Who Are xikers, and How Do You Say the Name?

The name looks like a typo the first time you see it, and that is half the point. xikers is written in lowercase and said like "SY-kers," the way the Korean spelling, 싸이커스, sounds. The x is silent in the English sense: it stands in for the unknown, the variable in an equation. KQ Entertainment explains the name as a blend of that "x" and "hikers," and describes the group as boys who travel through time and coordinates. Every album so far has been a stop on that journey.

xikers come from KQ Entertainment, the Seoul label that is also home to ATEEZ, and they were the agency's first new group in five years. They debuted on March 30, 2023, with their first mini album, HOUSE OF TRICKY : Doorbell Ringing. The debut story introduced TRICKY, a mischievous guide who leads ten boys who failed out of a society everyone else calls a utopia toward their own hidden potential. According to the label, that first album entered the US Billboard 200 at No. 75 within twelve days of release, a rare start for a rookie group.

The fandom is called roady, a play on the road the hikers walk, and fans use it the way they would a team name. KQ sums up the group's identity as powerful performance with a bright, dynamic energy, and the choreography is built for ten people moving at once. In May this year, the seventh mini album, ROUTE ZERO : The ORA, opened a new chapter called ROUTE ZERO with the title track "OKay," and today's release is the next stop on that route.

Meet the Ten Members

xikers have ten members, and all ten are part of this comeback. The group's official profile lists them in this order, with their dates of birth:

• Minjae, born April 10, 2003
• Junmin, born May 24, 2003
• Sumin, born April 7, 2004
• Jinsik, born July 30, 2004
• Hyunwoo, born December 4, 2004
• Junghoon, born July 5, 2005
• Seeun, born August 17, 2005
• Yujun, born October 5, 2005
• Hunter, born October 5, 2005
• Yechan, born October 21, 2005

The list falls neatly into three birth years. Minjae and Junmin, born in 2003, are the oldest; Sumin, Jinsik and Hyunwoo were born in 2004; and the other five are 2005 babies. Yujun and Hunter share the same birthday, October 5, which makes early October a busy month on the fan calendar. Yechan, the youngest, turned 21 just before this comeback, so the whole group is now in its twenties.

The members are also part of how the music gets made. For ROUTE ZERO : The CALLING, Minjae, Sumin and Yechan wrote lyrics for every track, and Minjae also composed and arranged the title song "DIENAMITE" and the track "DUMB." If you want to learn the voices before the album drops, the official xikers channel posted three unit videos this autumn: "JUST FOR FUN" with Minjae, Sumin and Yechan, "RUNNERS HIGH" with Jinsik, Hyunwoo, Junghoon and Seeun, and a remix of "JUST FOR FUN" with Junmin, Yujun and Hunter.

ROUTE ZERO : The CALLING: Release Time, Tracks and "DIENAMITE"

ROUTE ZERO : The CALLING is xikers' eighth mini album, and it is released today, Monday, November 2, at 6 p.m. Korea Standard Time on Korean and global music services, about six months after The ORA. If you are outside Korea, 6 p.m. KST converts to:

• 6 p.m. in Tokyo and Osaka
• 5 p.m. in Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore, and 4 p.m. in Bangkok and Jakarta
• 9 a.m. in London and 10 a.m. in Paris or Berlin
• 4 a.m. in New York and 1 a.m. in Los Angeles
• 8 p.m. in Sydney

The album has six tracks: "DIENAMITE," "Go," "Mask off," "One," "DUMB" and "Sanctuary," with "DIENAMITE" as the title track. The label describes the song as xikers stepping off the set path and onto a new road, delivered in the form of a bold warning, and the spelling is a clue to the mood: dynamite, with "die" written into it.

Why does the promotion feel like a horror film? Because KQ built it as one. The comeback trailer is an animated haunted house in a dark forest, with a voice promising to "summon" the group again. The tracklist video shows a heart monitor whose readings, HR 10, EtCO2 26, PR 11 and PI 02, spell out ten members and the 2026.11.02 release date. In the preview video, an electric guitar lies in an open coffin in the woods, and the two music video teasers, posted on October 31 and November 1, move from missing-person posters in a graffiti-covered cabin to a corn field, a glowing green farmhouse and members digging a guitar out of a grave. The full music video arrives with the album at 6 p.m.

Where to Stream, Follow and See xikers Live

At 6 p.m. KST, the album goes up on Korean services such as Melon, Genie and Bugs and on global platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Music videos and teasers come out on the KQ ENTERTAINMENT YouTube channel, which xikers share with ATEEZ, while the group's own xikers channel carries behind-the-scenes series, dance practices and vlogs. Official news also goes out on the group's X, Instagram and TikTok accounts, all under the name xikers_official, and on its membership platform, xikers.kr. Japan has a separate official site and fan club.

The first big stage of this comeback is already set. xikers are on the Artist Day lineup of the Korea Grand Music Awards at Gocheok Sky Dome on Saturday, November 7, the first weekend after release, and according to the label they are preparing a new-song stage with a special intro. Music show schedules for the week had not been announced when we published, so check the official accounts for daily updates.

The release also opens a busy month for the agency. xikers' labelmates ATEEZ follow on November 13 with GOLDEN HOUR : Part.6, and our list of K-pop comebacks this month has every confirmed release date and time if you want to plan your listening around them.