Chapter 45: Signs of Greatness (1)

There were only a few days left until the shoot for Reaper?began. Kang Ra-Eun got up early to go for a morning jog, which she hadn’t done in a long time. She tied her long hair back, put on a cap and headed out.

The season was still in the transition phase from autumn to winter. The chilly morning air enveloped Ra-Eun.

“...So cold.”

She felt even colder since she hadn’t broken into a sweat yet. She quickly warmed up and jogged toward Starlight Road, wearing her new tracksuit and sneakers. The tracksuit aside...

‘These are some nice sneakers.’

She felt lighter with every step she took.

‘I guess they’re expensive for a reason.’

Ra-Eun had not been planning on buying new sneakers, but the reason that she had ended up with them was because of her brother, Kang Ra-Hyuk. She had once again scored top of her class in her second semester midterms, so Ra-Hyuk had discussed with their father to get her a new pair of sneakers since he knew that Ra-Eun loved to exercise.

‘For God’s sake. His life skills may be abysmal, but he sure has some sense in these aspects.’

This was why Ra-Eun could not come to hate Ra-Hyuk. As she was marveling at her new sneakers’ performance, she had arrived at Starlight Road before she knew it. Seo Yi-Jun had been waiting for her near the cafe, and raised his hand once she came into his view.

“Noona!”

He casually joined Ra-Eun on her jog. She looked at him sideways.

“Didn’t you say it was a hassle to jog on weekend mornings?” Ra-Eun asked.

“I did, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious when I knew you were jogging so early in the morning by yourself,” Yi-Jun replied.

“What’s there to be anxious about?”

“You never know, sketchy people might come up to you. Wouldn’t it be better to have a man with you to be ready for such situations?”

“You sure are good with words.”

Even if such a situation were to take place, what Yi-Jun was worried about would never happen. Ra-Eun was far stronger than the average molester. Ra-Eun could only be subdued if multiple members of a highly-trained special forces unit charged at her all at once, but there was no way Yi-Jun would be aware of such a thing. In Yi-Jun’s perspective, Ra-Eun was just a delicate noona.

“Make sure to keep up. I’ll go on ahead if you lag behind like last time,” Ra-Eun remarked.

“Don’t worry, noona. Things will be different this time around.”

Yi-Jun showed great confidence. Ra-Eun had not trusted his confidence at first, but she realized as time went by that he was certainly different from last time. He was still raring to go even after they had finished the course.

“Looks like you’ve been working out pretty hard,” Ra-Eun mentioned.

“This is nothing if I want to become a man who’s able to handle you.”

“Looks like you’ve become just as pretentious as you’ve become fit.”

Yi-Jun laughed. “I’ve also been doing a lot of weight training lately. Take a look.”

Ra-Eun gazed at Yi-Jun’s upper body, especially at his deltoids. She then suddenly moved her hands to touch Yi-Jun’s toned upper body.

“N-Noona?”

Yi-Jun was so flustered that he was unable to react. Ra-Eun belatedly noticed what she had done and apologized.

“Sorry. You don’t like it when other people touch you like that, right?”

That was the case for Ra-Eun, at least. However, Yi-Jun did not mind it all that much.

“N-No, it’s okay. If it’s you, then, well... I was just surprised because it was so sudden.”

Since Ra-Eun had received permission, she started touching him without hesitation. She asked Yi-Jun as she was attentively examining Yi-Jun’s toned upper body, “Shoulder raises?”

She asked about what exercises Yi-Jun had done.

“Yes, I mainly did dumbbell side lateral raises.”

“Really?”

Ra-Eun nodded. There was a hint of envy in her gaze.

‘Like I’d thought, there’s a huge difference between male and female physiques.’

Ra-Eun had been focusing quite a lot of her time in weight training, but the speed at which she gained muscle mass was significantly slower than when she was a man. She could clearly feel the difference because she had been both.

“You’re not as toned as Je-Woon sunbae, but I’m sure you can catch up if you work harder,” Ra-Eun expressed.

“Huh? Je-Woon sunbae? Are you talking about the male lead actor of the drama that you’re gonna be in?”

“Yeah, that’s right. You know your stuff.”

“Why do you know what his muscles are like?” Yi-Jun asked.

His tone carried a trace of disapproval. The first thing that came to Yi-Jun’s mind was skinship. It was not strange for there to be skinship between a male and female lead in a romance drama.

Ra-Eun replied with a mischievous smile, “What, are you getting jealous?”

She had said it as a joke, but...

“Yes, I am,” Yi-Jun answered.

“...”

Unlike Ra-Eun, he was dead serious. The change in his demeanor unlike his usual self left Ra-Eun flustered instead.

