The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 5

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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 My Current Life Is Revenge
Episode 5
“……What did you say?”
Jae-i blinked, asking him to repeat himself.
Waking up to find the man next to her addressing her was startling enough, but what he just said made absolutely no sense in context.
“I asked where you’ve heard that song before.”
Her gaze darted away instinctively.
She wasn’t fully awake yet.
Her mind felt foggy, as if shrouded in mist, making her even more bewildered.
The man quietly added to his explanation.
He noted that she had been humming in her sleep, and that the melody belonged to an unreleased track.
To think someone vividly remembered her sleep-talking.
An intense wave of embarrassment slapped the back of her neck.
Jae-i cleared her throat reflexively.
“Ahem……! Cough.”
The sudden sound scattered awkwardly into the air.
Jae-i’s mind gradually began to clear.
‘An unreleased song?’
That specific part struck her as bizarre.
It wasn’t as if he knew every single song in the world, so where was this absolute certainty coming from?
After pondering for a moment, Jae-i decided it would be best to offer a quick apology and move on.
Perhaps she had just been humming a recent hit.
If that were the case, then of course it wouldn’t be unreleased now.
“I must have kept you awake. I’m so sorry.”
At her apology, the man merely pressed his lips together without a word.
His expression suggested he had more to say, so she quickly offered an awkward smile.
“Ah, hahaha.”
Just as Jae-i pulled up her blanket and turned her body away, the man suddenly extended his hand.
A single earbud rested in his palm.
In that brief split second, her imagination flew wild.
‘A green light……? No way.’
If anything, a warning light should be flashing; there was nothing soft or romantic about this atmosphere.
“What do you mean by this?”
“You were sleep-talking to this melody. I’d like you to listen to it and tell me exactly what it is.”
“Excuse me……?”
What on earth could this song possibly be?
She accepted the earbud and placed it in her left ear.
The moment he pressed play, a familiar strain pierced her ears.
‘Huh?!’
Instantly, her heart dropped.
‘Me? Humming this song?’
Jae-i’s eyes widened as she lifted her head.
A single verse summoned every one of her senses back to the past.
Each note currently ringing out seemed to strike a chord deep in her chest.
This was, without a doubt, the song she had sung during that audition.
It was the piece requested of her when she received notice of passing the first round at Star Entertainment and went in for her second audition.
The track was particularly unique for the way it dropped into a minor chord during the bridge before soaring back up into a major key.
The roller-coaster sensation was so vivid she could never forget it.
It wasn’t an easy song to sing, but strangely, it had clung to her so perfectly that she used to hum it unconsciously all the time.
She had hoped to find out the composer’s name once it dropped.
Yet, after that day, the song was never heard anywhere again.
Gulp. She swallowed hard.
She had even received the final acceptance notice, but Yoo Young-jae’s interference had kept her from going.
Reflecting on how foolish she had been, it felt like the choice of an absolute idiot.
As the song transitioned into the chorus, the melodies layered on top of one another.
Her memories deepened just as much.
Jae-i cast a cautious glance at the man beside her.
Back then, one of the judges had said something like this:
‘We are looking for a vocalist who can pull off this track.’
This man, without a doubt.
‘He’s with Star Entertainment.’
The more she chewed on the reason, the clearer her certainty became.
His earlier comment about ‘rejecting solicitations’ also snapped into place like a puzzle piece.
“Have you ever heard even a similar song before?”
“It’s my first time hearing it. It’s a great song, though.”
Jae-i acted a bit shameless in response to his question.
Admitting she knew the track would clearly cause more trouble.
Leaked audio was a sensitive issue. She couldn’t afford to get tangled up in something unnecessary.
Besides, what could she even say except ‘I’m from the future’?
The man locked his gaze directly onto her eyes.
She hastily returned the earbud and shrugged her shoulders.
A brief silence descended.
Just from a fleeting look at his expression, it seemed thousands of thoughts were racing through his mind.
Was he suspicious?
Even if he was, there wasn’t a shred of evidence pointing to her.
Then, the man extended his hand once more.
This time, it held a rectangular business card.
Jae-i leaned her face closer to the card.
[Star Entertainment CEO: Kang Gi-baek]
‘The CEO?! Not just a producer, but the CEO?!’
