Chapter 103: Effective Use of Connections (1)

Kang Ra-Eun’s performance as if she had actually been possessed by a man continued to scene #12-1, where she was on the subway. She openly lifted up her skirt in the waiting room. People that she didn’t know would have rebuked her in shock if they saw her doing such a thing, but she could because she was wearing insurance known as ‘bloomers.’

Ra-Eun asked the stylist who was standing by, “We have to make it so people can’t tell I’m wearing bloomers, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I guess I should pull them up more.”

The bloomers were already fairly short, but Ra-Eun’s pale thighs were fully visible once she pulled them up. They were no different from panties in terms of the level of exposure, but she felt more comfortable knowing that she was at least wearing pants. She wasn’t embarrassed because they weren’t panties.

She let her skirt down and looked at her front, side and rear views in the full-length mirror. Someone knocked on the waiting room door in the meantime.

“Are you finished, Miss Kang?”

“Yes. I’ll be right out.”

Ra-Eun headed to the filming site with the stylist. The site today was special; it was inside a subway. They had to finish their early morning shoot as soon as possible before the time for the first train to depart arrived.

Ra-Eun was as beautiful as always despite it being so early in the morning. Everything was ready as soon as she sat down on the subway seat.

“Let’s start right away.”

The extras immersed themselves into their performance as soon as the director gave the signal. Ra-Eun yawned to act like she was tired and slowly closed her eyes. The gazes of the people in front of her holding the handrails shifted to her. The camera panned downward from Ra-Eun’s head to match the flow of their gazes.

The extras expressed surprise. “...Gasp!”

Ra-Eun’s legs were slowly spreading. It had only been five days since the character Min Ju-Tae had become a woman. Obviously, there was no way that she had made a habit yet of keeping her legs closed while sitting. Ra-Eun’s legs only spread wider as she fell deeper into her slumber. The person sitting next to her gasped in surprise and used his legs to push Ra-Eun’s together.

“Phew,” the man sitting next to her sighed in relief.

At that moment, Ra-Eun woke up. The people gawking at her hurriedly turned their gazes elsewhere while pretending nothing happened.

“...When did I doze off?” she said while looking around and rubbing her eyes.

People expected her to close her legs now that she was awake, but Ra-Eun did not act according to their expectations. She kept her legs spread, testing the endurance of people around her who were desperately trying not to look.

.

She had worn bloomers just in case because there was a possibility that her panties were visible at just the right angle. Director Yoon gave the OK as they approached the end of the scene.

“Okay, that was great! Let’s move on to the next scene.”

The make-up artists fixed Ra-Eun’s make-up and hair as soon as the scene was finished. In the meantime, Director Yoon once again gave Ra-Eun a thumbs up.

“Your performance was amazing, Ra-Eun. I’d think you really did have the soul of a middle-aged man if I didn’t know any better.”

He was exactly on the mark. Ra-Eun wanted to say that he was correct, but decided to say something else instead with a smile.

“Thank you very much, director.”

Director Yoon couldn’t be any happier with Ra-Eun’s performance that seemed like she was possessed by a man, because her performance had actually been based on her experiences.

‘Was acting this easy?’

She felt like she was in her ideal element.

***

The shoot was progressing at a much faster pace than what Director Yoon and the other production staff had expected, thanks to Ra-Eun’s dazzling performance. Hence, Ra-Eun was able to enjoy a more leisurely time during the shoot.

She had a day off yet again. It was a waste of precious time to just laze around at home, so she decided to go to her company and do some work like an actual chairwoman should.

Her company had become so big in such a short period of time. However, an unforeseen problem had arisen because of it: the workplace was far too small now. As they continued to hire more employees as the amount of work grew, the work space that had felt so spacious at first had become extremely tiny.

Hence, Levanche had to move their base of operations after only a year of having moved to where they currently were. Thankfully, they were able to quickly secure a place. Ra-Eun had purchased a building last year, and she decided to use the 7th, 8th and 9th floors as her company’s place of business. There was only a week left until they would move to their new workplace.

“Can I talk to you for a second, Chairwoman Kang?”

Park Seol-Hun took her to his office as soon as he saw her. Director Do Hye-Yeong and Ma Yeong-Jun were already inside.

