After Story 183

“Having a big one sure is good,” Maru said as he looked at his wife.

The boxy CRT was removed and a flatscreen LED TV took its place. It even had thin bezels with the manufacturer logo barely visible, and the design was simple, so he liked it quite a lot.

“I saw even larger ones, but I thought this was large enough for a house this size.”

His wife brought some semi-dried squid. Along with some beer from the convenience store, a simple drinking table was made.

When he looked at the plate with the squid on it, and she spoke to him,

“As I moved out, I tried bringing things that might suit your preferences.”

“My preferences?”

Since when a cute piglet running and jumping on a pink background was ‘his preference,’ he did not know, but his wife said so, therefore it was.

He leaned against the sofa and looked around the kitchen.

It hadn’t been that long since they moved in together, but in that short while, many parts of the house had changed. The cute set of dolls in front of the TV was his, and the cactus next to it was her preference.

The square and stiff cushion on the sofa was his and the soft cushion was hers.

Mugs, water bottles, slippers, laundry baskets, clothes hangers — there were many things that had different styles splitting up the space.

This was what it meant to live with her. The things he only knew about would wriggle their way into his reality, and he had to give them space.

He liked the traces of his wife he could see throughout. He liked her consideration when taking her own place while trying to not harm the overall frame of the interior. If she decided to change the curtains, she would ask beforehand about the color she was choosing and what he thought of it.

As for TVs and household electronics, it was her area since quite a long time ago, so Maru wouldn’t be surprised even if the TV disappeared outright one day.

They asked each other because they knew, and they did not ask each other because they knew. Being able to communicate without a conversation was a great thing.

Though, the pink piglet was still a no-no.

He grabbed some squid and put it in his mouth.

“When am I going to meet Miss Yeonjoo?”

“Around next week. You’re fine on time, right?”

“The drama shoot is over, so I have plenty of time left over.”

They decided to notify the people close to them of their relationship. It totaled around three or four people. As it wasn’t the right time to date publicly, it would be right before their marriage when they would notify the media about their relationship.

“I guess we can’t even go shopping together now,” said his wife.

“It can’t be helped.”

The number of people recognizing him in public was increasing rapidly. Not to mention the nearby convenience store, there were people who approached him in the streets.

In due time, he might have to wear a hoodie if he were to go jogging early in the morning.

“It’s about time.”

Haneul switched the channel to Channel S. Commercials had just finished and the drama was starting. His wife hugged a large cushion and sat next to him.

“It was 0.1% last week, so it should increase this week, right?” Haneul said.

“I’d be glad if that’s the case, but not many things went the way I wanted them to, so I’m not entirely sure.”

“For someone who’s unsure, you look quite confident.”

He picked up the canned beer.

“I did as much as I could. If I went this far and there is still no response, then I just have to think that this wasn’t the right time. That’s not something I can do anything about, so I have to give up.”

“So it’ll definitely be a hit if the time is right, you’re saying?”

His wife smiled at him. He shrugged and looked at the screen.

* * *

“Aren’t you watching?”

“I’m going to watch in my room.”

Bada looked at her parents gathered in the living room and went to her room.

She powered on her PC and put on the headset that she had hung up on the wall. The sound of the desktop hit her ears.

She quickly moved her mouse to open the browser.

She went to the homepage of Channel S, which she had favorited, and clicked the LIVE button. On the left was the drama, and on the right was a real-time chat window.

The drama was already starting. It was the last part of episode two, when her brother, Yang Ganghwan, and Lee Daecheol were about to meet.

Bada turned up the volume and opened up another browser. She looked up ‘Case Number 0’ and had a look at the cast.

“Right, senior Hwang Hojoon.”

She was unfamiliar with his name and only remembered him as Lee Daecheol, the character in the drama.

Along with some tense music, Hwang Hojoon’s face was closed in on.

Behind him was her brother looking clueless, and in front was Yang Ganghwan coming back from his house.

Her brother made eye contact with Hwang Hojoon. Hwang Hojoon raised his head slightly and pointed at the house with his finger. The camera then changed to her brother’s perspective.

The lights were on on the 3rd floor. Her brother stood in a daze for a while before his eyes changed and he quickly hid in an alley.

He didn’t look like he had grasped the situation entirely. He probably intuitively realized that he had to avoid this place.

Along with a short sigh from Hwang Hojoon, Yang Ganghwan came out of the building.

-What is it all of a sudden?

Daecheol’s friend, who was next to him, asked. He was probably mindful since someone totally fine suddenly started acting strange.

-Geez, there are mosquitos in autumn too, huh?

-Really?

Hojoon glossed it over.

Having brought his wallet, Yang Ganghwan joined up with them.

Her brother was watching the three people from the darkness. The shadow cast on his face changed slightly. It changed from puzzlement to despair and then rage.

He looked like he was about to rush out at any moment, but he did not move until the three of them left.

The camera shot her brother’s face before getting a figure of his back, curled up. The hands slightly lit up under the streetlamp looked tense.

Bada could feel an explosive sense of tension from a scene filled with only a thin breathing noise. The music and the still acting created a fantastic combo.

She looked at her hand and tried clenching it like her brother did. She could tell that it was clenched, but she couldn’t read any sort of emotions from it.

No matter how many times she tried, only her muscles squirmed. This was not acting, but exercise.

She bit her lower lip and focused on the screen. She also raised the volume even more.

How can she act like those actors; like her brother?

When she first left the cinema after watching ‘Depths of Evil’ for the first time, Bada stood in the middle of the street in a daze for an hour, staring at the movie leaflet.

