Chapter 225: Mortal Enemy’s Invitation (1)
Kang Ra-Eun opened her eyes at 7 AM and struggled to get up after realizing that the ceiling looked unfamiliar.
‘Oh right, I’m in the middle of a shoot...’
Her unkempt self was also being filmed right now. This was her third day here, so she practically had a map of the house in her head with every single camera position at this point. There was one on the upper right corner of the wall with the window on it, and another one above the room door.
Ra-Eun fixed her clothes and roughly combed her hair with her hand. Her hair was so long that it was always a complete mess whenever she woke up, and it was no different today.
‘Lions would consider me one of their own.’
Her unkempt hair looked like a lion’s mane. Ra-Eun barely managed to get out of her bed and detected a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. She walked to the kitchen to see Je-Woon in an apron, like she had expected.
He asked with a smile, “Did you sleep okay?”
“What time did you wake up, sunbae?”
“Me? Around thirty minutes ago, I think?”
Thirty minutes ago meant that he had woken up at 6:30 AM.
“You woke up so early,” Ra-Eun expressed.
“My eyes just opened naturally. I’m making toast. Are you fine with that?”
“Yes. Then I’ll set the table.”
Je-Woon did not seem to feel awkward in any way despite having confessed his feelings to Ra-Eun yesterday and being turned down. The psychological damage had likely been far less because he knew that he would be rejected. Ra-Eun felt relieved to see Je-Woon like this.
‘I was worried that he would be super awkward around me.’
Je-Woon was a true professional.
***
After they finished their breakfast, their imaginary married life officially came to an end after the program director congratulated them on their hard work. Shin Yu-Bin came up to Ra-Eun once the shoot had finished.
“Great work, Ra-Eun.”
Ra-Eun felt happy to see her manager after three days.
“You too, Miss Manager.”
“I didn’t do anything. You’re going straight home, right?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
Ra-Eun had spent a leisurely time in the villa that Ji Han-Seok had lent her for the past three days, but she was still fatigued. No matter how much she rested here, she could never rest in the truest sense on camera. It was time to go back home and truly rest.
However, Yu-Bin brought up another topic before that, “Chief Jung asked you to come to the agency this Friday.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know either.”
Friday was two days from now; if he had something to tell her, he could have just done so right away.
‘Whatever it is, it must not have been finalized yet.’
There were always hidden circumstances for everything. She didn’t know what Chief Jung would tell her, but she only needed to wait two days to find out.
“Okay.”
“I’ll come pick you up at your house on that day. He said to come whenever you have time since it wasn’t urgent, so you can take your time getting ready. Oh, and...”
Yu-Bin was about to tell Ra-Eun every single matter that had piled up for the past three days, but Director Joo Seong-Won suddenly jumped in.
“Ra-Eun! You know about the afterparty later, right?”
“There’s already an afterparty when it was just the first shoot?”
“Well, it was the first and the last for you and Je-Woon. But of course, I’d prefer it if it wasn’t the last.”
Director Joo hoped for them to be regular members of his program, but it was nothing but his hope; even he knew that it was realistically difficult. Hence, he couldn’t pester them to keep appearing on You’re My Other Half.
“It’s too much of a shame to just end it here, so I prepared an afterparty. Please come if you have time. Je-Woon will also be coming."
“If sunbae is coming, so should I.”
Ra-Eun did not have anything in particular planned for today. She promised Director Joo that she would attend the afterparty and then left the set with Yu-Bin. Fatigue belatedly swept over her as soon as she entered the car.
‘I suddenly don’t feel like going.’
However, it was far too late to say that she couldn’t go. She sighed.
***
Ra-Eun had returned to her sweet home after three days. However, there was one abnormality.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
She had come across Seo Yi-Jun, who was carrying a large suitcase, at the front door.
“I’m going on a trip with my friends,” he answered.
“What kind of trip?”
“A healing trip. One of my high school friends got rejected by a girl that he had liked for a long time, so we’re all going on a three-day trip to console him.”
“...Really?”
Ra-Eun’s eyebrow flinched. Although she had never seen Yi-Jun’s friend, his story seemed awfully familiar.
“Do the aftereffects of being rejected last for a while?” she asked.
Ra-Eun had never sincerely confessed to someone back when she was a man. However, that did not mean she had no interest in women; she certainly did, but she had never confessed to a woman with the thought of wanting to spend the rest of her life with them.
It was even worse after she had become a woman; she had zero interest in the opposite sex, which was now men. Hence she wasn’t able to empathize with the feelings of people who had been rejected after sincerely confessing to someone.
Yi-Jun tilted his head in confusion and asked, “Did someone confess to you again?”
Ra-Eun subtly flinched, but did her best to act as if it was not the case.
“No, I just asked because I’m curious.”
