“Can’t you hear what I’m saying? Are you ignoring me too now?”

A sharp, irritated voice.

Hi Ra glared fiercely at Seul Gi, who remained silent, and unleashed her overflowing anger towards her.

“I said sue them! No leniency. Sue them all! If the agency says they can’t handle it, then, then Grandfather…! Tell Grandfather. Right now!”

“Elder sister, please stop.”

Seul Gi tried to calm Hi Ra down, who was shouting and screaming, by hugging her from behind.

Slap!

“Shut… your mouth. You go find out. Who reported this.”

Hi Ra pushed away Seul Gi, who was hugging her from behind, glared at her, and slapped her cheek. Startled, Seul Gi clutched her slapped cheek with her hand, and tears gradually welled up in her eyes.

“S-Seul Gi…”

Hi Ra, who couldn’t see anything due to the excitement that engulfed her body, only came to her senses after feeling the warm friction on her hand from slapping Seul Gi’s cheek. Surprised that she had hit Seul Gi, Hi Ra stumbled over her words and called out to her.

“Hey…”

With the excitement that had not yet disappeared, tears fell from Hi Ra’s eyes, and she endlessly called out to Seul Gi, who was still clutching her cheek and gasping for breath.

“Elder sister, I… want to quit. I can’t do this anymore.”

“What…?”

“You’ve changed too much, elder sister. Even so, it was so hard for me to leave your side, so I kept holding onto you despite the changes… But I don’t like it anymore. I want to quit now.”

Before long, tears also began to flow from Seul Gi’s eyes.

It hurt to see Hi Ra changing. Seul Gi was Hi Ra’s first workplace and first actress since she was young, and they had been together from the very beginning until now, through every moment.

From joyful times to this sad moment now.

After being slapped by the actress she had been with, Seul Gi no longer wanted to stay by her side like this.

“You… won’t regret it? The fact that you came to me with that career from the beginning…! It’s because I chose you. But you’re quitting? Who else are you going to work with besides me!”

“I think anyone would be better than you, elder sister. Take care.”

After finishing her words, Seul Gi opened the door and left without looking back, and Hi Ra stared at that door for a long time.

“Aaahhh! Fine! Go…! I’m telling you all to get lost!”

Overflowing with anger, Hi Ra grabbed a trophy from the display case and threw it at the door Seul Gi had left through.

Exhausted by her anger and the following sense of loss, Hi Ra crouched down on the spot and let out everything without wiping away the endlessly flowing tears.

Now there was truly no one by her side.

Lee Han, who didn’t even call in this situation.

Seul Gi, who left saying she was sick of it.

Grandfather, who made no gesture.

She was truly alone now.

“All of you… go. Get lost.”

“Voluntary? What the hell is voluntary about this!”

She couldn’t collapse like this.

The agency, and even her family, the KH Group. None of them refuted it, and Hi Ra was only drifting away from the world. After reading the article in the car, Hi Ra hit the steering wheel with her fist and shouted.

As time passed, the articles didn’t die down but instead exploded uncontrollably.

‘Cha Hi Ra, stay quiet and shut yourself in at home. Before I really lock you up by force.’

Grandfather, telling her to stay quiet and just stay at home.

Hi Ra didn’t want to stay dead silent, holed up in her room as Chairman Cha said. If no one would help her, she just had to find someone who would.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Chairman, Miss Cha Hi Ra is here.”

“Tell her to come in.”

There was no surprise even though Hi Ra had come without notice.

The chairman’s secretary, who reported Hi Ra’s visit, and Chairman Han, who told Hi Ra to come in.

Rather, they were nonchalant.

“What brings you all the way here? Wasn’t the last time we saw each other at our house?”

As soon as she entered the office, Chairman Han greeted Hi Ra, who was sitting on the sofa, with a smile, and he looked at her with a relaxed expression as if he knew she would come, sipping his coffee.

“Yes. Have you been well, Chairman?”

“Haha. Can’t you tell by looking? Come sit down.”

At Chairman Han’s words, Hi Ra approached and took a seat next to him. As soon as she sat down, Hi Ra felt an overwhelming pressure behind Chairman Han’s relaxed expression, as if it was crushing her, but she decided to put on a facade again today and looked at him without avoiding his eyes.

“So, what brings you here?”

“…”

Due to her lack of response, the office was filled with silence. Chairman Han looked at Hi Ra with a faint smile, leaning back on the sofa while holding a warm cup of coffee in his hand.

“Did you come just to drink coffee today too? It would be nice to become coffee-drinking buddies with a famous actress.”

“…You have to help me a bit, Chairman.”

