The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 54

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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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The hit song of this life is revenge.
54
Son Hyun-joo took a deep breath and reorganized her thoughts.
‘If Baek Song-ha copied it, she’d want to silence Lee Jae-i first, wouldn’t she?’
She called up Lee Jae-i’s face slowly in her mind.
Outwardly plain, but beneath it lay solid convictions stacked carefully atop one another.
She didn’t seem the type to accept injustice quietly.
Even if the assumption was reversed, the conclusion was the same.
That desperate hunger glinting in Trainee Baek Song-ha’s eyes.
This was the kind of thing anyone would explode over.
“That’s why I kept hounding the legal department so much.”
In that moment, words tumbled from her mouth without her knowing, and her head tilted in surprise.
‘The legal department?’
Son Hyun-joo tapped her cell phone against her chin.
There was nothing as reliable as an official memo for preserving original broadcast footage.
But even as a method took shape, her line of thought stopped dead.
‘Is it right for me to get this involved?’
She traced through the situation carefully.
Son Hyun-joo pulled her thoughts deeper still.
What would happen if this problem surfaced?
She was the one who had authorized the Music Recorded session.
Would upper management completely exclude her and act as if she had nothing to do with it?
‘Fat chance.’
It was more likely that Hwang Seong-su would slip away clean while she became the one held responsible.
They wouldn’t throw out Hwang Seong-su—he was too obedient.
‘Then I really should get involved.’
She had no intention of taking this lying down like some notification.
If things really exploded, couldn’t she then expose the irregularities she herself had suffered?
In that moment, Lee Jae-i’s words came back to her vividly.
‘I can show you a drama.’
A small laugh leaked from Son Hyun-joo’s lips.
‘Trashy melodramas always get good ratings anyway.’
Son Hyun-joo picked up her cell phone and called someone.
The name saved was [Legal Department Team Leader].
* * *
A shoot at the Studio Set after a long time.
Jae-i steadied her breathing and stepped into the Filming Site.
The interior was already humming with activity.
Fluorescent tape on the floor, blinking lights, graphics being tested.
Dozens of Staff members moving between it all—it looked like a command center in the thick of battle preparations.
Then a man cut straight through the flow of movement.
“Hello. I’m Hwang Seong-su, PD. I’m overseeing the program overall.”
His tone was gentle, his face clean-cut and approachable.
Yet his gaze kept drifting in a particular direction.
At the end of that gaze stood Baek Song-ha.
Jae-i studied him slowly.
Their features bore no resemblance, so why did Yoo Young-jae come to mind?
It was a similar kind of ‘aura’ she felt.
Jae-i blinked briefly and shook off the thought.
Today was Rehearsal.
What mattered was finding out what song Baek Song-ha would sing.
“The Rehearsal will proceed in the same order as the Stage performance. If you’ll follow the Staff to the Waiting Room, I’ll explain everything in detail.”
The transition felt natural, and she followed another Staff member’s lead.
The Waiting Room bathed in bright light.
On the large screen, the Stage was displayed in full view, and on the table sat neat rows of water bottles and snacks.
Once all the Trainees had entered, a Staff member rustled some papers and spoke.
“First, let me go over the Stage order.”
Eight pairs of eyes converged.
The first Trainee called took a deep breath in response.
When Yeon Eun-soo’s name was called next, Jae-i’s shoulders twitched too.
Jae-i turned her head, and her gaze landed on Eun-soo’s elbow.
‘She’s bruised.’
When they’d entered, there hadn’t been time for a proper greeting.
Under the light, the red marks weren’t limited to just her elbow.
Soon the Staff called out the final name.
“And then Trainee Lee Jae-i and Trainee Baek Song-ha.”
Jae-i’s eyes narrowed slightly for a moment.
The Staff member swept his wristwatch and settled the mood.
“We’ll start Rehearsal in five minutes. Please wait here until your name is called.”
