Chapter 201: Woman of Great Beauty (3)

The two former high school classmates decided to leave their chit chat there. Kang Ra-Eun brought up the real reason that they had come here to Park Se-Woon.

“We’re here because we were thinking of doing a collaboration between your Veryberry Sandwich and the tracksuit that we’ll be releasing soon.”

“Yeah, I heard the gist of it from Department Manager Kim.”

The first thing that Se-Woon thought when he heard about the funsumer product that Ra-Eun and Park Seol-Hun had come up with, was that it was an interesting idea.

“Were you the one who came up with it?” Se-Woon asked.

“No, it was this mister next to me,” Ra-Eun answered. She was referring to Seol-Hun.

Se-Woon quickly scanned him and nodded.

“I guess there was a reason why Levanche has been doing so well.”

It was natural, considering Ra-Eun had such a capable partner. Although their businesses were not in the same field, Se-Woon periodically checked Levanche’s growth trend whenever he had time since it was led by the woman that he liked. It was mainly to jump in like a knight in shining armor if he saw anything that he could do to help them, but he saw absolutely no opportunity. That was how consistently well Levanche was growing.

Se-Woon immediately gave his answer regarding the collaboration.

“Okay, you have a deal.”

“Is it okay for you to decide that yourself?” Ra-Eun asked.

“I’ve been given full authority in this matter. I have the final say in everything regarding this collaboration, so you don’t need to worry about things going awry midway.” n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

This was the first time Ra-Eun found Se-Woon to be reliable. However, nothing was free in this world.

“But I have one condition.”

Ra-Eun’s eyes narrowed.

“I’ll consider this deal never happened if you’re thinking of setting a weird condition.”

Se-Woon expressed that he never even had the thought while laughing awkwardly as Ra-Eun drew a firm line. He knew very well that she would never accept such a condition even if he were to set one, so he did not even try.

“The world runs on give and take. Since we’re accepting this collaboration, you help us too,” Se-Woon expressed.

“In what way?”

“The second series of the Veryberry Sandwich is gonna be released soon. I’d like to make its release more impactful, and I think having you as the commercial model would be just what we need.”

Ra-Eun was sought out by every single advertiser, but she had not been accepting any commercial model offers since she had been focusing on her film shoots lately. However, this was different; it was too valuable an opportunity to pass up when the funsumer product sales were guaranteed and would become a hot topic among the public.

‘Not only that, I’m curious about their new product.’

She was surging with expectation at the thought of being able to taste the new Veryberry Sandwich before anyone else.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Thanks. I’ve been pondering over who to hire as the model, so you’ve saved me.”

“Wouldn’t it be easy to find a model for a popular product like the Veryberry Sandwich series?”

“There was a top priority model that we’ve had our eyes on, but they replied that they couldn’t do it, so we've been pondering over what to do. Oh, but that doesn’t mean we’re using you like a substitute. You’re also a top-priority model.”

“Who was the other top-priority model besides me?”

“An extremely popular person as of late.”

Hearing that, Seol-Hun opened his mouth first. “Are you talking about Jung Hun-Seong?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’m surprised you knew,” Se-Woon answered.

“Well, he’s the most popular athlete among the others who competed in the Olympics. We’ve had our eyes on him as well.”

Levanche had also suggested that they hire Hun-Seong to be a model for them, which they did not have high hopes for since massive conglomerates already had their sights on him. Even with that being the case, Se-Woon and Dumont Trois decided to contact Hun-Seong anyway since it wouldn’t hurt to try. As they had expected, they had been hit with an “I’m sorry.”

“We even had a meeting with him, but there was no shot,” Se-Woon mentioned.

“Did he set extremely high conditions?” Seol-Hun asked.

“They certainly were high, but nothing that we couldn’t handle. Mr. Jung also mentioned early on in the meeting that he doesn’t plan on setting an extremely high appearance fee condition.”

Such a thing would only pressure him; he had not appeared on tons of commercials like the average celebrity.

“If it wasn’t related to conditions, then why did he refuse?” Seol-Hun asked.

Dumont Trois could be considered one of the top businesses in the food industry, to the point that there were a considerable number of celebrities wanting to model for Dumont Trois’s products. Despite all that, Hun-Seong had respectfully declined this amazing offer. Anyone would be curious about the reason.

Se-Woon, who had been present in the meeting with Hun-Seong, answered, “I don’t know. He wouldn’t say.”

“If he avoided the question, could it be for personal reasons?” Ra-Eun expressed.

She had said it without much thought, but Se-Woon stared at her in great surprise.

“How did you know?”

“Did I get it right? Didn’t you say that you didn’t know the reason?”

“I just don’t know the exact reason; I have more or less an idea.”

“What is it?”

If Se-Woon were to extrapolate Hun-Seong’s expressions, movements and moods he had shown in their meeting...

“I’d guess he has a specific company that he wants to model for. I hear he’s a fan of a specific celebrity.”

“A man or a woman?” Ra-Eun asked.

“A woman. He also said she’s not a singer.”

Hearing that, Seol-Hun said to Ra-Eun from next to her as if he had told her so.

