ES Entertainment’s president, Oh Dong-cheol, had finally secured a broadcast schedule.

It wasn’t for TV but for a radio show. Still, it would be 4cats’ first-ever broadcast appearance.

Oh Dong-cheol spoke,

“I’m sorry it’s just a radio show, but it’s a popular one with a lot of listeners, so it’ll be great for promotion.”

Seo Sora responded confidently,

“President! Don’t worry. If we sing ‘If We Can Meet Again’ there, the listeners will be completely blown away.”

“Huh? The song you’re performing is ‘Smash It’ though.”

“Huh? But that song hasn’t even been released yet?”

“It’s going to be released on that broadcast. That was the agreement when setting up this schedule. The first song got publicity through the news thanks to Nana allowing it, but we can’t do the same for the second song. It has to be announced on air.”

Yoon Nana asked,

“But we still haven’t perfected that song yet.”

“That’s why you have to practice even harder until the broadcast. Let’s go! Time to practice!”

ES Entertainment was on the brink of collapse, so they couldn’t even afford to rent a practice studio.

These days, 4cats practiced their singing at a nearby karaoke room. There was one room in a karaoke place near the company with good soundproofing, and if they went during the day, they could rent it.

However, singing practice all day long put a strain on their throats. They had to take enough breaks to avoid damaging their voices.

Fortunately, the four members of 4cats were excellent at taking breaks. Since resting in the karaoke room would cost money, they would return to the company whenever they needed to rest.

Meanwhile, President Oh Dong-cheol and Manager Kim Hyeong-jin went out to secure more schedules.

Seo Sora was the first to throw herself onto the couch.

Yoon Nana sat in the president’s chair and propped both legs up on the desk. Her long legs stretched out over the surface.

Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon were wrestling over the TV remote, fighting over which channel to watch.

Seo Sora, still lying on the couch, commented,

“You’re twins, so why do you have such different tastes in TV?”

Park Ha-yeon snapped back,

“Unnie! The only thing that’s the same is our faces!”

“I dunno, I think you’re similar in a lot of other ways too.”

Still sprawled out with her long legs on the desk, Yoon Nana called out,

“Sora.”

“Yeah?”

“Let me meet Dimension-nim.”

Seo Sora stiffened. Seo Jung-woo had told her not to reveal his identity.

“He’s really shy around new people.”

“I’ve recently met two people I consider my saviors. One is Detective Seo Jung-woo, who saved my life. The other is Dimension-nim.”

“I mean… calling him a savior is a bit much…”

“He saved my life, so he’s literally a lifesaver. I got to thank Detective Seo Jung-woo in person. But Dimension-nim is also my savior. He reignited a dream I was about to give up on, gave us two songs, and now, we’re even going on a broadcast thanks to him. If Detective Seo saved my life, Dimension-nim helped me find my dream again.”

Seo Sora was getting increasingly flustered.

“Nana… No. That’s not it.”

“Just reading the lyrics he wrote, you can tell how intelligent he is. And if he composed those beautiful songs, he must have a rich emotional depth too. He’s someone with both intelligence and sensitivity.”

“No! That’s just an illusion! If you meet him in person, you’ll be disappointed.”

“Even if I am, I still want to meet him and thank him properly. So Sora, please let me meet him.”

“Uh… Well, the thing is…”

Just then, as Park Ha-yeon flipped through the TV channels, she suddenly shouted in surprise.

“Ah! That’s the police station we visited!”

Seo Sora saw this as her chance to change the subject. She quickly sat up from the couch.

“Seriously? Are you sure?”

“They only showed the building for a second, but I’m sure. I have a good eye for recognizing police stations!”

On the TV, the police chief was giving a briefing about the latest case.

– The police immediately deployed all investigative resources and successfully rescued all kidnapped victims within 1 hour and 30 minutes of identifying the case.

Just from listening for a few moments, it was clear they were talking about the case involving a kidnapped detective.

Yoon Nana grew worried.

“Detective Seo Jung-woo is at that station too. It’s not him, is it?”

Seo Sora was worried as well. She argued with Seo Jung-woo a lot, but he was still her older brother.

She quickly sent him a text.

