Seo Jung-woo wanted to tell the truth.

'The other half of those twins is alive in that world.'

They weren’t the exact twins Park Cheol-woo had raised, but they were still his daughters.

Before the split of parallel dimensions on January 1, 2000, when the two worlds were still one, his wife had been pregnant with twins. That meant that the two in the other dimension were also Park Cheol-woo's daughters.

'Daughters he doesn’t even know were born.'

Seo Jung-woo figured that if Park Cheol-woo found out about the twins, at the very least, he wouldn’t react negatively.

After all, Seo Jung-woo himself had no issue accepting the Seo Sora of the other world as his real younger sister. It just felt like he had gained another twin sister.

Park Cheol-woo began explaining the song playing now.

“This song has to be sung cutely by those two. That’s how I originally wrote it. But if I let only them sing it, the other two might feel left out, so I adjusted the arrangement a bit so that all four of them could sing. Of course, the main focus is still on those two.”

“Any advice on how they should sing it?”

“I wrote everything down. So…”

Park Cheol-woo made a request.

“Bring me the recording files as soon as they’re ready. I want to hear them as soon as possible.”

Seo Jung-woo made a suggestion.

“This place is full of electromagnetic interference, so you can’t even send emails. Why don’t you come to the rear and rest for a bit? You need rest to fight well.”

“You saw that guy who just got holes punched through his stomach, right? Even if he has to spend ten times the normal medical cost, he’ll make sure he’s completely healed within a week and come right back to the battlefield. I’m the same. If I leave this place, I can’t sleep at night.”

“Then fight in a less dangerous gate. Or at least don’t go too deep into the gate’s territory. I can’t come here every day, you know?”

“I’ll take care of my life, so don’t worry. Oh, by the way, did you bring anything today?”

Seo Jung-woo pulled out a bottle of instant coffee and alcohol from his bag. The alcohol was whiskey from a store in his world, transferred into a bottle from this one.

“I saw you ran out of coffee.”

“I felt bad drinking it alone when everyone else was risking their lives, so I shared it cup by cup, and before I knew it, it was gone.”

“So I brought more. And this whiskey—drink it alone.”

Park Cheol-woo, half in disbelief, opened the bottle and sniffed the aroma, then let out an impressed sigh.

“This is real whiskey?”

“Drink it alone. You know drinking before a covert mission is suicide, right? Sleep it off properly until you’re sober.”

Park Cheol-woo let out a hearty laugh.

“You brought this expensive whiskey just for that? Alright. I’ll take a full day off, so don’t worry.”

As he listened to the music, Seo Jung-woo asked,

“By the way, what’s the title of this song?”

With a wistful expression, Park Cheol-woo answered,

“Little Baby Kittens.”

Seo Jung-woo crossed over the parallel dimension. It was still work hours at the police station.

He planned to go home after his regular evening shift and send an email to ES Entertainment.

But there was no need for that.

When he got home after work, Yoon Nana, Park Ha-yeon, and Park Da-yeon were playing with Seo Sora.

As soon as Seo Jung-woo stepped inside, Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon bent their waists at a perfect right angle and greeted him.

“You have arrived!”

“Welcome to our humble abode!”

Seo Jung-woo was slightly taken aback.

“What do you mean, humble abode? This is my house!”

“Hehe. We made a mess, so it became humble.”

“But why are you two here? Nana lives nearby, so she can visit a friend’s house, but you two live in Mapo.”

Yoon Nana chuckled and explained on their behalf.

“Oppa, you said you were going to give us another song, right? These two thought you might give it today, so they came over and waited.”

“Ahh.”

“They're still young, so they think everything happens instantly…”

“Well, I was planning to give it today anyway, so they weren’t wrong.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Yoon Nana looked confused.

“You just mentioned the new song yesterday.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s only been one day. There’s no way you could have already written a new song.”

“Oh, no, that’s not it.”

“I knew it. That would’ve been shocking—”

“I just picked it up on the way.”

“Huh?”

He had brought it from the other world. But no one believed him.

