Chapter 118: Scandal (1)

The scandal article was published out of nowhere. Kang Ra-Eun’s smartphone was being bombarded with calls and texts; if her smartphone was a living organism, then it would’ve been groggy with all the blows it had received. That was how much chaos this article had ensued.

‘I should at least let my agency know, if no one else.’

She called Shin Yu-Bin back, but...

- The person you are trying to reach is currently in another call. Please leave a message after the...

Yu-Bin seemed to be just as hectic as Ra-Eun was, to the point that she couldn’t even be reached.

“I guess I have no choice.”

She would have to call again later. In the meantime, she decided to figure out the cause of such an article being published. To be honest, it was obvious; it couldn’t be anything else.

‘It’s because I asked Han-Seok sunbae for mock dates.’

One couldn’t escape people’s gazes in a city. This not only applied to cities in Korea, but any city in the entire world. Even if they managed to escape gazes, CCTVs were installed everywhere in this day and age. Hence, it was almost impossible to get away from attention.

Because of this, a certain reporter had caught Ra-Eun and Ji Han-Seok enjoying their date together. An enlarged picture of them walking closely side by side had been pasted right on the article. That picture wasn’t the only one.

‘Three pictures... All with different outfits.’

Ra-Eun had five dates with Han-Seok, and three of them had been discovered by the reporter.

‘How quick-witted.’

It was at least fortunate that Ra-Eun and Han-Seok had not done anything couple-like during their dates. Even if it was for the sake of her acting, she had no intention of doing anything of the sort with Han-Seok. The pictures looked like nothing more than close acquaintances going out to have a meal together, but the reporters and the public were filtering out such information and were seriously thinking they were actually dating. It was especially so for people who were hoping they actually were.

‘This is what’s so scary about dramas.’

If two protagonists of the drama that the fans obsessed over actually became a thing, they couldn’t help but get highly interested. Ra-Eun’s head hurt. It was understandable, since she was swept into a dating scandal just from three pictures.

‘But well, it’s nothing hard to deal with.’

They weren’t going out, and the uproar would die down as soon as she put out a statement that Han-Seok was only coaching her to help her empathize with the character that she was currently playing. It was a very simple solution, but...

‘It just pisses me off.’

She was involved in a dating scandal with a man. Han-Seok was no doubt a very good person. It was true that Ra-Eun had first approached Han-Seok solely with the intention of getting close to the chairman of Do-Dam Group, but she had slowly come to realize that he was a good person.

‘But just because he’s a good person doesn’t mean I want to go out with him.’

She had mixed feelings. At that moment...

‘Is this how Min Ju-Tae feels?’

Albeit for just an instant, Ra-Eun could empathize with her character Ju-Tae.

‘To think I’d actually be helped by a tabloid article.’

She was experiencing all kinds of things in life.

***

GNF Entertainment was flipped upside down as soon as the scandal article was published. Ra-Eun was summoned to the agency and was made to receive a scolding of sorts from Chief Jung.

“Ra-Eun! Are you and Han-Seok really dating? Be honest with me!”

There was some anger mixed in his words. He was likely angry because he was sad that it had been kept a secret from him.

Ra-Eun sighed. “We’re not. I told Miss Manager the whole story. Did you not hear from her?”

“From Yu-Bin?” Chief Jung asked as he turned to Yu-Bin.

She smiled awkwardly and mentioned, “You were being called all over the place, so I had no chance to tell you until Ra-Eun arrived, Chief Jung.”

Ra-Eun was now the representative actress of GNF. It was obvious that a single scandal article regarding her would bring chaos to the entire agency.

“Then you guys really aren’t dating?”

“Yes. Sunbae was only helping me do better on my performance for One of a Kind of Girl. We had absolutely no romantic intentions in any way.”

Ra-Eun had only felt this wronged a few times in her life.

‘A dating scandal with a man... You’ve gotta be kidding me.’

However, there were some people among the public who were supporting their relationship, calling them a perfect couple. Who knew how many among them would still support the relationship if they found out Ra-Eun used to be a man.

Chief Jung sighed in relief. “Then I guess we should put out a statement right away.”

“Yes, that sounds—”

A call came through Ra-Eun’s phone as she was talking.

She said to Chief Jung and Yu-Bin as she checked who it was, “It’s from Han-Seok sunbae.”

***

- I’m sorry, Ra-Eun.

That was the first thing Ra-Eun heard as soon as she picked up the call. She tilted her head from the unexpected apology.

“There’s nothing that you have to be sorry for, sunbae.”

- There is. The scandal article is all my fault.

