I Returned as a High School Girl - Chapter 248: Fierce Attack (3)

There were five days left until voting day. Kim Han-Gyo, who had come to a market with his campaign personnel for canvassing, felt something was off. The market vendors who had always waved at him whenever they saw him were treating him rather coldly today, and some were blatantly avoiding eye contact with him.

The reporters who had followed him focused their cameras on the market vendors’ reactions. It was very bad for Han-Gyo if this went on. He spoke to save face as well as to reverse the situation.

“The vendors must be so busy that they can’t afford to give me any attention. Hahaha!”

Han-Gyo’s laugh had never sounded so awkward and embarrassing in his entire life. He had been a star ever since entering the world of politics, and had lived his life while being showered by the public’s support and cheers. However, all of this had suddenly changed.

The faces of a husband and wife who owned a rice soup restaurant instantly turned foul the moment Han-Gyo entered the restaurant.

The husband gestured to Han-Gyo while wearing gloves and said, “We’re not open, so get out.”

“I’m sorry? You’re not open?”

It was a bare-faced lie; there were already five customers occupying two tables. It was not like there were no tables available either. The reporters quickly snapped photos of Han-Gyo, who was on the verge of being chased out by the rice soup restaurant owner.

Han-Gyo laughed awkwardly and said, “Haha… Sir, please don’t be like that and sell me a rice soup as well.”

“Rice soup? Why? Are you cosplaying as the working class after all that you’ve done? Fucking hell, I wake up before dawn and work my ass off to pay for my son’s college tuition, but what gives you the right to take hundreds of millions of won from those colleges? Huh? And I heard your son managed to get a scholarship without even taking a single damn exam!”

“…”

Han-Gyo had no choice but to stay silent as he was barraged with the working class father’s sorrow and rage. Congresswoman Hong Oh-Yeon had also brought forward the injustices related to his son Kim Chi-Yeol. They were not simply allegations either; she had also provided surefire proof, so the public had taken it as a genuine fact.

“Get out of my restaurant before I throw salt at you!”

Han-Gyo unconsciously took a few steps back after seeing the husband actually bringing a bucket of salt.

“Th-The owner must be in a bad mood today. I-I’ll come again next time.”

Han-Gyo was receiving cold glares even after coming out into the market alley. His current reputation was far too bad to pacify the people. He had never expected the atmosphere to be this sour.

Han-Gyo smiled as if everything was alright and said to the reporters, “The vendors must be having a bad day. The atmosphere here is quite gloomy. At times like this, we all need to come together and vote for someone who can bring the working class economy back to life—”

Passersby exclaimed while Han-Gyo was talking, “You’re tripping if you actually think that someone is you!”

“Mind your own goddamn business! I’d rather die than vote for you, so stop wasting your time here and go home!”

“I heard you’d even kidnapped and threatened a reporter who defamed you!”

“You’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing! You demon!”

“Hong Oh-Yeon is far better!”

“Everyone, let’s vote for candidate Hong Oh-Yeon!”

Han-Gyo could tell that the minds of the people were shifting more toward Oh-Yeon than himself. He suppressed his gloomy expression with all his might and quickly left the scene as if being chased by something, along with the personnel who had come along to help in his campaign.

***

Han-Gyo returned to his office, and his expression was not great at all, as everyone could expect. He sat down on his chair and threw the ashtray on his desk with all his might.

Shatter!

The sound of a glass display cabinet breaking reverberated throughout the office. The campaign personnel were startled by the sound and hurriedly opened the door to his office.

“Wh-What’s wrong, Congressman?!”

“Are you okay?”

They worried for his safety, but it did not help to unspoil Han-Gyo’s mood. Oh-Yeon had been attacking him relentlessly. He felt embarrassed at himself for not having been able to make any sort of rebuttal against the materials that she had prepared against him during the last debate. There was no way that she alone would have been able to collect that much material.

‘She must have an informant.’

There was only one person that Han-Gyo could think of: the masked woman. He had once thought that the masked woman’s identity was Ahn Su-Jin, but he had come to realize after the kidnapping attempt that his guess had been massively off.

If it wasn’t her, then who could possibly be attacking him? Han-Gyo went through every single individual that had grudges against him, but…

‘It’s no use. There are so many that I can’t narrow them down at all!’

Han-Gyo came to regret the sinful life that he had lived until now.

‘At this rate, will I… actually lose?’

He, who had only lived the life of a victor, faced the biggest crisis of his life.

***

There was only one more day left until voting day. Ra-Eun had appeared on a radio show along with Ji Han-Seok to promote their film.

The singer Han Ga-Ae, who was the host of the show, remarked full of affection, “Ra-Eun is a very good friend of mine so you have no idea how happy I was when she agreed to come on our show as a guest.”

