Chapter 50: World of VVIPs (2)

Kang Ra-Eun scowled as soon as she saw Kim Chi-Yeol, which scared Park Se-Woon.

“What? I didn’t even say anything yet.”

He thought Ra-Eun was scowling at him. It would be a huge problem for the both of them if he was shoulder thrown in the party venue. Ra-Eun reassured him that it wasn’t because of him.

“It’s because of that guy over there,” she said.

“Vice Minister Kim Chi-Yeol? He’s in charge of cultural affairs,” Se-Woon stated.

“Yeah, that’s right.” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Chi-Yeol was not capable in the slightest. He had just earned a position that wasted the nation’s tax money thanks to his father’s reputation.

Ra-Eun had never liked Chi-Yeol from the start. In her days as Park Geon-Woo, Chi-Yeol had used every chance he could get to go on a power trip against the guards, which caused her rage to skyrocket every single time. However, she had no choice but to put up with his behavior because his father was clean and honest, at the very least. However...

‘I later realized that was also a lie.’

Clean? Honest? Kim Han-Gyo was the dirtiest and most unconscientious of them all. She could have been able to figure out who exactly Chi-Yeol grew up emulating if she had thought about it a little. At the time, she had been so blinded by Kim Han-Gyo’s facade that she could not see the truth.

Meanwhile, Director Park, who had been conversing with Chi-Yeol, waved Ra-Eun over.

“Why don’t you greet the vice minister too, Ra-Eun?”

She would have rather died, but she forcibly moved her legs since she couldn’t just ignore them.

Chi-Yeol smiled at Ra-Eun and said, “You’re much prettier in person, Ra-Eun.”

“Oh, I’m nothing compared to your fiancée, vice minister,” Ra-Eun replied.

The songstress who had been locking arms with Chi-Yeol was surprised by the mention of a fiancée.

“You have a fiancée, Vice Minister Kim?”

Chi-Yeol became extremely flustered. He had used to flirt with all kinds of women while hiding his marital status, before and after he had gotten married.

‘He’s the same as always.’

Hence, she had purposefully blurted out in front of the songstress that Chi-Yeol was soon going to be a married man.

Chi-Yeol awkwardly asked Ra-Eun, “How did you know about my marital status...?”

“I happened to see you taking wedding photos with someone when I once went to Chuncheon for a trip. Oh, did I say something I shouldn’t have...?” Ra-Eun said while pretending to be confused.

The songstress who had been locking arms with Chi-Yeol said while shaking her head, “No, there’s absolutely nothing between me and the vice minister, so don’t get the wrong idea. Oh, and Vice Minister Kim, please disclose the fact that you have a fiancée next time.”

The songstress turned and left Chi-Yeol’s side. She had avoided being roped into a scandalous affair thanks to Ra-Eun, and Ra-Eun was able to get Chi-Yeol real good. Objectively speaking, Chi-Yeol was the only loser here.

Ra-Eun apologized to Chi-Yeol while holding in her laughter.

“I’m so sorry, vice minister. It’s all my fault...”

“Hm? N-No, it's okay. Director Park, I have something I need to attend to, so... let’s talk next time.”

Chi-Yeol left the premises in embarrassment. Director Park clicked his tongue.

“What the hell! He was acting like he was interested in Jeong-Hyun, but he was engaged? I never knew Vice Minister Kim was that kind of person.”

Ra-Eun gave Director Park a piece of advice.

“You should be careful of him. He’s the kind of person who would screw someone over without hesitation.”

She could say such a thing with certainty because she herself was one of his main victims.

***

Ra-Eun returned home after the VVIP party. Her phone now had numbers of all sorts of famous people saved in it. Because she knew the future, she approached only the cream of the crop of connections who would be of help to her. Almost everyone agreed to exchange numbers with her when she asked.

‘They line up to give me their numbers just from a smile.’

Exchanging numbers had become a piece of cake now that she was a beautiful girl.

She said to Shin Yu-Bin who had driven her home, “Please get home safe.”

“Thanks. Oh, and Ra-Eun, congratulations again on winning Best New Actress. I’ll see you next year!” Yu-Bin expressed.

“Okay. Happy New Year, Miss Manager.”

Yu-Bin drove away, hoping that Ra-Eun would call her ‘unnie’ instead of ‘Miss Manager’ in the new year.

After seeing Yu-Bin off, Ra-Eun opened the front door while holding the paper bag with the dress that she had worn in it.

Pop!

Kang Ra-Hyuk and their father cracked the party popper that came with the cake.

“Congratulations on Best New Actress, my baby girl.”

“Congrats, Ra-Eun!”

