Chapter 431 (1/2)

“I’ll definitely go to your next performance.”

“Me too!”

Gyunglim and Gwangseok left the lecture room after saying their goodbyes. As for Sungjae, he exchanged a few words with Sooil before quietly leaving through the door.

“Thank you for the meal,” Maru said as he put the last piece of sushi in his mouth.

“You can take this one as well.”

Sooil pointed at the remaining crêpe as he spoke.

“What happened to you? Yielding food to someone else like that.”

“I ate quite a lot of it during the past few days, so I’m a bit fed up with it.”

“Wait, you had these for days?”

“Yeah. It’s hard to get your hands on if you don’t get them now.”

“Do you think crêpes are some seasonal fruits or something?”

“The one that makes them is quite busy. It’s hard to get your hands on them.”

“Really?”

“He’s a famous patissier. He came to the country for just a while, so you can’t get them otherwise. If you want them, you’d have to travel all the way to France.”

“You’re quite capable, having connections like that.”

“Well, I do know a lot of people.”

Sooil spoke in a joking tone as he cleaned up the trash. He gathered the plastics on one side, divided paper with food on it and paper without food, and put them in separate bags.

“Your future wife will love you if you do that.”

“That’s precisely why I’m doing this.”

“Do you act like this at home as well?”

“That depends on the case.”

Seeing the neatly cleaned trash made Maru want to clap. He might as well receive the recycling award of the year.

“Since I’m full, I’ll feel awesome if I just went straight to bed like this.”

Miso kicked Ganghwan, who was about to lie down on the floor.

“Why is a soon-to-be-newlywed so violent.”

“Shut up, and we need to empty this place, so be quick if you want to say anything. I’m going to visit the principal before going home. Maru, don’t forget to turn the lights off. The principal is s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to things like that even though he earns a lot of money. See you next time, Sooil.”

Miso waved her hand and left. As soon as Miso left, Ganghwan laid down on the floor. His ability to lie down regardless of the time, place, or occasion had to be acquired from when he was living as a homeless man. Maru asked Ganghwan who just blankly stared at the ceiling.

“You shouldn’t be here just to bring the sushi. What is it?”

“I’m just here to see my disciple’s face though.”

“Then I’m leaving.”

Just as he was about to get his bag and leave, Ganghwan quickly changed his words.

“I heard that your movie was over.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any fixed schedule other than Miso’s classes?”

“Not immediately, no.”

“That’s good. I’m going to ask senior Junmin to pull you out.”

“Eh?”

Ganghwan pointed at Maru’s face and spoke.

“I think I’ll have you do some plays.”

* * *

“Then see you in Anyang. How about you, Sooil?”

“I’ll go home after hanging out with him for a while.”

Maru shook off Sooil’s hand that was placed on his shoulder.

“What do you mean hang out? It’s nearly ten.”

“Just hang out with me for a while. I don’t have a place I can spend time in. Senior, be careful on your way home!”

Ganghwan waved from inside the car before driving off. After watching the car turn on the left blinkers and disappear to the other side of the road, he looked at Sooil.

“Go home now. It’s way past sunset.”

“Hang out with me for a while here. Just until 11.”

“Did you cause an accident?”

“What makes you say that all of a sudden?”

“It’s because you don’t want to go home.”

“The atmosphere at home right now is a little… you know. If I go back now, I’ll have to put myself in a corner of my room and act like I don’t exist, but I don’t really want to do that.”

Sooil answered with a depressed face. Maru sighed.

“Do you want to go to a PC-bang or something?”

“Sounds good. But don’t we have to leave after 10?”

“Ah, right.”

There was no suitable place they could go to as high school students. This was why some high school students gathered in the neighborhood playgrounds with some soju they bought in secret. Maru clicked his tongue as he looked around. There wasn’t a suitable place they could go to.

“Maru, you good at billiards?”

On the 2nd floor of the building Sooil was pointing at, there was a billiard hall. Billiards, huh. It was one of the places he practically lived in when ‘Maru’ was young, along with the PC-bang.

“Do you know how to play?”

“Me? Of course I do.”

“Then let’s go. It should be better than standing outside like this.”

They entered the billiard hall. Near the counter, girls who seemed to be students like them were playing pocket ball. Maru expected this place to be filled with smoke from cigarettes, but it was actually quite clean. The part timer even brought them drinks.

“This place is different from my area.”

“Looks like this is the trend these days. I see a lot of them pop up.”

“Seoul has it pretty good alright. What’s your score?”

“Fifty.”

“Dammit. Four-ball?”

“I can do three.”

The confidence of a kid who could only play 50. Maru released three balls onto the table.

“Let’s not do anything strange. The table is expensive.”