Chapter 210: Secret Love (2)

Chief Jung and Shin Yu-Bin’s heads went blank. They had never expected Kang Ra-Eun to reveal that she had a boyfriend when it hadn’t been that long since the school violence incident had been resolved.

Ra-Eun clarified to them, “Not me. It’s about my friend.”

The two shocked people maintained expressions of disbelief despite Ra-Eun having clarified it.

“People usually make excuses that it’s about their friend when it’s actually about themselves,” Chief Jung commented.

He was not wrong. There definitely were people who talked about themselves while claiming that it was about their friend. However, Ra-Eun was not that kind of person.

“When have I ever beat around the bush like that?”

“Well...”

“...Never, I guess.”

Ra-Eun was a straightforward kind of woman; if she didn’t like something, she would outright say it. Even when something was on her mind, she was not the type to talk about it indirectly by pretending like it was about her friend.

Despite all that, Chief Jung was not able to lower his suspicions.

“Are you sure you don’t have a boyfriend?”

“Yes, nor do I plan on getting one.”

“Well, relationships are a private matter, and it’s not like our agency prohibits relationships. If there’s a man you’d like to go out with, you can. But still, try as best as you can not to get caught by reporters.”

Chief Jung had gone through an extreme amount of trouble during Ra-Eun’s dating scandal with Ji Han-Seok. Ra-Eun nodded. Chief Jung turned to face the road again and thought about what Ra-Eun had just asked.

“When you hear from the person you like that they have found a lover, huh...?”

“Have you had that kind of experience, Chief?”

“I have. It was when I was still a university student.”

Fortunately, it happened to be around when he was Seo Yi-Seo’s age.

“There was a sunbae I liked that was three years older than me. I was planning on confessing when I graduated and got a job, but she had gotten a lover before that.”

Chief Jung laughed bitterly as he reminisced the past.

“The longer one’s unrequited love goes on for, the more painful it is for themself. If they like someone and their feelings are true, then it might be a better idea to just let the other party know sooner than later. When it comes to unrequited love, time is not on your side.”

His advice stemmed from experience.

Yu-Bin asked while glancing at him, “But Chief. Didn’t you end up marrying that sunbae in the end?”

“Well, yeah.”

Ra-Eun was left stunned as she watched Chief Jung laughing awkwardly. She had thought his story had a bad ending, but it had been a happy ending instead.

‘I guess the ends justify the means, huh?’

Chief Jung had stolen the woman from that other man, and he had ultimately ended up as the winner.

“In any case, if that friend of yours really likes that person, tell them that they might be better off mustering up the courage at least once.”

“Okay, Chief.”

However...

‘Easier said than done,’ Ra-Eun thought.

***

Ra-Eun put on the white leggings that were still a Levanche trial product in the fitness center changing room, and looked at the reflection of her lower body in the mirror.

“How should I say this... It’s a bit embarrassing.”

They were not see-through, but she was still not used to white tight-fitting legwear. The leggings boom had begun among women like Ra-Eun had expected. Although she had known that they would become a fad, it had occurred a bit faster because she wore them all the time. It was no longer uncommon to see women wearing leggings, especially in fitness centers; over eighty percent of women in the fitness center that Ra-Eun went to were wearing Levanche leggings and tank tops.

Ra-Eun stretched for about ten minutes to warm up her body.

‘I’ll go home after a light cardio session.’

She had already completed her resistance training for the day early in the morning. She had no shoots planned for today, and her company was closed since it was a weekend. She was too bored to stay at home, which was why she came to the fitness center for a second time of the day.

“Hello, Miss Kang.”

“...?”

As she was about to get on the treadmill, a short-haired woman struck up a conversation with her. She was a beautiful woman who seemed to be in her late twenties. Ra-Eun simply thought that she was one of her fans, but came to realize that she had been wrong after hearing the woman’s name.

“My name is Jo Su-Yeon. I was wondering if you knew me.”

Jo Su-Yeon. It was a name that had recently left an impression in her head.

“You’re that guy’s... I mean, my oppa’s girlfriend, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

She was the woman that had captured Kang Ra-Hyuk’s heart after two confessions. Ra-Eun had never expected to meet her older brother’s girlfriend in a place like this.

“I heard that you went to this fitness center,” Su-Yeon mentioned.

“Oh... Really?”

Ra-Eun wondered if Su-Yeon had gotten a membership here to go to the same fitness center as her.

‘No, it’s probably just a coincidence.’

Ra-Eun erased the suspicion while slightly shaking her head. The membership of the fitness center that she went to was on the highly expensive side. The price reflected how great the facility was, but it was a bit too pricey for one to go here for the sole purpose of working out. Ra-Eun did not have to pay for a thing since it was fully covered by her agency, but an ordinary salaryman or student would definitely feel the money bleeding out of their bank account.

‘But she’s apparently from a rich household.’

Ra-Eun recalled that this much of an expenditure would be nothing for Su-Yeon. Su-Yeon scanned Ra-Eun’s body while smiling.

