Chapter 297 (1/2)

-That’s okay. Rather than that, if you are planning to be absent more frequently in the future, don’t tell me the day before, but just send me the necessary documents for the absence in one go. That’ll be easier for me. Then have a good rest.

After hanging up, Maru laid down on the bed and looked at the script. His line was simple. ‘Hey, hey, stop’ and then he would get hit. You know, just like the ones that get caught up in fights and get beaten up by both parties. The ‘student 1’ that he had to act tomorrow was that kind of role.

As it was a fight between students, there would be no fancy action. It would probably end once he’s hit by a blind punch. He read through the script around five times including the scene right before of his scene as well as the one right after. He found no meaning in looking into the flow of the story, nor the reason to do some practice. Extras should stay extras. It would be an even bigger problem if an extra like him wanted attention. He just had to get hit once and roll around on the floor before leaving. That was it. As dramas had a different personality to movies, he did not find the need to put his energy into it.

Maru left the script on his desk and left his room.

Bada, who was hogging the TV to herself, flinched and hid the remote somewhere. On TV was TTO.

“I’m not taking it away from you.”

“And you’re going to watch the news? Do you take me for an idiot?”

“Looks like you don’t have that much trust in me. You should trust people more. Rather than that, give me the remote for a sec.”

“Hell no.”

Giggling, she put the remote under the sofa and sat on top of it. Maru had the urge to remind her that there were channel controls on the TV itself, but decided not to.

“Where’s mom?”

“She’s the last shift today. She’ll be here by 11.”

“How about father?”

“Overtime work. I don’t know exactly, but it seems like some machine was broken. He won’t be home tonight.”

“Geez, that factory really doesn’t have a share of its good fortune.”

While watching TV for a while, Maru asked his sister.

“Is there something to eat?”

His stomach, which was full from eating seolleongtang had emptied again.

“There’s instant ramyun in the cabinet. It’s mine but I’ll give it to you. But just one bite.”

Shaking his head when his sister added that she couldn't be bothered to make it herself, Maru walked to the kitchen. Unlike what she said, there were two instant ramyun packages in the cabinet. It was jjamppong ramyun, but those tasted nothing like jjamppong.

‘A singer and an actor at the same time, huh.’

He remembered the words that Ganghwan said. If you lose out in popularity, you can be consoled, but if you were driven out because of your skills, you had nothing to complain about.

Idols were beings that dipped their feet in both the acting and singing parts of the entertainment industry. Before, they got their places in dramas through sheer popularity alone, but these days, they were said to win their positions fair and square through auditions. They were becoming specialized as well. Idols were becoming more and more fit to be called ‘do-it-all’ entertainers.

How was Sungjae’s acting then? Maru became curious about his acting skills since he left a good impression on Maru. He wondered if he received compliments or criticisms from the actors around him.

“Hey, isn’t the pot boiling?”

“I’m going.”

He put in the ramyun noodles and the soup in the boiling water before giving it a stir with chopsticks. He raised the noodles up and down many times since he preferred firm noodles and cracked an egg in the middle as well. He brought his nose up to the steam that contained a savory smell. Ramyun eaten at night was better than any food in the world.

“Don’t pop the egg!” His sister shouted from the living room.

Feeling that he was being used to the fullest, Maru grinned as he popped the egg yolk. He looked at the murky soup with satisfaction and put the pot on a tray. He glanced at Bada once, who was looking at him with shiny eyes on the sofa, and immediately went into his room before locking the door.

“Hey!”

Being able to lock the door was a truly joyous matter. Ignoring his sister who was bashing her hand against the door, he turned on the power for the computer.

He opened up an internet browser before going to his blog. As his blog was a minor one without any professional writing, not many people made visits. He usually posted about stages that he had first hand experience on or about actors. He just wrote things that he could tell others and as long as it was within the limits of his knowledge. Perhaps it could be compared to a diary.

He started typing slowly about managers. When he was writing, he remembered his past and the post became rather long. The pathetic truth that one’s own value is frozen while the one they’re in charge of becomes popular with the public and has their value shoot through the roof; How the days when the kids that warmly called them ‘oppa’ or ‘hyung’ only last a brief moment and they start shouting at them for their work; Being scolded by their superiors, being disdained by their stars, and having their collars grabbed by the fans.

“I hope you won’t be like that, and I hope I won’t be like that...”

Maru read the last part he wrote out loud.

Isn’t it better to be in a symbiotic relationship? Isn’t it better to treat the person that will be your ears and eyes well rather than bad? Maru reminded himself of Byungchan, who had a great smile. He wanted to look after him more since he remembered about the first time he started working.

He turned off his PC and left his room with the empty pot. Bada was eating a pot of ramen that she cooked herself.

“You’re so bad.”

“Why don’t you say that after you cook one for me?”

“Forget it. I can cook one too.”

“Good then.”

He started washing the pot while talking about trivial things. These trivial conversations felt very precious to him. If this was his previous life, he wouldn’t have even said anything. The wall of silence between them changed into a wall of disinterest when they grew up.

“Do you want some snacks?”

“You have some?”

His sister smiled as though she was never mad in the first place. Their mother probably told his sister several times to not follow strangers who gave her candy when she was young.

Maru tossed her a pack of chips before going back to his room. He could hear the sound of the pack being opened through his door. Listening to the munching sounds, Maru opened the novel that he had been reading.

* * *

The scheduled time was 10 a.m. When he was sleeping in, his mother came to him and told him to wake up, and Maru told her that he had a shoot.

“How about school?”

“I’ll have to be absent.”

“Can you just take school off like that?”

“It’s fine. I’ll graduate as long as I fill the necessary days. So don’t worry about your son and go to work, Mrs. Lee.”

After walking around in his room for a while, his mom left with the words ‘don’t make your mom worry too much’. She had the last shift the day before, and the first shift the next day. From what he heard, the labor union at the mall she was working at started going on strikes due to matters related to the temporary employment matters, and thanks to that, people for the counter were drastically released, consequently making his mother busy. Regardless of era, irregular employment was always a problem.

It was Maru that took care of Bada’s breakfast in his mother’s stead since she was busy. He warmed up the soup that she made during the night and woke his sister up. She walked out with a drowsy face and started eating.

“How about your textbooks?”

“Got’em.”

“Homework?”

“I said I have it all.”