“See, I told you it’s you.”

“I don’t think you know the sheer number of female celebrities in Korea.”

‘What are the chances that it’s me?’ Ra-Eun thought.

However, Seol-Hun thought otherwise.

“Wanna bet?”

“Why bet on something so—”

“You chicken?”

“...”

Seol-Hun had worked with Ra-Eun for so long that he knew exactly how to push her buttons. He just needed to lightly chip at her pride. Ra-Eun’s sharp gaze fixed itself on Seol-Hun.

“Okay, you’re on.”

Things had gone exactly as he had planned.

He initiated, “If you win, I’ll take care of all the tasks that you have on your hands right now.”

Ra-Eun’s ears perked up. She still needed to look through highly important matters, but there were some relatively less important matters that Seol-Hun could honestly take care of. Ra-Eun couldn’t help but take interest in the bet.

“And what if I lose?”

As if waiting for this moment, Seol-Hun boldly set his condition.

“Be the model for our swimsuit photo shoot.”

Even if Levanche was her company, there was one thing that Ra-Eun refused to do for it, and that was being a swimsuit model.

“Are you insane? There’s a bikini in there too!”

Se-Woon felt giddy just from imagining Ra-Eun in a bikini. Ra-Eun had only worn a bikini once in her entire life, which she had worn at the time because she had nothing else to wear, but now was different.

As she was about to suggest that they consider this bet never happened, Seol-Hun beat her to the punch.

“This bet is overwhelmingly in your favor in terms of your chance of winning. I’d say that my condition is well within the bounds of reasonability.”

“...”

What were the chances that the female celebrity that Hun-Seong liked was Ra-Eun out of every single female celebrity in Korea? Ra-Eun did not know the exact percentage, but she was sure that it was extremely low. Technically speaking, Seol-Hun had an overwhelming disadvantage.

“Fine, you have yourself a deal,” Ra-Eun declared.

Their bet had been established. Seol-Hun even made Ra-Eun write a memorandum to make sure that she didn’t go back on her word.

Se-Woon, who had been silently watching them make their bet, said, “Excuse me.”

Ra-Eun and Seol-Hun belatedly noticed Se-Woon after forgetting that he was even there. Se-Woon asked them for a favor while smiling awkwardly.

“Could I also come watch on the day of Ra-Eun’s swimsuit photo shoot?”

Ra-Eun flatly answered, “Sure, in your dreams.”

***

‘Why do I have such a bad feeling?’

Despite having made a bet that was overwhelmingly in her favor, Ra-Eun did not feel very good about it.

‘That aside, how do I check who Jung Hun-Seong is a fan of?’

It would be best to ask the person himself, but that was a problem since she had no points of contact with him.

‘It’d be nice if there was a reason for us to meet.’

As she was in deep thought, Shin Yu-Bin came to her waiting room.

“Ra-Eun. You said you were trying to find a way to contact Jung Hun-Seong, right?”

“Yes. Did you manage to get his contact information?”

“No, but I happened to meet Director Gu Yeon-Seung on my way here. You know him, right?”

Gu Yeon-Seung was the director of the program Talking About. Ra-Eun had greeted him many times before.

“He’s been wanting to have you on as a guest, and Jung Hun-Seong happens to be appearing on the upcoming episode as a guest,” Yu-Bin mentioned.

“Really?”

The chance was far too big of a loss to let go.

“Okay. I’ll go on as a guest.”

She did not feel reluctant since she had already appeared on it once before.

‘I’ll make sure to get a clear answer from Jung Hun-Seong and rub it in Mr. Park’s nose.’

Ra-Eun could already imagine Seol-Hun struggling within the sea of paperwork in her place.

***

The recording date of episode 102 of the talk show Talking About had arrived. Ra-Eun greeted the staff members and Director Gu Yeon-Seung as soon as she arrived on set.

“I’ll be in your care, Director Gu.”

“Same here. Thank you for deciding to come on when you must be busy. Oh, right. Mr. Jung is already here, so you can go greet him.”

“I understand.”

Things were going very smoothly for Ra-Eun. She pranced to Hun-Seong’s waiting room. She knocked on the door before going in. The door opened instead of a response from inside the room. The eyes of Hun-Seong, who opened the door, started to quiver greatly.

“R-Ra-Eun...!”

“Hello. I enjoyed your Olympic matches. Congratulations on your gold medal.”

Hun-Seong’s face reddened from Ra-Eun’s radiant smile.

“Th-Thank you very much. I’d never expected you to come congratulate me yourself,” he said while scratching his head in embarrassment.

‘Even if he’s meeting a celebrity, isn’t he a bit too happy?’

From here on, Ra-Eun started to feel an unknown sense of anxiety from Hun-Seong’s reaction. It was not long before the source of her anxiety revealed itself.

“I happen to be a massive fan of yours. I’ve never told anyone, but I’m even a member of your fan club.”

Hun-Seong even took out his fan club membership card as if to brag about it. Ra-Eun felt like she had been hit on the head with a hammer.

‘It’s actually me?!’

Seol-Hun’s victory had been confirmed.