AKX Pictures’ president, Kim Seong-jun, analyzed everything he had experienced today as he rode in the car to the company.

‘Detective Seo Jung-woo figured out Cheon-sang’s entire plan in that short amount of time. He realized I was being framed, that he wasn’t just after Yun-mi but also the company, and even pinpointed where Yun-mi had been kidnapped to.’

Kim Seong-jun was a successful producer in the film, drama, and commercial industries. He was also highly skilled at convincing investors to raise production funds. Not once had he ever thought of himself as unintelligent. He might not be a genius, but he considered himself a gifted individual.

‘No matter how I think about it, I can’t even begin to guess how he managed to figure out all that in such a short time. He must have the ability to conduct highly advanced analysis beyond my imagination with just a few small clues. That means…’

“Detective Seo Jung-woo… He really is a genius.”

After leaving work early, Seo Jung-woo dropped by a PC cafe to gather information about this world.

But before that, there was something he needed to do first.

“Other people are ordering ramen and snacks. How do you do that?”

A high school student sitting next to him, Jeong Hyun-su, pointed at the screen with his finger.

“Mister, just press that button there to order ramen.”

“This one?”

“No, not that one, the one next to it. No, not that! Ugh, this is frustrating. Mister, how do you not know something so simple? Even an idiot would get it.”

“I’m not an idiot. I’m a cop.”

“If you’re a cop, then I must be a detective.”

Seo Jung-woo casually flashed his police ID.

“Do you have something like this? Because I do.”

Jeong Hyun-su immediately recognized the police ID. He quietly exited his shooting game and opened a browser window, typing “differential and integral calculus” into the search bar.

“I really came here to study. I wasn’t playing weird games.”

“Who said anything?”

In his original world, there were no age restrictions on games. There, shooting and combat, along with survival training, were part of the regular high school curriculum. Imposing an age restriction on a simple shooting game was meaningless in such a place.

Seo Jung-woo clicked on a section of the screen with the mouse. A menu appeared, showing various food options.

“Wow! There’s so much good stuff. Alright, let’s start with ramen, then snacks, and a cola. Hey, kid, want anything?”

“Whoa! Really? Ramen and cola!”

“You’ve got good taste.”

As he ate the ramen, Seo Jung-woo let out a satisfied sigh.

“Ahh, this is the stuff.”

Jeong Hyun-su also slurped his ramen and commented, “This place makes really good ramen.”

“I should order another bowl in advance, so I can eat right away after finishing this one. By the way, what’s your name?”

“Jeong Hyun-su. What about you?”

“Seo Jung-woo.”

“Oh, Seo Jung-woo… Wait, what?”

“What’s with the surprise?”

“Are you really the Detective Seo Jung-woo who caught the 24-hour serial killer?”

“How do you know about that?”

“That happened in our neighborhood! After seeing the news, I looked up every related article. There was one article that actually mentioned your name. That’s how I know. Whoa! Whoa? Huh?”

“What now?”

“I thought you’d be covered in huge muscles, but where are they? Are you really Detective Seo Jung-woo?”

“I am, so just eat your ramen.”

“I don’t think so.”

“By the way, don’t you have school? Are you a delinquent?”

“It’s our school’s anniversary today.”

As he ate ramen, Seo Jung-woo continued to gather information online. While internet information was often inaccurate, collecting enough of it still gave him a decent understanding of how this world worked.

‘These two worlds are really different.’

His original world had been at war with monsters for the entirety of the 21st century. Factories mainly produced military supplies, and technological advancements focused on weaponry.

Meanwhile, this world had progressed in a stable manner. His original world had advancements too, but industries requiring large-scale investment, such as cutting-edge technology and pharmaceutical research, were clearly more advanced here.

However, he wasn’t just relying on online searches.

“I’m heading out.”

As he stood up, Jeong Hyun-su gave him a small bow.

“Goodbye! Buy me ramen again next time.”

“I live in this neighborhood. If I see you around, I’ll get you some black bean noodles.”

He walked around, seeing firsthand how the two worlds differed.

He also visited a large shopping mall.

