Episode 174
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While Self Made Season 2 was being filmed in the United States, Episode 3 of Season 1 aired domestically.
Episode 2 had ended with an employee from the M.O.L. game company visiting Sedalbaegil’s lodging and Han Sion setting his sights on an Apple commercial.
Looking a little further back on the timeline, there had been the Masked Robber duo’s busking performance and their webtoon OST contract.
By this point, the structure was clear.
The concept of Self Made Episode 1 was hardship, and Episode 2 was overcoming it.
And Episode 3 was harvest.
Sure enough, the program began with the webtoon.
The webtoon’s content slowly passed across the screen in a composition that was obviously sponsored, while the OST decorated the background.
Below it, comments from readers who loved the song appeared one by one.
-Seriously, can they show the webtoon this blatantly? lol
-This is why cable TV is so convenient lol
-Looks like the webtoon sponsored the production?
Since this content had already swept through online communities once, Self Made’s viewers did not react particularly strongly.
There were a few comments saying the webtoon looked interesting, though.
After that came the Masked Robbers’ busking scene.
The two of them were still putting on powerful gestures that didn’t match the mournful ballad at all, but it was surprisingly entertaining to watch.
At first, they had been pretty awkward.
Neither Iion nor Gu Taehwan had ever done anything like this before, so they had practiced at the lodging as though they were choreographing a dance routine.
But effort never lied.
As they watched the Masked Robbers’ gestures grow more and more polished(?), the imbalance with the song only grew larger.
That wasn’t to say it sounded bad.
-Why is it getting so emotionally compelling? lol
-Is the robber confessing that, even after looking back, it was you? lol
-Does “you” here mean money?
-Lol even after looking back, it was moneyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wow, but seriously, Self Made has been a constant rediscovery of Iion for me. Could he always sing this well?
-For real. I thought his only weapon was his face.
-I’m so happy that people are starting to recognize that our boy is a geniusㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Indie singers these days apparently hate Iion.
-Why?
-Because he’s handsome and can sing well, too.
-Ah.
Around then, another amusing scene appeared.
As Gu Taehwan finished the song by wildly firing the money gun they had prepared beforehand, someone approached them.
He glanced at the camera, then asked the Masked Robbers if they were celebrities.
The two shook their heads and claimed that they were filming an indie music video, whereupon they received a business card.
It was an NT casting director.
-Waitㅋㅋ You didn’t even see their faces!
-Did they cast them as faceless singers? lol
-You know BabyMetal in Japan? We’ve got robber ballads!
-Give us your interest and love. Bang bang.
-Listen to you saying “bang bang”ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
After that came an interview with the casting director from two months later.
It was a bit of directing designed to create amusement by inserting an interview from a future point in time.
[Although I couldn’t see any of their features at all because of the masks, I had a feeling they were handsome.]
[A feeling?]
[Yes. People with striking looks have a certain kind of confidence. I could sense that.]
-Come on, what a lieㅋㅋ Why couldn’t he just say, “If they were ugly, we would’ve made them get plastic surgery”?
-This is the correct answerㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The public’s reaction wasn’t entirely wrong, but surprisingly, the NT casting director had been sincere in the interview.
After those small scenes, Han Sion appeared.
Han Sion had written no fewer than nine songs and had every member, including himself, record them.
Strictly speaking, this had actually happened after they had filmed the M.O.L. commercial.
In other words, it had taken place after the members had achieved all their intended goals and returned.
But if they showed it that way, the program would lose momentum, so Producer Kang Seokwoo scrambled the timeline.
He made it seem as though Sedalbaegil’s activities and Han Sion’s preparations for the Apple commercial were happening simultaneously.
As a result, the public reacted positively.
-Is that Sedalbaegil from the show? The guys who gave away CD players with their albums?
-Yeah, that’s them.
-I don’t know much about idols, but these guys really work hard.
-Other idols work hard too.
