Chapter 96

Chapter 96
Chapter 96
“This is the makeup room and it’s exclusive for the main characters of the play . ”
Ganghwan looked at the door of the room with both a jealous and nostalgic look on his face . Under the tag of the room, there was a name written “Kim Jiyoon” .
“Someone you know?”
“Not at all . I was just wondering if I could ever enter one of these myself . ”
Right then, the door of the room opened and an actress walked out . Ganghwan and Maru flinched a bit before stepping back .
“Do you have business here?” the actress asked .
“We were just looking around . Were we being a bother?”
Ganghwan answered politely, the woman relaxed a bit after hearing Ganghwan’s response .
“No, you weren’t . Have we met before, by the way?”
“I’m just a no-name in the business . ”
“Is that so?”
The woman narrowed her eyes for a few seconds before exclaiming in surprise .
“Wait, could you be Mr . Yang Ganghwan?”
“You know me?”
“You are! I enjoyed your most recent play . Ah, perhaps that’s not the right word for it . ”
The actress smiled before telling the two of them to wait a bit . She walked back into the makeup room and came back with a pen and paper .
“Could you give me your signature?”
“My signature?”
“Yes . ”
Maru saw Ganghwan’s mouth curl up into a grin right there . Then again, there weren’t many men that would be displeased from being asked for a signature from a pretty woman .
‘A female lead at the reopening event… She’s probably a rising star or something . ’
The actress went back to her room with a smile after getting the signature .
“You should’ve asked for a number . ”
“ . . . Maybe, yeah . ”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t even have a girlfriend? You have to pay attention to the small meetings like this if you really want to succeed . ”
“Hah . I hate how I can’t even talk back to a high schooler right now . ”
“By the way, was that lady someone popular?”
“In Hyehwa, yeah . She left a government funded theater company for a private one . ”
“Left a government funded company? Wow . ”
What an amazing woman . Did she receive an offer better than a stable pay from the government? Or did she choose to challenge herself?
“Huh, I guess I would be pretty amazing, too, then?”
“What?”
“I was in a government funded one, too . Obviously, I got out . How is it? You feel that respect rising up inside of you yet?”
“ . . . They don’t just pick anyone over there, do they?”
“Hey, stop looking at me like that . ”
Maru smiled slightly . This was the first time he heard of this fact . So this person was sort of amazing, after all .
‘I guess that’s only to be expected from someone so popular in the future . ’
Maru followed Ganghwan to look around some more at the Myungdong Art Theater . There were a lot of restricted areas, but they were allowed access with their staff name tags . They could even look at the top of the stage where all the lights were, with the help of the lighting crew . Apparently even the team didn’t like to frequent here because of how dangerous it was .
“This is pretty amazing . ”
The ceiling of the stage was dotted with black rods, it almost looked like they made a spiderweb out of steel . The lights hanging off from this network of steel was what lit the stage below .
“The bigger the stage, the more effort an actor has to put in for a successful play . But the stage managers suffer just as much in that regard, you can’t just make a stage bigger just like that . You have to focus on how the lights hit the stage and making sure that everything is in complete coordination . ”
Maru nodded . Even now, he could see many of the staff running around trying to fix the smaller things . Ganghwan noted that the staff didn’t just have to take care of the ceiling and the stage, but also the area under the stage, too .
“Whenever I look at this, I feel responsible . I feel like I shouldn’t make mistakes . Sure, not making mistakes is important for the audience, but I can’t ruin things for the many people that are trying to make this play a success . That’s why actors often like to come to the stage mid-production . Cheer on the staff, while trying to keep themselves nervous . To actually engrave in themselves the fact that it’s not just them that’s trying to make this a success . ”
Ganghwan put a bit more strength into his words, the man’s words resonated with Maru . These words weren’t something born out of mere theory, but something that was dotted with experience .
“Let’s go down . ”
“Where?”
“To eat . ”
“Again?”
“Again? It’s already 3 o’clock . Three hours passed since our last meal . Also, senior Junmin’s downstairs, so we might as well ask him for a free meal . Hmmm… . Beef, yes . Beef sounds good . Hehe . ”
What the hell happened to the cool guy from before? Maru shook his head as he followed behind Ganghwan jumping down the stairs .
