Life, Once Again!

Chapter 69

Chapter 69


Chapter 69


The sound of the bell rang from the ceiling .


“Have a nice lunch . ”


Once the teacher left the room, the students all bolted for the front and back doors . They shoved each other, moving several times faster than usual .


“Chicken!”


“Let’s go!”


Today, the cafeteria served fried chicken . The students all rushed there with as much strength as their legs could muster . Maru only stood up from his seat after some of the students disappeared .


“Well, that was terrifying . ”


“It’s not like the fried chicken would stop being fried chicken if you were late . Wonder why they’re in such a hurry . ”


Maru motioned Daemyung over, who walked over with a script in hand .


“Planning on practicing on the way over?”


“Yeah . I can’t waste time . ”


What a guy . Since when did he become so diligent again?


“Your script is going to fall apart into rags at this rate . ”


As he said this, Dojin ran over to grab his own script as well . How troublesome, the two of them made even Maru itching to practice .


“Actor Han, Actor Park, please . Let’s try to focus on food during lunchtime . ”


Maru dragged his friends by their shoulders outside . By the time they got to the cafeteria, all the running kids were neatly arranged in a line . Be it the past or present, it appears Koreans really went crazy for fried chicken .


“h.e.l.low!”


Someone greeted them from behind, it was Iseul . The people around her were wearing gray s.h.i.+rts from other clubs, while Iseul was wearing Blue Sky’s T-s.h.i.+rt . Just like the three of them .


“Oh, I look better here!” the girl noted, stepping towards them .


Daemyung moved away from her slightly in response . No one noticed because it was so slight, but Maru realized right away, being next to the boy .


‘What a softie . ’


It didn’t look like Daemyung was awkward because he liked Iseul, rather his unfamiliarity talking to pretty girls . He was so casual with her when they practiced, too . He was probably just bad with actual social settings .


Maru pushed the boy towards the girl, away from him . Daemyung desperately sent signals for him to stop, but Maru just grinned even more in response .


‘This is all for the future, buddy . Girls aren’t people you should just avoid . They’re supposed to be people to get used to . ’


Daemyung’s face reddened almost immediately . Come to think of, it was pretty strange watching this guy become so confident on stage .


“How’s practice going for you guys?” Iseul asked .


“Perfect as always . You?” Dojin responded .


“Same old, same old . I’m just trying to make it fun for myself . And you, Daemyung?”


“M-me? W-well, I think it’s going well . Still need a lot of work, though . ”


“Why so humble all of the sudden? You were great last time,” Iseul said, nudging Daemyung a little .


The boy could only laugh saying ‘was I?’ under his breath .


“And Maru… You’re probably doing fine . Right?”


“I’m trying the best I can . ”


“Best? Haha . Doesn’t sound like you . ”


“What sounds like me, then?”


“Trying as little as possible to get by?”


“You got me . ”


The line got shorter while they talked . Once they actually entered the cafeteria, they found another group wearing the same s.h.i.+rt as well . The three guys from the design cla.s.s, and one more person . Taejoon .


“h.e.l.lo, men!” Taejoon greeted, getting the attention of everyone around him .


The attention made him silent, as he nursed an embarra.s.sed smile .


‘He’s the type that likes to be loud, but also gets easily embarra.s.sed,’ Maru noted .


“What are you doing here?” Iseul asked .


“What about you, then? What are you doing here?”


“Well… ok, fine . You got me there . ”


Maru sat down on the table, greeting the design kids appropriately . Geunseok and Yurim waved back lazily, and Soyeon told him to enjoy his meal . It didn’t look like they were still mad about what he did back then, but they didn’t seem to want to be close with him at all .


Maru was completely fine with that, it would honestly be a bit annoying if they tried to get overly friendly with him instead .


“This feels lIke I’m chewing on rock,” Dojin commented next to him, biting into his chicken .


‘They had to fry chicken for a thousand people, of course it’s going to be like that . ’


Maru was reminded of his times in the military, specifically that time they served fried chicken one day after the news of an avian influenza outbreak . The fact that the flavor of chicken from that time overlapped with the flavor of this chicken probably meant that the food here was really bad .


“This tastes good to me, though . ”


Daemyung was pretty much licking the bones completely clean, Maru decided to give his chicken to Daemyung as a result .


The club met outside after lunchtime, every member was holding a cup of hot chocolate in their hands .


“We start blocking today, right?”


It’s already been two weeks since they were given their scripts . By this time, the club members were strictly off book . Today, they would start moving according to the positions Miso a.s.signs them to, and then say their lines .


Standing still and saying your lines was a completely different thing compared to actually moving around saying it . Walking and talking at the same time was a surprisingly difficult task . Maru understood completely, having actually seen the club do it multiple times .


Right then, he could feel the eyes of the club s.h.i.+ft over to him .


“Don’t worry, I won’t be a bother . ”


He didn’t say he’d try not to be a bother, trying to imply that he wouldn’t fail . At times like these, it was just better for him to say he wouldn’t do something for sure . Plus, Maru had practiced enough to be sure of not making a mistake .


