In the CEO’s office at Luna Entertainment.

    Normally, it would only be CEO Jeong Do-chul in this room. However, after a long conversation the previous night, Lee Joon and Lee Gun-yeol had joined him. The reason they were meeting Jeong in his official capacity rather than in a casual setting was simple: they had a favor to ask from him as the CEO of Luna Entertainment, not just as their close friend.

    "Look at you two, acting all high and mighty now that you''re doing well. Back in the day, you couldn''t even look me in the eye."

    "Hyung, please, just listen to what we have to say first. We didn’t come to see you early in the morning for nothing."

    With that, Lee Joon played an MP3 file from his laptop. Jeong paused his commentary and began listening to the rough recording of Double Lee’s new song.

    After about three minutes, the playback ended, and Jeong''s lips finally parted to speak.

    "Never mind you two, but where on earth did you find that vocalist?"

    The question referred to the ethereal female vocal that had captivated Jeong’s ears during the chorus. Lee Gun-yeol’s response to this was almost like a riddle.

    "You know her, hyung."

    "Look here, Gun-yeol, I’m not in the mood for riddles with grown men at my age."

    Frowning, Jeong implicitly told him to drop the riddles. With a light sigh, Lee Gun-yeol eventually revealed the vocalist’s identity.

    "It’s Ha-eun."

    "You’re talking about that actress, right?"

    "Who else would we mean by Ha-eun?"

    Jeong met the unwavering gaze of Lee Gun-yeol, who was known for his honesty, especially when it came to music. It seemed the captivating voice indeed belonged to Ha-eun.

    But the bigger question was why Double Lee had chosen to play this recording for Jeong. Jeong had a suspicion, but he decided to hear them out first.

    "You remember, hyung, how you teased us about volunteering to train a kid back then?"

    "I wasn’t teasing. It’s just that it’s unusual to teach someone for years over one music video."

    "To be honest, we had other intentions. Of course, we were grateful to Ha-eun, but there was more to it."

    What followed was the true reason why Double Lee had continued teaching Ha-eun for so long.

    "Just like you raised us years ago, we wanted to guide Ha-eun—to mold her into a singer who could perfectly match our style."

    "She’d probably be disappointed to hear that."

    "But she was the one who asked to learn music first. It’s a win-win."

    They could have found plenty of skilled singers if they’d wanted, but they’d never found anyone who could capture Double Lee’s unique vibe as well as Ha-eun did.

    "So, all we could teach her was our style."

    "Who’s complaining?"

    "No, it’s just...you’ve been looking at us like we’re trash this whole time."

    Instead of compromising with a close-enough voice, they decided to create a perfect match from scratch. This was only possible because Ha-eun had initially asked them to teach her.

    "Hyung, don’t you think Ha-eun’s voice fits our songs better than any featuring singer we’ve used before?"

    It was only natural, after all. They had personally refined and shaped Ha-eun’s voice over a decade, making it more compatible with their music than any other voice in the world.@@@@

    "Yes."

    "Then, what if we created one more character? A fictional persona who could feature in Double Lee’s songs?"

    This suggestion offered Ha-eun a way to fulfill Double Lee’s request without increasing her own fame. Technically, it wasn’t Ha-eun’s public image that needed to stay low-key, but rather her voice’s.

    Turning down a proposal crafted by the CEO himself was difficult. Besides, the *Fantasia* audition hadn’t even begun, while Jeong’s suggestion was an immediate issue that needed solving.

    "I’ll...talk it over with the guys."

    With that vague response, Ha-eun managed to navigate her way through the choice in front of her. She then cautiously asked about the "good news" Jeong had mentioned.

    "Oh, that. There’s a cross-dressing role you wanted—this one’s even a lead."

    To her surprise, the role was in the drama she had told Da-yeon she wanted to be part of.

    "That’d be *Moonlight Drawn by Clouds*. I hear it’s based on a novel."

    "Oh, yes. I’ve read it a few times. It’s really entertaining."

    "So, you’d love to be in such a fascinating story?"

    "...Yes."

    They ended the discussion by adding her name to the candidate list for the lead female role in *Moonlight Drawn by Clouds*. However, Jeong couldn’t shake off one concern and decided to mention it.

    "The director is known for being particular. I’ve heard he insists on the lead performing all the swordplay scenes themselves and even makes his casting decisions based on those scenes."

    In other words, if Ha-eun wanted this lead role, she’d have to learn action sequences typical of historical dramas. For her, this was a golden opportunity.

    "So, I’ll need to join an action school, right? And combine rigorous exercise with training all day?"

    Which also meant she could resume the workouts she hadn’t done for four days.

    "Are you sure it won’t be too difficult?"

    "No, I could start at an action school tomorrow! Actually, I really want to."

    "...?"

    Instead, Ha-eun eagerly requested to attend action school. Jeong was a bit taken aback by her enthusiasm.

    In a way, it made sense. Action schools were notoriously tough and not an ideal place for a young actress like Ha-eun. Why would she be so thrilled to go to such a place?

    Yet her determination seemed genuine, so Jeong reluctantly agreed to introduce her to an action school he knew

    . Shortly afterward, Ha-eun made another request.

    "Um, CEO, could I borrow a practice room? Just for a short while, maybe 10 minutes?"

    "Sure, we have plenty of empty practice rooms. Planning to shoot a TikTok or something?"

    "What? Oh, no. I just wanted to record a dance cover of an idol routine for myself."

    She didn’t mention that the dance video would be submitted for the *Fantasia* audition. Nor did she reveal that *Fantasia* was looking for videos showing applicants’ "talent."

    Some of the VTubers she remembered had once been idol trainees, so she thought submitting a video that mirrored their idol-like image would score her extra points.

    Moreover, if she submitted the idol song recording she’d practiced so diligently, she was confident she’d stand out among the many *Fantasia* audition hopefuls.