That should have been rather sudden for them. Seeing his juniors panting as they ran past him, Maru sighed in pity. These people would’ve never imagined such a future when they managed to pass the application test and came to the acting club’s clubroom for the first time.

“If you can’t run, then come over here. Don’t push yourself and fall flat. If you do, it’ll be even more difficult later,” said Miso to the students running around the school field. Some were running at leisure, some were panting, but still holding out, some were clearly pushing themselves, and some just sat down on the ground, panting. Miso was probably looking at each and every one of them, and wondering what she should do to make them suffer.

“I did hear about it, but there really is a lot.”

“I think you’re going to decrease that number though.”

“If they can’t endure this much, they might as well leave. Acting is not playing around, you know?”

“Uhm, this is a school club. You need to give them hopes and dreams, and then let them experience the fun activities after school, and you know, things like that.”

“My motto in life is that the harder you work, the sweeter the fruit will taste. Hey, over there! Don’t push yourself and come here!”

Miso shouted at the girl walking on the other side of the school field. The girl clenched her teeth and looked at Miso before starting to run again.

“I like that girl.”

“Sure you do.”

“Are you on your period or something? Why do you have so many complaints today?”

“Why don’t you have a look at their eyes first and ask me again?”

Maru looked at his juniors, who were sitting down on a platform to his left, panting heavily. They were looking his way, and they all looked like they wanted an explanation. Why do we need to run? Why do we need to be so exhausted? What’s the point of this?

“I haven’t had any dinner but I already feel uncomfortable.”

“That’s what being a senior is about.”

“Uhm, before you came here, seonbae-nim, I mean, noo-nim, it was all fun and good.”

“But you were going to do the physical exercises anyway.”

“Of course, if it was up to me, I would’ve done something similar. However, the club president is Daemyung right now. He should’ve had his own plans, but you had to come and ruin it for him without any warning, so everyone’s glaring at us.”

Until just a moment ago, it was more of a ‘let’s have some food and talk about it later’, but Miso appeared out of nowhere and had them start running. By now, the kimbap that Jiyoon and Bangjoo bought should have turned cold in the hall on the 5th floor.

“But you look like you’re having fun for some reason.”

There was a big grin on Miso’s face as she looked at the kids.

“Me? That shouldn’t be. There’s no way I’m having fun when my cute juniors are having a hard time?”

“Then why am I seeing a big grin on your face?”

Maru lifted the tips of his lips upwards with his index and middle finger. Miso’s expression turned sour.

“Fine. I’m having them run to vent some stress. Why, what are you going to do about it?”

“Did something happen again?”

“Don’t ask me, ask that certain teacher who teaches history at this school. I… urgh. I’m not talking about it.”

“Is it marriage problems?”

“Are you going to consult me?”

“No. I heard that there are three types of problems that you shouldn’t get involved with in this world, and one of them is marriage problems of people in their thirties.”

“What are the other two?”

“What do you expect? One is the marriage problems of people in their twenties and the other, people in their forties. This concerns the marriage of someone in their thirties and someone in their forties, so I of course shouldn’t get involved in it.”

Tsk - Miso clicked her tongue.

Maru looked at the two boys running past him and asked.

“Wasn’t everything going well?”

“I thought you weren’t getting involved.”

“I’m just listening. It’s less frustrating if you know why you’re being treated badly. What went wrong?”

“Things were going well. We managed to book the wedding hall, we greeted each other’s parents, and both of our parents have taken a great liking to each other, to the point that they’re going travelling together too.”

“That sounds great then.”

“Yes. The problem is that their travel overlaps with our honeymoon.”

Maru chuckled and looked at Miso. What kind of nonsense was that? He could laugh if the joke was moderately funny, but he couldn’t since it was way too nonsensical. Miso, who was supposed to deny that and continue onto the next part, looked in front of her with a sullen expression.

“Really?”

He asked just in case. Miso nodded without a word.

Maru blinked several times.

“Seriously?”

“Do you think I would be joking around with you because I’m free?”

“You’re going on a honeymoon with your parents?”

“Not with our parents, they’ll fly over on the 2nd day, but that’s pretty much the same thing.”

“No way.”

“It is what it is. My mom and mother-in-law got along so well together. I told you about this before, right? About how my dad left us with a big debt. My mother-in-law heard that story and started crying while grabbing my mom’s hands. Then, it turned into something about how she never went travelling with her sole daughter, and somehow our honeymoon got involved.”

Miso brushed her hair to the side.

“Fine, going travelling with mom is good and all. If I think about it, I only gave her money and did not actually fulfill my filial piety properly. The mother and the daughter holding hands, walking around various places, talking about things they didn’t talk about until now. I mean, that’s a little cheesy, but I’m fine with it. But why does it have to be on the second day of our honeymoon, dammit!”

Hey, if you’re gonna run, run, and if you aren’t, come here! - Miso shouted at the boy barely walking past the soccer goal post. An innocent junior groaned as he walked towards the platform.

“Don’t vent on a kid.”

“Yes. I guess I shouldn’t. I should rip apart that man’s collar.”

“Sounds like teacher Taesik agreed to go together, huh.”

“Yup. So clearly too. Maybe he was trying to be considerate of my mom, but there’s only one honeymoon in your entire life. Does it even make sense?”

“Hm….”

Maru decided not to say anything here. As someone who had experience marrying someone, Taesik would probably hear these words for the next fifty years: you like my mom more than you like me, don’t you? Just thinking about it made him shudder in fear and his stomach ache. He knew that the words of a bride-to-be were superior to the court law, but it seemed like Taesik had made a huge mistake.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand him emotionally, but what about the stability of his marriage? Shouldn’t that come before the emotional thing?

“Is it set in stone?”

“Pretty much.”

