Squeaky clean Elvin Ng played truant in school and even walked out of class

While the South Korean showbiz industry continues to be rocked by scandals of how some popular K-pop celebrities and K-drama stars used to be terrible bullies in school, we take comfort that our local celebs are nothing like that (as far as we know).

For leading man Elvin Ng, it appears the worst thing he did as a student was skipping school and walking out of a class to spite a teacher — not saying that these actions are acceptable, though.

In the latest episode of Mediacorp talkshow The Inner Circle, the 40-year-old told host Guo Liang that he was a good boy and his mother didn't have to worry about him when he was in Jurong Primary School. He was also in the top 10 class ranking every year and was considered a model student.

He was in Catholic High School next and when he moved on to National Junior College (NJC), Elvin realised he wasn't good in maths and felt defeated when his teacher said unpleasant things to him.

"I played truant to play football and there were times I didn't even do the homework. But there was once, I was very obedient and I completed the work. I felt very proud of myself sitting there in class, but my teacher insinuated that I copied the homework from someone," he recounted.

"I was furious and told the teacher I did it myself. Then I walked out of the classroom."

Elvin said he gradually became a rebellious student and had to repeat the second year of junior college.

In an interview with The New Paper in 2015, he said he repeated his studies in a private school because he was too embarrassed to be retained at NJC. He was speaking to the newspaper after a visit to a secondary school to chat with students about the importance of consistency and hard work.

He also said he was conceited when he was a teen and thought he could get away with things as he used to be very good in school.

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"I felt so lousy and lost after I got my A-level results, as I didn't expect myself to fail Economics. All my football friends made it to university, but I didn't," Elvin recalled to The New Paper.

"I still remember the disappointment in my parents' eyes when they found out. They didn't scold me but the silence made it worse."

He put in the hard work at his second attempt and later went on to the National University of Singapore, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in English Literature.

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kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com