The appointed place was not the TV station. It was an acting school located on Rodeo Street of Apgujeong-dong, Seoul. Maru checked the address he got through text once again, before pushing the glass doors of the building. He headed towards the 3rd floor through the stairs next to the noodle restaurant on the 1st floor. He opened the door that said ‘emergency staircase’ and went inside. It seemed that this wasn’t used as there was an elevator in the building. On the walls of the 3rd floor that were painted black were three stripes of red, yellow, and blue, curling around like waves. When he followed the complex lines, he saw banners lined up in front of the entrance. Exceptional teachers, custom-fitted entrance exam acting, the acting school of your dreams. Reading the promotions, he walked past the automatic door. Behind the semi-circular desk in front of the entrance was a lady wearing a black suit, who looked like she might as well be a model with her beautiful body figure. On the chairs lined up next to the walls were people of both genders seeming to be muttering something. He instantly realized that they were here for an audition.

“What’s the reason for your visit?”

“I came here after hearing that there’s an audition.”

“Oh, I see. What is your name?”

“I’m Han Maru.”

“Han Maru.”

The lady repeated the name, emphasizing each character, as she typed on the keyboard. The name ‘Han Maru’ appeared briefly on the monitor on top of the desk before disappearing.

“You’re on the list. Please sit down here and wait for a while. We’ll call you when it’s your turn.”

Maru joined the line of people waiting in line with nervous faces. As there was no spare chair, he just leaned against the wall. For a usual audition, he would be busy preparing a character or some lines that were provided to him beforehand, but there was nothing to prepare for today’s audition. A healthy body - that was all the requirements. What kind of character they wanted, what kind of aspects they were looking for in actors - there was no information about those at all. The people who were muttering might actually be chanting incantations. Perhaps something along the lines of ‘don’t make me do something weird’.

As for the age group, they all seemed to be around the same age. Most of them seemed to be over 20, but there were some that looked younger. There were also about two or three people wearing school uniforms. From this, it looked like they didn’t want a middle-aged man as the character. A student, then?

The door to the right at the end of the corridor opened and a woman with long hair walked out. She crossed the corridor while not hiding her dissatisfied face before leaving the acting school. The woman at the desk called out to her, but she didn’t even turn around. Just what happened inside that made her so angry? The shockwave left behind by that woman was fully absorbed by the people who were waiting. Maru felt that the mutterings around him became louder. Some people couldn’t keep sitting and stood up before walking around. The lobby of the acting school, which couldn’t be said to be small, looked quite crowded. Maru took a seat for himself. As he got older, he felt much closer to the floor. It would be optimal if he could lie down, but he couldn’t do that, so he went with the next best option of sitting down.

The anxiety left behind by that long-haired woman continued until the woman at the desk called out the next audition participant. A man who was waiting abruptly stood up before walking to the end of the corridor. For a moment, the mutters ended. Amidst the silence, everyone paid attention to the man opening the door. A girl wearing a school uniform leaned against the wall. It seemed that she wanted to see inside the audition room.

“You can’t see inside,” said the woman at the desk.

Maru watched the people, who looked like they were caught up in a torrent before closing his eyes. He didn’t feel nervous at all. When the woman with long hair rushed out, he only watched with interest and did not think about the meaning of her actions. Not being swept up by the atmosphere was quite helpful at times like these. Since he had the time, he tried talking to the guy inside him. Uhm, hey, hello? Mr. Masked man - his inner mind was filled with the voice that seeked him out, but the man did not appear. The dim stage did not appear either. Would it be hard to experience such a happening again like how the masked man said? - that that time was a special case? That guy was a man he didn’t like very much, but Maru didn’t despise him. If possible, he wanted to have a long conversation with him. Maru wanted to ask what he meant by sharing his memories, why he lived in his body, and ultimately, who he was. There were a lot of things he wanted to ask, but the person to ask the questions to, had hidden himself deep inside the utter silence.

After about ten minutes had passed, the door opened again before the man that went in before came out. He looked angry as well. Just what was happening inside that made all the participants angry? Ganghwan’s last words, ‘please come back alive’, suddenly felt like they had more meaning. Ganghwan seemed to be telling him: You thought I was joking, didn’t you?

“Miss Lee Yeji.”

Two out of two people left the acting school looking angry. The woman who was supposed to enter the batter’s box next heavily swallowed a breath as though she was swallowing a bitter pill before she walked towards the audition room. The door closed and the rest of the applicants were looking at the audition room with uneasy eyes. Maru also looked at the door before looking away. Unless he was capable of seeing through walls, there was no way for him to see what was going on inside. Instead, he decided to look at what he could see. The man next to him had earbuds on while sitting with his legs crossed. From the way he nodded rhythmically with his eyes closed, he looked like he had leisure. The woman opposite him was showing her unease without hiding it. She even glared at the woman at the help desk from time to time. Just what the hell is up with this audition? - she seemed to be saying with her eyes.

