Little Pink Starfish

Channel Motion’s pillar and the main producer of Show Me, PD Yoon Jung-seop, is known as:

The father of the Korean-style audition show.

Yoon Jung-seop wasn’t the creator of Korea’s very first audition program, of course.

The history of survival shows goes back further than most people think.

But Yoon Jung-seop was the one who created the Bible.

If the first survival programs competed based on skill, Yoon Jung-seop made them compete through narrative.

He always believed that stars couldn’t exist independently.

Story, image, personality…

All those elements combined make a star.

Sure, talent is important, but that’s just a minimum requirement.

Once you pass that minimum, it doesn’t matter much anymore.

A ridiculously handsome B-grade vocalist becomes more of a star than an ugly S-grade one.

In that sense, Show Me was an easy show to produce.

Because rappers write their own lyrics and perform their own songs.

So selling the story was ridiculously easy.

If a rapper came from poverty, he rapped about poverty—so you just had to show poverty scenes.

If a rapper had some kind of emotional void, he’d rap about that—so you just needed to cut in a “Void Collection.JPG.”

Since it’s all in the lyrics, it never feels random.

Are there no rappers who perform non-original songs?

None.

If rappers don’t write their own lyrics, they’re not considered real rappers.

If someone else writes their lyrics, they’re seen as fake and get called out.

“But didn’t Drake have a lot of ghostwriters?”

Yoon Jung-seop still didn’t fully understand the rules of rap, but that’s how it goes.

So he directed several seasons of Show Me, and it was hugely successful.

But Yoon Jung-seop was starting to feel the limits.

Sure, the show still had its solid base viewership.

But after so many seasons, all the stories had been told.

There were too many rappers talking about the same kind of poverty, the same kind of tragedy.

And then something funny happened…

Sedalbaekil appeared.

They didn’t seem to care about entertainment at all—but these guys were basically a plague for survival shows.

A contestant cries, sharing a painful family story?

Then this kind of comment shows up:

– If that’s your story, what does that make Han Sion?

And that’s a cleaned-up version. The real ones are way cruder and harsher.

There are no ranks in human emotion.

But shows? Shows do have ranks.

And from a show’s perspective, in Korea right now, you can’t sell your backstory.

Because nothing tops Han Sion’s.

Sure, across the whole country, there are people with harder lives than Han Sion.

He wasn’t even poor, after all.

But if you narrow it to the “entertainment world,” it’s mostly people who were doing okay jumping in.

Especially these days.

And it’s not just personal stories.

Someone complains about wasting years in an exploitative contract with an evil company?

This shows up:

– Should’ve worked harder, like Sedalbaekil.

Again, a much nicer version.

Now almost everyone in Korea knows.

That Choi Daeho’s Lion Entertainment tried to bury Sedalbaekil and failed.

That Sedalbaekil defied the old guard and soared anyway.

And above all, it’s a matter of talent and results.

To Yoon Jung-seop, it felt like all of Korea was under a mass gaslighting spell—but Sedalbaekil were irregulars.

He had ignored their Coming Up Next success out of spite, but after hearing STAGE SIDE C, he was floored.

He went back and listened to all their previous songs.

And he realized—

These guys were insane.

Not just insane—but insane in a way that had never existed in Korean music history.

Sedalbaekil’s talent and success couldn’t be compared to regular singers.

It wasn’t possible.

Think about it.

He said, “Should we try making a song for an Apple ad?” and that song really got selected for Apple’s commercial.

Product hasn’t even dropped yet.

Choi Daeho was being annoying, so he said, “Want me to find a big international content opportunity?”—and they ended up on Color Show.

Color Show, which almost never features groups.

Even so, Koreans don’t rate Sedalbaekil that highly.

Probably because of how they started.

They debuted through an audition show, gained popularity, then faded.

People have seen that cycle too many times, so they judge them automatically.

Maybe it’s hate for hate’s sake too.

Just like how couch experts used to downplay Park Ji-sung or Son Heung-min’s Premier League feats.

To Yoon Jung-seop, Sedalbaekil hitting the top of Billboard was just a matter of time.

It had only been one year since debut and they were already this well-known.

Give it five years—they’ll shock the world.

He once said this to his college junior and company junior PD:

“They’re that good?”

“I mean, I know they’re good, but…”

“They’ve sold 3.8 million copies if you count their 2nd album and all unit albums.”

“That many? But don’t other idols sell similar numbers? Maybe a little less, but still…”

“They did zero promo besides Self-Made. No fan signings. Nothing.”

“I get that they sold a lot and they’re talented, but top of Billboard? That’s a stretch…”

That’s when Yoon Jung-seop realized.

There were very few people with an objective view of Sedalbaekil right now.

Everyone judged them based on their own standards.

Without realizing they had already shattered those standards.

In fact, their fans might be the most objective of all.