Scandals were sometimes fatal for an actress’s career. Due to this, Han-Seok fell into a state of panic when he first saw the dating scandal article that had been posted of him and Ra-Eun. He felt like he had greatly damaged Ra-Eun’s future, which was why he had called to apologize. However, Ra-Eun had no intention of blaming Han-Seok for this mess.

“The reporter who published the article is the one who’s at fault. You did absolutely nothing wrong, sunbae.”

Rather, he was the one who got swept into this mess because he decided to help her.

“We’re going to be releasing a statement right away, so please wait just a little bit.”

- Okay. We’re also going to make a statement on our end saying that it’s completely groundless.

“Understood, sunbae.”

Ra-Eun hung up and summarized their conversation to Chief Jung and Yu-Bin.

“Sunbae’s agency is going to make a statement as well.”

“Really? Then I guess we should get ready too. Yu-Bin, ask Deputy General Manager Kim and Department Manager Choi to come to Director Yoo’s office. I’ll let Director Yoo know myself,” Chief Jung remarked.

“Yes, Chief Jung,” Yu-Bin replied.

“Ra-Eun, you sit tight and don’t worry about anything. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Chief Jung and Yu-Bin sped out of the meeting room. Ra-Eun was told that she didn’t have to do anything, but she had no intention of doing so. She pulled out her smartphone again and called someone.

“Hello? It’s me, mister,” Ra-Eun called Ma Yeong-Jun and gave him an order. “I’d like you to teach a lesson to that piece of garbage of a reporter who published that scandalous article about me, so he can never write something like that ever again.”

- That’s our specialty.

“That’s right. Take care of it in a way that there won’t be any backbiting. Do you understand?”

- Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.

Ra-Eun had resolved the empathizing problem with her character Min Ju-Tae thanks to the scandal, but she would pay back what she had been given. Only then would such an incident never happen again.

***

Han-Seok finished his call with Ra-Eun and let his agency members sitting across from him know what Ra-Eun had said.

“She said her agency is going to release a statement soon.”

“Really?”

“Then I guess we should get ready to release our own statement as well.”

“Team Leader Kim. Contact GNF so we can match the timing of our release.”

“Understood.”

Han-Seok was also being called a fast-rising prospect on par with Ra-Eun in his own agency, so the entire agency was moving to suppress the scandal in its early phase before it got any bigger. Han-Seok smiled bitterly while looking at the employees busily talking among themselves.

His manager noticed his strange behavior and asked, “What’s wrong, Han-Seok?”

The manager wondered if something had gone wrong, but Han-Seok shook his head.

“No, it’s nothing.”

If there was one word that could express how he was feeling right now, it would be disappointment.

‘How great would it be if the dating scandal between Ra-Eun and me was true?’

With just one dating scandal, he was dreaming about marrying and having kids with Ra-Eun, and even being surrounded by their grandkids.

***

Ra-Eun’s surroundings had been extremely noisy because of the dating scandal, but she was able to get back to her normal life because it was quickly resolved. Even the staff members of One of a Kind of Girl, who used to ask her if she really was going out with Han-Seok, were quiet today because articles saying that the dating scandal was not true were uploaded in bulk last night.

‘Thank God they’re not being annoying.’

Ra-Eun lightly laughed in her head. She checked the text that Yeong-Jun had sent her before going into the shoot.

[Call me when you have time.]

It was fairly short. Only she and Yu-Bin were in the waiting room at the moment.

Ra-Eun purposefully asked Yu-Bin, “Miss Manager. I’m sorry, but could you get me some water? The heels haven’t arrived yet, so I have no shoes to wear.”

“Okay. Give me one second, I’ll go get some right away.”

“Thank you.”

After chasing out... no, having her leave the waiting room, Ra-Eun immediately called Yeong-Jun.

“Is it done?”

- Yeah.

“I’m sure you took measures so that I wouldn’t be suspected, right?”

- I made it look like one of your sasaeng fans?hired us, so you won’t be suspected.

“Perfect. I knew I could count on you.”

- But I thought you two really were dating. I guess I was wrong. Are you two really not dating?

“Why? Do you doubt me?”

- To tell you the truth, I made a bet with a few of my men about whether or not the dating scandal was true. That’s why I’m making sure.

“You...”

Ra-Eun couldn’t be more flabbergasted by how he used her as the subject of a bet.

“What did you bet on, mister?” she asked.

Yeong-Jun sounded slightly flustered for a moment and said with a voice one tone lower.

- That it was true.

There was one more person that needed to be taught a lesson.

1. A sasaeng fan is an obsessive fan who stalks or engages in other behavior constituting an invasion of the privacy of Korean celebrities or public figures.