After Story 205

The two members who came on stage in the first act stood in front of Haneul.

“Both of you had good expressivity. I could feel the emotions from the audience seats.”

The two smiled at Haneul’s compliment, as though it was only natural.

“So, what’s your psychology here?”

“What?”

“The feeling exposed on the surface is vexation, both from the girl and the boy. The boy wants to go traveling, but the girl doesn’t want to let him. What the two of them want from each other is fundamentally trust, right?”

“Yes. The boy is asking her to let him go on the trip because he won’t cheat,” said the person playing ‘boyfriend.’

“And the boy becomes more and more vexed that his girlfriend won’t trust him. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, this character has no intentions of cheating at all.”

“Are you sure? Was that in the script? Or was that your own interpretation?”

“It’s my interpretation. I would never cheat.”

“So… what is your name?”

“Me? I’m Kim Yoonho.”

“So you were basing the character on yourself when interpreting this character, Mr. Yoonho, right? Because the script doesn’t mention anything.”

“Yes. I’m sure the others did the same. Other than the exact details written into the script, they should have their own thoughts put into the characters. It’s much easier to act that way,” Yoonho said as he looked around.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Really? What would you do if you experienced this for real? Are you going to act like what you showed on stage since you said that you reflected your own character in the role?” Haneul asked.

“Probably, I think?”

“Then let’s do an act. It’s just the first scene. I’ll play the role of the girl, so you just act like you did before. However, think that this is your own experience when you act. I’m sure the lines will stay the same, but the tone will be slightly different.”

Jungah thought that this was the time to give Haneul the script. Haneul refused it a moment before, but she would probably need it for the act.

However, Haneul spoke the first line without a hitch. Her expression and motion changed in an instant.

When Yoonho continued to be in a daze while facing her, Haneul spoke,

“Are you going to stay like that on stage?”

“No, I’ll begin now.”

Yoonho soon got himself together and started acting. They exchanged lines like they were practicing. When Yoonho brought up his emotions to say his lines, Haneul received and tossed them back as though they had been doing this together for a long time. Even everyone else, who had been practicing together for months, watched in a daze.

Jungah was no different. Haneul must have seen it just once, and yet…. Jungah watched the two people while clutching the script in her hand.

“You’re going to go on an overnight trip?”

“I said what you’re thinking won’t happen.”

“How can I believe you? Did you forget how we started dating? We started dating after making eye contact. We just made eye contact at a bar during the college festival and started dating that way. And now you want to go traveling?”

“Are you really going to make me tired like this?”

When the first act was nearing the end, Haneul shook her head and raised her hand.

“Mr. Yoonho.”

“Yes?”

“This might be a misunderstanding on my part, so don’t take offense when I say this. Are you really going to do it like that? You told me that you reflected your own character into the role you’re playing on stage, didn’t you?”

Yoonho looked at Haneul with his mouth still shut.

“At first, I asked what your psychology was. The emotions you showed on the surface were conveyed really well. Oh, that man’s annoyed, oh, that woman is angry. But those are too generalized. Watch.”

Haneul frowned. Then she said Yoonho’s line as is. She stomped on the ground and shook her wrists. They were all things that Yoonho showed during his act.

“I showed you what you showed me as is. You were like this in the play you showed me, and you were like that just now too. This is a manual. It’s like deciding on what to do from 1 to 10 and repeating just that. Since you practiced a lot and the form you took was good, the emotions expressed were good. But that’s about it.”

Haneul waved at Maru. Maru walked over with an awkward smile.

“What I meant to say is that I can have this guy replace you and do the exact same thing. It’s like clothes. If I strip you and put it on someone else, anyone can become you.”

Yoonho stroked his chin. His expression wasn’t that good.

“It’s important to not make mistakes when acting. Acting according to the script is important too. But while your practice may be mechanical, you can’t be like that on stage.”

“I don’t think I was that bad,” Yoonho said, “I, on the other hand, think that it’s good because I can carry out what I practiced without getting it wrong. I thought about a lot of things during practice to bring out the most optimal form of acting. It isn’t a bad thing to carry that out on stage without making a mistake, is it?”

“Not at all, it’s not a bad thing. Other actors fundamentally do the same thing. But even I, who watched your play for the first time, received the feeling that it conformed too much to a frame. How about you? Do you really feel vexed when you act on stage? Do you become nervous?”

Yoonho, who was responding calmly until now, became quiet. His eyebrows went up. He seemed to be thinking.

Haneul waited for a while before speaking,

“Probably not, I don’t think? First of all, it’s a good thing that you got used to acting. It means that you understood the mechanisms of it. However, what will happen if you stop there? You will repeat what you always did and eventually stop making progress.”

Haneul slowly walked around the stage.

“Mr. Yoonho, no, it’s not just you. All of the actors gathered here are not lacking when it comes to expressing emotions. You’re doing well. Just like learning a mathematical formula.”

Haneul straightened both of her index fingers and continued speaking.

