where he encountered a man 5–6 years older than him who later helped with his anxiety. He then decided to pursue a career as a classical guitarist juxtaposed to his choices as a child which included to delve into politics, become a scientist, a comic book writer or a billiards player – which he became the eventual regional youth representative of and actively played until first year of high school. He took the GED examination for middle school and enrolled at Busan High School of Arts with a major in classic guitar but later considered to be a singer. Kang graduated in 2012. 2010–2013: Commercial success and solo debut 17-year-old Kang (Korean age) attended the regional preliminary audition for Superstar K2 (2010). Initially reluctant due to conflict in perception of using mass media to gain fame opposed to becoming successful without it, he yielded at his friend's request when asked to audition with him, and so, took guitar lessons to further hone his skills three months prior to it. Kang passed the preliminaries with "This Time" by Jonathan Rhys Meyers and overall placed fourth behind Huh Gak, John Park and Jang Jae-in amongst over 1,350,000 applicants. His rendition of "Instinctively" (본능적으로; bonneungjeog-eulo) by Yoon Jong-shin in his last stage received praise by both judges and audience alike. Its digital release led Kang to his first number-one single as a solo artist and neared 2 million digital copies in sales. Its success won him, "Rookie of the Year" at the Gaon Chart Awards and "Rookie of the Month (October)" at the Cyworld Digital Music Awards. CEO Yang Hyun-suk of YG Entertainment and Psy invited Kang to a meeting to propose an offer to join them under a trainee status. Kang signed with them on January 12, 2011 and began training on March 9. He explained: "Since Superstar K2 ended, there were a lot of offers. Some said they would make me a star of Asia, and some offered a great amount of money for a contract. I chose YG Entertainment because this agency evaluated me objectively, unlike others I was viewed as an actual trainee." In the midst of his trainee period, Kang participated as the fourth artist to release the original soundtrack for Midas (2011). "You Are Heaven" (니가 천국이다; niga cheongug-ida) topped both real-time and daily South Korean music streaming platforms, which include Genie, and peaked at number 11