November came. And if I wanted a label to actually offer me a record deal, it had to be something massive.
Not another track or upload.
Something loud enough to force people to pay attention.
It was a regular Saturday, the day right before my birthday, when it hit me.
Kaede sometimes sent me random music videos just to have an excuse to talk. Sometimes I actually listened to them.
One of them was DAEUN – Seoul Nights.
The song was alt-pop, with dark R&B influences. Pretty catchy.
And Daeun herself? Yeah… she was hot. Light brown hair, striking green eyes, and those soft, delicate Korean features that made a lot of Japanese girls secretly jealous.
Yeah.
I could see why she was getting traction.
And that gave me an idea.
I'd start small. Follow her on Instagram, like a couple of her photos. Nothing crazy.
I pulled up her profile.
250k followers.
…Yeah.
Way more than me. Like, damn, she's in a different league.
Meanwhile, I was stuck at 60k followers
And that wasn't even getting into her actual numbers.
Seoul Nights peaked at 5.4 million views, while her average was still around 800k-1 million.
It didn't take much. Just a few days of quietly liking her posts before she finally slid into my DMs.
@daeun_official:
"Hey. You've been showing up on my feed a lot lately. Are you always this obvious, or am I just special?"
A pause. Then another message followed.
"Either way… you some kind of stalker? 😱"
I smirked at my screen.
Me: "Yo."
"Yeah, I did. But you've got plenty of people liking your posts—why single me out? 🙃"
The typing bubble appeared.
Then disappeared.
She clearly didn't expect me to clap back that directly.
Finally—
Daeun: "Because most of them aren't a Japanese rapper randomly spamming my profile with likes at 3AM."
A pause.
"…It's kind of noticeable." 😅
Me: "My little sister just happened to show me a song of yours, I liked it and I followed you. 🙃 What's the big deal?"
The typing bubble stayed up longer this time.
Daeun: "Your little sister has good taste then."
"Still… following me, liking everything. That's not exactly 'casual listener' behavior, you know."
There was a pause again—shorter this time.
Daeun: "You do this with other artists too, or did I just get picked?"
Me: "Ok, I can unlike everything and unfollow you if it bothers you this much. Want a block too? 🙃"
The typing bubble showed up almost instantly this time.
Daeun: "No, don't do that."
"That's not what I meant."
Another pause—longer now.
Daeun: "It's just… unusual."
"Most people don't talk like you do. That's all."
I grew up with two ladies in the house. Even after they basically threw me under the bus once my reputation went to shit, I still had to share the same roof with them.
And yet, after all that, I still don't understand women for the life of me.
Telling her what I'm really after right now would be a terrible idea.
Like, career-ending levels of stupid.
Me: "What if I told you I followed you cause I find you hot? 🙃"
Daeun: "And that line usually works for you?"
"Or am I part of some experiment? 😅"
Me: "There's a difference between being honest and making a move. I'm just being honest. 🙈"
Daeun: "Right… because those two things are totally unrelated. Like, you just accidentally decided to be honest in my DMs?"
Me: "Ok, first of all, you DMed, so clearly it bothered you. Second, I have a girlfirend. Well, sort of, anyway."
Daeun: "I DMed because I was curious, not bothered."
"And 'sort of' doesn't really sound like a girlfriend." 🙃
I saw no reason to reveal the complicated relationship with Kurumi.
Daeun didn't stop there, though.
Daeun: "If you have a girlfriend, even 'sort of,' maybe don't go around calling other girls hot."
"Just a thought."
Me: "I'm sorry, Your Highness, Queen of South Korea. I will be more careful about my words."
Daeun: "Wow. Ego and attitude."
"You're really trying to make a great first impression, huh? 😅"
Me: "Yeah, I'm good at those."
"I mean, come on. I look like an emo kid and a delinquent had a child. 🙃"
Daeun: "That joke hurt a little to read 😭"
"But okay… interesting introduction, I'll give you that."
Me: "Yeah, thanks. 😅"
Daeun: "Okay, I think that's enough internet for me today 😭"
"Cya around maybe."
Ok.
That went… surprisingly well.
Truth is, I could've jumped straight to the collab offer, but—
Since it was Kaede who first shoved Daeun's music in my face, I kinda wanted to flex a little.
And honestly? That's half the reason I'm dead‑set on getting a feature with this Daeun chick.
Anyway.
I opened my DMs with Kaede and dropped a screenshot of the conversation.
Not the whole thing — just enough to tease.
Her reply came in less than a second.
Kaede:
"EEEEHHHHHH?!?!?!?
NO. WAY.
NO. ACTUAL. WAY.
ONII‑CHAN TALKED TO DAEUN?!?! 😱😱😱💥💥💥
I'M SCREAMINGGGG—"
Another message immediately after:
"LIKE—THE DAEUN???
SEOUL NIGHTS DAEUN???
THE ONE I SHOWED YOU???
