I Returned as a High School Girl

Chapter 8: Street Casting (4)

Section Chief Jung Yu-Cheon went straight to Son Han-Woo, the program director of the drama The Devil’s Touch as soon as he arrived on the set.

“Greetings, Director Son!” Chief Jung exclaimed.

Director Son’s face instantly hardened as soon as he saw him.

“I heard the news, Chief Jung. Mi-Jeong won’t be coming today, will she?” Director Son complained.

“Oh... Yes. That girl ghosted us again. I’m terribly sorry,” Chief Jung expressed.

Director Son let out a deep sigh as Chief Jung apologized to him.

“Forget it. Have you found an actress to replace Mi-Jeong?” Director Son asked.

“I have, you don’t need to worry. I’ve recently signed a contract with a decent new actress,” Chief Jung remarked.

“What’s her name?”

“It’s Kang Ra-Eun.”

Director Son had naturally never heard of her. “Does she have any experience?”

“...Not yet, but I’m sure you’ll think Ra-Eun is far better than Mi-Jeong as soon as you see her. I guarantee it!” Chief Jung spoke with certainty, but Director Son didn’t believe him in the slightest. It wasn’t easy to find a rookie actress who was just as pretty as Mi-Jeong.

“Then when is actress Kang Ra-Eun coming?” Director Son asked.

“Let me check, please wait a second...” Chief Jung livened up again after checking his texts. “She says she’s here now!”

“Really?”

“Yes. There she is. Over here, Ra-Eun!”

As soon as Director Son turned around to check just how pretty she was, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Ra-Eun was walking toward them with her hair fluttering in the serene winds. Even without any make-up, she displayed outstanding looks that would shame most actresses. Not only that, her figure was also that of a model.

“What do you think, Director Son? I’m right, aren’t I?” Chief Jung asked.

“...” Director Son didn’t want to admit it, but... “I guess you’re right this time, Chief Jung.”

It was Chief Jung’s victory.

***

Chief Jung took Ra-Eun around the set to introduce her to all the staff, including Director Son.

.

“Let’s see, who else...” Chief Jung pondered.

“Chief Jung,” Ra-Eun said while glaring at him. “You haven’t forgotten your promise, right? I’ll consider this whole ordeal never happened and go home if you try to play it off.”

“Promise? Oh, of course I remember.” Chief Jung turned his attention to where the actors were gathered. “Just wait a few minutes. They’re in the middle of reading their lines.”

Kang Ra-Eun set a condition to Chief Jung that he must introduce her to Ji Han-Seok in exchange for appearing as an extra in The Devil’s Touch. If he broke that condition, then...

‘I can just annul the contract.’

Because the special condition that she had set was already added in the contract, it was fine for her to abandon the entire thing if she believed that the promise was not being fulfilled. Chief Jung asked her to wait as he walked to where the actors were, and soon came back.

“He needs more time to read his lines, so he asked you to get your make-up done first. I’ll make sure to introduce you to Han-Seok before the shooting starts, so don’t worry and wait.”

“Understood.”

She could grant chances, but… betrayal was unforgivable.

As Ra-Eun headed to the waiting room, the make-up artists were rendered speechless once they saw her.

“My God. Unnie, look at her. How is she so pretty?”

“Is she one of our cast members? I’ve never seen her before.”

Chief Jung explained to the confused make-up artists in Ra-Eun’s place, “Her name is Ra-Eun. She’ll be appearing as an extra in Mi-Jeong’s place. I’ll be counting on you to glam her up real good.”

“Oh, yes, Chief Jung.”

“Ra-Eun, right? Please come take a seat here.”

Ra-Eun nodded and took a seat as the women instructed. She came to find out her role as an extra as she read through the script before she got here. She just needed to act as a twenty year-old student who had just entered university. She was in scene #23-2.

‘I have no lines, if I remember correctly.’

She just needed to turn around as she was walking and lightly smile.

‘A smile, huh...?’

Park Geon-Woo had never once smiled since he became the high school girl, Kang Ra-Eun, nor was smiling a frequent occurrence in his past life. The leader of a security team needed to possess level-headedness to analyze the situation at any time. They couldn’t be swayed by emotion, so instances of smiling were very infrequent.

‘I hope I can do it properly.’

She had practiced at home, but she couldn’t be sure of how the people watching would react to it.

‘Well, it’s not like I’m gonna succeed as a celebrity.’

She needed nothing else but to grasp a few chances to meet Ji Han-Seok. Her make-up and hairstyling were being done while she was in deep thought. The women kept expressing words of admiration at Ra-Eun’s skin and hair texture.

“Ra-Eun, did you... enter your current agency through an audition?” one of the women asked.

“No, Chief Jung handed me his card and asked if I had any intention of working with him while I was out buying clothes, and I ended up here.”

Street casting. The make-up artists showed responses as if they had expected it.

“This isn’t lip service, but I think you’re at the top among the actresses I’ve been in charge of make-up for.”

