Little Pink Starfish

During the three months of filming Self Made‘s domestic portion, many things happened to Sedalbaekil.

It started with performing their entire first album at various university festivals, followed by the fan signing events.

Holding a fan signing a month after the album release was already unusual, but the format was even more unique.

Each member held individual signing sessions, and they wrapped up with a group concert.

Some outsiders claimed Han Sion was flaunting himself in front of the less popular Choi Jaesung, but Sedalbaekil didn’t care.

Their own hearts mattered more than the outside noise.

And their hearts were strong.

After that, Sedalbaekil appeared only on a few light music shows like radio programs, with no significant variety show activities.

The only exception was Choi Jaesung winning Stage Number Zero.

When he first joined, most people assumed he would voluntarily drop out around the top 10.

But public expectations were completely off — Choi Jaesung ended up winning.

Actually, “ended up” might not be the right phrase.

It was too easy.

Within Sedalbaekil, Choi Jaesung didn’t hold much weight, but on Stage Number Zero, it was different.

No matter what mission or stage he faced, he soared.

Especially Han Sion’s arrangement of Even If I’m Submerged in Waves became a huge sensation.

With that performance, Choi Jaesung secured his top 10 spot, and as soon as the performance aired, Sedalbaekil’s official YouTube channel uploaded a cover video.

But anyone who saw that video could clearly feel which one was truly the cover.

Sedalbaekil wasn’t covering Choi Jaesung.

Choi Jaesung was covering Sedalbaekil.

Gutaehwan’s intro, Eion’s transitions, Onsaemiro’s high notes, Han Sion’s chorus.

All of it was embedded inside Choi Jaesung’s performance.

After winning Stage Number Zero, Choi Jaesung did an interview:

[When I think about it, that’s how it is. Sedalbaekil doesn’t have a main character. We all just have roles.]

[Just because Taehwan hyung sings the intro doesn’t make him the main character, and it’s the same with Saemiro hyung doing the highlights or Sion hyung and Eion hyung doing their parts.]

[The team Sedalbaekil itself is the main character.]

[I realized that while doing Stage Number Zero. Singing together is far more enjoyable than singing alone.]

[And that’s when I shine more.]

The general public saw his interview as the usual idol-style “Our team is the best!” cliché, but TT (the fandom) didn’t.

They sensed sincerity in Choi Jaesung’s interview and even more in his behavior after winning.

After that…

The much-anticipated concert was held.

Four shows in Seoul, one each in the six major cities.

A total of ten shows, all completely sold out.

The ticket prices were low, but more importantly, the venues weren’t oversized.

They could’ve held bigger concerts.

Especially in Seoul, some fans complained the venues were too small — only 3,500 attendees including standing.

But Han Sion was obsessive about sound quality.

Rather than performing in front of 10,000 with subpar sound, he wanted to perform for 3,500 with perfect audio.

It was the same for the regional shows.

Instead of using professional sound rental companies, they set up and checked everything themselves.

It cost a fortune, but by this point, Han Sion had been regressing for over a year.

Anyone who knew how much his assets had grown would probably say the same thing:

Why bother? Just retire and relax.

This time, no matter what the members said, Han Sion didn’t count the sound equipment as Sedalbaekil’s investment.

He personally bought the gear.

SBI Entertainment simply paid him a rental fee for tax purposes.

The concerts received rave reviews.

The musical quality was a given, but the performance itself was spectacular.

Not just the sound system, but the staging.

Before the concerts, many expected Sedalbaekil to focus on vocals over choreography.

They were proud of their first album The First Day, so people thought it would be a more stripped-down show.

But that wasn’t the case.

The concert was staged like a musical, with a storyline.

The narrative depicted them forming on Coming Up Next, becoming independent, struggling, and eventually succeeding.

Interestingly, it incorporated their time traveler concept.

They traveled back about a year to reappear on Coming Up Next.

Naturally, the songs they originally performed on Coming Up Next were upgraded with their current skills and rearranged.

Seoul Town Funk became Hanyang Town Funk, and Choi Jaesung’s previously lacking parts were completely revamped.

It was a feast for the eyes and ears.

Frankly, most idols can’t pull off a full concert with just their debut album.

Even after releasing an album, usually only 3-4 tracks are usable for a concert setlist.

If you’re unlucky, maybe only 1-2 songs.

At least a mini-album, a few singles, or a second album are needed to flesh out a setlist.

But Sedalbaekil performed their entire first album without any singles or mini-albums.

They added choreography even to songs that previously had none.

This once again boosted album sales.

The First Day: 1,218,312 copies.

They finally broke the 1.2 million mark.

This was the exact career model Han Sion had dreamed of throughout his countless lifetimes.

Success with an album leads to concert success; successful concerts boost album sales again.

A virtuous cycle that steadily produces masterpieces.

That’s why he obsessed over sound quality and invested so much into the concert.

