Chapter 190: Time to Work (1)
Kang Ra-Eun and So Ha-Jin came back to Gangnam from Suwon.
“That was a good drive, Team Leader So. I’ll be counting on you from tomorrow,” Ra-Eun said.
“Understood. Please have a safe trip home, Chairwoman.”
Ha-Jin went to the security company office that she would be in the care of from today onward. The first person that caught her eye was Ma Yeong-Jun, who was focused on his smartphone with his legs up on his desk.
“Director Ma.”
Yeong-Jun, who had become the director of the security company, looked up at Ha-Jin.
“What is it?”
“I’m going to be acting as Chairwoman Kang’s chauffeur while alternating with Mr. Lim Seok-Jun, but the role hasn’t been properly transferred to me yet. Could you help me with that?”
“Tae-Seon will be here soon, so just wait here for a bit.”
“I understand.”
Ha-Jin had no problem with waiting since she had not been given any work to do for today. Ha-Jin took a seat at her own desk and recalled the conversation that she had with Ra-Eun during their drive to Suwon. Ra-Eun had said that the greatest reason and objective in her life was revenge, and that Congressman Kim Han-Gyo was the target of that revenge.
“Director Ma,” Ha-Jin called again.
Yeong-Jun answered apathetically, “What is it this time?”
“What happened between the chairwoman and Congressman Kim Han-Gyo?”
Ha-Jin asked in hopes that Yeong-Jun would know, but she had come to realize that she had asked the wrong person.
“I don’t know either.”
She had no way to find out since not even Yeong-Jun, who had worked with Ra-Eun much longer than she had, knew the reason. All of Ra-Eun’s closest associates knew that Ra-Eun had a grudge against Han-Gyo, but none of them knew why.
Yeong-Jun, who had been focusing on the stage mix of a certain girl group on his smartphone, glanced at Ha-Jin.
“All we need to do is to act as her hands and legs. Our chairwoman will do the thinking for us.”
“Have you ever doubted her?”
Ha-Jin thought that it was natural for Yeong-Jun to have doubts about a girl far younger than him like Ra-Eun.
“I did at first,” Yeong-Jun remarked.
Ha-Jin was not completely wrong. Yeong-Jun had been full of doubts about Ra-Eun back when she was still a high school girl. However, he had realized as time went by that his doubts had all been utterly absurd.
“Doubt only leads to distrust. I’m sure you already know this, but once you no longer trust someone, you can never work with them again.”
Hence, Yeong-Jun had decided to erase all of his doubts because he wanted to stick with Ra-Eun to the end. Although no one knew whether that end would be a happy or a bad one...
“It’s far more interesting following that woman than spending the rest of my life as some run-of-the-mill loan shark.”
Yeong-Jun was following Ra-Eun because he had wanted to move on to a much bigger stage. Ha-Jin unconsciously smiled.
“You’re so weird.”
It seemed like Ha-Jin would need a lot of time to fully comprehend both Ra-Eun and Yeong-Jun.
***
Ra-Eun woke up at 7 AM and commenced her stretching routine on her bed like always. Although her strength and stamina were much lower than when she had been a man...
‘The flexibility is the best, if nothing else.’
Ra-Eun had not known how flexible a woman’s body was at first. She had gotten very into yoga recently, so she was doing the poses without realizing it as soon as she had opened her eyes. She was able to start the day as refreshingly as possible after loosening up her entire body.
Once she came out into the kitchen, Seo Yi-Seo greeted her as she was just about to prepare breakfast.
“Did you sleep well, Ra-Eun?”
“Yeah. What’s for breakfast?”
“Eggs on toast and milk with sugar. What do you think?”
Ra-Eun’s eyes sparkled. It was the perfect breakfast for a sweet tooth like herself, but she was not too happy about it since she had thought that she needed to lose weight lately. However, considering how her roommate was preparing it with sincerity, Ra-Eun couldn’t just refuse.
‘I guess I’ll just have a salad for lunch,’ Ra-Eun compromised.
“Oh, right, Ra-Eun. Could you wake Yi-Jun up for me while I make breakfast?”
“Is he still not awake?”
“Yeah.”
It had only been a few days since Seo Yi-Jun had claimed to be an early bird, but like Yi-Seo had said, he became the incarnation of indolence on his breaks.
“Has he learned nothing from the army?” Ra-Eun remarked while clicking her tongue.
She swung open his room door, and her gaze naturally shifted to his nether region.
“So healthy so early in the morning, I see.”
She poked Yi-Jun’s side with her foot.
“Hey, Yi-Jun. How long are you gonna sleep for?”
“...Ra-Eun noona...?”
Yi-Jun barely managed to open his eyes and belatedly realized the state he was in. He quickly covered his lower body with his blanket and laughed awkwardly.
“D-Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“It looks like you slept a lot better than I did. Did you have an erotic dream?”