It came as a shock. They were only two years apart as siblings. There was no big difference, and she thought that she would be better in some parts.

Even when her brother joined JA, and when he was cast in a movie as a minor actor, she thought that there wasn’t much of a difference. At most, he would be slightly better.

However, the acting of her blood sibling that she saw through the screen told her that there was an immeasurable gap.

Honestly, she couldn’t even think about anything related to acting while watching the movie. She was literally overwhelmed and did nothing but watch. She was swept by the energy given off by the actors and did not even have any time to think about anything.

Only after watching, only after she left, only after she was in the streets did she realize:

Ah, he’s in a different world.

A literal, different league.

She tried hard in the past two years, gaining experience as a background actor and even participating in a work as a minor actor.

She received a few lines as well. She was confident in saying that she was making progress and that she wasn’t wasting time.

She even pictured herself giving her brother advice, contrary to what happened before.

-Detective? You mean that murderer next door is a detective?

The next day, her brother met Hwang Hojoon at a café. They cleared up the situation while exchanging opinions about Yang Ganghwan based on the night before.

“Detective? You mean that murderer next door is a detective?”

She tried repeating her brother’s line, changing it to suit her style. However, it didn’t sound right. Even though it was a short line, it would become Ahn Changsik’s line if her brother did it, but she felt like it was just an empty echo in the air when she did it.

There was a clear difference after all. Her aim to maybe teach her brother acting one day had become a distant dream.

As if to prove that the murderer act he showed in ‘Depths of Evil’ was not out of luck, he was showing flawless acting even in ‘Case Number 0.’

“What in the world did he do?” she muttered to herself subconsciously.

If the gap was narrow, she would’ve understood.

However, the gap was so wide that she wouldn’t be able to catch up even if she sprinted at full speed.

That being the case, she didn’t even feel jealous. She was simply curious about what he did to produce acting of such a level in just a few short years.

She placed her hands on her headset and focused on the drama.

Han Maru could do it, so why couldn’t she? If she treated his acting as a guide and studied again and again, she would one day become an actor just like her brother.

* * *

Moon Jungah massaged her stiff neck. She had been sitting in a bad position for a long time because she was so absorbed in watching. She stood up from the spot and did some stretches, but she still had her eyes glued to the TV.

She could not miss a single second. As this was a drama that transmitted a lot of information in mere moments, she might miss any clues if she watched in a daze.

She wanted to create something like this one day if she were to ever create a drama. A drama that leaves out all the unnecessary stuff and drives the audience back into a corner again and again.

In yesterday’s episode 3, the relationship between Ahn Changsik, Lee Daecheol, and Yoon Hojung had been redefined.

Daecheol, who was simply helping Changsik out of goodwill, started watching Hojung as though he was going to investigate this case officially. Hojung had not noticed this yet, but considering the pace at which the drama was progressing, it was clear that something was going to happen in episode 4.

Due to the detective vs murder-in-detective-skin confrontation, Ahn Changsik’s presence had become faint, but even that was resolved halfway through the episode.

-You know, I will definitely catch them. I don’t care who it is or what I have to do.

Ahn Changsik and Yoon Hojung met. She felt that the writer was really smart.

After creating a sense of thrill with the battle of wings between Lee Daecheol and Yoon Hojung, he inserted Ahn Changsik into it and provoked primitive feelings.

The meeting of the protagonist and clear evil. The main character’s resolute declaration was practically a formula to create catharsis.

-Of course you should. Tell me whenever you need my help. What’s so good about neighbors? We should help each other out at a time like this.

Yoon Hojung said.

She really thought that the actor known as Yang Ganghwan was a treasure. That malice locked behind a smile, that faintly reflected a shade of evil really turned the character elegant.

Senior Maru, who responded to that, was also absurdly good. An unpolished main character was enduring his rage with difficulty as he spoke. It was tense.

He might become the next target of murder if he kept that up. It made her wonder why he was responding that way.

An intended crisis plus the detailed acting from the actors, combined with the fast-paced music, created an exceptional ensemble.

The conversation between one who knows the truth and one attempting to hide it kept continuing without allowing a single bit of time to rest.

They were fighting with words. The two actors showed with their entire bodies that there were hidden knives in their words.

-I hope you catch them, and find your sister too.

-Yes. I hope that happens too.

As the two parted ways, their faces showed up alternately on the camera.

Ahn Changsik’s eyes were frozen with obsession, while Yoon Hojung’s eyes moved rapidly as though he was a merchant putting a price on an item.

The scene changed as the soundtrack for the ending came out.

Lee Daecheol, who was sitting at his desk, fiddled with the accessory attached to his phone.

-A murderer’s trophy, huh?

At that line, the drama ended.

She let out a sigh of exclamation. She had to wait another week. It had been a while since a drama made her suffer so much.

After watching it, she was given a sense of urgency as though she had to do something.

An aspiring actor or someone learning production would not be able to sit still after watching this drama.

At that moment, she got a call. She felt like it would be Park Joohwan. He called this time last week as well.

She looked at her phone, and indeed, Park Joohwan’s name was on the screen.

“What?”

-When are you going to start your work? You have to use me as an actor.

“It’s that again.”

-I’m so annoyed that it drives me nuts. I want to act with him, but I can’t because I’m not famous. That’s why we should create something good and gain a reputation, okay?

“Stop your bullshit and get to sleep!”

She hung up and sat at her desk. She put her pen on the paper.

“Does he think I’m not doing it because I don’t want to?”

Hoping that a sense of urgency was put into the paper, she started writing.

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