The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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In this life, revenge is the hit song.
Episode 22
A close-up of Baek Song-ha’s face filled the monitor in the Waiting Room.
“If it feels chilly, that’s your warning.”
A cynical smile played on Lee Jae-i’s lips at the peculiar lyrics.
It felt like a message meant for Baek Song-ha herself.
The rap flowed seamlessly.
She could not watch the entire performance.
The feed to the Waiting Room cut off just before the Music Recorded track finished.
For a brief moment, the screen transitioned back to the opening sequence of I’m Your Singer 3.
The other trainees gathered in the Waiting Room marveled at Baek Song-ha’s stage.
“I should have done it like that…”
“She is seriously so cool.”
Her eye contact with the camera was flawless.
For a second, it almost felt like Song-ha had looked straight at her.
When Baek Song-ha’s face reappeared on the screen, Jae-i maintained a perfectly neutral expression.
An over-the-top reaction would look desperate, while a total lack of one would make her seem arrogant.
The final tallied scores did not appear on the monitor.
Even the audio was completely cut during the judges’ evaluation segment.
It seemed like a deliberate setup to keep the trainees from figuring out where they stood.
Even so, the outcome was already staring everyone in the face.
‘It’ll be higher than mine.’
Just judging by the expressions on screen, it was bound to be near a perfect score.
Soon, it was time for Baek Song-ha to return to the Waiting Room.
“Can I excuse myself to the restroom for a moment?”
“Sure. Just make sure you are back before the next performance starts.”
Even as Jae-i slipped away, the other trainees remained completely captivated by Song-ha’s performance.
She did not actually need to use the restroom.
The moment Baek Song-ha walked through that door, the production team would inevitably try to catch Jae-i’s reaction on camera, so she just needed an excuse to step out.
She did not trust herself to mask every subtle emotion.
She hurried down the Hallway.
Having grown accustomed to the bright stage lights, her vision blurred momentarily as she stepped into the dim corridor.
As the shapes around her slowly came into focus, a dark shadow drifted toward her.
“Lee Jae-i?”
Her foot caught on an invisible snag, halting her in her tracks.
“What a pretty name. I didn’t get to hear it back then, so I was curious.”
It took less than a second for that sense of familiarity to curdle into sheer disgust.
That unforgettable voice.
‘What a pretty name. Lee Jae-i.’
‘Ha.’
Yoo Young-jae.
The distinct click-clack of his approaching dress shoes echoed sharply.
She had anticipated running into him eventually, but she never expected it to happen in a deserted spot like this.
And why on earth did he still cling to such outdated pickup lines?
Jae-i took a deep breath.
She refused to let him see her rattled.
Steeling her expression made her movements a beat too slow.
As Yoo Young-jae stepped closer, the faint overhead lighting caught his face.
“I enjoyed your performance.”
It was a brief compliment.
Jae-i feigned smoothing out the wrinkles in her clothes, pressing down the heat crawling up her neck.
“Thank you.”
Even a child would have understood that she wanted nothing to do with him, yet he kept pushing.
“Is your boyfriend waiting outside?”
Jae-i’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
The urge to snap, *What business is that of yours?* nearly burst from her lips.
But this was the Filming Site.
Drawing unnecessary attention would only spark rumors.
And there was absolutely no benefit to standing in front of a camera while driven by emotion.
Some situations were simply better left avoided.
“Excuse me, but I’m short on time.”
Though she felt Yoo Young-jae’s intense gaze boring down on her, Jae-i deliberately fixed her eyes on the distance and tried to brush past him.
Yet, she could barely take a few steps before his voice anchored her again.
“Or am I wrong? Is he waiting for you in his office because he’s the head of your agency?”
A sharp ache pulsed against her temples, as if a piece of cold iron had been driven into them.
Unless she was mistaken, the man Yoo Young-jae was referring to was CEO Kang Ki-baek.
‘Why is he bringing that up?’
As questions tangled in her mind, Yoo Young-jae flipped the cell phone in his hand.
Click.
The faint sound of metal scraping against a fingernail echoed.
That tiny noise triggered a memory, and the sound of a camera shutter flashed through Jae-i’s mind like lightning.
‘No way…’
Through the cracks of her suspicion, a scene from the past materialized.
The drawers in Yoo Young-jae’s desk that had been crammed full of photographs.
He didn’t need to explain it for her to understand.
She knew exactly how he had gathered them.
He was a man who thought nothing of stalking people.
Secretly snapping photos, digging into their private lives, piling up leverage.
Knowing his track record, the deduction that just crossed Jae-i’s mind was entirely plausible.
‘You really never change.’
Though her expression remained icy, her heart was already locked in battle mode.
Yoo Young-jae stepped onto her shadow, closing the distance between them.
“I’m a PD, but did he look better to you because he’s a CEO?”
Her mind muddied with foul thoughts, like a palette rinsed in dirty water.
What kind of garbage filled his head for him to ask a question like that?
When Jae-i turned around, Yoo Young-jae tilted his chin up slightly.
