Chapter 69

The sound of the bell rang from the ceiling.“Have a nice lunch.”Once the teacher left the room, the students all bolted for the front and back doors. They shoved each other, moving several times faster than usual.“Chicken!”“Let’s go!”Today, the cafeteria served fried chicken. The students all rushed there with as much strength as their legs could muster. Maru only stood up from his seat after some of the students disappeared.“Well, that was terrifying.”“It’s not like the fried chicken would stop being fried chicken if you were late. Wonder why they’re in such a hurry.”Maru motioned Daemyung over, who walked over with a script in hand.“Planning on practicing on the way over?”“Yeah. I can’t waste time.”What a guy. Since when did he become so diligent again?“Your script is going to fall apart into rags at this rate.”As he said this, Dojin ran over to grab his own script as well. How troublesome, the two of them made even Maru itching to practice.“Actor Han, Actor Park, please. Let’s try to focus on food during lunchtime.”Maru dragged his friends by their shoulders outside. By the time they got to the cafeteria, all the running kids were neatly arranged in a line. Be it the past or present, it appears Koreans really went crazy for fried chicken.“Hellow!”Someone greeted them from behind, it was Iseul. The people around her were wearing gray shirts from other clubs, while Iseul was wearing Blue Sky’s T-shirt. Just like the three of them.“Oh, I look better here!” the girl noted, stepping towards them.Daemyung moved away from her slightly in response. No one noticed because it was so slight, but Maru realized right away, being next to the boy.‘What a softie.’It didn’t look like Daemyung was awkward because he liked Iseul, rather his unfamiliarity talking to pretty girls. He was so casual with her when they practiced, too. He was probably just bad with actual social settings. Maru pushed the boy towards the girl, away from him. Daemyung desperately sent signals for him to stop, but Maru just grinned even more in response. ‘This is all for the future, buddy. Girls aren’t people you should just avoid. They’re supposed to be people to get used to.’Daemyung’s face reddened almost immediately. Come to think of, it was pretty strange watching this guy become so confident on stage.“How’s practice going for you guys?” Iseul asked.“Perfect as always. You?” Dojin responded.“Same old, same old. I’m just trying to make it fun for myself. And you, Daemyung?”“M-me? W-well, I think it’s going well. Still need a lot of work, though.”“Why so humble all of the sudden? You were great last time,” Iseul said, nudging Daemyung a little.The boy could only laugh saying ‘was I?’ under his breath.“And Maru… You’re probably doing fine. Right?”“I’m trying the best I can.”“Best? Haha. Doesn’t sound like you.”“What sounds like me, then?”“Trying as little as possible to get by?”“You got me.”The line got shorter while they talked. Once they actually entered the cafeteria, they found another group wearing the same shirt as well. The three guys from the design class, and one more person. Taejoon.“Hello, men!” Taejoon greeted, getting the attention of everyone around him.The attention made him silent, as he nursed an embarrassed smile.‘He’s the type that likes to be loud, but also gets easily embarrassed,’ Maru noted.“What are you doing here?” Iseul asked.“What about you, then? What are you doing here?”“Well… ok, fine. You got me there.”Maru sat down on the table, greeting the design kids appropriately. Geunseok and Yurim waved back lazily, and Soyeon told him to enjoy his meal. It didn’t look like they were still mad about what he did back then, but they didn’t seem to want to be close with him at all.Maru was completely fine with that, it would honestly be a bit annoying if they tried to get overly friendly with him instead. “This feels lIke I’m chewing on rock,” Dojin commented next to him, biting into his chicken.‘They had to fry chicken for a thousand people, of course it’s going to be like that.’Maru was reminded of his times in the military, specifically that time they served fried chicken one day after the news of an avian influenza outbreak. The fact that the flavor of chicken from that time overlapped with the flavor of this chicken probably meant that the food here was really bad.“This tastes good to me, though.”Daemyung was pretty much licking the bones completely clean, Maru decided to give his chicken to Daemyung as a result. The club met outside after lunchtime, every member was holding a cup of hot chocolate in their hands.“We start blocking today, right?”It’s already been two weeks since they were given their scripts. By this time, the club members were strictly off book. Today, they would start moving according to the positions Miso assigns them to, and then say their lines. Standing still and saying your lines was a completely different thing compared to actually moving around saying it. Walking and talking at the same time was a surprisingly difficult task. Maru understood completely, having actually seen the club do it multiple times.Right then, he could feel the eyes of the club shift over to him.“Don’t worry, I won’t be a bother.”He didn’t say he’d try not to be a bother, trying to imply that he wouldn’t fail. At times like these, it was just better for him to say he wouldn’t do something for sure. Plus, Maru had practiced enough to be sure of not making a mistake.“I’ll see you guys later.”With that, the club split up. After school, they would meet again in the auditorium.
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