The moment the door closed, Eun-soo came closer.
“I thought I wouldn’t be nervous since it’s just Rehearsal, but my heart aches.”
“How much have you been practicing? Your arm is like that?”
Jae-i gestured lightly toward the bruised area.
Eun-soo laughed awkwardly and confessed.
“I just couldn’t manage the singing at all.”
Jae-i carefully brushed across Eun-soo’s arm.
Words deeper than speech passed between their skins.
Soon, Rehearsal began.
One, then another.
Each time the Stage on the monitor changed, the air in the Waiting Room shook completely.
Eun-soo’s Performance on screen was far more grueling than expected.
She couldn’t have called it perfect, but the fruits of her effort showed plainly in every moment.
“Trainee Lee Jae-i, get ready next.”
At the Staff’s call, Jae-i stood.
Then Kim Cho-a suddenly raised her voice.
“Just making it this far—where does that get you? I’d be genuinely grateful even if I placed last.”
Her voice was thin and bristling with small thorns.
That the barb was meant for her was obvious without even turning around.
The stare on her back was too sharp to ignore.
With each step, Jae-i chewed over the words that clung to her back.
‘Yeah. Be grateful.’
She had longed so much to sing—how moving was this chance.
But this was what she wanted to answer.
‘But I want first place.’
Now it was her turn to steal what was Baek Song-ha’s.
Jae-i finished Rehearsal and came down to the Hallway beside the Stage.
Before her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, a silhouette caught her attention.
Straight, confident line of shoulders.
Baek Song-ha.
As her eyes adjusted, Baek Song-ha’s blatant gaze locked onto her.
The distance narrowed.
The space was wide enough for them to pass far apart.
There was even a marked traffic pattern.
But Baek Song-ha’s trajectory was angling more and more toward Jae-i.
If neither changed course, they would collide.
‘Whatever.’
Jae-i didn’t slow her pace either.
‘There’s no camera here anyway.’
As their shadows met, she hardened her shoulder.
Thud.
The balance of force caught in the middle.
In that brief collision, something sharp scraped like metal.
Baek Song-ha’s upper body swayed harder.
‘I’ve always been stronger.’
A gasp of surprise burst from behind her.
Jae-i walked on deliberately, her shoulders even more rigid, as if to prove it.
Did she think she could dominate the Stage by behaving like this?
She couldn’t understand why she didn’t think it would ruin her mood instead.
She was a specimen of foolishness that had never been scolded for petty spite.
It was halfway through the Hallway.
Just as the light in the corridor toward the Waiting Room began to brighten.
A brief test sound came through the speaker.
The note pierced like a needle through her eardrum, spreading inside her head.
Jae-i stopped instinctively.
One note. Just one.
The exact pitch she had written into the Sheet Music.
Now a proper introduction flowed through.
No room for doubt.
As the verse began, Baek Song-ha’s voice wove in, and the melody flowed with ease.
She had expected this, but feeling the theft in her flesh was different.
‘You again?’
Explosions ignited in sequence inside Jae-i.
As Baek Song-ha’s voice layered over her own Sheet Music, the suppressed memory found a crack and forced its way through.
‘Jae-i, the response to this song is really good. Am I about to hit the Billboard charts?’
That song too was hers.
‘And just so you know, your husband’s baby is in my belly now.’
That love too was hers.
She couldn’t forget.
Baek Song-ha’s lips always curved in a smile as she hurled those cruel words.
How much did she have to laugh to do that?
‘You… you’re a human being I can’t…’
Bang.
Jae-i slammed the back of her head against the wall, the revolting memory flooding through her brain.
‘I can never forgive you.’
Resentment trembled across the back of her hand.
She tried to rein it in, but muscles seized by resentment wouldn’t obey.
Yet Jae-i clenched her fist with all her strength.
Feeling her nails bite into her palm, she opened her eyes wide.
‘I have to change the Music Recorded.’

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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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