I really wanted to bring this back
While it is cute and touching to see Kibum run towards Minho to check if he’s alright, I think we should recognize how legitimately worried Kibum and Onew (them being the only ones to take notice of Minho falling) must have been.
SHINee is not a group without injuries. The most recent accident that occurred was late 2013, when Onew strained his neck practicing “Everybody”. However, Onew had suffered an ankle injury in 2012. In two consecutive years, our leader, alone, injured himself. Keep in mind these are only limb injuries. In early 2013, Jonghyun’s car crashed on the guard rails of Dongho Bridge which ultimately resulted in him having to get nose surgery. He was gone for a majority of “Why So Serious”. In 2014, Onew had to get throat surgery to extract a vocal cord polyp, which is worse than a nodule. A polyp is a blister, and there’s no wonder Onew could not talk for a while during his recovery. These accidents/injuries happened within 3 years, in succession.
This performance was on March 2015, not that far from the start of the year. I don’t want to be a pessimist, and that is not my intent here, but imagine if Minho had not gotten up after falling. Imagine if Minho had badly injured himself right there, and no one budged to check if he was alright. They would have had a case of an injury 4 years in a row.
But Kibum ran to his group member without missing a beat, and didn’t go back to his spot until he saw Minho with a smile and that he was alright. So if Minho hadn’t gotten back up, Kibum would have been there nonetheless. That’s so important to me. He was probably afraid that his member was legitimately hurt. I don’t think these injuries are as hard on fans to see as they are hard for SHINee themselves to see. To see your friend that you’ve known for almost a decade and who has become someone like a brother to you injure himself would not be easy. Especially watching them live with that injury for months. Now imagine seeing your members live like that for months for 3 years.
This moment between them is so incredibly important to me. The unusual drop of professionalism in Kibum makes me happy. It shows how much he cares for him, and his members. He wants to make sure he’s okay. He wants to make sure he’s not hurt. He wants to make sure his brother is safe.
The love I have for SHINee goes beyond this galaxy. They are beautiful people who are not just pretty faces on a screen. They legitimately and openly care for each other. This is why I stan SHINee.