“Really? I was sure you were asking because someone confessed to you again.”
Ra-Eun glared at the fairly perceptive Yi-Jun. “Just answer the question.”
Ra-Eun kept their conversation on the right track before it deviated elsewhere.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never been rejected before, so I wouldn’t know.”
“You haven’t? You said you’ve been in a relationship twice back in high school.”
“I wouldn’t really call them relationships. They were only about a month long at most. Also, no one has ever turned me down.”
Ra-Eun glared at Yi-Jun even more sharply.
“You sound kind of condescending.”
She felt like she had lost just for asking.
***
Ra-Eun checked her attire one last time in front of the full-length mirror before heading to the afterparty venue. She had casually worn a shirt and jeans since she was not going to a formal event like a premiere or production press conference. Ra-Eun used to prefer formal wear, considering her former occupation, but she had come to prefer casual wear over formal.
‘And most of all, it’s comfortable.’
Ra-Eun grabbed her handbag and headed down to the underground second floor parking lot where Team Leader So Ha-Jin was waiting. There was no shoot planned, so she told Yu-Bin that she didn’t have to come with her out of consideration. Yu-Bin also had a lot on her plate being Ra-Eun’s manager.
Ha-Jin, who had been waiting outside the car, greeted Ra-Eun.
“It’s been a while, Chairwoman.”
“Have you been well during the time I’ve been away?”
“Yes. There haven’t been any issues. Oh, Yeong-Jun asked me to tell you something.”
“Yeong-Jun?”
Ra-Eun thought she had heard wrong. On the other hand, Ha-Jin was as calm as she could be.[1]
“By Yeong-Jun, we’re talking about the same Mr. Ma Yeong-Jun, right?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No, it was just a surprise. Are you guys the same age?”
If Ha-Jin was addressing him in such a casual manner, they were either the same age, or...
“I’m older than him,” Ha-Jin expressed.
“...”
Ra-Eun was considerably shocked.
“Then what does Mr. Ma call you?”
“He decided to call me ‘noona’.”
“Whoa...”
Ra-Eun couldn’t imagine a man of that size calling Ha-Jin ‘noona’.
‘I can’t believe he was younger than her.’
Starting from his fanatical tendency for girl groups, Yeong-Jun was revealing many shocking sides of himself to Ra-Eun.
“Anyway, what did he ask you to tell me?” Ra-Eun went back to the subject at hand.
“It’s about Congressman Kim Han-Gyo.”
Ra-Eun had told Yeong-Jun several times to keep a close eye on Han-Gyo before going into the You’re My Other Half shoot.
“He’s been meeting every single member of the political and financial world that has a connection to you,” Ha-Jin reported.
It was obvious what Han-Gyo had talked about with them; he was trying to cajole them. Ra-Eun couldn’t think of any other reason why he was meeting them.
“From what we’ve found out, none of the people that the congressman has met have sympathized with or been persuaded by him.”
“I would guess so.”
Not even Han-Gyo would be sure of whether or not the members of the anti-Kim Han-Gyo faction would take his hand after all the sins that he had committed.
“I wonder if it’ll be me next?” Ra-Eun said jokingly.
But of course, even she thought that it was a bit of a stretch.
***
Director Joo excitedly welcomed Ra-Eun once she arrived at the afterparty venue.
“Ra-Eun! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you! It’s been so boring without you here!”
Ra-Eun could tell from the stench of alcohol that the director was already drunk.
“You got started faster than usual, Director,” she expressed.
Director Joo was known to love alcohol, but he had gotten drunk way too quickly this time. It was not like she was late; she was actually five minutes early, so she had never expected to see the director so drunk already. Unlike Ra-Eun, the other staff members who had worked with the director for a long time were taking this situation as if it was normal. Je-Woon, who had known the director for a while, reacted the same as them.
“Director. Don’t trouble Ra-Eun and stay seated.”
“How can I stay seated on such an amazing day?! Don’t you agree? Huhh?”
“Urgh, you reek of alcohol.”
Ra-Eun giggled awkwardly as Director Joo and Je-Woon quarreled. She would have gotten someone to keep Director Joo away from her if he wasn’t the director of their program.
The director spoke to Ra-Eun before going back to his seat, “Oh... Right. I’ve gotta tell you something, Ra-Eun.”
Ra-Eun did not want to humor his drunken gibberish, but decided to anyway.
“What is it?”
“It’s about my uncle.”
Ra-Eun’s expression changed. Joo Seong-Won’s uncle was Congressman Kim Han-Gyo.
Director Joo continued without knowing how Ra-Eun felt, “He was talking about wanting to meet you, and that he would be giving you an invitation soon.”
1. Ra-Eun is surprised because Ha-Jin addressed Ma Yeong-Jun in a very friendly manner. 👈
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