Chapter 395: Settlement (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 395: Settlement (1)
Spark’s debut fans share a certain commonality.
First, compared to other rookie boy group fandoms, they tend to be older.
Second, many of them are working professionals.
Third, they aren't easily swayed by external issues.
There was a reason for this. Most people who joined Spark’s fandom had come from stanning other idols.
Cheating, fraternizing with sasaengs, skipping schedules, power trips… There were many idols who made fans leave the fandom, and even more reasons why.
Those who felt betrayed by their idols had firmly resolved never to set foot in this industry again. However, those who still held onto the good memories of supporting an idol eventually returned to the entertainment world on their own.
Not wanting to feel that same rage twice, they were cautious. Even when their hearts urged them to become fans, they hit the brakes and conducted a thorough audit. They checked if the idols were flippant in speech or action, or if they were embroiled in controversies. To these people, Spark was a "clean" group with no grounds for disqualification.
The perspective of those who had liked idols since elementary school also changed as they became adults.
Good styling and a charming way of speaking were pushed back as secondary factors.
Those who had been worn down by professional life hoped that, at the very least, their idol wouldn't have the kind of personality that pulled power trips like a boss at work, or acted like an irresponsible teammate who abandoned their duties.
Having become adults and grown into mature human beings, minor issues didn't deal them a heavy blow.
Being unfairly bashed through voting manipulation at award ceremonies was shitty, but it wasn't "the world is ending" levels of infuriating. There was no need to go through the hassle of sending faxes because the agency was incompetent. They could just stop buying the merch. That was the extent of their experience.
Spark, whom these people—who had been hovering on the fringes of the idol world—approached cautiously, did not disappoint. In the two years since their debut, Spark had never once given their fans a reason to complain or feel discouraged.
If asked how that was possible, Sparklers would point to one person.
≫ It’s not like there are any members in Spark who don't get along, but
I love how you can feel the members rely on I-wol for so many things when they talk about him.
The kind and warm oldest brother of the group. An eldest son who acts as if he’d give his own liver and gallbladder to his younger brothers, claiming that doing so is his purpose in life. A model student who leads by example, upright and always impeccable.
Having a big brother who was cool-headed and good at his job gave not only the members but also the fans a sense of stability.
Just trust I-wol. To Sparklers, this phrase was never empty talk.
Kim I-wol had been through many incidents. He was misunderstood and met with accidents. When they learned he had a complicated family history, their hearts ached, yet they felt relieved. At least their boy was honorable. He had done nothing wrong.
However, when one encounters a storm that is too great, even that meager sense of relief is cast aside.
≫ Now, I just feel thankful that I-wol is holding on and not thinking any dark thoughts.
It’s not about him being amazing for not showing it.
I just keep thinking about how hard every single day must have been for him, and how he needs at least one place where his mind can be at peace.
Their idol, who had lived a life so fierce they felt a sense of kinship, had actually been suffering this much. He had been unable to tell anyone, and only when he could no longer hide it did he painfully drag out those hurting memories.
And the way he looked so incredibly sorry for it became a great wound to the fans. It wasn't a wound born from pitying Kim I-wol. It was a sorrow felt because they cherished Kim I-wol as much as they cherished themselves.
The Sparklers, who had once been distant outsiders, were still working members of society, and they had not forgotten their pasts as idol fans…
≫ Found the reason why those cyber wrecker bastards bit into Kim I-wol like crazy.
…They weren't shaken by small issues, but they knew exactly which methods were most effective when a major problem arose.
≫ These assholes are all under the same agency, you know?
The professional savvy Kim I-wol had demonstrated throughout his promotional periods.
That was a talent the Sparklers also possessed in abundance.
*
The MeTube production company that got caught trying to manipulate public opinion beyond just undisclosed sponsorships.
1. Research Squad (Neyeondamdan - Studio D), the catalyst of the incident.
A channel famous for unjustified bashing that anyone who has ever stanned an idol would know.
Famous for making "news" by stitching together rumors or cutting videos to make people hate blindly.
Originally, they mainly focused on Tier 1 idol videos that were good for views (especially girl groups), and they sold particularly provocative videos for money through memberships. But the videos about Awangsil 1 and the recent Spark I-wol videos have been uploaded every day for over a month. (*This is also the first channel that raised suspicions that I-wol was doing drugs.)
They’re money-grubbers, so they usually move on to other idols immediately if the views don't look profitable, but they kept producing I-wol videos even when the views were lower than their other content. At their worst, they uploaded several a day with provocative keywords.
2. Rennerse (World Beyond the Lens - MyMedia)
From here on, these are channels with high public recognition. Most of you have probably seen them at least once while browsing MeTube.
After they made the news for crossing the line during a social experiment in the past, they shifted to uploading heartwarming news or "humanity restored" stories that went viral on social media, which made them blow up.
They often featured news about people who disappeared after making large anonymous donations.
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See this?
A donation recipient called the 'On Sarang Social Welfare Foundation' appears very frequently.
If you search to see if it’s a famous foundation:
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Over 90% of the photo sources in the articles are from Rennerse.
Isn't it strange? What’s so special about this place that people just drop off stacks of cash every year?
There is one peculiar thing.
When 'Hana-T,' who was on hiatus due to a DUI, made a comeback, the "all-hating" channel Research Squad uploaded a video titled '10 Facts You Didn't Know About Hana-T.'
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It included content about how Hana-T had been doing good deeds in secret, such as consistently donating to a social welfare foundation.
