The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 38

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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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This Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge
Episode 38
“This isn’t lodgings, it’s a prison.”
The complaint burst out the moment the orientation ended.
Lee Jae-i listened to the voices of the trainees gathered in small groups inside the restroom as she washed her hands.
“No calls. No internet. Why did they even give us these?”
One trainee raised her voice, shaking the cell phone provided by the production crew.
‘We have finished contacting each agency individually. Please submit all personal cell phones.’
As soon as they entered the lecture room, those were the very first words the assistant director had spoken.
Lee Jae-i was not particularly surprised by those words.
Even if she had not already known, it was impossible to monitor the blind spots of cheating as long as they had cell phones.
Someone else mentioned family and friends, but that did not apply to her.
Because she had no one to contact except for Kang Ki-baek.
Besides, if the agency had been notified, there was nothing to worry about.
Still, she understood the trainees’ dissatisfaction.
It was only natural to become sensitive under restrictive circumstances.
When Lee Jae-i turned off the faucet, the trainees’ gazes gathered on her.
“What do you think? Don’t you think it’s too much?”
Out of the crowd, a voice with an amiable tone popped out.
“I suppose so.”
Lee Jae-i answered briefly, turning around.
In the first place, it was a question meant to induce agreement rather than a genuine inquiry, so it was an answer that just went along with the mood.
As the numbers dwindled, these were the trainees who had made it to the final stage, so every single face was familiar.
Among them, there was one trainee who was looking at her with a somewhat displeased gaze.
‘Kim Cho-a….’
Lee Jae-i recalled the name internally, pretending not to notice.
She had performed well as a member of Baek Song-ha’s team during the team mission, and she praised Baek Song-ha to an uncanny degree.
In past broadcasts, Kim Cho-a’s interviews were packaged like a friendship that sprouted amidst competition.
‘If it weren’t for Song-ha, I might have stopped challenging myself. Although I am stopping here, I hope Song-ha moves further forward as much as she has led me.’
She had left such an interview even at the moment of her elimination.
Thanks to that, Baek Song-ha, who was also wrapped in a virtuous image, rapidly rose as a bundle of charm.
‘Please.’
A scoff erupted inside her as she recalled that interview.
If anything, she would have dragged someone down, there was no way she would have led them.
Every sentence was a mass of contradiction, but it was understandable.
Because the foolish groups that worshiped demons had never disappeared throughout human history.
It was easier to understand it that way.
There was even an episode where Kim Cho-a was rebuked after confessing the stories of other trainees to look good to Baek Song-ha.
Lee Jae-i gauged the gaze directed at her.
‘It doesn’t seem like she wants to get close.’
Since she had a loose tongue, maybe she could use her for something.
With that thought, Lee Jae-i lightly brushed off Kim Cho-a’s gaze.
Just then, the trainees’ cell phones rang simultaneously.
“Oh?! What is this?!”
Before Lee Jae-i could check all the text, the mouth of the trainee who had spoken to her opened first.
[ I’m Your Singer Season 3. It is the first day of entry. There are no class schedules today. However, meals are not provided, so trainees are requested to cook in the communal kitchen and prepare dinner to eat together.]
The viewers might feel like it was just a segment to take a break.
But this was also a device to induce immersion.
Because they would become attached while watching the trainees living together through thick and thin.
Feeling like they were together, the moment of parting would be affectionate, and if they won, it felt like they had raised them.
‘Dinner….’
There was no way Baek Song-ha, who had to stand out in everything to be satisfied, would not step forward.
Naturally, images of the past came to mind, making her stomach churn.
Dinner would be a table hand-prepared by Baek Song-ha.
Lee Jae-i pondered for a moment.
‘Should I say I’ll cook this time?’
But she wiped that thought away immediately.
It was obvious Baek Song-ha would glare at her with furious eyes, and if edited poorly, it could look like she was targeting her.
‘I should grab a digestive medicine.’
Lee Jae-i stroked her chest, leaving the restroom while mingling with the other trainees.
* * *
The trainees entered the kitchen, which still lacked warmth.
An unusual structure where the countertop and the dining table were close together.
It seemed to have been rearranged to make it easy to capture on screen.
The first thing that caught the eye was the long stainless-steel countertop.
On top of it lay fresh vegetables and ingredients to be used for cooking.
‘Those must all be expensive.’
Lee Jae-i murmured internally, feeling the ingredients were a waste.
