Little Pink Starfish

Album 17. Stage

The suddenly released Stage Side A album by Sedalbaekil’s unit Masked Robber caught a strong tailwind.

There were two kinds of winds propelling it forward.

The first was created by the viewers of Self Made.

The second was created by the trust in the Sedalbaekil brand itself.

Everyone started listening to Stage Side A.

Of course, the reason they could ride that wind and rise even higher was because the music was good.

As with any genre of music, strengths come with weaknesses.

Some people listen to rock and say it stirs their emotions, while others call it noisy.

Some listen to hip-hop and call it raw, while others say it’s childish.

This duality exists in idol music too.

One major downside of idol music comes from the large number of participants.

Since idol groups have many members, the parts have to be divided, which means the vocal texture becomes inconsistent and fragmented.

There are listeners who find this uncomfortable. Han Sion was one of them.

In fact, more than most composers, Han Sion found these drawbacks in idol music particularly unpleasant.

While most composers focus on crafting beautiful melodies, Han Sion was a bit different.

He focused on selling albums and calculated each singer’s unique traits meticulously when writing songs.

That’s why Lee Ion had taken the biggest hit within Sedalbaekil’s albums up until now.

Han Sion had even told him directly — most producers wouldn’t pay much attention to Lee Ion’s vocal tone.

Unless they were on Han Sion’s level, most wouldn’t even realize what the problem was after recording the track.

They’d probably just try to fix it somehow through post-production.

In any case, this was why Han Sion found the Masked Robber unit album much easier to work on than Sedalbaekil’s usual albums.

Because there were only two vocalists.

And one of them, Koo Taehwan, was a natural talent even in Han Sion’s eyes, while the other, Lee Ion, had painstakingly completed his skills through effort.

So it was natural for Stage Side A to succeed.

After completing all tracks, even Han Sion was satisfied, saying, “This one’s well-made.”

Which meant…

“Ah, these fucking bastards.”

“They seriously have no sense of business ethics.”

“I had my whole January schedule set up…”

Other entertainment companies were now crying.

The year-end is a period artists try to avoid.

Christmas carols push them down in rankings, people are busy with personal gatherings, and content consumption drops.

Moreover, if their promotions awkwardly straddle two calendar years, it can hurt them in year-end awards and annual records.

So most artists delay releases during year-end, focusing on concerts and events instead.

Which means everything held back bursts out at the start of the year.

Big-name artists especially prefer January releases for year-end chart advantages.

So agencies carefully coordinate schedules so major artists don’t overlap and split buzz too much.

Big agencies have their connections, and album releases require so much prep that schedules are known quietly behind the scenes.

But Sedalbaekil was technically still “indie artists” — so nobody knew.

If they’d shot the MV domestically with domestic crews, word might’ve leaked. But they hadn’t.

So—

“Director, Minjae-hyung mentioned something yesterday. Should we put more into promotions…?”

“Minjae? What did he say?”

“He said we’re being completely overshadowed by Sedalbaekil’s unit.”

“…Yeah. Okay, you can go.”

Agencies that had planned releases in January were increasingly requesting extra marketing budgets.

But ironically, Sedalbaekil wasn’t even actively promoting anything.

Yes, they talked about it on Self Made, but that barely counted as promotion.

They simply shared stories while filming a variety show they were already regularly appearing on.

And yet, the entire world was talking about Stage Side A.

An album that casually dropped without promotion was dominating everyone’s attention.

Which meant this was simply a natural phenomenon.

You can’t manufacture organic public interest through marketing.

“Going insane…”

Agencies could only groan helplessly.

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1– Separate (new)(hot)

2– If We Look at Different Places (new)(hot)

3– Courtship (new)(hot)

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They had no choice but to watch as Sedalbaekil’s unit name climbed to the top of the charts.

From 4th to 8th place were various artists who’d also made January comebacks, but it all felt shaky.

Any slight dip in streaming power, and Stage Side A’s tracks could surge even higher.

These crazy people had dropped 8 tracks while calling it a mini-album.

In this situation, Self Made Season 2’s final episode 5 began airing.

At this viewership level, normally the high advertising rates would justify special episodes, but for now, episode 5 was the last.

“Let’s hope they wrap it up nicely.”

“Exactly. Without pulling some weird stunt again.”

“Please. Amen. Buddha.”

Staff at every K-pop agency began monitoring the broadcast, praying for a scandal-free ending.

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Neutral K-pop fans not particularly invested in Sedalbaekil were somewhat baffled the moment Masked Robber’s unit album dropped.

