The control room was a cauldron of helpless fury. The slick, corporate propaganda of the Kai teaser played on a loop in their minds, its insidious message sinking in like a poison. Jin stood frozen, the color completely drained from his face, looking at his own ghostly silhouette on the paused screen.
"She's telling the world I'm obsolete," he said again, his voice hollow, the words tasting like rust. "That my entire life's work was just raw material for something better."
"She's a monster," Da-eun seethed, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. "How can we fight this? She's admitting what she did and calling it a masterpiece! If we accuse her of theft, she'll just agree and thank us for noticing!"
"No," Yoo-jin said, his voice cutting through the rising panic with the sharp, cold authority of a surgeon's scalpel. He stepped forward and, with a decisive click of the mouse, turned off the monitor, plunging the room into a more subdued light. He would not allow them to be mesmerized by the enemy's weapon.
"She is not telling the world her story," he corrected them, his gaze sweeping across his shaken team. "She is telling the world her version of the story. And she is doing it first. We cannot let her control this narrative for the next three weeks. We cannot let her define the terms of this battle before it even begins. We have to respond. Now."
"With what?" Da-eun shot back, her frustration palpable. "The album isn't ready. The mix isn't even finished. We have nothing to show."
"We don't need the album yet," Yoo-jin said, a new, aggressive strategy already forming in his mind. "We don't need a finished product. We just need to plant a seed of doubt. We need to fight her story with our own story. We will fight her cold, sterile perfection with our messy, human truth."
He turned to his team, his demeanor shifting from defensive analyst to proactive director. "Min-young, get in here. Jin, Da-eun, Chae-rin—with me. We are going to craft our own response, and we're releasing it tonight."
Moments later, they were gathered in the main studio lounge. Yoo-jin was going to direct this pre-emptive strike himself, and he would use his Producer's Eye to ensure every frame, every word, was perfectly calibrated to counter OmniCorp's attack.
"The plan is simple," he explained. "They released a polished, inhuman documentary. We will release a raw, intimate, behind-the-scenes teaser. No slick graphics, no voiceover. Just you. Just the truth. It will end with the album title and a release date: the same day as Kai's single."
He pulled out his own phone, which had a high-quality camera. "I'm filming this myself. I want it to feel immediate and real." He was now a field director in his own war, his Eye the most sophisticated light meter in the world.
He focused his ability first on Jin, who still looked shaken. He needed to capture not his trauma, but his resilience.
[Target 'Authenticity' Vectors for Kim Jin-hyuk: Spontaneous Laughter, Collaborative Energy, Minor Imperfections (e.g., a self-deprecating smile after hitting a wrong note).]
"Jin," Yoo-jin said, starting to film. "I don't want you to talk about the pain. I don't want you to be the tragic figure. I want you to tell the camera the story of how you and Da-eun finally clicked when you wrote the defiance anthem. Talk about how frustrating it was. Talk about how you almost gave up. And then talk about the breakthrough. Laugh about it. Show them the process. Show them the work."
Hesitantly at first, Jin began to speak. As he recounted the story of their creative struggle, a genuine, small smile touched his lips. Yoo-jin captured the moment, the glint of life in his eyes a perfect counterpoint to the dead perfection in Kai's.
Next, Yoo-jin turned his attention to the group as a whole. He needed to capture their synergy, the messy, beautiful reality of human collaboration.
[Target 'Synergy' Vectors for Aura Chimera: Shared Glances, Physical Proximity, Overlapping Dialogue, Good-natured Disagreements.]
"Okay, everyone," he said, keeping the camera rolling. "I want you to sit together. Talk about the album. What does it mean to you? Why are you making it?"
He filmed them as they talked, huddled together on the lounge couch. He captured Da-eun good-naturedly arguing with Jin over a single lyric. He filmed a quiet, beautiful moment where Chae-rin was helping Da-eun find a difficult harmony, their heads close together. He recorded their spontaneous laughter when Ji-won, via speakerphone, called a chord progression they were working on 'pedestrian.' He captured the little, unscripted moments of warmth, frustration, and connection that defined a real band.
He was filming the antithesis of OmniCorp's sterile laboratory. This was a workshop of souls, noisy and imperfect and alive.
For the final shot, he brought them into the recording studio. "Just be together," he said. He filmed them standing in a loose circle, not performing, just existing in the space where they had poured their hearts out. He captured a shot of them laughing together, a moment of pure, unadulterated joy after a shared inside joke.
Later, at the editing bay with Min-ji, he assembled the clips. The result was a short, powerful video that felt more like a glimpse into a private diary than a marketing teaser. It was raw, intimate, and deeply human.
The video montage of their laughter, their arguments, and their collaborative breakthroughs ended on that final, joyful shot of the three of them in the studio. Then, the screen cut to black. Simple white text appeared, silent and defiant.
AURA CHIMERA
The name of their supergroup, revealed for the first time.
The debut album: "SOUL / MACHINE"
A direct challenge. A declaration of their theme.
Coming in three weeks.
A head-on collision course.
Before he gave the final order, Yoo-jin did one last check. He activated his Producer's Eye and analyzed their own finished video, just as he had with OmniCorp's.
[Analyzing Asset: 'SOUL/MACHINE' Teaser]
[Asset Type: Narrative Counter-Offensive]
[Projected Outcome: Will generate significant 'Narrative Dissonance' with 'The Birth of Kai' teaser. Establishes core themes of 'Human Connection,' 'Resilience,' and 'Imperfect Authenticity.' Success Probability for initiating widespread public debate and fracturing OmniCorp's controlled narrative: 90%.]
The odds were good. It was the right move.
He turned to Min-ji, who was poised over her keyboard, ready to upload the video to all of Aura's official channels simultaneously.
"Do it," Yoo-jin said, his voice steady.
She hit the enter key. The file uploaded. The shot had been fired. They were no longer just responding to Nam Gyu-ri's attack. They were firing back, aiming directly at the hollow heart of her narrative. The war for the soul of the music had just, officially, gone public.