Chapter 27: A Kiss Scene? (1)

Kang Ra-Eun’s face instantly stiffened at the mention of a kiss scene. She looked as if she would kill someone right this instant. Chief Jung unconsciously flinched from the bloodlust emanating from Ra-Eun.

Ra-Eun answered exactly like how Chief Jung had thought that she would.

“Are you crazy? Why the hell would I do a kiss scene?”

Ra-Eun absolutely despised skinship, especially ones with men. Chief Jung did not know exactly why Ra-Eun hated it so much, but he would understand why if he knew of her circumstances. Since Ra-Eun used to be a deep-voiced man, she obviously hated the idea.

“Okay, Ra-Eun. Why don’t you calm down and listen to me, okay?”

Chief Jung had to calm down the enraged Ra-Eun first.

“I’m not asking if you’d be okay with a real mouth-to-mouth kiss, but if you’d be okay with pretending to kiss.”

“...Really?”

Ra-Eun’s hostility lessened. After gaining hope from how her rage had subsided a little, Chief Jung kept nodding.

“Why would I ask you to do a real kiss scene when I know you hate skinship? They called to ask if you would be okay with just pretending to kiss, so I told them that I would get back to them once I ask for your opinion.”

Even if it was just pretend, Ra-Eun still did not find it all that appealing.

“Is a scene like that even needed? I don’t think people would be interested in an extra’s kiss scene that much,” she mentioned.

She was not wrong, but her current position was very different from the drama’s previous season.

“You’re not an extra anymore.” As if waiting for this moment, Chief Jung said to Ra-Eun, “Your character was promoted to a minor role. You have quite a few lines as well. Well, you still have far less screen time than the main and supporting roles, but you will have significantly more screen time than the other minor roles.”

Because the drama production team had seen Ra-Eun’s popularity with their own eyes, they immediately decided to promote Ra-Eun’s character that used to be just a nameless extra.

“Who’s my partner, then?” Ra-Eun asked.

Although it wasn’t a direct kiss, she was naturally curious about her partner.

Chief Jung answered concisely, “Han-Seok.”

“Sigh...”

Ra-Eun had finally realized why Ji Han-Seok had asked her such a question with a flushed face. She would have flatly refused the scene if her partner was any other actor, but...

‘It’s a different story if it’s Ji Han-Seok.”

Ra-Eun needed more time to consolidate her connection with Chairman Ji, and Han-Seok was the one who was in charge of arranging her meetings with him.

Now that things had come to this, Ra-Eun decided to ask Chief Jung directly.

“What did Han-Seok sunbae say about doing a kiss scene with me?”

“He said he was fine with it. He seemed to be looking forward to acting with you.”

“...”

“Like I said before, it really is just pretending. The camera will be angled so that your head or Han-Seok’s will be covering your lips,” Chief Jung reiterated.

“I know, but... so there aren't any other scenes with excessive skinship, right, Chief Jung?”

“Yes, there isn’t. I guarantee it.”

After much thought, Ra-Eun answered, “Sigh... Okay. Tell them that I’ll do it.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but make sure you get it into their heads that I will never do mouth-to-mouth. I’m prepared to just quit acting if they don’t agree.”

No matter how much Ra-Eun emphasized it, it still was not enough for her. That was how much she did not want to act scenes like that out.

“Okay, just leave it all to me! I’ll take care of everything!” Chief Jung declared.

Feeling elated, Chief Jung’s voice heightened after getting Ra-Eun’s approval. On the other hand, nothing but sighs came out of Ra-Eun’s mouth.

‘If only I’d filled out the Return Application Form properly... No, even checking off the correct gender would have been good enough...’

Park Geon-Woo would have done many more good things in his life if he knew something like this was going to happen. It had been a long time since Ra-Eun had been swept by so much regret.

***

There were only a few days left until the filming of The Devil’s Touch season 2 began. It had been a while since Ra-Eun walked back home from school with her friends.

Choi Ro-Mi looked at Ra-Eun with sparkling eyes.

“Ra-Eun! Are you starring in The Devil’s Touch

in season 2 as well?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Ra-Eun answered.

Ro-Mi often asked Ra-Eun these kinds of questions due to her high interest in the entertainment industry. Like any other day, Ro-Mi’s curiosity exploded.

“Is your character intertwined with Han-Seok oppa’s character?”

“That’s a spoiler, so I can’t tell you that.”

Ra-Eun had also been officially announced to be starring in The Devil’s Touch. It was a huge problem for an actor to unintentionally leak information about a drama or movie that they were starring in.

