Chapter 21: I Won’t Do It Anyway (3)

Slurp!

Kang Ra-Hyuk was slapped by his little sister’s nagging as he slurped his ramen.

“Why are you eating ramen when it’s almost dinnertime?” Kang Ra-Eun nagged.

“I’m too hungry. This is my dinner, so you eat by yourself later.”

Ra-Hyuk once again filled his stomach with ramen along with a piece of kimchi while focusing on the TV.

“What are you watching?” Ra-Eun asked.

She had been curious about what TV program Ra-Hyuk had been so focused on since earlier.

“Oh, this? It’s a program that I couldn’t watch last time. It’s a female idol edition documentary.”

Like Ra-Hyuk had mentioned, female idols who were considered the best of the industry were on the screen. Of course, Rita, who had been troubling Ra-Eun as of late, was one of them.

Rita was singing into a mic with a lively look on her face. Even through the TV, one could vividly see her aura that had charmed the public since her debut. There was also a diehard fan who was cheering Rita on outside the TV.

“I love you, Rita~! Milky-skinned Rita~!”

Ra-Hyuk cheered along to Rita’s song as he was eating ramen. Seeing that, Ra-Eun smacked him on the back of his head.

“Yeowch! Why did you smack me?!”

“Either stick to stuffing your face with ramen or cheering,” Ra-Eun remarked.

“Why are you so prickly today? Did something happen at school?”

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“...No.”

Ra-Eun sat on the sofa with one leg over the other as she intently stared at Rita, who was giving her thoughts about getting first place in the music program.

“It didn’t happen in school, but on my way back,” Ra-Eun answered.

“What happened? Did you get a call from that guy whom you entrusted the business to or something?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“No, I told him to contact me after failing in two more business ventures, so that’ll take some time.”

Even if Park Seol-Hun were to contact her, it would be around when she would become an adult.

“Do you know a lot about Rita?” Ra-Eun questioned Ra-Hyuk.

“Huh? Is that even a question? I’m even in her fan club.”

He proudly answered her, but that only made Ra-Eun think that he was even more unsightly than usual.

“I was contacted by someone from Rita’s agency. Apparently, she’s going to release a new song, and asked me to be the heroine in her music video.”

Ra-Hyuk suddenly started coughing as if something had gotten stuck in his windpipe. He drank some water to barely calm his stomach, and looked over at his little sister with doubtful eyes.

“You got offered a role in Rita’s music video?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“Yup.”

“But why?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Ra-Eun expressed.

No skinship with men, no skirts, no revealing scenes, et cetera. She had set all kinds of conditions, but she had never expected that they would accept them.

“So, did you decide to do it?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“I really don’t want to, but I have no choice.”

Since Ra-Eun had said that she would do it if they accepted her conditions, she could no longer get out of it.

‘Why the hell did they accept such absurd conditions?’

She still did not understand why. A normal agency would have thought that the rookie actress was out of her mind and have found a different actress. But rather, the people from Rita’s agency begged her to accept the role, and that they would adjust the pay to what she wanted.

After all that, she had come to find it rather fishy instead.

‘They’re aiming for something from me.’

Ra-Eun thought deeply about why it couldn’t be anyone else but her, but...

‘I have no idea.’

She couldn’t think of anything, so she decided to ask one of Rita’s self-proclaimed diehard fans.

“Do you have any idea why that Rita woman would want me to star in her music video?”

“No idea,” Ra-Hyuk answered.

Ra-Eun sighed deeply.

“You’re so useless,” she expressed.

***

On a Saturday afternoon, Ra-Eun sighed repeatedly as she entered a GNF meeting room with Shin Yu-Bin. Seeing that, Yu-Bin lightly laughed.

“Why have you been sighing so much since earlier, Ra-Eun?” she asked

“I’m sure you know the answer to that question, Miss Manager,” Ra-Eun replied.

“Because you don’t want to star in that music video?”

“Yes.”

Ra-Eun gave it to Yu-Bin straight, but Yu-Bin countered with a question instead.

“You still don’t want to do it even after they accepted all of your conditions?”

“I set those conditions because I didn’t want to do it. I never expected them to accept all of them.”

It was completely out of Ra-Eun’s expectations. She still could not understand after several days.

“I wonder why they accepted those conditions?” Ra-Eun posed.