Suddenly, Park Ha-yeon raised both hands high.

“All hail Detective D!”

Park Da-yeon struck the same pose.

“Here stands the genius of geniuses! Detective D!”

“I knew it! I knew you could do it in a day!”

“Me too! Me too!”

Yoon Nana asked,

“Is this for real?”

Seo Jung-woo answered,

“I’ll print it out, so just wait a moment.”

As he went into his room, Yoon Nana clasped her hands together and gazed at the door.

“D-oppa is really amazing.”

Seo Sora boasted,

“Hmph. Our family's genes are a bit extraordinary.”

“Then why are you…”

“Shut up?”

Seo Jung-woo loaded the sheet music he had brought from the other world into a composition program in this world and printed four copies. He walked back into the living room with the sheets and said,

“Just so you know, Ha-yeon and Da-yeon…”

Park Ha-yeon asked, shocked,

“We don’t have parts in this song?”

Park Da-yeon pouted.

“Oppa! Can’t we sing even just a little?”

Seo Jung-woo, flustered, asked,

“Why do you think you don’t have parts?”

Park Ha-yeon answered,

“Well, Sora unnie is your real sister, Nana unnie is the prettiest, and we…”

Park Da-yeon’s voice softened.

“We sing the worst.”

Seo Jung-woo chuckled.

“This song is called ‘Little Baby Kittens.’”

Park Da-yeon’s face lit up.

“That was our childhood nickname!”

“I figured. The little kittens in this song are you two.”

“Huh?”

“This song was made just for you two. That’s why it’s overflowing with cuteness.”

It was a song Park Cheol-woo had written for his twins in the other world.

“So in this song, Sora and Nana actually have fewer parts.”

Seo Sora protested.

“So you’re abandoning me now? Now that you have Nana and the twins, I’ve lost my usefulness, huh?”

“You never had any to begin with.”

Yoon Nana interjected.

“Oppa, don’t hit her with facts like that. That was a direct blow to her soul.”

Seo Sora shouted.

“Hey! Whose side are you on?!”

Suddenly, the twins dropped to the living room floor and bowed deeply.

Seo Jung-woo quickly stopped them.

“Hey. That doesn’t mean you have to bow like that...”

The twins raised their upper bodies from the floor and lifted both arms high.

“The one who has saved us, his name is D! Worship Lord D!”

“Triple the reverence!”

“Offer a tribute to Lord D!”

“We shall cut open the belly of the pink pig!”

The piggy bank in Park Da-yeon’s room was pink.

Seo Jung-woo spoke.

“This is starting to feel like I’ve become the leader of some cult. If you want this sheet music, cut it out.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

ES Entertainment had no budget for promotions. The hype surrounding the debut song of kidnap victim Yoon Nana had already been used up, making it ineffective.

So, 4cats released their second song, Smash It, through a radio broadcast.

The show had a high listener rating, so many people heard the song.

Right after the broadcast, the digital single was also released.

Oh Dong-cheol had been scouring online sites for reactions ever since.

The response was better than expected.

As soon as Smash It aired on the radio, posts started popping up on forums, and soon the reactions exploded.

The next day, the song even climbed into the real-time search rankings on portal sites.

Seeing that ranking, Oh Dong-cheol threw both hands up in the air and cheered.

“Waaaahhh!”

Excited, he continued checking internet reactions.

On a major online community forum, someone had posted a comparison between If We Can Meet Again and Smash It. Comments poured in.

– Is this real?

– I thought an unknown rookie group got lucky with one good song, but both of their songs are hits.

– If We Can Meet Again was upbeat but had a touch of nostalgia. Smash It is just pure excitement.

– This could totally be used as a military song.

In the other world, some Hunter clans actually did use it as a military anthem.

– But guys, do you realize something? We still don’t really know what 4cats look like.

– Wasn’t there a photo in the previous article?

– Nope. Apparently, the twins are already in their senior year of high school, but no photos have been released.

– It’s not like they don’t have any pictures to release, right?

