Baekhyun, a member of K-pop group Exo, allegedly suffered losses of 63 billion won ($45.2 million) at the hands of Cha Ga-won, the chairman of One Hundred and his former agency chief, according to claims made Saturday.
Lee Jin-ho, a YouTuber and former entertainment reporter, posted a video Saturday on his YouTube channel "Yeonye Dwittongyeong Lee Jin-ho" alleging an extramarital affair between Cha and singer MC Mong, and detailing what he described as Baekhyun's financial losses.
In the video, Lee said that while many people had been harmed by the scandal surrounding Cha, "the person who suffered the most is one individual — and that's Baekhyun."
Lee said Baekhyun was promised an exclusive contract signing fee of 35 billion won from Cha but never received it. Instead of cash, Cha had reportedly agreed to give Baekhyun a unit in Eterno Phase 3, a luxury villa development planned for Yongsan-gu, Seoul — a promise that was never fulfilled. The Eterno development carries a publicly assessed value of 32.57 billion won as of 2026. Phase 2 of the project is currently under construction, and Phase 3 has yet to break ground, making payment through that route highly uncertain.
"There's no con artist quite like this," Lee said, adding that Cha "was never in a position to hand over an Eterno Phase 3 unit." The Eterno development is carried out by Nexplan, a construction company run by Cha Jun-young — Cha Ga-won's uncle and a party in a separate dispute with him — meaning Cha Ga-won has no direct stake in the project.
Baekhyun also entrusted Cha with a jeonse deposit of 16 billion won and has been living in a home owned by Cha under a jeonse arrangement.
"Earlier this month, singer Lee Seung-gi could not get back his 10.5 billion won jeonse deposit from Cha," Lee said. "Do you think Baekhyun will get his back? There is more than a 99 percent chance he won't."
Lee identified a further 12 billion won in unpaid settlements as another source of loss for Baekhyun. "After leaving SM amid public criticism, Baekhyun reportedly threw himself into his work to prove himself through his talent," Lee said. "He worked through sleepless nights, but he was never properly paid his settlement money — amounting to 12 billion won. Add it all up, and arithmetically, the total damage comes to 63 billion won."
Lee speculated that with Cha now under detention, Baekhyun would likely raise the matter formally given the scale of the alleged losses.
Cha, who originally ran a construction company, co-founded One Hundred with MC Mong in 2023 and entered the entertainment business. He recruited a string of prominent singers including Lee Seung-gi, Baekhyun and Lee Mu-jin, but the agency soon drew scrutiny after failing to pay its artists, who began departing one by one. Employees and partner companies also reportedly went unpaid. Cha has further faced allegations that he siphoned company funds to finance overseas gambling trips with MC Mong.
Lee Seung-gi, one of the alleged victims, paid a jeonse deposit of 10.5 billion won to move into a luxury villa owned by Cha. The lease came due this month, but Lee has yet to recover the deposit.
Cha is currently in detention on charges of defrauding Nomuss Co. of 30 billion won.
paq@heraldcorp.com
