I Returned as a High School Girl

Chapter 278: Vigilance (3)

The shoot had continued ever since early morning. No matter how much stamina Kang Ra-Eun possessed, she was bound to get tired as long as she was human. Not just that, she was enveloped in anxiety that she usually did not feel, possibly due to wearing a school uniform.

Shin Yu-Bin handed Ra-Eun a fruit drink while she was sitting down to take a break.

“Drink this, Ra-Eun.”

This was not the drink that Ra-Eun normally drank, but a recently released warm sports drink brand. Ra-Eun could tell why Yu-Bin had brought this as soon as she checked which company had released it.

“Is this from Do-Dam Group?”

“Yup.”

A portion of this film’s production costs was being covered by Do-Dam Group. Ra-Eun opened the bottle and took a large sip.

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

Her slender neck moved slightly every time she gulped. She then gave a short review of the taste.

“It’s delicious.”

“Han-Seok was talking about wanting you to be the commercial model for it.”

“Why me?”

Ra-Eun did not really understand; Ji Han-Seok could do it himself. Although he was not as popular as Ra-Eun, Han-Seok was a considerably popular actor as of late. Hence, Ra-Eun thought that he should ride the momentum of that popularity and be a commercial model. Yu-Bin also agreed with her.

“It’s probably because he has great interest in you,” she remarked.

Yu-Bin was not implying that in a romantic sense because she had no idea that Han-Seok liked Ra-Eun in a romantic way. Ra-Eun could more or less understand what Yu-Bin had said. From Han-Seok’s perspective, it was natural that he would want to interact with Ra-Eun as much as possible.

Of course, this did not apply only to Han-Seok.

“Good job, Ra-Eun.”

Unlike Han-Seok, who had gone because he had something else on his schedule, Je-Woon was still on the set because he still had more scenes to shoot. He took out a few hand warmers from his pocket and handed them to Ra-Eun.

“It’s still cold, so warm yourself up with these.”

.

“Thank you very much, sunbae.”

“How are you finding the shoot? Are you having any difficulties? If you are, feel free to let me know. I’ll help as best I can if it’s something I can do.”

“Thank you, I will.”

Ra-Eun was receiving the love of both Je-Woon and Han-Seok. Seeing that, Yu-Bin smiled meaningfully.

“It’s really warming up here thanks to you, Ra-Eun.”

The two men’s passionate courtship was raising the temperature of the set.

***

While Ra-Eun was focused on the shoot, Park Chan-Gil and Park Hee-Woo had finished their work early and got in a car to go meet Chairman Jang Yun-Jik.

Hee-Woo asked the driver while checking her watch, “Will we be able to arrive on time?”

“Yes, Vice President. The GPS says that there will be some traffic, but there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“If you think that there will be heavy traffic, please make a detour as early as possible. This meeting is very important.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hee-Woo had to care about it since the film that she had greatly invested in was on the line. Chan-Gil did not think of today’s meeting to be as crucial as Hee-Woo did, but since he never went back on his word, he would make sure to sever the tie between Jang Yun-Jik and Kim Han-Gyo.

Chan-Gil asked Hee-Woo, “Why are you trying to pull those two apart?”

He had still not heard the reason from her, nor that the reason had to do with Ra-Eun, since Hee-Woo had been keeping it a secret.

“You will find out when the time comes.”

Chan-Gil couldn’t tell whether that time would be tomorrow or in decades. He had judged that he would not get the answer that he wanted even if he asked, so he kept his mouth shut and buried himself in the car seat.

As there was about twenty minutes left until they arrived at their destination, Hee-Woo asked her father, “But are you sure you can sever the tie between Chairman Jang and Congressman Kim?”

Chan-Gil wasn’t the only one who didn’t know something. Hee-Woo had not heard from him at all about what he would use to attack Yun-Jik. As far as Hee-Woo could tell, Yun-Jik had no glaring weaknesses. DOR Group was also doing very well lately, so she was worried about whether or not her father would really be able to pressure Yun-Jik.

Chan-Gil slowly turned his head toward Hee-Woo and said, “If you’re so curious, why don’t we make a deal?”

“A deal?”

“I’ll let you in on a few methods you can use to threaten Chairman Jang, and you tell me what I want to know in exchange. How about it?”

Hee-Woo softly laughed.

“That benefits me in no way whatsoever.”

“How so?”

“You’re going to be revealing those methods yourself during our meeting with Chairman Jang in a bit anyway, so why would I make that kind of deal?”

Chan-Gil smacked his lips in disappointment.

“The younger you would’ve taken the deal.”

