Chapter 938. Crank Up 5

“Who are you to come in together with Miss Yoonseo?”

“What could possibly happen? I just met her in front of the restaurant.”

“You walked past the reporters with Miss Yoonseo?”

Maru nodded.

“Good for you, man. I wanted to walk in front of the reporters in a cool fashion too, alongside an actress.”

From listening to him, it seemed that Hyungseok had come here early along with the staff. Apparently, he wasn’t on the list of invitees for the afterparty, but producer Jayeon had called for him here, making him dress up before coming.

“Did any of the reporters recognize you?”

“A couple.”

“You’ve become famous, Han Maru. I wonder when I will reach your level.”

“Why don’t you set a higher target? If I’m considered famous, then what makes that guy who is coming in now?”

Maru pointed at Lee Heewon, who came in amidst the cheers of everyone present. It was the appearance of the main character that led the whole drama. The reporters raised their cameras and kept taking photos of him.

“Mr. Heewon is a god.”

“So you still call him a mister, huh.”

“It’s somewhat hard to drop the honorifics. He looks like a good man, but his aura is too strong, so I can’t find myself treating him comfortably.”

Haewon, who stood quietly before Heewon, waved at him. After acknowledging him, Haewon walked over.

“Maru-hyung, I heard the news. You’re working with director Park Joongjin right?”

“That’s how it is.”

“I’m glad to have you around. Please take good care.”

Of what – before he could even ask, Haewon was called away. He was dragged by the other managers to a corner of the restaurant. While Maru had his suspicions, it wasn’t anything urgent, so he decided to hold it in. The afterparty was an occasion where people would switch seats frequently. People would receive glasses of liquor here and there. It would be fine to ask Heewon about the details when they met.

He dipped his spoon into the boiling doenjang-jjigae. Although charcoal was burning with all of its might under the grill, there was no table with grilling meat. Ten minutes before the last episode of Doctors started airing, an older senior entered the restaurant. Along with welcoming applause, the sizzling of meat rang out like fanfare.

“So that place is the Olympus, huh.”

Hyunseok pointed at the table where the director, the writer, and the main actors were. They were placed in the middle of the restaurant, and their voices spread around to the entirety of the restaurant. The old senior praised everyone for their hard work until now, the director thanked the actors who had received her naggings, and the writer resolved that she would write a better story next time. Even though no one told them to, everyone held their breaths when a voice came out from the ‘Olympus.’ Even the sizzling of meat had halted as though a round of grilling was done. The various tables started talking by themselves again after the last episode of ‘Doctors’ started airing.

“I should’ve cried a little more right there.”

“My words exactly. Yoonseo, I’ll slap your back next time. I’m sure you’ll cry buckets.”

With the conversation between Yoonseo and the director acting as the trigger, people started talking; the staff with the staff, the actors with the actors, and managers with managers. Maru checked the TV from time to time as he ate some meat. Heewon, who had finished a dangerous surgical operation, collapsed outside the operating room, almost passing out, and Yoonseo rushed over to him and hugged him. The restaurant became quiet all at once. So this was that scene? From what he heard over the grapevine, the last kissing scene took over half a day to shoot. Apparently, the two actors would burst out laughing whenever they locked eyes, making it difficult to shoot. The two people exchanged gazes under the dim light. Their lips brushed past each other like a prank a few times before locking together like a pair of cogwheels. Cheers erupted from everywhere. Hyungseok booed, as though to prove that he was a passionate fan of Yoonseo.

It was a kiss scene that made him watch over them. The affectionate emotional acting of the two people soaked his heart not too strongly. People who watch that scene would probably want to do such a kiss or would want to receive one. Heewon and Yoonseo, who were sitting at the Olympus table, stood up from their seats and created hearts with their hands. Like the others, Maru sent the two actors and their lovely acting, a round of applause.

As the drama went past its climax and was heading towards the end, the atmosphere at the restaurant changed a lot as well. Whether it was the people who were drinking without stopping, those who kept chatting without any interest in the drama, or the people who were on their phones, they all turned their eyes to the TV hung on the ceiling.

The two protagonists had left the general hospital located in the middle of the city and opened their own medical clinic in a quiet town. The two people were so busy that they had no time to look at each other, and sometime later, the two sat side by side on the bench in front of the clinic under the sunset. Heewon, who was watching the occasional snowflakes fall down, said, ‘how good.’ Yoonseo responded with a ‘true.’ The man and woman sitting in front of an old medical clinic had finally found and attained their happiness amidst their misfortunes. They had overcome all the harsh trials and found their refuge; it was a very drama-like, and hence, dramatic, conclusion. Maru rather liked the writer’s boldness in letting the story flow by itself rather than adding fancy techniques. It was much better than throwing the whole title into the ditch under the pressure that it couldn’t be ordinary. Above all, he liked that it was a happy ending. If dramatic love and happiness couldn’t be seen in dramas, there would be no reason to watch them after all.

Along with the message thanking the audience for watching until now, the final OST decorated the ending. It was the cover song of the drama sung by Heewon and Yoonseo. Heewon’s part was pretty good, and it seemed that he had the talent for singing. No words needed to be said about Yoonseo.

