Life, Once Again!

Last year's acting club president was a cool girl. She could still remember. The ex-president was rather tall with short hair. Her colleagues always teased her saying that she looked like a man from afar, but she always smiled back at them. As she had graduated, the position of the president was handed over to the current president. The graduates were all surprised that the acting club had female presidents for two consecutive years.

The current president had a tomboy-style look as well. The difference from last year's president was that she looked a little cuter since she was short. Though, no one said this in front of her. She hated being called cute.

"I heard that Hyeha-seonbae is participating in the Geochang Theater Festival."

"The Geochang Theater Festival?"

She, who was stretching her waist by putting her chest against the floor, abruptly raised her head. Hyena-seonbae, she was the former club president that graduated. She had heard occasional news about her, but this was the first time she heard that she was participating in a theater festival.

"You mean the international festival?"

"No, the college festival that comes after that. The international festival only allows full theater troupes so college clubs probably aren't allowed."

"Aha."

She nodded. She found out that there were many different theater festivals while researching stuff for her blog. They ranged from college-level theater festivals, city-wide, nation-wide to international festivals. Many such festivals were held within the country every year. Among them, the Geochang International Festival of Theater was a rather famous one. From what she knew, there were only around 60,000 residents in Geochang, but the number of visitors that visited Geochang for the festival was twice that number.

"I would like to go if I have the time."

"It's held in November, so you might be able to go if the schedule allows it?" The president spoke with a smile.

Ex-president Hyena and the current president were on close terms. They were like real sisters. They were also similar in the fact that they were passionate about acting. There was one difference: the current president did not decide to take acting as her career. She decided to stop after high school. She already declared that she would focus on managing the club once the summer acting competition was over.

"We're back with some food!"

The juniors who had gone out to get food had returned. They sat around the food in a circle. She liked meal time. Being able to share food with people that she got along with was a joyous matter.

'I wonder if Maru had his meal,' she thought as she put a piece of kimbap in her mouth.

Maru had become really busy this year. He had told her that he had been to a drama shoot just a short while ago. He was handling both the matters given to him by his agency as well as the club, so he should have it quite hard. Although it had been almost two weeks since they hadn't seen each other, the reason she didn't go further than just calling him was because of that. She wanted Maru to rest a little.

Maru was very talkative, but he never talked about his own worries. She thought in one corner of her heart that Maru was a very sturdy person, and that he'd tackle any obstacles in his way with a smile. However, ever since she saw Maru crying silently at the cinema, she felt shock as well as pity for him. She never got to know why Maru cried that day. All she got back was that Maru cried because the movie was sad, when she tried to ask.

After that day, she thought that she should be more considerate of Maru. She understood - that Maru had his weak side. He never talked about his worries, so she had to be considerate of him more.

"Eat to your hearts' content. We'll be staying here until 11 tonight as well."

"...Yes."

The juniors started eating food hurriedly. Her colleagues did the same. She also started drinking the soup for the fishcake. It was likely that they would keep up this schedule until the festival itself. They would get exhausted if they didn't get their fill properly.

After the meal, they did some light exercise before resuming practice. They had set up the stage and were wearing stage costumes as well. This was done in order to let the first years experience what it's like on the stage. After a single run, they gathered around the club president.

"That was good. Let's take a short rest before we start again. I know that it's tiring, but endure it for now. The only way for you to not make any mistakes during the real deal is when you practice enough to the point that you can mutter your lines subconsciously just after waking up. The 2nd years know what I mean, right?"

She nodded at the club president's question. There were occasions where people's heads would go blank on stage. No matter how hard people resolved themselves to not make a mistake, there would be trivial mistakes made on stage. Voices would go hoarse for no reason, and bodies would go stiff without any cause either. The only way to escape that situation was acting that was engraved on the body. Practice was like insurance. It was the best when there was no need for it, yet the 'what-if' situation always comes by all of a sudden, and that's when it shined.

Just as they were enjoying their rest, the door to the practice room opened.

"You guys are still practicing."

A girl entered with coffee in one hand. The man that seemed to be in his mid twenties also entered with coffee in his hands. The coffee was from the store outside the school.

"I was thinking maybe you guys were still practicing, and I guess I was right."

The first and the 2nd years stood up. She did the same. Lee Chaerim. She was one of the many celebrities that commuted to this school. Although she wasn't a member of the acting club, she brought presents from time to time and gave them encouragement, so everyone liked her. She had a thin figure with a short haircut and was a member of a top-tier idol band that was super popular with the boys. She was also appearing in dramas recently and was becoming more popular by the day.

