Chapter 72

Chapter 72

"Things are starting to look red . ”

“Dang, so it’s autumn already . ”

Daemyung and Dojin spoke as they walked in front of the school . It was a Sunday . While other students were just messing around in school, the acting club came to school for practice .

“The compet.i.tion isn’t very far away now . ”

Dojin sighed at Daemyung’s words . It was October 27th . 2 weeks away from the compet.i.tion . Despite this, Dojin felt like his acting was stagnant .

“G.o.d, feel like I’m going crazy . I got criticized yesterday, too . ”

“You’ll get better . ”

“Oh, and you must be feeling very relaxed, huh? Because you pa.s.sed?”

“I-I guess?”

Two days ago, the club went through three full runs after school . Repeating an hour long play over and over again three times in a row was very tiring for the students . Plus, every time they finished a run, Miso’s criticism would ring upon their ears . It was enough to give some of the students a stomach ache from the stress .

“I don’t even get stressed from studying, jesus . ”

“Just means you’re working that hard . ”

“True enough, hah . But you kept pa.s.sing and I keep failing . ”

Dojin was kind of jealous of his friend’s ability to maintain his smile, as it was a common occurence to receive a scolding in the club . He actually kind of felt bad when he didn’t get scolded . There were actually only three students that never got scolded by Miso during practice .

First off, there was Daemyung . The kid just completely changed character as soon as he got on stage . The guy actually kind of looked savage on there .

Second off, Joonghyuk . His acting was good enough for Miso to let him off the hook . The dude managed to play his role very well, as a weak husband in the play . He looked like he’s been practicing for months, as a matter of fact .

‘Well, I guess his personality was similar to his character to begin with . ’

And last up,

“We’re late, might have to run . ”

Dojin saw Maru waving at the two of them from the entrance . The two of them started making a run for it .

‘He’s the most mysterious one of them all . ’

Maru was also one of the three that never got scolded . He was only in a few scenes with a few lines, but Dojin’s impression of Maru’s character had completely changed in the last few days . Most of the club probably thought the same, as a matter of fact .

“What time is it?”

“8:57 . ”

“Oh c.r.a.p, run!”

Dojin ran into the school building with his outdoor shoes still on . Daemyung and Maru followed close behind him, Miso was not a fan of tardiness . Last time, the woman made them duck walk around the field ten times just for being a minute late . The group ran up the stairs as fast as they could, making the halls echo with their footsteps .

Finally, they managed to reach the 5th floor . Dojin ended up clenching his eyes as soon as he opened the doors to the auditorium .

“Oh, nice . Late yet again . The three of you over there, ten laps around the field . No duck walking this time, we don’t have time . ”

Hah… At least this wasn’t a duck walk this time .

“What are you doing? Run!”

“Yes!”

As they ran down the stairs, they found Yoonjung and Danmi coming up with a stiff face .

“ . . . Is she there?”

“Did you ever find her coming late? I think she might be coming down looking for you . ”

“Agghh! We’re screwed!”

Yoonjung and Danmi ran up hurriedly, Dojin shook his head looking at the two . Miso was even more torturous and cruel towards the second years when it came to punishment .

“Come on, let’s run . ”

Maru jumped down the stairs, making Dojin follow behind him .

* * *

Practice began at 11am . Miso decided to dedicate an hour for physical training, saying that the club was being too lazy . As a result, Maru was leaning on the walls huffing madly .

‘This feels like I’m back in the military . . . ’

He could almost hear the faint sounds of whistles blowing in the background .

“Get ready!”

“Yes . ”

The club members stood up immediately . Miso would only work them harder if they looked tired, so they needed to move it . Miso opened her steel chair in the middle of the auditorium, and the club members lined up outside the green tape .

Maru was on the left side of the tape . Some things had changed since they started practicing three weeks ago . One of them was when Maru started, he would appear in the very first scene . Of course, he still didn’t have many lines at all .

“We’re doing this from start to finish with no breaks . If you make a mistake on stage… Well, I trust you’ll be able to handle it . We have two weeks left until we get on stage for real . Making a mistake should be impossible . If you do so regardless, you’ll have a lovey-dovey time with me, so be prepared, got it?”

Maru heard someone swallow right behind him . A one on one with Miso? Just thinking about it was terrifying . The woman was becoming more and more hysteric as time went on . They couldn’t even joke with her at this point, it only goes to show just how much this play meant to her .

Miso was the captain, the captain of a s.h.i.+p called Blue Sky . In its first voyage, the s.h.i.+p was stopped right at the docks . That must’ve hurt her pride a lot, enough to make her cry like a baby in front of Taesik . This was to be Blue Sky’s second voyage, she probably wanted the crew to be ready enough to weather any kind of storm .

“Geunseok!”

“Yes . ”

“You know what I’ll do if you make a mistake again, right? We’ll abandon you . I’m not joking . ”

“I’ll do well . ”

Miso was especially vicious towards Geunseok . She probably wanted to make the boy as strong as he could get during this practice . She would cut out any praise, and beat the boy as much as she could .

Thanks to her tough love, Geunseok had grown pretty vicious himself, in a good way . He was still craving praises, but he wouldn’t overtly ask for it anymore . As soon as he finds another reason to act, surely he would become an amazing actor .

