Chapter 7: Street Casting (3)

Jung Yu-Cheon, a section chief at GNF Entertainment, had just received some outrageous news.

“What? You can’t get in touch with Mi-Jeong again?” Contact with a rookie actress that they were backing was continuously being cut off.

“How many times has she ghosted us now?”

- Around... five times?

“Hah, for God’s sake!” He was lost for words.

- What should we do, Chief Jung? She’s already scheduled for filming starting next week.

“What else?! We have to figure it out ourselves. Is anyone free?”

- Only male actors are free.

“Of all things...” Chief Jung was exasperated.

- What should we do? Program Director Kim won’t ever consider our agency’s talents if we flake out on him.

“That’d be the best case scenario. If rumors start going around, we’d be buried, dammit. Sigh...!” Chief Jung’s head was already starting to hurt. If he knew this would happen, he would have picked someone more earnest.

“I should’ve stopped the chairman right from when he chose Mi-Jeong without consideration just because she was fairly good-looking. It’s my fault, all my... Huh?”

Chief Jung momentarily doubted his eyes. In the swarm of people walking around in the Bupyeong Station underground shopping mall, just one person caught his eyes. It was a high school girl with a strong presence even amongst this crowd. Her overwhelming beauty made Chief Jung blink several times.

“Hey, Hyung-Woo.”

- Yes, Chief?

“We’re saved.”

- We are? Did you think of someone who can replace Mi-Jeong?

“No,” Chief Jung’s voice livened up. “I’m about to go make one.”

- Pardon? What are you... Ch-Chief? Chie—

Beep.

Chief Jung resolutely hung up. He walked faster and faster, thinking that he must not let that angel— no, goddess, escape his grasp.

“Excuse me!” Chief Jung Yu-Cheon’s cry stopped the two high school girls. “Are you a high school student?”

“Can I help you?” Kang Ra-Eun, the goddess that Chief Jung had his eyes on, displayed a strong sense of discomfort.

Since he was a male adult who called out to a high school girl, Chief Jung understood very well why she would show such a response. What kind of high school girl would greet such a person with a smile? Her suspicion was natural.

“Oh, I’m not a sketchy person.” He pulled out a card to prove his identity and handed it to her with the best smile that he could present to show that he was a good person. “I’m looking for someone who will appear in a drama. Are you perhaps interested in the entertainment industry?”

“Who?” Ra-Eun asked.

Chief Jung gestured toward Ra-Eun. “You, of course.”

Celebrities emanated a different aura compared to ordinary people. Chief Jung called that aura ‘star power’. One couldn’t succeed as a celebrity if they didn’t have the charisma to show off their presence. However, Ra-Eun already possessed that star power even when she wasn’t a celebrity.

“From what I can see, you were born to be a celebrity. I could feel it from the moment I saw you!” Chief Jung exclaimed. He was sure of it. However, Ra-Eun turned Chief Jung’s offer down cold.

“I’m not interested.” She tried to hand the card back to him, but Chief Jung was more persistent than she had expected.

“Your popularity will skyrocket! Just trust me, okay?”

“I don’t want to appear in dramas, nor do I have any acting skills,” Ra-Eun stated.

“It’s okay, it’s okay! You don’t need the skills right now. You can just learn as you go.”

Ra-Eun already had the looks and the figure, and from their short conversation, he realized that she also had the charisma. If trained well, she had the potential to rise to become the greatest actress in Korea. However, Ra-Eun lacked the most important factor.

“I couldn’t care less about the entertainment industry,” Ra-Eun remarked.

She had only one goal, which was to take revenge against Kim Han-Gyo and Kim Chi-Yeol. She couldn’t care less about success in the entertainment industry. Ra-Eun chose revenge over success.

Chief Jung tried to persuade Ra-Eun however he could, but his attitude suddenly changed after he received a phone call.

“J-Just think about it, okay? Call me anytime if you change your mind! I’ll be waiting for your call!” Chief Jung disappeared after handing her his card. Both Ra-Eun and Seo Yi-Seo were stunned by disbelief.

“Wow, I never thought I’d witness something like that,” Yi-Seo said.

“Yeah, I guess there’s all kinds of people in the world,” Ra-Eun stated.

“No, I wasn’t talking about that,” Yi-Seo said while pointing at Ra-Eun. “I’m talking about the street casting. It’s so fascinating to witness something that I’d only heard about with my own eyes.”

