For the Sake of a Perfect Song
The manga Ice Empress on the Frozen Lake was reasonably popular, all things considered. That meant the budget assigned to Maha Studio, the studio chosen to produce the anime, was more than enough to hire an A-list singer.
The project was one the company was pushing hard, and even from an internal perspective, the quality of every completed scene so far was exceptional. Originally, they had planned to secure a fairly well-known Japanese artist for the opening tie-up.
“...Wait, some singer I’ve never even heard of?”
But the situation changed when the original creator stepped in. Thanks to the massive authority granted to the author under the contract, the production side had no choice but to listen when she threw a tantrum.
If she had made an outrageous demand, they might have been able to push back, but all she asked was that the opening tie-up be given to an internet singer named Mikansei.
“The author must be pretty young...” “Yeah. Honestly, I’ve never heard of them either.”
The reason none of the staff recognized the song—even though it had scraped the bottom of the Billboard Japan chart—was because Mikansei had gone viral primarily through TikTok. To the young author, who wasn’t even in college yet, this was a hugely famous internet singer. To the staff members already past thirty, it was a completely unknown name.
That was why they assumed Mikansei would be cheap. After all, the artist was a rookie with only one song out.
But after tracking down the agency through the singer’s channel and contacting them via the agency’s rather crudely designed website, the response they received was...
“What the... Why is it so expensive?”
The quoted fee was higher than what it would cost to book an S-class artist—one of Japan’s true top-tier stars. When the studio protested that it made no sense, the other side simply replied that if it didn’t make sense, they wouldn’t do it. There was no room for negotiation.
In truth, from Blue Sky Entertainment’s perspective, they had never intended to give the busy Seo Siyeon a tie-up job in the first place. They had simply thrown out an absurdly high number to make the whole thing go away.
Even if Maha Studio tried to pivot to another singer, the original author’s insistence was simply too strong to ignore.
“...Well, what can we do? We’ll just have to pay it.”
It would burn through a massive chunk of the budget, and there was no guarantee the end result would even be good.
Mikansei had only released a single song so far. No one was denying that The Theory of Happiness had been a hit, but it wasn’t uncommon for artists like this to vanish after scoring one wonder hit.
“I’d be happy if they could at least match Supercell’s level...” “Do you think Supercell is that easy to imitate?”
In the end, they met with a staff member in person to finalize the contract, and throughout the entire process, they never once saw Mikansei’s face.
“Aww... I really wanted to see Mikansei’s face...”
Watching Akane—the original creator of Ice Empress on the Frozen Lake—trail along to the contract meeting only to look utterly disappointed at not getting to meet her favorite singer, the staff could only sigh deeply in their hearts.
But it took less than a single day for those sighs to turn into cheers.
Because the demo track that arrived barely twenty-four hours later was shockingly, impossibly good.
“...This isn’t even the final version? They just threw this together in one night...?”
The melody line itself sounded familiar. Since they were producing a figure skating anime, they had watched countless performances, so it wasn’t hard to identify the source of the melody currently filling their ears.
“...‘Dance of the Dead’? It’s a sample.”
Unlike the original, however, every classical instrument—the cellos, violins, and the rest—had been completely stripped away. The track was packed wall-to-wall with nothing but synths. Cutting through the middle like sparks flying off a blade was a high-register lead synth that seemed to race forward at blinding speed. A steady bass beat and metallic hi-hat sounds anchored everything from behind.
Even if you ignored all the technical musical elements...
“This song just fits the damn work perfectly, doesn’t it?”
There was no other way to describe it. It was a genuinely good song on its own, but it also had this strange power that made listeners instinctively picture the protagonists racing across the ice in the manga—as if the track had been written while the writer watched those exact scenes in their head.
“...And this really came in less than a day?” “Yeah. They said if we don’t like it, they’ll revise it.” “...Just tell them to do whatever they want. This is way beyond what we can even comprehend.”
If someone had spent a long time crafting a song like this, sure, that would make sense. With careful analysis and plenty of time, it was possible to design something that fit the work this perfectly.