– What’s going on? That’s not you, right?

His reply came back almost immediately.

– Did I show up on screen?

She was so startled that she immediately called him. The moment he picked up, she yelled,

“Were you really kidnapped?!”

– No. I caught the kidnappers.

“Phew… You scared me! Why didn’t you just say that in your text instead of making it sound weird?”

– You’re the one who misunderstood. Do you really think I’d get beaten up and kidnapped?

“Then what happened?”

– Watch the news for the details. It’s my turn soon, so I can’t talk longer.

“Huh? Your turn? What do you mean—”

Before she could finish, the call ended.

“Seriously, explain things properly.”

She grumbled as she put her phone down, only to find the other three girls staring at her.

“Huh? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Yoon Nana asked directly,

“Who were you just talking to? Why did you call them ‘oppa’?”

“Uh?”

“Your oppa works at that police station?”

Seo Sora panicked. In her rush, she hadn’t thought about how obvious her call must have been.

“Uh, well… yeah…”

Yoon Nana knew she had an older brother, but she didn’t know his name or job.

“Is your oppa a cop?”

Realizing she couldn’t lie her way out of this, Seo Sora nodded hesitantly.

“Uh, yeah. But just a patrol officer.”

“But you called him right after seeing the news about a kidnapped detective. So your oppa is a detective?”

“Uh… Yeah.”

Yoon Nana got down from the president’s chair and sat in front of Seo Sora.

“Sora. Look me in the eye and answer me.”

“O-okay.”

“Your oppa’s surname is Seo, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The detective who saved me was also a Seo. Detective Seo Jung-woo.”

Seo Sora let out an awkward laugh.

“Ahaha… There are a lot of people with the surname Seo in the world…”

Just then, Park Da-yeon shouted,

“Ah! It’s that detective oppa!”

All four girls turned their eyes to the TV.

The police chief introduced Seo Jung-woo.

– This is Detective Seo Jung-woo, the one who solved the case.

Seo Jung-woo stepped forward, and the camera zoomed in on him.

Reporters bombarded him with questions.

One reporter asked,

– Detective Seo! You’re the same person who arrested the 24-hour serial killer and cleared the AKX Soft president’s murder charges while catching the real culprit, correct?

– Yes. Somehow, that ended up being me.

– This is the third time you’ve solved a case within two hours of the initial report, isn’t it?

– Yes. Somehow, that just keeps happening.

– Truly amazing. Your current rank is patrol officer...

The reporter brought the document close to his eyes to check the text.

From beside him, another reporter muttered in frustration.

– Seriously. How old is this data?

The first reporter adjusted his question.

– It seems the material we received is outdated. Detective Seo Jung-woo, what is your current rank?

– Patrol officer.

– Excuse me? You're really just a patrol officer?

A murmur spread through the room.

Another reporter quickly raised a hand to ask a question.

– According to this data, you were previously stationed at the local precinct.

Seo Jung-woo didn't know anything about his time at the precinct. Fortunately, that wasn’t the focus of the question.

– You began your career as a detective at this police station, and the duration of your service is, uh... ten days?

A different reporter's surprised voice was picked up through a microphone.

– Wait, what? Why does this data look like this? This can't be right.

The reporter checked the document again, then, as if struck by a realization, asked hesitantly,

– How long have you been working as a detective?

– Roughly ten days, I think.

Seo Jung-woo had been living between two worlds lately. Since he used twice as much time as others, his sense of dates had become a bit hazy. So he just answered approximately.

– Excuse me? Only ten days?

– Yeah, roughly.

The murmuring among the reporters grew louder.

Many of them sensed a major news story.

‘His rank is patrol officer, and he's only been a detective for ten days?’

‘A patrol officer who just became a detective solved three major cases in ten days?’

‘This is huge!’

Their interest in the police chief vanished.

As they surged forward, bombarding questions, one stood out.

– Detective Seo Jung-woo! How on earth did you develop such incredible investigative skills?

This was a question he couldn't answer truthfully. So he deflected.

– I just studied hard using textbooks, ah, wait, that’s not it.

Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon clapped their hands and squealed.

“Wow! That oppa is amazing!”

