Chapter 96

Chapter 96

“This is the makeup room and it’s exclusive for the main characters of the play . ”

Ganghwan looked at the door of the room with both a jealous and nostalgic look on his face . Under the tag of the room, there was a name written “Kim Jiyoon” .

“Someone you know?”

“Not at all . I was just wondering if I could ever enter one of these myself . ”

Right then, the door of the room opened and an actress walked out . Ganghwan and Maru flinched a bit before stepping back .

“Do you have business here?” the actress asked .

“We were just looking around . Were we being a bother?”

Ganghwan answered politely, the woman relaxed a bit after hearing Ganghwan’s response .

“No, you weren’t . Have we met before, by the way?”

“I’m just a no-name in the business . ”

“Is that so?”

The woman narrowed her eyes for a few seconds before exclaiming in surprise .

“Wait, could you be Mr . Yang Ganghwan?”

“You know me?”

“You are! I enjoyed your most recent play . Ah, perhaps that’s not the right word for it . ”

The actress smiled before telling the two of them to wait a bit . She walked back into the makeup room and came back with a pen and paper .

“Could you give me your signature?”

“My signature?”

“Yes . ”

Maru saw Ganghwan’s mouth curl up into a grin right there . Then again, there weren’t many men that would be displeased from being asked for a signature from a pretty woman .

‘A female lead at the reopening event… She’s probably a rising star or something . ’

The actress went back to her room with a smile after getting the signature .

“You should’ve asked for a number . ”

“ . . . Maybe, yeah . ”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t even have a girlfriend? You have to pay attention to the small meetings like this if you really want to succeed . ”

“Hah . I hate how I can’t even talk back to a high schooler right now . ”

“By the way, was that lady someone popular?”

“In Hyehwa, yeah . She left a government funded theater company for a private one . ”

“Left a government funded company? Wow . ”

What an amazing woman . Did she receive an offer better than a stable pay from the government? Or did she choose to challenge herself?

“Huh, I guess I would be pretty amazing, too, then?”

“What?”

“I was in a government funded one, too . Obviously, I got out . How is it? You feel that respect rising up inside of you yet?”

“ . . . They don’t just pick anyone over there, do they?”

“Hey, stop looking at me like that . ”

Maru smiled slightly . This was the first time he heard of this fact . So this person was sort of amazing, after all .

‘I guess that’s only to be expected from someone so popular in the future . ’

Maru followed Ganghwan to look around some more at the Myungdong Art Theater . There were a lot of restricted areas, but they were allowed access with their staff name tags . They could even look at the top of the stage where all the lights were, with the help of the lighting crew . Apparently even the team didn’t like to frequent here because of how dangerous it was .

“This is pretty amazing . ”

The ceiling of the stage was dotted with black rods, it almost looked like they made a spiderweb out of steel . The lights hanging off from this network of steel was what lit the stage below .

“The bigger the stage, the more effort an actor has to put in for a successful play . But the stage managers suffer just as much in that regard, you can’t just make a stage bigger just like that . You have to focus on how the lights hit the stage and making sure that everything is in complete coordination . ”

Maru nodded . Even now, he could see many of the staff running around trying to fix the smaller things . Ganghwan noted that the staff didn’t just have to take care of the ceiling and the stage, but also the area under the stage, too .

“Whenever I look at this, I feel responsible . I feel like I shouldn’t make mistakes . Sure, not making mistakes is important for the audience, but I can’t ruin things for the many people that are trying to make this play a success . That’s why actors often like to come to the stage mid-production . Cheer on the staff, while trying to keep themselves nervous . To actually engrave in themselves the fact that it’s not just them that’s trying to make this a success . ”

Ganghwan put a bit more strength into his words, the man’s words resonated with Maru . These words weren’t something born out of mere theory, but something that was dotted with experience .

“Let’s go down . ”

“Where?”

“To eat . ”

“Again?”

“Again? It’s already 3 o’clock . Three hours passed since our last meal . Also, senior Junmin’s downstairs, so we might as well ask him for a free meal . Hmmm… . Beef, yes . Beef sounds good . Hehe . ”

What the hell happened to the cool guy from before? Maru shook his head as he followed behind Ganghwan jumping down the stairs .

