Little Pink Starfish

At this point, the issue was still simmering beneath the surface.

After all, it had only been two days since we topped the digital charts.

But there were signs it was starting to bubble up.

Drop Out and NOP’s fandoms were strong.

If they started spreading the story across communities, it would reach the general public in no time.

And Choi Dae-ho wouldn’t just sit back and watch.

He would surely plot something, seeing his chance.

That’s why I said our flower field was dangerous.

It was not the time to enjoy the scenery and scent.

It was actually kind of funny.

Everyone uses tuning. In fact, I barely use tuning compared to others.

There’s a clear limit to how much you can fix vocals with machines.

If you could achieve perfect vocals purely through editing, you could just cast attractive people and have them be studio singers.

If that were possible, I would’ve flooded the market with albums when I was trying to break 200 million as a producer.

Bring in visually attractive people, pour all my hit songs into them.

But that’s not how it works, which is why the value of top-tier vocalists rises.

The Billboard market is even more sensitive to lip-syncing than K-pop.

If you can’t sing live, it’s hard to make it to stardom.

You can’t ask to lip-sync when performing at the Super Bowl halftime show, can you?

Same for K-pop.

It started out by casting pretty boys and girls, but now singing ability is crucial.

And it will become even more important in the future.

As competition intensifies, the focus shifts beyond looks to substance.

And when it comes to that battle of substance, we’re confident.

I gave this song a score of 70.

Stripping off the K-pop label and judging it coldly, 70 is a very high score.

Personally, I’d rate Drop Out’s Selfish slightly above 50.

But the problem is…

“There’s no way to prove it.”

Choi Jae-sung, understanding the agenda of today’s meeting, raised his hand.

“We have that recording session footage, right? The one for episode 2 of our self-produced content. Can’t we release that first?”

“That’s the most common solution, but not the most reliable.”

Those attacking us aren’t interested in the truth.

They just want to raise suspicion.

In that sense, video content always carries the suspicion of post-editing.

Even going live and singing isn’t foolproof.

We’d be performing in a controlled environment with our own equipment.

They could claim we pre-recorded tracks, or rigged the mic settings.

Of course, none of that would be true, but they only need suspicion.

At that moment, Goo Tae-hwan spoke up.

“I don’t think we should explain ourselves with the intent to explain. People don’t care about explanations as much as you think.”

Goo Tae-hwan made a good point.

He was right.

Trying to solve the problem with explanations only rarely works.

The public dislikes feeling manipulated by marketers and it’s usually ineffective.

That’s why ad agencies go crazy for symbols.

Saying “our orange juice is fresh” a hundred times doesn’t work as well as just showing a photo of a straw stuck in an orange.

The best way is to naturally resolve suspicions through other content or situations.

The best option, of course, would be appearing on a music show.

We could do a raw live performance there.

No one would claim the music show rigged the mic.

But music shows are different from the digital charts.

The charts are run by corporations and unaffected by Lion Entertainment’s influence.

Even if they’re close, no one would be crazy enough to ask them to remove Sedalbaekil’s song from the charts.

The algorithm tampering alone would be massive.

More than technical issues, getting caught doing that would destroy the company.

That’s why our chart rankings have been broadcast without interference — but not music shows.

Music shows cooperate with major agencies.

While major agencies aren’t all-powerful, they could become so if pushed to the extreme.

If Lion Entertainment threatened to boycott all its celebrities from variety shows, it’d cause huge problems.

No one wants it to reach that point, so they take care of each other.

As a side note, this is why people who cross major agencies often end up on dramas or documentaries.

The drama department and variety department are rivals, even though variety shows are aligned with major agencies.

The culture and news departments couldn’t care less about their power struggles…

“Wait.”

Something flashed through my mind.

I quickly gathered my thoughts.

We need to prove our skill — but not through direct explanations.

It needs to be embedded naturally within other content, like a music show.

But the variety departments close to Lion won’t let us appear…

Yes. This is it.

“I have an idea. It’s worth trying.”

“What is it?”

“Well… let’s busk.”

Busking. Street performances.

There’s no better way to prove skill, but the problem is its limited reach.