Due to massive advancements in the internet, an actor’s single slip of the tongue could cause huge backlash. There had actually been a case where a certain actor received massive hate from drama fans for revealing which character would die in the drama.

Because of that, Program Director Son Han-Woo made sure that all actors and staff members knew that they must not disclose any contents of the drama to outsiders. Since this also applied to Ra-Eun, she could not divulge anything, even to her friends.

Ro-Mi clicked her tongue, unable to let go of her wistful feelings. Na Gyu-Rin, who was sitting beside her, scolded her.

“Even if we’re Ra-Eun’s friends, do you seriously think she could tell us stuff like that?”

“Why not? She could.”

“Are you gonna take responsibility if she gets in trouble because of that? You won’t, so just wait and see with your own eyes when the drama starts airing.”

“...Okay.”

Ra-Eun felt a bit sorry for the disheartened Ro-Mi, but Gyu-Rin was right in this instance. Even if she hated working in the entertainment industry, she would not stand for a project to be ruined because of her.

Although she had absolutely no problem with leaking everything if Director Son or any of the other head staff members acted in bad faith to her, that was currently not the case. Hence, Ra-Eun was intending on keeping things secret like Director Son had emphasized.

“Then, Ra-Eun, can you at least tell me this?”

Ro-Mi had still not given up.

“Is it true that Je-Woon oppa will be starring in this season of The Devil’s Touch?” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Je-Woon was a member of the seven-member male idol group Bex, which had debuted five years ago. His manly, well-defined abs had brought about a large number of female fans. After his declaration to try his shot in acting past his music career, rumors that he would join the cast of The Devil’s Touch spread through a certain news media outlet.

Ro-Mi was curious about whether this was true or not, which Seo Yi-Seo smiled at.

“You love hot guys as much as ever, Ro-Mi.”

Ro-Mi’s preference for men went as followed: handsome. In Ro-Mi’s eyes, anyone she took an interest in had S-tier looks.

“I guess... I could tell you that much,” Ra-Eun expressed.

The addition of Je-Woon was scheduled to be revealed by a news article today or tomorrow anyway. Ra-Eun thought that revealing it a little earlier was no problem.

“Really? So, is the rumor true?” Ro-Mi asked.

Yes, or no. The answer was very simple.

“Yup, it’s true,” Ra-Eun answered.

“Sick...! Je-Woon oppa is finally debuting as an actor!”

Ro-Mi’s favorite celebrity might have been Je-Woon, because she was about to shed tears of joy. As Gyu-Rin was patting Ro-Mi on the back, Yi-Seo explained to Ra-Eun what sort of girl Ro-Mi was since Ra-Eun still did not know much about her.

“Ro-Mi absolutely adores idols and handsome actors.”

“I can tell,” Ra-Eun replied.

“You can just make some vague excuse to dodge any of her questions that you find hard to answer from now on.”

Ra-Eun had already been thinking of doing just that even if Yi-Seo hadn't told her to.

Gyu-Rin suggested, possibly for a change of pace, “I saw an ice cream store that had just opened next to this cafe. Why don’t we stop by there? My treat.”

“You, Gyu-Rin? What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” Yi-Seo asked.

Gyu-Rin shrugged as if it was no big deal.

“My dad gave me some extra allowance yesterday, so I want to treat you guys.”

Her father had given her a little extra because things had gone well in his workplace.

Not many people would refuse when their friend offered to treat them to ice cream. Since they had just finished their coffees, they decided to head out. Gyu-Rin pointed to the ice cream store right of the cafe as soon as they went out onto the street.

“It’s over there. What do you think? It looks nice, right?”

Tons of people had gathered, either because it was their grand opening phase or because their ice cream was just that good. It looked like they would have to wait a little, but they couldn’t dare defy their financier.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay!”

Gyu-Rin, Yi-Seo, Ro-Mi and Ra-Eun all set off in order. As they were heading to the ice cream store through the crowd...

“...?”

Ra-Eun suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong, Ra-Eun?” Yi-Seo asked.

Ra-Eun sprinted somewhere in a hurry after asking Yi-Seo to wait. She came back to the cafe that they were at. Her gaze was fixed on a young man in his twenties, walking together with other men believed to be his friends.

“Hey, Geon-Woo, you’re free tonight, right? Let’s go have a drink.”

Ra-Eun’s face stiffened as soon as she heard that name.

Park Geon-Woo.

Ra-Eun's mind went completely blank from coming face to face with her past self on the street by sheer coincidence.