“You’re far more beautiful in person than through a screen. Your figure is so well-proportioned as well.”

“Thank you. You’re also very beautiful.”

“Oh, thank you so much. By the way, you don’t have to be so formal with me. Just casually call me unnie.”

It probably was not a problem for other women, but it was of a considerably high difficulty for Ra-Eun.

“I’ll try,” she said.

“May I also speak comfortably with you?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Thanks.”

It was a bit much to make her older brother’s girlfriend keep speaking formally to her.

“Ra-Eun. If you’re fine with it, could I take a picture?”

“What kind of picture?”

“A selfie to post on my social media account. Please?”

“Well... If it’s just a picture, then sure.”

Su-Yeon got closer to Ra-Eun, linked arms with her and turned her camera into selfie mode to take a photo of them being intimate with each other.

Snap!

“Thanks, Ra-Eun. Oh, if it’s okay, can we follow each other on social media?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

Ra-Eun also wanted to know what kind of woman Jo Su-Yeon was. After they followed each other...

‘I’ll have to take a look once I get home.’

She was highly interested in her older brother’s girlfriend.

***

Ra-Eun returned home after a brief workout session with Su-Yeon, and walked over to Yi-Seo’s tightly-shut room door without realizing it. Yi-Seo acted like she was fine, but locked herself in her room to have her alone time whenever she had a lot on her mind.

‘I’m sure she’ll naturally get better once time passes.’

However, Ra-Eun couldn’t help but feel sorry for Yi-Seo as a bystander. To Ra-Eun, Yi-Seo was a precious friend who had helped her a lot in her high school days. Ra-Eun might not have been able to properly adapt to the high school girl life if it hadn’t been for Yi-Seo.

‘I want to help her, but it’s not like I can tell that guy to break up with his girlfriend.’

This problem was only for the people involved to resolve; Ra-Eun was only a third party in all of this, so she wasn’t able to intervene.

Ra-Eun went back into her room and threw herself onto her bed. She then took out her smartphone and looked through Su-Yeon’s account that she had followed back this afternoon. She had almost 350 thousand followers. Although it did not even come close to the number of followers that Ra-Eun had, 350 thousand was an extremely difficult number for a regular person to reach.

‘She must be one of those social media influencers.’

Considering her household, great figure and looks, it was not weird for Su-Yeon to be so popular. There were many photos of her with other famous people besides Ra-Eun, and the one that they had taken together had also been uploaded, which was getting tons of hearts and comments. However, it somehow felt as if Su-Yeon was flaunting the fact that she was close to Ra-Eun.

“Hmm...”

Ra-Eun fixed her gaze on her smartphone for a while. She was filled with an inexplicable feeling.

“It feels weird.”

She did not feel too good about it.

***

“You’re asking me if I had been in touch with Su-Yeon after graduating middle school?”

Ra-Hyuk blinked consecutively while staring at Ra-Eun, wondering why she was asking such a thing.

“You called me here to ask that?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why are you curious about something like that?”

“Just ‘cause. She’ll become my sister-in-law if you two end up getting married, won’t she? I just wanna know what kind of person she is in advance.”

Ra-Hyuk smiled in embarrassment from the mention of marriage.

“Why are you bringing up marriage now...? We’ve only dated for a week. It’s way too early to discuss marriage.”

“You never know. She might be the one to bring it up.”

Ra-Hyuk did not fully believe Ra-Eun. However, a part of him was fascinated by how much interest his little sister was showing for his girlfriend.

“We were just so-so friends during middle school. That didn’t change even after we graduated.”

“But you got in touch with each other from time to time, right?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Yeah.”

“But then she just confessed to you out of the blue?”

“Yeah. I thought she had absolutely no interest in me romantically, but I was surprised to get a love confession from her out of nowhere like that.”

Hence, Ra-Hyuk had even asked Ra-Eun for advice at the time on what to do if someone, who he had thought was just a friend, suddenly confessed.

After some deep thought, Ra-Eun nodded and said, “Okay. You can go.”

“Eh? Already?”

“Yeah. I got everything I needed.”

Ra-Hyuk was dumbfounded. He had come to meet Ra-Eun because she had asked, but he was being told to leave after not even five minutes had passed.

“I’ll get going then,” Ra-Eun announced as she got up from her seat.

She took out her smartphone after leaving the cafe and called someone.

- Team Leader So Ha-Jin speaking. What can I do for you, Chairwoman?

“Is Mr. Ma in the workplace right now? He isn’t replying to my texts.”

- He’s hiding somewhere, watching a rerun of a girl group survival audition program.

“No wonder.”

Ra-Eun sighed and issued Ha-Jin and Ma Yeong-Jun a new mission.

“There’s someone I’d like you guys to investigate. Her name is Jo Su-Yeon. Gather as much information you can on this woman and send it to me as quickly as you can.”

Ra-Eun decided to take action before the situation turned into something bigger.