Chapter 81: Dutiful Daughter (1)
Seo Yi-Seo sat in the living room to catch the original airing of the drama Waitress. She had prepared food and drinks, and then called today’s main character Kang Ra-Eun over.
“Ra-Eun, the drama’s about to start.”
Ra-Eun asked as she lifelessly came out of her room, “Do I really have to watch it too?”
“Of course you do! You star in it! Aren’t you the least bit curious?”
“Not in the slightest.”
She had already taken a look at the original shots, and she wasn’t very interested either since she knew everything that would happen. Not only that, but she considered watching the drama that she starred in as neither a hobby nor for stress relief, but as an extension of work. Hence, Ra-Eun had no intention of watching it, but unable to handle Yi-Seo’s pressing, she ended up taking a seat next to her.
‘Episode 1’ was written right at the center of the TV screen, and then slowly transitioned to a different background. Yi-Seo took pictures of the TV screen with her phone. She wanted to remember the monumental moment through her eyes, mind, heart, and finally, pictures.
Snap, snap!
Ra-Eun requested, “Send me a few of what you just took.”
“Huh? Why?”
“So I can upload it to my social media account.”
Ra-Eun had recently made her personal social media account. Despite it only containing a single post with two pictures attached, her account blew up with follow requests as soon as she had made it. There was no need to accept every single request; she only followed back people who worked in the same industry as her, and her high school friends. She rejected everyone else.
‘I’d regret it down the line if I follow everyone back.’
She wouldn’t receive malicious comments just for not following back every single person, so she only followed back people who she knew. Kim Chi-Yeol, her mortal enemy, was one of them. He was very active on social media like the womanizer that he was. Congressman Kim Han-Gyo also had an official account, but she did not follow it.
‘There wouldn’t be anything to snoop on anyway.’
However, that was not the case for Chi-Yeol. Ra-Eun had followed him back because he was one of the people she knew who caused many issues through social media.
‘This son of a bitch tries his shot with any beautiful woman he sees, for God’s sake.’
Yi-Seo looked through the pictures that she had taken and told Ra-Eun that she would send them to her once the drama was over. She needed to focus on the first episode of Waitress?right now.
The country girl Kang Seon-Hye was wandering all over the place after arriving in Seoul. Yi-Seo smiled unconsciously as she saw Seon-Hye’s first meeting with Ji Han-Seok’s character.
“You guys are the definition of a handsome couple,” she remarked.
“Why so out of the blue?”
“It’s not out of the blue. Look at the screen. You’re beautiful, and Ji Han-Seok is handsome. I’m sure the ratings would rise even if the drama only contained two-shots of you and Han-Seok!”
The phrase ‘feast for the eyes’ existed for a reason. Regardless of whether one was male or female, it was natural for them to feel good whenever they saw handsome men or beautiful women. If there was a tier list for dramas based on how good-looking their cast was, Waitress?would be top-tier.
After the interview, the store manager played by Han-Seok said to Ra-Eun.
[Would you like to try the uniform on?]
Ra-Eun’s character blinked perplexedly.
[You have uniforms?]
[Of course we do. Please wait here. Ye-Jeong! We have a uniform left over, don’t we? Could you bring it over please?]
The cafe that Han-Seok’s character ran provided uniforms for the staff to wear. The writer added a setting that the cafe’s female staff uniforms were rumored to be extremely pretty. The camera panned upward from Ra-Eun’s toes to the top of her head in one take to fully display her in the uniform. It looked like a Middle Ages European dress that was modified to be easier to move around in, making Ra-Eun look exactly like a princess.
“Oh my God, you’re way too pretty!” Yi-Seo exclaimed.
“You have no idea how hard it was to film with that on.”
“Really? Why?”
“That outfit’s a lot tighter around the waist than it looks. It forcibly straightened my back even when I was seated.”
It was only possible for Ra-Eun to wear it because her waist was so thin. However, considering how pretty she looked, she felt that it was worth suffering through it.
An hour passed by in a flash. The first episode of Waitress came to an end. Ra-Eun’s phone rang like crazy as soon as it was over, being bombarded with texts and calls saying that they loved the drama, along with some feedback on the side. A text from her older brother caught her eye as she scrolled through the texts.
[Dad and I watched the drama. You were great. Dad was happy too. Give me a call if you’re not sleeping.]
‘Why a call all of a sudden?’
She had not been planning on sleeping just yet, so she went into her room with her phone. She could hear Kang Ra-Hyuk’s voice as soon as she pressed the call button.
- Attagirl, my lil’ sis! You looked like an absolute princess right from the first episode.