“This is, umm... an uncontrollable male phenomenon...”
“I know, so you don’t have to explain it. Your sister is making breakfast, so come after you wash up.”
Ra-Eun left as soon as she finished what she had to say. Yi-Jun felt like a storm had blown over their home early in the morning.
***
Ra-Eun, Yi-Seo and Yi-Jun had breakfast together. Yi-Jun took a large bite of the eggs on toast that his sister had made for him.
He then asked Ra-Eun, “Are you busy today, noona?”
“Yeah, super busy. I’m gonna go work out in the morning and then go to my agency since Chief Jung has something he wants to talk to me about. Why do you ask?”
“It’s nothing special. I just wanted to go watch a movie with you if you were free.”
“Why can’t you go watch it with your sister?”
Yi-Seo remarked while pouting, “I guess it’s because he’d rather go with you than with me.”
Her statement had hit right on the mark.
Ra-Eun scolded Yi-Jun in Yi-Seo’s place, “Family first, moron.”
Giving attention only to one’s crush could make their family sad. Ra-Eun had neglected her family entirely in her past life, but she did not want Yi-Jun to repeat the mistakes that she had made.
“I happen to have two movie tickets, so go watch something with your sister,” she remarked.
Yi-Jun took the tickets from Ra-Eun as if it couldn’t be helped.
“Come to think of it, Ra-Eun noona. When’s your next production?”
“Next production?”
“It’s been a while since Shuttered?finished, hasn’t it? I was wondering when you were gonna star in your next production.”
Shuttered?had succeeded in becoming one of the massive hits that recorded over ten million in total attendance, like Ra-Eun had expected. Her value had increased even further with its success, and she was getting tons of offers even now. She was now so popular that it was more accurate to say that production teams were waiting to serve her rather than sending her casting offers. However, Ra-Eun had not even decided whether or not to resume her acting career, much less which production to star in.
‘I wonder if this is what Chief Jung wants to talk about today?’
It was possible. He would definitely want Ra-Eun, their agency’s poster actress, to be more active.
“I’ll have to take a look at some more synopses,” Ra-Eun expressed.
It was time for her to once again recall which productions would become massive hits in the future.
***
Ra-Eun recalled all the films that she could pull out from memory in the order of their release year while she was being driven to the fitness center by Ha-Jin.
‘Does this film release this year or the next? I can’t quite remember.’
If Ra-Eun had known that she would become an actress after returning to the past, she would have memorized only the relevant things.
‘Well, it’s impossible in the first place to know that you’re going back to the past.’
Especially with the change in gender included. Ra-Eun managed to clear up the fog of her memories to complete the list of films that would become a hit and which she would aim for among them. Meanwhile, they had arrived at the fitness center.
“We’ve arrived, Chairwoman,” Ha-Jin expressed.
“Thank you. I’ll contact you when I’m almost done, so you can come pick me up then.”
“Understood.”
Ra-Eun headed to the elevator as soon as she got out of the car. She went into the women’s changing room and changed her clothes. Once she got out, she could see Je-Woon wearing headphones waving at her.
“Good morning, Ra-Eun.”
“Good morning, sunbae. Have you been here long?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
“Because your face is covered in sweat.”
Not just his face, but his entire body was covered in beads of sweat. Ra-Eun had been able to tell from the beads traveling down the lines of his muscles since people usually didn’t sweat this much after just arriving at the fitness center.
“You have a good eye. Let’s see. I think I’ve been here for... around two hours?” Je-Woon guessed.
“That’s a long time.”
“I think it’s because I’m feeling pretty good today. What about you?”
“Not so much for me.”
Ra-Eun had so many things on her plate lately that her body was getting stiff, which was why she had purposefully spent her time learning yoga recently.
“I asked my roommate’s brother to give me a massage, but he said he didn’t want to,” Ra-Eun said.
“A massage?”
“Yes. I asked him to just loosen my shoulders and back a little, but he refused. Something about being burdened by the noises I make...”
“What noises?”
“I’m not sure either.”
It was still a mystery to Ra-Eun. In times like this, it was best to reenact the situation.
“Should I do it for you?” Je-Woon asked.
He had stepped up in Yi-Jun’s place.
“I’ll leave it to you, sunbae.”
“Okay.”
He had Ra-Eun sit in front of him. Her shoulders looked fragile just from a glance. To Je-Woon, Ra-Eun looked like a beautiful glass sculpture that could shatter from the slightest amount of pressure, so he squeezed lightly at first. However, that was not enough to satisfy Ra-Eun.
“You can go a little harder,” she stated.
“Then... how about this much?”
“Hnngh!” Ra-Eun suddenly moaned.
All eyes on the fitness center shifted to them. Je-Woon took his hands off of Ra-Eun in surprise.
“I think I get why he feels burdened giving you massages.”
“...?”
Ra-Eun was still the only one who didn’t know.
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