BTS-Inspired Webtoon ‘7Fates: CHAKHO’ Soundtrack Out On Saturday

The soundtrack of the BTS-inspired urban fantasy webcomic series, “7Fates: CHAKHO,” is set to be released Saturday. It includes the lead track, “Stay Alive,” sung by Jungkook.

“Stay Alive” is produced by Suga and is based on the webtoon’s synopsis and storyboards, music label Hybe said. The full version of the song will become available on digital streaming platforms on Feb. 11.

Hybe earlier teased the release of "Stay Alive" in a tweet on Jan. 31.

"Stay Alive (Prod. SUGA of BTS) - Jung Kook Revealed for the first time on #WEBTOON 2022. 02. 05 11AM KST 2022. 02. 04 9PM EST," Hybe wrote in a tweet.

The release of the soundtrack coincides with the release of the fourth episode of the webtoon series. Hybe said it "complements the storyline and atmosphere of '7FATES: CHAKHO' with Jungkook's vocals amplifying the song's mood."

“7Fates: CHAKHO” was released on Jan. 15 in an illustrated format on Naver webtoon app and in a text-only format on Wattpad. New chapters are released every Friday but paying subscribers can unlock the chapters ahead of time.

BTS members earlier talked about their characters on the webcomic series. The Bangtan Boys described the CHAKHO as seven hunters who are destined to fight the “Beom” or the monsters that are wreaking havoc on the fictional city of “Sin-Si.”

In South Korea, soundtracks are no longer confined to film and TV productions. Webcomic series are also adding soundtracks to their work with a number of tracks even topping local charts.

A few years ago, webtoon soundtracks were limited to mostly instrumental music or tracks produced by indie performers. But recently, producers of webcomic series have begun collaborating with famous artists, signifying the increasing popularity of webtoon soundtracks, according to The Korea Times.

For instance, the track “Slightly Tipsy” performed by Sandeul of boyband B1A4 for the Kakao webtoon, “She Is My Type,” grabbed the No. 2 spot on South Korea’s Melon charts in July 2020. The track was just one notch below BTS’ “Dynamite” which was at No. 1 in the chart at that time.

Other K-pop stars who have previously lent their voices for soundtracks of webcomic series include Super Junior's Kyuhyun, EXO's Chanyeol and APink's Jeong Eun-ji. The popularity of soundtracks creates new demand for webtoons but the growing demand for webtoons also contributes to the growing popularity of the webtoon soundtracks, The Korea Times report explained.