Little Pink Starfish

Knowing the future is a good thing.

The thrill of using future knowledge had long since faded, but it was still convenient.

Sedalbaekil being confirmed for A Color Show was also thanks to this.

About two or three years from now, A Color Show changes its format.

From a static style that only focused on the artist’s voice and visual aesthetics, it gradually starts adding light direction and production — enough to enhance the experience without interfering with the music.

I knew exactly what that would look like, and I recreated it in our video.

So what happens?

Color Media’s odd “panic button” gets pushed — that strange pride where they refuse to be outdone visually even if they lose in music.

Of course, this only works if the music itself is good.

If you try this with poor music, people will just criticize it for lacking focus.

In that sense, Sedalbaekil’s Colorful Struggle turned out much better than I expected. Honestly, we might have been invited even without using this trick.

But it would’ve taken much longer.

After all, we’re the first purely Asian guest (excluding Asian Americans active in the US) and a K-pop group.

And this isn’t the only benefit of knowing the future.

Didn’t someone say it once?

“Those who forget history have no future.”

While not exactly fitting my situation, I’ve seen countless events in the history of show business.

How the public reacts to certain issues, what happens in specific situations, who starts to complain within certain structures.

Though personal traits and the scale of events create differences, patterns usually follow similar lines.

That’s how I acquired TakeScene’s past recordings.

Given Choi Dae-ho’s personality and Ryan Entertainment’s structure, I could easily guess who would be willing to sell me those files.

Choi Dae-ho probably can’t even imagine who betrayed him…

But I’ll save that fun for later.

Anyway, after so many regressions, I’ve developed some sense of how showbiz moves.

But I can’t be overconfident.

There are always exceptions. Special cases.

Like Sedalbaekil’s members, who constantly surprise me.

And—

“What the hell is this…”

Our fandom name, for example.

The situation started like this.

On Sedalbaekil’s website — which we designed to our liking — there were many spaces for fans to voice their opinions.

Naturally, there was a voting board.

In the future, fans would vote on title tracks, tour schedules, etc.

But for now, the urgent matter was the fandom name.

We had set the official color but hadn’t decided on the fandom name, light sticks, or slogans.

So we held the first vote to select a fandom name, collecting suggestions from fans.

The overwhelming winner was:

[Time Traveler]

“…”

The reasoning was clear.

The name “Sedalbaekil” originally referred to their three-month and 100-day team formation period (including the B-team selection rounds).

Although they ended up staying together long-term, that was the initial intent.

So someone suggested:

“If you only exist for three months and 100 days, then we’ll travel through that time forever.”

It was a beautiful sentiment.

But honestly, it was a bit unsettling.

Time Travelers.

Strictly speaking, it’s a little different from my regression situation.

But the idea of traveling non-linear time matches exactly.

How did they come up with this so naturally?

The members responded dryly.

“It’s because you named the group so half-heartedly.”

“Me?”

“‘Sedalbaekil’ sounds weird no matter what you add to it.”

“Didn’t you all say it was fine when I first suggested it?”

“That was just social niceties in front of the cameras, hyung. You were the B-team ace — who would dare oppose?”

So that’s what it was?

I thought everyone was genuinely fine with it.

But it’s too late to change the name now.

We’re just beginning to spread the name ‘Sedalbaekil’ as we break free from Ryan’s control.

Well… surely no one actually knew. It was just coincidence.

Still, it’s kind of funny.

The fandom name for a team that didn’t exist before I interfered — and it’s “Time Traveler.”

Feels almost destined.

While reading more fan feedback on the site, I saw many requests for more activities.

I feel a little guilty.

There aren’t many chances for fans to see us yet.

But it’s still difficult to do domestic broadcasts right now.

Choi Dae-ho still has some pull.

But only for now.

Once that restraint breaks, we’ll flood out like a dam bursting.

One month at the earliest. Three months at most.

As I was thinking that, Choi Jaesung scooted over.

“Hyung, about Colorful Struggle…”

“Yeah?”

“We’re not doing domestic promotions with this song, right?”

“We might.”

“With the English lyrics?”

“I’m still debating. We do have a version tailored for the K-pop market.”

The version we’re preparing for Color Show leans toward R&B.

There’s no clear verse-chorus division; it flows more freely.

Not better or worse — just a difference in genre feel.

So I arranged a K-pop version as well.

It was my first time adapting Colorful Struggle into pure K-pop.

The members scattered around the practice room all gathered like flies.

Wow, I must have picked up some of Eon hyung’s manners.

For a second I reflexively thought, “Is calling Eon hyung a fly disrespectful?”

Is this the infamous K-etiquette?

Right then, Eon hyung spoke up.

“Why didn’t you let us hear it?”

