Yoon Seung-jae had a hunch.
Without leveraging the power of a conglomerate to grasp Jeon Jae-han’s financial or social weaknesses.
Without preemptively drugging him as she had done in her fight against Kang Chan-seong.
It would be difficult to defeat Jeon Jae-han.
“Haa... Haa...”
She had always been exceptionally sharp since childhood.
She knew the stark physical gap between men and women.
She knew the difference between a veteran detective and an ordinary civilian.
From the beginning, the smart choice would have been to avoid confronting Jeon Jae-han altogether.
For her own safety, Yoon Seung-jae should have feigned ignorance regarding Kang Chan-seong.
She should have driven Jeon Jae-han out of her home with the old, tired line: Come back with a warrant.
And yet, Yoon Seung-jae, who had never encountered a true obstacle in her life, could not comprehend this.
He was just a detective.
So why—
Why—
Why?
“Hah, haha, ha... Damn, mister, you’re really good at fighting. Is it because beating people up is your job?”
“I don’t beat up people. I beat the shit out of bastards pretending to be people.”
“Wow, calling me a bastard? That’s a little harsh.”
Should she run? Should she hide?
Until now, everything in her life had been under her control. So why—why was this man different?
Thus, she refined her approach.
She needed to kill Jeon Jae-han, no matter what.
Sharpening her only weapon—a single knife—and her self-defense techniques to their most optimal form, she executed her plan.
Swish!
A razor-sharp blade darted straight for his vital points.
Forced to face it barehanded, Jeon Jae-han twisted his waist, barely dodging the lethal strikes.
A moment later, dull, repeated thuds echoed between them.
For nearly twenty rounds, Yoon Seung-jae lunged at Jeon Jae-han, aiming to draw blood.
Jeon Jae-han countered, trying to disarm her.
Then, suddenly—
Crack.
“Ugh!!”
Jeon Jae-han managed to seize her left arm, locking it in a tight grip before twisting it violently.
The knife clattered to the floor.
But Yoon Seung-jae wasn’t about to go down quietly.
She wrenched her arm free despite the pain, then delivered a brutal kick, forcing distance between them.
A brief standoff followed.
Then, Yoon Seung-jae played her trump card—a blatant, blood-red lie designed to shake Jeon Jae-han’s composure.
“Chan-seong... So that’s his name?”
“...?”
“He really foamed at the mouth right before he died. It was pretty damn spectacular. I never even knew his name.”
“You—you fucking bitch!!”
The very moment Jeon Jae-han was swept up in rage for the first time—
She didn’t miss her chance.
Somehow, a luxurious silk necktie had wound itself around her hands.
Tighten.
“Ggk...!”
“A long time ago... my mom strangled me like this. Kept screaming, ‘Why the hell was I born?’”
Pinning Jeon Jae-han against the wall, Yoon Seung-jae tightened her grip, her eyes wild as old memories surfaced.
She remembered the first time she realized she was different from others.
The moment she understood that if she wanted to appear normal, she had to work ten times harder than everyone else.
“Haha... Isn’t it funny? I wasn’t the one who gave birth to me, but she’s the one who resented me for it. Why... Why the fuck was she so mad at me?”
Her trembling, laughter-filled voice sent shivers through the audience.
The way she shook as she squeezed tighter.
The way her laughter teetered between euphoria and sorrow.
For a brief moment, the audience forgot they were watching a movie.
“Mister, tell me. What’s it like to get strangled to death by someone you were just beating the hell out of?”
Tighter—!
Thud! Thud!
“My mom never told me what it felt like.”
Yoon Seung-jae chuckled breathlessly, staring straight at Jeon Jae-han.
Jeon Jae-han, desperate to escape her chokehold, hammered his fists into her stomach.
Not long after, Yoon Seung-jae’s hold on him only intensified, the escalating tension making the audience grip their seats in anxious anticipation.
Despite knowing this was just a movie, they couldn't shake the dread.
Somehow, it felt like Jeon Jae-han was truly going to die.
“If you press right here, your breath starts to—stop. Your vision gets blurry. No matter how much you struggle, you can’t get away.”