* * *

“Hey, why aren’t you coming?”

“Wait a second . ”

Changhu glared at his friends for a second before taking out his phone . It was 3 o’clock . Their meeting time .

“I got a call . ”

Changhu cleared his throat before taking the call, he had to pay particular attention to how he talked . These girls liked it when he acted cute .

“Yes, big sis . ”

- Sorry, Changhu . I told you the wrong place . The cathedral doesn’t have any good restaurants nearby . Come to the Myungdong Art Theater . Do you know where that is?

“Myungdong Art Theater?”

- Yeah . It’s pretty famous, so you can probably get directions if you ask around a bit . You’re coming with friends, right?

“Yes . They’re nice kids . Your friends are here, too?”

- Of course . Anyway, come quick . I’ll pay for the meal . We can just go hang at a karaoke afterward . Karaoke during the day is super fun .

“Sure . Alright, we’ll be right over . ”

Changhu spat on the floor as soon as he hung up .

“Hah, does this bitch think we’re dumb dogs or something?”

“Why?“

“She’s telling us to go to the Myungdong Art Theater now . ”

“Myungdong Art Theater? The hell is that?”

“Apparently we can just ask around for directions . ”

“Really? Might as well go . I’m freezing my ass off . I should’ve worn more layers . ”

“You idiot, why didn’t you bring a jacket or something?”

“I thought we’d go somewhere nice right away . Plus, thicker clothes make me look fucking fat . ”

Changhu and his friends headed down from the cathedral, laughing amongst themselves . On the way down, they learned the whereabouts of the theater from an old lady .

“Yo, by the way, Seoul has a lot of pretty women,” one of Changhu’s friends said .

Changhu had to agree . There were a lot of women walking around in skirts even during the winter . Some even had tights on, too .

“Our town is kind of trash, dude . ”

“If only we had girls like this . ”

“Yo yo, dude, look at those breasts . That’s at least a C cup, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t it bigger?”

“Dunno . I’d have to sleep with her to know . Ah, you think I can lose it today?”

“Good luck . I don’t think you can do it though, you look too much like a baby . ”

“You bastard, I’ll show you what a real casanova looks like . ”

As the four of them walked, they eventually reached an odd building . It had loads of posters about acting taped to the wall .

“That must be it . ”

The building just looked like a theater from the outside . Indeed, walking closer, they found that they were right .

“Over here . ”

The group could hear someone call out to them from a bank on the other side . Changhu waved his hand towards where the voice came from .

“It’s them, what do you think?”

“Oh, hell yea . ”

“I’m happy . ”

“Dude, peach stockings are mine . ”

Changhu explained to the others to call the women ‘big sis’, and to act cute in front of them .

“And then you can start to think about leading them on . Girls like that sort of stuff . ”

“I know, I saw it on television . ”

“No dude, theory is different from the real thing . Just watch how I do it before you try it . Trust me . ”

“Okay, okay . I’ll let you play the king role today, Changhu . ”

Changhu walked to the women with a smile, they all came out in pretty casual clothing . But the fact that these women were loaded and had nice bodies didn’t change . That alone made Changhu very happy .

“Hello, big sis . ”

“We’re Changhu’s friends . ”

Nice, they were going with the plan . Maybe Changhu shouldn’t even have bothered worrying so much .

“Are they really high schoolers?”

“Pretty nice looking for high schoolers . ”

The other girls seemed pretty happy, too .

“Ladies, young men are always the best . Don’t you know that? Besides that, we’re cold . Are you going anywhere?”

“Oh dear, you were cold, Changhu? I’m sorry . ”

“Buy us something tasty if you’re sorry . ”

“Sure! I’ll pay . Does everyone like meat?”

The blonde woman smiled as she took out a card from her wallet . Changhu exchanged a quick look with his friends .

‘See? This girl’s rich . ’

‘Nice . ’

Changhu and his friends immediately dragged the girls over to a restaurant, they all stepped forward to grab the hands of the women they took a liking to . The women didn’t seem to hate it .