Although Ra-Eun, the rookie actress, was the rage lately, there was no reason nor need for the people on Rita’s side to cast her while shouldering that many sacrifices when they could have just casted a different actress.

Yu-Bin did not seem to understand why either.

“Who knows... What did Chief Jung say?” Yu-Bin asked.

“He said the same thing as you,” Ra-Eun answered.

“I guess he doesn’t know either.”

Speaking of the devil, Chief Jung entered the meeting room, accompanied by a man in a suit and a brightly-smiling short-haired woman.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

Chief Jung introduced them in order.

“Over here is Team Leader Kim Bo-Hun of Eltra Entertainment, and...”

The other person needed no introduction, but the short-haired woman introduced herself to Ra-Eun and Yu-Bin with the corners of her mouth raised.

“I’m Rita, it’s nice to meet you.”

Her gaze was laser-focused on Ra-Eun.

“You have a totally different feel from what you were like in the water park.”

Ra-Eun’s eyebrows slightly flinched.

“Had we met there?” she asked.

“Yes, but you probably hadn’t noticed me, since I recognized you from afar,” Rita answered.

She was also the one who told Team Leader Kim that she wanted to offer Ra-Eun a role in the music video of her next single as soon as she saw her.

“I knew from the moment I saw you that I needed to have you in my next music video, whatever it took... That’s why I offered you the role.”

That was why Rita had Ra-Eun in her mind, but that still did not fully resolve Ra-Eun’s doubts. Rita recruited her just because she met her in the water park once?

‘There must be some other reason...’

Ra-Eun’s head was brimming with doubts during the entire music video meeting.

***

Ra-Eun ultimately decided to star in Rita’s music video. She absolutely dreaded the idea, but considering what she had said, she decided to look over it and reluctantly took on the role.

Ra-Eun recalled information regarding Rita as she was heading to the music video studio with Yu-Bin.

‘Come to think of it, that son of a bitch Kim Chi-Yeol was a fan of Rita.’

However, Ra-Eun had absolutely no intention of forming a connection with Rita like she was doing with Ji Han-Seok, because getting close to Rita had no significant benefit in getting one up on Kim Han-Gyo and Kim Chi-Yeol. It was more efficient to invest her time and energy on something else instead of on Rita.

Ra-Eun looked over the script while getting her make-up done as soon as she arrived at the studio. She did not have any lines, but she wanted to see what sort of acting she needed to do in her parts.

The contents of the music video were very simple. The two heroines, Rita and Ra-Eun, just needed to act like they were in anguish.

‘The script actually reflects the conditions that I set.’

There were no revealing scenes, no skinship with men, and she did not have to smile nor cry. All she needed to do was act like she was thinking or be apathetic in front of the camera.

‘Simple.’

Now that she had come this far, all that Ra-Eun was thinking about was to get the shoot over with and go home as soon as possible. She changed into jeans and a pink long-sleeved shirt, a fairly casual attire, as soon as her make-up was done.

There was a space that was decorated to be a room in the middle of the studio, where Ra-Eun and Rita would be acting. It had a bed, a desk and chair, windows and walls.

Rita also appeared in full make-up, just like Ra-Eun. Her beauty did not fall behind Ra-Eun’s in the slightest.

‘You’d expect no less from a top star.’

Rita was even prettier up close. Ra-Eun now understood why Ra-Hyuk had gone crazy over Rita as he was eating his ramen.

“Okay, we’re about to start the shoot! I’ll let you guys ad-lib as much as you want, so try acting the scene out freely!”

“Okay,” Rita answered energetically.

Rita’s new single,

Mirror World

, started playing at the director’s signal. Ra-Eun was sitting on the bed while Rita was sitting on the chair. The cameras moved busily to record the two beauties.

At that moment, Rita stood up. She pretended to head toward the window, but then shifted in Ra-Eun’s direction and...

Fwump!

Rita forcibly laid Ra-Eun on the bed while restraining Ra-Eun’s arms so that she could not resist.

Ra-Eun repeatedly blinked in confusion due to Rita’s surprise attack.

‘This wasn’t in the script, was it?’

Ra-Eun recalled that the director had said that he would let them ad-lib as much as they wanted.

Then, Rita whispered to Ra-Eun while licking her lips, “You banned skinship with men, but not with women, correct?”

Ra-Eun had finally realized why Rita wanted to star Ra-Eun in her music video.

“You see, I absolutely adore pretty girls.”

It was due to her lust for Ra-Eun.