“I’m hanging up if you asked me to call you for something like that.”
- Hey, hey, hey! Wait! You’re as cold as always. You’re nothing like your kind and docile character in the drama.
“Try to distinguish between drama and reality. That aside, why did you ask me to call you?”
Ra-Eun wondered if something bad had happened.
- You know, about the thing that we talked about last time.
“What thing? We talked about a lot of things.”
- About the house-moving.
“Oh, that?”
Their household no longer had to live while saddled with debt thanks to Ra-Eun’s accomplishments. They had paid off their father’s debt long ago, and had been amassing a considerable amount of wealth through stock trading and Ra-Eun’s TV appearance fees.
Hence, they had considered getting a new house not for Ra-Eun, but for her brother and father. Although they were not her real family, they were still currently her older brother and father. She felt a little bothered by the fact that only she was living in a nice home. She had been hoping for her brother and father to live in a place just as nice as her own, to prevent it from biting her in the ass down the line through entertainment industry scandals.
‘But Dad is against it.’
Ra-Hyuk was in charge of persuading him, but...
- I don’t think I can persuade him on my own.
He had put up the white flag in the call with his little sister whom he hadn’t spoken to in a while.
“So, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna live there forever?”
- No, I can’t do that. So I was thinking... Could you persuade Dad for me?
“Me?”
- He listens to you more than me. You know he’s a sucker for his daughter.
Their father had even put up a screenshot picture of Ra-Eun’s TV appearance and her first-place report card on the living room wall. He loved his daughter very dearly. Hence, Ra-Hyuk thought it would be more effective for Ra-Eun to persuade their father to move houses instead of himself.
He certainly was not wrong. Ra-Eun sighed deeply and agreed to do it.
“What days is Dad off work?”
- This Thursday and Friday.
“Really? Then I’ll head there around Thursday evening. I’ll probably arrive before dinnertime. I only have morning shoots on that day.”
- Then we can talk about it with Dad while we’re having dinner. Or we can do it after.
“I’ll wait for the right time to bring it up.”
The siblings’ father certainly would listen more to his cute daughter who had just become an adult instead of his son who had already been discharged from the military. Ra-Eun hung up and texted her real estate agent contact to look for some good apartments on the market.
‘I’ll make sure to persuade Dad.’
Ra-Eun was strangely confident.
***
It had been a while since Ra-Eun visited her old home; six months had passed since she moved out to live with Yi-Seo. It hadn’t even been that long, but it felt like she had been away for a very long time.
‘Seeing the house again, it sure looks old.’
It was a shabby single-floor detached house. Not only was it not in a good location, but the land value would not rise either since there were barely any favorable things about the area. It would be very difficult for an investor to find any value in such a place. Despite all that, Ra-Eun could not understand why her father was so against leaving this house.
There was only one thing that she knew about this house.
‘I’ve lived almost twenty years here.’
.
She could not see any value in the house aside from that.
‘Is it simply because of sentimental value?’
Ra-Eun believed that such sentiments were better off being put aside. There was no need to impose discomfort on oneself when they could afford to live in a much better space.
Her father, who had been watching TV in the living room, looked at Ra-Eun in surprise when she opened the front door.
“My baby girl! How did you get here?”
“By car, of course.”
The exhaust sound that had echoed throughout the neighborhood had been from Ra-Eun’s sports car.
“Had oppa not told you that I’d be coming?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Had he...? Oh, he had. Sorry, I’d completely forgotten.”
No wonder. Despite Ra-Eun earning a ton of money, the siblings’ father continued to work as a delivery man. Ra-Eun had tried her best to persuade him multiple times that he did not have to work anymore, but he had not budged on the matter at all.
‘I should bring that up as well along with the house-moving.’
She had been given a lot to do. Ra-Hyuk opened his room door and greeted his little sister after belatedly noticing the noise coming from the living room.
“Hey, lil’ sis.”
“What were you doing in your room? You were watching porn again, weren’t you?”
“...Is that all you talk about whenever you see me?”
Ra-Hyuk was reminded of the trauma that had formed because of Ra-Eun’s frequent harassment when they used to live together.
They decided to have dinner at home instead of eating out. Ra-Eun chatted with her father about all kinds of things while eating the homemade meal that she hadn't had in a while.
‘This seems like as good of a time as any.’
Ra-Eun casually brought up the topic of moving.
“Dad. What do you think about moving to someplace bigger and better than here?”
Her father was a yes-man whenever it came to her, but...
“I can’t do that.”
He refused Ra-Eun’s suggestion without hesitation.
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