Chapter 246: Fierce Attack (1)
Shin Yu-Bin strongly grabbed Kang Ra-Eun by the shoulders after the program recording had finished.
“Ra-Eun. You’re not feeling sick today, are you?”
She even put her hand on Ra-Eun’s forehead to check if it was burning up.
Ra-Eun stared at her weirdly-acting manager and asked, “What are you doing all of a sudden, Miss Manager?”
It did not feel good to be seen as some weirdo.
“Well, it’s because you suddenly made a pledge to shoot a kiss scene. You’ve always made sure to tell directors that you’d never shoot kiss scenes or revealing scenes no matter how much they begged you.”
Yu-Bin’s reaction was obvious, considering how long she had known Ra-Eun. Ra-Eun realized that her pledge had been truly impactful since her manager, whom she had worked with the longest, was acting like this.
“I did it because that’s how much I want this film to do well.”
If Ra-Eun were to weigh the importance between her revenge and a kiss scene, her revenge would most definitely weigh more. She could more than handle one kiss scene if she could fulfill her revenge with it. And if she really could, she was willing to do even two or three.
Yu-Bin stared in marvel at Ra-Eun. She had come to know many different people in the entertainment industry, but she had never met anyone more difficult to understand than Ra-Eun.
***
The news of Ra-Eun pledging to shoot a kiss scene if Spokesperson recorded ten million audience views spread throughout the public. Like Ra-Eun had expected, the reactions were explosive. People were predicting who the partner of her first ever kiss scene would be, and the most mentioned names were, as expected, Ji Han-Seok and Je-Woon. There were also many mentions of Min Se-Min and Tae-Chan.
Ra-Eun smiled bitterly as she checked the public’s reactions on the internet. She felt like she could understand why people were so interested in celebrities’ daily lives. Back when she had been a man, she had never understood why there were articles written about what clothes that a certain celebrity had worn to the airport and where they had gone for a trip, but she could more or less understand after becoming a celebrity herself.
‘Famous celebrities can’t even enjoy anything in private.’
No matter where they went, there were eyes on them. Ra-Eun had not yet felt the exhaustion coming from such attention, but she felt like it would certainly tire her out if it were to happen.
Ra-Eun had pledged to shoot a kiss scene, but not everyone welcomed the idea, including Seo Yi-Jun, who lived under the same roof as her.
Seo Yi-Seo suggested that they go watch Spokesperson tomorrow on its release date, but Yi-Jun answered, “I’m not gonna watch it.”
“Why not?”
He looked toward Ra-Eun and answered, “Because I don’t want Ra-Eun noona to shoot a kiss scene.”
It was a form of jealousy. Ra-Eun smirked.
“It’s not like I’m gonna get married to the person that I’m gonna kiss.”
“Even so... I don’t like it.”
It was not like Ra-Eun didn’t understand how Yi-Jun felt. She would also not like it if the partner that she liked were to kiss someone else, even if it was just acting.
“It’s not like it’s guaranteed to get ten million views. Also, getting ten million people into cinemas is harder than it sounds, don’t you think?”
Ra-Eun’s primary goal had been to raise the public’s interest in the film by raising its awareness as much as possible, since people with even a little bit of interest in the film would most definitely come to watch it in cinemas. Not even she was sure that it would bring ten million people; it would be great if it did, and if it didn’t, then that was also fine since she wouldn’t have to shoot a kiss scene. Either way, it would benefit her.
“And if we’re talking about kissing, I’ve already done it with you,” Ra-Eun expressed.
Although it had been through CPR, she was not wrong in a physical sense. Yi-Jun’s face reddened. He had no memory of it since he had been unconscious, but it was an irrefutable fact.
“Watch it and make sure to promote it to your friends as well.”
Ra-Eun had come to need help from Yi-Jun’s fame as the Hottie Designer. Yi-Jun reluctantly nodded.
“Okay, noona.”
“Thanks,” she remarked while smiling.
Yi-Jun had come to realize that he had become a man who could never refuse Ra-Eun’s request. But even so, he did not find it to be a bad thing, since it was rewarding enough just to have the woman that he liked smile at him.
***
Ra-Eun and Park Seol-Hun headed to Chairman Ji’s mansion in the car that Team Leader So Ha-Jin drove.
“You have the gift, right, mister?”
“It’s right here, so don’t worry.”
“Keep your head in the game. We’re here to discuss something extremely important.”
“I know.”
Ra-Eun checked her makeup and attire with a compact mirror as soon as she got out of the car. Meanwhile, Ha-Jin straightened out Ra-Eun’s slightly wrinkled skirt for her.
“All done,” Ha-Jin said.
“Thanks. This might take long, so you can stand by in the car.”
“Understood.”
Ra-Eun approached Chairman Ji’s mansion with Seol-Hun. She felt this every time that she came here, but...
‘The garden looks so nice.’
She often noticed things like this because she had been thinking about moving soon. Meanwhile, Chairman Ji got the news that Ra-Eun had arrived, and showed himself along with his secretary. She bowed and greeted the chairman.
Ra-Eun then pointed at the paper bag that Seol-Hun was holding and expressed, “It’s nothing much, but I’ve brought you a gift. It’s a health supplement that’s very good for you, so please have some often.”
