Chapter 58: Wedding Dress (1)

It was almost 4 PM by the time they left the cinema. Thinking that it would be a waste to just go home like this, Choi Ro-Mi made a suggestion to her friends.

“It’s gonna be dinnertime in two hours, so why don’t we go home after dinner since we've come all the way here downtown?”

“Sounds good, but how are we gonna kill time until then?”

“An escape room? Or coin karaoke? There are a ton of things to do here, so why don’t we look around?”

“Okay, let’s do that. Ra-Eun, Gyu-Rin, what about you guys?”

The two also agreed since they had nothing special to do today. Na Gyu-Rin pointed toward a crane game machine while they were looking around downtown.

“How about a crane game?”

The machine was filled with cute plushies that women would love. Ro-Mi confidently challenged the machine first. She put in a 500-won coin and maneuvered the crane with the joystick. Her friends were watching from the sidelines, telling her to go forward, right, no, slightly left. Ro-Mi ran out of time while dealing with the backseating and the crane dropped down on its own.

“One more time.”

Ro-Mi set ablaze with competitive spirit. No one could stop her once her switch was flipped. Despite the continued failures, she put in 500-won coins to challenge the machine again and again. However, she was not able to win a single plushie after spending almost 10,000 won.

“Why can’t I get anything? This machine must be rigged!”

Gyu-Rin stepped up after the highly dissatisfied Ro-Mi, but the result was the same for her after spending 3,000 won. Seo Yi-Seo did not even think of challenging the machine.

It was Kang Ra-Eun’s turn.

Ring!

Her eyes changed as soon as she put in a 500-won coin.

‘A crane game, huh? It’s been way too long.’

Ra-Eun often used to play on the crane game machine in her university campus whenever she passed by it. The skills were ingrained into her muscles. She won a blue seal plushie in one attempt that Ro-Mi couldn’t get after spending 10,000 won.

“Here, it’s a gift.”

Not only that, but she even gave it to Ro-Mi.

Ro-Mi said with sparkling eyes, “Ra-Eun, I would’ve fallen head over heels for you right now if you were a guy.”

It wasn’t too late for her to fall for Ra-Eun. She was a guy on the inside, after all.

***

They saw another form of entertainment next to the crane game machine.

“That’s a shooting gallery, isn’t it?” Gyu-Rin asked.

Yi-Seo answered, “Yeah, I think so. Why? You want to give it a try?”

“I want to try at least once. Wanna go?”

They still had around thirty minutes until dinnertime. Since they had nothing else to do, they decided to head to the shooting gallery.

A university couple was receiving a toy rifle from the owner of the shooting gallery. The man said to the owner, “This is pretty similar to the K2.”

“Yes, you could say it’s a very similar replica,” the owner replied.

“Eun-Ji, you don’t know what a K2 is, do you?”

The man talked about his “heroic exploits” during his time in the army, and explained in detail about what kind of rifle it was, how to aim it and how to mount it on the shoulder. However, the woman did not seem to be interested in the slightest.

“I got it, so just get me that.”

“Which one?”

“The moisturizing cream set!”

It was a product from a considerably famous brand.

“Just wait. I’ll shoot it down in a flash. I was called the shooting king in my army days. It’ll be a piece of cake,” the man boasted.

“Really? I’ll believe in you, then!”

“Yeah, just believe in me.”

The man mounted the rifle on his right shoulder and lined the sight with the target.

Bang!

He pulled the trigger. However, the bullet from the toy rifle zipped right through without getting anywhere near the moisturizing cream set.

“Nine bullets left,” the owner remarked.

“Th-That was a mistake. That’s weird... Is the accuracy off because it’s not a real gun?”

The man continued to pull the trigger while claiming that there must be something wrong with the rifle. However, none of the ten bullets hit their mark. Forget the cream set, he could not even shoot down the elephant plushie that looked extremely easy to shoot down.

“Okay, next customer.”

The man prepared to protest to the owner that this couldn’t be, but...

Tick!

Ra-Eun accurately hit the cream set after receiving the gun and getting into shooting position. However, the cream set had some weight that it simply got pushed back, and did not drop. Her friends were astonished by her performance.

“Ra-Eun! One more shot!”

“I think it’ll drop if you hit it on its right corner!”

“Okay, got it.”

Ra-Eun once again got into position. She held her breath, aimed at her target and pulled the trigger.

Bang—!

The cream set was pushed back again. But this time, it could not hold its balance on the shelf and dropped down. The owner and the man were so shocked by Ra-Eun’s shooting that they simply stared with their mouths open.