– No way. They must have proper studio photos.

– 4cats doesn’t appear on TV either. Are they going for a mysterious image?

One more comment followed below.

– It’s not about mystery. Variety show producers just aren’t inviting them.

After reading that, ES Entertainment’s president, Oh Dong-cheol, grumbled.

“Come on, variety show PDs, it’s been long enough since that incident. They can invite them now. Hey, Hyeong-jin, what about event bookings?”

“Nothing yet.”

“We really need to get on a music show, huh? They actually want us there.”

“The girls haven’t practiced any choreography at all, so they can’t go. They don’t even have a dance routine.”

“Of course, we should have the choreography made first and get them to practice. But where are those kids? They should be coming here to practice now!”

“They don’t even have a proper practice room, so they go to karaoke rooms to practice. Are you going to nag them when they actually show up at the office too?”

“Obviously, I’m only saying this because they’re not here! Anyway...”

Oh Dong-cheol’s excitement dimmed slightly.

“If we could just land a commercial, it would ease our financial situation a bit.”

“President.”

“Huh? What?”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself. A CF for a group that just debuted?”

“Am I?”

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Oh Dong-cheol called Yoon Nana.

“I have a good idea for the dance issue.”

The call connected.

“Hey, Nana. Do you know where the girls are right now?”

– We’re all together.

“Perfect. Bring everyone here. Let’s start working on the choreography.”

– We’re making it ourselves?

“You guys have been practicing dance moves a lot, right? Let’s put together familiar moves and create a routine. That way, you won’t have to spend too much time practicing before we perform on TV. Just for one song. After that, I’ll officially hire a choreographer.”

From the side, Kim Hyeong-jin objected.

“President, how is that a good idea? That’s just amateurish.”

Yoon Nana’s response was also negative.

– But we’re in the middle of practicing the new song. Should we just stop and come?”

“Practicing Smash It isn’t just for today. You’ll have to keep practicing it. To get on TV, you need a dance routine.”

– It’s Little Baby Kittens.

“Huh? You guys got a pet cat at home?”

– That’s the new song title.

“Ohhh. Dimension changed the title of the new song? No way. It’s already aired on the radio. There’s no way to change the name now...”

Through the phone speaker, a song started playing—one he had never heard before.

It was Park Ha-yeon and Park Da-yeon’s voices.

Oh Dong-cheol had been a famous singer before injuring his throat. He immediately recognized the song’s value.

“Huh? Huh? W-what is this song?”

– I told you, it’s the new song.

Only then did Oh Dong-cheol grasp the meaning of her words.

“A third song?”

– Yeah. The twins are trying it out now. We’ll hang up...

“D-don’t hang up! Let me hear more!”

He switched the call to speakerphone and turned the volume up to the max.

The twins’ singing flowed through the speakers.

Their playful voices were often mixed with cute laughter. It was hard to tell whether the laughter was part of the song or just spontaneous.

That’s how well the laughter blended with the song.

Once the song ended, Oh Dong-cheol placed both hands on the coffee table and shouted at his phone.

“Nanaaaa!”

– Yes?

“Did Dimension make this song too?!”

– Of course. Who else do we know that writes songs? And who else could make a song this good? It’s definitely from D-oppa.

“Are we getting it?!”

– This one was made specifically for the twins. Of course, we’re getting it.

Oh Dong-cheol lifted both hands high into the air.

“Hahaha! Dimension has saved us... Wait, the twins are rubbing off on me. Nana! Is Dimension there right now?”

– Nope. He went out to buy meat. We’re having a barbecue tonight.

“Huh? Meat? Aren’t you all supposed to be managing your diet...? No, never mind! Eat! Eat as much as you want, and send me the bill!”

Seo Sora’s voice suddenly cut in from the other side.

– Hell yeah! Forget pork belly. We’re getting premium sirloin!

Oh Dong-cheol panicked. ES Entertainment’s bank account was nearly empty.

“H-huh? Maybe it’s best to just eat what you originally planned. Pork belly is delicious...”