Little Pink Starfish

Interview requests were pouring in like crazy, and the number of contacts was overwhelming.

Even TT posted on the official site.

They asked what kind of magic I had pulled off.

Normally, people would be astonished by things I casually did, but this time was different.

Because even I thought I had done something magical.

But if you dissect the principle, it’s actually nothing special.

First, I created the tracks for Sedalbaekil’s second full album, Stage.

I made a total of twelve tracks.

Next, I dismantled them.

Main melody, sub melody, background sounds, ghost notes.

Main instrument tones and manners, rhythm, drum loops, emphasized and non-emphasized sounds.

I laid all of these out like a puzzle.

Then, I simply composed using just these elements.

From the Stage tracks, the synth part that was originally a sub melody was brought up as the main melody in Choi Jae-sung’s “Drop.”

The drum framework of Stage was used as the rhythmic roof for Masked Robber’s “Separate.”

For my and On Saemiro’s unit album, we completely excluded electronic sounds and only borrowed elements suited to unplugged arrangements.

That’s how the three unit albums were born.

Of course, this process involved more tricks than it might seem, so just combining the unit album tracks wouldn’t automatically give birth to our full second album.

You have to reduce, remove, separate the main and sub parts.

But that’s only a concern for a seasoned regressor like me to extract tracks worthy of being called an album. Even if you just combined them roughly, you’d still get music that sounds pleasant.

That much was considered in advance.

Anyway, the magic I performed didn’t involve any particularly impressive technique.

It was all about the idea.

“No way, hyung. Who else could pull something like that off?”

Was it?

The members scoffed at my explanation.

Anyway, the sales strategy for the second album was buzz marketing.

Spreading word of mouth about our album and making people wait eagerly for its release.

It was successful.

But there was a difference in position between me and Director Seo Seung-hyun on this matter.

Director Seo didn’t want the unit album physicals of Masked Robber, Sedalbaekil, and On & On to be sold separately.

In other words, he wanted fans to only be able to get the unit albums when they purchased the full Stage album as a package.

1. Stage Side A + Stage.
2. Stage Side B + Stage.
3. Stage Side C + Stage.

Divided into four package sets, with limited editions for each package at a higher price.

Sales would balloon dramatically this way.

If someone wanted to collect Stage Side A, B, and C?

They’d have to buy Stage three times.

If limited editions included unit-specific photocards?

Sales would soar even higher.

Director Seo even suggested cutting fan sign slots for this round.

I understood, respected, and welcomed his opinion.

His role was to raise the company’s revenue, and he was fulfilling that role well.

But.

“This can’t happen.”

“Why not?!”

“Because it might upset the fans.”

“……?”

For me, this was non-negotiable.

The Devil’s Counting is a matter of worship.

People must genuinely want to possess the “moment” we created.

If that desire is muddied by marketing tactics, it might not get counted.

That’s how human emotions work.

Even someone willing to buy ten albums voluntarily might feel annoyed if forced to buy three by obligation.

But this was hard to explain to others.

“Come on, Si-on. This is standard. It’s not even really marketing.”

“Still, I won’t allow it.”

“The sales difference will be huge!”

Director Seo tried hard to persuade me, but for me, there was no room for reconsideration.

And my decision wasn’t just because of the Devil’s Counting.

I wanted fans to love us forever.

And I knew such feelings would inevitably end up as unrequited love.

So whenever Sedalbaekil released an album, I wanted to focus solely on whether the album was good, whether Sedalbaekil’s activities were cool.

Doing that for ten or twenty years was far more precious than briefly shining for a few years.

After listening to me, Director Seo sighed deeply.

“Fine, fine. Then I’ll have to sell your love for the fans.”

“Don’t we need a villain?”

Director Seo looked exasperated at my reply.

I didn’t know why, but he said it was because I understood too quickly.

“How do you get it immediately?”

“It’s obvious. To sell love, you need a villain who highlights how precious that love is.”

“I’ll be the villain! I’m too frustrated to let this go quietly.”

I smiled at his words.

From the first time we met, I thought Director Seo was a proper company man.

He had the right amount of responsibility, cared appropriately for the company, and also looked after his own satisfaction.

But the reason I thought highly of him was because he could fully immerse himself in situations.

In society, people who can balance everything appropriately while immersing themselves are called “competent.”

Still, no matter how competent Seo Seung-hyun was, he was nowhere near the experience points I had accumulated in show business.

“Director, are you really going to take on the full villain role?”

“Yes.”

“Then how about we do it this way?”

---

-Did anyone see this?

-See what?

-It’s on Sedalbaekil’s official site. The product listings keep changing like crazy. I captured screenshots hourly.

-Huh? It keeps switching between two versions?

