LABOUM has been under fire for sajaegi by Korean netizens ever since they won a music show over IU, and with international netizens for longer than that. Like most things in K-pop, sajaegi is one of those things that deserves skepticism because it frequently just ends up being fandom bullshit, and even if it’s true … well honestly that’s the game, so who cares? I showed about how much I cared back when Hyosung and BTS were accused of it, because the only time it’s generally newsworthy for me is when it gives us things like #EverybodyKnows.

That said, this was an interesting case, because it was clear that LABOUM’s album sales were confusing but the source of it was a bit up in the air. Was it their company? Was it sponsors? Was it insanely rich fans? Well Global H Media released a statement to clear the air a bit, saying the sales were legit, and they know it because a company bought the damn things.

In the press release, the agency stated that the album sales of LABOUM’s second mini album “Miss This Kiss” were not manipulated, and they are discussing taking legal action against those that spread the rumors. They continued on to reveal, “In February, LABOUM signed a two-year contract as models of a franchise. The franchise has more than 500 locations in Korea and also has locations in Southeast Asia. The advertiser for the franchise purchased albums fairly through the distributor to use for promotional events at locations in both Korea and foreign countries.”

That company? Sinjeon, apparently.

Why were the album sales as consistent as they were and as high as they were? Because Koreans really wanted money off of delicious tteokbokki.

The company that sponsored LABOUM's album is Sinjeon. Every album comes with a 2,500W off gift certificate https://t.co/nNZCoEVFBg pic.twitter.com/tqpY0F0WgA — →.ѕ♔♥ (@kyungjaeyo) May 2, 2017

That explains … well, a lot. I believe this explanation cause I believe in the desire of people to get discount tteokbokki. Plus, of course GHM couldn’t afford to do anything out of their own pockets, as I’ve been saying, because they are broke and useless.

In any case, I’m not sure this actually makes things better for LABOUM, as I’m pretty sure deals like this aren’t even allowed to begin with. As such, this could actually blow up again into something bigger, just for a different reason. We’ll see.