Chapter 65: Swimming Instructor (2)

The most effective and surefire form of stress relief for Kang Ra-Eun was exercise. She found joy in pushing herself to the brink of exhaustion while sweating and panting like crazy, just like what she was doing right now.

Ra-Eun breathed in the air that she was lacking only after she reached the other end of the pool. She savored the short break after coming out of the water and taking off her swimming cap.

“Huu...! That felt good.”

Ra-Eun could sweat as much as she wanted since she was in water. She also did not have to care much about people looking at her, because they would not realize immediately that she was Kang Ra-Eun while she was focusing on swimming in her water goggles and swimming cap.

Because of that, Ra-Eun had been swimming more than jogging lately, and had unintentionally made Seo Yi-Jun suffer in the process. His jogs with Ra-Eun was one of his greatest joys in life, but that had disappeared due to her recent infatuation with swimming. Yi-Jun could also swim with her, but...

‘He said he doesn’t know how to swim.’

Ra-Eun suggested that she could teach him, but Yi-Jun strongly refused because he did not want to show her his weak side. Hence, he told her that he would do whatever it took to learn how to swim and proudly go to the swimming pool with her in the future.

Ra-Eun told him to do his best. On the other hand, Rita had benefited from Ra-Eun’s recent infatuation with swimming.

“Ra-Eun!”

Rita appeared while Ra-Eun was taking a break.

“Hello, sunbae. But...” Ra-Eun said as she looked behind Rita. “Who’s that behind you?”

She could not recognize the woman because she was wearing a swimming cap and water goggles. Ra-Eun only recognized her after she belatedly took them off.

“Miss Han Ga-Ae?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Oh my, that’s right! How did you know?” Ga-Ae answered in astonishment.

Han Ga-Ae was a young singer who was a member of Nefti, an eleven-member girl group.

‘Since it’s 2011 now, she should be the same age as me.’

She was the youngest member of the group. Nefti was not that popular of a group. Their main vocalist Gyeong-Eun was fairly recognized, but the public would not be able to match the names and faces of the other members unless they were big Nefti fans.

In other words, they were stooges to raise one popular member of their group to stardom, and Ga-Ae was one of them. But despite that, there was a reason why Ra-Eun had recognized her. Ga-Ae was only treated like a stooge right now, but she would grow to become a national representative-level female soloist on par with Rita.

Meanwhile, Ga-Ae was extremely happy just from the fact that someone had recognized her, especially when that person was one of the most talked-about stars, Kang Ra-Eun.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by you, Miss Kang.”

Ga-Ae’s smile overflowed with sincerity.

“But why are you here, Miss Han...?” Ra-Eun asked.

It did not look like she had run into Rita by chance.

“Ga-Ae said that she also wanted you to teach her how to swim,” Rita mentioned.

Ra-Eun said while tilting her head in confusion, “From me?”

“Yup. I told her that you’re a good swimming instructor.”

“Well... I don’t mind.”

Rita aside, it was not a bad idea to make a connection with a future top star like Han Ga-Ae. Ra-Eun was sure that becoming friends with an influential star would be of help to her revenge down the road in some shape or form.

Ga-Ae brightened up as soon as Ra-Eun said yes.

“I’ll be in your care, Miss Kang.”

.

“Same to you.”

Ra-Eun was slightly bewildered by the sudden meeting, but such meetings were not that bad.

***

Unlike Rita, Ga-Ae at least had the basics of swimming down. However, she was not as good as Ra-Eun. Ga-Ae was decent from a beginner’s perspective, but she had tons of things that needed improvement from Ra-Eun’s perspective.

Ga-Ae was able to swim faster and with a more stable form as Ra-Eun fixed her form little by little. She herself was amazed by how much she had improved in such a short time.

“I can see why Rita sunbae praised you so much,” she expressed.

“Really?”

Rita had left first after one hour because she had something on her schedule, so it was only just Ra-Eun and Ga-Ae together. It was a shame for them to just leave with Rita, so they held a supplementary lesson.

“Your movements are too stiff. When you’re freestyling... I’m sorry, but could I touch you for a moment?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Yes, of course. We’re both girls.”

Ra-Eun barely managed to stop herself from the momentary urge to say that wasn’t the case at all. She grabbed Ga-Ae’s left arm with one hand and the left side of her back with the other.

“You can stride forward much easier by making your arm swings bigger, like this.”