Even if we busk all over Seoul, we might not meet even a thousand people.

Maybe ten of them would be active community users.

Trying to sway public opinion with this would be foolish.

However…

If we add just one type of content, the situation could change.

We might be able to cut off the brewing issue before it rises above the surface.

But the members just blinked at me.

“Why do you all look like that?”

“It’s just… I’ve never heard of an idol group doing busking. Outside of variety shows, anyway.”

“Do you think it’s dangerous?”

“Uh, not sure. Are we even famous enough for this?”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure either.

I had clear benchmarks for Billboard.

This level equals this much fame, that level equals superstardom.

But for Korea, I wasn’t sure.

Even trying to recall the For the Youth days felt like too long ago.

One thing was certain — it’s surprisingly difficult to attract a crowd on the street.

Even movie actors who appear in two or three high-profile projects a year don’t gather crowds on the street.

It’s not about their age or looks.

Those factors matter, but more than that, it’s unfamiliarity.

Because actors are associated with characters, not their real selves.

So even if people recognize them from afar, they just whisper and pass by.

The same applies to idols.

When the gap between their screen image and real-life appearance is large, they feel unfamiliar.

When is that gap resolved?

When they’re exposed to the public endlessly.

Like running water from a faucet — always on.

Some may associate an idol with an ad, others with a variety show moment, others with a stage, and others with candid photos.

When the public can recall them through various personal impressions, that’s when crowds gather.

That’s what makes an idol an idol — an object of worship.

Of course, this excludes the fandom.

Fans have already overcome that unfamiliarity through the process of falling in love.

In this sense, we weren’t there yet.

Even at LB Studio, people recognized us, but not many came up for autographs or photos.

Maybe two or three out of ten?

More women than men, though.

“I think it’ll be fine. But just in case, let’s hire one or two plainclothes bodyguards.”

“You’re taking this seriously? How many days are we doing this?”

“At least three days. Maybe up to a week.”

“Why? What are we trying to achieve?”

After I explained my plan, the members looked puzzled.

“Even if it’s a good plan… is it possible?”

“We have to try.”

“But how will we secure a location? You need a spot to busk.”

“I can secure it. I have an incredible ally.”

“Who? CEO Lee Hyun-seok? The lawyer?”

Neither.

My ally is money.

---

Create X wanted to include Sedalbaekil’s busking in our self-produced content, but not yet.

We could film after hitting my target.

So we headed to Hongdae.

Our first busking venue was Hongdae’s busking street, filled with many other performers.

This likely wouldn’t be the spot I needed, but it was for groundwork.

To announce that Sedalbaekil was starting busking.

But then, something I didn’t expect happened.

“Waaaah!”

“It’s Sedalbaekil!”

As we were setting up our assigned equipment, a crowd started gathering.

So quickly we couldn’t react.

“…?”

I made a puzzled face, and On Sae-mi looked at me like I was an idiot.

“What?”

“You really didn’t expect this?”

“Um…”

I didn’t. But it hurt my pride to admit it.

If Goo Tae-hwan, Choi Jae-sung, or even Lee Ion, who’s legally older than me, had asked, I would’ve nodded.

But On Sae-mi? The official awkward one of Sedalbaekil?

“It’s more enthusiastic than I predicted, but I anticipated some of it.”

The members, who were greeting fans, all sighed in unison.

What was that?

They clearly saw through my lie.

I found out why while we set up the speakers.

“Hyung, you always ramble when you lie.”

“Do I?”

“And you always lay the groundwork. Like ‘more enthusiastic than I predicted.’”

I was indignant.

It’s because of English grammar.

I still dream in English, and when explaining reasons in English, that’s how you speak.

It’s true.

But I didn’t have time to explain further.

The beat speakers, mic speakers, and portable turntable were all set up.

The crowd around us was huge.

Roughly 150 people.

Even for Hongdae, I never imagined this many would gather on a weekday.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we’ve truly reached stardom.

If Drop Out showed up here, the streets would shut down.

Still…

We’re better at music.

“Hello! We’re Sedalbaekil!”

With that greeting, we immediately dropped the beat.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

After all, this was currently the number one song on the charts.

Our first song was Resume.