Chapter 33: Pride of the School (2)
Kang Ra-Eun was about to head home after school was over.
“Ra-Eun.”
However, she was called over by the homeroom teacher, who looked like he had something to say.
“Could I talk to you for a second?”
“Right now?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Yeah, it won’t take long.”
Ra-Eun had been planning on going to Starlight Road to have tea with her friends, but she was a bit confused about why the homeroom teacher wanted to talk to her all of a sudden.
She wondered if she had done anything wrong, but...
‘I can’t really think of anything.’
Ra-Eun had been quite the model student after returning to the past, so there was no reason why the homeroom teacher would want to talk to her privately.
Seo Yi-Seo reassured her, “You can go, we’ll be waiting here.”
“Okay.”
Since the homeroom teacher said that it wouldn’t take long, she reluctantly excused herself from her friends. As she was heading to the staff room for teachers in charge of second-year students, she pondered over why the homeroom teacher called her.
‘They’re not gonna tackle me over my midterm grades like last time, are they?’
The supervisors had focused their full attention on Ra-Eun this time. She had thought that she had fully proven that she did not cheat in an environment where cheating was impossible, but that did not seem to have been the case.
‘They’re so damn doubtful.’
Ra-Eun held in her bitter smile. Once she arrived at the staff room, she found out that the conversation had nothing to do with the midterms.
“The school website is going to be renewed, and...”
The homeroom teacher scratched his head. There was slight untowardness mixed in his words.
“We were wondering if you’d be okay with being a model for it.”
She was taken aback by the mention of a model when she had been expecting accusations of cheating.
“A model for what?” she asked.
“We’re thinking of putting up pictures of one male and one female student on the main page of the renewed website to show what our school uniform looks like and stuff. It would also be a great help on the advertisement end, since you’re so famous now.”
A model was crucial in representing the image of a product, group, or organization. An entire organization could either be praised or cursed just based on the model. No matter what anyone would say, Ra-Eun was currently the most representative person in this high school, since she was the most famous. Her reputation was fairly decent these days as well.
However, Ra-Eun felt that it would be a loss on her end if she took on such a role with no conditions. She never worked for free. Something of benefit to her had to be offered. She had upheld that principle to this day.
“What do I get for taking on this model job?” she asked.
Ra-Eun did not like beating around the bush. Only by being straightforward could she be satisfied. She would be doing the school a favor, so she naturally wanted a reward befitting that effort. What was given must be paid back; that was the fundamental principle of trade.
The homeroom teacher had expected her to say something like that.
“Well... We could boost your grade point average. Let me know if you have anything else that you want. I’ll try to propose it to the higher-ups.”
GPA.
It was a bit of a shame, but Ra-Eun was relatively satisfied with the reward since her GPA had been slightly lacking.
“Okay, please do that,” Ra-Eun replied.
“Huh? Really?” the homeroom teacher asked.
“Yes.”
Ra-Eun had been pondering over how to improve her grades that had gone to shit because of the days of high school that she had not spent in this body.
‘I guess I’ll have to do this.’
She was planning on doing whatever it took to improve her academic background even a little.
***
Being a school model did not involve anything like signing contracts or massive preparations that a real model would go through. They just needed to free up some time to take some pictures at the photographer’s lead.
Like the homeroom teacher had said, a male and female student were selected to represent the school. The female student was obviously Ra-Eun, but the problem was with the male student.
“Did you hear the news, Ra-Eun?”
Na Gyu-Rin and Choi Ro-Mi came up to Ra-Eun during the break. She removed her earphones while she was enjoying her music.
“What news?” she asked.
“About the male student who’ll be taking pictures with you. Apparently, it’s Park Se-Woon.”
“Park Se-Woon? Who’s that?”
It was the first time Ra-Eun had heard that name.
“You know, the one who gets driven to and picked up from school by a driver. He’s in the same year as us.”
“A driver? He must be from a pretty rich household,” Ra-Eun expressed.
“Not ‘pretty’ rich, but ‘filthy’ rich. Right, Ro-Mi?”
Ro-Mi took the baton from Gyu-Rin and nodded.
“Yeah. You know the huge baking company Dumont Trois, right? Se-Woon’s father is apparently its chairman.”
Dumont Trois. It was quite a famous baking company in Korea. Ra-Eun’s attention was piqued because it was a company that would experience continuous growth.
‘It’s a perfect company to make a connection with.’
Ra-Eun wanted to make connections with VVIPs. The chairman of Dumont Trois could be considered a VVIP.
“But Ra-Eun, be careful,” Gyu-Rin warned Ra-Eun.
She had a reason for telling Ra-Eun about Se-Woon.
