Despite having a baby face, being the oldest of all the EXO members, it was no surprise that Kim Minseok enlisted to serve his required military duty first. And as smart as he was, it was no also surprise that he did well, moving up in the ranks of the Korean army quickly and easily.

Fans were thrilled to learn that Minseok earned top marks in the 1500km middle-distance unit and easily showed his skill as an expert sharpshooter. His brain joining forces with this physical prowess also helped him become a black belt in Taekwondo, Kendo, and fencing.

With all of these accomplishments, Minseok earned the position of Captain and was chosen to be a member of the special forces DMZ Police. This acronym stands for "Demilitarized zone" and the main area of responsibility for this unit is the South Korea border next to North Korea. High tensions between the two countries led to occasional skirmishes throughout the years, so when the fans learned of their idol being assigned there, they were obviously deeply concerned about the safety of EXO's Xiumin. 

The seasoned star showed the world he was doing fine when he participated in a full-blown musical about a year into his 18 month military tenure. The cast was made up entirely of individuals from various branches of the military, including another member of EXO, Doh Kyungsoo. Fans were ecstatic to see the two men on the stage together. What the fans didn't know was that Kyungsoo caught up with his hyung backstage after the performance was over and it was then that the younger discovered the eldest member was hiding a secret. 

When Kyungsoo confronted him about it, the captain reluctantly told him the whole story. 

About two months before the performance, Minseok had been on assignment with his unit in the DMZ. Tempers had been high for a while between the handful of soldiers positioned on each side of the respective borders of the two countries. One day when the wrong thing was said and then reacted to, a skirmish broke out. Bullets flew but then ceased just as quickly as the two sides realized the severity of their actions. All involved agreed the situation needed to cool down and not create any problems for either country. The captain excused himself to the rear of the unit and entered one of the cabins to write down all details of what had just occurred. 

It was only when one of the soldiers from his unit came to check on him about half an hour later that the rest of the unit found out their Captain Kim had an injury.  The quick-thinking captain had tied a tourniquet just above his left knee, knowing that the slowing of blood flow would help prevent the wound from losing too much blood.  He had already called his base medic unit and informed them that medical assistance would be required when his shift ended. 

Upon the discovery of the injury, the second in command called for immediate regrouping of the unit members, insisting that the captain be taken care of as soon as possible. The medic team soon arrived to retrieve the injured captain, but before being carted off to the military hospital several of his fellow soldiers lightly scolded Minseok for putting on such a brave face to try to keep them from learning about the situation. 

Kim Minseok had family, but what people didn't know was that on his medical records there was a Kim Jongdae listed as his brother. Thanks to this white lie, the EXO vocalist was soon informed of the captain's injury, and also allowed to visit him immediately after and during the recovery time.  The two had been the closest of friends for almost 8 years. There was even a time where they were linked romantically. Regardless of what the outside world knew, the two-thirds of the CBX members were never far from each other's minds. 

Being this close, they were fiercely loyal to each other, and Kyungsoo was not surprised to find that Jongdae had successfully kept the injury a secret from the rest of the world. He vowed to also keep the secret for his hyung, but at this point Minseok made a decision. The rest of the EXO members deserved to know.

He texted Jongdae first to let him know of his decision, and then he texted the EXO members group chat. Within 2 hours all 9 members had read the long message detailing the injury. What resulted was a convoluted mess of replies filled with everything from concern to warnings to jokes to crying to threats and overall outpouring of love for the eldest member. They were all so proud of him continuing his obligations and being so valiant.

Minseok explained and Jongdae confirmed that shortly after receiving treatment for the injury, the brave captain's superiors had come to him with papers to release him early from his military obligations. But Captain Kim refused. Instead, he negotiated a position training the new recruits for the DMZ Special Forces, and he argued that he would do his country a disservice if he wasn't allowed to train as many new upcoming soldiers as possible before his originally scheduled release.

During his time in the new position the captain received several commendations for his work, and he quickly got the reputation of being thorough and tough but fair to every trainee. The soldiers around him all agreed they would be sad to see him leave when it was time. 

In December 2020, during the last week of his military obligations, the captain released a public letter addressed to the fans. He thanked EXO-Ls and especially his loyal Elsas for their dedication and waiting for him. He asked that they understand he didn't want everyone to have to deal with the cold weather on the day of his release, and instead would have an indoor fanmeeting a few weeks after he got settled back into civilian life.

Minseok didn't tell them that he was able to hide the injury and the slight limp it brought, but the pain never truly went away. The bullet seemed to only create a flesh wound but in reality it had grazed a nerve just enough to cause damage that would plague the seasoned performer the rest of his life. He found it ironic that SM had assigned him the power of "frost/ice" when EXO was formed. The cold only made the old wound ache more. But being around his friends, especially his own personal "sunshine" Jongdae, made him forget any discomfort. 

True to his word, the fanmeet that Minseok had promised the fans happened the first week in January of the new year. The indoor venue was large but set up well to promote an intimate feeling. Every seat available was filled.

EXO's oldest member walked onto the stage to cheers and applause that drowned out the opening notes of the song he had prepared to sing, and the staff made the decision to halt the music momentarily for the man of the hour to receive his well-deserved love and take a bow. The audience finally calmed enough after a full 5 minutes for him to start back up on the song, this time singing acapella and showing that he hadn't lost a drop of the singing talent all of the EXO members were known for.  The intimate moment was quickly posted on Twitter and IG by several attending and the internet was soon buzzing with the footage. It was no surprise the hashtag "MinsBack" was quickly trending number one.

After a half-hour of sitting on a bar stool at a high-top table and answering selected questions that had been sent in from fans via various social media accounts, the retired captain told his audience he had an extra special surprise for them. As the audience murmured in anticipation, the backdrop behind the singer suddenly lit up with the EXO logo, showing that the backdrop was actually a large screen, The screen proceeded to break into 8 separate blocks and the audience went crazy. The blocks flickered independently from each other then familiar faces soon appeared. EXO was one again. Even though they were technically in different places, all 9 members of the famous group were reunited that day. They talked between themselves, including the audience as much as possible as they carried on in their usual fun-filled ways.

There wasn't a dry eye in the entire building. 

Social media sites were quickly flooded with information and footage of the reunion, and countries around the world would later report on this being the day that EXO broke the internet. The hashtags "EXOLsSorryNotSorry" and "EXOworlddomination", trended in the top two slots for over a week, with the "MinsBack" hashtag staying close behind. 

By the time all the craziness of EXO's unannounced reunion began to die down, Minseok had quietly moved back into his apartment and resumed his semi-civilian life. Fans learned that he had personally seen Jongdae off to start military duties about 2 months after his own release. What the fans didn't know is that Minseok's apartment was also in the same complex as Jongdae's little family's home. Not one day went by that he didn't visit with his soulmate's wife and daughter. Often he would be the one to let Sehun in the door whenever the maknae came to visit. 

All of his friends knew, being an EXO member was wonderful, being a captain was satisfying, but he was happiest being Min.