‘That is, only if he finishes his play properly . ’

Miso sent them the ready signal as she watched the clock, this was the beginning of the run . Maru’s eyes met with Miso’s briefly . For some reason, looking at them made him think about what happened right before they went into practice .

* * *

Maru carefully observed the man in front of him . He wore a flat cap, sitting with a little poodle on his lap, and looked close to being fifty .

“Senior, you aren’t supposed to bring a dog here . ”

“But there’s no one who can take care of it . I asked you, but you refused . ”

“We can’t have dogs in our house . ”

“Then don’t even complain . You expect me to just leave this little thing alone in my house? Look at it, the poor thing can’t even move properly . ”

The man patted the poodle lightly as he spoke .

“He’s always like this, you’ll have to understand . ”

Miso shook her head annoyedly .

“So why did I come here again?” Maru asked .

“I told you . I wanted you to meet someone . ”

After looking at the poodle for a few more seconds, the man left the puppy to a staff member nearby . As soon as the dog disappeared, his previously tender expression grew serious .

“Name?”

“It’s Han Maru . ”

“Nice to meet you . I’m Lee Junmin . ”

“Nice to meet you . ”

The two of them briefly shook hands . Maru noticed that the man had a very thick, vibrant voice . Probably the result of practice .

“You look a little confused . ”

“Well, instructor Miso dragged me here without telling me a thing . ”

“Me too . She treats her seniors too badly . ”

“I understand that sentiment . ”

Junmin smiled happily at that . Seeing how the man still maintained a polite att.i.tude despite speaking to a junior of Maru’s age, he was probably a businessman . Junmin handed Maru his business card .

“JA Productions?”

Maru instinctively reached for his own business card .

‘Oh, right . I don’t have one . ’

The business card on the table had two things on it . The name ‘JA Production’, and Junmin’s name . A production company… Seeing as how Miso seemed to be involved, it was likely related to acting . Maybe a management firm?

“I think I deserve an explanation from instructor Miso . ”

“No, I can explain it . I’m a bit surprised myself, but I think I know what’s going on . ”

Right then, Junmin’s phone rang . The man answered the call with annoyance and spoke angrily . Maru made out a few words about plays, times, and locations . After giving a few instructions, Junmin turned off his phone .

“I apologize . ”

“It’s fine . ”

“Now, allow me to explain . You performed at a cafe a while back, yes?”

“Yes . ”

“I was there that day . I saw you and your friends act, because my little junior here called me out . ”

“You were there to see us?”

“That’s right . Miso told me to help out one of the twelve kids there . She looked very confident . ”

“Could it be, that one kid was . . . ”

As soon as Maru said that much,

“I said I was surprised before, right? It was because I saw you . I actually had my eyes on two different kids . I was going to tell Miso this today, but it looks like she was in too much of a hurry . ”

Miso frowned .

“You didn’t have your eyes on him, senior?”

“Yeah . I was looking at the others . ”

“No way . ”

“I hate to say it, but I didn’t feel much from this friend when I saw him the other day . He was neat, but he’s still an amateur . ”

Maru realized this was a meeting made from a mistake .

“So I can leave, then . ”

“I’m sorry . ”

“It’s alright . I’m actually relieved . ”

“Relieved?”

“Yes . Chances only belong to the desperate . I’ll leave, then . Thank you . ”

Maru stood up from his seat and left .

* * *

“Senior . ”

Miso couldn’t stop Maru from leaving . Her senior had told her that he had his eyes on two students . She thought one of them would be Maru for sure, but…

“You haven’t changed, have you? I was wondering why that kid was here . ”

“Senior, he’s talented . ”

“I know . ”

“What?”

He knew, but he still sent Maru back?

“Why?”

“Before that, let me just ask you one thing . Do you think I have an abundance of free time just because I treat you well? Free enough to make time during a weekday, in the morning at that?”

“ . . . I’m sorry . ”

“Well, hearing that feels good, at least . You’re forgiven . ”

Junmin smiled happily, making Miso sigh .

“Why didn’t you tell him anything, then?”

“I only raise pros . I only work with pros as well . Geunseok and Daemyung, was it? I saw talent in those two . But not him . ”

“He has talent, but he also doesn’t?”

“Yes . Right now, at least . ”

“Right… now?”

Junmin took a sip of his tea .

“That kid is definitely eye-catching . He was probably born with it, or was gifted that talent by G.o.d . When he was talking that day, I noticed the entire cafe looking at him . It was pretty amazing to behold . I almost clapped, actually . If he has enough talent in acting, then… He would really make it big . ”

If those words came from anyone else, Miso wouldn’t have believed them . But this was her senior that was talking . The “maestro” as the community called him . Plus, this man was always scouted into judging for auditions whenever the production team needed actors for a ma.s.sive project .

“So why? Isn’t that enough?”

Junmin laughed at that .

“I became even more confident of my decision after meeting him . ”

“Confident?”

“That’s right . That kid, Maru, isn’t desperate for acting . Of course, his freedom is probably what made you greedy, but that kind of a personality doesn’t work in the world of the pros . If he isn’t desperate enough to climb the ladder with bleeding fingers, then… I don’t want to work with him . Plus, he didn’t seem to even want to work with me from the start . ”

Junmin got back to drinking his tea as Miso looked down with a frustrated sigh .