-Of course they do, but they seem incredibly sincere about their music. I’m rooting for them.
That was because Sedalbaegil was portrayed as though they were handling an unbelievably tight schedule.
Even after recording through the night for hours under Han Sion’s direction, they appeared to move on to their next schedule as if they weren’t tired at all.
Producer Kang Seokwoo was a perceptive director, so he had anticipated this kind of viewer reaction.
That was why he slipped in glimpses of the members looking exhausted in between their schedules.
In a sense, it was manipulated, but in the broadcasting industry, this was called directing, not manipulation.
The timeline had been scrambled, but it was true that the members of Sedalbaegil had worked hard and handled a grueling schedule.
[That’s how we ended up with forty-five tracks.]
[The reason I didn’t assign parts to the members is that I didn’t write these songs to suit Sedalbaegil’s individual roles.]
[I wrote the songs to fit the company’s branding. Now we’ll distribute the parts.]
On-screen, Han Sion listened to Gu Taehwan’s opening, then layered Choi Jaeseong’s opening over it.
The two identical songs overlapping weren’t particularly appealing, but then magic unfolded.
It happened so quickly that it was impossible to tell what he had discarded and what he had kept, but the two tracks became lighter.
It was closer to matching the sonic space than to matching harmonies.
After listening to it repeatedly, Han Sion soon added Iion’s voice as well.
Gu Taehwan’s voice took the lead in the opening, while Choi Jaeseong’s voice was layered over it like doubling on a hip-hop track.
At the same time, Iion’s voice, hitting the exact notes, created a sense of space like a reverb effect.
“Oh, this is good. It’s my first time trying something like this, too.”
Han Sion repeated the process of creating one song from five separate tracks.
Naturally, that music was shared with the viewers as well.
They couldn’t play the full version, but the production team had selected the most appealing section.
-Whoa, what is this? The song is insanely good;;
-Surprisingly, it has an Apple feel to it.
-22222 I thought the same thing.
-Wasn’t it Jobs or Tim Cook who said something like this back in the day? That even if you listened to Apple’s commercial music with your eyes closed, you should be able to tell it was an Apple ad.
-Get out of here, Captain Obvious.
In fact, Han Sion’s work had been covered in excessive detail because of the structure of the variety show.
That was especially true when one considered that, in an ordinary variety program, a scene like this would last fifteen seconds at most, or a minute if it were long.
But Producer Kang Seokwoo had two intentions.
First, the song was extremely good, so it was fine.
Second, he wanted to build anticipation.
The anticipation that Sedalbaegil might actually land the commercial.
The curiosity over whether they were about to pull off something huge.
But this intention only succeeded halfway.
-What’s the title of the second song? Where can we listen to it?
-We don’t know that either;;
-Isn’t it on Sedalbaegil’s official website?
-It hasn’t been uploaded yetㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Huh? They upload songs to their official website too?
-Yeah. They upload them from time to time. Sometimes they even make and upload songs when fans request them.
-Wow. What have they uploaded so far?
-The one that got the best response was the sped-up version of Summer Cream.
-Sped-up? Can’t anyone do that? You just increase the speed.
-Sion personally rearranged it into a sped-up version and uploaded it because he said simply speeding it up ruined the melody’s feel!
The viewers’ affection for the song was more than sufficient.
But no one still believed that Sedalbaegil would win the Apple commercial music contract.
There were comments like these, too.
-Are they planning to do something with this? They’re showing way too much detail.
-Yeah, it’s getting kind of boring.
-The song is good, but this isn’t some documentary.
But they couldn’t change an already-directed broadcast according to the viewers’ reactions.
Around then, the scene jumped to Choi Jaeseong filming the M.O.L. commercial.
That brought about the first settlement of the earnings from the activities that had continued throughout Episode 3.
[Wow!]
[That’s incredible.]
[They made this much money?]
They had earned 18 million won.
