The melody was a weapon.
Han Yoo-jin's fingers slammed against the synthesizer keys. The sound that filled the studio wasn't the polished pop of Eclipse or the haunting ballad of Gravity.
It was a jagged, industrial beat. It sounded like footsteps running down a metal corridor.
"It's fast," Mina said, struggling to catch her breath between measures. "140 BPM? That's insane for a vocal track."
"It's a chase scene," Yoo-jin corrected, not looking up from the mixing board. "You aren't singing to seduce the audience. You're singing to survive them."
He looked at Hana. "The rap verse needs to be dirtier. Don't articulate every syllable. Slur it. Make it sound like you're bleeding."
Hana smirked, wiping sweat from her neck. "You're in a dark mood today, PD-nim. Did Titan send you a death threat?"
"Something like that," Yoo-jin muttered.
The door to the studio burst open. Kim Seo-yeon waved a sheet of paper like a white flag.
"We got the invite," she panted. "Showtime."
Yoo-jin turned down the volume. "Which one?"
"The big one," Seo-yeon said, slapping the paper onto the console. "Saturday Night Star. Prime time. 15% ratings."
Mina gasped. It was the variety show every idol dreamed of. The gateway to becoming a household name.
"But there's a catch," Seo-yeon added, her face grim. "It's a joint episode."
Yoo-jin looked at the guest list.
Guests: Sol & Luna (Starforce) vs. Aurora (Titan Ent).
"It's a setup," Hana said immediately. "They want to put us next to Aurora to compare us. They want to show that the 'Queens of Noise' are just messy rookies compared to Titan's polished dolls."
"And the MCs are on Titan's payroll," Seo-yeon warned. "They'll ask about Isabelle. They'll ask about the 'glitch' at the showcase. They'll try to humiliate you for laughs."
The room went silent. It was a trap. A public execution disguised as light entertainment.
Yoo-jin picked up the paper. He looked at the date. Filming was tomorrow.
"Accept it," Yoo-jin said.
"Are you crazy?" Seo-yeon asked. "They'll edit the footage to make the girls look arrogant or incompetent."
"They can't edit live vocals," Yoo-jin said. "And they can't edit charisma."
He looked at his artists.
"Titan wants a comparison? Fine. Let's give them one. They're sending dolls. We're sending wolves."
The dressing room at the MBS broadcast station was small and smelled of hairspray.
Yoo-jin stood by the door, checking the monitor. The hallway outside was bustling with writers and PDs.
"Don't let them separate you," Yoo-jin instructed the girls while the stylist fixed Mina's hair. "If the MC asks a rude question, don't apologize. Laugh at it. Awkwardness is their weapon. Confidence is yours."
The door opened.
It wasn't a staff member.
Three girls walked in. They wore matching pastel outfits, perfect makeup, and smiles that didn't reach their eyes.
Aurora. Titan's flagship girl group.
The center, a girl named Min-ji, stepped forward. She was beautiful in a generated, algorithmic way.
"Sunbae-nim," Min-ji said, bowing slightly to Hana. It was a mock bow—Hana had been a trainee longer, but Min-ji had debuted first. The hierarchy was messy. "We're excited to film with you. It must be hard promoting without a real budget."
Her members giggled.
Hana stood up. She was wearing the black tech-wear from the Hongdae showcase. She looked like she was ready to rob a bank, while Aurora looked like they were going to a tea party.
"It is hard," Hana smiled. It was a shark's smile. "Counting all the money takes forever. How's the stock price over at Titan? I heard it dipped again."
Min-ji's smile twitched. "We're doing fine. We're releasing a special single today. From the Vault."
She glanced at Yoo-jin.
"Director Yoon gave us a masterpiece. He said it would remind everyone what real music sounds like."
Yoo-jin felt a prickle on the back of his neck. The Vault. The Golden Era songs.
"Good luck," Yoo-jin said, his voice flat. "You'll need it."
Min-ji glared at him, then spun on her heel. "Let's go, girls. The air in here is cheap."
They marched out.
"I hate them," Mina whispered.
"Good," Yoo-jin said. "Use that."
The studio lights were blinding.
"Welcome back to Saturday Night Star!" the main MC, a loud comedian named Kang, shouted into the camera. "Today we have a war of the flowers! The rising rookies, Sol & Luna! And the queens of K-Pop, Aurora!"
Applause signs flashed. The audience cheered.
Yoo-jin stood behind the cameras, arms crossed. He activated his System eyes.
[Target: MC Kang]
[Affiliation: Titan Entertainment (Secret Contract)]
[Objective: Undermine Sol & Luna's credibility.]
The show started with "friendly" banter.
"So, Hana-ssi," MC Kang leaned in, a nasty grin on his face. "We heard you had some technical issues at your showcase. No in-ears? Was that a concept, or did your company just forget to pay the electric bill?"
The audience laughed nervously. Aurora laughed loudly.
Hana didn't flinch. She leaned into her mic.
"We took them out," she said calmly. "We wanted to hear the fans singing along. It's hard to hear the love when you have a backing track blasting in your ear. You wouldn't know about that, would you?"
She glanced at Aurora.
The studio went quiet. A direct hit.
MC Kang coughed. "Ah, fierce! Very fierce. But can you back it up? We prepared a special segment. 'The Vocal Battle'."
