Yoon Nana was flustered. The radio host asked about Dimension's identity on a live broadcast.

‘He's quite well known. As a detective.’

She had promised to keep Seo Jung-woo’s identity a secret. So she couldn’t answer.

Seo Sora quickly interjected.

“It’s a mystery! A mystery!”

“Excuse me?”

“Well... He wants to be judged solely on his music, so he keeps his identity hidden!”

“Ah, I see. There are some artists like that. But since he’s a songwriter, I’m not sure why he would do that.”

The host didn’t press further. The broadcast was ending soon.

After the show, the four of them hurriedly left the station.

Yoon Nana let out a sigh of relief.

“Wow. That was a shock. I didn’t expect him to come at us like that.”

Seo Sora nodded in agreement.

“Right? If we let our guard down, we could’ve been in real trouble.”

“But Sora, where’s Detective D?”

“He should be nearby.”

Seo Sora immediately called him.

“Oppa, we’re out. Huh? Manager? He left. Why? He’s the only employee at the company, and now that we’ve debuted, he suddenly has a mountain of work. Ah! But he left the car keys! You have to give us a ride.”

Seo Sora hung up.

Yoon Nana’s eyes sparkled as she asked, “What did he say? Will he drive us?”

“Of course. We’re past the level where we take public transportation, aren’t we?”

Yoon Nana clenched her fists in excitement. “Yes!”

Park Ha-yeon playfully objected.

“But nobody recognizes us even if we take the bus or subway. We were only on the radio today, so we can totally use public transportation.”

Park Da-yeon nodded vigorously.

“We’ve barely been on TV, so nobody knows our faces. We didn’t even have enough money to make a proper digital album cover, so Nana unnie had to draw one.”

Yoon Nana protested. “Hey! You said I did a good job back then!”

Seo Jung-woo and 4Cats met in front of a fried chicken restaurant about 200 meters from the station.

Seo Jung-woo greeted them.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Sora’s older brother, Jung-woo.”

The twins bowed deeply at the waist.

“Thank you so much!”

“Because of your song, we got to visit a broadcast station today!”

Seo Jung-woo thought to himself.

‘I should be the one thanking you. That song was written by your father from the other world.’

“Oh, well. It’s nothing.”

The twins clapped excitedly.

“Wow! So you really were that guy from the police station!”

“Why didn’t you tell us back then? You should’ve said something!”

Seo Jung-woo made an excuse.

“At the police station, people only know me as a detective.”

The twins were even more thrilled.

“Wow! I love that! A detective hiding his abilities!”

“Keeping them totally secret!”

Yoon Nana, smiling, pushed the squealing twins aside.

“Thank you so much.”

“It was just a coincidence that I gave you the song.”

“That too, but also for saving me before. You saved my life twice now.”

“Saving you was just my duty as a detective, and the song…”

The first song was given for Seo Sora. The second was for the twins. Come to think of it, neither was given specifically for Yoon Nana.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, I love it.”

Seo Sora was slightly bewildered.

‘Why is Nana acting so demure? This isn’t like her.’

They entered the restaurant and found seats.

People glanced at them and whispered.

“Are they celebrities?”

“That guy too?”

“I don’t recognize any of them, but they must be.”

“The station is nearby. Probably.”

Seo Sora ordered food.

“One half-and-half chicken—no, wait. One seasoned, one soy sauce, one fried! And lots of pickled radish, please!”

Yoon Nana stopped her.

“We can’t eat that much.”

“It’s fine. If there’s extra, we’ll just take it to go.”

Yoon Nana was paying for the chicken today.

“R-really?”

“Our oppa likes chicken.”

“I’ll make sure to pack some for him.”

Seo Jung-woo glanced at the beer others were drinking and smacked his lips.

‘Real beer!’

To brew beer, you need wheat, barley, hops, etc. While those crops existed in the other world, they were scarce.

Over there, alcohol was made by mixing water with ethanol and adding flavoring. Even their beer was just ethanol with beer flavoring.

‘Real beer is supposed to taste amazing.’

Hunter Park Cheol-woo, the twins’ father, used to reminisce about fried chicken and beer.

‘Is it really that good?’

Seo Sora also ordered drinks.

“Nana and I will have draft beer. You two get cola. Oppa, what about you?”

“I’ll have a dr—”

“Cola or soda?”

“Huh?”

“You’re driving, remember?”

In the end, Seo Jung-woo couldn’t drink. But at least he got to eat all the chicken he wanted. They had planned to take leftovers home, but they ended up finishing everything.

After leaving the restaurant, Park Ha-yeon asked in amazement.

“Detective D, how do you eat so much and stay so slim?”

“Huh? Detective D?”

“Hehe. We call you that among ourselves. If we say ‘Detective Dimension,’ people might catch on.”

“That makes sense.”

With drinks and chicken, their speech naturally became more casual. Seo Jung-woo was like an older brother to the twins’ close unnie, and he had even given them songs. It was only natural.

“But really, how do you stay so slim? Do you have some kind of weight-loss pill?”

The twins alternated between calling him Detective D and D-oppa.

Seo Jung-woo thought about it. There were indeed such pills in the other world.

“Don’t take those. They’re bad for your body.”

In that world, there were drugs that temporarily enhanced reflexes or strength. They were made by mixing extracts from monsters with narcotics.

These drugs could temporarily boost combat ability, but when the effects wore off, they caused severe side effects and wrecked the body. The side effects were so extreme that they did make people lose weight.

“Then what’s your secret?”

Back in the other world, he had to eat bland food and fight monsters. The lack of taste prevented overeating.

“Running around catching bad guys?”

Monsters were bad guys too.

“Wow! That’s so cool, Detective D!”

They arrived at the parking lot.