– Feels like our boys hitting #1 on Billboard is just around the corner hehehe

– This album is sooooooooo good. Has Korea ever had an album like this?

Yoon Jung-seop realized he had the chance to go all-in on Sedalbaekil at their lowest price point.

Today was the cheapest they’d ever be.

So he had to get close to them!

Get them on his show, offer every convenience, and make them call him “hyung” instead of “PD-nim.”

That one connection could secure his career for the next 10 years!

But…

“Oh, right. I’m tied to Show Me.”

He was contractually bound to Show Me until 2019.

Couldn’t direct other shows. Couldn’t even start a YouTube channel.

It was a deal he signed two years ago, thinking he’d made enough money and would freelance a bit longer…

Now what? Ask Sedalbaekil to appear on Show Me? That’s insane.

They’re not even rappers.

He tried poking around personally to get close—but no luck.

Sedalbaekil wasn’t exactly a group that warmed easily to showbiz.

So he thought he’d lost his golden buy-in opportunity.

“So jealous… Kang Seok-woo…”

His daughter taught him the new slang.

“So king-vious… god-Seokwoo…”

And then, a miracle arrived.

“What?”

“After I told PD Oh, he laughed and said, ‘What a ridiculous thing to hear.’”

A junior FD was organizing outside emails and found one saying Han Sion wanted to appear on Show Me.

Strictly speaking, it was more of a notice.

Show Me is open to anyone, so there’s no need for schedule coordination.

They only get calls when someone asks for a favor for first-round acceptance, or when an entertainment company wants to talk serious business.

And those don’t come through public emails.

They’re way more secretive and shady.

So when this email came from SBI Entertainment…

The tone was:

Hey, our artist is going to be on the show, cool?

And, you know he’s kind of a big deal, right?

So we’re giving you the heads-up.

Aren’t we nice?

An email like that deserved to be trashed.

If it really were Han Sion, SBI would’ve contacted them directly—not through some shared email.

So PD Oh laughed it off, and the junior FD dismissed it as nonsense.

But there was a bit of a misunderstanding.

The email had been sent by Han Sion himself.

He didn’t even think there was a need for such a message.

Show Me doesn’t pay appearance fees—it’s a nationwide open audition.

He’d just go and win with skill.

It was just a polite courtesy message.

Normally, Yoon Jung-seop would’ve laughed it off too.

But he was a desperate investor, longing for a low-point buy-in.

So he reached out like grabbing at a lifeline.

And as a result—

The secret meeting was set.

In the underground parking lot of Channel Motion.

And like any shadowy backroom deal, a massive plan was formed.

“Wear a mask.”

---

“Isn’t that… kind of cliché?”

He tilted his head when the PD took the suggestion seriously.

Masks were out of fashion.

Since that “Masked Bandit” unit of Koo Tae-hwan and EEON from Self-Made, it had become a bit overdone.

He remembered seeing several masked contestants on the last season of Show Me.

So why wear a mask?

But what Yoon Jung-seop said next was interesting.

“First of all, sorry, but… there’s always a chance Han Sion might get eliminated.”

“True.”

I mean, they didn’t know how good I was at rapping.

I’d only performed rap once in public.

During Coming Up Next, B-team selection—covering NOP’s “Boy Scout.”

Ah, right. I monitored the hip-hop communities back then.

The comments were like…

– Okay, but he’s got some feel. Technically, he’s probably top-tier among idol rappers.
– Yeah, the grime vibes were strong.
– He did well, but doesn’t really get the culture. Using grime flow for lyrics like that?

That kind of stuff.

I remember thinking, “Maybe I should go on Show Me someday.”

Didn’t think it’d actually happen.

Anyway, I understood the PD having doubts about my skill.

But the next part? I didn’t get it.

“If you get eliminated, just don’t reveal your identity.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course. I’ll just edit it out. If you get cut high up in the rankings, it’ll be harder—but I’ll try.”

He even said there was once a top 10 rapper who never made it on-air because the station head said no.

That was Yoon Jung-seop.

What the hell?

I’m famous. If I appear on the show, viewership is guaranteed.

But if I get cut, they won’t air me to protect my image?

That’s something a main PD says?

“But if you win? Or even just make top 4 with pure skill? Then you reveal yourself—and the world goes nuts.”

“You’re really not going to use me in the teaser? It’d help ratings.”

“It would… but if it’s for your sake, I won’t.”

That gave me chills.

This had to be love.

Should I just cancel?

---

The misunderstanding between Han Sion and Yoon Jung-seop cleared up quickly.

Han Sion agreed to appear on Show Me, and wear a mask.

Yoon Jung-seop had suggested the mask in case Han Sion got eliminated.

But Han Sion’s plan was different.

He was going to make it to the finals on pure skill—and then take off the mask.

And this plan wasn’t even shared with the Show Me production team.

Only Yoon Jung-seop knew.

Filming for Show Me would begin exactly 30 days later.