Chapter 66: Swimming Instructor (3)
The girl group Nefti went into rehearsal before the singing program recording. The less popular a member was, the more they were positioned to the side. In Han Ga-Ae’s case, she was positioned at the rightmost end of the stage to the point that she was only barely reflected on the camera.
The Nefti members sang to the beat of the track while performing their choreography. Ga-Ae only had two lines in the four-minute song.
“I love you so, so much~ I want you to hold me tight~”
That was it.
Ga-Ae used to be envious of people who won the lottery the most. But now, the target of her greatest envy had changed to the main vocalists of girl groups because they were the ones in the spotlight during the song’s climax. Ga-Ae could only watch from afar as the main vocalist energetically sang the high notes. They were on the same stage, but she felt an unknown sense of distance from it.
“Please take care of us during the recording as well!”
The members of Nefti walked down the rehearsal stage while smiling brightly toward the program director and staff members. The popular members of the group gathered together to give feedback on their performance on their way to the waiting room. The other members also grouped together, but Ga-Ae was the only one who was alone. She made firm resolutions multiple times a day that she needed to get used to such treatment since she had become the singer that she always wanted, but...
‘...It’s hard.’
She still couldn’t get used to it.
***
Rita’s swimming lessons came to an end last week. All that she needed to do now was to show off in the music video shoot the swimming skills that she had learned from Ra-Eun. It had only been a few days since Rita, Ga-Ae and Ra-Eun last swam and chatted together.
‘It’s a bit lonely now that I’m all by myself,’ Ra-Eun thought.
She rarely used to feel lonely in her past life. However, her personality changed to one that did after her gender changed.
‘I might have been affected by the former Kang Ra-Eun.’
It had also been the case when she had acquired a sweet tooth. Her past personality was changing unwittingly. She used to be scared by the fact that she was slowly changing, but...
‘I have no choice but to accept it as fate.’
It was far better to grab hold of an opportunity to take revenge despite becoming a woman, than dying in the middle of the mountains through Kim Han-Gyo and Kim Chi-Yeol’s betrayal. There were definitely a few annoying instances, but they were nothing that couldn’t be dealt with.
“Ra-Eun.”
A familiar voice called her name while Ra-Eun was engrossed in swimming. She turned around to see Ga-Ae waving at her in a swimsuit.
“What are you doing here?” Ra-Eun asked.
“To swim, of course.”
After Ra-Eun’s lessons, Ga-Ae was now able to maintain great form even without adjustments from Ra-Eun.
Splash, splash—!
Ga-Ae strode forward by strongly kicking the water. Ra-Eun’s face slightly stiffened as she looked at Ga-Ae immersed in swimming without a word. Since Ra-Eun was already out of the water, she extended her hand out toward Ga-Ae who had just finished swimming.
“Wanna get something to drink? My treat,” Ra-Eun asked.
“Really? Thanks, I’d love to.”
Ra-Eun and Ga-Ae headed to a cafe inside the pool facility and sat down on a bench with americanos in hand.
“Did something bad happen?”
Ga-Ae was bewildered for a moment by Ra-Eun’s straightforward question. Anyone was bound to be surprised when someone went straight to the point without notice. She thought about denying it at first, but realized that Ra-Eun would not believe her after she showed her such a reaction.
“...Yeah, a little,” Ga-Ae answered.
She chose to acknowledge it, but did not go into detail. However, it did not matter since Ra-Eun already knew everything.
‘If I remember correctly, she left the group after five years because of discord among the members.’
Ra-Eun still remembered vividly because it had been quite a big issue at the time. She sipped the coffee and gave Ga-Ae a vague hint.
“I don’t know what happened, but sometimes it’s best to keep your thoughts simple if you have something on your mind.”
“Simple?”
“For example... If you’re being forced to work with a certain group of people, you could just leave that group and never see them again.”
Ra-Eun immediately wished she didn’t say that because it was far too specific. However, Ga-Ae focused more on Ra-Eun’s mention of ‘leaving the group’ than her extremely specific example.
“What if you worked really hard to get into that group?” Ga-Ae asked.
“That doesn’t matter. There are no guarantees that you’ll succeed as a singer by staying in that group. I’m sure you already know very well whether the road to success lies in going down your current path, or finding a different path.”
“...”
“If you’re really that worried about which path you should choose, try consulting Rita sunbae. She’s pretty mischievous, but she listens earnestly when her juniors ask for advice.”
Ga-Ae slowly nodded.
“Yeah, okay.”
Ra-Eun thought as she looked at Ga-Ae, ‘I should let Rita sunbae know in advance.’
Ra-Eun wanted two things from Ga-Ae. One was for her to leave Nefti, and the other was for her to transfer to Ra-Eun’s agency. She was sure that if those two conditions were met, Ga-Ae would rise to become a top songstress even quicker than before.
