Melina Solberg is twenty-eight when she learns she has three months to live. Her fiancé Adrian never shows up at the hospital. When she returns home, she finds him in the arms of her stepsister Lisa. She runs out in despair and is struck by a vehicle. In her dying moments, her life flashes before her: her mother Elise died saving her from a fire; her father Henrik blamed her and grew distant; her stepmother Vivian and stepsister Lisa tormented her for years, keeping her from the company and the
I am back for sweet revenge - The Night of Ruin, False Embezzlement
Wilson Tower, Basement Level 1, General Affairs Department.
White fluorescent light fell upon a windowless room. Winter chill seeped through the walls, leaving the floor cold underfoot. Melina Solberg stared at the stack of documents spread across her desk. Her platinum blonde hair was tied back in a single tail today, as always. A gray pantsuit. At her neck hung a silver locket—a keepsake from her mother.
On top of the documents lay a single proposal.
《Wilson Family Group — New Fiscal Year Internal Event Proposal》
It had been handed to her just last week by the General Affairs section chief. "Your recent work has caught my eye. It's a small event, but how about I leave it to you?"
(Me... being entrusted with an event.)
That had never happened once in her previous life. Ten years in the lowest rung of General Affairs, silently organizing ledgers, returning her employee badge without anyone ever calling her name. The old her would have trembled just holding this proposal. What if I fail? What if someone gets angry at me? She would have shrunk into herself like that, and in the end, accomplished nothing.
But now, she was different.
Melina wrote small notes in the margins of the proposal in her own handwriting. Budget figures. Candidate venues. Names of reliable vendors. All of it derived from memories of her previous life and knowledge she had researched at the library.
(The old me would have left this to someone else. But this time, I'll do everything myself.)
She exhaled quietly and set down her pen.
"Melina-san, a moment."
When she looked up, the section chief was standing beside her desk. A man in his mid-forties who always looked tired.
"What is it?"
"That event—how's it progressing? The executives are showing some interest. Your name's finally starting to get around, after all."
"Yes. The venue will be Conference Room Six, as planned. I've requested Nieben Setup, a vendor we've worked with before. I'll submit the estimate by the end of today."
The section chief raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised.
"You've already decided on the vendor? ...Well, I'm counting on you."
As she watched him walk away, Melina clenched her fist beneath the desk.
(The old me never even had this kind of ordinary day.)
Suddenly, she felt something move at the edge of her vision. She turned, but there was no one in the hallway. Only the fluorescent light flickering faintly.
(Just my imagination... I hope.)
A faint unease stirred deep in her chest.
A few days earlier, in a room adjacent to the Solberg Foundation office on the eleventh floor of Wilson Tower, Vivian Vestman quietly ended a phone call.
Her black hair was gathered into a chignon at the back of her head, a pearl barrette gleaming. The ruby ring on her right hand glowed red in the dim light of the room.
"...Lisa. Come here."
Lisa, who had apparently been waiting outside the door, immediately poked her head in.
"Mama, what is it?"
She approached at a quick trot, her honey-colored curls swaying. She clung to her mother like a kitten. Vivian glanced at her daughter's head and spoke in a cold tone.
"That girl has been entrusted with the event planning. Directly from the General Affairs section chief."
Lisa's round blue eyes went wide.
"Huh? That basement woman? What's that about? I haven't heard anything."
"Of course you haven't. You haven't been tracking her movements at all lately."
Lisa's cheek twitched slightly.
"But... I've been busy with Adrian-sama and everything."
"I don't want to hear excuses."
Her tone dropped a level.
Vivian rose from her chair and walked to the window. The red ruby flashed again.
"That girl wants to make the event a success. She's trying to build her reputation there and climb up, even a little."
"...Climb up? That basement woman?"
"Yes. That girl is no longer the daughter I knew. She pinned your fingerprints in the ledger incident. She's even getting close to Margrethe in Legal. If you let your guard down, she'll truly devour you."
Without turning around, she stared at her own reflection in the window. Her lips were smiling. But her brown eyes were narrowed coldly, like a beast's.
"So we nip the bud. This time—mere obstruction isn't enough."
Lisa tilted her head.
"Then what are we going to do?"
"Embezzlement."
The word fell into the cold air.
After a moment, Lisa raised the corner of her lips just slightly. That smile—the one that only appeared when she thought of something nasty.
"...Tell me more."
The day before the event.
Melina finished inspecting Conference Room Six, the venue, and returned to General Affairs on Basement Level 1. She held the final confirmation documents in her hand. Her steps were light. The preparations up to this point had been nearly perfect.
(All that's left is to wait for the day itself.)
There was a sense of accomplishment she had never tasted in her previous life.
She sat at her desk and organized tomorrow's schedule. Then, she heard hushed voices from down the hallway.
"Hey, did you see that estimate...?"
"I saw it, I saw it. Isn't that bad? So Melina-san from General Affairs was that kind of person."
Her fingers stopped.
(Estimate?)
The owners of the voices hurried away when they noticed her.
A chill spread through her chest. She stood up and walked toward the shared bulletin board.
A single sheet of paper was posted there.
《General Affairs Melina Solberg Diverted Event Budget for Personal Use — Major Discrepancy Between Order Amounts and Deposit Records — Evidence Exists》
Below the headline were her name and a string of suspicious numbers. Inflated amounts that differed from the estimate she had created. And further, a screenshot showing the difference had been transferred to an account under her personal name.
