Little Pink Starfish

The reason why Koo Taehwan is pointlessly obsessed with MBTI, and why I am pointlessly watching him do so, is simple.

“This is weird…”

“So much free time…”

“Didn’t know time could just… exist like this.”

Just like the members’ bewildered murmurs, it was because we had free time.

It’s been over half a year since Coming Up Next ended and we continued activities as Sedalbaekil.

Until now, we never had this kind of leisure.

Too many things were happening simultaneously.

The public tends to think that we have lots of free time because we don’t have scheduled TV appearances (at first, we couldn’t even get any).

Of course, compared to other idols’ active periods, we do have more free time.

I experienced it back when I was active in America. Artists at the peak of popularity have schedules sliced down to the minute.

Looking back, the time I hit it big as an R&B singer in the US was probably when I was the busiest.

Back then, I was simultaneously filming YouTube content and photo shoots, giving interviews with magazines, and rehearsing for shows that would happen just a few hours later.

Anyway, Sedalbaekil doesn’t operate with overlapping schedules like that.

But that doesn’t mean we’re leisurely.

Sedalbaekil is fundamentally a group that spends a massive amount of time on training and recording.

I’m still working on tuning my vocal tone, and like I mentioned right after my regression, this process takes about two years.

Now that a year has passed, I’m starting to get sounds I like, but it’s still not enough.

While I’m tuning my tone every day, the members each work on their own tasks.

Lee Ion continues his efforts to hit accurate notes, Onsaemiro strives for better sound and pitch, Choi Jaesung works on his fundamentals to build his all-around skills, and Koo Taehwan listens to an insane amount of music.

Koo Taehwan’s sense of rhythm lies in the realm of instinct, so his skills don’t necessarily grow proportionally with practice time.

Instead, he constantly needs inspiration.

The more his subconscious accumulates good melodies and rhythms, the more refined his output will become.

That’s why he steadily listens to the albums I recommend.

Especially instrumental albums without vocals.

The swing of jazz, the soul of blues, the spirit of rock, the vibe of hip-hop.

Even though I haven’t studied these genres deeply, I could probably include the Han of pansori too.

There are words that label these core elements of each genre, but it’s hard to explain them clearly.

Technical explanations of what swing or soul is always end up being empty shouts.

The only way is to keep listening until your entire body is filled with the genre, and then let it flow out naturally.

That’s exactly what Koo Taehwan is doing.

Lately, he’s trying to understand jazz swing, and it’s quite promising.

“Han Sion.”

“What.”

“Doesn’t track 3 sound weird?”

“What exactly?”

“The guitar sound and rhythm feel a bit off? I can’t explain it well… it just lacks a certain shine.”

“Only track 3?”

“Track 9 feels a bit like that too, but not as much as 3. There’s a sense of dissonance.”

“Come here. I’ll download the sheet music and explain. What you felt is actually correct.”

Koo Taehwan had more instinctive senses than I expected.

Well, I’ve known for a while now that Koo Taehwan has the most talent in Sedalbaekil.

If his abilities fully bloom, he won’t fall behind compared to any of the members I’ve worked with before.

He might even surpass them.

At this rate, Koo Taehwan will become a far more attractive vocalist in the near future.

Like a perfected intro slave, perhaps?

Anyway, this kind of training is a non-negotiable part of Sedalbaekil’s routine.

Ranging from an hour to as long as four hours daily.

Even when we visited America to film Self Made, except for one day when we couldn’t help but skip due to travel, we always kept it up.

That’s not all.

We kept exercising regularly, and we continued recording tracks nonstop.

From Résumé to Colorful Struggle, K-pop Struggle, and even the first full album.

Fifteen tracks released over the past six months.

To meet the standards of a picky producer like me, countless retakes are necessary.

Recording Résumé alone took a full week — that says it all.

We didn’t appear on TV, but we were never idle.

However, there is one thing I insist on guaranteeing: proper sleep time.

For a singer to last long, sleep is essential.

The vocal cords are surprisingly fragile and prone to deformation.

The problem is, these deformations occur so gradually that you don’t even feel them happening.

If I were only planning to work with Sedalbaekil for a year or two, I wouldn’t care as much, but I’m seriously aiming for 200 million album sales.

From this perspective, even though we’ve been incredibly busy, this is the first time we’ve been truly free.

Because all external activities are paused until Self Made Season 2 finishes airing.

M Show gave us a very intriguing proposal, and we accepted it.

Thanks to that, Self Made Season 2’s format changed.

Originally, Self Made Season 1 was about earning money as unknown singers, and Season 2 was supposed to be a vacation busking concept.

Frankly, not a particularly special format.

Korean singers busking abroad has been done in variety shows multiple times.

But while in America, I made a new decision.

To release our second full album as quickly as possible.

Upon hearing that, M Show made a simple proposal.

Let’s promote the second full album through Self Made.

Of course, M Show didn’t make the offer out of goodwill — they have their own capitalistic motives.

Anyway, that’s how Self Made‘s nature changed.

