The Hit Song of This Life Is Revenge - Chapter 80
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
This life’s hit song is revenge.
Chapter 80
It was Yoo Young-jae.
The moment Baek Song-ha saw that name, her ears flushed crimson.
“What is all this?!”
Her voice cut through the phone receiver like needles, sharp and piercing.
Yoo Young-jae was in no hurry.
– Since you’ve seen it, I’ll skip the explanation. I’m postponing the comeback tomorrow, so stay on standby.
It was a notification.
No room for questions, no intention to negotiate—the tone made that clear.
Baek Song-ha felt injustice surge first.
Then came the anger, rising hot and fast.
“Why? I had nothing to do with this, so why should it be postponed?”
Her formal tone crumbled. The sentence order fell apart.
The words tumbled out before she could even think them through.
A low breath traveled through the line from the other end.
Without even seeing him now, she could picture exactly what expression Yoo Young-jae was wearing.
But this time, her own emotion came first.
“Why should I suffer for something the director did?”
As her voice climbed toward a shout, Yoo Young-jae cut her off.
– Then.
His tone went cold and heavy, pressing down on the air between them.
– Who do you think this whole situation is unfolding for?
Click.
Her fingernail finally struck the floor and skittered away.
“You want to say it’s because of me? Don’t give me that nonsense.”
After a few seconds of silence, Yoo Young-jae’s voice dropped lower still.
– That logic—you’re using it too. Drawing a line like you have nothing to do with any of this.
Baek Song-ha exhaled sharply, just once.
From that moment forward, the air split cleanly in two.
They faced each other down, head-on.
After several seconds of verbal probing, Yoo Young-jae spoke first.
– Do you know who’s at the center of everyone’s attention? Lee Jae-i. Her.
“So?”
– When you come back? Every moment, every word—can you guarantee you’ll choose an answer without controversy? Are you really that smart, Baek Song-ha?
“I—”
She tried to continue, but Yoo Young-jae cut her off immediately.
– What’s an interview? You can’t even manage your expression. You’ll be frozen in place before you know it. Isn’t that right?
Her breathing scattered in an irregular rhythm at those words.
Meanwhile, Yoo Young-jae pressed his fist quietly against his forehead, then let his voice drift back to the receiver.
“Timing is everything. Right now is the time to stay quiet. Don’t make a move. I’ll contact you again.”
Yoo Young-jae pressed the end call button and hurled his cell phone onto the bed.
He gripped his scalp with a dry palm.
“…Damn it.”
A clear curse fell from his lips.
He slowly lifted his head, then dragged his palm down his face.
With that, Yoo Young-jae pushed off from the edge of the bed and stood.
From the bar table’s rows of bottles, he grabbed the strongest one.
Not a shot glass—a full rocks glass.
The amber liquid splashed down, and he drained it in one swallow.
Perhaps because emotion was already lodged in his throat.
The alcohol burned down like a brand, leaving a mark in its wake.
“…Ah.”line>
Yoo Young-jae gripped his throat as if strangling it, then yanked his hand away roughly.
He looked down at his palm.
Then slowly he curled his fingers and clenched his fist around empty air, grinding it.
It was a mercy it wasn’t someone’s neck.
If it had been, he might have strangled the life from it.
‘Everything irritates me. All of it.’
Pour.
The emptied glass filled halfway again.
This wasn’t carelessness.
There was nothing of that in this situation.
A perfectly set trap, a noose drawn tight and locked.
For things to make sense, Lee Jae-i should be writhing in pain right now, looking down at her bleeding leg.
‘How could she do that?’
It was breathtakingly swift and clever—her response.
The concert hadn’t even been planned beforehand, had it.
Yet the released materials bore all the marks of meticulous preparation.
“Still won’t catch me.”
His anxiety wasn’t great.
He’d commissioned many sentences for the audio file creation.
Mixed voices too—multiple of them.
He was the one who’d cut out only the curse words and mixed them.
As long as the file’s origin didn’t come to light, it was fine.
Even if something did unravel, as long as Park Seong-ho kept his mouth shut, Yoo Young-jae wouldn’t be exposed.
Park Seong-ho could support his family only because of Yoo Young-jae.
‘Hell, I’ve even covered up murders. This is nothing.’
Park Seong-ho would gladly stay silent without being asked.
But then why wouldn’t this uneasy feeling go away?
The rocks glass rose to his nose, and the scent needled his brain.
Through that gap, Yoo Young-jae’s thoughts grew sharp and pointed.
“…Or is this actually carelessness?”
Why hadn’t he received a single report about any of this?
‘He’s not incompetent, anyway.’
Yoo Young-jae’s pupils pulled away from the glass.
It was the most logical suspicion.
But that thought shouldn’t grow any larger.
Just as he was trying to suppress the speculation, Park Seong-ho’s call came to mind.
Yoo Young-jae put the receiver to his ear and, first thing, released a breath that reeked of alcohol.
“Huh…”
– I’m sorry.
At those words, the bridge of his nose twisted so hard the muscles contorted.
“Should I doubt your competence, or that bat-like nature of yours?”
– It was my oversight.
Yoo Young-jae squeezed his eyes shut, the lids tensing under the pressure.
“Say something meaningful. Don’t spout that useless garbage!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the glass tumbled through the air.
It shattered with a sound that matched Yoo Young-jae’s inner turmoil.
The silence on the other end of the line trembled along with that crash.
* * *
That night, when broken glass still lay scattered,
a quiet warmth settled over Park Jeong-cheol’s home.
Steam rose thinly from a teacup.
The shimmering heat briefly obscured Park Jeong-cheol’s vision.
He sat with the laptop on his lap, pressing his eye sockets with deliberate slowness.
“How…”
The end of his sentence dropped to the floor.
Why did bad premonitions never fail to come true?
It started the moment he clicked on the restored file.
His heart plummeted, as if his stomach had dropped past his ankles.
One among countless versions.
– Ugh… Damn it.
It overlapped perfectly with that voice that had leaked out at Lee Jae-i’s fan meeting.
And what made it worse was that the file’s creator was Yoo Young-jae.
The deeper he dug, the deeper the mire became.
Just when he thought he could see the end, his reaching hand found only darkness and greater depths.
And right before the audio file ended,
suddenly, a woman’s real voice overlapped it.
‘YU will collapse soon. If Yoo Young-jae becomes the representative, it will definitely happen.’
Park Jeong-cheol rubbed the paper with Lee Jae-i’s contact information between his fingertips.
Wondering again and again if this was really right.
He had watched today’s fan meeting too.
‘Indeed.’
Hadn’t she responded with a composure and honesty that put everyone else to shame?
A curse and a rumored romance.
For a newcomer, that moment could have been the end.
She could have chosen to turn on the camera in her hurt, to weep first.
But Lee Jae-i had waited.
Even the way she waited for the right moment had been striking.
‘That’s exactly what the chairman is like.’
When that thought layered over his judgment, he worried it was clouding his reasoning.
But who could witness justice and not be moved by it?
He hadn’t scrolled deep into the internet.
Yet even the glimpses he’d caught were enough.
Before clear evidence, public opinion was shifting direction.
The speculation surrounding her was losing force, and comments were stacking up like a shield around her.
Crrrrip.
It was the sound of the paper with the phone number sliding upward.
Park Jeong-cheol finally typed the number into his cell phone.
Hesitation ended the moment he pressed the green call button.
– Hello?
“Is this Lee Jae-i’s number?”
In that instant, the voice on the other end dropped sharply.
– Yes. But who is this?
“This is Park Jeong-cheol. Do you remember me?”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————