“Oh, you shouldn’t have gone through the trouble. In any case, thank you.”
Chairman Ji noticed from Ra-Eun and Seol-Hun’s appearances that something was different from their usual meetings.
“You must have something you want to tell me,” he said.
“Yes.”
Ra-Eun had said that she would come all the way to his home when they could have just talked in his company building. Chairman Ji wanted to hear what she had to say for now.
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
Ra-Eun revealed the true reason why she had invested so much in building a relationship with Chairman Ji all this time.
“I’d like you to cut off Congressman Kim Han-Gyo’s source of funds.”
It had been to entrust this role to him. Chairman Ji had been the source of Han-Gyo’s funds in the beginning. Most of Han-Gyo’s current source of funds had been people whom Chairman Ji had aided him in getting, or those whom he had some relations to. If Chairman Ji took serious action, it was more than possible to squeeze Han-Gyo dry.
Chairman Ji was slightly bewildered by the subject that had been much more serious than he had expected. However, it was not like he couldn’t understand why.
“There are three weeks left until the general election, I believe,” Chairman Ji said.
“That’s right.”
The result of the battle for Jongno between Han-Gyo and Hong Oh-Yeon was almost certain; most people expected Han-Gyo to win by a landslide. What Ra-Eun wanted was a great reversal; and to do that, she needed to fulfill some prerequisites.
The most fundamental thing that one needed for an election campaign was money. If the candidate did not have money, their actions would be severely restricted. That was what Ra-Eun was aiming for.
Chairman Ji felt strange to be asked something like this from Ra-Eun, since she had almost never requested anything from him. However, it was not completely out of left field since he had more or less realized that Ra-Eun had feelings of hostility against Han-Gyo.
“Alright.”
Ra-Eun had been determined to stay however long it took to persuade Chairman Ji, but he had immediately agreed in contrary to her expectations. His decision had been too quick for it to feel true. Although it was definitely a good thing for Ra-Eun, she was also curious about why he had decided so quickly.
“I had expected you to ask me a lot of questions, Chairman.”
Ra-Eun had expected him to be curious about why she was asking for such a thing, but Chairman Ji thought otherwise.
“It’s because I know that the more complicated something is, the more simply that you should think about it. Besides, I don’t want to see him succeed anymore either.”
Chairman Ji had already refused to join forces with Han-Gyo. Although Han-Gyo was busy getting ready for the general election right now, he would definitely come to take his revenge for Chairman Ji’s refusal once things died down. Hence, Chairman Ji was thinking of striking first.
“I don’t want to be backstabbed by the same person twice,” he stated.
Ra-Eun smiled in silence.
“But can I ask you something?” Chairman Ji asked.
“Yes, Chairman. Anything.”
“Why do you despise Congressman Kim so much?”
He would have understood if Ra-Eun had also been backstabbed by Han-Gyo like he had, but she had not experienced anything like that. Hence, the chairman was curious about her reason.
One of the corners of Ra-Eun’s mouth rose.
“It’s an ill fate from a past life.”
***
After her meeting with Chairman Ji, Ra-Eun went to meet Je-Woon, who would be heading out for his next world tour the day after tomorrow.
“Were you surprised to hear that I wanted to meet you?” Ra-Eun asked.
Je-Woon strongly nodded and answered, “Actually, something else shocked me more.”
“What is it?”
“The pledge that you made.”
Ra-Eun’s pledge had become a hot topic everywhere. However, it was not guaranteed that she would be shooting a kiss scene since the film had only just been released. It might have been thanks to her pledge or a different reason, but the film had recorded four hundred thousand in audience attendance on just the first day, which was not a small number at all.
“It might actually reach ten million at this rate,” Je-Woon remarked.
“That’d be great.”
Ra-Eun did not seem very worried, which was fascinating to Je-Woon.
“You absolutely hated shooting kiss scenes, didn’t you? Did you find a male actor that you want to kiss or something?” he asked.
“It doesn’t have to be a man.”
“Gasp... A woman then, perhaps?”
“Who knows? I guess it would depend on what kind of production it is.”
Je-Woon was getting swept all over the place by Ra-Eun’s words. He shook his head after belatedly coming to his senses and got straight to the point.
“You said you had something important to tell me, right?”
“I’d say it’s more sensitive than important.”
“What is it?”
There was something that Ra-Eun wanted from Je-Woon.
“I’d like to support Congresswoman Hong Oh-Yeon in this general election, and I was wondering if you could help me. I’m not asking you to blatantly back Congresswoman Hong; just hinting at it indirectly is enough.”
It was considerably risky for a celebrity to support a specific politician, even indirectly. Je-Woon was a celebrity with an extreme amount of influence, so it would definitely be effective if Je-Woon were to accept her request.
Je-Woon thought deeply, and then accepted Ra-Eun’s request soon after.
“I’ve appeared on a variety show with Congresswoman Hong before, so I’ll post a selfie that I’d taken with her at the time and post it along with a comment saying ‘Good luck, Congresswoman Hong’. Is that good enough?”
“Yes, that’s more than enough. Thank you very much.”
“But I have a condition.”
Je-Woon wanted to set a condition that matched the difficult favor that Ra-Eun was asking of him.
“Can I reserve the kiss scene that you had pledged?”
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