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Maru looked at the man who asked the question and spoke, “Yes. But for me, it’s 98 out of 200. I have a lot of things I still lack.”

“Really? To my eyes, it looked like you brought out the character well. Which part did you find lacking?”

“This is our first work, for both the director and me, so there were a lot of changes midway. We did have a draft to go on when we started shooting, but whenever we had a flash of inspiration midway, we changed directions. We were focused on taking on a challenge, so to speak. In that process, the description of the character slightly changed, and as the actor, I should’ve been cautious of that. Now that I look at the finished piece, I see things that are still lacking.”

“Do you pursue perfection when you act?”

“I believe all actors in this world want to display perfect acting, and are striving to do so. Of course, they can’t be truly perfect. Whether they’re borrowing the clothes of the character or becoming the character, the process of change is bound to cause losses. So, I guess I should say that it’s my aim to do an act that is near perfection.”

“Thank you for your answer. I said one last question, but I guess I asked more than that.”

“Not at all. Thank you for asking. Also, thank you for having an interest in our work.”

The man gave the microphone to the helper and sat down. The front door to the theater slightly opened and a helper in a green t-shirt poked his head inside.

The MC immediately spoke, “I had nothing to do since everyone was so eager to talk. I’d love to hear more from the audience as well, but unfortunately, it’s time to end things here. We have to prepare for the next section too.”

The lights on the ceiling were all turned on. As the MC said, it was time to finish things.

“Then director Lee Yoonseok, please say goodbye for all of us, since you’re the most polite out of all of us. And then, we’ll have a photo session with the audience at the front. Well, then. Director.”

Yoonseok, who was relieved that things were over, ended up getting the mic again. He hastily stepped forward and spoke,

“It makes me nervous when I think that I’m representing all of these people. Thank you very much for coming today, and we’ll strive our best to bring you films you will enjoy in the future. Thank you for loving short films.”

Maru applauded. People seemed to have felt the honesty in Yoonseok’s words as they applauded even louder than before.

“Then let us take a commemoratory picture. The photos we take will be uploaded on the official website for the Short Film Festival, so please download them there if you need them.”

The members of the audience all stood up and gathered in front of the stage. The helper with the camera pressed the shutter a few times before putting down the camera with an okay call.

“Thank you all for coming today. Please be careful on your way home, and I was Mister Park. I hope I see you again.”

The GV ended with the MC’s cheerful goodbye. There was a piece of paper in the hands of the audience leaving through the back door. They were assessment papers. They were able to score just one of the four films they watched today, and the audience award will be chosen according to their assessments.

“Directors, actors, please wait a second,” a helper approached them and said after the last audience left.

“You know that the closing ceremony is the day after tomorrow, right? It’ll be at 6 in hall 8, so you can come at that time, and before the ceremony, you’ll be contacted about getting an award. If you are picked from the list, then you must come.”

The helper reminded them of what they heard during the opening ceremony.

The audience seats were totally empty. The MC and the helpers also left after saying goodbye.

“Let’s go as well,” Maru said, pointing at the back door.

He walked up the stairs before looking behind him. He found Yoonseok still staring at the screen in a daze on the stage. It seemed that he still felt the lingering energy here.

He waited for Yoonseok from the stairs. The other directors and actors all walked past him.

“Good work,” Moon Jungah said and walked past him. Maru responded back the same.

Joohwan, who was right behind Jungah, stopped on the same step as him. Maru said goodbye first, “See you at the closing ceremony.”

“Yes.”

They were supposed to be done, but Joohwan did not move. Jungah, who arrived at the door first, called out to Joohwan, telling him to hurry up.

Maybe he had something more to say? Maru looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“Mr. Han Maru, right?”

“Yes.”

“I know it’s impolite to ask this on our first encounter, but how old are you?”

“Me? I’m twenty-two this year.”

“So you’re two years older than me. Uhm, can I ask you one thing?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Can I hug you once?”

Maru didn’t feel like he had heard wrong. Still, he asked just in case what he meant by that.

“I said what I mean, a literal hug.”

“You mean me?”

“Yes.”

Maru blinked in a daze due to the confusion that crept up from the tips of his feet. It had been an extremely long time since his thought process came to a screeching halt because of someone’s words.

Joohwan blatantly stared at him during the screening of ‘The Form of Love’ for a reason he couldn’t understand. The same person suddenly said that he wanted a hug, still for a reason he couldn’t understand.

“You’re saying something weird again, aren’t you?” Jungah walked over and pulled on Joohwan. She looked like a mother rebuking an immature son.

“Sorry, did this guy say something rude to you?” she asked.

“I’m not so sure.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he wants to hug me….”

Jungah’s eyes widened. Joohwan shushed Jungah just as she was about to speak and took her arms off him.

“That’s the problem with you. You keep trying to judge me using your standards. I have something to say to this actor, so wait a little bit,” he said in a slow voice. Jungah, who was about to rebuke him, twitched her mouth and just stayed quiet.

