Damn Idol – Episode 114
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A fandom's cohesion varies wildly depending on its character, but fundamentally, it's inversely proportional to size.
The larger a fandom grows, the more people's opinions diverge, and the more its cohesion drops.
But that doesn't mean small fandoms necessarily have cohesion.
Not all of them, but among those who only stan non-mainstream idols, some do it for socializing or to act like a big name.
Because of these people, small-scale fandoms often become a mess.
But there are cases where any fandom strongly unites…….
And that's when an external enemy appears.
What makes them unite even stronger.
"We're going to absolutely crush them, aren't we?"
It was when our victory was in sight.
Just like with Sedal Baegil right now.
The fandom of Sedal Baegil, equipped with the combat power of one against a hundred, began its activities.
-But seriously, daily charts aside, shouldn't we exclude Sedal Baegil from weekly or monthly charts?
-Huh? Why?
-Why do you think? At that level, they're basically Vocaloids. It goes against fairness.
-Didn't you see the news? (link) It was on MBN News.
Until now, those attacking Sedal Baegil didn't even glance at the shield materials fans held out.
Saying that they were just cherry-picking what favored them anyway.
But the word "news" was powerful.
It piqued their curiosity so much that they couldn't not click it.
-What is this? How do they know he sings well from listening to just a bit?
-I never said he sang well, lololol (link) This is a behind-the-scenes video lol It's exactly the same as the audio track, right? lol
And this sounds exactly like the audio track no matter who listens.
What followed was obvious.
-(Deleted comment)
The Vocaloid parrots that had been multiplying like amoebas began to disappear.
The composition YouTubers were the same.
They weren't attacking Sedal Baegil without logic.
Their basis was that the vocal tone from the live performance in their self-produced content was too different from the tone in the audio track.
Honestly, it was bullshit.
To really distinguish vocal tone, you'd have to watch with the same equipment in the same place.
They were just grasping at straws because the sound was different.
Not to mention, they were probably trying to milk some views too.
But…….
-This is MBN News footage. You'll analyze this, right?
The result was no different.
Those with some conscience made videos admitting they were wrong, but most people changed the subject.
They stopped mentioning it altogether.
But that meant an ugly retreat.
-It's been a while since I've been this hyped lol
-Monitoring hard for the first time in ages.
-Me too lolol
Winning an argument against a stranger gives people a sense of accomplishment, but this was even more than that.
Because it was rare to completely demolish one side's logic in a fandom-versus-fandom fight.
The MBN News behind-the-scenes video had the power to make that possible.
Because the news cameraman properly captured Sedal Baegil's busking.
Actually, some people were tilting their heads around this time.
-But why did the news capture the sound so well?
-Do you guys know? This is the first fancam we've seen since Coming Up Next ended lolol
-Oh, you're right lolol
-This camera fan is a pro lolol
-This camera is a news camera that surpasses even cannon cameras lol
-There are a lot of busking fancams on YouTube. This isn't the first one.
-Just laugh along. Don't kill the mood.
But everyone passed over it in a pleasant atmosphere without much thought.
After all, they had won, and they were having fun.
They were enjoying the momentum so much that they thought it would be perfect if Sedal Baegil threw out some other bait.
But Sedal Baegil didn't.
"How did something like this happen?"
Han Sion seemed to have done something, but they couldn't understand it.
* * *
The members asked what had happened, but I didn't give them a proper answer.
I just said I had asked a favor of someone I knew at the broadcasting station, and I hadn't expected this level of impact.
Well, it wasn't a lie.
"If he took this much money and was only at a department head level, it'd be a scam. What about at the news bureau chief level?"
"It couldn't be better."
I had been introduced to MBN's news bureau chief through Attorney Choe Jiun.
Naturally, I hadn't contacted him directly.
A man of news bureau chief stature wouldn't take a twenty-year-old idol trainee seriously.
In this regard, Attorney Choe Jiun was excessively free of prejudice.
Ah, and for reference, using the news bureau for this matter had been an impromptu decision.
The news bureau chief had something else he needed to do for me.
Anyway, busking was the first move to make use of this connection.
At this stage, what I wanted was simple.
I just needed rumors to spread that Sedal Baegil was doing busking regularly.
In other words, as long as it wouldn't be awkward for us to be out doing busking.
Rather, it felt like it had become a bigger topic than I'd expected.
Meeting unknown buskers in Hongdae.
Next, I checked the MBN News filming team's schedule and waited.
News is broadcast all week, so they have no choice but to rotate similar formats.
Among these, filming people's lives according to the changing seasons is a steady topic.
They especially film a lot to match the solar terms, so the timing wasn't difficult to match.
Once I knew that, the difficulty dropped significantly.
The news bureau chief, who had received the request belatedly, only needed to say one thing to the camera team.
"There might be a use for it, so make sure to film the performance well."
And I expressed my desire to appear on a music show through MBN's entertainment bureau, and was naturally rejected.
