Chapter 34: Pride of the School (3)

As soon as Kang Ra-Eun returned to the classroom after completing the photo shoot, Na Gyu-Rin and Choi Ro-Mi asked her about Park Se-Woon.

“That son of a bitch Se-Woon didn’t try to pull anything on you, did he?”

They were just like fortune tellers. Ra-Eun recalled what had happened during the shoot.

“He did, but...”

Ra-Eun cut off her own sentence and opened up her right hand. And then, she clenched it with all her might.

“I gave him a light?warning.”

Ra-Eun might have thought that it was light, but the victim did not think so at all. She had even made Park Du-Chil, a loan shark who had made a living with just his fists, cry like a newborn baby.

Gyu-Rin and Ro-Mi sighed in relief once Ra-Eun said that she was fine.

“Good job.”

“Just let us know if he keeps approaching you. We’ll stick by your side so that he can’t get anywhere near you.”

They had received help from Ra-Eun in the water park, so they were determined to repay the favor. Seo Yi-Seo would have done the same if she were here with them.

Ra-Eun smiled at how dependable her friends were.

“Thanks.”

Friends truly were irreplaceable.

***

Ra-Eun had once again visited Park Seol-Hun’s shoe store. She smiled bitterly once she saw that it was closed.

“I knew it.”

According to Ra-Eun’s memories of the future, Seol-Hun’s fifth business failed. All that was left was his sixth business. When Seol-Hun would contact her to start his seventh business, she would once again give him a helping hand. There was only one thing that she had to do until then.

‘I’ll just have to earn more money until then.’

One needed money to start a business. Seol-Hun’s seventh business was already guaranteed to boom enormously. She was planning on investing as much as possible in his massively successful seventh business. Seol-Hun would do the work, and Ra-Eun would provide the money. And then in the future, money would just magically flow into her bank account without her lifting even a finger.

That was Ra-Eun’s ideal future. Of course, it was possible that Seol-Hun’s seventh business would end up the same as his previous six businesses. There was no guarantee that things would flow the exact same way as the future that she knew. However, the chances of success were overwhelmingly larger than the chances of failure. In that case...

‘Of course I’ll roll the dice.’

High risk, high reward. As she was about to head home, a man’s familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Looks like this store went to shit.”

There had been one other man who had been showing interest in Seol-Hun’s business. Ra-Eun knew him very well.

“What are you doing here, mister?” she asked.

The loan shark Ma Yeong-Jun took off his sunglasses and approached Ra-Eun. It was his first time seeing Ra-Eun in her school uniform. He quickly scanned her with marveled eyes.

“I guess you really are a student,” Yeong-Jun remarked.

“What, you thought I wasn’t?”

At first, Yeong-Jun had thought that there was no way that Ra-Eun was just an ordinary high school girl from how well she fought. However, looking at her now, she strongly emanated the aura of a high school girl. He could not believe that such a weak-looking girl had subdued one of his executives twice.

“I heard you've been doing really well as an actress lately,” Yeong-Jun said.

“Did you do a background check on me?” Ra-Eun asked.

“I don’t have to when you’re always on the news. And besides, I don’t do something so untactful as investigating my clients.”

Yeong-Jun handed Ra-Eun a thin file folder.

“This is a report of where Reporter Ahn Su-Jin had been. Like you had said, that young lady is far too reckless. She pursued a suspect all the way down to a desolate countryside not long ago.”

Ra-Eun could not understand what Su-Jin thought would happen if she did something like that. She clicked her tongue.

“So, is Reporter Ahn safe?” she asked.

“She is. We’re keeping her safe, so you don’t need to worry.”

Ra-Eun sure was getting her money’s worth from Yeong-Jun.

“Good work, mister.”

“I put my card in the folder, so call my number on the card if you need anything else from me. I’m not sure why, but I smell a strong scent of money around you.”

It could be because he was a loan shark, but Yeong-Jun was extremely good at sniffing out lucrative deals. One of the corners of Ra-Eun’s mouth curled up.

“Really? That’s perfect.”

Ra-Eun was just in need of something.

“Do you also do background checks, mister?” she asked.

“It’s practically a necessity. I have to find out someone’s weakness to make them pay me back, after all.”

That was just what Ra-Eun wanted to hear.

“Then investigate Park Yi-Myeon, the chairman of Dumont Trois, and his son Park Se-Woon for me.”

“What do you want with Chairman Park?” Yeong-Jun asked.

“Mister, what did I tell you back at your office? I told you not to ask about every little thing that I do, since I won’t tell you.”

“You sure did.”

Smirk.

Yeong-Jun unwittingly smiled.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“As long as you know.”

