COSMOPOLITAN: Plays until he wins

From the Californian beach that is full of sunshine, to the streets of Seoul that are lined with tall building,
It took Mark Tuan five years.
As a member of GOT7,
He is the visual and he is also the gentle big brother in the team.
He still keeps his desire to win,
And enjoys the stimulation brought by a fast beating heart.
Be it in games or in life,
He can become the hard-core player who succeeds with his hard work and belief.

The Desire to Win of the Lucky Boy Who Seemed Nonchalant

Under the lights in the studio, the air seems to have frozen. Everyone’s gaze is gathered on Mark Tuan who is standing in the center. He is examining a Rubik’s cube, looking serious and a little impatient. After pausing for a few seconds, he smiles shyly all of a sudden, turns around embarrassed and starts to mumble to himself; when he turns back around to face everyone, the messy coloured blocks of the Rubik’s cube in his hands has already been neatly arranged. The crowd that is waiting exclaimed “daebak” approvingly, and he has already started to focus attentively on the shooting instructions given by the photographer.

“Winning” is very important in Mark Tuan’s dictionary, and he has this “lucky” nature that is blessed by the God of games too.

That is why once he sees GAME OVER in a game, and if he can click RESTART, then he will want to try again. “Although it’s not because I must win that I’m challenging it again and again until I win, if I’m given another chance I will indeed play until I win.” Mark Tuan graciously admits, “It seems like no matter what I do I want to win, and it seems like it’s not just me, other people may also be thinking the same way too. In other words, I just don’t want to admit defeat!”

“What if you meet an opponent who wants to win as much as you do?”

“Erm….. from how I see it, it seems like there isn’t anyone who has a stronger desire to win than me.” He smiles, with an expression that is 30% crafty 70% clear, like a cat.

“But winning is also not my everything in life.” Mark Tuan enjoys the process more, he likes to work as hard as he can in being himself. “Comparatively, the preparation stage is more important.” He firmly believes that if he puts his heart into it, the final results will definitely be perfect just as he has anticipated. “Even if in the end I can’t showcase 100% of the results and it’s slightly regretful, but when I think of the process where I put in 100% of my hard work in preparing, then I won’t have any regrets.” He says that a phrase that he learnt recently is called “buddha-like”, and thinks that it’s another kind of winning too.

Doesn’t Want to Waste Any Minute or Any Second

If he had not been scouted, this boy who grew up basking in the Californian sun will be like most people: go to college after high school, start to work upon graduation, then get married and have kids, step by step. Mark Tuan who went to Korea to start training was almost like a blank sheet of paper, everything about life as a trainee was totally new to him. Relying on his perseverance, he kept on training hard and preparing. The dream of becoming an idol was not that strong in Mark Tuan’s mind initially. The high schooler Mark Tuan just felt that it was a very good opportunity, and he could see other sides of the world. The first six months of training went by quickly, he stood on stage for the first time in his life, and completed the trainee showcase for the first time. The happiness brought on by the stage, lights and the cheers from the audience, even though years have passed, it is still etched in his heart, the feeling of excitement cannot be accurately expressed in words.

From then on, Mark Tuan’s thoughts of debuting became firm, and he started to work even harder for that. Life as a trainee was tough, he had to learn language, rap, songs, dance etc every day. All those skills he had learnt was to shine for that one moment on stage. “At that time, although it was tough I didn’t really have things to worry about in particular…… Ah! Other than worrying that I would get eliminated, couldn’t debut and had to go home. I think everyone would have this kind of worry when they were trainees.” After training for three years, Mark Tuan with his 6 brothers formed GOT7 and debuted. Releasing albums, performing on stage, doing a world tour…… Mark Tuan’s dreams were slowly realising. After debuting for five years, when he talks about things that happened at that time, he still feels that it was very fulfilling.

