I Returned as a High School Girl

“Fuu...”

She exhaled lengthily through her small mouth. She was sweating despite it still being cold outside, and wiped off the sweat with the towel that she had brought with her. A few strands of hair that she had tied back were stuck on the area around her collarbone, which she stood in front of a mirror and removed.

‘This long hair of mine used to feel so uncomfortable.’

Ra-Eun had never grown her hair back when she used to be a man. She had liked her hair short back then, so she did not even let it grow to the point that it could cover his ears. However, after becoming a woman, her hair had grown far past her ears and even reached her waist. Every time she wanted to cut it, she couldn’t bring herself to out of respect for the circumstances of the original owner of her body.

‘Kang Ra-Eun’s mother liked her with long hair.’

If it had been her parents in her former life, she would have never even considered their wishes. However, Park Geon-Woo and Kang Ra-Eun were different. At first, Ra-Eun had thought that even if she had been reborn in a new body, her male self remained unchanged. However, that was starting to change. Park Geon-Woo was Park Geon-Woo, and...

‘Kang Ra-Eun is Kang Ra-Eun.’

She had no choice but to admit that the beautiful woman in sportswear in front of the mirror was a completely different person. There might come a time when she would need to erase the Park Geon-Woo in her mind once her revenge was complete. However, she hadn’t been able to find the resolve to make that decision yet.

‘It feels like I’m back in puberty.’

Ra-Eun suppressed her bitter laugh from her internal conflicts that an adolescent in puberty would have.

“Urgh... My shoulders feel like they’re gonna fall off.”

As Ra-Eun was about to raise her barbell again, she was distracted by the groaning man next to her. It was her older brother Kang Ra-Hyuk, who was struggling with 12 kg dumbbells. He had come with Ra-Eun to the fitness center after believing that he needed to work out as well.

“You don’t even exercise. Stop being stubborn and start lighter,” Ra-Eun suggested.

“How lighter?”

“5 kg ones should be good.”

“Come on, that’s too low. A man should at least lift double digits, no?”

Ra-Eun was also very aware of a man’s pride. There were times in the fitness center when men felt like they needed to lift more than the person next to them. However, like Ra-Eun had mentioned, that was nothing more than pointless obstinacy.

“Exercises are meant to be done at your own pace, you idiot.”

Just then, someone else joined in to help Ra-Eun persuade Ra-Hyuk.

“Ra-Eun is right, hyung-nim. I will take a look at your form, so how about we start a bit lighter?”

Je-Woon, who was pretty much Ra-Eun’s established training partner at this point, stepped in to help her out. The opportunity to be coached by a top star did not come often. Ra-Hyuk was sold on Je-Woon’s suggestion and did as he said.

Although Je-Woon was only a year younger than Ra-Hyuk, the fact that Je-Woon was treating Ra-Hyuk with such respect bothered him.

“You can speak comfortably, Je-Woon.”

“Not at all. This is comfortable for me, so please don’t mind it. Would you perhaps like a sports drink, hyung-nim? I will buy you one.”

“You don’t have to...”

Je-Woon sped toward the vending machine at the entrance of the fitness center. Ra-Hyuk’s eyes shone as Je-Woon got further away.

“Lil’ sis. Does Je-Woon perhaps...”

Ra-Hyuk’s face filled with uneasiness. Ra-Eun couldn’t tell why her older brother was acting like this.

“I thought that Je-Woon liked you, but does he perhaps like me instead?”

Ra-Eun coughed repeatedly as if something got caught in her throat due to the absurd guess. Seeing his little sister’s response, his uneasiness grew even more.

“F-For real?”

“What the hell do you think?” Ra-Eun was dumbfounded as Ra-Hyuk doubted Je-Woon’s sexual identity. “Just think a little. Why would Je-Woon sunbae treat you so well? There’s only one answer, isn’t there?”

“What is it?”

“Obviously because he likes m— No, never mind. Forget it.”

Although Ra-Hyuk already knew, Ra-Eun did not want to say the fact that she was being loved by a man out of her own mouth.

“In any case, Je-Woon sunbae doesn’t swing that way, so don’t you dare get the wrong idea.”

“Well, if it’s what I thought originally, then that’s a relief.”

Ra-Eun sighed as she witnessed her older brother’s goofy side. Despite Ra-Hyuk being her older brother...

‘I can’t seem to leave him alone.’

