Little Pink Starfish

Album 16. 2+2+1 = 2

From Titi’s perspective, Sedalbaekil is kind of strange.

She understands that talented people gather to create excellent music.

She understands that they’re grateful for their fans’ support.

But still, something feels odd.

What’s odd is… the standards by which they operate.

The recent fan signing event is a perfect example.

Under the premise of “being grateful to the fans,” the fan signing was held in a way that made absolutely no financial sense, forcing Sedalbaekil to bear significant losses.

Despite that, there were concerns that less popular members might feel relatively deprived.

Some voiced this out of genuine care for Sedalbaekil, while others mocked them to bring them down.

But Sedalbaekil’s response was extremely simple.

No, it was cool.

[It’s a place to meet fans. Shouldn’t the fans be at the center of how it’s run?]

In their view, a fan signing was a place to meet fans, so nothing mattered except the fans’ convenience.

But honestly, this is like saying unicorns or dragons exist.

Everyone knows that fan signings exist to boost album sales.

Of course, there may be genuine goodwill and affection behind buying albums and meeting fans.

But you can’t deny that the act itself is rooted in capitalism.

Yet Sedalbaekil rejects this notion.

The same applied to their latest livestream.

It was their first livestream after the success of Self Made, which had recorded an average viewership of 11.9% for Season 1.

Moreover, it was a surprise appearance while everyone thought they were still in America.

Under such circumstances, doing a YouTube stream to reach a wider audience would make sense.

They could’ve gained new subscribers to their official channel, and journalists would’ve eagerly spread clips.

But Sedalbaekil didn’t care and chose to stream on their official website instead.

Some praised this as staying true to their roots, while others who wished for greater success couldn’t hide their frustration.

In that situation, Sedalbaekil started chatting on stream.

Since Self Made was still airing, with Season 1’s 4-episode format complete, a special episode coming up, and Season 2 starting afterward, they couldn’t spoil too much and stuck to personal stories.

[Ah, there might be one more episode. Season 2 might be five episodes.]

They briefly touched on these changes.

Then came the flood of questions about the Apple commercial.

When would it air on TV? Would they donate the earnings? Did they meet Steve Jobs?

[I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’ll debut at next year’s WWDC. WWDC is Apple’s annual developer conference held every June.]

[The money? Of course, we’ll donate it. That’s what we promised on the program.]

[Um… Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, passed away a few years ago.]

Their official site’s streaming had minimal trolling and smooth interaction.

Fan managers often suspended or permanently revoked chat privileges for troublemakers.

So when someone asked a simple question — what would they do next, would they take a break — the members responded.

[First, we’ll be attending all four year-end music festivals.]

[As for awards… we’re not sure. We’d be grateful if we receive any.]

By performance alone, they obviously deserved top awards, but it wasn’t something they could confidently expect.

Sedalbaekil had successfully entered the music industry despite pushback from Choi Tae-ho and Lion Entertainment.

Anyone in the know recognized it was practically miraculous.

But joining the broadcast scene wasn’t the same as entering the cartel.

However, that’s not what the members wanted to discuss.

[Our plans for 2018 will be revealed properly in Self Made Season 2.]

[You’ll probably be quite surprised.]

As fans begged for hints, Han Si-on grinned and held up a piece of paper in front of the camera.

2+2+1 = 2

Fans were puzzled by this nonsensical equation as Han Si-on smiled again.

[It’ll be very fun. Like magic.]

---

Clips from Sedalbaekil’s stream spread quickly and were heavily reported in the media.

The most mentioned was their decision to donate all profits from the Apple ad.

[Sedalbaekil decides to donate all Apple commercial earnings]

[How much did Han Si-on earn from the Apple ad?]

Naturally, there were numerous speculative articles about the amount.

Next most discussed was Han Si-on’s cryptic quiz.

‘2+2+1 = 2’

It was obvious the numbers carried a different meaning.

-Two singles, two mini-albums, one full album, maybe?

-All in 2018? They just released an album!

-I have no idea.

-Is Hip-Si-on officially trying to be all mysterious now?

-What’s mysterious about this?

-Am I the only one who thinks it’s hip?

But no one seemed to guess correctly.

Han Si-on, monitoring comments, noticed no one was even close.

To be fair, it was an extremely difficult riddle.

Time passed, and the Self Made Season 1 special episode aired.

Despite its name, it wasn’t particularly special.

It simply condensed the previous four episodes into a tight edit so people could binge-watch the entire season at once.

