I Returned as a High School Girl

Kang Ra-Eun was reading a book in the living when her ears caught a small sigh. It was so deep that one would assume that the life of the person who had made it was over. Seo Yi-Seo had been sighing like this very often ever since around five days ago.

Seo Yi-Jun, who was washing the dishes after losing a rock paper scissors game, asked while putting on rubber gloves, “Is there something on your mind, sis? You’ve been sighing nonstop since a few days ago.”

“...It’s nothing.”

She was obviously lying; unlike Ra-Eun, Yi-Seo was a bad liar. Anyone would be able to tell from her expression.

“Did something bad happen at school? There’s no way you would have bombed a test,” Yi-Jun asked again.

“There are times when I bomb tests when I’m feeling under the weather.”

“What? So you were sighing because you actually bombed a test?”

“I told you it’s nothing.”

Yi-Seo spared her breath even despite Yi-Jun’s barrage of questions. Ra-Eun clicked her tongue.

“Yi-Jun,” she called out.

“Yes, noona?”

She waved at Yi-Jun to look at her, and then made a gesture of zipping her mouth shut. In other words, she was telling him to shut up and wash the dishes. Yi-Jun couldn’t defy the orders of the most powerful figure in this household, so he did as Ra-Eun said and focused on washing the dishes.

Meanwhile, Yi-Seo went into her room with sagged shoulders, possibly because of her pointless argument with her little brother, or maybe because of a certain moron who was too dense to understand how she felt. Ra-Eun had lived together with Yi-Seo for a while, but she had never seen her like this before.

‘What in the world is love to make people like this...?’

Ra-Eun still could not understand the feelings of a maiden in love.

***

In the Spokesperson?film set, Ra-Eun immersed herself into her performance to shoot a scene where she was in a car ride to the press conference venue with Min Se-Min.

“I’m sure you know as well, Chief Oh, but you just need to answer that you do not know to any of the reporters’ questions. Or, you could also not answer at all. The more you speak, the more ammunition you’re giving them to use against you.”

“Understood,” said Oh Tae-Min, played by Se-Min.

“Did the congressman decide to come to the venue? They were still undecided when I contacted them a few nights ago.”

“They decided not to come. They seem to be weighed down considerably by this.”

“I’m not surprised. There’s not much time left until the election... They’re better off playing it safe until then.”

Na Ji-Yang, played by Ra-Eun, took out and looked over the statement that she would be reading in front of the reporters today.

“That aside, Congressman Yang Han-Sik must also be very anxious, since a past incident that had died down once before is about to resurface.”

“Because the result of the last general election had been below his expectations. They’d also managed to win far less seats in Congress than they had expected to, so he’s likely holding a grudge.”

“How difficult,” Ji-Yang mentioned while looking out the window with her chin resting on her hand.

Tae-Min, who was sitting next to her, replied while fixing his glasses, “That’s just how politics is.”

“No, I wasn’t talking about that,” Ji-Yang said, as Ra-Eun smiled as relaxed as she possibly could. “I meant that dealing with people is complicated.”

Despite it being a performance, Ra-Eun’s words hit Se-Min hard. They carried the depth of someone who had experienced the various hardships of life.

Ra-Eun and Se-Min went into script reading for the next scene right after they had finished shooting Scene #12-2. There was no need to imbue emotions when script reading; it was enough to read them lightly just to get a feel for how the conversation would flow. However, Ra-Eun recited her lines in a tone and with expressions so real that people would think it was occurring in reality.

Se-Min smiled awkwardly and remarked, “You don’t have to immerse yourself that deeply when we’re just script reading, Ra-Eun.”

They still had many more scenes to shoot for the day, so there was no need to waste energy from the morning by depleting their emotions like this; now was a time to maintain a certain tempo. Ra-Eun regained her composure after apologizing to Se-Min.

Se-Min smiled again and asked, “You don’t have to apologize. That aside, were you the kind of actress who often added emotions into their script reading? You’re a little different from what I’ve heard.”

From what Se-Min had heard, Ra-Eun was not. Ever since her dramas, her films One of a Kind of Girl and Shuttered. Ra-Eun had never been the one to immerse herself into her script reading unless the other party did first. Despite that, she was the one to initiate it in this film.

‘I sometimes forget that this is a film shoot.’

There were times when Ra-Eun excessively immersed herself in the settings of the film Spokesperson, possibly because of her past experience.

Ra-Eun replied while smiling, “I think I’m just in the mood to immerse myself a bit more today.”

“Oh, we all have those days. I’ve done so a few times as well.”

As Ra-Eun was making vague excuses for her excessive immersion, Shin Yu-Bin came up to her with her smartphone.

“You’re getting a call, Ra-Eun. Who’s ‘Misma’? A foreigner?”

Ra-Eun had saved Ma Yeong-Jun’s number as ‘Misma’.

“Just an acquaintance,” she answered.

.

She then asked for their understanding to take the call, and moved as far away from the studio as possible so that others wouldn’t hear her.

“Hello?”

- Can you speak now?

