Baekhyun's Post-SM Deal May Have Cost Him 63 Billion Won: Here's the Breakdown

EXO's Baekhyun left SM Entertainment under fire, weathered a tampering scandal, and built his own label. Now a YouTuber is claiming the deal waiting on the other side cost him roughly 63 billion won (approximately $46 million USD).

On the 22nd, YouTuber Lee Jin-ho released a video addressing the growing controversy around rapper MC Mong and Cha Ga-won, chairman of Piarc Group. Lee named Baekhyun as the single largest alleged victim in the fallout, claiming the EXO member's exclusive contract with One Hundred left him with catastrophic financial exposure across three separate counts.

The first and most striking claim: Baekhyun was promised a unit in Eterno Phase 3, a luxury villa development, as his signing fee in lieu of cash. The assessed land value of an Eterno penthouse is listed at 32.57 billion won as of 2026, with the promised contract value put at 35 billion won. The problem, according to Lee, is that Phase 2 of the development is still under construction and Phase 3 doesn't exist yet. "Chairman Cha wasn't even in a position to hand over an Eterno Phase 3 unit," Lee said. "This is the oldest con in the book."

The second count involves a lease deposit. Lee claims Baekhyun paid 16 billion won in jeonse (a Korean long-term lease arrangement requiring a large upfront deposit returned at the end of the lease) to move into La Nubo Hannam, a high-end residential complex in Seoul. Lee pointed to singer Lee Seung-gi's recent failure to recover a 10.5 billion won jeonse deposit as a parallel, saying the odds of Baekhyun recovering his deposit are "99% or higher" against him.

The third item is 12 billion won in allegedly unsettled payments.

Add it up: 35 billion (promised penthouse) + 16 billion (unrecoverable deposit) + 12 billion (unpaid settlements) = 63 billion won in claimed losses. Lee predicted that with Chairman Cha now under arrest, Baekhyun will likely pursue formal legal action over the amounts.

None of these claims have been officially confirmed. Lee's video is a one-sided account, and neither Baekhyun's side nor any related parties have issued a public response.

The timing, though, is worth noting. Baekhyun's departure from SM in 2023 was already complicated. He, Chen, and Xiumin (collectively known as CBX) sent SM a contract termination notice on June 1 of that year, citing unverified settlement accounts and unfair contract terms. The two sides reached a mutual agreement by June 18, but the dispute didn't close cleanly. BigPlanetMade, the parent company of the trio's label INB100, faced allegations of tampering, contacting Baekhyun while he was still under contract with SM. Both sides are currently in ongoing litigation.

If the 63 billion won claim is substantiated, it could scramble the legal picture considerably. The case Baekhyun built against SM centered on alleged financial misconduct and breach of trust. Emerging as a fraud victim in a separate but related transaction would either undercut that narrative or force a wholesale strategic rethink. Fans and observers online were split: some expressed sympathy, others urged patience until official statements surface, and more than a few noted that a promised penthouse that hasn't been built is a genuinely difficult thing to have believed.