He said his last line before looking at the audience. He wondered how they felt about it. Maru looked at the first year juniors as well as Dowook and smiled at them. The reason they could finish this hour-long performance without many mistakes was because they did unexpectedly well. They looked very nervous when they just began, but they looked like they were enjoying it starting about halfway through.

Maru tapped on the floor with his feet once. The repulsive force between the rubber soles of his shoes and the wooden floor was pleasing. The stage was a wonderful space. It was a target of fear when treading on it for the first time, but once absorbed, the stage itself emitted heat that made the actors heated up. Getting drunk on that heat while acting would make the actor forget about fellow actors and the audience as well.

The only thing that existed would be the actor themself under the light. There might be a moment of solitude, but even that solitude sublimed into joy, making them excited.

The music track they prepared beforehand started flowing out. This signalled the curtain call. The faint lights drove away the darkness, and the red audience seats entered his vision like the rising sun.

Then he heard people applauding. There were some that even shouted that he was good. Just those words to cheer him up made him feel that the months of practice were not done in vain.

Daemyung, who played the role of the policeman, put on his police hat and jacket in a cool fashion and stood in the middle of the stage. Although he looked very natural right now, he had to practice those actions several times in order to get to that point. Flicking the police hat off his head with his fingers was actually quite hard.

Following that, Aram and Jiyoon held hands and walked up to the center of the stage before taking a deep bow. The applause became louder. They stood on either side of Daemyung.

Bangjoo and Dowook followed. Dowook seemed to have lost his tension at the last moment as he just replaced the action he practiced with just a formal bow.

Maru, who was standing behind the right curtain, also stepped onto the stage. He stood to the right of Bangjoo and bowed towards the audience. They all then raised their hands, which were grabbing the hand of the person next to them, and took a big bow at the same time. The music slowly faded out and the lights in the audience seats brightened.

-That is the end of Woosung High School’s acting club, Blue Sky’s performance. Damseon High School’s play will be held next after a short break.

The audience started exiting. There seemed to be some students from Woosung High as well. Perhaps they were friends of his juniors.

Daemyung clapped to gather attention. The club members gathered in a circle in the center of the stage.

“Well done everyone.”

“Wow, I was nervous to death.”

“Me too.”

“I’m still sweating. Look at my palms.”

Dowook showed his palms. They were bright red. There were even some fingernail marks on it. That just showed how tightly he gripped his fists in nervousness.

Maru patted Dowook’s back.

“Well done.”

Dowook glared back and was about to snap back, but he just chuckled and nodded.

“We’re not done yet. We need to clean up the stage we used. Guys, let’s move the heavy stuff out first. Jiyoon, you remove the tape we stuck on the ground, and Aram, please carry the props out.”

“Yes!”

They moved around busily. Just as Maru returned after carrying the desk to the corridor outside the resting area, he saw two girls struggling to climb onto the stage. They were Yoojin and her.

“Carry those out for me since you’re here,” Maru told the two before picking up a chair.

“You didn’t have to tell us, we were going to help out anyway, you know?” Yoojin grumbled for a while before picking up a jacket from the floor while giggling. She picked up the telephone which was on the floor.

“I could see that you practiced a lot,” she approached him and spoke.

“I’m glad that you could see it. Everyone did well. There weren’t any big mistakes. Considering that it’s their first time, it’s very satisfactory.”

Maru walked out to the corridor with her. The next team was hurriedly carrying their items to the stage. He pushed his club’s stuff to one side so that it didn’t hinder them.

“How was it? As the winner of last year, do you think our school is going to pass the preliminaries?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“That’s a rather low score.”

“I’m just joking. If I was the judge, I would definitely give you a pass. You guys did really well. I mean it.”

She smiled. Maru looked at her before turning his head away. Why was she so pretty? For a moment, he looked at her absent-mindedly.

“What is it?”

“I was just startled.”

“Why are you startled?”

“Because you’re so pretty.”

“...Geez, there you go again.”

She pinched his waist. Maru screamed and surrendered.

“Maru, we need to load that on the truck.”

“I’m going.”

Maru carried the chair outside. The heat of August, which he couldn’t feel inside, suddenly assaulted him. It was like someone was blowing hot air.

“Well done everyone. I’ll go ahead and clean things up, so take your time. You guys did really well.”

Taesik and Miso complimented them before leaving the Center of Culture on the truck.

“For now, you should have some drinks.”

Suyeon gave them drinks. The shadow cast by the baseball cap was covering up her face. Some men, who were passing by, gave her a glance, but it didn’t seem like they recognized her. It seemed like they just subconsciously gave a hot woman a glance.

She was wearing a blue jersey and had big sunglasses on. Unless someone looked at her closely, it would be very difficult to recognize her as the actress Kim Suyeon. Maru looked for her while he drank, and found her talking to Yoojin. It didn’t look like she wanted to come to him. The reason was probably Suyeon.

“I felt sorry because I wasn’t able to look after you that much, but it looks like you guys don’t need me at all.”

Suyeon was quite talkative.

“I guess you didn’t come over that much, Suyeon-unni. No matter how busy you are with the drama, how could you not visit our cute Jiyoon even once?” Aram pulled Jiyoon’s cheek out as she spoke.

Suyeon smiled before pulling Jiyoon’s other cheek.

“That’s true. I should’ve come to see Jiyoon at least. But I was so busy, you know? Normally, dramas are shot, edited, and aired the next day, but the production company this time seemed to have a lot of money and they decided to go with producing everything beforehand. That messed up my schedule and I didn’t have enough time to come and look after you guys. Sorry.”

