“Dingiri. Ding-ding~ dyang-dyang-giri~”
Sejun humd to himself, trying to create a lody in preparation for tonight’s songwriting session with Bat-Bat.
Then—
Shoo-shoo-shook.
From afar, sothing yellow shot straight toward Sejun at high speed.
What the—?!
“Air raid shelter!”
Sensing danger, Sejun hurriedly created a bunker and ducked inside with Taecho and Kkamang. The arrogant Sejun who’d boasted about this being a Level 5 world was nowhere to be seen—just a coward cowering in fear.
At that mont—
Boom!
Sothing slamd into the bunker.
“Nya?! What’s going on, Great Hybrid Chairman Park-nya?!”
Theo, now clinging to Sejun’s lap, asked. Feeling that Sejun was in danger, he had rushed over using ow-ow Warp.
But... why is the bunker still intact?
It’s sealed off on all sides, so how did he get in?
As Sejun frowned in confusion at the unscathed bunker despite Theo’s sudden entrance—
Shoop.
“Kkyu-kkyu—Sejun, what’s going on?”
Iona appeared next, having used a teleportation spell to enter the bunker.
Queng!
Boom! Boom-boom!
Queng had arrived too—his cries and explosions echoed from outside.
Guess it’s safe to go out now.
With the whole crew gathered, Sejun relaxed.
“Dispel.”
He deactivated the bunker and stepped outside.
“Please spare ! I just flew in because of the noise...!”
In Queng’s grasp was a yellow nightingale.
As Sejun appeared—
This is all your fault!
The nightingale glared at Sejun with resentnt.
Queng! Queng!
[You shouldn’t look at your dad like that da yo! You’ll get punished da yo!]
Whack.
Queng smacked the nightingale unconscious.
“Puhuhut.”
Stamp.
Theo casually stamped the bird’s forehead.
Kihihit. Kkin!
[Heehee! It’s ti for the Great Kkamang’s ntal reeducation!]
Kkamang, now awake, headbutted the bird like it was the most natural thing in the world.
An efficient division of labor among the three Park Brothers: Te-Kku-Kka.
“Kkamang oppa! Taecho too!”
Following Kkamang’s lead, Taecho grabbed the unconscious nightingale and bonk—slamd his head.
Thump.
And entered his ntal world.
Monts later—
“I’m terribly sorry. I was in a sensitive state and heard Sejun’s song and... Oh. I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Kkyoraeroe of the Yellow Nightingale Tribe, hero of .”
After completing Kkamang’s ntal reeducation, the nightingale Kkyoraeroe bowed deeply in apology to Sejun and introduced himself.
“I see. It happens when you don’t understand music.”
“No...! That’s not it. You’re completely right, Sejun. I just don’t understand music...”
Sejun understands music?!
Kkyoraeroe wanted to retort right then and there, but held it in—because Kkamang was watching. He didn’t want to face that terrifying ntal world again.
Just then—
Bboop-jjeok-bbik!
Bboo-chee-bbah!
A bizarre sound rang out from the distance.
“What’s that noise?”
“It’s the Dissonance Giant! That sound! That’s what’s been making so sensitive! Because of that thing, the nightingales’ courtship success rate has plumted and no baby birds are being born!”
Kkyoraeroe shouted in a high-pitched voice.
“The Dissonance Giant.”
Found it.
The feeling hit hard.
[A quest has appeared.]
...
..
.
At the sa ti, [System Eoksamchiri] issued a quest, affirming Sejun’s intuition.
The quest description said exactly what Kkyoraeroe had explained—the noise from the Child of Destruction was reducing ’s population, leading to extinction.
“Vice Chairman Theo, go with Iona and capture it.”
Sejun sent Theo and Iona off toward the source of the noise.
“Teleport the kid back first and bring so lona.”
“Nya?”
“Don’t co back empty-handed. Try a few gachas while you’re out.”
“Puhuhut. Got it-nya! With the golden front paw trusted by the Great Hybrid Chairman Park, I’ll try to pull sothing good-nya!”
“Yeah. No rush. Just take your ti and co back.”
Thank you, Sejun.
Iona gave Sejun a grateful look for creating a mont just for the two of them.
Sejun hadn’t sent Theo out to pull gacha because he expected anything—it was just an excuse to give Iona and Theo so date ti. Gacha naturally leads to wandering around, after all.
Of course, he wasn’t totally without expectations. If it was Theo, he might bring sothing nice back.
Have fun on your date with Theo.
As Sejun gave Iona a sly grin—
“Puhuhut. No thanks-nya! I, Vice Chairman Teo, am competent and will find sothing good and return quickly-nya!”
Theo coiled his tail around Iona and vanished in a flash.
“But what’s the connection between noise and courtship success rate?”
Bored of waiting, Sejun asked Kkyoraeroe.
“Oh. Male nightingales sing beautiful songs to court mates, but the Dissonance Giant makes noise specifically during singing, ruining the songs. It causes huge stress for the males.”
Apparently, the giant only made noise during courtship singing, deliberately disrupting the process and driving male nightingales to the brink.
So when Sejun had made noise earlier, Kkyoraeroe—who’d been mid-courtship—lost his temper and flew in.
“But if you’re courting... Kkyoraeroe, are you single?”
“Yes.”
“Hehehe. Perfect. I’ll be your dating coach.”
“Excuse ? I’m fine, really.”
Kkyoraeroe politely declined.
But—
Grrr.
[Grrrr.]
You dare reject the Great Kkamang’s butler?!
“Ah. On second thought, I do need a coach.”
With Kkamang baring his fangs, Kkyoraeroe hastily changed his tune.