Ra-Eun said to the two while holding in a feigned smile, “You still haven’t gone to bed?”

It was already 2 AM, so she had expected them to be asleep by now. However, not only were they wide awake, they had prepared a cake for her to celebrate her award.

“How could I sleep when my baby girl won an award for starring in a drama?”

“Come have some cake.”

She hadn’t even been able to drink any water from how busy she was at the party, exchanging numbers with several VVIPs. Her stomach rumbled as if to encourage her.

‘I don’t like eating so late at night, but...’

She was hungry, so she naturally gravitated toward the cake. Her eyes widened as she tasted a small piece of it.

“This is delicious. Who bought this?” she asked.

“Your brother,” their father answered.

The sweetness of the cream cake was just right for Ra-Eun’s new high school girl taste buds. She looked at Ra-Hyuk in surprise, to which he answered, “This is a given since you called me ‘oppa’ after such a long time.”

“Pfft!”

She almost spit out her cake. She yelled with a face as red as a tomato, “I-I... It’s not like I can call you ‘that guy’ when it’s being aired nationwide! I had no choice!”

“Okay, okay. Your oppa understands.”

“You...!”

Ra-Hyuk’s attitude enraged her.

***

After December 31st came to an end, dawn arose on January 1st. Ra-Eun woke up earlier than anyone else despite it being a holiday, to go for a jog and to also see the first morning sun of the year.

‘It’s not as cold as I’d expected.’

It didn’t seem like she needed to dress too warmly. She started jogging once she put on her earphones, and met Seo Yi-Jun who was waiting for her outside Starlight Road again.

She had received a text from Yi-Jun yesterday.

- Are you jogging tomorrow, noona?

Ra-Eun answered that she was, and they had ended up jogging together after Yi-Jun said that he would join her. Yi-Jun had grown to be able to keep up with her without issue after jogging together whenever they had time.

They stopped in front of the convenience store at the end of their jogging course with their backs on the first morning sun of the year.

“Stretching is a must after exercise,” Ra-Eun stated.

“Okay, noona.”

While Yi-Jun mimicked Ra-Eun’s stretches, he suddenly moved strangely. No, rather than moving strangely, he averted his gaze away from her. Seeing that, Ra-Eun checked her attire just in case.

There were times when her cleavage was visible through the shirt neck if she bent down far enough. She had to push the shirt neck against her with one hand to prevent that from happening, but she occasionally forgot since she had still not made it a habit.

However, her shirt was not loose enough for her cleavage to show today.

“Why do you keep looking away?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Huh? W-Well...” Yi-Jun muttered awkwardly. “Noona... I’d been wondering for a long time, but what are those bottoms?”

“Bottoms? Oh, these?”

Ra-Eun pointed at the black leggings that she was wearing.

“Leggings.”

“Leggings? Aren’t those just tights?” Yi-Jun asked.

“They may look similar, but they’re a little different. Tights wrap around your feet, and leggings only go down to your ankles.”

“Oh, I see. Are those also sportswear?”

“Basically.”

Leggings would become all the rage starting from the late 2010’s; they had not become a fad yet. Since Yi-Jun had a lot of interest in fashion design, he had shown great interest in the leggings that Ra-Eun was wearing.

Ra-Eun said while putting her hand on her hip, “These are more comfortable than they look. They’re warm to wear during the winter, and super comfortable when exercising.”

Shorts were too overbearing to wear during exercise because there was a chance that underwear would show during large movements. However, there was absolutely no need to worry in the case of leggings.

Yi-Jun scratched his head.

.

“I thought you were wearing them to show off your legs.”

“They certainly do make your legs look more beautiful. They accentuate the leg lines, after all. This is going to be a huge fad in the future.”

“Really?”

“Yup. ...Wait.”

An idea came to Ra-Eun’s mind.

‘Wouldn’t I make huge bucks if I sold these?’

There had been a certain clothing company that had exponentially raised their sales through leggings. If Ra-Eun happened to preoccupy the leggings sphere... And if she herself led the leggings fad... She would be able to make tons of money.

“...Not bad.”

“What’s not bad?” Yi-Jun asked.

“Hey, Yi-Jun.”

“Yes?”

There also just happened to be an aspiring fashion designer next to her who would research leggings for her, and his name was Seo Yi-Jun.

“I’ll give you these, so why don’t you study them?” Ra-Eun remarked.

“Th-The ones that you’re wearing right now?” Yi-Jun stuttered.

“Yup.”

Ra-Eun had meant to give them to him purely for research purposes, but such an act was enough to make the imaginations of a healthy high school boy run wild.