Title: STAGE
Artist: Sedalbaekil
Track: 13
Track List
- Show must go on
- Stage (Title)
- 3AM
- Beyond Time
- What We Drank Last Night
- Back in time
- Down force
- One & Only
- Winter Cream
- You know, I’ve been thinking
- Dream Chaser
- DuDuDuDeDe
- Time Traveler (Bonus)
The moment Sedalbaekil’s digital release dropped at midnight, the buzz exploded.
As Han Sion predicted, Ryan Entertainment’s plan to win through first-week sales collapsed.
When Sedalbaekil hadn’t released their digital tracks, the only comparison between the two groups was physical album sales.
But of course, that couldn’t last forever.
The moment the digital tracks were released, their chart performance could be compared, and with both groups appearing on M-Show’s music program, their stage quality could also be compared.
This all stemmed from the arrogance of a successful planner.
The public cannot be commanded to gather and disperse at will.
With things unfolding like this, it finally started to feel like the Sedalbaekil VS Mix Way showdown had officially begun.
‘These bastards…’
Choi Daeho thought Sedalbaekil had timed their digital release strategically, but that wasn’t true.
It was about time for the digital release anyway.
Actually, it was a bit late.
Originally, they planned to distribute it online in the second week after release, but since the unboxing trend for the unit albums and 2nd album was still hot, they delayed it.
But as week three arrived and Mix Way began charging in, interest in the unit albums started to fade.
The one exception was the unit album <Side C> by Han Sion and On Saemiro’s duo On & On.
The unplugged album, composed solely of pure instruments without electronic sounds, continued to steadily burn with popularity.
Unlike Choi Jaesung’s unit album which exploded instantly, this one grew slowly but surely.
As proof, On & On had been holding steady at 7th and 8th on the weekly charts for weeks.
This led to some memes among Han Sion and Lee Iion’s fans.
-From now on, after 5th and 6th, we skip to 9th.
-I agree. 7th and 8th belong to On & On.
Thanks to this, some amusing things happened.
Whenever Sedalbaekil needed choreography, they commissioned famous dance teams.
To these dance teams, Sedalbaekil was a delightful client.
First, because the company’s CEO, composer, and singer were the ones directly requesting choreography, communication was simple.
Second, because the songs were good.
For K-pop choreographers, whether the song is good or not matters a lot.
Songs that make them naturally vibe result in better choreography, while being forced to create moves for weak songs isn’t enjoyable.
Moreover, Sedalbaekil never complained about the difficulty of the choreography.
For these reasons, their relationship with many dance teams remained strong, especially those who had worked with them early on when Ryan Entertainment was pressuring others not to take Sedalbaekil’s requests.
Now, as these teams uploaded their own YouTube content, they started counting beats with “five, six, nine, ten.”
There were no direct comments in the videos, and Sedalbaekil’s name wasn’t mentioned, but those who knew, knew.
-Oh, is Teacher Mary choreographing their comeback track?
-Yep, looks like that signal.
-Wonder which track they’ll promote.
-STAGE is definitely one; it’s the title track after all.
-Yup.
-Isn’t it kind of weird how these choreographers obviously favor one group?
-Kinda…
-What are you talking about LOL. When they work with other groups, they post cover videos too. It’s promotion.
-Choreographers always have a favorite client. It’s called capitalism, rookie.
-LOL
But for both the public and Sedalbaekil—and even Ryan Entertainment—the music show promotions were secondary.
The real focus now was chart performance.
-LOL look at how they’re stacking the real-time chart.
-But this happens with any big name; we have to see the daily chart.
-No, starting from midnight isn’t easy. Usually, fan power starts stacking after 2AM.
Sedalbaekil’s tracks, released at midnight, began climbing the real-time chart immediately.
Of course, as someone mentioned, real-time charts could be swayed by fan power.
But starting strong from midnight was tough because ordinary listeners were still active from midnight to 1AM.
Furthermore…
The tracks weren’t lining up by track number.
1 – Winter Cream (new)(hot)
2 – STAGE (new)(hot)
3 – Beyond Time (new)(hot)
4 – Time Traveler (new)(hot)
5 – Show must go on (new)(hot)
Winter Cream, the 9th track, took first place, while the title track landed at second.
Tracks 3, 4, and 5 were 4th, 13th, and 1st tracks respectively.
-LOL Sedalbaekil albums always end up like this.
-Yeah LOL. Remember Summer Cream unexpectedly soaring back during their first album.
-I just joined the fandom—wasn’t Summer Cream the promoted track?
-No LOL. Summer Cream wasn’t promoted. It just got so popular they performed it at events later.
-Yep, that was a fanservice stage LOL.
-Here’s a screenshot for reference.
