Chapter 9

* * *The first years disappeared after saying their goodbyes. Maru could visibly see the second year’s face get darker by a little as each student left. Yoonjung especially looked like she lost the entire world or something. The other two second years seemed pretty calm on the surface, but they were fidgeting nervously in some places as well. Man, even he was starting to feel a little nervous because of them.“They’re all gonna get out at this rate.” Dojin whispered to him.The more the second years talked, the more people started running away. Time and money were pretty valuable, after all. Asking for both was being pretty greedy towards the first years. The picture book was pretty pressuring as well. Sure, it was cool to look at, but it served as the evidence of the dedication this club required. Making each and every prop with great care, and acting on stage… pretty much prescribed hard work. Even now, he could feel some sort of energy from the pictures. It made sense that a few first years would leave after looking at it.“Hum, hum.”The second year with the buzzcut stepped forward. The thing about buzzcuts was that it often made a person look pretty scary, but in this case the dude looked like an acorn with it. At least it was easy to look at.“Looks like all the wishy-washy people left,” he said with a clap. “We’ll be introducing ourselves, then. I’m Choi Minsung, in mechanical engineering.”Minsung sent a glance towards the girl with the short hair.“I’m Lim Danmi, second year in design. I like talking and making costumes.”Danmi pulled the other boy over next to her. Maru could tell that this guy was pretty much the leader of the club, despite Yoonjung being the one in name.“The name’s Bang Joonghyuk, in electrical engineering. I’ll introduce myself more once you join.”Now he knew the four second years’ names. Maru took a look around. There were six first years left. Four guys and two girls. The two girls seemed to be friends with each other. That left one other guy. Was he by himself? The boy had quite a big physique with a pretty large forehead. He looked pretty serious and quiet. That was a rarity in high school.“Will you be joining?” Yoonjung asked with a gleam.“Yes.”The first to answer was the big boy Maru was just eyeing. He turned in his form and returned to his spot.“Yayy!”Well, she seemed excited. Just looking at the girl made Maru cheerier. What an energetic person she was.“What about the two of you?” Maru turned to Dojin and Daemyung with the question.The form in Daemyung’s hand was coupled with a determined look. Dojin seemed to have made up his mind as well.“The three of us will be joining as well.”Maru handed three forms to Yoonjung. The girl’s head nodded vigorously in response.“Thank you very much.” she responded. No need for thanks, really. Maru turned to look at the other two girls. They talked amongst each other for a quick moment, before filling out the forms right on the spot.“Here you go.”With that, there were 6 first years joining the club.

* * *“We’re accepting members till tomorrow, so do try to bring more people if you can. Also, we’ll be acting a lot more casual with you starting tomorrow, so don’t be surprised.”The group separated with Danmi’s announcement. Maru headed for the restaurant next to school. Dojin was going to treat them in celebration.“Isn’t Danmi really pretty?” Dojin said. It was the first thing out of his mouth as soon as they got their food.“I vote Yoonjung. Ah, the other first years were cute too.” Daemyung responded, fitting kimbap into his mouth.“And here I thought you were a big old pussy. You’re quite the perv, aren’t you?”“N-no I’m not.”“‘No I’m not’ my ass! Hey! It’s normal for guys to like girls, right Maru?”Maru nodded. He was thinking. The acting club… there were a few points of concern. Firstly, the fact that there were no third years at all. There were bound to be a few, considering how many there were in the 2002 photo book from last year. But none at all? Something must’ve happened. The second years seemed like they were hiding from them. It made sense, thinking back on the faces they made in the club room as well. They didn’t just seem sad about having first years leave.“Why were there no third years, by the way?” Dojin seemed fairly curious about it as well. Daemyung started thinking with the other boy.“Do you know who the advising teacher is?” Maru asked. Dojin was the type of person who hobbied in collecting information around school. Maybe he’d know?“Of course I do. He’s the guy that teaches us history.”“Park Taesik? That guy?”“Yeap. Good guy. Pretty boring though.”Maru had a pretty good impression of the history teacher as well. The man was a little boring, but he often told old stories to the students. Just as Dojin stood up to order some more food, someone entered the restaurant.‘Not very handsome, though.’ Maru added to his mental notes. It was the history teacher who walked in.

