Chapter 739

“The first episode airs today, didn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“How do you think it’ll do?”

“The late-night drama that airs at the same time on another channel is quite popular, so I don’t expect much. Of course, it’d be great if it does well.”

Maru crumpled the empty paper cup and stood up.

“I heard about the prenatal name. Snowball, huh. Pretty good, I must say.”

“My wife didn’t seem to like it though.”

“I’m sure she’s just not showing it even though she likes it. Thanks for the hot chocolate. Please bring me out to drink next time. I can legally drink now.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Maru said goodbye to Taesik before walking over to the container behind the school. He felt like it was yesterday when he wrote ‘Acting club warehouse’ with white paint, yet he could already see that it had yellowed and was beginning to scratch off. He tried pulling on the firmly locked padlock. He could hear a heavy metal sound. While it was very rusty, there didn’t seem to be a problem with its function.

“It’s still pretty useful.”

Thinking that he would probably never see it again, Maru tapped on the outer wall of the container before leaving the school. When he looked back at the school after crossing the road, he saw that it was shrouded in darkness. The only places where the lights were on were the gym on the left, the 1st floor where the faculty office was, and the 5th-floor hall. He felt like he could hear the faint sounds of the acting club practicing their lines.

He took out a scarf from his bag and put it around his neck. The wind was fierce. It was cold enough for there to be a warning from the government. He stomped his legs at the bus stop as he waited for the bus.

“Honey, it’s cold, put this on.”

“I’m fine though.”

“Put it on anyway. You catch colds often. You should watch out when you can.”

A man who seemed to be in college was putting a scarf around a woman. The man’s nose had turned red, but he was smiling as though it was nothing. Marriage, child, and couple. Maru smiled bitterly. What was he supposed to wish for in a world where what’s natural was no longer so?

The bus arrived. He got in and stood in front of the back door.

“Yes, hun. I’m going back.”

“Darling, listen to me. I had a really hard time today.”

“Alright, watch out on your way back. I’ll be going back first with Jisoo.”

He heard the usual sounds of people telling their lovers what happened during the day, venting their frustration, and just talking about trivial stuff. Maru took out his phone and put it down many times. Ever since he got a reply text from when it was the CSAT exams, she hadn’t contacted him once. I’ll do well - that was the last text she sent him.

“Are you still unable to speak?”

Maru called out to the masked man living within him. Ever since he regained his memories, the masked man stopped speaking. The silence of his only ally dramatically increased his fatigue. When he was acting, he could interact with the masked man, but it was impossible to converse like before. Maru thought that the day the masked man broke his silence would be the day of his death. It was just an assumption, but he was probably correct.

When he got off the bus, he got a text message. It was from Yuna. He messaged her that he was departing right now. He got onto the train headed for Sindorim. It would only take 50 minutes for him to get there, so he had plenty of time. He stood so that he wouldn’t easily lose balance and opened a novel. This was the only time his brain got to rest due to all the problems of the real world that he could not solve. It was a thriller novel that was written from the perspective of a person captured by a bunch of delusional patients, but he did not feel any agitation at all. Perhaps it was because he was in an even more fantasy-like situation.

When he read about half, he arrived at Sindorim station. He stepped onto the platform amidst the crowd. He watched the people struggling to get on

[1]

before stepping onto the stairs.

“Uhm, I’ve arrived at Sindorim station, where should I go now?”

-Once you leave through the 5th exit, you should find a convenience store across the road. There’s a bank to its right, and if you follow that road, you should be able to see the sign of the restaurant.

“Okay, got it.”

He hung up the call with Ganghwan and started walking. He looked at the buildings lined up along the road until he found the restaurant. He pushed the glass door and went inside. His ears, which had frozen stiff under the weather, melted instantly.

He took the elevator to the 7th floor. He walked past a couple of drunk people, went inside, and saw a bronze statue of an elderly man covered in red. He wondered what the chicken colonel was doing here, covered in red. The people walking by also seemed to have found it interesting and some of them even took photos.

He opened the door to the restaurant and went inside. The first thing that caught his eyes was the u-shaped bar. The people sitting at the bar seemed to be in their early 30s on average. Above the bar were large TVs on each side. Each of them had a different program showing. Although it looked like some jazz would suit the scene, the sound that filled the restaurant was people’s chatter mixed with the TV noises.

Maru looked around. There were tables blocked by screens on each side of the u-shaped bar, and he saw Ganghwan sitting by the window to the right.

“You’re here.”

The first one to welcome him was Jayeon. Maru took off his bag and sat down.

“Are Byungjae-hyung and Mira-noona not here yet?”

“They can’t come because of work or something. I don’t know those guys anymore. Those guys, I told them we should watch the first episode together, and they just ignored me. The shoot is over for them, so we don’t have any business together, huh? They don’t need me anymore, huh?”

Jayeon sighed while resting her chin on her hands.

“I think you’re drunk already.”

“I’m drunk on the indifference of other people. Isn’t it romantic for the producer and the actor to watch the first episode together?”

“I think they’re avoiding you because you bullied them during the afterparty.”

He thought back to Jayeon, who had held on to Mira and Byungjae throughout the whole afterparty. She kept making them drink saying that she was exhausted, and those two probably didn’t attend today because they pushed themselves too far that day.

“We’re really going to go until the end today. Today’s Fire Friday, so don’t think about pulling out. I don’t have any work tomorrow either. But where’s Yuna? Why don’t I see her?”

