Damn Idol Episode 135
Of course, it wasn’t as if Sedal Baekil’s fandom had reached this conclusion through musical insight or knowledge.
To begin with, identifying what genre a song was and what techniques were used the moment you heard it wasn’t an easy task.
If it was a song made by a veteran like Han Sion, who had mastered all kinds of genres and techniques, then even more so.
And that wasn’t all. This song might become a mainstream pick, too.
The chances looked high.
Because on top of Colorful Struggle’s fame, it had even added a freshness in arrangement—though I wasn’t sure if it could simply be called arrangement.
But capturing the public’s taste wasn’t something you could do with musical level or skill alone.
So when Titi concluded that “this will work,” it was a story from within the idol industry.
They didn’t even know what had been changed or how, and they couldn’t be certain if it would appeal to the public.
But it would definitely work in the idol market.
Because the fan sensibility was tingling.
And wasn’t it Sedal Baekil, who seemed like they’d never stimulate such fan sensibilities?
It was clear they would create the perfect twist.
“Ah, damn. I hope it doesn’t leak.”
“I wish no one knew besides Titi.”
“It’s gonna be crazy when promotions start?!”
Thanks to that, Sedal Baekil’s true fans shut their mouths as if they had planned it together.
If other fandoms provoked them, saying they weren’t idol-like enough……
-“Sedal Baekil is good and all, but it seemed like they found being idol-like a bit embarrassing? Like they hate it?”-
-ㅎ-
-Why are you laughing?-
-ㅋㅋ-
-Whatever;-
I was just trying to indulge them.
But there was also someone greatly flustered by this situation.
“Why, why isn’t it leaking……?”
It was Han Sion, who had been preparing a leak marketing strategy.
* * *
The culprit(?) who had been desperately blocking the leak was none other than CEO Kang of the development company
“An idol’s promotional song can’t leak in advance! Absolutely not!”
With this resolve, he had possessed the server hardware and blocked all sorts of leak attempts.
Honestly, it was a bit bewildering.
No matter how much our official homepage was its own platform that avoided open source as much as possible, it should have been impossible to block every leak attempt.
No, I had thought it was impossible.
But it wasn’t.
Just how was he blocking even screen recordings through bypass routes?
Could it be that I had poached someone absolutely necessary to the online lecture industry?
I’d spoken with Instructor Yang Seokhun about profit sharing before, and he’d been racking his brains over screen recordings.
Anyway, it was true that CEO Kang of ANB Engine’s abilities were interfering with my plans.
In the end, I had no choice but to hint at my plan to CEO Kang slightly.
I also conveyed the opinion that it would be good if this video leaked quickly.
-Then shall I stop interfering……?
CEO Kang’s voice trembled over the receiver, so I told him that wasn’t it.
Honestly, if we were this confident in blocking leaks, we could do so much more.
It was just a special situation this time.
-Ah, then that’s a relief.
“But just how are you blocking all the leaks? Is that even possible?”
-I did block them diligently, but there weren’t as many attempts as you’d think. It’s just that a few professionals latched on.
“Is that so?”
-Yes. Put bluntly, if someone plays the video and films it with their smartphone, there’s nothing you can do about that, right?
“Right.”
-But if they do that, they can’t properly capture Sedal Baekil’s cool sides, so it seemed like the fans weren’t doing it?
Well, wasn’t that an overly hopeful interpretation?
I figured it was more correct to judge that Sedal Baekil was less popular than I’d thought.
Or perhaps the fan club had a lot of ghost members.
Thinking such thoughts, I explained why we wanted a leak.
When assigning work to a developer in the first place, you have to explain the fundamental intent well.
If not, accidents happen.
Hmm……. Did I show my age after a long time?
Anyway, the reason I wanted a leak was simple.
From the start, we had planned to take our promotional song in the direction of a K-pop version of Colorful Struggle.
Originally, we had planned to change the title and completely rewrite the lyrics in Korean.
But since the original song had entered the Billboard charts, it was more advantageous to release a remix.
Because Billboard aggregates and combines the remix’s records into the original song’s count.
If the original version held out on Billboard until the K-pop remix was released, we might even be able to aim for the edge of the Hot 100.
