The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 68
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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.
68
“Oh my. Lee Jae-i! You got here really fast, didn’t you?”
Inside one of the Star Entertainment meeting rooms.
Han Myeong-geun, who had been waiting for Lee Jae-i, practically bounced up from his chair.
Lee Jae-i approached him with a gentle smile.
“I live right next door.”
Lee Jae-i pointed to a building visible beyond the glass window.
Following her finger, Han Myeong-geun rubbed the back of his neck and nodded.
“Ah. The lodging! Right. I think I heard about that. But isn’t it inconvenient living there?”
“Everyone says it’s good when your commute is short, don’t they?”
“Haha, that’s true too.”
Han Myeong-geun laughed heartily and gestured to a seat.
“Did the shoot go well? How are you starting activities already?”
Lee Jae-i pulled out a chair and answered naturally.
“That’s too grand a way to put it. But… what did you want to talk about?”
At that question, Han Myeong-geun immediately checked his wristwatch.
As he sat down and scanned the door, he leaned his head forward.
His lips were already forming the shape of the first word.
“Just wait ten seconds. He keeps time like clockwork.”
“Sorry?”
Confusion flickered across her mind at an answer that didn’t match the question.
Han Myeong-geun interlaced his fingers and rested them on his belly, smiling.
Lee Jae-i’s gaze naturally drifted to the watch on his wrist.
The second hand moved one tick.
Then several more.
Tick-tock.
“See?! Park Seong-ho, come on in!”
As if he’d been waiting for a signal, Han Myeong-geun called out in perfect timing.
It was the moment the second hand struck the hour.
The PD beamed as if satisfied with the result.
At the sound of the door opening, Lee Jae-i turned her head.
‘Ah… that person.’
It was a face she’d seen in a photograph.
The man crossing the threshold was perfectly composed.
Even the angle of his bow was precise.
But photographs don’t capture everything, it seemed.
The man’s features before her in person were far sharper, and his towering height radiated an overpowering presence.
“He’s the most handsome employee in our company. He’ll be your manager, taking care of your schedule from now on.”
Since this came from Han Myeong-geun’s earlier message, it wasn’t a completely unexpected situation.
Lee Jae-i rose from her seat.
Her head bowed as deeply as it did before the Chairman.
“Hello. I’m Lee Jae-i.”
At Han Myeong-geun’s introduction, Lee Jae-i greeted him first.
The man bowed respectfully once more, then straightened and spoke.
“Park Seong-ho. Pleased to work with you.”
That was the moment.
A chill crept down her spine, spreading like cold electricity.
It seized every muscle so tightly that even the air stopped in her lungs.
Memory rushed in like a tidal wave.
‘This is the title track and concept for the group’s upcoming debut.’
The most distant memory surfaced.
A voice she’d heard in Yoo Young-jae’s office.
A voice with no face and no name attached to it.
Then a nearer memory overlapped it.
‘I’d appreciate it if you’d review this!’
That moment when she’d jumped down from the stage and chased after him.
The person who’d vanished into the crowd, never to be found again.
Every single one of those moments locked perfectly into place with the man standing before her.
There was no need to confirm further.
Every sensation imprinted on her body pointed to the same place.
‘This person is…….’
She’d planned to gradually speak with people inside Star Entertainment once her activities began.
Because she suspected he’d be among them.
But he appeared first.
And as her manager, no less.
Han Myeong-geun stirred the thick silence hanging over the moment.
“Ahem. Lee Jae-i. If someone saw you now, they’d think you’d fallen head over heels.”
His words were followed by a warm laugh.
‘Oh no.’
She shouldn’t have reacted so openly like that.
Only then did her consciousness, submerged as if underwater, float back to the surface.
Lee Jae-i relaxed the muscles in her face and spoke softly.
“He’s genuinely handsome—I was rude without meaning to be.”
She had no choice but to play along with Han Myeong-geun’s comment.
For now, that was the most natural thing to do.