He looked like a man ready to get down to business.
“Ah. You must be talking about CEO Kang.”
The nerve of this man, secretly photographing someone without permission and acting as if he held some grand weapon.
Jae-i directed a freezing glare at Yoo Young-jae’s vile smirk.
“Since you seem so desperate for the truth, I won’t beat around the bush.”
“I do appreciate honesty.”
Yoo Young-jae’s eyes gleamed with twisted amusement.
“To be precise, the CEO was helping me out at that moment.”
“Helping you with what?”
His lips moved with casual indifference.
But when Jae-i fixed him with a razor-sharp glare, Yoo Young-jae’s smirk instantly vanished.
Under the dim, secluded lighting, the tension between them grew suffocatingly thick.
“When you’re trying to shake off a pest who keeps hitting on you, pretending there’s a goalie in front of the net is the most natural way to do it.”
The amusement drained completely from Yoo Young-jae’s face, his jaw tightening visibly.
His shoulders squared and dropped, his breathing growing heavy and ragged.
Then, his head tilted slightly to the right.
‘Looks like he wants to swear at me.’
Yoo Young-jae always twitched like that right before he threw a tantrum.
She had possessed no leverage when they first met, but things were different now.
The show was about to air.
They had already filmed a significant amount of footage, and editing for the premiere was more than halfway complete.
Even if Yoo Young-jae tried to throw his weight around and demand they cut her from the show, it would only ruin his own reputation.
He wasn’t even a chief producer yet; he didn’t have that kind of authority.
‘Either way, he’s still a pathetic loser.’
A scandal spread through photos?
If Yoo Young-jae dragged her through a dating scandal, it would certainly be a headache, but it wasn’t a trap she couldn’t escape.
They had already filmed the Star Entertainment casting story.
On that very day, she had performed an audition in the Recording Room right in front of CEO Kang and received a Provisional Contract.
There were official, verifiable timelines to back up her story alongside the broadcast.
Ultimately, if Yoo Young-jae’s hostility focused entirely on her, it would make it crystal clear who the corporate spy would target next.
Jae-i squared her shoulders with confidence.
“A pest hitting on you…”
Yoo Young-jae muttered, his voice trailing off.
His darkened eyes betrayed his deeply wounded pride.
Stripping all emotion from her voice, Jae-i pressed on.
“I have nothing more to say regarding personal matters, but is there anything else we need to discuss regarding work?”
At her calm tone, the skin beneath Yoo Young-jae’s twitching eyes seemed to hollow out completely.
“If not, I will take my leave.”
Yoo Young-jae’s stomach turned with cold fury.
He hadn’t even been humiliated in front of a crowd, yet he felt as though his deepest, darkest secrets had been exposed to the entire world.
‘She’s leaving without even looking back?’
Though she offered a polite bow, she turned away without granting him a single glance.
Pure rage surged up to his throat, yet he found himself utterly speechless.
An undeniable truth lingered in his mind, one he desperately wanted to reject.
He had been completely shut down by this woman’s words in an instant.
Yet, strangely, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the gentle sway of her hair.
The realization that he was staring at her, almost transfixed, made him sick to his stomach.
Hatred and attraction clashed violently within him, throwing off sparks.
‘How pathetic.’
The impulse to possess her.
And the burning desire to completely crush her.
Those two incompatible emotions rushed toward that woman all at once.
“Ha… Haha.”
A hollow laugh escaped Yoo Young-jae’s lips.
He had actually prepared a rather smooth opening line.
Her performance had genuinely shocked him.
He had intended to start the conversation by mentioning how impressed he was by her crystal-clear high notes, but those provocative words had slipped out instead.
If only she had been a little more submissive, none of this would have happened.
‘She’s the one who baited me into saying it.’
He stepped further into the shadow where the light couldn’t reach.
Now was not the time to admire her talent.
He had even scrapped a girl group he was preparing just to push a solo artist.
Baek Song-ha absolutely had to succeed.
In that regard, Lee Jae-i was a massive obstacle.
‘What should I do?’
Interfering now that filming had already commenced would cause too much collateral damage.
She was just a rookie whose name wasn’t even known yet.
Knocking over a few tiny dominoes wouldn’t even make a sound.
‘It’ll be much more spectacular to watch her crumble from the top.’
Yoo Young-jae paused to refine his strategy.
It would actually be better to openly frame them as rivals.
That way, when Lee Jae-i fell apart, Baek Song-ha would shine even brighter in contrast.
Yet, that thought alone left him feeling unsatisfied.
A dark, insidious idea began to take root in his mind.
A fragile woman with nowhere left to turn.
“When people get desperate, don’t they naturally look for any shoulder to lean on?”
Even if it happened to be the embrace of the man she had rejected.
As he pictured the future unfolding before his eyes, the vision lingered pleasantly.
Only then did the corners of his mouth twist into a sharp smirk.
‘Maybe she’ll be a little more compliant by then.’
Yoo Young-jae locked that twisted thought firmly into place.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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