Song Il-guk Walked Into the 'Immortal Songs' Greenroom and Immediately Wanted to Leave

Song Il-guk had a specific reason for showing up on the set of KBS2's Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend (불후의 명곡). He was there to do narration for musical actor Oh Man-seok's performance — a contained, one-task visit. What he did not expect was to walk into a greenroom containing Lee Hwi-jae, Hong Seok-cheon, and Cho Hye-ryun all at once, each of them operating at full personality power.

"I'm getting my energy completely drained," Song told the others, his expression somewhere between amused and genuinely concerned. "I shouldn't be here." The admission got laughs, and also set the tone for what turned out to be a genuinely entertaining episode of a show that has been running in some form for nearly two decades.

The Strongest Greenroom in Recent Memory

Episode 749 of Immortal Songs, which aired March 28, was framed as the "2026 Celebrity Singer Championship Part 1" — a special event gathering entertainers from across the industry who have released albums or singles. The guest list alone made it an unusual episode: Kim Shin-young and Cheon Dan-bi, rapper-comedian Lallar, comedian Moon Se-yun, the Chatflix team from Gag Concert, Park Joon-hyung, Song Il-guk alongside Oh Man-seok representing the musical Haag, Lee Chan-seok, Lee Hwi-jae, and Cho Hye-ryun.

That is an unusually high concentration of strong-willed, highly experienced performers in one space. Lee Hwi-jae, one of Korea's most recognizable variety hosts, has been a fixture of Korean entertainment for decades. Hong Seok-cheon, openly gay and beloved by fans for his warmth and his successful restaurant business, brings a distinctive energy everywhere he appears. Cho Hye-ryun has been one of the sharpest comic performers in Korean entertainment for years.

Song Il-guk, for all his accomplishments as a dramatic actor, is not primarily a variety show performer. Walking into that room without armor was, by his own account, a miscalculation.

The Unexpected Revelation: A Mentor Connection from Decades Past

The most talked-about moment of Song's appearance wasn't his self-deprecating entrance line. It was what came out when he and Cho Hye-ryun were in the same greenroom space together. Song turned to her and said, quietly: "Do you remember me?"

The answer, it emerged, was yes — and the backstory was something viewers didn't see coming. Cho Hye-ryun had taught Song Il-guk acting when he was a rookie. Years before he became the face of the historical epic Jumong, before the massive success of Gu Family Book, before he became a household name as the father of famous triplet sons on the reality show Superman Returns — Song was a young performer learning the craft, and Cho was one of the people who helped him learn it.

"Noona taught me acting," Song said, using the Korean term of address for an older woman that implies both familiarity and respect. The disclosure reframed everything about their dynamic in the greenroom. What had looked like a veteran actor being overwhelmed by seasoned variety performers turned out to be a person unexpectedly reuniting with someone who had a hand in building the career that made him a veteran in the first place.

A Show Known for These Moments

Immortal Songs has been on Korean television long enough that its reunion and revelation moments have become part of its identity. The show brings people together in ways that regular promotional appearances don't, and the greenroom setting — where guests wait and talk without a script — tends to produce the conversations that audiences remember most.

This particular episode also included a memorable moment from Hong Seok-cheon, who addressed the recent marriage of his adopted daughter. "I'm glad my son-in-law isn't my type," he said, delivering the comment with the comic timing that has made him a beloved figure in Korean entertainment for years. The remark was warm and funny in equal measure, and it captured why episodes like this one work — the mix of genuine personal stories and veteran performers who know how to tell them.

The celebrity singer championship continues the following week on April 4, with Part 2 of the competition bringing the same ensemble back for the conclusion of the event.

Song Il-guk: The Actor Who Keeps Showing Up

Song Il-guk is one of those performers whose career resists easy categorization. He arrived with serious dramatic credibility — Jumong, the 2006 KBS historical epic in which he played the legendary founder of the Goguryeo kingdom, remains one of the most-watched Korean historical dramas ever produced, drawing massive audiences across Asia during its original run and continuing to find new viewers through streaming years later.

But his cultural visibility shifted dramatically when his triplet sons — Daehan, Minguk, and Manse — became stars of Superman Returns, the long-running KBS2 reality show following celebrity fathers and their children. The triplets were a phenomenon, and Song's warmth and humor in that context showed audiences a version of him that his dramatic roles hadn't fully revealed.

His appearance on Immortal Songs is consistent with that broader arc: an actor who takes his craft seriously, knows how to be present in an ensemble setting, and can generate genuine warmth and humor without making it his primary mode. The man who walked into that greenroom declaring he shouldn't be there was exactly where he needed to be.