***
Chief Jung was left surprised by what Ra-Eun had said.
“You’re asking if GNF can take Miss Han Ga-Ae in if she leaves Nefti?”
“Yes.”
She gave it to him straight. Chief Jung had wondered what Ra-Eun had to say when she called him to talk about something after a while, but he did not expect it to be about something so important.
“You have a lot of influence in the agency, don’t you?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Well... I guess so.”
Chief Jung was one of the founding members of GNF Entertainment. He had worked with the chairman of GNF ever since he was a road manager, so he could do almost anything that he wanted in the agency if he put his mind to it. In that case, Ra-Eun was curious to know if it was within Chief Jung’s power to get Ga-Ae transferred to GNF.
“We don’t have any reason not to accept Ga-Ae if she really leaves Nefti and her agency. GNF was just thinking about increasing our singing talent lineup, anyway.”
It was beneficial for both Chief Jung and GNF to accept Ga-Ae.
“But did Ga-Ae say that she was going to leave her group?” Chief Jung asked.
“She probably will.”
“Well, it’s not like I don’t understand why.”
Someone as engaged in the entertainment industry like Chief Jung knew very well about the fate of stooge group members. It was possibly better to give going solo a shot than to be buried with nothing to show for in the group.
Ra-Eun repeatedly emphasized Ga-Ae’s importance to Chief Jung.
“Ga-Ae’s going to rise to stardom for sure, so please support her the best you can.”
“Okay. Have I ever ignored any of your favors? Don’t worry and trust me.”
GNF still needed to increase its scale. To do that, they needed to recruit as many capable talents as possible. Chief Jung couldn’t help but be greedy when he was told that someone who had already debuted in a girl group might transfer to GNF.
***
Two weeks later, Ra-Eun visited Seo Yi-Seo’s house after school to get a workbook from her.
“It’ll be really dirty because I doodle a lot. Are you sure you’re fine with it?” Yi-Seo asked.
“Yeah. It’s fine as long as the answers aren’t circled on the questions.”
Ra-Eun immersed herself into solving SAT workbooks whenever she could, so she had solved all the workbooks that she had bought. She was too lazy to go to the bookstore, so she decided to exchange workbooks with Yi-Seo.
Yi-Seo asked Ra-Eun to wait as she went into her room as soon as they arrived at her home. At that moment, Ra-Eun could feel a presence inside a room with the door slightly open. She could hear the subtle breathing of a man.
From his breathing, Ra-Eun was sure that the man was sick at first, so she looked inside through the open door.
‘Would you look at that son of a bitch?’
Seo Yi-Jun was sleeping like a baby in nothing but underwear. Ra-Eun was reminded of Kang Ra-Hyuk as she looked at him, since Ra-Hyuk also roamed around the house in just underwear when it was hot. He had probably been really hot, because he was sleeping with the blanket under him with the air conditioner on.
‘Is he having an erotic dream?’
He had a severe case of morning wood.
‘Go to a camping ground if you want to pitch a tent.’
She couldn’t put a blanket over him because he was on it.
“Hey, Yi-Jun.”
Ra-Eun nudged Yi-Jun, but he showed no signs of waking up.
“You’ll catch a cold if you sleep like that. Do you have any idea how excruciating a summer cold is?”
“...Sis?”
Yi-Jun thought the owner of the young woman’s voice was his sister at first, but...
“R-Ra-Eun noona?!”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
The startled Yi-Jun belatedly realized his current attire and scrambled to hide his lower body with the blanket that he was on.
“Wh-Why are you...”
“I came to borrow a workbook from Yi-Seo, but you looked like you were about to catch a cold, so I was trying to put a blanket over you.”
“I-Is that so?”
Yi-Jun looked down with a face flushed red. He then asked after some time, “Noona, by any chance... d-did you see?”
Ra-Eun answered with a smirk, “No, I didn’t.”
It was a blatant lie. Yi-Jun was so embarrassed that he wanted a hole to hide in. Yi-Seo approached Ra-Eun with the workbook in the meantime.
“What’s wrong, Ra-Eun? Did Yi-Jun do something bad to you again?”
“No, it was the opposite today.”
“Opposite?”
Ra-Eun could not tell Yi-Seo anything more to protect Yi-Jun’s privacy. Yi-Seo suggested that Ra-Eun stop by Starlight Road to grab a coffee before she went home, but Ra-Eun’s phone rang before she could say yes. It was a call from Rita.
“Yes, sunbae... Oh, really? Okay. Thank you.”
Ra-Eun apologized to Yi-Seo after hanging up.
“Something important came up, so I have to go.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing special. I made a friend recently, and it looks like I’ll have to listen to her story.”
It seemed like she would be going back home late today.
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