Chapter 305 (2/2)

Jangsoo patted his shoulders and told him that he did well. Maru then bid farewell to the other supplementary actors he had been spending his time with for the day.

“Well done. Also… thanks for provoking me back there,” Woojoo spoke awkwardly.

Maru shook his head.

“I’m sorry. I think I did take it a step too far.”

“No. It wasn’t that surprising that you did. I should have been more calm about it, but it looks like I took it too easy. It’s a bit embarrassing but, I feel like I realized something thanks to you.”

“Well, I’ll be thankful if you think about it that way.”

“Are you going to come for the next shoot?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Come if you can make it.”

“Okay, I will.”

Maru left amidst the people that were carrying equipment. The sun was going down already. He took out his phone and called lawyer Park. When he told him that the shoot was over, he replied that he should wait there for a moment.

Just as he was watching the people that were pulling out, he saw students rushing out of the main building of the school. Many of them were wearing backpacks. This was a rare scene in an academic-focused school on a weekday. Maru wondered if they didn’t have any self-study sessions after school. He walked a little so that he was in front of the main building. He saw cram school vans lined up outside the school gates. Students got on those vans. The vans then disappeared off into the distance. That scene was repeated several times. It was like they were carrying off all the students in the school.

“Incredible, isn’t it? They say cram schools are all the rage these days, rather than schools.”

Lawyer Park had appeared behind him. His eyes were very complicated as he looked at the students.

“Your daughter must be going to one as well, is she?”

“She’ll probably go after dinner. Don’t you go to one?”

“I seem to have no fate with studying.”

“Why? You seem smart.”

“I am smart, but not in an academic kind of way.”

“Is that so?”

Suddenly, lawyer Park raised his right hand nervously. One girl, who was walking out of the school door with her arms locked around other girls, looked at lawyer Park before pouting at him. The girl changed her shoes before walking towards the school gates. The girls that were locking arms with the pouting girl looked back at him.

“So she’s your daughter.”

“She’s one impetuous girl. She’ll never listen to my words.”

“Perhaps she’s mad at you because you won’t let her become a celebrity?”

“Do you think just anyone can be a celebrity? You need talent to be one. Rather than that, that girl won’t even greet her father, huh.”

“Well, that’s what father-daughter relationships are mostly like. She’ll cling to you like you’re the only one in her world when she’s young, but once she starts wearing school uniforms, she won’t even look at you in the face.”

“...Hey, why do you know all this?”

“Ah, well, my father sighs all the time.”

Maru just laughed it over. Lawyer Park said that fathers must be similar across the board and nodded.

“Let’s just get something to eat. My girl says she likes her friends more than her dad, so I guess I can’t help it.”

“She’ll open up to you once she matures.”

“She does open up to me from time to time. Though, that’s when she wants me to buy her something. At times like those, she’s like a deceiving fox just like her mother, geez.”

Although lawyer Park was complaining about his daughter, he had a smile on his face the entire time. Maru understood how he felt. Parents felt satisfied with their kids just growing up safely.

Maru updated him on the overdue wages matter as they walked to the parking lot. Lawyer Park stopped walking in front of a rather old car. It looked like quite an old model. It was a middle-class sedan that was produced in the country.

“It looks a little dirty, doesn’t it? I haven’t cleaned it in quite a while.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then is it because it looks less expensive than the car next to it?”

“Honestly speaking, it was a little unexpected.”

Maru looked at the other cars parked in the same row as he spoke. The rather old South Korean car looked very out of place like a wrong piece of a puzzle amongst the lineup of cars costing in tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won. It was also unexpected because someone of his financial status could drive a much better car than that.

“I changed my car once and I got into an accident in just two days. It was a big accident as well. I almost died back then. The same thing happened to the next car I bought. I thought I was jinxed so I came back to this one. I got somewhat attached to it as well.”

He got in the car with a smile. Maru nodded his head. Jinx was a rather scary thing. If he got into an accident twice, then he would probably not want to buy another car.

Maru got in the passenger seat as well. The first thing he saw was the prayer beads and a cross hanging off the rear-view mirror. On the right of the dashboard was a family photo. He had to be quite a family man if he had a family photo on a place like that.

“I realized that the one that helps you is the best, whether it be God or Buddha,” said lawyer Park.

He started the car and undid the parking brake. Just as he was about to start driving, a Mercedes-Benz parked right in front of them flashed its rear light before starting to leave its parking space. Although the parking lot’s passage allowed two cars to drive side by side, the Mercedes-Benz was leaving the parking space horizontally, so lawyer Park had to stop.

“Do you think that person’s a beginner?”

“I think so.”

The Mercedes-Benz started repeatedly going forward and backward. Maru kept watching that car as it moved forwards and backwards. Just then,

“Do you want some chewing gum?” Lawyer Park asked.

When Maru replied yes, Lawyer Park told him that there should be some in the glovebox. Maru reached out and opened the glovebox. There were all sorts of things inside.

“Ah, I guess I haven’t cleaned it in a long time.”

Lawyer Park smiled and reached out to the glovebox as well. Maru also looked inside to look for it. Just then, the car shook with a loud bumping sound. Both of them raised their heads to see what was going on and saw that the rear of the Mercedes-Benz was right in front of their vision.

“Geez, I was just worrying about that too….”

Lawyer Park sighed. He waited for the other party to come and apologize. However, there was no response from the other car.

“What the heck?”

Lawyer Park scratched his head and left the car. Maru left the car as well.

I think I mentioned this before, but schools hold self-study lessons after school hours for high school so that they can study. The vast majority of students choose to stay behind for those self-study hours unless they have a separate schedule, like some event or hagwon(cram schools). Some schools also give the option to students to have dinner at school as well.

Yes. Cram schools/academies run their own vans to take the students to and from their site, if they have the financial leeway. They have their own logos plastered on the vans and everything.