Seo Jung-woo confirmed that after traveling back and forth between the world at war with monsters and the world without them, the connection between the two dimensions had become fixed. Now, he could travel between them daily.

But another problem came to mind.

“Wait. When I return, I come back to the exact time coordinate I left from.”

If one were to observe Seo Jung-woo’s dimensional movement from just one world, it would appear as if he disappeared and then instantly reappeared. If he traveled to another location in that world before returning, his three-dimensional coordinates would change, creating an effect similar to teleportation.

“Why doesn’t the Seo Jung-woo who was in this world return?”

According to the same rule, the Seo Jung-woo from this world should also appear to have left and immediately returned.

“At the very least, he didn’t go to the dimension I was in. If his skill is the same as mine, our time coordinates should overlap.”

According to astrophysical theories from the other world, two people cannot travel between dimensions while sharing the same timeline.

It is impossible to travel to a past coordinate earlier than the last connected time between the two worlds because that would mean linking to the past.

“He must have gone to a different parallel world or an entirely separate dimension.”

There were several possible reasons why he had not returned. The worst case was that he had encountered an accident and couldn’t come back. But there was also a more optimistic assumption.

“Maybe he’s using a slightly different time-axis coordinate instead of the departure time coordinate like I do?”

Even though Seo Jung-woo could use his dimensional teleportation skill, he could not perceive coordinates beyond three-dimensional space. It was possible that the Seo Jung-woo in this world was unknowingly using a more distant time-axis coordinate.

“That must be it.”

There was no way to be sure. But he decided to think of it that way. It was much better than assuming an accident had prevented his return.

The real issue was how far his return time coordinate was displaced. He could return in a few hundred or even a few thousand years.

Or perhaps, instead of a one-day cooldown, his skill had a cooldown period of several hundred years, making it impossible to return.

Seo Jung-woo sincerely wished.

“I hope he’ll be fine. I wished for this before, but I hope he landed in the middle of some peaceful elf village, living well. Not in a monster-infested forest, suffering. Good luck, Seo Jung-woo, who crossed into another dimension.”

There was still much unknown about parallel dimension movement skills. But pondering over it now wouldn’t lead to any answers.

Instead of wasting time worrying, he decided to focus on learning more about this world.

“I should focus on adapting better here. If I act too strangely, people might suspect me of being a spy.”

For now, he carefully hid his weapon-filled suitcase in the corner of an abandoned construction site.

Seo Sora went to the hospital to visit Yoon Nana.

The hospital entrance was crowded with reporters.

“Are all those reporters here because of Nana?”

She had no intention of announcing that she was Yoon Nana’s friend in front of all these people. Instead, she pretended to be visiting someone else and slipped inside.

Finding the hospital room was easy, but a uniformed police officer was guarding the door.

She spoke to the officer.

“Excuse me. I’m Nana’s friend. I came to visit her.”

The officer gave her a quick glance and shook his head.

“Do you know how many reporters claimed to be her friend today? No, you can’t go in.”

“But I’m really her friend…”

From behind, Yoon Nana’s mother called out to her.

“Oh! Sora?”

“Auntie!”

After confirming she was truly a friend, the officer stepped aside.

Seo Sora opened the hospital room door, worried.

‘How should I comfort Nana? She must be terrified after being kidnapped by that scumbag…’

She stopped in her tracks.

Yoon Nana was sitting by the window, watching the reporters outside while eating ice cream straight from the tub.

Upon seeing Seo Sora, Yoon Nana beamed and waved enthusiastically.

“Sora!”

Seo Sora, seeing her bright smile, came to a realization.

“Ah, right. My family isn’t the only one full of eccentrics. She’s just as crazy as we are.”

There were no visible signs of trauma on Yoon Nana. Instead, she was too busy bragging about her unbelievable experience.

Of course, she wasn’t bragging about the kidnapping itself.

“It was my first time seeing a halo behind someone’s head.”

