Little Pink Starfish

Korean society is extremely sensitive to trends.

That’s my feeling after living in the US for over a hundred years, so I’m probably right.

I’ve thought about why, and it seems to be because of the small population combined with a tightly connected social network.

People feel psychological stability when they belong to a group of a certain size.

In countries with large populations, even niche cultures can form sizable markets.

For example, when I studied gospel music in the US, I was surprised at how large the gospel market actually was.

If you made a decent gospel album, reaching platinum (a million copies) wasn’t that difficult.

But in K-pop, there aren’t many albums that surpass a million sales.

Later on, global fans would make million sales easy, but for now, this was the reality.

It all comes down to population.

In this context, Korea has a culture that treats mainstream opinion as absolute truth.

If you don’t ride the mainstream wave, you’re treated as a dropout.

I’m not in a position to judge whether this is good or bad.

What right does someone like me, a drifting reed not fully rooted in any one world, have to judge?

So the important thing now is: what occupies the mainstream in Korea?

That would be…

Us.

“Is this even possible?”

At Lee Iion’s words, I simply shrugged.

“Because it’s become a trend.”

“You expected this?”

Sometimes the Sedalbaekil members tend to overestimate me.

How could I have predicted something like this?

This is one of those rare, delightful moments that come to artists who’ve worked hard.

When the content you created shines even brighter than you expected and colors the world.

Of course, as we released the second album’s digital version, I did believe it would do better than usual.

People talked a lot about our album, but actual sales had just barely crossed a million (excluding unit albums).

So once the digital version dropped, I knew those who hadn’t bought the album would give it a click.

Even those who bought the album would want to listen on their smartphones.

But I didn’t expect this level.

I never imagined our name would fill the top of the music charts, one track after another.

“I’ve never seen anything like this…”

Watching Choi Jaesung hazily taking endless screenshots of the charts, I gathered my thoughts.

This is a temporary phenomenon.

It won’t carry over to the weekly charts, and even tomorrow some tracks will inevitably fall.

You can already see some songs losing strength on the real-time chart.

That’s unavoidable.

Just like Choi Jaesung balances our group, there need to be balancing tracks in an album.

Wanting every track to be a best-seller makes an album exhausting.

It creates albums that leave hit singles but don’t receive positive reviews as a full body of work.

There are surprisingly many such artists.

Writing good songs by instinct isn’t hard, but crafting cohesive albums isn’t something instinct alone can handle.

But this is exactly what I try to avoid.

I don’t mind if people say the album is a bit boring track-by-track.

As long as it sells.

So naturally, there are a few tracks that fall off the charts due to slight shortcomings.

But that’s fine.

I’m not Choi Daeho, but I can imagine what Ryan Entertainment’s atmosphere is like right now.

They’re probably deflated.

But our push doesn’t end here.

Tonight at midnight, the music video will be released.

This music video is my favorite of all we’ve shot.

So there’s nothing wrong with Sedalbaekil’s musical work or promotional strategy.

What I’m slightly worried about, though…

“…Wow.”

“Would it seem rude to post a screenshot on social media?”

“Probably? I bet Mix Way fans are watching closely right now.”

“Hmm… Then I’ll just post it on the official fan page.”

That’s how the Sedalbaekil members reacted.

Every time Sedalbaekil succeeded, the members seemed dazed.

When we appeared on Color Show, they didn’t quite grasp what that meant.

When the first album TFD succeeded, when it was revealed we co-composed with industry giants, when the album started selling in the US—they never fully realized what level of success we were achieving.

Understandably so.

Sedalbaekil had never walked a familiar path.

They were treading a very different road than the K-pop idol groups they studied and knew.

That’s why the members focused on fan club size and music video views.

From my perspective, those metrics don’t seem that important.

I care more about the people who will love my music for the rest of my life than sheer fan club numbers.

More about whether the music video leads people to buy albums than view counts alone.

But for the members, it was different.

They focused on those two numbers because those were directly comparable to other idols.

Album sales fluctuate based on fan signs, overseas fans, and distribution methods.

Honestly, some companies even inflate sales in subtle ways.

But no company buys fan club memberships or fakes YouTube views.

These two metrics are true battleground results.

That’s why the members uniquely fixated on these measures when evaluating Sedalbaekil’s success.

But this time, the feeling was different.

I could sense that the members were sure now: “We’ve made it.”

I think it started around the midpoint of Self Made filming.

When I secured Apple’s ad, when HR Corporation presented us with an English album release contract.

That’s when their mindset shifted from “Did we really succeed?” to “We truly succeeded.”

