A megathread | "History of Chuu"

A collection of Jiwoo's journey from her student and trainee days to becoming LOONA's uwu-est member, Chuu!

I compiled this last winter- reorganizing it to celebrate 200 days with our precious penguin!

#200DaysWithChuu #LOONA #Chuu

10/20/1999
Kim Jiwoo (김지우, 金智雨) is born and raised in Chungju, Chungcheong Province, South Korea

~2008 | Child Jiwoo
She attends and graduates from Saet-byul Elementary school (샛별초등학교) and San-nam Middle school (산남중학교).

10/8/2009 | 4th Grade Jiwoo
Here's a question that a 4th grade Jiwoo wrote on Naver Q&A:

Q : About Dinosaurs...

"I'm a 4th grader.. Saetbyul Elementary's Kim Jiwoo..
Please tell me more about dinosaurs
I'll give you 80 (Naver) points.!!~"

5/16/2010 | 5th Grade Jiwoo
Then 7 months later she checked the post and saw that she wasn't happy with the response... so she wrote:

"Thank you. But it's sloppy.."

2015 | High School Jiwoo
Fast forward to 2015, Jiwoo auditions and gets accepted to Hanlim Multi Arts High School in Seoul as Applied Music major.

During this audition she meets a new friend in a KKT chat room made for accepted students, quickly becoming very close friends.

This friend's name was Kim Jeongeun. (and 3 yrs later that friend goes on to debut in a girl group called LOONA, with a stage name of.. "Kim Lip"!)

During this time she also becomes friends with other students like Momoland JooE and Red Velvet Yeri.

(Some early HS pics below!)

2015 | HS Jiwoo

During this time, Jiwoo also gets an opportunity to sing a song titled "We Wanna Be Adults", for a Kids animation show called "Princess Pring".

2016 | New Trainee Jiwoo!

Jiwoo enters FNC (exact date unknown) to begin her life as an idol trainee. Here is a clip of Jiwoo performing GFriend's "Navillera" with 5 other trainees, at FNC Academy 2016 Dream Concert.

2016~2017 | MW Trainee Jiwoo

Jiwoo then leaves FNC, and enters Music Works as a trainee to join PD101's Kim Sohee and few other girls, preparing for a debut. This is also when Jiwoo slowly started gaining a fandom in Korea (and 13,000+ followers on Instagram!).

During this time, Jiwoo uploaded a couple song covers through MW. Be sure to check them out!

Here is a short cover of Tori Kelly's "Paper Hearts".

And here is an untitled original song sung by Jiwoo, and produced by someone named JawSoul. (It is believed that she wrote the lyrics but yet to be confirmed)

(with the lyrics video I made- )

July, 2017
Jiwoo leaves Music Works as a trainee, and goes on a quest to find her new agency...

OP: Are you still in MW?
J: I left the agency, I need to try harder!!
OP: You got this! Something better will happen soon!
J: Yes!! Thank you-

(Fan DM dated 7/22/17)

Sept, 2017 | Jiwoo on a Quest!

Two months pass and Jiwoo's quest continues! Who will take her...?
(See picture for translations)

(Fan DM dated 9/12/17)

Oct. 2, 2017 | Jiwoo on a Quest!

More auditions! YG and JYP? Someone take Jiwoo already!
(See picture for translations)

That same day, Jiwoo uploads a picture with a "new" friend (*hint hint*) with a blurred face on IG... wonder if it's someone we already know?

Oct. 11, 2017 | Jiwoo's Birthday

Meanwhile, "DC Inside Kim Jiwoo Gallery" (Korean fan community for Jiwoo), starts planning and making birthday gifts for "Jiwoo the agency-less trainee", quickly collecting over $160 in just a few days to buy gifts and a cake for her...!

One of the fans even designs a "Jiwoo-ming" sticker to give to her along with letters and other gifts!

It gets included in their letters and even all pretty and laminated!

This sticker then gets forgotten... until a little later in the story :)

And they pick out a nice chocolate cake- (and do I see strawberry crumbs?!?)

It looks sweet and pretty, just like Jiwoo!

Oct, 20, 2017 | Jiwoo-ming's Birthday

And it's the awaited day!
One of the fans volunteers to deliver the gifts and cake to Jiwoo after school.

The delivery mission? Success!

(See picture for truncated translations, OP: http://gall.dcinside.com/m/kimjiwoo/2072 )

That night, Jiwoo enters an open "Kim Jiwoo KKT room", and responds with a thank you to fans.

JW: "Omg... thank you!! So much...
I will enjoy this (cake) I will eat this and practice lots, and make sure I pay you guys back (with a great debut) Thank you."

Oct. 21, 2017

The next morning, Jiwoo posts a Thank you message on IG.
(Notice the time she took to take pictures of every single letter and gift, and make this collage... such sincere appreciation)

JW: I just woke up,, Thank you thank you

(feat. Sohee's reply)

Nov. 11, 2017

Few more weeks pass, and the last IG post from Jiwoo is uploaded:
(she also changed her handle to _gamjawoo_)

Cover of Paper Heart by Tori Kelly

(*Sorry! mistake in earlier post, Paper Heart wasn't one of the songs uploaded during MW days-)

Nov. 14, 2017

Here is the last comment Jiwoo leaves on IG, on one of Sohee's IG posts.
She then clears and soon after deactivates her account. What could this mean?!

(Her IG handle was _gamjawoo_ at the time, which means "potato-woo". Before that it was "potato-dori")

Dec 6, 2017 | Where is Jiwoo?

And another month passes with no news.

On a seemingly unrelated note- a girl group named LOONA in the land of BBC, posts their regular "LOONA TV" Episode #230, starring their 9th member, Yves.

Dec 7, 2017 | #LOONA

The next day, BBC also reveals the "Who's Next Girl" teaser for the upcoming 10th member of LOONA, to be revealed on Dec, 14th, 2017.

Where is this going?

Dec 10, 2017 | The "Sticker"

Things go unnoticed for a few more days- until a member of Jiwoo DC Inside Gallery points out that there is a "Sticker" on Yves' phonecase that is actually the same sticker that was given to Jiwoo as her birthday gift.

It takes only a couple hours before the entire LOONA fandom is in shambles.

Many fans dismiss it as "just another rumor".
Others debate why the "sticker" is even significant.

And the rest... go full on CSI-mode, analyzing blurred girls and putting make-up on Jiwoo's face-

And for the next few days, one of the greatest debates of LOONA fandom continues-

More evidences are uncovered, such as Jiwoo's name being the first to be mentioned in Kim Lip's OEC album "Thanks To" section. However, having been burned before by BBC, many remain cautious.

Dec 14, 2017 | The "Reveal"

A few more days pass, and BBC reveals the 10th member of LOONA, "Chuu".

However... BBC being BBC, they choose an ambiguous picture of Chuu with heavy make-up, and the LOONA fandom remains split for 24 more hours, unsure if really, Chuu = Jiwoo.

Dec 15, 2017 | The "Confirmation"

The next day, BBC reveals the next picture of Chuu, and all doubts were washed away with Chuu's picture clearly being Kim Jiwoo.

The long debate finally had come to an end!

And the blurred "new" friend from October?
Well it was none other than her soulmate! Yves!

(*queues "new" by Yves*) #chuuves

Dec. 28, 2017 | The Debut

And on December 28th, 2017...

Kim Jiwoo debuts as LOONA's 10th member, Chuu, with her powerful solo track called "Heart Attack". She kept her promise that she made to her fans that her debut would be special...