* * *
“Hey, why aren’t you coming?”
“Wait a second . ”
Changhu glared at his friends for a second before taking out his phone . It was 3 o’clock . Their meeting time .
“I got a call . ”
Changhu cleared his throat before taking the call, he had to pay particular attention to how he talked . These girls liked it when he acted cute .
“Yes, big sis . ”
- Sorry, Changhu . I told you the wrong place . The cathedral doesn’t have any good restaurants nearby . Come to the Myungdong Art Theater . Do you know where that is?
“Myungdong Art Theater?”
- Yeah . It’s pretty famous, so you can probably get directions if you ask around a bit . You’re coming with friends, right?
“Yes . They’re nice kids . Your friends are here, too?”
- Of course . Anyway, come quick . I’ll pay for the meal . We can just go hang at a karaoke afterward . Karaoke during the day is super fun .
“Sure . Alright, we’ll be right over . ”
Changhu spat on the floor as soon as he hung up .
“Hah, does this bitch think we’re dumb dogs or something?”
“Why?“
“She’s telling us to go to the Myungdong Art Theater now . ”
“Myungdong Art Theater? The hell is that?”
“Apparently we can just ask around for directions . ”
“Really? Might as well go . I’m freezing my ass off . I should’ve worn more layers . ”
“You idiot, why didn’t you bring a jacket or something?”
“I thought we’d go somewhere nice right away . Plus, thicker clothes make me look fucking fat . ”
Changhu and his friends headed down from the cathedral, laughing amongst themselves . On the way down, they learned the whereabouts of the theater from an old lady .
“Yo, by the way, Seoul has a lot of pretty women,” one of Changhu’s friends said .
Changhu had to agree . There were a lot of women walking around in skirts even during the winter . Some even had tights on, too .
“Our town is kind of trash, dude . ”
“If only we had girls like this . ”
“Yo yo, dude, look at those breasts . That’s at least a C cup, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t it bigger?”
“Dunno . I’d have to sleep with her to know . Ah, you think I can lose it today?”
“Good luck . I don’t think you can do it though, you look too much like a baby . ”
“You bastard, I’ll show you what a real casanova looks like . ”
As the four of them walked, they eventually reached an odd building . It had loads of posters about acting taped to the wall .
“That must be it . ”
The building just looked like a theater from the outside . Indeed, walking closer, they found that they were right .
“Over here . ”
The group could hear someone call out to them from a bank on the other side . Changhu waved his hand towards where the voice came from .
“It’s them, what do you think?”
“Oh, hell yea . ”
“I’m happy . ”
“Dude, peach stockings are mine . ”
Changhu explained to the others to call the women ‘big sis’, and to act cute in front of them .
“And then you can start to think about leading them on . Girls like that sort of stuff . ”
“I know, I saw it on television . ”
“No dude, theory is different from the real thing . Just watch how I do it before you try it . Trust me . ”
“Okay, okay . I’ll let you play the king role today, Changhu . ”
Changhu walked to the women with a smile, they all came out in pretty casual clothing . But the fact that these women were loaded and had nice bodies didn’t change . That alone made Changhu very happy .
“Hello, big sis . ”
“We’re Changhu’s friends . ”
Nice, they were going with the plan . Maybe Changhu shouldn’t even have bothered worrying so much .
“Are they really high schoolers?”
“Pretty nice looking for high schoolers . ”
The other girls seemed pretty happy, too .
“Ladies, young men are always the best . Don’t you know that? Besides that, we’re cold . Are you going anywhere?”
“Oh dear, you were cold, Changhu? I’m sorry . ”
“Buy us something tasty if you’re sorry . ”
“Sure! I’ll pay . Does everyone like meat?”
The blonde woman smiled as she took out a card from her wallet . Changhu exchanged a quick look with his friends .
‘See? This girl’s rich . ’
‘Nice . ’
Changhu and his friends immediately dragged the girls over to a restaurant, they all stepped forward to grab the hands of the women they took a liking to . The women didn’t seem to hate it .
