ATEEZ's Choi San reveals he paid off family debt with early group earnings
On MBC's 'The Omniscient Interfering View,' Choi San opened up about his family's financial struggles and how ATEEZ's early settlement payments changed everything.
Choi San's debt confession on live TV
ATEEZ's Choi San revealed on October 24 that he used his early settlement payments from the group to clear his family's debt entirely. He made the disclosure on MBC variety show 전지적 참견 시점 (The Omniscient Interfering View), alongside fellow member Hong Joong and comedian Yoo Young-woo.
The turning point came in high school. "When I was in high school, we ate chicken once a week, and one day my mother told me that our family's situation wasn't good." That conversation lit a fire. "I wanted to start working quickly," he said.
Hong Joong watched it unfold in real time — San handing over his early ATEEZ settlement checks to his family, payment by payment, until the debt was gone.
"Now it's such a happy ending"
San didn't stop at the hardship. "Now I've paid off all the debt myself," he said. "Now it's such a happy ending. Our family is living very happily and well." His father sent him a message that stuck: "Thanks to you, I'm also working out hard."
Hong Joong shared his own observation about the group's schedule — "The schedule seems to be about 3 times what it normally is" — and got real about San's viral moment. "I also got trapped in the algorithm and saw San's chest dance 20,000 times. I wondered if this was popularity."
ATEEZ released BAD in June. The episode aired October 24.
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