The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 41

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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 Life’s Hit Song Is Revenge
Episode 41
The next morning.
Jae-i pushed open the door to the Lecture Room and stepped inside.
She felt a slight tugging sensation beneath her bandages.
The commotion had settled, but the air still held the residual tension of the previous day.
The moment she entered, a trainee who had been sitting down turned around.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
It was Eun-soo, entering right behind her, who caught the tail end of her casual reply.
“What do you mean, yeah?”
Contradicting her grumbling tone, Eun-soo pulled out two chairs.
With that movement, the other trainees naturally turned their attention toward them.
“Did they say you don’t need to go back to the hospital?”
Jae-i lowered her head with a gentle smile.
“Thanks for worrying about me.”
At those words, the stiff expressions of those around her began to soften a little.
However, the warmth did not linger for long.
After a brief hesitation, a trainee moistened her lips and spoke up.
“Jae-i, you heard the news too, right?”
As Jae-i tilted her head, the speaker’s gaze drifted over toward Eun-soo.
Eun-soo kept her eyes cast down, her expression entirely blank.
Prompted by Eun-soo’s rigid reaction, the trainee added hesitantly,
“Uh… Eun-soo got into a fight with Baek Song-ha yesterday.”
“What?”
Jae-i’s eyes instantly widened.
What on earth was this about?
Jae-i looked straight at Eun-soo.
But she simply pursed her lips, staring resolutely ahead.
Now that the topic of the incident had been brought up, someone else raised their voice.
“Baek Song-ha was—”
The excited voice was about to carry all the way to the door when—
Whoosh.
The sound of the door swinging wide cut the speaker off mid-sentence.
The person who stepped through the gap was none other than Baek Song-ha.
And the sharp corners of Baek Song-ha’s eyes pierced right into the trainee who had just spoken.
‘Speak of the devil.’
That murderous glare of hers actually felt quite fitting for the phrase.
The trainee hurriedly turned back around to face the front.
The scraping sound of the chair only made the rigid atmosphere grow stiffer.
Jae-i rested her arms on top of the desk.
She adjusted her position so that her bandaged hand would be clearly visible on screen.
The more screen time it got, the better.
She felt Baek Song-ha’s gaze land on the bandage within her field of vision.
Right then, breaking through the subtle current, the speakers crackled to life.
This time, the sound came from the projector positioned in front, not the ceiling.
“Trainees, the composer Casey will be entering the Lecture Room shortly.”
At that announcement, everyone straightened their posture, causing their backrests to clatter.
Soon after, the door swung open again, and a completely different set of footsteps echoed.
The trainees naturally looked back.
A man walking across the Hallway came into Jae-i’s view.
He had a slender build and narrow eyes.
Even the regular rhythm of his clicking heels exuded an air of strict precision.
Standing at the front, Casey turned to face the trainees.
“I’m Casey, the composer.”
A crisp self-introduction.
A single sentence was more than enough.
Jae-i held her head even higher.
Setting the audition aspect aside, this was a tremendous opportunity.
When else would she ever get to take a lesson from Casey?
Just facing him made what she could learn so vividly apparent that a surge of heat rushed through her chest.
Scanning the Lecture Room, Casey raised his hand without a word.
The next moment, he began to clap.
Clap. Clap.
The trainees looked bewildered at the incomprehensible sound.
Without any explanation, Casey shifted the rhythm.
Clap-clap. Clap-clap.
The air seemed to fracture under the vibration.
When Jae-i reflexively began to clap along, the other trainees joined in a few seconds later.
Finally, Casey stamped his foot.
Thud.
“They are all the exact same four-four time signature.”
He tapped his chest lightly.
“If the melody rings in your ears, the rhythm beats right here.”
A brief silence followed.
Jae-i caught her breath without realizing it.
To think rhythm could be explained in such a way.
He turned back to the front and continued speaking.
“I will be supporting you with your songs.”
At those words, the unsettled atmosphere finally stabilized.
Just when it seemed a calm would settle over the room, his next words immediately followed.
“However, there is one thing you must figure out on your own.”
The trainees’ eyes locked onto Casey’s face once more.
