The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 78

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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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Episode 78. The Woman Next Door (2)

Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap.

A bright, rhythmic percussion echoing from the cutting board.
His knife work was genuinely impressive.

Just slicing a leek, yet something about it felt different.

Bubble-bubble. Bubble-bubble.

Water boiling in a pot.
Two pots simmered side by side.

‘Domestic life…….’

This was Seo Da-hee’s first time visiting another apartment of the same square footage.

It wasn’t ostentatiously lavish.
But the eye required to select such high-grade furnishings was no ordinary one.

From the slippers by the entrance to the furniture, even down to the kitchenware.

Most of the items were expensive brands Seo Da-hee knew only by name.

She envied this kind of freedom.
Her agency’s management of her was strict.

Once she began gaining popularity, they’d arranged lodging for her at Latte Signiel as part of their management strategy.

Of course, at first she’d been thrilled.
She’d felt recognized by DMC, her agency.

She’d come up from the Provinces to Seoul.

She’d lived an ordinary life through university there.

As a child, her dream was to become a teacher.
She’d graduated uneventfully from the English Education program at a teacher’s college and pursued that dream.

She’d never dreamed of being a singer.
She’d had a better voice than most, certainly.

But in an entertainment industry dominated by idol groups, it was absurd to dream of a solo career with only singing ability to show for it.

She’d often received compliments on her appearance, but it didn’t fit the idol look.

She’d become a singer by chance.

It happened when she met someone from the industry at a karaoke place in Hongdae she frequented.

It was the height of the singer-songwriter boom for female vocalists.

A management representative looking for a female singer with vocal power and atmosphere discovered Seo Da-hee.

At the time, she was preparing for the Teacher Recruitment Exam, so she was intrigued.

The signing bonus alone was ten million won.

They promised to provide housing and cover all activity-related costs.

Looking back now, she’d signed without understanding anything.
Three years had passed since then.

The singer-songwriter trend had cooled.

The housing conditions the company initially promised had gradually deteriorated.

Now her very existence within the agency was fading.

She wasn’t even assigned a manager to handle her schedule.

The pittance she’d received from settlements had evaporated into private lessons and living expenses.

With no one to confide in, she’d managed to survive through tears and part-time work.

Then circumstances forced her hand, and one day an original composition of hers went viral.

A YouTube account the company had opened to promote the song.

Through that opportunity, she’d learned composition and songwriting.

Seo Da-hee possessed remarkable latent musical talent.

Her songs, infused with her own joys and sorrows, caught on.

The fiery love and heartbreak she’d naively experienced in her youth, the tears, and the emotional weight of her current situation——

On a day when the monsoon rain fell, a famous YouTuber mentioned her song.

It harmonized with the rain, and her popularity skyrocketed.

Since it was an unreleased original composition, there was no audio track yet.
Instead, her YouTube channel exploded in views.

By the time the company learned of it, they rushed to produce an audio track.

But the timing was poor.
While the large agency deliberated, the monsoon season ended, and her popularity faded along with it.

It couldn’t have been more ill-timed with the full heat of summer approaching.

Still, the song had settled into the top ten of several charts.

Soon after this shift, Seo Da-hee found herself back under agency management.

She released original compositions in succession, and as multiple songs gained attention, she steadily built her name.

Then her contract term reached its end.

It was then they’d relocated her to Signiel.

The agency’s way of placating her and extending the contract.

The problem was they’d deducted housing costs from her personal earnings.

A standard predatory clause in exploitative contracts——all expenses deducted.

Hitting this new wall, Seo Da-hee had endured every humiliation trying to escape the agency.

Last month’s settlement: a mere 1.3 million won.

Audio track sales were steady, but the company’s payout was always meager.

In their new contract proposal, they offered one hundred million won as a signing bonus.

They promised to adjust her revenue share to standard market rates.

Seo Da-hee had exhausted her patience with the agency.

The mental strain of working as their signed artist had worn her down, so she cautiously declined the recontract.

That’s when they changed tactics.
Real pressure from the company began in earnest.

They made forced dieting a condition for her new song release.

For her, who already ate little, they prescribed one boiled egg and a small plate of salad per day.

An amount even a child would find insufficient for a single meal.

They’d had a manager remove all food from her refrigerator.

From early morning until 11 p.m., they shadowed her constantly, controlling her meals and movement.

She couldn’t even use her personal phone freely.
The excuse: one day the manager had touched it and they’d found it unsettling.

Her every activity and report was being transmitted to the company in real time through the manager.

Recently they’d begun controlling even her contact with friends and family.

For Seo Da-hee, breathing had become progressively harder.

She’d collapsed at the Gym a few days ago because she hadn’t eaten enough.

She’d still performed at an event afterward.

Today she’d simply endured and endured until she couldn’t anymore, then stepped outside.

But she couldn’t go down to the Concierge.

The agency’s influence reached even there.

Then she’d encountered a man by the Elevator.

The man’s name was Ha Tae-ung.

His deep, searching gaze didn’t feel unkind.

He recognized her as FURIA Seo Da-hee.

Whoosh.

Ha Tae-ung dumped the broth and solids into the boiling pot.

He added the noodles last.

Her mouth filled with saliva, swallowing convulsively.

Those few minutes felt impossibly long.

About three minutes passed.

He garnished the bowl with the leek he’d sliced earlier.

“Do you like Chonggak Kimchi?”

“The fermented kind——is that alright?”

Fermented Chonggak Kimchi with ramen was a national law.

Her mouth flooded with anticipatory saliva.

With a grin, Ha Tae-ung opened the refrigerator, retrieved the kimchi, and portioned it onto a plate.

Clink.

The ramen and kimchi were set before her.

“……Gulp.”

In the meantime, Ha Tae-ung sat down across from her with his own bowl of ramen.

“Shall we eat together?”

The way he used a chopstick rest for even a single chopstick——Seo Da-hee inwardly marveled at such refinement.

‘……Is he of noble birth?’

It was a habit etched so naturally into his body that it seemed effortless.

There was a distinctly uncommon air about him——something you couldn’t fake.

It was like approaching a French haute cuisine course with ramen and kimchi.

‘I’m happy…….’

And that made it all the better.

Just then, he set his chopsticks down.

“……??”

Seo Da-hee, mid-swallow, froze.

His manner suggested he had something to say.

“Da-hee.”

“Is there anything else you need?”

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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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