Shine, scandal, survival define K-pop boy band PENTAGON's 1st decade

In 2023, seven years after debuting as the leader of K-pop boy band PENTAGON, returned to trainee status. He competed alongside aspiring male idols on Mnet’s audition program “Boys Planet” for a place in a new project group as his own group’s contracts with Cube Entertainment approached their end.

Three years later, he is back onstage with six fellow PENTAGON members for the group’s 10th debut anniversary.

PENTAGON, which debuted on Oct. 10, 2016, has reunited for an anniversary project organized by NAKED, the label founded by member Kino. It comes after the participating members left the company that formed the group and pursued careers under separate agencies.

The group’s first decade illustrates how uncertain success can remain for a K-pop act, even one recognized for producing its own music. Its breakthrough arrived a year and a half after debut, only for a dating controversy to disrupt its momentum months later. Its first music show victory took four years, while military service and expiring contracts eventually scattered the members.

That PENTAGON has regrouped under an arrangement led by one of its own members gives the anniversary significance beyond nostalgia.

“Coward,” released last Friday, is the group’s first new song in nearly three years. Kino oversaw its production and contributed to its composition and lyrics alongside writers and producers including Kim Eana, Baek Eun-byul and PAAK.

PENTAGON will follow the release with its “101010” anniversary tour, opening in Osaka on Oct. 1 before continuing to Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. Its second Seoul concert falls on Oct. 10, exactly 10 years after the group’s debut.

The anniversary lineup consists of Jinho, Hui, Hongseok, Shinwon, Yeo One, Kino and Wooseok. Yan An and Yuto, the group’s Chinese and Japanese members, respectively, are not participating, although neither has been formally announced as having left PENTAGON.

Short-lived prime

Cube, which had built its reputation with major K-pop acts including BEAST, 4Minute and BTOB, introduced PENTAGON through the 2016 Mnet competition program “Pentagon Maker,” four years after launching BTOB.

E’Dawn, Shinwon and Yan An were eliminated during the program, but the members persuaded the company to debut all 10 contestants together, Hui had told The Korea Times at the group’s debut showcase.

In 2017, Cube placed PENTAGON members Hui and E’Dawn in the coed project trio Triple H alongside HyunA, one of the company's biggest solo stars.

Hui also established himself as a songwriter outside the group, contributing to songs for Mnet’s “Produce 101 Season 2” and its winning act, Wanna One.

PENTAGON’s public breakthrough ultimately came in April 2018 with “Shine,” co-written by Hui and E’Dawn. Nearly a month after its release, the track entered the Melon Top 100, one of Korea’s leading music charts. It later peaked at No. 27 on the Gaon Digital Chart and No. 6 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart.

Just four months later, however, E’Dawn and HyunA confirmed that they were in a relationship after Cube initially denied reports that the two Triple H members were dating. The company subsequently canceled the trio’s remaining activities and removed E’Dawn from PENTAGON’s scheduled promotions.

The following month, the agency announced that it would expel the pair, citing an "irreparable loss of trust." HyunA left Cube in October, while E’Dawn departed from both the company and PENTAGON in November.

PENTAGON continued as a nine-member group but struggled to turn the attention generated by “Shine” into sustained momentum. It secured its first music show trophy in October 2020 with “Daisy,” four years after its debut.

Survival, reinvention

The group’s uncertain position became especially visible in 2023, when Hui joined “Boys Planet” under his legal name, Lee Hoe-taek.

Then 29, he competed against trainees who had yet to debut despite being an established idol and songwriter. Hui ultimately placed 13th, missing a place in the nine-member project group ZEROBASEONE.

Months later, PENTAGON’s contracts with Cube began to expire. Yeo One, Yan An, Yuto, Kino and Wooseok left in October 2023, followed by Hongseok that November. Jinho and Hui ended their contracts in 2025, while Shinwon’s concluded after his mandatory military service.

The departing members maintained that PENTAGON had not disbanded. Continuing group activities, however, became more complicated as they joined different agencies and pursued separate careers.

Seven members finally performed together at the Hanteo Music Awards in February, marking their first group appearance in nearly three years. The reunion laid the groundwork for the anniversary project now being coordinated by NAKED.

According to NAKED, “Coward” is about finding the courage to face someone deeply missed after years apart, hinting that its lyrics can also be read as a message for the fans who stayed.

PENTAGON enters its second decade without its original lineup, the company that created it or any guarantee of future activities. For a group whose career has repeatedly required it to begin again, reaching its 10th anniversary is less a celebration of uninterrupted success than an act of survival.

Three years after Hui stood before judges seeking another chance to debut, PENTAGON is no longer waiting for an audition program or its former agency to grant it one.