Chapter 209: Secret Love (1)

“...Whaaat???”

Kang Ra-Eun began to have doubts about what she had just heard. Kang Ra-Hyuk awkwardly repeated himself for his speechless little sister.

“I said, I got a girlfriend.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.”

Ra-Hyuk had mentioned that it was nothing major, but it was a huge deal in Ra-Eun’s perspective.

“Who? The restaurant owner’s daughter? Or the one whose unnie is a clothing store manager? Or maybe the one whose aunt runs a beauty shop?”

The first group of women that Ra-Eun thought of were the three that had come over to Ra-Eun’s home and flaunted their appeal to her. They had even made sure to come visit when Ra-Hyuk had been hospitalized, although the air had been turbulent at the time because they had visited him at the same time. Ra-Eun couldn’t help but be curious about which of the three had prevailed.

“You see...” Ra-Hyuk stalled by scratching his cheek.

A vein popped out from Ra-Eun’s forehead.

“Can you hurry the hell up? Do you want me to kick your ass?”

“I didn’t come here for a beating.”

“Then spit it out already. I’m dying from curiosity over here.”

Ra-Eun had never been this curious about someone else’s dating life, but she couldn’t help it since not only did it concern her older brother, but she also knew of Ra-Hyuk’s fear of women. She was dying to know which woman had captured his heart.

“Unfortunately, it’s none of the three,” Ra-Hyuk mentioned.

“Eh? Who is it then?”

“Remember when I told you about the middle school classmate who had feelings for me? I decided to go out with her.”

Ra-Eun had never expected a fourth woman to steal Ra-Hyuk for herself.

“Then you decided to accept that girl’s feelings?”

“I turned her down the first time, but my feelings gradually changed as time passed. Su-Yeon happened to ask me out again, so I decided to say yes.”

“Su-Yeon? Is that her name?”

“Yeah. Jo Su-Yeon. We were in the same class in our second and third years of middle school.”

Jo Su-Yeon. Ra-Eun had obviously never heard of the name before, nor did she know what kind of person she was. All she knew about the woman was what she had heard from Ra-Hyuk.

“So, does she treat you well?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Yeah, she has, ever since our middle school days. She’s smart, has a great personality, and is from a rich household. Both of her parents are doctors, apparently.”

“Really? She’s from a pretty decent household.”

Although it was far too hasty to talk about household circumstances when they were still in the dating stage, she couldn’t stop herself from being curious.

“Well, as long as you like her, she must be a good person,” Ra-Eun responded lukewarmly.

Ra-Hyuk smirked. “You’re not jealous because your oppa got a girlfriend, are you?”

Ra-Eun glared at him.

“You wanna die? One more word out of that mouth and I’ll sew it shut.”

“I can’t even make a joke around you.”

Ra-Hyuk broke into a cold sweat yet again because of the occasional bursts of his little sister’s ferocity.

***

It was already dinnertime, so Ra-Eun took her older brother with her to her home when he suggested they have dinner together. Seo Yi-Seo, who was in an apron, was slightly surprised.

“Oh, oppa. What brings you here today?”

“To eat your food, of course,” Ra-Hyuk said jokingly.

Yi-Seo giggled in embarrassment. “Wait just a moment. It’s almost ready.”

“What’s on the menu?”

“Braised short ribs. Ra-Eun said she wanted to eat meat. I bought it yesterday and let it marinate overnight, so it’ll be delicious. The seasoning seeps deep into the meat like that.”

“Oh, really? I’m glad I asked Ra-Eun to eat together, then. But what about your little brother?”

“He’ll be back soon. He just went to the convenience store for a bit. Make yourself comfortable, oppa.”

“Thanks.”

Ra-Hyuk sat down on the couch and looked back and forth at Yi-Seo, who was preparing the food while humming in the kitchen, and Ra-Eun, who had just come out of her room after changing.

.

“How could two people of the same age be so different?”

Ra-Eun scowled. “What? You wanna die?”

“See? Yi-Seo’s so docile and kind, but you’re way too tomboyish when you look like an angel.”

The assessment was justified, since inside of the angelic body was a middle-aged man who had gone through the sweets and bitters of life.

“But Yi-Seo,” Ra-Hyuk said.

“Yes, oppa?”

“Do you have a boyfriend? I think you’d be super popular.”

It was not very apparent since she was with Ra-Eun all the time, but Yi-Seo was also a considerably beautiful girl in an objective sense. Not only that, she was skilled in household chores, so there was no way that she wasn’t popular with the men. Yi-Seo had actually been confessed to by upperclassmen and underclassmen alike several times in her university.

“Not yet,” she responded.

However, she had turned down every single one.

“Why? Being in many relationships at your age will become a good experience. The more men you date, the better your eye for them will get.”

Ra-Eun also agreed with Ra-Hyuk and nodded in succession. Seeing that, Ra-Hyuk chuckled in wonder of why she was agreeing with him. Meanwhile, Yi-Seo’s quick hands stopped for a moment.

She let down the ladle and said with a reddened face, “Because I already have... Someone that I like.”

“Huh? For real?”

“Really?”

Not even Ra-Eun had known this. However close she was to Yi-Seo, she had never talked about romance with her. In the first place, Ra-Eun was so uninterested in romance that talking about such a thing was out of the question.

