Chapter 98: New Year (1)

Despite becoming a high school girl that Kang Ra-Eun wasn’t cut out for, what drove her to keep moving forward without breaking was her objective to pay Kim Han-Gyo and Kim Chi-Yeol back in folds for what they had done to her. Just for that one purpose, she did not lose her composure, even if she was put in a situation where she had to wear a skirt or put on an embarrassing act in front of a man.

Revenge took up most of Ra-Eun’s life, but now she needed to slightly modify her plan. Her original plan was to use the funds and connections she grew by using her knowledge of the future, to ruin Kim Han-Gyo and Kim Chi-Yeol.

However, that would take far too long. It could take ten years, or even twenty.

‘Kim Chi-Yeol aside, Kim Han-Gyo is a whole different beast.’

The Kim Han-Gyo that she knew was always calm and composed no matter what situation he was put in, and used whatever means necessary to overcome such situations. He was cruel enough to bury his right-hand man six feet under.

Hence, there were more than just a few people who found Han-Gyo to be distasteful. In the financial world, the most representative of such people would be Chairman Ji Seong-Geum. Park Chan-Gil of TP Group did not have a good impression of Han-Gyo either.

Chan-Gil had started to see Han-Gyo in a bad light because of the policies that Han-Gyo had proposed. At the time, TP Group had been ambitiously preparing several large-scale projects, but they had ended up suffering massive losses because restrictions had been placed due to the newly proposed policies.

Why did Han-Gyo one-sidedly pick a fight with Chan-Gil and TP Group?

‘It was a war of nerves.’

Han-Gyo was giving Chan-Gil a warning that he should cooperate with him if he didn’t want something like this to happen again. However, Chan-Gil was Ra-Eun’s... no, Park Geon-Woo’s father. Geon-Woo had gotten his overpowering competitive spirit from his father.

Chan-Gil simply laughed at the face of Han-Gyo’s indirect threat. The conflict between Han-Gyo and TP Group was not yet prominent, but...

‘It’ll get worse with time.’

Ra-Eun was certain since she knew the future. It was also because of their hostile relationship that Ra-Eun had become Han-Gyo’s subordinate back when she was Geon-Woo. Although Geon-Woo and Chan-Gil were against Han-Gyo due to different reasons, it did not change the fact that the father and son were hostile to each other. Hence, Geon-Woo had purposefully applied to become Han-Gyo’s security team leader.

However, thinking about it now, that had only tightened the noose around Geon-Woo’s neck. There was likely a specific reason why Han-Gyo had framed all of his injustices on Geon-Woo and tried to kill him.

‘If it was revealed to the world that I committed suicide while shouldering such dishonor, it would deal a massive blow to TP Group.’

Even if Geon-Woo had cut ties with his family, it did not change the fact that he was Chan-Gil’s son. Filial ties were not severed so easily. To Han-Gyo, it was the perfect chance to kill two birds with one stone; he could bury the allegations raised against him while dealing a massive blow to TP Group.

This was nothing more than Ra-Eun’s guess, but...

‘It’s highly likely.’

The Kim Han-Gyo that she knew was more than capable of such a thing.

‘But I won’t let him do as he likes this time.’

Ra-Eun decided to add new members that weren’t originally included in her revenge plan. Park Chan-Gil, and her older sister, Park Hee-Woo. She absolutely hated the idea, but she had no choice.

‘You have to fight fire with fire.’

***

Ra-Eun looked up information regarding TP Group while moving to the interview shoot location in Shin Yu-Bin’s car. She went through everything from the company’s financial statements to every article reporting their recent activities.

Despite Ra-Eun having been the son of the chairman of TP Group, she ironically barely knew anything about the business because she had actively avoided taking an interest. However, she wouldn’t do that in this life.

‘I should at least know basic information related to the company if I want to coax Father and Noona.’

Ryu Ha-Yeon, Ra-Eun’s stylist, asked as she looked at Ra-Eun scrolling through materials filled with TP Group information. “Are you looking at that for stock trading?”

Studying up about a company was essential before investing in them. Only after taking a company’s accomplishments, favorable indicators and growth potential into account should someone invest in them. It was far too easy to go broke by investing in a company just because other people were.

Ra-Eun was well-known within the entertainment industry as a stock trading expert. Although Kang Ra-Hyuk handled most of the trading because she was busy, she also invested directly whenever she had time.

Ra-Eun answered while nodding, “Yes. TP Group is one of the companies that I’ve been taking an interest in recently.”

However, what she would be investing was not money, but her efforts to make connections with them for the sake of her revenge.

Ha-Yeon’s eyes sparkled. “Should I invest in them too?”

“Is it really okay to decide just like that?” Ra-Eun asked.