“Nana, you’re fine in every way except for your brain. Don’t worry, you’ll recover soon. Just take your meds.”

“I’m serious! The darkness suddenly lit up, and then the detective said, ‘We’re the police.’ The light behind him was blinding.”

“You really need to take a lot of meds.”

“And when he said, ‘You’re safe now,’ I felt so relieved.”

“Don’t all police say that?”

“No! His voice even sounded noble.”

“Did you at least see this noble detective’s face?”

“Nope. His halo was too bright.”

“That wasn’t a halo. That was just the sunlight.”

Yoon Nana took a big spoonful of ice cream and put it in her mouth.

“Mmm. But it was real.”

The doctor, who had just entered, froze at the sight of Yoon Nana eating ice cream.

“Wait… You have an examination soon. Where did you even get that ice cream?”

Seo Sora was promptly kicked out.

With nowhere else to go, Seo Sora wandered back home.

“Ah, I’m starving. I got kicked out too fast to even get a drink. I should eat something.”

She opened the fridge.

“Huh?”

She blinked and looked again. The fridge was completely empty.

“Where did all the side dishes go?!”

It wasn’t just the side dishes. The beef, which should have been at least two pounds, was also gone.

“Who did this?!”

The culprit was obvious.

Seo Sora fumed, but no amount of anger would bring the food back.

“Ugh. I’ll just mix rice with soy sauce or something.”

She opened the pantry.

“Huh?”

The pantry was empty. The instant rice, canned tuna, and spam that should have been stacked inside were all gone.

“There’s no way a thief broke in just to steal food…”

There was nothing to eat.

“Ugh, I’ll have to go buy something.”

Just before heading out, she opened her bedroom door.

Something felt off. The room looked different than usual.

“The bed’s the same, the closet’s the same, the dressing—”

She let out a scream.

“Where did all my makeup go?!”

The vanity was completely bare. A note was stuck to the mirror.

She grabbed it in frustration.

There was just one line written there.

– Buy a new one.

She had a suspicion about who had taken all the food, but now there was physical evidence.

She screamed.

“Oppa, you crazy bastard!”

She ran to Seo Jung-woo’s room and flung the door open.

Of course, Seo Jung-woo was nowhere to be seen.

“He ran away! He knew he’d be dead if I caught him, so he must’ve taken all the rice and side dishes with him!”

Fuming, she called Seo Jung-woo.

Seo Jung-woo’s phone was from the other world.

For a phone from this world to work, its unique device number had to be registered with a telecom provider. There was no way a phone made in the other world was registered.

– The number you have dialed is currently turned off…

She ended the call and slumped onto the sofa.

“Ugh. I knew he’d pull something again! Do you know how much those cosmetics cost?!”

ES Entertainment was a company on the verge of collapse; even the practice room was gone, leaving only a tiny office.

Because of that, she and Yoon Nana practiced in a luxury karaoke room near the office, which had good soundproofing.

Even in this situation, she never gave up on her dream. She took care of her skin for the future and, at the very least, used high-end cosmetics.

But now, the collection of cosmetics she had painstakingly bought one by one was all gone.

“Just wait until you come back. You’re dead!”

A sheet of music lay on the table in front of the sofa.

“Ah, right. This. Earlier, Oppa distracted me, and I left it behind, so I couldn’t memorize the lyrics on the bus.”

She picked up the printed sheet music. Something seemed to be showing through the paper.

She flipped it over.

The sheet music was roughly scribbled with a ballpoint pen.

There was no way an outsider had entered this house.

“Did that guy compose something? As if! Did he write lyrics too? I don’t know where he copied this from, but is this supposed to pay for my cosmetics?!”

Normally, she would have crumpled the paper and thrown it away, but this sheet also contained her debut song.

Without much thought, she hummed the first few bars of the melody Seo Jung-woo had scribbled. She didn’t even sing the lyrics—just hummed the tune.

