The war began not with a bang, but with a rumor.
Monday morning, 9:00 AM. An anonymous insider account on a major K-Pop forum posted a seemingly credible leak.
"Starforce considering scrapping 'Sol & Luna'. Moving Hana to a rock concept band. Mina to star in a web drama instead of debuting."
It was a lie. A carefully constructed piece of disinformation designed to trigger a specific reaction.
By 10:00 AM, the fans were in an uproar. Confusion reigned. The narrative was destabilized.
At Titan Entertainment, in a pristine, white office, Isabelle Moon flinched. A sudden spike of pain pierced her temple. Her vision of the future, once clear, blurred momentarily. The path had split. Was the rock band concept real? The Oracle's mind raced to calculate the new probability, the sheer randomness of the variable causing a burst of psychic static.
This was the first pebble in the landslide.
Tuesday, 2:00 PM. Kim Seo-yeon, playing her part perfectly, leaked a fake internal memo to a journalist contact. The memo detailed a "collaboration" between Starforce and a famous American hip-hop producer.
Wednesday, 11:00 AM. Yoo-jin had Mina record a snippet of a heavy metal cover song. He uploaded it to a burner YouTube account with the title "Mina_Secret_Practice_Leak_v3".
It was pure noise. Meaningless data. But to a precognitive mind trying to map the future, it was torture.
Yoo-jin sat in his office, monitoring the chaos. He had his new 'soul-hearing' sense turned on, dialed low, just enough to feel the pulse of the industry.
He could feel it. A growing dissonance. A frantic, high-pitched buzzing coming from the direction of Titan Entertainment. It was the sound of a prophet screaming into the void.
"It's working," Hana said, standing by the window, staring out at the city. "I checked the fan cafes. The confusion is absolute. No one knows what we're doing next. Titan's PR team is scrambling to react to rumors that don't even exist."
"And Isabelle?" Yoo-jin asked, his voice low.
"My aunt called me," Hana said, a grim smile touching her lips. "She wanted to know if Isabelle should cancel her schedule for the week. She said Isabelle has been having 'severe migraines'. She can barely leave her room."
The weapon was firing. The Oracle was suffering.
It was a cruel victory. Yoo-jin felt a pang of guilt, a reminder that he was tormenting a woman whose only crime was being born with too much power. But then he remembered the photo of Hana and Isabelle, the suffocating "kindness" that was erasing Hana's identity. This was war.
"We keep going," Yoo-jin ordered. "Increase the frequency. Seo-yeon has a fake schedule ready to drop. Ghost is preparing to flood their internal servers with conflicting data packets about our comeback dates."
Hana nodded, her eyes cold. She was enjoying this. For the first time in her life, she was the one causing the pain, not receiving it.
The door opened, and Mina walked in. She looked tired but determined. She was holding a tablet.
"Producer-nim," she said. "I recorded the trot demo you asked for. It sounds... terrible."
"Perfect," Yoo-jin said. "Upload it. Tag it as a potential title track."
Mina hesitated. "Are we... are we bad people for doing this?"
It was the question that haunted him every night.
"We are survivors, Mina," he said, the same line he had used with the director. "Isabelle Moon can see the future. If we play by her rules, we lose before we even start. We have to break the rules to give you a chance."
[Name: Choi Mina]
[Emotion: Conflict, Trust]
[She accepts your logic, but her heart is heavy.]
"Okay," she whispered. "I trust you."
She tapped the screen, sending another wave of chaos into the world. Another spike of pain for the Oracle.
Thursday, 4:00 PM. The breaking point.
Ghost sent a message. We got a hit. A big one. Titan just cancelled Isabelle's appearance on 'Music Bank' this week. Cited 'health reasons'.
It was the first public crack. The Oracle had blinked.
Yoo-jin felt a surge of triumph, quickly followed by a new, urgent problem. His phone rang. It was Director Yoon's office.
