The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 3

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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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My Hit Song in This Life Is Revenge
Episode 3
“I’m here to withdraw my savings.”
The moment it was her turn, Lee Jae-i sat down at the bank counter and pulled out her identification.
“Yes, ma’am. Let me check the details of your account. Please give me just a moment.”
There was no reason to hesitate, yet an odd tangle of emotions coiled within her now that she was actually about to close the account.
This was the passbook holding her parents’ life insurance payout.
‘My sweet girl. I need to leave you something for your wedding… but I keep dipping into it, what am I going to do?’
Suddenly, her grandmother’s face flashed in her mind.
Her parents had been her grandmother’s children too, and the old woman had always felt terribly guilty about using any of that money.
That was why Jae-i had made up her mind back then.
When she married, she would absolutely never become a financial burden to her grandmother.
From the allowance she received as a child to the living expenses she ruthlessly squeezed dry, she had swept every spare penny into this savings account.
Yet when the time came for her wedding, her grandmother was no longer around.
Even so, Jae-i spent every last cent of these savings to prepare the traditional gifts for her mother-in-law.
She did it because she couldn’t bear the thought of her grandmother looking down from heaven, feeling sorry for not being able to provide for her.
‘Other people get luxury designer bags and luxury sedans from their daughters-in-law.’
Though she had emptied her entire livelihood to prepare the gifts, her mother-in-law remained utterly unsatisfied.
While she had somehow managed to scrape together enough for a luxury bag, a sedan was simply out of the question.
‘Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was in front of my friends when I let you marry Young-jae? Even now, I can’t even hold my head up because of the shame!’
She had heard that venomous vitriol over and over again throughout her entire marriage.
Remembering her past self, who could only bow her head like a criminal, black smoke seemed to erupt inside Jae-i’s chest.
‘Having a baby is a given for any woman, isn’t it? I can’t even sleep at night thinking our family line might end because of you!’
The sharp, piercing voice continued to ring through her head.
She shook her head violently, forcefully pushing the memory away.
“Phew.”
Taking a short, deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again.
‘Grandmother. This time, I’m going to spend it entirely on myself.’
The clerk, who had been staring intently at the computer screen, looked up to meet her eyes with an uneasy expression.
“Ma’am, if you close this savings account right now, you’ll suffer a massive penalty. If you wait just a bit longer, you’ll be able to withdraw it with the maximum interest…”
She spoke firmly but politely.
“No, it’s fine. Please close it right now.”
The bank teller tried to persuade her a couple more times, but Jae-i’s resolve did not waver.
Holding the cancellation receipt in her hand, she quietly checked the remaining balance.
It was just a little under forty million won.
About half of it was the remainder of her parents’ life insurance payout.
And the other half was money she had truly saved through blood, sweat, and tears.
Why on earth had she spent such precious money to buy that woman a luxury handbag?
‘I must have been completely insane.’
Instead of a sigh, a dry laugh slipped past her lips first.
Jae-i quickened her pace and headed straight for a nearby internet cafe.
Her current objective was to book a flight to America.
‘The earliest one is tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM.’
This second life was steering all her choices toward the bold and decisive.
Even clicking the direct flight option was already an act of pure audacity.
This was the first international trip across both of her lifetimes—a layover?
That would only breed chaos.
Time was already ticking down, and she didn’t have the luxury of making a single mistake.
Clicking the mouse without a moment’s hesitation, Jae-i’s finger froze over one particular tab.
‘First Class…’
To be completely honest, her breath had hitched the moment she first saw the price tag.
Economy class was already prohibitively expensive, but first class cost a staggering five times more.
‘With this much money… I could cover my living expenses for months.’
The fact that this was her immediate reaction proved just how terrifyingly deep old habits ran.
She had never spent such a massive sum of money on herself before.
Yet, ironically, Yoo Young-jae had money to burn.
YU Entertainment was a company whose name was constantly tossed around in the battle for the title of “Korea’s absolute best.”
Naturally, he lived a life of sheer extravagance, but Jae-i had lived in a different reality.
She had to log every single penny in a household ledger, buying only what she was permitted to buy, and even then, she had to walk on eggshells.
As a vision of her past self frantically tapping away at a calculator surfaced, her lower lip involuntarily pulled inward.
Jae-i shook her head aggressively.
“No, Lee Jae-i, don’t you dare hesitate!”
