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EPISODE 1
Early Dawn.
*-Breaking News. Joo Tae-baek, Chairman of Dongwoo Group, a pillar of the Korean business world, passed away early this morning. Chairman Joo, who was hospitalized about a month ago on September 3rd due to worsening chronic illness…*
A surge of strength filled Sae-i’s hands gripping the steering wheel. Tendons bulged beneath her thin skin.
“…Should I turn off the radio?”
Han Jun-ho, Sae-i’s father sitting in the passenger seat, asked cautiously.
-Chairman Joo’s funeral will be a private family ceremony…
Sae-i listened silently to the radio, as if determined not to miss a single word of this news.
“Sae-i.”
“…Just let it play. It’s not like that family has anything to do with us anymore.”
Joo Sae-i.
The granddaughter of the deceased Chairman Joo Tae-baek, and the lowest in the line of succession for Dongwoo Group.
While her grandfather’s family funeral was being held, Sae-i was leaving as if running away.
“Are you really sure about leaving like this? You were so happy about getting into the theater troupe…”
“It seems I still prefer living like this with you, Dad, more than acting.”
Sae-i closed her mouth after speaking. Even though she said she was okay, her voice sounded deflated.
After the death of her mother, who was the eldest daughter of the Dongwoo Group’s Joo family, young Sae-i had to tread carefully around her uncle to survive.
She acquiesced to her uncle’s words to live quietly, transferred her mother’s shares to him, and intentionally kept her distance from the Joo family.
She held back even when she wanted to do something. The moment she stepped forward, pressure would be applied.
However, there was one thing she couldn’t give up: acting.
Whenever she saw actors performing on TV, her heart would race.
She felt like she would surely die if she couldn’t act like them, so she studied secretly on her own.
Then, a few days ago, she was accepted into a prestigious theater troupe. On her very first attempt, no less.
An achievement accomplished solely through Sae-i’s own talent and effort, without a single connection.
‘You’re monstrous, Ms. Sae-i. I can’t remember the last time I felt so reluctant to let someone go.’
When Sung Hye-sim, a middle-aged actor representing Korea known for her acting skills, called her a genius, Sae-i was so overwhelmed she burst into tears.
But that joy was short-lived.
‘Ms. Sae this is a bit shocking. You want to cancel after already being accepted?’
‘I’m sorry. Something came up… I’m truly sorry.’
‘Are you being chased by loan sharks? Oh, for goodness’ sake…’
The moment she heard the news of Chairman Joo’s passing, Sae-i called to cancel her acceptance into the troupe.
She had to leave before the succession battle intensified.
‘It’s a shame, but what can I do? If I stay here and get caught up in it, I might die.’
I’m not disappointed at all. So let’s just go. Sae-i repeated to herself like a mantra, pressing down on the accelerator.
At that moment.
Paaang—!!!
With an ear-splitting horn, a truck came barreling towards Sae-i’s car with no time to avoid it. And then.
“My child!”
Her father threw his entire body over Sae-i. Soon after, the car shook violently.
Crunch, BANG!
Sae-i’s car, with a terrible noise, was pushed back, crashed through the guardrail, and plummeted.
“Ugh…”
Perhaps she lost consciousness briefly from the impact. Sae-i, regaining her senses amidst terrible pain, let out a groan.
In her blurry vision, she saw a man approaching from afar.
“Yes. I’ve taken care of it for sure. Please deposit the remaining balance as well…”
His voice grew clearer as he got closer. He seemed to be on a call with someone.
After glancing at her father’s condition, he spat out lightly.
“Tch, this one bit the dust. The young lady’s life is stubborn, huh?”
“Please, save…”
The man reached through the shattered car window and grabbed
blunt object.
shoulder.
After ending the call, he found and played a recording file.
“-That old man says he’s going to leave his shares to his granddaughter! How could I just let that slide? I don’t want to give up a single penny, see!
The recording continued.
It seemed the trigger was Sae-i’s name being listed in the will, revealed only to family immediately after Chairman Joo Taebaek’s passing.
The outraged voice of Ju Su-deok followed.
-There’s no other way. You handle it. Just get rid of that insignificant girl and her father.
The man who stopped the recording laughed coldly.
“You heard that, right? I bear no malice. It’s just an important contract, you see.”
He lifted the blunt weapon and spat out lightly.
“So if you’re going to curse someone after dying, curse Ju Su-deok, not me. Got it?”
