Chapter 286 - Reward (1)
Park Eun-Soo was on his way to Kim Han-Gyo’s mansion after receiving his summons. He was as expressionless as always. While they were stopped at a red light, Eun-Soo showed a certain photo to a member of his security team, who was heading to the mansion with him.
“What’s this, Team Leader?”
“Take a look.”
“...?”
The man tilted his head in confusion, but took a close look at the photo as Eun-Soo asked.
“This is...”
It was one of the photos that had been taken for Kang Ra-Eun and Je-Woon’s dating scandal. It had been cropped so that only Ra-Eun was on it.
“The congressman was saying that Kang Ra-Eun might be the masked woman that showed up when we kidnapped Reporter Ahn Su-Jin,” Eun-Soo expressed.
“The congressman still suspects Miss Kang Ra-Eun?”
This had not been the first time, so Han-Gyo’s closest associates pretty much considered it as something like an annual event. Like the chief secretary had said, Han-Gyo might be stuck on blaming Ra-Eun because he was stricken with a victim mentality. Eun-Soo had thought so as well, but he decided to think in a different way after seeing this photo.
“The congressman might be right.”
“Even you, Team Leader?”
“Just compare the masked woman that we had seen before with that photo. Do they not look awfully similar?”
The masks were different, but the appearance and aura that Ra-Eun gave off were extremely similar to that of the masked woman. Eun-Soo was also getting more convinced that Han-Gyo was right since he had once confronted the masked woman directly.
However, his subordinate replied, “Mmm... I can’t really tell. Maybe you just feel that way because the congressman talks about Miss Kang all the time?”
That was not it. Eun-Soo knew himself very well, and he was sure that his hunch and intuition were not wrong. They had arrived at Han-Gyo’s home before they had realized it as they were chatting. Eun-Soo got out of the car and went to Han-Gyo’s study right away.
“It’s me, Congressman.”
Han-Gyo permitted Eun-Soo to enter. The first thing that he saw when he entered the study was the clearly panicked chief secretary and Han-Gyo, who was full of vigor, unlike how he had been for a while.
“Team Leader Park. I called you here because...” Han-Gyo said as a corner of his mouth curled up. “There is something I need you to do for me.”
“Yes, Congressman. Anything.”
Eun-Soo was willing to do anything as long as Han-Gyo ordered him to do it. Even if Han-Gyo was being defamed by everyone around him, Eun-Soo had protected him by his side to the end. He had to be Han-Gyo’s hands and legs while Han-Gyo was being monitored by the entire country.
Han-Gyo’s smile grew even wider as he heard that Eun-Soo would do anything. There is only one thing that he wanted at the moment.
“Kang Ra-Eun. Bring her to me using any means necessary.”
***
The long-lasting film shoots had finally entered the second half even though it felt like yesterday that Ra-Eun had received the casting offer for Just Like a Melodrama Protagonist.
‘Time sure flies.’
Ra-Eun held in her laughter. She had thought that she wouldn’t be working in a studio for a very long time, but she had never expected that resolution to not even last a year. However, she had been able to cut off every single method that Han-Gyo could possibly use to resuscitate his career thanks to that. She had severed the ties between him and Chairman Jang Yun-Jik, the final person that he could rely on.
‘It’s really over now.’
Even while he had tried to create a conspiracy using the masked woman, it had been completely buried due to the dating scandal between Ra-Eun and Je-Woon. The cards that Han-Gyo could use had been depleted.
‘Now, I just have to wait until he self-destructs.’
Ra-Eun would only be satisfied after seeing him struggling in pain for the rest of his life after losing everything, falling into despair and even going insane. Ra-Eun sent Ma Yeong-Jun a text while on the move to the film set to ask if Han-Gyo had made any suspicious movements. Yeong-Jun’s reply was very short.
[Not yet.]
Ra-Eun smiled bitterly as she saw his reply.
[You won’t be popular with the ladies with short replies like that, mister.]
[I don’t care.]
Ra-Eun once again held in her laughter from how consistent his texts were. However, another thought popped up in her mind at the same time.
‘It kinda feels like the memories and emotions of my days as a man are fading.’
The time that Ra-Eun had spent as a woman was relatively short; it had not even been ten years. Compared to the length of time that she had been a man for, it was nothing. However, Ra-Eun had gotten perfectly accustomed to the discomforts that she had initially felt as a woman. She had also wondered whether it really was fine for her to get used to the body and life of a woman. Just then, she recalled the question that Yeong-Jun had asked her.
‘What am I gonna do after I fulfill my revenge...?’
Ra-Eun had not been able to find an answer yet. The strongest drive that had allowed her to live for this long despite the bizarre situation of her change in gender was her feelings of revenge toward Han-Gyo. She was not sure what to do once that drive disappeared.
As Ra-Eun sighed, Shin Yu-Bin asked worryingly, “What’s wrong, Ra-Eun? Is something bothering you?”
