Kim Heechul, The Most Rebellious Trainee In SM Entertainment History
Back in the early days, way before K-pop was a global phenomenon, SM Entertainment had plans to put together a rock band. During the mid-2000s, SM Entertainment had a trainee who was a rock fan and management saw him as the perfect candidate for the lead vocalist of a rock band they were planning to produce. The rock band would sing alternative rock songs, but this particular trainee wanted to sing hard rock and as a result, rebelled against the entire management. This rebellious trainee was none other than Kim Heechul.
Offended by Kim Heechul's defiance, SM Entertainment ordered him to pen a letter of apology to express remorse for his behavior and actions. Heechul submitted the letter, though it was far from an apology and more of a passive aggressive jab at the company superiors. Heechul reportedly wrote, "I do not know what I did wrong but I'm writing this because you guys told me I have to."
This sort of rebellious behavior could have cost him his chance to debut and could have even gotten him kicked out of the biggest agency in the industry but Kim Heechul could not be let go that easily. According to SM Entertainment, they couldn't kick this trainee out because of his extremely good looks. Heechul was simply an important asset to the agency and they would have to endure his acts of defiance in order to keep him.
As an alternative punishment, Heechul was removed from the project rock band. This angered Heechul even more. The rebellious trainee stormed off and went to a club, possibly thinking of quitting the agency. However, 2 of his friends followed him and convinced him to return. These friends turned out to be DBSK's Yunho and TRAX's Jungmo. Upon returning, SM Entertainment's founder Lee Soo Man gave Heechul an opportunity to be an actor, so he appeared in a drama before debuting. Though Heechul was strongly against becoming part of an idol group at first, the trainee gradually accepted the idea of potentially becoming an idol.
Heechul then went on to debut with Super Junior in 2005, along with 11 other members. The rock band that he was supposed to debut in was none other than TRAX. Now that his trainee days are over and he's now a top idol, Heechul continues to be the most defiant and rebellious artist of SM Entertainment. This is just one of the many stories exemplifying Kim Heechul's disobedience to his company, and even to this day, he remains to be a person of notoriety. That's Kim Heechul - a force to be reckoned with.
