I Returned as a High School Girl

Kang Ra-Eun had been so focused on preparing for her fierce attack against Kim Han-Gyo that she had momentarily forgotten about Je-Woon’s love confession to her a few months ago during a variety program shoot. The memories had returned to her after he laid out his condition.

It was no wonder for Je-Woon, who saw Ra-Eun as a woman and not just his junior, to not want anyone else but himself to be the partner for her very first kiss scene. Having not expected his condition at all, Ra-Eun was lost for words. Her bewilderment was obvious just from her face.

Je-Woon spoke first to lift the awkward air, “I’m not asking you to do it with me no matter what, but I’d just like to reserve it. After all, your partner might not be me based on which production you and I decide to star in.”

“That’s true.”

Nothing was certain in this world. A simple mismatch in their schedules could make this condition completely null. Ra-Eun couldn’t wait forever to fulfill a promise with Je-Woon, which was why he had suggested a reservation instead of a sure promise.

“If you don’t want to, then you can just refuse. Even if you do, I’ll still fulfill your request,” Je-Woon said.

He was planning on helping her whether or not she agreed to his condition. Ra-Eun felt thankful to him, but also thought that it would be better to do it with someone who thought amicably of her rather than a complete stranger.

“But sunbae. If, like you said, I end up doing the kiss scene with someone else, what then?”

Je-Woon answered jokingly, “Then why don’t you kiss me twice to make up for the one that I missed?”

“...”

“It was just a joke, so don’t take it so seriously.”

He had made a joke to lift the air, but it had gotten even more awkward instead.

*** 𝓫𝓮𝒹𝓷ℴ𝓿ℯ𝓵.𝓬ℴ𝓶

Ra-Eun did not ask only Je-Woon for this favor. She met with every single celebrity whom she had consolidated a relationship with until now to ask them to support Congresswoman Hong Oh-Yeon. Of course, not all of them accepted her request; politics was such a sensitive topic that most celebrities tried not to get involved in it.

That was the correct choice. It was good for celebrities to display their individualities, but nothing came out of revealing their political inclinations. Hence, Ra-Eun had requested them after very careful consideration.

Only celebrities that were very close to Ra-Eun, such as Tae-Chan, Min Se-Min, Rita, Han Ga-Ae and a few others, decided to accept her request, along with Ji Han-Seok, who had worked with her for a very long time.

“I heard from my grandfather that you’re hell-bent on dropping Congressman Kim Han-Gyo in the general election,” he said.

“Yes, that’s right,” she boldly admitted.

There was no point in denying it after coming this far. Like his grandfather, Han-Seok also did not know the details of what had happened between Ra-Eun and Han-Gyo, but the reason did not matter when it was Ra-Eun who was asking him for a favor. There was no need to even think twice.

“Okay. I’ll help out too,” Han-Seok agreed.

“Thank you very much, sunbae.”

Han-Seok had also joined in on her plan like she had expected.

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“Ra-Eun.”

As she was about to end their conversation, Han-Seok suddenly called out to her. He was hesitant to tell her something as she was tilting her head in confusion, but then mustered up the courage.

“You haven’t decided which production you’re gonna be starring in yet, right?”

It was obvious why Han-Seok was asking about Ra-Eun’s next production. It was because of the kiss scene. Je-Woon and now Han-Seok...

‘I guess it’s true that close friends really do think alike.’

She had never expected there to be so much competition for her kiss scene partner.

***

The general election had finally begun. This general election had been so chaotic right up until the cutoff period that Congresswoman Hong was already exhausted before it had truly begun. However, she had no choice but to give it her all.

‘I’ll have to do my best for Ra-Eun’s sake.’

Oh-Yeon had absolutely no intention of making Ra-Eun take responsibility even if she wasn’t elected. Once it came down to it, she had been the one to make the choice. Just the fact that Ra-Eun had told her that she would do whatever it took to let her win had been enough to give her strength.

“Congresswoman.”

As Oh-Yeon reclined on her chair to relieve as little of her fatigue as possible, her chauffeur quietly called out to her.

“You have a visitor.”

“A visitor?” Oh-Yeon asked.

“I believe she is a reporter. What would you like me to do?”

She had naturally gained the attention of countless reporters just from the fact that she would be facing a bigshot politician like Kim Han-Gyo. Even today, there have been countless reporters requesting an interview. As she was about to get her chauffeur to make some excuse to do it next time, the chauffeur’s next sentence caught her attention.

“She said that she would give you a nice gift if you agreed to the interview.”

“A gift is a bit...”

It would be extremely dangerous if word got out that she had received something from someone during the general election. Whether it was money or an item, it was best not to receive anything until the general election was over, unless she wanted to be accused of rigging the election somehow.