“No, it’s just... I have a few things on my mind.”
Ra-Eun wondered if there was any way to go back to being a man, but she couldn’t think of anything at the moment. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to find any other reason to stay in this world besides revenge.
While Ra-Eun was deep in such thoughts, she arrived at the set. An actress that she had never seen before introduced herself to Ra-Eun.
“Hello, sunbae! Pleased to meet you. My name is Yoo Ji-Hyun!”
Ra-Eun had never heard the name before. As she was wondering why an unfamiliar actor was on the set, Director Yoon found the two of them together.
“Oh, you’re here, Ra-Eun! Have you introduced yourself, Ji-Hyun?”
“Yes, Director.”
“Perfect. Oh, right. Min-Seok was looking for you. He seems to have something to tell you regarding next week’s shoot. Why don’t you go find him?”
“Okay. I will see you next week. Good luck on today’s shoot, sunbae!”
Ra-Eun nodded dumbfoundedly as her junior energetically cheered her on. As Ji-Hyun sped away, Ra-Eun asked Director Yoon about Ji-Hyun.
“Will that girl be shooting scenes with me as well?”
From what Ra-Eun remembered, there hadn’t been anyone on the list of cast members named Yoo Ji-Hyun. Director Yoon shook his head and explained why Ji-Hyun was here.
“She’s your double that will be kissing Han-Seok in your place. The scene is scheduled for next week. She wanted to take a look around since she was in the area and wanted to get used to the environment, so I told her that she could come.”
Kang Seo-Mi, the character that Ra-Eun played, was originally supposed to kiss both the characters Min Woo-Chan and Nam Yun-Seok once each. However, since Director Yoon knew that Ra-Eun did not like kiss scenes, he decided to reduce the number of Ra-Eun’s kiss scenes from two to one, and hired Ji-Hyun as her body double for the other one.
“I recruited her because her back view looks very familiar to yours. What do you think?”
“I think it’d be very hard to notice unless you take a super close look.”
“Right? Ji-Hyun had once been a hot topic among the public for being a ‘beauty from the back’.”
Not just that, their hairstyles and body shapes were considerably familiar. Ra-Eun was famous for never using a double for any of her scenes, but she couldn’t help it for kiss scenes.
‘I could at least do it myself if it were something like stunts.’
Ji Han-Seok and Yoo Ji-Hyun would be kissing. Ra-Eun was relieved that she wouldn’t need to be the one kissing at first, but she felt something other than relief now. Her feelings about it were a bit complicated.
***
After today’s shoot had finished, Ra-Eun came across Han-Seok in the hallway after changing her clothes in her waiting room.
“Great job today, sunbae.”
“You too, Ra-Eun.”
Ra-Eun felt a bit awkward interacting with Han-Seok, possibly because she had heard that he would be kissing Ji-Hyun.
Noticing that, Han-Seok asked, “Is there something you want to say to me?”
“Huh? No, not really...”
Ra-Eun said it was nothing, but it did not seem that way to Han-Seok. She decided to leave the scene before things got any more awkward.
“I have to go to the bathroom really badly...”
“Got it. I’ll see you on the next shoot.”
“Okay. Have a safe trip home, sunbae.”
Ra-Eun sighed as soon as she entered the women’s bathroom right in front of her.
“What the hell am I doing?”
She lightly hit her head with her left fist.
Creak.
Just as she was about to wash her face with cold water to wash away the discord in her mind, three closed stall doors slowly opened simultaneously. Three men showed themselves from within the stalls. Ra-Eun’s face stiffened after noticing the three sketchy men through the mirror.
“This is the women’s bathroom. Don’t you know it’s off limits to men?”
Despite that, the men kept silent and charged at Ra-Eun to catch her. However, she would not be caught so easily. She ran out of the bathroom after getting a bad feeling as soon as she saw the men. She couldn’t see a single person in the hallway.
“Tch.”
Ra-Eun lightly clicked her tongue and moved to quickly secure an escape route, but several other sketchy men popped out from the other side of the hallway. She was trapped from both the front and back. She could more or less tell where they had come from.
“Did Kim Han-Gyo send you?”
The men did not answer. There were seven of them.
‘I’d be able to put up more of a fight if we were somewhere wider.’
Not only was this hallway cramped, every single one of the men seemed to be experienced fighters. Their sole purpose was to kidnap Ra-Eun.
‘I was careless. I can’t believe he would aim for me so blatantly.’
It was not like Han-Gyo at all to do something so careless. Someone with nothing to lose could truly do whatever they wanted. Ra-Eun had thought that she had won because Han-Gyo no longer had anyone else to rely on, making her completely miss that simple fact.
‘Now that it’s come to this, I’ll have to resist the best I can.’
As she got into a fighting position, she heard a familiar man’s voice from over the men.
“Ra-Eun!”
Han-Seok’s voice completely stirred up the situation.
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