Blackout on Stage
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 23 of 100.
Starlight Entertainment, Gangnam, Seoul, 9:40 pm. During Aurora7's dress rehearsal, the tour's sound console crackled, gave off smoke and killed the sound in the whole hall.
The tour opens tomorrow at the Olympic arena, and the console held the programming for the entire show. Without it, the first date falls through, and under the contract a date canceled through the agency's fault leaves the group free to walk away.
It was no defect: someone opened the console's rear grille. Three people were in the building with no alibi between 9:10 pm and 9:35 pm.
The agency's meeting room, Aurora7 posters on the walls, pink neon lights reflecting on the glass.
Suspects
Park JaewonAurora7's music producer, 45
Yoon DahyeCut trainee, 19
Choi SeoyeonAurora7's manager, 38
The real case
K-pop contract disputes: Fifty Fifty and TVXQ
South Korea, 2009 and 2023
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
In 2023, a few months after a worldwide hit, the members of the group Fifty Fifty asked a court to annul their contract with the agency Attrakt. The agency accused an outside producer of poaching the group to pull them away. The court rejected the singers' request; three left the group and one stayed.
The case followed a familiar script in the industry: in 2009, three members of TVXQ sued SM Entertainment over thirteen-year contracts considered abusive, in a dispute that changed the rules for Korean agencies.
The game borrows the attempt to pull a K-pop group away from its agency through a breach of contract. The onstage sabotage, the characters and the outcome are fiction.
Sources
Case glossary
Words from this case you might not know.
- Gangnam
- An affluent district of Seoul, home to many offices and entertainment agencies.