“I will not provide any advice regarding the lyrics. That is the story you must unravel yourselves.”
A collective look of ‘is that all’ flitted across the trainees’ faces.
It was likely because the burden of Composition had felt so overwhelming.
Casey mentioned the crucial importance of writing lyrics, but everyone seemed to let it slide right through one ear and out the other.
Thanks to the lightened mood, the rest of the class proceeded smoothly.
The lesson concluded after adding a line or two to a given melody.
Once Casey departed, the Lecture Room fell quiet.
The trainees, flush with excitement, finally loosened their stiff shoulders.
“Wow… what a relief. Hearing that he’d support us made all my tension just melt away.”
“Right? I suddenly feel so confident!”
The thoughts she had read on their faces came pouring out in a torrent of words.
Yet, Baek Song-ha did not join in the chatter.
When Jae-i turned her head to check, Baek Song-ha’s aura felt peculiar.
As Jae-i’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, an alert chimed.
[ Trainees, please gather in the Audio-Visual Room.]
The concise text caused the trainees’ eyebrows to twitch.
“Now whenever I see a text, my heart starts racing first.”
As someone murmured quietly, the trainees stood up as if in collective agreement.
‘The Audio-Visual Room.’
Jae-i realized it instantly.
Whatever scene they filmed there would become the most critical cut of the day.
* * *
The space was completely blocked from light by blackout curtains.
The beam shooting from the projector immediately commanded everyone’s attention.
A shadow moved in front of the massive broadcasting station logo.
It was Hyun-joo.
“I heard the news about yesterday. The production team will be paying extra attention as well, so please make safety your top priority.”
Hyun-joo’s gaze did not land on Baek Song-ha.
Even so, a cascade of unspoken thoughts was clearly pointing right at her.
Hyun-joo walked over to the podium set up on the right side.
With a crisp click of the mouse, the image on the Screen changed.
[I’m Your Singer Season 3]
As the stylized script flickered into view, Hyun-joo asked in a gentle voice,
“It must have been frustrating not being able to watch the broadcast, right? You must be curious about the viewers’ reactions too.”
Her tone was remarkably different now.
Hyun-joo looked at several trainees who nodded in response to her question.
A slight smile playing on her lips, she continued.
“The last episode aired the day before you entered the dorms. I figured you all lacked the time to monitor it properly, which is why I called you here.”
Hyun-joo turned her attention back to the screen as she spoke.
“From the next episode onward, you can just gather here at the scheduled airtime, but today we’ll review the previous broadcast. Please take a comfortable seat.”
The hesitant movements of the trainees finally settled into the chairs.
With a few more clicks, the opening sequence of the previous broadcast soon filled the screen.
“Well then, I’ll see you all again in a bit.”
Hyun-joo pressed the play button and stepped out of the Audio-Visual Room.
Once the door clicked shut, the grand audio bounced off the walls, sounding even louder.
Photos flashed by right from the opening sequence.
The moment Baek Song-ha’s face appeared on screen, Jae-i consciously smoothed out her facial expressions.
The sixty-minute runtime slipped away far quicker than any hour they had experienced before.
As the ending credits rolled, a collective groan erupted.
“Wow… watching it again still makes my skin crawl.”
“You know how incredibly chilling it gets when the MR cuts out, right?”
Their overlapping voices suddenly halted in unison at a single question.
“But how did Jae-i and Song-ha stay so remarkably calm?”
Baek Song-ha and her own name were lumped together.
In the past, that question would have heavily favored one side over the other.
Jae-i turned her head just a fraction to look at Baek Song-ha.
Her lips were pressed into a tight line, the corners forced upward with rigid effort.
Jae-i could instantly recognize that look.
It was the exact expression she always wore whenever she heard something unpleasant.
After a brief lull, Jae-i spoke up first.
“No way. I was actually completely panicked.”
“Sigh… right! Let’s just say you were!”
Just as the atmosphere was about to completely lighten with that playful banter, someone spoke up.
“But…”
The hesitant syllable instantly drew everyone’s rapt attention.
“Are we… not allowed to look at the community boards?”

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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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