I Returned as a High School Girl

Kang Ra-Eun wasn’t sure how to react after finding out that it would be Je-Woon. It would be disrespectful if she showed displeasure, but she couldn’t be happy about it either.

“Oh, really?”

Hence, Ra-Eun decided to be apathetic.

Seeing her reaction, the female writers that had come with Director Yoon Tae-Yoon asked her, “Do you perhaps not like the fact that your partner might be Je-Woon?”

“No, not at all. I just don’t have much of an opinion about it.”

Ra-Eun’s reaction would spark outrage from fans of Bex and Je-Woon. Je-Woon had never shot a kiss scene with anyone during his acting career. In other words, this was both his and Ra-Eun’s very first kiss scene. However, there was no need for Ra-Eun to think too deeply about it because...

“It’s still not set in stone, right?” she asked.

Director Yoon nodded. “Yes. As I’ve mentioned before, we still haven’t gotten a clear answer from Je-Woon regarding whether or not he would accept the casting offer. We did talk about it but still haven’t officially given him the offer.”

Je-Woon was a global star who was hard to even meet, so Director Yoon was not sure if he would even agree to the offer.

“I will let you know as soon as I get a definitive answer from him. Is there anything else that you’re curious about regarding the film, Ra-Eun?”

Since he had come all the way here to see Ra-Eun, he wanted to resolve every single one of her questions. Ra-Eun then asked about the second male lead.

“Has the actor to play Nam Yun-Seok also not been decided?”

“Yes, but our production team has a pretty unanimous vote on who to cast, so we are planning to give him a call this evening.”

“Who is it?”

Ra-Eun was curious about the other actor that she would have to work with. Director Yoon thought that it would be fine to spoil it since he had already spoiled who they had in mind for Min Woo-Chan.

“We’re thinking of Mr. Ji Han-Seok.”

Je-Woon and Ji Han-Seok. Chief Jung and Shin Yu-Bin’s prediction of Ra-Eun likely working with actors that she was close to had come true. However, it had not yet been 100% decided that those two men would be starring in the film with Ra-Eun.

“We’re not sure about Han-Seok’s answer either,” Director Yoon remarked.

Nothing had been set in stone except for one role.

“So everything but my role is unaccounted for.”

The meeting room was filled with awkward laughter from Ra-Eun’s comment.

***

Je-Woon returned to Korea after his overseas concert tour. He dried his hair with only a towel on after just getting out of the shower. He stared at his muscles in front of the mirror and sighed in disappointment.

“I’ve been slacking off too much.”

His body was fantastic in terms of average standards, but Je-Woon was not satisfied because his body had been far more fantastic before he had gone on his concert tour.

“I don’t have anything planned for the time being, so I guess I’ll focus on working out.”

As he was making workout plans for the coming days, he got a text from his manager. He recalled what he had completely forgotten about after checking its contents.

“Oh right, I have a meeting with Director Yoon today.”

Je-Woon smiled bitterly. He had absolutely no time to rest.

“I believe he had asked to meet me because...”

Director Yoon was most definitely planning on bringing up a casting offer. Je-Woon felt sorry for the director, but...

“I’ll have to refuse.”

He had been far too busy lately; he wanted to focus on himself while exercising, and he had to refuse Director Yoon’s offer to do that since it was obvious that he would be going back and forth between home and the film set for months on end.

***

Je-Woon headed with his manager to the restaurant, where Director Yoon was waiting for them.

Director Yoon gestured to the food in front of them and remarked, “Since you’ve been overseas for a while, I’ve ordered Korean cuisine. It’s all on me, so please feel free to eat as much as you want.”

“Thank you very much, Director.”

Like the director had expected, Je-Woon had longed for Korean food. Whenever he was overseas, he craved kimchi, which he had taken for granted when he was in Korea. This was a famous restaurant, so the food was also exquisite. It was as expected of the highly meticulous Director Yoon.

Director Yoon was in a position where he had to ask Je-Woon for a favor, so he did his absolute best to match the food to Je-Woon’s tastes. One wrong move and the casting offer might go up in flames.

As they were about halfway through their meal, Director Yoon finally got to the main point of their meeting today.

“The reason why I’d asked to meet you today is... I’m going to be producing a film.”

“Oh, yes. I’ve heard the news,” Je-Woon replied.

Director Yoon had gained much public awareness after One of a Kind of Girl, so there had been a lot of attention garnered to his every action. He had joined forces with TP Entertainment, the greatest investor in the film industry, to meet those expectations. Director Yoon was planning on using the enormous production funds he had been given to produce another hit film. And to do that...