On the other hand, the man’s girlfriend said while fiercely slapping him on his back several times, “For God’s sake, after how confident you were... How could you do worse than a high school girl? You’re so embarrassing!”

“Th-That’s weird...”

The man was not the weird one. The active duty high school girl Kang Ra-Eun was simply far too good at shooting guns.

***

Even while eating dinner, Gyu-Rin and Ro-Mi could not stop talking about how cool Ra-Eun was while firing the toy K2 rifle.

“Isn’t Ra-Eun way too cool?”

“For real. She’s cooler than most guys!”

Ra-Eun was certainly cooler than the man who proclaimed to be a shooting king, since she had won the moisturizing cream set with only two shots. Not only that, she had shot down the cream of the crop of prizes, and also gave them to her friends as gifts.

“If I had to choose someone to go out with, I’d choose Ra-Eun. She’s so dependable, isn’t she?”

“Except that she gets way too scared by horror movies.”

“So? That side of her is cute too.”

Ro-Mi had been flirting with Ra-Eun because she had fallen for her charms. Ra-Eun could only smile awkwardly at Ro-Mi’s direct approach.

Ro-Mi cared deeply about looks, which was why she loved male idols. But in actuality, she not only loved male idols, but female celebrities as well. Simply speaking, she just loved anyone who was handsome or pretty.

.

“Sigh. I think I’d be heartbroken if Ra-Eun gets a boyfriend.”

Gyu-Rin replied to Ro-Mi’s comment, “Is there even a man who can handle Ra-Eun?”

They agreed that there probably wasn’t. However, Yi-Seo thought otherwise.

“You never know. Someone perfect for Ra-Eun might appear one day.”

Ra-Eun imagined herself dating someone while silently listening to her friends’ conversation. Whether her partner was a man or a woman...

‘It’d be extremely weird.’

She felt extremely conflicted by her position as a man in a woman’s body.

***

Ra-Eun headed to GNF after a long time on a Saturday afternoon. She had ended up coming to the agency despite it being a weekend, because Chief Jung had called her to discuss the music video casting offer that they had talked about before. However, there was one other thing that they needed to discuss before that.

“You know about the additional shoot for Reaper, right?” Chief Jung asked.

Ra-Eun nodded. All shoots were supposed to be over last month, but Director Park had belatedly realized that he had missed some scenes while editing. He would not have suggested the additional shoot if the scenes had no significant impact on the story. However, the scene where Jin Seo-Yu held the male lead Min Hyun’s hand in the final episode could be interpreted differently if the additional scenes were not included.

Hence, after much consideration, Director Park made the difficult decision to hold another shoot. Such a thing could not be easily established just because Director Park wanted. They needed to re-book the set, re-borrow the equipment that they had rented, and consider the cast’s schedules before even going into the shoot. It was not something one could just start right away.

“Let me know if you have a preferred time. The production team said that they’ll try to match your schedule,” Chief Jung stated.

“Why mine?”

“Because you’re the protagonist.”

Not just that, but Ra-Eun had the most screen time on the additional scenes that needed to be shot. Hence, her opinion was the most important.

“In that case... Please schedule it sometime next week since it shouldn’t be done too late. After school, if possible.”

“Got it. You heard that, right, Ms. Shin?”

Shin Yu-Bin gestured that she did while quickly jotting down the information on her notepad.

“Then let’s wrap up the conversation about the drama shoot here. Next up... so you’ve decided to star in Bex’s music video, right?” Chief Jung asked.

“Yes.”

Ra-Eun was very satisfied after reading the project proposal. Like Je-Woon had said, it contained nothing that Ra-Eun hated. Her role in the shoot was very simple. She only had two scenes; one was her crying on a street in the rain, and another was her brightly smiling in a wedding dress.

“You’ve made the right choice. I’ll let their agency know,” Chief Jung said.

“Understood.”

On the other hand, Yu-Bin had gotten curious while listening to their conversation.

“You’ve never worn a wedding dress before, have you, Ra-Eun?”

“Yes, never...”

It would be stranger if she had.

‘I’ve worn a tuxedo before, though.’

He had never gotten married, but he had once ended up wearing a groom’s tuxedo.

‘But I’ve definitely never worn a wedding dress before.’

Ra-Eun was a little worried about Bex’s music video shoot since she thought that she would feel extremely weird seeing herself in a wedding dress.

‘Should I have just refused?’

She was swept by regret, but the train had already left the station.

1. The K2 assault rifle is the standard service rifle of the South Korean military.