But to create something like this in less than a day?
That was already outside the realm of common sense. It was beyond anything they could understand.
“This tie-up might actually cause a seismic shift in the music industry.”
“...I’m screwed.”
Skating had been completely useless.
In the first place, the idea of stepping onto the ice for the first time and immediately feeling any sense of speed was ridiculous. After spending the entire day waddling along while clutching the instructor’s hand, I had no choice but to drag my exhausted body back to my room.
I had turned into nothing more than a child who could barely stand on skates.
“...Speed. I need speed.”
I had wanted to feel the thrilling rush of speed on the ice, but honestly, anything that could give me a high-velocity experience would do.
The first things that came to mind were skiing or snowboarding. Both were immediately rejected. They would probably end up feeling exactly like skating. If anything, they looked even harder to learn.
If I could master them and fly down the slopes at insane speeds like the pros, the sensation would be incredible... but I had no idea how long that would take.
When I voiced my dilemma to Yuina, her answer was crystal clear.
—How about a roller coaster?
“Let’s go right now.”
The most famous roller coaster in Korea was T Express, but the one considered the most thrilling was Draken at Gyeongju World.
Since Gyeongju was too far to go alone, I asked the company for help and ended up bringing my manager along.
“...It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” “It has.”
Kim Junhyung, who used to be my personal manager, had started helping with Blooming and Noiris after I went on hiatus and no longer had any schedules. We saw each other occasionally when I visited the company, but not nearly as often as before.
Still, Kim Junhyung wore the exact same stoic expression as always, which made dealing with him surprisingly easy.
“...Have you ever ridden a roller coaster before?” “Yeah. Um. No?” “Riding Draken first might be a bit much if it’s your first time.” “Nah, I’ll be fine.”
I had checked—the height requirement was 135 centimeters. At over 140, I was more than tall enough.
Kim Junhyung still looked worried, but I had been a man in my previous life. I was the kind of person who always rode Vikings and roller coasters whenever I went to amusement parks. I had even ridden Draken before. I wasn’t sure how it would feel in Seo Siyeon’s body... but it couldn’t be that different, right?
Even if it was a little scary, the thrill you felt the entire ride was no joke. It would be strange if shrinking a bit suddenly made me unable to ride something I used to handle just fine.
It didn’t take long for that arrogant thought to be completely shattered.
The moment I got out of the car and saw Draken’s towering rails rising into the sky, anxiety hit me like a wave. Since it was a weekday, there was almost no line, so we boarded almost immediately. The second I sat down and the ride started moving, cold sweat broke out all over my body. I gripped the collar of Kim Junhyung’s shirt with every ounce of strength I had.
And then, after the first big climb, right before the drop, when the ride paused for just a moment—
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!”
I knew I was utterly fucked.
During the less than three minutes the ride lasted, I experienced literal hell.
“Haa... huff. H-haha...!”
I could barely even remember why I had decided to ride this thing in the first place. Thankfully I didn’t throw up, but the lingering terror in my mind felt disturbingly vivid.
Why the hell do they stop right before dropping, damn it.
“Are you okay?” “...Aren’t you scared?” “It was fun.”
I used to be like that in my previous life too.
Maybe a middle-school girl’s body really was just that weak.
“Did you get what you needed?” “...I think so.”
But if there was one thing I had definitely felt, it was speed. Enough that I wanted to start working on it immediately on the ride home.
The moment I got in the car, I licked at the gelato I had bought earlier and booted up my laptop. The car had a small table where I could set it up, making it surprisingly comfortable to work during the drive.
I had no idea how much time had passed while I worked with my earphones in.
“...What time is it? Huh?”
It was already well past the time I should have arrived back at the orphanage. It was after ten at night, yet I was still inside the car.
The vehicle was parked. In the driver’s seat, Kim Junhyung was fast asleep with a sleep mask on.
Apparently sensing that I had woken up, he removed the mask and spoke.
“You seemed completely absorbed in your work, so I didn’t want to disturb you.” “...I-I’m so sorry...”