Season 1: unknown singers’ self-production.

Season 2: Sedalbaekil’s self-production.

In a way, this fits the “Self Made” title even better, doesn’t it?

So now we’re under a 3-week embargo.

No external activities until Episode 4 of Self Made Season 2 airs.

But it’s not a loss.

M Show will more than make up for it.

The members chatted for a while, and then Koo Taehwan came up to me.

“Han Sion.”

“What.”

“How about going skiing? It’s rare for us to have free time like this.”

Skiing?

“We probably won’t even be able to ski because of the crowds. It’s peak season right now.”

“But wearing goggles and masks at ski resorts isn’t strange. No one will recognize us.”

Not wrong, but still bothersome.

Unless it’s related to music, I have little motivation.

I’ve done these things countless times already.

But I do understand the members wanting to have some fun.

We’ve earned a lot of money, and we’ve been living way too monk-like.

“Go ahead. Tell the manager.”

“What about you?”

“It’s cold.”

“It’s winter, of course it’s cold.”

“Cold means higher chance of getting sick.”

“Aren’t we a bit too healthy for that?”

Hard to argue.

We’ve been getting quality sleep, balanced diets, strength training, and cardio nearly every day.

As I stood there speechless, Koo Taehwan spoke again.

“Typical ENTP…”

“What?”

“Just come along.”

In the end, I couldn’t resist the members’ pressure and was dragged to the ski resort.

“Sion hyung, are you good at skiing?”

“Probably?”

“What do you mean probably? Either you are or you aren’t.”

“It’s been too long.”

I don’t recall skiing during my GOTM days, so it must’ve been at least 50 years.

“What about you?”

“I’m very good. Want me to teach you?”

The look in Choi Jaesung’s eyes burned with determination.

Clearly eager to give me a hard time under the guise of teaching.

Well, while working on the latest album, he did receive the most — let’s call it — passionate feedback from me.

I chuckled.

“A bet?”

“What kind of bet?”

“Who gets down faster.”

“If I win, you run all my errands at the resort.”

“And if I win?”

“I’ll do your errands.”

“That’s already how it works.”

“Scared?”

Maybe I’m relaxed, or maybe my mental age has regressed thanks to the members’ influence. I find it hard to just laugh it off.

“Deal.”

Even if it’s an old memory, I’ve skied on Canadian mountain ranges before.

I think it was for a music video shoot. Back then, my manager worked hard to break the stereotypical image of Asians.

I think I even shot a movie during that time.

Anyway, no matter how good Choi Jaesung is at skiing, there’s no way I’ll lose.

As we were doing that, Lee Ion chuckled.

It feels odd, like watching a much younger little brother, even though biologically we’re only a year apart.

“Alright, put your goggles on before we get off the car. Don’t stick too close together — if five people move around together, someone might recognize us.”

At the ski resort, I raced against Choi Jaesung on an advanced course.

“Hyung, they were selling fish cakes near the entrance…”

“……”

“Please bring extra broth.”

Utter defeat.

Come to think of it, I knew Choi Jaesung had incredible lung capacity…

In sports like swimming or skiing, long breathing is a huge advantage…

Why did I challenge him?

In the end, I had to bring him fish cakes.

I considered buying spicy ones since I knew he can’t handle spice, but I refrained.

“Oh, I thought for sure you’d buy the spicy ones.”

“…One more round.”

“For tomorrow’s errands?”

“Deal.”

The ski trip was pretty fun.

Except that I had to run errands for three days straight.

---

Episode 1 of Self Made Season 2 was overwhelmingly praised by the public, but received lukewarm reactions from TT.

Of course, TT didn’t find it boring.

They enjoyed it too.

But.

-Aren’t they working too much?

-I mean… it’d be nice if they could relax a bit.

-They have such a huge budget! Eat something delicious! Visit some famous restaurants!

-Why are they always holed up at the dorm like shut-insㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-It’s America! No one recognizes them there!

-They even do 3-hour personal training sessions in America???

TT wanted Sedalbaekil to enjoy a more leisurely vacation, but the program didn’t turn out that way.

But frankly, such criticisms are only possible because the show became a massive hit.

If it flopped, they’d want anything to boost popularity.

Self Made is clearly an idol-focused program.

The entire cast consists only of the members.

And Self Made became the most successful idol content in broadcasting history.

Season 2 Episode 1 had an average viewership rating of 11.2%.

Episode 2 was likely to score even higher.

The clip where Han Sion teaches BOTY, HR Corporation’s rookie band (especially with Dave Logan initially portrayed as a jerk), went viral.

Sure enough, Episode 2’s pre-broadcast rating was 13%.

People assumed Episode 2 would open with HR Corporation’s offer.

At the end of Episode 1, they requested Sedalbaekil to record Player.

But instead, it opened with—

[Andrew Bryant.]

Andrew Bryant’s appearance.

The man Han Sion spoke to right after his regression.

The subtitle revealing his position was shocking.

[HR Corporation, CEO.]

-????????????

-The CEO shows up all of a sudden?