Click.
The sound of the mouse click echoed like thunder.
The tips of her fingers trembled minutely. However, this was a click that would alter the entire trajectory of her life.
For once, she wanted to live properly.
Without constantly reading the room for others, doing absolutely everything she ever wanted to do.
Surely her grandmother, mother, and father up in heaven were all urging her index finger to press down.
With a mechanical rattle, the paper slid out of the printer.
‘Just look at how much this single sheet of paper is worth.’
Jae-i cradled the boarding pass carefully against her chest as if it were a high-value bank check.
The piece of paper that held her entire future felt warm.
* * *
The single-room apartment where she used to live with her grandmother.
She thought she had grown hardened by now, but with every step she climbed up the stairs, a heavy emotional ache intensified.
Standing before the door, Jae-i caught her breath.
Because it was such a distant memory, she felt as though nothing would be left inside.
Creeeak.
The pungent odor of mold rising from the damp wallpaper hit her nose immediately.
Slowly, cautiously, Jae-i looked around the space.
The rumpled blanket, the battered old desk. Even the half-torn wallpaper.
‘It’s exactly the same.’
After her grandmother passed away, the house had remained frozen in time, utterly neglected.
Though she had started working wedding gigs, the irregular income made making ends meet incredibly difficult.
In her past life, pushed to the brink by the rent under these exact same circumstances, she had desperately looked for a part-time job—and that was where she met Yoo Young-jae.
The moment his sly, smirking face crossed her mind, the corners of her mouth stiffened naturally.
She pulled out a piece of paper that had been neatly folded inside her grandmother’s old wallet.
[185 Rus Oke, Lake soul, IL
Oliva / Lee Kyung-sook / 178548779445]
Like water droplets in a severe drought, she had occasionally spoken to her aunt living in America via international calls.
Since her aunt resided in Chicago, perhaps God was deliberately bending the universe to help her.
‘She’s not picking up.’
It was likely due to the time difference.
She sent a message to her aunt notifying her of the planned visit, then unzipped her bag and began to pack.
A few clothes—there wasn’t much worth taking from this tiny single room anyway.
As she searched, she discovered an instrument tucked deeply into the very back of the wardrobe drawer.
It was an item drenched in the memories of her childish past self and her grandmother’s love.
‘Grandmother! I want to sing while playing the guitar! Can’t you buy me a guitar?’
‘How much does one of those cost? Is it very expensive?’
The old woman had gone around frantically asking neighbors about the price of guitars, and then one day, she brought this back.
It was a ukulele, procured under the simple premise that it was an instrument that made music.
Back then, she had utterly detested it—why did it have to be so small, yet look so deceptively similar to a guitar?
In particular, the scratch marks on the back where someone had aggressively tried to scrape off a previous owner’s name had bothered her the most.
‘This isn’t a guitar!! And it looks like someone else used it!’
‘They told me it makes the exact same sound. They said this one is a real good one, so why don’t our little baby give it a try? They told me the sound is beautiful.’
Pluck.
As Jae-i flicked a string with her finger, a crystal-clear note resonated through the air.
Ukuleles couldn’t have been a common instrument back then, yet she had completely failed to recognize her grandmother’s devotion.
She traced the carved scratches on the ukulele with her fingertips.
The rough texture felt exactly like her reckless, immature heart from those days.
“…I’m sorry.”
Whispering the words out loud to the empty room, Jae-i packed the ukulele away last and finally zipped the bag shut.
* * *
At that exact same moment.
A man was packing his laptop, holding his phone tilted against his shoulder.
“The festival is right around the corner, and you’re telling me it makes sense that the singer can’t leave the country?”
A rambling, convoluted explanation flowed from the receiver, but the man didn’t bother listening to the end.
“This is a festival being thrown with Star Entertainment’s name on the line. We can just replace the singer. Proceed as scheduled. I’ll head to the venue myself, so please report any additional details via email.”
After delivering his crisp, orderly instructions, the man pressed his temple as if nursing a headache.
Right at that second, the phone rang again without giving him a moment to breathe.
– CEO Kang! I’ve finished booking the flight. It’s tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM. I’ll text the ticket details and seat number to your phone right away.
“Good work.”
A flight departing tomorrow morning.
He had absolutely no idea.
He did not know that tomorrow, a woman boarding that very same flight would completely upend his entire life, as well as her own.

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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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