Chapter 50

Chapter 50

“Let’s go up . ”

The trio started moving before the class bell rang . On their way up, they met Taejoon and Iseul . The two of them waved cheerfully at the boys .

“Are you guys doing anything after school?” Iseul asked .

The three of them shook their heads .

“Let’s go to a karaoke bar then . Down?”

Iseul stared at them intensely . The girl had a knack of always getting what she wanted . The way things looked right now, the three of them would have to attend the karaoke bar this evening no matter what .

As the group talked, they reached the fifth floor auditorium . A month ago, the auditorium would’ve been filled with Miso’s shouts, but not now . When they opened the door, they were greeted with the second years .

“Come here . ”

The first years sat down in a circle . Maru joined in as well . There was no reason for him to sit elsewhere, since they pretty much stopped practicing at this point . They just made small talk here now .

“It’s getting pretty hot, isn’t it? Good thing we can use the auditorium . Being in the club room at this hour would be horrifying,” Joonghyuk said with a grin .

The whole group laughed lightly in response . Despite the smiles, Maru caught a faint scent of unease in the air . Probably because the group wasn’t laughing for real .

“Now then! Our ever-rich senior Joonghyuk will be providing the club with drinks again!”

Minsung stood up with a shout . He, too, must’ve felt the heavy air in the club . Joonghyuk immediately started arguing about why Minsung included himself in the group of ‘Joonghyuk’s juniors’ . The other boy just feigned innocence playfully . The first years smiled, lightening the mood a little bit more .

Right then, the first years from the faculty of design walked in . Geunseok was the first to come in, with Soyeon and Yurim following close behind .

“Welcome!” Yoonjung greeted the three . She moved aside a little to make space for them .

Maru observed Yurim for a second . The girl was looking down at the ground like a shy kid . Presumably because of what happened earlier .

“Hey . ”

“Ah, um, hey . ”

The girl spoke only when Maru greeted her . As expected, she was gripping her phone this time as well .

“Alright, let’s start off with a reading for today as well,” Yoonjung said with a clap .

After failing at the regionals, all they could do were readings . They didn’t even do it for long either . Just once most of the time, and twice if they felt good enough . That was their entire practice for the week .

Once the reading was finished, the group started talking for a bit . They updated each other on what has happened recently, and how the week was for each other . Just a small tea party between the club members .

The passion from before was nowhere to be seen .

Maru understood completely . They were all tired . People couldn’t run forever, after all . They needed rest .

‘Not like I can intervene either . ’

He was well aware that taking a longer rest would only make it harder for them to start seriously again, but he didn’t really feel the need to explain it to them . The club worked harder than anyone for the past three months . They would eventually get over their feelings of defeat, humiliation, and sadness . Practice would resume, and they would return to their passionate selves once again .

Maru believed in them, so he saw no point in worrying about it . The reading began shortly after Yoonjung’s clap . The club members weren’t posturing any of the movements, but they did make eye contacts . They carried emotions in their voice after quietly communicating with each other with their eyes .

Their skills were clearly displayed with their composure . The experience from the past three months were clearly beneficial for them . They failed at qualifying for nationals, but surely they could go for an award at the college competition .

Eventually, it became Geunseok’s turn to speak .

“Yes . I understand . I’ll do it . ”

The pronunciation, volume, and emotion that Geunseok put into the line was flawless . But there was one thing missing . The boy’s eyes were stuck right on the ground . Yoonjung’s eyebrows flicked up in annoyance . She tried to say something, but she was stopped right there by Joonghyuk .

This situation repeated itself for the past month . If anyone pointed out Geunseok’s mistake, then the club would inevitably have to talk about the incident from a month ago again . This was too much for anyone in the club to take . Joonghyuk must’ve realized that bringing it up would only serve to develop a chasm within the club .

Maru’s eyes met with Joonghyuk’s . The older boy’s eyes seemed to be asking him if they should give Geunseok more time . Right then, an angry voice came from a place no one’s expected .

It was Soyeon .

“Hey, Geunseok, we’re supposed to be reading . ”

“Eh? Yeah . I’m reading . Why?”

“Why? Can’t you see what’s happening? The seniors are all just looking at you right now . ”

Soyeon looked pretty savage in all her fury . The girl glared at Geunseok . Yurim, who was sitting between the two, just grasped her phone with a troubled look . The air in the club fell by a few degrees right there . Joonghyuk couldn’t do anything at this point either .

“Geunseok! We know you’re hurting a lot by this . But how long are you planning on staying like this? Can’t you think about us? You don’t think we’re hurting at all? You’re not the only one that failed this . We all did . ”

Geunseok’s head flicked up in surprise . He lost the calm and reserved attitude he usually held, instead he looked like a surprised child who didn’t know what to do .

That surprised everyone . Even Soyeon .

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” the boy started apologizing .

