Chapter 219: Imaginary Couple (2)
Kang Ra-Eun’s expression stiffened as soon as marriage was mentioned. Several pieces of knowledge of the future flashed before her eyes.
‘Imaginary marriage programs involving celebrities was all the rage around this time.’
Her reaction aside, Ra-Eun actually enjoyed watching these programs very much. The programs themselves were entertaining, but she had watched them often because she could live vicariously off of them.
‘But I’d never expected myself to get an appearance offer, much less from Director Joo Seong-Won, who I have my eyes on.’
For now, Ra-Eun decided to wait until the call was over and ask Shin Yu-Bin about the details. It was not too late to think about it then.
“I understand. I’ll talk to Ra-Eun about it. Okay, but don’t get your hopes up, Director.”
Yu-Bin had worked with Ra-Eun for a very long time, so she knew exactly what kind of shows that Ra-Eun preferred. Yu-Bin could tell from just the program’s concept of imaginary marriage that it would not pique Ra-Eun’s interest. Hence, she had told Director Joo not to get his hopes up.
“Did he call to recruit me to a show?” Ra-Eun asked as soon as the call ended.
Yu-Bin couldn’t say otherwise since she had the phone call with the director right in front of her.
“Yeah. I’ve only heard the gist of what kind of program it is, but he’s planning on one where two celebrities spend time together as imaginary married couples.”
“What’s the show called?”
“It’s not a sure thing yet, but apparently, it’s You’re My Other Half.”
In Ra-Eun’s past life, it had been an extremely successful program that had reached the top three in terms of imaginary marriage program view ratings.
‘I didn’t know Director Joo had produced it.’
Ra-Eun more or less knew which programs had been hits or flops, but not who had planned and led them since she had not been part of the entertainment industry before she had returned to the past.
Now that Kim Han-Gyo had begun to suspect her, Ra-Eun had no choice but to hasten her revenge plan. She could lose the upper hand on Han-Gyo if she took her time unnecessarily. Due to this, she had been planning on digging for more of Han-Gyo’s weaknesses.
‘I think I could use Director Joo to easily get some information.’
Joo Seong-Won had become one of her important connections, which was why she had even appeared on the army variety program that she had hated so much.
‘That was that, but this is a bit...’
Ra-Eun did not want to show herself acting like newlyweds with a male celebrity to viewers. But most of all, she did not want to stoop down to such a state.
‘I can just make excuses like I’m busy with my film shoots. I’m sure Director Joo would understand.’
Ra-Eun would refuse this offer and wait for another opportunity. But before that, she was curious about one thing.
“But why did he give me of all people this offer?” she asked Yu-Bin.
Ra-Eun wondered if it had simply been because of her popularity.
Yu-Bin shrugged and replied, “Director Joo somehow found out about your adjusted schedule because of Je-Woong’s motorcycle accident. He called because he knew you would have a month of free time.”
Korea was a small country, and the entertainment industry was relatively much smaller; it did not take long for everyone to find out if one did something. The news of the one-month vacancy in her schedule had already reached the ears of several people in the entertainment industry, and it couldn’t be better news for those that were normally always on the lookout to have Ra-Eun on their shows.
‘I guess I can’t use the film shoots as an excuse anymore.’
However, Ra-Eun was not troubled; she could simply make up another excuse.
“And one more thing,” Yu-Bin added. There seemed to be one more reason why Director Joo had tried to recruit Ra-Eun. “Apparently, Je-Woon said that he would come on the show if you did as well.”
“Je-Woon sunbae did?”
An unexpected third individual had been mentioned.
***
Turning back time to five days before Ra-Eun received the appearance offer for You’re my Other Half, Je-Woon slicked back his sweaty hair while he was showered by deafening cheers and the spotlight beaming down on him like the sun at the concert.
Haa, haa, haa.
He was panting heavily, but he sang his part of the song with a radiant smile.
I want to light up your heart, shining, shining!
Here, take my hand. I’ll take you anywhere, my girl.
Je-Woon stretched out his hand to match the lyrics, to which the fans that had come to the Bex concert screamed.
“Kyaaa! Je-Woon oppa!!!”
They chanted Je-Woon’s name as he was the most popular member of Bex. The song that they were singing, Shining, was made to make Je-Woon shine the brightest among the seven members. Hence, he couldn’t help but stand out the most as the one in the center.
