Chapter 157: Savior (5)
Vice President Park Hee-Woo had a little brother, Park Geon-Woo, and it just so happened that...
‘It’s me.’
In other words, it was Kang Ra-Eun’s past self, back when she used to be a man. They were now two completely different people; the future Geon-Woo had been put in the body of Kang Ra-Eun instead of his past self.
‘Noona is taking an interest in me? That’s a first.’
They had never once talked after becoming adults, so Ra-Eun was fascinated to hear Hee-Woo mention Ra-Eun’s male self. She strongly felt that she would be able to look into Hee-Woo’s inner thoughts.
‘Well, I was planning on going regardless.’
Ra-Eun had not been maintaining a good relationship with Hee-Woo because she wanted to, but because she absolutely needed TP Group’s help to put an end to Kim Han-Gyo.
‘But had my past self said something to noona around this time?’
Ra-Eun couldn’t remember. She was confident in her memory, hence the amount of benefit that she had reaped in her current life.
‘But I have no idea what I’d said to her.’
Ra-Eun did not treat her memories with her former family very fondly, so she might have tried to forget them. Hence, she couldn’t recall what her past self had said to Hee-Woo for her to be so bothered.
‘It’s not like I’d caused any trouble for her.’
Even if Ra-Eun had, Geon-Woo had declared that he would sever all connections with his family, so there was absolutely no reason for Hee-Woo to be so bothered over him. As Ra-Eun’s head was swarming with more and more questions, Hee-Woo apologized.
- I hadn’t told you that I have a little brother, had I?
“No.”
Hee-Woo hadn’t, but Ra-Eun knew better than anyone about the vice president’s little brother, since he was Ra-Eun’s past self.
- He’s in his twenties, just like you. We haven’t interacted with each other ever since he had a huge fight with our father, but... Please wait a moment.
It seemed Hee-Woo had been in the middle of work. Her chief secretary came up to her and gave her an additional report.
- How would you like to proceed with the recent Da-Il Foods matter, Vice President?
- Oh, that? Managing Director Kim is handling that, so you can go ask him— Never mind, I have something I have to ask him as well, so I’ll check for you too.
- I understand.
Hee-Woo told her chief secretary to stand by.
- I’m sorry, Ra-Eun. Something came up, so I’ll have to end the call here.
“I understand. Then about the specific location and time...”
- I’ll text you the details in about thirty minutes. Is that fine with you?
“Yes. I’ll be waiting.”
- Thank you very much, Ra-Eun.
Hee-Woo frequently expressed her desire to get closer to Ra-Eun. It was possible that she considered their relationship to be fairly close already.
‘There’s no way she would call me to keep her company if she didn’t.’
Hee-Woo was a very prideful woman.
‘Now, let’s go hear what's been bothering her so much about my past self.’
Ra-Eun got ready to find out an undiscovered story about herself.
***
TP Group had its hand in several other fields of business aside from the entertainment business that Hee-Woo had an important position in, with the food service industry being one of them. Red Rose was a western cuisine restaurant affiliated with TP Group.
Ra-Eun arrived first at the restaurant and was guided to a room that Hee-Woo had booked in advance.
‘Noona said she was running a little late.’
Ra-Eun took out her smartphone and searched for a certain business, Da-Il Foods. It was the name of a company that Hee-Woo and her chief secretary had spoken about, and Ra-Eun just so happened to know it very well.
‘Da-Il Foods, huh? I haven’t heard that name in a while.’
Slide.
As Ra-Eun was skimming through the company’s quarterly revenue of the previous year, business profits, price-to-earning ratio and many other things, the sliding door opened. Ra-Eun turned her head to see Hee-Woo like she had expected.
“I’m sorry, Ra-Eun. I had set out pretty early, but there had been so much traffic. I think there must have been an accident or something,” Hee-Woo remarked.
“It’s okay. But you’ve arrived fairly early despite the traffic accident.”
“My driver said that he knew a shortcut, so we took it and there was definitely far less traffic. Oh, you still haven’t ordered, have you?”
Hee-Woo called for an employee and immediately ordered two premium courses, the most expensive course on the menu. As the employee was setting up the dishes that they had ordered one by one, Hee-Woo started the conversation.
“I saw the news, Ra-Eun. You’d done something magnificent.”
Ra-Eun smiled awkwardly. She was still being treated like a saint wherever she went. It was understandable, since it had only been a week since the incident. It would still be a while until mentions of her act of heroism died down.
“Where did you learn how to rescue people?” Hee-Woo asked.
“There had been a scene in a past drama where I saved a drowning person, and I had practiced in preparation for that. The scene ended up not being used, though.”
Ra-Eun had become a master at making excuses. Hee-Woo thinly smiled.
“I had drowned once before. I believe it was... when I was in high school,” Hee-Woo recalled her past. “We’d been on a family trip. To be frank, our family doesn't really go on things like that, but something came over our father and he suddenly suggested that we do one day.”