She needed to meet his eyes, but once her gaze had slipped away, it was reluctant to turn back toward the man.
Lee Jae-i deliberately tensed her eyes and shifted her pupils.
As she looked at the man again, he was studying her with quiet steadiness.
Cool, piercing eyes.
Not cold so much as entirely devoid of warmth—as if the very concept of temperature had been stripped away.
His composure was so complete that he didn’t seem to be hiding emotion behind it.
It could have been a bias on her part.
Yet the sensation she felt was unmistakable.
Her thoughts slid immediately into possibility.
‘Could this be coincidence?’
Or was this a situation born from provoking Yoo Young-jae behind the studio set?
The former was unlikely.
The timing, the placement, the role—everything was too precise.
Then this was a warning from Yoo Young-jae.
In a manner very much his own.
The scene of encountering Yoo Young-jae behind the set flashed through her mind.
A sentence she’d let slip by as speculation had now become prophecy.
‘Yeah, I had a feeling he’d plant someone with me.’
Yoo Young-jae was predictable, really.
If she was his target, he’d actually made things easier for her.
Because he’d already positioned himself at her closest point.
“I look forward to working together, Park Seong-ho.”
Lee Jae-i covered the emotion underneath with a bright smile.
* * *
A room flooded with sunlight.
Yet only Lee Jae-i’s face was shadowed in darkness.
…….
The smile had only lasted inside the meeting room.
The moment she’d left the office, her lips had fallen and refused to rise again.
Album preparation, song composition, comeback dates and concepts.
Yoo Young-jae would monitor it all through that man’s eyes.
Telling the Chairman was premature.
She had no doubt he would believe her.
But if his surveillance grew tighter, he might hide his tracks.
It was better to know she was being watched openly than to wonder where he was lurking.
“Hmm…….”
Lee Jae-i, arms crossed, recalled the man’s expression.
It didn’t seem like appeasement or persuasion would work on him.
She’d abandoned the option of approaching him from the start.
Better to keep her distance.
‘I have to watch every word I say.’
The clearest thing was that her actions would now be constrained.
Very much so.
Already, it felt as if she were trapped behind bars, the walls closing in from all sides.
Lee Jae-i’s eyes shifted to the calendar.
“About eight months left, then….”
August 19th of next year.
If her memory was correct, that’s the day Chairman Yu would pass away.
She knew how the leadership succession would unfold.
In the old timeline, Baek Song-ha’s meteoric rise would have already solidified her position by now.
This time, her own victory had shaken the board.
‘It won’t be easy this time, will it?’
That was somewhat satisfying.
But she couldn’t relax.
Eight months was enough time to prepare an album.
From now on, the memories she carried would be of limited use.
Because Baek Song-ha’s trajectory would diverge significantly from what she remembered.
‘What can I actually leverage?’
Lee Jae-i sifted through her memories.
Now, while she still had freedom to move.
She needed to carve out some kind of narrow passage, even if just a small one.
As her mind twisted with deliberation, a name suddenly unspooled like a knot coming undone.
“Park Jeong-cheol.”
Why had she forgotten about him for so long?
He was the man who’d remained at Yoo Young-jae’s side out of pure loyalty to Chairman Yu.
The man who’d been mistreated by Yoo Young-jae because of his upright, principled nature.
Ultimately, he hadn’t survived long after crossing Yoo Young-jae’s will.
She even remembered the last time Park Jeong-cheol had visited her.
‘Madam. Forgive my presumption, but I have one request. Please… please help ensure that the Chairman’s recklessness doesn’t destroy this company.’
His desperate voice still echoed in her ears.
Could she win him to her side?
A place she’d have to visit at least once every two days when they spoke.
‘I used to buy him car fresheners from there every time.’
There was no rule that said only Yoo Young-jae could plant people.
Lee Jae-i stood up immediately and grabbed her outer coat.
‘I need to meet Park Jeong-cheol.’
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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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