Former Super Junior/Super Junior M leader, Hangeng, recently did an interview with a Chinese music program where he broke down the real reason he left Super Junior, and SM Entertainment. To no one’s surprise it was that SM wasn’t paying him properly:

“The most important thing to me was making money so my parents could live comfortably, and that was also the greatest motive…I was not able to stand on stage even after debuting.  I was the first foreign celebrity to debut in Korea so the law was not perfect.  I could not film commercials and could not participate in certain portions of the schedule.  It felt like I had lost all hope.  I cried performing ‘Twins’ with the Super Junior members.  I received a payment of 4000 yuan (~$650 USD) my first year. I gathered money like it was life or death because seeing my mother suffer made my heart ache.  Although I debuted in 2005, I became a rookie all over again in 2008 when Super Junior M debuted in China.  I was comfortable in China, but at the same time, I was tired of the fact that the Korean members I was doing activities with were unable to speak Chinese.  My head hurt because of them…I wanted to be an actor, but they did not give me any acting gigs while they gave them to the other members.  I didn’t even get any commercials.  Those dissatisfactions kept gathering until they became a bomb.  I took all of my bank accounts, hospital records, and more and went to a law office to prepare a lawsuit against the company secretly.  So the company wouldn’t suspect anything, I communicated with my manager via mail, secretly went to the law office when there were around two free hours after completing my schedule, and at the time, it was an unimaginable thing for me.”

“After performing with Super Junior M in 2008, I came into my own without anyone’s help. Many people recognized me, and I realized that I became a star…I left Super Junior because I was miserable. I asked SM to help me become an actor and allow me to learn English, both of which they denied. I felt like I’d go insane and felt mentally handicapped. I wondered why they didn’t let me do the things that other members did, like film ads and dramas. I thought about it so much that I became unstable and eventually contemplated suicide…I want to do something happy, even if it means I’m not famous for it.”

In response Netizens had things like this to say:

“To say it was for money. Would he have done it because he was ambitious for money. He must’ve done this because he wasn’t paid what he deserved by SM. Was this the case for H.O.T. too?”

“First Foreign celebrity?  That’s not true?”

“4000 yuan, he endured hardships in his debut to earn around 700,000 KRW. He tried hard to cast off the rookie label only to debut as a rookie again. Things like this are the reason TVXQ broke up.“

It continues to boggle my mind, these hater Netizens. Hangeng isn’t the only celebrity to leave their agency because they weren’t paying them right (*coughs and points below*). If SM had utilized Hangeng’s skills they’d be the one’s earning a pretty penny from his Hollywood ventures, and his Chinese fame.

To Hangeng, you don’t need Netizens or ANYONE to understand what you did. People fail to recognize that people have to make a living even if they’re celebrities. So you and your role in Transformer, and your superstar status in China, do you, and remember: