Seo Jung-woo had sent the email just after thirty minutes, yet a perfectly arranged score had arrived.

Yoon Nana and Oh Dong-cheol were genuinely impressed.

Next to them, the twins, Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon, raised their arms high and shouted praises to Dimension.

Seo Sora shrugged for no reason.

‘I thought he was just a couch potato who wouldn’t budge on weekends, but who knew my brother had this kind of talent?’

She was itching to reveal that the composer Dimension was actually her older brother, Seo Jung-woo.

But she held back.

Seo Jung-woo had asked her to keep it a secret. For now, only she, Oh Dong-cheol, and manager Kim Hyeong-jin knew.

She pursed her lips, feeling something was off.

‘But when did my brother start composing? He sings a bit at karaoke, but I’ve never once seen him composing.’

Not just composing—he had fully arranged the piece, placing every instrument perfectly. There was no way someone could acquire such skills overnight.

The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

‘Huh? Now that I think about it, he should be at the police station right now. Does it even make sense for him to arrange everything like this during his lunch break?’

It didn’t make sense, but the results were right in front of her.

‘Is he really a genius?’

Still, since he was family, she decided to think positively.

‘If he really is a genius…’

Her thoughts quickly expanded in another direction.

‘My brother and I inherited the same genes from our parents, right? Then that means I must have the talent of a genius composer too… Of course! There’s no way they’d give all the good genes to just my brother!’

Seo Sora got excited.

‘Alright! From now on, I’m the genius singer-songwriter, Seo Sora!’

Yoon Nana was also excited. She clenched her fists in front of her chest and suggested,

“Let’s start practicing right away! Practice!”

President Oh Dong-cheol snapped back to his senses.

“That’s right! This isn’t the time to be standing around! Let’s go to the practice room right now—”

Seo Sora interrupted.

“The practice room got taken away. We couldn’t pay the rent.”

“Oh? Oh… right. Then where do we practice?”

“As usual, we’ll practice at the luxury karaoke room nearby. There’s one room with perfect soundproofing, and the owner always lets us use it when we come in the afternoon.”

“Alright. Then we’ll start there. We don’t have a practice room, but I’ll go into debt if I have to and rent the best recording studio with top-notch equipment.”

Yoon Nana asked,

“President, is our company really struggling that much? If we don’t take on debt, we can’t even release an album?”

“That’s why we have to make it big this time! If this song becomes a hit, everything will be solved. If we just release a digital single, I’ll find the journalists I know and beg them to promote it…”

Oh Dong-cheol trailed off mid-sentence.

He realized that journalists wouldn’t be able to resist covering this story. After all, Yoon Nana was a survivor who had been kidnapped by a murderer.

He turned to Yoon Nana and apologized.

“Nana, I’m sorry. I’ll have to use your name to lure in the reporters…”

Yoon Nana waved her hand dismissively.

“Oh, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I regretted a lot of things when I was trapped. One of my biggest regrets was giving up on my dream. I should have at least tried to release a digital single. So after I was rescued, I made up my mind. Even if I fail, I want to give it my all this time before giving up on my dream of becoming a singer.”

“I… I see.”

“But now we have ‘If We Could Meet Again.’ This song is really good. I want this. I want to be a singer. You can use my name however you want—just make sure the promotion is solid.”

She smiled brightly.

“We have to make it big.”

“Thank you so much, Nana! Let’s go!”

Seo Jung-woo sent the email with the sheet music attached and returned to the police station.

In the detective division, Detective Baek Sung-min called him out.

“Jung-woo, you said you’d just take a quick call from your sister, but how did that turn into you coming back after lunch break ended? What took you so long? Did your sister get into a fight or something? Did she ask you to bail her out?”

“She’s my younger sister.”

“Oh? Oh… right. But younger sisters still have fists, don’t they?”

Seo Jung-woo thought about the sharpshooter Seo Sora from the other world.

“She’s not really the type to use her fists.”

That Seo Sora was the kind to pull a gun before using her fists.

Feeling awkward, Baek Sung-min changed the subject.

“That murderer you caught confessed, and we found all the evidence. We’ve done our part, so we’ll be transferring him to the joint investigation unit today. They’ve been pestering us like crazy to hand him over.”

Seo Jung-woo asked,

“Why are they in such a hurry? Is there someone on their side who wants revenge on him?”

That was how things worked in the other world.

“Revenge? No way. Someone over there probably wants to hold a press briefing in front of the reporters.”

Several more days passed.

During that time, Seo Jung-woo learned the ins and outs of detective work. He also gathered knowledge and information about this world while moving around outside.

Detective Baek Sung-min complained.

“Jung-woo disappears way too often during work hours. He’s only just become a detective—it's not like he’s out looking for cases on his own.”

Jo Min-seok defended Seo Jung-woo.

“The chief told us to let him take it easy for a while. Thanks to Jung-woo catching that serial killer, the chief, the section chief, and even our team leader are all walking around with their heads held high.”

“But leaving work on time every day? That’s too much. Since when do detectives have fixed work hours?”

“Sounds like you’re jealous.”

“Yeah, I’m jealous. Aren’t you?”

Jo Min-seok smacked his lips.

“Of course, I am. I’m jealous of his results, and I’m jealous of his regular work hours.”

People can’t live on food alone. Seo Jung-woo was now bringing over daily necessities to the other world.

Even a simple box of tissues from this world was of much higher quality.

Seo Sora ran her fingers through her smooth, flowing hair and said,

“My hair feels so much better after using the new shampoo.”

“Don’t hold back on using conditioner and treatment either. There’s plenty stocked up in the house over there.”

Over the past few days, he had visited the northern Gyeonggi Jeokseong Gate defense line daily. It was because of the song Seo Sora’s team was practicing, If We Could Meet Again.

Park Cheol-woo listened to the recorded files each time and offered appropriate advice.

After listening to the latest recording that Seo Jung-woo brought today, he said,

“At first, I thought they were amateurs, but that’s not the case. These kids must have trained a lot, right?”

Seo Jung-woo knew that the four had been trainees for years. Until recently, they had only practiced occasionally in their spare time, but he had heard that they were quite dedicated in the beginning.

‘Considering Sora got into college through an entrance exam, she must not have spent all her time just practicing.’

“That’s how it is for everyone. They practice, they work—how many people get to just sing without worrying about anything else?”

Park Cheol-woo nodded.

“That’s true. Just singing won’t put food on the table.”

In this world, even popular singers and actors didn’t earn much.

Large-scale concerts had mostly disappeared. The few remaining big venues were difficult to rent, and gathering fans in one place was also challenging.

In the other world, singers were often invited to festivals and events hosted by various regions, organizations, and universities. But in this world, such festivals were rare, and even when singers were invited, their appearance fees weren’t high.

That’s why singers had to rely on digital music revenue. However, with new songs constantly being released and fierce competition, that wasn’t easy either.

It was the same for actors.

Actors in this world lived off their appearance fees. But since films and dramas were produced on small budgets, their fees weren’t high. The same applied to commercials.

Seo Jung-woo asked,

“So, how are they doing?”

“Over the past few days, I’ve given advice on the song’s original intent and emotion, as well as pointed out bad habits. They’ve understood a lot of it and corrected their habits. They have a good sense of the song. At this level, they won’t embarrass themselves if they release it.”

“Can they improve even more?”

“For that, I’d have to meet them in person and coach them on every little detail during practice. But they can’t come to this warzone, right?”

“They can’t. They’re far away.”

They were in an entirely different world.

“Then from now on, they’ll have to figure it out themselves.”

“I’ll let them know.”

Seo Jung-woo stood up.

“Thanks. Oh, and here’s a gift.”

He took out a large, transparent container from his bag and handed it over. Inside, it was filled with chocolates slightly smaller than ping-pong balls.

Park Cheol-woo’s mouth fell open.

“Whoa. How much did this cost?”

In this world, chocolate was a luxury item.

“You asked me to get some.”

“I didn’t expect you to bring this much.”

“If it’s too much, should I take some back?”

Park Cheol-woo quickly grabbed the container.

“If there’s extra, I can trade it for armor-piercing rounds or use it to recruit some decent people for temporary infiltration teams. So hands off my chocolate.”

ES Entertainment’s president, Oh Dong-cheol, spoke.

“I got word from Dimension. He said that with your current level, you won’t embarrass yourselves.”

Seo Sora, Yoon Nana, Park Ha-yeon, and Park Da-yeon’s faces lit up.

Yoon Nana asked,

“So he’s satisfied?”

“Nana, you think Dimension would be satisfied that easily?”

“Then what did he say?”

“He said that while you won’t embarrass yourselves if you debut now, your talent doesn’t stop here. He wants you to keep refining your skills because you can become even better.”

“Does that mean our debut is getting delayed?”

“No, we can’t afford that. If we miss this opportunity, the company might shut down before you even get a chance to debut. And while Dimension said you won’t embarrass yourselves, that’s just because his standards are insanely high. From my perspective, you’re more than good enough to make it big. More than good enough.”

Before his accident, Oh Dong-cheol had been a famous singer. He had the best sense for what would be a hit.

He asked Kim Hyeong-jin, the manager and the company's only employee.

“Hyeong-jin, did you say you found a recording studio with the best equipment?”

Kim Hyeong-jin reported with a bright face.

“Looks like the boss hasn’t lost his goodwill yet. You know the recording studio run by Kim Cheol-ho, right?”

“Of course. I worked on a few songs there when I was still active. Those songs turned out well, and that studio got some recognition in the industry, didn’t it?”

“I contacted them, and they agreed to let us use the studio for the entire day. On credit, no less.”

“Their equipment is top-notch. But Kim Cheol-ho works as an engineer too. Is he also handling the recording on credit?”

“Of course. It’s all been arranged.”

“That guy turned out to be a decent person! Tell him that once our group makes it big, we’ll definitely pay him back. Twice the amount, even. No, never mind. I should go and tell him myself. That’s the proper way to do it.”

“You can do that later. What about the journalists?”

Oh Dong-cheol smirked and held up three fingers.

“As soon as we release the song, articles will be published. Three different outlets. Once the articles are out from these three, they’ll spread quickly to other media.”

“Then the promotional plan is a success.”

Oh Dong-cheol clenched both fists and shouted to everyone.

“We finish the recording today, release the track immediately, and get the articles out right away! Let’s go!”

The four of them responded with shining eyes.

“Let’s go!”

The recording progressed smoothly.

ES Entertainment neither had the money nor the time to spend several days re-recording just to perfect the track. The song needed to be released in time for Yoon Na-na’s TV appearance to maximize publicity.

Kim Cheol-ho, the owner and engineer of the recording studio, spoke.

“No matter how many times I listen to it, it sounds really good. Dong-cheol, where did you get such a great song?”

“Dimension.”

“Never heard of them.”

Oh Dong-cheol boasted.

“A true genius hiding their identity for personal reasons.”

“Why hide their identity? Are they a wanted criminal or something?”

“No, absolutely not.”

‘More like a detective who catches wanted criminals.’

Kim Cheol-ho looked at the four discussing the sheet music and said, “They sing well, too.”

“Heh. Dimension and I personally trained them. Of course, they should be good.”

The company couldn’t afford to hire a vocal trainer, but Oh Dong-cheol had once been a famous singer. He personally trained the four, incorporating the correction points Seo Jung-woo had sent via email.

Kim Cheol-ho nodded.

“Dimension… Whoever they are, they’re going to make it big. Is ES Entertainment finally making a comeback?”

“We were never out of the game. Just wait until we make it big—we’ll pay double the recording fee.”

“Just keep using my studio in the future. After the song you recorded here became a hit back in the day, word spread that this place has good energy. Thanks to that, I made some decent money.”

“Of course. I’m not the type to forget a debt.”

“By the way, what’s their group name?”

Oh Dong-cheol was caught off guard.

“Huh? Group name?”

He gathered the four together.

“We haven’t decided on a name yet.”

The four of them only now realized it.

Seo Sora rubbed her hands together.

“What should we pick? It has to be something that just clicks when you hear it.”

Oh Dong-cheol suggested on the spot.

“I was thinking—how about ‘Valkyrie’?”

“What does that mean?”

“Female warriors from Norse mythology.”

“Where do we look like warriors? We need a pretty name, not something like that!”

“You guys are a bit tough, though. In my eyes, you’re more like a band of thieves… Ah, never mind.”

“If you’re just going to pick something random, why not just name us ‘Jokbal’? The sheet music was written on the back of a jokbal restaurant flyer, after all. ‘Jokbal’ or ‘Valkyrie,’ they both have ‘bal’ in them!”

Park Ha-yeon suddenly changed the topic.

“Now I want to eat jokbal.”

Park Da-yeon chimed in.

“Me too! Jokbal! Jokbal!”

In the end, Oh Dong-cheol ordered jokbal.

As she ate, Park Da-yeon made a suggestion.

“How about ‘Pink Pig’? It sounds cute.”

Seo Sora objected.

“Say that again, and I’ll eat you up. Grr!”

Park Ha-yeon heard the growl and had an idea.

“What about ‘Tiger’?”

This time, Yoon Na-na disagreed.

“That sounds too fierce. I want something cute.”

Tigers belong to the feline family. And among feline animals, the cutest is a cat.

Park Ha-yeon said, “When we were little, people used to call us kittens.”

Park Da-yeon nodded vigorously.

“Baby kittens, to be exact.”

Thus, the group was named ‘4Cats.’