‘Good, good . ’

It was time to drink .

* * *

“Why don’t you try having some shame for a change?”

“I know you’ll buy us food even if you say that, Senior . ”

“You only take this senior’s word seriously when you’re asking for food . ”

Junmin sighed in defeat before standing up . In the end, Ganghwan’s begging actually worked .

“Maru, I’ll let you have some nice meat today . ”

Ganghwan proudly took the first step outside .

“He never changes, does he?”

“Never and not in the good sense, either . ”

“How did you meet with Coach, sir?”

“Me and Ganghwan? It’s been a while . More than a decade now, actually . He was a college dropout that appeared out of nowhere asking to act at my theater company . ”

“I… can sort of imagine that . ”

“Whatever you’re imagining, it was even worse . He wouldn’t listen to any sort of sense or logic . ”

“I did expect that to be the case, after hearing about him living homeless for three months . He’s pretty amazing, isn’t he?”

“Well, in that sense, you’re pretty odd as well . That 300 million… Use it well . ”

Junmin pat Maru’s shoulder with a faint smile .

“Come on, walk faster, senior! The beggars in my stomach are about to start a coup d’etat!”

“Does he really want to act like that in his thirties?”

Junmin sped up his pace as he clicked his tongue, the three of them stepped into a little alleyway after coming out of the theater . According to Junmin, there was a pretty nice bbq place inside .

“I haven’t had beef in a while, I’m excited . ”

“Can you not be so excited by stuff like that?”

The two of them were exchanging words like experienced comedians . An odd combo, for sure . Maru smiled faintly .

“Over here, right?”

Ganghwan asked as he looked up at the second floor, there was a massive signboard written “beef” on the building .

“This place is a restaurant and a butcher shop, all in one . It’s pretty cheap, but also delicious . ”

“Whatever you say, Senior . ”

Ganghwan headed up the stairs first .

* * *

“It was big, right?”

“Yeah . ”

Bada headed out of the Myungdong Art Theater with her friends . There was a little tour for what the backstage looked like before a play and they were lucky enough to join in . The theater from the inside was massive .

“They even had three floors for the audience . ”

“They had rooms on the left and right side, too . Probably for the VIPs, right?”

“I want to try watching from there, too . ”

Bada took a picture in front of the entrance with a grin . “Where should we go now?”

“What time is it?”

“3:20 . ”

“Should we start exploring clothing shops now?”

Right then, one of Bada’s friends raised her hand .

“Want to get some waffles before that?” she said, pointing at a store nearby .

Bada nodded vigorously . Just thinking about waffles made her mouth start to water .

* * *

“Dad, where are you going?”

“There’s someone that wants to meet you . ”

“You’ve said that already . Who is it?”

Dowook followed behind his dad, who told him to stop asking so many questions . Just who were they going to meet?

“Ah, maybe we should buy some of that,” dad said, looking at a waffle shop .

“You said we were going to eat something, though . ”

“Well, she likes waffles a lot . ”

“She?”

“Anyway, let’s buy it . Don’t you like waffles too?”

“ . . . I got sick of it after eating it so many times . ”

Dowook immediately regretted what he said . Indeed, his dad’s expression was darkening .

“I’m sorry . I should’ve paid attention . ”

“ . . . Just buy it already . I’ll eat the jam . ”

As he walked towards the waffle store with his dad, a group of middle school girls passed by him, laughing with each other .

“We should’ve moved a little faster,” his dad commented .

After arriving at the store, Dowook ordered three waffles . Dad took out his wallet and handed the money .

“I’ll make a call real quick . ”

Dad stepped outside . Just why did he keep having to leave to make the call? The man clearly wasn’t talking to any of his gas station employees, judging from his expressions .

“Wow, he’s handsome . ”

“Shh, he’ll hear you . ”

Dowook turned around, making the middle school girls turn away with a flinch . Dowook quickly turned back awkwardly to look at a mirror on the wall . Wow, he looked like a delinquent .

“Oh yeah, I saw your brother,” he heard one of the girls say .

“Bada’s brother? Ah, Maru?”

‘Maru?’

Dowook turned around, hearing a familiar name .