Kang Ra-Eun lowered her stance by slightly bending her knees, and then used the torque of her hips to put all of her weight into her right leg. And then...

Boom!

A huge sound of impact filled the entire facility as Jang Su-Hyeong, the man holding the sparring mitts, was pushed back.

“N-No way...!” Su-Hyeong’s face was covered in shock. His hands were numb.

Coach Heo Son was just as shocked. Everyone who was practicing action scenes was now focused on Ra-Eun.

Ra-Eun asked Coach Heo, “Would you like me to go again?”

“Huh? Yeah! A-Again!”

Coach Heo wanted to confirm whether that power had been a coincidence or not with his own eyes.

Smash—!

The second kick made a different sound. Su-Hyeong was pushed back several steps from the unexpected power of Ra-Eun’s kick. He was scared that his arms would have been broken if he wasn’t wearing sparring mitts.

Heo Son narrowed his eyes. “Ra-Eun, was it? Have you practiced martial arts before?”

Ra-Eun’s stance itself was different from those of other people. Compared to ordinary people who kicked using only the strength of their legs, Ra-Eun dealt a heavy blow by linking the movements of her entire body. A kick like that with all of one’s weight put into it was deadly, even if it was from a high school girl. Not only that, but both of Ra-Eun’s kicks were aimed at the vitals.

It was obvious that Heo Son would be asking if she had practiced martial arts. She most definitely had. Park Geon-Woo was a 4th Dan[1] in Hapkido, 4th Dan in kickboxing, 5th Dan in mixed martial arts, 5th Dan in Muay Thai, and 3rd Dan in kendo. He proudly held 21 Dans in total, but...

‘That was back when I was Park Geon-Woo.’

Kang Ra-Eun was inexperienced.

“No, never,” she replied.

“Then how could you move like that...?” Heo Son asked.

“I learned by mimicking martial arts videos on the internet.”

Heo Son and Su-Hyeong were in admiration of Ra-Eun for being self-taught. In their eyes, she was in the realm of the talented.

Su-Mi asked Coach Heo for an additional favor. “How about you have her play out an action scene instead of just hitting practice?”

Coach Heo nodded. “Su-Hyeong, hand me the sparring mitts.”

“Pardon? You’re going to take part yourself, Coach?” Su-Hyeong asked.

“Yup.”

Heo Son was handed the sparring mitts, and he directed Ra-Eun in a simple action scene.

“I’m going to throw a one-two right and left at you, and you’re going to dodge them by ducking twice. After that, do a spinning kick. Understood?”

“Yes,” Ra-Eun replied.

“Do you want a rehearsal?”

“No need. Let’s start right away.” Ra-Eun was full of confidence.

Just like he said, Heo Son threw a right and left one by one. Ra-Eun easily evaded his attacks by ducking and coming back up repeatedly. However, there was an anomaly. Coach Heo threw a third punch. Ra-Eun checked his expression in a flash.

‘It’s on purpose.’

He was most likely trying to check how she would react to an unplanned attack. There were instances when things didn't go according to the predetermined pattern when shooting action scenes. An experienced action star had the ability to blend such anomalies into the scene itself. Coach Heo wondered what Ra-Eun would do.

Whoosh—!

Ra-Eun stepped to the side to perfectly evade the attack, and turned to perfectly deal the spinning kick just as Coach Heo had directed her. Her foot stopped right in front of his nose. He had a very big smile on his face.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Coach Heo handed Su-Hyeong the sparring mitts and said to Su-Mi, “Miss Yoon, this girl has massive talent for action scenes. I’m tempted to take her for myself.”

On that day, Ra-Eun’s hidden acting talent exploded.

***

Chief Jung called Ra-Eun on her way home, telling her that she had done a fantastic job, and that he hoped that she would do just as well during the real thing. After the call ended, Shin Yu-Bin spoke to Ra-Eun while gripping the steering wheel and looking at her through the rear view mirror.

“It looks like Chief Jung didn’t call you a rising star for nothing.”

“It was for nothing,” Ra-Eun remarked.

“Really? But the acting school instructors praised you a bit too much for that to be true.”

She ended up doing all that because her switch had unconsciously flipped on, but now that she thought about it, she was worried that she had done something that she would regret.

‘I’m not gonna have to continue acting at this rate, am I?’

She started getting uneasy.

***

Ra-Eun was staring at the script of The Devil’s Touch laid on her desk. She didn’t have the slightest intention of becoming a celebrity at first, but...

‘It feels like the people around me want to make me a star so much that they can’t help themselves.’

She decided to think it over after the shooting of The Devil’s Touch was finished. She picked up the script and checked the lines of her character, Seong-Hee, again.

Scene #29. University Central Library (night)

Seong-Hee: (with a troubled face) Excuse me, this is my seat. Could you please move?