“So cool!”

Yoon Nana viewed the situation differently from the twins.

As she looked back and forth between the TV screen and Seo Sora, she asked,

“Now that I see it, Sora and Detective Seo really do look alike.”

Seo Sora instinctively flared up.

“We do not look alike at all!”

Reacting so strongly was practically an admission.

“Detective Seo is your real brother, isn’t he?”

Seo Sora rolled her eyes, thinking of a way out, but there was none.

Accepting defeat, she clasped her hands together and gave a sheepish smile.

“Hehe. Sorry!”

Yoon Nana sighed deeply.

“Why didn’t you tell me? You barely mentioned your brother before.”

Seo Sora had an excuse ready.

“Well… In the past, if I told my brother about you, he’d definitely ask me to set up a blind date. So I just never mentioned it.”

Yoon Nana’s cheeks turned slightly pink.

“I wouldn’t have minded if you set one up.”

“No way!”

Snapping back to reality, Yoon Nana pressed on.

“Fine, I get why you hid it before. But why didn’t you tell me after I was rescued?”

“Because my brother told me not to.”

“Huh? Why?”

Seo Sora felt cornered. She turned back to the TV.

The reporters continued to fire questions at Seo Jung-woo, but his half-hearted answers were bringing the broadcast close to a disaster.

Eventually, the police chief stepped in to handle the interview.

Seo Jung-woo disappeared from the screen.

Yoon Nana firmly declared,

“This isn’t something that should be a secret. I need to know why.”

Seo Sora gave up resisting.

“Alright. I’ll tell you. But this stays between us.”

“I promise.”

“I need to make a call. Just listen quietly.”

She placed her phone on the table and called Seo Jung-woo, setting it to speaker mode so everyone could hear.

After several rings, he picked up.

– What?

“Did you see the news? Where are you? Are you alone?”

– I’m on the rooftop, avoiding reporters.

She started with good news.

“Oppa, we got a broadcast schedule! It’s for radio, but it has really high listenership.”

– That’s great.

“But we’re announcing ‘Smash It’ there.”

– When’s the broadcast?

“Four days from now.”

She heard the sound of him chuckling.

– You guys can’t even crawl yet, and now you want to fly? You still can’t sing that song properly.

“We’re practicing like crazy! So, can you come and check on us? We’d improve a lot faster if you did.”

– Hey, you just saw the interview. I’m busy catching bad guys. I don’t have time for that.

“I’ll buy you beef with our broadcast fee!”

This time, she heard the sound of him swallowing.

– Ah, almost fell for it. Radio fees don’t pay much, and you won’t even get your cut for a while. You already took an advance on your pay to buy a laptop for my songs, and now you’re talking about beef?

“You figured that out?”

– Of course. You need to get your money first so I can at least get some chicken out of you. Tell your president to give you guys half of all broadcast earnings as soon as the company gets them.

“And if he refuses?”

– Tell him I haven’t signed the contract for ‘Smash It’ yet.

“Got it.”

– When you get your payout, bring home some chicken.

“But, oppa…”

– Half-and-half, extra pickled radish.

“Sorry.”

– If you’re sorry, bring beer too.

“We’re on speakerphone.”

– Huh?

Seo Jung-woo wasn’t entirely used to smartphones yet. He had learned how to use navigation apps, but speakerphone mode was new to him.

“Nana and the twins are listening to everything right now.”

A silence followed.

Then suddenly, he blurted out,

– Oh! A suspect just passed by! Gotta go catch them!

“You said you’re on the police station rooftop!”

– Hey, I’m busy! Gotta hang up!

The call disconnected.

Seo Sora turned to face the three girls.

All of them were staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths.

A message popped up on her phone.

– Tell them if they spread this to anyone, there won’t be another song.

The message appeared on her lock screen, making sure all three of them saw it.

They were too stunned to speak.

Finally, Yoon Nana regained her senses and asked,

“Sora, what was that? He reviews our songs? What was that about the contract for ‘Smash It’?”

“You heard the call and saw the message. He’s fine with being on TV, but for some reason, he wants to keep this a secret. So I couldn’t tell you.”