Ra-Eun was glad that the boss of the loan sharks was someone who she could get somewhere with, unlike his men.

***

Ra-Eun was getting ready to go home after school. Normally, she would go home with Yi-Seo since they went the same way, but...

“Sorry, Ra-Eun. My mom asked me to go to the supermarket right away to get groceries. I’ll have to leave now.”

“It can’t be helped, then. It’s fine, so go on ahead,” Ra-Eun replied.

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

Ra-Eun made her way to the school gates after seeing Yi-Seo off.

‘Come to think of it, I have to get groceries too.’

Although their family had paid off all of their debts, their father kept working as a delivery man. He had no time to cook because he was busy, and Kang Ra-Hyuk did not know a single thing about cooking, so Ra-Eun had to do it.

“That moron... I’ll have to take a day to teach him some simple dishes later.”

Ra-Eun was once again complaining about Ra-Hyuk. As she was walking down the road, a car approached her. The window rolled down, revealing Se-Woon.

“Ra-Eun! Are you heading home? I’ll give you a ride, get in,” he said excitedly.

“...”

Ra-Eun was wondering whether or not to refuse, but she couldn’t just ignore Se-Woon because of his connection with Dumont Trois. She was already acting as a kind junior to Ji Han-Seok to make a connection with Chairman Ji Seong-Geum, so this was a piece of cake.

‘Yeah, just endure it for a bit. I’ll never have to see this son of a bitch again once I meet Chairman Park.’

The driver got off and opened the door for Ra-Eun. Ra-Eun nodded as a show of gratitude, and got in the back seat next to Se-Woon. She also sat as far from him as possible, just in case. It wasn’t because Ra-Eun was worried that Se-Woon might try some skinship on her again, but because she might unintentionally punch him.

Ra-Eun scanned the car interior once it started moving.

‘As expected of a rich family... They’ve got a pretty nice car.’

Although it was an old model, it was a fairly expensive foreign car back in this era.

Se-Woon kept striking conversations with Ra-Eun during their ride.

“Is working as an actress difficult?” he asked.

“Not really.”

“Really? Oh, I watched all of your scenes. You are extremely pretty. You look just like my type.”

“Is that so?”

Ra-Eun was barely interested. Being against the impregnable wall that was Ra-Eun, Se-Woon broke into a cold sweat.

“Do you have a guy that you like, Ra-Eun? Or do you have a type?”

“Someone who doesn’t try to talk to me, touch me, and doesn’t annoy me.”

“...”

A cold-hearted response. Ra-Eun’s phone vibrated under the momentary silence. Yeong-Jun had texted her.

‘This is...’

The result of Yeong-Jun’s investigation of Chairman Park of Dumont Trois and his son Park Se-Woon had been summarized into a short text. After staring fixedly at it, she lightly sighed.

‘I had my suspicions, but I guess I was right.’

Meanwhile, Se-Woon felt the jitters as Ra-Eun sighed. At this rate, her wall would only get thicker. Time was not on Se-Woon’s side. He decided to go on the attack before Ra-Eun distanced herself from him any further, the name of the attack being ‘confession’.

They had arrived in the vicinity of Ra-Eun’s house. Se-Woon stopped her as she was about to get out of the car, saying that he had to tell her something.

“What?” she asked.

“The thing is...”

Se-Woon had easily confessed to the girls that he had gone out with, saying that he liked them. However, Ra-Eun was an exception. His heart had never beaten this hard before. He barely managed to open his mouth to ask the question.

“I-If it’s okay with you... Will you go out with me?”

Se-Woon had asked hesitantly, but he was still confident. He had the looks and a rich background, so he was sure that even the mighty Kang Ra-Eun would accept his confession when he lacked absolutely nothing. He had thought that she would say yes, like every other woman that came before her.

However, Ra-Eun’s answer was very extreme.

“I’m not interested, so fuck off.”

The text that Yeong-Jun had sent her on the drive here contained the information that she wanted to know the most. It consisted of information about the relationship between Chairman Park and Se-Woon, how Se-Woon was treated in the household, and the like.

[He’s a problem child among problem children.]

[He’s absolutely despised by Chairman Park.]

It was the complete opposite from how Han-Seok was loved by his grandfather, Chairman Ji. In other words...

‘There’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to form a connection to Chairman Park even if I associate with Park Se-Woon.’

Hence, Ra-Eun rejected Se-Woon without hesitation. She walked away from him with no regrets and headed toward her house. Meanwhile, Se-Woon blankly watched as Ra-Eun got further away from him with a dumbfounded expression.

“Was I just... rejected?”

He had been rejected by a woman for the first time in his life. This whole situation felt like a dream to him.