Sung Si-kyung reveals Shin Dong-yup's charm offensive on gray-haired restaurant worker

Singer Sung Si-kyung has shared a story that shows broadcaster Shin Dong-yup's unusual knack for winning people over.

On Monday, Sung posted a video on his YouTube channel "Sung Si-kyung's Meokul Tende" filmed at a grilled offal restaurant in Seoul's Namdaemun area, where he recalled an anecdote involving Shin.

In the video, Sung said he once accompanied Shin to a barbecue restaurant where the staff wore name tags. Shin, he said, kept calling one gray-haired worker by name and speaking to him informally.

"He would call out the name on the name tag and say, 'Hey, bring me some soju,'" Sung said. "I thought the server must have been really put off by that."

But then came the twist. "Dong-yup asked, 'How old are you?' and then said, deadpan, 'I thought you were younger than me,'" Sung said.

The worker burst out laughing and was clearly delighted, Sung said. "He kept saying, 'Oh, stop messing around,' and just kept bringing us extra things on the house." Sung described it as Shin's signature method for turning a restaurant into a regular haunt.

"Dong-yup hyung is really good at that — he does it on purpose, for the reversal," Sung said, expressing admiration for Shin's social savvy.

Sung also revealed that Shin is one of his most attentive viewers. "Dong-yup hyung watches all of 'Meokul Tende' in a single day — he seems to watch it every time he's on the move," he said. "I keep getting texts from him saying, 'That looks delicious,' 'Was it good?' and 'The Busan episode was fun.'" Sung added with gratitude that Shin follows his channel far more diligently than Sung follows Shin's own channel, "Jjanhan Hyung."