Chapter 209

Six scripts. Six vastly different stories with interesting characters in each of them, Suyeon clearly spent a lot of time picking them out. So she was surprisingly good at doing her work, Maru instantly lost his suspicion about her.

“Which one did you like?” Maru asked.

Suyeon had stepped out for a second, saying that she had no intentions of interfering with their selection process.

“This was the one that had the deepest impression on me.”

Aram spoke as she handed over the script numbered ‘4’. Dowook chose that one as well, saying that he couldn’t be bothered to choose a different one.

“So we’re all thinking similarly, huh. I liked that one too.”

Even Daemyung joined in. The fourth script was a romance story about a couple that met by chance. The story was set in a train station after they both end up missing a train that comes every two hours and starts talking to each other. They go on a short trip around the station, and part ways when the train finally arrives. The story never explained if the two got together at the end or not, but when done well, it would leave a euphoric feeling to the audience.

“Love is where it’s at.”

Bangjoo raised his hand.

“Is that so.”

There were five cast members. The stage was a platform, so they wouldn’t need that many props either and costumes weren’t an issue as well. It came with a lot of merits and Maru was honestly a fan of that. Especially since the story was pretty good, too. There was no reason for him to not take it, but…

“What do you think, Jiyoon?”

There was still one person that had yet to speak her mind, Jiyoon slowly looked down at the floor as she fumbled around a bit.

“I… Like that one too.”

She closed her mouth with just that.

Maru looked closely at the girl, some people just didn’t like to stand out and that tendency only worsened in a country like South Korea. Perhaps Jiyoon’s reaction just now was the right one to take in a company, but it really wasn’t the case in the club. They were in school, the one place where people were free and encouraged to express all of their opinions. Maru kept getting annoyed at Jiyoon, because of just how much she resembled Daemyung in his first year. He knew she just couldn’t help it, but it was annoying regardless. He asked her one more time.

“Really? Do you like this?”

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

If she says yes here, he’d just go forward with it. He’d already told her once that it was ok to be timid. Timidness implied sensitivity and sensitivity meant that one could express their emotions better, but timidness didn’t mean you couldn’t be greedy. Maru had no intentions of continuously supporting someone completely unable to express their greed.

There were two main characters in the fourth script, just the couple. There was one more female character that appeared briefly, but she was no more than a passing bystander. The female lead of the play was someone very active and positive as well, just like Aram. That meant that Jiyoon would naturally have to take the role of the bystander.

- I want to be on stage. I want to be an actor.

Jiyoon did express greed in the past, greed doesn’t show itself to a static human being. Was Jiyoon really satisfied with being a bystander? Maru’s eyes met with Jiyoon’s, the girl quickly looked down in surprise. She clearly had something else in mind, but she wouldn’t open her mouth.

“Alright, we’ll go with this.”

Maru had no intentions of feeding the girl what she wanted, he already gave her a chance which she’d failed to take. Now, they’d just need to figure out the roles. But just before he pushed aside the other scripts away, Daemyung opened his mouth.

“Um, Jiyoon?”

“Yes?”

“This place is still a little foreign to you, isn’t it? We’re hard to deal with.”

“N-no, that’s not it.”

“Really? But it is for me. You’re better than me.”

Daemyung grinned brightly, Maru shut himself up and stepped away. The boy was trying to do something, so he might as well respect it.

“I’m very timid. I’m also a total coward. And I was bullied a lot because of this. I mean, I look like this too, so it was almost inevitable.”

Daemyung rubbed his knees with an awkward laugh, the club members turned to look at him.

“I was also unable to speak my mind in my first year. I hated grabbing attention, that’s still the case now. It’s difficult to speak to you guys.”

Daemyung’s cheeks were reddening with embarrassment.

“But you know, if you shut yourself up and give in to peer pressure… It might be fine for now, but that tendency of yours will only continue. If you keep being silent like this, you really won’t be able to say a single word in the future. No matter how much it hurts.”

Daemyung rolled up his hands into a fist.

“Of course, not much might change if you voice your thoughts now, but you’ll feel much better if you do. I know it’s difficult to open up. Believe me, I’ve been there. That’s why I want to tell you, it’s important to express your thoughts with words.”

