Chapter 116: Expansion (1)
Prices of the stock that was Kang Ra-Eun skyrocketed to heights beyond words after the On Duty, All Clear! female soldier special. It wasn’t a rising curve, but a perpendicular ascent. Because of this, GNF put the plan to make Ra-Eun the agency’s next-generation representative actress into action, and Chief Jung was the one who benefited most from this.
“I’m getting royalty treatment these days thanks to you, Ra-Eun.”
He was in such a great mood that he couldn’t stop smiling as soon as he saw Ra-Eun. It was understandable, since the one who had found her and brought her into GNF was none other than Chief Jung. He used to be called a has-been because he had been falling behind his competitors, but now he was getting the best treatment there was in the agency thanks to the most beautiful of pearls that was Kang Ra-Eun.
Ra-Eun’s manager Shin Yu-Bin was also in a fantastic mood.
“I’ve been getting tons of casting offer calls for commercials, variety programs, and lots more. I carry around three battery packs, no joke.”
Yu-Bin had to take every single casting offer call that came her way while Ra-Eun was in the middle of One of a Kind of Girl shoots, to the point that Yu-Bin was busier than Ra-Eun on some days.
Her popularity was about to pierce the heavens; no, it was no exaggeration to say that it already had. However, Ra-Eun herself was simply drinking the americano that Yu-Bin had bought in silence. She had already expected the audience to act this way, because she already knew why the female soldier special had been so criticized in her past life.
‘It’s because they were way too bad.’
Ra-Eun obviously knew that being bad made the show entertaining. However, there was a limit; being way too bad annoyed the audience rather than entertaining them. This applied to webnovels, webtoons, movies, dramas, and many other forms of content.
The perfect amount of dissatisfaction intensified the audience’s curiosity about how the story would be resolved, as well as their level of catharsis when it was resolved. However, excessive dissatisfaction only exhausted the audience. Some amounts of satisfaction were necessary.
Since the other members acted as the dissatisfaction and Ra-Eun took on the role of satisfying the audience, it perfectly balanced the two components and exponentially raised the level of the show’s entertainment. That was why the female soldier special was so well-received by the audience.
‘As long as one figures out the cause of their failure, the rest is easy.’
Ra-Eun’s plan had worked magnificently. However, Chief Jung and Yu-Bin, who had no idea what Ra-Eun was thinking, were only engrossed in the result that followed.
Yu-Bin asked Ra-Eun, “A lot of good commercial offers came in. You’ll do them, right?”
“Of course.”
She was not bound by any restrictions about not being able to appear in commercials or other TV programs while One of a Kind of Girl shoots were still going. She wouldn’t have been able to participate in the female soldier special if she had been.
From what Ra-Eun had experienced as a celebrity so far...
‘Commercials are the best.’
She could understand why celebrities went crazy over commercial offers. Just one day of shooting was able to pull in enormous amounts of money. Not only that, they could periodically let their faces be known to the public through commercial exposure, and acquire other incentives based on sales, although it depended case by case. One needed to know to strike while the iron was still hot, but in this idiom, Ra-Eun was a furnace that heated the iron whenever she wanted.
“Didn’t you say there was a different offer other than commercials?” Ra-Eun asked.
She had heard the gist of things from Yu-Bin on their ride here. Yu-Bin nodded and mentioned the offer that she had stopped herself from talking about before.
“There was also a modeling offer.”
“From where?” Ra-Eun asked.
She expected it to have been from a public institution or something. She was close, but wrong.
“Army Headquarters.”
“...”
Ra-Eun had refused part two of the female soldier special with her life, but now an offer to model for the army had come her way.
***
The moment she heard that the modeling offer came from the Army Headquarters, she only had negative impressions of it. However, it did not seem like a bad idea after thinking through it carefully.
‘Not just that, I don’t have to suffer like I did during the special.’
All she needed to do was to wear a military uniform and take some pictures. That aside, Ra-Eun was also aiming for something else.
‘It’s almost Armed Forces Day.’
There was going to be an event held on October 1st for Armed Forces Day. If Ra-Eun were to accept the modeling offer from the Army Headquarters, she would also be invited to the event. The Armed Forces Day event held many meanings, but the one she was interested in the most was that...
‘Many distinguished political figures attend it.’
Political figures rarely attended events like the Drama Awards or joint concerts. However, it was a different story for an event with great meaning in the public sense, and the Armed Forces Day event was one of them.
