Chapter 65

Chapter 65

Saying the actual lines shouldn’t take more than three minutes . She just needed to imagine that there was a fellow actor next to her, there to respond to her lines . Right, she needed to imagine . This wasn’t a cafe, but a stage . There’s a spotlight above shining directly onto her . The doors to the auditorium opens, with the audience coming in one by one . Right now, they were still preparing . Not many people cared about her on the stage .

Right, there was no need to be nervous . Everyone was looking at the pamphlet right now . She could see the children as well as the adults . Let’s breathe a little bit .

Wait, the air smells like coffee?

No, start over, start over .

This is a stage . The people in front of her were here to watch her act . She couldn’t afford to disappoint them . She’s already practiced, so she just needs to act it out now .

‘Wait, did I even practice?’

Yoonjung sighed . She could feel a few people glancing at her . Then again, all she did till now was stare at the cafe for five straight minutes . If she delayed any more, she really wouldn’t be able to do it . Yoonjung bit her lips before saying her first line .

“S-shouldn’t you at least try to introduce yourself if you move into the neighborhood?”

She needed to become a mean old lady who lives downstairs . She needed to become annoying and grouchy . A conceited lady that has no filters on her words .

But by the time Yoonjung’s voice reached her ears, she could only swallow nervously .

She was too quiet .

Too quiet to even be heard . When she turned around, only the man right next to her was staring at her with a ‘what?’ face . She didn’t even manage to grab people’s attention . As soon as that thought hit her, she felt the blood drain from her face .

Why? Why was she like this? She couldn’t understand it . She’s already performed in front of people several times . Not much had changed, so why did this take so much effort?

Her voice was getting buried . Buried by the air, the footsteps, and the voices around her . She wasn’t able to reach out and speak to the people in front of her .

For now, she finished her lines . She finished them, but… She didn’t feel good at all . It felt like she was just talking to herself . People were looking at her, sure, but they all looked confused .

She wanted to explain this was a play . She wanted to explain her role, and what type of a personality her character had .

‘This isn’t right . ’

This wasn’t right at all .

* * *

Yoonjung came back inside . She looked far less energetic than usual, which only managed to worry the club members more .

“How was it?” Miso asked .

The instructor looked like a mean boss, especially with that beige mug in hand .

“I was just… disappointed . ”

“At what?”

“At myself . ”

Yoonjung hunched her neck as she spoke . After sighing deeply, the girl flopped over the table .

“You couldn’t make yourself heard, right?”

“Yes . I tried to perform like normal, but no one bothered to listen . No, I don’t think they could hear me to begin with . Some of the people right next to me responded, but most people just glanced for a second and looked away . Man, it felt awful . ”

Yoonjung frowned .

“You learned well, Ms . president . This isn’t a stage . There’s no microphone or anything to help you here . Here, your voice is very small . As a matter of fact, it can become even smaller depending on how strong the wind is . This place is very, very unsuited for performances . ”

After speaking, Miso pointed at the next person . It was Dojin .

“I tried to get the first years going after all the second years, but that’s a little unfair, isn’t it? Let’s switch it up . Dojin, you looked a little too relaxed just now . You didn’t think you’d go next, did you?”

Maru had to say… The woman was really good at mind games . Dojin stood up from his face with a dumb look . He ran outside with his script in hand, but he didn’t look good at all .

“Watch . This time, he’s going to start shouting as much as he can, and run out of breath in the middle . ”

Miso was a prophet, predicting precisely how Dojin would perform .

* * *

“Huff, huff . ”

Dojin bowed, feeling the people in the cafe glaring at him .

‘God, this is so embarrassing . So embarrassing!’

His face felt like it was burning . He started off pretty well, raising his voice like Miso told them to . He managed to grab the audience’s attention .

The problem came afterward .

Breathing .

Normally, he would be able to say ten words in one breath . But right now, each breath was only able to give him around 3 words . He felt for the first time the feeling of one’s lungs shriveling up as it gasped for air . The air felt incredibly heavy around him .

Eventually, his head started spinning from the lack of air . He couldn’t even pay attention to the audience any more . All that he could think of was to finish his lines as fast as possible, and go back to his seat .

“This time, we managed to see two instances of what not to do . At first, Dojin didn’t even think about the volume of his voice, and ended up speaking like a little mosquito . Next, Dojin didn’t even bother controlling his breathing, and gifted his audience with disgustingly bad breathing rhythm and an incredibly loud voice . ”

Dojin sat down next to Yoonjung silently . The girl looked at him warmly . It almost looked like she was telling him ‘you’re just like me, aren’t you?’ .

“Now, next up…”

Miso ignored the two fallen soldiers next to her, and pointed at her next target: Geunseok .

* * *

By this time, the customers started to notice that something was up . Some of them were even heading out to the terrace to get a good view of what was happening .

Geunseok happened to be the one to go as they gathered on the terrace . He stood up from his seat confidently, and walked outside . Maru stared at the boy for a little bit, before taking his coffee cup back to the counter . He handed the cup to the owner of the shop before asking, “Can I order some lemon tea?”