There were a few previously unaired clips sprinkled in.

-They’re really trying to milk every last drop LOL

-A full 100-minute slot with three commercial breaks LOL

-Counting the opening and closing ads, it’s five breaks total;

-Seems designed to hook new viewers for Season 2.

The reaction wasn’t great.

There were too many ads, and it was 100 minutes of content everyone already knew.

Thus, discussions shifted from the special episode itself to whether Sedalbaekil should win year-end awards.

-Sang Show hasn’t had a hit variety show other than Coming Up Next. Self Made is their second.

-And Sedalbaekil carried both hard… LOL

-Yup. Sang Show should be bowing in gratitude to Sedalbaekil.

-Maybe not the major networks, but M Show might give them the grand prize?

It became a debate about music awards.

-If you go by performance, they deserve all the grand prizes.

-The Seoul Music Awards bases 30% on album sales, but 40% is committee vote, and 30% is mobile voting.

-Wait, seriously?

-What about broadcast awards?

-Official percentages aren’t public, but it’s similar. Around 20–30% internal contribution, 30–40% public preference surveys.

Then those who didn’t want Sedalbaekil to win started chiming in.

Currently, Sedalbaekil was too popular, and their image was too good — especially after the Apple donation news broke.

So detractors couldn’t attack directly but tried to raise other points.

-Uh, broadcast awards go to artists who contributed to the network. Sedalbaekil barely appeared on TV.

-If album sales were the only factor, it’d be a Hanteo Chart award.

-Other artists put in the time to appear on shows and entertain viewers. Shouldn’t awards go to them?

-Sedalbaekil fans sure are greedy. They know Sedalbaekil prioritized their fan events over broadcast appearances.

-It was all fan signings, concerts, and private events.

-We’re not saying Sedalbaekil is bad — but if we’re talking fairness, that’s how it is.

They weren’t entirely wrong.

Broadcast awards are often controversial, but ultimately not too problematic because networks award the artists who benefited them financially.

In short: “It’s our award, we’ll give it to whoever helped us most — got a problem with that?”

Of course, if they abuse this too much, the credibility of year-end awards would collapse. But still.

Thus, viewer discussions about the special episode boiled down to whether Sedalbaekil deserved to win awards.

Both supporters and detractors couldn’t reach any final conclusion.

“They’ll probably settle for some sort of special award.”

Han Si-on concluded.

---

I’ve received so many awards and handed out plenty too.

I’ve probably stood as a presenter at least a thousand times.

And as a recipient? At least ten thousand.

Based on my experience, there’s no way we’ll win the grand prize at a music awards show.

The only exception might be M Show.

Not because they’re fair, but because our faction leads the mainstream there.

Back during Coming Up Next, there were factions supporting or attacking Lion Entertainment’s secret contract with M Show.

The attacking faction ultimately won the power struggle — they’re the ones now leading M Show alongside Kang Seok-woo.

Plus, we’ve only ever done proper variety appearances with M Show.

That alone might be enough for them to award us.

Maybe.

But as for the major networks? Not a chance.

And I don’t feel any disappointment or anger about that.

Of course, I feel bad that our fans might be hurt or saddened, but this is show business.

It’s not Neverland where dreams and hopes live.

But…

I know how to create Neverland.

“We don’t need awards.”

Maybe it’s personal, but awards mean nothing.

What matters to me is the fans who buy our albums and cheer for us.

And my vow to unconditionally love them even knowing that affection won’t last forever.

“The people watching those music show stages will know. Oh, if we’re talking pure skill, those guys deserve the grand prize.”

We don’t need others’ opinions to define our self-worth or pride.

Our pride comes from our music.

If fans listen and feel satisfied, that’s enough.

If they listen and become our fans, that’s even better.

As I finished speaking, Choi Jae-sung chuckled.

Lately, his laughter is starting to sound like mine — I don’t love that.

“Si-on hyung always finds such complicated ways to say ‘let’s just work hard.’”

“Kind of like a Hollywood movie leader vibe.”

In the mirror-walled practice room, Choi Jae-sung jumped to his feet.

“With this level of performance, it’s silly to care about awards, isn’t it?”

Then Lee I-on chimed in.

“Jae-sung, even so, you shouldn’t call awards ‘silly.’ They still make someone happy.”

“…Yes.”

I couldn’t help but laugh watching them.

A few days later—

The first year-end music awards show we’d be attending arrived.