Gaeul's books read from school days to now｜The Reapers, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Silence of the Lambs, Wizard Bakery. In the video, Gaeul appears as a guest and owner of the bookshelf, and Jo A-ran, Minumsa marketing director, who is the channel host and planner, held a wide-ranging reading talk.
First, Gaeul, who recently concluded activities for the mini 4th album IVE SECRET, took time to explain the title track XOXZ. She said, "This song is 'XOXZ.' 'XOXO' means 'hugs and kisses' and 'I love you,' but we added a 'Z' to make a new coined word, 'XOXZ,' which also means 'good night.'"
Then Gaeul's full 'bookshelf tour' began. Gaeul introduced reading items she actually uses, from bookmarks to notepads and indexes, and showed her devoted reader side, saying, "I want to use a bookmark that matches the book."
Afterward, Gaeul recommended a variety of books, from ones she recently read to books she read while active in the school literature club. She increased interest by adding personal opinions as well as summaries of the plots, and revealed her taste, saying, "I really like detective novels and the mystery genre. They always miss my predictions, which is charming, and I like that I can imagine endlessly."
Among the books she received from fans, the most memorable was the Cornerstone Sherlock Holmes complete set. Gaeul said happily, "Looking at this, I thought 'The detective novels I've read so far were only partial. The real foundation was here,'" and she proved her genuine fandom by revealing she also visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum when she visited the U.K.
For a recommendation to fans, she suggested Koo Byung-mo's Wizard Bakery. Gaeul said, "I thought a lot about this. Fans are of various ages, but there are many relatively young fans. So I brought a must-read that I think would be good to read during adolescence," showing a thoughtful attitude.
Next, for a book to read when you need comfort, she recommended Park Joon's Nothing would change by crying, but. Gaeul recalled fans when mentioning an impressive passage related to letters. She said, "I like writing handwritten letters, and I am very grateful to receive them. A letter truly shows that someone cares, and it's written because I really like that person. Actually, fans can't always see me. Many are really far away, and thinking that they pressed each character down while thinking of me makes it impossible to treat it lightly, and I feel I get a lot of strength while reading them," expressing her gratitude.
At the end of the video, when asked "What is a book to Gaeul?" she answered "blank space." She said, "It's a contradictory, absurd word, and you might wonder how a book can be blank space, but the reason I like detective novels is that I can draw them as I imagine. When I read a book, a white canvas appears, and I build various worlds on it myself. Drawing my own story is so fun and enjoyable, so to me a book is like blank space," she said.
Meanwhile, IVE, which Gaeul belongs to, will perform at ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2025 at Soga Sports Park in Chiba City, Japan, on the 15th.
[Photo] YouTube channel 'Minumsa TV' video capture
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