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After Story 71

“I fed you an expensive drink to sober up, so why are you doing this?”

“Hey, you don’t drink this to sober up. It just relieves your stomach. Didn’t you know that?”

“If you have the leisure to talk about that, then get yourself together and walk straight. It’ll be a pain in the ass if a soldier causes trouble.”

“I’m not that drunk. I just feel good. A friend of mine got expelled and became an actor. How could I not be happy?”

“Yeah yeah, be happy all you want.”

They left the alley and headed out to the main road.

It was 10 p.m., and many salarymen who had finished get-togethers were lined up in order to grab taxis. When a taxi stopped, an extremely drunk man would get on and a brigade of people wearing neckties would bow towards the leaving taxi. These kinds of scenes could be commonly seen.

“I am definitely going to be like that. I want to get the taxi my subordinates grab for me and get home comfortably.”

“You’re dreaming of something that only elites can do.”

“Am I?”

Maru reached out and grabbed a taxi. A taxi that was near the pedestrian road turned off its ‘empty’ sign. Maru opened the back door and pushed his friend inside.

“Sorry about this, driver. My friend here is a little drunk. He’s not so out of it though, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“He looks to be on the better side. If you look out for me like this, I’d be fine with an even more drunk person.”

Maru asked his laughing friend where his house was. However, even though he was talking fine when he was walking, he looked to be in a dreamy state as soon as he sat down.

“Driver, please take him to West Suwon Library.”

Maru handed his friend a ten thousand won bill and closed the door. After seeing the taxi drive off, he took out his earphones.

It would take about 30 minutes if he ran home. He tied his shoelaces and started jogging. The night winds of December brushed past his face. The weather looked like it was going to snow soon. Just as he was rubbing his cheek which had become numb because of the cold, he got a call.

Lee Dongho. That was the name of the friend that got in the taxi.

“Yeah, what is it?”

-Where are you?

“Where am I? I’m going home.”

-In a taxi then?

“No, I’m running. I won’t be able to jog anymore if it gets any colder.”

-You used to hate running, and now you’re running….

Maru pushed the earbuds into his ears and started running faster. His friend seemed to have fallen asleep as he did not say anything more.

Just as he thought that he should hang up, his friend spoke,

-I talked about you while talking to the driver.

“Me?”

-Yeah. I told him that the guy from before is a friend of mine, and I boasted that he got expelled and became an actor. Then the driver asked me if a college student caused some kind of accident to get expelled from college. I asked what he meant, and the driver told me that getting expelled meant getting into trouble and being kicked out for a bad reason.

Maru understood where this was going. He stopped running and breathed out. White breath scattered into the air.

-That was when it got me. I made a grave mistake. You know how I showed you the group chat, right? People were saying you left in a bad way, or caused a mess. I think that might have been my underlying thought. Maybe I thought that you didn’t leave on your own accord, but left because of inevitable circumstances and were pushed out. Maybe that’s why, but I kept saying that you got expelled.

“Dropping out and getting expelled — they’re pretty much the same thing.”

-But people don’t use it that way. Usually, getting expelled means getting kicked out.

“Same thing.”

-You should’ve told me about it when we were drinking, that you dropped out instead of getting expelled. I would’ve changed it.

“I told you. I don’t have any regrets. Whether it’s getting expelled or dropping out, it’s all in the past. Rather than that, did you call just to tell me that?”

-I felt sorry. I know that you walked out on your own two feet, but I kept saying it like you left because of bad reasons.

“How delicate. You’ve become emotional because you’re drunk.”

-Sorry about that. And thanks. You just kept listening to what I said because it might ruin the mood, right? I know it already.

“You must be making the driver awkward. Let’s finish talking here. Also, just stay quiet. When you get to the library, get off quickly.”

-Yeah, I will. I love you, my friend! Do your best, actor Han!

Maru let out a helpless chuckle and hung up. This guy wasn’t like this before going to the military.

He changed tracks and started running again. A cheerful rhythm and an addictive melody hit his ears.

Whether he dropped out or got expelled, it wasn’t that important. Some might be offended by the choice of words, but those had no value to him at all.

If it bothered him, he would have corrected it the moment he heard it. Maybe because of that, he found his friend rather cute for mentioning a problem that he could have glossed over and going so far as explaining himself. Spending time talking and drinking with him didn’t feel like a waste at all. He rediscovered a good friend, so why would he find it wasteful?

“This is good.”

He slowed down as he ran with a smile. He suddenly stopped on the spot and reached his hand out. A snowflake fell on his palm. He looked at the snowflake that melted because of his body heat before raising his head. An innumerable number of white dots appeared in the dark sky. It was the first snow. The little snowflakes became larger and larger. Snow soon piled on top of his hair, and on his shoulders.

Maru took out his phone and stood below a lamp post. Just as he was about to take a photo of the snow reflecting off the orange light,

-It’s the first snow.

Haneul sent him a photo first. It was a photo she took from inside a studio. She was always a step quicker than him.

He also sent her a photo, saying that it snowed a lot.

-Don’t stay outside in the snow like a kid and go inside. Don’t catch a cold and make me suffer.

He got a harsh scolding in return. Maru ran like his lungs were going to burst. He had to be obedient if he wanted to avoid his wife’s nagging.

* * *

“It’s snowing.”

Seungah reached her hand outside the window in the corridor. The snow was pretty thick. She felt like she would be able to see cars covered in snow tomorrow.