They were an interesting couple. It seemed like the woman had a firm grasp on the man, but the man was the one leading.

After watching the relationship between the two people, Maru returned to the question at hand.

“Can I ask you why you want to hug me?”

“Because I’m grateful.”

“You’re grateful to me?”

“Yes. I’m very grateful.”

“It’s rather strange to hear that when I haven’t done anything.”

“You have done something. You showed me something, very clearly in fact. There was something I’d been looking for ever since I started studying acting. It’s an actor around the same age as me.”

“I think there should be thousands of actors in their twenties.”

“There are a lot, sure, but they’re all so-so. Not one of them stands out. You know, I believe that the existence of a stimulus is very important. Sure, the seniors up there must be good. Naturally, I get shocked, in a good way, when I watch them. But they don’t stimulate me. You get what I mean, right?”

Maru recalled the eyes of numerous companion animals that he had raised until now. Joohwan’s eyes were similar to theirs.

They were untainted white. He had no intention to be roundabout or sarcastic at all, and he was just expressing his emotions with the most honest, accurate words possible.

“Did I become a good stimulus for you?”

“Yes. I didn’t know when I was young, but there’s something I found out recently. I actually quite like competition. When I think about it, one of the reasons I liked studying was because there were targets of comparison. Acting is the same. It’s not like there’s an absolute standard or an assessment value, but people can tell by looking right? About who’s better than who, and who’s worse than who.”

After saying those words, Joohwan suddenly apologized and turned around. Jungah gave him some tissue from the side. He blew his nose and continued to speak, “Actually, I didn’t have big expectations from the film festival. But my head was dazed when I watched ‘The Form of Love.’ I couldn’t picture myself doing that kind of act naturally. It was vague. For me, I was uncontrollably happy because of it.”

“You have great self-confidence, Mr. Joohwan. No, you know yourself well.”

He was someone who couldn’t stand the absence of competition. Maru knew people like this. They were the people who improved endlessly, and ultimately saw the end.

He would definitely make his name known should he continue to proceed as an actor. A competent, ambitious junior thanked him. This was no different from a challenge. It was also a declaration that he would analyze every detail about Maru’s act that he found abstract for now, and would feed off them to eventually stand above him.

“As you said in your introduction, I’m sure you’ll become a good actor in the future.”

“Yes. I will.”

“To say my honest feelings right now, you’ll… become an even better actor, senior.”

“Slightly better than you, Mr. Joohwan?”

“It’s 97 points versus 98 points after all.”

“Mine was out of 200 though.”

“If the maximum amount of points for that act was 200, then mine’s also out of 200. How did you feel when you looked at my acting? Was mine easy? Clear? Did it have a sense of identity?”

“It had character for sure. It didn’t look easy either. You expressed it clearly with your own colors. It was very good.”

“Thank you.”

Joohwan smiled brightly as soon as he got a compliment. He was a really honest fellow. He was clever, but he did not attempt to hide. He was upfront about everything. Maru could tell that he was raised with great love and care under his parents.

The more he watched him, the more he wanted him. If this was one of his previous lives where he ran an agency, he would’ve brought in him under great conditions.

He gave Joohwan a light hug before letting go.

“Perhaps we may meet often in the future at auditions or other works. Though, I’m sure you might find it funny for a rookie like me to say such a thing.”

“No. It is just as you said, senior. I am sure that we’ll be seeing each other often.”

“Can you give me half of the confidence you have?”

Joohwan shook his head. “I don’t think I need to. In my eyes, you seem to have more than enough confidence as you are.”

“Me? I don’t think that’s true.”

“No, I’m sure of it. I just found out that you might be a good stimulus to me, but the opposite doesn’t hold true. This hurts my pride.”

“I gained good inspiration watching your acting too.”

“Inspiration is something you rediscover from something you already have. Stimulus stems from a sense of crisis. The sense of crisis that you get when someone else possesses something that you don’t have.”

Joohwan sniffed once before bowing.

“I’m going to become your stimulus. I think I should change my objective to that.”

Maru watched as Joohwan climbed the stairs. Jungah apologized to him in Joohwan’s stead for saying something strange.

“No, it’s not something strange. He’s a good person. He’s also a good actor. I look forward to what you two will be creating in the future.”

He shook hands with Jungah. Joohwan, who arrived at the back door, turned around and shouted,

“I ended up calling you senior, but you’re okay with it, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then please stay as a good senior. I’ll be a better junior next time.”

“We’ll be seeing each other in two days at the closing ceremony anyway.”

Joohwan uttered ‘ah.’ He said goodbye with an awkward smile before leaving. He had a klutzy side to him.

“What did you two talk about?” Yoonseok approached him. He seemed better as though he had shaken the lingering feelings off.

“I got an interesting junior.”

“An interesting junior?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.”

Maru looked at the stage that had the lights turned off and turned around.