She felt the same way about the siblings\' father.

“Oppa.”

Ra-Hyuk’s ears perked up the moment Ra-Eun called her.

“Huh? What? Could you repeat that?”

“Are you deaf? I know you heard me.”

“You just called me ‘oppa’. I want to hear it again.”

Ra-Eun wanted to kick him on the butt, but couldn’t since there were many eyes on them. She had also called Ra-Hyuk ‘oppa’ for that same reason.

“If, you know, hypothetically...”

Ra-Eun was about to say something, but restrained herself from doing so.

“No, forget it.”

“What? Why did you stop? You’re making me curious.”

“Just forget I even said anything.”

She had almost asked something unconsciously. What would Ra-Hyuk and their father think if Kang Ra-Eun disappeared from this world?

‘I’m sure they’d be extremely sad, if nothing else.’

Thinking about that, Ra-Eun couldn’t help but smile bitterly. She was heading toward a stop called revenge. Not even she knew whether she would keep moving forward in search of a new stop, or disappear entirely in the revenge stop.

***

Kim Han-Gyo searched through the data that Reporter Jung Seong-Hyun had brought for days on end. As a result...

“There’s no doubt about it. Kang Ra-Eun is the masked woman.”

Han-Gyo had just as good of an eye as Park Eun-Soo. Not just that, the masked woman was an extremely memorable individual for him, since she had been the one to put him in his current sorry state. He was even more sure about his guess because he had confronted the masked woman several times.

Not even Eun-Soo was able to consider Han-Gyo’s guess as nonsense. Ra-Eun in the photos that Reporter Jung had provided them and the masked woman in the CCTV footage they possessed were very similar.

“I’ll be able to make a comeback as long as I have this.”

Han-Gyo smiled very widely. However, Eun-Soo didn’t share that sentiment.

“Congressman. There is still something I don’t understand.”

“Even with this, you think that wench Kang Ra-Eun might not be the masked woman?”

“No, that’s not what I’m suspicious about.”

It had nothing to do with the masked woman’s identity.

“I don’t understand why Reporter Jung Seong-Hyun would provide us with these photos for absolutely nothing in return.”

According to Reporter Jung, he had secretly hacked into Ahn Su-Jin’s computer and extracted the materials from it. Why would he put that much risk upon himself just to take Han-Gyo’s side? No matter how Eun-Soo thought about it, there was nothing in it for Reporter Jung. It was not like he had a close relationship with Han-Gyo before all this, so there was no reason for him to help Han-Gyo in this way.

“There is no such thing as kindness with no objective, Congressman. Something is fishy about this, so I implore you to take more caution...”

Eun-Soo felt the need to investigate Reporter Jung and the source of the materials that he had brought. However, Han-Gyo had no intention of accepting his suggestion.

“The more time we waste, the more that the public’s interest in the masked woman that I instilled in their heads will disappear. We need to expose this while it’s still fresh in their heads. Are you really that senseless when you’ve worked with me for this long?”

“I am aware of that, but...”

Eun-Soo had a bad feeling about this, but Han-Gyo stood firm.

“You want me to stop simply because it’s suspicious, when we have all of this objective proof? Nonsense! That’s like stopping the entire construction of a building in the middle of the day just because one screw is loose!”

“...”

“Don’t mind the small stuff. You need to expand your horizons! How do you expect to succeed in life if you let such tiny problems distract you? You’re too soft.”

Tsk, tsk, tsk!

Han-Gyo stared at Eun-Soo in dissatisfaction while clicking his tongue. He was not completely wrong, but Eun-Soo was still bothered by Reporter Jung’s cooperation for nothing in return. Not just that, the reporter’s field of expertise was not politics. He wanted to try even harder to persuade Han-Gyo, but...

‘There’s no way he would listen to me.’

Han-Gyo would never have been put in this situation in the first place if he was one to listen to his associates’ advice. However, it was also possible that Han-Gyo was doing the right thing.

“I understand. I will do as you say, Congressman.”

“Good. That’s all you need to do.”

Han-Gyo went back to staring at the photo of Ra-Eun in a mask.

“If the world finds out that Kang Ra-Eun controlled Hong Oh-Yeon and Do-Dam Group in the shadows... They’ll all be done for.”

Eun-Soo was forced to suppress his bad feeling while watching Han-Gyo laughing sinisterly.