“Like A Fiction”: Look How HORI7ON Kim Turned His ‘Fictional Dreams’ Into Reality

Picturing your dreams in mind is like envisioning your future. This gives you a sense of direction in life—it will drive you to start working hard and never lose your passion. Big dreams are everyone’s starting point, even the most well-known figures in different industries started as dreamers before becoming who they are today. HORI7ON’s Kim Huat Ng is no exception. He was once a simple provincial boy who used to live a basic life in Sipalay, Negros Occidental, Philippines—a young man who had nothing but his igniting passion and the support of his loved ones. Just like everyone else, Kim began his career by dreaming of becoming a performer. He drew inspiration from the people he admired, including his family and some of his favorite KPOP groups.

Without hard work and determination, a dream can never be turned into reality; it will remain a desire. HORI7ON Kim, with his formidable talents, mustered the bravery to chase his dreams of becoming a pop idol. Kim went above and beyond to improve himself and show everyone that he could be what he aimed to be. With his unique talent for beatboxing and incredible dancing skills, he was able to captivate everyone’s attention, which helped him attract a lot of supporters. Because of this, Kim did not have much difficulty establishing his fan base; it has always been his fans who initiated the wholehearted support all along.

Apart from his fans, Kim is blessed to have his family by his side, who never stop encouraging and helping him stay motivated even during difficult times. This Filipino-Singaporean idol is the youngest among his five siblings, who have always supported him in every single event or competition he wanted to participate in.

Online Community

One great demonstration of how close Kim is to his siblings is their family YouTube channel named “Team Ng (their family name)” where they upload random content about their fun activities. This YouTube Channel has been creating videos since October 2020 on their family’s activities and has amassed over 14K subscribers up to now. Aside from this YouTube channel, Kim Huat Ng is also a popular Filipino TikTok influencer having a large following count of 2.6 million. On this platform, Kim was able to further exhibit and develop his KIMazing talents by doing different TikTok challenges and trendy dance covers. Not to add, TikTok was also one of the platforms that Kim used to grow his fan base, not only because of his great talents but also for his striking looks.

“Top Class” Official

Dubbed the “Charming Influencer of Bacolod”, Kim started to enter the world of the entertainment industry by joining as one of the trainees in a P-Pop talent reality competition named Top Class. Like Dream Maker and other Korean survival shows, the goal of this program was to also search for the next wave of P-Pop icons among the 30 talented male aspirants. Though he was getting closer to his goals at the moment, luck was not on his side—he got eliminated from the show during its sixth episode, which left a lot of his supporters dumbfounded. Many of his fans could not believe what happened but they promised to support him even not being on the show anymore. After his experience in Top Class, Kim felt a little discouraged and began to lose interest in taking part in reality competitions.

Nevertheless, with the encouragement of his family, he bravely embraced the challenge to give it another go when the doors to the K-Pop world opened for him. In September 2022, ABS-CBN announced its collaboration with MLD Entertainment and KAMP Global in forming a Filipino boy group that will make their debut in South Korea under MLD Entertainment and KAMP Korea through the idol survival show named Dream Maker. As soon as they received the news, his mother was the first one who pushed him to join the contest. Because of his previous experiences, Kim was slightly hesitant at first and seemed adamant about his decision to audition for the show. However, after numerous attempts, his mother and siblings were able to successfully convince him to agree with the idea of joining the competition.

“Dream Maker” Official

HORI7ON Kim’s journey in Dream Maker was anything but easy. He did not begin at the top; he started at the bottom and worked his way up to the final Rank 7 spots. During the first mentor’s evaluation, Kim performed an upbeat version of “Gusto Kita” by Bailey May which highlighted his soft and cute side. Kim started at a low ranking (Rank 57) in this mentor’s evaluation since according to the dream mentors, they were not that satisfied with his performance. Following the first mentor’s evaluation, the dream chasers were assigned to practice for their signal song performance, “Take My Hand.” The trainees were divided into three groups: Levels A, B, and C. Each group level, with A being the highest, represents how much the group has improved as performers since their first individual performances and how successfully they managed to master the signal song. Kim was placed at Level B after the mentors and coaches saw his small improvements in each performance.

During Mission 1, the “Group Battle”, Kim performed the Backstreet Boys’ song “All I Have To Give” where he got his first-ever center position in a performance. This performance brought his rank up to 42nd among the remaining 44 lucky trainees who were still given the chance to continue their journey in the competition.

In their second mission, the “Position Mission”, Kim chose the dance category specifically ASTRO’s “Alive”, as someone who excels in dancing. The members of their team, Lifeline, again decided to give him the center position because he said he wanted to shine and redeem himself from his performance during Mission 1. Luckily, he succeeded in making a good impression on the coaches because, after their performance, he was showered with praise by their dream mentors emphasizing how he stood out as the center of their group. These encouraging comments made more people trust in him which caused his ranking to shoot up to tenth place (three steps closer to making it to Rank 7).

