Gongchan leaving WM Ent. then serving absolute looks at Seoul Fashion Week? Couldn't be happier!!

literally just jumping back on here to say fuck that manager. Don't think he's been around that long, but hate now that he will be tied to Sandeul. Most importantly, I hope the women in WM/RBW were safe from this creep, and that justice is brought for the sake of actress Kim Hwanhee. Absolutely mortifying what she must be going through.

WM has struggled to manage more than one group since Oh My Girl's debut. I don't think it's necessarily a question of them purposely wasting money, but just not taking advantage of when their artists were doing well, particularly in the case of OMG. With B1A4, they managed to, well, manage them well during the heights of their career (hence how they could afford multiple buildings throughout the company's lifespan) and did ok with OMG. With ONF, things maybe were a bit tighter because their growth was slower.

I don't think WM sold out to RBW because of just money, but more looking at it from a resource perspective-- RBW had been on the track to acquiring more companies, and they have continued to do so. So I think the hope was the would ultimately be the best decision for their artists, but obviously we have yet to see anything really positive come from it.

I wonder where these trainees are from if they got rid of all of them? Are they RBW trainees?? Or just recruited now from other companies?

You just know she has some insane ass stories to tell of what happened behind the scenes lmao

Nope, nothing released on how long the renewal is for. I'd assume it has to at least be for a year though, minimum. Likely 1 (or 2) years given most renewal contracts... T_T

Blegh Idk, is it loyalty? Maybe. Yeah, CNU initially (I wanna say for their D+Documentary??) mentioned about having like, loyalty or 'trust' in renewing with WM or something. But of course, fast forward two years following that and they got RBW technically at the reigns ever since. So idk if I'd say that loyalty or trust could still be there, or at least to the same level.

Cause why not release his solo music then, that he teased months ago?? What's holding him back? Is it him just not wanting to release it? If so, then why? That makes me suspicious of his trust/faith in the company. Or, is it WM/RBW just getting in the way? (which wouldn't be new at least for WM-- remember, CNU and even Jinyoung would complain years ago that they always had new music ready to go, and that they wanted to comeback always sooner than what WM provided). Again, this also brings us right back around to why would he want to renew then? It seemed like he's almost... mindfully choosing not to be super active in other projects, whether it be a solo release, musical, regular tv/radio appearances (no, I don't count him filling in for Gongchan lol) etc. That's why I really thought he was just biding his time until he could be free tbh.

Which was why I'm like, ok, maybe because of Sandeul and Gongchan and their contracts not ending until much later is the reason?? Plausible, I suppose. Honestly speaking, CNU isn't really a hot commodity right now. I also don't think, unless he did some serious work himself on his own time, he'd have other agencies and companies approaching him for better contracts. Which sucks, but it really is just the feeling I have. So I think it's partially a... forced loyalty until Sandeul and/or Gongchan decide what they wanna do, and partially a 'welp, there really isn't much of another option'.

OMG really haven't been that active, I doubt they're bringing in much. And I think they've given up investing in Bipo after not being as impressed with the sales results from Origine.

WM supposedly was to maintain an independent operation, with keeping their management during the initial acquisition, but obviously there has been changes, with a lot of the original leaders leaving. So as to 'who' is running WM... I'd guess RBW is making the majority of the big decisions.

See, as far as your first couple points, I feel like initially things were looking ok-- just taking their only main comeback following the split, they were styled really well (at least in my opinion lol). Though something that is also interesting about all this, is that the comeback was prior to WM Ent. being acquired by RBW... because following the acquisition is where we had the solo fanmeets of CNU and Gongchan were they were dressed... not great, lol (see the discourse here and here and here) along with a bunch of other examples of them not being styled well. SO I think that's maybe where there is a disconnect in how you feel aesthetic is? Because when they style themselves they don't look like bubblegum pop boys at all.

But this also could possibly tie into your last point about neglect? Because obviously things have seemed to take a turn for the worst as far as the care, effort, and money put into their events or lives or whatever. And I can partly understand this, in the sense that they are an older group and RBW is going to invest more in their 'own' groups, or a group that still has a more youthful energy and potential like ONF for WM groups. But of course, I've been a BANA for over 11 years and I hate to see this, no matter how much I know it just happens from a business perspective.

That being said, there are better ways they could smartly spend money on them so that it doesn't look like last minute shit thrown together. They just need the staff willing to be a bit creative and sit down with them because I'm sure the boys have their own thoughts and opinions on what they want (and who knows, maybe RBW doesn't like what they want, hence why they're not doing too much for them.)

Also though, I do feel that there isn't that much of a concern for them to be super active. But in regards to your remarks about Baro, yeah, I'm a bit 😕 about it because I'm still waiting on him to catch is break in the acting field too. I just wish we saw more of him overall, idk. I miss him lol but I know that's also because I don't keep up with k-dramas so I'd have to really go out of my way to watch what he's in.

