Chapter 158: Savior (6)
Kang Ra-Eun had come face-to-face with her past self, Park Geon-Woo. This was not the first time that she had met him. Back when she was still a high school girl, she had met him by coincidence as he was hanging out with his friends.
What she had felt back then was inexplicable, since it had been her first time feeling such an emotion. The meeting of one’s past and current selves was scientifically impossible, even more so as different genders. Words couldn’t describe the complexity of emotions one would face in such a situation.
However, Ra-Eun’s head did not go blank like the first time due to the past experience. Rather...
“Nice to meet you,” she expressed.
She greeted her past self with her usual smile. She looked perfectly normal on the outside, but the same couldn’t be said for the inside.
‘I was so young back then.’
It was natural since Geon-Woo was still in his twenties. Ra-Eun set out right after the short greetings with the security team. She needed to be as quick as possible because there wasn’t much time left until the flight.
‘Yeah, it’s much better being this hectic.’
There was no need for her to put much meaning behind meeting her male self; she was now Kang Ra-Eun, not Park Geon-Woo.
***
It felt very weird for Ra-Eun to go to Japan with her past self, but she did not act weird since no one knew that she had been Geon-Woo in her past life. A huge wave of people gathered to greet Ra-Eun as soon as she landed at Kansai International Airport. She was surprised to see that the crowd was on par with the one that she had seen at Incheon International Airport.
‘I would’ve been in huge trouble if I didn’t have a security team.’
Ra-Eun had never expected herself to be so popular in Japan. It was understandable; there was an actor who had captured the hearts of Japanese women with a single drama, so this was likely nothing compared to that actor’s popularity.
Team Leader So Ha-Jin stuck close to Ra-Eun.
“Feel free to grab my arm if you’re anxious, Miss Kang.”
“No. It’s alright, Team Leader.”
Ra-Eun did not feel anxious being swarmed around this many people since she had been a bodyguard herself. While Ha-Jin was protecting Ra-Eun by her side, Geon-Woo and the other bodyguards were making way for Ra-Eun.
They had finally gotten out of Kansai International Airport. Only Ha-Jin got in the car that Ra-Eun had gotten in, and the rest of the bodyguards got in the car following behind it. Shin Yu-Bin was in charge of driving.
Before setting out, Ra-Eun asked just in case, “Miss Manager. You’ll be fine with driving, right?”
“Driving? Why do you ask?”
Yu-Bin had not gotten into a single accident during the time that she had driven Ra-Eun around in Korea. Yu-Bin couldn’t help but tilt her head in wonder about why Ra-Eun was worried about her driving after all this time. However, there was a reason why Ra-Eun was asking such a thing.
“Because the driver’s seat and the hand of traffic are the opposite of Korea’s.”
It was difficult to get used to at first, and it would be a big problem if they got into a traffic accident on their nice trip to Japan. However, Yu-Bin expressed great confidence despite that.
“You don’t have to worry. I’ve driven a ton overseas as well.”
Ra-Eun decided to trust Yu-Bin since she was so confident. She could see a view that was hard to see in Korea as soon as they left the airport premises. Ra-Eun had frequently gone overseas in her past life due to her career, hence she was not surprised despite this being the first time that she had gone overseas as Kang Ra-Eun.
Rather, she went through today’s agenda. She was as relaxed as she could be. Ha-Jin smiled thinly as she looked at Ra-Eun.
“Miss Kang. I’ve heard many things about you, but I guess they have all been understated,” Ha-Jin expressed.
“Really?”
“Yes. Celebrities that experience such a situation earlier usually get super bewildered, but you looked as if you were already used to it.”
It had indeed been her first time, but not really. Ra-Eun lightly shrugged.
“I think it’s because I’d prepared myself for it in advance.”
In other words, it depended on one’s mindset. Hearing that, Ha-Jin felt Ra-Eun to be more mature than even herself.
***
Ra-Eun’s Japan schedule started with a simple autograph signing. Ra-Eun responded with a smile at her female fans who poorly yet sincerely expressed “I love you, unnie!” in Korean.
A smile was the most important aspect when interacting with fans, which was why Ra-Eun had practiced smiling an enormous amount when she had first debuted as a celebrity. Thanks to her efforts, she had mastered the art of smiling naturally anytime and anywhere.
Tons of Japanese posters of One of a Kind of Girl were plastered behind Ra-Eun. She could feel a different sense of vibe from it compared to the Korean one.
After her autograph signing, she moved to where she would be having an interview with the press. They had prepared an interpreter just in case, but...
“It’s okay. I can speak Japanese.”
Ra-Eun exhibited her Japanese skills that were good enough for there to be no issues with communication. This skill had also been polished through her work as a bodyguard. English was a given, and she had also learned enough Japanese, Chinese, French and German for there to be almost no issues in conversing with people on site.
