Pre-debut In 2008, Seulong took part in
Mnet's
Hot Blood Men. The program showed the intense physical training that thirteen male trainees had to go through to compete for the opportunity to debut in either a 4-member ballad group or a 7-member dance group under the label
JYP Entertainment. After going through several elimination processes, Seulong was chosen to become a member of the 4-member ballad group 2AM, co-managed by JYP Entertainment and
Big Hit Entertainment. In 2009, on
SBS's talk show,
Night After Night, Seulong revealed that he had turned down an initial offer from his current agency JYP Entertainment (JYPE) to join
YG Entertainment, but ended up not being accepted to YG.
Debut with 2AM 2AM's first single "This Song" was released on 21 July 2008. It debuted on 11 July 2008, performing "이 노래" (This Song). In March 2015, Seulong decided to switch agencies, joining
SidusHQ. Fellow 2AM member Jinwoon also signed to another management agency while the remaining members remained with JYP Entertainment. JYP Entertainment assured that the departures did not imply that 2AM was going to be disbanded. However, the scenario has put 2AM on temporary break from any group activities at the moment.
Television and collaboration In 2009, Seulong and Jo Kwon were part of "Dirty Eyed Girls" on an episode of
2PM's variety show
Wild Bunny, performing a parody of popular
Brown Eyed Girls song "
Abracadabra". The music video became extremely popular. In 2010, he collaborated with
IU for the song "
Nagging" for TV show
We Got Married, which reached No.1 on several online music charts. They won an award for "Nagging" on SBS Inkigayo and KBS Music Bank K-Chart respectively. Seulong and Jinwoon make regular appearances as commentators for
We Got Married Season II. While preparing for 2AM's 2013 comeback on 5 March, Seulong was confirmed on 25 February 2013 that he would be one of the emcees for the new season XTM Homme. XTM Homme is Korea's first male style variety show, providing latest fashion trend information and tech news. It is currently in its 5th season. XTM Homme 5.0 was scheduled to broadcast on 15 April 2013.
Acting On 31 March 2010, he made his acting debut as a supporting actor in the
television drama Personal Taste. He also starred opposite
Lee Min-jung in
Lunch Box on the single-episode anthology
MBC Best Theater, followed by
omnibus film,
Acoustic. In 2011, he appeared in the
sitcom Welcome to the Show, and hosted the music program
Inkigayo with
Nickhun and
Sulli. In 2012, Seulong was cast in the film
26 Years, in which he played a policeman who wants to assassinate a former president.
26 Years was released through
crowdfunding, with 15,000 people contributing to its () budget. For his role in the film, Seulong became the third idol group member to win a rookie award for his or her film debut, following
Big Bang's
T.O.P and
Miss A's
Bae Suzy. He won Best New Actor at the opening ceremony of the Marie Claire Film & Music Festival in 2013. He received a nomination at the
49th Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2013, he took on the role of the Crown Prince in
The Fugitive of Joseon, in which a doctor struggles to save his daughter from a terminal illness. Later that year, Seulong and
Kim Seul-gi were cast in the leading roles in a
remake of the
webtoon series
Infinite Power. It was released online on
Naver and Samsung smart phones. Seulong was cast in
Hotel King (2014), where he played a hotelier with a positive attitude and a loud personality who falls for the hotel heiress. On 2 January 2015, Seulong's agency announced that he had been confirmed for new tvN's upcoming drama ''
Hogu's Love''. He will be acting as lawyer Byun Kang Chul, who has never experienced failure in his life. Byun Kang Chul is a perfect man who grew up in the top 1 percent of Korea. He has been superior since birth to the point where he doesn't need dating skills. "Hogu's Love" is a drama based on the original webtoon series with the same title by writer Yoo Hyun Sook, who wrote the original webtoon series of tvN's
Flower Boys Next Door. Seulong has been cast as the lead for the upcoming movie,
Horror Stories 3.
Horror Stories is a horror movie series in omnibus format.
Horror Stories 3 plays a role as a bridge between the first and second sequels, thus talks about past, present as well as future. The story of the third sequel is delivered in a unique setting borrowing the scientific fiction genre. In September 2017, Lim returned to Korean cinema with the comedy film
The Star Next Door. He played an idol who gets caught up in a scandal with an actress (
Han Chae-young) who has a teenage daughter (
Jin Ji-hee) that has a crush on him.
Music 2013: Solo Seulong collaborates with Swedish DJ Avicii for a Korean remake of the hit song "Levels". For the newest version with Seulong, James's vocals are replaced with an autotuned verse in Korean. According to a spokesman for Universal Music Korea, Avicii's agency decided on Seulong for the Korean version "after monitoring various artists because they found his voice the most suitable and beautiful." The single named "Levels with Seulong from 2AM" was released on 9 May 2013. The latest version with Seulong was second place on the Daily Pop Chart of Korea's biggest online music website MelOn's Top 100 Chart. Seulong teamed up with Epitone Project for a song to close off the summer season, titled "Summer, Night". The song was created in an effort to return the favor, Epitone Project had performed for 2AM when they wrote and composed one of the songs on 2AM's previous album, "
One Spring Day". The release of the digital single was on 17 September 2013.
2014: Collaborations and first self-composed song "U Don't Know" In May, Seulong lent his voice for Yoon Jong Shin's "New You" as part of his monthly new single project. A ballad song titled "New You", a song about cherishing the current moment and the present love a couple may have for one another, without thinking about the past or worrying about the future. On 4 August, Swings teamed up with female soloist
G.NA, 2AM's Seulong, and producer/singer Yoon Jong Shin to release Summer Song "Pool Party". In the same month at the JYP Nation 2014 "One Mic" concerts in Korea, Seulong and 2PM's
Ok Taec-yeon performed an unreleased song titled "U Don't Know", which was co-written by both of them, for the first time. The live recording of this song, together with a studio version, was later released in the live album featuring the recording from the concert in November.
2015: "It's cold", "Good Start 2015" Collaborations Singer-songwriter Shim Hyun Bo released his fourth album with a new single "It's Cold" in collaboration with Seulong on 2 February 2015. It is one of two title songs from Shin Hyun Bo's new album. Mnet "Unpretty Rapstar" released Track 2 "Good Start 2015″ featuring
AOA's
Jimin and Seulong on 27 February 2015. Within just nine hours of its release, the track reached the top spot on major charts including Mnet, Melon, Daum, Genie, Olleh Music, Bugs, Soribada, Monkey3, Cyworld and Naver Music. ==Ambassador roles==