He sounded like he didn’t expect everyone to be like this either . Some people in the club sighed annoyedly . Geunseok’s face fell to the ground again, making the entire club fall completely silent .

“Now, now . Let’s focus . We slipped just once . It’s not over yet . Lots of competitions to go to in the future . There’s no time to be depressed, only to practice . ”

Joonghyuk stepped in to try to mediate the situation . His calm, confident voice aroused nods from everyone in the room .

Everyone except Geunseok, that is . The boy was still staring down with his two fists clenched tightly .

“I’m sorry . Because… of me… If it wasn’t for that kid then, if it wasn’t for that kid, then… I wouldn’t have been such a drag to everyone . . . ”

“Geunseok, Soyeon just said that because she was a little frustrated . No need to get so down like that . We’re not saying that you did badly, but that it’s still not over yet . Come on, raise your head . ”

Geunseok raised his head slowly . His brows were drooping downwards in shame .

“Let’s eat something after we finish reading . The atmosphere feels so annoying right now . ”

Minsung took over from there . It was a common tactic that the seniors would use . They would have Joonghyuk speak some serious words and Minsung trying to lighten the mood . Usually, Yoonjung would handle what Minsung was doing here, but clearly she was in no position to do that right now .

The club looked like they somewhat recovered with that . Some of the members were starting to smile again, and they looked at each other with trust in their eyes .

Maru received some of those gazes as well .

As they did so, the club tried to pull together Geunseok again . The boy looked a little better with everyone consoling him .

“I’m so sorry . We would be at the nationals by now if it wasn’t for that kid . ”

“Don’t worry about it . That’s all in the past . It was your first role as a main character in your first play . Anyone would’ve made mistakes . I’m actually pretty happy . At least we managed to get all the way to a full curtain call . Right guys? Haha . ”

Danmi wrapped the entire situation up . Even Yoonjung was smiling, talking about how excited she was then . The club members all smiled excitedly .

Watching all this, Maru just smiled bitterly in the background .

‘So this is how things are going to be . ’

Taking care of wounds is a good thing . Putting medicine on a wound before an infection breaks out is a thing that anyone should do . But if the wound is already infected, the first thing a person should do is to try to assess the wound . They would have to see if the wound could be treated, or if it should be cut out altogether .

Maru understood Geunsoo’s worries from the other day only then . His words about Geunseok being a child was completely correct .

One of the key traits of children was shifting the blame to others . After all, taking responsibility for their action is an incredibly difficult thing to do . It was something that only adults could do . And right now, Geunseok kept on saying ‘if it wasn’t for that kid’ repeatedly . Come to think of it, he repeated the same words back then in the waiting room as well .

Thinking that you weren’t the cause of a problem was a very comforting thing to do . Geunseok often felt very mature due to his appearance and actions . People around him probably treated him as an adult because of this . As a matter of fact, the boy was probably trying to shift the blame exactly because he didn’t want to break his usual image .

[My brother hasn’t failed many times before . ]

The kid was probably afraid of the sudden responsibility that he had to take care of . This was an entirely different kind of responsibility from what Geunseok had to deal with in the past . The test was entirely his fault, so he couldn’t shift the blame anywhere . But this time, there was a target he could shift the blame to . Plus, the weight of the responsibility this time was much bigger than it was back when he failed his test .

3 months of time, multiplied by ten people .

Perhaps Geunseok was desperately trying to find something to blame for some breathing room .

Maru stepped back for a second to observe . The club was licking each other’s wounds, telling each other that things would be fine tomorrow .

But was that really the case?

[There’s nothing worse than trying to help him when he falls . If that happens, he’d just tell himself he can’t stand up by himself when he falls again next time, and give up . ]

A voice popped up in Maru’s head . He couldn’t remember who it was from . Probably from someone he met in the future . The eleven club members smiled even more brightly now . They were laughing, too .

It’s fine . It’s going to be fine .

That was the only thing they were saying . No one was claiming that these lazy practice sessions were acting like poison to the club . Did they not understand? Or were they just being willfully ignorant?

“Now then, juniors! Who’s willing to go to the mart for a bit? Joonghyuk’s paying!”

As always, the club was starting to shift over to a tea party again . Maru stood up from the back .

“I’ll go . ”

“By yourself?”

“Yes . ”

“I’ll go with you . ”

“It’s fine . I’ll go alone . ”

“Really?”

“Yes . It looks like you all have a lot of things to say to each other at the moment . It doesn’t look like I should interfere, so I’ll go alone . ”

Maru slowly scanned the eleven club members who were staring back at him . Some of them looked away from him in shame . Joonghyuk was the first to look away, with Iseul smiling awkwardly at him afterwards . Yurim gave a similar smile as well . At least they seemed to know what was wrong with the club .

“I’ll be back . ”

Maru stepped out with the money in hand . The choice was up to them now, whether they wanted to keep applying medicine to their wound, or to assess it properly .

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