The concerts satisfied the members personally as well.

Even though they didn’t maximize revenue, selling out all ten shows was a success.

They officially sold merchandise at the venues too.

It wasn’t a small profit, and half of it would be distributed to the members.

Once the concerts ended, TT expected new content to drop via YouTube or their self-produced shows.

BTS content, rehearsal clips, or even live performance footage.

But only a DVD release was announced, with no additional content.

Around then, news of Self Made‘s production spread within the Sedalbaekil fandom.

It turned out that Sedalbaekil had been secretly filming a variety show for the past few months, directed by Kang Seokwoo from Coming Up Next.

The show would feature behind-the-scenes stories of Sedalbaekil’s activities, including concerts and events.

-Kang PD should be fine, right? He seemed pretty fond of Sedalbaekil even during Coming Up Next.

-Yeah, even while tiptoeing around ㄹㅇㅇ and ㅊㄷㅎ, he still gave them a lot of support.

-But doesn’t Self Made sound kind of like a documentary?

-Maybe.

-It could be a full-blown drama even just with the documentary parts!

-If it included Choi Daehyun’s schemes, it’d be an epic, but that’s unlikely.

The fandom’s response was positive.

TT viewed Kang Seokwoo as friendly to Sedalbaekil, and M Show also seemed eager to maintain good relations.

Fans speculated about the content of Self Made and lamented the temporary lack of new content due to filming.

Time passed, and as the year-end atmosphere started filling the streets…

“Finally!”

Self Made episode 1 aired.

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Usually, variety shows featuring entire idol groups are aimed squarely at their fandom.

There’s always some general audience, but the percentage is very low.

Even Sedalbaekil’s strong brand and broad appeal didn’t change that.

Especially since it aired on cable, not public broadcast.

So PD Kang Seokwoo made a bold gamble with episode 1.

He aimed to pull in the general public from the start.

[What do you think is most important for success as a singer?]

The show opened with a black screen that brightened to reveal Kang Seokwoo’s question.

Sedalbaekil’s members each gave their answers.

[Skill, I think.]

[Patience.]

[I’d say luck.]

The answers weren’t special.

Any random 100 singers might give similar responses.

[Then if you started again as an unknown singer, do you think you could succeed?]

Again, the answers were predictable.

As long as luck helped, as long as the same members stayed together, as long as something special happened — they could succeed.

Only Han Sion quietly nodded.

[Yes.]

No one watching could understand how much bitter weight lay behind that simple word — the weight of a regressor.

For Han Sion, success was meaningless.

Or more accurately, it was an illusion.

Selling 200 million albums meant achieving undeniable mainstream success no matter what.

But even standing center stage at the Super Bowl halftime show, even with the most followers among all global artists on social media, even earning the highest concert fees in pop music history…

All of it scattered like illusions.

So success itself no longer mattered to Han Sion.

But some viewers responded sharply to his words.

-Han Sion is so arrogant.

-If it weren’t for Coming Up Next, his attitude wouldn’t have even gotten him through trainee life lol.

-Didn’t he also play up his parents’ story for sympathy?

No matter how good Sedalbaekil’s public image was, haters always existed.

And haters were the most diligent viewers — they tuned in just to find fault.

Of course—

-Lmao shut up, you keyboard warriors.

-HipSion would’ve succeeded no matter what debut he had.

-Are you serious? His albums are already drying up? You think Eric Scott and Chris Edwards have bad taste?

The handful of haters were quickly buried by even more defenders.

Then, only minutes into the show, the real premise was revealed.

[You must now earn money as unknown singers. The money you earn will be added to fund your overseas trip.]

-Oh?

-Wait, this is totally different than I expected!

-This looks fun lol.

-It won’t be easy as unknowns though.

Next came Eion and Gutaehwan heading out in makeup to busk.

Eion’s heavily “ugly-stacked-on-handsome” makeup cracked up viewers, and Han Sion’s reaction to receiving his photo went viral too.

-Lol did you see Han Sion’s phone contact name?

-Sedalbaekil Gutaehwan (20) LOL

-Must’ve been from Coming Up Next casting lol.

Naturally, Gutaehwan and Eion failed miserably.

They sang but got little response.

A few passersby stopped briefly, but nothing substantial happened.

The same went for Choi Jaesung and Onsaemiro.

At this point, most viewers didn’t notice, but the program’s tone had shifted.

Up until now, “Sedalbaekil” was the main content.

From here on, “unknown singers” became the focus.

-Being an unknown singer is brutal. My cousin’s been doing music for over 10 years and it’s been really tough.

-Yeah… Sedalbaekil won’t have it easy either, especially with their faces hidden like that.

-Wait a sec. Weren’t those five webtoon OSTs a few months ago actually Sedalbaekil? There were exactly five songs.

-Huh? Were they?

It was a moment where even the general audience started getting intrigued.