After Story 86

After Story 86

“But is that really enough?” Seungah asked, looking back at the police station.

She confidently said she’d help out her friend, but the interview with her uncle only lasted about 10 minutes. She wondered if that short interview would even be helpful.

“Yeah, I received more than enough. He said something crucial in setting my character.”

“I guess if you’re good with it, that’s fine.”

She looked at the notepad that Maru was holding.

“Can you show me that?”

“There’s nothing much though.”

“If there’s nothing much, then show me. I’m curious about what you wrote.”

Maru held the notepad out.

“Oppa, can I look at it as well?” Dawoon also showed interest. Maru nodded.

“This is unexpected. Your writing is really neat. Did you get lessons or something?”

Clean writing filled the first page. It looked like it was written quickly, but it was neat nonetheless. She then saw that the notepad wasn’t even lined. His words were so straight that she thought he wrote on top of lines, but there were none.

Seungah looked downwards. There was a question ‘why’ underneath the character’s name. It was a series of ‘whys’ from beginning to end.

There was no clear answer in the notepad. It was just one question leading to another question.

“You can organize your thoughts like that?”

She took her eyes off the notepad. She felt dizzy instead when she looked at the huge agglomeration of whys.

This was not a process to make the character clearer. It was a process of pushing the character inside a fog. There was no answer to any question, and instead, even more questions.

“Each person has their own way. Also, this notepad is for thinking, not for organizing. I rarely write any conclusion here. It’s a notepad where I keep throwing questions.”

“I shouldn’t have looked. If you write so many questions for just a minor character, how are you supposed to do a lead character?”

“Ask even more questions than this. But if I read it, it’s not actually that much. You should try if you have some time.”

“What? Do that?”

“If you do, you’ll realize that I actually haven’t written down a lot of questions. You must also think about a lot of things if you play a character. Try gathering all the questions that just flash past your head. There’s no need to write it down on a notepad. If you’re more comfortable typing, then you can do that, and if you’re fine with recording, then you can do that too. Try gathering them and looking back at them. There will probably be a lot more than I have here, you know?”

“Really? I actually think quite a lot, but I don’t think it’s that much.”

“You can’t go wrong with trying. It doesn’t consume money or even a lot of time, so you should try it. You might not get anything out of it, but you might be able to find out something interesting in the process of creating questions. Dawoon, you should try it too if you have time. If you don’t have any characters to play right now, then you can do it with a character you want to play, or you can also pick a character from a movie and ask questions in your own way. It’s somewhat fun to compare the character you have created based on the questions you asked about the character that the actor displays.”

Questions, huh? Seungah tapped on her lips. It was an irreplaceable step in the process of refining a character. However, she had never thrown endless questions like that without answering them. There was only a question that sought an answer.

“Isn’t that inefficient? It’s just a minor character.”

“From some perspectives, it might be inefficient. But it’s not like I’m so busy that I need to consider efficiency. It won’t be too late to think about efficiency later, don’t you think?”

“You’re right. I’ll try as well since I have a lot of time.”

Dawoon stood in front of Maru and spoke, “I’ll try doing it as well. Can you have a look at the things I wrote down later?”

“It’s no use for anyone else to see it, but if you want to, I’ll have a look.”

“Thank you, oppa.”

Seungah looked at Dawoon and Maru who smiled at each other.

Oh? – She put on a thick smile and bumped Dawoon with her shoulder. Dawoon blinked and looked at her.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“What is it? Your smile is clearly fishy.”

“I said it’s nothing.”

She couldn’t say it in front of Maru. She handed the notepad back to Maru.

“Since we ate and did what we needed to do, shall we part ways here?”

Seungah pushed Maru’s back and sent him to the bus stop. As she did so, she had a glance at Dawoon. While she didn’t make it look obvious, she was clearly disappointed. How cute.

Maru left on the bus.

“Jung Dawoon.”

“Huh?”

“Be honest with me.”

“What?”

“Don’t you have anything to say to me? This unni already knows everything.”

Dawoon, who was walking ahead, flinched to a stop. Her shoulders shriveled inwards. She knew it was going to be like this. Seungah slapped Dawoon’s back hard.

She walked forward to see Dawoon’s uneasy face. Dawoon was looking down with her expression frozen stiff. She was so pale that she looked shocked.

She thought she made a mistake. She never knew that Dawoon would feel so uncomfortable talking about romance.

“Dawoon, Dawoon. I’m not trying to tease you.”

“Huh… huh?”

Dawoon raised her head. Her eyes were complex.

Just how startled was she? – she felt pity and grabbed her hands.

“I just mentioned it lightly. If I knew you hated it so much, I wouldn’t have even said it.”

“What… do you mean?”

“What do you mean what do I mean? Aren’t you interested in Maru?”

Dawoon’s lips, which had stiffened into a straight line, trembled before softening up. Dawoon rubbed the corner of her eyes and spoke, “It’s about that?”

“Of course it’s about this. What else would I tease you about? Anyway, this is it. I won’t talk about this ever again.”

“It’s okay,” Dawoon said, shaking her head.

“It’s okay?”

“As you said, unni, I’m a little interested in him.” Dawoon smiled in embarrassment.

