As previously known, singer-actor Lee Seung Gi and singer Baekhyun are living under jeonse (lump-sum lease) contracts in a luxury villa located in UN Village, Hannam-dong, Seoul. Lee Seung Gi’s jeonse deposit stands at 10.5 billion KRW, while Baekhyun’s reaches 16 billion KRW. The villa is owned by Cha Ga Won, CEO of One Hundred, the parent company of the labels to which both artists belong. What has drawn attention is the fact that these jeonse deposits made by “special related parties” are set significantly higher than market levels, raising concerns over potential “tin can jeonse,” a situation where lease deposits rival or exceed the property’s actual value.
Cha Ga Won is not only the CEO of One Hundred but is also publicly known as the chairman of p Arc Group, a comprehensive real estate services company covering everything from design and construction to development and sales. p Arc launched the luxury residential brand LANUVO, located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan District, Seoul.
LANUVO consists of two phases: Phase 1 with four units and Phase 2 with seven units. Phase 1 received approval for use in May 2022, while Phase 2 began pre-sales in September 2022. In December 2021, p Arc published an article on its website announcing the “successful sale of LANUVO Hannam Phase 1” and the commencement of Phase 2 construction. However, records show that all four units of LANUVO Phase 1 are jointly owned by Cha Ga Won and her husband, Park. On June 7, 2022, ownership of all four units was transferred to the couple personally rather than remaining under p Arc Group, with multiple loans taken out using the properties as collateral each amounting to billions of won.
Whether the units failed to sell and were taken on by the owners or were intended for personal ownership from the start remains unclear. Still, the claim of “successful sales” appears inconsistent. This is further supported by multiple real estate blog listings for LANUVO Phase 1 after the ownership transfer, suggesting the properties were not meant for long-term holding.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport transaction records, LANUVO Phase 1 has only three recorded transactions: a 11 billion KRW sale contract canceled on August 4, 2025; a 10.5 billion KRW jeonse contract in August 2024; and a 13 billion KRW jeonse contract in August 2025, the last of which does not yet appear on the official registry. The August 2024 jeonse tenant was Lee Seung Gi, marking the first actual transaction for LANUVO Phase 1 more than two years after ownership registration and just four months after Lee signed an exclusive contract with Big Planet Made, a One Hundred subsidiary.
At the time of Lee Seung Gi’s lease, a mortgage with a maximum claim of approximately 8.7 billion KRW was registered under his name, suggesting an actual loan of around 7.5 billion KRW. Notably, on the same day his jeonse loan was executed, an existing 3.6 billion KRW mortgage held by Cha Ga Won and her husband was canceled.
The second transaction occurred in March 2025, when Baekhyun entered a jeonse contract worth 16 billion KRW. After leaving SM Entertainment, Baekhyun established INB100, which later joined One Hundred in May 2024. His jeonse contract involved a registered maximum mortgage claim of 12.6 billion KRW, indicating a substantial loan.
Baekhyun’s connection to LANUVO predates his move-in through a company called One Signature, established in May 2023 and involving individuals closely linked to both Baekhyun and Cha Ga Won. Shortly after One Signature secured a large loan, existing mortgages under Cha and her husband were cleared, illustrating a complex financial flow that eventually led to Baekhyun becoming a tenant.
What heightens concern is the sheer scale of the jeonse deposits. From 2022 to late 2025, even among ultra-luxury villas in UN Village and across Seoul, deposits of 10.5 billion and 16 billion KRW are extraordinarily high. For comparison, another celebrity recently purchased a similarly sized luxury villa in UN Village for 13.7 billion KRW outright less than Baekhyun’s jeonse deposit alone.
While luxury villas often lack clear market benchmarks due to low transaction volume, internal trust documents from 2020 suggest expected sales revenues for LANUVO Phase 1 units ranged between 3.5 and 8 billion KRW. Even considering market appreciation, industry experts note that jeonse prices typically sit at 50–70% of sale prices. In cases where deposits meet or exceed the property’s value, tenants face a high risk of not recovering their funds if the property is auctioned a classic “tin can jeonse” scenario.
In 2024, Lee Seung Gi’s 10.5 billion KRW lease was the highest villa jeonse in Seoul, nearly double the second-highest that year. In 2025, Baekhyun’s 16 billion KRW jeonse far surpassed all others. Appraisers consulted estimated the market value of Lee and Baekhyun’s units at approximately 9.5–10 billion KRW and 14–14.5 billion KRW respectively, meaning both deposits likely exceed realistic sale values.
Real estate experts point out that the special relationship between landlord and tenants may have influenced the unusually high deposit figures, while the artists’ financial credibility as top celebrities likely made large loans possible despite inflated valuations.
Following Lee Seung Gi’s lease, Cha Ga Won reportedly secured additional loans using other LANUVO units as collateral, and one unit is now listed online with an asking price of 22 billion KRW far above estimated market value. If the actual value of LANUVO Phase 1 fails to meet even the jeonse deposits, any forced sale or auction could leave Lee Seung Gi and Baekhyun responsible for repaying massive loans estimated at around 7 billion KRW and 10 billion KRW respectively, underscoring the severe risks tied to this controversial jeonse arrangement.
Sources: The Fact
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