Suyeon made an apologetic expression. The club members quickly said that they were just joking.

Maru, who was sipping on his drink, saw that Suyeon looked his way and faintly smiled in a way that the other members couldn’t see. This woman really knew how to handle people.

“Since you feel sorry, why don’t you treat us to something?” Maru said.

“Why do you think I’m here? Of course, I’m here to treat you guys to a meal.”

Suyeon showed everyone her credit card. The club members applauded.

“Let’s go back to the school and clean things up before we go. There’s too much stuff for Mr. Taesik to carry by himself.”

“Daemyung, you really are earnest.”

Suyeon pointed at her car and told the boys to get on.

“The two of you can take the bus. By the time you arrive at school, we should be done with the organization.”

Daemyung, Dowook, and Bangjoo got in the car that Suyeon brought. Maru told them to wait a moment before walking towards her.

“We’re going back to our school, what about you?”

“We’ll just go back. You should hold the afterparty with just the club members. I don’t think it’s right for us to be in it,” she spoke. Maru wanted to take them, but he nodded after seeing that she was so adamant.

“Yoojin, you worked hard as well. Also, while you’re at it, help us out next time as well.”

“Hey, that’s not an attitude of asking someone for a favor!”

“Should I kneel then?”

Maru immediately put one knee on the ground. Yoojin was shocked and shouted at him to stand up again. Maru shrugged before getting up.

“This guy’s weird in the head.”

After sighing, Yoojin said that she was going to help out anyway. She also said that she would come if time allowed it.

“I’ll get going then.”

“Okay.”

Maru was about to turn around and go when she stopped him.

“Maru, do you have practice today as well?”

“No, I think we’re going to end things after the afterparty.”

“Really?”

Maru took over from there.

“I have some free time. Do you want to go watch a movie together?”

“Should we?”

“Then I’ll call you. Yoojin, hang out with her until then.”

“Don’t go deciding that by yourselves. I’m going to hang out with my boyfriend as well, you know?”

Yoojin snorted. However, when Maru stared at her, the proud expression broke down into a sigh.

“Urgh, I am sooo getting a boyfriend myself.”

Yoojin hooked her arms before dragging her away. He waved his hand at her, who was being dragged.

“How hot,” Suyeon said as soon as he got in the car. Maru put his arm against the window and rested his chin on his hand. He could see her walking afar. Actually, he wanted to ask her for her impression. It would be very new to hear her feelings when she watched the play.

“You guys were good. You were definitely better than the other schools. You should pass the preliminaries just with the fact that there were no awkward silences in your play. I’m sure of it,” Suyeon assured them.

When they arrived at the school, they saw that the truck was already unloaded by about half. They got out of the car and started helping Taesik unload the truck. Only after double-checking that everything was in the container did they close the door.

“This place feels small now.”

“We should probably clean it up as soon as possible.”

“Would we get our clubroom back again?”

“That’s probably not going to happen. There are a lot of teachers that don’t see us in a good light, and it’s not like we can force other people out of their clubrooms. Once we do a play, we should only keep the ones we can and throw away the rest.”

If they had more room, then they would have just kept everything they made, but the small container was almost full just with the things they used for this play. Although they had a hard time making them, they had no choice but to throw them away if they wanted to do another play next time.

“Let’s eat for now. We should worry later.”

Maru locked the container. Although it was too early to celebrate, it should be okay to hold an after party.

“We should pass the preliminaries right?” Daemyung asked as he stroked the container.

“We did our best, so all we can do now is to hope for the best. Let’s go. Our money lord for the day should be waiting.”

He hung his arm around Daemyung’s shoulders and walked towards the school gates. Aram and Jiyoon had arrived as well.

Taesik and Miso tried to leave after saying that they should talk at a later time.

“Why? You should eat together with us.”

“Everything’s good except for one person.”

Miso smiled brightly and said something suspicious. Maru sighed. It seemed that these two would stay enemies forever. Fortunately, the others did not hear her words.

“See you later everyone!”

Taesik and Miso left. Maru wondered when they would get married. Although Miso was very proactive, perhaps she was cautious when it came to marriage after all? No, he didn’t know that for sure. Perhaps she would suddenly call him tomorrow and say something like ‘I’m getting married’. Miso was more than capable of doing that.

“Shall we go then?”

Suyeon waved her wallet in the air.

* * *

“Whaaat? You two are dating? Are you serious?”

Suyeon sat between Daemyung and Jiyoon while giggling.

Watching them, Maru wrapped a piece of duck meat in boiled bok choy and ate it. He thought that Suyeon would take them to eat some pork belly, but she actually brought them to a Chinese-style restaurant and ordered a course menu.

When he ate the assorted chilled vegetables and shrimp, that came out as the first menu, he exclaimed. It was that delicious. When the waiter entered to serve them food, they heard voices outside, and most of the time it was either Chinese or Japanese. It seemed that this restaurant was quite a popular hotspot for tourists.

Maru stood up from the table and left the room for a bit. Then, he called her. Although the signal sounded for a long time, she didn’t pick up. Was she busy having fun?

“Your girlfriend?”

When he turned around, he saw Suyeon. Maru folded his phone and put it in his pocket.

“You should reply to me at least.”

“You know who it is already, so what’s the point?”

“Aren’t you too heartless towards me?”

“Aren’t you embarrassed to say that to a kid as a fully grown adult?”

He walked past her and entered the room. Just then, Suyeon spoke in a small voice.

“I heard you’re working with director Joongjin.”

Hearing those words, Maru stopped and turned around to look at her. There was a thick smile on her face.