I deliberately visited the entertainment bureau in person and even went to see the music show CP.
The PD rejected us without hiding his sense of superiority, and rumors had probably spread through the broadcasting station.
The interesting thing was that the relationship between MBN's news bureau and entertainment bureau was bad.
No, it wasn't just MBN—most broadcasting stations were like that.
The entertainment bureau reigns as the top dog in the industry with an enormous budget, while the news bureau is a low-paying job where they can't even go home and have to sleep and eat in the field.
Not that this makes the news bureau the good guys and the entertainment bureau the villains.
They're all the same anyway.
Once you reach chief level, everyone is equally corrupt.
But regardless, the news bureau looks down on the entertainment bureau, and vice versa.
When the entertainment bureau causes a scandal, the news bureau is the first to excitedly report on it.
Saying that since it's going to come out anyway, they might as well break the exclusive to make things look good.
In this situation, even if the news bureau uploads our video as a behind-the-scenes clip, no one wonders why.
They think they already know the reason.
That they uploaded it because they can't stand the sight of the entertainment bureau.
This is all I did.
Taken one by one, it's no big deal.
It might have happened even without my intervention.
I simply created a justification for things to flow that way.
I spent some money for it, and some of my money probably went into the news bureau chief's pocket.
I know.
That it's an act condemned by society.
But I no longer feel pangs of conscience over such things.
Choe Daeho attacked us using his influence, so I'm just using mine.
Ah, yes. Shall I be a bit more honest?
I've done many immoral things in my life.
Until I learned that the world would continue even after I left.
There was a time when I used future knowledge to earn a tremendous amount of money and start an entertainment agency.
I poured massive amounts of money to sign all the singers who would hit it big in the future, on the condition that they unconditionally received my producing.
As a result, the industry's ecosystem was ruined.
I had poured so much money that I destroyed the market's basic order.
Within the inflation triggered by me, small and medium-sized studios could barely survive, and the rich got richer while the poor got poorer.
A structure was created where stars earned massive amounts of money, but the funds were supplied by sucking the lifeblood of obscure singers.
In this situation, I needed more money, and I lived by robbing more people of their opportunities.
Because making massive amounts of money with future knowledge means stealing someone's opportunities.
I am a person who has lived such a life.
I don't act to this extent now, but not because I'm a good person.
I realized it held little meaning, and I knew that the world would continue even after I left.
Acting in ways that leave you gasping with guilt is disadvantageous in the long run.
Because infinite regression wears down the mind.
Anyway, it was something carried out with such a plan.
Personally, I liked using the news in America too.
If a local New York paper printed the phrase 'GOTM, who conquered the LA band scene,' New Yorkers would truly believe that GOTM had conquered LA and come back.
Even if they had just sold out a few performances.
Because of the perception that news is fair and distant from the entertainment industry.
This time is no different.
But I have no intention of explaining the details of this matter to the members.
Not just this time, but there's nothing good about members knowing about illegal matters.
Especially considering that I might leave someday.
* * *
Sedal Baegil's self-produced content, "Independence Diary Episode 2," was released.
As if proving that they had ripped out the controversy by its roots, the video was full of content about "Resume."
It began with the Sedal Baegil members gathering together to react to Yang Seokhun's review video.
["To be honest, we felt a sting watching Instructor Yang Seokhun's review video."]
["Since we don't have many merits to show off, we wrote lyrics about things like maintaining a good mood every morning, being more diligent than others."]
As I Ion said, Yang Seokhun was surprisingly someone who interpreted "Resume" very well.
Whether it was his own thought or the staff of Yang Seokhun's YouTube channel, I don't know, but he accurately saw through the lyricist's intention.
["So in this episode, we'll write lyrics based on Instructor Yang Seokhun's feedback and try singing the song again."]
Soon, the members began playing Yang Seokhun's YouTube video and diligently revising the lyrics.
The result was…….
Woo
- Hello thanks to always maintaining positive emotions I achieved good results in the audition program a warm feeling~
A horrifying abomination was born.
Han Sion's dumbfounded expression as he watched Gu Taehwan struggle to shove sentences into the measure was the highlight.
And the start of the part and the end of the measure remained exactly the same.
-lololol crazy he's trying so damn hard lolol
-No but somehow it fits the measure perfectly lololol
-No but it's like singing rap lol Gu Taehwan's sense of rhythm is really good
-Is it just me who thinks the song is good? Am I abnormal?
Once Gu Taehwan broke the ice like this, the other members had no choice either.
If they weren't confident they could be funnier than Gu Taehwan, they had to follow his method.
That was the iron rule of variety shows.
Of course, Gu Taehwan wasn't really trying to be funny.
Woo
- Hello thanks to my habit of starting the day quickly In Coming Up Next's competitive structure A successful experience
-lololol look at I Ion staring at Gu Taehwan with a resigned face lol
-Ah, this self-produced content hits different here
-lolol this is freaking hilarious lol
Still, I was glad people were enjoying it.