Chapter 3
“……”
I mean, I had read more than my fair share of romance-fantasy web novels whenever I was bored.
I thought I had seen every possible regression, possession, and reincarnation trope there was.
“I’ll brief you on today’s schedule, miss. At 11 a.m., you have a golf appointment with your Newbridge University classmates. At 3 p.m., a visit from your personal shopper. And at 6 p.m., dinner with CEO Baek Do-gyeong.”
I honestly had not thought being a chaebol’s granddaughter meant living like some grand duke’s daughter, having someone read out your life like this.
“Isn’t Newbridge that university you get into by dumping money on it?”
“…Pardon?”
“No, nothing. Please, continue. Go on.”
The sharp, charismatic woman, presumably my secretary, looked at me like I was strange.
“For golf, you’ll need to travel to Gyeonggi Province, which will take about two and a half hours. Since it’s currently 9 a.m., we’ll head to the salon immediately.”
“…Didn’t you say the appointment was at eleven? We’ll be late even if we leave now. Why are we going to a salon?”
“…Pardon?” She looked genuinely baffled now.
“Is there a particular reason you must arrive exactly on time, miss?”
“……”
So apparently, when you were Yeon Se-rang, being punctual was not a requirement.
I let out a deep sigh.
I had expected this, honestly.
Ever since that cotton-ball thing said her name.
“Um… Miss, what’s your name?”
“Cha Jeong-hui.”
Apparently, Yeon Se-rang forgetting her own secretary’s name was common enough, because Secretary Cha answered calmly.
Though her eyebrow twitched slightly at my polite speech.
Secretary Cha Jeong-hui.
I glanced at her.
She looked like someone who had never made a single wrong decision in her life. Sharp eyes, a slightly pale complexion, a tall and slender build, and hair pulled up neatly without a strand out of place.
Her eyes were alert and alive. She looked frighteningly competent.
Not someone to take lightly.
“All right. Secretary Cha. Then… what year is it?”
“It’s the year 20XX, miss. And you may continue calling me ‘Secretary Cha,’ as usual.”
“Ah, right. Okay… Secretary Cha.”
Even at my absurd questions, she did not look surprised at all.
She must have dealt with far worse.
“…So I really went back seven years.” Kang I-won, no, Yeon Se-rang now, murmured quietly.
Not only had I entered someone else’s body, time itself had rewound seven years.
I took a deep breath.
I had been pinching my cheeks nonstop, and since it hurt, this was not a dream.
Yeon Se-rang.
The youngest granddaughter of Yeon Kang-ho, chairman of Imperial Entertainment, the number-one company in the industry.
And one of Imperial’s board directors.
Granted, a pure nepotism hire.
Back when I worked as a producer at Imperial, I had seen Yeon Se-rang a few times.
Not in meetings, mostly camped out in Baek Do-gyeong’s office.
Unlike her ruthless but capable father and brothers, Yeon Se-rang had zero interest in entertainment.
She only cared about spending money and partying with celebrities.
She was not particularly smart, and she had a nasty personality to match. She was infamous for causing scandals using the company name card. I remembered the PR team constantly cleaning up after her.
And yet her face was stunningly glamorous, which made her famous as an influencer.
If people knew what she was really like, she would be known as nothing more than a rich lunatic.
But Imperial had spent obscene amounts of money managing her image.
Publicly, Yeon Se-rang was a pretty, trendy, golden-spoon director.
(Translator’s Note: Golden spoon — Korean slang for someone born into wealth and privilege.)
Meaning she had lived a smooth, happy life, unlike me.
I never imagined I would end up in this body.
“Please cancel the golf appointment.”
“Yes. I’ll inform them you won’t be attending.” Secretary Cha immediately pulled out a large tablet and began sending messages. “Shall we proceed to the salon, miss?”
“No…”
“Then should I have the stylists come here?”
“Absolutely not.”
I was not a celebrity.
I waved my hand firmly.
“Understood, miss. Please let me know if you need anything.”
Something I needed…
I rubbed my face, then looked up.
“Not those weird schedules. Brief me about myself.”
“…Pardon?”
“From birth to now. Everything. No omissions. My private life, public image, relationships. Compile everything into a report.”
“…Excuse me?” For the first time, Secretary Cha’s gaze wavered.
Understandable.
Who asked for a briefing on themselves?
But I was a chaebol’s granddaughter now.
“I’m thinking of publishing an autobiography.”
A crazy person who could do whatever she wanted.
“Ah, yes, miss. Understood. I’ll arrange a ghostwriter and prepare a comprehensive report.” She accepted it immediately.
Given this body’s track record, self-obsessed with no real achievements, it probably did not seem strange.
“Do thorough research. Don’t filter anything out. I want every messy detail of my trashy behavior. Villains are popular these days, you know?”
“Of course, miss. I’ll even conduct interviews with people around you.” Secretary Cha smiled brightly and left.