For Mission 3, titled the “New KPOP Song Launch” mission, the dream chasers who survived during the second elimination round were required to choose one song among the four options. In the case of Kim, he chose “Tiger” which is a totally different genre from the previous songs he performed. In contrast to the first two missions where his performance genres were more calm and soft, this song was more furious and intense which necessitated sharp dance movements and fiery stage presence. Thankfully, when their group finished performing, the dream mentors commended each group member for delivering such a fantastic output. Given this, most of their group members were able to improve their ranks. Even Kim himself went from being Rank 10 to Rank 8, which placed him a rank closer to attaining the Dream 7.

Finally, for the last mission, “the Dream Finale”, the remaining top 16 dream chasers were tasked to choose between two original songs: “Dash” and “Deja Vu”. Together with the other HORI7ON members, Kyler, Winston, and Jeromy, Kim decided to perform “Dash”, which eventually became one of HORI7ON’s pre-debut songs after the formation of their group in February 2023. Similar to “Tiger”, this song leans towards the dark and fierce side—from its intimidating opening melody to its electrifying dance break part. Despite not having the chance to enter the Rank 7 spots in the previous ranking announcements, Kim still got chosen by the public and was the first member announced to be part of the newest all-Filipino global pop group, HORI7ON.

Straight from winning the competition, the then newly formed group HORI7ON went into several TV guestings and special appearances. Also, their jam-packed mall tours showed how incredible the Anchors’ support was wherever they went. He may be known as the “shy guy” of the group yet Kim confidently expresses his thoughts in responding sensibly to interview questions. Moreover, back in April 2023 when the group held its first sold-out Fanmeeting, Kim vehemently expressed how grateful he was to all the people who helped him achieve his dreams and left with a promise that he would continue to work for his craft. For Kim, it was the moment when his dreams started to turn into reality, seeing a lot of people cheering for him when he appeared on stage, getting him more excited to showcase his spectacular talents. What makes his stage performances more special is, on top of his head, he is doing all these out of his love for his family and fans.

At the time when the group left the Philippines to train and prepare in South Korea for their debut stage, Kim revealed in one of their interviews that the hardest part of their training was being away from their loved ones. However, this did not stop Kim from persevering but made this his primary motivation to push forth and keep working for the dreams he is fighting for. In July 2023, the group officially debuted in South Korea launching its first album Friend-Ship. In this album, Kim has his track together with NEW:ID’s Macky entitled “Like A Fiction” presenting his sweet vocals and powerful rapping skills. Also, the group has been recognized as the first all-Filipino global pop group to perform in well-known music shows in Korea such as MNet MCountdown, KBS Music Bank, MBC Show! Music Core, SBS Inkigayo, and Arirang TV alongside big artists in the K-Pop Scene such as NewJeans, ITZY, NCT Dream, and Jungkook of BTS. Indeed, Kim’s fanboy core went to extremes when he shared the same stage with his career inspirations, giving him extra fuel to set his passion on fire.

On the other hand, Kim’s determination is what makes his fans love him greatly. Just like Kim, his fanbase named Kimchis Army shows exceptional passion to support Kim and the entire group HORI7ON, especially in winning every voting platform where Kim and HORI7ON is nominated. Through the help of his fanbase, Kim was able to secure a solo billboard ad in Seoul through Fantoo for two consecutive times. He also grabbed the top spot in Kooky, a global fan voting platform, for the categories Best Fan Lover, Best Actor (December 2023 and January 2024), Best Idol 2023, and the most coveted Fanmade Birthday Cafe which awaits a reward for the winning fanbase with goodies and merch from Kooky for the artist’s birthday event.

The dreams that Kim once held dear have finally come to fruition when he get to perform in bigger stages and world-class events. It was in August 2023 when HORI7ON flew over to South America to be part of the prestigious KPOP CDMX Fest 2023 which was held in Mexico. HORI7ON crossed through the borders to showcase their greater talent and extraordinary charisma, which drew attention from the other side of the world. September 2023 when the group held its first major concert in Araneta Coliseum which sealed the reality of their dreams as a group. In December 2023, HORI7ON performed at Asia Artists Awards 2023 in the Philippine Arena bagging them with AAA Focus Award, the group’s first win where they also performed the rock version of their hit debut title track “SIX7EEN” with a jaw-dropping dance break. Earlier this year, HORI7ON got to perform in Gangnam 2024 Winter Youth Olympics which made another history for the group. Kim is definitely living his dreams and now keeping his spark blazing on stage to show the world how powerful our dreams can be as long as we persevere and trust in ourselves.

Now that the group is set for another comeback stage, we can be certain how Kim can rock the stage with his magnificent talent and timeless charm. As Kim repeatedly says in every interview “Fighting!”, this serves as his daily mindset to keep moving forward. The hidden ace is no longer hidden; Kim is born ready to make a difference and be that idol that will captivate the hearts of many people across the globe. This wonderful story of HORI7ON Kim makes him living proof that anyone can turn their “fictional dreams” into reality as long as they believe in themselves.