I haven’t used reddit in a while, but I needed to let out my happiness over my ATBO bias, Jeong Seunghwan going viral!
The Viral Incident:
Seunghwan recently performed at the 2026 Ground Forces Festival with fellow soldiers(he’s in the military) and idols. Fancams from both long time boats(atbo fans) and other fans who got totally swept by him got thousands of likes! He especially went viral on RedNote(chinese social media platform) where both kpop fans and other rednote users wanted to learn more about him! He danced to a wide variety of songs like BAD, It’s Me, Love Scenario, Rythm Ta, Love Killa, Energetic etc. (search up Jeong Seunghwan/ 정승환 on any social media and you’ll find it!)
Background:
Seunghwan(2004) debuted in ATBO on July 22, 2022 with members Oh Junseok(2003), Ryu Junmin(2003), Bae Hyunjun(2003), Seok Rakwon(2003), Kim Yeonkyu(2004)and Won Bin(2004), under IST Entertainment(was home to THE BOYZ, Apink, Weeekly and VICTION, and is currently home to TUNEXX). They debuted through the in house survival show The Origin: A B Or What?. 7 of the 13 contestants debuted and Seunghwan won the show and was the first official member in ATBO!
ATBO’s career was short lived, they disbanded just some months after their 3rd year anniversary(and Seunghwan enlisted just over a month before they disbanded). Being one of the bigger boy groups to debut in 2022(a girl group heavy year), they had some promise. But they would become one of the most mishandled groups I’ve ever seen. Having done 3 survival shows and 4 music releases, ATBO disbanded on December 17, 2025, after a year of silence. The members themselves wrote in their thank-you-letters that they wished they could’ve given fans a better ending after all time spent together.
My feelings:
I was personally really affected by their dragged out disbandment and mishandling from their agency. I truly wished they‘d gotten a proper last stage(their last stage being on rtk2). But with Seunghwans sudden popularity, people are looking through ATBO’s old weverse, social medias, fancams etc. The news accounts on instagram use ATBO‘s pictures and songs for their posts about this incident. And it makes me soso happy!
All 7 put down so much hard work and love into ATBO. It was extremely easy as a fan to see how passionate they were about their songs, stages, concepts, content etc. And as a fan, I did really want to see ATBO’s journey being appreciated one last time. Celebrate all the memories made during those 3 years. That the songs, music videos and performances was and will always be cherished by boats. They never got a music show win or a viral song and disbanded early, but it was far from a failure. They gave so much love, truly.
So seeing the name ATBO attached in all the posts, people going through the videos and songs i love, it’s just so heartwarming. The other ATBO members have liked news posts on ig about Seunghwans viral incident. I saw an account who recommends male groups and idols, and posted the other members after getting to know about Seunghwan.
Seunghwan is also getting attention for being extremely kind and attentive to fans, which he has always been. For boats Seunghwan has always been known as someone who everybody loves lol He’s given candy to other idols at isaac and befriends everyone. Seeing people on rednote going through his old weverse posts and talking about how he nearly posted everyday sharing trivial things to fans, it made me a bit emotional as silly as it sounds.
I think it’s a little closure-like? I put a lot of love into ATBO, i truly wanted to see them succeed more than anything. A part of me feels unfortunate that it didn’t happen sooner, since this was always here for everyone to see…but i’m also just grateful and happy to see ATBO’s name and Seunghwan being attached to something so positive and appreciative!
If you don’t recognize them from anything from above, you may have stumbled across them here:
- Treasure Box (2018) : Kim Yeonkyu was a former YG Ent trainee and competed at just 14 years old. He was close to Park Jeongwoo(TREASURE) during the show and they graduated together. (psst! he also covered DARARI in 2023)
- Oh Junseok was compared to San and Wooyoung from ATEEZ since The Origin where he coveredt HALA HALA. (psst! ATBO covered Pirate King, did the BOUNCY challenge, and junseok did BOUNCY again on Rtk2)
- ZUTTER cover (2022): ZUTTER by GD and TOP was covered on The Origin and got attention at the time. Especially Yeonkyus center part during TOPs verse as he was “definitely a former YG trainee!”.
- Jeong Seunghwan has been compared to Lee Hyunjae from THE BOYZ since The Origin.
- ATBO were infamously ABO before they switched it(pre debut). They did it since fans raised concerns about Abo being a slur against aboriginal people in Australia. But people also made jokes about Omegaverse.
- The original 7 member lineup included contestant Yang Donghwa, who then later got replaced by previously eliminated contestant Won Bin, when allegations about bullying came out. The first 5 members were decided by audience voting and the last 2 were entirely up to the judges. Yang Donghwa(6th place) and Kim Yeonkyu(7th place) were chosen. Donghwa was replaced so quickly after the show that no debut content or preparation was affected by it. Donghwa would later compete on Starlight Boys(2024) and rank 8th place, making him a member of POLARIX.
- ATBO’s fandom name is BOAT (보트). it’s often mentioned in worst fandom name videos or posts. (seunghwan made a hand sign for boats back during debut promotions which he signed in one of the viral videos as the boat recording held an atbo lightstick)
- Their 1st comeback, ATTITUDE (2022), was accused of plagiarism. People pointed out the similarities of ATBO’s MV and styling to NCT 127’s Kick It. Leading to the NCT 126 joke.
- ATBO competed on PEAK TIME (2023) as Team 05:00. They were eliminated in ep.7.
- ATBO participated on Road To Kingdom: Ace of Ace (2024), together with JUST B as TheCrewOne. They ranked 5th place. On December 9, 2024, IST Entertainment announced that TheCrewOne would end and each group would return to their respective agencies. Though ATBO would go quiet shortly after.
- Seok Rakwon left ATBO on May 6, 2024 due to health reasons. He had gone on hiatus 1 month earlier, nearly immediately after the group‘s first overseas fanmeeting and member Junseok’s birthday. Rakwon’s announcement also came after it was confirmed ATBO were participating in Rtk2.
- Kim Yeonkyu participated on The Scout (2026).
- Ryu Junmin was on a dating show Heart Road 321km.
My ATBO music recommendations if you’re curious about them! :
- Next To Me (2023) : Should’ve been a nugu classic. fun fact: they filmed and danced on Han River in this mv!
- Just Dance (2023) : top tier atbo bside!
- MAGIC (2022) : this song is literally this image.
- Graffiti (2022) : super cool song, they should’ve promoted it more
- High Five (2022) : rakwon in the chorus yes
- TEXT ME (2023) : boy group new jack swing what is there not to like
- RUN (2022) : one of the best survival show themes
- Mayday (2023) : yeonkyus chorus
- Must Have Love (2023) : great remake of the original! it’s also atbo’s disbandment song. fun fact: the atbo members loves christmas, it was even a joke in the fandom
- WARRIOR (orig by BAP) : a cover but it’s so good i have to put it here
thank you for reading if you made it here lol
submitted by /u/Adventurous_Can2398
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