Fruits Taeyong assigned to members

Taeil: 🍎(Apple) Because he’s filled with vitamins
Johnny: 🍈(Melon) Sweet and gentle/soft
Taeyong: 🍌(Banana) Just because I like bananas
Yuta: 🍓(Strawberry) Because he’s fresh and really sweet like strawberries
Doyoung: 🍊(Orange) Because oranges have a slightly sweet scent
Jaehyun: 🍑(Peach) Because he’s really sweet and pale
Jungwoo: 🍊(Tangerine) Because he has a sweet and sour charm
Mark: 🍉(Watermelon) Because he likes watermelons
Haechan: 🍐(Pear) It’s an all-rounder fruit that’s hydrating and sweet that’s good for many things

Fruits members assigned to Taeyong

Taeil: Red apple, because he  reminds me of the color Red
Johnny: Passion fruit, because he’s the most gorgeous
Yuta: Grapes, because he’s cool at first glance but he’s actually sweet inside
Doyoung: Dragonfruit, because he’s Yong (Dragon)
Jaehyun: Mangosteen, it’s just… the vibes (laughs)
Jungwoo: Dragonfruit, he has a feeling of being rare and precious. Very high quality
Mark: Dragonfruit, his appearance and insides are both gorgeous
Haechan: Cherry, because everyone says he looks like the Cardcaptor Cherry that he cosplayed during the Halloween party

If Taeyong was a fruit? (voted by fans)

1st Strawberry 🍓

“He has both cuteness and coolness, and his balance of sweetness and freshness is like strawberry.”
“The way he looks and his aura are like a sweet strawberry.”
“He likes sweets so he has a sweet strawberry image.”

2nd Cherry 🍒

“His fresh image is like a cherry, but because he has charisma too, it’s a little bit of dark cherry.”
“If we say Cherry Bomb, it’s Taeyong!”
“He really suits the color of dark red.”

3rd Apple 🍎

“He has a feeling of a forbidden fruit.”
“He has an existence that’s like the leader of the fruits.”

Cafe 127 <Role Assigning Chart>

Assigned by Taeyong

Preparation: Taeyong
Barista: Johnny
Cook: Taeil
Patissier: Mark
Waiter: Jaehyun
Checkout Counter: Doyoung
Interior: Yuta
Menu Board: Jungwoo
Management: Haechan

Assigned to Taeyong

Taeil: Interior
Johnny: Patissier
Yuta: Cook
Doyoung: Interior
Jaehyun: Patissier
Jungwoo: Cook
Mark: Patissier
Haechan: Patissier

Taeyong’s Cafe Life

I really like cafes so I always go when there’s no work. When I go alone, I usually grab a dark spot in a quiet cafe but when I meet with friends I’d go to famous chains and grab the window seat openly without caring about people’s attention (laughs). While sitting there, I like looking at the employees working or the people outside.

When I’m working, I order takeout so I drink Iced Latte everyday. Perhaps it’s because I’m weak for caffeine, I usually can’t sleep at night if I drink Americano, so I like soft Latte with milk added or decaf. I always order the Venti size and if I can change the milk, I change it to soy milk. I drink about 2 cups a day.

During my trainee days, I liked Dolce Latte but I’m trying to not drink sweet things lately. If I drink sweet things, I lose the appetite to eat then I can’t maintain my physical strength too. Even for desserts, I’ve changed to things like yanggaeng (red bean paste jelly) and puffed grains too. It’s tasty and it makes my body feel much better (laughs). Even so, yanggaeng are so tasty to the point that I want to recommend it to everyone! I always carry them with me and even now it’s in my bag. I’ve tried some Japanese yanggaeng (yokan) too and it’s softer and less sweeter than the Korean ones. Korean yanggaengs are sweeter and chewier. But they’re both tasty!

And I really like the ginger cake from the cafe I often go to. When I go to the studio to make songs, I often buy cakes or snacks for the staff. For reference, I always start eating the least tastiest parts when I’m eating desserts. For cakes, I start with the most simple looking part and leave the softest and tastiest part for last. I’m the type to eat the part I like the least first (laughs).

During trainee days, I often went to cafes with Johnny. We’d go before practice, we’d go after school ended, we’d even wake up early to go to the cafe and drink coffee together first on days we have to take the plane. I think we really went a lot (laughs). Walking to the cafe together, ordering coffee, walking around with it in our hand, I really liked that time. I’m the type to talk about work at cafes, especially when I’m with Doyoung, we talk really seriously about the team. And I have a lot of worries to consult about. Like the team is currently going towards this direction what do we think about it, what’s a better way to do it, etc. because Doyoung is always thinking about the team seriously too, he responds well to my consulting.

If all the members are going, I think a cafe with an escape room game would be fun. Without a time limit, it might even take us one month or two months to escape from the room. It should be something like “Only the people who escape from the room are real NCT members!” (laughs) I think it’d be really fun! And the menu should be the fried dumplings the confined protagonist in the movie ‘Old Boy’ ate. The fried dumplings should have a system of coming out only once an hour (laughs).

Taeyong’s Secret Cafe Episode <Kind Store Owner>

When I recommend a bakery (cafe) I like to the fans, the fans would go to the bakery. Whenever I go to the bakery, I’d always meet fans. I’m really happy they even came from overseas too. I’m even happier that the bakery owner gave the fans extra service.

