Chapter 142: Retry (1)

In a certain military base filled with army green, Choi Sang-Woon and his peer, who were both approaching their discharge, had beads of sweat running down their cheeks.

The peer said to Sang-Woon in admiration, “You’re probably the only soldier who would volunteer to do something for the first sergeant during their last year in the army.”

“I’m sure there are others,” Sang-Woon remarked.

.

“There’s no way, man. They’re all killing time at the engineering warehouse or the boiler room. The same goes for me.”

However, he had been caught by the first sergeant while he had been lazing around, hence they were being dragged to the workshop.

Sang-Woon had been working harder than even his juniors despite only having three weeks left on his military service. He was not doing so to get the officers’ favor; he had more than enough leaves saved up for the final weeks of his service, so he had no need to get any leaves rewarded to him by them. However, he had been volunteering for work lately, and the reason was rather simple.

“It’s good exercise,” Sang-Woon noted.

He had never gone to a fitness center when he used to be a member of society, but he had changed completely after enlisting in the army. He had thought that he might as well get built since he would be stuck in here for a while. Sang-Woon had been staying true to his resolution that he had made back when he was still a trainee, all the way up to now as a sergeant approaching his discharge.

Thanks to this, his weak and feeble self was nowhere to be seen. His shoulders were wide and his muscles were toned from all the physical exercise and labor that he had done, to the point that he was now considered the most buff in the entire military base.

“You’re amazing, I’ll give you that. Good for you,” his peer stated while clicking his tongue. “Do you have a girl you like or something?”

It had only been an empty question, but it made Sang-Woon violently flinch. The peer’s eyes glinted as soon as he saw Sang-Woon’s reaction.

“The hell? I was just joking, but for real?”

“That’s not...”

“It’s that classmate of yours that you mentioned last time, right?”

“...”

He had never mentioned that it was Kang Ra-Eun, but he had mentioned that he had a girl he used to like back in high school. He never had any intention to tell the story since he had been rejected; it was nothing to brag about. However, every single one of his army peers knew about his high school confession, because...

‘Goddamn alcohol...’

Back when he was a corporal, he and his peers had been away on a pass from their base. They had stayed up late while drinking, and Sang-Woon had ended up blurting out things about his first love. That was why all of his peers knew about his confession to Ra-Eun.

Sang-Woon decided to just be honest.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

It was true that he had worked out like crazy because of Ra-Eun. He had built his body to become a man befitting his former classmate, who had become a top star.

“I’m gonna confess one more time once I get out of here,” Sang-Woon declared.

He was going to muster up the courage one more time.

“And what if she rejects you again?” his peer asked.

“Then, well...” Sang-Woon smiled awkwardly. “I’ll just have to give up.”

His friendship with Ra-Eun might be completely destroyed if he was too absorbed in his desire to become her lover. Hence, Sang-Woon decided to make his second confession his last, and give up without regrets if he was turned down again.

***

“It’s me, lil’ sis.”

Kang Ra-Hyuk let his little sister know of his visit through the intercom with a big smile. It had been a while since he had visited Ra-Eun’s home. His eyes narrowed as soon as she opened the front door.

“What’s a grown woman like you walking around in?”

“Who cares? It’s not like I’m outside. What I wear in my own home is up to me, isn’t it?”

She was wearing a stretched-out shirt, and nothing but panties underneath.

“At least wear some pants,” Ra-Hyuk said.

“It’s because I just woke up.”

“You just woke up? Do you sleep without clothes on?”

Ra-Eun turned around and answered, “Yup.”

Ra-Hyuk’s eyes popped out in surprise.

“But you wore sleepwear when you used to live with me and Dad.”

“I did, but I’ve been sleeping with nothing on since last year.”

“Nothing? You mean bare naked?”

Ra-Hyuk was shocked; it was understandable, since his little sister had grown a preference for sleeping completely naked.

“It feels rather nice to have your sheets and blanket in contact with your bare skin. It wasn’t bad when I tried it a few times, so I just take everything off when I can’t sleep lately. Once I do, I fall asleep right away.”

Seo Tae-Yeon, one of the actresses who had appeared on the female soldier special of

On Duty, All Clear!

with Ra-Eun, had taught her this naked slumber technique. Ra-Eun had shown the same reaction as Ra-Hyuk at first, but she had realized why Tae-Yeon had suggested it after trying it out for herself.

“Even so... I’m saying this just in case, but at least wear some clothes when you sleep at Dad’s house,” Ra-Hyuk expressed.

“I know.”

Even if they were family, Ra-Eun was now an adult woman. It would be awkward for everyone if she went around her home naked in front of them. Hearing her brother’s nagging, she had no choice but to wear some hot pants that she had lying around in her room.

She came back out of her room and asked Ra-Hyuk, who was watching TV in the living room, “You want something to drink?”

