I Returned as a High School Girl

Chapter 233: Daughter-In-Law (2)

Kang Ra-Eun had been put in a situation far more difficult than the Ahn Su-Jin kidnapping incident. Ji Han-Seok’s parents were laughing in joy as they were laser focused on her, and Chairman Ji was there as well. She couldn’t help but feel like she was in pins and needles from having to deal with Han-Seok’s family members without Han-Seok.

“Umm, is sunbae not with you?”

Ra-Eun decided to ask about Han-Seok’s whereabouts. She personally wanted to complain to him about why he hadn’t let her know who would be joining them; she would never have come if Han-Seok had let her know in advance. Although it was not Han-Seok’s fault, she felt the need to complain to someone.

‘Even if I have to let off steam, I should do it after I get out of this situation.’

Ra-Eun secretly took out her smartphone and quickly texted someone. Soon afterward, Ji Yeong-Seok laid down his chopsticks and showed displeasure on his face after having checked his own smartphone.

“Father. I got a text from Han-Seok.”

“From Han-Seok?” Chairman Ji asked.

“Yes. It seems like he came back home earlier than we had expected.”

“But he said he would be back at around 9 PM after his film shoot. Why is he back so early?”

Ra-Eun answered their query, “I heard there’s been an issue with the shoot location, so a few of the scenes to be shot there had been delayed.”

Hence, Han-Seok’s part in today’s film shoot had ended earlier than expected. Ra-Eun knew the exact circumstances because they were working on the same film together.

Yeong-Seok seemed troubled, and it wasn’t hard for Ra-Eun to guess why.

“I’m sure he’d get super mad if he found out we’re with Ra-Eun right now.”

They had kept their meeting with Ra-Eun a secret from Han-Seok, which was why they had been troubled to hear that Han-Seok had come home early. Ra-Eun clicked her tongue inside her head.

‘I knew it.’

Considering Han-Seok’s personality, there was no way that he would have kept quiet about a meeting like this since he had no idea what his parents would tell Ra-Eun.

Chairman Ji remarked, “We should go, then.”

“I agree.”

Lee Hwa-Yeong expressed the most disappointment out of the three. They had practically finished eating, and had no choice but to leave after finishing the sweet bean jelly and tea that had been served as dessert.

Hwa-Yeong walked right up to Ra-Eun as Chairman Ji and Yeong-Seok went to pay for their meal.

“I heard you also run a business, Ra-Eun,” she expressed.

She had all of a sudden begun to speak casually toward Ra-Eun.

Ra-Eun nodded and replied, “Yes. It’s a small clothing business named Levanche.”

Although Levanche had become far too big to call a ‘small’ business, its size was nothing compared to Do-Dam Group.

“Isn’t it exhausting to juggle both acting and business?” Hwa-Yeong asked.

“People ask me that all the time, but I don’t find it all that exhausting. I think it’s because I like doing it.”

She did not find it difficult because Park Seol-Hun oversaw most of the company’s tasks; all Ra-Eun did was give her approval on important projects. However, Hwa-Yeong did not know this. Her eyes began to sparkle once again.

“Not only are you beautiful, but you’re also capable. I like you far more after seeing you in person compared to hearing about you from Han-Seok.”

Hwa-Yeong’s cherry lips had maintained a crescent shape ever since the first moment that they had met.

“Thank... You.”

Ra-Eun felt extremely pressured by Hwa-Yeong’s unreserved affection toward her. She giggled and held Ra-Eun’s hand.

“This is my number. Feel free to give me a call if you ever need anything. Actually, you don’t even have to need something from me. I’m okay with any calls or texts from you.”

“Oh... Okay.”

“Don’t feel obligated to contact me. Just think of it like calling your mother.”

Ra-Eun’s laugh turned even more awkward from the mention of ‘mother’.

“I’ll try,” she answered.

This was the best possible answer that her scrambled brain could come up with.

***

Ra-Eun threw her handbag down on the living room floor and then flopped down head first on the couch as soon as she came back home. The meeting had only lasted about two hours, but she felt fatigue akin to having worked out at the fitness center for seven hours straight. Seo Yi-Seo came out of her room after hearing the sound of the front door opening, and smiled bitterly after witnessing Ra-Eun lying down lifelessly on the couch.

“Your makeup will stain the couch if you lie down like that,” she mentioned.

“...I’ll just buy a new one, then.”

Ra-Eun prioritized her fatigue recovery over the couch. Yi-Seo sat down next to her and massaged her slender legs.

“You went to see Chairman Ji, didn’t you? Did the meeting not go well?” Yi-Seo asked.

“No. It’s the fact that it went too well that’s the problem.”

Like Ra-Eun had said, Ji Yeong-Seok, who had the most influence in Do-Dam Group after Chairman Ji, also seemed to have taken a liking to her. However, the two men had been nothing compared to Lee Hwa-Yeong, who had showered Ra-Eun with blazing interest and affection. She had even made a slip of the tongue as they parted ways:

- I’ll see you next time, daughter-in-law. Oh my! I’m so sorry, slip of the tongue.