“I’ve just... seen his body a lot since he has a bunch of shirtless action scenes. I’ve never touched his body like I’ve just done to you.”

She decided to clarify things first before any more misunderstandings piled up. Hearing that, Yi-Jun sighed in relief.

“What a relief.”

“Why are you relieved? It’s my business,” said Ra-Eun.

“Even if it’s just acting, I don’t want you getting all touchy with other guys.”

Ra-Eun giggled. She understood that sentiment, if anything else.

“Me neither, man.”

***

Ra-Eun inspected her attire one last time right before the shoot of episode 2 of Reaper began. The purple frilled dress, the updo hairstyle and the bright red lipstick recreated the Middle Ages European noblewoman look very well.

Screenwriter Hwang Yo-Rin exclaimed with hearts in her eyes, “As expected of Ra-Eun! You’re so pretty! How do you look so good in everything you wear? You perfect the outfit just by wearing it”

“Thank you very much...” Ra-Eun expressed.

Compliments made people happy, but excessive compliments only made things awkward for Ra-Eun. Director Park was happy as well, but also anxious at the same time.

“You look amazing, Ra-Eun, but can you really perform action scenes with that on?”

Ra-Eun needed to perform a swordsmanship action scene this time. She would be making very big motions while swinging a sword against wraiths for several scenes. Could a rookie actress with barely any acting experience perform such action scenes well in a dress, when the scene itself was difficult to perform even in a tracksuit? Director Park thought it was near impossible.

Before Ra-Eun had a chance to answer, Heo Son, who had been given the role of Reaper’s martial arts coach, replied confidently, “Don’t worry about a thing, director. This is a piece of cake for Ra-Eun.”

“You sure have a lot of faith in her,” said Director Park.

Since Coach Heo was so convinced, he decided to let her take a shot at it. Everything was ready.

“Scene #3-5! Roll cameras! Ready... Action!”

Ra-Eun commenced the scene in front of the green screen at the slap of the slate. She slightly lifted the end of her purple dress with one hand, and unsheathed her sword while imagining that there was a wraith in front of her eyes. She raised the thin western-style sword and pointed its end toward the camera labeled ‘wraith.’

“The wraiths destined to go to the afterlife are disturbing the order of the lower world.”

Her charisma-filled voice and eyes were near perfection. Ra-Eun was definitely more suited to strong and charismatic characters like this than delicate and feminine ones.

She speedily took three to four steps back and moved as if she was evading the wraith’s attack. Her movements were not hindered in the slightest even while wearing high heels.

Albeit a prop, the sword that Ra-Eun was holding with one hand was fairly heavy. However, she did not show any signs of fatigue. She started running to match the camerawork. Since this was all supposed to be one take, even the smallest mistakes were not allowed. If she did make a mistake, then she would need to start from the beginning.

Ra-Eun attempted a somersault with her free hand. The trails of her skirt elegantly fluttered in the air. This scene would be made to look even more dynamic later, using slow motion. She landed on her feet and swung the sword with both hands, and then...

Thrust!

She ended the scene by acting as if she stabbed the wraith in its heart.

Director Park was so shocked by Ra-Eun’s swordsmanship performance that he could not even shout “Cut!”. He only came back to his senses after Yo-Rin poked him on his side.

“C-Cut! Good job, Ra-Eun! That was fantastic! That scene was absolutely amazing!”

“Thank you, director.”

Director Park would have casted a different actress if Yo-Rin hadn’t strongly recommended Ra-Eun. He had still been iffy about her since she was still a rookie actress, but any traces of doubt in his mind had been blown away from that performance just now.

Ra-Eun smiled in embarrassment as the staff members showered her with applause. Even Je-Woon, who had been watching her solo action scene from beyond the camera, gave her words of admiration.

“You’re good. I almost started crushing on you.”

Ra-Eun had no idea that Je-Woon knew how to make jokes like that. Regardless, she answered calmly while maintaining her composure.

“You perform action scenes that are far more difficult than mine, Je-Woon sunbae. What I did was nothing compared to you.”

“No, I wouldn’t have been able to perform as well as you did if I was told to do the same thing while wearing a dress like that. You’re way more amazing than me.”

Je-Woon was not the kind of person who made people feel good with empty words. Rather, he was extremely honest.

“I’ll look forward to your performance on the next shoot,” Je-Woon expressed.

“Okay. Thank you for your hard work, sunbae.”

Je-Woon left the studio early because he had something else scheduled.

‘I should keep that compliment from Je-Woon sunbae a secret from Yi-Jun,’ Ra-Eun thought as she watched Je-Woon getting further away.

It would only be a bother to her if Yi-Jun got jealous again after she mentioned it to mess with him.