Content Warning
Pledis Entertainment has officially denied the accusations levied against SEVENTEEN‘s Mingyu being a school bully. They refuted the details made against by Mingyu in the original post.
Earlier today, an anonymous netizen — claiming to have attended the same elementary and middle schools as Mingyu — posted an online accusation of Mingyu being a school bully during middle school.
First, during my first year in middle school, there was a time where scary kids + unnies would call me over on my way to school to steal and verbally assault me. I don’t know if it was because they were bored or needed an outlet to let out their frustrations but they started lightly assaulting me, like verbal abuse or shoving my head. I was so scared that I cried. ***gyu would laugh at me getting bullied, and he even threw coke lids at my face from 4-5 meters away. When it hit me, he would laugh even harder. I still remember explicitly what he said that day.
‘Sh*t it’s f*cking funny’
— Alleged Victim
The alleged victim recalled a story where she claimed that Mingyu made her collect money for him but got angry when she failed to collect enough. She claims she remembers it clearly to this day.
And I think it was during our last year of middle school when Kim ***gyu got cast in front of school by Pl*** and passed his auditions. He sent me one text message. We weren’t in the same class so I guess he went around asking for my number (not just my number but the numbers of people outside of his bully group).
He said he was going to the practice room but didn’t have money to pay for it. He messaged me to gather ₩5,000 KRW (~$4.50 USD) by tomorrow. Anyone who was born in 1996, 97, 98, 99 can agree that the bullies and sunbaes were scarier than parents and teachers at the time. I couldn’t help but tell him yes. He replied, ‘Once you have the money, don’t come to my classroom but call or text me instead. Don’t come to my classroom.’ I guess this is when he started worrying about his image. I was only able to scrape up about ₩3,300 KRW and tried to send him a text during break. But I didn’t have enough [funds] to send a text so I personally went to his classroom.
He was so surprised when he saw me. I took me up to the stairwell and got mad at me, saying
‘I told you not to come find me. Why did you come? How much did you get? This is all you have? I get it, leave.’
I remember this was all he said to me. Can you tell how much his words (anger) impacted me if I can remember it so well to this point? About a year later, he probably felt troubled by this and sent me a birthday message on Facebook even though we weren’t Facebook friends. I never changed my account so I still have that message.
— Alleged Victim
The original post has since been deleted from the online community. SEVENTEEN fans have also been attempting to clear Mingyu’s name, pointing out how the pictures the accuser provided don’t match Mingyu’s actual high school.
In addition, Pledis Entertainment firmly denied all of the accusations levied against Mingyu.
We have confirmed with Mingyu himself. The claims made against him are groundless and obviously false.
It took time for us to check the facts thoroughly. There is a yearbook picture which the accuser posted, but it is completely different from Mingyu’s yearbook picture. Also, unlike the accusation which stated Mingyu began his traineeship in 9th grade, he actually started training in 8th grade.
The post has been deleted. We simply don’t understand the intentions the accuser had.
— Pledis Entertainment
Read a translation of the alleged victim’s full post below:
I didn’t want to get mentioned in a bunch of places, and I felt that it was useless to fight against a big corporation, so I had decided to just live on and repress it for the rest of my life. But after reading the comments about Soo***’s school bullying posts—about how everyone should come forth before N*ver changed their search engines—I decided to speak up.
I went to the same elementary and middle school as Kim ***gyu. I was just an average student, while Kim **gyu was popular for playing soccer well and being one of the bullies.
First, during my first year in middle school, there was a time whre scary kids + unnies would call me over on my way to school to steal and verbally assault me. I don’t know if it was because they were bored or needed an outlet to let out their frustrations but they started lightly assaulting me, like verbal abuse or shoving my head. I was so scared that I cried. ***gyu would laugh at me getting bullied, and he even threw coke lids at my face from 4-5 meters away. When it hit me, he would laugh even harder. I still remember explicitly what he said that day.
‘Sh*t it’s f*cking funny’
From what I remember, he started smoking since the first year of middle school. They were a group of about 20 people, both boys and girls. I think there was a friend among them that even the Se****** fans know about. Her name was Choi ** who went to Sook***** University.. She was a very pretty friend. Anyways they would always ditch school during lunchtime or break time, and I would often see them getting scolded by the teachers before or after school.
I don’t even have to say anything about drinking since bullies back then prided themselves on drinking.. I heard a lot about it.
And I think it was during our last year of middle school when Kim ***gyu got cast in front of the school by Pl*** and passed his auditions. He sent me one text message. We weren’t in the same class so I guess he went around asking for my number (not just my number but the numbers of people outside of his bully group). He said he was going to the practice room but didn’t have money to pay for it. He messaged me to gather ₩5,000 KRW (~$4.50 USD) by tomorrow. Anyone who was born in 1996, 97, 98, 99 can agree that the bullies and sunbaes were scarier than parents and teachers at the time. I couldn’t help but tell him yes. He replied, ‘Once you have the money, don’t come to my classroom but call or text me instead. Don’t come to my classroom.’ I guess this is when he started worrying about his image. I was only able to scrape up about ₩3,300 KRW and tried to send him a text during break. But I didn’t have enough [funds] to send a text so I personally went to his classroom.
He was so surprised when he saw me. I took me up to the stairwell and got mad at me, saying
‘I told you not to come find me. Why did you come? How much did you get? This is all you have? I get it, leave.’
I remember this was all he said to me. Can you tell how much his words (anger) impacted me if I can remember it so well to this point? About a year later, he probably felt troubled by this and sent me a birthday message on Facebook even though we weren’t Facebook friends. I never changed my account so I still have that message.
For those who can’t believe me, I’ll upload photos of Kim ***gyu’s old Facebook page. I was trying to upload a video but this page doesn’t allow me to. I’ll upload our yearbook too if you ask.
And if Cyworld ever gets rebooted, I’ll add in more comments and photos.
— Alleged Victim