“Ghhk...!”
“But she laughed. She laughed like watching me die was funny. She laughed and cried, begging me to just die already.”
The silk tie quivered in her grip as she squeezed tighter.
Jeon Jae-han’s face twisted in pain.
Then, with every last ounce of his strength, Jeon Jae-han drove his knee up.
Thud!
“Ugh, ah...!”
A clean hit straight to her solar plexus.
Yoon Seung-jae staggered back, coughing violently.
Blood splattered onto the floor as she clutched at her abdomen.
Then, she laughed.
A slow, breathless chuckle.
Tilting her head up, she wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand.
And then—
“I just... wanted to live. If my mom stayed alive, I knew—I knew she’d kill me one day.”
Panting, shoulders rising and falling, she took another step forward.
One step.
Two.
Boom!
Crunch!
“So I smashed her head in. Before she could kill me first. But damn... she wouldn’t die easy. Tough as hell.”
Her eyes burned with unhinged excitement.
The audience sat frozen.
Yoon Seung-jae wasn’t thinking about Jeon Jae-han anymore.
She was reliving the night she murdered her own mother.
Her trembling hands clenched the memory.
“I just kept stabbing. Over and over. Until she stopped moving.”
She wasn’t looking at Jeon Jae-han.
She was staring into the past.
Her breath hitched as she recalled the heat that burned inside her that day.
The overwhelming sensation that made her clench her teeth.
“That feeling... I can’t get it back. No matter how many I kill, it never feels the same.”
“...How many have you killed?”
“You’re a detective, right? Take a guess.”
A flicker of movement.
The sharp clink of metal.
This content is taken from freёwebnovel.com.
She had picked up her knife again.
Despite her ragged breathing, despite her battered body, she grinned—almost giddy.
“Aaah, ahh... Mister, just die already!! Please!!”
With a scream that blurred the line between laughter and madness, she lunged.
One arm was completely useless now, dangling at her side.
She didn’t care.
Her momentum only grew stronger.
The longer the fight went on, the more relentless she became.
The audience’s fear tightened like a noose.
Jeon Jae-han was being pushed back.
And then.
At the most climactic moment of the film.
Thud.
Ssshhh...
Thud.
The wide screen revealed an overlooked presence.
Slowly, a wooden stick was raised.
The audience, halfway through eating their popcorn, froze.
Their eyes followed the uneven footsteps.
A shadow cast itself over the brutal fight.
And then—
Crack!
“Haa... Haa...”
“Ch-chan-seong...!”
Kang Chan-seong, barely standing, had swung his wooden stick.
The impact landed squarely on the back of Yoon Seung-jae’s head.
She collapsed with a sharp gasp, groaning in pain.
Kang Chan-seong, drained of all strength, crumpled to the ground as well.
“...I’m sorry, senior.”
“What the hell are you apologizing for, you dumbass?”
At that moment, Kang Chan-seong looked up at Jeon Jae-han.
Jeon Jae-han, panting heavily, looked down at Kang Chan-seong.
Step.
Step, step.
“D-die... Haa... Huuu...!”
Yoon Seung-jae, her body pushed past every conceivable limit, forced herself to stand and approached the two detectives.
Jeon Jae-han, without missing a beat, swiftly grabbed the taser he had dropped earlier during their fight.
Crackle!
“Ghh... Ugh...!!”
Just before Yoon Seung-jae’s unsteady steps could bring her any closer, Jeon Jae-han took her down.
She collapsed, powerless, unable to reach them.
And with that—
Click.
“Yoon Seung-jae, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. You also—”
The click of the handcuffs secured around her wrists was followed by the reading of her Miranda rights.
Only then did the audience finally let out a collective sigh of relief, tension slowly draining from their bodies.
But even after she was completely subdued by the two detectives—
Drip.
Drip, drip...
“Hah... Haha... Unbelievable... Really....”
Yoon Seung-jae let out a shaking laugh, her shoulders trembling, as a few stray tears rolled down her cheeks.
Even as the distant wail of approaching police sirens echoed in the background.
The camera slowly zoomed out.