“Who? Is he a student from your university?”

“Is he older? The same age? Younger?”

The Kang siblings barraged Yi-Seo with questions to find out who the person may be. Yi-Seo laughed in embarrassment in response to their pincer attack, but Seo Yi-Jun came back from the convenience store at the worst possible timing.

“I’m back. Huh? When did you get here, Ra-Hyuk hyung?”

Yi-Seo had managed to escape from this crisis thanks to Yi-Jun. On the other hand, Ra-Eun glared at Yi-Jun in frustration after the flow of the conversation had been interrupted.

“For God’s sake, read the room,” she expressed.

“Huh? Me?”

Yi-Jun was insulted without even understanding what was going on.

***

The dinner table had become rowdy after a long time thanks to the addition of Ra-Hyuk. He became round-eyed once he laid eyes upon the feast before him.

“You even made kimchi pancakes, flat meatballs and garlic leaves?”

They were all Ra-Hyuk’s favorite side dishes.

Yi-Seo answered while smiling in embarrassment, “I made them in a hurry, so I can’t guarantee their taste.”

“There’s no way that anything you make will be bad.”

Ra-Hyuk had tasted Yi-Seo’s cooking often because he came over to his little sister’s house all the time. Yi-Seo’s food perfectly fit his palate, so there were also times when he visited Ra-Eun and Yi-Seo’s house for absolutely no reason, being insulted by Ra-Eun as a moocher whenever he did.

“But what brings you here today, hyung?” Yi-Jun asked.

Ra-Eun answered in Ra-Hyuk’s place, “He followed me all the way here after coming to my company to tell me something.”

“What did he tell you?”

Ra-Eun pointed at Ra-Hyuk with her chopsticks.

“He got a girlfriend.”

Yi-Jun’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“Whoa...! Congratulations, hyung! It’s your first girlfriend, right?”

“It’s not my first, man.”

Like Ra-Hyuk had said, this was not his first time being in a relationship; he had been in a few in his high school days, but that had inflicted such a huge trauma on him that he became reluctant to get a girlfriend for a while. Now that he had gotten a girlfriend, it meant that he had overcome his past trauma, at least a little bit.

“...”

Unlike Yi-Jun, who was congratulating Ra-Hyuk again, Yi-Seo didn’t look very happy. She had been in a mood great enough that she was humming while cooking, but her mood had made a complete 180. Ra-Eun paid attention to Yi-Seo’s eyes and expression from across her.

‘That’s weird.’

Could it be because Ra-Hyuk had gotten a girlfriend?

Yi-Seo forcibly put a smile on her face.

“Con...gratulations, oppa.”

“Thanks. You hurry up and get a boyfriend too, Yi-Seo.”

“...I’ll try.”

The brighter Ra-Hyuk got, the darker Yi-Seo’s expression turned. Ra-Eun looked back and forth between them.

‘No way.’

Although she was a man, her feminine intuition activated.

***

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Once the shoot had finished, Ra-Eun dragged her exhausted body to the parking lot where Shin Yu-Bin was waiting. Yu-Bin, who had been stuffing a suitcase into the trunk, waved at Ra-Eun.

“Over here, Ra-Eun.”

Chief Jung was next to her.

“What brings you here, Chief Jung?” Ra-Eun asked.

She wondered if he had business at the Spokesperson?film set.

Chief Jung shrugged and remarked, “I was just passing by, and thought I’d come see how our agency’s poster actress was doing.”

“So in short, you’re monitoring me?”

“Come on, don’t put it like that. I might have done so back when you had first debuted, but there’s no need for me to do that anymore. I know you’ll do well on your own without me here.”

Ra-Eun had reached a point where Chief Jung could just sit back and leave everything to her, but Yu-Bin explained in his place about why he had come nonetheless.

“He came to check up on you because he was worried about you after that school violence rumor incident last time.”

Ra-Eun softly smiled. “In that case, you don’t have to worry. It wrapped up well, didn’t it?”

“I guess you’re right.”

The incident had wrapped up smoothly as Ra-Eun had blackmailed... no, ordered Choi Hwang-Cheol into saying that everything he had said about Ra-Eun being a perpetrator of school violence had all been in his imagination, stemming from his envy and jealousy.

After that, Ra-Eun had leaked Hwang-Cheol’s personal details on the internet, making him unable to even enjoy the outside air for a long time. At this point, he had likely been reduced to a bum unable to leave his house without being bombarded with looks from everyone around him.

‘He got what he deserved.’

Reporter Hong Ju-Tae had also experienced social death. Now that the two culprits had practically disappeared from the face of the earth, there was absolutely nothing that Ra-Eun needed to worry about. She could go back to fulfilling her revenge plan against Kim Han-Gyo little by little.

However, there was just one more thing bothering her. Ra-Eun nonchalantly asked Yu-Bin and Chief Jung in the driver and passenger seats while on their way to her home.

“Chief Jung, Miss Manager.”

“Yeah, Ra-Eun?”

“What is it?”

“How would you two react when you hear from the person you like that they found a lover?”

Yu-Bin and Chief Jung instantly exchanged gazes with each other, and then asked with faces full of disbelief.

“Ra-Eun, could it be you...!”

“F-Found a lover?”

Ra-Eun had unintentionally caused a misunderstanding.