Chapter 459 (1/2)

“It’s hard to go to the cafeteria when it’s raining. Everyone puts their umbrellas up and it’s complete chaos. I wish there was a roof.”

“I sympathize with this a lot. Lunchtimes during rainy days are practically warzones.”

“If any of the teachers are listening to this broadcast, I hope you can bring it up during the teacher’s meeting.”

Yeondu signalled Bangjoo. Bangjoo nodded and spoke into the microphone.

“Well, that’s the last suggestion from the students. Next up is the audio drama from the acting club Blue Sky. Today’s topic is about love.”

Yeondu raised the volume of the background music while Bangjoo’s commentary was going on. The sound that would be outputted by the school speakers could be heard through her headphones, and the music went really well with Bangjoo’s voice as it sounded really pleasant.

“Seonbae.”

Hearing Maru’s call, Yeondu nodded and switched seats with Jiyoon. Since the only she needed to do to broadcast her voice was to control the volume knob for the background music and the microphone button, Jiyoon shouldn’t make a mistake.

“I won’t make a mistake with pronunciation. I’m actually quite skilled, you know.”

Yeondu made idle remarks as she opened the script. Ever since she started the school radio program, she researched radio programs done by famous radio DJs. The progression, the tone of voice, and even the pronunciation. She did not have any experience in acting, but she was more confident than the kids from the acting club when it came to speaking in a clear, consistent voice.

“Understood.”

Yeondu read down the script as she perked up her ears. She listened to the music from her headphones and looked for the right time to cut off the music before gesturing towards Jiyoon. Jiyoon’s hands moved and the music died down while the microphone went up. Yeondu gave Jiyoon a thumbs up before focusing on the script.

Today’s story seemed to be based on the recently popular high-teen romance. There were quite a lot of students in her class who also read these types of novels. A girl hesitating between the boy she likes, and the cool boy that confessed to her. Then the struggle of love that ensues.

Thinking that it would be an envious scenario, Yeondu looked at the kids sitting around her. She had gotten quite close to the acting club since they had started working together for the audio drama broadcast. The first thing she thought of when she had the thought that she wanted to create audio dramas was Yoonjung, who was in the same class as her. Even now, she thought that it was a good thing that she asked Yoonjung for help since she used to lead the acting club. Thanks to that, she was able to proceed with her ideas without any problems.

“Isn’t Chaeho quite decent?”

Yeondu said into the microphone. She exchanged a couple of lines with Dowook, who had sharp eyes. Although the contents were pretty cheesy, she didn’t feel anything when she actually read them out loud. When she thought that she wasn’t playing around here, she was able to say the cheesy words without any difficulties.

Yeondu glanced at the clock. Their time limit was 5 minutes before the next period. She had to wrap things up before then.

After gesturing to Daemyung to hurry, since he was a slow-talker, she followed suit. Daemyung was proficient at adjusting the speed, so he took care of himself after telling him what to do once.

Yeondu flipped over the script. It was the last page. As the drama didn’t contain any narration and was instead made purely of lines from characters, the content wasn’t that long. Maru, who had been silent until now, half-turned around and readied himself to speak.

“Uhm, Min-ah.”

At that moment, Yeondu flinched backwards subconsciously. Maru’s eyes contained deep affection. She didn’t feel anything when she exchanged lines with Dowook or Daemyung, but for some reason, she felt weird when Maru looked at her.

“Yeah? What is it?”

She checked the script before speaking.

“What are you doing after school today?”

She felt as though Maru’s face was closing in on her, but when she had a second look, Maru hadn’t changed his posture at all. Yeondu licked her lips. For some reason, she felt nervous.

“Go home, of course.”

“Then… would you like to watch a movie with me?”

At that moment, Yeondu widened her eyes and looked at her hand. On her hand, which she placed on the table, Maru had placed his hand on top of it. Yeondu tensed her toes. What was this kid doing?

Just then, Jiyoon whispered to her from behind. Yeondu hurriedly put her microphone against her mouth and said the next line. Her voice was shaking against her will. Thinking that she was saying her line infinitely close to the affection-filled voice that the script required, she shouted ‘yes’ inside her mind. However, after realizing that Maru’s hand was still placed on top of hers, she gulped in nervousness.

Now that she looked at it, there was a line on the script. Open parenthesis, ‘while grabbing her hand’, close parenthesis. Yeondu fidgeted and tried to wriggle her hand out, but Maru forcefully grabbed onto her.

Yeondu looked at Maru in a panic. Maru had the expression of a boy full of love, nay, an expression much deeper than that.

In the end, Yeondu wrapped the play up while being so nervous that she didn’t know how it ended. She felt her heart racing.

“Is there a love story like that around us too? I hope there is. Unfortunately, though, it never happened to me.”

Aram did the finishing commentary. Only then did Maru let go of her hand. Yeondu quickly pulled back her hand as though she had touched something hot, before laughing and putting the hand back on the desk slowly.

That was because Maru’s expression as he tidied up the script was extremely calm. No, he looked a little sleepy.

‘He’s even yawning.’

Seeing Maru yawning with his mouth wide open, she felt funny that her heart was racing until just now. At the same time, she wondered if that was what acting was about.

She felt good now since she thought that she learned a new thing. As Yeondu aspired to become a producer for a TV program in the future, this kind of experience was very precious to her.

‘One of the methods to seduce the audience is a charming lie. Oh, that’s a good line, I must say.’

Thinking that, Yeondu looked at Maru and Dowook alternately. Actually, based on face alone, Dowook looked a little more handsome than Maru. But curiously, her heart did not flutter when she exchanged lines with Dowook. So it was the difference of acting skill after all? It was understandable since Maru even appeared on TV.

She stood up and placed her hands on the control panel that Jiyoon was in front of. She played relaxing music that would play until the end of the lunch period before turning around and clapping.

“Thanks for today. We didn’t encounter any accidents today either.”

“Thank you for your work.”

Just as she sighed, Aram burst out laughing and spoke,

“Yeondu-seonbae. Why were you panicking so much? I thought you liked him for real.”

Bangjoo, who was next to her, also chimed in.

Yeondu crossed her arms and snorted.

“That’s right, I was a little nervous. Satisfied?”

As she didn’t have a personality where she would snap out at trivial things, Yeondu reacted nonchalantly. Her heart did race so she didn’t have any excuses either. It wasn’t a sin to feel embarrassed and excited like she was being confessed to for real, was it? In fact, it was instead Maru’s fault for being too serious about acting.

“As expected of you. You admitted it quite easily.”

“Maru was good at acting. I thought I was being confessed to for real. You guys saw that, right? The way he grabbed my hand and looked at me with a deep gaze. His acting is so on point.”

“I did see it. Hehe, it looked good though.”