Of course, there was no reason to force a Billboard push at the current point in time.
Rather, it was a time to focus on domestic activities.
But there was also no reason not to set a strategy and challenge it when the opportunity came.
The reason I had been waiting for a leak in this situation was that Colorful Struggle had succeeded too well.
The original song’s shadow was too heavy over the public.
So when the K-pop remix came out, there might be people who instinctively felt rejection.
People dislike it more when something they thought they knew well becomes unfamiliar, than when something they encounter for the first time is unfamiliar.
This was something I had experienced after releasing countless songs over countless years.
So I wanted to ease that rejection through a leak.
Because the keyword “leak” is provocative, so even those uninterested in K-pop would want to listen at least once.
Even if they didn’t listen to the song, it would be enough if the information spread that “Sedal Baekil sang a K-pop version of Colorful Struggle.”
There might be losses in music chart performance, but the main focus of this promotion was the pre-release song anyway.
Then CEO Kang over the receiver said in a flustered voice,
-I, is it okay for you to tell me this? It seems like an incredibly sensitive matter……
What was he saying.
He had shown a resolve to block leaks forever if I didn’t say anything, and now this.
But I couldn’t say that.
“Because I firmly trust CEO Kang. To an idol, the official homepage is their hometown, and CEO Kang is the one who created that hometown.”
-M, Mr. Sion……
It was just lip service, so why was he so moved?
-What level of leak do you want? Just say the word.
“Could you perhaps leak only the audio in high quality?”
-Excluding the video entirely?
“Yes. It would be better if it just came out as a black screen.”
-That’s easy. I’ll take care of it immediately. Very naturally.
“Ah, I said I’d give you concert tickets before, but the schedule ended up being delayed quite a bit. I’m sorry.”
Because I hadn’t expected Colorful Struggle to enter the Billboard charts.
I’d made an issue of the video with Donald McGus, but that was just for Color Show’s views.
The image of doing well only in Korea and being ignored in the homeland was rather unsightly.
But thanks to this, it had entered Billboard and broken through the SBN music show.
So the schedule had changed.
Originally, after several performances, we had planned to break through the M Show’s music program.
-You remembered that?
“Of course I had to remember. I’ll be sure to contact you the moment the concert schedule is set, even if it’s late.”
-……
Thank you. Honestly, I had been debating whether to shut down the company, but thanks to Mr. Sion giving me this opportunity, these days I’ve really been……
It was a company that would succeed even if I didn’t help, but he seemed too moved.
It felt a bit like Lee Hyunseok of the IT industry?
* * *
“It’s out.”
Choi Daeho shook his head and put down the report he had been reading.
Team Leader Park, who had been with him since the planning of Coming Up Next, flinched and collected the report.
“Only handle the scheduled broadcast appearances. Don’t book any additional ones.”
“Understood. Then shall I book additional schedules focused on larger events and performances?”
“Yes. Nothing too shabby.”
Having said that, Choi Daeho stroked his chin.
He feigned composure, but his stomach was burning.
Take Scene was a team they had ambitiously prepared, to the point of creating an entertainment program.
They had been confident it would succeed, and it had to succeed.
But what was the result?
It was miserable.
Even taking into account that it was still a time to invest rather than reap, it was an excessive loss.
Honestly, if the volume had been larger, Take Scene’s debut metrics were quite excellent.
The fandom’s density and directionality were appropriate, and the reactions to their music, music videos, and stages were good.
They had also shown performances uncharacteristic of rookies in the variety shows they’d appeared on, receiving positive evaluations.
So, ironically, their overseas metrics had been good.
Overseas K-pop fans weren’t sensitive to domestic circumstances, so they had looked only at Take Scene itself.
But flipping that around revealed the reason Take Scene had been ruthlessly buried.
Sedal Baekil.
No, Han Sion.
The problem wasn’t just that he had devoured all the issues. The bigger problem was that Take Scene’s image was tied to him.
If Take Scene was the perpetrator, Sedal Baekil was the victim; if Take Scene was the loser, Sedal Baekil was the winner.
If you eliminated the parts of Take Scene’s buzz volume related to Sedal Baekil, only a positive image remained.
