After Story 215

-I talked to Jiseon about it. I felt something from our talk, so I’m going to go over the scenario for a bit more. Also, starting next week, I’m going to look into locations for the shoot. I know it won’t be easy since it’s set in a commercial building. I’m also planning to go to the bank as well.

Maru turned off the vacuum cleaner and had a look at the message that Yoonseok sent. He thought this yesterday during a phone call with him, but Yoonseok’s hesitation seemed to have decreased quite a bit. Maru knew how much driving force this guy had, so the progress should be pretty fast.

“What should we do about this?” Haneul came out from the bedroom, holding a large rabbit doll that she got as a gift.

“What do you want to hear?”

“I just want to hear your opinion, sweetie.”

“Are you going to throw it away if I tell you to?”

“How can you say such a thing!”

Haneul’s eyes twitched. Maru shook his head and turned on the vacuum. He didn’t know about anything else, but his wife’s greed for dolls was increasing with every life.

“The day after tomorrow is the last performance, so you have to come. Everyone’s looking forward to your visit,” Haneul said as she stuffed the rabbit doll into a plastic bag. It was one of those vacuum-sealed bags that used a vacuum cleaner.

“I’ll make sure to bring everyone bouquets, so don’t worry. Rather than that, how is everyone? Since they’ve done an extra month of performances, I’m sure some of them are rather disappointed that they have to quit.”

The play they were doing at the small theater, which they were originally going to do for only a month, was extended by a month, and they also moved to a larger theater thanks to the help of president Lee Junmin.

Thanks to President Lee’s and Director Na’s active and secretive advertising, the seats were always sold out, and apparently, some of the others who got on stage managed to receive business cards from some agencies.

“You know how it is with people. It’s all over now, I have no more regrets, this is it — even if you think like that, you still want to grab the tail of opportunity if you see a hint of one.”

Haneul put her hand out, probably asking for the vacuum. Maru pulled out the head module and handed it over to her.

Attaching the vacuum cleaner to the tip of the plastic bag, Haneul turned the power on. Along with a loud motor noise, the enormous rabbit shriveled up.

“Jungah, Sinhye, and Joohwan are all the more happy because they were originally going to continue down this path. The people who are commuting to work are happy that they had a blast of an ending. Some of them even had some coworkers come over and give them bouquets.”

“I guess it’s the ones getting ready for employment that are feeling complicated right now.”

Haneul nodded. She placed the shriveled rabbit doll next to the sofa.

Maru squinted and looked at the pile of shriveled-up dolls. It seemed that they would have to have a room exclusively for dolls in the new house.

“The ones who decided to quit for real have already shaken things off and are starting to get employment, but those who still have attachments seem to feel complicated. I told you, right? About how some of them even received business cards. I’m sure they want to do it again now that they see the possibility.”

“Isn’t there anyone you want?”

Haneul stopped as she was about to go into the room. Her eyes looked up as though she was thinking for a moment. She then put on a faint smile.

“They’re good kids. I can see why you wanted to look out for them. But putting that aside, is there anyone I can guarantee success as an actor...? Honestly, I’m not sure. Of course, Joohwan, Sinhye, and Jungah are exceptions. They’ll do well on their own.”

“Tell them nicely so that they don’t get shaken.”

“I’m not going to stop anyone that wants to do it, and as for those who want help, I’m going to help them out. It’s their own life. We both know all too well that you can take responsibility for your own life unless you’re born rich.”

She was entirely right. She went into the room again and this time, brought out a penguin doll. Then, she repeated the same question again — what should I do with this?

Maru just shrugged. It was bound to get put in a plastic bag before being compressed.

“How is Yoonseok? It’s been about a week since you met him.”

“We had a phone call yesterday and he sent me a message just now. He seems to have grabbed onto a lead and he told me he wants to show me a more polished scenario.”

“That’s good. You and Yoonseok have good synergy. Don’t you think you need to increase the production scale this time? I’m opposed to doing a small one like last time.”

“He seems to be looking into it. There’s a program that provides about 10 million won at college, and he says he’s going to apply for it.”

“But Yoonseok is not in the theater department, nor is anyone else on the team.”

Maru nodded.

“He’s just trying it out. The condition to apply is to be a student there. But I’m sure it’ll get taken by someone from the theater department during the judging process.”

“What about other things? There are culture and art promotion fund programs and independent film production funds.”

“I told him about them, so he should be looking into them. He applied for the 50 million won fund support that the City of Seoul has. The condition is having directed a film once, and Yoonseok has that. He also has a grand prize from the Short Film Festival.”

“Do you think he can get it? You know that getting those funds is like reaching for the stars.”

Maru spoke as he pulled out the dust container for the vacuum cleaner,

“It’ll be pretty hard. All indie filmmakers will be applying for it, and they’ll be picking only a handful. Even under the a.s.sumption that the judging is done fairly, it’s incredibly unlikely that he’ll win it.”

“Does Yoonseok have any money saved up?” Haneul asked.

“He just got out of the military. If he has money saved up, that would be strange. His household is ordinary, no, even if he was well-off, he shouldn’t be able to ask them for help. Apparently, his mother is opposed to him doing any sort of art.”

“If you think about it, the people who want to become directors are always quite poor. Their pa.s.sion and willpower are really high too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a new director with a thick wallet even in all those lives.”

“You know what they say, art is fueled by hunger.”

His wife brewed him some coffee. Maru sipped on the stick coffee while standing up.

“Did you ask him what he’s going to do if he can’t get the funds?”

“It’s the most important problem, so I did.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he’d get a loan.”

Haneul flinched. She put down the cup that she was about to drink and asked,

“A loan? Did he consult the bank about it?”

