SGM 02

Chapter 2

How long had the darkness continued?

One minute that felt like decades…
Or perhaps decades that felt like a single minute.

One thing was certain.

I was dead.

Yet another kind of consciousness existed.

This consciousness was not only Han Jihyeok’s.

It was also Helios’s…
Brusco’s…
And Matthew Connors’s.

So every time I was reincarnated, I forgot all memories of my previous lives and started anew.

Every single moment from my past lives filled my mind without omission.

Every sensation and emotion engraved themselves endlessly somewhere inside me.

Aside from that, there was no other mental activity.

As if this was the only fate permitted to the dead.

But I didn’t give up.

I struggled to interfere with the flow of my consciousness somehow.

And finally…

I engraved two wishes within myself.

In my next life,
let me become an even better singer.

And…

Revenge.

At that moment, a bright light suddenly pierced my eyes.

My eyes flew open.

HOOOOONK!!!

An urgent and irritated car horn rang out.

Headlights flashed repeatedly.

I was inside a car, and before me stretched a dark two-lane road.

And rushing straight toward me from the opposite direction—

another car.

“Ahhh!”

“Eek!”

“What do we do?!”

The screams came from the women in the back seat.

And the person gripping the steering wheel—

was me.

“Damn!”

Instinctively, I turned the wheel.

The car crossed back over the center line and returned to the correct lane.

Phew…

I had barely avoided a collision.

The back seat was in chaos.

Through the women’s shouting, one sharp voice pierced my ears.

“Seriously! Yoon Junghoo, can’t you drive properly?”

It was Mujin, the leader of the popular idol group <Luminous>.

Strangely enough, I instantly realized whose voice it was.

Even though she was someone I had never met before.

My mind felt foggy.

What in the world was happening?

I had definitely fallen to my death.

Killed by a friend…

After dying, I awakened memories of all my past lives.

And then—

Did I come back to life?

But the body I had revived in was not Han Jihyeok.

Another realization struck me instantly.

The identity of this body—

Yoon Junghoo, 27 years old.

Yet the consciousness was clearly mine—Han Jihyeok’s.

Could this be… possession?

What year was it now…

When I thought about the year, the answer surfaced naturally.

It seemed the memories of Yoon Junghoo had completely become mine.

2023.

Putting the situation together:

Thirty years after my death, I had possessed the body of a 27-year-old man named Yoon Junghoo.

Thankfully, Yoon Junghoo’s memories remained intact.

If I kept my composure, I could at least deal with the situation.

“Yoon Junghoo! Are you going to keep spacing out like that? You’re terrible at basic road management.”

Mujin, recently diagnosed with severe celebrity syndrome, kept nagging at me.

I focused on driving while trying to calm my breathing and organize my thoughts.

When I thought about the man I had become—Yoon Junghoo—memories flowed one after another.

Yoon Junghoo.

A road manager of three months at the K-Pop entertainment company Reunion.

The group he managed was the popular girl group <Luminous>.

We were currently returning to Seoul after finishing a provincial event.

Possessed thirty years later… and I’m a road manager?

After awakening four lifetimes as a singer, the body I ended up in was a road manager.

Naturally, I was bewildered.

I shook my head, trying to calm myself.

Just then, a radio broadcast I had barely paid attention to suddenly caught my ears.

Because it mentioned my name.

“Today marks the 30th anniversary of the death of the late Han Jihyeok, the tragic figure of our music industry who took his own life on the very day he won the Korean Music Grand Prize.”

“His final note—‘Having achieved love and dreams, I no longer have any regrets about the world’—revealed the hidden reality behind the glamorous lives of beloved stars.”

So that’s what happened.

Oh Junseong, you bastard.

You asked me to review your lyrics…

and made me write the suicide note in my own handwriting.

It was completely planned from the start.

My hands gripping the steering wheel trembled.

But then—

Something unbelievable surfaced from Yoon Junghoo’s memories when I thought of Oh Junseong.

The founder and CEO of Reunion… the company Yoon Junghoo works for…

…was Oh Junseong.

To possess someone under these circumstances.

I had stepped straight into the tiger’s den.

More memories surfaced.

Reunion was currently the largest K-Pop entertainment company in Korea.

Oh Junseong had once been the nation’s top singer and was now the CEO of Reunion.

The murderer had climbed to the peak of success.

And I had been betrayed and killed by his hands.

Yet now I had possessed someone working directly under him.

What kind of ridiculous situation is this…

My mind began racing uncontrollably.

Then a familiar song flowed from the radio.

No—“familiar” wasn’t the right word.

It was ingrained in me.

Because it was my song.

<The Reason for Sorrow and Joy>.

“Both sorrow and joy…
The reason they matter to me…
Is you.”

A song I had written myself while thinking of Siyeon.

What is Siyeon doing now?

Is Mother doing well…?

Emotion welled up.

My nose stung and my eyes moistened.

Since Yoon Junghoo had no memories of Siyeon, she had probably already ended her acting career.

If she were still active, he would at least remember her as a celebrity.

Thirty years had passed.

All the resentment suppressed in that dark afterlife…

and the longing for those I loved…

felt ready to burst out.

Mujin spoke again.

“Seriously, what was that? We’re already exhausted from the event, and your driving is like that… I should request a new road manager tomorrow.”

But another voice joined in.

“Mujin unni, don’t be so harsh. Manager Yoon must be tired too. He’s been driving all day.”

It was Serin.

Serin was the group’s visual member with unparalleled beauty.

