Damn Idol Episode 84
* * *
After the members protested that the word “club” sounded lame, our identity was ultimately decided as a crew.
Sedalbaegil Crew.
If you only go by the dictionary definition, a crew means the sailors on a ship.
But in the music industry, it’s used a little differently. How should I put it—a group bound more by personal ties than business?
The term is used especially often in the hip-hop and dance scenes, like hip-hop crew or dance crew, and it refers to a group that’s banded together without signing contracts.
Of course, being a crew doesn’t mean you don’t do commercial activities.
You can put on group performances, or release a compilation album.
But the motivation behind the action is closer to “We’re gathered together, so let’s do something,” rather than “Let’s make money.”
If you start as a crew but take on a commercial purpose, then from that point on, you become a label.
A label is basically similar to an agency.
Strictly speaking, a label means a “record company,” but in Korea, entertainment companies seem to do everything.
Planning, releasing records, promotion.
To be honest, the members seemed a little confused.
“So we’re idols who don’t have an agency and won’t debut……?”
“If it’s that hard to understand, you can think of it as an independent agency. Just think of the five of us doing the work an agency is supposed to do.”
“Then how do we do music activities?”
“How do idols usually do music activities?”
“They make music, hold showcases, and go on music shows? Oh, and they do events too.”
“Then we’ll be doing activities too. We’ll make music, and we’ll hold showcases. We won’t be able to go on music shows for a while, but we could get booked for events.”
Even after I explained, the members only grew more confused.
The one who got to the heart of it was Gu Tae-hwan.
“Then why don’t other idol groups do it that way?”
Exactly.
If you can operate just fine without an agency taking a cut of your settlements, everyone would do that.
“Because they can’t.”
“Why?”
“If Drop Out or NOP went independent, would they be unable to work?”
“No. They’d do great.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re already famous? Because there are a lot of places that would call them?”
“Right. Because they’ve already proven themselves.”
Drop Out and NOP are superstars of the K-pop scene.
“Then why can’t a rookie group operate independently?”
“Because nobody knows them. And they haven’t proven anything.”
I nodded at Choe Jae-seong’s words.
“So we have to prove ourselves, and we have to become famous.”
“How?”
There isn’t much I can say here.
I don’t have a concrete plan either.
If this were Billboard, I’d know what songs blow up each year and what issues happen, but this is K-pop.
I don’t know much beyond the really big things.
But while I may not have a plan, I do know the method.
If you know the exact method, you can come up with a suitable plan.
“We’ll have to start thinking about a specific plan from now on, but the principle is simple. We’re going to start activities in three weeks.”
“Three weeks?”
“That’s when episode ten of Coming Up Next airs.”
Now that I’ve rejected Take Scene, I don’t know how the broadcast will be edited.
For ratings, they shouldn’t damage me, but they might butcher me in the final episode.
So we can only establish an accurate plan after Coming Up Next ends.
“Our goal is to make people talk about us for a month after Coming Up Next ends.”
“You’re saying we transfer the buzz from the program to Sedalbaegil Crew?”
“Yes. So everyone knows that Sedalbaegil from Coming Up Next went independent and started working as singers.”
“Isn’t that easy? The viewership rating was close to 10%.”
“Even if we held a press conference, not a single article would go up in the entertainment news section. I’m not even sure reporters would come in the first place.”
Maybe it finally hit home, because the members closed their mouths.
But I grinned.
“Doesn’t it sound fun? We’d be the first in Korea.”
This is a business industry where countless major agencies and broadcasting stations hold the hegemony of the show in their hands.
That’s why it’s show business.
And the five tiny existences called Sedalbaegil are going to slam our heads into it.
Everyone will laugh at us and jump to the conclusion that it won’t work, but…….
Well.
I’m confident.
Maybe they read the confidence on my face, because the members’ expressions eased considerably.
This is what you call the quality of a leader.
“Then is our leader Ion hyung?”
“……
Huh?”
“Ion hyung was the one who brought it up first. He said we should ask them to debut you.”
“That’s true. That’s where everything started.”
“……
Right. Ion hyung should be the leader.”
When I said that, all the members burst out laughing.
“Watching Sion hyung these days, he really does have good hit reaction.”
“It feels like walking into a boss room with a low-level character and poking it.”
I guess it was a joke.
Hm, it’s not that I want to be the leader.
I just want to have the biggest say when presenting the direction of Sedalbaegil Crew.
I’ll say it again: it’s not because I’m a regressor with main-character syndrome.
“Then what do we do for three weeks?”
“What else? We practice.”
I looked over the members and continued.
“In the field.”
“The field?”
Ah, before that, I need to straighten things out with PD Gang Seok-u and CEO Choe Dae-ho.
* * *
The meeting place PD Gang Seok-u set after receiving Han Sion’s call was a tuna restaurant inside Dongdaemun Market.
It was a very old restaurant, and while the exterior was shabby, the taste was truly incredible.
So much so that even high-ranking people who had frowned after seeing the exterior asked how they could make reservations.
As Gang Seok-u called the place to make a reservation, he confirmed his own feelings.
It was a place he only visited when meeting important people.
And yet, the moment he received Han Sion’s call, he thought they should meet here.
That meant Han Sion was an important person.
No matter how this ended, he wasn’t someone Gang would part with after treating him poorly and spitting on him.
‘Good grief. He’s only twenty.’
Thinking that, PD Gang Seok-u headed to the meeting place and met Han Sion.
And he was slightly surprised.
Because Han Sion’s face looked truly at ease.
In truth, throughout the entire program, he had been curious whenever he looked at Han Sion.