“Hehehe. Don’t worry. I’ve already made six couples happen.”
Sejun didn’t know the current status of those couples (like Gongdol and Gongsuni), but he was sure they had worked out.
“Listen carefully. First, offer them food...”
And so began Sejun’s dating coaching—strangely popular with non-humanoid species.
***
Forest of Creation.
“You cannot take the fourth trial yet. It’s still being drafted. Wait.”
Originally, the fourth trial was to rejuvenate five barren lands, but Flamy had already turned those areas into fertile zones, effectively eliminating the test.
Since they couldn’t just recreate barren wastelands, a new test needed to be prepared.
[What?!]
Flamy was flustered by the statue’s words.
Yes! I’m safe!
Podori secretly cheered.
But—
[Trial Statue, how about this instead?]
“Do you have a good idea?”
[Yes. Saving worlds tornted by remnants of Destruction!]
“Oh! That’s a good one. Hm... Remnants of Destruction... Finding ten should be about as hard as restoring five wastelands.”
Flamy’s suggestion beca the new fourth trial.
[Then let’s start quickly!]
Flamy urged ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ the statue.
Nooo!
Podori scread inside.
“Very well. But this trial must be done alone, without help from others.”
That gave him a sliver of hope.
Doing the trial solo ant it’d naturally take longer. He could sneak breaks and slack off a bit.
[Too bad. Understood.]
“Good. Then the fourth trial begins. Save ten worlds afflicted by remnants of Destruction, without assistance.”
The statue issued the fourth problem to beco the Tree of Creation.
[Podori, what are you doing? Hurry up!]
[Yep!]
Spurred on by Flamy, Podori extended his roots into the dinsional sea to search for corrupted worlds.
Not here...
Not this one either...
He leisurely brushed the surfaces of different worlds with his roots, searching for signs of Destruction.
But—
[Podori, are you slacking off?! Your roots are idle! Want to burn them off?!]
[No ma’am!]
[Why aren’t you checking that nearby world?!]
[I don’t have enough roots...]
[Then grow side-roots!]
[Yes ma’am!]
[What kind of Tree of Creation candidate only makes five side-roots at once?! You should be making ten!]
[I-I’ll try!]
Flamy started nagging Podori from the sidelines. The instructions were to not help—not to not nag.
Sigh... Maybe I should just hurry up and beco the Tree of Creation.
Podori suddenly felt that reaching treehood quickly might be the best way out of this hellish nagging.
***
A recording studio at CK Entertainnt.
“Hngh-hngh-hngh~”
Jo Kyungsoo, a staff mber of A&R Team 2, returned from lunch at the company cafeteria.
Plop.
He flopped onto the couch and scrolled through his phone, snickering to himself.
Lunch break had long ended, but Kyungsoo showed no intention of working.
In truth, he’d been isolated from A&R Team 2 under the excuse of “equipnt maintenance day.”
Despite having zero composing skill, Kyungsoo had nearly started fights multiple tis by criticizing others’ work.
The team leader wanted to kick him out, but Kyungsoo was a parachute hire, placed by CK’s inner circle.
So they just kept him separated like this.
Ding.
A company ssenger notification popped up on his laptop.
“Tch. Don’t they know it’s break ti...?”
Grumbling, Kyungsoo dragged himself to the laptop.
“...Ugh. Nothing good.”
He watched YouTube for about 30 minutes before finally checking the ssage.
– sjbb_music keeps sending demos to the company account. Here they are.
– 1.mp3
...
.
– 5.mp3
“Pfft. Who still sends demos through a company’s official DM these days?”
Kyungsoo had no intention of listening.
No A&R rep would. Random demo DMs were ignored.
They usually ca from amateurs, and A&R staff had no ti to waste on beginner submissions while listening to dozens of pro-grade tracks daily.
But—
“Eh, I’ve got nothing to do. Might as well.”
Out of boredom, Kyungsoo played file #1.
Let’s see how bad this is.
He planned to mock the low quality and boost his ego.
Jingle. Jingle.
A strange bell sound played right away.
Huh?
The bell perked up Kyungsoo’s lethargic mind and grabbed his attention.
Thump-thump. Clap. Clap. Thump-thump. Clap-clap—
Then ca the sound of two drums, one light and one heavy, mixed with handclaps.
(Was today rough on you again?)
A clear, pure voice floated out.
Enthralled by the song’s charm, Kyungsoo found himself nodding, completely absorbed.
Monts later—
“That was insane...”
There were only drums and claps for accompanint, but the lody and vocals were powerfully moving.
He listened to all five songs.
This one’s gonna blow up!
Kyungsoo was convinced—it was a surefire hit.
“Who sent this? sjbb_music?”
He rushed to check the sender.
“What the—? There’s nothing.”
The account had no bio, no photos. No search results either.
“Looks like a nobody.”
Should be safe to steal.
Seeing that SJBB Music was a tiny, unknown group, Kyungsoo grinned.
Sure, there might be a plagiarism claim later—but that would be after the song blew up. The company could handle it, and indie composers rarely won lawsuits against big agencies.
Lawsuits take money and ti.
Once the composer got tired, I’ll swoop in and offer cash for shares. They’ll probably say “thank you.”
Kyungsoo planned to devour SJBB Music and turn it into his personal hit machine.
He launched his music software and began “arranging” the songs. Not really arranging—just adding a few instrunts.
Since the original instruntals were so minimal, even minor additions raised the production value.
Once done—
“Ti to shut those jerks up for ignoring .”
– Made this for fun. What do you think?
He posted the five tracks in the A&R team’s group chat as if they were his.
And so, the ti of reckoning with demons crept ever closer.
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