The problem was that doing so reduced the buzz volume to an absurd degree.
What this data signified was clear.
For Take Scene to survive, they had to eliminate Sedal Baekil.
They didn’t need to compete; they had to kill.
“Team Leader Park.”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I have been trying to prod at the Onsaemiro parents’ side, but it’s so absurd that it’s rather difficult to control.”
“Do you think I want to hear that right now?”
“……
I’m sorry.”
“You’ve gathered a lot of materials related to Han Sion’s parents, right?”
“Yes.”
“If we blow it up right after Take Scene’s promotions end, it’ll be obvious……. That’s right, blow it up on Sedal Baekil’s music show day. Have the articles come out immediately after the music show.”
Han Sion had been in an accident with his parents, but only the parents had become vegetative.
If the story ended here, it would simply be an unfortunate accident.
But Han Sion had hired a lawyer and inherited the assets.
He had even hired the ace of a super-large law firm, one of the top one or two in the Korean legal world.
Why?
Because originally, the parents’ assets should have gone to relatives.
Was this an idea a twenty-year-old kid could come up with?
Even if he could have thought of it, did it make sense that he moved so swiftly right after the accident?
Could it be that Han Sion had intentionally caused the accident?
Choi Daeho intended to create these suspicions through the media.
Of course, it wasn’t a story with a robust logical structure.
But it was provocative.
So provocative that the masses wouldn’t be able to resist taking a bite.
No matter how incredible Han Sion was, he wouldn’t be able to escape this.
Honestly, this was the last resort that even Choi Daeho had been hesitating over.
It wasn’t that he hesitated to destroy Han Sion, but because he feared lawyer Choi Jiun.
The ace of a super-large law firm, and the only son of a legal family where it was hard to find anyone among blood relatives who wasn’t a former high-ranking official.
If things went wrong, such a person might harbor a grudge against him.
If the issue blew up, the media wouldn’t leave a figure like Choi Jiun alone.
Moreover, this issue was so provocative that it was impossible to predict where it would fly off to.
If unlucky, even Coming Up Next or Ryan Entertainment could suffer backlash.
Nevertheless, he had to push forward.
At this rate, Take Scene, which they had burned through tens of billions of won to create, was about to become scrap paper.
Even if he had to accept the risk, he had to trample Sedal Baekil.
“Han Sion, that bastard can’t catch on……. You said Onsaemiro’s parents?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Use that side well to scatter attention. If it’s the music show, the member’s family, this and that, it’ll be chaotic.”
“Understood. Through which channel should Han Sion’s story go? If we run to the newsroom, links to Ryan Entertainment might remain. Freelancers might have weaker speakers.”
But Choi Daeho did not answer.
He simply stared at Team Leader Park for a moment, then said with a smile,
“I’ll trust your capabilities.”
Both Choi Daeho and Team Leader Park were jaded members of society.
The meaning of Choi Daeho’s words was “This is not something I ordered.”
If things went wrong, Team Leader Park would have to take the fall for all of it.
But what could he do?
“Understood.”
He had no choice but to nod.
Thus, the final arrow in Choi Daeho’s possession was aimed at Han Sion.
The moment he would release the bowstring was Sedal Baekil’s music show day.
* * *
-This is a leak?
This is a leak?
This is a leak?
This is a leak?
This is a leak?
-Wow, this is really insane.-T_T Our kids are serious about being idols T_T T_T-Hip Sion lolll He must’ve been afraid doing something hip straight up would be too obvious, so he took the long way around to get there lolll-That’s right, yeah-
-No, but how did he change it like this? Is he really a genius?--Haha, if you see the choreography video, everyone will flip out.
-Where do I see the choreography video?
-It’s on the official homepage!
-What’s an official homepage.
-Router home network.-?????
I had expected the public to show rejection toward Colorful Struggle’s K-pop remix.
I was certain they would…….
Views: 2,420,139.
The comments on the leaked video that recorded over two million views were nothing but praise.
“……”
Then was the leak unnecessary after all?
Could it be that I had done something stupid?
Only hurting my own music chart rankings for nothing.
“Sion, why do you look like that?”
I’m upset.