After Story 219

The curtain call began. He wanted to stand up and applaud them, but there was no palace to put down the bouquet. After the lights came over the stage and the audience seats came on, relaxing background music started flowing out.

Some of the audience members left with their bags, while those who were close to the actors on stage went on the stage.

Maru also stood up with the bouquet and gifts for the juniors.

“Thank you for coming.”

“You look totally different from when you’re at the company.”

He heard the conversations happening on stage. Maru stood at the border between the audience seats and the stage. He quietly looked at Haneul, who was talking to the juniors. He saw Sinhye notice him and point at him.

His wife came over. Standing at the edge of the stage, she bent down. Only then were they at eye level.

His wife wiped the sweat on her forehead and smiled.

“Did you enjoy it?” she asked.

Maru responded by giving her the bouquet.

“Isn’t it too big?” she said as she received the bouquet.

“I was going to go with a bigger one but held back because you would be buried under it. Thankfully, mine’s the biggest.”

“Anything bigger than this wouldn’t be called a bouquet. You’d need a vase.”

His wife put her hand out. He grabbed her hand and went on stage. Not to mention the juniors, even the members of the audience who were talking were slowly gathering towards him.

“Say it honestly so that I can give up quickly. You two aren’t just friends, are you?” Sinhye asked with a smile.

The juniors practicing with his wife should have noticed it ages ago. They might have called each other friends, but they acted like lovers after all.

“I’ll leave that up to your judgment. But don’t try to hit on him,” Haneul said.

Maru just smiled.

“Senior, what’s that in your hand?” Sinhye pointed at the presents in Maru’s hand.

“You know what it is. You did well until the last moment. You were all good. I really wish I could give you a big bouquet each, but you see, I needed to differentiate.”

He gave the bouquets he got from the florist to the juniors. They were smaller than the ones he gave his wife, but he looked out for the composition of the flowers and even hand-wrote a card for them each.

“I was going to be disappointed if you didn’t give us anything.”

“Senior, I’ll dry them out well and hang them up at our house.”

The juniors opened the cards on the bouquets. Some of them said out loud that it was cheesy, some of them smiled quietly, and some of them sniffled. While each had different expressions of their emotions, they all said the same thing at the end – thank you.

Some members of the audience, who had been keeping their distance until now, walked over. The juniors stepped up and introduced them. Company colleagues, close friends, family members… Maru took some time for those that asked to take a photo with him.

“It’s about time now. We have to clean up the resting area too,” Jungah said.

The disorderly atmosphere subsided. The members of the audience left through the exit, while the actors turned around to go to the resting area.

“I’ll erase the makeup at home.”

“You want to get on the bus with a face like that? You have great courage.”

“I can’t be bothered to do anything. I put in too much energy because it was the last time.”

The juniors talked about the things they couldn’t in front of their acquaintances.

“Pass me a towel.”

They put a towel around their necks and started taking off their stage costumes. Some of them, who had makeup smeared on the costumes, lamented that the washing costs must be even more expensive than the payment they got. Everyone laughed in agreement.

“Is there anyone who needs to go early?” Haneul said while taking out her credit card.

Everyone replied that they had no such things.

“I booked a restaurant nearby so let’s quickly clean things up and go. Joonho, you check the items we have to return. The rest of you, clean up the resting area properly. This place was sponsored to us, so if we use it messily, it won’t look good for us.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll have it cleaner than my own room.”

Maru was going to help, but he was told that guests should leave. He returned to the stage after passing through the short corridor. The employees of the theater were cleaning up.

He stared at the stage that his wife had been playing around on until just a while ago before leaving. Embracing the rather cool air of early summer night, he waited for his wife and the juniors.

About ten-something minutes later, everyone left the theater, following his wife. They were all wearing black t-shirts.

“When did you order uniforms?” he asked as he looked at the t-shirts that had the hanja character for love (愛). The character was sewn, not printed, so it looked rather unique.

“Around the time we moved locations?” his wife replied.

He pointed at his own face. “What about mine?”

“It’s only for the members of the theater troupe. We don’t have one for an outsider.”

“Outsider, you say. Guys, am I an outsider?”

Maru took his eyes off Haneul and looked at the juniors. The juniors all rushed behind Haneul. The tides had already turned, so there was no point in starting a fight.

“The troupe leader is Haneul-unni, and the producer is Jungah. As for you, senior Maru, you’re… just an errand boy?”

“The ancestors weren’t wrong when they said you should not take in black-haired animals.”

“I have blond hair right now, though?” Sinhye said as she pinched a strand of her hair.

When Maru shook his head with a sigh, everyone started laughing.

“You want one?” his wife asked.

“If you don’t want a grown-up man to throw a tantrum, then give me one quickly.”

“Now I don’t want to give it to you all of a sudden. It’s interesting to see you mad, sweetie.”

“So you want to see me bawl my eyes out in the middle of the street?”

Maru stuck his butt out, about to sit down. When he did, Jungah said that she couldn’t bear to watch and gave him a t-shirt.

“Senior, an adult shouldn’t do that. It’s unsightly.”