* * *Taesik waved at the three students inside the restaurant.“What are you three doing? It’s late.” he said.“We’re just building our friendship, teacher.” Dojin responded with a joking look. It’s been 13 years since he’s started teaching. In that time, Taesik made a promise to himself to memorize every one of his student’s names. So that he wouldn’t have to resort to ‘hey, you’ everytime he needed to call out a student. Instead, he’d refer to them by their name.Thanks to this, Taesik knew the names of most students he taught. Though he still didn’t know the names of a few of them. It’s only been a week, after all. That kid with small eyes in the back was one of them. He didn’t quite know the boy’s name yet.‘Dae...sik? Was it? Ugh, so sorry. I haven’t memorized your name yet.’Loud kids like Dojin were easier to remember for sure. The quieter ones made memorizing their names pretty hard, though. ‘And that’s Maru over there.’Han Maru. The kid from electrical engineering with a weird name. The boy was pretty well-known among the faculty. That kind of a name just kind of sticks in your head. It’s unusual, after all.“Having fun with friends is fine, but you should eat actual food, too. Not snacks like this.” he advised. “No worries, sir! I’ll go on over home and smack down a bowl of rice!”“Good to hear. You’re still growing, so eat a lot.”Taesik asked the lady to pack him some tteokbokki, soondae, and some fried vegetables. He recalled seeing the club students working hard to clean out the club room when he finished work. They looked like they were going to be stuck cleaning for a while, so he decided to buy some snacks for them.“Teacher, I have a question.”Taesik turned back to look at the noise. It was Maru. The boy with a square jaw and confident eyes. Looking at Maru made him think that the boy must have a very strict father back home. You couldn’t really find any of the playfulness you’d find in abundance in the other students. The other members of the faculty agreed with Taesik as well. Especially the boy’s homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher thought Maru was very mature.“Sure, what is it?”“We entered the acting club today.”“Ahh! So you’re the three out of the new six, huh?”Taesik bought another serving of fried vegetables to give to the three. “Thank you, sir.”“Thank you.”Dojin and Daemyung started digging in pretty much instantly. Maru was more fixated on the question, though.“So what are you curious about, then?”“There were only four second years when we went today. We didn’t see any third years.”“Ah...”Taesik smiled bitterly inside. The boy just came straight at him with the hardest question from the get go. Well, it was understandable. Why wouldn’t he be curious about it? “Did something happen? The second years seemed to be hiding something as well.”The other two started paying attention as well. They didn’t seem to have noticed until now. What a perceptive lad, this Maru kid. He’s caught onto what was going on in the club before anyone else. He was different from the others for sure.“Something did happen.” “Is that so.”Maru finished off right there, and started digging into the food as well. Well, that’s confusing. Wasn’t he curious about what happened? Why there weren’t third years, and why the second years were making that face? Why wasn’t he asking? Wasn’t he curious?“Aren’t you curious?” Taesik asked.“I’m curious.”“Can you tell us?”Dojin and Daemyung were the ones to answer in his stead. Maru just shook his head from the back, though.“I’ll hear it from the second years. I think that would be more appropriate.” he said.“...Right. Sure. It’d be better to hear it from them.”Taesik stood up after hearing the lady call at him. Maru stood up with him. The other two looked at him for a split second before standing up as well. Man, the boy resembled a junior employee at a company or something. Knowing exactly how to act to avoid getting on the teacher’s bad side and all. ‘The father’s taught him well. He’s not going to give anyone a bad first impression at the very least.’Taesik walked out with the three boys bowing at him as a farewell. Ah, come to think of it… He walked back over to the restaurant. The lady asked him from the window if he forgot something inside. “Nope, but could I pay for their food as well? How much is it?”“6000 won.”“Alright. Here it is.”Right then, his eyes met with Maru’s from inside the building. Maru bowed his head as a greeting, making Taesik smile in response.‘Eat well, club juniors.’