“It’s nothing to be fascinated over.” Ra-Eun ripped the card that Chief Jung had given her in half. “I wasn’t even thinking about debuting anyway.”

She did not have the leeway to be active in the entertainment industry while she was busy exacting her revenge.

“But it’s such a waste... Wait,” Yi-Seo checked the card that was ripped in half. “Isn’t GNF Entertainment pretty famous?”

They weren’t the top entertainment agency, but they were still recognized to be one of the top ten agencies in Korea. Ra-Eun’s expression changed the moment she heard the letters GNF.

‘GNF. That sounds familiar... Wait!’

Her gait suddenly became faster. She had long legs, so her strides were just as long. Yi-Seo shouted as she hurriedly caught up to Ra-Eun’s sudden change in behavior, “What? What’s wrong?”

“I need to check something,” Ra-Eun stated. A golden opportunity may have graced her.

***

Once Ra-Eun returned home, she barged into Kang Ra-Hyuk’s room without even putting away her new clothes.

“Hey, move,” Ra-Eun expressed.

“What? Just wait a bit, this is my promotion match...”

She started to push Ra-Hyuk’s side with her foot. Unable to withstand her attacks, he had no choice but to yield the computer to his little sister. Ra-Eun went into a web-searching spree as soon as she sat down.

“What’s up? Did you find another soaring stock?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“Shut up, you’re distracting me.”

“Did you fight with a store clerk or something? What’s with your temper today?”

Ra-Hyuk already knew that his sister didn’t have the best of tempers, but it was especially bad today. He left the room, thinking it was that magical time of the month for her.

Meanwhile, Kang Ra-Eun searched up GNF through a web portal and confirmed her suspicions.

“Yeah, I’m sure of it.”

The profiles and brief summaries of GNF’s talents were displayed on their homepage. The name of the rookie actor, Ji Han-Seok, was written at the very bottom. Luckily, he had a relationship with Kang Ra-Eun— No, Park Geon-Woo to some degree.

“Ji Han-Seok. If I remember correctly, he is Chairman Ji’s grandson.”

The chairman of Do-Dam, a company specialized in food products, was Ji Seong-Geum. It was only a fairly-known small giant in the industry right now, but Do-Dam would grow exponentially starting from 2015.

Chairman Ji Seong-Geum and Congressman Kim Han-Gyo were high school classmates, and...

‘They were like cats and dogs.’

They were once close enough for Chairman Ji to provide Congressman Kim his election funds, but they slowly became archenemies as time passed. She had witnessed a fair amount of Congressman Kim periodically harassing Chairman Ji and Do-Dam Group. It was still not widely known that Ji Han-Seok was Chairman Ji’s grandson.

‘If I get close to Ji Han-Seok, I may be able to meet Chairman Ji.’

The enemy of an enemy was a friend. Chairman Ji of Do-Dam Group was once an enemy, but...

‘I guess I have no choice but to join forces with Chairman Ji Seong-Geum in this life.’

It was a strange turn of fate. But to approach Ji Han-Seok, she first had to set the stage. Ra-Eun took out the two pieces of Chief Jung’s card from her pocket and taped them back together. She took out her phone and sighed. She didn’t like it, but...

‘I have no choice.’

***

Ra-Hyuk was watching TV in the living room while fretting, waiting for Ra-Eun to come out of his room.

“She wouldn’t search for my porn folder, would she?”

He had hidden it as best as he could so that his little sister wouldn’t find it, but he couldn’t help but be anxious. He wouldn’t need to worry like this if she had her own computer.

“Should I just take this chance to buy one for her?”

They couldn’t afford one before, but they had plenty of money now. As he made up his mind to order a computer for Ra-Eun...

Creak.

The door opened.

“I’m all done. Go play your promotion match or whatever,” Ra-Eun said.

“R-Really?”

“And you should hide your porn folder elsewhere. It’s obvious.”

“...!”

His folder was all too easily found by his little sister.

“Can’t you respect your older brother’s privacy?”

“Privacy, my ass. Oh, and...” Ra-Eun plopped onto the sofa and said, “I’m appearing in a drama next week.”

“I see. A drama... What?!” Ra-Hyuk thought he had heard wrong. “A-A drama? You?”

“Yeah, it just happened.”

Life was usually a set of unexpected events, just like Kang Ra-Eun’s current life.