“That Should Be A Crime”: The Hardest Part Of Being A PLEDIS Entertainment Trainee, According To Hwang Minhyun

Former NU’EST member Hwang Minhyun (also known as Hwang Min Hyun) revealed the shocking hardest part of being a trainee at PLEDIS Entertainment.

[#오늘의방탄] #슈취타 EP.16 with #황민현
황도를 사랑한 황제와 아미를 사랑한 웨옹의 만남
비슷한 부분이 꽤 많은 우리… 좋은 친구가 될지도?#오늘의슈가 #SUGA #슈가 #HWANGMINHYUN #프로유튜버민윤기 #여기슈가친구추가요 #배낭여행가보자고 pic.twitter.com/Yh8vDkMzGL

— BTS_official (@bts_bighit) August 7, 2023

The idol-actor guested on Episode 16 of BTS Suga‘s online show Suchwita. He talked about everything from how he was cast by PLEDIS Entertainment to his greatest struggle from his trainee days.

Pre-debut Hwang Minhyun

Suga mentioned that both SEVENTEEN‘s Hoshi and Woozi guested on Suchwita and discussed PLEDIS Entertainment’s training system. So, he knew it wasn’t easy.

Hoshi and Woozi already came here and talked about what training at Pledis was like. I heard it’s no joke.

— Suga

Your browser does not support video.Hwang Minhyun (left) and Suga (right) | BANGTANTV/YouTube

But Hwang Minhyun revealed an unexpected aspect of being a PLEDIS Entertainment trainee that Suga hadn’t heard before: you must drink milk. Hwang Minhyun said it was difficult for him.

One thing that I still remember about the trainee era that was hard for me was that we all had to drink 1.2L of milk every day.

— Hwang Minhyun

Your browser does not support video.| BANGTANTV/YouTube

Suga wondered why an entertainment company would have such a rule. So, Hwang Minhyun theorized that it was to make the trainees grow taller.

Your browser does not support video.| BANGTANTV/YouTube

Suga: Why?

Hwang Minhyun: Like this big.

Suga: To grow taller?

Hwang Minhyun: I think so.

Suga: That’s pseudo-science.

Hwang Minhyun described the “milk training” as harder than practicing because he hated drinking it. And unfortunately, it was a requirement. Trainees couldn’t go home until after they drank 1.2L that day.

Your browser does not support video.| BANGTANTV/YouTube

Hwang Minhyun: That was harder than practicing. I hated milk so much for some reason. They didn’t let us go home unless we finished the milk. So, I used to drink it all at once before going home.

Suga: I’ve never heard of milk training.

Hwang Minhyun: I think it was to make us grow taller.

Suga: If milk made you taller, I’d probably be taller than this.

This Suchwita clip went viral on X (formerly Twitter) with 938.3K views at the time of writing. K-Pop fans imagined how bad of a situation “milk training” really was, especially for lactose-intolerant trainees.

the fact that svt only shared one bathroom pic.twitter.com/96HLdg0um4

— ????????G E N (@retsunohana_) August 7, 2023

the pledis bathrooms must've been absolutely horrid https://t.co/kWy8Fv3WZ9

— CHEOL BDAY BASH (@sourkyeom) August 7, 2023

pledis trainees https://t.co/sg6sRbIi5o pic.twitter.com/93ue8CvroX

— bi (@hoshy_main) August 7, 2023

Some CARATs (SEVENTEEN fans) joked that Mingyu, who is 6’2″ (1.87m), must have also drank Woozi‘s milk since he is only 5’5″ (1.66m). Mingyu also hates milk now.

Generally, netizens were mixed on PLEDIS Entertainment’s strict requirements. Some were pleasantly surprised that a company cared to require trainees to get nutrition, while others pointed out it was not good for those with lactose intolerance.

isn’t lactose intolerance super high in korea? this has to be some form of physical torture https://t.co/VbgcBt8rLn

— (@kwantopia) August 7, 2023

Everyday we learn something new about Pledis’s training regiment and everyday I become more and more confused on how it has such a good success rate https://t.co/NV6mMKGdFj

— Xion Rin (@burnpIedis) August 8, 2023

Being a trainee at PLEDIS Entertainment is certainly not for the weak.

Watch the full episode below.