"Seonbae, didn't you say you had a shoot?" She asked Chaerim as she accepted a cup of coffee from her.

She had heard that Chaerim had a photoshoot.

"Of course I finished all of it. Everyone sit down, why are you guys all standing up?"

Chaerim sat next to the club president. The man that brought coffee told Chaerim that he would be waiting in the car and left. It seemed like he was her manager.

"Thanks. We just needed some dessert too," the club president spoke as she bit down on the straw.

It was her favorite type of coffee - cafe mocha.

"How's practice?"

"It's going well. They're good. How about you? Since you're here, why don't you tell us about the drama? I mean, you're in front of your fans, technically."

The boys all shouted 'I'm a fan' joyously. Chaerim faintly smiled and spoke.

"It's hard. It wouldn't be surprising if I got used to it now, but it always feels new every time I go there, and the actors there are so good that I feel like I look good because of them as well. I want to get complimented with my own skills, but it's difficult. Have you… seen the drama? I look awkward, right?"

"No. I saw you on TV and you didn't look awkward at all."

"You were so good."

"He's right."

The juniors all complimented her. Chaerim blushed in joy. She, who was watching her while sipping on her coffee, made the same posture in her mind. Would Maru like it if she acted like that as well? Her face became hot immediately and she shook her head. Acting cute in front of him was not going to happen.

Every one of Chaerim's actions looked cute because of her figure. She felt like she knew why she was loved by both men and women. It seemed that not just anyone could become idols after all.

"Oh yeah. Isn't the drama about to begin? Today's Friday, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Should we watch together?"

"Don't. It's embarrassing."

Chaerim twisted her body as she said that. The club president turned on the power for the large TV in one corner of the practice room. The TV, which was rarely used outside of watching materials for learning, turned on. She switched the channel using the remote control next to the TV.

"It's on RBS, right?"

"Yeah."

The channel was switched to RBS. It was still on ads. On the top right corner was the logo for 'Youth Generation'.

"Looks like it should begin soon."

"Geez, this is gonna be embarrassing."

"You shouldn't be embarrassed of your own acting."

The club president raised the volume. On TV was a shampoo ad. A long-haired actress was showing off her glistening hair.

"It's Kim Suyeon."

"She's on TV a lot these days."

The juniors' words could be heard.

She actually knew that actress. She had seen her in person. She came to visit Maru when he was hospitalized. Every time she saw her on TV, it felt like the meeting back then was a lie.

'But she didn't look like she was close with Maru. Her first impression… wasn't that good either.'

She knew how foolish it was to judge a person based on first impressions, but the feeling she had when she first saw Suyeon was so vicious that she still didn't have a good impression of her. It even felt somewhat wrong to look at her cheerfully smiling on TV.

No, perhaps she was jealous. It wasn't that surprising since she was pretty. She sighed slightly. Thinking back, all the people that came to visit Maru back then had some impressive atmosphere about them. They were all unique and beautiful.

"What are you thinking about?"

Suddenly seeing a face up close, she flinched and let go of her straw. It was Chaerim. Her eyes then looked at the straws with a lot of creases. It felt like it was representative of her mind.

"Just this and that."

She wondered if all this was because they hadn't met in a long time. She felt pathetic. She decided not to compare herself to other people. There would be no good in doing so. Also, Maru had said that he would make her only look at him and make her be unable to live without him. That probably implied that he wouldn't look at anyone else either. Her thoughts started shifting towards Maru again. Her eyes had a glint in them and she chewed on the straw with all her strength.

'Hm.'

It felt like she had lost for some reason. If Maru knew about this, it was obvious that he would have a big grin on his face and tease her all day for it.

"A lover's quarrel?"

Hearing Chaerim's question, she coughed awkwardly. The two gathered the attention of the juniors. She continued coughing to avoid her question.

"It's starting."

Hearing the president's words, everyone looked at the TV. The screen darkened for a moment before it showed the whole school in one shot. This was a youth drama with four idols as the main characters. When it first started airing, there were a lot of bad words about it. However, in the third week, people started cheering and encouraging the actors more rather than criticizing them. This could easily be confirmed by looking it up on the internet.

"Oh, there she is."

"It's embarrassing, don't keep saying it," Chaerim said as she bit her lower lip.