The words ‘daughter-in-law’ caused Ra-Eun’s face to express profoundness that she had never felt before since her return to the past. She had never expected to be called such a title when she had not even been betrothed to Han-Seok.

“But still, the name Lee Hwa-Yeong sounds awfully familiar.’

Hwa-Yeong was on Ra-Eun’s mind more than Yeong-Seok, Chairman Ji’s son.

“Huh? What’s this?”

As Yi-Seo was about to put away Ra-Eun’s handbag for her, she noticed a name card that had fallen out of it.

“Oh, that? Chairman Ji’s eldest daughter-in-law gave it to me.”

“Chairman Ji’s eldest daughter-in law is... Ji Han-Seok oppa’s mother, isn’t she?”

“Well, yeah.”

Yi-Seo had finally realized that Ra-Eun had met Han-Seok’s parents.

“No way, was it a bride-groom family meeting?”

“Not in the slightest, so don’t ever bring those words up again.”

To Ra-Eun, a bride-groom family meeting was just as horrifying as a horror film. Yi-Seo giggled as Ra-Eun was trembling.

“But this Lee Hwa-Yeong person seems to work somewhere else instead of Do-Dam Group.”

Yi-Seo had thought that Hwa-Yeong would also work at Do-Dam Group since she was Yeong-Seok’s wife, but that had not been the case.

Ra-Eun turned her head toward Yi-Seo without moving her body a single inch and said, “The father of Han-Seok’s sunbae’s mother also runs a business, apparently. That’s where she works.”

However, she had not heard the name of the business; she also had not paid much attention to it since Hwa-Yeong had mentioned that it had only been two years since its formation. Ra-Eun had received Hwa-Yeong’s card, but had not been in the right mindset to check it. Yi-Seo picked up the name card on the floor for Ra-Eun and resolved her curiosity.

“She works at a company named ‘Tatao’. It says ‘Vice President Lee Hwa-Yeong, Personnel Director of Management Support’.”

Ra-Eun’s eyes lit up as soon as she heard the company name. Tatao was the business that benefited the most in Korea after the creation of smartphones[1]. They would grow to become the biggest internet company of Korea in the future through their flagship messenger application.

Ra-Eun only knew about Tatao’s chairman Lee Su-Bok, so it was no wonder that Ra-Eun was unfamiliar with Hwa-Yeong.

‘In terms of future standards, she’s far more of a bigshot than Chairman Ji!’

Ra-Eun had thought that the dinner had been fruitless, but she had received an unexpected gift.

***

During a Spokesperson?film shoot, Han-Seok took advantage of the break given to them to apologize to Ra-Eun, who had been standing by for her scene.

“I’m sorry, Ra-Eun.”

“You’re sorry? For what?”

From Ra-Eun’s perspective, Han-Seok had not done anything to be sorry for.

“Is this about the scene we’d just shot?” she asked.

The take had been cut because Han-Seok had forgotten his line. Not only could a single mistake be overlooked with laughter, Han-Seok was known to rarely cause NG cuts. There was absolutely no need for him to apologize for something so minor. However, Han-Seok had been apologizing for something else entirely.

“I heard you’d met my parents.”

On the day of their dinner, Hwa-Yeong had winked at Ra-Eun and asked her to keep this meeting a secret from Han-Seok, because they would be scolded by him for sure if he’d found out. However, no secret was eternal; Han-Seok had found out not long ago that his parents and grandfather had met Ra-Eun in secret. Hence, he had come to apologize to her.

“How did you find out?” Ra-Eun asked.

“I happened to hear my mother talking to her friends over the phone by coincidence. She was bragging to them about how she’d met you and how pretty you are.”

“Aha...”

Ra-Eun was extremely popular among young people, especially from teens up to those in their thirties. However, that did not mean she was only liked by young people; she was also highly recognized by those of the older generation that frequently watched TV dramas. Ra-Eun was especially known among the older ladies as the national daughter or daughter-in-law.

Hwa-Yeong had become the target of envy by her friends just from the fact that she had dinner with Ra-Eun, but Han-Seok couldn’t feel anything but embarrassment.

“My mother was making such a huge deal out of it, so I had no idea how to apologize to you.”

Han-Seok’s head had turned into jumbles after finding out the truth. Similarly, Ra-Eun had spouted curses in her head that Han-Seok couldn’t hear in regards to the situation at first, but the circumstances had changed.

“It’s okay, sunbae. Why don’t you, your mother and I have a meal together when the opportunity arises next time?”

“Huh? A-Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ve taken a liking to your mother as well.”

Han-Seok did not realize that there were many different intentions mixed into her statement.

1. This is a reference to Kakao Corp, which created the main messenger app used by Koreans, Kakaotalk.