“It’d confuse you. That’s why I still won’t. It might influence your performance for Color Show.”

“Can’t you at least let us hear the beat?”

“No. You’re not skilled enough yet.”

Lately, Sedalbaekil’s skills had grown to the point where just hearing a beat could let them infer the whole arrangement.

Spending time with me, they’ve started learning how to listen properly.

But they still aren’t capable of objectively evaluating compositions independently.

And that’s not easy.

If you can do that, you’re practically better than most top-tier composers.

The fact that they’re even approaching that level in just a few months is impressive enough.

“Alright, let’s get back to practice.”

We continued sweating in the studio.

We were preparing for our first performance.

I hesitate to call it a concert — too small for that.
Nor does “indie gig” feel right — too grand for that.

Honestly, I don’t know what to call it.

We’ll conduct a survey on the website soon to gauge interest.

It’ll be inaccurate since it’s voluntary, but we need some data to choose the venue size.

I’m guessing about 1,000 to 1,500 people.

While we were practicing, a welcome message came from Chris Edwards.

All the songs had been delivered to the masters, and even Jankos Greenwood had already sent his draft.

Working with such industry legends is always easy.

They never worry about getting scammed or copyright disputes; management handles everything.

They’ve been living that way for too long.

Downloading the track from Eddie, I expected nothing new.

I’d collaborated with these masters so many times before, I could usually predict the outcome.

Even with some random variables, the results fall into three or four familiar patterns.

For example, reggae master Roots Robbie always delivered roots reggae 99% of the time.

Rarely, he’d send moombahton, but that was extremely rare.

So Jankos Greenwood’s track was probably another version I’d heard before in countless regressions.

Or so I thought.

“…!”

I was stunned.

It was a melody I’d never heard before.

What is this?

Critics often argue whether something is pop-jazz or jazz-pop, but I don’t care.

As long as pop and jazz elements blend beautifully, the label doesn’t matter.

But this track from Jankos Greenwood was neither pop nor jazz.

It was something new inspired by both.

Even I couldn’t define it easily.

But most importantly — it was incredibly good.

I understood what Jankos was doing.

He had captured the feeling of his own youth — before he became technically perfect.

But why?

In all my regressions, I’d received music from Jankos at least twenty times.

Not once had he ever sent a song like this.

As I was pondering, Goo Taehwan spoke up.

“It sounds like one of ours.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you compose this?”

I was originally just going to play the intro on my phone’s speaker.

Usually, I only need the intro to figure out the whole song.

But I was so surprised I kept listening, and the members heard it too.

And now they’re saying it sounds like our song?

“In what way?”

“I don’t know? I can’t explain.”

“This is great.”

Listening to the members’ reactions, I realized the reason.

Why had I sent music references to these masters?

To help Sedalbaekil stand independently from Ryan’s pressure.

Meaning the songs I submitted were crafted with Sedalbaekil in mind.

My influence rubbed off on the masters, and now it was returning to me in this form.

Completely new music was pouring out.

“…”

This is fun.

Really fun.

In this life, few things have gone exactly according to plan.

Just like how I initially aimed to debut with TakeScene but ended up choosing Sedalbaekil.

But maybe that’s why I feel so alive for the first time in a while.

Since Sedalbaekil’s independent activities began, I haven’t felt my usual regression depression at all.

“This will be on our EP.”

I just told them everything.

“Jankos Greenwood, Lucid Bean, Moscos, Eric Scott, Roots Robbie, Mary Jones, Donald Maggers.”

“Uh?”

“These are the musicians participating in our EP.”

I expected the members to freak out.

“They’re foreigners.”

“Foreign K-pop collaborations are pretty common these days.”

“Yeah.”

Wait, that’s it?

Do they not realize who these people are?

“You seriously don’t know?”

“Are they famous?”

“…No, no. They’re aspiring composers. It’s normal not to know.”

Just wait.

Once people find out these names are on our EP, you’ll see what happens.

Then I’ll properly scold you for your ignorance.

---

There are many ways companies release idol teasers.

Ryan Entertainment’s usual strategy was: one teaser a week before release, another the day before, then the full MV.

Today was TakeScene’s debut teaser release.

Internally, there had been debates.

Many argued that with all the controversies, the release should be delayed.

But the schedule had already been pushed once due to the Drop Out vs. NOP clash.

No more delays were possible.

So the teaser was released amid much speculation over how badly it would be received.

One silver lining: the more public backlash, the tighter TakeScene’s fandom would rally.

And so—

[TAKE# ‘Scene Stealer’ M/V Teaser 1]

The teaser dropped.

But unlike Ryan’s fears, there was surprisingly little criticism.

Because…

Everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

Released at the exact same date and time—

[A Color Show Teaser]

Sedalbaekil’s Color Show teaser.