Chapter 548 (1/2)

“The world sure has gotten cruel.”

“What the heck, that was so random?”

“Why can’t the young’uns grow up more brightly?”

“Park Daemyung, what did you feed this guy?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Maru patted Dowook’s shoulder before picking up his food tray and standing up. He just got a text from Okseon. She told him to forget about the conversation they had yesterday in an imperative tone. It was cute to see her thinking that she could tell others what they should do with every word and every sentence of hers. Though, she might be thinking that she was being serious.

He talked with her a bit yesterday since he thought that she was impressive for trying to do something proactively, but her insufficient mindset and actions made him almost encourage her instead.

“It really doesn’t matter what people look like on the outside, does it?”

“Are you picking a fight with me? You’ve been saying weird things for quite a while now.”

“Even the angry-looking Dowook is actually a cute little brother in front of his big si… whoa there, put your hands down.”

After sending off the steaming Dowook, he walked onto the school field with Daemyung.

“Have you picked the ones for the play?”

“Yeah. A total of 13 of them.”

“I guess the ones that didn’t get picked are disappointed right now.”

“We were originally going to shoot on Thursday, but something came up on the drama side. Thanks to that, I got an earful from Sora. Why am I being scolded when I’m volunteering for this?”

“You did break your promise, so you can’t help that.”

“Wow, you sounded quite firm there. I really have a good friend. Why don’t you stand surety for me later?”

“No.”

“Daemyung, you’ve become a lot crueler. Is it because of Jiyoon?”

“Wh-why would Jiyoon come up here?”

Daemyung turned red up to his ears in an instant.

“You know, that must be a talent you have there. Your ears turned red in an instant.”

“That’s because you said something like that. Are you shooting the drama today too, then?”

“Will it be like that next week as well?”

“Who knows? I’ll find out about it next week, but I think so. We’re practically overhauling an entire episode, so I think I’ll be busy if we don’t want blanks in the shooting schedule. It’s all because the writer suddenly decided to overhaul the script. I do like the new one better, but it’s hard to get adjusted to the new schedule.”

“I-I see. You’re working hard,” Daemyung said as he looked away.

Maru stared at him.

“Oh yeah, you look a little tired today.”

“I-is that so?”

“You’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday too. You’ve been looking after yourself quite a lot ever since you met Jiyoon though. This is pretty strange.”

“H-have I now?”

“Don’t pretend that you don’t know. You looked like you stayed up the night a few days ago, and it’s like that again today. Did something happen? I heard from Dowook that you left during practice because of some matters.”

“Them?”

“The writers.”

“Oh, the acquaintances of writer Ahn Pilhyun?”

“Yeah.”

Maru smiled and patted Daemyung’s back.

“I thought there was a big problem or something, but it turned out to be something good. You should try to act affable in front of them. Meeting such people is a part of work too.”

“I-I want to do that, but….”

Daemyung looked at him before lowering his head. His reaction was somewhat down. Maru pointed at the gazebo in the corner of the school field. It was an octagonal one, and apparently, the head director bought one for the school for aesthetic reasons. Of course, it wouldn’t make a worn-out school look good just by itself.

After sitting down in it, Maru spoke,

“So, the thing is…”

Maru quietly looked at Daemyung. Daemyung was capable of knowing what he could and could not say. From the way he hesitated a lot, it meant that he was wondering whether it was really okay or not.

“If it’s something you can’t tell me, you don’t need to….”

“I saw mom.”

“Mom? Whose mom? My mom?” Maru asked as he pointed at his own face.

Daemyung shook his head. Mom? Just what was he talking about? At that moment, an unexpected name came out of Daemyung’s mouth: Choi Haesoo.

“Mother-in-law?”

“M-mother-in-law!?”

“Oh, it’s just a habit of mine to call her that, so don’t mind it. Rather than that, you met mother-in-law?”

“That was surprising. She can be quite mischievous at times. Were you okay with her?”

Daemyung only made an awkward smile and did not reply. The answer was obvious from just that. She was someone who could play high-level pranks. Moreover, she was impulsive as well. The words she said were all direct-to-the-point and might hurt someone weak-hearted. Of course, she was a good person. Probably.

“Actually, Haesoo-ahjumma is okay.”

“It is a bit strange to hear her name from you. Anyway, if you’re okay with her pranks, then there should be no problems, no?”

“...There’s one more person. Another friend of teacher Ahn.”

“So the reason you look so gloomy is because of that person.”

“That writer isn’t so bad. We’ve only met twice until now, but I can tell that much. In fact, it’s the opposite. I got a lot of helpful advice. A lot, like, really, a lot… really, really, a lot….”

Daemyung’s voice became quieter and quieter. Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that he looked like someone who was tired from work.

“Looks like that writer scolds you a lot.”

“I see. I guess it must be scary if a middle-aged man shouts at you.”

“...She’s a woman.”

“Oh, really?”

“In fact, it’d be less scary if it was a man instead.”

“Just what happened last night?”