Little Pink Starfish

But what I needed to worry about right now wasn’t my personal feelings about Sedalbaekil.

That wasn’t the urgent matter.

The real urgency was the situation Sedalbaekil was facing.

The situation surrounding us right now is quite complicated.

In short, it’s a good situation, but dangerous.

Like being in a flower field while the muzzle of a gun is secretly aimed at us.

First, the good news is undeniably the performance of our song.

Honestly, I didn’t expect Resume to reach the top of the charts so quickly.

The song came out well, so I was confident it could hit number one.

But I thought it would happen toward the end of this week.

Especially since we debuted at 21st place on the first day.

But I was wrong, and we reached number one on the daily chart on the second day.

Actually, the process by which we reached number one was quite bizarre.

In 2017, there is still a real-time chart on music sites.

I clearly remember that in the near future, real-time charts will disappear in Korea.

To be precise, they’ll change in various ways.

First came the 24HIT, which was then reorganized into Latest 1 Week 24HIT and Latest 4 Weeks 24HIT.

After that, I think a Billboard-style Hot 100 emerged.

Even now, people call the daily chart the Hot 100, but the calculation method was different.

I don’t remember all the details, but I’m certain about the facts.

Why do I remember this? Because around the time the chart system changed, my solo career outperformed For the Youth.

At that time, For the Youth’s fandom rejected me.

The members made vague statements in interviews and on SNS that could be interpreted politically.

Fade was leading that charge.

I have no idea what that bastard is doing now.

Anyway, during that period, For the Youth and my solo track were released simultaneously.

It’s rare for a group song and a solo song to be released at the same time, but I think I had appeared on some variety show.

That show became hugely popular, and we released the song I sang there unexpectedly.

So the For the Youth fandom set it up as For the Youth VS Han Si-on.

They streamed the group’s song endlessly while boycotting mine.

Even though I had appeared on the variety show to promote the group comeback.

But that coincided with the timing of the chart overhaul.

The result?

I crushed them.

I took first place on daily, weekly, and monthly charts.

While For the Youth‘s song stayed at the top of the real-time chart all day, it hovered around 5th to 10th on the daily chart.

From this, I learned how big the gap between the real-time and daily charts was in 2017.

A song that dominates real-time charts all day can still rank 60th or 70th on the daily chart.

This is because daily charts only count one stream per account per day.

Streaming attacks don’t work on daily charts.

That’s why 1 AM to 6 AM is considered fandom time.

Most people are asleep during those hours, so the influence of fandom streaming becomes much stronger.

For reference, 12 AM to 1 AM reflects public interest.

That’s why songs are released at midnight — to immediately gauge both public response and fandom power through real-time charts.

Anyway, something interesting happened during fandom time.

At that time, NOP’s fandom streamed only I’m not your man, and Drop Out’s fandom streamed only Selfish.

They never listened to each other’s songs.

They couldn’t afford to help each other’s streaming scores even once.

But then Sedalbaekil’s song appeared.

Actually, I learned during this process that streaming attacks are quite dull work.

It requires passion and effort.

During weeks one and two, everyone streamed furiously with bloodshot eyes, but it was already the third week.

The fans were starting to burn out.

From here on, it’s just speculation, but I think that’s why many of them casually listened to our song.

Not everyone, of course, but quite a lot.

The negative image that had been created by Failure Detector was gone.

According to Choi Jae-sung, fans from both groups were even saying things like:

It would’ve been horrifying if Han Si-on had given both Selfish and I’m not your man to just Drop Out (or NOP).

They felt a bit sad that their own idols didn’t get both songs.

On top of the genius image I had built up through Coming Up Next, the No Common Sense Eyes image from episode 1 of our self-produced content added to it.

-Well, he doesn’t seem like a bad guy.

-Just a bit clueless, lol.

-Seems like a severe my-way type. But he might give our kids a song next time, so let’s not criticize too much.

-If he gave both songs, we’d be defending him like Captain A-grade.

-For real, lol.

That’s about how they reacted.

So, burned-out fans casually started streaming Resume.

And then…

Our music had power.

Like how Radiohead’s Creep, after being rejected in the UK, returned via Israel and the US.

Resume began climbing the real-time streaming ranks at a staggering pace.

It seemed both fandoms contributed in their own way.

By the time both sides realized their mistake and panicked, it was already too late.

While 1 AM to 6 AM is fandom time, it’s not exclusively for fandoms.

We stayed at third place in real-time charts through fandom time.

After fandom time, from 6 AM to 9 AM comes the chaos hour.

General public consumption surges, and attention to newly released songs skyrockets.

It’s the time when rankings fluctuate the most and often determines the direction of the charts.

And we…

1. Resume (new) (hot)

We broke through to number one.

From then on, there were no further changes.

We stayed number one on the real-time chart until midnight.

