4-Time "The King Of Mask Singer" Champion Reveals His Identity + His Group's Goals For the Future

Apr 23, 2023

“Victory Trophy,” the reigning champion on MBC’s “The King of Mask Singer,” opened up about his goals on the latest episode of the show!

On the April 23 broadcast of the MBC singing competition, Victory Trophy took the stage in an attempt to defend his throne and score his fifth consecutive win on the show.

Going up against new challenger “Fairy Pitta” in the final round, Victory Trophy wowed the crowd with a soulful cover of Kim Ho Joong’s “In full bloom.”

Spoilers

After a four-win streak, Victory Trophy lost the match to his opponent by a difference of just nine votes (the score was 45-54), and so he remained onstage to reveal his identity to the audience.

As many viewers had guessed, the masked singer turned out to be none other than N.Flying’s main vocalist Yoo Hwe Seung.

Describing Yoo Hwe Seung as the eighth idol to be crowned champion on the show, host Kim Sung Joo shared that after his first win, the singer had broken down sobbing backstage.

“I wanted to win so badly,” explained Yoo Hwe Seung. “Back when I’d just debuted, I [came on the show and] challenged the reigning champion for the first time, and I wanted to prove that I’d grown and improved [as a singer] since then.”

“Right after I was crowned champion and they put the [champion’s] robe on me, I went backstage,” he continued, “and the manager who’s been with me ever since my debut was sitting there, in the exact same place. I thought to myself, ‘I’ve really grown,’ and that made me tear up a lot, so I cried quite a bit.”

Earlier on in the show, panelist Kim Jae Hwan had mentioned that he thought he knew who “Victory Trophy” might be. While he didn’t name the singer he had in mind, Kim Jae Hwan shared that he had texted this mystery singer asking if it was him, but his friend had left his message unread.

After being unmasked, Yoo Hwe Seung confirmed that he was, in fact, the mystery friend that Kim Jae Hwan had texted unsuccessfully. “I thought I needed to keep it under wraps for the sake of the contest,” he said with a laugh, before promising to read Kim Jae Hwan’s text later that day.

Yoo Hwe Seung went on to open up about what he had hoped to accomplish on “The King of Mask Singer,” as well as his band’s long-term goals.

“I want to keep performing with my band N.Flying until I’m 80 years old,” he said. “Our band’s mission is to provide comfort with our music, and in order to keep doing that [for a long time], I thought that I needed to be able to become a voice that could touch many people’s hearts even without belting high notes. I wanted to achieve that goal through ‘The King of Mask Singer.'”

After the episode aired, Yoo Hwe Seung took to Instagram to post several photos of himself backstage. He added in the caption, “The time I spent as the 194th through 197th King of Mask Singer was an honor and a joy. Thank you for giving me this precious time in which I was able to take one big step up the staircase of life.”