Hyojin
김효진- Name
- Kim Hyo-jin
- Born
- 22 April 1994
Led the ON team at debut and finished second on Mix Nine.
Their story
Two teams in one
ONF is short for On and Off, and the idea was built into the line-up. At the 2017 debut Hyojin led the ON team with E-Tion and MK, now Minkyun, while J-Us, now Seungjun, led the OFF team with Wyatt and U. Laun belonged to both. Hyojin and Laun had just been through Mix Nine, an audition show whose planned winners' debut never happened. Laun left two years later, and the six who remained have stayed together since.
Second place, then a first
The turn came on Mnet's Road to Kingdom in 2020, where ONF finished second. Their first studio album followed, and its lead single "Beautiful Beautiful" brought their first music show win. Then the five Korean members enlisted within a week of each other at the end of 2021 and came out again within a week of each other in June 2023. U, who is Japanese, did not have to serve.
A long-time writer
Writer Hwang Hyun has worked with ONF since the debut and was still part of the team on their 2026 album. The members themselves, though, now do much of the work. On ONF: My Self, Wyatt and Minkyun co-wrote songs and lyrics, Yuto directed the performance and Seungjun helped plan the album. Hyojin called it the most honest picture of ONF's present.
Where they are now
Their biggest night on TV came in February 2025, when "The Stranger" won on Music Bank and Wyatt fell to his knees on stage. A year later the contracts with WM Entertainment ended after eight years. The six kept the name ONF and signed with KI Entertainment in March 2026, when U also became Yuto. In June the rock-based "Open the Door" led ONF: My Self, part two of their second studio album.
