“Forever long-time friend”: ASTRO’s Moonbin’s fans get emotional as SF9’s Chani posts a heartfelt tribute for the deceased singer

It's been a few days since ASTRO’s Moonbin’s unfortunate demise, and the tributes continue to pour in for the deceased singer. A childhood friend of the ASTRO singer, SF9’s Chani, took to his personal Instagram to pen down a heartfelt tribute to his friend, ASTRO’s Moonbin, three days after his unfortunate demise.

For those unversed, ASTRO’s Moonbin, SF9’s Chani, and iKON‘s Chanwoo all starred in TVXQ‘s music video for Balloons, which aired in 2006 and was crowned with the title ‘Mini TVXQ.' They have been friends since then and maintained their friendship even in adulthood.

On April 23, SF9’s Chani shared a bunch of throwback pictures, showing off his ever-lasting friendship with the late Perfumer singer as a tribute to him. Notably, fans got emotional seeing their long-lasting friendship and SF9’s Chani’s tribute to Moonbin. @dbskfanbaseid wrote, “They are forever long-time friend."

---

ASTRO’s Moonbin was childhood friends with SF9’s Chani and starred in many variety shows together

In his tribute to ASTRO’s Moonbin, SF9’s Chani shared a captionless post dedicated to his friend. The carousel post’s first slide was left empty, with just a white background and a bunch of adorable pictures in the subsequent second and third slides.

In the second and third slides, SF9’s Chani showed off his childhood friendship with the INCENSE singe by sharing a bunch of throwback pictures of them as young and aspiring toddlers.

Even though the post had no caption, fans could feel Chani’s profound love for ASTRO’s Moonbin. Unsurprisingly, fans got visibly emotional as they took to social media to share their heartwarming reactions to this tribute post.

Fans also noticed that SF9’s Chani removed his profile picture from Instagram and uploaded the post without a caption. ASTRO’s Moonbin’s fans are guessing that the singer is really grief-stricken and taking time to heal from this unexpected tragedy.

Notably, ASTRO’s Moonbin, SF9’s Chani, and iKON’s Chanwoo are childhood friends and began their careers as child artists by appearing in various K-dramas and variety shows. In their preteens, they appeared together on talent shows like Star King and Little TVXQ. SF9’s Chani is friends with all the ASTRO members, as he was a trainee at Fantagio before moving to FNC Entertainment and debuting as a member of SF9.

In fact, the iconic moonwalk done by SF9’s Chani in Now and Never was taught by the late ASTRO member.

In 2006, ASTRO’s Moobin appeared in TVXQ's music video for Balloon as the child version of one of TVXQ's members, U-Know Yunho. In 2009, he appeared in Lee Min-ho starrer Boys Over Flowers as Kim Bum’s child version, So Yi-jung. He was 11 years old at the time.

As an adult, the ASTRO singer also pursued acting, appearing in critically acclaimed school dramas like Moments of Eighteen as Jung Oh-je, a closeted gay man who hides his suffering from his classmates. He appeared in The Mermaid Prince as well.

---

Actress Moon Ga-young paid a heartfelt tribute to ASTRO’s Moonbin via an Instagram post

SF9’s Chani wasn’t the only one to pay a heartfelt tribute to ASTRO’s Moonbin on Instagram. In addition, actress Moon Ga-young wrote a tribute to the deceased ASTRO member on Instagram.

In a carousel post with the accompanying caption:

“Our beginning and all the moments that I looked up at you are clear."

She posted a carousel of pictures similar to Chani's, where the first slide was a black screen and the second and third slides contained pictures of Moonbin. One is a sweet throwback photo of them as kids, and the other is a picture of them as young adults posing together.

Notably, they have previously posed for a reputable children's clothing brand. The two shared a screen in 2020's Food Avengers on cable channel tvN. Interestingly, she also worked with his bandmate Cha Eun-woo on the popular tvN drama True Beauty.

---

The late singer’s funeral procession was held on April 22nd and was kept private as per the bereaved family’s wishes.