Chapter 125: One of a Kind of Girl (1)
It was late at night. Seo Yi-Seo returned to Kang Ra-Eun’s home after a very long time with a large suitcase.
She greeted joyfully, “Ra-Eun! Have you been doing well since I’ve been away?”
They hadn’t been apart for this long ever since they started living together, so Yi-Seo couldn’t help but worry if Ra-Eun had been doing well on her own. Ra-Eun was more than able to take care of herself, but she had film shoots, her business, and university life to take care of; Yi-Seo was worried sick if Ra-Eun had been eating properly with so much on her agenda.
Ra-Eun resolved Yi-Seo’s worries with a smile. “I have. What about you? Did you guys find a new part-timer?”
“Yeah. We interviewed someone last week, and Mom and Dad both like them a lot. They have the enthusiasm to work hard and a good personality. They’re gonna be starting next week.”
“That’s great.”
“But we still can’t let our guards down. I’ll have to go back there to work if they run away after only two weeks like our previous part-timer.”
Yi-Seo could have come back a little earlier, but she had no choice but to take care of the mess made by the part-timer that had ghosted them for some reason. It was possible for the newly-hired part-timer to do the same, but they did not seem like the type to easily run away like the previous part-timer. However, since one never knew how things would end up, Yi-Seo was planning on staying on full alert while standing by, despite having returned to Ra-Eun’s home.
“Hup!”
Yi-Seo brought her suitcase into the living room. She belatedly noticed what Ra-Eun was wearing and tilted her head in confusion.
“What’s with your getup? Are you going out?”
“Oh, this?”
Ra-Eun was wearing white skinny jeans and a yellow sweater. She even had a small handbag in hand.
“I have a night shoot, so I have to get going.”
“Right now?”
“In about... five minutes? My manager will be here by then.”
Yi-Seo smacked her lips in disappointment.
“I wanted to order some night snacks to have with you since it’s been so long.”
“We can do that tomorrow.”
“Don’t you have a shoot tomorrow as well?”
“Today’s the last one.”
“Oh, already?”
The seasons had changed twice since the One of a Kind of Girl shoots began. They had begun around the beginning of this year, and now it was almost time for the production to wrap up.
“What happens to the usual dinner afterparty if the final shoot is in the evening?” Yi-Seo asked.
“They’ll probably schedule it on some other date.”
“Oh, I guess so.”
No one would want to have an afterparty past midnight when they were bound to be exhausted.
“Okay. I’ll look after the house, so have a safe trip.”
Ra-Eun nodded as Yi-Seo saw her off. She had been turning off all the lights in the empty home before leaving for a while now, so it sure felt good to have someone to see her off again.
***
Ra-Eun arrived at the set. She went through the script with Hwang Seung-Beom before the shoot began. Since it was the final shoot, Ra-Eun did not want to screw up anything whatsoever. Soon afterward...
“We’ll be starting soon. Please stand by.”
“Okay!”
Not only the two actors, but the staff members moved swiftly and orderly. It was 2 AM. They had finally reached the final scene.
“Ready... action!”
The final scene consisted of the passionate kiss between the protagonist of One of a Kind of Girl, Min Ju-Tae, and the male deuteragonist played by Hwang Seung-Beom. Since Ra-Eun had set a condition that she wouldn’t do kiss scenes, their lips would not be touching; it was nothing more than a pretend-kiss. However, the two couldn’t help the fact that they were extremely close to each other.
“Ju-Tae!” Seung-Beom exclaimed as he strongly grabbed both of Ra-Eun’s slender shoulders.
Seung-Beom’s character usually acted like an airhead with a screw loose, but he always took the lead like a man whenever he showed Ju-Tae his serious side. As Ra-Eun closed her eyes, Seung-Beom took his face closer and... pretended to kiss her.
The camera went round and round with the two actors as the focus to capture the scene in various angles. Meanwhile, Ra-Eun was hoping the scene would end quickly with her eyes closed.
Seung-Beom’s breath reached Ra-Eun’s face. Perhaps he was nervous. But then...
“A-Achoo!”
He quickly turned his face away from Ra-Eun and sneezed.
“...”
Thankfully, his spit did not get anywhere on her face, but Ra-Eun’s expression wasn’t all that great because he had caused an NG cut.
Director Yoon said while chuckling, “It’s pretty cold past midnight, isn’t it? Let’s do another take after we have Seung-Beom take a breather.”
“I-I’m so sorry!” Seung-Beom apologized to the staff members for the NG cut.
Of course, he also apologized to Ra-Eun.
“I’m terribly sorry, sunbae!”