“The top in what?” Ra-Eun asked.

“In beauty.”

She said in disbelief, “It sure sounds like lip service.”

“I’m serious! Take a look at yourself in the mirror.”

It was the first time in her life that she had make-up done. They glammed her up to have a more mature look since she had to act as a university student. She gave off a mature feel with small amounts of youth left over, instead of her usual baby-faced high schooler appearance.

She certainly was pretty. In this day and age, one’s looks were also a form of strength. If there was a ‘beauty’ category in a test, Ra-Eun would certainly receive a near-perfect score. However, it didn’t make her all that happy.

“I can’t really tell,” she expressed.

No matter how pretty she was, she liked her old appearance as Park Geon-Woo better...

...At least for now.

***

Chief Jung came to see her as soon as her make-up was done.

“Ra-Eun! They’ve finished reading. Come say hello to your... Gasp!”

One of Ra-Eun’s eyebrows wriggled as she saw Chief Jung being shocked by her appearance.

“What?” she asked.

“No, I was just in admiration of the fact that my choice wasn’t mistaken. Pay it no mind.”

“...” She minded it very much. In any case, she immediately walked toward Ji Han-Seok as soon as she was allowed to meet him.

Han-Seok, who was in the middle of conversing with his actor colleagues, swallowed his breath at the sudden appearance of a beauty. Ra-Eun smirked.

‘So, he’s Chairman Ji’s grandson.’

She had seen him on TV a few times, but it was her first time meeting him face to face. She had to get closer to this man starting now because he was deeply connected to the Do-Dam Group and Chairman Ji Seong-Geum.

Ra-Eun introduced herself with the brightest expression she could make.

“Hello, sunbae. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Kang Ra-Eun.”

“S-Sunbae...?” Han-Seok asked perplexedly.

“Yes, I’ll be debuting as an actress of GNF through this drama. You’re an actor whom I respect very much, so it’s an honor to meet you like this.”

Chief Jung was overwhelmed by astonishment by the sheer difference in Ra-Eun’s behavior toward him and Han-Seok. Meanwhile, Han-Seok nodded at Ra-Eun’s introduction with a puzzled look.

“R-Really? The... The honor is a-all mine.”

“I hope you’ll give me plenty of guidance,” Ra-Eun remarked.

“S-Sure.”

Ra-Eun headed back to the studio after the short introduction. Han-Seok was blankly staring at the space that Ra-Eun had been standing in, and Chief Jung strongly slapped him on the back a few times to help him pull himself together.

“Did you fall for Ra-Eun?” Chief Jung asked.

“N-No! Of course not! No, but... she’s extremely pretty,” Han-Seok expressed.

“She’s still a high schooler. Don’t start coveting your underaged junior.”

Han-Seok's face filled with disappointment.

***

As soon as they started filming scene #23-2, Ra-Eun smiled as brightly as she could, just like she had practiced. Long after all the shooting was over, Director Son couldn’t help but be amazed by the scene of Ra-Eun’s smile on the editing screen.

“It’s already stunning without any editing.”

“I’ll say,” the camera director agreed. “I wonder where Chief Jung found someone like her.”

After some deep thought, Director Son asked the camera director, “Should we increase the screen time of Ra-Eun’s character?”

“What? Just like that?”

“It’s a waste to end things with just this one shot, don’t you think?”

“I wonder. The writers would flip out. And there’s something more important to consider, isn’t there?” the camera director mentioned.

“What?”

“We should find out whether Ra-Eun herself wants to appear more in The Devil’s Touch or not.”

“That’s simple,” Director Son responded while taking out his phone. “We can just ask Chief Jung.”

***

Ra-Eun was watching the news in the living room. Ra-Hyuk asked her just in time, “Ra-Eun, didn’t you say you came back from shooting a drama last time?”

“Yeah,” she responded.

“The title was The Devil’s Touch, right? When do you appear?”

Ra-Eun responded apathetically, “Today.”

“I see, today... Today?”

He quickly took the remote from Ra-Eun. Burning with rage, Ra-Eun reacted, “What are you doing, idiot?!”

“You’re the goddamn idiot! What are you doing, watching the news when your scene is about to come on? Dad! Ra-Eun’s drama appearance is coming on today! No, not just today, it’s on right now!”

The Devil’s Touch just happened to be on air right now. Ra-Hyuk quickly changed channels while their father rushed into the living room. Only two minutes after they had changed channels...

Clack, clack.

Ra-Eun’s face crumpled as soon as the TV displayed her back as she was walking on heels. Moments later, Ra-Eun on the TV turned around and smiled toward the screen.

Her bright smile radiated through the electromagnetic waves of the TV into their living room. The brother and father both turned toward Ra-Eun blank-faced.

“...What the hell are you staring at?!” A red-faced Ra-Eun shouted at the two men.

1. Sunbae is an honorific used to address someone with more experience in a certain field than yourself.