Chapter 18: What Was Lost and What Was Gained

The night before.

The same time the Demon God and Tae-young were conversing.

“Woooah, the inspiration won’t stop!”

The CEO had been holed up in his studio since the moment he heard the humming of worship.

Because the basic melody gave such intense inspiration, his hands moved on their own.

It felt less like he was creating the song and more like the song was using him as a medium to be born into the world.

“This is it, this is the one. I thought I’d never feel this again. Sun-woo is giving me a grand gift!”

The CEO had felt something similar to this in the past.

Specifically, when a masterpiece was about to emerge.

It was the sensation he had when his biggest hit songs were born.

Even more so, he was feeling that sensation more strongly now than ever before.

“Good, let’s go like this here, yes.”

The CEO operated the DAW software as if possessed—and in fact, since the Demon God was involved, he was literally possessed by the essence of a demon god.

His fingers danced across the MIDI keyboard, and occasionally he used the mouse to delicately edit the tracks.

He was satisfied with how the waveforms and MIDI notes lined up on the screen, each finding its place, but then.

“That’s not how you do it.”

Like a meddlesome middle-aged man at the gym, someone suddenly spoke up.

“What? Who is it? I told everyone not to come in.”

The CEO quickly looked around, but there was no one there.

“Huh?”

Something was strange.

The CEO was wearing headphones in the first place.

And yet, he had clearly heard a person’s voice as if they were right there.

‘A person’s voice?’

The CEO felt a momentary chill.

Was that really a human voice? The tone was familiar, but wasn’t it too alien to be called a person’s voice?

“No, what kind of distracting thoughts am I having. Is this the time? This is the chance of a lifetime for me and Pantheon.”

He must have been focused for too long. Come to think of it, he had skipped his meals and had no memory of drinking water.

The CEO first took out a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and drank it.

“As for food…”

The CEO lightly grabbed his side.

There was a thick layer of fat caught in his hand.

“I’ve put on a lot of weight lately, so I’ll eat in the morning.”

He focused on the song again.

The music quickly pulled the CEO back into a state of immersion.

It didn’t seem like it would take long.

He would finish it by morning—

“I’m telling you, it’s not like that. Shall I teach you?”

“Hmm?”

The gym ahjussi appeared again.

“Try it like this.”

Suddenly, the sensation below his elbows vanished.

The fingers he had placed on the MIDI keyboard began to move of their own accord.

Changes were made to the drum loop.

It was a slightly different direction than what the CEO had wanted.

However, the part that flowed out as a result of the manipulation sounded good even to the CEO’s ears.

His focus wavered slightly.

“Easy, right? Come on, shall we follow along?”

‘Oh, it is easy.’

‘Whoever this is, they’re kind.’

The CEO began to surrender his hands as if bewitched.

It would be different from the song he first envisioned, but if he could reach the final product so easily, maybe he could leave it to them for a bit…

“No! I can’t do this! Leave it to who? I have to follow the feeling from when I first heard the melody!”

The CEO shouted at the top of his lungs and stopped his arms.

He had felt the arrival of a masterpiece.

He had to follow that feeling from the moment he first heard it.

If he deviated from that, it might look plausible at first, but he would ultimately end up with a song that fell below expectations.

“No, I told you to just do as I teach you.”

His arms suddenly jerked in a different direction.

“Eeeeeeek!”

However, the CEO used all his strength to resist.

His unfeeling arms felt as hot as if they were burning, and the studio walls looked as though they were being stained red, but.

“Pantheon’s comeback song depends on me!”

The CEO had no intention of stopping.

Then, the voice shed its familiar gym ahjussi persona.

“You are wrong.”

The voice was now cold and terrifying.

In the office where the employees had all gone home.

In the only studio with the lights on.

The CEO fought against an unknown entity.

And the next morning.

“Where is the CEO?”

The Demon God and the members arrived at the company by taxi.

“Well, it seems like he’s inside. I can hear small noises. But he hasn’t answered at all.”

Team Leader Oh Dae-ho’s face was filled with visible panic as he replied.

Tae-young, who hadn’t brushed off the Demon God’s words, had contacted the Team Leader to check on the CEO’s well-being.

Until he received the call, the Team Leader had laughed, thinking it was all sorts of nonsense.

“For starters, the door won’t open. I tried using the spare key, but it’s no use.”

The CEO wasn’t responding or coming out, and the door was locked.

“He might be dead.”

The Demon God raised the theory of his death while walking.

“No! I can hear sounds!”

“Perhaps he is a ghost?”

“No way!”

While bickering, they arrived in front of the studio door.

An old-fashioned key, not a card key, was stuck in the door.

“The key turns, but the door stays the same.”

The Team Leader demonstrated by turning the key. It turned smoothly.

However, the door did not open at all.

“That is only natural.”

“What?”

The Demon God’s vision was different from that of the human Team Leader.

It was invisible to human eyes.

But currently, the studio door was tangled with darkness like a spider web. Threads made of wicked energy were stickily holding the door shut.

This was why the door wouldn’t open.

‘He stayed inside until it became like this? Did the CEO not come out of the studio even after sensing something was wrong? For what reason?’

The Demon God tilted his head slightly.

“In any case, there is no time to hesitate.”

“Sun-woo? What are you going to do?”

A slight look of expectation appeared on the Team Leader’s face.

“I shall do this.”

When the Demon God raised his foot high, the Team Leader immediately shook his head again.

