Chapter 181

Chapter 181
Chapter 181
"We got the registration forms for now . ”
Maru handed the forms over to Taesik . There were four third years who were just there by name, two new first years, and four second years .
“Oh, new kids from our class . ”
“Yes . I just wanted to fill in the numbers for now . ”
Clubs with less than ten people didn’t have the luxury of a clubroom, so Maru met the quota using ghost members .
“You must be thinking of finding other members next week . ”
Taesik leaned backwards with a troubled look .
“Is there an issue?”
“The rules have changed, unfortunately . The school recently had a meeting about this after they received a request from a student . ”
Taesik got up from his seat and walked out of the teacher’s office, Maru followed behind him . Taesik ordered two cups of coffee from the vending machine next to the school store before walking over to a corner .
“The faculty talked about how some clubs had clubrooms since the beginning of school . The principal seemed oddly willing to talk about this topic for some reason . Usually, he leaves this kind of stuff to the school council . ”
“ . . . Could it be . . . ”
“The school council decided to let other clubs try having clubrooms as well and the faculty agreed . So they decided to perform an investigation on all clubs that had clubrooms for more than five years . Ah, sorry, they already finished the investigation and made their decision . ”
“So what happens to the acting club?”
“We’re losing the clubroom . The reading, music, and toys club get to keep their clubs due to their results in various national competitions, but not us . ”
“So the winter competition wasn’t appealing enough . ”
Taesik nodded .
“I couldn’t say anything to the school wanting to let other students have a chance at getting their own clubrooms . Especially since they are right . ”
Taesik gulped down the chilled coffee, Maru finished his in one gulp as well .
“How long do we have?”
“The third week of March . ”
“It’s going to take a while to move all of the props . ”
“Worse, finding a place to keep all of it . ”
“You don’t happen to have a storage room somewhere, do you?”
“Of course I don’t . What made you think I would?”
“I was just asking out of false hope . ”
Maru was reminded of a time when the landowner decided to raise his rent . It must’ve been an obvious decision to the landowner, but Maru recalled the feeling of having his world crumble around him when he heard it . It almost felt like he got betrayed by his own house, even though that house was never actually his, to begin with . It was the same with the school, the clubroom wasn’t actually theirs . It was the school’s and there was nothing they could do about the school’s decision .
“We’ll have to find a new place first . ”
“I’ll help as much as possible . ”
“Do you know of a storage space the school doesn’t use?”
“Don’t know . I’ll take a look around . ”
“Thank you . ”
Maru returned to the classroom after finishing his conversation with Taesik, Daemyung greeted him with a bright smile .
“How’d it go? Did it work?”
“Nope, we’ll have to leave . ”
“What? Really?”
“The rules have changed . Can’t do anything about it . We’ll have to leave . ”
Maru gave back the registration forms he collected from his classmates .
“What the, what’s going to happen to you guys then?” Dojin asked worriedly .
“We’re screwed, obviously . ”
“ . . . Is it because I left?”
“You’re definitely not enough to influence this decision, so don’t worry . Explain to the others as well . We’re doing this because the school’s telling us to do it, not because you guys left . ”
Maru didn’t want the former members feeling guilty over this, they left because they all had their own paths to walk . Maru didn’t want to place any unnecessary burdens on them .
“So how did this happen out of nowhere, then?”
“Well, that’s the odd thing . ”
The principal probably took a liking to the school council’s suggestion . After all, the man disliked the acting club as is . But why did the school council speak out against it to begin with? Maru tried asking the vice president’s friend, but he didn’t get a decent response .
“I just know that the idea came out and it reached the principal’s ears . ”
Was it just coincidence?
“Let’s head to the clubroom after lunch . We’ll need a plan if we want to move everything out . ” “So we really are leaving, huh,” Daemyung sighed .
It was a done deal, so they couldn’t help it . They’d be better off trying to plan things out as fast as possible . On their way to the cafeteria after their fourth period, they ran into Taesik .
“They said there wasn’t a good place inside the school . ”
Bad news never comes alone, does it? The school didn’t even have a single storage room to spare .
“Thank you for looking . ”
“I’m looking for clubs willing to give up their clubrooms, but this isn’t easy either . ”
“You probably won’t find any, since people dislike letting go of things they have . ”
“Right . But I still have hope for now . ”
“We’re going to organize the clubroom after lunch . We’ll start with the heavier stuff close to the door first . ”
“And we’ve moved everything just two months ago too . ”
“We can’t help it, I guess . Please enjoy your meal . ”
“You too . ”
Outside the school… Maru didn’t have a very good place in mind . Just as he walked with a deep frown on his face, his back suddenly turned hot with a loud slapping noise . Yoonjung was smiling awkwardly behind him when he turned around .
“D-did it hurt a lot?”
She seemed to misunderstand the reason behind his expression .
“It’s fine . I was just frowning because of something that happened . Did you have business here?”
“ . . . I heard the news about the clubroom . ”
“Right . ”
“Did you find a place yet?”
“Mr . Taesik couldn’t find a good place, so I’m a bit stuck . We’ll have to move out . ”
“Out? Out where?”
“That’s the issue . ”
Maru scratched his eyebrows . There were only residences next to the school, was there a building that could house their stuff nearby?
“What about a tent?” Yoonjung asked with her index finger pointing to the air .
A tent, huh .
“We could get a shipping container . ”
“A c-container?”