“...You’re dead if you make one more mistake.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Seung-Beom was met with bloodlust-filled glares and insults from Ra-Eun whenever he caused NG cuts. However, he had seemed to have gotten used to it, or some kind of masochistic tendency had awoken in him, because he had started to enjoy such things. But that aside, he had no intention to inconvenience the staff with NG cuts because of his tastes; that would go against his professional ethics as an actor.
“Ready, action!”
Take 2 began right away. The fiercely-glaring Ra-Eun was nowhere to be seen, and all that was left was Min Ju-Tae who had come to love another man after turning into a woman due to a strange turn of fate.
Ra-Eun honestly couldn’t understand her character’s emotions at first. Turning from a man to a woman certainly was a huge incident bound to cause a sexual identity crisis, but it was not like even the soul had changed genders.
“But well, I guess each person is different.’
She just decided to accept it. Just because one was acting a character did not mean they needed to perfectly understand their feelings and thoughts. They had managed to get the OK from the director on their second take.
Director Yoon expressed his delight through the megaphone.
“Okay! Thank you all very much for your hard work! That’s a wrap!”
The staff members cheered. But then, Director Yoon held up his megaphone again to warn the staff members.
“Please keep your rejoicing in moderation. We might get filed a civil complaint.”
They could not forget that it was close to 3 AM.
***
Seung-Beom came up to Ra-Eun as soon as the shoot was finished.
“Great job on the shoots thus far, sunbae!”
“Same to you.”
“Um... sunbae.”
“What?”
Ra-Eun’s expression was screaming at Seung-Beom to stop talking to her since she was tired, but he had to say this no matter what.
“If we ever get to work together again... could you insult me again like you did during this production?”
“Insult you? Why?”
“Um... I don’t think I’ve fully gotten over my shyness yet, so I’ll have to get scolded by you a lot more.”
Ra-Eun stared at Seung-Beom in bewilderment.
“You’re so weird.”
It was the first time that a junior actor had come up and asked her to insult them.
“Well, we’ll see based on how you do,” Ra-Eun remarked.
“Thank you very much!”
Seung-Beom had started feeling pleasure from being abused by Ra-Eun. To him, this was the greatest promise that he could have received. On the other hand, Ra-Eun still could not understand as he got further and further away from her.
“What’s wrong with that guy?”
She couldn’t believe there was a junior who actually liked being insulted by their senior. The world sure was full of people with various kinds of preferences.
***
Ra-Eun got in Shin Yu-Bin’s car to go back home, but ran into someone completely unexpected inside.
“Chief Jung? What are you doing here so late at night?”
“Me? Today’s the final shoot, isn’t it? I just came to show my face to the director and staff members to congratulate them before it ended. Isn’t it the least I should do, considering this was your first film as a protagonist?”
Ra-Eun was partially amazed by Chief Jung; not only was it past midnight, but he had come to the set in a full suit fulfilling his duties as an executive of GNF.
‘I wouldn’t be able to do it.’
Chief Jung sure was a passionate person.
“Now that your film shoots are over, you’ve gotta schedule some appearances, right?”
“What sort of appearances?”
“You know, celebrities appear on variety shows to advertise their movies.”
“Oh...”
Ra-Eun knew very well about appearances that were solely for the sake of advertising the productions they had starred in. It was the same as singers advertising their newly-released album. She had worked so hard on the film, so she wanted the result to be good as well.
For that to happen, advertising was more important than anything. And the most effective way to advertise was for the lead or supporting actors to appear on various shows to advertise the production to the audience. Ra-Eun had also done so several times for her dramas, so it did not feel strange at all.
“Let’s schedule some before the movie’s release date. Yu-Bin, you’ve exchanged contact information with the program directors, right?” Chief Jung asked.
“Yes. I was planning on making the schedule starting next week.”
“Ra-Eun. Is there a program you want to appear on? Program directors from various broadcasting stations have a very good impression of you, so I’m sure you’ll be able to appear on the ones you want.”
This was a privilege reserved only for the most popular of celebrities, but Ra-Eun couldn’t think of any programs in particular at the moment.
“I’ll think about it,” she expressed.
There was only one thing on her mind right now.
‘I want to take a warm shower and go to sleep.’
There was one more thing on the agenda before scheduling show appearances.
“What else... Oh, right. Did you hear when the afterparty would be held?” Chief Jung asked.
“Not yet,” Ra-Eun answered.
“It’ll be on Friday evening, so make sure you’re there. Okay?”
Ra-Eun nodded. “Okay.”
“Vice President Park will be there too.”
Ra-Eun’s former older sister, Park Hee-Woo.
“Sigh...”
It had been a while since they had last met, and she couldn’t help but sigh.
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