Ji-Woon: (wiping drool) I-I’m sorry, I fell asleep without realizing it.

Seong-Hee: (light sigh) It’s fine, forget it. I’ll go to a different seat. Please check the seat number next time.

Ji-Woon: I’m sorry.

Ji-Woon: (looking at Seong-Hee’s back as she gets further away)

The person who would be acting as this Ji-Woon character was Ji Han-Seok, the person who Ra-Eun was aiming for.

‘I’ll use this to get closer to him as we work together.’

She had to practice her lines first, and there happened to be just the perfect practice partner at home. Ra-Eun swung open Kang Ra-Hyuk’s room door, which surprised him as if he’d seen a ghost.

“God, you scared me! Can’t you knock before entering?!” Ra-Hyuk exclaimed.

“Why, were you watching porn?”

“N-No!” Ra-Hyuk’s face got flushed every time his little sister mentioned porn. “What is it now?”

“Be my practice partner,” Ra-Eun said.

“Practice partner? Oh, you mean for The Devil’s Touch?”

“Yeah, you just have to say I’m sorry, I fell asleep without realizing it after laying your upper body down on the desk.”

“That’s easy. Okay, got it. Just leave it to me,” Ra-Hyuk said proudly. He laid down on the desk at Ra-Eun’s signal, but then...

Snore...! Snore!

“Hey, it doesn’t say anywhere that you’re supposed to be snoring,” Ra-Eun remarked.

“I’m ad libbing. You don’t even know about ad libbing when you’re an actress?”

“...” Ra-Eun lost interest after her older brother did something he wasn’t even told to do.

“Forget it, I’m just gonna go ask Yi-Seo.”

“What? I’m doing my best,” Ra-Hyuk claimed.

“I can’t focus with you as my partner, and I can’t immerse myself into my role like this.”

As she thought, the only person who could be of help at times like this was a friend.

“I’ll be over at Starlight Road, so tell Dad that I went to a cafe if he comes home and asks where I am,” Ra-Eun noted.

Ra-Hyuk shouted at her little sister who was about to head outside, “It’s dangerous for a high school girl to be walking around at night!”

“It’s fine. Rather, the ones who mess with me will be in more danger than I’ll ever be in.”

Ra-Hyuk could only sigh deeper while looking at his little sister who had gotten so stubborn these days.

***

Starlight Road cafe was open until 10 PM. After arriving at the cafe one hour before its closing time, she was greeted not by Seo Yi-Seo or her father, but by a boy who she’d never seen before.

“Welcome to Starlight Road.”

It was a boy who people would say was fairly handsome. He seemed to be at least 180 cm tall. He couldn’t even be compared to Ra-Eun, who was only 165.

‘Is he a new part-timer?’

As far as she knew, this place was run only by Yi-Seo’s family members.

‘Well, it’s not like they can’t hire part-timers.’

While Ra-Eun was deep in thought, the boy quickly scanned Ra-Eun. She was a beauty the likes of whom one wouldn’t be able to see often. Seeing Ra-Eun for the first time, the boy was wonderstruck.

“W-Would you like to order?” the boy stuttered.

Ra-Eun said to the nervous-looking boy, “I’m sorry, but is Yi-Seo not in today?”

“Yi-Seo? Oh, are you talking about my sister?”

“Sister?” Ra-Eun asked.

“Yes, she’s my older sister.”

Ra-Eun did not know that Yi-Seo had a little brother.

The boy asked this time, “Are you my sister’s friend?”

“Yes,” Ra-Eun answered.

“I didn’t know that my sister had such a pretty friend. I’m being serious!”

“Oh, I see.”

It left a bad taste in her mouth. Other women would be happy to hear that they were pretty, but Ra-Eun was an exception.

‘I should’ve contacted Yi-Seo first if I knew this was gonna happen.’

Ra-Eun took a deep breath and smiled awkwardly toward Yi-Seo’s little brother.

“I’ll come back next time when Yi-Seo’s here.”

“Okay, have a safe trip home, noona[2]!” the boy said.

Ra-Eun made a strange face at the word noona.

～

Fifteen minutes after Ra-Eun left...

“I’m back.” Yi-Seo had just missed Ra-Eun. As soon as he saw her, the boy raised his voice.

“Sis!”

“Wh-What? What’s up with you all of a sudden?” Yi-Seo asked perplexedly.

“One of your friends just stopped by. She was super pretty, had long hair, looked chic, and...”

“Oh, Ra-Eun?” She knew exactly who her little brother was talking about just from the mention of the friend being pretty.

“So her name is Ra-Eun?”

“Yeah, Kang Ra-Eun. What about her?”

The eyes of Seo Yi-Jun, who was only a year younger than Yi-Seo, sparkled.

“I think I fell in love with her at first sight.”