Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Maru felt pretty odd . It was like feeling the reminiscent of meeting a friend he knew on the street, but he was unable to remember the friend’s name .

“ . . . Hey . ”

Dowook greeted him on the street awkwardly, Maru blinked a few times in confusion before passing by . He heard a ‘hey!’ come from behind him, but he decided to ignore it . Watching a guy who was always annoyed with him suddenly smile at him just felt way too weird . It felt like someone was tickling his nose with a feather .

He parked his bike and tried to dash inside, but Dowook caught up faster than he thought .

“You’re just running?”

“The Dowook I know isn’t the type to greet me with a weird smile like that . “

“ . . . Ugh, fuck . ”

“Yeah . Just swear instead . That’s a lot better . ”

Maru changed his shoes into the indoor ones with a smile . The two of them merged with the massive crowd of students to go up the stairs . Their class was, as always, right next to the stairs on the second floor . Maru stepped towards the door, wishing for another good day, but a group across the hall caught his attention .

The kids who were grinning at each other, spitting out the window . It was Changhu, the delinquent of his class, with the other delinquents from other classes . Dowook frowned as he noticed them, too . Changhu turned to look at the two of them .

The boy’s mouth moved a little . Maru couldn’t hear the him, but the boy was probably telling them to fuck off . Maru stopped Dowook from stepping forward .

“Pigeons don’t belong where crows hang . ”

“ . . . . . . . ”

“Didn’t you say you were done with the childish stuff? Just ignore them . It’s not like him staring at you is going to do anything . ”

Maru waved his hand with a grin at the Changhu gang as he said this . The kids on the window looked away, with ridiculing smiles on their faces .

“Doesn’t your pride get hurt when they do that?” Dowook asked, after they entered class .

“Your pride isn’t something so easily wounded . It isn’t even worth having if even kids can trample it . ”

Dowook clicked his tongue in annoyance and went to his seat . The boy didn’t get as annoyed as he did in the past, probably a sign of maturity .

“What happened?” Dojin asked .

“Nothing special . Did you memorize your lines, by the way?”

“Of course I did . I don’t want to die, you know . What about you?”

“I don’t have anything to memorize, dude . It’s just three lines . ”

“True that . ”

The club members became even more serious with acting after their evening in the cafe . Their method of practice had changed as well .

Maru looked at Daemyung, who was speaking his lines out loud from his seat . His friends were all listening to him . Maru and Dojin decided to move up to watch as well . Daemyung’s small voice started getting louder in response .

“What did I tell you? I told you that the new guy was really strange . Just you watch . That guy’s definitely going to cause trouble for himself . By the way… Are you really going to finish all that food by yourself?”

Daemyung turned to look at his friends after speaking about this much .

“It’s good, but . . . ”

“Is there something off?”

“Your expression is a bit too strong, I guess? I can focus, but it’s not funny . ”

“Really? How about this?”

Daemyung changed his expression a little bit, earning approval from his friends .

“Well, you’re working hard,” Maru greeted .

Only then did the boy respond to the two of them with a greeting on his own . He seemed way too engrossed in his practice to even notice . What amazing focus .

After the cafe test, it became standard for the club to practice in front of an audience . Daemyung, in particular, was asking his friends to help both in the morning and lunch . It was a good way of getting pretty direct feedback, Maru had to admit .

‘He’s really focused when it comes to acting . ’

Since the boy started taking practice so seriously, his friends were taking it seriously with him . Thanks to media nowadays streaming movies and dramas left and right, these kids had an eye for decent acting . They could easily catch if something was awkward or if something was good . Sure, they weren’t professional critics or anything, but they had no trouble pointing out basic mistakes .

It was like how someone said the line between porn and art was clear once you actually saw it . It was the same with these kids .

“I-is that so?”

Daemyung quickly jotted a few things down on his script . At moments like these, he really seemed like a pro actor .

‘Most people just end up confusing themselves when they get so many different opinions thrown at them, but it doesn’t look like Daemyung would do that to himself . ’

If you really wanted to improve, you had to first filter opinions and reviews to find the truly useful ones . Otherwise you’d end up straining your body too much and end up self-destructing .

“Thanks . Can you help me again at lunchtime?”

“Any time . ”

Maru noticed that Daemyung’s friends were starting to feel a little proud of what they were doing . After all, being put in a position to be able to judge was pretty satisfying . Since the right to judge was usually granted to those in positions of power .

Of course, these kids probably didn’t even realize that .

“You might actually get that main role when you’re in second year,” Dojin commented .

Maru peeked a little at Daemyung’s notes . Indeed, the entire script was filled to the absolute brim with notes .

“It’s fine if I don’t get to the Seoul Arts Center, but I do want to go to Dream Hall, after all . ”

The nationals in summer were held in the Seoul Arts Center, while the winter competition was held in a place called Dream Hall . In terms of size, Dream Hall was much bigger, since the students would perform in a massive theater that could seat more than a thousand .

“Dream Hall… was pretty cool . ”

Maru had to agree with Dojin . Miso took the lot of them there a few weeks ago to try and give them motivation . The club members spent a few minutes on stage looking down at the audience seats there .

‘It did feel pretty electrifying . ’

The entire auditorium was split into two floors . The air of the entire auditorium was enough to make even Maru get excited, not to mention the club members . As a matter of fact, Maru did remember seeing a fighting spirit start to burn in their eyes back then .

