Chapter 202: Woman of Great Beauty (4)

Kang Ra-Eun had overlooked the fact that she was far more popular than she was aware of; she was practically unmatched among actresses in terms of popularity. Forget members of the public, many of her fellow celebrities considered themselves to be huge fans of hers.

Even Jung Hun-Seong was a huge fan of hers even before he had risen to stardom after winning the Olympic gold medal. Due to this, the man who had been carrying himself professionally in his interviews with reporters had completely disappeared, and only a young man who couldn’t even maintain proper eye contact with Ra-Eun remained.

Meanwhile, Ra-Eun was denying the reality before her eyes.

‘There’s still hope!’

There was no need for her to be dejected just because Hun-Seong was her fan, since there were kinds of people in this world who named themselves as someone’s fan out of courtesy.

‘But of course, such people don’t prove themselves to be members of the celebrity’s fan club.’

It only took a moment for the sliver of hope to turn back into despair. Ra-Eun suppressed her bitter laugh and asked Hun-Seong about herself.

“When did you join my fan club?”

“Practically when it was first made. I’m member #35,” Hun-Seong announced.

At this point, it was safe to say that he was a true fan. It had been a while since Ra-Eun had met a fan with a two-digit fan club membership number.

‘I lost the bet, but I guess it’s not a bad thing since he’s cheering me on as a fan.’

Ra-Eun could feel that she had become a lot more open-minded compared to before.

“There you are, Ra-Eun! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Hun-Seong had wanted to talk to Ra-Eun for a bit longer, but the makeup artist in charge of Ra-Eun’s makeup hurriedly gestured at her.

“Let’s go! We don’t have much time until the recording begins!”

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Ra-Eun responded and turned back to Hun-Seong to ask for his understanding. “I’ll be on my way now. I’ll see you at the studio later.”

“Oh, okay! Understood!”

Even after Ra-Eun had left, Hun-Seong stayed perfectly still until her scent had completely disappeared.

***

A few days passed after the recording. Ra-Eun arrived at Levanche headquarters with So Ha-Jin after her workout at the fitness center. Seol-Hun came to see her as soon as she walked to her office and sat down on her chair.

“You’re finally here. I was wondering when you’d show,” he remarked.

“...”

Ra-Eun unconsciously glared at Seol-Hun.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“You know exactly why I’m here.”

Seol-Hun had a shit-eating grin on his face for a while now, which only served to anger Ra-Eun. ‘A soft answer turneth away wrath’ was simply a very old idiom; she was confident that she could punch Seol-Hun’s smiling face.

Seol-Hun came into Ra-Eun’s office, brought a chair to the area right across from her and confidently sat down.

“You met Jung Hun-Seong, didn’t you?”

It had already been long since revealed that Ra-Eun had appeared on a talk show with Hun-Seong. It was pointless for her to keep it a secret.

“So, did you ask him?” he asked.

“Ask him what?” Ra-Eun asked back.

“Whether or not he’s a fan of yours. And I’m also curious if he actually hadn’t been accepting commercial model offers because he wanted to sign with us.”

Seol-Hun was sure that Ra-Eun would have asked these questions. However, Ra-Eun herself was hesitant to answer. It had only been for a moment, but this was the most challenging question that she had ever had to answer this year. In the end, she decided on her answer.

“He’s not my fan, and your assumption about the commercial offer was completely wrong. It was all in your head.”

Ra-Eun had decided to lie simply for herself. However, Seol-Hun was not such an easy man to deal with.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit much to lie so blatantly when I already know everything?”

“I’m not lying,” Ra-Eun claimed.

“What’s this, then?”

Seol-Hun took out his smartphone and played back the clip of Talking About episode 102. It started with the host asking Hun-Seong a question.

- Haven’t you been getting tons of commercial model offers lately, Mr. Jung? From my knowledge, you’ve been getting offers from businesses that anyone would know the names of.

- Yes, I have, but I haven’t signed with any of them yet. To tell you the truth... There's a specific kind of commercial that I want to model for.

- What kind of commercial? Would it be okay for you to tell us? You never know, the right advertiser might watch this episode and take the chance to contact you right away.

Many celebrities had managed to get commercial model offers through this method, which was why the host had purposefully asked Hun-Seong this question after hearing that there was a specific kind of commercial that he wanted to model for.

This being the first time that he had appeared on a variety program, Hun-Seong was flustered by a question that had not been in the script. He swallowed his saliva and fixed his gaze not on the host, but on Ra-Eun.

- I’ve been aiming for a sportswear commercial.

- By sportswear, do you mean...

- Oh, don’t you run a sportswear company, Miss Kang?