In the drama, Chaerim was portrayed as the bad girl that was the daughter of a chaebol. She blatantly disdained people she didn't like, and used money to get everyone on her side. She was the stereotypical 'villainess' character in Korean dramas.

"Isn't it awkward?" Chaerim carefully asked.

She shook her head vigorously.

"You don't look awkward at all."

"Really? That's good. The director wanted me to act more evil, but I didn't really get it. I tried my best, but it looks really strange when I look at it myself."

"It's not like that at all. You totally look like an evil girl. You're really good at acting, seonbae."

"Hm, really? It doesn't look that bad after all, right? I-I mean, I'm kind at heart so… huh?" Chaerim asked back with a vague smile.

She tilted her head. When she did, Chaerim said 'no it's nothing' before turning around to the TV again. Did she make a mistake?

She put her knees together and started watching the drama. The full shot of the super large school was on full display.

"I wondered about this the last I saw it, but where the heck is that place? It's a college, isn't it?"

"No. It's a high school in Seoul, named Sangam High."

"That's a high school? Looks super fancy."

"Our school is not that bad either."

"It's a drop in the bucket compared to that place."

The club president and Chaerim exchanged words. Like what the president said, the school in the drama had facilities that were too good to be true for a high school. It actually looked like a school for super rich kids that only appeared in fiction.

The scene changed and a gym appeared. After a short scene of boys doing sports, the main characters appeared. They were playing basketball. The tall actors played basketball and it looked very cool. Their body figure was very good on camera, so just that looked pleasing to the eyes.

Eventually, two of the main characters started fighting. They were fighting over the same girl who was like Cinderella. Chaerim appeared and attempted to stop the fight to no avail. Then, the two main characters got closer to each other. They glared at each other as though they were about to start punching each other at any moment. At that moment, the scene switched and the fist that was being raised into the air was shot close up.

At that moment, she was startled as though a block of ice suddenly touched the back of her neck. The boy that fell over from the protagonist's fist was too familiar to her. She thought that she was mistaken for a second, but his face was captured in the next scene, albeit for a brief moment. He was clearly Maru.

"So this is that drama."

She uttered that out loud subconsciously, but it seemed that she was quite loud. The president, Chaerim, as well as the members of the club all looked at her.

"What do you mean, this is that drama?"

"Eh? Oh, a friend of mine told me that he would be appearing in this drama as an extra."

"A friend of yours? Who?"

"The one that fell over just now."

"Ah, really?"

The president looked at the screen and spoke.

"Huh? Isn't that the guy from Woosung High? He is! During the acting festival, Hyena-unni pointed him out, saying that he's the most eye-catching."

The club president spoke as she watched Maru being helped by another to go to the infirmary. Hearing that, the 2nd years also input their own opinions.

"Isn't he the guy that grabbed you and shouted at you? It was back in Ansan, right? His name was… Han Maru, wasn't it? That's right, it was Han Maru."

"Ah, I remember. There was a band performance nearby. That's right, there was that strange kid. The one that said to 'remember him'."

Her friends started giggling as they talked about the story from a year ago. The club president looked at her with a suspicious smile. She lowered her head in order to avoid all the gazes. She was reminded of Maru from back then, when he suddenly came up to her and told her to remember him.

The president and her friends approached her and poked at her and asked if he was herboyfriend. She ended up nodding due to the barrage of attacks. With this, her friends at the club found out as well on top of her classmates.

"Now I know the origin of the ring that you were wearing from time to time."

The club president pried deeper into the matter. She bit her lips and did not reply at all, but the president's stubbornness had no end to it.

Just as she was avoiding the eyes of the president and the rest of the members, she felt a strong gaze hitting the left of her face. That frosty gaze made her turn her head that way. There, she saw Chaerim, who was looking at her with gloomy eyes. However, that gaze soon disappeared. Only the smiling Chaerim was left.

"Aah, I'm on the drama too."

She was mindful about Chaerim, so she could hear those words. However, it seemed that no one else had heard it. She became absent-minded for a moment. The giggles from the president and her friends felt like they had disappeared.

"Uhm, I'll get going now. I shouldn't disturb you for too long."

Chaerim stood up.

"You're going?"

"Yeah. Good luck with practice. I'll visit again next time."

"Alright. We'll have fun watching the drama too."

"Ah, well. Alright, have fun."

Chaerim left as she waved her hand.

She raised her hand and stroked her left cheeks. It felt numb as though she was slapped.