Chapter 65 (1/2)

Right, there was no need to be nervous. Everyone was looking at the pamphlet right now. She could see the children as well as the adults. Let’s breathe a little bit.

Wait, the air smells like coffee?

No, start over, start over.

This is a stage. The people in front of her were here to watch her act. She couldn’t afford to disappoint them. She’s already practiced, so she just needs to act it out now.

‘Wait, did I even practice?’

Yoonjung sighed. She could feel a few people glancing at her. Then again, all she did till now was stare at the cafe for five straight minutes. If she delayed any more, she really wouldn’t be able to do it. Yoonjung bit her lips before saying her first line.

“S-shouldn’t you at least try to introduce yourself if you move into the neighborhood?”

She needed to become a mean old lady who lives downstairs. She needed to become annoying and grouchy. A conceited lady that has no filters on her words.

But by the time Yoonjung’s voice reached her ears, she could only swallow nervously.

She was too quiet.

Too quiet to even be heard. When she turned around, only the man right next to her was staring at her with a ‘what?’ face. She didn’t even manage to grab people’s attention. As soon as that thought hit her, she felt the blood drain from her face.

Why? Why was she like this? She couldn’t understand it. She’s already performed in front of people several times. Not much had changed, so why did this take so much effort?

Her voice was getting buried. Buried by the air, the footsteps, and the voices around her. She wasn’t able to reach out and speak to the people in front of her.

For now, she finished her lines. She finished them, but… She didn’t feel good at all. It felt like she was just talking to herself. People were looking at her, sure, but they all looked confused.

She wanted to explain this was a play. She wanted to explain her role, and what type of a personality her character had.

‘This isn’t right.’

This wasn’t right at all.

* * *

Yoonjung came back inside. She looked far less energetic than usual, which only managed to worry the club members more.

“How was it?” Miso asked.

The instructor looked like a mean boss, especially with that beige mug in hand.

“I was just… disappointed.”

“At what?”

“At myself.”

“You couldn’t make yourself heard, right?”

“Yes. I tried to perform like normal, but no one bothered to listen. No, I don’t think they could hear me to begin with. Some of the people right next to me responded, but most people just glanced for a second and looked away. Man, it felt awful.”

Yoonjung frowned.

“You learned well, Ms. president. This isn’t a stage. There’s no microphone or anything to help you here. Here, your voice is very small. As a matter of fact, it can become even smaller depending on how strong the wind is. This place is very, very unsuited for performances.”

After speaking, Miso pointed at the next person. It was Dojin.

“I tried to get the first years going after all the second years, but that’s a little unfair, isn’t it? Let’s switch it up. Dojin, you looked a little too relaxed just now. You didn’t think you’d go next, did you?”

Maru had to say… The woman was really good at mind games. Dojin stood up from his face with a dumb look. He ran outside with his script in hand, but he didn’t look good at all.

“Watch. This time, he’s going to start shouting as much as he can, and run out of breath in the middle.”

Miso was a prophet, predicting precisely how Dojin would perform.

* * *

“Huff, huff.”

Dojin bowed, feeling the people in the cafe glaring at him.

‘God, this is so embarrassing. So embarrassing!’

His face felt like it was burning. He started off pretty well, raising his voice like Miso told them to. He managed to grab the audience’s attention.

The problem came afterward.

Breathing.

Normally, he would be able to say ten words in one breath. But right now, each breath was only able to give him around 3 words. He felt for the first time the feeling of one’s lungs shriveling up as it gasped for air. The air felt incredibly heavy around him.

Eventually, his head started spinning from the lack of air. He couldn’t even pay attention to the audience any more. All that he could think of was to finish his lines as fast as possible, and go back to his seat.

“This time, we managed to see two instances of what not to do. At first, Dojin didn’t even think about the volume of his voice, and ended up speaking like a little mosquito. Next, Dojin didn’t even bother controlling his breathing, and gifted his audience with disgustingly bad breathing rhythm and an incredibly loud voice.”

Dojin sat down next to Yoonjung silently. The girl looked at him warmly. It almost looked like she was telling him ‘you’re just like me, aren’t you?’.

“Now, next up…”

Miso ignored the two fallen soldiers next to her, and pointed at her next target: Geunseok.

* * *

By this time, the customers started to notice that something was up. Some of them were even heading out to the terrace to get a good view of what was happening.

Geunseok happened to be the one to go as they gathered on the terrace. He stood up from his seat confidently, and walked outside. Maru stared at the boy for a little bit, before taking his coffee cup back to the counter. He handed the cup to the owner of the shop before asking, “Can I order some lemon tea?”

“Hm?”

The owner took the cup from Maru’s hand. Right then, Miso walked up to him from the back.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, this kid was just asking for some lemon tea.”

“What?”

Maru grinned at Miso.