Just as Jayeon took out her phone, Maru saw Yuna hurry over from the entrance of the restaurant.

“I was almost disappointed in you thinking that you weren’t coming. Yuna, come next to unni and sit down.”

Jayeon opened her arms wide to welcome Yuna. If Maru had to pick two people that had gotten really close during the two months of shooting, he would choose Jayeon and Yuna.

“I actually got lost on my way here. Was I late by a lot?”

“No. You’re forgiven for coming. Yuna, you’re incomparably better than kids like Byungjae and Mira.”

Jayeon giggled as she hugged Yuna. Maru quietly asked Ganghwan, who sat next to him.

“I don’t see any empty bottles, where were you guys drinking?”

“We already emptied 2 bottles in the pojang-macha right in front of this place.”

“Aren’t you going in the wrong order? From a pojang-macha to a bar….”

“Don’t ask me that. I’m just a casualty too. Looks like she really did receive a lot of stress. She started acting like an unrestrained pony after the editing finished, and it made even me tired.”

“Making you tired huh, that speaks a lot. I think I should run if I want to survive.”

“One of us will have to take the gun. You be sick, I’ll take you home.”

“No. Why don’t you suddenly fall down saying that you have acute appendicitis? I’ll carry you to the hospital.”

Maru turned his head around at the tapping noise. It was the sound of Jayeon slapping down on a table.

“What are you two on about?”

“We were just discussing what to eat,” Maru quickly came up with an excuse.

One wrong step and Jayeon would feed him drinks immediately.

“Let’s fill ourselves for now, shall we?”

They each ordered what they wanted to eat.

“Also, bring us beer and two sodas.”

After the waiter walked away, Jayeon stretched her arms out and spoke,

“I wish I could have Maru drink, but the year hasn’t passed yet, so I guess it’s not happening.”

“Phew.”

“Instead, you can drink mixes.”

“What?”

“I’m telling you to mix it with your soda so that people won’t find out.”

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“I thought it was you who went on about not allowing minors to drink….”

“That’s when I was shooting. Now that everything’s over, I have nothing to hold back. Of course, Yuna’s still a baby, so let’s not drink alcohol, okay?”

She sounded like a drunk old man. It would be fortunate if she did not suddenly go over to the next table and started ranting.

“Anyway, I’m fortunate that it ended safely,” Yuna said.

Maru nodded. The shoot ended without any big accidents. They even had the luck of snow during the last shoot. It would be great if that luck continued and influenced the viewing rates.

“Enjoy your food.”

Various drinking snacks and food were placed on the table. They talked about various episodes that happened during the shoot. As most of them were practically drunk during the afterparty, they didn’t have any time to talk properly.

“I actually felt rather uneasy when we first started off, but now that I think about it, I don’t think anyone else would’ve worked.”

“You’re just sounding weak at this point. You said you had to make it work when you started shooting.”

“Hyung, the ship is bound to capsize if the captain is uneasy. Even if I feel uneasy, I have to rein it in and take command. Isn’t that right?”

Maru agreed, saying ‘that’s right’.

“Anyways, you two, weren’t you two going out?” Jayeon asked as she hung her arm around Yuna.

Yuna, who was eating some omurice, froze on the spot.

“You two looked to be on pretty good terms.”

“We decided to be good friends,” Maru said.

Yuna quickly nodded in agreement.

“What the? Looks like Maru rejected you.”

“No way.”

“Really? Am I wrong then? I definitely thought that you were dating.”

“Maru-seonbae has a girlfriend already,” Yuna said with a straight back.

She gave off the feeling of knowing what was going on and was clearly stating that she did not want to talk about this anymore. Jayeon glanced at Yuna for a while before changing the topic. She wasn’t someone who would pry into what people did not want to talk about. While she was easy-going, she definitely kept her manners.

“If I think about how that dog kept delaying the shoot, it still makes me angry.”

Jayeon kept the conversation going. Yuna also joined the conversation as though she wanted to shake off what they were talking about before. While the two women excitedly chatted, Maru quietly poured some soda into his cup and drank.

“Oh, it’s about to start.”

Just as everyone was laughing about the time they got an NG due to a laugh, Jayeon had looked at her watch and then spoke. Maru also checked the time. It was 10:58.

“I’ll go tell them to change the channel.”

Maru stood up and walked over to the counter. He had the TV facing them change the channel to YBS. The documentary that aired at 10 on Friday was still on.

“I wonder if we got a lot of ads,” Maru said as he sat down.

“Don’t ask,” Jayeon said indifferently. Businesses who could put ads into a mini-series either had money left over or were those that had little to no money.

Yuna, who was sitting on the other side, started tapping on her phone.

“What are you doing?” Maru asked.

Yuna stopped and chuckled.

“I’m texting my friends to watch it since it’s going to start soon. It might affect the viewing rate.”

He probably didn’t need to tell the innocent girl that the viewing rates were investigated a different way. Maru put his spoon in his mouth and looked at the TV. The documentary finished, the and ads started.

“I’m nervous,” Jayeon said.

Ganghwan also looked at the screen with a serious face since this was the first work he did outside of the theater.

“There won’t be any hiccups, right?”

“If there is, it’s your fault now, Han Maru.”

Maru just shrugged.

[1] Sindorim station is one of the most busiest stations in Seoul