-Yeah, at first I thought it was an error, but this has been going on for two days. In the morning it’s a stingy package deal, and in the afternoon it’s a generous one.

-What the heck?

Someone’s post online became a hot topic among the TTs.

Most TTs knew Han Si-on was obsessed with physical album sales.

He never stated it outright, but it was obvious during live broadcasts.

Han Si-on didn’t care much about digital rankings, but showed clear emotions over physical album sales.

So everyone knew the unit albums would be released physically, and during a live broadcast, it was mentioned that sales would start alongside the second album release.

But then the official site started acting up.

In the morning, only full packages were listed, making single album purchases impossible. In the afternoon, single albums appeared with generous goods included.

Once would’ve been a glitch, but three days in a row ruled that out.

-Is the company flip-flopping on the sales strategy?

-It’s weird to flip-flop this openly.

-Companies have political factions too. Maybe there’s internal fighting?

Eventually, Sedalbaekil’s official server went down for about six hours.

For their expensive, heavily invested servers to crash was unthinkable, but it happened.

Around that time, press releases were distributed from SBI Entertainment, Sedalbaekil’s independent label.

It announced the album release date, pre-order start date, and product lineup.

The press release listed only the full package product, not individual album sales.

Shortly after those articles went out, corrections were requested.

Everything remained the same except that the album products would be sold individually.

At this point, reporters smelled blood.

Currently, Sedalbaekil’s second full album Stage was generating huge buzz.

The magic Han Si-on had shown was spreading by word of mouth, and M Show was still flooding TV with ads.

Rumors were rampant that Sedalbaekil had formed a solid alliance with M Show—or that they might even become a subsidiary label under M Show after receiving massive investment.

So, of course, reporters rushed to spread any information.

[Sedalbaekil in conflict over album product lineup?]

[Reported internal conflict over full package vs single product for Sedalbaekil’s upcoming album.]

Some quick-moving journalists even drank with Director Seo Seung-hyun to get the inside story.

Director Seo was tight-lipped at first but eventually spilled the truth under the influence of alcohol.

“I mean, the kid’s great at music, but he’s like Peter Pan. Obsessed with romance.”

“Why?”

“He hates the idea of fans wasting money. Wants single albums, wants to hand out generous goods… then how are our employees supposed to make a living?”

“Oh, so that’s why…”

“I got so pissed that I posted the product listings myself, but Si-on contacted the junior staff and had them change it. Then the junior staff screwed something up, crashing the site.”

“Most of the company shares belong to Sedalbaekil, right?”

“Majority shareholder’s tyranny! The kid’s too naive. They’re not going to be stars forever, you know.”

The reporters felt a bit disappointed after hearing Director Seo’s story.

They hoped for something dirtier or messier, but in the end, it was simply idealism clashing with commercialism.

‘How can I spin this into a more provocative article?’

While they pondered, an article had already been published.

[Exclusive: Sedalbaekil revealed to be in conflict with management over album sales strategy.]

The article stuck to the facts, even including audio recordings.

Naturally, public opinion sided with Sedalbaekil.

Fans applauded the group for considering their wallets, while Director Seo was criticized for seeing fans purely as a cash source.

Of course, some 30-40-year-old office workers defended Director Seo.

-Come on; he’s just doing his job for the company.

-Yeah, if Sedalbaekil owns the company and hires employees, they have a duty to generate revenue.

-He’s just being blunt. With cleaner wording, he wouldn’t get this much hate.

-These kids never worked in a company lol. Can a company run on romance?

But the counterarguments were just as strong.

-They’re still selling albums, not giving them away. Selling cleanly is different from piling on cheap tricks.

-Also, you think Sedalbaekil’s sales aren’t enough? Each of Side A, B, and C likely sold over 500,000 copies. The 2nd album will sell even more.

Around then, Director Seo’s apology was posted on Sedalbaekil’s official site, and the product lineup was finalized.

Stage Side A, B, and C would be sold individually, and the second album Stage would also be sold as a single product.

A full package combining all of them was also released at a steep discount.

At this point, even a “normal album sale” had been framed as fan service.

Naturally, insiders in showbiz, including reporters, knew what Sedalbaekil had done.

“Doesn’t it look like they made Director Seo the villain to craft this whole PR strategy?”

“There are four physical albums. Buying them all costs a fortune.”

“Smart strategy. Now it feels like you’re getting a huge bargain just buying the album.”

“Sedalbaekil’s image benefits too.”

“Like when they gave away a CDP with the first album. It all connects.”

“Director Seo’s the only one who looks pitiful.”

“Yeah.”

But that wasn’t true at all.

Director Seo was grinning ear to ear as records piled up as soon as pre-orders opened.

Two weeks flew by in a flash…

And finally, Sedalbaekil’s second full album, STAGE, was released.