Upon realizing that the entire club was looking at him, Daemyung quickly lost his composure.

“So I mean… Uh… Don’t think too much and just say your thoughts out loud. Because I won’t be laughing no matter how weird it is. Ah, uh, of course, that includes all of us. Probably...”

Daemyung sighed exhaustedly. The boy was so natural on stage, but he hated receiving attention offstage. Maru knew how tiring that must’ve been for the boy. After all, he was the type that liked to help from the sides. It must’ve taken a tremendous amount of courage to speak out in front of everyone like that. Perhaps Daemyung saw himself in Jiyoon, enough to give advice in the middle of a meeting.

Silence enveloped the classroom, but it still felt warm. Maru took a look at the club members one by one, they were looking away from Jiyoon as best they could to avoid pressuring her.

Maru turned to look at Daemyung, he himself couldn’t give this sort of advice. He was too old mentally, so he only knew how to speak directly to people. He could prop a person up with all sorts of lies, but he honestly didn’t want to do that to a companion. He didn’t want to use lies to try to improve a relationship.

Unlike him, Daemyung was soft. He was someone who could use gentle words that came from his heart to coax a person. Indeed, Daemyung was a better fit to be the president of the club. No, he had to be the president.

Maru turned to look at Jiyoon, Daemyung had set the stage for her. It must not be very easy for her to talk, but if she stays silent here… she wouldn’t ever be able to change. He could only hope that the girl didn’t disappoint Daemyung.

“I… Like this one. I’m sorry.”

Jiyoon spoke as she bit her lips. The phrase “I’m sorry” was glued to her tongue, her habit just didn’t seem to go away. Daemyung gave Maru a little glance, he clearly was begging Maru not to scold her. Maru shrugged before opening his mouth.

“Tell me why you liked it. Just an impression is fine.”

Jiyoon nodded, seemingly having made up her mind. Maru saw the girl fight against injustice about two times now. Both times involving Geunseok, actually. In any case, the girl did have the courage inside her. She breathed a bit before speaking.

“I liked the variety of characters in this play. They all have similar amounts of screen time as well. I thought everyone would be happy with the roles they got. The props are good too since it’s in a modern setting. That’s why...”

Jiyoon’s voice crawled back into her.

“Hey hey, we don’t bite, so just keep going,” Aram said, punching Jiyoon lightly on the shoulder.

Jiyoon put the script between her arms as she continued.

“There’s two female characters and four male characters as well, so I thought it’d be easier to manage. It doesn’t have many props either, since it’s set in a prison cell. The others all seemed fun, but they either require too many props or have too many roles.”

“But the first play we talked about doesn’t have a lot of props either,” Maru criticized.

Daemyung gestured at him to stop, but he just ignored it. Jiyoon looked down nervously, but she didn’t close her mouth this time.

“...The first play only had a lot of lines for the main characters. That isn’t a bad thing, but… I’d like for our first play together to be in harmony. I think that’d be fun. No, I know that’d be fun.”

Jiyoon’s voice assumed absolute confidence at the end. Maru smiled, The girl was pretty persuasive. He wouldn’t have changed his mind if her arguments were all over the place, but with her last line…

“I like this script as well. So it’s four on two?”

Maru put his vote on the third script as well. He was also a fan of the play being set in a prison cell, with the characters looking back on their lives with regret. Moreover, there was a character he wanted as well. A character he almost felt like he needed to play.

“Mm, I think I like this one as well,” Aram said.

It seemed like the girl was pushing for her friend, but whatever.

“Choose whatever, I don’t care,” Dowook said, lying back on the floor.

Bangjoo and Daemyung were the only two left at this point.

“Come to think of it, I wouldn’t have any lines on the fourth one, so I’ll go with three!”

Bangjoo raised his hand, Daemyung smiled like a buddha as he said “let’s go with three then”.

“Alright, three it is.”

Maru stood up, it was time to call Suyeon back in. He opened the door and looked left and right, he saw her standing at one end of the hallway. She wasn’t alone though, there was an all too familiar person conversing with her.

‘Why is instructor Miso...’

Maru walked towards the two with a small frown.