[Exclusive] Lee Suan, member of the 7-year-old idol group “iridescent”, announces his retirement
Around 5 p.m. on the 27th, Lee Suan(27), the main vocal of the popular male idol group “iridescent”, announced his retirement from stardom.
Lee Suan(27) commented, “Thank you for showing me lots of love and interest until now. I would like to step down from my current position and lead a normal life like others of my age, travelling and whatnot.”
EJ Entertainment Co., under which “iridescent” belongs, clarified in their statement that Lee Suan decided to retire due to his worsening health and that “iridescent” will continue to perform as a four-person group without Lee Suan.
Users of various social platforms have reacted negatively to this news: “Isn’t iridescent basically Lee Suan’s one-man-team?”, “Rumours about Lee Suan getting excluded was true”, “iridescent without Lee Suan is as good as disbanded”.
I’m a RAINBOW, and tbh Lee Suan did all the singing until their 3rd album;; everyone excluding Lee Suan are basically just being featured in most songs;
> tru.
> everyone who’s ever given them a listen would know lol
> major burn lmaoo
> gotta admit what u gotta admit.
> let’s be real, everyone other than Lee Suan are basically back dancers
> welp, there goes iridescent
> Suan only rapped after their 3rd album. The iri’s did all the singing! All the iri’s worked so hard… please show them some support ;-;
> the above comment is nonsense lol. If Suan didn’t get injured, he could’ve continued to sing. Couldn’t the accident have also been caused by the others who were bullying him?
> How would they have caused the accident when it happened while Suan was moving to his next inidivual schedule location; the iri’s might not be the most friendly among each other, but that’s going too far ;-;
> please don’t fight here 😦
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Did the ent company work Suan to the point where he wanted to retire?
> honestly tho, I heard that he went on entertainment shows and filmed tv shows by himself to gain popularity, and even wrote all the songs and lyrics for their albums; if I was worked that hard, I’d leave too.
> isn’t the bullying rumour true?
> probably, it was also well known since their debut that they weren’t on good terms lol
> even when they were on VApp, only 4 of them excluding Lee Suan were on lmao
> in reality shows, they always ate together and talked to each other often…
> isn’t that because that reality tv was filmed right after the accident? lol
> I think it’s true that he’s being excluded?? There were lots of photos taken of him hanging out by himself in iri’s fan signature events 😦
> I hope Suan only walks on the flower path from now on ;-;
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I guess I won’t be hearing more of their songs from now on.
> lol I’m a RAINBOW who got into them after hearing their songs that were released after the 3rd album. Iri’s are all good at singing ;-; they were all just outshined because Suan was too good!
> ^^^ Suan is so ridiculous that the other members sound as if they’re not good, but if u compare them to other groups they’re superior lol. It’s because Suan is a super genius! I heard that he can’t sing anymore, but honestly even when I listen to him rapping I sometimes get chills because he’s so good lmao… is there anything Suan can’t do?
> I listen to iridescent because I like the songs that Lee Suan makes.
> me too lmaooo
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I gulped down on a can of beer while sitting on my bed, scrolling through the article on my phone.
Iridescent had broken because of my own greed…
I thought that it was obvious for me to do all of it because none of the other members were as good as I was.
“Will anything change even if you try in vain?”
For four years after the debut, I took over the songs of all the albums of iridescent for myself. Since I had taken 80 percent of the vocal lines for every song, it wasn’t an exaggeration for people to call everybody else’s parts “featuring”.
I never thought that it was wrong.
Seo Yoon-hyung, the leader and the oldest member of the team, couldn’t do his job within the group properly because of me. By the public, he was called a useless and incompetent leader. All because of my selfish desire and decision that compromised the balance of our team.
I still remembered clearly. Watching the members constantly trying to find their share of work even when the audience turned their backs on them, I thought that it was laughable at best.
“We’ll do better next time.”
I had scoffed when he said that. I mocked them because it was stupid. Could they even gain what they wanted even if they tried?
Back then, I was a dictator.
3 years ago, when I learned that I could no longer sing like I used to due to the accident, I finally realised.
I realised that what I had taken for granted was a selfish act.
Only then did I apologise and want to be forgiven. I wanted to right what was wronged by me.
I relieved my convoluted emotions by making music.
“I was being selfish. I’m really sorry, all of you.”
Like that, I offered an apology. I never easily imagined that the members would have difficulty accepting my very first awkward apology and regret. Perhaps, even when I had apologised back then, I was still sunken deeply in and unable to save myself from my own ego.
“Are you kidding me?”
Park Jitae eyed me and asked back, as if he was dumbfounded. I never had the best relationship with Park Jitae even when we were still practising candidates.
His manner of speech, his actions — none of them pleased me, and even when I heard that we were to debut as members of the same group, I only had negative thoughts. A so-so rapper who used to rap underground. To me, Park Jitae was nothing more and nothing less.
And it wasn’t just Park Jitae who sneered at my apology.
“Even if you apologise now, will anything change?”
Oh Rion spat coldly and turned around. I couldn’t say anything back to him. I was too young and dumb to recognise the value of a person.
“Suan, I think it’s too late now.”
Seo Yoon-hyung was kind. Even before the accident, he had a habit of giving advice carefully and calmly. Back then, I couldn’t understand that. I had thought that his advice was something that proved no use to me.
