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 .