“Aha...”

“Shall we go again?”

“Yes!” Ga-Ae exclaimed enthusiastically.

Ga-Ae worked diligently and passionately in everything she did, which helped her grow into the top star that she would become in the future. However, there was one barrier that she needed to get through for that to happen. If she did not, then she would only waste her time as a girl group member with nothing to show for it until her early twenties.

Ra-Eun knew exactly how Ga-Ae could stride forward quicker and easier in her career, just like her swimming. However...

‘I’m not sure if I should be telling her this.’

It was hard for Ra-Eun to bring up since it could come off as harsh to Ga-Ae. On the other hand, Ga-Ae was focused on swimming while completely oblivious to Ra-Eun’s concerns. They finally got out of the water together after thirty more minutes.

“Thank you for the trouble, Miss Kang.”

“Not at all.”

“Oh, right,” Ga-Ae said as she clapped her palms together. “Aren’t we the same age?”

“Yes, we are.”

“If it’s alright with you, could we speak casually with each other? We’re friends now, after all.”

They were friends of the same age, but there was something that bothered Ra-Eun.

“But you’ve been in the industry longer than me, so that makes you my sunbae...”

“Come on, I’m a singer, and you’re an actress. It’s true that we’re both in the entertainment industry, but we’re in completely different fields. Also, I don’t really like senior-junior relationships. Oh, but that doesn’t mean I act that way to all my sunbaes. Not at all! Please don’t get the wrong idea.”

Ga-Ae was cute when she was flustered. She had the cuteness that Ra-Eun lacked. Ra-Eun giggled.

“Understood... No, okay. I’ll speak comfortably,” Ra-Eun said.

“Yeah, let’s.”

Ga-Ae explained why she had suggested such a thing, “To be honest with you, this is my first time making a friend my age in the entertainment industry, so I was just so happy...”

People assumed celebrities made tons of friends since they met people all the time, but the occupation was ironically a lonely one. The people that they met were simply acquaintances that they only knew the faces and names of. It was extremely difficult for celebrities to find a friend who they could lay their feelings bare to and could get along with.

It was Ga-Ae’s wish to find a friend like that, and her feelings surged with the hopes that Ra-Eun could fulfill her wish. The two had become friends from their very first meeting.

“Why don’t we go take a shower and change?” Ga-Ae said as she tried to take Ra-Eun’s hand, but Ra-Eun unconsciously took a few steps back and frantically shook her head.

“N-No, I-I’m going to swim a little more.”

“Again? Aren’t you tired?”

“N-Nope, I’m perfectly fine, so you can go ahead first.”

Ra-Eun felt like she would be committing a crime if she looked at Ga-Ae’s naked body after just becoming friends, so she had no choice but to desperately refuse.

Ga-Ae was confused by Ra-Eun’s actions.

“Okay. I’ll call you later, then.”

“Yeah, okay. Take care on your way home. And make sure you take a quick shower.”

There were so many inconveniences about being a woman.

***

Ra-Eun returned home only to come face to face with Kang Ra-Hyuk watching TV in his underwear. Her face wrinkled.

“You’d better put on some clothes before I beat you up,” Ra-Eun warned.

“Who cares? You go around in your underwear too.”

“That’s because it can’t be helped after I take a shower or change clothes. Also, I don’t laze around in the living room in my underwear like you.”

“Okay, okay. Let me finish watching this first.”

Ra-Hyuk was focused on the singing program. It just happened to be Nefti’s turn, the girl group that Ga-Ae was in. The eleven members were performing on the stage.

“There are so many of them that I can’t tell who’s who. I used to memorize every girl group member’s names back in the army.”

It was exactly as Ra-Hyuk said. Ra-Eun only knew the names of three members, including Ga-Ae. She only knew their names because they had raised public awareness of them through TV appearances, but the other members were not given such opportunities.

Ra-Eun asked Ra-Hyuk while staring at the screen, “Hey, hypothetically speaking...”

“Yeah?”

Ra-Eun shook her head after she was about to say something. “No, forget it.”

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

“What is it?! You can’t just cut it off there! You’ve made me curious now! I won’t be able to sleep tonight out of curiosity!”

“That’s none of my concern.”

She was about to ask Ra-Hyuk’s opinion about what Ga-Ae could do to become popular, but she stopped midway because she was still not sure if she should bring it up or not.