“It hurts so much to know that my disciple told such a lie. But as a teacher, I don’t want to see you do something wrong… I have no choice. I’ll grant Kaphid’s request.”

“Oh, Teacher…!”

“But.”

Prodia looked at him and smiled brightly.

“I’ll divide the copyright revenue 9 to 1.”

Of course, Prodia meant 9.

At those words, Kaphid’s face turned pale.

“But that’s too much…!”

“Do you dislike it? Should I go to Master Jaisang right now?”

“…Let’s make it 5 to 5.”

“8 to 2. No more negotiation.”

In the end, Kaphid signed the contract with tears.
And Prodia immediately called the four men to deliver this amazing news.

“I found out about the next schedule of the competition.”

Unexpected news surprised Ed.

He had thought that Prodia’s information network was all fake.

‘Was that not the case?’

Moreover, he had inadvertently violated his promise with her.

He had promised to take care of all the competition-related information going forward. The neglect of his main job, focusing on Sharak, had been the cause.

While Ed was in confusion, Prodia continued her explanation.

“It seems there are many more eliminations in the preliminary rounds than expected. So, to appease public sentiment, they are planning to temporarily stop the competition and open the opening ceremony, where participants will showcase a special performance.”

Everyone was surprised by the unexpected situation.

“Of course, they won’t separately score this performance. However, it’s a good opportunity to catch the eyes of those in high positions.”

It was a valid point.

Especially since the Emperor and Empress would attend the opening ceremony. It would definitely be advantageous to catch their attention.

But there was something strange.

Even if there were many eliminations, there were still thousands of participants who had survived until now. If they all performed, it would take all night.

Prodia had the same thought.

“In my opinion, only some of the successful candidates will prepare for the performance. They said it involves singing.”

Everyone thought of the Trust at the mention of singing.

But it was concluded that this special stage had nothing to do with the Trust.

It wasn’t a competition where each person would be scored individually.

Then, there might be another music-related event in the remaining competition schedule.

Everyone’s expressions became serious.

They couldn’t figure out the direction this competition was taking.

Prodia spoke up.

“So, I want to let you hear the performance song in advance.”

“Did you really find out the performance song in advance?”

Now, Ed was on the verge of his eyes popping out of his glasses.

Upon hearing this, Prodia sighed.

“…Yes, it somehow happened.”

Saying that, Prodia seemed somewhat displeased.

Seeing this, Ed misunderstood again, and his heart sank once more.

This was a big problem.

If Prodia took issue with his negligence at work, she might again consider terminating the contract.

If that happened, he would miss out on both work and love.

‘Pull yourself together, Ed Freeh.’

Now is not the time to worry about old cases.

He needed to concentrate on gaining Prodia’s trust in this competition.

He finally regained his composure.

Then Prodia said something unbelievable.

“I will personally sing that song for all of you.”

“…!”

He probably didn’t mishear this, right?

Prodia will personally sing the song.

Everyone’s hearts began to race wildly.
However, Prodia, completely unaware of their feelings, simply cleared her throat.

“Ahem… then let’s begin.”

Finally, a melody flowed from her lips.

Prodia sang better than expected. Her voice and singing appearance were truly beyond words, incredibly beautiful.

However, as time passed, the expressions of the four men became darker.

It was due to the strange format of the melody that they were hearing for the first time.

Moreover, the lyrics were also very unfamiliar.

“Because I don’t know what kind of man you all like, so I prepared everything for you~!”

What kind of song is this, exactly?

Even until the conclusion, everyone had a shocked expression.

Never before in their lives had they heard such a strange song.

Of course, Prodia had fully expected such a reaction.

When she heard that Jaesang had chosen this song, she also doubted her ears.

To everyone, it was unmistakably K-pop that did not fit into this world.

But why on earth did he choose such a song?

‘Maybe he needed a song that would attract everyone’s attention, something bold and fresh.’

Well, with this level of shock, it might even be enough to suppress all complaints.

Perhaps they wanted to cover controversies with more controversies.

But regardless of the imperial intentions, what did that have to do with me?

As long as I perform well in the competition, that should be enough.

Eventually, Prodia finished singing.

Luka’s eyes were now filled with hearts.

“Sister, sing it one more time. I want to practice in advance.”

“Oh, should I?”

But then Ertis shook something in front of everyone.

It was a small magic stone.

“I’ve already recorded it.”

“Hey, what if you’ve already recorded it! What do we do now!”

Luka was ready to grab Ertis by the collar right away.

As long as that existed, Prodia would almost certainly never sing again.

The other two men also had disappointed expressions.

But Prodia was very satisfied with Ertis’s decision.

Indeed, a Grand Mage was always useful.

“Well then, I’ll be going now. Practice hard.”

With those words, Prodia left the training room without any regrets.

They were left in the training room without her, and they had to listen to the recorded song from the magic stone.

Around dinner time.

As the song became somewhat familiar, the four men gradually left the training room to get some sleep.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Luka secretly reached out to Ertis with the magic stone.

But he got caught in the act.

“What are you doing?”

“Ugh, Ertis!”

After giving Luka a once-over, Ertis slid the magic stone deep into his chest.

Then Luka grabbed onto his clothes and pleaded with a desperate look in his eyes.

“Hey, copy that for me, please.”

“Such a waste of magic power.”

Then Ed and Sharak also joined in.

“You have so much magic power, and we all already know it. Please make some for us too.”

“Yeah, Ertis. We should all listen together!”

“You can listen together tomorrow. Good night, everyone.”
He turned decisively and headed to his room.

Watching him leave, everyone had the same thought.

“Why on earth does he not understand his own feelings?”

Inside Ertis’s room.

He lay on his bed and brought the magic stone he had brought a while ago close to his ear.

Prodia’s singing had tickled his ears for a long time.

Unconsciously, he chuckled.

“She sings well.”

And a few days later, a letter arrived, announcing the preparation for the special performance at the opening ceremony.