YOU'RE TELLING ME SHE TEXTED YOU?!?!?!?
WHAT IS THIS TIMELINE OMGGGG 🤯🤯🤯💖💖💖"
And then:
"SEND.
EVERY.
MESSAGE.
RIGHT.
NOW.
I'M NOT BREATHING."
Yeah.
That's my sister.
I decided to ignore her.
A couple of notifications later, my ringtone filled the room.
Didn't even have to guess who it was. My phone sat on the table while I lay comfortably on the couch.
I picked up with a groan I barely managed to swallow.
"Onii-chan! What the hell!" she snapped the moment the line connected. "You think you can just drop something like that and then ghost me?! Are you stupid?!"
She raised her voice like I personally ruined her whole day by not answering fast enough.
Women.
"Well, little princess, I wanted to…" I stretched, letting the yawn drag out just to piss her off. "But your caps‑lock tantrum drained the life out of me."
There was a sharp exhale on the other end—like Kaede's breath was directly asking "are you kidding me?".
"Onii-chan, I sent you two messages," she fired back immediately. "TWO. That's not a tantrum, that's BASIC COMMUNICATION. You're the one acting like some exhausted grandpa who can't handle notifications."
She didn't even pause before piling on.
"And don't 'little princess' me! You're the one who dropped a bomb and then disappeared like some dramatic anime protagonist who thinks he's mysterious."
Her voice cracked upward in that way that meant she was pacing, flailing, or both.
"You made me look like an idiot staring at my phone for ten minutes! Ten!"
Yeah, yeah.
"Three long messages, actually. And I used to call you 'little bitch' in my head, so you can appreciate the upgrade. Also, you done yelling?"
For a moment, Kaede fell silent, like her brain was trying to catch up.
Then she exploded.
"EXCUSE ME?!" she shrieked, voice raising an octave. "You— you— you can't just SAY that like it's some cute fun fact! What do you mean you 'used to' call me that?! Used to?! Since WHEN?!"
She didn't even give herself time to breathe.
"And don't correct me on the number of messages like you're some smug accountant! Three messages is STILL NORMAL. You're the one acting like replying is a life‑threatening activity!"
Another breath. Another explosion.
"And NO, I'm not done yelling! I'll stop yelling when you stop being an idiot, which—newsflash—doesn't seem likely tonight!"
You could practically hear her kick the floor.
"I'm hanging up," I said flatly.
That single line worked on her like a bucket of cold water.
"W–wait, no—don't hang up!" she blurted, the volume dropping fast. "I'm not done— I mean, I am done yelling, okay? Just—just don't hang up."
Her tone snapped from explosive to scrambling, the way it always did when she realized she'd overplayed her hand. You could practically hear her trying to swallow the rest of her indignation.
"I'm calm. See? Totally calm. Talking normally. Not yelling. At all."
A tiny huff slipped through anyway—half frustration, half embarrassment.
"…Just don't hang up yet."
I let out a slow sigh.
"Fine, fine. Look—I just… like getting under your skin sometimes. Sorry, not sorry."
There was a beat of silence on the line before Kaede answered, her voice lower now.
"…You really enjoy messing with me that much?"
Before I could answer, she cleared her throat—quick and forced.
"Anyway," she said, trying and failing to sound casual, "can we go back to the important part?"
A beat.
"Daeun. You talked to Daeun."
Her voice dipped into that breathless, disbelieving tone again, but quieter this time—like she was trying not to blow up again.
"What did she say? How did it even happen? And don't you dare say 'nothing much,' Onii‑chan, I swear…"
"To sum it up, she noticed I left a bunch of likes on her profile and…" I began, setting up what was clearly going to be a long explanation, nearly tripping over my own words.
I didn't mention the feature plan. Just gave her enough to feed her fangirl obsession.
And later, I messaged Kurumi, asking if she minded me doing a feature with another girl.
"Wow. Rapper boy's already cheating on me? 💔😔"
Yeah. Sure. If you have that little faith in me.
"You know… if you're that desperate for numbers, you could just do a song with me."
"No need to go chasing other girls. 😒"
I blinked.
"You're an idol. Wouldn't your label be against it? 👀"
She paused just long enough to make it obvious she was doing it on purpose.
"Since when do I ask for permission? 🤣"
A beat.
"My contract's not a cage, it's a suggestion."
Another pause, softer this time—dangerously close to playful.
"And if they have a problem with it… they can try stopping me. 😒"
Okay, I'm not saying a Ku-chan feature wouldn't hit harder with my Japanese audience.
But I don't have time to play it safe.
I need to win the wager.
I need my freedom back.
And Daeun…
Daeun is the kind of move that shifts everything.
International reach. Bigger noise. The kind of attention that doesn't just boost numbers—it forces labels to look twice.
Way bigger than the V€xxx feature.
So yeah.
No need to rely on SIX STAR just yet.
Not when I can make my own play.