🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 01
Early dawn.
—This is breaking news. Joo Taebaek, chairman of Dongwoo Group and a pillar of Korea’s business world, passed away early this morning. Chairman Joo had been hospitalized since September 3 due to a worsening chronic illness…
Saey’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. Veins stood out sharply beneath her thin skin.
“…Should I turn off the radio?”
Her father, Han Junho, sitting in the passenger seat, asked cautiously.
—Chairman Joo’s funeral will be held privately with family members only…
Saey listened silently, as if determined not to miss a single word.
“Saey.”
“…Just let it play. It’s a family that has nothing to do with us anymore.”
Joo Saey.
The granddaughter of the late Chairman Joo Taebaek—and the lowest-ranked heir of Dongwoo Group.
While her grandfather’s private funeral was being held, Saey was fleeing as if running away.
“Are you really okay with leaving like this? You were so happy about joining the theater troupe…”
“I think living like this with you, Dad, is better than acting for now.”
After speaking, Saey fell silent. She said she was fine, but her voice sagged with exhaustion.
After her mother—the eldest daughter of the Joo family—passed away, young Saey had survived by carefully watching her uncle’s mood.
She obeyed his demand to live quietly, handed over the shares her mother left behind, and deliberately distanced herself from the Joo family.
Even when she found something she wanted to do, she endured it. The moment she stood out, pressure would follow.
But there was one thing she could never give up—acting.
Whenever she watched actors on TV, her heart raced.
It felt as if she would die if she couldn’t act like them, so she secretly studied on her own.
Then, a few days ago, she passed the audition for a renowned theater troupe—on her very first attempt.
With no connections, this was achieved purely through Saey’s talent and effort.
“Your talent is monstrous, Ms. Saey. I can’t remember the last time I wanted to keep someone this badly.”
When she heard those words from Sung Hyesim, a nationally respected veteran actor, Saey burst into tears from overwhelming joy.
But that happiness didn’t last long.
“Ms. Saey, this is awkward. You passed, and now you’re canceling?”
“I’m sorry. Something came up… I’m really sorry.”
“Are loan sharks after you or something? Honestly…”
The moment she heard of Chairman Joo’s death, Saey called to withdraw from the troupe.
She had to leave before the succession fight intensified.
“It’s a shame, but what choice do I have? If I stay and get caught up in this, I might die.”
It’s not a shame at all. Let’s just go.
Chanting that to herself like brainwashing, Saey pressed the accelerator.
That was when—
BEEEEEP—!!!
A deafening horn blared as a cargo truck charged toward her car without giving her time to react.
“Saey!”
Her father threw his body over hers. The car shook violently.
Screeeeech—CRASH!
The vehicle was shoved sideways, slammed into the guardrail, and plunged downward.
“Ugh…”
Had she lost consciousness for a moment? Saey groaned as she woke to unbearable pain.
Through her blurred vision, she saw a man approaching.
“Yes. It’s been handled for sure. Please transfer the remaining payment…”
His voice became clearer as he got closer. He was on the phone.
After checking her father’s condition, he muttered casually,
“Tch. This old man’s done for. You’re pretty tough, miss.”
“Please… save me…”
The man shoved his arm through the shattered window and grabbed Saey’s shoulder.
After ending the call, he played a recorded file.
—That old man said he’d give his shares to his granddaughter. How do you expect me to just let that slide? I don’t want to give up even a penny!
The recording continued.
It seemed the problem was that Saey’s name had appeared in the will, which was revealed only to family members after Chairman Joo’s death.
Her uncle’s furious voice followed.
—There’s no other choice. Have your people take care of it. Just get rid of that useless girl and her father.
The man stopped the recording and smirked.
“You heard it, right? I don’t have anything against you. This is just an important contract.”
He lifted a blunt weapon and spoke lightly.
“So if you’re gonna curse someone after you die, don’t curse me—curse Joo Sudeok. Got it?”
“Please….”
Crack.
Without giving her time to process anything, the man struck her down.
At twenty-five, Saey’s insignificant life ended like that.
…I thought I died that way.
I let out a deep sigh.
Not only did I survive—I returned to the past. To when I was eighteen. In my own room.
In novels, people who regress save their parents. But my mother had already been dead for years. There was no one to save.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—there was still plenty of time before I turned twenty-five.
I recalled the recording the man had played.
“He said he was acting on Joo Sudeok’s orders. Because I was going to receive Chairman Joo’s shares.”
My maternal uncle, Joo Sudeok.
The moment he saw my name in the will, he had me eliminated—along with my father.
“The shares didn’t even seem that big. He just didn’t want to give up anything.”
I thought that obeying him and distancing myself from the Joo family would keep us safe.
“It was all my mistake.”
Even after I stepped aside quietly, his greed still killed us.
“I can never trust my uncle again.”
In my previous life, I handed over my mother’s shares. Thankfully, this time, they were still mine.
My uncle would try every trick to take them—just like before.
“I’ll survive no matter what. And I’ll save Dad.”
Remembering how my father shielded me with his body in the end hardened my resolve.
“But to endure this, I need an ally.”
Someone powerful enough to block my uncle in place of my powerless father and underage self.
One name came to mind.
My grandfather, Chairman Joo Taebaek.
I avoided family events, thinking he hated me—but what if that wasn’t true?
“It’s strange that my name was in the will.”
In my last life, he never truly abandoned me.
So this time, what if I made him my ally first?
“Good thing I read that autobiography.”
After he collapsed from illness, Dongwoo Group published Chairman Joo’s autobiography.
Out of curiosity, I bought it. I never imagined it would save my life.
I didn’t remember everything, but one passage stood out clearly.
“I am tired of growing companies. For years, I have secretly prepared a project to honor my late wife.”
“To raise shining artists with my hands, my eyes, and my money—this is a secret even my children do not know.”
My grandmother had been a theater actress.
A woman who supported the man she loved with money earned through acting.
Perhaps that’s why the chairman and his wife often attended plays together.
After she died, he began nurturing actors through a proxy.
I remembered this because it was later revealed that the agency he founded was Wave Actors.
And because I, too, had dreamed of acting.
Acting—the one talent and dream I had to abandon, despite being called a genius even through self-study.
What if I used it in this life and became famous?
My uncle wouldn’t dare kill us.
Even if he tried to erase my name, he wouldn’t be able to.
If the autobiography was true, my grandfather was already preparing the agency.
Wave Actors—the company that would later dominate the Korean acting industry.
I decided to get on that ship.
Turning my head, I saw the calendar.
“My grandfather’s birthday is soon.”
Every year, he cleared his schedule and dined with his closest aides at the main house.
I had never attended, even when invited.
But this time, I would go—even if uninvited.
I would no longer live as if dead.
I would show him my acting.
Even if I couldn’t satisfy him, I had to catch his interest.
To prove I could be his card—
“I need that script.”
A script capable of moving my grandfather’s heart.
To get it, I had to go somewhere.
Next to the Joo family’s main residence, Jaedamjae, stood Dongwoo Hall, where the group’s history was stored.
The person in charge of Dongwoo Hall—
My uncle.
I took a deep breath.
I’m going to Jaedamjae.
It’s time to face the uncle who killed my father and me.
