Chapter 653 (1/2)

“Oppa.”

It was Bitna’s voice that stopped him in his steps. He could see Bitna’s mother smiling from afar. A year ago, during the historical drama, he was called ahjussi, but it seemed that his title was promoted(?) to oppa recently.

“Looks like I almost forgot to say goodbye to you, Bitna.”

“Are you going?”

“I have an appointment. You’re still shooting, right?”

“Yes. I think it will continue into the night.”

“It must be tiring.”

“It’s my work, so I can’t help it.”

Maru couldn’t help but smile whenever she sounded like she was a long time veteran. As she had been working as a child model since before she entered elementary school, perhaps it was natural that she seemed like a pro. The pivot of her life could be seen in her young eyes.

“I think unni wants to see you, oppa.”

“Me?”

Maru thought she was here to say goodbye, so it was rather surprising that he heard something else. He was curious about what happened to Yuna after that, but he didn’t know that he would hear her name from Bitna’s mouth.

“Can you give unni a call? Unni probably won’t be able to call you, probably.”

Bitna took out her phone from her small cross bag. She pressed some buttons with her little fingers before turning the phone around so that Maru could see. Yuna’s phone number was on the display.

“I know her number already.”

He got her number last time.

“Bitna, we should get going now.”

Bitna’s mother called out from behind. Bitna put her phone away and took a bow after grabbing her bag strap. Maru looked at Bitna running away before taking a bow towards Bitna’s mother. Bitna turned around after she reached her mother and waved her hand. Maru waved both of his hands in response.

“Looks like we won’t be able to meet today.”

He got a call from Gaeul as the car the mother and daughter were in disappeared into the distance. Hello? - before he could even say that, he was told that practice was going to end late today. She was panting. It seemed that she had called during practice.

“You don’t have to be sorry. We can just meet next time. It’s the holidays after all. We can just meet up when you don’t have practice. But rather than that, you seem to be quite passionate these days. Are you having fun with practice? Oh, you want me to look forward to it? Alright, I’ll have high hopes. Don’t push yourself though. You know that resting is just as important as practice, right? Yes. Since you’re doing this, don’t leave behind any regrets.”

He hung up. Gaeul was a girl who looked like a rabbit and liked rabbits, but her personality was more similar to a beast that would not let go of its prey than a docile herbivore. She didn’t show it usually, but during the important moments of her life, she would become a huntress. She would not let go of the opportunity she got by signing with an agency. She showed some hesitation until the moment of her decision, but once she decided on something, she would rush straight ahead like a racing horse. It seemed that something changed within her when she came to watch the videos last time. She didn’t explain anything, but Maru could tell from looking at her. All of her actions contained some kind of intention in Maru’s eyes.

He looked up at the skies for a moment. Since he was rejected, he had to change his destination. It wouldn’t be bad to go home like this, but he felt somewhat lacking. The conversations he had with the background actors reverberated in his ears. He needed more stories.

He opened the phone in his hand. He put his thumb on the menu button and thought for a moment. It was 8:10 p.m. It wasn’t that late to make a call, so he wondered if he should try calling. She might be at a loss if he called so suddenly, but he didn’t want to ignore her after he was asked to call her by Bitna. His thumb wavered between the menu button and the cancel button before it decided on a destination. He opened his contact list and called Yuna.

Once, twice, three times - the signal sound was repeated seven times, but she did not pick up the call. Since it was the weekend, it was likely that she was hanging out with her friends. Just as Maru placed his thumb on the end call button,

Hello? - he heard a hurried voice picking up the call. He put his phone against his ear again.

“Is this Miss Kim Yuna’s phone?”

-Yes, it is. Aren’t you Maru-seonbae?

“Yeah, it is me. I just asked just in case. You sounded like a different person.”

-Must be because I picked it up in a hurry. I ran because I heard my phone ringing.

“Ran? Are you outside?”

-No, I’m at home.

“Ah, I see.”

There was a moment of silence. Maru knew what he had to say, but it was hard to say. What happened after that? - asking that question made it seem like he was being too meddlesome. Though, telling her that he called because Bitna asked him to do so was also rather strange. Bitna seemed to want to keep her interference a secret.

-Sorry for leaving after just saying what I wanted last time.

Thankfully, Yuna spoke up first. This was why having a phone call with an unfamiliar person was rather difficult. If they were talking face-to-face, Maru would have had a much easier time talking to her since he would be able to watch her expression and mood. In Maru’s memory, Yuna was a big sister who looked after her little sister a lot; a student who had a passion for acting; and, at the same time, a little child who was fed up with acting. He couldn’t say anything much since he didn’t know much about her, so he was rather relieved that Yuna talked to him first.

“In the first place, you called me out for a consultation, didn’t you? Though, it started off with a lie.”

-I’m sorry about that as well. You were displeased after all, weren’t you?

“No, I said that to sound funny, but it looks like it wasn’t. It’s really hard to talk over the phone, especially when we don’t know each other that well.”

-Then can we see each other right now?

The conversation strayed off towards a completely unexpected direction. Maru stopped walking. His thought process also stopped as well. It was nearly 9 p.m. Not exactly the greatest time to meet up. Moreover, they weren’t close enough to set up an appointment like this so easily and meet each other. Maru was rather flustered when she told him that they should meet right now so easily.

-Is it not good after all?

“No, well, it’s not like that, but I’m in Seoul right now.”

-It only takes an hour by train.

“An hour is not entirely short.”

-Then what should I do?