“Na na na na na…”

Her expression shifted slightly. She hummed a little more.

“Na na na, na na, na. Wow. The melody is really good.”

She suddenly stood up from the sofa, tightened her core, and sang the song properly with the lyrics. Since it was her first time singing it, she missed the beat and made mistakes, but the song was undeniably good.

Then, she reached the end of the sheet music.

She felt disappointed.

“Just from the lyrics alone, there’s no way the song ends here.”

Her eyes landed on a flyer for a jokbal restaurant sitting on the table.

On a whim, she flipped it over. The blank side contained the rest of the song.

She took a deep breath and continued singing. Since the latter half had many similarities to the first half, it flowed even more naturally.

After clumsily making it to the end, she closed her eyes, lost in thought.

“It’s good. Really good. It’s exciting, but also kind of bittersweet.”

After a moment, she opened her eyes again and tilted her head.

“What is this? Where did it come from? There’s no way my useless Oppa composed something like this…”

Her gaze landed on the text at the bottom of the page.

– A music-illiterate Oppa just scribbled something down.

“Seriously?”

She wasn’t naive enough to believe Seo Jung-woo composed this song just because of that one line. He had lost too much trust over time.

She quickly called him again, but of course, he didn’t pick up.

“If you’re just going to keep your phone off, why even carry it?! Composing…? Composing?! My brother? Writing lyrics too?”

Her doubts only grew.

“There’s no way my brother made this song. That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t make sense. But… I’ve never heard this song before.”

She hastily searched for the lyrics on her smartphone.

“If the lyrics of such a good song exist, they should be online. They should… wait, they’re not?”

Wondering if he had borrowed lines from a poem, she searched more, but found no matches.

She then searched for the title written on the sheet music.

“If We Could Meet Again.”

This time, a song with the same name appeared.

She felt a wave of disappointment.

“Ugh. Of course. I knew it. There’s already a song.”

She clicked on the link. The lyrics appeared.

“Huh?”

The lyrics were different. Just in case, she played the beginning of the song. But aside from the title, it was completely different from the one on the sheet music.

“It’s really not here? Nowhere?! This song doesn’t exist anywhere! There’s no way my brother could compose such a masterpiece—he must’ve copied it from somewhere. But if that’s the case, why can’t I find it?”

Her heart pounded. Her mind screamed that it was impossible, but her chest swelled with excitement.

“I hope… I really hope this is real.”

Seo Jung-woo wasn’t picking up, so she couldn’t ask him about it. There was no way she could verify the song’s origin on her own.

“The president! He’ll know a way to check!”

She grabbed the sheet music and ran out of the house.

President Oh Dong-cheol felt uneasy.

“Hyung-jin. This new song—no, our last gamble—do you think it’ll succeed?”

Manager Kim Hyung-jin didn’t look hopeful either.

“President, this song you got… it’s too plain.”

“I had to beg just to get this one.”

“Even a popular singer would struggle with this. And our trainees are supposed to sing it? They’re not even full-time trainees—they’re students who only practice in their spare time.”

“Then we’ll just train them more. We picked them because they could sing and looked good, didn’t we?”

“Sora and Nana are graduating next year. They’ll probably quit to prepare for real jobs. Our situation is a total disaster, so how do we expect to make it with a song like this? Even divine intervention might not be enough.”

“The heavens have already helped once.”

“When?”

“Nana got kidnapped by that murderer and made the news all day. We have no money for promotions, so isn’t that divine intervention?”

“If Nana’s parents heard you say that, they’d hit you.”

“You were cheering along earlier! Don’t make me the bad guy alone!”

Suddenly, the office door burst open. Oh Dong-cheol flinched, thinking someone had overheard his slip-up, and immediately shouted.

“It wasn’t me! He said it!”

Seo Sora stormed in, waving the sheet music.

“President! Look at this—huh? What did you say?”