True Taste Korea

Mark

  • Mark Left NCT After 10 Years—Then Became the CEO of His Own Company

    Mark Lee spent almost a decade inside one of K-pop’s biggest systems.

    NCT U.

    NCT 127.

    NCT DREAM.

    SM Entertainment.

    Then, in April 2026, he walked away.

    Fans naturally wondered what would happen next.

    Would Mark sign with another major K-pop agency?

    Would he join an international label?

    Would he build a traditional solo career?

    The answer turned out to be much more unexpected.

    Mark created his own company.

    And he isn’t just its artist.

    He’s also a co-CEO.

    So What Exactly Is Upper Room?

    After leaving SM Entertainment and NCT, Mark founded a company called Upper Room.

    Yonhap describes it as a one-person agency that Mark himself calls a “creative company,” built together with longtime collaborators he trusts. Mark currently serves as its co-chief executive.

    That’s an important distinction.

    Mark didn’t simply change employers.

    He helped create the place where his next music would be made.

    For someone who spent nearly 10 years inside SM Entertainment’s enormous production system, that’s a dramatic change.

    Before:

    Mark was one artist inside NCT.

    Now:

    Mark is helping run the company behind Mark.

    Reddit Fans Immediately Asked the Same Question

    When Upper Room appeared, Reddit fans quickly noticed that this didn’t look like a normal agency transfer.

    A discussion in the NCT DREAM community focused specifically on the discovery that Mark appeared to be Upper Room’s CEO.

    But another question appeared almost immediately:

    What kind of artist is Mark going to become now?

    Fans debated whether he would continue the familiar K-pop cycle of music shows, choreography, photocards and comeback promotions—or move toward a more independent singer-songwriter model.

    That uncertainty is exactly what makes Upper Room interesting.

    Fans knew NCT’s Mark.

    They don’t fully know Upper Room’s Mark yet.

    “My Friend” Gave Us the First Answer

    On September 10, Mark released “My Friend,” his first new song since leaving NCT and his first release through Upper Room.

    And the credits are revealing.

    Mark participated in the song’s:

    lyrics, composition and arrangement.

    The production itself also moved in a different direction.

    Instead of an enormous high-concept K-pop production, “My Friend” uses a restrained mid-tempo pop sound built around a nostalgic guitar loop.

    The music video followed the same idea.

    Director Gus Black minimized CG and artificial staging, putting more attention on Mark, the music and the physical spaces around him.

    Upper Room described the direction with a simple phrase:

    “Back to Basic.”

    For Mark’s first release after leaving one of K-pop’s biggest companies, that’s a pretty interesting choice.

    He Also Changed How He Talks to Fans

    The independence isn’t only visible in the music.

    Mark has been experimenting with more direct fan communication.

    He launched “MARK’s Voice Mailbox,” allowing fans to call a number, hear his message and leave their own voice message.

    He also joined the fan communication platform Laylo.

    According to reports, 42,392 people sent Mark messages and completed email subscriptions within the first hour of its launch.

    He has also opened his own official Weverse community.

    In other words, Mark isn’t rebuilding only his music.

    He’s rebuilding the infrastructure around his fandom.

    And “My Friend” Didn’t Start Quietly

    Going independent always comes with a question.

    Will the audience follow?

    Early results suggest plenty of fans did.

    “My Friend” reached No. 1 on Bugs’ real-time chart and topped Genie’s latest music chart after release.

    Internationally, it reached No. 1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart in Argentina, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

    Those early chart results don’t tell us what Mark’s independent career will ultimately become.

    But they answer one important question.

    His audience didn’t disappear when he left NCT.

    Leaving NCT May Have Been Only Half the Story

    When Mark’s departure was first announced, the obvious headline was:

    MARK LEAVES NCT.

    That’s huge news by itself.

    But five months later, the more interesting story may be what happened after he left.

    He didn’t disappear.

    He didn’t simply move from one giant entertainment company to another.

    He built Upper Room.

    He became a co-CEO.

    He released music with extensive creative involvement.

    And he began building new ways to communicate directly with fans.

    That makes his departure look less like the end of a K-pop career…

    and more like an attempt to redesign one.

    From NCT Member to CEO

    Mark debuted in NCT in 2016.

    Ten years later, he’s sitting on the other side of the entertainment business.

    Artist.

    Songwriter.

    Composer.

    And now company executive.

    There are still plenty of unanswered questions.

    How big does Mark want Upper Room to become?

    Will it remain a company built only around him?

    Will he eventually work with or sign other artists?

    And how closely will his future releases resemble traditional K-pop?

    Those answers haven’t been announced.

    But that’s exactly why Mark’s next chapter is worth watching.

    Because the biggest surprise wasn’t simply that Mark left NCT after 10 years.

    It was what he did next.

