Chapter 297 - I Returned as a High School Girl (3)
Just Like a Melodrama Protagonist, the film that Ra-Eun had starred in as the protagonist, had set an amazing record from the first day like a ship sailing in the fair wind. It had set an unprecedented start for a romance film, grabbing the attention of the majority of news media.
The film had released around a similar time as Hollywood films and other national films that had taken a lot of money to make, but it had still managed to record profits head and shoulders above them. While cinemas were being packed, Kang Ra-Eun got ready to go to the press conference interview that she had with the other lead roles of the film.
‘My hair’s gotten longer than last year.’
The longer one’s hair was, the more care it needed. She casually sat in front of her dressing table after drying her hair with a towel.
‘I’ve gotten used to sitting in front of a dressing table now.’
It felt like yesterday when she had been highly unaccustomed to the concept of a dressing table, but it had become a place where she had spent the majority of her time, aside from her bed, computer desk and couch.
Ra-Eun was going to be getting her hair done at the beauty salon anyway, so she didn’t need to dry her hair fully.
As she was about to grab the hair dryer, Seo Yi-Seo asked, “Would you like me to dry it for you?”
“That’d be great.”
Getting Yi-Seo’s help was definitely better than drying it herself. Ra-Eun hated nothing more than the inner portion of her hair still being wet after thinking that she had done her absolute best to dry it.
Whirrr—
The warm air enveloped Ra-Eun’s hair and scalp along with the noisy racket of the dryer. As Yi-Seo was carefully taking care of Ra-Eun’s long hair in silence, she suddenly said something meaningful.
“I’m glad.”
“Huh? About what?”
“Well, I’ve been worried about you since you haven’t been in a very good mood for a few days. And then you had that incident with Kim Han-Gyo, so I got even more worried. But, it looks like you’re back to your normal bright self, so that’s why I’m glad.”
Ra-Eun had been hearing words like this a lot lately from people, saying they were glad that she was back to her normal bright self. Ji Han-Seok and Je-Woon had said something similar on the day of their final shoot.
It was natural that the people who had no idea about what was on her mind were worried, but they no longer had any reason to. Her revenge had finally come to an end, and she had even more or less found an answer about how she should live from now on.
In short, she still didn’t know whether to live as a woman, or to keep her identity as a man like she was doing now. After much thought, Ra-Eun had come to an answer; neither one was the right answer. She had come to a resolution that life was about trusting that one’s choice was the right one, and making it into a reality.
Ra-Eun stretched her right arm in front of her. It was far more slender than her arm back in her days as a man.
She clenched her hand into a fist and asked her best friend, “Yi-Seo. What kind of person do you think I should be from now on?”
Yi-Seo spoke while stroking Ra-Eun’s fine hair.
“I think you...”
***
Ra-Eun sat side by side with Han-Seok and Je-Woon across from the reporters. The reporters had wanted to interview Director Yoon Tae-Yoon as well, but since he didn’t like being on camera very much, the interview had ended up being commenced with just the three actors.
Ra-Eun was in the middle, while Han-Seok and Je-Woon were on her left and right respectively. The reporters, having seemed to have watched the film, were reminded of the three lead characters of the film as they looked at them.
“We will start off with Miss Kang Ra-Eun. The film has become a huge hit. Do you have any intention of making a pledge like last time if it surpasses ten million in total attendance?”
Ra-Eun giggled and answered, “I’m thinking of skipping it this time. I’ve learned a hard lesson after making a pledge for this film last time.”
A kiss with a man was still not a very welcome feeling for her. It was less repulsive since it had been with Han-Seok and Je-Woon, but she might have suffered greatly if it had been with any other male actor.
“And it’s not as fun if I keep making huge pledges, right?” Ra-Eun remarked.
A few reporters agreed with her. Even if she hadn’t made a pledge, Just Like a Melodrama Protagonist would’ve become a huge hit. The film had long since broken even, so Director Yoon and the investors didn’t have anything to lose anymore. There was no reason to pull in audiences like for Spokesperson, so Ra-Eun was thinking about taking it easy this time. Han-Seok and Je-Woon felt the same way.
There was one thing that they couldn’t leave aside when discussing the movie, which was Ra-Eun’s kiss scenes in the film.
“I’d heard that your kiss scene with Mr. Ji Han-Seok hadn’t been arranged in the beginning. What made you want to do the kiss scene yourself?”
Ra-Eun had known that this question would be asked. She had also received a similar question in the premiere after the film had played. She decided to give the same answer that she had back then.
“I’ve never liked using stand-ins for my performances, so I’d decided to do it myself.”
“And there were no other reasons in particular?” the reporter asked.
“Like what?”
“Like having feelings for Mr. Ji Han-Seok, or something like that.”