“I’d appreciate it if you could lend me your strength,” Director Yoon expressed straightforwardly.

He needed Je-Woon, but Je-Woon himself did not look to be up for it based on his awkward smile. No matter how anyone looked at it, he was about to refuse.

Director Yoon and the production team were flustered by his expression. Not only were their eyes shaking in panic, one could easily tell they were panicking from their faces. All eyes went to Director Yoon.

He slightly nodded and said, “We can match whatever appearance fee that you’d like. Is there a certain amount that you have in mind...?”

Director Yoon was aware of how much Je-Woon was worth, and he was confident that he could afford him. No, even if he asked for more, Director Yoon was confident that he could still pay it since he was backed by TP Entertainment. However, Je-Woon’s problem had nothing to do with the appearance fee.

“It’s not about money. It’s just... I’ve been too focused on work for a while now, so I’m thinking about taking a break for the time being.”

“Oh...” Director Yoon expressed disappointment.

He could understand where Je-Woon was coming from. Je-Woon had tackled both his acting and singing careers at once without rest for a while. He had already amassed enough fame, so there was no need for him to be greedy for more.

Je-Woon had only thought about appearing on TV as much as possible in his rookie days, but he now had the leeway to take a bit of a break without becoming irrelevant or anyone berating him for it.

The staff members quickly exchanged glances to hold a silent strategy meeting. They were exchanging opinions in their heads on what they could do to change Je-Woon’s mind. Just then, Director Yoon pulled out his winning move.

“C-Could you at least take some time to look through the script?”

He was planning on attempting to move Je-Woon with the story. That was how confident he was in the plot of his new film.

“I guess... Just reading it isn’t too difficult,” Je-Woon remarked.

He was too kind of a person to refuse the director’s offer right then and there. He was too weak to flat-out tell them no when they had come all this way. He was handed the script.

‘Yeah. I’ll refuse after I read through it.’

Je-Woon made up his mind.

***

A day after the meeting, Je-Woon read through the script that Director Yoon had given him. The director’s confidence had not been unfounded.

“It’s certainly entertaining.”

The storyline was unique compared to other melodramas, and each character had their own individuality. Je-Woon did not feel bored at all while reading through it.

“I’m sure this will do well.”

He wasn’t sure if it would become a hit, but it most definitely wouldn’t flop. However, there was one problem.

“It doesn’t say who the female lead is.”

Information about the actors had not been written for any of the characters.

“It’d be a bit much to ask them to tell me, right?”

Je-Woon was already planning on refusing, so it would be disrespectful to ask who had been cast for the female lead role. He decided to give Director Yoon a call for now. He could just let his manager refuse in his stead, but he did not want to do that. Je-Woon had let his manager know that he wanted to be the one to refuse.

- Yes, hello?!

Director Yoon answered in a bright tone. Je-Woon felt somewhat bad after hearing how full of expectation the director’s voice was.

“I’ve read through the script, Director.”

- What did you think of it?

“It was interesting. But...”

As Je-Woon was thinking about how to refuse, Director Yoon answered as if he had figured out what Je-Woon was about to say.

- Oh, you’re curious about who your co-star would be, right?

“Huh? No, that’s not—”

Director Yoo had completely misunderstood Je-Woon. He revealed the female lead’s identity before Je-Woon could say anything.

- It’s Miss Kang Ra-Eun.

“...I’m sorry?”

Je-Woon’s mind went blank. He recalled in the script that Kang Seo-Mi and Min Woo-Chan would kiss. In other words, he would be the partner for the kiss scene that Ra-Eun had pledged.

Je-Woon clenched his smartphone tight and answered, “I’ll do it, Director. I’ll star in this film no matter what.”

Ra-Eun had shaken Je-Woon’s heart.

***

At around the same time, Ji Han-Seok fell into deep thought after receiving the script from Director Yoon and called him moments later.

“Director. You offered to cast me for the role of Nam Yun-Seok, correct?”

- Yes, I did.

Han-Seok also found the plot of Just Like a Melodrama Protagonist very interesting. Not only that, he had heard from the director that the female lead would be played by Ra-Eun. Hence, that put him in even more thought because he would need to play Min Woo-Chan to be able to kiss Ra-Eun.

However, the casting offer for that role had already gone to Je-Woon, so Han-Seok decided to propose something to Director Yoon. 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎

“I’d like to audition for the role of Min Woo-Chan.”

Han-Seok wanted the kiss scene with Ra-Eun, even if he had to compete against Je-Woon for it.