‘Good, good . ’
It was time to drink .
* * *
“Why don’t you try having some shame for a change?”
“I know you’ll buy us food even if you say that, Senior . ”
“You only take this senior’s word seriously when you’re asking for food . ”
Junmin sighed in defeat before standing up . In the end, Ganghwan’s begging actually worked .
“Maru, I’ll let you have some nice meat today . ”
Ganghwan proudly took the first step outside .
“He never changes, does he?”
“Never and not in the good sense, either . ”
“How did you meet with Coach, sir?”
“Me and Ganghwan? It’s been a while . More than a decade now, actually . He was a college dropout that appeared out of nowhere asking to act at my theater company . ”
“I… can sort of imagine that . ”
“Whatever you’re imagining, it was even worse . He wouldn’t listen to any sort of sense or logic . ”
“I did expect that to be the case, after hearing about him living homeless for three months . He’s pretty amazing, isn’t he?”
“Well, in that sense, you’re pretty odd as well . That 300 million… Use it well . ”
Junmin pat Maru’s shoulder with a faint smile .
“Come on, walk faster, senior! The beggars in my stomach are about to start a coup d’etat!”
“Does he really want to act like that in his thirties?”
Junmin sped up his pace as he clicked his tongue, the three of them stepped into a little alleyway after coming out of the theater . According to Junmin, there was a pretty nice bbq place inside .
“I haven’t had beef in a while, I’m excited . ”
“Can you not be so excited by stuff like that?”
The two of them were exchanging words like experienced comedians . An odd combo, for sure . Maru smiled faintly .
“Over here, right?”
Ganghwan asked as he looked up at the second floor, there was a massive signboard written “beef” on the building .
“This place is a restaurant and a butcher shop, all in one . It’s pretty cheap, but also delicious . ”
“Whatever you say, Senior . ”
Ganghwan headed up the stairs first .
* * *
“It was big, right?”
“Yeah . ”
Bada headed out of the Myungdong Art Theater with her friends . There was a little tour for what the backstage looked like before a play and they were lucky enough to join in . The theater from the inside was massive .
“They even had three floors for the audience . ”
“They had rooms on the left and right side, too . Probably for the VIPs, right?”
“I want to try watching from there, too . ”
Bada took a picture in front of the entrance with a grin . “Where should we go now?”
“What time is it?”
“3:20 . ”
“Should we start exploring clothing shops now?”
Right then, one of Bada’s friends raised her hand .
“Want to get some waffles before that?” she said, pointing at a store nearby .
Bada nodded vigorously . Just thinking about waffles made her mouth start to water .
* * *
“Dad, where are you going?”
“There’s someone that wants to meet you . ”
“You’ve said that already . Who is it?”
Dowook followed behind his dad, who told him to stop asking so many questions . Just who were they going to meet?
“Ah, maybe we should buy some of that,” dad said, looking at a waffle shop .
“You said we were going to eat something, though . ”
“Well, she likes waffles a lot . ”
“She?”
“Anyway, let’s buy it . Don’t you like waffles too?”
“ . . . I got sick of it after eating it so many times . ”
Dowook immediately regretted what he said . Indeed, his dad’s expression was darkening .
“I’m sorry . I should’ve paid attention . ”
“ . . . Just buy it already . I’ll eat the jam . ”
As he walked towards the waffle store with his dad, a group of middle school girls passed by him, laughing with each other .
“We should’ve moved a little faster,” his dad commented .
After arriving at the store, Dowook ordered three waffles . Dad took out his wallet and handed the money .
“I’ll make a call real quick . ”
Dad stepped outside . Just why did he keep having to leave to make the call? The man clearly wasn’t talking to any of his gas station employees, judging from his expressions .
“Wow, he’s handsome . ”
“Shh, he’ll hear you . ”
Dowook turned around, making the middle school girls turn away with a flinch . Dowook quickly turned back awkwardly to look at a mirror on the wall . Wow, he looked like a delinquent .
“Oh yeah, I saw your brother,” he heard one of the girls say .
“Bada’s brother? Ah, Maru?”
‘Maru?’
Dowook turned around, hearing a familiar name .