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 - At the ends of the earth below, a single grain of warmth
Wilson Tower, Basement Level 2. The underground storage room.
The ceiling was low. The air was heavy. Moisture seeping from the walls mixed with the smell of cardboard and clung to the back of her nose. Two fluorescent lights buzzed and crackled, casting alternating white light and shadow.
Melina Solberg gently lowered the cardboard box in her arms to the floor.
Her platinum blonde hair was dulled with dust, whitish and lackluster. The ends, tied back in a single ponytail, clung to the nape of her neck with sweat. Gray work clothes. Company-issued rubber-soled shoes. At her neck, beneath her clothes, her mother's silver locket.
*(That makes ten round trips.)*
She looked up at the mountain of cargo stacked against the wall. It easily exceeded two meters in height. Old documents and supplies were packed tightly all the way to the top of the shelves.
Move all of that to the space over there. That was the task she had been given today.
Underground storage clerk.
After the embezzlement incident, she had been demoted here from the General Affairs Department. The very bottom of the company. Literally, the end of the underground.
In her previous life, she had been in a similar place.
Twenty years. Covered in ledgers and dust, she had died as a bottom-tier employee no one ever noticed.
*(...The old me...)*
From deep within her heart, old memories oozed up like sludge.
Back then, she could only endure here, silently. Wanting someone to notice her. Wanting someone to save her. And so, without doing anything, she had wasted ten years.
*(But now is different.)*
She straightened her back.
She drew in a deep breath of cold air. The smell of mold seeped into the depths of her lungs.
*(From the ground up, once more.)*
She reached for the next cardboard box. Lifted it. Her knees trembled. Her arms creaked.
*(Heavy.)*
How many dozens had it been today alone? Every part of her body was screaming. Even so, she kept her legs moving.
One step. Then another.
*(I will not end here.)*
The coldness of the floor seeped through the soles of her feet. Her fingertips were numb, sensation fading.
*(I won't let it end.)*
Scenes from her previous life flashed through her mind.
The white ceiling of a hospital.
Three months to live.
Adrian's betrayal.
Lisa's laughter.
Vivian's ice-cold eyes.
And then, car headlights.
—This time.
She bit her lip hard.
*(This time, I will live my own life.)*
That was when it happened.
*Click. Click.*
The sound of heels echoed from the entrance of the underground storage room.
Deliberately slow. As if marking a rhythm.
Melina raised her head.
"Big Sister, forgive me for interrupting your work."
A sickly sweet voice sliced through the damp air.
Lisa Vestman. Twenty-one years old. Honey-colored curls flowing over her shoulders, round blue eyes blinking rapidly. A white blouse and a pale pink pencil skirt. An appearance utterly out of place in the underground storage room.
Melina did not stop her hands.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was flatter than even she expected.
Lisa tilted her head and smiled sweetly. With upturned eyes, only the corners of her lips rose slightly.
"Oh my, so cold. I came because I was worried, you know? I thought, 'That woman—even though she's an embezzler—is she still at the company?'"
Melina silently continued carrying boxes.
"Even so,"
Lisa looked around and wrinkled her nose.
"This storage room stinks. The smell of mold and dust. Big Sister, hasn't that smell been soaking into you lately? The smell of an underground woman."
She giggled.
"This is what they mean by 'knowing your place.' It suits you perfectly, Big Sister."
She spun around, her skirt flaring softly.
"I'm going to marry Adrian soon. Mama is pushing for it, for the company's stability."
Melina's fingers stopped for just a moment.
Adrian.
The man who had betrayed her in her previous life.
*(My heart made a strange sound.)*
But her expression did not change.
"I see."
She answered curtly.
"Oh? Aren't you frustrated? Having the man who was your fiancé taken by your stepsister?"
"Not particularly."
"Pretending to be tough."
Lisa stepped around in front of Melina.
"Hey, you still have that thing?"
Her blue eyes fixed precisely on Melina's neck.
A silver chain peeked out slightly from the collar of her work clothes.
"Is that your mother's?"
Melina's entire body went rigid.
"An item belonging to someone who died in a fire—isn't that bad luck? I find things like that disgusting."
Lisa reached out her white hand, smiling all the while.
"Let me see it for a moment."
Her fingertips touched the chain.
—In that instant.
"Don't touch it."
Her own voice rang sharply through the storage room.
Somewhere in her head, everything went cold and clear.
Melina gripped the locket and stared directly at Lisa.
Her diamond-blue eyes lost their light, deepening into a darker shade.
"...Wh-what's with you?"
Lisa's smile twitched.
"Y-you don't have to get angry over a little touch. I'm the one who touched something filthy."
She stepped back, but still glanced at Melina's hand.
"...Disgusting."
She spat the word out quietly, then clicked her heels and began walking away.
"Don't forget, Big Sister. You're trash in the basement."
Her voice was cold and sharp.
*Click. Click.*
The footsteps faded into the distance.
The sound of the door closing echoed softly.
Silence returned to the storage room.
Melina slowly opened the locket she had been clutching.
Inside was a small photograph of her mother, Elise.
Young. Smiling. Soft brown hair. Gentle eyes.
*(Mama.)*
Her throat tightened.
Something rose up from deep in her chest.
*(Why, even in my second life, am I...)*
She bit her lower lip.
The taste of iron spread through her mouth.
*(...in a place like this again?)*
Heat gathered behind her eyes.
*(What's different from my previous life?)*
Tears overflowed.
*(Everything is the same. Nothing has changed.)*
In the quiet storage room, only her stifled sobs fell, one by one, into the silence.