(What... is this?)
She could feel the warmth draining from her hands and feet.
She carefully peeled the posting from the board. Her fingertips trembled faintly.
(Me... embezzling?)
No. I didn't do this. But this document certainly resembles my estimate. The vendor, the items, the dates—all the same. Only the numbers are different.
(Lisa...)
Deep in her chest, anger flickered like a cold flame.
That method—she had tasted it countless times in her previous life. Spreading baseless rumors, cornering her within the company. It was Vivian and Lisa's specialty.
But this time was different. There was actual damage. Evidence had even been fabricated.
(The old me would have cried and given up right here.)
Melina bit her lip.
(The old me would have. But not anymore.)
The next morning, Wilson Tower, 22nd Floor, Boardroom.
Large windows overlooked the harbor. But today the sea was leaden, and the air hung heavy.
The directors sat around a long black table. Among them was Melina.
(So it really comes to this.)
The summons had come the moment she arrived at work.
The air in the boardroom was frozen. No one met her eyes. Everyone here had come to see the face of "the woman who embezzled."
"—Then let us begin."
Vivian quietly opened her mouth. She was dressed in a black suit, her ruby ring gleaming. Perfect sorrow was plastered across her face.
"Melina. This matter truly pains me as well. I never dreamed you were the kind of girl who would do such a thing."
Her voice was refined, gentle.
"I don't want to believe it either. But... this is something I can no longer protect you from with my power alone."
She lowered her eyes, looking sad.
(Liar.)
Melina deliberately remained silent. If she argued back, she would be playing right into this woman's hands. She had learned that in her previous life. The more emotionally she protested, the more everyone around her would see her as "someone making excuses."
In the chairman's seat sat Henrik Solberg. His salt-and-pepper hair was neatly combed, and he wore an expensive tie. This man was always silent. Always watching his wife's expression.
"Melina."
An old, low voice.
"Are you... going to make me sad again?"
His voice was quiet. But those words stabbed into Melina's chest like a blade.
"I haven't done anything."
A calm voice came out, surprising even herself.
"The estimate is not something I created. It was fabricated."
"Then why does that estimate bear your seal?"
"My seal is always kept in the General Affairs drawer. Anyone could have taken it out."
"Isn't that simply negligent management?"
A soft voice. But her eyes were not smiling.
"Moreover, the deposit record. That is a bank record. Who could possibly fabricate that on their own?"
The boardroom stirred.
Melina clenched her fists on her knees.
(Damn... it.)
Frustrating. She wanted to argue back. But simply saying "I didn't do it" could never serve as evidence. That was precisely Vivian's cunning.
That was when it happened.
"Excuse me."
A low, resonant voice echoed through the boardroom.
Everyone's gaze gathered at the entrance. There stood Nikolai Berg. His near-black dark brown hair was trimmed short, and his deep green-gray eyes moved as if piercing through the window—no, through the very air of the boardroom. His 187-centimeter frame was wrapped in a dark gray suit.
"Berg Capital. I've come to have the chairman review the partnership materials ahead of the next regular meeting."
Nikolai spoke flatly and stepped into the boardroom.
Vivian's eyebrows moved, just slightly.
"...We are currently in an internal meeting. Outsiders, please remove yourselves."
"Outsiders, is it? Your company's board meeting has such impressive 'evidence of embezzlement' laid out. As an investor, I can hardly call myself uninvolved."
He pointed smoothly at the estimate spread across the table.
"May I take a brief look at this document?"
The smile vanished from Vivian's face for an instant.
"This is an internal document."
"Then verbally, then. This estimate—the character spacing in the format she originally created and the character spacing of the numbers that were later altered are clearly inconsistent. Take a close look."
He spoke with perfect composure.
"Normally, a document creation software has a single setting. Only the altered portions are unnaturally wide or narrow. The numbers were rewritten afterward. And it's a sloppy forgery done by an amateur. If you check the formatting history, you'll know immediately."
The air grew taut.
"Next, the deposit date. The preparation period for this event came after the estimate was created. The date on the deposit record is earlier than the creation date of the estimate. That's impossible—if the money had been transferred beforehand, it would have been noticed at the planning stage. A mistake by whoever forged it."
Nikolai's lips twisted faintly.
"Do you people truly believe this is evidence of her embezzlement?"
"Be quiet."
Her voice dropped a level.
"You are an outsider. Leave. This is a matter between me, my daughter, and our employee. A mere investor has no business interfering."
"Mere?"
Nikolai laughed, low.
"Interesting. Then I shall take my leave. I look forward to the audit results at the next regular meeting."
He turned on his heel.
Watching his back, Melina felt—without realizing it—a warmth spreading deep in her chest.
(This person... for my sake...)
But that warmth was quickly swallowed by the cold air of the boardroom.
"—Then we shall take a vote."
After Nikolai left, the meeting ended in an instant.
"Melina Solberg. Effective today, you are ordered to transfer from General Affairs to the basement warehouse division. This is a natural measure for someone who has damaged the company's credibility."
Without even a thin smile, she pronounced the sentence coldly.
Melina quietly lowered her head.
(Arguing back was useless.)
She bit the inside of her lip. The taste of iron.
(For now, endure. If I resist here, I'll be pushed down even deeper.)
"You..."
Her father's voice.
"You should have been more like your mother. Elise would never have done something like this
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