Little Pink Starfish

M-Show began as a cable channel specializing in music and gradually established a solid foothold in the industry.

The labels most commonly attached to M-Show were “latecomer” and “bold.”

Perhaps because they had jumped into the cable game later than others, they constantly took bold risks—and luckily, many of them paid off.

They were especially close with Lion Entertainment, largely because CEO Choi Daeho was far more marketing-savvy than other entertainment executives.

Normally, once a company grows beyond a certain size, its leadership tends to settle into the same routines—but not Choi Daeho.

He was aggressive, and that aligned well with M-Show’s ethos.

So M-Show and Lion Entertainment remained close allies, and while the general staff might not have known, the mainstream leadership often engaged in backdoor dealings.

Coming Up Next was born from such an arrangement.

In exchange for boosting Take Scene, M-Show would share in the profits.

But that’s where the relationship started to sour.

You could come up with endless petty reasons, but the core issue was simple:

Take Scene lost to Sedalbaekil.

Sure, Take Scene technically won on the show.

But aside from the title of “winner,” they lost to Sedalbaekil in every other way.

The single they released after Coming Up Next ended?

Of course it flopped.

Because Sedalbaekil’s first release post-show was RESUME.

RESUME was the theme song of their self-produced docu-series Diary of Independence, and it crushed both NOP and Drop Out’s singles on the charts.

And that wasn’t all.

Thanks to RESUME, Sedalbaekil began breaking into the mainstream.

It was through RESUME that people realized Han Siheon had composed NOP’s I’m Not Your Man and Drop Out’s Selfish.

Technically, that was first revealed in Fall Tracker, but it was RESUME that spread the news to the public.

Because RESUME had become such a massive hit.

That became their stepping stone to appear on Color Show, and eventually led to the release of their blockbuster debut album The First Day.

Many players in showbiz had touched Sedalbaekil’s rise—but none more intimately than M-Show and Lion Entertainment.

M-Show, in particular, was left speechless.

They had bet big on Take Scene, only to have them get utterly wrecked by some no-name contestants.

And the real issue?

Han Siheon was too smart.

People with exceptional talent in one area often lack common sense—but not Han Siheon.

He was more savvy and perceptive than any businessperson in the entertainment industry.

So each time Lion Ent was dragged into chaos, M-Show’s inner staff, who had shady contracts with them, couldn’t help but feel awkward.

And when Han Siheon finally broke from Lion Ent and went independent, M-Show completely flipped its alignment.

The executives who had been cozy with Lion stepped down, and a new “rebel faction” took over the reins of M-Show’s core leadership.

But a rebel always needs results.

They needed to prove: “Yes, we staged a coup, but we run things better.”

So they placed their bet on Sedalbaekil.

They launched Self-Made, fronted by PD Kang Seokwoo, who had remained close to Sedalbaekil—and it was a smash hit.

No, a mega hit.

It didn’t beat Coming Up Next in viewership—Coming Up Next peaked at a whopping 19% on its finale.

Self-Made, on the other hand, topped out at 16%.

But internally, Self-Made was rated much higher.

It cost less to produce (though Han Siheon’s Apple contract caused some major expenditures), and it was more subdued.

And it’s harder to make a slow-paced show successful than an action-packed one.

Because flashy variety shows rely on scale, while subtle shows rely on skill.

Around that time, Take Scene left the country and began promoting in Japan.

They just couldn’t withstand the flood of Sedalbaekil-related news in Korea anymore.

Even within Lion Ent, many felt bad for Take Scene.

Sure, there were toxic members like Fade, but most of the team were decent guys.

Especially Juyeon, regarded as the best main vocal in Lion Ent’s history, and Ready, who was considered an idol-rapper above the norm—both were seen as too talented to be swept away by the Sedalbaekil tsunami.

Even Fade, despite his personality, was musically far above average in K-pop.

So trying their luck in Japan wasn’t surprising—but it caused problems with M-Show’s backdoor deal.

Originally, M-Show had a revenue-sharing agreement with Take Scene.

But it only applied to domestic revenue.

Once an idol group starts making money abroad, that usually means they’ve gone full superstar.

In the past, smaller agencies often signed contracts giving 30:70 splits for domestic revenue and 70:30 for overseas—because domestic income was limited, and the goal was to nurture future global stars.

So it was natural for the Lion-M-Show contract to be domestic-only.

Once overseas promotions began, it would be near contract renewal time anyway—those terms weren’t meant to last.

But because of Sedalbaekil, M-Show ended up taking a massive financial hit from that contract.

And that’s when people started speculating that this was Choi Daeho’s doing.

He’d had a chance to utterly crush Sedalbaekil—and believed that it failed because of PD Kang Seokwoo.

And honestly, it wasn’t entirely false.

There were moments when PD Kang Seokwoo seemed to be irrationally supportive of Sedalbaekil (in truth, it was because of a deal with Han Siheon).

So it wasn’t crazy for M-Show to think that sending Take Scene abroad was Choi Daeho’s revenge against them for siding with Sedalbaekil.

That’s when M-Show doubled down on Stage—and the gamble paid off.

Now, M-Show and Sedalbaekil were fully in the same boat.