-Why are they so obsessed with splitting up the group??

-Is it because they don’t have a company?

-Han Sion seems too obsessed with his musical ambitions. They need a member who can ground him.

-But the songs are really good though.

-I don’t stan because I don’t feel attached to the group, but skill-wise they’re undeniably top-tier.

It was obvious that Sedalbaekil’s personal fanbases were growing, and most idol groups face similar growing pains.

The problem was, this kind of trouble isn’t something you can perfectly control.

That’s why companies need to constantly monitor and manage teamwork until the fan culture matures.

From that standpoint, Masked Robber’s unit album was the worst-case scenario.

The album was performing well, but for the group Sedalbaekil, it posed challenges.

But by the end of Self Made Season 2 Episode 5, these K-pop fans were left speechless.

To jump ahead: Episode 5 wasn’t actually the final episode.

A special epilogue would air the following week as the true finale.

Even in tone, this episode felt like a lead-in rather than a conclusion.

But what left K-pop fans speechless wasn’t the episode count.

It was the content.

Just as Separate debuted at the end of Episode 4, leading to the unit album’s release…

At the end of Episode 5, someone else sang a new song.

But this song was nothing like the R&B delivered by Koo Taehwan and Lee Ion.

It was EDM DANCE.

Not the loop-heavy club type of EDM, but more of a flashy synth-pop with New Jack Swing influences.

For those unfamiliar with the genre, some even called it techno.

The singer was Choi Jaesung.

-Could it be?

-No way, right?

People were curious whether Choi Jaesung’s song would also be released.

Logically, it made no sense.

Just one week earlier, a unit album from the same group had topped charts and sucked up all buzz.

If Choi Jaesung’s song dropped now, it would just create internal competition.

Neither Koo Taehwan and Lee Ion’s fans, nor Choi Jaesung’s fans would like that.

But of course — it was Sedalbaekil.

At midnight that very day, Choi Jaesung’s MV was released.

[Choi Jaesung – Drop Official M/V]

-Now fight amongst yourselves.

-lolololololol isn’t HipSion completely insane lolol

-Only the strong survive and become my teammates (shoves off cliff)

-lololol this is absurd but so entertaining. Is Choi Jaesung any good?

-Of course he is? He won Super Rookie, didn’t he?

-I didn’t watch Super Rookie.

-Just know that Choi Jaesung is super unlucky to have ended up in Sedalbaekil lol

-Choi Jaesung sings super well. But his vibe is a little different from the others. He’s kind of good at everything.

-Yeah yeah. The other Sedalbaekil members are each specialized, but he’s good at everything.

-But with Masked Robber’s album being so insane right now, can he even compete solo?

-I doubt it.

-Same.

-Isn’t this just a one-off single anyway? Doesn’t seem like a unit album.

-Either way.

People added massive buzz discussing Sedalbaekil’s incomprehensible move of dropping yet another single a week later.

Word of mouth spread everywhere.

But most agreed that there was no way Choi Jaesung could overtake Stage Side A.

However, within just one day, things started to shift oddly.

Choi Jaesung’s MV differed from Koo Taehwan and Lee Ion, who focused entirely on vocal strength.

The synth-pop with New Jack Swing influences was enjoyable enough on its own.

But Choi Jaesung added visual entertainment.

Retro vibes.

The MV, shot in LA’s back alleys, evoked Bobby Brown — the New Jack Swing legend famous in Korea for the “bunny hop.”

The styling and dancing both paid homage.

So once people watched the MV even once, they kept rewatching.

-Damn, I can’t get that Drop chorus out of my head all day lol

-This dance is gonna blow up. Clubbers are already copying it everywhere.

-The dance looks pretty easy too lol

-If you go clubbing now, every DJ set plays Drop remixes without fail lol

-Choi Jaesung is so cute.

-He really looked like he was having fun in the MV.

-He was like a zombie in State Of Mind, so yeah, let him enjoy himself.

-lololololololol

People got addicted.

And thanks to that, in just 24 hours—

1- Drop (new)(hot)

2– Separate (hot)

3– If We Look at Different Places (hot)

4- Courtship (hot)

Choi Jaesung’s Drop climbed to the very top of the daily chart.

And this wasn’t the end.

-?!

-These guys are insane…

-This was an album too??

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Title: Stage Side B

Artist: Choi Jaesung

Track: 07

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Stage Side B — the second unit (though technically solo) album from Sedalbaekil — was released.