When he looked at the hem of the t-shirt, it said ‘Han Maru’ on it. Next to it was the title: ‘Money Lord.’

“That’s not a title I really like.”

“You know you like it.”

His wife smelled the bouquet and walked forward. The others followed suit.

“Senior Maru, come quickly.”

He put on the t-shirt on top of what he was wearing and started walking.

“Order as much as you want without considering the price. Excuse me, we’re ready to order.”

His wife’s permission came. The juniors ordered a load of gopchang as though they had lost all shame.

On each table, a pot of gopchang with a lot of cheese was placed. There were just as many sounds of beer bottles popping open as there was laughter.

They stayed in the gopchang restaurant for about an hour and a half before moving to a seafood restaurant that specialized in grilled clams. Not a single one went home during that time.

Jungah left for a moment and when she came back, she came back with hangover relief drinks and digestive medicine.

“It’s our last time, so don’t you think I need to burn everything too?”

Even Jungah, who was always the one to hold back and send everyone home at the end, had unleashed herself.

Eating, drinking… they decided to care about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow and just stuffed themselves until the end of today.

Even the ones who had held back from drinking because they had work tomorrow ended up drinking and fell flat on the table about four hours into the afterparty.

Gopchang restaurant, grilled clams, a bar… they topped it off with going to the noraebang.

Everyone grabbed the mic under the grand calling that they had to expel their alcohol energy. When they realized it, it was already nearing midnight.

“We’ll leave now. Be safe on your way home!”

“Bye. There’s no practice now, so don’t come to the practice room tomorrow.”

“If you didn’t tell me that, I would probably get on the bus tomorrow morning.”

The juniors parted ways while laughing. Maru barely managed to take Joohwan off him and had him get into a taxi. Jungah and Sinhye hopped in next to him.

“Careful on your way home. From the looks of him, you gotta take Joohwan right to his house. Well, if you don’t want to, then just toss him in front of the station.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Before the taxi departed, Jungah poked her head out of the window. Sinhye did the same.

“Senior Maru, senior Haneul. Thank you so, so much.”

“We had a blast acting thanks to you! Watch out on your way home!”

The taxi left. Maru looked at Haneul. She was looking at the taxi that was going into the distance with her arms crossed.

“They’re good kids. That’s why I’m even more worried. The play might have gone well, but for them, it’s just the start,” she said.

“I’m sure they’ll do well by themselves. You know kids these days are smarter and more persistent than we imagine them to be, don’t you?”

“Going by appearances, we’re in the group of ‘kids these days’ too.”

Maru then responded that they might look like one on the surface, but what was under the hood was way past the expiry date.

“It didn’t rot, did it?” his wife asked with a smile.

“We’ll have to look after ourselves so that we don’t rot. I’ll look out for you, and you look out for me. We’re still rather young to be called old-fashioned.”

He took the bouquet that his wife was holding and grabbed her hand. Walking down a commercial street filled with sparking lights, he asked,

“How does it feel to have finished a play after a long time?”

“Better than I expected. There are an endless number of such memories in my mind, but they can’t be compared to this vivid moment where I am feeling everything.”

“Your camera acting is good, but you might be better on stage.”

“The president told me too. He suggested that I prepare for a musical. He knows me so well.”

“You’re going to do it?”

“Daemyung is doing well with the scenario, and I don’t have much to help with, so I’m going to try. But I’m slightly worried too. The musical will have a double cast, but what if I’m insufficient?”

“That won’t happen.”

Haneul smiled and bumped his shoulder.

“Right. How was the meeting with the director?”

Maru briefly explained what happened during the day.

“Senior Geunsoo is a big eater? That’s peculiar.”

“You’ll be surprised when you meet him later.”

“I want to get close to everyone quickly. A relationship that only I know is too lonely.”

Walking through a park, he talked to Haneul about a lot of things. Despite the long years they’d lived together, they still had a lot to talk about, whether it was trivial talk or the camera test in two days.

They left the park and grabbed a taxi. When they got home, it was past 1 a.m. While Haneul washed up first, he sat down on the sofa to check his messages.

The juniors sent over a message in the group chat that they didn’t have time to talk in before.

“What are you doing?” His wife came over as she dried her hair.

He responded that he was writing to the juniors.

“And you said they’d do well by themselves.”

There were many who were still thinking. There were some who even said that they wanted to quit work and try acting again. Maru responded to them that they’ll have regrets no matter what decision they make. A decision that doesn’t leave behind regret was truly rare after all.

Even he, who had walked down the same path numerous times, had to think over and over again. As it was the first time for them, they would have a hard time no matter what they chose to do. Whether it be living as an actor, or as a salaryman.

He only hoped that they chose something that left them with less regret.

After he took a shower and went to the room, he saw that Haneul had already sunk deep into the world of dreams.

He carefully snuck into the duvet so that Haneul didn’t wake up. Just as he closed his eyes and calmed his breathing, she muttered,

“You can do it. I’m sure you’ll do well.”

She seemed to be consulting the juniors in her dream. Maru looked at her with a smile as she sleep-talked before closing his eyes again.

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