The eyes of the host, the regular panelists and the other guests all swerved to Ra-Eun. It certainly wasn't bad for Ra-Eun to be given a chance to promote her company in a show, under the assumption that it wouldn’t be edited out. Ra-Eun and Director Gu Yeon-Seung were fairly good acquaintances, so she was almost certain that it wouldn’t be edited out, and the entire portion had been aired like she had expected.

- Yes, that’s right.

Ra-Eun affirmed while smiling with a hint of awkwardness. She did not dislike the fact that Hun-Seong showed great interest in her; she was simply displeased by the fact that Seol-Hun’s prediction had been spot-on. However, she couldn’t just deny the fact that she owned a sportswear company, so she had no choice but to say yes.

The host asked Hun-Seong yet another question that hadn’t been in the script.

- Would you like to receive a commercial model offer from Miss Kang?

- Of course I would! That was actually what I’ve been aiming for.

The entire studio went up in a buzz from Hun-Seong’s honest attitude. Ra-Eun remembered the program director’s expression at the time.

‘He looked extremely happy.’

Like a crescent moon illuminating the night sky, Director Gu’s smile was radiating the dark area behind the cameras. Ra-Eun had been able to feel his strong desire to air this scene no matter the cost. The editing team had added lively background music and a pink color effect to express the delicate atmosphere between Ra-Eun and Hun-Seong.

However, Ra-Eun’s expression was not as sweet as the atmosphere that the production team was trying to portray. She was not into this kind of editing because she did not like to be tied to men in this manner. Hun-Seong went with the flow and even took out the fan club membership card that he had shown Ra-Eun before the recording.

The host said while meaningfully looking back and forth between Ra-Eun and Hun-Seong:

- I happened to hear something about you before we began filming, Mr. Jung. It was about you having a female celebrity that you’ve liked for a very long time. I’ve been wondering who it could be, but I’d never expected it to be Miss Kang.

- Could our program director have casted the two of them as guests because he knew in advance?

- Is that true, Director Gu?

The camera filmed Director Gu for a moment after the host’s question. He shook his head to express that it had been purely a coincidence. Recordings were usually entirely scripted out, but this situation had been 100% real.

Seol-Hun pressed the pause button; his smile was even wider than the one that Director Gu had in the clip.

“Who are you trying to fool when there’s hard evidence like this?”

“Well... Hun-Seong just said something like that on purpose because he wanted to make me look good on camera.”

“Then how do you explain the membership card?”

“...”

Hun-Seong didn’t simply say that he was a fan of Ra-Eun; Ra-Eun’s lie had immediately been found out because he had even personally revealed his fan club membership card.

“Alright. I won, right?” Seol-Hun said triumphantly.

Ra-Eun’s eyebrows twitched violently, but she had no way out this time.

“Alright, fine! I’ll do the goddamn swimsuit photo shoot!”

Life was a series of victories and defeats; it was impossible to win every battle.

***

Seo Yi-Seo heard the sound of the doorbell ringing as she was vacuuming the floor.

“Coming!”

She laid down the vacuum cleaner and walked to the front door. She opened the door to see Director Do Hye-Yeong, who had already shown her face through the intercom screen.

She greeted, “Hello. Is the chairwoman inside?”

.

“Yes, she’s in her room, but... did something happen to her yesterday? She’s been completely lifeless all day ever since she came back home.”

Hye-Yeong laughed awkwardly. She knew exactly why Ra-Eun was acting like that. Ra-Eun came out of her room just in time, and Hye-Yeong handed her the bag that she was holding.

“I’ve brought the items that you’ve requested.”

“Thanks. You can go now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Normally, Ra-Eun would have invited Hye-Yeong to have a cup of tea before going, but she was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. The bag was considerably bulky, but it was light enough for Ra-Eun to lift with one of her thin arms.

Yi-Seo asked while staring fixedly at the bag after seeing Director Do out, “What’s this?”

Ra-Eun sighed deeply before answering, “...Swimsuits.”

“Why swimsuits out of the blue? Are you going somewhere to have fun?”

“No. They’re our company’s products that are scheduled for release. I’m gonna be modeling for them this time.”

Yi-Seo thought she had heard wrong.

“What’s with the sudden change of heart? You despise modeling for things like swimsuits.”

“I do, but something forced my hand.”

Ra-Eun told Yi-Seo the full story behind her bet with Seol-Hun, allowing Yi-Seo to realize why Ra-Eun had been so down all day.

“I see. What are the chances that the female celebrity that Jung Hun-Seong likes would be you?”

Ra-Eun did not try to acknowledge it, but she had reaped a considerable amount of benefit thanks to her great beauty. However, she did not only reap benefits; there were also disadvantages to such beauty.

“How am I supposed to stand in front of people while wearing such a tiny piece of fabric?” Ra-Eun complained while looking through the swimsuits.

Being too beautiful also had its downsides.