The video ended with a holier-than-thou lecture saying that while she made a big mistake, you shouldn't judge a person by one error. The foundation Hana-T supposedly donated to was shown in photos as the On Sarang Social Welfare Foundation.
If you look at the MyMedia job posting on the Human In recruitment site:
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You can see it’s divided into a Current Affairs Journal part and a Social Issues part.
There’s only one channel, Rennerse, on the MyMedia website, so why are they hiring for a Current Affairs Journal part?
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Top: Business information for Studio D, which produces Research Squad videos.
Bottom: Business information for MyMedia, which produces Rennerse videos.
The representative's name is the same. The business location is the same building, just different floors.
You might ask what splitting the company has to do with manipulating public opinion, but this is the important part.
3. Onco (On-Air Korea)
A channel many people think is a digital newspaper because of its name.
In reality, it tends to upload refined information and maintains a neutral stance.
The I-wol incident was uploaded here for the first time among idol cases.
They talk about how idol debuts have turned into a means of laundering one's past and how the younger generation is becoming sick, but the only example mentioned is I-wol. In a 40-minute video, they spend 30 minutes talking about everything from I-wol’s family history to his family’s handwritten statement about suing him. They even mention the drug controversy, which hasn't been verified or even investigated by the police.
The reaction from people who watched Onco like a news channel? It was terrible. This is the reason why the I-wol incident blew up so much.
Onco doesn't publicly disclose its production company or contact information, but the font + channel logo position + sources they use are identical to MyMedia videos.
If you overlap them by adjusting the opacity, you can see the logo, layout, and subtitle height are all in the exact same positions. Even the color chips have the same brightness and saturation when you input the color codes; only the 'hue' is different.
The only thing that's different is the logo style.
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It’s confirmed in a portfolio that they are the work of one designer. They outsourced to the same person.
It’s presumed they separated it from their existing gossip-focused businesses because they wanted to aim for the "major broadcaster" vibe of the MeTube world.
Two years ago, this same Onco also produced a video:
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A video about the On Sarang Social Welfare Foundation winning the Old Social Welfare Grand Prize. (If you look at the videos above and below it, you can see at a glance that the tone is different.)
The chairperson of the On Sarang Social Welfare Foundation, which is receiving so much love from all these "healing" channels, is:
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I-wol’s biological mother.
And Representative Kim, the head of Studio D/MyMedia and the person frequently mentioned as the 'Secret Investigator' in the early days of Research Squad?
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He’s the biological father.
The husband used all the production companies he runs to churn out videos to promote his wife’s foundation.
Plus, to bury I-wol, the father uploaded videos unfairly bashing the kid on his own channels to light the fire, then jumped on the public opinion he created.
During I-wol’s family press conference this time, Research Squad, Onco, and the company channels run by Representative Kim all attended. When the reporters were caught in the live video, the logos attached to their cameras were all visible.
+ Since their usual gig is digging into celebrities' backgrounds, they even attached the person they always asked for paparazzi shots to Je-ho and handed the data over to myth.
<Three-Line Summary>
1. The operators of the cyber wrecker channels that were beating down on I-wol (Rennerse, Research Squad, Onco) + the chairperson of On Sarang Welfare Foundation = I-wol’s parents.
2. They are human trash who even abandoned their daughter and abused their son (I-wol).
3. Despite that, they got caught trying to manipulate public opinion to extort settlement money from the now-famous I-wol.
I’m writing this in the hope that people will realize how disgusting it is that his family is threatening him and ruining his social image just to get a slightly higher settlement... Please don't consume those channels, and if anyone was donating to the On Sarang Social Welfare Foundation, please change your donation recipient.
++ Since the list of channels that attended is circulating because they were caught on camera, they are currently taking down all their live videos. Friends who have the capacity, please archive the lives.
*
Before a day had even passed, the identities of the two individuals were revealed. It didn't even take five hours for their past tracks, embezzlement, and illegal acts to be discovered.
≫ Telling you how to block the monetization of Research Squad, Rennerse, and Onco.
Translate the link to Kim I-wol’s press conference video and the press release stating he will sue for the distribution of false information, then report them for malicious group harassment or violent content.
What MeTube cracks down on strictly is content targeting children and cyberbullying.
You just have to say that they caused substantial damage by simultaneously uploading false information across multiple channels to collectively manipulate public opinion.
Especially since Onco’s goal was to go mainstream, we have to display their past history so they can't even dream of laundering their image.
This isn't just a problem for Kim I-wol alone. It makes no sense for a foundation that should be transparent to promote itself like that, and channels that bash celebrities for no reason should also disappear.
We have to kick them out so they can't make money from these kinds of tricks; that’s the only way to ensure this never happens again.
≫ An explanation for friends who are asking what the problem is with producing videos about them winning awards and receiving donations.
The problem starts with the fact that the On Sarang Social Welfare Foundation has a suspiciously high amount of cash donations for which not even a receipt was issued.
Since we don't even know how much donation money came in, who knows if they pocketed it? Especially when news of donations comes out at similar times every single time?
No one knows who spent how much of the money that came in like that because there’s no documentation.
In the first place, the reason On Sarang Welfare Foundation was able to receive awards and local government subsidies was because it was reported several times in the media as a 'virtuous foundation.' Is it really okay that those media reports were secretly provided by the husband?
Even if the donations were real and the promotion was done for the sake of the family’s success, the fact that the chairperson of a welfare foundation abandoned and abused her child is grounds for disqualification. They said she even choked him recently.
When Kim I-wol finally woke up and checked the news he had missed, the funding sources his parents loved so dearly had all been cut off.