Damn Idol Chapter 107
Album 1
0. Resume
I had no idea.
I didn’t know there was someone named Yang Seokhun in Korea, nor did I know he was a YouTuber with close to five million subscribers.
In truth, we had received far too many cooperation emails asking if they could cover our music in their content.
We reviewed the appearance offers together, but when it came to permission to use our music, we had given a blanket okay.
So I never imagined that a man named Yang Seokhun would become our Yoav Kutner.
And he wasn’t even someone from the show business industry.
Yeah, we deserved this kind of luck too.
Life didn’t need to be filled with misfortune all the time.
The ripple effect of the video Yang Seokhun made was tremendous.
Just looking at the view count, it surpassed ten million on the fourth day after upload.
Until now, there had been two pieces of content related to me that surpassed ten million views.
First was Abyss Detector.
Second was the music video.
But in both cases, the glory of ten million views didn’t really go to me or Sedalbaegil.
Abyss Detector was variety content, and Selfish was a Drop Out song.
But this time was a little different.
The influence and recognition from the views were pouring straight onto us.
On top of that, the people coming in now weren’t the type who had to split the pie with other idol groups.
They were people who had kept one foot away from idol content, while also possessing high purchasing potential.
Mm, so I hope they all succeed in getting jobs.
And for those already employed, I hope they get promoted, make lots of money, and buy some albums for us.
With things like this, comments like these began appearing on our self-produced content videos.
-I watched this during a study break, and it’s so fun! You’re all so cool, and I really hope you succeed!
-When will the track be released? I want to listen to it on infinite repeat while studying.
-I love how it’s dreamy but bright. It feels like ASMR.
It was proof that people who were difficult to target through conventional methods were starting to look favorably upon us.
Whether that favor became lasting goodwill or temporary interest was up to us.
Yang Seokhun had even scratched the itch that bothered us the most.
Originally, money earned from videos made using a track has to be shared with the original creator.
Depending on the nature of the video, there are even cases where 100% of the revenue goes to the original creator.
But in the case of Resume, the track registration had not yet been processed.
So Yang Seokhun could have wiped his mouth clean and pretended nothing happened.
Of course, once we registered the track later, we could receive the money, but we might have had to file a lawsuit.
He was our benefactor, so we wouldn’t go that far, but that was the reality of the matter.
However, Yang Seokhun handled things extremely cleanly.
Saying he hadn’t expected the video to blow up like this either, he sent over generous revenue-sharing terms.
There was something we needed in order to do that.
Namely, track registration.
Yang Seokhun’s side also needed to handle taxes.
In other words, we had gained a “pretext.”
A very plausible pretext to film and upload the process of registering the track.
Was our content called “Independence Diary” for nothing?
Even if we filmed and uploaded something like track registration, no one would think it was because we had grievances against Lion Entertainment and were fighting back.
If anything, they would think a rookie idol group was making everything from A to Z by themselves.
“So first, we’ll upload a video thanking him, and then we’ll film the process of registering the track. Considering the mood of his content, I think it’d be good if we made the thank-you a little funny.”
“Hmm, how about we react to Instructor Yang Seokhun’s Resume critique video?”
“I think that’s pretty good.”
I nodded at Gu Taehwan’s words.
It wasn’t a bad idea.
At that moment, Choi Jaeseong shot his hand up.
I wasn’t sure there was any need to raise it all the way to his ear.
He could just speak.
It felt like, under Lee Ion’s influence, we were gradually turning into Sedalbaegil Kindergarten.
“Just say it.”
“Listening to what you’re saying, hyung, it sounds like you’re subtly trying to apply pressure, right? Like, since a lot of people are watching the track registration, they’d better handle it properly.”
“Right.”
If none of this had happened, track registration would probably have taken quite a lot of time.
It was an obvious trick.
And it wasn’t something that happened only in Korea.
But the Music Copyright Association and the Music Industry Association were public institutions.
Employees of public institutions in dominant positions were prone to corruption, but for that very reason, they hated being put in the spotlight.
There was no way they could ignore a situation like this.
“Why can’t we say directly that Lion Entertainment is pressuring them?”
It wouldn’t matter if we did.
If the moment came when we absolutely had to, I would condemn Lion without hesitation.
After all, I intended to see the business game I’d started with Lion Entertainment through to the end.
The reason I was being careful with my words wasn’t because of Lion Entertainment.
“I’m thinking about when we win.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re not just going to beat up Lion Entertainment and end it there, are we? Someday, we have to enter the industry.”
There were no outsiders among rulers.
I was going to secure a dominant position in the K-pop market.
It would become a given that all our concerts sold out, and we would sell an absurd number of albums.
Our value would skyrocket, and we would be recorded as the greatest team in K-pop history.
Originally, that was supposed to be a position for LMC and Prime Time to compete over, but in this life, they didn’t stand a chance.
I would do it—no, we would do it.
Even if that record disappeared into the back alleys of regression.
So it was better to refrain from making statements that would make the entire industry uncomfortable.
Someday, we would enter the establishment, so what would happen if we said things like that?
The people who had helped Lion Entertainment oppress us would feel uncomfortable.
That was why.
* * *
“Because even without doing something like that, we can beat Lion Entertainment.”
At Han Sion’s words, the members of Sedalbaegil were flustered.
They weren’t flustered by Han Sion’s reckless confidence.
To begin with, Han Sion was not the reckless type.
If anything, he was the type who sometimes piled up so many countermeasures on his own that it felt frustrating.
