After the news that Song Seung Hyun has departed from FTISLAND, he and the remaining members of the band have written touching posts on Instagram.

On December 24, it was announced that FTISLAND’s Lee Jae JIn, Lee Hong Ki, and Choi Min Hwan have renewed their contracts with FNC Entertainment while Song Seung Hyun has decided to part ways with the agency and group. FNC explained that Song Seung Hyun now plans to focus on acting.

The following is Song Seung Hyun’s Instagram post, with his formatting maintained as much as possible. It is the version available following an apparent edit.

Read his letter below:

Hello, it’s Seung Hyun. Before anything else, I first want to sincerely apologize again to all of our fans Primadonna who must have been surprised. I joined FTISLAND as a new member for the Japanese indie album “I BELIEVE MY SELF” and started Korean promotions in February 2009. Since then, I’ve been so happy for 10 years to receive your love and be able to share love with all of you. Somehow it’s already been over 10 years.. I spent a really long time worrying and painfully thinking about this before I made this decision and I made this difficult choice through conversations with my members and our respect for each other. To be honest, I’m not sure what to say next.. I wanted to tell my fans this while standing in front of you, but I wasn’t able to do that, and so I once again apologize sincerely. I’ll never forget my memories from when I joined FTISLAND. They were such senior artists to me, and I think I started off feeling pressure over whether I’d be able to do a good job, as well as feeling a nervous excitement. I think it was all possible because I met my members. I was very lacking and naive, but they took good care of me and embraced me with love. I didn’t want to cause issues for the team and I worked very hard so that our team could shine even a little bit brighter, and I think that’s been my driving force that’s allowed me to be together as a band member up until now. Recently, our team has gone through a lot. Sad things.. good things.. I think there have been a lot of moments in my life with mixed feelings. I’ve been able to gather courage and finish our performances successfully all this time, and I’ve been able to wait, and all of that and the fact that I’ve been able to come this far are because of our fans who wait and give me strength through their unconditional love. At some point, the pressure I felt turned into nervousness. By the time I realized that the nervousness and uneasiness were gnawing away at me bit by bit, I saw how my mind and body had become as exhausted as they could be and I felt loneliness and uneasiness. This is a very difficult decision that I made after talking for a long time with the members and agency staff, but I was so fearful over the thought that there will be definitely be fans who are disappointed by me because of my choice.. Also the biggest thing I feel is sorry.. I’ve had mixed feelings that I can’t express in words. However, this time I’m trying to gather the strength and look back for myself, Song Seung Hyun. More so than a work-related ambition over wanting to achieve a personal dream, I want to look back on my original self and console the parts of me that are hurt while recharging. After much worrying about it, I’ve made this decision with the mindset that I want to put in an effort just for me. I was so happy. I’ve been so grateful. I’ll miss it so much. And I’m really so sorry. I think that during my time in FTISLAND, I dreamt the most amazing dream that no one could even dream of. I was happy to be able to dream that dream together with all of you. Now I’m going to work hard at going forward for myself. I’m not able to be with the FTISLAND members until the end, but I’ll be with them in spirit and hoping that we shine brighter and do well. I hope that we’ll be healthy in both mind and body, and that we’ll all become mature artists. Thank you for reading my long post. And once again, I was really happy as FTISLAND’s member and guitarist. Finally, Hong Ki, Minhwan, Jaejin. We really worked hard and did well! I think we did a good job at prevailing. I believe that you’ll become an even greater team in the future, and thank you for making memories in each and every moment that I will never forget. Also, I sincerely thank our CEO Han Sung Ho too for supporting me so that I could join the team and keep working hard at our promotions all that time. Also, thank you to all of our FNC staff, you’ve worked hard. Thank you.

Lee Hong Ki shared a photo of Song Seung Hyun on Instagram and wrote, “Our beloved Seung Hyun!! I’m definitely going to support your dream as you continue to grow!! You’ve worked so hard, thank you for making many memories with me, and let’s not forget them!! See you tomorrow. I love you, my kid.”

Song Seung Hyun replied, “Thank you and I’m sorry.. You’ve gone through a lot while taking care of your younger member.”

Choi Min Hwan posted a photo of himself with Song Seung Hyun and wrote, “Our Seung Hyun who I’ve spent over 10 years with as we cried and laughed.. when I look back now, I see so many things that have happened and so many memories. The thing I want to say more than anything else is that as a member and as a friend, you worked harder than anyone during that time, I’ve been so grateful, and I love you. We’ll always support Seung Hyun’s future, and we’ll keep protecting this spot and wait as we remember the days we stood on stage together! I’ve been so grateful for the times we’ve been together, and I love you a lot, Seung Hyun!!”

Song Seung Hyun replied, “Thank you” with a thumbs up emoji.

Lee Jae Jin also took to Instagram to share his thoughts, posting them in a handwritten letter. He wrote in hashtags in the caption, “I hope you’ll be happy,” and told Song Seung Hyun, “You’ve worked hard.”

He wrote:

To Primadonna, I’m worried about our fans who must be very surprised by the sudden news, and I’m very sorry. It seems we weren’t able to keep our promise to always be together or your request that we protect FTISLAND, and so I have a very heavy heart. I’m sorry to be expressing the feelings in my heart like this in a post. Our Seung Hyun is leaving the team now to start a new journey. As someone who has been with him for a long time as a fellow member and brother, I’m upset and my heart aches over us going separate ways right now, but I am going to support Seung Hyun’s decision, which he made after a long time of worrying about it. I want to use this letter as an opportunity to once again say thank you to Seung Hyun, who has always been cheerful and taken responsibility and has always worked hard. We’re going through yet another farewell before our recent wound has healed, but I’m going to put off that pain for now. We will protect our spot and firmly go forward for the sake of our Primadonna who will be having an even harder time than anyone else and for Seung Hyun. We will continue to remain like this and wait together so that he can come back at any time. I hope that on the new journey that Seung Hyun is taking, he will spend a meaningful time finding himself and be truly happy. Everyone, please support him and wait for him together with us! I believe that after getting through a cold winter, a warmer spring comes. I love you and thank you. – FTISLAND’s Lee Jae Jin.

Song Seung Hyun wrote as a reply, “I’m always grateful and I love you!!!”

It was also announced on December 24 that Lee Jae Jin will be enlisting in the military in January.