“Be careful of what?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Se-Woon is a huge womanizer. I’m telling you this in advance because I’m sure he’ll also try to hit on you.”
Wherever one went, there were always men crazy for women. Not all high school boys were innocent and pure. According to Gyu-Rin, Se-Woon had dated over ten girls. He had a rich family and was decently handsome. He had the superficial traits to be popular with girls.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter as long as he doesn’t try to hit on me.’
Ra-Eun still did not know whether or not she wanted to include Dumont Trois in her plan for revenge, but she at least put them on the list of possible supporters for now.
***
On the day of the photo shoot, Park Se-Woon had shown up early and asked his friends while he was waiting.
“The girl who I’ll be taking pictures with is Kang Ra-Eun, right?”
“Yeah, apparently.”
“I’m so jealous, Se-Woon. You get to take pictures with an actress.”
Se-Woon was particularly fond of envious gazes. He absolutely loved it whenever people shot such eyes toward him. One of Se-Woon’s few forms of pleasure was raising his worth to bathe in the envy of others.
He had wealth and looks. It would truly be icing on the cake if he even had a beautiful girlfriend that his friends would be envious of. However, not a single one of his past girlfriends had satisfied him. He wanted a girlfriend who would make his friends even more envious of him.
When he had such thoughts, a girl named Kang Ra-Eun appeared before him. She had the looks, the figure, and even the recognition as a celebrity. When he found out that Ra-Eun had all these things, he decided on a new goal.
“Kang Ra-Eun, huh? I’ll take this chance to make her mine, whatever it takes,” he declared.
“No chance. You have no idea how picky Ra-Eun is.”
“He’s right. You know Su-Eun, right? He’s super popular with the girls, but got instantly rejected after confessing to Ra-Eun.”
However, Se-Woon did not care.
“I’ll make it happen, so just wait and see.”
Just the thought of making an actress his lover sent tingles all over his body. After five minutes, Ra-Eun finally appeared. She was certainly far prettier in person than in pictures or videos.
Ra-Eun was neatly dressed in the winter uniform. She stared fixedly at Se-Woon, and then extended her hand out.
“I’m Kang Ra-Eun. I’ll be in your care.”
“Same to you.”
Se-Woon unconsciously smiled at Ra-Eun’s friendly and easy-going attitude. They had only exchanged a few words, but...
‘I like her.’
He had already fallen for Ra-Eun’s charm.
***
The photo shoot was very simple. They would take pictures at the school gates, the main entrance, and in an empty classroom. The poses were very simple as well. They took pictures while standing and sitting down.
They had arrived at the final shoot location, the main entrance. The photographer directed Ra-Eun, “Could you sit on that large rock next to you, like you’re slightly resting on it?”
Ra-Eun nodded. As she was about to do so, Se-Woon took something out of his pocket.
“Just a sec,” he said.
He unfolded a small handkerchief and laid it on the rock. He then said with a cheesy smile, “You shouldn’t get dirt on your skirt.”
Women were deeply moved by men’s subtle considerations. Hence, Se-Woon always acted considerate whenever he hit on women.
At first, Ra-Eun was dumbfounded. She stared at Se-Woon, wondering what he was up to. However, she decided not to think much of it and let it slide.
“Thanks.”
After a short expression of gratitude, she lightly sat on the handkerchief that Se-Woon had provided.
.
Click, click.
As the photographer was passionately clicking on the camera shutter, a strong gale blew over them through the sports field.
Whoosh—!
Because of that, Ra-Eun’s hair became a mess in a split second. As Se-Woon saw what had happened, he extended his hand out to her.
“There’s a strand of hair stuck on your face...”
He tried to remove a strand of hair stuck on her left cheek. He used this chance to naturally lead into skinship, but...
Grasp!
Ra-Eun grabbed Se-Woon’s wrist before that could happen.
“Ow ow ow ow ow ow!!!”
She had unconsciously put strength into her grip. It was an unconscious activation of her defensive instincts. Ra-Eun belatedly let go of Se-Woon’s wrist.
“Sorry, I don’t like people touching me.”
“R-Really? I see.”
This wasn’t how Se-Woon had planned it to go. After he took off the strand of hair, Ra-Eun was supposed to crush on his kindness and say “Th-Thank you...” with a reddened face. However, that was only his imagination. Things would not go his way against Ra-Eun.
‘She’s a difficult opponent.’
She was extremely picky like he had heard. However, Se-Woon had no intention of giving up.
‘I have plenty of chances.’
If there was a wall in front of him, he simply had to break it down. However, the wall that was ‘Kang Ra-Eun’ would be an exception.
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