“What’s the reporter’s name?” Oh-Yeon asked.

She thought of the possibility of the reporter being a spy sent by Han-Gyo, but the suspicion vanished as soon as she heard the reporter’s name.

“It’s Ahn Su-Jin.”

“Reporter Ahn Su-Jin...!”

It was the name of the reporter that had taken several shots at Han-Gyo on many occasions.

“Let her in.”

“Are you sure?” the chauffeur asked.

“It’s fine if it’s that reporter. Probably.”

Moments later, Su-Jin entered Oh-Yeon’s election campaign office after being guided by the chauffeur.

Su-Jin greeted first, “It’s been a while, Congresswoman.”

“It sure has. It’s been since the parliamentary inspection, right?”

“Yes. Thank you for the kindness you've shown me back then.”

Oh-Yeon giggled bitterly and pointed to the chair across from her for Su-Jin to take a seat. Su-Jin let down an extremely stuffed backpack on the floor before sitting down.

Oh-Yeon asked as she stared at the backpack that looked heavy from just a glance, “You must have a lot of things in there.”

“I do. It contains my gift for you.”

Oh-Yeon replied with a troubled face, “I’d be in huge trouble if I receive anything from someone during the general election period. Wouldn’t it be bad for both you and me if the election committee investigated us because of it?”

She tried to politely decline, but that did not stop Su-Jin. In the first place, the only reason she had come to meet Oh-Yeon was to give her this.

“I’m sure you’ll change your mind once you see what it is.”

She opened the backpack, took out its contents and slammed it down on Oh-Yeon’s desk. It was a bundle of paper so thick that it couldn’t be held entirely with one hand.

Oh-Yeon asked while wide-eyed in confusion, “What is all this?”

“It’s a record of Congressman Kim Han-Gyo’s injustices.”

“Pardon me???”

Oh-Yeon also knew that Han-Gyo was by no means clean of sins. Everyone had at least one skeleton in their closet. However, the number of skeletons in Han-Gyo’s closet transcended human imagination.

Oh-Yeon began to quickly read through the papers that Su-Jin had brought. Several of the allegations that Oh-Yeon herself had posed before were in there, but in far more detail than what she had found out at the time.

“You’ll see once you confirm them for yourself, but everything written on there is the truth,” Su-Jin stated.

“How did you get all this...?” Oh-Yeon asked dumbfoundedly.

Su-Jin answered concisely, “I have an anonymous informant.”

***

The stage had been sufficiently set. All that was left for Ra-Eun to do now was to wait until her preparations took effect. The battle for public opinion began as soon as the general election opened. Ra-Eun had given Oh-Yeon through Reporter Ahn everything that Oh-Yeon could use against Han-Gyo, her opposition.

Oh-Yeon was using the newfound information very effectively to continuously deal fierce attacks on Han-Gyo. Even last evening, she had not stopped pumping out all kinds of allegations involving Han-Gyo for the entire one-hour debate. Due to this, almost every form of news media had put the allegations against Han-Gyo on their headlines.

The unjust profits made through the development of a new city, misappropriation of public funds... The rabbit hole was endless. It even included things that even Ra-Eun had no idea about.

‘He’s like an onion; there’s just no end to the layers.’

Even as a former close associate of Han-Gyo, Ra-Eun had never expected for him to be involved in so many injustices.

‘Well, it’s much better for me.’

Now that she had given to Oh-Yeon every single piece of information that she had gathered through an ungodly amount of time and work, all she needed to do now was to watch the battle play out with popcorn in hand.

Spokesperson, the film that Ra-Eun had starred in, was also being discussed among the public as the perfect portrayal of the battle between Kim Han-Gyo and Hong Oh-Yeon by pure coincidence, just like Ra-Eun had planned. Yang Han-Sik, the villain of Spokesperson, was similar to Han-Gyo in so many ways that he was being cursed even for the sins that the character had committed.

This was the exact synergy that Ra-Eun had desired. Many people online were slandering Han-Gyo while saying that ‘what’s happening in reality feels more like fantasy than the film’, which only raised the film’s popularity even more.

[Spokesperson surpasses five million in audience attendance!]

[Will Spokesperson be the very first ten-million film of the year?]

[The unexpected rise of political films! The Spokesperson Syndrome!]

[Is this real or fake? Spokesperson gains a massive boost thanks to the general election. How high will it go?]

The higher the film went, so did the condemnation against Kim Han-Gyo with it. Also, the more blazing the debates between Han-Gyo and Oh-Yeon became, the more it boosted Spokesperson’s popularity. Everything was going in Ra-Eun’s favor. However, there was just one thing that made her uneasy.

‘At this rate... I’ll really have to shoot that kiss scene.’

Ra-Eun had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to take in the news of ten million audience attendance with joy alone.