Chapter 510 (1/2)

“Sit down over he…. Oh wait!”

Jiyoon felt very chaotic right now. After the last period ended and she came to the 5th floor, half filled with expectation and half filled with worry, she was greeted by an empty classroom. So not even one - just as she felt rather sad, she heard some sounds from the staircase. A bunch of first year students came at once. Five came at first, and then ten, then another three and two. People kept coming, and by now there were over forty people.

“Maru-seonbae.”

There weren’t enough seats in the classroom. This was a classroom left for the third year students who wished to stay behind and study, so there weren’t that many desks here. Just as she was flustered and did not know how to handle the students, Maru-seonbae had come up the stairs.

“Wow, I guess we lucked out.”

“Seonbae. What do we do? There aren’t enough seats.”

“Then they can just sit on the floor.”

“Ah!”

Jiyoon nodded. She was so flustered that she thought that everyone had to sit down in chairs.

“You can call him oppa. I think they might be a little late. Their homeroom teacher seemed to be investigating something. What about Aram and Bangjoo?”

“Aram will be late since she’s on cleaning duty today. Bangjoo went to the cafeteria because we didn’t have enough drinks.”

“No wonder.”

Maru peeked inside the classroom before speaking in a loud voice.

“Hello everyone! I’m sorry to tell you this, but everyone will have to sit down on the floor. We’ll lay out some blankets so please leave the classroom for a bit.”

His voice was bright and clear. The juniors all left after hearing Maru-seonbae’s words. Jiyoon stroked down her ċhėst in relief.

“Jiyoon.”

“Yes?”

“You’re their senior. You are supposed to be leading them.”

“Seonbae-nim!”

“Hey, hey. Keep your voice down.”

Bangjoo’s loud voice startled the first year students and attracted attention. Some of the girls looked a little scared as well[1]. Jiyoon frowned and slapped Bangjoo’s arm. Bangjoo avoided her gaze and laughed awkwardly.

“Well then, come back in. Sorry for making you all wait,” said Maru as he pointed at the classroom.

The first year students entered. After looking around for a while, they realized that it was no different from an ordinary classroom and just stared at Maru who was at the front.

“I guess we should start the event we do every year, right?”

“Event?”

Maru told her to wait before leaving the classroom.

Jiyoon made an awkward smile when the first year students all looked at her.

“Should I do some falling moves?”

“N-no, that’s a little.”

“Should I sing then?”

“That’s a bit too….”

“Fine. Then I’ll talk to them for a while.”

Bangjoo clapped.

“Uhm, everyone. Thank you for coming. Hm… nice weather today, right?”

The weather was gloomy since it had just rained. Jiyoon sighed and stood next to Bangjoo. It seemed that she had to step up here.

“I’ll be receiving questions since you might be bored until the seniors come. Does anyone have any questions?” asked Jiyoon as brightly as possible.

“Over there, please ask.”

She decided to take a question from the girl sitting at the front.

“You said you participated in competitions right?”

“Yes. There’s one in the Summer and one in the Winter.”

“Have you ever taken 1st place?”

“Hm, unfortunately, the answer is no, at least for us. The seniors before got the grand prize a lot of the time, but from some time onwards, we didn’t get it anymore.”

Then what’s the highest place you’ve ever ranked? - A question came from the back. Jiyoon fiddled with her hair and replied.

“3rd place in the regionals. If we got 2nd place, we would’ve been able to advance into the nationals, but we didn’t make it. If you join us, we might actually take first place this year.”

She gained confidence after she talked for a while. Her shaking hands had calmed down somewhat as well. She took the next question from a boy sitting in the middle.

She could answer that question for sure. She nodded vigorously.

“He’s right. It’s true. I was so nervous in my first year and I couldn’t imagine standing in front of so many people like this. I got nervous whenever I opened my mouth, and I would start shaking. I would freeze up when so many people paid attention to me, and I wouldn’t know what I’m talking about at all. No, in the first place, I would bȧrėly be able to speak. Is there anyone similar to me here?” she asked cautiously.

Quite a lot of the juniors raised their hands.

“You can’t help but become nervous the first time. Speaking is hard too. But if you continue acting, you’ll get into the habit of speaking in front of people. You’ll get more used to it, and from some time onwards, you’ll gain confidence as well. Oh, it doesn’t matter if you have an introverted personality. I’m really shy too.”

Jiyoon remembered back to what Maru told her during her first year.

“Being introverted means that you are just that more sėnsɨtɨvė, apparently. It can also help with your acting since you are able to observe other’s emotions in more detail. You remember the seonbae that spoke for us during the day, right? That’s what he told me[2]. So don’t think that you aren’t fit for acting just because you are introverted and shy. You can still do it.”

After taking a short breath, she looked at the first year students.

The juniors that looked at her in a daze soon started talking with the people next to them.

“I was really impressed,” Bangjoo said from the side.

Just then, she found a shadow cast on the door. After looking at the lights in the corridor, Jiyoon left the classroom thinking ‘no way’. The seniors were standing there with big grins on their faces.