People were once again shocked by how versatile Ra-Eun was. If she was good at Japanese, then there was no need for an interpreter; not only could they save more time by skipping the interpreting step, they would be able to convey meanings far more accurately.
A female reporter with a name tag asked Ra-Eun, “How does it feel to come to Japan? As far as I know, this is your very first time working overseas.”
“The first thing I must say is that I was greatly touched by the number of fans that had come to greet me at the airport despite myself having never done anything in Japan. I couldn’t be more grateful for their great interest and love for me.”
Ra-Eun carried the interview just as proficiently in Japanese as in Korean. The reporters asked questions regarding a short introduction to One of a Kind of Girl, important points in the film to focus on, and the anime production that was being discussed.
“Will you be the voice actor for the protagonist if the anime is ever officially announced?”
“I wonder about that. I can’t give you a decisive answer since there hasn’t been any news about its development, but I can say that I’d like to give it a try.”
A genderbent male... or female protagonist? Whichever it was, Ra-Eun was confident that if nothing else, she would be able to portray them better than anyone else, since she was the personification of that character.
The hour and a half interview had come to an end. All that was left on her agenda was the stage event that was planned for tomorrow. She dragged her exhausted self into the car and headed to the hotel with the staff members. It was about an hour drive.
In the meantime, Ra-Eun asked Ha-Jin about her security team.
“What do you think about your team members?”
“As you saw today, they are very good at what they do. Especially Geon-Woo.”
Ra-Eun had been planning on asking Ha-Jin about her past self, but she was rather surprised as Ha-Jin mentioned him straight away. Ra-Eun also faintly remembered the time that she had worked with Ha-Jin, but it had been so short that Ra-Eun honestly didn’t know very much about her. However, Ha-Jin had been keeping an eye on Geon-Woo.
“We hadn’t worked together for very long, but... How should I say this? He has a strong will to act, and his judgments aren’t so bad either. Also, he immediately makes his own anything that I teach him. From what I’ve seen of him, I’m sure that he’ll succeed in anything that he puts his mind to in the future,” Ha-Jin stated.
She was correct. Ra-Eun had in fact become one of the actresses that represented Korea, which she had not been made for in the slightest.
“You seem to think very highly of... Mr. Park Geon-Woo,” Ra-Eun remarked.
It felt extremely weird addressing herself so formally.
Ha-Jin nodded. “Yes. But his familial circumstances seem a bit complicated in contrast. He’d never given us the details, so I’m a bit worried for him.”
A majority of people that Geon-Woo had worked with did not know that he was the son of the chairman of TP Group. That was how meticulously he had concealed his identity, and Ra-Eun was sure that he would keep his relationship with TP Group severed for the rest of his days. However...
‘That won’t happen this time.’
Ra-Eun had changed up the revenge plan in her head.
‘I’m sorry, my past self, but you’re gonna have to do your part.’
This was her revenge, so it was natural that her past self should help out as well. At least, that was what she believed.
***
Ra-Eun returned to the hotel and took a shower. She looked out the window at the vast nightscape as she dried her hair with a hair dryer. She once again organized her thoughts as she gazed at the city draped in darkness.
“...Okay.”
She hurriedly prepared to go out now that her hair had dried. There was one more thing she needed to do before that, which was to get her manager’s permission.
“Hello? It’s me. Could I go out to the convenience store for a second?”
- The convenience store? What do you need? I’ll go buy it for you.
Ra-Eun was extremely famous even in Japan. It would not even take a minute for people to recognize her if she walked around the street bare-faced. It wouldn’t matter if it was day, but it was now night. One always needed to be wary of danger at night in any country.
Not just that, Ra-Eun was a woman. Yu-Bin was worried that something would happen to Ra-Eun. Ra-Eun would of course be able to neutralize any shady people that she met, but Yu-Bin couldn’t help but be worried for her since she didn’t know that Ra-Eun had originally been a bodyguard. Hence, Yu-Bin had said that she would buy whatever Ra-Eun needed for her, but Ra-Eun stayed stubborn.
“No, I’d like to go in person. I want to see what Japanese convenience stores are like with my own eyes. And you never know, I might star in a drama with Japan as the setting in the future.”
For an actor, everything that they saw and heard became valuable experience. They would use those experiences to display even more realistic performances.
- Okay. But don’t go alone. Take one of the bodyguards with you. Should I let Miss So Ha-Jin know?
“I’d be fine with her, but I’d like someone else to accompany me.”
- Who?
Ra-Eun decided to designate someone among Ha-Jin’s security team, and that person was...
“Mr. Park Geon-Woo.”
...Her past self.
1. This is referring to Bae Yong-Joon and his role in Winter Sonata. He gained a tremendous fan base among Japanese middle-aged women, who then dubbed him with the nickname ‘Yon-sama.’
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