Among the dozen or so people, half of them were staring at the door nervously. The ones that kept their calm had formed their own realm and were absorbed in their own things. There was the man next to him, who was absorbed in music, there were some that looked at the brochure that introduced this acting school, and there were some who were reading books. Reminding himself of Ganghwan’s words that observing people was the foundation of acting, he started getting some samples. Just then, a strange movement caught his eyes. The woman at the front desk was moving her hand busily. It wasn’t strange that she was typing since she was working here, but the timing she chose to type was quite strange.

Maru pretended to read a brochure as he watched the woman at the desk. He might be wrong, so he had to check one more time. The woman moved. She didn’t turn her head around, she just moved her eyes. Her target was the man who was reading a script with a peaceful face. The woman scanned the man for several seconds before looking at the monitor in front of her and typing. She also looked at the man with the earbuds on and typed something.

Observing? Observing what? Her eyes moved again. This time, she looked at the girl wearing a school uniform. It was the same girl who was looking at the audition room nervously. For a brief moment, the woman at the desk clicked her tongue. Maru looked at the corner of her lips rolling upwards, the distance between her eyebrows shrinking, and her head itself shaking from side to side. Negative emotions appeared on her face briefly before disappearing. When they disappeared, she typed on her keyboard. It was clear that she was observing and recording.

Maru turned his eyes to the brochure. Was it a personal hobby of hers? There was that possibility. Just like how people of both genders gave scores to the members of the opposite sex that they come across on the street, she might also be evaluating the applicants because she was bored. I like someone’s face, that person looks hopeless, or that person over there is shaking too much - things like that. Thinking about such things, he raised his eyes. Her pupils were directly in line of his sight. Beneath the eyelashes that were rolled upwards, the pupils that moved from side to side stopped in the middle. Maru realized that she was looking at him. When meeting eyes with a stranger, it wouldn’t usually last more than 2 seconds. Most of the time, people would look away as though they had done something wrong. There should be about two likely possibilities when people keep looking at someone else without turning away. Either, the pride of the alpha male had been activated, or they found a member of the opposite sex they really liked to the point that they forgot about the shame.

The woman did not belong to either of those. She wasn’t looking for a fight, nor was it an expression of like. She looked like she was looking at an animal in a zoo. They were clearly the eyes of an observer. She did not look away. She kept looking at him without a change in her expression. Maru also did not avoid her eyes. He wanted to find out why she was observing them. If it was a hobby, she would have turned her eyes away the moment their eyes met. That was the normal reaction. This woman was clearly not normal, and Maru wanted to know why. What are you doing over there?

The woman’s eyes did not even budge. Instead, another part of her moved. Her hands were placed on the keyboard. Tap, tap. The sound of typing could be heard. A moment later, the woman who entered the audition room came back out again. Like the two before her, she also looked angry. The moment she left the acting school without even turning around, the woman at the desk spoke.

“Mr. Han Maru.”

That was his signal to go in. Maru could feel other people’s gazes. Why - they seemed to be asking. They seemed to want to know the reason why a participant who came later than them was being called first. The people looked for an answer by looking at the woman at the front desk. The woman at the desk just smiled. She didn’t seem to have any intentions of answering. Maru put down the brochure he was holding on the chair before walking towards the audition room. Since an audition was also a form of an interview, it would normally operate on a predetermined schedule. The fact that they did not hand out number tags meant that the order of the audition was based on a first come, first served basis, so why did the order suddenly change? He would probably find out once he met the producer who should be waiting in the audition room.

He took in a short breath before opening the door. In the middle of the room that looked like it was about 30 square meters big was a plastic chair. It was one of those that were commonly found outside convenience stores. In front of that was a table, and on top of that was a 30-inch monitor and a camera pointing towards the chair. It was an ordinary audition room, but the most important thing was missing.

People. There was no one in the audition room for him to show his acting too. Were they on a bathroom break or something? Maru soon realized that it wasn’t that. The only door that led into this room was the door he just entered through. This meant that there was no one from the beginning. He first sat down on the chair. As soon as he sat down the monitor turned on.

-You passed the 1st audition. You have to rest there for exactly 8 minutes before leaving. When you leave, please leave without saying anything with the most angry face you can make. The 2nd audition venue will be notified immediately, so please rest in a nearby café. If you talk to any other applicant when you leave, you will fail immediately. Please bear this in mind.

After that line came up, the promotion ad for the acting school started playing. Maru watched the ad in a daze. After seven minutes, the video ended. As instructed, Maru rushed out the door and walked towards the exit with his lips sealed. He did not forget to glare at the woman at the front desk on his way out. The woman winked at him with a smile.

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