I Returned as a High School Girl

Shin Yu-Bin dumbfoundedly asked as soon as she heard Kang Ra-Eun’s answer, “Really? Did you really just say that you would do it?”

“Yes.”

Yu-Bin couldn’t help but doubt her ears even after getting confirmation. She had thought that Ra-Eun would refuse this offer for sure. She was curious about the reason behind her unexpected answer.

“But why? You don’t like programs with these kinds of concepts.”

Yu-Bin had thought Ra-Eun absolutely despised programs where she was intertwined with men, and especially those that tried to create some sort of romantic mood between her and a man. However, Ra-Eun was not showing such a response this time, which she had several reasons for.

“Because I won’t feel as much pressure if my partner is Je-Woon sunbae.”

The two of them had become quite close since they had been in a drama and variety shows together.

‘Not only that, I need to get as much information I can out of Director Joo.’

Ra-Eun also had a political reason, but she couldn’t tell Yu-Bin this. GNF, the agency that Ra-Eun was affiliated with at the moment, maintained a policy of which their talents’ schedules reflected their desires. If Ra-Eun wanted to do it, the agency and Yu-Bin had to honor her decision and plan accordingly.

“Okay. I’ll give Director Joo another call and discuss it with him,” Yu-Bin remarked. She then softly laughed and mentioned, “I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic.”

He would likely feel as if he had won the lottery.

.

***

Like Ra-Eun and Yu-Bin had expected, Director Joo was so happy that he could fly. He then called Ra-Eun separately and thanked her repeatedly.

- Thank you so much, Ra-Eun! I’ll make sure to repay this favor no matter what!

The greater Director Joo was in her debt, the better it was for her. Ra-Eun had many things that she wanted to ask him. And of course, not about the imaginary marriage program that she would be in, but about Kim Han-Gyo.

‘Well, I can take my time asking about that.’

It was not too late to ask about it in small bits at a time once the shoot began. She hung up after letting Director Joo know that she would be in his care.

Ra-Eun then came out of her room and asked Seo Yi-Seo, who had come back from her parents’ home after helping out at the cafe, “Did everything go okay?”

“Yeah,” Yi-Seo answered.

However, her face did not seem to reflect her answer.

“What? Was there some sort of trouble?” Ra-Eun asked.

It was obvious to be worried about a close friend. Yi-Seo’s gaze shifted to Yi-Jun’s room. The door was slightly ajar. Ra-Eun could immediately tell what her friend was thinking without her saying a thing. She got up from her chair and walked over to Yi-Jun’s room. He had been up until late at night yesterday, so he was still in dreamland in his bed despite it already being noon.

Ra-Eun went back to her seat while being as quiet as possible so that he wouldn’t wake up.

“He’s sleeping right now, so he won’t hear a word of our conversation.”

She had even closed the door just in case. Yi-Seo thanked Ra-Eun and brought up her troubles with difficulty.

“Dad said that he’s thinking about closing down the cafe soon.”

“What? Why?”

“Business hasn’t been doing too well, apparently.”

The cafe could only be maintained if they were making a certain amount of profit; if they couldn’t, there was no meaning in keeping up business.

“I discussed a lot of things with him regarding the cafe while I was there,” Yi-Seo said.

“And what did he decide to do?” 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢

“He hasn’t thought about it yet.”

Ra-Eun had frequented Starlight Road, the small neighborhood cafe that Yi-Seo’s father owned, back in her high school days. Although she only had a year and a half’s worth of memories with the place, she couldn’t help but be troubled to hear that it could possibly disappear. Ra-Eun was sure that she could help somehow.

Creak.

However, Yi-Jun’s room door opened as she was about to open her mouth. He came out to the living room still drunk on drowsiness and saw Yi-Seo and Ra-Eun sitting across from each other.

“What were you two talking about?” he asked.

Yi-Seo smiled at her little brother as if nothing had happened.

“Nothing.”

She then got up from her seat and left. Meanwhile, Ra-Eun softly sighed and blamed Yi-Jun.

“Read the room, dammit.”

“...??”

He had done nothing else besides waking up, but had started off his morning with an insult.

***

The portion of her schedule occupied by Spokesperson?film shoots had suddenly increased due to Hwang Je-Woong’s hospitalization. It felt as if she was finishing her school break homework as soon as it began.

Director Seo Yong-Mun approached Ra-Eun apologetically.

“Thank you for your hard work, Ra-Eun. And I’m really sorry for pushing you so hard.”

“It’s no problem. More importantly, how is Je-Woong sunbae doing?”

“He’s gotten much better. He’ll be discharged tomorrow, but he was told to stay rested for the time being.”

The aftereffects of an injury were just as serious as the injury itself.

“But still, I’m glad it wasn’t a serious injury. It could’ve been much more serious if he had been unlucky.”

It had truly been a stroke of good luck in the midst of misery. Ra-Eun had also ridden motorcycles in her past life, so she knew very well how a moment of carelessness could give rise to an irreversible accident. Je-Woong’s motorcycle accident had also occurred due to carelessness; he had trusted in his abundant experience in motorcycle riding and had made a careless decision.

