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50-50's case was a long and weird one, but we can all agree that the most shocking thing about it was when Kina ended up going back to A-Tract with a tearful apology.
But people wonder if she managed to save her good relationships with the former members after this ordeal.
Even though 50-50 presented themselves as a united front against their allegedly bad company in front of the media, things were different behind the scenes.
Out of nowhere, on October 17th, it was announced that Kina had withdrawn her This made people wonder what had happened for only one member to go back while the others were still determined to get their alleged justice.
To answer everyone's questions, Dispatch conducted an exclusive interview with Kina after she ended up going back to A-Tract.
The first thing that was discussed was the way that The Giver's CEO Ahn Seung-il put his plan in motion to get the girls away from A-Tract.
In June of last year, former member Saina had sent a message to the staff informing them that she had COVID-19.
After obtaining the original picture that was sent, Dispatch found out that the location where the photo was taken was Ahn Seung-il's home and not 50-50's dorm.
According to Kina, this was done three days before they notified A-Tract that they would be terminating their exclusive contracts.
At the time, Ahn Seung-il advised them to stop attending their schedules and sent them pictures of positive COVID-19 tests so they could be quarantined although the tests were not theirs.
The company received the girls' notice on June 16th and a day later, the members moved out of their dorms.
Kina's trust in Ahn Seung-il started faltering not long after they had left.
She informed Dispatch that he had initially proposed that the girls pursue the lawsuit and their parents went on to hire lawyers so they could go through the process of terminating their contracts.
Kina shared that Ahn Seung-il had given everyone hope by promising to provide the necessary evidence for them to win their case even though he couldn't directly engage with it.
However, he still went on to assure them that this was a fight they couldn't lose, yet ultimately he didn't offer effective evidence and backed out the moment he What really sealed Kina's suspicion of Ahn Seung-il was when she found out that the latter had literally forged her signature to lower her royalty distribution rate from 6.5% to 0.5%, which is quite the decrease.
Then it was also found out that in addition to forging Kina's signature, he had also faked his education records and fabricated the signatures of Cupid's original producers.
The members' parents had been pretty pissed but not furious enough for them to drop the lawsuit against A-Tract.
They cut off all contact with Ahn Seung-il, but the legal battle against their former company didn't stop.
At this point, they were too deep into this to back out.
It also didn't help that Ahn Seung-il filled their heads with lies and manipulated them into oblivion about how much A-Tract owed them.
However, as soon as Kina and her parents realized something was off, the cracks between her and the members started to show.
In addition to her interview, Dispatch also shared a text that she had sent to the former members.
The text was sent three months after the whole thing began, and Kina expressed her uncertainty about waiting for and trusting in an uncertain future.
In the texts, she explains that the members had little input in the process as they mainly followed the guidance of the adults who were involved and were even discouraged from participating in talks with A-Tract.
She continued by saying they had always obeyed the adults' decisions, acknowledging that if they didn't engage in negotiations, A-Tract could manipulate the media, possibly solidifying their image as traitor idols.
However, she still appeared uncertain, mainly because the members' side avoided negotiations without hearing the other side, particularly after their injunction was dismissed.
In the screenshots, Kina also mentioned that she had regrets about not meeting with A-Tract earlier and even acknowledged their side's attempt to be a martyr for mistreated K-pop idols, but ultimately realized they might have fought pointlessly by insisting on complaints against what most people consider reasonable.
What was interesting was that in a case this big, the members had never spoken about the lawsuit in and never even had the opportunity to.
In one of the texts, Kina tells the girls about how suspicious she was about what the adults had to say and insists that they should at least be present in the meeting so they can know what was going on with their case.
She wrote, It's very impressive that she took matters into her own hands after seeing the adults get too greedy and ruin all the hard work that they had put into their careers, but unfortunately, considering how everything unfolded, Kina's pleas for the members to be more involved in a lawsuit that would determine their futures and everything they had worked for weren't heard.
Kina said that she was sad that they couldn't continue their journey towards the end since they had built up a lot of affection for each other.
However, the fact that she said, Kina gave a diplomatic answer in Dispatch's interview, but we can't help but wonder just much the relationship between them was damaged because of the lawsuit.
It's possible that the other parents as well as the members thought that Kina was making a dumb decision by dropping the lawsuit.
It's even more possible that they might have thought of her as a traitor for coming back to the same company they were fighting against, after all, they had gone into the lawsuit together and thought they would be sticking together until the end no matter what the outcome was.
So for Kina not only to withdraw her lawsuit, but to also go back to the company they were As Kina said though, she couldn't change anyone's mind no matter how much she tried.
She did her part in sending those texts and not only tried to make the members aware of how suspicious the Givers and Ahn Seung-il were, but also tried to get the girls involved in the lawsuit.
Yet, the parents of the members were so greedy that they refused to see anything but what they could gain from this.
There was nothing else that Kina could do to save her fellow members, so she tried to get out.
Not only that, but she had been with A-Track the longest, so it's probable that they were already very trusting of the CEO of A-Track, John Hong Joon, but they were still victims of the gaslighting and manipulation by Ahn Seung-il and the Givers.
At this point, Kina isn't allowed to talk about the other members, and the other three can't talk about her either, so they're now pretending that neither side exists.
Even if they are allowed to talk at some point, they will give answers like Kina's and say that even though they had a good time while they were together, they wanted different things.
Kina has been thoroughly criticized by some fans though, especially after she continued to appear at events and accept awards on the group's behalf.
She went to the Billboard Music Awards and the Golden Disc Awards to represent the group and even accepted the award for Rookie Artist.
A Twitter user found a problem with this, especially since she went on with her career like nothing happened.
They wrote, Can't get over how she went back to the company that hurt her members, got paid, is attending award shows, and getting awards for the success of a song she wasn't even a part of.
The backlash against Kina is unfounded though, as she did what she thought was the best for her career.
Just because the other members decided to continue the legal battle doesn't mean that she needs to continue to suffer.
She escaped a big lawsuit and saved herself millions of dollars, so she can't exactly delve into the past and has to do whatever is necessary so everything she has worked so hard for doesn't go down the drain.
Kina still has to pay the litigation fees, but that's not because of A-Track.
After A-Track won the injunction and the appeal, they asked the losing side to pay for the legal costs, which is common when you lose a court case.
A-Track's CEO has decided not to pursue legal action against Kina for the losses that happened due to the lawsuit, and since they're on good terms now, she doesn't have to worry about the looming threat of another lawsuit anymore.
As for the 5050 members, the fact that A-Track wants to get compensated for all the damage that the members have caused hasn't stopped them from wanting to be idols.
On December 19th, A-Track sued the three former members for 10 million dollars after terminating their contracts with the company.
After hearing this, fans reached out to former members' legal team to look for ways in which they can help the girls legally.
In response, the girls' lawyer mentioned that there was nothing that the fans could do and assured them that the three were taking time to regain their health and practice hard.
What was unexpected was that it was also stated that the former members are looking for a new agency as they really want to make more music.
Knowing just how the girls are seen by the public, the chances of them having a successful career in their home country are few to none.
They seem to be determined to be back to the music though, so let's see what happens because it doesn't look like this is the end of their story.