"Producer Han," the director's assistant said, her voice brisk. "Director Yoon wants to move the recording session up. Tonight. 8 PM. He says he's had a... breakthrough."
A breakthrough. The vampire was hungry again. And with the chaos swirling around them, he likely sensed an opportunity.
"We'll be there," Yoo-jin said, hanging up.
He looked at Mina. "Change of plans. We're recording tonight."
"Tonight?" she asked, anxiety flashing in her eyes. "But I thought..."
"The director calls the shots," Yoo-jin said. "But remember the plan. You are an actress. You give him the pain, but you control the tap. And I'll be right there."
They arrived at the studio at 7:55 PM. The atmosphere was different this time. The air felt charged, heavy with a restless energy.
Director Yoon was pacing the room. He looked more haggard than before, his eyes burning with a manic intensity.
"You're late," he snapped, though they were early. "Get in the booth."
Mina hurried inside. Yoo-jin took his place behind the director. He activated his soul-sense immediately.
The sound of the director's soul was deafening. The grinding machine was roaring, a desperate, starving sound. He wasn't just hungry; he was ravenous.
"Start," Yoon commanded.
Mina began to sing. She did exactly as Yoo-jin had taught her. She channeled a specific, controlled sorrow. Her voice was beautiful, haunting.
But it wasn't enough.
"No!" Yoon shouted, slamming his hand on the console. "It's fake! It's controlled! I can hear the walls you've put up! Tear them down!"
He was pushing harder. His 'Muse Drain' skill lashed out, psychic hooks digging deep, trying to bypass her defenses.
Yoo-jin felt the impact. Mina stumbled in the booth, gasping.
[Target: Choi Mina]
[Emotional Stamina dropping rapidly: 85%... 70%...]
The vampire was trying to force feed.
Yoo-jin stepped forward, ready to intervene, ready to use his own static as a shield again. But before he could, something impossible happened.
A new sound cut through the psychic noise of the studio.
It wasn't the director's grinding hunger. It wasn't Mina's cello sadness. It wasn't Yoo-jin's static.
It was a high, clear, piercing note. A sound of pure, crystalline order. A sound that felt like the future itself screaming.
The studio door burst open.
Standing there, breathing heavily, her perfect idol makeup smeared, her eyes wild and unfocused, was Isabelle Moon.
She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be in her room, medicated, blinded by their chaos.
But here she was. The Oracle had come to the vampire's castle.
"Stop," she gasped, her voice trembling but commanding. "You have to stop."
Director Yoon turned slowly, his eyes wide with shock. He looked at the intruder, and then a slow, predatory smile spread across his face. He sensed it. He heard it.
An SSS-Rank soul. One that was raw, exposed, and radiating power like a supernova.
"Isabelle Moon," the director whispered, the name tasting like wine on his tongue. "The Oracle. What a delightful surprise."
Isabelle ignored him. She looked straight at Yoo-jin, her eyes filled with a terrifying mixture of hatred and pleading.
"Your noise," she choked out, clutching her head. "Your chaos. It's blinding me. But I saw this. One clear moment in the storm. I saw him." She pointed a shaking finger at the director. "I saw him devouring her. And then... I saw him devouring me."
She stumbled forward, her legs giving out. She collapsed onto the studio floor.
"Help me," the untouchable goddess whispered, looking up at the producer she had threatened to destroy. "Please. Make it stop."
The room froze. The dynamics had shattered. The enemy was at his feet, begging for mercy. And the predator was looking at her not as a guest, but as the main course.
Yoo-jin looked at the director, whose hunger had now shifted entirely to the fallen idol. He looked at Mina, safe in her booth but watching in horror. He looked at Isabelle, the broken prophet.
He had wanted to neutralize the Oracle. He had succeeded beyond his wildest nightmares. He had driven her right into the jaws of the beast.
And now, he had a choice. Let the vampire feed on his enemy and remove the threat of Titan Entertainment forever... or save the monster who had tried to ruin him.