“Is it snowing?” Miso asked from behind her.

“Yeah, it’s pretty heavy. I can’t believe this is the first snow.”

“The first snow should be heavy.”

Everyone came out to the corridor upon hearing that it was snowing. Not to mention students from the acting school, people came out from the math cram school and English cram school next to them.

What was a better excuse to take a breather than the first snow?

“Wow, it’s snowing.”

Seungah looked at Jung Dawoon. She hugged her neck close. Dawoon was like a human heater.

“You always hug me whenever you see me.”

“It’s because you’re so huggable. I can place my chin on your shoulder like this.”

She placed her chin on Dawoon’s shoulder and smiled. Dawoon shook.

She slightly loosened her hug around Dawoon. Dawoon slipped out and reached her hand out the window, trying to catch some of the snow.

“Are you a kid?”

“I saw you doing it too, you know? Also, look around. Everyone’s the same.”

Just as Dawoon said, everyone was putting their hands outside the window. They couldn’t leave the cram school, but they wanted to touch the snow, so that was the best they could do.

After watching for a while, the students started going inside one by one. They weren’t even allowed to drown in emotions while looking at snow for too long.

The ones who were left until the very end were from the acting school.

“Let’s finish up as well, so come inside,” Miso said.

Seungah returned to the classroom with Dawoon.

“Well done, both of you. It was good to see that you’ve done the homework I gave you.”

“I don’t dare slack off when it’s your homework. I have to do it properly.”

Miso shrugged. “This is why I can’t compliment you so easily. Look at you being all smug. Also, Dawoon, you improved a lot. I could see that you thought about what traits you had.”

Dawoon smiled awkwardly and nodded. Dawoon admired Miso a lot. She was someone who would believe Miso, even if she told a lie. It wasn’t that Seungah couldn’t understand that. She also relied on Miso a lot. It was natural for a disciple to follow after a good teacher.

“Dawoon, don’t just nod and reply.”

“Yes.”

“Right, you should keep voicing out like that. Just because you’re introverted, you shouldn’t stop expressing yourself. I’m not telling you to change your personality, I’m telling you to get used to using your body. As I said before, there are many introverted people among actors. However, there isn’t a single actor whose acting is introverted just because their personality is like that. They’re more passionate than anyone else. Dawoon, you need to become like that too.”

“Yes!”

“Good answer. Well then, shall we go home too?”

Seungah got her bag. Just as she was about to turn off the lights and leave, Dawoon spoke, “Uhm, instructor.”

“What is it?”

“Can I practice about an hour more before going?”

“Aren’t you pushing yourself?”

“I want to do it just a little more. There’s no other place I can move and shout to my heart’s content.”

“Really?”

Miso left, telling them to wait a moment, and returned soon later.

“Room A doesn’t have any more classes today. You can use it to your heart’s content. Once you’re done, you should turn off the lights and tell teacher Choi in the staff office, okay?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Don’t push yourself. You should distribute your stamina as well. Then do your best.”

Seungah also waved at Dawoon. She really was a hard-working girl. Looking at her gave her motivation.

“Dawoon’s cute, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she’s cute. She’s kind too. She just makes you want to look out for her.”

“I know it’s a childish question, but if you could cast just one of us, who would you take?”

“Why ask the obvious? Dawoon of course.”

“I’m disappointed.”

“If you’re the producer, who are you going to pick?”

“That’s obvious. It’s naturally Dawoon.”

Seungah faintly chuckled and went down the stairs with Miso.

* * *

Sweat dropped off her forehead. Dawoon looked at her figure through the mirror. She sighed when she saw that she was still very insufficient. She felt like she could do better, but when she actually did it, she was awkward like a clock with insufficient parts.

“Seungah-unni is good.”

She wished she could do just that much. Dawoon thought about Seungah’s acting she saw during the day. Seungah was improving by the day. Until just a few months ago, she thought that she was slightly better, but recently Seungah was improving so fast that it made her wonder if she could do the same.

It seemed that the audition for a drama she took two months ago had changed her entirely. She had heard that she met someone but did not hear the details.

“I should do my best.”

She encouraged her lagging self. If the unni she was taking the same class with was improving quickly, then that was something to congratulate her about, not to feel downtrodden.

Above all, she quite liked Seungah. It was she who reached out to Dawoon, who couldn’t easily reach out to others because of her introverted personality.

Dawoon wiped her sweat and took some time to cool down. After shaking off the tension in her body, she left the room. When she looked at the clock, she saw that it was past 11. Only the late-night class was still going, and the other rooms were all dark.

“Miss Choi Jayeon.” She knocked on the door to the office and opened it slightly. There was no one inside.

Did she leave for a minute? She was told to go home after telling the teacher, so she decided to wait a little.

She saw all sorts of audition schedules on the calendar on the wall.

“It’s soon, huh.”

Next month, on the 4th of January 2009, there was the audition for the movie ‘Giant’.

Dawoon had applied, and so did Sengah. Many students must have handed in their applications. She suddenly felt a wave of fatigue. How probable was it that she would get picked among all those people?

It was probably difficult. If she didn’t make it this time, how many times would that make?

Just as she was thinking about such things, she saw a plastic box on top of a desk a little away from her.

On the side of the box, it said ‘Audition for Giant, 2nd batch.’

She was drawn to that box. What entered her eyes were a bunch of profiles. She looked back at the door to the office. It was firmly shut.