ONEUS sidesteps '7-year curse,' full lineup returns for 12th EP

For K-pop groups, the seventh year is supposedly cursed. Standard exclusive contracts usually are set to expire around that point, and members start weighing solo careers, new agencies or leaving the industry altogether. For boy band ONEUS, members say that reckoning never really arrived, and agreeing to stay together took far less discussion than deciding where to do it. The five-member boy group — Seoho, Leedo, Keonhee, Hwanwoong and Xion — will release its 12th EP, "FIRST LIGHT: 井," at 6 p.m., Wednesday. It is the group's first release as a full lineup since Seoho was discharged from mandatory military service in August, and their first album since all five moved together to B-Wave Entertainment earlier this year. ONEUS debuted under RBW in January 2019 and parted ways with the agency when their contracts ended in February. At the members' request, B-Wave acquired the ONEUS-related intellectual property from RBW, which allowed the five to carry on under the same name. "There weren't really any difficulties," Keonhee said during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Monday.