Normally, broadcasts did not reveal exact figures in such detail, but this case was different.
How much money Sedalbaegil, having transformed into unknown singers, earned.
And how that money would be spent during their overseas trip in Season 2.
Those were the key points of Self Made.
At that point, the viewers realized something.
Just how enormous Sedalbaegil’s talent was.
When Episode 1 had aired, the prevailing opinion had clearly been that it would be difficult for unknown singers to make money.
In fact, Sedalbaegil’s attempts had failed.
But with Han Sion’s advice as their foundation, they tried once again and ultimately succeeded.
And at the root of it all were talent and hard work.
-Wow;;; So if you have insane talent and put in the effort, you really can do anything;;
-I’m a little stunned. When I first started watching, I thought they’d quietly cash in on the Sedalbaegil name, but they really did work as unknown singers. And they made this much money?
-With 18 million, they can do anything they want in America, can’t they?
-At the very least, a luxurious hotel vacation is guaranteed. Congrats.
-The reactions on TT social media are hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋ I can’t believe they’re capable of simping this hardㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-What are you talking about? Tell me what they said.
-But isn’t it kind of pathetic how Producer Kang is only now calculating all the various investment costs?
-Lol, otherwise they’d have to spend nearly 25 million won from the production budget.
-Look at the producer’s eyes shaking.
-He’s flusteredㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-He’s on his kneesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wow, but they’re amazing. I really applaud them. I heard they donated all that money, too.
-As expected, talent really is everything in the arts;;
-Han Sion did it all, anyway.
But that didn’t mean everyone offered their applause sincerely.
-That’s bullshitㅋㅋㅋ You think the webtoon authors and the game company didn’t know they were Sedalbaegil?
-I heard they didn’t know. Some webtoon artists do personal broadcasts, and I heard them telling stories about it.
-Even if they knew, they just pretended not to. They’re all in on it.
-If that’s how you think, what do you even believe in?
-I don’t believe in variety shows, for starters.
-People are so damn gullible. You believe this?
-Then are all the unknown singers in the country idiots?
-What are you talking about? Sedalbaegil accomplished it with their incredible talent.
-You really think they could’ve done it with just the songs?ㅋㅋ The cameras were following them around from the start.
The suspicion was inevitable.
Broadcasts unavoidably involved directing and editing.
There was no proof that Sedalbaegil was genuine in the gaps created by that directing and editing.
But Self Made Episode 3 had magic capable of dispelling all criticism and suspicion in one blow.
When the settlement rose to 18 million won, Producer Kang Seokwoo began groveling pathetically before the members.
In truth, even this was a comedic bit of directing.
M Show had already included an additional budget of up to 20 million won in its plan.
So 18 million won was manageable.
But if they handled it too easily, it would be less entertaining, so Producer Kang Seokwoo grovelled.
The humiliating deal he proposed was simple.
“I-I’ll sell you schedules.”
“Schedules?”
“Yes. One night of complete freedom at a hotel with all the cameras removed! Fifty thousand won per person—how about 2.5 million won?”
The idea was to sell off the members’ desired activities at reasonable prices after they crossed over to the United States.
Producer Kang Seokwoo rattled off one proposal after another, saying whatever came to mind.
If they accepted everything, Sedalbaegil’s budget expenditure would amount to only 3 million won.
In other words, he was offering to sell 15 million won worth of schedules.
Of course, at the time, Producer Kang Seokwoo thought there was no way they would accept.
He thought he would have to present a more reasonable counteroffer.
But astonishingly—
“All right. We’ll take all of it.”
Han Sion accepted every offer without hesitation.
-Huh?
-What is this? Aren’t they being way too considerate of the broadcasting station’s situation?
-I’m telling you, they’re all in on itㅋㅋㅋ
But that wasn’t the case.
“Then let’s do that, and calculate this again.”
What Han Sion held out was a draft contract from the Apple I Branding Team.