“Probably not. If he went to the bank and talked to them about it, he wouldn’t even have brought up a loan to me. He’ll probably realize soon that the only sort of loan a college student can get from the first financial sector is a student loan for tuition. He talked to me really seriously about it last time, saying that he was going to apply for about 50 million won loan from the bank if he fails to make all the funding applications.”

“50 million? My word, he watched too many dramas. But still, I like that he has big dreams.”

“I’m sure he’ll get dejected after being rejected by almost every option. Then he’ll realize that the most important thing in his decision to become a director is money.”

His wife drank the coffee without a word for a while before looking at the clock.

“Are you going to let him get broken like that for a while?”

“Yeah.”

“He might give up and leave.”

“Maybe.”

“You’re not going to help him?”

“I am willing to. The production costs are something I can handle on my end. Also, I don’t find investment in that work a waste. Instead, I want to look into how tenacious the person known as Lee Yoonseok is and whether he can keep moving after his pa.s.sion runs out.”

“Don’t give a young guy too much pressure. You’re an adult, sweetie.”

After taking care of the dolls, his wife changed clothes. She was in a casual jersey.

“Going to practice?” he asked.

“It’s about time I get going. Do you want to go as well?”

Maru pointed at various places throughout the kitchen with the vacuum cleaner. It was rather messy with all the moving preparations.

“Can I leave these behind and go?”

“No, good luck with cleaning.”

His wife waved her hand and opened the door.

“Get some tofu on the way back. We also ran out of eggs, get a dozen.”

“Okay. If it’s too much work for you, then let’s clean together tomorrow. Also, we’re going to buy new things for the most part, so we should call a recycling company, right?”

“It’s great having a business owner as a wife. You’re a big spender.”

“Are you happy that you have a rich girl as your wife?”

“Overjoyed to death.”

“Don’t actually die though. You died too many times, sweetie.”

“Okay.”

His wife left, saying that they should meet in the evening. When the electric ringtone of the doorlock rang, the cat hiding in the smaller room peeked out. He was about to turn on the vacuum but stopped. The cat would get startled and go into hiding again if he did so.

“Ricebun, it’s you I’m most nervous around.”

Maru petted the cat that came over before picking up a bunch of the dolls that his wife piled up.

He went to the parking lot and opened the car door before putting them inside. When he made about two rounds, the pa.s.senger seat was totally filled with dolls that were compressed flat.

“Were there so many?”

When he thought about it now, he felt like he would see a pile of dolls in the morning when he woke up rather than his wife’s face.

He went to the new house with the army of dolls and brought them to the house he had already filed the moving-in notification for. The house was also under his wife’s name.

Rather than hiring movers, they decided to move the things they needed themselves and buy everything anew, especially the furniture.

He and his wife came to an agreement on a final interior design after days of squabble, and the construction was finished last week.

Maru smiled in satisfaction as he looked at the living room and kitchen that was just to his liking. It would be perfect if the new coffee machine and the pressure rice cooker were here.

He was told to make a call if the interior construction had any defects, but he couldn’t see anything for the time being. The company that director Na introduced was very competent.

When he was looking outside the window, he got a call. It was from Yang Ganghwan.

-Where are you?

“At home.”

-If you don’t have anything to do right now, then let’s meet up. There’s someone who wants to meet you here too.

“Now?”

-You can’t make it?

“I can. Where should I go?”

-I’ll go pick you up. Where are you right now?

Maru set the meeting place somewhere near Yeouido station. He left the house and walked to the station.

Not long later, he saw Ganghwan’s car. When he opened the pa.s.senger seat of the car that had thick tinted windows, he saw someone familiar. It was Suyeon.

“Get in the back,” Ganghwan said.

Maru sat in the back seat.

“What brings the two of you together?”

“We were talking and you came to mind. Also, the one we’re going to pick up now says he wants to see you.”

“It wasn’t Suyeon-noona who wanted to see me?”

Suyeon turned her head around and spoke, “We see each other often on the radio, so we can’t see too often in private.”

She smiled before turning around again. The car set off.

Ganghwan really talked without stopping. Suyeon, sitting next to him, was just quietly reading a book, not minding what he said. Sometimes, she would smile and nod in reply.

Maru watched them from the back and asked about his suspicions. He thought back to the times when Suyeon brought up Ganghwan as well.

“I might be mistaken, but you two don’t have a special relations.h.i.+p, do you?”

“Does it look like we don’t?”

The answer didn’t come from the chatty Ganghwan, but Suyeon. Ganghwan didn’t say anything and just smiled.

“Do you?” Maru asked again.

These two weren’t a special combination. There were multiple times in his previous lives when these two got married.

However, he thought that they would be close friends at most in this life. They were too different to be dating.

“We do.”

“How long has it been?”

“Us? I think about eight years? Of course, not many people know about it. Only a handful who we can call family?”

“...You can handle his endless talking?”

“Well, I like listening, and I don’t bother talking that much. If you think that he does a lot of what I don’t bother to do, don’t you think it’s a good combo?”

Hearing Suyeon’s words, Maru nodded. She had a point. Suyeon became chattier than ever during broadcasts, but otherwise, she was usually quiet.

“Don’t go telling other people about it though,” Ganghwan said.

“I’ll think about it if you treat me to something nice. So who’s the person that we’re going to pick up?”

“You’ll see soon. He lives nearby too.”

After driving for a while, Ganghwan started slowing down at the side of the road. As he looked outside, a man of celebrity proportions caught his eyes.

That man walked over in large strides and opened the door. Maru spoke as he looked at the person that got in,

“Senior Hong Geunsoo?”

“I kept thinking that I should meet you, but it really was hard to get the time right. I guess this is our first meeting since the Film Festival, right?”

Hong Geunsoo reached his hand out, mentioning what happened at the Short Film Festival.