[We have three months left . ]

He recalled Miso saying .

“Three months . ”

“Yeah, three . ”

Dojin put down Daemyung’s script, and grabbed his own from his seat .

“Daemyung, can you help me practice?”

“Of course . ”

The two were, as always, very hard at work .

“Work hard . ”

“What about you?”

“I’ll do enough to look good, so don’t worry . ”

Maru took out his book after returning to his seat . It would be rude for him to just join in casually when the two of them were so serious about this . He would help them out if they needed a practice partner, but for now, it looked like they were doing pretty well by themselves . At times, the two of them were even going as far as to act out other people’s lines .

If the practice for their first play was sort of forced by Miso, this second play was entirely filled with their own motivation and desire .

‘They’re going to improve fast . ’

People who were motivated often achieved more than what even they thought they were capable of . Perhaps the club really might be able to perform in Dream Hall this year .

Maru closed his novel with a sigh, and took out his own script . He should at least try to put in an effort . Just because he was only there for the ulterior motive of romance, it didn’t mean he could be lazy .

Just because he couldn’t be a reliable support for the club didn’t mean he had to be a complete letdown . In that case…

‘I should at least be better than average . ’

Since the character himself had very few lines, he would probably get by even with little practice .

“Oh, you just moved in? Welcome, welcome . ”

Maru went straight into practice, with his pencil tucked a little into his mouth .

* * *

“Did you guys drink together?”

“I made her drink quite a bit, but she was fine . She has a strong tolerance . ”

“Dude, I told you . You have to mix coke for it to really work well . Or just make her drink something sweet . It costs a lot, but that’s the way to go . ”

“Next time . My wallet isn’t looking so good . ”

Changhu split up with his group after checking the time . The lot of them had a party with the girls from the neighboring school yesterday, but no one managed to get anywhere .

“Hah, she was pretty, too . ”

“The girl who was smoking that whole pack?”

That was the first thing Changhu heard when he stepped into class . It didn’t sound like any casual talk from a student . Ah, it was the acting club kids practicing again .

“They try so hard,” he commented .

“Maybe I should’ve gone to the acting club . The girls there were pretty . ”

“Oh dude, yeah . Pretty sexy . ”

“The senior who came to our class last time was super cute, too . ”

“Not my type . ”

Changhu sat down on his seat with his hands in his pockets . He could feel the two cigarettes he brought from home inside them . Since one of his friends had a lighter, he had to make do by smoking it during lunchtime outside school . There were still fifteen minutes till class started and since he stayed up late playing video games last night, he got ready to nap .

“Hey, be quiet . You’re fucking loud . ”

Of course, he didn’t forget to say something to the two kids out in front . Daemyung was a total coward, so he shut himself right up when Changhu just glared . Dojin, though, really needed some verbal communication to understand .

Ah, silence . Very peaceful . Perfect for sleep .

But just as he was about to drift off into dreamland, he started hearing something annoying again . It was Daemyung and Dojin . They were quieter than before, but they were talking .

‘Those bastards . . . ’

Did they really have to annoy him? He was tired . When he raised his head, he could see the two still practicing .

“Hey! Couldn’t you hear me?”

Daemyung flinched and shut his mouth immediately, but Dojin just smiled in annoyance .

“What, did you buy up the entire class or something? We lowered our voice, so just go to sleep, why don’t you?”

“Hah, fuck . Your voice is still loud, so why don’t you shut that stupid mouth of yours?”

“God damn, do you think we’re in a library or something? Just put on your damn headphones if you’re so bothered . ”

“You son of a . . . ”

Dojin was an annoyance to Changhu from the start . Changhu tried to go light on the guy since he looked like he was a delinquent in the past, but there was no helping him now . The boy gave a few of his friends around him a quick glance . There were four friends of his in this class . All people he was friends with since middle school .

“You’re acting out too much, especially when you’re smaller than my fucking dick . ”

“Hah, are your guys’ dicks a 170cms or something?”

Dojin didn’t miss a single beat . Changhu was not a fan . The guy really needed a lesson . Of course, he had no intention of starting a fight in class . This school has too many crazy teachers .

Instead, he would try to annoy the kid a little bit .

His friends all started walking forward with him . The kids around Dojin and Daemyung all stepped back nervously .

“You should speak a little gently, don’t you think, Dojin? You’re not a delinquent, are you?”

“No, you . Also, what do you think you’re doing? You going to hit me? You want to become pandas together? Is that what you want?”

Changhu signalled his friends . Dojin was the type to hit back, so hitting was a no go for now . Daemyung on the other hand, was a perfect target .

“Daemyung… Did I do anything to make you mad before?”

But just before Changhu could get any further,

“Guys, the teacher’s coming,” someone said .

It was Maru, who was looking outside through the back door .

“I’ll have a word with you next time,” said Changhu, returning to his seat .

Not even he wanted to go at it with the teacher who always had a PVC pipe handy . But even after a minute of waiting, nothing happened .

What the?

Changhu turned to look at Maru in confusion . Their eyes met . And…

Maru just shrugged with a grin .

“Sorry, think I saw wrong . ”

Changhu felt his lips twist a little bit . His mood was totally ruined for the day, he just knew it .