Wilson Tower, 22nd Floor. Board of Directors Meeting Room.
Through the wall of windows facing the sea, the winter harbor of Fredhaun was visible. The sea gleamed dully beneath a leaden sky.
"—The engagement of Lisa and Adrian is necessary for the company's stability. Both inside and outside the company, everyone desires their marriage."
Vivian Vestman had her long black hair gathered into a chignon at the back of her head, a pearl barrette gleaming. The ruby ring on her right hand absorbed the meeting room's lighting, glowing red and languid.
She slowly surveyed the attendees.
"Adrian is the young ace of Holt Law Firm. He is also highly regarded as a future prospect for our company's legal counsel. For such a man to become a member of the Solberg family—could there be a more rock-solid future?"
She was smiling. Her mouth, at least, was perfect.
But her narrow, elongated brown eyes were not smiling at all.
"...I am in favor. No objections."
Fredrik Engen, the finance director, nodded immediately. A man in his mid-fifties with graying hair. One of Vivian's faction.
"I also see no reason to oppose. The Holt family is a distinguished house that has long been close with the Solberg family."
Peder Strand, the business development director, also voiced his agreement, his fat belly jiggling.
The atmosphere settled in an instant.
"...Chairman Henrik, what is your opinion?"
Margrete Hauge, the legal director, spoke quietly. A woman in her sixties. Her white hair cut short, her deeply wrinkled face turned directly toward the chairman.
"...Ah, yes. I think it's fine."
Henrik Solberg answered quietly, still gazing out the window.
A man in his sixties. Once, he had been the face of this company.
Now, he simply sat small in the corner of the board meeting.
*(Melina...)*
For a moment, the image of his daughter working in the underground storage room flickered through his mind.
*(No, that child is already...)*
He closed his eyes.
"Then, with unanimous consent, we shall proceed with this matter."
Vivian's voice permeated the meeting room, sweetly.
"Please notify Adrian formally in the near future. Well, I'm sure Lisa will speak to him directly as well."
She said this, holding her ruby ring up to the window.
"It's for the family, after all. Only natural."
That smile burned quietly, like a flame.
Linden Street. Holt Law Firm.
A private office on the third floor.
Adrian Falk stood by the window.
Light brown hair. Soft green eyes. Twenty-nine years old. A gentle face that everyone liked.
"Adrian, I heard from Mother. At today's board meeting, your engagement to Lisa was formally discussed."
His mother's voice bubbled with excitement through the phone.
"...Ah, so it seems."
"Don't 'ah, so it seems' me. You'll finally be connected more deeply with the Solberg family. You worked hard, dear. I'm so happy."
*(Worked hard, huh.)*
Adrian gazed out the window.
A winter sky. Gray clouds hung low and heavy.
When he hung up, the room fell silent.
He returned to his desk and stared blankly at the computer screen.
Marriage to Lisa.
*(...This is fine.)*
No—*is* this fine? A voice whispered somewhere in his heart.
Vivian had summoned him directly just last week.
"I want you to marry Lisa. For the company, and for your own sake as well."
In front of that woman, he had been unable to say anything.
No, that wasn't it.
*(I chose to say nothing.)*
His mother's expectations. Public appearances. The future of this firm.
*(Melina...)*
Just remembering her name sent a small pang through his chest.
The day their engagement was broken off.
Her quiet eyes that day.
"The wedding is cancelled."
At that moment, something about her had been different.
Not afraid, not angry—just quiet, and absolute.
*(You've changed.)*
Adrian clenched his fist.
*(But I...)*
His fingers turned white.
*(I am my mother's son.)*
He closed his eyes, gently.
The underground storage room.
A cold, silent space after the employees had gone home.
A single fluorescent light on the ceiling flickered faintly.
Melina was still there, alone, carrying boxes.
*(Just a little more.)*
Her knees were shaking. Her arms felt heavy as lead.
Even so, she did not stop.
*(If I rest, it's over.)*
Lisa's face from the daytime surfaced in her mind.
"You're trash in the basement."
That voice echoed in her ears, over and over.
*(Trash, huh.)*
She bit her lip.
*(That's right. The old me was trash. Just waiting for someone to pick me up. Nothing more.)*
Her vision wavered.
Her footing faltered.
While holding a cardboard box, her toe caught on a thin wooden board lying on the floor.
—Ah.
Her body pitched forward.
Her vision spun.
The floor rushed up.
She tried to put out her hands. The box slipped from her arms and tumbled down.
*Thud.*
The sound of its contents scattering across the floor.
*(...No.)*
Her body should have slammed against the hard floor.
But the impact never came to her back.
Instead, her body was caught in someone's arms.
Warm.
Hard arms.
"...What are you doing?"
A low voice resonated by her ear.
She turned to look, and deep greenish-gray eyes stared straight down at her.
"Nikolai... san."
"You stayed until this hour?"
He gently readjusted his hold on her body.
"Let go. I can stand."
"Don't push yourself."
He cut her off with a single phrase.
He slowly sat her down on top of the scattered documents.
"Show me your foot."
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
Without waiting for permission, he took her ankle.
"...It's swollen."
"I just twisted it a little."
"Not just a little."
His voice was hard.
Tears welled up on their own.
*(Ah, again.)*
*(In front of this person, I'm always like this.)*
Embarrassing. Pathetic.
But she couldn't stop.
"...I'm sorry."
Her voice trembled.
"Maybe I made a mistake again."
Tears dripped onto the sleeves of her work clothes.
"Even after being reborn, nothing has changed. I'm
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