And immediately reached number one on the daily chart as well — the symbol of public favor.

While both fandoms panicked, the public was thrilled.

-Hahaha this is the developer’s power, lol.

-Of course, no matter how good the players are, they’re no match for the developer’s edits.

-But seriously, I admit it. This song is insanely good.

-Was Sedalbaekil always this good at singing? It doesn’t even sound like Korean, but the pronunciation is so clear.

-Lee Ion is insane. Singing like that with that face?

-Damn. This is composed and arranged by Han Si-on again. A real genius has appeared in the idol world.

-I used to curse him for being a “genius producer” after Coming Up Next. I apologize.

-You can see the behind-the-scenes of the song production on Sedalbaekil’s official channel!

-No, no, it’s tradition to watch Yang Seok-hoon’s editing video first, lol.

-Haha that video is hilarious. I should rewatch it.

Honestly, we were lucky.

Even if left alone, we would’ve eventually reached number one according to my plan, but getting there this fast was pure luck.

But we created that luck.

No matter how tired the fans were of streaming, Drop Out’s and NOP’s fans didn’t have to listen to our song this much.

They could’ve just checked it out once and stopped.

The fact that they didn’t proves how good our song was.

And that’s how we got this result.

Up until here…

This is the “hopeful part.”

The flower field.

I already said it.

There’s a muzzle hidden in this flower field, aimed at us.

The ones holding the gun aren’t Lion Entertainment or M Show.

It’s the fandoms of Drop Out and NOP, who led us into this flower field.

The fandoms, realizing their mistake too late, must’ve foreseen the outcome.

If we finish first in week 3, all the buzz ultimately lands on “Han Si-on.”

Sure enough, comments were already popping up.

-Isn’t Han Si-on the real winner of this epic showdown?

-Yeah, profiting off both songs while his own group finishes first, lol.

-Should we say the dogs chasing the chicken are now staring at the roof?

-The fandoms will come here to mass downvote you.

-Then let’s say the fighting dogs are now staring at the roof.

-LMAO

Even comments that made Choi Dae-ho uncomfortable appeared.

-But why aren’t there any articles about Sedalbaekil’s number one?

-Because NOP and Drop Out articles sell better, lol.

-Is someone blocking the articles?

-Does Choi Dae-ho think he’s the president? Like he can block articles.

-No, it’s possible. Entertainment reporters are looked down on by other journalists, so they tend to stick together.

-What are you talking about, lol? There are tons of articles. If you search Han Si-on, there’s plenty about him composing for Drop Out and NOP.

-But almost nothing directly about Sedalbaekil.

-Oh? You’re right.

-I heard rumors Sedalbaekil is blacklisted by Lion and can’t appear on music shows.

-For real?

-Yeah. We’ll see if they show up on music shows despite being number one.

We’re not appearing on any music shows right now, so if this narrative spreads, it’ll expose the shady circumstances.

Anyway, in this situation, Drop Out’s and NOP’s fandoms made a decision.

To attack us.

Since they couldn’t pull down a song that had already become a public pick, they aimed to tarnish the trophy instead.

What they chose was…

-Isn’t this a bit much?

-The difference between the recording and the live version is huge.

-Han Si-on must’ve heavily edited it. Practically reconstructed every vocal layer.

-Yeah, even in this era of heavy tuning, this feels excessive.

They latched onto the gap between our recorded and live performances.

At first, the public scoffed.

-Don’t your idols use tuning too? lol.

-Didn’t NOP use a lot of autotune on the last album?

-Yeah, I stopped stanning when their cute vibe vanished on Boy Scout.

The public saw this as NOP’s and Drop Out’s fandoms throwing unreasonable shade.

But then, something completely unexpected happened…

There were YouTubers who had been sharpening their knives for revenge against me.

“Maybe he made those statements to flaunt fake genius, but aspiring composers shouldn’t take him seriously.”

“It’s impossible.”

When Flowers Bloom by Weffle made waves, composition YouTubers harshly criticized me.

The leading one, BalanceQQ, collapsed when it was later revealed that he was the arranger for Flowers Bloom.

But the other YouTubers didn’t collapse — though their reputations were tarnished.

Plus, Sedalbaekil’s fans swarmed their videos with comments.

-Is this the place where people who know nothing make clickbait for views?

-HanmitjakHanmitjakHanmitjakHanmitjak

-What’s Hanmitjak?

-Han Si-on’s underling composer.

-Lol, stop forcing this meme.

-It’s funny though, haha.

Though I wasn’t involved, there are still people using my name to post malicious comments.

They had found their opportunity.

This time, they didn’t approach hastily.

They thoroughly analyzed the Resume live performance from our content and compared it to the recording.

And reached a conclusion.

They could make this work.

With Drop Out’s and NOP’s fandoms backing them, they began aiming their guns at us.