Even the small supermarkets had amazed him, but the shopping mall had an even more overwhelming amount of food stocked. When he saw the towering stacks of snacks, his jaw dropped.

“Wow, this is incredible.”

In his original world, large buildings like this were rare. Some weapon research or manufacturing facilities were built large, but only after weighing the risks of potential collapse.

If a large building had already been constructed, people would use it, but no one built something like this just for selling goods.

“I wish I could take some snacks over to the other side. This time, ones that are packed full inside.”

But he had already used his dimensional teleportation skill to save Kim Seong-jun and Lee Yun-mi today. He would have to wait until tomorrow to cross over again.

After spending the day surveying the city as if on a sightseeing tour, he returned home in the evening.

The moment he stepped inside, Seo Sora shot up from the couch and bowed at a sharp right angle.

“Welcome home!”

Seo Jung-woo was startled. Even the Seo Sora from his original world didn’t act like this.

“What kind of stunt are you pulling now?”

Seo Sora straightened up and grinned.

“Hehe. It’s because of the rankings.”

“Huh? What rankings?”

Seo Sora looked a little surprised.

“Huh? Wait, you didn’t check? Our song ranking!”

“It already made it onto the top ten charts?”

“What are you talking about? Of course, I mean Today’s Streaming Rankings! You wrote the song—how could you not check? Aren’t you even a little curious?”

Seo Jung-woo casually made up an excuse.

“I was busy catching criminals.”

“You caught the serial killer days ago, so why are you still busy?”

“I caught another one today.”

Seo Sora froze.

“Huh? Don’t tell me… another serial killer…?”

“Not a serial killer, just someone before they could commit murder.”

“Whoa, thank goodness.”

Seo Sora plopped back onto the couch, patting the spot next to her. She already had a bag of snacks in her hands.

“Tell me all about it! Now!”

Seo Jung-woo gave a simple explanation of what happened today. Of course, he left out the part where he physically took the culprit down himself.

As she munched on snacks, Seo Sora clapped her hands.

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

“You’re getting crumbs everywhere. Clean it up.”

“The robot vacuum will take care of it.”

“What? We have a robot?”

“What? Are you joking? Never mind that—how did you figure out he was the culprit?”

“The first person they arrested—just looking at him, I could tell he wasn’t the culprit.”

“Oh, come on! Are you some kind of mind reader?”

It was true. He wasn’t a mind reader, but with his detection skill, he could at least determine whether someone had committed murder recently or not.

“So, I did a little digging around him.”

He crossed over to the other dimension and carefully investigated Kim Seong-jun’s surroundings.

“After just a bit of investigation, the answer became clear.”

He got the answers while putting a few bullets into Lee Cheon-sang’s gang.

Seo Sora was impressed.

“Wow! That’s amazing! How did I not know you had this kind of ability?”

Seo Jung-woo quickly steered the conversation in another direction.

“So, how’s the ranking for your song?”

Seo Sora showed him the digital chart rankings on her laptop screen.

“Look, we just entered the top 10 for sales today—oh my god! We just moved up to 9th place! What if we keep going up and actually hit number one?”

In the other world, music was primarily sold in MP3 format. The factories that once produced CDs had been repurposed to manufacture polycarbonate bulletproof plates. As a result, digital rankings held significant meaning even in that world. A 9th place ranking there was considered extremely high.

However, he wasn’t sure how valuable 9th place was in this world, so he asked.

“That’s a good ranking, right?”

“It’s freaking awesome!”

“Well, the song is amazing, after all.”

‘If We Could Meet Again’ was a hit song in the other world.

“Annoying as it is, I have to admit that’s true. But a big reason for this success is that we used Nana’s story for promotion.”

Yoon Nana had been kidnapped by the 24-hour serial killer but was rescued.

Since ES Entertainment was on the verge of collapse, they didn’t have any money for promotions. So, Oh Dong-cheol rushed the song’s release with her consent, trying to ride the wave of media coverage.

No matter how good a song was, it usually took time for a rookie artist’s music to gain attention. But because they rode the momentum of a trending news story, the promotion was highly effective.

As a result, people who had heard the song were actually buying the track at a high rate.

Seo Sora made a V-sign with her fingers.