“Sun-woo, do you think I haven’t tried that? I even called the staff to try. No matter how strong you are, it’s impossible. It’s not going to open like that.”

The Team Leader was certain.

If nothing else, the locking mechanism was sturdy.

The key turning without resistance must be due to a malfunction, so a locksmith had to be called.

One couldn’t do anything about the lock with raw strength—

CRASH!!!!

The studio door swung wide open!

A trivial spider web could not withstand the presence of the high-ranking Demon God.

“Huh?”

A dazed sound escaped the Team Leader’s mouth.

“Follow me.”

Ignoring the reaction, the Demon God stepped into the studio.

There were no windows, and the lights were off.

Thanks to the light spilling in from the hallway, only parts of the interior were visible.

Over there, near the desk where the laptop was placed.

Two feet were protruding from underneath it.

“CEO, are you safe?”

The CEO was sprawled out on the floor.

““CEO!””

The Team Leader and the members who followed inside discovered the CEO and cried out.

Everyone’s hearts sank. Just as various medical conditions that could cause an overworked middle-aged man to collapse flashed through their minds.

“CEO, stand up.”

The Demon God leaned over the CEO casually, as always.

There was a ‘Shadow’ that had been trembling in fear since the moment he entered.

It was stronger and more malicious than the ghost doll at home.

That was likely why it had even set up spider webs.

But a shadow is just a shadow.

Before a divine status, it was merely a trivial existence.

‘Hmph, you are not even worth using an Authority on.’

The Demon God observed the shadow.

It was at a level where it didn’t even have the ability to cause serious harm to the CEO.

“Now, I shall clear this away, so stand up.”

The Demon God destroyed the shadow without hesitation.

And in that moment.

“Uuuugh?”

With a groan of unknown origin, the CEO woke up.

“CEO? Are you conscious?”

“Guh. Guuuh….”

The CEO slowly raised his body.

“CEO?”

“No, look closely. That’s not the CEO.”

Pantheon faced an unknown entity.

“What! Who are you!”

Team Leader Oh Dae-ho also let out a sudden shout.

The door that wouldn’t open for so long.

They had entered worrying that something might have happened to the CEO.

But the person who stood up now, to call him the CEO—

He was far too thin.

“What are you talking about? If I’m not the CEO, then who is?”

However, the man retorted shamelessly as he stood up completely.

At that moment, the man’s pants slid down to the floor.

“Whoops!”

The man grabbed his pants with agile hands.

“I asked who you are! Who are you to be wearing the CEO’s clothes! They don’t even fit you!”

The Team Leader shouted again.

They were definitely the clothes the CEO was wearing yesterday.

However, they didn’t fit the man in front of them at all. Compared to the CEO, the man looked like he weighed at least 15kg less.

Yet, the man was still shamelessly placing his thumb and index finger on his jawline.

“Look closely. Team Leader Oh, think back to seven years ago and look at my face.”

“Seven years ago?”

Someone came faintly to mind.

Someone who was already working as a producer at Izm when the Team Leader was a rookie manager. Someone who had handed him pocket money, saying he was suffering without running away from a nasty artist.

“Huh?”

“Do you recognize me?”

“C-CEO—? Your younger self?”

“When I looked in the mirror after finishing the song, I saw that I had lost weight like this.”

““What?!””

Everyone was shocked by the CEO’s words.

He lost 15kg in a single day? Even with forced weight loss due to stress, it would take time. But in just one day?

“I’m telling you. While I was composing, I felt terrified, I thought I heard strange voices in my ears, and I felt sick. But how could I rest when a chance like this finally came? I grit my teeth and kept working. Maybe that’s why the weight just dropped off instantly.”

The CEO had reclaimed his prime days!

“CEO, you have quite the backbone!”

The Demon God burst into laughter.

Even if the opponent was a weak shadow, had a trivial human actually fought a being of darkness and emerged victorious?

Simply with the single-minded goal of making Pantheon successful?

It seemed the CEO was part of the reason why the gods had cast him into this company.

“To think fat has left your whole body in the process.”

“Well, I was actually thinking about losing some weight anyway.”

It was a massive gain.

The CEO had obtained the song and a jawline simultaneously in a single night.

“Um… excuse me, CEO.”

“Yoon-seo? What is it?”

“Can I touch your jaw once?”

Unable to contain his curiosity, the usually polite Yoon-seo made an absurd request.

“Hahahaha, go ahead and touch it.”

To the CEO, it was practically a victory ceremony.

With his willing permission, not only Yoon-seo but all the members reached out for the CEO’s jawline.

“CEO, congratulations on the anti-aging.”

“Wow! This is so fascinating!”

Then, the Team Leader, who had been staring blankly, raised his phone.

“Team Leader Oh, who are you calling?”

“I’m going to report this to the staff of ‘How is that Possible.'”

It was a program famous for its unique narration, spotlighting viral regular people.

[There is a man who lost 15kg in just one day?! The production team met the protagonist of this unbelievable story in person!]

“Stop it! They’ll think I’m telling a ridiculous lie to promote my own group. I’ll just get a ton of hate.”

“Oh, right, that wouldn’t do. That wouldn’t be good for Pantheon.”

While everyone’s attention was focused on the CEO’s weight loss like this.

The Demon God suddenly became curious about one thing.

“CEO, will you let us hear the song?”

Let’s hear the song obtained at the cost of 15kg.

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