It was a very blatant question. Reporters were like hyenas hunting for a scoop. They wouldn’t let go of such a delicious treat right in front of them. Han-Seok had also gotten anxious by the question.
Ra-Eun smiled meaningfully and remarked, “I don’t add my own self into my characters. Once I do, it becomes difficult to portray them.”
It made sense.
Another reporter asked, “Do you feel the same way, Mr. Je-Woon?”
“Yes, of course.”
Both Je-Woon and Han-Seok smiled bitterly as if they knew that Ra-Eun would answer that way. Ra-Eun was not interested in men; the two of them knew that fact very well. But just then, Ra-Eun said something unprecedented.
“But you never know how things go in life. There are celebrities who ended up dating people that played their love interest and even got married to them. I’ve never thought about that kind of thing before, but I've recently been thinking... that might also happen to me.”
The eyes of the two male actors widened. Ra-Eun, who had always given no interest in men, dating and love whenever asked, had said that she ‘might’ for the first time ever. Han-Seok and Je-Woon stared at Ra-Eun dumbfoundedly.
Ra-Eun looked back and forth at the two men while smiling.
“There’s no such thing as ‘never’ in the world, after all. Right?”
The two men unconsciously nodded.
***
Ra-Eun was spending time in the waiting room talking to Seo Yi-Jun over the phone after the press conference.
“What do I want for dinner? Hmm. Why don’t we grill some meat in the yard? We haven’t had a barbecue party in a while.”
- Then I’ll get some groceries on my way home. What time will you be coming home?
“Me? I’ll be coming straight home after a radio show recording. I’ll be back home for dinner, so get everything ready.”
- Okay, noona. I’ll see you later at home.
“Okay.”
After finding out that Ra-Eun had returned to being her bright self, Yi-Jun had been stepping up as the cook to make whatever that she wanted.
“He’s so cute.”
This side of him might be why Ra-Eun was still letting Yi-Jun live with her. She would be having a dinner party with her roommates, but the yard was too massive to have a dinner party with just three people. As she was about to call Ra-Hyuk to ask if he and their father would like to join them, someone knocked on the door.
“Is Miss Kang Ra-Eun inside?”
Ra-Eun opened the waiting room door to see two unfamiliar women. One of them smiled.
“Hello, Miss Kang. I’d forgotten to ask you something.”
Ra-Eun wondered if they were reporters. She felt weird by how unfamiliar they looked.
‘I’ve never seen them before.’
Ra-Eun had a very good memory; she more or less remembered the faces of every single reporter that had participated in the press conference, but she had not seen these two women in the venue. Despite that, she felt like she had seen one of the two women somewhere before.
“No way, are you...”
Before Ra-Eun could continue, the woman spoke first.
“I would like to give you another chance.”
The woman handed her a sheet of paper. It was the Return Application Form.
“Miss Kang Ra-Eun. No, Mr. Park Geon-Woo. After a reevaluation, a few of your good deeds in your past life had been omitted. You should’ve been given forty-five seconds to fill out the form, but you were only given thirty. That’s why we’ve come to give you fifteen more seconds to fill out the form.”
It was the woman in the hanbok who had given Ra-Eun the Return Application Form before she had returned to the past. She gulped as she took a look at the form.
‘It’s the exact same.’
Everything that she had written down had been perfectly preserved, even the traces that had been made due to her having been in a hurry at the time.
“If you would like, we can change your gender back,” the woman said.
“By ‘change back’... do you mean I’ll return back to the past?”
“That’s fine too, or you can stay within the timeline that you had fulfilled your revenge in. If that’s the case, I guess you would end up in the current Park Geon-Woo’s body.”
Ra-Eun had been given the chance to live on as Park Geon-Woo in the world where his family relationship was intact and his mortal enemy had completely disappeared.
“...”
Ra-Eun was handed a pen by the woman. Her gaze was fixed on the form. And moments later...
Thud.
Ra-Eun put the pen down.
“I’m good.”
“Even if this is the last chance you’ll get?”
“Yeah. Even so, I won’t do it. My current life is fun in its own right. And...”
Ra-Eun looked at the two women.
“My best friend told me that I’m fine just the way I am.”
This was the final decision that Ra-Eun had made. The woman smiled and got up from her seat.
“I understand. In that case, I hope your new life is full of blessings.”
“Thanks.”
After sending the two women off, Ra-Eun leaned on her chair and stared at her reflection in the mirror.
She slowly opened her mouth and said to herself, “I’ll be in your care from now on as well.”
Not even Ra-Eun herself knew what her life after revenge would entail, but one thing she knew for sure was that unlike before, she had chosen this life herself. That was one thing that no one could take from her.
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