FANTASY BOYS (판타지보이즈)

A contract dispute with their own agency defined one of the more unusual chapters in FANTASY BOYS' short history. The eleven-member group, known in Korean as 소년 판타지, debuted on September 21, 2023, under PocketDol Studio, and built an early following — their fandom goes by Bandi — before a legal confrontation with that same label reshaped the terms of their career.

Debut & Formation

FANTASY BOYS assembled as a multinational act, drawing members from South Korea, Japan, and China. The group launched in September 2023 under PocketDol Studio, with Kang Minseo serving as leader alongside Yu Junwon, who also holds the center position. The eleven-member lineup — Hikari, Hikaru, Hong Sungmin, KSoul, Kaedan (the group's maknae), Kim Gyu Rae, Kim Woo Seok, Lee Hanbin, Ling Qi, Oh Hyeon Tae, and Yu Junwon — reflected the increasingly international construction common to contemporary K-pop acts assembled through competitive survival formats.

A Legal Turning Point

In May 2026, a South Korean court granted FANTASY BOYS and fellow PocketDol act BAE173 an injunction suspending their exclusive contracts with the agency. The court found that PocketDol Studio had violated its contractual obligations by failing to properly fulfill settlement terms it had previously agreed to; the agency's objection to the ruling was dismissed. PocketDol subsequently announced it would appeal to the Supreme Court, leaving the group's contractual status unresolved pending that outcome. The case placed FANTASY BOYS among the growing number of K-pop acts to pursue legal relief from agency contracts — a recourse that has become more visible in the industry as artists and labels negotiate the boundaries of long-term exclusive agreements.