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Ra-Eun had an idea of why Yeong-Jun had called her.

“Did you find out anything about that woman Jo Su-Yeon?”

- To put it simply, you were right about her.

Ra-Eun knew it. She nodded in succession. Meanwhile, Yeong-Jun continued his explanation.

- Firstly, I looked into the hospital where her parents apparently work at, but they have never worked there before. In the first place, it seems the fact that they are doctors is a lie.

“Are you sure?”

- I sent a few of my men there to check just in case. I’m sure.

Yeong-Jun’s information was always credible. He was not finished with information on Su-Yeon.

- I believe you said that woman ran a large accessory-related business.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Su-Yeon had told Ra-Eun when she had introduced herself that she had used the business funds provided by her parents to set up a huge cosmetics and accessory business that she had always been interested in. She had self-proclaimed to be a successful CEO, but there were more than just a few points of suspicion regarding that business as well.

- I personally visited the company that she is the CEO of, but...

“But what?”

- There was nothing but a worn-down two-story building and empty plains surrounding it.

A term popped up in Ra-Eun’s head as soon as she heard Yeong-Jun’s explanation.

“So, she’s a swindler.”

Her bad feeling had been right on the mark. She had finally uncovered Su-Yeon’s true identity.

- She’s been decorating herself as best she could and extorting money from a bunch of people who had invested in her. She’s also been using that money to strengthen her connections.

“And I expect there are some bigshots among them?”

- She’s indirectly connected to someone you’d be very interested in.

Ra-Eun’s eyebrows flinched.

“No way, Congressman Kim Han-Gyo?”

- Bingo.

She had simply investigated her older brother’s girlfriend because she seemed suspicious, but she had never expected to catch such a big fish as a result.

***

Ra-Eun visited Kang Ra-Hyuk’s home before going back to her own home after the shoot had finished. Only after pressing the doorbell over ten times did Ra-Hyuk belatedly open the front door.

“...What is it, lil’ sis? What brings you here?” he asked with half-closed eyes.

Ra-Eun clicked her tongue. “You’re sleeping until this hour of the day when your little sister is working hard to make money?”

“It’s because I drank until late with my friends yesterday.”

Ra-Eun could tell he was telling the truth with the lingering smell of alcohol on him. She pinched her nose and sighed as she looked around her older brother’s dark home.

“Clean up a little, will you? And throw this underwear away. How many times have you worn these for them to get so stretched out?”

Ra-Hyuk was shocked to see his little sister nonchalantly touching his used underwear.

“Can you please at least pretend not to see stuff like that?”

Even if they were siblings, things like this were still embarrassing. Ra-Eun more or less managed to secure a place to sit.

Ra-Hyuk asked with a face devoid of energy, “Why did you come here without a word?”

“I had something to ask you.”

“Ask me what?”

“How much do you know about Jo Su-Yeon?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Su-Yeon? Well... As much as anyone else, I guess.”

Ra-Hyuk likely did not know that Su-Yeon was a swindler. If he had known, then he would have never dated her. Su-Yeon’s objective was clear; to get close to Ra-Eun through Ra-Hyuk, and then get close to other celebrities through Ra-Eun. Ra-Eun was planning on telling her oblivious brother all of this.

“You’d better keep your distance from her, because—”

Ra-Hyuk interrupted her before she had a chance to explain, “You don’t have to tell me.”

Then, he began to tell her what had occurred behind the scenes.

***

Ra-Eun smiled bitterly as she returned to a dark home. Yi-Seo was sitting vacantly in the living room without the lights on despite the sun having set. Seeing her, Ra-Eun turned on the living room light, finally alerting Yi-Seo to Ra-Eun’s presence.

“When did you get here?”

“Just now. What were you doing in the dark like that?”

“Just... Nothing.”

There was no way that was true. Yi-Seo had been in noticeably bad condition lately. Ra-Eun was certain that it was because Ra-Hyuk had gotten a girlfriend.

Plop. 𝚋ｅｄ𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅ𝚕．𝚗ｅｔ

Ra-Eun sat down on the couch at a distance from Yi-Seo and let her know of news that she had just heard from her older brother.

“My oppa broke up with that woman.”

“Broke up...? What do you mean?”

“Exactly as it sounds.”

Ra-Hyuk and Su-Yeon had ended up dating after the mood had turned romantic during their middle school alumni drinking gathering. However, Ra-Hyuk had begun to see Su-Yeon in a different light during their third week of dating.

She was a pathological liar and lived off of vanity. However little affection that Ra-Hyuk had left for her had disappeared because she had continued to beg him to help her get closer to Ra-Eun. Hence, Ra-Hyuk had one-sidedly informed her of their breakup.

“That woman named Jo Su-Yeon didn’t seem to be a good woman in my oppa’s eyes.”

“...”

Ra-Eun told the speechless Yi-Seo the best piece of advice that she could give, “It’s okay to muster up the courage at least once in life. Whether it be time or people, they won’t wait for you forever.”

This was all that Ra-Eun could do for Yi-Seo. It was all up to her now.