WHAT IS AN IDOL WITHOUT AN AGENCY?

TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT THE ENTERTAINMENT AGENCIES THAT PILLAR THE SOUTH KOREAN ENTERTAINMENT SCENE!

<aside> <img src="/icons/subtitles_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/subtitles_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> THESE LABELS ARE NOT MEANT TO MIRROR OR REFLECT ANY REAL LIFE COMPANY. ALL OF THIS IS STRICTLY FICTIONAL.

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ALLURE CREATIVE ━━╋━ since 2000

Founded by AHN DONGEUN in 2000, ALLURE CREATIVE remains a titan in the industry after the success of their GIRL GROUP ‘TIARA’ in 2001. the company is known for churning out groups with pristine talent, visuals and quality, with their trainees going through an average of 5+ years of training before debut. Despite their squeaky clean reputation, behind the scenes, the company has rigid practices and rules for their idols and trainees to keep them in this PERFECTIONIST bubble. But this is the price for INSTANT FAME, as debuting with allure guarantees a successful career.

HIGHCUT ENTERTAINMENT ━━╋━ since 2005

Founded by KIM HANGMIN in 2010, HIGHCUT ENTERTAINMENT’s rise to notoriety wasn’t exactly a kind one. ROCKED by a drug scandal in the middle of 2015 with one of their top tier soloists, HI-CUT began to harbor a reputation for being a company for controversial, and polarizing artists. The company is notorious for pushing scandals on the backburner and leaving their affected artists out to dry. Despite this, their idol groups tend to be given lots of exposure due to these rumors about the company. Behind the scenes, they are known for being neglectful and giving terrible budgets to comebacks if the group isn’t as successful as they want them to be. Despite the glimpses of good apples within the agency, they get drowned out by the overarching company’s malpractice.

CURE ENTERTAINENT ━━╋━ since 2010

Founded by HAN KIRSTEN, CURE ENTERTAINMENT has been a rising star in the entertainment industry despite the label’s recent founding date. Known for their refreshing practices due to their CEO being a member of ALLURE’s ‘TIARA’, her message was to create a company that would take care of their artists and effectively defend them from any controversy. Since then, this entertainment agency has been meant with love with fans - hosting the most ‘company stans’ in the midst of netizens. Their groups can be a mix of SUCCESSFUL to UNKNOWN GEMS, with most of the budget going to the more recently debuted projects. Groups get much more freedom here than anywhere else, and the environment is said to foster creativity. Behind the scenes, however, HAN KIRSTEN suddenly fell sick and had to step down from the CEO position. Since then, CHOI HYUNGSEOP has stepped in to fill the role and it is rumored he has placed more restrictions on the artists as of late. However, much of the management remains in tune with Kirsten’s vision and thus, have tried to ignore these changes as much as possible.

ADOR LIVE ━━╋━ since 2002

Founded by MURASAKI IBARA, ADOR LIVE started off as a strictly Japanese company that migrated to South Korea after the K-Pop wave in 2019. Due to this, Ador Live hasn’t made a huge impact on the scene yet - with only moderately successful groups. However, the fans this company has attracted has shown how talented and criminally underrated each of the groups are. Only recently have they seemed to see a rise in popularity after fancams of their idols slipping on a faulty stage went viral amongst netizens. Since then their groups have gone viral for the mistreatment and low budget they have despite their talent. Behind the scenes, Ador Live is going through a finical crisis that makes them short of staff and budgets. Despite this, they keep trying to promote their groups - which has led to stage accidents that put them on the map originally. But no matter the circumstances, their idols are determined to be successful and make music - which many fans admire about them.