The reason Sedalbaegil was flustered was something else.
From Han Sion…
There was no scent of achievement whatsoever.
Lee Ion, On Saemiro, Gu Taehwan, Choi Jaeseong.
These four had been so excited lately that they could barely sleep.
They had given up on Lion Entertainment and chosen Sedalbaegil.
But that decision had not been easy.
That was why their current achievements made them happy.
The issues related to Abyss Detector, Drop Out, and NOP belonged solely to Han Sion.
But the performances in the indie scene, the self-produced content, and the live performances did not.
Those were things Sedalbaegil had accomplished.
They could not deny that Han Sion’s role had been the greatest, but even so, those were their achievements.
So they felt a sense of accomplishment.
Then why did Han Sion, who held the largest share in their success, feel no sense of accomplishment?
Why did he remain calm, with empty eyes?
Even while speaking of a vision for the distant future?
That was what flustered the members of Sedalbaegil.
“Aren’t you happy?”
“About what?”
“Everything. The views are doing well, we’re going to register the track… and Lion Entertainment will be flustered too.”
At On Saemiro’s disjointed words, Han Sion seemed about to answer out of habit.
That he was happy.
He was clearly about to give his teammates the answer they wanted to hear.
But then he faltered, and after a brief silence, he opened his mouth.
“Not really.”
“Why?”
“Who knows. It’s all one-off, isn’t it?”
“One-off?”
“This kind of attention is like a hot potato. When you put it in your mouth, it’s scalding hot, but that’s all.”
Leave it alone for even a very short while, and it cools down.
After saying that, Han Sion shrugged and changed his tone to something brighter.
“That doesn’t mean we should get all gloomy, right? Why is everyone acting like this?”
At that moment, the members realized that now was the time to ask “that question.”
Throughout Coming Up Next, they had been seized by a single doubt.
This doubt had arisen from the moment the team called Sedalbaegil was formed, and it remained valid even now, with the song Resume having been born.
After hearing through On Saemiro that Han Sion’s goal was “two hundred million album sales,” they had become even more curious.
The one who took the lead was Lee Ion.
“Sion.”
“Yes?”
“You have to answer honestly. Completely honestly.”
“This feels like you’re about to ask something huge.”
“Let’s say there’s some standard inside you. Then what score is Sedalbaegil?”
“……”
Han Sion seemed to have never imagined he would be asked such a question.
But the members of Sedalbaegil had always been curious.
What on earth was going on inside that genius’s head?
Why did he accomplish everything so easily, then generously share it with the members?
Why did he have nightmares every night, then pretend nothing was wrong in the morning?
He didn’t know about the other members, but Lee Ion was not that romantic a person.
He did not think Sedalbaegil would last forever, and he thought of them as business partners before they were friends.
Though he also thought they were in the process of becoming friends beyond business partners.
So if he had to choose between Sedalbaegil becoming closer and Sedalbaegil becoming better, he believed he had to choose the latter.
They needed a standard.
And the only person who could present that standard was Han Sion.
At the end of the silence, Han Sion curled up his dry lips.
The members could say with certainty that they had never seen Han Sion make that face before.
It was an expression difficult to explain in words.
It seemed as if he were in despair, and also as if he were mocking himself.
Or perhaps as if he were looking at them from somewhere very far away.
“You’ll be hurt.”
“It’s okay.”
“By relative evaluation, you’re all doing well. You’re making good use of your current abilities, you’re improving, and your teamwork is getting better too. In the K-pop scene, I could probably give you a 90.”
“And by absolute evaluation?”
“Forty.”
“……
Forty.”
“If we exclude the special quality of Gu Taehwan’s intro, it could be even lower. Maybe around 30?”
Silence fell, and Han Sion returned his face to his usual bright expression.
“You’re all doing well. If you had no skill, there’s no way people would cheer for you, right? Ah, this is awkward. If someone heard me, they’d say I was arrogant. We’re all idol trainees here.”
But the silence did not end easily.
The one who finally broke it was On Saemiro.
“We’re recording Resume tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s push it back one week.”
“No. This is the golden time.”
“But if we push it back a week, couldn’t we become a 70? No, even a 60?”
“Impossible.”
“Why? You can direct us like when we were preparing the final stage. This time, we don’t even need to prepare choreography or a performance.”
“It’s still impossible.”
“……”
“The reason we were able to grow during Coming Up Next was because we were isolated.”
Pocheon.
A dorm with no visitors.
Take Scene living right next door.
The countless cameras and staff filming us.
The competitive atmosphere dissolved into every breath we inhaled and exhaled.
After counting those things off one by one, Han Sion looked around at everyone and said,
“There’s no way you can digest that right now. You’re all excited by success, aren’t you?”
“We won’t know until we try.”
“I have tried. Many times.”
“With us?”
“No.”
“Then you haven’t tried it with us.”
Quite a long silence passed, and Han Sion asked as if sighing.
“I might really end up disappointed. Because of that one week.”
“Let’s still try.”
“Does everyone think the same?”
The members affirmed it.
“Then cancel everything. A week’s worth of schedules. All of it, the YouTube filming and the indie performances.”
At last, the faces of the Sedalbaegil members brightened.
It was a decision that would have shocked the producers of show business if they had seen it.
They had luckily risen to the center of attention, yet they had chosen to halt activities during the golden time.
All for the sake of improving the quality of a single track.
But Sedalbaegil had chosen, and Han Sion had accepted.
And so…
A week flew by like an arrow.