What was pressuring that genius and making him have nightmares?
What was the subject of the thoughts he sat alone with in the practice room at dawn?
Where had that damp, gloomy atmosphere come from?
“You slept yesterday?”
“Yes. I suppose the tension left me after the program ended.”
“To be honest, isn’t this not exactly a situation where you can relax?”
PD Gang Seok-u prodded him like that, but Han Sion only smiled.
“By order, it would be right for me to meet CEO Choe Dae-ho first, but I wanted to see you first, PD Gang Seok-u.”
“Why?”
“Thank you for everything until now. And I’m sorry it ended up like this.”
“…….”
He had imagined what kind of conversation he would have with Han Sion, but he hadn’t expected to receive such a clean thank-you and apology.
So PD Gang Seok-u was able to realize two things.
One was that Han Sion was reading the board properly.
He wasn’t having some childish, impulsive thought like, “It’ll all work out.”
He understood precisely that he had turned M-Show and Lion into enemies.
The other was that, despite that, he had no intention of turning back.
Han Sion would not return to Take Scene.
“…….”
A long silence passed, and around the time the food they ordered came out, PD Gang Seok-u opened his mouth.
“To be honest, I came here to persuade you, but it doesn’t look like you’ll be persuaded.”
“Isn’t there also intimidation?”
“That seems even less likely to work.”
“A wise choice.”
“Instead, answer this one thing honestly for me.”
Gang Seok-u continued.
“Why did you do it? Han Sion, you wanted to debut quickly, and wasn’t Take Scene the most suitable option?”
“It was suitable. I still think choosing Take Scene would have been right.”
“Then why?”
“Because even though I knew it was the wrong choice, I wanted to choose it.”
“So what are you going to do now?”
“I’ll have to make it right. The wrong thing.”
Gang Seok-u, who had paused for a moment, gave a faint laugh and picked up a piece of tuna.
“Eat. It’s good.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
And so the two ate without much conversation.
Then, without any warning, Gang Seok-u suddenly tossed out a remark.
“I had something like that too. Something I chose even though I knew it was wrong.”
“What was it?”
“Transferring to M-Show.”
He knew it was a choice he made in order to run away from pressure, but he had wanted to do it.
Because he had wanted to be comfortable.
“I don’t know what you ran away from, Han Sion. And starting tomorrow, our relationship will sour, but…….”
Still, wasn’t he the person who had given him the first career achievement he built at M-Show?
So he thought this much of a blessing would be appropriate.
“Do well. I won’t be watching you with supportive eyes, but I’ll be watching.”
“Then may I ask you for one thing as well?”
“Go ahead.”
“If M-Show and Lion Entertainment have had a falling-out, and if they’re currently fighting over who is responsible for the present situation…….”
Han Sion spoke.
“Why don’t you air the remaining Coming Up Next episodes centered around Sedalbaegil?”
“Why? It’s obvious Lion will get even angrier at M-Show.”
“No. They’ll be afraid.”
“……?”
“M-Show pushed Sedalbaegil as the protagonist, but in the end, what happens if Take Scene debuts under Lion?”
“……!”
“The public will think of the two groups separately. And the public’s thoughts have power.”
PD Gang Seok-u’s eyes widened.
“Once a little time passes like that, Lion Entertainment will grow anxious. After all, all the materials and the trigger are in M-Show’s hands.”
“…….”
“What if the executive team is replaced a few years later? What if the employees from that time disappear? Wouldn’t they think that the causality is gone and only the weakness remains?”
Gang Seok-u was genuinely shocked by Han Sion’s thinking.
Because he had never once thought about it that way.
Of course, there were things Han Sion didn’t know.
Because M-Show received a share of Take Scene’s profits from Lion Entertainment, it was hard for them to be separated into complete strangers.
But this was PD Gang Seok-u’s misconception.
Han Sion’s thoughts had reached even that far.
“So declare that you won’t receive a share of Take Scene’s profits.”
“……
Receive a share of the profits? There is no such thing.”
“If you declare that you won’t receive a share, Lion Entertainment might like it at first. But in the end, after running the numbers, they’ll reach out to you. They’ll tell you to please take some money.”
“Han Sion. There is no share…….”
“Because you need to keep rubbing together as one lump for both of you to stay within the bomb’s blast radius.”
Realizing that Han Sion was certain of it, Gang Seok-u spoke with a sigh.
“If the materials are made public, I’ll be the first to be finished before Take Scene or Lion Entertainment. I’m the main director.”
“Obviously, you shouldn’t make them public. You should only fire blanks. If you fire live ammunition, wouldn’t that be war?”
“…….”
“You weren’t planning to make them public anyway, were you? Other than the initiative shifting to M-Show, does anything change?”
In other words, what Han Sion was saying was this.
Air the broadcast with Sedalbaegil as the protagonist, and declare that you don’t need any profit share.
Then that in itself will become a threat, and in the end, Lion Entertainment will want the profit share to exist.
Nothing changes.
Only the initiative shifts to M-Show.
No.
There is one group that benefits.
Sedalbaegil.
“When whales fight, only Sedalbaegil stands to gain.”
“That’s true, but this is good for you too, PD.”
“Why?”
“This time, the audience vote score dropped significantly, and the judges’ score rose significantly, didn’t it?”
“How did you know that too?”
“I roughly calculated it. Anyway, if materials related to the manipulation are actually made public, you’ll have evidence of your innocence.”
PD Gang Seok-u felt like he knew what came next without having to hear it.
“What can a director do about judges scoring however they want on-site?”
“…….”
“I’m someone who thought Sedalbaegil was better, so I directed the show in their favor. How does that sound?”