“I’ll see you guys later . ”


With that, the club split up . After school, they would meet again in the auditorium .


* * *


Dojin noticed someone annoying once he entered cla.s.s . It was Changhu and his group of friends, sitting at Maru’s seat . Dojin spoke up first with a frown .


“What do you think you’re doing . ”


“Well, I just wanted to talk . ”


“Can’t you just f.u.c.k off?”


“Can you shut up, Dojin? I’m not trying to talk to you . ”


Maru stopped Dojin from stepping forward, Dojin didn’t take too kindly to that .


“Maru, guys like that learn through beatings . ”


“Stop it, and go to your seat . You’re not a kid, stop trying to solve things with violence . ”


Calm down . Maru pat Dojin’s shoulders a few times, making the guy step back with a glare . Daemyung stood next to Maru with a nervous face . How brave of the boy .


“So, what do you want to tell me?”


“Well, I just wanted to get along, you know?”


“Nice . I hope we can, too . ”


Maru extended his hand, catching Changhu off guard .


“What the h.e.l.l are you?”


“What do you think? I’m Maru . ”


Changhu watched Maru’s hand and face repeatedly before standing up . Dojin was about to shout again, but was stopped by Maru . Changhu grinned seeing that .


“Good good . Dojin, you should really learn from Maru . You have no sense at all . ”


Changhu walked back to his seat after giving Maru a few pats on the cheek with the back of his hand . Man, he’s learned a thing or two from movies, hasnt he?


How cute .


Maru actually had to stop himself from laughing out too loud . But right then, Dojin grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back .


“We need to talk . ”


What was up with this guy, now? Maru stepped out into the hall, scratching his face . Daemyung followed the two of them with a troubled expression . Fifth cla.s.s had yet to start just yet, so there were a lot of students still outside .


Dojin spoke in a hushed tone amongst the other noises around him .


“Have you no pride? Why did you just sit taking it?”


“Why are you getting riled up again? Just endure it . ”


“No, dude . I can just ignore it if he was just bothering me, but… Ugh, it’s so annoying, what he does . Trying to bother literally everyone around him . ”


Dojin seemed ticked off about what happened this morning, especially from seeing his eyes glance over at Daemyung for a second . He was probably worried about the boy after what Changhu did .


What a nice guy, he had every right to be angry . After all, in terms of the animal kingdom, Changhu wasn’t even a hyena . Closer to a wild dog, actually . The type of animal that attacks everything from insects to animals in a pack, but wouldn’t dare to approach the real predators . The guy probably didn’t even know how to act in front of someone that was actually strong . Guys like them were surprisingly easy to deal with, actually . You just need to bite back a little bit .


Just one fight is enough to solve the issue, but…


“Still, be patient . ”


“Why? Are you . . . ”


“If you’re going to be childish and ask if I’m scared, I’d stop right now . ”


“Then why?”


“Dojin, we only have three months left . ”


“What?”


“Don’t you want to go to Dream Hall?”


Maru turned to look at Daemyung, to emphasize his point a little bit . The acting club already had a bad track record, especially when taking note of the fire incident in the auditorium . Thankfully, Taesik managed to cover it up as an accident that happened due to an argument between the students at the time . But due to this, the faculty ended up getting a bad opinion of the club . The reduced budget for the club was evidence enough .


What would happen if another fight broke out now? Surely, one of the faculty members would step up to say something . Especially the hanja teacher . After all, he was the person who came to the club room most often to complain . The man would be the first to try to hurt the club when he got an opportunity .


Standing out right now was an especially bad idea, with the compet.i.tion about to start so soon . Maru would’ve done something himself if it wasn’t for this . But right now, ignoring the group was the best thing he could do .


“You know Changhu tries to look good in front of the teachers too . ”


“ . . . . . . . ”


“If things get bad, we’re both going to get beat up by the teachers, but the club’s going to get hurt as well . The school’s going to try and disband us by pointing out our violent tendencies . ”


“But . . . ”


“No buts . Did you forget that we need the school’s permission to go to nationals? Who knows what might happen if you get into a fight? If you can ignore it, just ignore it . ”


“Hah . ”


Dojin finally seemed to understand what was happening, the frown on his face melted as well .


“Delinquents would beat up students at school, all the while looking all nice and sheepish in front of teachers . Not even our homeroom teacher thinks well of our club, so just endure it . And . . . ”


Maru glanced at Changhu through the window for a second before lowering his voice .


“If he comes in to hit you, just take it . ”


“What?”


“The dogs that bite don’t bark first, it’s the same with delinquents . The guys that are really screwed up wouldn’t even say a word, they would just swing the chair at your face . The guys that talk only fight when they really have to, because they’re scared . If you just act like you’re willing to take the punch, he’s going to walk away . ”


“ . . . Maru, were you a delinquent or something in middle school?”


“I’m a well-mannered citizen . Don’t be turning me into something weird now . ”


You’ll understand soon enough how stupid it is to fight with fists later on, buddy . Maru dragged his two friends back into the cla.s.s .