After Story 211

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

Sinhye left the stage after saying her last line. Her heart was beating hard like it was going to burst. It had been a long time since the last time she felt something like this.

“I made a mistake, didn’t I?” she asked Jungah, who was behind the curtain.

Jungah shook her head. “No, you did well. You didn’t make a mistake until the end.”

Jungah’s face was flushed red as well. Even the girl who always maintained her calm had gotten heated.

Sinhye looked at the stage while trying to calm herself down. The last act was starting.

Joonsoo came on stage first, followed by Haneul. Under the lighting, Haneul’s figure screamed ‘I’m the main character.’

“I was surprised during practice as well, but seeing her on a real stage is incomparable.”

Haneul was someone who managed to turn even fellow actors on stage into members of the audience.

She looked at Haneul’s acting. Every single moment was precious. Her eyes contained love, and on her fingertips lay sadness. The amount of emotions transmitted by her body was overwhelmingly superior to those by her lines.

“Is this what it’s like to fall for someone?” Jungah said.

“If it was any other time, I would’ve told you to stop joking, but I can’t help but agree. I’m feeling the same.”

Sinhye thought of the Pietà she saw in Vatican City. When she first saw the statue when she was seventeen, her first impression was that it was smaller than she thought. Looking at the Pietà from outside the barrier, through a pane of bulletproof glass, she thought that it looked more shabby than what she saw in her textbook.

When she thought about why she had made it through the crowd of people for just that, she had one last look at the Pietà. She still didn’t have much of an impression.

She took one step, and then another.

Only after taking a few steps did she realize that her eyes were still drawn to it.

The grandiose and overwhelming St. Peter’s Basilica impressed her, but after she had a look around, it didn’t give her that big of an impression.

However, the Pietà was different. She went to look at it several times during her visit.

Then, on the day she left, she took the first and last photo of it.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

She realized today that she was feeling something similar to looking at the photo of it she had on her desk when looking at Haneul.

She was completely charmed by the actress known as Han Haneul.

After Haneul’s last line, the lights on the stage dimmed. During the short blackout, Jungah went to the center of the stage.

Sinhye handed Haneul, who stood next to her while sweating, a bottle of water

“That was great.”

“Was it okay?”

“Was it okay, you ask? Senior, that was terrific.”

“I had too much fun because it has been such a long time since I was on stage. I almost forgot my lines midway too.”

“I don’t think it would’ve mattered though. Anyone would’ve thought that whatever you said was the correct line. That was just how perfect you were.”

“Having you say that makes me feel better.”

“I didn’t know I’d say something like this either. You know I’m really stingy with compliments right? If you get a compliment from me, then it’s an amazing feat.”

Haneul smiled before putting the water bottle on the ground.

Jungah, who went on stage, was giving the finishing commentary. The person in the control room started playing the music.

“Don’t let go of the tension until the end,” Haneul said as she went on stage. Sinhye also waited for her turn before going on stage.

She grabbed Haneul’s hand and raised the hand above their heads before putting it down with a bow.

The audience gave them a round of applause. They received applause after their previous performances too, but it was not as loud as the one she was getting today.

She just managed to regain her calm, but her heart started racing again.

Sinhye smiled and wiped her eyes. She felt a surge of emotions. Not to mention the actors who prepared the play, it felt like even the audience had become one.

“Thank you for watching our play, and after a brief photo time, you’ll be guided out. Once again, thank you for coming and watching until the end.”

Jungah’s last goodbye ended. The audience took out their phones and started taking photos. The actors stood on stage one by one just as they agreed beforehand and made poses.

“Please check that you haven’t forgotten anything, and watch out for the stairs on your way out.”

After the photo time, Sinhye stood in the corridor leading outside the building. The other actors also stood in regular intervals and saw out the people that left.

“Thank you. Please come again,” Sinhye said to the person going past her.

She shook hands with those who asked and even took photos with those who wanted one. After saying goodbye to the woman she presumed to be the last one, she left the building.

People were gathered there, flocking towards Haneul to take photos with her.

“It’s great that we had senior Haneul wait outside. If she was in the corridor like us, it would’ve been total chaos,” Jungah said, having come to take a look.

“Someone who didn’t even say anything to me is waiting over there. This is sad,” Sinhye said with a smile.

It wasn’t that she was genuinely disappointed. Even if she was in their shoes, she would’ve hurried out to take photos with Haneul. After all, she shone more brightly than anyone at least on today’s stage.

“You were good today.”

She turned her head around when she felt someone tap on her shoulder.

“Hey, when did you come?”

It was Jimin. The others found her as well and gathered around.

“How about your work? You were busy preparing for the orientation.”

“I somehow managed to make some time. Rather than that, you guys were really good. I feel like it’s a good thing that I left.”

“How could you say that? You’re making us feel bad.”

Sinhye dragged Jimin by the arm over to the center of the group. She was someone who prepared for the play more earnestly than anyone. She was also stubborn about staying until the end. She felt thankful that Jimin came over to watch at all.

“I think it was a good decision to come today. I feel at ease after seeing you guys on stage. But hey, isn’t this a little too much? How could you do so well? I feel bitter now.”

“Get accustomed to your company quickly and make some time. We’ll do another one.”