Seo Sora pointed to a red car parked in the distance.

“That one. The red car.”

Seo Jung-woo was taken aback.

“A round, red… compact car?”

It was also quite old.

Seo Sora explained.

“Our CEO had to put his house up as collateral, so he can’t afford a car. The manager doesn’t have a proper car either. He sold his and switched to this.”

Two people with station ID badges walked past the car. One of them remarked, “Huh? This junk car belongs to Hyeong-jin. Did he come to the station today?”

The other person asked, “Hyeong-jin?”

“Oh Dong-cheol, the manager.”

“Ah, Kim Hyeong-jin. But what's up with this car?”

“Oh Dong-cheol went completely broke. Not sure if Kim Hyeong-jin went down with him, but he sold his car and now drives this.”

“Oh Dong-cheol is from ES Entertainment, right? They just released a digital single. He should change his car.”

“That place won’t last long.”

“Why? The new song is good.”

“It’s just one song. You need to do events to make money, and it's hard to land good schedules with just one song.”

“That’s true.”

“There are agencies keeping them in check, too. Mark my words, ES Entertainment won’t last. It'll go under soon.”

Park Ha-yeon fumed.

“Ugh! We don’t just have one song! We have two!”

Park Da-yeon added,

“We’re going to make both songs a hit! We won’t go under!”

Seo Jung-woo spoke.

“It’s three songs.”

The four turned their wide eyes to Seo Jung-woo.

Seo Jung-woo continued.

“Who do they think they are, judging based on just a car? Sora, remember their faces. If they contact you for a broadcast appearance, reject them once. The fact that they recognized that car means they’re definitely industry people.”

“I’ll reject them three times! But wait, does that mean we’re getting another song?”

“Of course.”

Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon quickly bowed to Seo Jung-woo.

“Thank you!”

“We’ll worship you three times over!”

Seo Jung-woo chuckled.

‘Honestly, I should be thanking you two. I’ll be getting the new song from your dad anyway. But worship? What are they talking about?’

He walked over to the car and opened the door.

“This car really is small.”

In that other world, cars were made bigger so they could be reinforced with armor plating.

Seo Sora raised her voice.

“We’re slim, so we all fit! Who’s sitting in the front—”

Yoon Nana quickly jumped into the passenger seat.

“Nana? Nana? Nana!”

Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon stomped their feet in frustration.

“I was going to sit there first!”

“The two of us could’ve squeezed in together!”

“Uh, no, that’s not happening.”

“Hey!”

Left with no choice, the twins and Seo Sora piled into the back seat.

Seo Jung-woo drove toward the twins' home.

“You two live in Mapo, right?”

The twins quickly answered.

“Yes! Just past Mapo Bridge, we’re almost there!”

“Or we could go over Seongsan Bridge, drive all the way up to Heyri, and then come back!”

Seo Jung-woo replied,

“No. We’re not going anywhere else. We’re going straight home.”

He immediately crossed Mapo Bridge.

“What's your address—”

Suddenly, a voice interrupted.

– Turn left in 300 meters.

“Huh?”

Yoon Nana held up her smartphone.

“I turned on the navigation.”

Seo Jung-woo pretended to know what that was.

“Ah, navigation.”

But his mind was spinning.

‘I already knew phones had maps! But they actually guide you too? And even draw a line on the map to show the way?’

In that other world, the U.S. had stopped launching new GPS satellites. The only ones left were from the 20th century.

They didn’t launch new ones because just one monster with electromagnetic disruption abilities appearing within 100km could interfere with GPS signals.

Instead of wasting money on ineffective GPS satellites, the U.S. built ground-based weapon manufacturing plants instead.

That said, this wasn’t the first time Seo Jung-woo had seen something like this.

Some tactical equipment in that world used gyroscopic sensors to display current location.

The twins lived in a luxury apartment complex in Mapo. Their beat-up compact car, which didn’t have a resident vehicle tag, was stopped at the gate by the security guard.

“How can I help you?”

From the backseat, Park Da-yeon leaned out the window and waved.

“Mister! It’s us!”

The security guard smiled and lifted the barrier.

“Ah, Ha-yeon, it’s you.”

“It’s Da-yeon!”

Seo Jung-woo felt out of place in such a high-rise apartment.

‘If a drake attack happened here, it’d be a disaster.’

High-rises had lost popularity in that world. Newly built buildings never exceeded five stories.

The most preferred homes were detached houses, so they could build underground shelters.

Before getting out of the car, Park Ha-yeon made a suggestion.

“Oppa, unnie, let’s hang out at our place for a bit before you leave.”

Seo Jung-woo refused outright.

“Be good kids who sleep early and wake up early. That’s how you grow tall.”

“Ugh, we’re already grown up!”

“Sora, get these two minors out of the car.”

The car left Mapo and headed northeast through Seoul. As he passed Gwanghwamun Square, Seo Jung-woo wondered,

‘Why did they put paving stones on the road?’

There were still so many things about this world he didn’t understand.

Yoon Nana and Seo Sora lived in the same neighborhood. During the drive, Yoon Nana kept stealing glances at Seo Jung-woo, her eyes sparkling.

Seo Jung-woo spoke.

“You’re gonna wear out my face.”

“Okay, I’ll look gently.”

He parked in front of Yoon Nana’s house.

Fidgeting with her fingers, Yoon Nana said,

“If you come inside, my parents would be so happy to see you.”

“Me?”

“You saved me last time. They really want to treat you to a meal. Every time my mom thinks about it, her heart races, so I haven’t told her yet.”

“Then for her health, it's probably better if she doesn’t see me today. And if your parents are home, why are the lights off? Get out.”

Yoon Nana, who had been pretending to be well-behaved ever since the chicken restaurant, accidentally clicked her tongue.

“Tch!”