“Yeah. But what about Yi-Seo? Is she out?”

“She went out to see some friends. You’re fine with water, right?”

“No, I’d like either coffee or tea.”

“Water, right? Got it.”

“...”

Even back when they used to live together, Ra-Eun was the queen of their household, and it was no different in her own home. She was too lazy to make coffee or tea, so she just gave Ra-Hyuk some tap water.

“Your oppa came to visit you, and you treat him like this?”

Ra-Eun’s guest reception depended on her level of laziness. She sat next to Ra-Hyuk on the couch and asked him about his visit.

“What brings you here today?”

“Huh? I, well...”

Ra-Hyuk suddenly changed the subject while he was being indecisive.

“That son of a bitch Kim Chi-Yeol. There he goes again with the lies.”

The TV just happened to be showing news about the recent Kim Chi-Yeol case. His influence took its roots deep into the entertainment industry, and he was being accused of allegations regarding his misuse of that influence to give special treatment to certain entertainment agencies and celebrities.

The news agency that first let the world know of this was Eliud, the small agency that Ahn Su-Jin was part of. Chi-Yeol had held a press conference to clear up the multitude of allegations made by the news agency.

[To give an answer to the allegation of me rigging the Film Awards with Miss Ji Kang-Hye... I would like to say that it is absolutely not true. It is absurd for a public figure like myself to give special treatment to a single person.]

[Then what do you have to say about the audio file of your conversation with Miss Ji Kang-Hye that had recently been released?]

[Like I said, that was...]

The audio file was Chi-Yeol’s biggest problem. He had been claiming that he was framed by someone who had imitated his voice, but his claims were losing more and more power as the analytical data of the audio file was released. Chi-Yeol was not very convincing when only he was refuting the evidence, while countless experts were saying that the voices on the audio file were indeed those of Chi-Yeol and Kang-Hye.

Chi-Yeol aside, Kang-Hye had also suffered terribly from this incident. Her plans to set up her own talent agency had gone up in flames, and her reputation as an actress had been ruined. Not just her, but the careers of other celebrities who were involved in this case were being ruined one by one.

Ra-Hyuk said bitterly while looking at the image of Chi-Yeol sweating profusely, “I don’t like that man ever since his infidelity scandal. I hope this incident makes it so that I never have to see him again.”

Things would go exactly as Ra-Hyuk hoped, since Ra-Eun would make sure of it. This case would truly begin once the investigation commenced. Until then, Ra-Eun was going to sit back and watch as Chi-Yeol struggled in vain.

However, that was not what she wanted to hear right now.

“I’m sure you’re not here just to talk about news with me,” she mentioned.

She warned Ra-Hyuk not to change the subject. He scratched his head in embarrassment and told her the real reason why he visited her.

“I was confessed to by a female friend of mine.”

“Really? Who? The daughter of that famous restaurant? The one with the aunt who owns a clothing store? Or the beauty shop one?”

“No, none of them. She’s a classmate from middle school.”

Every time Ra-Eun heard about Ra-Hyuk’s stories regarding the women that liked him, she couldn’t help but wonder what about him caused women to gravitate around him.

“I’m jealous,” Ra-Eun commented.

Ra-Hyuk chuckled in bafflement from Ra-Eun’s unconscious comment.

“Why are you jealous?”

He couldn’t understand why she, a woman, was jealous of someone being popular with women.

“Anyway, so someone confessed to you. What about it?” she asked.

She wondered what the confession had to do with her.

“I wanted to ask you how I can turn her down without hurting her,” Ra-Hyuk mentioned.

He was hoping for Ra-Eun to give him some honest advice from a woman’s perspective for him to turn down his former classmate in the least hurtful way. The time that she had been confessed to by Sang-Woon popped up in her head. She recalled the shock that she had felt when someone who she had thought was her friend had been seeing her as a woman.

Ra-Eun sighed meaningfully.

“In times like that, it’s best to just turn them down without a shadow of a doubt,” she answered.

“But wouldn’t she be hurt?”

“Whatever you tell her, it’s impossible to turn someone down without hurting them. Turning down a confession in and of itself is a hurtful action to the one who confessed.”

Ultimately, the main point was simple.

“So just steel yourself just one time and turn them down completely. It’s far better than giving them hope by being indecisive.”

Ra-Eun thought that was the best way to turn someone down, for both the receiver and the confessor. Ra-Hyuk’s head became clearer thanks to his little sister’s advice.

“Thanks for the advice, lil’ sis. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’d also been confessed to by one of your good friends.”

His deduction had been dead-on. Ra-Eun chugged the cold water that she had brought for her brother, and pointed toward the TV.

“What an incorrigible bastard, that Kim Chi-Yeol!”

She was now the one who was busy changing the subject.