He was someone of a vastly higher status than she had anticipated.
Feeling an instinctual sense of distance, she bowed her upper body slightly.
“Forgive my rudeness earlier. I get so many requests disguised as ‘coincidence’ that I’ve grown guarded.”
‘Is this that street casting top stars talk about…… no, in-flight casting?’
Her pounding heart already dyed her cheeks a bright crimson.
Just experiencing a scenario she had only ever imagined felt like a dream, but to top it off, it was Star Entertainment.
It wasn’t merely because it was the first company she had auditioned for; she personally held a high level of trust in them.
Unlike Yoo Young-jae, who relied on planting industrial spies, this was a company that competed purely on talent.
They had no history of power trips or legal disputes with their artists.
It was even a company that donated so frequently that the public had to dig up the facts to praise them.
“Your name is……”
“Lee Jae-i!”
She answered before the man could even finish his sentence.
“Miss Jae-i, you don’t need to make any immediate decisions. However, I would like to leave at least one line of connection. What is your phone number?”
This was definitively a casting offer.
A flutter of excitement and a pang of regret hit her simultaneously.
Since she hadn’t resolved her roaming issues yet, she didn’t have a number where she could be reached immediately.
But giving him her aunt’s number felt……
As if reading her momentary hesitation, the man spoke up gently.
“How about an email address?”
“Yes. I have one!”
Jae-i scribbled her email down on the paper the man offered.
The moment she penned the final letter, her fingertips trembled slightly.
Though no particular change in expression registered on the man who accepted the paper, a firm confidence radiated from him.
“I hope this marks the start of a good relationship.”
Those words rippled softly across Jae-i’s heart.
She nodded instinctively.
The destination of the fourteen-hour flight, which had felt so long, was finally drawing near.
* * *
Though the temperature outside the airport was warm enough to cause sweat, the air felt crisp.
Jae-i’s heart was still thumping loudly.
The tactile sensation of the paper where she had written her email address seemed to linger on her fingertips.
‘In-flight casting……’
Suppressing her fluttering heart, she climbed into a stationary taxi.
With a brief greeting, she handed over a slip of paper with her destination address written on it.
Cruising smoothly down the highway, the taxi eventually veered off into a quiet neighborhood.
Houses like the ones featured continuously in Christmas movies flashed past the window.
‘Wow…… they look like castles.’
The homes, framed by green lawns and the shadows of towering trees, stirred her imagination.
The entirely unfamiliar scenery actually made her heart race.
It felt as though she had dropped into a whole new world.
Arriving at the destination, the driver flashed his fingers to indicate the fare.
Jae-i handed over the cash matching the number of fingers.
However, the driver’s eyebrows shot up, and the number of fingers suddenly changed.
It was four earlier. Now it was eight.
Confronted with an absurd ripoff, Jae-i’s eyes went wide.
“Now eight fingers? No, no!! That’s way too much!”
Anxious as she was, Korean slipped out on its own.
Jae-i protested, even crossing her arms into an X.
“Huh— what the.”
The driver’s short-tongued mutter made Jae-i’s eyes snap open.
‘He just used a bad word!’
For some reason, that kind of English registered perfectly in her ears.
“I gave you the right money! I didn’t do anything wrong!”
The driver raised both hands, reacting as if to say, ‘I give up.’
The moment Jae-i pulled her luggage from the trunk, the taxi sped away, stepping on the gas.
Fanning the rising dust away from her nose with the back of her hand, she knit her brows.
‘Seriously, what is his problem?’
Turning around, she faced a cluster of low-rise villas.
The atmosphere stood in stark contrast to the houses she had passed earlier, but she didn’t let it bother her too much.
She had guessed her aunt wouldn’t be living in a place like those.
Every time they spoke on the phone, her aunt always complained about how difficult things were.
‘This is definitely the right place.’
The address in her hand matched the number attached to the building. So far, so good.
The issue lay with the doorbells tightly packing the wall.
‘There are way too many!’
Worse, most of the buttons lacked names, leaving only faint smudges.
Frustrated, Jae-i kept peering inside the doorway.
Just then, someone called out to her from behind.
“Who are you looking for?”

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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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