“Used ones go for about two million won, so it should be a short term good solution . Oh, it might actually be a bit cheaper around now . ”
Just as he was thinking a little more about the solution, he heard Yoonjung let out an exclamation of surprise .
“You really know everything, Maru . ” “Yes, well . ”
“You should’ve been the president after all . ”
“Mm, that’s how things turned out . ”
“Really? What about Geunseok?”
“Something happened to him . He left . ”
“Really?”
Yoonjung widened her eyes, then left saying that she’d be talking to the boy .
“She’s the same as ever . ”
“She’d be popular with the boys too if she wasn’t so energetic all the time . ”
Maru could only nod at Dojin’s statement .
“A container, though? Can you even buy that?” Daemyung asked .
“There’s quite a lot of supply . If we ask the right people, we could even get it delivered for free . It could be even cheaper if all we’re looking for is a waterproof one . ”
“B-buying one? You said it was over two million . ”
“Well, if we can get permission from the school, there’s no reason not to . ”
“What about the money?”
Maru smiled at Daemyung .
“Alright, we found one solution, so let’s eat . ”
“No, but what about the money?”
“Let’s go . Noodles for lunch . ”
“What about the money?!”
Daemyung chased after Maru with a confused expression .
* * *
“Who was that girl at lunch? She was pretty . ”
“Someone who’s into me . ”
“Seriously?”
Geunseok shrugged at his friend . Yoonjung came to ask him why he left during lunchtime . He was annoyed at her for asking so many questions, so he just told her that he found the club annoying . He led her on a bit because it was cute watching her asking him to come back, but he had no intentions of going back . Well, not that he could to begin with . His dad wouldn’t allow it .
Nothing bad happened on the day his dad found out, thankfully . But he was told to give up on acting completely . Geunseok knew that he wouldn’t be able to change his father’s mind at all .
“Hey, Hong Geunseok . ”
He met his friend right in front of the council room, it was the council’s vice president . A few days ago, he gave his friend a little suggestion . To change the rules so that more clubs would be able to use clubrooms .
“Your request went through . ”
“Really?”
“The senior really liked it . The principal was a fan too . ”
Geunseok smiled .
“That’s good . ”
“Why did you ask for a change like that out of nowhere?”
“Just because? Fairness, I guess?”
“What the hell are you talking about? Ah, I was going to hang with a few girls, want to join?”
“When?”
“Tomorrow . ”
“Fine . Food’s on me . ”
He felt better already . He’d need to wait to hear the specifics, but the acting club would probably have to move out because of this . Geunseok walked up to the fourth floor through the central stairs . He noticed that the acting club’s door was open . Looking inside, he could see the club members moving several props .
“What are you doing?” Geunseok asked, suppressing a laugh .
“Organizing . ”
“Organizing? Why?”
“They said we need to move out, so we don’t have a choice . Want to help?”
“You think I’m as free as you people?”
He almost let his laughter slip out, Geunseok turned around after wishing them luck . He felt good already watching them being put to work, it’d take a lot of effort to move all of those props .
‘Should’ve acted tame from the start, fucker . ’
Geunseok took a look at the sign of the acting club before stepping downstairs . Acting was pretty fun . He didn’t have many regrets about stepping away from it, it definitely had its own charm . Too bad his father didn’t allow it, it wasn’t like he could rebel against the man anyway . Only crazy people like his brother did that, thinking about his brother made Geunseok’s stomach twist . His brother managed to get recognized, disgusting . The person who couldn’t even chase after his shadow was now acknowledged by his father .
“I hope you fucking fail . All of you . ”
Geunseok took a step forward with a bitter frown .
* * *
“I didn’t think you’d contact me out of nowhere like this . ”
“I happened to have the time and I also happened on some troubling news . ”
Hong Janghae took a sip of the porridge a fancy waitress had brought him . This multi-leveled Chinese restaurant wasn’t that big, but it was a place that many celebrities frequented . Janghae knew very well how difficult it was to reserve a seat here .
“Geunsoo told me that you enjoy Chinese food . ”
“Yes, quite a bit . This is a place I’ve been meaning to visit for quite a bit . I didn’t think my first time here would be for such an occasion . ”
He came thanks to Junmin’s invitation today, Janghae was a fan of the food and the quiet environment here .
“Do you drink?”
“I enjoy it . ”
Junmin put in an order after hearing that, a golden bottle of alcohol arrived shortly after .
“Please, have a drink . ”
He took a glass from Junmin . The orange lighting of the restaurant attached an ethereal quality to the alcohol, Janghae poured Junmin a glass, too .
“This drink is good as an appetizer . Let’s talk after our meal . ”
“Sounds good . ”
Janghae didn’t refuse, he was hungry . He slowly savoured each dish from the courses . The tantan noodles in the jade dish were the most inspiring . Once the meal ended, Junmin opened his mouth to speak .
“I heard Geunseok left the acting club . ”
Janghae nodded .
“I made him do it . Geunsoo is a very stubborn boy . I wasn’t able to stop him because of that, but Geunseok’s different . He listens to me very well . He returns to his rightful path with just a few words . ”
“I see . ”
Janghae let go of the glass he was holding just a moment before . He had the feeling he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear .
“I dislike small talk . ”
“Me too . So I’ll cut straight to the chase . ”
Junmin put his two hands on the table .
“What do you think about letting Geunseok continue acting?”