Chapter 527 (2/2)

“I thought that Maru should be the one to do it from the beginning. It would instead be strange if he lost to the juniors.”

It was decided then. Sora stood up and spoke,

“The main character will be Maru-seonbae.”

She pressed down on the desk with both of her arms and looked at the acting club sitting in front of her.

“If you have any complaints, you can say them now.”

No one said anything.

“Well then, please take care of us in the future, Maru-seonbae,” said Sora as she looked straight into Maru’s eyes.

* * *

“Try to do the read-throughs without looking at the script as much as possible. Starting next week, we are going to plan movement lines. Instructor Miso becomes more strict once we start practicing with movement, so you should be prepared for that.”

Chihwan looked at Maru, who sat in the corner, as he listened to Daemyung’s words. After the mini audition held by the film production club, Maru sat down in a corner as though nothing had happened and started making props again. Chihwan realized that many others were looking at Maru just like him. It was natural. They got to watch how he acted right in front of them. The air he gave off was completely different. They couldn’t help but take glances at him.

‘I only thought that he looked natural when I watched the drama, but now that I think about it again, he fitted into the drama better than anyone else without feeling off.’

Although he originally didn’t watch ‘New Semester’, ever since he entered the acting club and found out that Maru-seonbae was in it, he started watching it for fun. As Maru was a supporting character, he didn’t appear or talk that much when he did, so he never got the feeling that Maru was good at acting. However, he realized after seeing the wordless performance he saw today. He never got the feeling that Maru was good since he looked natural and didn’t seem like he was acting at all.

‘He didn’t look forced at all.’

He was thinking such, when,

“Looks like everyone’s mind is elsewhere right now.”

Daemyung smiled and put down the script. Chihwan immediately came back to himself.

“Maru, can you come over for a bit?”

Daemyung called out to Maru. Chihwan observed Maru, who came with wood glue in hand, in detail. The gloomy expression he had during the wordless performance couldn’t be seen anywhere. He looked like a completely different person due to the discrepancies in emotional states.

“Why?”

“Because everyone’s looking at you,” said Daemyung.

“Me?”

Maru turned around to look at the juniors. Chihwan did not look away when Maru’s eyes were on him.

“Uhm, seonbae-nim!” Chihwan raised his hand and spoke.

Since he spoke up anyway, he decided to do something big.

“I want you to watch my acting.”

“Acting?”

“Yes.”

“Instructor Miso will be coming tomorrow, so tell her to do that. She has much better judgement than me, and is also a lot better at explaining as well.”

“Uhm, the instructor is… a little scary. Also, I want to show my act to you and get your opinion!”

“From me? Why?”

“I fell for you after I watched you before!”

He realized that he said something rather strange after he uttered those words, but he believed that his true intentions had gotten across. Man to man. Such a thing was supposed to be direct.

“If you’re confessing, I’d like to decline politely. Also, I hope you stay 10 meters away from me from now on.”

“No, that’s not it!” He had shouted in panic when Maru smiled back faintly.

“Ahn Chihwan, right?”

“Yes!”

“Go ahead. I’m not sure if I can be of help, but I’ll try.”

As soon as he said those words, the others raised their hands as well.

“Can you have a look at me as well?”

“I’d also like you to watch me.”

“If you have the time, please watch me too!”

Chihwan glared at the others.

“Hey! I’m first!”

He darted off and stood in front of Maru. Maru-seonbae said he liked boxing, and he really had a good build. He realized when he stood in front of him. Although he was a little shorter than him, he looked solid, or maybe his center of gravity was really stable. He felt like he was looking at a tree that sprouted out of a block of concrete.

“Daemyung. Is it okay to do this during practice?”

“It’s fine. This can also be a facet of training. Also, we need to start picking as well.”

Hearing Daemyung’s words, Chihwan gulped. Although they had split up into three groups to practice, more than half of them, no, more than two-thirds of them would not be able to go up on stage. Daemyung was probably referring to the fact that it was about time they selected the actors and started practicing for real.

“Then I guess I can have a look. It’d be good if the girls can do it as well, right?”

“Yeah. Girls, you can perform with the script for the play. As for the boys, you should show Maru what you did for that audition before. Maru will tell you various things.”

“I don’t have that much to say though.”

“Do it anyway. They are our juniors.”

Maru crossed his arms and sat down on the chair. Chihwan felt a completely different kind of nervousness than when he stood in front of the film production club. Maru’s eyes looked scary. He felt like anything uttered from that mouth might make him dizzy.

‘This, this is the real deal!’

If he was going to do it, he might as well do it properly.

Chihwan snorted.