Chapter 11.6 - Act 11: Slowly 6 (1/2)

Act 11: Slowly 6

Crossing his arms, Kwak Jungsoo quietly heaved out a sigh.

‘Hmm…’

Society.

He, who decided to take care of a society with his disciple’s request, wasn’t that worried at the start. It was because the person in question was none other than his disciple – Jo Yunjae.

A disciple too outstanding for him to lead, and a talent that made him seek advice from his own master. Since such a child had entered a society doing musicals, he must have had his reasons.

That was what he had thought.

‘But this…’

He took a breath in, before heaving it back out and gazing around. The tattered club room entered his sight, but that wasn’t important, as people were more important than a room.

But the members, the composition of the club was too weak.

‘Five that can sing, with three being freshmen.’

And the other two were unrelated to the field, that hadn’t even sung before.

‘Not good…’

Pressing on his temples, Kwak Jungsoo organised his thoughts. Doing a proper job with an opera or a musical required quite a number of people.

It was, after all, an artwork drawing forth a story and was natural for it to require various characters to allow a gentle flow of the story.

Five, and even seven was quite lacking. They could force themselves to do it, but due to the limited number of characters, the burden that had to be shouldered by each member would be bigger.

Due to the small number of members, it would be glaringly obvious if someone were to make a mistake. That meant that the few number of actors had to diligently match their teamwork but…

‘…’

Kwak Jungsoo stared at the three candidates for the female protagonist position with a bitter gaze.

First off, was the second-grade Opera Department girl called Hyeji.

Judging from how her lips were in a pout, it seemed like she wasn’t fond of first-grade students nominating themselves for the protagonist position, as it was normal for seniors to take the protagonist spot on stages like this.

A few second-graders at the back wore similarly discontent expressions, as if they were in agreement.

Well, so far, it was a common hierarchical contest between seniors and juniors.

The real problem, was the two freshmen – Song Mirae and Han Dasom who were blatantly keeping each other in check.

Even during the short period of time when she had entered late with Jo Yunjae, Han Dasom gave a sneer from Jo Yunjae’s side while Song Mirae scowled back so their relationship was a given.

It was that of a cat and a dog.

If their relationships were bad despite only having five actors, how could they even go about practising?

‘That’s why I told them to decide the protagonist by themselves and yet…’

If he were to favour someone in a situation like this, it might lead to a greater conflict between the two. There was also the fact that he wanted to test how hostile the second-graders were towards the freshmen.

And the final result was simple.

Han Dasom’s complete victory.

‘The second-graders aren’t standing for the second-grade girl as much as I thought.’

Or maybe the club president had better leadership than he thought.

Tilting his head, Kwak Jungsoo pondered as he stared at the front.

In any case, it was great that he earned answers to his questions but… at this rate, there would be another issue between Song Mirae and Han Dasom. Being defeated by Han Dasom whom she tremendously hated would obviously wound her pride.

‘Then, the outcome will be obvious.’

Kwak Jungsoo, who had been on countless opera stages while seeing countless wars of nerves between actors already knew. An actor that lost out on a fight like this, would usually be pushed down from the stage.

‘Or would leave with their own feet.’

Or, they might even ruin the actual performance.

Whatever the case, it wasn’t a future he desired.

‘That won’t be good right?’

Putting strength into his eyes, Kwak Jungsoo started glaring daggers at Jo Yunjae. As the votes continued, he was now the only remaining person.

‘At the very least, you must stand on Song Mirae’s side!’

Kwak Jungsoo opened his eyes into circles.

*

“Next up is you huh. Stand up.”

Hearing the teacher’s demand, I stood from the seat and slowly faced the front. I could see teacher Kwak Jungsoo quietly staring at me with crossed arms, and the three protagonist candidates sitting in front of him with tense expressions.

Seeing their faces, I scratched my hair.

“I just have to say who will be a better protagonist right?”

“Right, right. Who you think will be better. Think very carefully, and slowly. You can take your time, okay?”

“?”

What?

Sensing something strange from his attitude, I tilted my head before soon turning my gaze back to the three.

Han Dasom, Song Mirae, and the sunbae.

Who should be the protagonist?

“…”

Since they happened to be three, I suddenly remember pokemon which I played back in the days. In fact, because I was going to choose the female protagonist who would be standing next to me, it was extremely similar in that sense.

‘Then the teacher is Professor Oak, huh…’

I threw a glance at the teacher with such baseless thoughts running across my head, when a strange sight entered my eyes.

Teacher Kwak Jungsoo was twitching his eyebrows, and sent a vague gesture with his eyes towards Song Mirae.

Seeing that, I slowly made a smile.

“I think Song Mirae suits the protagonist’s position more.”

His expression brightened up in an instant.

Hah, it’s easy sir. I was your disciple for twenty years so a gesture like that is a piece of cake.

I looked into his eyes with a triumphant light in my eyes when Chloe tilted her head next to me.

“Whyy?”

“‘Why’?”

As I cluelessly came to an abrupt stop, Yun Soojin-sunbae spoke with a smile.

“Sir told us to give reasons as well.”

“Ah.”

Right…

He definitely did say that, and just then, Yun Soojin-sunbae had also explained a few things. After coming to myself, I quickly started racking my brain.

Reason, huh.

A reason why Song Mirae was better than Han Dasom.

‘There aren’t any.’

No matter how I thought, our Dasom was better than Song Mirae. I had picked Song Mirae due to Yun Soojin-sunbae’s words and teacher Kwak Jungsoo but… Han Dasom was better at singing and her voice was also better. In fact, Han Dasom was prettier as well.

What is it Song Mirae? What in the world is your strong point.

I contemplated in seriousness but unable to withstand the endless silence, I opened my mouth.

“Umm… it’s difficult to explain but… it was just good…”

‘There’s no reason but Song Mirae is better than you’ – deducing that from my words, Han Dasom’s expression turned gloomy in an instant. Seeing that, I quickly reworded my sentence.

“In fact, Han Dasom was better at singing.”

“And?”

“That… there is a definite reason why Song Mirae should be the protagonist in this musical, and that is… it felt a bit different.”

While sweating, I was trying my hardest to think of words to say when the teacher’s expression that seemed to be saying, ‘A for effort’ entered my sight.

Umm sir, I was just following you…

Flaring up inside, I glared at the teacher and continued my words.