I Returned as a High School Girl

Kang Ra-Eun was dumbfounded by Seo Yi-Jun’s mention of a TV appearance. He had absolutely no association with TV; unlike Ra-Eun, a celebrity who stood in front of cameras on a daily basis, he was an ordinary university student majoring in design.

“A TV show? You?”

Yi-Jun nodded and replied, “Yes. I was offered a casting.”

“What kind of casting? Are you sure it’s not some sort of scam?”

“That’s why I asked you to see if you could find out, noona. Wouldn’t you be able to find out if the person who gave me their card really works in the industry, since you’ve been in it for a long time?”

“Well... Yeah.”

Even if Ra-Eun was unfamiliar with the person, she could just ask the people around her to find out. Among them, Chief Jung especially possessed a very wide net of connections in the industry. He knew practically everyone, so she could just ask him if she didn’t know.

“Give me a second. I’ll go get the name card.”

Yi-Jun went into his room and back out moments later, and handed Ra-Eun the name card. It was the card of Song Yu-Song, the main writer of?Jobbing Your Way.

“Isn’t this the talk show that airs every Tuesday evening?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Yes, that’s the one.”

Ra-Eun watched it from time to time when she happened to be watching TV on that specific time and day, and she had even appeared on it a year ago. The talk show Jobbing Your Way, like the name suggested, was about inviting people of various occupations and getting their stories. The theme of the episode that Ra-Eun had appeared in was ‘actors’.

“They’re apparently recruiting people that work in design this time,” Yi-Jun remarked.

“But aren’t you unemployed?”

“I am, but I do outsourcing from time to time. I even outsourced to your company a few times, don't you remember?”

“Oh, right.”

There was no way that Ra-Eun didn’t remember when she had been the one to introduce Yi-Jun to Park Seol-Hun.

“Also, the fact that I’d won a few contests also seemed to have influenced their decision to recruit me.”

“Then I guess they’re trying to paint you as a rising rookie designer.”

“I guess so.”

When recruiting multiple people in the same industry, extra care needed to be taken so that their positions did not overlap. Only through diversity could a more rich and entertaining discussion bloom.

‘Not just that, they’d be able to check the visual aspect off the list if they have a tall and handsome rookie.’

No matter what anyone said, looks could not be ignored when they would be going on camera. Considering that, the writer’s desire to have Yi-Jun on the show was understandable since his looks were practically on par with those of celebrities.

“Do you want to appear on it?” Ra-Eun asked.

The most important thing was Yi-Jun’s intention to appear on the show or not.

Yi-Jun shrugged and answered, “I’m thinking I should.”

“Why? You want to debut into the entertainment industry?”

“No. It’s just... I want to make myself more known. You know, there are tons of chefs that became popular after appearing on TV.”

There had been a time when chefs had appeared on TV all the time. Tons of star chefs, whose popularity was on par with celebrities, were born in a time when cooking was all the rage. Yi-Jun also wanted something like that to happen for him.

“But of course, I’ll need the skills to match those expectations.”

Yi-Jun did not want to end up a designer that was only popular; he wanted to hone his skills to correspond with the expectations that people placed on him, so he had decided to go on the show with the thought that this opportunity would be the new stimulant for his growth.

Ra-Eun also benefited from Yi-Jun getting more popular, since he was destined to become a top designer of Levanche. Their products would sell even better if a famous designer worked for them.

“Okay. I’ll help you.”

“Thank you, Noona.”

“But you’d better not start ignoring me after you become famous, got it?”

Yi-Jun smiled bitterly and answered, “That won’t ever happen.”

Even if the world were to come to an end tomorrow, there would be no way that he would ever forget Ra-Eun.

***

Chief Jung came to see Ra-Eun as soon as she visited the GNF building.

“Ra-Eun! Have you gone on ArcaTube?”

“No, why?”

“Your video is blowing up!”

Ra-Eun tilted her head in confusion. “What video?”

She had a social media account but not her own ArcaTube channel since she wouldn’t ever upload videos on it. Hence, she was curious about why Chief Jung was making such a huge fuss.

“Look at this!”

It was faster to show than tell. Chief Jung pulled up the video on his smartphone that was stirring up the internet. Only then did Ra-Eun realize what video he had been referring to; it was a video of Ra-Eun singing at Ahn Se-Hyun’s wedding.

[When I’m holding your hand,

The road we’re walking down feels happier.

Love, you and me.]

The video already had five million views only two days after it had been uploaded. The number of comments were also insane.

- She’s gifted in acting, athletics, has a great personality, and can even sing? What can’t she dooooo??!!

- I love you unnie ???????? Plz marry me!!!