Ra-Eun also remembered. It was not worth telling people, but Hee-Woo’s family members were not very close; they always felt awkward around each other.
‘It felt more like we were... partners than a family.’
That was also one of the reasons why Ra-Eun hated her former family.
“My little brother had been in middle school at the time. His name is Park Geon-Woo. You probably don’t know him, since I barely mention anything about him.”
Ra-Eun did know. Rather, the problem was that she knew him far too well.
“This is a bit embarrassing to say, but my athletic capabilities are abysmal,” Hee-Woo mentioned.
Ra-Eun also knew this very well. Although Hee-Woo was extremely smart, her athletic capabilities fell far behind ever since she was young. Ra-Eun and their father were very athletic, but the same could not be said for their mother. Hee-Woo had most likely inherited her mother’s terrible athleticism.
“We had gone to the beach, but as I was playing in the water, there was an area where the ground suddenly sank.”
Anyone would get bewildered in such a situation, especially Hee-Woo.
‘Because noona can’t swim.’
Ra-Eun still vividly remembered her older sister floundering in the water. No matter how bad their relationship was, she would never just ignore Hee-Woo as she drowned. So, Ra-Eun had jumped into the water to save her.
“My little brother raced to me as soon as he saw me drowning, and he saved me.”
‘I guess something like that did happen.’
Ra-Eun recalled a memory that she had momentarily forgotten about.
“I haven’t been able to get Geon-Woo out of my head lately because of what you’ve done at the beach,” Hee-Woo said.
It was natural, since he had been her savior.
“So I’ve been trying to bring Geon-Woo back to TP Group, but he doesn’t even answer my calls anymore.”
“...”
Ra-Eun had thought that Hee-Woo had acted this way because she had wanted to control her life, but that had not been the case at all. It had been because Geon-Woo was her little brother as well as her savior.
“I’m also trying to peacefully settle the dispute between Geon-Woo and our father, but it hasn’t been going very well since they’re both so stubborn.”
Technically speaking, the greatest cause of Ra-Eun’s severance from her former family had not been her older sister, but her father. Hee-Woo likely had a lot on her mind as well.
‘The ones stuck in the middle tend to have it the worst.’
This was the first time Ra-Eun had discovered Hee-Woo’s inner thoughts. However, Ra-Eun was not Hee-Woo’s little brother Park Geon-Woo right now; she was Kang Ra-Eun, a complete third-party individual. Hence, she was in no place to resolve any misunderstandings between them.
“I think of Geon-Woo whenever I look at you, Ra-Eun. It’s weird, isn’t it? Not only are you two of the opposite sex, you’re not even the same age.”
Hee-Woo’s hunches were as dead-on as always. Ra-Eun had never expected Hee-Woo to see Geon-Woo in her.
“I think that’s why I wanted to get closer to you,” Hee-Woo stated.
If there was one thing that Ra-Eun earned from this meeting, it was that she found out Hee-Woo still thought amicably of Geon-Woo. This was absolutely huge for Ra-Eun.
‘Noona... I see.’
Ra-Eun thought of a certain idea.
***
A few days after the meeting with Hee-Woo, Ra-Eun received a call from Shin Yu-Bin.
- Ra-Eun. You know that?One of a Kind of Girl?is gonna be released in Japan, right?
“Yes. I heard that it’s gonna be released next month.”
- We were contacted by them to see if you’d be interested in participating in some sort of stage event before the movie releases. I didn’t know either, but apparently, you’re pretty popular in Japan. I heard there’s a ton of fans wanting to meet you.
“Really?”
The internet had developed so far that one was easily able to view foreign content. That was why Japan was currently going through a Korean drama storm.
- You’d just need to go through a short agenda and spend the night there. What do you think?
“I think that’s fine. That’s less stressful on me.”
- Got it. I’ll try setting up the schedule.
Ra-Eun never knew that she was popular overseas.
‘I can’t really imagine it.’
***
The schedule had been set so that it wouldn’t overlap with the Shuttered?shoots. Ra-Eun headed to the airport with her staff members. Her fans, who had been waiting near Incheon Airport for her departure, rushed toward her.
Just then, bodyguards in formal attire got in formation to protect Ra-Eun.
“Coming through!”
“It’s dangerous, so please don’t come too close if you don’t want to fall down!”
Ra-Eun had safely entered the airport thanks to her bodyguards and their powerful voices. As soon as they were inside, the female bodyguard, who would be right by Ra-Eun's side protecting her, quickly introduced herself.
“I am the team leader, So Ha-Jin, and these are the members of my team who will be responsible for your protection for the next two days in Japan.”
The rest of the bodyguards took off the sunglasses and greeted Ra-Eun. At that moment, Ra-Eun’s gaze fixed itself on one man. She knew him all too well.
“My name is Park Geon-Woo. Pleased to meet you.”
She had once again come face-to-face with her former self.
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