And I don’t mind that.

Except for Koo Taehwan, all the Sedalbaekil members have emotional voids and thirst for success.

Seeing my friends have their longings fulfilled is always a joy.

But I’ve also seen many artists lose their drive the moment their void is filled.

Sedalbaekil’s ambition still feels unbelievable to me.

Especially since I didn’t handpick them but met them by chance.

I worry what might happen if their mindset changes with this second album’s success.

Of course, I made a promise to myself.

Until Sedalbaekil disappoints me directly, I won’t let myself assume disappointment.

In past timelines, I’ve found myself regressing the moment a few signs piled up suggesting they lost their hunger.

I’ve even regressed after seeing members casually sip water during practice.

But looking back, that was just my assumption.

Maybe it was just a brief moment.

Maybe they lost motivation for a second but regained it and kept running with me.

Still, as regressions piled up, my patience wore thin, snapping at smaller and smaller triggers.

This time, I don’t want that.

I hope it doesn’t happen.

Rationally, chances are this lifetime with Sedalbaekil isn’t my final one.

Even with everything we’ve sold so far, we’ve only just passed 3 million albums.

That’s only 1.5% of my 200-million goal.

It’s impressive to have done that in one year, but I’d need to keep this up for 20 more years to hit my target.

Still, like I resolved back at Seaside Heights, I want to go to the end in this life.

Even if I hit my 40s, realize it’s impossible, and regress again.

So…

These are thoughts I shouldn’t voice aloud.

“You all know we’ve got Mixdown music show the day after tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah.”

“M-Show feels comfortable now, doesn’t it? Almost like home.”

“It is home. Coming Up Next was M-Show’s project too.”

“Oh, right. But Coming Up Next kind of feels like a Ryan Entertainment product.”

As the members excitedly joined in on my lead-in, I casually dropped the real question.

“What do you think about adding something to the stage performance?”

“Huh?”

“It’s too late to change the song for the live broadcast, but we can retake the pre-recording performance.”

“You mean adjust the choreography for the pre-recording?”

“Yes.”

Lee Iion’s gaze wavered slightly.

Damn.

Yeah, I know.

I shouldn’t put the members to this test.

Even if they reject my suggestion, it doesn’t prove they lost passion.

But regressors’ mood swings make us say things we shouldn’t.

Damn it all.

And their answer was…

“Isn’t that a bit much? Only two days left.”

“Yeah. What if we mess up?”

“A lot of people will be watching this performance. We need to focus on stability.”

‘No.’

But oddly, they seemed to be hiding something.

I have sharp instincts honed through countless lifetimes.

But I can’t read what exactly they’re hiding.

What emotion lies behind their reply?

Then I realized.

It didn’t matter.

Normally, Sedalbaekil would’ve at least asked why I wanted the change, even if they refused.

But not this time.

Maybe they already talked among themselves in my absence.

Maybe they plan to rest or take a long hiatus after this second album.

I’ve seen this before.

“Well, let’s just proceed as usual.”

“As usual?”

“I mean, as originally planned.”

I stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“Need to call Uncle Hyunsoo. He texted me to call back.”

“Oh. Say hi for us.”

I nodded lightly at Koo Taehwan and left the practice room.

---

Inside the practice room after Han Sion left, the members blinked.

“Didn’t Sion hyung seem a little different?”

“Yeah. Kind of felt that way.”

“Almost like he was disappointed in us…”

“Maybe he had a killer stage idea and we shot it down?”

“Could be. Sion gets really particular about quality.”

But the members simply shrugged as if helpless.

There were only two days left until their March 3rd appearance on M-Show’s music program.

No time to change anything now.

“Shall we practice?”

“Let’s try it without the beat first.”

And so, the Sedalbaekil members stood up busily and resumed choreography practice.

Even without Han Sion, as if his place remained open by default.

---

Choi Sehee was scanning YouTube with sharp eyes.

It had already been quite some time (not even a full year) since she became a Sedalbaekil fan, and she’d figured out their patterns.

She was thrown off by the two-week album-only sales without digital release, but knowing how serious Han Sion was about album sales, it made sense.

And the moment the digital version dropped, she sensed it.

They must have timed this to maximize digital chart performance. (Not true.)

If that’s the case…

“They’re totally going to drop a surprise MV at midnight.”

Different from other idols, but totally something Sedalbaekil would do.

As Choi Sehee kept refreshing, she suddenly froze.

“No way…”

It was because of the thumbnail, showing Han Sion smiling like a flower against a snowy white backdrop.