I Returned as a High School Girl

Chapter 198: You Deserve to be Punished (2)

Kang Ra-Eun stroked her hair back after getting her makeup done. The stylist told Ra-Eun a secret as she was braiding her hair.

“Director Seo was actually planning on requesting something from the actress that would take on the lead role.”

“What kind of request?” Ra-Eun asked.

“To get a bob cut.”

Ra-Eun more or less understood why Director Seo was trying to have a say in the female lead’s hairstyle. It was because a bob cut would best fit the elegant image of Na Ji-Yang, the character that Ra-Eun was playing.

“But he said he couldn’t bring himself to tell you that when it had been decided you would take on the lead role.”

Director Seo also knew why Ra-Eun was keeping her hair long. There was no way that he could request her to cut her hair when the reason was connected to her late mother. Although the production was important, Director Seo had disclosed time and time again that he wanted to respect his actors’ circumstances. Hence, he had let Ra-Eun maintain her long hair.

However, Ra-Eun was secretly hoping for Director Seo to firmly suggest that she cut her hair.

‘That would help me come to a resolution.’

Ra-Eun had been thinking that it would be nice to get a bob cut at least once. Her roommate Seo Yi-Seo had recently gotten a considerably short bob cut, which had only consolidated the thought.

‘For God’s sake... Why have I become so kind?’

In her days as a man, Ra-Eun would have most definitely cut it without hesitation while claiming the family circumstance had nothing to do with her. However, she couldn’t bring herself to do that anymore.

‘I wonder if my personality changed along with my gender?’

Ra-Eun couldn’t completely deny it since she had experienced it many times during her second life. The stylist lightly patted Ra-Eun’s shoulder twice with a smile full of satisfaction.

“All done. Braids look great on you too.”

Ra-Eun had almost never braided her hair before. Not only was she terrible at it, but it was also a huge hassle. Yi-Seo had done it for her whenever there had been a need to do so. Ra-Eun thoroughly examined her changed hairstyle in front of a mirror.

‘I look like an elite honor student.’

It perfectly fit the image of Na Ji-Yang in Spokesperson. The character was set to be from a poor household, but managed to use her brains to jump into the elite course and become a successful career woman. She possessed a righteous personality and did not overlook injustice.

‘We’re pretty far apart.’

Ra-Eun unconsciously smiled self-deprecatingly. Unlike Ji-Yang, she was the kind of person who could join forces with the devil if it meant that she could fulfill her objective. She had never expected to play a righteous character when she herself couldn’t be further from it.

‘I guess that’s just how life is.’

However, she had recently come to think that such things weren’t so bad. In that aspect, being street casted by Chief Jung unexpectedly turned out to be for the better. As Ra-Eun was examining herself in the mirror, she finally set out to get ready for the shoot after being told by a staff member that they would be starting soon.

‘Time to go to work.’

She couldn’t be entranced by her own looks forever.

***

Ra-Eun went up to the podium with a piece of paper. The extras that were portraying reporters were positioned with cameras to cover her... no, to be more specific, they were filming Ra-Eun playing the character Na Ji-Yang.

This was the scene where Ji-Yang made a statement as a spokesperson. Ra-Eun set her script down on the podium before the director’s cue.

‘It’s pretty nice that I can just read the script.’

There was no need for her to memorize the lengthy line word for word. Moments later, the camera director and Director Seo signaled to begin the scene. Ra-Eun’s eyes changed once the slate was clapped.

“The congresspersons have gone through lengthy discussions regarding the mismanagement of the embezzlement investigation against Na-Seol Industries. We propose the launch of a special investigations office for a proper investigation, as well as...”

Ra-Eun continued to read the statement with perfect enunciation on par with an announcer. She had visited an acting school after a long time to take pronunciation correction lessons. Although she was confident in physical tasks, she needed to take lessons in things such as correcting her pronunciation.

No matter how versatile Ra-Eun was, she was not good at everything. The sheer amount of effort that she had accumulated had allowed her to complete the press conference scene without a single NG cut, contrary to her worries.

Director Seo gave Ra-Eun a thumbs-up while replaying the scene on the monitor again and again.

“That was great, Ra-Eun. Let’s move on to the next scene right away.”

The film was still in its initial phase, so there weren’t many challenging scenes yet.

‘Not just that, thank God I don’t have to constantly change clothes.’

The Reaper?

and Waitress?shoots popped up inside her head. The writers at the time were such maniacs for Ra-Eun that they were dressing her up in all kinds of clothes in a craze. However, in the case of Spokesperson, there was no need for her to wear all kinds of clothes considering Ji-Yang’s occupation. The production team was planning on keeping Ra-Eun in female suits for most of the shoots.

The same went for Ji Han-Seok.

“Good job, Ra-Eun,” he remarked.