Once the door closed, I collapsed backward onto the bed.
“Wow…”
Calling this a room felt wrong.
If I rolled to the side, there was a walk-in closet bigger than my old bedroom.
If I rolled forward, there was a living room attached.
If I rolled backward, there was a bathroom the size of a living room.
So this was where my blood and bones had gone, Imperial bastards.
“…Not bad.”
Producing idols, revenge, all that stuff…
Maybe the chaebol life was not so bad?
And just as that thought crossed my mind—
“Miss, CEO Baek Do-gyeong is here. He said you might not make it to dinner, so he stopped by…” Secretary Cha delivered the least welcome news imaginable.
“…Tell that bastard to wait.”
I had forgotten something.
Yeon Se-rang’s life had one fatal flaw.
Baek Do-gyeong was her fiancé.
“I had an urgent meeting this evening, so I came earlier.” Baek Do-gyeong sat elegantly on the sofa, not sparing me a single glance.
As if he were in his own bedroom, he calmly read through documents.
“If you’re not even going to look at me, why did you come?”
“…What did you say?” Only then did he raise his head and look at me.
“You might as well not have come. Waking someone up just to stare at paperwork, don’t you think that makes you look like the master here? When I’m the one who actually is.”
It was the first time I had ever seen a crack in Baek Do-gyeong’s perfect poker face.
And I had known that man a long time.
God, this feels good.
He clearly had not expected Yeon Se-rang to speak to him like this.
There was one thing Yeon Se-rang had never managed to obtain.
Baek Do-gyeong.
She had been obsessed with him, enough to beg her grandfather to make him her fiancé while rejecting countless other chaebol heirs.
And of course, Baek Do-gyeong had accepted.
Social climbing was his specialty.
I had assumed Yeon Se-rang would be the dominant one in their relationship.
But looking at this now…
Wasn’t Baek Do-gyeong completely on top?
Was she insane?
With that money, that power, that face, she let this guy control her?
“You must’ve been holding in a lot of resentment. Getting angry like this.” Baek Do-gyeong’s mask slipped back into place as he smiled gently. “I haven’t been able to spend much time with you because work has been so busy—”
“I know.” I shrugged. “You’re a director at Imperial and running a whole label. Of course you’re busy.”
“I’m glad you understand. Let’s make time this weekend, then. Tell Secretary Cha where you’d like to go.”
“You think you’re the only busy one? I’ve got plans too.” I yawned and stretched.
His eyebrow twitched, but soon he laughed it off. “Did you get yourself a new lover?”
“Lover? Well… something like that.”
“Just keep it quiet. Covering your last scandal was exhausting.”
“Why should I? I’ll make it loud.”
“Yeon Se-rang. Did you forget our deal?” He asked with a greasy smile.
Deal?
What kind of deal had this body made?
I stayed silent.
“The reason I agreed to marry a woman with nothing but her family name… was because you promised to cooperate. To shut up and support me so I could take over Imperial. If you keep acting uncooperative, there’s no reason for me to marry you.”
Wow.
What a premium-grade piece of trash.
I was honestly impressed.
So this was the kind of filth you needed to aim for chairman.
“I didn’t ask for much. Just spend money and have fun. Don’t cause incidents that annoy the chairman. You only make things harder for me.”
I nodded, as if I understood. “You’re right. No reason to upset my grandfather.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page. So, where would you like to go this weekend—”
“The office.”
“…What did you say?” He stared at me like he had misheard.
Understandable.
Yeon Se-rang and “office” did not belong in the same sentence.
But I planned to change that.
“I said I’m going to the company. This weekend. Alone. Oh, and thanks for the advice. I really can’t afford to get on my grandfather’s bad side anymore.”
“What kind of nonsense are you planning now?”
“You’re right. I’ve got nothing but my family name. So I’m planning to use it.”
I had been wrong.
Thinking revenge did not matter?
That money alone would be enough?
No.
Kang I-won was not that kind of person.
The moment I saw Baek Do-gyeong, I knew. I was not someone who could forget the past for a few bills.
And more than money—I loved producing.
“The company you’ll never have. My grandfather’s.” I did not know what that cotton-ball thing was plotting by giving me this chance. “But I want to take it.”
Since I had been given this opportunity, I would use it properly.
Revenge on Imperial, the company that destroyed my career, could be as simple as swallowing it whole.
“We’ll be seeing each other every day from now on.”
“Yeon Se-rang.”
“I’m going to raise my own idols now. Let’s meet as colleagues at Imperial. And stop wasting my precious time pretending to be my fiancé.”
“Yeon Se-rang!”
He shouted, but I did not even blink.
Instead, I raised my hand and called out.
“Secretary Cha. Please remove this man.”
The company you ruined.
My artists.
My dreams.
I’ll rebuild them.
With your money and power.