“Save…”
Crack.
With no time to process the situation, the man brought the weapon down on
blunt object.
Twenty-five. Her shabby life came to an end like that.
‘…I thought I died like that.’
I let out a deep sigh.
My life wasn’t just stubborn; I had returned to the past entirely. To when I was eighteen, in my room.
In novels, people who return to the past often save their parents. But what is this? My mother had passed away long ago, so I didn’t even have the chance to save her.
Whether unfortunate or fortunate, there was still plenty of time until I turned twenty-five.
I recalled the recording the man who killed us played.
‘He said he was hired by Ju Su-deok. Because I was going to receive the Chairman’s… shares.’
My uncle, Ju Su-deok.
It seemed that as soon as Chairman Ju passed away and he confirmed my name was in the will, he immediately had me purged. And even my dad.
‘The shares didn’t seem that large. He just didn’t want to give up a single penny.’
Until now, I had obediently listened to my uncle, thinking we would be safe if I distanced myself from the Joo family.
‘That was purely my misconception.’
Even though I quietly stepped aside, my uncle’s greed killed us.
‘I must never trust my uncle again.’
In my past life, I transferred the shares my mother left to him, but fortunately, the current me still had those shares intact.
My uncle would use all sorts of tricks to get those shares from me. Just like before.
‘Let’s stubbornly hold on and survive. I have to save Dad too…’
Thinking of my father, who desperately held me in the final moment, my heart grew resolute.
‘To hold on, I need an ally.’
A person who can block my uncle on behalf of my powerless father and my minor self.
Coincidentally, one name came to mind.
My grandfather, Chairman Joo Tae-baek.
I thought he would hate me since I avoided family events to distance myself from the Joo family, but what if that wasn’t the case?
‘It’s strange that he wrote my name in the will.’
In my past life, Chairman Joo never cast me out in the end.
So, what if this time, I take the initiative first and make him my ally?
‘It’s a good thing I read his autobiography.’
After my grandfather collapsed from his worsening illness, Dongwoo Group published his autobiography.
Who would have thought that reading it out of curiosity because he was my grandfather would be helpful.
I don’t remember every detail in the book, but the most memorable passage came to mind immediately.
[The work of growing a company has become tiresome now. For several years, I have secretly been building a project to honor my wife, who left before me.]
[Nurturing shining artists with my hands, my eye, and my money. This is a secret I haven’t even told my children.]
My grandmother was an artist from a theater troupe. A woman who used the money earned from acting to support her beloved man’s great enterprise.
Perhaps because of that, the Chairman and his wife often went to see plays.
After his wife’s death, Chairman Joo started nurturing actors through a proxy to honor her.
The reason I remember this is… because shortly after the autobiography was published, it was revealed that the agency my grandfather founded was the famous ‘Wave Actors’.
And because I, too, held acting in my heart. I even wondered briefly if I was drawn to acting because we were family.
Acting. My once-in-a-lifetime talent and dream, called genius through self-study alone, yet something I had to give up.
What if I use it to become famous in this life?
I can rise to a position where my uncle dares not kill me and my father.
I can become widely known so he can’t erase my name even if he tries.
If everything in the autobiography is true, my grandfather is probably already preparing to establish the agency now.
Wave Actors, the agency that would later pluck and nurture only the actors who would draw a new line in Korean acting.
I intend to board this project of my grandfather’s.
Turning my head absently, I saw the calendar.
‘Grandfather’s birthday is soon.’
He clears all schedules on his birthdays and has a meal with close aides at the main house.
I had to live quietly, so even if invited, I never showed my face…
But this time, even if no one invites me, I must barge in. I decided not to live like I’m dead anymore to survive.
I must find a way to go and show him my acting.
Every actor he nurtured was called a genius, so he must have a good eye.
Even if I can’t satisfy him with my acting, I must at least get his attention.
To prove that I can be his chess piece like that…
‘I need that script.’
A script worthy of winning my grandfather’s heart. To get it, there’s a place I must go.
Jaedamjae, the Chairman’s estate and the Joo family’s main house, and right next to it, Dongwoo Hall, where items containing the history of Dongwoo Group are stored.
The person in overall charge of access to Dongwoo Hall was my uncle.
I took a deep breath.
I’m going to Jaedamjae.
Now, it’s time to face my uncle, the one who killed me and my father.