“Hm?”

The owner took the cup from Maru’s hand . Right then, Miso walked up to him from the back .

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, this kid was just asking for some lemon tea . ”

“What?”

Maru grinned at Miso .

“I’m just trying to help people out . You must be feeling good after paying for everyone’s drinks, and the owner must feel good about selling a lot of drinks . Ah, the coffee was good . That’s why I wanted to try the tea this time . ”

Miso sighed, and responded with a ‘do whatever you want’ . The owner poured hot water into the mug with a grin .

“You’re pretty good, kid . It’s been a while since I’ve seen such an expression from Miso . ”

“Thank you . By the way, when does this cafe close?”

“Usually by 10pm . Sometimes until 11pm, if regulars decide they want to talk with me for a bit . Occasionally until dawn if I don’t want to go back home?”

“Aha . ”

“Why do you ask?”

“I wanted to come some time . It’s a nice cafe . ”

“With your girlfriend?”

“Yes . ”

“You better be holding hands by then . I’ll give you two a slice of cake as a gift . ”

The owner smiled brightly before leaving . In the meantime, Maru took a look at the terrace from the counter . Geunseok was speaking outside . He was doing pretty well, actually . Well enough to make some of the audience take pictures .

“Here’s your lemon tea . ”

“Thank you . ”

“Oh, he’s doing pretty well . ”

“Yeap . ”

“You aren’t nervous?”

“Not really . ”

“That’s good . ”

The owner turned back after telling him a few words of encouragement . With that, Maru returned to his seat with his tea .

“You really feel comfortable enough to get that stuff?” Dojin asked dejectedly . Maru nodded .

“It’s free . You should get some too . ”

“I might throw up if I drink anything now . Ugh, I’m so embarrassed . ”

“Me too . ”

It almost felt like he was looking at a pair of zombies . After observing the two for a moment, Maru started hearing a weak applause from the crowd . When he turned around, he could see Geunseok step back into the cafe with a weak huff . Quite a few people on the terrace were giving him applause .

“How was it?” Miso asked .

“I was nervous, but I don’t think I made mistakes . I threw away my nervousness and said my lines . I lacked air a little bit, but I think I finished well . ”

“You got applause, so you did well . For your first time, that’s pretty good . ”

Geunseok clenched his fist when Miso gave him her praise . Maru could easily spot it . It seemed that for this kid, praises were what gave him meaning in life . Nothing else would be able to satisfy him .

Some would call that unconfident, others would say the boy was incapable of self-love . He was just the type of person who would rot away in the corner alone without any praise .

Of course, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing . There was never a good or bad in how a person chose to live their life . Geunseok would, as a matter of fact, shine like a star as long as someone supported him . Of course, this only meant that he would have to work hard at maintaining his relationships .

Maru chewed on some of the bread on the table that no one’s touched .

“You did well, it was the best . ”

Yurim gave Geunseok a thumbs up, further brightening the boy’s mood . On the other hand, Dojin and Yoonjung’s face only fell further . Yoonjung put up an awkward smile, and Dojin clawed away at his hair after glaring at Geunseok for a second . Right then…

“But… Do you think the people over there understood you?” Miso asked .

“Excuse me?”

“Being able to make yourself heard, and actually making the audience understand what you said are two different things . Geunseok, go ask that lady over there what she felt from your performance . ”

“……”

Geunseok’s face immediately stiffened as he stood up . Miso gave him a strawberry tart, presumably to give to the woman . He walked outside with it, talked with the woman for a moment, and came back . Unlike before, he looked like he ate dirt .

“She said she didn’t really know . She forgot very quickly after hearing what I said . ”

“Exactly . You didn’t make an impression at all . Don’t get too confident . The only thing you did up there was make an interesting speech, rather than actually act . ”

“…I don’t think I can act without having done any sort of practice . ”

That made Miso laugh .

“It’s been a full week since I gave you your scripts . Are you the type of idiot who doesn’t even look at the script if I don’t tell you to?”

“……”

“Do you think a full run is the only type of practice you can do? No, your practice should’ve begun the moment you received your scripts . Did you guys really think I gave you your scripts to use as decoration? Or are you going to tell me that you couldn’t practice because of the revised script I gave you? The only thing the revision changed was like one or two lines, and the order in which the characters appear . The main branch of the story is untouched . As a matter of fact, I didn’t even touch up your character at all, Geunseok . But you say you didn’t practice? Are you serious right now?”

“…I’m sorry . ”

“You can have confidence, as long as you practice . ”

The air in the cafe dropped by a degree . Dojin and Yoonjung straightened up on their seats as well . What seemed like a simple field trip was starting to change into something else .

‘That’s what I thought . ’

Maru took a sip of his lemon tea . There was no way Miso brought the group here to simply play for a bit . The woman picked out her next victim with a glare .

“Daemyung . ”

“Y-yes!”

“Try to do well . ”

“……”

Daemyung stepped out to the terrace with a pale expression .

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