“Thank you,” Ra-Eun replied with a smile.

Han-Seok avoided her gaze before he had realized it as soon as he saw her smile. Han-Seok had been like this many times recently whenever the two of them talked.

“Did I do something to offend you, sunbae?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Huh? No. Why would you ask something like that all of a sudden?”

“Because I feel like you’ve been avoiding me lately.”

Ra-Eun had a strong feeling that was the case. Her hunch was spot-on. Han-Seok had been unconsciously avoiding looking Ra-Eun in the eyes ever since he dreamt of her seducing him in a naked apron. It was not because Ra-Eun had done something wrong, but because he felt guilty that he had been looking at the woman that he liked in such an impure way.

“It’s not like I’m avoiding you...”

“Then what is it?” Ra-Eun asked.

“...”

Even so, Han-Seok couldn’t just lay everything out on the table since he could be branded as a pervert the moment that he did.

“I-I’m just feeling under the weather lately. H-Hahaha.”

His awkward laugh instantly gave away the fact that he was lying, but Ra-Eun decided not to push further since the person himself didn’t want to get into the real reason.

“If I ever come to offend you somehow, please feel free to tell me at any time,” Ra-Eun stated.

“Okay, I will.”

Han-Seok slapped himself on his right cheek as he watched Ra-Eun go shoot her next scene.

“You crazy son of a bitch. How could you have thoughts like that about such a kind-hearted junior?”

Han-Seok wanted to punish himself.

***

Ra-Eun headed to the police station with her manager after being contacted by the lawyer in the morning. Today was the long-awaited day when she would get to meet Ewue3821. Shin Yu-Bin continued to ask Ra-Eun again and again to the very end.

“Are you really sure about this?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Rather, I’ve been waiting for this day.”

Ra-Eun had been dying to know what kind of insect had been spamming her DMs. One of her eyebrows flinched as soon as she entered the police station.

“Is that him, Mr. Kim?” she asked.

The lawyer, who had taken on Ra-Eun’s case, lightly nodded.

“Yes, that’s him.”

“He looks more normal than I expected him to.”

“His name is Choi Gil-Yeong. He’s 28 years old, and he’s basically unemployed. He only attended university up until the first semester of his third year and then dropped out because he couldn’t adjust well enough.”

Ra-Eun nodded after hearing the short briefing of the perpetrator’s personal details. The police station went into an uproar at her appearance. Ra-Eun was such a famous celebrity that she drew attention to herself wherever she went. Even the detective, who had been maintaining a stiff expression and a fierce tone just moments ago, turned into a gentleman.

“If you’d like a chair, I will get you one,” he suggested.

“Thank you very much, detective.”

Just a soft smile from Ra-Eun was enough of a reward for the detective. As she finally came face to face with the DM spammer, she opened her mouth while keeping her smile.

“It’s nice to meet you. Do you know who I am?” she asked.

The perpetrator slightly nodded instead of answering. Ra-Eun held in her scoff as she watched the man not even being able to look her in the eyes.

“You’d written that you would push me down and do all kinds of things to me as soon as you met me in real life. Are you stopping yourself because there are many eyes on us?”

“That was just...” the man muttered.

“Just what?”

“Umm... It was just...”

Ra-Eun’s smile turned upside down in an instant. She was giving off an icy aura so thick that it was palpable.

“Don’t even think about telling me that you sent those messages as a joke.”

“...”

“Or what? Did you send those kinds of messages out of stress because an ugly nobody with nothing to show for himself like you can’t get a job and was annoyed from seeing a popular actress doing well for herself?”

The man was having a hard time breathing from Ra-Eun’s barrage of truth bombs. Ra-Eun honestly couldn’t care less about the man’s reason or trigger for spamming her DMs in such a way, but there was only one reason why she had come to see him herself.

“I won’t be lenient, so just accept your punishment,” Ra-Eun remarked.

It had been solely to tell him this. One deserved to be punished for their wrongdoings. Ra-Eun was an advocate of revenge; she was the kind of person to pay those back for what they had done to her, so leniency was not even on her mind.

The man panicked. “I’ve been studying for this year’s civil service exam, so if you do that...”

“It’ll negatively affect your exam results, is that it?”

“...”

Ra-Eun’s comment forced the man to shut his mouth yet again. She couldn’t help but be stunned by the man’s audacity to beg her for leniency after all the disgusting messages that he had sent her.

“That’s perfect. I actually wanted to tell you one more thing.”

.

Ra-Eun sprang up from her seat and glared at the man so sharply that it could cut him up into pieces.

“Drill into your head that if you want to fuck someone over, you have to be prepared to get fucked over yourself.”

In other words, she was telling him to just meekly accept his punishment. The man’s head blanked from Ra-Eun’s unreserved words. Only then did the man realize that he had messed with the wrong person.