Highlight and their fans Light are celebrating their ninth anniversary!

The group made their debut on October 16 of 2009 as BEAST, going on to change their name to Highlight after they left Cube Entertainment in 2017 and launched their own independent company Around Us Entertainment.

On October 16 at midnight KST, Around Us shared a poster to celebrate the big day, with a photo including all five members — even Yoon Doojoon who appears in a picture, since he’s currently serving in the army.

HIGHLIGHT Congratulation for the 9th Anniversary! 9년 동안 서로가 서로에게 빛이 되어주었던 하이♡라이트의 오늘과 내일, 그리고 더욱 빛날 앞으로의 날들을 축하하며:)#하이라이트 #Highlight pic.twitter.com/tlsk1OswTh — Around US Ent. (@ent_aroundus) October 15, 2018

The group also announced some exciting news in a V Live broadcast! They shared with fans that they’ll release new music digitally on October 29 at 6 p.m. KST, and that they’ll also be performing concerts on November 24 and 25 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul.

The guys took to Instagram shortly after midnight to share some personal messages for their fans.

Yang Yoseob posted a photo of the group bowling and wrote, “We’ll always keep walking as a like-minded team, as we were in the day this photo was taken when we became a team and hoped for great results. I think there may have been times when you were disappointed in us or our choices. Thank you to our fans for silently supporting us and believing in us despite that, and thank you to our staff for always helping us. And to my friends Yoon Yong Lee Son, I express my respect and gratitude.”

Son Dongwoon wrote, “I was uneasy every day and everything felt precarious amid the fierce competition that began during middle school when I began my life as a trainee and continued after debut. You all became my stability and my completeness. I sincerely hope that there will be time in the future for me to return the love I’ve received, and to be that kind of person.”

He added, “To my longtime friends Light, you’ve worked hard all this time. Congratulations, and please keep taking care of us.”

Yong Junhyung shared the photo of the group with the message, “Happy 9th anniversary.”

Lee Gikwang posted selfies on Instagram and wrote as the caption, “It’s our ninth anniversary. I sincerely thank our fans who have supported us, cherished us, and loved us during that long time. I think that it’s thanks to all of you that I’ve been able to happily dance, sing, and work with my friends for such a long time. I’ll keep trying hard and develop in the long time to come as well. Please keep taking care of us.”

“And thank you so much to our agency family staff who are always behind us, working hard for us,” he wrote. “Please keep taking care of us. Lastly, to my members, I’m truly glad that we can be together and that I have you, and I’m grateful every day and enjoy it. Let’s be together for a long, long time. I love you.”

He added, “Thank you to everyone who has congratulated us. Please keep taking care of us. Have a good night, everyone.”

Happy anniversary to Highlight! Stay tuned for more information on the group’s upcoming release.

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