    He became his own boss.

  • Mark Left NCT DREAM—So Why Did Every Other Member Stay?

    For years, Mark seemed almost inseparable from NCT.

    He debuted with NCT U.

    He became part of NCT 127.

    He became one of the most recognizable members of NCT DREAM.

    Then, in April 2026, something happened that many fans never expected.

    Mark left.

    Not just SM Entertainment.

    He ended his activities with NCT entirely, including both NCT 127 and NCT DREAM.

    Four months later, another announcement arrived.

    Every remaining member of NCT DREAM decided to stay.

    So what happened?

    Why did Mark leave while all six other NCT DREAM members renewed their contracts with SM?

    Mark Didn’t Simply Leave SM

    This distinction matters.

    K-pop idols sometimes leave their agencies while continuing to participate in their groups.

    That isn’t what happened here.

    SM Entertainment announced that Mark’s exclusive contract would end on April 8, 2026, and that he would also conclude all activities as a member of NCT.

    NCT DREAM would continue with:

    Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung.

    For fans who had watched Mark move between multiple NCT units for nearly a decade, the announcement was enormous.

    On Reddit, the news immediately generated a megathread with more than a thousand upvotes.

    One of the recurring reactions was essentially:

    Mark was the last member people expected to leave first.

    And that reaction makes sense.

    Mark wasn’t a peripheral member of the NCT system.

    He was everywhere.

    But Mark’s Explanation Wasn’t About NCT Falling Apart

    Mark’s own explanation changes the story.

    In his letter to fans, he reflected on his 10 years with NCT and described reaching a point where he wanted to discover more clearly what his own music and creative identity could become.

    He also emphasized that the NCT members had listened to his concerns and supported his decision.

    That’s important.

    There is no official evidence that Mark left because NCT DREAM itself was collapsing.

    In fact, what happened next suggests almost the opposite.

    Four Months Later, Every Other NCT DREAM Member Renewed

    On August 20, SM Entertainment announced that Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung had renewed their contracts.

    Haechan had already renewed earlier.

    That meant all six current members of NCT DREAM were staying with SM Entertainment.

    SM specifically pointed to the members’ mutual trust and commitment to continuing together as NCT DREAM when announcing the renewals.

    So within only a few months, fans saw two seemingly opposite decisions.

    Mark: leave.

    Everyone else: stay.

    But those decisions may not actually contradict each other.

    Maybe Mark Wasn’t Running Away From NCT DREAM

    This is where the story becomes much more interesting.

    Mark didn’t disappear after leaving SM.

    He built something of his own.

    He established Upper Room, a one-person creative company formed with trusted longtime collaborators, and became its co-chief executive.

    Then on September 10, he released “My Friend,” his first new solo song since leaving NCT.

    That makes Mark’s decision look less like:

    “I don’t want NCT DREAM anymore.”

    And more like:

    “I want to find out what Mark looks like outside NCT.”

    Those are very different stories.

    Meanwhile, NCT DREAM Chose Continuity

    The other six members made a different choice.

    They stayed.

    NCT DREAM debuted in August 2016, meaning the contract decision arrived around the group’s 10th anniversary.

    That’s a significant point in any K-pop group’s career.

    The members are no longer rookies trying to establish their names.

    They already have a decade of shared history and songs including “Hot Sauce,” “Hello Future” and “Beatbox.”

    The question becomes less about whether they can leave.

    It’s about whether continuing together still makes sense.

    For the remaining six members, the answer was apparently yes.

    Fans Had to Process Two Truths at Once

    The Reddit reaction shows why this situation felt strange.

    Mark had become so closely associated with NCT that some fans struggled to imagine the group without him.

    Yet when the remaining DREAM members renewed, fans also celebrated the confirmation that the six-member lineup would continue together.

    Both reactions can exist at the same time.

    Fans can miss Mark.

    And NCT DREAM can continue.

    Mark can pursue an independent career.

    And his former members can decide that staying together is right for them.

    That’s what makes this more interesting than a typical contract-renewal story.

    Mark Left. NCT DREAM Stayed.

    Usually, K-pop contract stories are framed around one question:

    Will the group stay together or break up?

    NCT DREAM gave fans a much stranger answer.

    One of its most recognizable members left.

    Then every remaining member renewed.

    And Mark didn’t simply move to another agency—he created his own company and started building an independent career.

    So maybe the real question isn’t:

    “Why did Mark leave when everyone else stayed?”

    It might be:

    “After 10 years together, did Mark and NCT DREAM simply need different things?”

    We don’t know every private reason behind those individual decisions, and neither Mark nor SM has provided such a detailed comparison.

    But one thing is now clear.

    Mark chose a new beginning.

    NCT DREAM chose to continue.

    And after a decade together, both stories are only beginning again.