Just then, Yeon Eun-soo approached her side and tapped her shoulder.
“Jae-i, do you know how to cook? I asked everyone, and they all said they can only boil instant noodles.”
As Lee Jae-i was about to open her mouth, Baek Song-ha, who entered the kitchen last, intercepted the answer.
“If the dinner menu is pasta, I can do it, how about it?”
“I love it!”
Kim Cho-a reacted first to Baek Song-ha’s softly flowing voice.
Naturally, the group split in half.
The trainees who immediately followed Baek Song-ha, and those who did not.
“Then will you guys clean up after eating later?”
Baek Song-ha said with a gentle smile.
The sentence was a suggestion, but the tone was a directive.
The trainees whose roles were decided headed to their respective positions.
Lee Jae-i also sat at the table and waited for Baek Song-ha’s cooking.
She used to be a Baek Song-ha who only lifted a spoon at a table she had set herself.
Sitting at the table and waiting for the food, she could not help but feel a hollow laugh rising inside her.
‘There’s actually a day like this.’
It was not in a good sense.
She was just genuinely surprised by such a moment.
She had no expectations for the meal either.
Because she knew better than anyone how disastrous Baek Song-ha’s cooking skills were.
The awkward flow over the table was easily broken by Yeon Eun-soo’s joke.
Laughter broke out when Yeon Eun-soo imitated Judge Choi Du-o.
As the atmosphere softened, a trainee sitting across turned her head toward Lee Jae-i.
“I saw it on the broadcast, you were really good. The unaccompanied mission! I saw the comments too, completely—.”
Clink.
The sound of breaking glass cut the words right off.
All eyes gathered in one place.
Baek Song-ha had her hands gathered to her mouth, her two eyes wide and round.
“What should I do…. My hands must have been slippery. I dropped the cup.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Let me see your hand. Did you get cut?”
Voices of concern poured out from here and there toward Baek Song-ha.
Lee Jae-i also stood up from her seat.
Looking at Baek Song-ha’s face, an unpleasant sense of déjà vu wriggled in her mind.
Eyelashes that moved exceptionally slowly against slightly narrowed brows.
And even the corners of her mouth that were unnatural from putting force into them.
‘That expression….’
Behind that face, an old memory rattled.
On Yoo Young-jae’s birthday in the past.
Baek Song-ha had entered the kitchen under the pretext of helping to set the birthday table.
What kind of praise she had hoped for with those skills.
Yoo Young-jae’s brow had crumpled severely after taking a single bite of Baek Song-ha’s cooking.
And then, when Yoo Young-jae nodded after eating the food she made.
‘Clink—.’
Pieces of a white plate splattered as if exploding.
The food from which warm steam rose spread like ruins on the floor.
Right beneath Baek Song-ha’s feet.
The head that had reflexively turned toward the floor looked straight ahead.
In that flash, the face of Song-ha she witnessed was exactly the same as her current expression.
Looking down at the floor where the fragments were scattered, Yoo Young-jae had spoken like that.
‘Why do you dangerously place a plate at the edge of the table? Is Song-ha hurt?’
Despite the absurd reprimand, she was worried about Baek Song-ha back then, so she did not make excuses.
Because being hurt came first for now.
But looking at it now, both then and now, she had done such a thing because she was displeased by the sound of praise directed at her.
To think there was not a single moment that was not crafty within the pieces of memory.
It was an astounding matter.
Other people, excluding Lee Jae-i, were being fooled by Baek Song-ha’s cute acting.
“It’s dangerous, so don’t come here, everyone just sit down! The noodles will bloat.”
Baek Song-ha smiled brightly, pushing the backs of the trainees gathered around.
Those who were turned away a few times eventually sat on the chairs.
Only after confirming that everyone was seated did Baek Song-ha clean up the cup and begin to transfer the pasta.
Before long, a plate filled with Baek Song-ha’s cooking was placed in front of Lee Jae-i as well.
‘…….’
Pure white cream pasta with stir-fried onions.
Even the green broccoli sitting on top made a mouth-watering presentation to look at on screen.
The problem was that it was raw broccoli that was not even cooked.
“Now, let’s all eat.”
Lastly, Baek Song-ha spoke as she pulled out her chair with a cheerful voice.
Everyone picked up their utensils and moved, when suddenly the sound of a clap vibrated across the table.
“Right! Before that, shall we divide up what we’re going to clean up in advance?”
It was a voice that sounded as if she had become the leader of the team.

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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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