“Wasn’t this the last time?” Jimin said with a mischievous smile.

Sinhye looked at the faces of the others. Their heated expressions were calming down.

They had probably forgotten that after this month, the majority of them would start working in places unrelated to acting or preparing for employment.

“I’ll go say hello to her for now. She helped me out, so I should at least say thanks.”

Jimin turned around. As soon as she left, everyone else smiled awkwardly.

“Yeah, this was the last, wasn’t it?”

“I totally forgot about it. I was having so much fun on stage that I couldn’t think of anything else.”

As soon as they finished speaking, Joohwan spoke,

“If you have any regrets, then keep doing it. It’s not like you swore an oath to give up on acting. Who can say anything even if you took it back?”

“I feel envious whenever that guy says something like that. Living without thinking must be a skill of its own.”

“I probably think more than any one of you here, you know? I’m smarter too. I know exam scores aren’t everything, but all of you are below me, aren’t you?”

“Fine, you do you.”

“I’m just telling you not to do something that you might regret later. Even a snot-nosed brat would know that.”

Sinhye covered Joohwan’s mouth. He was right, but he was still cocky.

“I get that you worked hard, but aren’t you guys forgetting something?”

She heard a voice from down the stairs. Sinhye looked down with a face that looked like she forgot something. There, she saw Maru holding trash bags. She had forgotten that they had to clean up after the audience left.

“I’m going to ask to be paid by minimum wage standards for this. I’m not joking.”

“I’m sorry, senior. Jimin came over, so we were having a talk.”

“Jimin’s here?” Maru asked as he put down the trash bags.

Sinhye quickly raised her hand to point at where Haneul was.

“She went to senior Haneul to say thank you.”

“She came even though she must be busy. I’ll go see her too.”

When Maru approached the crowd, people became noisy again. Sinhye looked at Maru, who was receiving a lot of attention.

“Celebrities are celebrities alright. I totally forgot though because I saw him so many times during practice.”

“Could we become like that one day?” Jungah said.

“But you’re going to be a director.”

“I’m not sure. Senior Haneul told me that I should consider preparing to become a director even while being an actress. It’s her saying it, so I feel tempted.”

Sinhye told her to try it. Even she could tell that Jungah had skills.

In truth, directing was a job that required acting skills better than anyone else’s. They had to transmit what they wanted to express to the actors, and words didn’t always suffice.

“Let’s go down now and pick up where senior left off and clean up.”

Joohwan waved and walked down the stairs.

“I swear he’ll maybe hesitate for about two seconds if senior Maru tells him to jump off a roof.”

“Would he though? I think he would jump immediately.”

“Really?”

Sinhye faintly smiled and walked down the stairs. The noise from the audience became distant.

* * *

Junmin looked outside the window while drinking coffee. There, he saw his wife smiling joyfully. It seemed that Maru, who was next to her, was telling her an interesting story.

“It’s a contract I can’t help but sign.”

“I did decide to put my heart into bringing you over,” Junmin said as he looked at Haneul.

She was putting down the contract as though she read everything.

“Is there anything you’d like to add or edit? Even if it’s a minor complaint, I’ll listen to it,” he said.

“No, I wouldn’t be able to receive a better contract than this in my current situation, so I don’t have any complaints.”

“That’s fortunate. Is the contract with your previous agency completely settled?”

“Yes. It was settled cleanly so that there won’t be any noise later.”

“Even if it does become problematic later, I do not care. That is something I can take care of.”

“I feel a lot better when you say that.”

“Then shall we sign it? Originally, I would’ve taken it slow and done it at the company, but I’m afraid I’ll miss you if I do.”

“I’m going to get airsick if you put me up so high.”

“I’d like you to know that I’m just that serious about signing a contract with you.”

“Looks like I have no choice but to sign it then.”

Junmin put two copies of the contract side by side and pointed at the place where it had to be stamped together.

Haneul picked up the stamp and stamped the seal between the two copies. He put one copy of the contract in an envelope and gave it to Haneul.

“Thank you for coming to JA.”

“No, thank you for calling me. I’ll do my best to become a good actress.”

He put on a satisfactory smile. He had thought that he would not sign any new actors for a while, especially not someone so exceptional like her.

“I have heard the general outline from Maru. Apparently, the two of you are dating.”

“Yes. You are in management, so I thought you should know.”

“Are you going to make your relationship public?”

“Not for the time being. But we don’t plan to stay meticulously hidden.”

“Whatever it is, take it easy. If you ever decide on a date, then please tell me. I’ll gift you a house you two can live in at least.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Hearing her bold answer, Jumin ended up laughing out loud.

“Please drop the honorifics when we meet next time.”

“I will. Anyway, I really enjoyed your performance today. I had as much fun as when I first came to Daehak-ro to watch a play.”

“There’s no better compliment than that to an actor.”

“With that being the case, how many more times are you doing the play?”

“We’re performing on weekends, and 3 to 4 times a day, so… I think there should be around 20 more times.”

“Are the actors who performed with you affiliated with theater troupes?”

“No, they’re college students and graduates preparing for employment. It’s one of those last stages from those in the theater department.”

“I see,” Junmin crossed his arms. “Then could I talk to the person in charge of production?”