I was watching SuJu's 15th anniversary live today and truly, these guys have been through so much. Like, yeah, no one is perfect and all, but the things they have been trough especially Leeteuk, man, makes me choke back tears.
In 2006 they had that car accident and Leeteuk and Kyuhyun were very seriously injured. Kyuhyun almost died, he was in a coma for days. Leeteuk had glass shards impale his back and face and while he was bleeding immensely he still asked Shindong and Eunhyuk who had minor injuries to take care of Kyuhyun first. Kyhyun had less than 30% chance of survival but he pulled through. Both of them needed quite a lot of time to recover but they're still here and performing today, busier than ever.
Heechul also got into a car accident in which his leg was badly injured. He didn't get the rehabilitation necessary after the injury healed so in the long term he suffered quite a lot of pain until finally he decided he wouldn't take part in any band promotions or concerts. He still is part of SuJu and features on the albums and videos but he doesn't perform with them.
In 2014, Leeteuk's father killed his own parents and committed suicide. He left Leeteuk with a debt of 5 billion won (around 4 million dollars) and a note that said to Leeteuk - do you really think you've achieved anything on your own? I can't even imagine how he got through that and just before his military enlistment started too. His depression got so bad that the military offered him an early discharge but he completed his service. And after that he had to settle his father's debt. 5 billion won is a very large sum of money and he took every job he was offered to settle it.
Leeteuk is always smiling, taking care of his members who see him as a father figure. He literally picked all of them up from the military after their discharge. Donghae's dad asked Leeteuk to take care of his son before passing away from cancer in 2006. And through everything Leeteuk has kept smiling and leading them because he can't afford not to.
They're still here after everything. They are a living example of how kpop idols can have success after military enlistment and well into their 30s. And they said today that they will be here for SuJu's 50th anniversary too.
SuJu walked so BTS, SKZ, Ateez and others could fly. They broke a lot of barriers and had so many firsts for Korean artists. They carried hallyu is Asia. And their music is great. I'm not going to list all their best songs but they are so much more than Sorry, Sorry or Mr. Simple.
Super Junior are legends. To many more years to come, SuJu!