She was also known as a so-called “kind idol,” famous for treating staff well and being humble.

But she had one problem.

Her singing ability was constantly criticized.

Whenever I focused on someone, information about them surfaced naturally from Yoon Junghoo’s memories.

Annoyed by Serin’s words, Mujin snapped back.

“Hey, is this the time to worry about others like some saint? Worry about yourself first. You almost got cut from the debut lineup because you can’t sing.”

My head suddenly spun.

Apparently these fights were common, but until now they had only been memories.

This was the first time I was actually witnessing it.

Serin simply lowered her head in silence.

Mujin threw another insult.

“Oh right! Are you planning to date the handsome road manager now?”

“N-No, unni… what are you saying…”

Mujin continued her insults, even bringing up Serin’s recent dating rumor.

Even though my own situation was miserable, seeing Serin cornered made me uncomfortable.

Especially since she had defended me.

“Yoon Junghoo! Just because you’re good-looking doesn’t mean you can slack off as a road manager. Your face doesn’t matter. Just drive properly.”

Mujin’s insults turned back toward me.

But complaints like that barely registered right now.

I was only worried about what I should do from here on.

Before long, we arrived at the destination.

The Luminous dormitory in Cheongdam-dong.

A building Reunion had purchased and remodeled for its artists.

Three of the four members—including Mujin—headed straight to the entrance without even looking back.

Only Serin greeted me.

“Oppa, Mujin unni went a little too far today. Don’t let it bother you.”

Oppa?

Another memory flashed.

When they were alone, Serin called Yoon Junghoo oppa.

And Yoon Junghoo spoke casually to her.

“I’m fine. Go inside and rest. See you tomorrow.”

Talking naturally with someone I had never truly known felt awkward.

“Okay… then I’ll go in.”

After watching Serin enter the building, a sigh escaped me.

Finally… alone.

Now I could think calmly.

What should I do?

Thirty years ago, I—Han Jihyeok—died.

And now I had entered the body of road manager Yoon Junghoo.

What should I do now?

Was I forced to live this life?

It would have been better if I had returned to the moment before my death.

Then I could have escaped Oh Junseong’s trap…

become successful as a singer…

and lived happily with Siyeon.

No… pointless thoughts.

Just being alive again was already fortunate.

A road manager…

For now, I might not be able to avoid it.

But I had made a decision even while defying the fate of the dead.

In my next life—

I would become an even better singer.

Now I had awakened all my past lives.

Singers who represented different eras of music history.

This time, their memories and sensations were vivid.

But that didn’t mean I could automatically become a singer again.

A natural voice was essential.

Even with all the knowledge and experience of my past lives, if Yoon Junghoo’s voice was poor, it would be useless.

Without a natural voice, you could never succeed as a professional singer.

There was only one way to find out.

Let’s hear what kind of voice this body has.

My heart began racing.

This single test would determine the direction of this new life.

If the voice was unsuitable for singing…

then I would truly be stuck as a road manager.

First, I hummed carefully.

“Hmm~ mmm…”

Ah…

The feeling was good.

The basic resonance structure of the skeleton and the tone of the vocal cords were excellent.

No—more than excellent.

They were remarkably good.

Next, I tried a short line.

From the song that had played on the radio earlier—

<The Reason for Sorrow and Joy>.

“The reaaason that means so muuuuch to me—”

“Ah!!!”

There was no need to continue.

With the knowledge of my past lives, I already understood everything.

How can someone possess a voice like this…

Inside me, Helios, Brusco, and Matthew Connors all cheered.

This body—Yoon Junghoo—had vocal organs so exceptional they almost felt unnatural.

Perfect.

No—transcendent.

My heart raced wildly with excitement.

I calmed myself and tried something else.

Opera.

A piece Handel had composed for me in a past life.

“Lascia ch’io pianga
La dura sorte…”

Ah…

Even compared to when I was Brusco—the founder of bel canto technique—this voice felt several times better.

The vocal cords, larynx, breathing system, oral cavity, and facial resonance chambers…

Everything was perfect.

Each organ was outstanding.

But more importantly—

their balance was flawless.

Tone quality and timbre—

the two most critical elements—

were nothing short of heavenly.

Then why had Yoon Junghoo never sung?

The answer surfaced from his memories.

His father had always been drunk.

Whenever he drank, he would scream songs at the top of his lungs and beat his mother.

Then one day…

both of them died in a mysterious fire.

Neighbors said they heard drunken singing and sounds of violence before the flames started.

The most likely conclusion was that the drunken father had started the fire.

So he had a trauma related to singing.

Indeed, in Yoon Junghoo’s memories…

the only time he had ever sung was in kindergarten.

He… lived quite a miserable life too.

Looking back, my life had never been truly happy either.

Four lifetimes as a singer…

and now this possessed life.

I had succeeded through singing but died tragically.

He had a perfect voice but lived with trauma and never sang.

Still—

this voice was perfect.

Even compared to all four of my previous lives, it was unparalleled.

Then perhaps…

the final wish from my past lives—

to become an even better singer—

could finally come true.

Hope surged through me.

But first…

there was a realistic problem.

Opportunities and dreams only mattered if I survived long enough to pursue them.

For now…

I might have to focus on this job.

Road manager.

Even with my past knowledge, becoming a singer wouldn’t happen overnight.

And besides—

If I could avoid being eaten,

staying inside the tiger’s den would make it easier to hunt the tiger later.

Oh Junseong.

The murderer who killed me.

Thirty years had passed.

My revenge…

begins now.