“What’s the matter?” Ra-Eun asked. She had to speak formally because Hye-Yeong was also present.

She thought there was some sort of issue with the company.

Seol-Hun explained, “It’s nothing bad. It’s just about the new product that we decided to push as our flagship product. We were talking about having you model for it this time as well, but...”

“But what?”

From what Seol-Hun had said, it did not seem like a problem. She was the chairwoman of Levanche, so she did not see what was possibly wrong with advertising her own product herself.

However, Director Do provided a contrasting opinion. “It’s fine for you to model for the products yourself, Chairwoman. But I was thinking it would be a minus for us in the long run if we continued to have just you as our model.”

She was not wrong. However much of a top-star actress Ra-Eun was, the impact that people would feel when seeing her were bound to dull if she appeared too much. It did not seem like a bad idea to go for a different model.

However, there was also a problem with that suggestion. Seol-Hun took the baton back from Hye-Yeong and articulated their concern in detail.

“It’s fine to leave the modeling to someone else, but it would be best to leave it to someone with as much or higher brand value as you. Using a mediocre model would be too much of a drop in quality that you first set.”

“Mm, I guess you’re right,” Ra-Eun strongly agreed.

“That’s why we’ve been pondering over who. And even if we send them a modeling offer, there’s no guarantee that they’ll accept.”

There was a possibility that Levanche would have to endure great losses, which was why Seol-Hun hurriedly asked for Ra-Eun's thoughts.

Ra-Eun got straight to the point. “How about Rita sunbae?”

Rita was far more popular than Ra-Eun. Not only that, having her model for Levanche would be a massive plus to the company since she was viewed so positively by the public.

However, Yeong-Jun pointed out, “That’d be great for us, but what reason does such a superstar like her have to model for our company?”

Even Yeong-Jun, someone who didn’t know much about the entertainment industry, could guess how low the probability was for Rita to choose Levanche out of all the other massive conglomerates that were likely swarming her with offers. Seol-Hun and Hye-Yeong agreed with him. Only Ra-Eun thought otherwise.

“I can finalize a contract with her right now with just one phone call.”

Seol-Hun looked like he didn’t believe her in the slightest. “You’re gonna finalize a contract with not just any celebrity, but the top songstress in Korea? You’re being way too unrealistic.”

Ra-Eun snorted.

‘This guy thinks I’m talking out of my ass.’

Her personality didn’t allow her to take this lying down.

“Give me a minute,” she said as she looked through her contacts for Rita’s number.

“You’re close enough with Rita to call her?” Seol-Hun asked.

Because Ra-Eun was in the middle of a call, Hye-Yeong answered in her place, “They’re in the same agency and have worked together before.”

“Oh, then I guess they at least exchanged numbers.”

They were thinking Ra-Eun and Rita were simply acquaintances who knew each other’s numbers.

Moments later...

“Hello? It’s me, sunbae.”

- Oh my God! Ra-Eun, I can’t believe you called me first! My, my, are pigs flying outside?

“I wonder.”

Ra-Eun decided to prove the level of her connections to Seol-Hun as well as to flaunt her dignity as a chairwoman.

“My company is planning on releasing a new set of female sportswear, but we haven’t been able to find a model for it...”

- Then I’ll do it.

Rita answered instantly before Ra-Eun even had a chance to ask her if she'd do it.

“Without even hearing the conditions?”

- Who cares about conditions when my precious junior is asking me for a favor?

Rita’s love for Ra-Eun was still going strong despite two years having passed.

“Thank you, sunbae. I’ll let our agency know in advance that my company will get in touch with them regarding the contract details.”

- Okay. And Ra-Eun, if you have time, why don’t we go get something to eat with just the two of—

Beep.

Ra-Eun hung up before Rita said any more, because she had a feeling that she shouldn’t accept whatever Rita asked of her.

She then glanced at the dumbfounded Seol-Hun and expressed, “That settles it, right? Please take care of drawing up the contract yourself. Oh, and don’t skimp out on the conditions. It’d be rude to offer bad conditions to someone who’s willing to help, don’t you think?”

“Y-Yeah. Yeah! Of course...”

Seol-Hun always wondered what planet Ra-Eun was from whenever he saw her. He was at least certain that she wasn’t an ordinary person like he was.