Lim Young-woong has reflected on his return to The Fact Music Awards after three years, telling The Fact in a new interview that winning two prizes in his 10th anniversary year left him more excited than ever, and that he is still hungry.
The interview, published on October 26, was conducted backstage after the 2026 The Fact Music Awards, which took place on September 19 at Busan Asiad Main Stadium. The ceremony, hosted by The Fact with Fan N Star and UCW, saw Lim Young-woong take home the TMA Popularity Award and the Jury Special Award. The Fact noted the significance of the pairing: the Popularity Award is decided entirely by fan pre-voting, while the special award is chosen entirely by jury evaluation, meaning the double win recognized both his fans’ devotion and his musical standing.
Speaking to The Fact, Lim Young-woong said returning to the awards after his last appearance in 2023 felt different this time. “It has been three years since 2023. It felt good then too, but coming this year, I felt even more excited and happy,” he said. Looking back on a year spent moving between stages and broadcasts, he described it as a time of gratitude and reflection, saying he had spent the year reminding himself to be thankful to his fans. Asked about the next ten years, he credited his fans, known as Hero Generation, with everything he has achieved. “Because of my fans, I keep achieving things I never imagined, so I can only say I will work hard as long as fans keep loving me,” he said.
His closing message to fans was the line that gave the interview its headline. After thanking Hero Generation for a decade of love and asking them to stay with him for the next ten years, he added with a laugh, “I am still hungry.” The remark, delivered backstage after the ceremony, framed the anniversary not as a finish line but as a midpoint, with Lim Young-woong presenting himself as an artist still chasing the next stage rather than resting on a decade of success.
The double win capped a milestone year. Lim Young-woong marked his 10th debut anniversary with the special digital album “IM HERO 10,” whose title track “TtoTto” kept his presence felt on the music charts. He also staged the solo concert “IM HERO - THE STADIUM 2,” which drew around 95,000 fans over three days and pushed his cumulative solo concert audience past one million. The Fact’s interview ties those threads together, presenting the awards as recognition of a year in which recording, touring, and fan support all peaked at once.
The ceremony itself was a landmark edition for the awards. The 2026 show was the first edition of The Fact Music Awards to be held in Busan, after the previous two ceremonies were staged overseas in Osaka and Macau, and it brought together 17 performing acts. BTS emerged as the night’s biggest winner with four awards, while Lim Young-woong was among a group of acts, including ATEEZ, RIIZE, NMIXX, and TREASURE, that took home two prizes each. Within that field, his combination of a fan-voted prize and a jury prize stood out as a rare double.
As the anniversary year winds down, the interview leaves the next chapter open rather than spelled out. Lim Young-woong closed his backstage remarks by wishing fans health as the seasons change, a modest sign-off that matched the tone of the whole conversation: grateful for ten years, and, by his own account, still hungry for the ten to come.