“It’s a request from a friend, so of course I should,” Ra-Eun said.

Ga-Ae herself, not the production team, had requested Ra-Eun’s appearance, which was why Ra-Eun had gladly accepted the offer. However, her aside…

“I’d never expected you to come on as well, sunbae,” Ga-Ae said to Han-Seok.

Ga-Ae had not been able to contact Han-Seok to directly give him an offer since they had no relation to each other. Although it was good for the show if they came on together, it was a bit unexpected from Ga-Ae’s perspective.

Just then, the writer gave Ga-Ae a short peek of a cheat sheet.

Ga-Ae asked Han-Seok in surprise after taking a look, “Apparently, you contacted the production team first, saying that you wanted to come on the show. Is that true, sunbae?”

“Yes. As a regular listener of 2 o’clock Music Date, I’ve always wanted to come on as a guest at least once. That’s why I contacted them first since I thought it was the perfect opportunity, with our film doing so well and all.”

However, there was one more hidden reason. Han-Seok had contacted the team himself because he had heard that Ra-Eun was going to be coming on the show. However, he couldn’t reveal that reason; one slip of the tongue would cause a swarm of scandal articles.

Ga-Ae said to Ra-Eun while checking the script, “Your film has become a massive hit, hasn’t it?”

“It sure has,” Ra-Eun replied.

“From what I know, it has already reached eight million in total audience attendance. Experts say that it will easily reach ten million. How do you feel about that?”

“Well, how else but feeling grateful for everyone who has taken interest in our film?”

A film reaching ten million in total attendance was an extremely difficult feat in Korea. There was also a lot of attention on the villain character Yang Han-Sik.

“About the villain Yang Han-Sik, there are a lot of discussions about it having been inspired by Congressman Kim Han-Gyo. What’s your opinion on this, Ra-Eun?”

“I can’t say for sure. I have absolutely zero knowledge about anything related to politics, but… I can’t say that they aren’t similar at all. It’s likely just a coincidence, but a lot of the allegations brought out against him are fairly similar to the ones in the film’s plot.”

An article had been published just today that a special investigations team would be made to investigate the allegations put out against Han-Gyo as soon as the voting finished. All that was left was to wait and see whether or not Han-Gyo would be elected.

That was enough talk of politics; Ga-Ae switched the focus to the other hot topic among the public.

“Ra-Eun. You pledged to shoot a kiss scene, didn’t you? Will you really be staying true to it?”

Ra-Eun nodded and replied, “Yes. I never go back on my word.”

She absolutely hated the idea, but her lips were a cheap price to pay if it meant that she could prevent Han-Gyo from being elected.

“Have you decided on your next production yet? I’m sure you would’ve been contacted by tons of production companies, considering the scale of your pledge,” Ga-Ae asked.

Han-Seok’s ears perked up. Like Ga-Ae had mentioned, it was normal for Ra-Eun to get tons of offers for various productions, but there were especially many these days. There were a few that piqued Ra-Eun’s interest, but…

“I’m thinking of taking a short break for now. I feel like I’ve been working without rest for so long, so I need some time to get things sorted out. I’m not planning on starring in anything for the time being.”

There was something that Ra-Eun needed to do before choosing her next production; she wanted to check the result of the general election above all else.

‘If Kim Han-Gyo still gets elected after everything I’ve done, then I’ll have to go all or nothing; it’ll be either me or him.’

Ra-Eun had resolved herself for the worst-case scenario, but since she was still human, she wanted things to go as swimmingly as possible.

‘I shouldn’t forget to vote either.’

She was planning on putting in her precious vote for the sake of her revenge. And of course, it would be for Hong Oh-Yeon, not Kim Han-Gyo.

***

Voting day had finally arrived. Ra-Eun went with Seo Yi-Seo to a voting place in the morning. She could hear the mumbling from those around her getting louder due to the appearance of a celebrity. Not only had she made sure to get photos of her voting taken by reporters, she also posted on her social media account to encourage people to vote.

Since public opinion was already significantly skewed toward Oh-Yeon in a positive way, Ra-Eun believed that it would only benefit Oh-Yeon the more people voted. Ra-Eun glued herself to the news channel to check the voting results live as soon as she came back home.

The poll closed, and the time to tally the votes had finally arrived. The district that everyone expected to be a close battle was, of course, Jongno.

[Kim Han-Gyo VS Hong Oh-Yeon]

The initial difference between them was only by 105 votes, but it only got wider and wider as time went on. Oh-Yeon got 61% of the votes, while Han-Gyo only got 27%.

‘Well, the result was obvious.’

Only after checking the overwhelming difference was Ra-Eun finally able to wholeheartedly laugh after so long.