The focus shifted away from the main characters of Veterans and onto Yoon Seung-jae’s solitary home, now surrounded by police cars.
A moment later, the screen faded to black.
Then, from the speakers, a news anchor’s composed voice began delivering the report.
“...Today marked the first trial for Taehwa Group’s executive director, Yoon Seung-jae, who has been indicted on multiple charges. Yoon Seung-jae stands accused of brutally murdering several individuals, including her former high school classmate, H—”
The screen cut to a shot of Yoon Seung-jae, her arms held by police officers on either side.
She was smiling.
And then, the scene shifted again—to a hospital room, where two detectives sat watching the news.
“She was really good at fighting.”
“God, she even showed up in my dreams last night.”
And with that final shot of Yoon Seung-jae paying for her crimes and the two detectives recovering in their hospital beds, Veterans came to an end.
As the credits rolled, the audience gradually filed out, chatting animatedly among themselves.
Not a single person looked dissatisfied.
Across the film’s two-hour runtime, there hadn’t been a single dull moment.
With glowing reviews pouring in, even the country’s three biggest cinema chains had scrambled to expand screenings for Veterans.
And with Yoon Seung-jae as her first villainous role, Lee Ha-eun had made a mark.
Not just in terms of commercial success but also in terms of performance.
Despite acting alongside veterans like Seo Jin-tae and Yoo Sung-jae—both already recognized for their exceptional talent—Ha-eun had held her ground without faltering.
The film’s continued dominance at the box office made it all but certain: Veterans was headed for a ten-million-viewer milestone.
But as the movie thrived in theaters, Lee Ha-eun herself was—
Brrrr.
Brrrr.
“Ha-eun, Rev is calling.”
“I-I’m scared, unni. Can’t you answer it for me? Please...!”
“...So you do get scared.”
Ha-eun clung to Ju Jung-yoon, trembling as she begged her to take the call.
The reason?
Because of the overwhelming impression Yoon Seung-jae had left on audiences, there were rumors that Rev was considering terminating their CF contract with her.
“...Yes, yes. Ah... I see. Understood.”
After the brief call with Rev, Ju Jung-yoon hung up.
Ha-eun, eyes wide with nervous anticipation, immediately asked in a shaking voice,
“D-do I have to pay back the five billion...?”
“Yeah. They were really pissed. Said the losses were massive.”
“N-nooo—!”
“...Pfft. Just kidding. Their sales actually increased and they want to work with you again next year.”
Ju Jung-yoon barely held back her laughter as Ha-eun’s face turned bright red.
Embarrassed beyond words, Ha-eun instinctively tried to make a run for it.
But before she could escape, Ju Jung-yoon grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her back, sitting her down at the table.
Then, without hesitation, she slid a document toward Ha-eun.
A new variety show proposal.
Start Again.
“It’s a busking program where you travel around performing on the streets. Basically, it’s just an excuse to go on vacation abroad.”
“...Abroad?”
“Yeah. This time, it’s focused on Europe. Since you worked so hard on the movie, why not take a break and go on a trip? You are good at singing, after all.”
“Hmm...”
And so, for the time being, Ha-eun was stuck at Ju Jung-yoon’s side, discussing her potential participation in a new show.
The deciding factor?
That it would be a chance to relax after the grueling film shoot.
“Mornings are for hotel breakfasts, afternoons are for sightseeing with other celebrities, and evenings are for performing on the streets.”
“...That sounds nice.”
“Right? So, you’re in?”
And just like that, Ha-eun’s participation in Start Again was confirmed.
But there was one thing she didn’t know.
Not yet, at least.
Because as soon as Ju Jung-yoon wrapped up her call with the show’s PD—
“Alright then. Let’s go buy swimsuits!”
“...Huh?”
There was a certain part of the filming schedule that Ju Jung-yoon had conveniently neglected to mention.
Something tied to one of the show’s sponsorships.
“It’s nothing. Just a short segment where you hang out in the hotel pool for a bit.”
“Ugh... Ughhh...”
“You’ve got a great figure, so what’s there to be shy about? When you’re young, you’re supposed to show off a little.”
“I-I don’t want to show off!!”