YDCF 01

Chapter – 1

Early dawn.

—Breaking news. Chairman Joo Taebaek of Dongwoo Group, a major 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—

Saeyi’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. Veins stood out beneath her thin skin.

“……Should I turn off the radio?”

Her father, Han Junho, sitting in the passenger seat, asked carefully.

—The funeral will be held as a private family ceremony—

Saeyi listened in silence, as if she couldn’t afford to miss a single word.

“Saeyi.”

“……Just let it play. It’s a family that has nothing to do with us anymore.”

Joo Saeyi.

The granddaughter of the late Chairman Joo Taebaek, and the lowest-ranked heir of Dongwoo Group.

While her grandfather’s private funeral was being prepared, Saeyi was 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, matters more to me than acting. At least for now.”

After speaking, Saeyi fell silent. She said she was fine, but her voice sagged.

After the death of her mother—the eldest daughter of the Joo family—young Saeyi had survived by watching her uncle’s mood.

She agreed when he told her to live quietly.
She handed over her mother’s shares.
She was deliberately pushed to the fringes of the Joo family.

Even when she found something she wanted to do, she endured. 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.

If she couldn’t act like them, it felt like she would die. 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 try.

No connections. No backing. Only Saeyi’s talent and effort.

“Your talent is monstrous, Ms. Saeyi. I don’t even remember the last time I felt this unwilling to let someone go.”

When veteran actress Sung Hyesim—one of Korea’s finest—called her a genius, Saeyi burst into tears.

But that joy didn’t last long.

“Ms. Saeyi, this is a bit shocking. You passed everything, and now you want to cancel?”
“I’m sorry. Something came up…… I’m really sorry.”
“What, are loan sharks after you or something? Honestly……”

The moment she heard of Chairman Joo’s death, Saeyi called and withdrew her acceptance.

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 it, I might die.

I’m not sad at all. Not even a little.
She repeated it like brainwashing as she pressed the accelerator.

Then—

BEEEEEP—!!!

A deafening horn blared as a cargo truck charged toward her car with no time to dodge.

“Saeyi!”

Her father threw his body over hers.

Moments later, the car shook violently.

Screeeech—Crash!

Her car was shoved aside, smashed into the guardrail, and fell.

“Ugh…….”

Had she blacked out for a moment? Awakened by excruciating pain, Saeyi groaned.

Through her blurred vision, she saw a man approaching.

“Yes. It’s been taken care of for sure. Please transfer the remaining payment as agreed…….”

His voice grew clearer as he came closer. He seemed to be on the phone.

After checking her father, he spoke lightly.

“Tsk. Looks like only this old man went quickly. You’re stubbornly alive, miss.”

“Please…… save me……”

The man rummaged through the shattered window and grabbed Saeyi’s shoulder.

After ending the call, he played a recorded file.

—That old man says he’s giving his shares to his granddaughter. How do you expect me to just let that slide? I’m not giving up a single won!

The recording continued.

It seemed that Saeyi’s name appearing in the will—revealed only to relatives after Chairman Joo’s death—had caused all this.

Joo Sudeok’s furious voice followed.

—Then there’s no helping it. Have your people handle it. Just get rid of that worthless girl and her father.

The man stopped the recording and grinned unpleasantly.

“You heard it, right? I don’t have anything against you personally. It’s just an important contract.”

He raised a blunt weapon and spoke casually.

“So if you’re gonna curse someone after you die, curse Joo Sudeok. Not me. Got it?”

“Please…….”

Crack.

Before she could process anything, the man struck her down.

Twenty-five years old.
Her miserable life ended just like that.

……I thought I died like that.

I let out a deep sigh.

Not only did I survive—I returned to the past.

To my room, at eighteen years old.

In novels, people who go back in time save their parents.
But my mother had already died long ago. There wasn’t even a chance.

Unfortunate—or fortunate—there was still plenty of time before turning twenty-five again.

I recalled the recording the man had played.

He said it was on Joo Sudeok’s orders. Because I was to receive Chairman Joo’s shares.

My uncle, Joo Sudeok.

The moment he saw my name in the will after Chairman Joo’s death, he must have purged me immediately. Even my father.

The shares didn’t seem that large. He just didn’t want to give up even a single cent.

I thought that if I obediently listened to my uncle and left the Joo family, we’d be safe.

That was purely my mistake.

Even after stepping aside quietly, his greed still killed us.

I can never trust my uncle again.

In my past life, I handed over my mother’s shares to him.
Thankfully, this time, I still had them.

He would try every trick to take them from me—just like before.

I have to cling on and survive. And… I have to save Dad.

Thinking of how my father desperately shielded me in my final moments hardened my resolve.

To endure, I need an ally.

Someone who could stand against my uncle in place of powerless Dad and underage me.

One name came to mind.

My grandfather—Chairman Joo Taebaek.

I had stayed away from family events, wanting nothing to do with the Joo family. I assumed he disliked me.

But what if that wasn’t true?

It’s strange that he put my name in the will.

In my past life, Chairman Joo never truly abandoned me.

So this time, what if I made him my ally first?

Good thing I read his autobiography.

After his illness worsened, Dongwoo Group published his autobiography.

I bought it out of curiosity—he was still my grandfather, after all. I never imagined it would help me.

I didn’t remember everything, but one passage stood out clearly.

[Growing a company has grown tiresome. For years now, I have secretly been preparing a business to honor my wife who left this world before me.]
[To nurture shining performers with my eyes, hands, and money. A secret I have never shared, not even with my children.]

My grandmother had been an actress from a theater troupe.

She had poured the money she earned from acting into the grand ambitions of the man she loved.

Perhaps that was why the couple often attended plays together.

After she died, Chairman Joo began raising actors through a proxy to honor her.

I remembered this because—shortly after the autobiography’s release—it was revealed that the agency he founded was the now-famous Wave Actors.

And because I, too, carried acting in my heart.

Acting.

Once called a genius through self-study alone—
The one talent and dream I had been forced to abandon.

What if, in this life, I used it to become famous?

Then my uncle wouldn’t dare kill me or my father.

Even if he tried to erase my name, he wouldn’t be able to.

If everything in the autobiography was true, then my grandfather must already be preparing to establish that agency.

Wave Actors—the company that would later raise only top-tier actors and leave a mark on Korea’s acting industry.

I decided to ride that wave.

I turned my head and saw the calendar.

My grandfather’s birthday is soon.

Every year on his birthday, he cleared his schedule and had a meal at the main house with his closest aides.

Since I had lived quietly, I never attended even when invited.

But this time—

Even if no one calls me, I have to crash it.

To survive, I refuse to live like I’m already dead.

I’ll go there somehow and show him my acting.

Every actor he raised was called a genius—he must have a sharp eye.

Even if I can’t satisfy him with my performance, I have to at least catch his interest.

To prove that I can be his piece on the board—

I need that script.

A script capable of moving my grandfather’s heart.

To get it, there’s somewhere I must go.

Right next to Jaedamjae—the Joo family’s main residence and Chairman Joo’s mansion—stood Dongwoo Hall, which stored the group’s historical records.

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.