Seungah narrowed her eyes. “Look at you. I knew my hunch wasn’t wrong.”

“But it’s not like I really like him that much.”

“I know, I know. Han Maru is a pretty decent guy. He’s gentle and he looks good too.”

“He’s caring in the little parts, and he keeps promises too,” Dawoon added.

“How likely is it for that basic goodwill to turn into romantic feelings? Just tell me about it.”

“Why are you doing this? Do you even have to know?”

“Hey. I should know a little bit so that I can help you out indirectly, or just ignore it. If you’re just thinking of him as a decent person, then I’ll stay still, but if it’s not that and you want to proceed further….”

Seungah smirked and linked arms with Dawoon.

“Tell me quickly.”

“Why are you doing this? Geez.”

Dawoon took her arm away with a smile. From her attitude, it was clear that she wanted to go beyond the current relationship.

“I can also read the mood, so I won’t cause a fuss. Instead, I can help you to get in the mood, just slightly.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Really?”

Dawon became quiet. After a while, she spoke in a small voice, “If you make it unnoticeable….”

“What?”

“If you’re going to tease me for it, then forget it.”

Dawoon walked ahead, looking mad. She was so cute. Seungah quickly went up to her and linked arms again.

“Just trust this unni. I’ll set you up ever so slightly that it won’t look noticeable.”

“Don’t go too far. Both oppa and I might find it uncomfortable. I don’t want things to be like that. I want to get close to him naturally.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of that, so don’t worry.”

Seungah grabbed a taxi.

“What about you?”

“I have something to buy, so I’m going to go grocery shopping.”

“Should I go with you?”

“Nah, it’s okay. You should get going now. See you at the acting school tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

She closed the taxi door. The taxi then stopped right in front at the traffic light. Seungah waved her hand. Dawoon smiled and pulled her head back into the taxi.

“Wait, I should find out some info before that, right?”

Seungah took out her phone. It was time for the romance detective to get to work.

* * *

Dawoon smiled as she thought about Seungah. She was really stifled when she was asked if she had anything to say. She felt like that was how it would feel when being hit by a car.

However, her worries were for naught. Seungah didn’t know anything. It was proof that Maru was keeping his promise.

When her nervousness died down, she faintly smiled. She was overly worried and realized that worrying would do more harm than good.

No one would know that she threw away those profiles. Only Maru had heard what she said while she was half drunk, but that was okay. Even if Maru brought up what she said that day, she could just play dumb, not that he would say something like that easily based on his personality.

A mistake was not a mistake if no one knew about it. She didn’t commit a crime, so she had to be bold. It would be troublesome if she stiffened up and talked nonsense.

She fidgeted with her phone before smiling. She hoped that unni didn’t do anything unnecessary. She was worried, but she was also looking forward to it. She didn’t want to date him just yet, but she definitely wanted to become closer to him.

If Seungah could set up the mood, she would more easily be able to talk about personal stuff and get to know each other better.

She thought about Maru’s advice. The way he spoke seriously was honestly quite charming. People said that there was no sexier man than one who is focused on his work, and it was indeed true. A person focusing on his clear objective was sexy.

Maybe it wasn’t that bad to get closer to him. Dawoon fantasized about a lot of things, but she stopped because she kept grinning.

“If things go well….” Dawoon whispered while looking outside the window.

If she got closer to him thanks to unni’s help, would that mean they helped each other out? Unni might not know it, but without her help, unni would’ve been unable to participate in the audition.

When she thought about that, it felt very natural to get Seungah’s help. She felt proud for some reason. It also felt like throwing away those profiles wasn’t so bad.

The ones who pass were designated in the first place. She only did what she did so that the one who put in more effort received a fairer chance, so she couldn’t call it a sin.

Was it really a bad thing that she threw away those profiles? Would not throwing them away have changed anything? Wasn’t there more to gain by throwing those things away?

Dawoon smiled. She kept asking questions just like Maru said, and the more she did, the more justified her actions seemed to be.

She felt comfortable now. Everything felt refreshed.

* * *

Maru stared at his phone. He read the message Seungah sent him several times over.

-Hey, are you seeing anyone right now?

What was her intention behind sending that text? Usually, when a woman who showed no signs of romance sent him a text like this, it was usually about introducing him to another woman. He had also experienced actors dating each other, so it wasn’t even that surprising.

-I do have someone I’m seeing right now.

He sent the message before he got anything more unnecessary. Rather than being kidnapped to another group chat by being roundabout, it was better to cut the sapling early.

-You have someone you’re dating?

-I do.

-Why?

Why? — Maru chuckled in absurdity and asked what it was about.

-No, nothing. If you had one, then you should’ve shown a hint about it.

-Isn’t it stranger to show it?

-Anyway, okay.

-What is it?

He was reminded of Dawoon, but he didn’t mention it. He might be getting overly conscious because of his old age.

Seungah told him once again not to mind before saying goodbye. She told him not to mind, so there was no need for him to mind. He said what he needed to say, so Seungah should take care of whatever happened.

He saw the couple seated in front of him giggling while sharing earphones.

Whether it was Seungah, or those two… they had it good.

Maru closed his eyes and leaned on the chair. He would be at Suwon station after taking a nap.