After debuting for five years, the most satisfying result for Mark Tuan is doing a world tour encompassing 17 cities and receiving the new artiste award. “The new artiste award is an award that idols can only receive once after they debut so it’s really very precious; and world tour is not something that we can accomplish just because we want to do it.” Accomplishing these two things, he is really happy and also very thankful. In the future, he hopes that he can have better results. In order to do his best, he is constantly working hard too. He never had issues with procrastination, doing his best for everything is something he asks of himself. He says that when he is worried or troubled, he will definitely tell himself quietly to “work a little harder”.

As someone born in the 90s, he lives even more simply. Although “WORK HARD PLAY HARD” sounds very normal and plain, this is something that Mark Tuan wants to achieve the most. When working, he has to treat it seriously, treasure every opportunity to perform, and work hard to shine on stage every single time. When meeting up with friends, then he should have fun. “I don’t want to waste any minute or any second.” He says, “No matter what, I want to put in my all, only then can I feel that I won’t regret.” Now it has been eight years since he entered the company for training and he humbly rates his results for this period as five points. “Should be five points; I have areas where I have done well and also many areas where I have not done enough. We GOT7 is getting better and better now, I want to go even further with my brothers. For me personally, there are many aspects I need to work harder on and do better.”

The Peter Pan/Flying Man Who Lives for Racing Heart and Adventures

Mark Tuan looks quiet on the surface, but he actually has a love for “racing heart”. When talking about horror films that he loves, his whole face lights up, which is rare, and words start to pour out as he shares the good shows he has watched over the years. “When I was in elementary school, I watched a movie called ‘Six Sense’, that should be the first one. My sister was watching it and so I watched it together. I found it really interesting! If I were to give recommendations, I would recommend ‘Six Sense’ and ‘Conjuring 2’.”

At the same time, Mark Tuan is also a seasoned expert in the field of adventures. This LA cool guy who is born with enviable athletic abilities, has almost unlocked all the skills for extreme challenges on land, sea or air. He says that it is not that he is not afraid, but the sense of accomplishment when he succeeds and the fact that the thing itself is interesting, overpower all other feelings, and so he wants to try challenging it. If he has the chance, he wants to experience Wing Suit Flying where he jumps off from the sky like a flying squirrel.

Because of this unique “advantage” he has, Mark Tuan becomes the Peter Pan/flying man who can move around on stage freely. “Although I had never learnt MAT before arriving in Korea, when I was in US I already liked those moves where you flip around in the air, and even searched for related information on the Internet. There is a specialised ‘acrobatics’ class in the company, and the moves I did got noticed by the company, I felt that I could do better so I unknowingly trained myself to the extent that it has become my special ability.”

He says that he likes to win, that is probably also because he enjoys the feeling of achieving victory or the heart-racing feeling when he works harder after he fails.

At the end of the interview, Mark Tuan rushes off to his next schedule. When he passes by the staff from the magazine, although he is hard pressed for time, without any hesitation, he stops and bows earnestly and politely with a smile. The winter sun in Beijing shining on him, warm and radiating.

Wishes for the New Year Written by
Flying Man “Peter” Tuan

Wish 1 – Write a Song for You
When my mastery of Chinese is better, I’ll write a song using what the fans want to listen to as the theme. I will definitely write it, please look forward to it~

Wish 2 – Travel Europe
If time permits, I want to go to Europe again to see the places that left a deep impression during our world tour.

Wish 3 – Personally Made
Recently I have started to design clothes for a collaboration brand, and I’m beginning to have thoughts on learning things related to design and becoming a designer to create my own brand.

Wish 4 – Good Food in China
I had fun in Beijing this time with my parents, and I ate many delicious food. But what’s especially regretful is that I didn’t eat the smelly tofu that I have always wanted to eat. Many people hate the taste but I think that actually smelly tofu does not have that strong a taste and it’s really delicious.

Wish 5 – Your Name
I have thought of making an upgraded version of Mark’s meal, with mala/spicy taste added.