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On Monday, August 28, in the midst of the ongoing dispute between FANTASY BOYS' Yu Junwon and his collaborative agencies, Pocketdol Studio and Phunky Studio, regarding the idol's supposed unauthorized departure, the two parties reportedly sought out legal measures.
The idol released a statement announcing that due to the company's harmful clauses along with its inability to maintain certain declarations, he had filed an injunction against Pocketdol Studio.
To refute the same, Phunky Studio, which is the production company of FANTASY BOYS, also released a statement expressing their reasons for a lawsuit. They stated that the sudden departure of Yu Junwon caused several damages with respect to music video filming, choreography production, and so on.
Fantasy Boys' Yu Junwon explained his side of the story in a handwritten letter posted on social media
On August 23, Pocketdol Studio and Phunky Studio released a statement expressing that due to the unauthorized departure of Yu Junwon, the idol has been excluded from the debut of FANTASY BOYS. They also alleged that the idol's parents requested unreasonable demands.
However, soon after the statement was released, Yu Junwon put forth a handwritten letter on his Instagram denying the accusations made by the two agencies' collaborative statement. He revealed that his and his parents' requests were to eliminate some unreasonable and harmful clauses - something that the agency refused to comply with.
Additionally, he alleged that they pushed more toxic clauses and conditions into the contract, which the idol and his parents found difficult to work with. Since Yu Junwon's trust in the company was lost, they decided to withdraw from the group and the company.
Therefore, he concluded that since no contracts were placed between them, the two agencies' claims of breaking contract rules don't stand valid.
This dispute has now snowballed into a legal one. The idol released a statement expressing his reasons for a lawsuit, stating:
"The trust in the relationship with the company was broken when the clauses of the contract were explained. The supplemental agreement presented by the company contained toxic clauses such as the company's labor cost burden."
In response, Phunky Studio also released a statement expressing their stance on a legal dispute.
"We have yet to receive the notice from the other party, but once we get it we will be responding as soon as possible. The program has explicitly listed that once you become the debuting lineup, you will be promoted exclusively as a Fantasy Boys member for 5 years. While preparing the subsequent contract, he did not continue to fulfill his obligations nor try to negotiate the disagreements in good faith. Hence we're considering a claim for damages," the statement read.
In addition to these claims made by Phunky Studio, Pocketdol Studio also added on the damages caused by Yu Junwon due to his sudden departure.
After the idol's trip back home on August 4, their schedule for the FANTASY BOYS' music video filming was pushed back by a week, which resulted in additional fees for setting, location, labor costs, and more, especially since the music video was supposed to be filmed in three locations.
Additionally, the agency released a conversation shared between the art director and the group's choreographer on Kakao Talk when they had to make changes following the idol's departure:
"The group's supposed center Junwon suddenly left, so we had to change his part of the new song to the chorus and re-record it. We also had to change the choreography several times, which resulted in huge damage."
Yu Junwon's legal representative also issued a statement in response to these claims, expressing that the idol was under no pressure to adhere to the company's schedules when the contract wasn't in place.
"It was unreasonable to force him to work without a contractual agreement. Junwon has been faithful to the company's schedule, including his performance in Japan. It is incorrect to say that his trip home during the negotiation was unauthorized because there was no agreement to begin with."
As the dispute between them continues to escalate, many are now wondering what the end result will look like.