“Once you learn that one plus one equals two and two times two is four, you can calculate the others. But you must not forget how you did those calculations before you memorized the formula.”

Jungah realized what Haneul wanted to say. The others must have as well. It was something that they had heard from their professors and seniors at school on numerous occasions.

She was so used to hearing that phrase that she could automatically remember what came next just from the first part. It was something she was so familiar with, that it was conversely something she forgot about.

“Acting well isn’t something like a formula. If you add this expression on top of this motion, you express sadness, and if you add a sigh to that motion, you express disappointment. Just mechanically displaying emotions like this isn’t an actor’s job.”

Haneul stood at the edge of the stage.

“Form is important. However, what’s inside matters even more. You can’t just have an outline. Of course, I’m sure you know this. If you didn’t, you could never even try to do something like that. It’s just that you’ve forgotten and remembered it just now. Am I wrong?”

Haneul’s eyes landed on Yoonho. Yoonho locked his fingers and looked down at the ground for a moment.

“Mr. Yoonho?” Haneul called Yoonho again.

“Yes. I get what you mean.”

They had to admit it. Haneul was entirely right for them to simply act proud.

Jungah looked back at herself; whether she conformed to her habits with the excuse that she was just a producer, or whether she just learned neat tricks to get by in hard situations.

Sinhye, who said that she would show Haneul the real deal, did not say anything either. Even Yoonho, who had decided to quit acting after this, had accepted her words. There was no way Sinhye, who decided to continue acting, would be able to retort to Haneul’s words.

“In that sense, the person over there.” Haneul raised her hand. Joohwan was standing where she was pointing.

“Your acting was really good. I’d say that ten thousand won isn’t a waste just based on that I could watch him act.”

Jungah inwardly sighed bitterly. So Haneul meant to say that without Joohwan, ten thousand won for the ticket would’ve been a waste?

The others seemed to feel bitter after listening to Haneul’s words as they just smiled bitterly.

“I’m sure you must be thinking: who are you to blab on in front of us? Who can’t talk about the right things? Stop acting proud and mighty. But what can I do? If you want to prepare a stage with me, you’ll keep hearing me say this. Didn’t Maru say that I’m a picky woman?”

“I did,” Maru said.

“I actually anticipated a lot when I heard that you were juniors that Maru cherished a lot. I was also relieved that you were thankfully not so terrible. I’m going to do a total makeover of the play before the next performance.”

“I’m sorry, but Jungah is our main producer,” Sinhye said, looking stiff unlike before.

“Miss Jungah?”

Jungah raised her hand at Haneul’s call. Haneul, who was in front of Yoonho, turned around to stand in front of Jungah. Looking at her from up close, Jungah felt stifled. Jungho didn’t look down at the floor for nothing.

“What’s your opinion as the producer? Will there be difficulties in rebuilding the foundation?”

“Er… there’s not much time until the next performa…”

“Is it really a problem of time? Or does the problem lie with your opinions?”

Even talking to a professor one-on-one would feel less stifling than this.

While she was hesitating, Joowhan cut in,

“I don’t care. I want to learn anything, and I have the confidence to do well.”

“I like your answer. Mr. Joohwan, was it?”

“Yes.”

“Let us work together well from now on. Well then. What about the rest of you? If you say that you’re fine performing as you are now, then I won’t act so greedily either. I can act joyfully if someone like Mr. Joohwan is around, so I’ll match the rest of you. I’ll give you the acting that you want: a mechanical, stage prop. Is that what you want? Just filling in for the empty spot?”

Jungah looked at her friends, unsure how to answer that.

“Isn’t this enough? Also, this will be the last stage for me anyway. I’m not going to be an actor,” Haejung said. She was someone who would soon jump into the front lines of employment just like many others.

“So what?”

“What?”

“Since it’s your last time, are you going to just end it on a suitable note? What kind of crappy excuse is that?”

“Please, it’s not an excuse. I’m just talking about reality.”

“Really? Is that really reality?”

“You’re asking us to break out of formality when we have to perform next week. Isn’t that too…”

“Let me act like a despicable older generation for a second. Did you try it?”

“No, I haven’t tried it, but…”

“Then try it.”

“What?”

“Let’s try it together.”

“Uhm, err…”

Haneul walked over to Haejung and gave her a big hug before patting her back. Haejung left her embrace with a dazed face.

“Well then. Who’s next? Anyone willing to persuade me, please step forward.”

Jungah looked at Maru. Haneul was like a bulldozer. To stop her, Maru’s help was necessary since he was the one who invited her here.

They made eye contact, but Maru just smiled before shaking his head. Then he mouthed: good luck.

“I guess I should talk to Miss Jungah first then. No, why don’t you gather your opinions first? Since you’re doing it anyway, don’t you want to do well together? Are you really going to use me as a fill-in?”

For some reason, Haneul looked overjoyed. Moreover, Park Joohwan was already standing in front of Haneul. He was even smiling, as though to invite them to participate in a fun event.

“Tell me if there’s a reason you can’t do this. I’ll make it doable,” Haneul said with a faint smile.