A High Schooler’s Demo Tape Became Kim Hyun-sik’s Song, Then IU’s Summer Encore

Part 6 of 13 in The Man Who Hit No. 1 After He Died: Kim Hyun-sik

No. 8, “Dreams in Summer Night,” was written by a high school student. That student grew into Yoon Sang, one of K-pop’s first-generation composers, and his son is now Anton of RIIZE. Kim Hyun-sik heard the demo tape and called him himself, and some 30 years later IU closed her summer concerts with the song. A star who heard an unknown high schooler’s tape and picked up the phone himself: this is where I fell even harder for Kim Hyun-sik.

Kim Hyun-sik – “Dreams in Summer Night” (Lyric Video, Dreamus) — 879 views

The original, remakes and covers add up to about 2.21 million views. Most of that is IU’s version and covers that follow it.

“Is this a dream?”

On the YouTube show Yojeong Jaehyung in May 2026, Yoon Sang said, “‘Dreams in Summer Night’ is a song I started in my second year of high school and finished in my third” (TV Report, May 11, 2026). He made a demo tape and played it for senior musicians like Han Young-ae and Kim Jong-jin, and before long Kim Hyun-sik called him directly. He never even got to the studio. A few months later, he picked up Kim’s fourth album, released in September 1988, at a record shop and saw his own name on it. “Is this a dream?” he remembered thinking. “Even looking back now, I was really lucky.”

The song was Yoon Sang’s debut as a composer (Harper’s Bazaar Korea; TenAsia, Nov. 1, 2013). The fourth album also carried “In My Arms,” a song Yoo Jae-ha left behind. A song by a younger friend who had died and a song by a high schooler who hadn’t even debuted sat side by side on one record.

Also read: His Debut Song Flopped, Then Became the Name of a Legendary Korean Band

Even when morning comes

깊은 밤 아름다운 그 시간은 / 이렇게 찾아와 마음을 물들이고

The beautiful hours of the deep night / come like this and color my heart.

— Lyrics and music by Yoon Sang (1988), excerpt

Starlight from the quiet night sky reaches a faraway window, and the memories of the day disappear somewhere. At a soft song, the heart runs like a child toward a blue sea of memories. And the singer says he’ll remember this summer night’s dream so it won’t be forgotten even when morning comes. In 1988, when Kim’s voice had already started to roughen, this was a rare boyish song on his record.

IU’s last song of summer

IU put the song on her 2014 remake album Flower Bookmark, and since then it has been a fixture of her summer shows. It was the last song of her September 2024 world-tour encore concert The Winning, and she sang it again at her September 2025 fan meeting Bye, Summer. Fan cams and album audio videos alone top 1.5 million views (there’s no official-channel video, so none is embedded here).

Idol covers followed IU’s version. UP10TION’s Sunyoul posted an “IU – Dreams in Summer Night” cover on his group’s official channel. There’s now a generation that knows IU, not Kim Hyun-sik, as the original singer.

Sunyoul (UP10TION) – “Dreams in Summer Night” (IU cover, UP10TION official) — 140,000 views

A high schooler’s demo tape passed through the voice of a 30-year-old singer and on to IU, born two and a half years after that singer died. As long as this song keeps being passed along on summer nights, I believe he’s somewhere in those nights too.

Next, Part 7: No. 7, “The Darkness, That Starlight,” the song that survived a 1984 album overshadowed by its own labelmates, Deulgukhwa.

Previous: Part 5 — Out of Jail, He Came Back Singing About Friendship. MAMAMOO Sang It 28 Years Later

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Sources: TV Report (May 11, 2026, Yojeong Jaehyung appearance); Harper’s Bazaar Korea; TenAsia (Nov. 1, 2013); Melon (fourth album, Sept. 30, 1988); Wikipedia “Kim Hyun-sik”; YouTube video titles for IU’s performances (The Winning encore, Sept. 22, 2024; IU Fan Meet-up Bye, Summer, Sept. 13, 2025). View counts as shown on YouTube, Oct. 25, 2026.