Chapter 85

* * *Daemyung fixed his eyes to the right window. He didn’t dare look to the left of him. Iseul was just sitting right there next to him. How did this happen?“What are you looking at?”“T-the sky.”Daemyung’s heart was beating too fast with Iseul talking to him. He was fine during practice, so why?“Doesn’t your neck hurt? You’ve been like that for a while now.”“Yeah. T-the sky’s pretty, so I’m fine.”“That’s pretty amazing.”He couldn’t even move, with all of them crowded in the car like this. ‘Maru...’To think that’s what he meant when he said, ‘lucky guy’. Daemyung could only sigh whenever Maru pulled pranks like this. As he continued staring outside, he heard someone next to him speak.“We’re missing something.”It was Danmi. Missing… Daemyung nodded. The play was successful. They didn’t make any mistakes, which was the goal. But that’s not all there was to a play, was it?“I didn’t notice anyone laughing during my scene. I thought my scenes were pretty funny, too.”“You were definitely funny.”Danmi shook her head at Iseul’s words.“The audience clearly didn’t think the same. But Daemyung managed to get a few reactions, I noticed?”“N-no, they must’ve been laughing at how I looked.”“Why are you being so self-conscious. You did well.”“Maru did better...”“Maru did better, but he’s got the advantage of being a character with short lines that talks directly with the audience. I think in that sense, you did better than him.”Daemyung nodded for now, but he couldn’t agree. Wasn’t Maru’s role difficult because he talked with the audience? The rest of the club could just interact with each other, but Maru had to talk to the audience from within the realm that was Dalseok-dong. Daemyung believed that to be the reason that made Maru’s role difficult.“Good work, all. There are some regrets, but it wasn’t awful like last time, was it? Come on, smile, all of you.”Yoonjung turned around from the shotgun seat to look at them. She was always very energetic. But for some reason, it kind of felt like she was squeezing all the energy out of herself today. Daemyung smiled awkwardly at her before turning to look out again.‘Did we… do well?’Just eight months ago, Daemyung had no idea what a play even was. Five months ago, he was afraid to be on stage. For sure, he’s improved. So why did he feel so oddly irritated inside? It felt like his heart was filled with emotions that failed to explode outwards. If only he managed to do that on stage…‘Why couldn’t I do that?’Daemyung turned to look at everyone else. Yurim and Iseul looked the same as usual. As a matter of fact, they looked as if a burden was lifted from their shoulders. While Danmi, Yoonjung, and Soyeon all looked like they lost something. Why? Daemyung thought a bit before opening his script with a surprised expression. He needed to confirm something. After he scanned the entire thing, he realized what happened. Was it just coincidence? No, it couldn’t be. ‘All of us, the ones who feel iffy about the play, always had scenes right after Maru.’Daemyung thought back to the stage. He could see the quiet audience. Then, a spotlight. Maru came on stage, and caught their attention. With his character’s unique charm, he managed to make them laugh. As Daemyung observed, he realized exactly what went wrong.‘I was hurried. And I had this feeling that I could be like him, too.’Maru was definitely good at acting. But his level of skill still seemed easily achievable. Because of that, Daemyung ended up stepping on stage with a very high level of confidence, and put in more energy than usual.‘And all I got was a quiet audience.’Was that why he was disappointed? All he had to do was act a little better. ‘The seniors probably feel the same.’Right then, Danmi opened her mouth with an embarrassed expression.“Hah, actually… I was a little intimidated when I saw Maru act. I thought I’d get compared.”“What?”Daemyung felt odd hearing that. Intimidated?“You didn’t feel that way?”“I thought I could be around that good as long as I worked hard. Didn’t you feel that way, too?”“Not at all. People laughed at his scenes, but they didn’t laugh in mine. There’s a difference in our acting, and that intimidated me. I even thought to myself things would’ve been better if… Maru acted normally.”“Normally?”“What I mean is… Ah, I don’t know. It just felt really uncomfortable acting today. That’s just how I felt.”Danmi muttered, “disgusting, aren’t I?” under her breath.“Why are you all being like this? We did fine!”“Yeah.”Iseul and Yurim butted in with a confused expression.“I understand how Danmi feels,” Soyeon said.Everyone had different opinions. Why? Some people thought Maru’s level of acting was achievable, and others thought he was like a distant star. Why was that? The person in the driver’s seat answered that question.“It’s because he’s right in the middle.”Right in the middle? Daemyung could somewhat understand what Geunsoo meant by that.