After Story 106

Water droplets fell on his face. He wiped the droplets before raising his head. The angry sky was getting ready to pour rain.

“See you next time.”

“Alright, Mr. Maru. See you next time.”

He separated from Youngjae at Suwon station. He had heard that it had rained quite heavily during the two days he spent shooting the movie in Busan.

Looking at the gloomy sky, it seemed like it was going to rain again tonight.

He got on the bus while taking into his nose the smell of wet asphalt. As soon as he sat down on a chair, he got a message from Haneul.

-You must be in Suwon by now, huh?

Maru replied that he had arrived and had gotten on a bus.

-Ricebun won’t be there when you get home. I brought her over to mine. I was originally going to leave her at your house, but she kept following me. I’ll bring her over tomorrow. I brought her to a vet, and I was told that you need to watch out for her diet if you spayed her, otherwise she’ll gain weight easily. We need to limit the number of times we feed her for her own health.

He smiled and replied okay.

She had become a total cat lover. Ever since the pesky little one started treating her nicely, Haneul looked after the cat devotedly. No, she was practically serving her.

The cat also seemed to have noticed Haneul’s devotion and started following her a lot more. He was surprised when the cat rolled over like a docile pup and allowed Haneul to stroke her stomach.

The bus arrived at the bus stop in front of his house. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining yet.

He opened the front door and went inside. He felt slightly lonely when the cat that was supposed to be looking for him for food wasn’t there.

Petty girl, she actually followed Haneul. Was it okay for a territorial animal to abandon their territory and follow a person?

He felt like he had sent off his lovely daughter to marriage. Was it normal or abnormal that he was feeling jealous of his wife? It was because of a cat too.

He giggled to himself and stood in front of the refrigerator. There were two sticky notes on it.

The one on the left said “Good work and I love you”. The one on the right listed the side dishes in the fridge.

Maru looked at the clock. It was 11 at night. Although he had consumed more than enough calories through meat and alcohol, he felt hungry. He took out the stir-fried potatoes and braised eggplants. He also took out instant noodles and went in front of the TV.

If his wife saw him, she would have nagged at him to eat at the table, but she wasn’t here right now.

-Hyung, are you done with your shoot?

Yoonseok was the one who sent a message this late at night. He replied that he had returned home. He soon got a call.

-Hyung, aren’t you going to become a big star at this rate? You gotta work with me once more before you become too expensive.

“And there’s something you’re working on?”

-Nope. I don’t even have any time because of my part-time job. I thought something was going to happen after winning the grand prize, but nothing happened like it was a midsummer night’s dream.

“You wanted to change your status with just a prize from a film festival? You’re taking life way too easily.”

-I’m just saying. I know that. Winning the grand prize in the Short Film Festival won’t become anything but an extra line on my resume.

“You’re calling me because you wanted to lament about yourself this late in the night? I can spare you about 30 minutes. I’m tired, so I definitely can’t do one hour.”

-I can’t waste your time when you’re busy. Uhm, hyung, can I ask you a favor?

“A favor?” he said after drinking the soup of the instant noodles.

The Yoonseok he knew was definitely not someone who would ask for a favor for something useless. He might be awkward, but he was always serious.

“What is it?”

-You see, I sometimes meet up with the directors I got to know at the Short Film Festival.

“You already formed a faction?”

-It’s not really a faction. It’s just a small meeting.

Yoonseok chuckled and continued,

-Do you remember Moon Jungah?

“Moon Jungah?”

-The director of ‘Water Fog’. The ones who sat next to us during the GV.

“I remember.”

Maru recalled the woman wearing the orange knitted sweater. The impression Park Joohwan gave him was so strong that he had forgotten about Jungah, who was the director.

-She asked me for help. She’s majoring in theater, and she’s apparently putting on a play in the theater at her college.

“And?”

-She asked me if you could come over and help. It looks like something’s not going well over there.

“They should have their own seniors there too.”

-From what I heard, there’s a problem in their department. I haven’t heard the specifics, but apparently, one of the professors sexually harassed someone or something, so the atmosphere there is terrible. It’s an arts university, but it’s not like the acting department is famous, and what is even worse, it was only formed recently so they don’t have any proper professors there either. The seniors there are apparently preparing for other things rather than participating in department events. I think she said something about the majority of the 2nd and 3rd years quitting and going to acting schools.

“What a university.”

-And amidst all that, the guy called Park Joohwan got into a conflict with the seniors.

“Park Joohwan? The lead actor?”

-Yeah. You remember him because he’s quite peculiar, don’t you?

“I do remember that he’s rather interesting.”

-Anyway, their situation seems to be rather complex. The freshmen and Jungah are doing their best, but apparently, it’s not going well. Jungah’s quite a perfectionist too after all.

“Would I be able to change anything by going? If the situation isn’t good over there, quitting is an option.”

-And she doesn’t want to do that, apparently. She’s quite stubborn. Above anything though, she just seems to enjoy that she’s preparing to put on a stage. From what I heard, she was in the acting club all throughout high school as well. There weren’t many members nor a teacher in charge, but she managed to lead that club for three whole years.

“Really?”

The acting club, huh? He recalled the memories of his previous life and smiled. While there were many accidents, it was a rather enjoyable extracurricular activity all in all.

-It’s somewhat funny to ask you to do this, but I wanted to cheer for her when I heard what she said. That’s why I’m telling you about it. You can of course reject this. You’re an actor with an agency now after all.