At Hi Ra’s words, Chairman Han took a sip from the coffee cup he was holding. In contrast to his kind tone, he looked at Hi Ra with cold eyes, and Hi Ra clenched her fists tightly, trying not to back down.

“And why should I?”

“Don’t you know I still have cards that haven’t been revealed to the world yet?”

“Haha. Cards, you say.”

Chairman Han burst into laughter at Hi Ra’s words as if it was absurd, and Hi Ra got goosebumps seeing him like that.

His eyes and mouth were in the shape of a smile, but the chilling sensation felt from his laughter made her freeze.

“Didn’t you say the only thing you want is Han, that guy?”

“To make what I want completely mine, I still need a reason to stick by his side for now.”

She needed it.

If she collapsed here, there would be no reason to forcefully stay by his side anymore. She knew that even Chairman Cha would no longer indulge her whims, so she wanted to remain by Lee Han’s side, if not as his lover, then at least as an actress in the same profession as him.

To not lose him, she needed Chairman Han’s help.

“Haha. If you need a reason, you should handle it yourself. Do you still think I made that deal with you just for Ba Ha alone?”

“…”

“As I thought. You’re such a greenhorn.”

Chairman Han spoke in a low voice and looked at Hi Ra, and seeing her face gradually crumpling, a chuckle escaped his lips.

“…”

It was humiliating.

At Chairman Han’s words that seemed to trample her, Hi Ra couldn’t say anything and trembled with a reddened face.

She felt betrayed by Chairman Han, whom she thought was still on her side, and it was so humiliating that she couldn’t even anticipate that, as if her head was still in the clouds, so she glared at him.

“Chair… man!”

“Can’t you be quiet? How dare you raise your voice here!”

“…”

At Chairman Han’s raised voice for the first time, Hi Ra swallowed back the words she was about to say and continued to glare at him without taking her eyes off him.

“You should know your limits when acting up. Do you still not understand? You made a deal, but I was just using you.”

Chairman Han glanced at Hi Ra, who seemed to have been taken down a notch, and spoke.

“…Chairman, you’ll regret treating me like this.”

Flushed and trembling as her facade was stripped away, Hi Ra spoke, and Chairman Han looked at her with contempt, seemingly having nothing more to say, got up from the sofa, and approached his desk.

“The world doesn’t always go the way you want it to. Do you still not know that? If you keep acting up like this, it’s not me who will regret it, but you.”

“I… don’t care, Chairman. Because you’ll be the one regretting it.”

With his back turned to Hi Ra, Chairman Han lifted the corner of his mouth and pressed the intercom, and only the voice of Chairman Han’s secretary echoed through the quiet office as the intercom rang.

−Yes, Chairman.

“Please see the guest out.”

“Senior! Did you see the articles about Cha Hi Ra?”

These days, the company was abuzz with talk about Cha Hi Ra.

Since her quarrel with Ba Ha had already spread within the company, news about Hi Ra immediately became a hot topic, and Tae Un comforted Ba Ha, who had been worrying about it for days, but it was only for a moment.

The articles that kept popping up wouldn’t leave Ba Ha’s mind.

“Of course I saw them. It’s so noisy.”

Ba Ha and Doo Na spoke as they were getting their lunch trays.

“I knew this would happen! Whenever I think about what Cha Hi Ra did to you that day, senior…!”

Doo Na, who was talking about Hi Ra, suddenly seemed to remember what happened that day, furrowed her brows deeply, stopped getting her food, and abruptly turned her head to look at Ba Ha, who was behind her.

“Doo Na, calm down and let’s stop talking about that. It’s not a pleasant topic.”

When Ba Ha spoke in a low voice, Doo Na quickly closed her mouth, and Ba Ha laughed at her while finding a seat and starting to eat.

“Senior, did you watch that movie? I…”

Thanks to Doo Na’s chatter as soon as they started eating, Ba Ha was able to forget the stray thoughts in her head for a moment and focus on her meal.

“Huh? What’s the Vice President doing here?”

While Ba Ha and Doo Na were eating, the cafeteria started buzzing, and Ba Ha turned her gaze to where people’s eyes were directed, and there, Tae Un and Woo Joon were approaching with their trays.

“Senior! The Vice President is coming.”

Doo Na laughed at the sight of him holding a tray, which looked so out of place. Feeling embarrassed by Doo Na’s laughter, Ba Ha lowered her head and tried to hide her reddening face.

“You’re here?”

As Doo Na greeted Tae Un and Woo Joon and naturally moved to the seat next to Ba Ha, the two sat down across from Ba Ha.

“Hey, Han Ba Ha, won’t you show your face now?”