Jungwoo: When I went to a cafe with Taeyong hyung and Doyoung hyung, Taeyong hyung said “I’ll take a photo for you to upload to SNS” and made me pose a lot. Of course I like taking photos and I was very happy Taeyong hyung was taking photos for me but there were so many customers then…. I posed a lot but I was so embarrassed (laughs)

Q: Other than a cafe, what else would you like to work as?

Taeyong: Flower shop employee. Lately, I’ve been visiting the florist a lot for my interior and there was a really great store owner in one of the flower shops. They’re around the same age as my mom and I can feel the leisure and gentleness of an adult from them. While talking to the store owner, the store owners from the other stores would gather and start talking together. It felt very warm and I gained a lot of experiences through it. So if I want to work as anything, I want to be just like that store owner and start a warm flower shop.

Q: Do you act cute/spoiled to the members?

Taeyong: Me? Nope nope, I’m the leader. Leaders can’t be like that… If I answer like that, it’d be really cool right? The charisma would be no joke. But actually lately, I always sit the members down and do aegyo towards them and the members actually forgive these actions of mine. I especially act cute/like a baby a lot towards Taeil hyung, Johnny, and Yuta. I guess they don’t hate my skinship (laughs). In NCT 127, it feels like the hyungs act cute/spoiled more. The younger members in comparison can’t seem to act cute/spoiled. As the one in charge of aegyo in SuperM, I act cute/spoiled a lot towards the hyungs and in NCT 127 I act cute/spoiled towards the dongsaengs too. Sometimes I’d think “What happened, why am I acting so spoiled/cute…”

Q: On the other hand, how about the members you receive aegyo from?

Taeyong: Johnny and Yuta. Especially Yuta, he’s detailed so the sides he shows himself differ according to the person. When he’s with me, the side of Yuta during his trainee days comes out and I find that really cute. Because we’re the same age, we can act cute/spoiled towards each other more naturally.

Q: A member who’s the best at acting cute/spoiled?

Taeyong: Johnny. When Johnny starts acting cute, I’d think “Again~?” and then I’d start feeling “I can’t lose too” and I act even cuter/childish than Johnny. Like “Let’s see who’ll win” (laughs). And when all the members are present, Jungwoo joins in too. It’s an acting cute/spoiled battle. When Johnny does something to act cute/spoiled, I’d act twice as much, then Jungwoo would act twice as much as I did and then in the end it ends with a “What are we even doing” scene (laughs)

Yuta: Johnny, Taeyong, Jungwoo? Taeyong in particular is really good at skinship and it’s quite surprising. He really just sticks to me. And it’s not just with me, he sticks really close to everyone too. When I see that side of Taeyong, I think he’s cute.

2021

The resting period for the group in the first half of the year was quite long so I did a lot of things that I wanted to do but couldn’t before and I had the chance to learn trendy dances too. The first half of the year was an input time, so I’d like to think I proved my growth with the output in the later half of the year using what I have input. Though there was a really long resting period, it was a busy year in many ways for me and I spent a fulfilling time.

Memory

Starting Soundcloud was the biggest news for me in 2021. After creating SNS and Soundcloud, I was able to communicate with fans even closer than before so I was really happy. It was something I started because I wondered what I could do as an artist since the resting period is so long. Because I gained strength from everyone who was happy about it and supported me, I would like to praise myself for deciding to start it. (laughs)

Growth

I’ve always felt like this since debut so I don’t think there’s much that has changed but… (laughs) that was a joke. In 2021, I learned ways to become a better leader. Until now, to be honest, there were a lot of parts where I thought I’m lacking as a leader, but in 2021, I met people from several industries and heard valuable advice. Especially appearing on SWF (Street Woman Fighter) and getting to meet several leaders, it was a very refreshing experience. I received energy from these people and there was a lot to learn from them as leaders so it was a valuable experience that let me gained confidence to think “I can grow more as a leader in the future”

Taeyong’s 2022 Three Resolutions

1. My aim in 2021 was to make 50 songs but I was slightly short of it, so I must achieve the same thing in 2022.
2. I want to read more books. Aside from poetry and comics, I don’t have the chance to read novels so I have to try reading at least one in 2022,
3. I’m weak at languages (laughs) but I want to learn Japanese and English. Rather than a daily communication use, I want to learn the basic grammar and nuances well. Speaking in that language is the fastest way to learn a language so I think it’d be good to make more American or Japanese friends. Even so, I think for Japanese, I’d be able to get better at it faster if I get to meet the fans.

In the middle of Taeil’s interview, Taeyong appeared and passed by saying ‘Talk more about me too~’

Taeil: Since it can’t be helped, should I talk about Taeyong too? (laughs) But Taeyong, in particular, is very good at acting cute/spoiled. He’s delicate so he gets hurt easily too but he’s the kind of person that’s really honest with his feelings. There are people who might be surprised at this kind of gap from Taeyong at first, but you eventually get attracted towards this purity of his. When we just debuted, because he’s the leader but also because he gave off the feeling of a really strong presence, I couldn’t think of him acting cute/spoiled. But as the time we’ve known each other got longer and the more we know each other, I find the side of Taeyong who acts cute/spoiled really cute. He’s the type of pure person who’s the same outside and inside.

Translation @alientyong on Twitter
Scan from weibo