“I did sign the contract, but I don’t have any restrictions for now. I went to Busan by myself too. Since there’s little support, I am quite free.”

-Wait, why don’t they give you any support when you’re contracted to them?

“Of course they don’t. They’ll make immense losses if they give me a manager and a vehicle when I only get paid 300 thousand won per day. Even if they try to, I’ll refuse. Right now, I’m more comfortable by myself. There’s no need for management. Also, this movie shoot wasn’t something that JA gave me, so there’s no pie to share.”

-That sounds rather cold-hearted.

“It’s called being detailed. That’s for the better when thinking about the future.”

Maru held up his phone with his other hand.

“Where’s the university?”

-It’s in Anyang. It’s called Hanbyuk Arts University.

This was the first time he heard of that name. This small piece of land had quite a lot of universities.

When he looked it up on the internet, he saw that it was on the upper rankings in the study of insufficient universities conducted for the first time in 2009.

Below that, he saw an article about the sexual harassment of a professor. It seemed to be the person from the Department of Theater that Yoonseok mentioned.

“For now, please send Miss Jungah my number. Tell her to contact me when she has time. I’ll listen to what she has to say.”

-Thank you, hyung. Even as I was saying it, I was wondering if it was really okay to call you about this.

“I can do this much when it’s a favor from the director who gave me the grand prize. As compensation, if you produce a good scenario, you should show me first.”

-Of course. You’re my eternal persona after all.

“I remember you saying that Hong Geunsoo was your persona last time.”

-It gets renewed regularly.

If he had something to do, he would have refused this, but he had the time, so he planned to listen at least. He was personally curious about it as well. What would the director who created Water Fog be like on stage? And how would Park Joohwan act on a play stage?

He washed the dishes, and just as he was about to go to the bathroom, he got a call. He saw that it was a number he didn’t know.

“Hello?”

-Hello. Uhm, is this Mr. Han Maru’s phone?

“Yes. You must be Miss Moon Jungah, right?”

-Yes. Sorry for calling you so late at night, but I couldn’t wait.

“Looks like Yoonseok reached out to you immediately.”

-Yes. I’m calling you right after I got your number. Is it okay for you to be on the phone right now?

“Yes. It’s okay.”

Maru sat down on the sofa.

“I heard about the general situation through Yoonseok. Something’s not going to your liking while preparing for a stage, supposedly.”

Jungah stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking,

-Yes. Actually, I could ask other people for help if it was about technical things like directions. Our college is not in a good state, but we still have people.

“So why have you reached out to me?”

-I think, no, I’m convinced you’re the only one who can solve this problem.

“Solve? Solve what problem?”

-Park Joohwan that stubborn-ass prick.

* * *

Maru slowly turned his head from left to right.

There was a banner on the front gate of the campus, asking for the dismissal of the professor. Behind that, he saw signs saying ‘improve the status of the university’ or such lines. It was rather messy for a university entrance.

He took off the baseball cap and went inside. He had heard from Jungah beforehand about where the theater was.

The campus wasn’t that big because it was right in the middle of the city. He soon found the theater after walking a little. There was a glass door under the sign that said ‘Starlight Square.’ He went inside.

He saw a staircase to the left of the vending machine. Up? Or forward? Just as he was wondering, he heard a sound from the inside.

He walked down the short corridor, approaching the half-open door. He saw people inside. The lights were all off for the audience seats and were only on for the stage.

About a dozen students on the stage were all lying down. A director with a nasty personality would’ve scolded them for doing such a thing on the sacred stage. He had no intention of being so unreasonable with the youngsters, so he quietly went inside.

The students on stage didn’t seem to have noticed the guest they had.

Maru didn’t make any noise and hid behind a chair. From the look of things, it didn’t seem like they were exhausted after a long practice. There were at most five students just sighing with disgruntled faces. It looked like their problem was about to burst at any moment.

They looked like they were literally going to rip out all their hair.

“It’s not right.”

The one who said those words was Park Joohwan, who was on the stage. He was looking at the student in front of him with a dissatisfied expression. She was a girl, and her face turned red. It was a rather visible rage.

The girl screeched and ran around the stage. She wasn’t acting. She looked like she was truly frustrated.

Maru looked at the students while crouching down. It was rather comedic.

“What’s not right?”

“Things.”

“Like what things?”

“Like little things.”

“I said to explain that to us.”

“I told you many times. Your performance is awkward.”

“Like I said, what about it is awkward?”

Joohwan’s lips twitched before letting out a sigh.

“Forget it.”

“Gosh, for real. Hey, Moon Jungah! Can’t you do something about him?”

Jungah, who was down below, rubbed her hands and begged.

“I’m sorry. So let’s do it a little more.”

“What? He should tell me what’s wrong so that I can fix it. Hey, Park Joohwan. Is Jungah your spokesperson? You should explain it yourself.”

“If I could, I wouldn’t be doing this. Also, even if I do explain, you don’t really change much.”

“Don’t shift the blame to me.”

It seemed that the two quarreling on stage were the two lead characters.

The girl’s voice became higher and higher. The students sitting on the chairs let out thicker and lower sighs.

Maru smiled and watched them. He thought back to the days when he got into a lot of trouble in various theater troupes. Even back then, he got into quarrels about who was better when remaining behind for further practice.

It was when he didn’t have any source of income, or any career to speak of, meaning he only had his pride.

“Uhm, shall we say hello?”

Maru voiced out. He couldn’t stay a spectator forever.