He gestured to the stage.
"Aurora prepared a new song for us today. Let's hear the Titan quality!"
Min-ji stood up. She took the center stage. The lights dimmed to a soft blue.
Yoo-jin stepped closer to the monitor. This was it. The weapon from the Vault.
The music started.
It was a piano intro. Melancholic. Complex.
Then the beat dropped. It wasn't a modern trap beat. It was a syncopated, jazzy rhythm that felt nostalgic but timeless.
Min-ji began to sing.
"The shadow in the mirror is moving on its own..."
"I try to scream but the static is all I own..."
Yoo-jin grabbed the edge of the monitor console. His knuckles turned white.
He knew this song.
He hadn't just written it. He had lived it.
It was Phantom Pain. A demo he recorded ten years ago, the week before he died. It was about the System eating his mind.
And Titan had given it to a rookie girl group to sing as a love song.
Min-ji hit the high note. It was technically perfect. But it was empty. She sang the lyrics about existential horror with a cute, pleading expression.
It was blasphemy.
[System Notification]
[Resonance Detected.]
[Original Work Identifier: 'Phantom Pain' (Author: Han Yoo-jin v1)]
[Rage Level: Rising.]
The song ended. The MCs clapped enthusiastically. "Wow! Such emotion! That is a SSS-rank song!"
"Now," MC Kang turned to Sol & Luna with a sneer. "Can you beat that? Do you have anything prepared? Or just the songs we already heard?"
Mina looked at Yoo-jin. She looked terrified. The Aurora performance was undeniably high-quality.
Yoo-jin made a decision.
He raised his hand. He made a slashing motion across his throat. Kill the plan.
Then he tapped his chest. Heart.
Hana saw the signal. Her eyes widened.
"We do have something," Hana said, standing up. "It's not finished. We wrote it yesterday."
"Yesterday?" MC Kang scoffed. "Is it a demo?"
"It's a warning," Hana said.
She looked at the band master. "G-minor. 140 BPM. Just give us a kick drum."
The band master shrugged and started a heavy, thumping kick beat. Thump. Thump. Thump.
No melody. No synths. Just the pulse.
Hana grabbed the mic. She didn't rap. She growled.
"You dug up a grave to find a diamond ring..."
"Put a crown on a corpse and taught it to sing..."
The audience gasped. The lyrics were visibly attacking the song Aurora just performed.
Mina stepped in. She didn't use her sweet 'Luna' voice. She used the chest voice Yoo-jin had forced out of her in the basement.
"But the ghost isn't dead, he's just holding his breath..."
"You can steal the notes, but you can't steal the death!"
The harmony hit like a physical blow. It was messy. It was raw. It was the sound of pure, unadulterated anger.
Aurora's members looked uncomfortable. Min-ji's plastic smile faltered.
Yoo-jin watched the camera monitors. The cameramen were zooming in on Hana's furious eyes. They were ignoring the MCs.
Sol & Luna weren't performing a song. They were performing an exorcism.
They finished the verse with a synchronized stomp that shook the stage floor.
Silence.
Then, the PD in the control booth shouted. "Cut! That was amazing!"
The audience erupted. Real cheers this time. Not the polite applause for Aurora.
MC Kang looked flushed. He tried to recover. "Ah... very energetic. A bit... violent? But unique."
Yoo-jin walked onto the set before the cameras could roll again. He ignored the MCs. He walked straight to Min-ji.
The Aurora center shrank back, intimidated by the producer's aura.
"That song," Yoo-jin said quietly. "Phantom Pain."
Min-ji blinked. "Yes? Director Yoon gave it to us."
"Tell Director Yoon," Yoo-jin said, leaning in close enough for his whisper to be picked up by her lapel mic. "That if he touches my trash again, I'll burn his house down."
He turned to his girls. "Pack up. We're leaving."
"But we haven't finished the games segment!" the PD protested.
"You got your clip," Yoo-jin said over his shoulder. "You got the viral moment of the year. Be grateful."
He ushered Hana and Mina off the stage.
As they walked down the hallway, Mina was shaking. "PD-nim... was that okay? We just dissed a senior group on national TV."
"You didn't diss them," Yoo-jin said. "You outlived them."
He pushed open the exit door, stepping into the cool night air.
But his mind was still back in the studio, listening to Phantom Pain.
Titan had the Vault. They had his old soul on a hard drive. And they were going to weaponize every single memory he had lost.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
Did you like the tribute?
I have 400 more songs, Yoo-jin.
By the time I'm done releasing them, the world won't know which one of us is the real genius.
Yoo-jin stared at the text.
"He wants a discography war," Yoo-jin whispered.
He looked at Hana and Mina. They were exhausted but triumphant. They were his soldiers.
"We aren't sleeping tonight," Yoo-jin said.
"Again?" Hana groaned, but she was smiling.
"We need an album," Yoo-jin said. "Not a single. Not a mini. A full studio album."
"By when?"
"By the time Aurora releases that song," Yoo-jin said. "We have two weeks."
"That's impossible," Mina whispered.
"It's impossible for a normal producer," Yoo-jin agreed.
He opened his System window.
[Sync Rate: 45%]
He looked at the red bar.
"But I'm not normal," he said. "I'm a glitch."
He hailed a taxi.
"Get in. We have 400 songs to beat."