Chapter 47

One night before filming for May the Mountain God Protect You.

Lying in bed, I kept checking my phone as it buzzed over and over.

Ever since our last joint practice session, a group chat had been made with Woon Seong-ha, Do Je-hyeon, and me in it.

Do Je-hyeon: [Joo Sae-i]

Do Je-hyeon: [when are we practicing again]

Woon Seong-ha: [Je-hyeon, don’t push Sae-i so hard]

Do Je-hyeon: [no it’s not pushing]

Do Je-hyeon: [ugh]

Do Je-hyeon: [fine whatever]

Do Je-hyeon: [got it for now]

For some reason, Do Je-hyeon kept proper forms of address with everyone except me. Even with Woon Seong-ha, whom he’d been so wary of, he dropped the formalities and still faithfully called him hyung.

What on earth was going on in his head that one practice session could change a person that much…

So why am I still just Joo Sae-i.

He’d said my acting was good. Said practicing together was fun. And yet, even while he kept pushing to set up more practice dates, I was the only one he wouldn’t treat as older. It was infuriating.

Come to think of it, how long had it been since I’d had a group chat of my own?

In my first life, after I dropped out of high school I’d cut off all contact, so a phone buzzing with notifications felt unfamiliar.

Honestly, it wasn’t a bad feeling… but that was a different story when it went off at bedtime. I decisively killed the notifications for the chat.

With the notifications off, I’d set down the script I’d been looking over and was about to try to sleep when the screen of my darkened phone lit up again.

What now…!

Assuming it was Do Je-hyeon again, I checked it with some irritation, but it was a text from a number I didn’t recognize.

[Miss Sae-i, this is Park Cheol-won.]

It was Secretary Park Cheol-won’s number. Secretary Park said he’d gotten my number through information about the owning family known to the secretariat.

After the greeting came the words I’d been waiting for all along. A short request — he wanted to talk for a moment, could I let him know a day we could meet.

I sent back a reply right away, saying let’s meet tomorrow.

Secretary Park Cheol-won didn’t reach out easily to anyone but the person he served.

So much so that even I, who in my first life had trusted and tried to rely on my uncle, had found it hard to get a private audience with him.

And now he’d reached out to me first.

Has he decided?

He might have come up with an answer to the proposal I’d vaguely floated last time — asking whether he’d leave my uncle and become my person instead.

The moment we settled on a time, my heart started pounding. Wishing tomorrow would hurry up and come, I fell asleep in good spirits.

The place Secretary Park and I agreed to meet was Dongwoo Hall.

My uncle treated Secretary Park like a dog. Like someone tied up in the yard to guard the house, he stationed him at Dongwoo Hall, which he was supposed to be managing, and went off to enjoy himself elsewhere.

That’s why, the first time I came back to the past, this was where I first met Secretary Park too.

Of course, back then we’d met outside Dongwoo Hall, and now we were meeting inside it, out of sight.

“Miss.”

After looking around, Secretary Park Cheol-won stepped inside.

At the voice calling me, I turned my head and our eyes met. I noticed right away that something had changed in his.

Unlike usual, his shoulders were stiff, and his hand was curled as if he were holding something.

“There’s something I’d like to give you.”

Secretary Park’s low voice trembled faintly. Even so, his face was set with resolve.

I quietly watched him approach.

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly held out what he had in his hand.

“…Will you take this?”

It was a USB drive.

A memory surfaced of something he and I had talked about not long ago.

Records like that become a burden if they end up with the wrong owner, and a decent weapon if they end up with the right one.

Evidence of wrongdoing that Secretary Park Cheol-won had gathered while suffering under my uncle. Could that be what was on the drive?

“I couldn’t just stand by and watch the people hurt because of the Vice Chairman. This… is the material I’ve been collecting, to make amends.”

My guess had been right. Whatever could be called my uncle’s weaknesses would be in there.

“I meant to wash my hands of it and leave someday, but I never thought that day would come this fast.”

“…..”

“I thought it over carefully after talking with you, Miss. If I took your hand carelessly, we could both end up in danger.”

Years of old fatigue, worn down under my uncle, had seeped into his voice.

I’d always thought my uncle was someone who didn’t know how to value people… but for Secretary Park to show this much weariness, just how badly must he have been treated?

“I’ve decided. I’m going to stand by your side, Miss.”

He shook the hand holding the USB drive, as if urging me to take it quickly.

“Secretary Park, I—”

“…Don’t worry, this conversation will never reach the Vice Chairman. I was planning to hand in my resignation today.”

“What?”

Wait, if I didn’t take it, what was he going to do about the resignation he was about to hand in?

Secretary Park, reading the bewilderment all over my face, added more.

“I was already planning to quit regardless. Now that there’s someone I want to serve, I can’t go on giving my loyalty to someone else.”

In my first life, Secretary Park hadn’t left my uncle’s side until much more time had passed than now. This time, because of me, Secretary Park’s choice had changed.

“I thought you might doubt my sincerity. That’s why I’m handing the original over to you, Miss.”

“No, you don’t need to give me the original. Strictly speaking, that was your trump card, Secretary Park.”

So what he meant was that he was handing over the original file now to earn my trust — but I had no intention of accepting it on those terms.

Secretary Park’s expression wavered for a moment, then hardened again. I quickly went on, so he wouldn’t misunderstand.

“What I mean is, it’s fine for you to keep the original, Secretary Park.”

“You mean…”

“You don’t have to go that far. I trust you already. I thought you were someone worth trusting.”

At my words, color came back into Secretary Park’s face. He bowed his head again and again, as if in gratitude.

“I’ll just copy the files and give this back to you.”

I took the USB drive in my hand. He hadn’t looked it, but Secretary Park’s hand was damp with sweat — he must have been more nervous than he let on.

Running into the wrong boss really had put Secretary Park through a lot.

Going forward, I’d have to be a good partner to him. For that, it would help to borrow a little of my grandfather’s influence.

I’d have to meet my grandfather soon and tell him I wanted to formally bring Secretary Park over to my side. Since I was nominally an actress, maybe I could make him my manager…

But before I spoke to my grandfather, there was something Secretary Park needed to do for me.

I stopped Secretary Park as he was about to leave Dongwoo Hall.

“Um, Secretary Park. For the time being, please keep working under my uncle.”

“…Excuse me?”

“My uncle might give orders concerning me. When that happens, I’d like you to do what you can.”

My uncle would still think of Secretary Park Cheol-won as his own person for now.

It felt wrong to ask this of a man who’d wanted to escape badly enough to write his resignation letter in advance, but there was no helping it. It would be better than having someone else take Secretary Park’s place and follow my uncle’s orders instead.

“If he ever… tries to harm you, Miss, I’ll move first. I promise you that.”

Secretary Park, catching my meaning, spoke with a solemn face.

Tries to harm me. In my first life, my uncle had ended up killing me after all — but unlike then, now there was someone who’d step forward for my sake.

Realizing that gave me a feeling like courage to survive.

I wanted to escape the future where I died alone, isolated… and live a long, long time with the people who’d be on my side.

To do that, I had to get my revenge, without fail. Pull down the uncle trying to drag me down, before he could, so that nothing of mine could be touched.

Whenever my resolve weakened, all I had to do was remember the man who’d tried to kill us on my uncle’s orders. Thinking of my father, who’d died shielding me, I couldn’t afford to give up.

I can do this.

Carefully tucking the USB drive into my pocket, I headed to my own quarters too. I wanted to check the files inside it as soon as I could.

Someday, this…

I could use it against my uncle. Just thinking about revenge made something deep in my chest feel like it was starting to boil.