Round 3 · Alien Stage
Black Sorrow
블랙 소로우
- Artists
- PARK BYEONG HOON
- Album
- ALNST Original Soundtrack Part.4
- Released
- 2023-01-05
Ivan's Round 3 song, released January 5th, 2023 as ALNST Original Soundtrack Part.4. Ivan wins the round 90 to 68 against Marty. The episode is where his history with Till is first shown.
Quick answer
- What is Black Sorrow?
- “Black Sorrow” is “블랙 소로우”, a Alien Stage song (Round 3) released 2023-01-05, performed by PARK BYEONG HOON.
- Opening line
- 질척한 어둠 웅크린 모습 Jilcheokhan eodum ungkeurin moseup
- Sung by
- PARK BYEONG HOON
- Written by
- STUDIO LICO, Manju · STUDIO LICO, Yongsu Choi
What it means
"Black Sorrow" is Ivan's Round 3 song and the moment Alien Stage stops being a competition show and becomes a tragedy. Its drowning imagery — a dark sea that deepens as you approach — is a love song written from the position of someone who can never be reached, and its Round 3 placement is what makes Ivan and Till's history legible for the first time.
질척한 어둠 웅크린 모습
Jilcheokhan eodum ungkeurin moseup
The soggy darkness crouched down
고개를 저어도 늘 같은 자리
Gogaereul jeo'eodo neul gateun jari
Even if we shake our heads, it's always the same place
닿지 않는 너, 나 홀로 상상을 해
Daji aneun neo, na hollo sangsangeul hae
I can’t reach you, so I imagine alone
빛이 나는 너, 옆에 선 나
Bich-i naneun neo, yeope seon na
You who shines, I stand next to you
So black, black as it can be
다가가면 갈수록 깊어지는 dark sea
Dagagamyeon galsurok gip-eojineun dark sea
The dark sea gets deeper as you approach
Like a black, black sorrow
A story of such woe
이 이야기의 끝에는 피로 물든
I iyagiui kkeut-eneun piro muldeun
At the end of this story, there is only a cold spot
시린 자리와 텅빈 공기뿐
Sirin jariwa teongbin gong-gippun
stained with blood and empty air
너의 눈길이 닿는 곳에
Neoui nun'gir-i daneun gos-e
Where your eyes reach
네 손끝 스칠 곳에
Ne sonkkeut seuchil gos-e
Where your fingertips brush
하염없이 너만을 기다리고
Hayeom-eobs-i neoman-eul gidarigo
waiting for you endlessly
검은 어둠 속 붉은 빛
Geom-eun eodum sok bulg-eun bit
The red light inside the black darkness
모래시계를 돌려
Moraesigyeleul dollyeo
Turning the hourglass
긴 시간을 너와
Gin sigan-eul neowa
Spending a long time with you
So black, black as it can be
다가가면 갈수록 깊어지는 dark sea
Dagagamyeon galsurok gip-eojineun dark sea
A dark sea gets deeper as you approach
Like a black, black sorrow
A story of such woe
이 이야기의 끝에는 피로 물든
I iyagiui kkeut-eneun piro muldeun
At the end of this story
시린 자리와 텅빈
Sirin jariwa teongbin
There is only a cold spot stained with blood
Such black, black sorrow
그리고 너
Geurigo neo
To me you are
언제나 나에겐 너
Eonjena na-egen neo
To me, you are my
Black sorrow
나에겐 너
Na-egen neo
You are my
Black sorrow
나에겐 너
Na-egen neo
You are my
Black sorrow
Editor's note
Black Sorrow — meaning
"Black Sorrow" is Ivan's Round 3 song and the moment Alien Stage stops being a competition show and becomes a tragedy. Its drowning imagery — a dark sea that deepens as you approach — is a love song written from the position of someone who can never be reached, and its Round 3 placement is what makes Ivan and Till's history legible for the first time.
The dark sea as the shape of unbridgeable distance
The central image is water that gets deeper the closer you swim toward the person you want. This is an unusually precise metaphor for a relationship defined by asymmetry: one person shining, the other standing beside them in the dark. Ivan's song does not ask to be loved back. It describes the structural impossibility of the thing and then keeps singing anyway. That refusal to convert longing into a demand is what distinguishes 'Black Sorrow' from a standard unrequited-love ballad.
Round 3 is where Ivan and Till's history surfaces
The episode that carries this song is the first time the story shows how Ivan and Till are connected. That timing matters: the audience already watched Till win Round 2 with a song about being made real by another person. Now Round 3 gives that other person a voice, and it is a voice describing distance rather than union. The two songs are a matched pair — one side experiences the bond as self-discovery, the other as a sea it cannot cross — and reading them together is the intended emotional payoff.
Winning 90 to 68 while singing about loss
Ivan wins his round decisively, which is the cruelest detail. The system rewards the very performance that lays bare his isolation. Alien Stage consistently does this: the arena converts private pain into score, and the performer has no choice but to be excellent at it. 'Black Sorrow' is therefore both a confession and a product, and the song's formal beauty — its control, its restraint — is inseparable from the fact that it is being judged.
Restraint as characterisation
Ivan's defining trait across the franchise is what he does not say. The song mirrors this: it never names Till, never pleads, never resolves. Compared with Till's Round 2 track, which is all fractured outpouring, 'Black Sorrow' is almost composed. That contrast is the character work. Two people share one bond and experience it as opposite emotions — Till feels found, Ivan feels barred — and the songs, not exposition, are how the show tells you so.
How this connects to the Zombie Stage AU
Zombie Stage reimagines Alien Stage's performers as the undead on a livestock stage, but it keeps the emotional architecture intact. The Ivan–Till relationship is one of the lines the AU re-reads rather than replaces, and the site's comparison pages track what changes and what does not. If 'Black Sorrow' is your entry point, the related relationship page linked below is the natural next read; if you arrived from the Zombie Stage side, this page is the mainline source the AU is answering.
Meaning notes are written by long-time Alien Stage viewers, cross-referenced against VIVINOS's own YouTube community posts and SCALAR's release liner notes. Corrections welcome at [email protected].
Credits
- Composer:
- STUDIO LICO, Yongsu Choi
- Lyricist:
- STUDIO LICO, Manju
- Vocals:
- PARK BYEONG HOON
- Arrangement:
- STUDIO LICO, Yongsu Choi
- Producer:
- Do Sungil
Featured in this song
Lyrics transcribed by fans for educational and reference purposes. All rights belong to VIVINOS / SCALAR / STUDIO LICO. For takedown or correction requests contact [email protected]. Romanization follows the Revised Romanization of Korean; translations are non-literal where required to preserve meaning.