I could 100% see WM (aka RBW, because that's where the money is ultimately coming from now lol) going that route for monthly releases until they're all discharged. It's hard for me to believe though they had the foresight to do this lol like I doubt they were expecting ONF to go viral for doing girl group dances while serving... but at the same time, I guess it'd be hard to somehow throw all this together?

Idk how many of these songs for all the members MonoTree would be producing, but they obviously have a close relationship with Hwang Hyun and these are songs that could have existed for them for some time now. I think it was even mentioned that they had pre-recorded a shit ton of songs before enlisting so...?? I guess we'll have to stay tuned and see lol!

I mean, I wouldn't say they aren't active. Gongchan very regularly posts on the fancafe, and they both update their instagrams and twitters often enough. CNU now is also doing weekly lives on Weverse. And they both update on Bubble fairly often too. Obviously Sandeul being in the army can't do this, but that's to be expected.

They aren't going to be as active as a newer 4th gen group, ya know? They're passed that point in their careers where they need to constantly update, and yeah, they do have their own lives now outside of just being 'B1A4'.

I'm not going to sit here and say disbandment is completely impossible because none of us know that lol. But like I said before in your last asks, I think the gift situation could mean anything, so it's difficult to really jump to any conclusion. They still have their core group of fans that will support them regardless of if they can give gifts or not.

In my opinion, I'm sure once all of their contracts are up, they will probably leave WM Ent. But I don't think they'd want to actually disband the group-- I'm sure they'd try to take whatever rights/licenses etc. they could to promote as B1A4 under a new company. Whether this new 'no gift' rule is their first step in beginning to step away from WM, well, we'll just have to wait and see I suppose.

Fan letters are still being accepted, and it appears some gifts may be accepted if they are pertaining to specific work events?? But I wouldn't bet on that, so just stick to fan letters if you want to send them something I guess...

And to answer your other ask, I don't think this necessarily correlates to anything contract related. A lot of groups get to a point once they reach a certain seniority in their careers where they don't accept fan gifts anymore, so this isn't that odd in the grand scheme of things. We don't know exactly what prompted this change, for all we know it could be the boys themselves just not wanting the fans to spend money on them anymore. Of course, it could also be something strange going down at WM Ent. but we don't know at this point.

Being completely honest, since we haven't heard any new updates regarding any of their contracts, I can't even say for sure if the military timing was built into this contract of his when he renewed back in 2021. Though considering he was at a point where he definitely had to enlist during that particular contractural period, (as opposed to other idols, like ONF who instead just chose to all enlist together when it was not expected) there probably is a bigger chance that his could have had that built in extension.

I'd say it probably isn't as likely for the ONF members to have this, also considering they still have a few years left on their normal contracts anyways. But yeah, at the end of the day us even knowing their general contract expirations was basically only released due to RBW going public, and the guys themselves have been very hush about all of it.

As far as I think we know at this point, all of their contracts end at different times. CNU's was originally set to go until the end of this month since he hadn't originally extended while he was in the army like Gongchan and Sandeul did at that time. Gongchan and Sandeul's extension then was supposed to go until June of 2024, though there was talk that with Sandeul then serving for much of that time, it basically puts his contract on pause meaning it wouldn't actually be done until March of 2026.

Honestly though, I haven't heard any new updates about this, because I'm assuming CNU renewed at this point, unless there's a way Sandeul and Gongchan can break their contracts.

(@rexosaurusrex have you heard anything new regarding renewals??? I feel like it's been very quiet...)

Sandeul will be discharged in August! August 10th, I think? Somewhere around there lol.

As far as your other question... honestly I'm not sure what this means lol. His contract as far as I know, is up the end of February. I suppose we could assume by this comeback news that this may mean he extended given Gongchan and Sandeul's contracts go until at least the summer of 2024 (if not later?) since I don't think he'd leave WM/RBW and still plan on coming back while Gongchan and Sandeul are still with them.

Honestly, as excited as I was by their initial announcement of coming back, this did occur to me as an afterthought and it did take some of the happiness out of it since I just want them to leave at this point. But I think CNU would probably the the type to wait until they can all leave together, which I understand.

What happened is Jinyoung was likely secretive in how he went about leaving WM and starting LINK8 Entertainment which you can do a deep dive reading all the links from this ask where I summarized it, and Gongchan is not the type of person to let that kinda shit slide easily lmao.

Yeah I saw the pic he had with Arin, but I'm really not sure if he's still under WM or not. I'm not sure if we can look up his agency if there's info from his latest acting role that gives it, but otherwise it seems that he took down a lot of his insta posts that he had while under WM. Honestly though for his sake, the whole company is a mess so him not being under WM (or leaving on his own) may be the better option for him.