“Father. Geon-Woo and I are both adults with ample experience in society. That kind of cheap trick won’t work on us anymore.”

Chan-Gil let out a light chuckle.

“We’ve arrived.”

While the father and daughter were talking, the driver announced their arrival. They nodded simultaneously.

***

Chairman Jang Yun-Jik did not particularly like Chan-Gil and Hee-Woo, who were sitting across from him. TP Group was his competitor, and its chairman had contacted him first to meet. Yun-Jik had been more wary than happy about the sudden call after a very long time because of a certain thing that he had done to Chan-Gil and TP Group last year.

“It sure has been a while. I believe the last time we had met was when we had that desperate battle to take over Ki-Yang Chemicals,” Chan-Gil began.

Ki-Yang Chemicals was a corporation that mainly manufactured electric vehicle batteries. After realizing that the era of electric vehicles would soon be upon them, Chairman Jang went all out in taking over the corporation, and so had Chan-Gil. In terms of results, Chairman Jang and DOR Group had come out on top, but the process had not been clean.

“The National Tax Service had enforced excessively strict guidelines on only my company at the time for some reason. The sudden intensive tax investigations, allegations of embezzlement and corruption out of nowhere, and... it was truly chaos,” Chan-Gil continued.

They had been fortunately proven innocent at the time, but Chan-Gil was not the type of person to take something like that lying down.

“It truly was impeccable timing. After all, such allegations had come at us all at once right when the takeover was right around the corner.”

Chairman Jang sipped his tea and then blatantly asked, “What are you trying to say?”

It was obvious that Chan-Gil was saying all of these things to lay the groundwork for something. Chan-Gil fixed his gaze on Chairman Jang.

“I’d heard that Congressman Kim Han-Gyo had frequently visited the National Tax Service at the time.”

“...”

“This is just my guess. You requested Congressman Kim for help so that you could take over Ki-Yang Chemicals without a hitch, and Congressman Kim used his influence to intentionally set back TP Group... Am I somewhere around the ballpark?”

Chairman Jang softly laughed from Chan-Gil’s dead-on analysis, and then turned toward Hee-Woo, who was sitting next to Chan-Gil.

“Is that the plot of the new film TP Entertainment is investing in? If it is, then it surely would be an interesting one.”

“I would love for that to be the case as well, but...” Chan-Gil remarked as he took something out from his pocket. It was his smartphone with several audio files on its display. “I’m sure not even you would have known that there had been a whistleblower.”

Chan-Gil played one of the audio files.

“...!”

Chairman Jang’s face stiffened. What had played was Chairman Jang and Han-Gyo’s discussion of their plan to screw TP Group over.

“How did you...”

“I have my ways.”

Chairman Jang had no idea how Chan-Gil had gotten ahold of these files, but one thing was for sure.

“The moment these files are released, you will be joining Congressman Kim Han-Gyo in the pit that he is in right now.”

Chairman Jang was guaranteed to be ruined. Many of his company employees had been very upset with his independent decisions for a while now. If these files were released to the public, those same employees would tear him apart. Chairman Jang was covered in cold sweats despite it still being in the cold season.

Meanwhile, Hee-Woo was impressed by her father. He had likely possessed the files since long ago, but he had not used them to this day despite having the chance to counterattack during the incident with the National Tax Service.

‘I’m sure he had been saving it for when he truly needed it.’

To Chan-Gil, even revenge was a means that he used to benefit himself. Hee-Woo thought that she would never want to make her father an enemy.

As if he had raised the white flag, Chairman Jang drooped his head down and asked, “...What do you want me to do?”

“It’s simple,” Chan-Gil said while making scissors with his index and middle fingers. “Sever your ties with Congressman Kim Han-Gyo. That’s all I ask.”

Ra-Eun likely had no idea that her former father would be the one to put the finishing touches to the revenge that she had planned for a very long time.

***

Ra-Eun got in the car to head to the film set. She did not seem to be in a good mood.

“What’s wrong, Ra-Eun? Are you feeling under the weather?” Yu-Bin asked.

Ra-Eun nodded and took out a bottle of Tylenol instead of answering in detail. Yu-Bin laughed bitterly. Due to the pain during that time of the month that only women knew, Ra-Eun had been in a bad mood since this morning. This was far more difficult to get used to than a skirt.

“Go home and get some rest as soon as the shoot is over,” Yu-Bin remarked.

“I really should.”

Just then, Ra-Eun got a text from Hee-Woo. Her expression brightened as soon as she checked its contents. All that she had sent was a short phrase.

[The operation was a success.]

‘I thought this would be a terrible day, but...’

It had become the best day ever from just a single text.