(photo)
1 – Summer Cream (new)(hot)
2 – Pin Point (new)(hot)
3 – Holiday (new)(hot)
4 – State Of Mind (hot)
Pin Point was the title track, State Of Mind had been pre-released with an MV, but Summer Cream and Holiday were simply lower tracks that blew up purely because they were good.
This situation mirrored that.
Especially seeing Winter Cream, clearly Summer Cream’s sister track, sitting at number one made it obvious.
-Holy crap Winter Cream is amazing LOL.
-Why drop such a banger just as ski season closes LOL?
-Probably called Winter Cream because it was made in winter. Spring’s coming now.
-If this had dropped at year-end, it’d be playing more than Christmas carols everywhere.
Sedalbaekil’s fandom TT showered Winter Cream with the same love they had given Summer Cream.
-Holy crap the bonus trackㅠㅠㅠ
-Time Travelerㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-They didn’t label it “TT” LOL.
-Sion’s taste definitely shines!
-But we all call it TT now LOL.
They gave even more love to the bonus track Time Traveler, the 13th track.
Including fan songs on albums isn’t unusual, nor is it surprising that fans love them.
Especially when it’s this high quality.
Of course, most TT members had already purchased the albums and listened long before the digital release.
So the reactions now were more for public display.
Why?
-Don’t you think this 2nd album is even better than the 1st?
-I honestly can’t even rank them LOL.
-All those people talking about sophomore slumps have shut up LOL.
Because they were confident in the 2nd album’s quality.
In entertainment, it’s common for sequels to flop after a successful debut, whether in music or film.
There are many reasons, but the biggest is reverse halo effect.
When expectations are zero, an 80-point product makes people cheer. When expectations are at 100, an 80 feels disappointing.
In that sense, expectations for Sedalbaekil’s 2nd album weren’t 100—they were 1,000.
Maybe even 10,000.
Because Self Made had been too successful, and so were the unit albums.
So any average work wouldn’t have satisfied the public.
But Han Sion wasn’t average.
-Objectively selfish and dictatorial, but you can’t deny his composing ability.
-Yup, a necessary evil.
Even personal fans who disliked Han Sion (especially Lee Iion’s fans) admitted his skill this time.
They didn’t like the man but couldn’t deny his talent.
Of course, not everyone agreed; some still cursed him.
But anyone with a minimum of sense could imagine the pressure Han Sion must’ve felt preparing this album.
Thus, the newly released tracks began stacking terrifying numbers on the real-time charts.
Since the midnight chart belonged to fandom time, Mix Way’s fandom launched an all-out assault to block Sedalbaekil.
But it was impossible.
In terms of immediate action and unity, Mix Way’s fandom was stronger.
That’s because people act more intensely when they sense crisis.
In contrast, TT had been supporting steadily since the unit albums, or even since Self Made if you zoom out.
Moreover, TT wasn’t even feeling particularly threatened.
Being well-versed in idol culture, they knew “first-week sales comparison” was meaningless.
-Our babies didn’t even schedule fan signingsㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-I knowㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-They’ll probably do it in some other way like last timeㅠㅠㅠㅠ
So while Mix Way’s fandom desperately tried to flip the real-time chart, TT remained calm.
1 – Winter Cream (new)(hot)
2 – STAGE (new)(hot)
3 – Beyond Time (new)(hot)
4 – Show must go on (new)(hot)
5 – You know, I’ve been thinking (new)(hot)
The chart barely shifted.
Rankings fluctuated, but only within Sedalbaekil’s 2nd album tracks.
“…What’s the daily chart going to look like?”
“Probably one of ours will stay Top 3? Our indicators were good too.”
“If we’re not Top 5 at least, we better avoid the CEO…”
Ryan Entertainment staff constantly checked the charts even after going home.
They knew this result would affect tomorrow’s mood at the office.
Real-time charts and daily charts aren’t directly linked, but with Sedalbaekil’s firepower, they were sure to rank.
The question was: how high?
Since the release timing slightly favored Sedalbaekil, Top 3 would be respectable.
Even Top 5 would let them spin the numbers.
But if not even Top 5…
Ryan Entertainment staff fell asleep thinking about that, and anxiously awaited the daily chart update the next day.
The office was eerily quiet.
Not just staff — likely even higher-ups across Ryan Entertainment were waiting for the chart refresh.
Finally, the chart updated…
“Ah.”
In the extremely quiet office, a clueless new employee let out a sigh.
-11. Please
Mix Way’s title track, which had once reached #1, now sat at 11th.
It had dropped ten whole spots.
And positions 1 through 10 were all Sedalbaekil’s STAGE tracks.
And that wasn’t even the end.
“Ugh… I don’t want to go in.”
The next day, Mix Way’s title track slipped further to 14th.
This wasn’t even a real-time chart — Sedalbaekil’s tracks occupied all Top 13 spots on the daily chart.
Little Pink Starfish 
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