“So this is the end, huh? I didn’t really participate that much, yet I still feel rather bittersweet. How about you?” Hyunseok asked as he filled Maru’s glass.

“I’m wondering who’ll earn the royalties if there’s profit from the background music, so I don’t feel anything that great.”

“Actually, I’m curious about that too.”

Maru chuckled before emptying the glass. This drama had placed another step in front of him for him to climb. He was slightly disappointed that he couldn’t act alongside Heewon more, but there was no helping it since the character he was assigned to didn’t have that much of a role in the first place. Popularity was one thing, but it was quite an enjoyable thing to act alongside an actor that provoked his soul. It was also something that he couldn’t experience easily even with money.

The ending credits started rolling. Usually, this would be the part for the teaser for the next episode, but today, the figures of the production staff could be seen: the camera director focusing in on the actors, the floor director taking light naps right next to some boxes of equipment, the director pulling her hair out, the sound director looking at the audio mixer with a grave expression. There was even a scene where the background and minor actors were receiving makeup, including Maru himself. There was also Bigfoot, wearing a baggy doctor’s gown and a pair of slippers, waving his hand at the camera. It made Maru smile. It was a character that brought him a lot of things, albeit having a short appearance. There were quite a lot of scenes where he was requested to do dynamic acting, so it was quite tricky too. It was a stroke of luck that he came across a character like this.

“Han Maru, you’re a new man.”

It was Choi Hyunjin. From what Maru heard before, she was supposedly unable to come today because of her schedule, but she was here. Maru pulled out a chair next to him and told her to sit. As they had greeted each other before, Hyunseok didn’t find things too awkward. Though, he would be overjoyed and wouldn’t act awkward if a woman came around anyway.

“Things ended earlier than I expected, so I quickly rushed over. I was talking over there, but then I saw you, so I came over.”

“Welcome. We were just two stinky men drinking together too. Would you like a drink?”

“I’d love to, but I brought my car, so I can’t.”

“Then have some soda instead.”

Maru poured her some of the fizzy drink. Hyunjin voiced out ‘cheers’ before gulping down the drink.

“I wanted to thank you at the afterparty no matter what.”

“There you go again. The reason you digested your role so well is your own skill, not my help.”

“I don’t think that’s true. Without you, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to discuss ideas with the writer like that, and the character of the director’s daughter would’ve become boring too. Thanks to that though, I managed to score a cosmetics act this time for two years. It’s Vince.”

“Noona, if you scored something like that, you can’t just say thanks with words. You should give me something.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

Hyunjin took out an envelope from her bag. Maru only said it as a joke, so he was rather taken aback when a white envelope appeared in front of his eyes. Hyungseok quickly told him to take it.

“It’s a hotel restaurant ticket. It’s not a sponsored ticket, and I bought it myself. Call the number or go to their website to set the date and go with your girlfriend. If you don’t have one, you can go with Mr. Hyunseok over here. From what I believe though, I think you’re going to go with your girlfriend, so there shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Have I ever told you that I’m going out with someone?”

“Nope, it’s just intuition. Also, decent boys usually have partners.”

Hyunjin stood up, saying that they should meet later. Maru tried opening the envelope. A reservation ticket to a hotel restaurant known to be expensive in Seoul was inside.

“Isn’t this an invitation for a date?”

“That noona has a boyfriend already.”

“Really? What a pity. So who are you taking with you?”

“Who do you think?”

“If you go there with Miss Gaeul, there will be rumors about it everywhere.”

“So?”

“I’m appealing to you that there’s an extremely safe alternative right next to you. I’ve always wanted to go to this place. I know I said that I’ve saved up quite a bit of money, but the price of this place isn’t something you can easily make a decision about. Just a cup of coffee costs 50 thousand won. It’s an insane place, so I should eat it with another person’s money.”

“I’d rather put it in the charcoal here than go with you.”

Maru put the envelope inside his coat pocket. As Hyungseok said, it might be difficult to use it immediately, but they should be able to use it in the future.

After the drama ended, the people who were chatting and drinking loudly all started to wrap up. It seemed that those going for a second round were grouping up by themselves. Maru hung his coat around his arm and stood up. Hyunseok and a few other actors grabbed him, saying that they should drink some more, but he left the restaurant after telling them that he had matters to attend to.

Breathing in the chilly air, he checked the time. It was half an hour before midnight. He was about to press the power button on his phone to make a phone call when he received a text message. It was Gaeul. She had arrived and was waiting at home. He sent a reply that he’d be right back.

“Maru!”

When he looked behind him, Heewon, who was latched on to Haewon, was being dragged away. Maru smiled and wished Haewon luck with his brother.

“Maru, please take care of me!”

Heewon shouted those words before he was stuffed into the car. Only then was he reminded of the words that Haewon said before. He was about to approach and ask, but the car had already departed. It seemed that they were busy getting away from the reporters and journalists waiting. Maru looked at the car that departed before starting to walk. If it was important, he was bound to find out soon, so there was no need to worry about it so much.

“Hyung, I just left.”

Maru called Byungchan. It was time to go home.