PD Kang Seokwoo, the key link, had become a giant figure within M-Show.

Which meant Mix Way originally should not have been able to appear on M-Show’s music show M-Mixdown.

Just like Sedalbaekil couldn’t appear on public network music shows—the same logic applied.

“Let’s find a middle ground. Tell me honestly.”

“I am being honest.”

“You’re seriously saying you’d appear only if M-Show boycotts Lion Ent? You think M-Show’s really doing that?”

“Yes. They are.”

“They are?”

“Yes. It’s already agreed.”

“You’re not just making up something that’ll fall apart in a day, are you?”

“Nope. Go verify it.”

So what Han Siheon said during that MBN interview wasn’t exactly a lie.

M-Show had agreed to boycott Lion Ent.

But thanks to Han Siheon’s own re-request, Mix Way was allowed to appear.

The moment Mix Way clung to Sedalbaekil’s first-week sales, Han Siheon knew—this battle could not be avoided.

In exchange, Sedalbaekil made a bold ask to M-Show.

“You want the two 1st place nominees to perform back-to-back?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Wouldn’t it be fun? The audience would be curious.”

“But in this situation…”

“We were even thinking about boycotting. Compared to that, this is harmless, no?”

In the end, Han Siheon’s request was approved.

So on this week’s M-Mixdown, the two nominees for 1st place would perform one after the other.

The official excuse was due to Sedalbaekil’s schedule (a completely nonsensical reason), and Lion Ent was only informed at the last possible moment.

This was the kind of situation where Lion Ent, a top agency, might boycott the show entirely.

But they couldn’t.

Tens of thousands of viewers were waiting to watch Sedalbaekil vs Mix Way.

If Mix Way pulled out now?

It would look like they ran away.

So Lion Ent had no choice but to grit their teeth and nod.

-“I mean, come on. We used to smile and shake hands—this is going too far, don’t you think?”

“Ah, sir. It’s just having them perform side by side, not the end of the world.”

-“You call that a justification…”

“It is a bit of retaliation, sure. Take Scene’s doing Japanese promotions now, right?”

-……

“What could I do? HQ was flipping out. I’m just a measly music show CP.”

-“There aren’t any other tricks in play, are there?”

“Of course not. I swear on my life. Might as well hope Mix Way delivers a killer performance.”

CEO Choi Daeho protested fiercely the day of, but nothing changed.

And knowing everything that had led up to this, Han Siheon’s single comment was sharp as a blade.

“Idiot.”

Choi Daeho had misread the situation.

Even if Mix Way had outsold Sedalbaekil in first-week sales, this was not the way to play the game.

Public attention was not something any planner could control at will.

Now, it was down to one thing—would Sedalbaekil or Mix Way become the laughingstock as the promos rolled on?

And…

Han Siheon always liked dynamics like this.

No one knows just how many musicians he clashed with during his time in the U.S.

The real issue was Han Siheon’s state of mind.

“What if we added a bit more to the stage arrangement?”

He shouldn’t have—but Han Siheon tested Sedalbaekil.

His obsession and fear that they might lose their drive and passion had grown too strong.

And Sedalbaekil failed the test.

“That’s kinda pushing it, right? There’s only two days left.”

“Yeah. What if we mess up?”

“We’ve got so many people watching us this time. We should play it safe and nail it.”

They turned him down.

That rejection lingered in the regressor’s mind as the broadcast began.

---

[Thread open. Mixdal Battle. Gather here.]

-Mixdal Battle lolol

-That name sounds so cringeㅋㅋ

-Shouldn’t it be Sedalmix Battle? Sedal goes first, right?

-Even worse.

-Let’s just go with Mixdal Battle.

As soon as M-Mixdown started airing, search volume and social media buzz skyrocketed on a ridiculous curve.

Few would know this yet, but in time, real-time searches and comment boards would start to fade away.

A kind of self-regulation to minimize direct celebrity slander had begun.

But this wasn’t 2018 yet, and depending on the program, it was still prime time for people to swarm in and stir things up.

-LOL Sedalbaekil’s just gonna stomp, right?

-But is “stomping” really a thing in music shows?

-Of course. Because it’s Sedalbaekil.

-So many Ttibal rats hereㅋㅋㅋㅋ acting all smug when Mixie won first-week sales.

-Bzzt. Ttibal? Mixie? These are obviously TTs pretending to be Mix Way fans to start drama.

-Inciting hate speech for promotion? Wow, this is some Cold War espionage stuff.

-Online spy ops. That’s the K-pop world for you!

The show began—and it was surprisingly fun.

-Did this many idols really come back this early in the year?

-I haven’t watched a music show in ages but I see so many familiar facesㅋㅋㅋ

-How did I not hear about any of these comebacks?

-Because Sedalbaekil cast a spell with all their unit albumsㅋㅋㅋ If your tier wasn’t high enough, you got insta-nuked.

-Trueㅋㅋ

As the show reached its mid-point, the 1st place candidates were finally revealed.

Just as everyone expected.

Sedalbaekil and Mix Way.

More specifically, Sedalbaekil’s Winter Cream, the first music video they released, and Mix Way’s title track STAR WAY.