“I’ll only lose money if I invest on my own. I found it much better to just follow you. I bought the stocks that you suggested last time and my profit rate rose 30%.”

Ha-Yeon had once treated Ra-Eun to something because she had managed to earn big thanks to her.

Yu-Bin showed interest in their conversation. “Isn’t stock trading hard? I gave it a shot before, but I couldn’t do it at all.”

Yu-Bin didn’t even know how to use the stock trading software, so she couldn’t start stock trading even if she wanted to. However, Ha-Yeon was taught by her younger sibling who already traded stocks.

“Then I’ll teach you next time, unnie,” Ha-Yeon expressed.

Yu-Bin had no reason to refuse when money would automatically flow into her account if she bought the stocks that Ra-Eun suggested.

However, Ra-Eun warned them like she always did, “Just don’t invest your entire life savings. Use only your spare funds.”

“Okay, I will.”

There was likely no way for them to lose money if they did exactly as Ra-Eun said, but there was still a possibility.

Ra-Eun mentioned one more thing to them, “Please keep what I tell you a secret among yourselves. Don’t go around telling a bunch of people.”

Information was only valuable if they were scarce. The value of information that everyone knew was bound to plummet, so Ra-Eun had been trying her best to use her knowledge of the future by herself. Now that her stock trading and business were successfully put on a track to success, all she needed to do was to fulfill her revenge.

***

The final episode of Waitress?had aired. Ra-Eun stood on stage with Ji Han-Seok and Director Hwang in front of reporters to give their thoughts on how it felt to have reached the end of the journey.

Director Hwang whispered to Ra-Eun and Han-Seok before the interview began.

“This was only possible thanks to the drama’s high view ratings. Apparently, they don’t even provide stages like this for other dramas just because they ended.”

Views were everything. No matter how beneficial a program was, it would only be discontinued if the view ratings were low. That was especially the case for dramas. In that sense, Waitress?was the most successful drama of the year.

Ra-Eun scanned the reporters as they took their seats one by one.

‘Reporter Ahn Su-Jin isn’t here today.’

Since Su-Jin mainly focused on political and financial stories, she did not have the time to come to such interview sessions like a reporter in charge of entertainment news would.

‘Well, that’s better for me.’

Su-Jin was still suspecting Ra-Eun to be the masked woman. She felt relieved by her absence since she did not have to worry about her asking difficult questions to answer in front of other reporters.

The interview started off with introductions.

“Hello, I am the actor Ji Han-Seok.”

Ra-Eun raised her mic after Han-Seok.

“Hello, I’m Kang Ra-Eun, and I played the role of ‘Kang Seon-Hye.’ Thank you very much for your passionate support despite the drama having reached its finale. I will be in your care during this interview.”

She had gotten far too accustomed to speaking in front of a camera. On the other hand, Director Hwang was far more nervous than the two actors who had introduced themselves before him.

“I-I am Hwang Yun-Seong, a-and I was in charge of the production. Thank you very much for having me!”

He secretly wiped the beads of sweat formed on his forehead with a handkerchief as soon as he introduced himself. He already knew it was extremely difficult to stand in front of a camera, but the new experience made him realize it once again. He admired how naturally Ra-Eun and Han-Seok were answering the reporters’ questions.

“From The Devil’s Touch to Waitress, you’ve shown the country how much chemistry you two have with each other. This is your second time playing the role of a couple, is it not?”

Han-Seok answered the reporter’s question, “Yes, that’s correct.”

“How did it feel to have worked together in similar roles for a second time?”

“Mm... I wonder. This is something I haven’t even told Ra-Eun, but...”

Han-Seok looked toward Ra-Eun. She had no idea what he was about to say.

“Although Ra-Eun is my junior and like a little sister to me, I feel like I’m always the one learning from her whenever we perform together. I respect her in more ways than one, starting from her exceptional acting skills and her mindset toward shooting scenes.”

It was no simple thing for a senior to say that they respected their junior. Han-Seok had praised Ra-Eun in the greatest way that he could.

The reporters then directed their questions at Ra-Eun.

“Is it true that you’ve never actually kissed your co-stars during kiss scenes, Miss Kang?”

“Yes.”

She had never directly kissed anyone. Even excluding her time as an actress, she had never once kissed a man in her life.

“If there comes a time when you’d have to shoot an actual kiss scene, who would you like your partner to be?”

Han-Seok’s ears perked up. His heart fluttered. Other actors usually hesitated or thought deeply when asked such a difficult question, but that was not the case for Ra-Eun.

She raised her mic and adamantly answered, “I don’t have someone in mind yet.”

Han-Seok had expected such an answer, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed that Ra-Eun didn’t even have anyone in mind.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om