The seven of them lined up horizontally, hand in hand, and bowed to their fans.
“Thank you very much for coming to our concert!”
“We’ll see you on the next stage! Bye!”
The members climbed down from the stage once the concert was over. The staff members showered them with applause.
“Fantastic job, you guys!”
“The concert was as impeccable as any!”
“My heart was beating so hard the whole time that I thought I was getting a heart attack!”
The staff members that had prepared the stage had also become one with the fans and watched Bex’s world concert stage. Their third world tour would come to an end next week with the final concert in Los Angeles, USA.
Je-Woon returned to the waiting room and strongly patted Tae-Chan, the youngest member of Bex, on the back.
“Great job, Tae-Chan.”
“You too, hyung. Oh, right. What are you gonna do once we go back to Korea next week?”
“I’m not sure. I’m thinking of taking a break if I don’t have anything in particular to do. Why?”
“I saw Director Joo Seong-Won earlier. He’s apparently here to see you.”
“He’s here?”
This was a concert venue in Paris, France. Je-Woon was shocked to find out that Director Joo was all the way here.
“Where is he?” he asked.
“I’m not sure about that. I only saw him for a moment before the encore...”
Tae-Chan didn’t know why the director was here either. Je-Woon had once been a regular in Director Joo’s program before, so he had gotten quite close to him as a result.
‘Should I give him a call?’
However, he had no way to contact him at the moment because he had left his phone with his manager. As he was wondering about what to do, their manager opened the waiting room after knocking and called out to Je-Woon.
“Je-Woon. Director Joo is here to see you.”
Director Joo was standing outside the door, happily waving at him. Je-Woon was also happy to see him.
“Director! What brings you all the way here?”
Je-Woon wondered if the director had come all the way here to survey the location, possibly because his next variety program was related to France.
“I’m here to see you,” Director Joo expressed.
“You came all the way to France to see me?”
“Yeah.”
The director’s objective was solely Je-Woon, who couldn’t help but be confused.
“Did you do something you need to apologize to me for?” Je-Woon asked.
“I’m about to.”
Je-Woon was getting more and more confused with each question. Director Joo asked for the understanding of the other Bex members before getting to the main point.
“I’ll be borrowing Je-Woon for a bit.”
Director Joo took Je-Woon somewhere with fewer people, and then explained why he had come to see him.
“You see, I’m planning an imaginary marriage program called You’re My Other Half.”
“Imaginary marriage?”
“Exactly. A pair of famous male and female celebrities pretend to be married, and we film their imaginary couple life. What do you think? Not bad, right?”
“Shouldn’t you also consult my manager hyung about this?”
“I’ve already discussed it with your manager.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he would do as you want.”
Je-Woon’s manager had left the decision to him. At this point in time, these imaginary marriage programs were not very popular because they still felt very experimental. However, Je-Woon did not find the concept all that bad; rather, it was one that he had been observing in interest.
However, he was not in a very good spot at the moment to accept the offer. Like he had told Tae-Chan, he was planning on taking a break after the world tour. As he was thinking about what to do, a certain individual popped up in his head.
“Okay, then let’s do this.”
Je-Woon’s condition was simple yet extremely difficult to pull off.
“I’ll come on if Ra-Eun does as well.”
That had led to the incident of the present.
***
Ra-Eun had come to find out why she had received such an offer. Je-Woon’s condition aside, Yu-Bin thought of it in a different light.
“I’m sure Director Joo also wants you and Je-Woon to come on together. The leader of a top boy group, and the most popular actress in Korea. The view ratings would explode if these two people became an imaginary couple.”
It would already pique the public’s interest if they were to appear on the program separately, but it would obviously stir the entire country if they appeared on it together. However, there were two reasons why it hadn’t happened until now; the first was a mismatch in their individual schedules, and the second was the appearance fee.
‘But it shouldn’t be a problem for Director Joo.’
He was Kim Han-Gyo’s nephew; he would be able to secure any amount of appearance fees as long as he used his blood ties.
“Then will my partner be Je-Woon sunbae?” Ra-Eun asked.
“For now, yeah. At least, that’s what Director Joo wants. After all, Je-Woon openly nominated you.”
.
Ra-Eun crossed her arms together and fell into deep thought.
“What do you want to do?” Yu-Bin asked.
The final decision had come down to Ra-Eun. She opened her mouth at last after a few more moments of thought.
“Well, I guess I can give it a try.”
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