Ra-Eun was a celebrity, but had no deep relations with the political sphere; the only person she knew was Congresswoman Hong Oh-Yeon. Hence, she was planning on using this opportunity to get acquainted with the political figures. The gears inside her head were going full overdrive, and she finally came to a decision.
“Okay, I’ll do that too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Chief Jung and Yu-Bin looked at Ra-Eun in surprise. It was obvious that they would react this way.
“I thought you’d refuse for sure,” Chief Jung remarked.
“Me too,” Yu-Bin agreed.
Ra-Eun knew very much about the army, which explained her sheer dislike for it. Considering this fact about her, they obviously thought she would say no, but she had agreed instead. However, Ra-Eun had a condition.
“Please tell them that I’ll do it if they let me participate in the Armed Forces Day event.”
“That won’t be too difficult. Okay, I’ll let them know,” Chief Jung replied.
“Please.”
Now that she had worked hard to carry the female soldier special, it was time for her to get back to constructing her plan for revenge.
***
The army was ecstatic to hear that Ra-Eun agreed to the modeling offer. They couldn’t not be, since she who was all the rage lately had decided to put a military uniform back on. Ra-Eun had thought that she would never have to wear a military uniform ever again, but she sighed as she looked down at the uniform that had the name tag ‘Kang Ra-Eun’ stitched on it.
‘Goddamn army...’
She almost cursed out loud, but couldn’t help but suppress it since Seo Yi-Seo was right next to her. Yi-Seo gave her opinion as she scanned the new military uniform that the Army Headquarters had sent her.
“It looks better than the one you wore in the female soldier special, doesn’t it?”
“I guess so.”
It was obvious, since the one that she wore during the special was made with the intention that the trainees would be put through the wringer. This uniform was made for modeling purposes, so it couldn’t be any more different just from the appearance.
“How does it fit? Have you tried it on yet?” Yi-Seo asked.
“Not yet.”
“Try it on. I’m curious too.”
Ra-Eun sighed deeply. She decided to wear the full set along with the combat boots and beret since she was going out of her way to wear them. They did not feel uncomfortable in the slightest since they were made to fit her perfectly. They felt nice to move in, and it accentuated her figure well. However, there was just one problem.
‘I feel like all the energy leaves my body whenever I wear a military uniform for some reason.’
She often felt like this, especially during her mobilization drills and reservist training in her past life. She wondered if military uniforms had energy-absorbing features installed in them.
Yi-Seo scanned Ra-Eun’s entire body in satisfaction.
“It looks great on you. The uniform suits you way better than it does Yi-Jun.”
“Come to think of it, you said you went to visit him last week, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. He wants to see you so much.”
Ra-Eun only had to be in the army for three days, but that wasn’t the case for Seo Yi-Jun. He could only be discharged after spending almost two years there.
“How is he?” Ra-Eun asked.
“He’s doing well. He said he’d been super worried at first, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle, apparently. All his superiors are nice to him, too.”
‘Of course they’d be.’?Ra-Eun thought as she stared at Yi-Seo.
Yi-Jun’s superiors would know that he had a pretty older sister, which was why they were being so nice to him.
‘Looks like he’ll have an easy service thanks to his sister.’
There wasn’t much that connections could get a soldier. Just the fact that they had a pretty older or younger sister, or an acquaintance was a great asset to have based on the situation.
***
It was October 1st, the day of the Armed Forces Day event. Ra-Eun attended the event as the official model of the army. She went through a short rehearsal in her military uniform before the event began.
“Miss Kang. You just need to climb up the stage from here, recite the short speech, and come back down the stage the same way. Did you get that?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s do a rehearsal. You don’t have to go through the entire speech. Just read the first three sentences.”
They had to do things quickly because there wasn’t much time. They needed to prepare everything as quickly as possible since very distinguished political figures and even the president himself would attend this event.
Ra-Eun climbed up to the stage. She saluted and then recited the first three sentences of the speech like the director had told her and climbed back down.
“That was great. Next up, the military band rehearsal.”
Multiple sedans were pulling up from a distance while the rehearsal was in progress. Ra-Eun paid close attention to the people getting out of the cars. The political figures that she was aiming for were appearing one by one.
Even Kim Han-Gyo had come to the event. He seemed to be in a good mood, because he was laughing while chatting with others. She was staring daggers at him while sharpening the blade that was revenge in her head.
‘Yeah. Laugh while you still can.’
Since he would be stabbed in the back by Ra-Eun someday.
1. Armed Forces Day is an annual Korean event usually celebrated on October 1st to commemorate the service of men and women.
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