Director Seo sighed deeply. “I knew I had a bad feeling about that day. I suggested he take a break from driving bikes for the time being just in case, but sure enough, I got the call that he had gotten into an accident soon after.”

He apologized to Ra-Eun again after his lament, “I’m sorry, I went off too much by myself. In any case, thank you for your hard work. You won’t have any more scenes for the time being, so you can take a long break... Oh, wait. You said you were gonna be going on a variety program, didn't you?”

“Yes, Director Joo Seong-Won’s program. I’ll be going on it with Je-Woon sunbae,” Ra-Eun answered.

Director Seo’s eyes sparkled in envy. He had also aimed for a two-shot of Ra-Eun and Je-Woon in this film. The role of Oh Tae-Min, which was being played by Min Se-Min, had originally been planned to be given to Je-Woon.

“I’ll make sure to watch it when it airs,” the director remarked.

“Thank you very much, Director.”

With this, Ra-Eun’s portion in the Spokesperson?shoots had been temporarily paused. She was now planning to work together with Director Joo’s production team after a long time.

Yu-Bin briefed Ra-Eun on tomorrow’s schedule as soon as she got in the car.

“The very first meeting for You’re My Other Half is at 2:30 PM. I’d told you last time, right?”

“Yes. Je-Woon sunbae will also be there, right?”

“Probably. His world tour is over, so I’m guessing he will be. I’ll have to check.”

Ra-Eun had not been able to meet Je-Woon for a long time due to his world tour. It was obvious since he had been focused on overseas activities all this time.

‘I can’t believe our long-awaited reunion is for an imaginary marriage program.’

The situation was funny and absurd at the same time. In any case, both Je-Woon and Ra-Eun had chosen this of their own accord.

‘Now that it’s come to this, I’ll have to do my best.’

She would at least do the minimum of what was expected of her.

***

Je-Woon had to give up on his precious break to go to a broadcasting station meeting room, despite it having only been two days since he had returned to Korea. The production team and Ra-Eun greeted him as soon as he opened the door.

“Hello, Je-Woon!”

“It’s been a while, sunbae.”

Je-Woon was taken aback after laying eyes on Ra-Eun. He took his seat and softly smiled while looking at Ra-Eun.

“It’s been three months since we last saw each other, hasn’t it?” he asked.

“Yes, probably.”

“I think you’ve gotten even more beautiful since then.”

He had thought Ra-Eun’s beauty had already reached its peak, but he had come to realize that above the ceiling was the sky.

“As for you, I think you’ve gotten much brighter compared to before, sunbae,” Ra-Eun remarked.

When she first met Je-Woon, she had thought that he was a man of few words. He had barely talked on set, so it was natural that people would think that way of him. However, that had not been the case.

“That’s because I was extremely strung up back then.”

Je-Woon had reached a considerable height as a singer at the time, but he had been nothing but a fledgling who had just stepped on the starting line as an actor. He had only seemed like the quiet type due to his anxiety.

As the two of them were talking about all sorts of things, Director Joo framed the two of them by making a rectangle with the thumb and index fingers of both his hands.

“The term ‘handsome couple’ was literally made for you two. Haha!” He said with a smile as he witnessed their conversation in satisfaction.

However, that was enough chit-chat; it was time to begin discussing the program.

Director Joo spoke first, “As I’ve told you before, you’ll be reacting to clips of what we will film of the couples during the studio shoot. There will be a total of three couples, and we’re planning on making you two the main couple.”

Hence, they were also the last couple to be shown each episode. Ra-Eun once again looked through the list of stars that had been given to her. The first couple was the singer Mi-Gyeong and the well-known sports star Yong Su-Jeon. The second couple was the actor couple Sung Ji-Hyuk and Yoon Sang-Hye. Lastly, the third couple was Ra-Eun and Je-Woon.

‘Seeing this list, the first and second couples really are considerably lacking compared to us.”

The four people were still fairly well known, but they could not compare to the globally famous Je-Woon and the superstar Ra-Eun. It was no wonder why Director Joo was giving special attention to the third couple.

‘I heard he had even flown to France to recruit Je-Woon.’

Director Joo asked Ra-Eun and Je-Woon while they were talking about the order, “We’re in the process of securing a newlywed house for you two to live in. Is there anything in particular that you’d like? For example, an apartment suite or a detached house... You can even give us details regarding the interior. We’ll take them all into account.”

Je-Woon chuckled in embarrassment from the mention of a newlywed house.

“It really feels like we’re a couple planning our marriage when you put it like that.”

Director Joo asked jokingly, “Then how about we prepare the full package, with the studio, dress, and makeup?”

They were the three most mentioned aspects when preparing for marriage. Je-Woon shook his head.

“Don’t tease us too much, Director.”

That was Ra-Eun’s line.

1. Korean schools give a large amount of homework for students to do during the break.