“And let’s not forget, I’m a talented vocalist. I totally nailed the performance.”

“Right. You should at least be good at singing.”

“Hey! No need to diss my looks!”

Seo Jung-woo suddenly felt a sense of discomfort.

Over the past few days, he hadn’t seen Seo Sora using a laptop in the living room.

And this laptop was the latest model he had seen online.

“That’s a really nice laptop.”

Seo Sora suddenly smiled sheepishly and opened a music composition program.

“Since you’re a genius composer, I figured I could do it too since we share the same genes. I’m practicing songwriting. Just imagine—genius singer-songwriter Seo Sora! Doesn’t that sound amazing?”

Seo Jung-woo internally mourned.

‘No, that kind of talent doesn’t run in our family.’

The person who actually composed that song was Hunter Park Cheol-woo from the other world.

‘But this laptop costs around 1.5 million won, doesn’t it?’

“Let’s not change the subject. Be honest—was this laptop yours to begin with?”

Seo Sora rolled her eyes, then suddenly lowered her head and shouted.

“Oppa!”

“That greeting just now felt extremely ominous.”

“I charged it to the president’s card.”

“…What?”

She lifted her head and explained.

“The company doesn’t have any money right now. We trained as trainees for years, and a lot of expenses piled up. So, it’s hard to ask for an early payout. We probably won’t get paid for a while. But there’s one thing the company has to settle soon—your song fee.”

“And?”

“So, I deducted it from that and used the president’s card.”

“So you used my name to buy it?”

“Hehe! I’ll write a new hit song soon and pay it back right away!”

Seo Jung-woo had a realization.

“So when I came in, that deep bow wasn’t because you were grateful the ranking went up—it was because of this laptop?”

“Hehe!”

“Return it and get the money back immediately!”

“Ah, just give me a little time! If I use my genius genes to compose a hit song, I’ll pay it off in no time!”

“That day will never come!”

On the day Seo Jung-woo first crossed into this world, he captured two bank robbers.

The problem was how he did it—he fired four bullets in the middle of Seoul to take them down.

Of course, it caused a massive uproar. The police immediately launched a large-scale investigation into the incident.

However, the officers assigned to the case quickly realized something crucial.

“There are absolutely no leads.”

“The longer this investigation drags on, the media will only keep releasing articles about ‘the incompetence of the police who failed to catch the suspect.’”

There was also an ethical issue.

“The masked man shot at bank robbers. Not just any criminals, but ones who took dozens of hostages and threatened them with shotguns. Even if we arrest him, the police won’t get any praise for it.”

“But if we fail to catch him, we’ll be criticized for being useless.”

The head of the investigation team sighed.

“Ugh, what a mess.”

They held an emergency strategy meeting, but it was useless.

In the end, the investigation chief made a bold decision.

“Forget about catching the culprit. We need to divert attention so the media stops reporting on this case.”

“Easier said than done. A major incident that can overshadow this doesn’t just happen every day…”

That concern was unfounded.

That very day, the 24-hour serial killer was captured—within just two hours of kidnapping Yoon Nana. She was rescued without a single scratch.

“This is it! Use this to bury the robbery case!”

The widespread media coverage of Yoon Nana’s digital album release wasn’t just because of ES Entertainment’s connections. The police had quietly encouraged journalists behind the scenes.

Then, just a few days later, another major incident occurred: The girlfriend of the famous AKX Pictures president was stabbed and kidnapped.

The police managed to rescue her just before she was killed and also cleared Kim Seong-jun of the false accusations against him.

The investigation chief cheered.

“Use this too! Use this to bury everything!”

However, the second case wasn’t as clean as the first.

“The victim was stabbed and critically injured.”

“But she survived thanks to our excellent police work. And she’s out of danger, right?”

“At first, we wrongly arrested AKX Pictures’ president as the suspect.”

“Which idiot detectives did that?”

“The same team that solved the case.”

“Well, in urgent situations, you start by investigating those closest to the victim. You can’t expect them to pinpoint the real culprit right away. That’s just proper investigative procedure.”

“Shall we announce it that way?”

“Of course! Call the reporters immediately!”