- Day #1 of praying for Ra-Eun noo-nim to make her singing debut

Ra-Eun could feel her fans’ blazing cheers through the screen. Chief Jung felt the same way as them.

“I had an epiphany the moment I watched this video! You should—”

“I won’t,” Ra-Eun refused before Chief Jung even had the chance to finish his sentence.

“I haven’t even said anything yet. You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“I don’t need to hear it to know.”

“What was I going to say, then?”

“You were gonna suggest that I debut as a singer, weren’t you?”

Ra-Eun had been right on the mark. Chief Jung had heard from Han Ga-Ae that Ra-Eun was a great singer, but he had never expected her to be this good. Her singing skills aside, the tone of her voice was exquisite; not only was it powerful, but it also possessed a quality that was hard to find among songstresses.

Not only that, Ra-Eun was not new to the entertainment industry; she had reached her peak as an actress, so tons of people would buy her album if she ever made one. She was already guaranteed success as long as the songs were good. Considering all that, Chief Jung couldn’t help but be greedy.

“Don’t be like that, Ra-Eun. Let’s just make one album. Just one, okay?”

Chief Jung was cautiously attempting to persuade Ra-Eun with the hopes that she would be the one to want to continue her singing career after experiencing the joy of it. However, Ra-Eun was not that easy to deal with.

“Like I said, I’m not going to do it, so you’d better just give up.”

It had already taken a considerable amount of courage for her to sing at Se-Hyun’s wedding, so would she do something that took even more courage than that? No, absolutely not. It would take exponentially more than that to persuade her.

Chief Jung was disappointed, but he couldn’t keep trying to force it on her when she was so against it. No matter how talented she was, it would not end well if she lacked the motivation.

“Okay. I won’t ever suggest you debut as a singer again. But can I ask you just one thing?”

“What is it?”

”Why don’t you want to debut as a singer?”

It seemed to Chief Jung that Ra-Eun did not particularly dislike singing. She had gotten considerably used to being on camera, so Chief Jung couldn’t understand why she was so against it. However, Ra-Eun’s answer was rather simple.

“Because of the outfits.”

Female idols performed on stage while wearing extremely revealing clothes, or those that showed off their femininity. Ra-Eun hated that more than anything else. Other female celebrities hated not being able to wear cute clothes, but she was the opposite.

“I thought I’d come to know you fairly well after all the years we’ve worked together, but I guess I’m nowhere near that level yet,” Chief Jung grumbled.

Ra-Eun could only answer, “I feel the same way about myself.”

She had still not come to fully understand her female self.

***

The day that episode 102 of the talk show Jobbing Your Way would be shot had arrived. Unlike his usual waking hours, Yi-Jun woke up very early in the morning and went with Ra-Eun to the hair salon that she frequented. The owner was shocked to see the two of them together.

“My, my, Ra-Eun! Who’s that gentleman next to you? Could he be...?”

Ra-Eun said flatly to the owner, who looked back and forth at the two of them in astonishment, “He’s not my boyfriend.”

She was misunderstood in such a manner every single time she went anywhere alone with a man. Even her older brother Kang Ra-Hyuk had been misunderstood for her boyfriend a few times, to which she kicked him on the shin when he snickered next to her.

“He’s my friend’s little brother. He’s a designer, and he’s going to be on a talk show today,” Ra-Eun remarked.

“Oh, so he’s here to get his hair done!”

The owner guided Yi-Jun to the middle seat with a radiant smile.

“Come take a seat here,” she said.

Yi-Jun did as the owner said and awkwardly sat down. She then handed him a thick file folder.

“This is a list of short male hairstyles. Dandy cut, garma perm, crop cut, and et cetera. There are tons, so let me know which one you like most. But... I wouldn’t recommend you get a perm.”

“Does a perm not suit me?” Yi-Jun asked.

“Yes, but it’s only my personal opinion. Hoho!”

Yi-Jun looked in detail through the list of hairstyles as the owner laughed in a friendly way. There were just as many male hairstyles as female ones. After some time looking through it, Yi-Jun asked Ra-Eun, who was sitting at the back, for help.

“Which style do you think would suit me best, Noona?”

“Me? Well... Hmm.”

Ra-Eun came closer to Yi-Jun to take a look at him in more detail. Having thought of something, Ra-Eun extended her hand out and swept his hair to one side.

“How about a pompadour?” she suggested.

The owner also seemed to like the suggestion. “Your looks really come to life when your forehead is exposed. What do you think, Yi-Jun?”

“I...” Yi-Jun slurred while staring at Ra-Eun and not the mirror. “I’ll go with whatever you like, Noona.” 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎

Ra-Eun laughed at his honest opinion.