I apologised to him after the accident, but unlike before, he refused to offer me any words.
It was just that… the scars made by my thoughtless actions that I realised all too late had gathered one by one to form a deep gash.
“How are we supposed to trust you?”
I couldn’t refute to anything that the members had said to me.
The fall of the flawless emperor was pitiful.
Even so, Ryu Sunho was slightly different from the lot. Although it could have been my misunderstanding, unlike the other members, I could feel that Ryu Sunho showed little bits of care towards me after the accident even while he acted as if he were ignoring me.
“Can’t you even take care of this little thing by yourself?”
Ryu Sunho, who had followed me around since the days as practising candidates all the way up to our debut, showed me unconditional affection even when we were gaining popularity among the public unlike the other members. Because I was annoyed by it and thought it was stupid, I continued to keep my distance and pushed him away.
It was a push-and-pull relationship.
I couldn’t understand why he kept showing me actions that hinted such a one-sided affection. No, I never even tried to understand. Only now could I think back and assume that I was the only one he could relied on at his young age.
This continued only up until I announced my retirement.
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“Selfish bastard.”
“Apparently a man of no genius can never understand a genius, hyung. Maybe that’s why I can’t understand you.”
“I heard that you composed all nine songs that will be listed on our next album, Suan. That’s quite a feat, in many different ways.”
“This is how badly you want to tell us that we’ve hit rock bottom, isn’t it?”
The songs that I composed for our albums after the accident were my last-ditch effort to ask for forgiveness from the members. It was a remedy for what had already happened, as well as a method of apology thought up by my idiotic thoughts. Of course, it was near impossible to reattach a relationship that had already fallen apart as far as it could ever get. Although it was my best effort for redemption, I never even imagined that it would be the worst way for me to have approached the members.
In regards to my attempted apology, the members consistently showed negative reactions. My apology in the form of music was only accepted by the members as my stepping stone for another chance at unsightly greed and recovery. Like that, our relationships continued to falter once more.
‘Hahh, maybe I was awful after all…’
The beer in my hand began to turn lukewarm. I internally let out a deep sigh and raised what little beer I had left to my mouth. Soon, my Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. It didn’t feel reviving or refreshing. Instead, only feelings of regret and guilt were taking over me.
My throat felt dry. I began to feel the alcohol and my tangled emotions slowly transformed into anger.
I offered them my music for three years as an apology. I tried what I could!
Leader — Seo Yoon
Sub Vocal — Ryu Sunho
Rapper — Park Jitae
Sub Vocal — Oh Rion
“You go ahead and do everything on your own. It’s just low and I’m not doing this anymore!”
Drunk, I shouted at the top of my lungs. Perhaps because I was overly agitated, the can of beer fell from my hand onto the floor and left me with an ominous aftertaste. I laughed a little as I stared at the floor, overcome by haziness, and let my body fall onto the bed.
Since I ran all the way here like a madman for seven years straight, I’ll do nothing but travel from now on.
Muttering my final words like one would cast a spell, I blacked out.
“Lee Suan, wake up!”
There shouldn’t be anybody to wake me up…
My eyes felt dry, likely due to the fact that I hadn’t slept for so long in such a long time.
No, was it because I had fallen asleep after drinking?
I brought my arm to my heavy eyes and rubbed them as I raised my body up from the bed.
“Today’s the day we said we were going to decide on your parts. Hurry and wake up.”
Parts?
My eyes shot wide open as if my eyeballs would pop out. When my head cleared up, what entered my sight was Producer-hyung, who had helped us record our debut song at the very beginning. He looked quite a bit younger.
“…what parts?”
“We announced yesterday that we’ll be choosing your parts for your debut song today.”
Producer-hyung let out a hollow laughter and added as he ruffled my hair.
“Geez, are you still half-asleep?”
“What? Our debut song? Stop joking around. In any case, it’s been a real long time since I last saw you, hyung.”
“Real long time my ass. We met yesterday as well. Are you feeling unwell?”
Producer-hyung continued as he placed his hand on my forehead.
“You don’t seem to have a fever… If you’re sick, don’t just leave it be and say something right away.”
“I’m not sick. Anyway, what do you mean, ‘our debut song’?”
“What are you saying? You even fell asleep here in the dance studio after practising your debut song last night. I heard that you already signed the contract because you wanted to hone in before the debut got overturned.”
“The debut contract?”
“If you’re not sick, then wake yourself up fast and come to the meeting room!”
Producer-hyung lightly flicked his finger on my forehead before taking his leave. Only then did I get a chance to look around.
I had definitely fallen asleep on my bed last night after drinking a can of beer while reading a news article. Why was I in this dance studio yet again?
Why did Producer-hyung, looking quite young, wake me up? What was all this about my debut?
I even held a press conference yesterday to talk about my retirement.
No matter how hard I tried to, I couldn’t get a grasp of the current situation. When I turned my head side-to-side to look around, I realised that I was sitting right in the middle of the dance studio.
Huh?
My reflection in the mirror on the walls of the studio seemed very young.
I frantically stood up and ran to the mirror, only to find a chubby childlike face staring back at me, still retaining my baby fat from before my debut.
W-What the heck is happening?