“Why don’t you tell your parents that they should look into another date for travelling after the honeymoon?”

“You know my personality. I’m quite docile, but I say it when I need to say something. As soon as I heard that, I was going to say something, but….”

“But?”

“Mom really liked it. I never saw her smile like that before in my entire life. I just couldn’t say anything. In that situation, the man who calls himself my husband said that it would be great if they could go together.”

Miso sighed and scratched her head.

“I guess you felt both thankful and hateful.”

“That’s how it is. But can I get angry at my mom? Or at my in-laws for that matter?”

“So the only person you can pick on is your husband?”

“He’s so dead. I’m going to make him suffer at home.”

“Go easy on him. He’ll go bald if you give him too much stress.”

“That’s not good.”

“Anyway, so you don’t actually hate the fact that you’re going together, huh?”

“I don’t hate it. My father-in-law really dotes on me. It’s just, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so it’s such a pity.”

“Then I guess you can only adjust the date you meet up. I think it’ll be better if you meet like three days later.”

“Yeah.”

“Good luck with that. Also, husbands that care about their in-laws are better. Rather than fighting over how much money to give them later, it’s much better to have a good relationship.”

Miso stared at him. Maru slowly averted his gaze.

Hey, if you’re going to walk, just come here - he slightly understood why Miso shouted at the kids.

“Your drama seems to be doing well.”

“You’re changing the topic so suddenly?”

“What good is talking about a matter I can’t solve? I should just vent my anger at home.”

Miso sniffed.

“Doesn’t Suyeon, that girl act condescending or anything?”

“She treats me well. Unlike a certain someone.”

“Why are you narrowing your eyes while looking at me when you say that?”

“Oh, no. It’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t do anything like that.”

“Look at me properly before I poke your eyes out.”

“I’m scared because you sound like you’ll actually do it. Hmm, we actually don’t talk much during the shoot. At most, we just briefly talk when we walk past each other.”

“I thought she’d pester you.”

“She’s someone who maintains a meticulous image making at the scene. She’s not that reckless.”

“Oh, so you’re taking her side?”

“Why does it come to that? I’m just saying that she’s someone who looks after herself a lot more than you think.”

“Looks after herself huh. And yet she goes around doing that.”

“It’s up to her to do whatever she wants with her life.”

“As long as it doesn’t cause harm?”

“Yes.”

“If I think about it, I think you two actually have a lot in common.”

“Now that, I want to retort.”

“I guess I went a bit too far?”

The juniors started returning to the platform after finishing the remaining four laps. Thirteen people lasted until the end. 8 were boys, and 5 were girls. This was a distance that even boys had a hard time finishing, so it seemed like the new recruits this year had good basic stamina.

“The fixed schedules are on Saturdays and Sundays, right?” Miso asked.

“Yes.”

“The schedule isn’t that heavy, is it?”

“Of course not. It’s not like I have a lot of scenes.”

Maru looked at Miso through the corner of his eyes. The flow of the conversation was somehow suspicious.

“I see, I see.”

“What’s this about?”

“Someone wanted an actor.”

“An actor?”

“It’s nothing grand. They’re high school kids, and they’re looking into participating in the Seoul Youth Film Festival.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Wanna do it?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I think you should though.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s an opportunity for you to participate in the production of a movie on equal footing as the director. They might be awkward, but it’ll help you gain experience in that regard. I heard you don’t have any plans to participate in club activities either.”

Maru nodded.

“Try various things out while you still can. Once you gain popularity and gain a price for your acting, it’ll be much harder for you to do anything proactively.”

“I guess that’s true. Which school are they from?”

“What do you think? It’s this school, duh.”

Miso crossed her arms and pointed at the school building.

“You mean our school?”

“Yeah. Don’t you know that there’s a film production club?”

“There are so many clubs at the school, there’s no way I know all of them.”

“That club was founded around the same time as Blue Sky. Well, they didn’t produce any concrete results like we did though.”

“You’re quite knowledgeable.”

“I am. We were quite close in my days. I still contact a few of them from time to time. The director of the indie movie that Geunsoo shot as his first piece is from Woosung High. Of course, he belonged to the film production club.”

“Then how come you’re the one telling that to me? You shouldn’t have any connections to the current film production club.”

“It’s an acquaintance of an acquaintance’s request. A friend of mine came to the school recently to look around the film production club and found a junior who was filled with enthusiasm. He told me that he couldn’t ignore someone like that and told me about it. I also didn’t think that it was a bad idea, so that’s why I’m talking to you about it. Oh, I heard that the film production club went to your class to see you.”

“Me?”

“They didn’t talk to you, they just looked at you for a while before going back.”

“Ah, them, huh.”

He remembered how people from other departments made a visit and just looked at him without saying anything before leaving. It seemed that they were mixed in that crowd.

“If you aren't busy, I think you should definitely do it.”

He didn’t have any schedule from Mondays to Thursdays, while Fridays were different every time according to how the shoot progressed on the weekends. Maru was worried that he might start getting some other schedules starting January, but the industry wasn’t so easy and did not allow a kid that just started appeared on TV to get more screen time. Thanks to that, he was spending a leisurely school life, but he did find the days he did nothing to be quite a pity.

“I can decide after I meet them in person, right?”

“Of course. The lead character can’t make a decision without even knowing the director. Those guys seemed to like you quite a bit, so they’ll probably start shooting immediately as soon as you give them the okay.”

“Do you know what it’s about as well?”

“All I know is that the topic can be anything. The details should be in the head of that little director.”

Miso took out her phone.

“I’ll give you their phone numbers.”

“You know their phone numbers as well?”

“It’s my principle to support someone fully if I decide to help. I got them quite early on.”

“Looks like you were really free ever since the movie with director Joongjin finished.”

“Yeah. I took a break from teaching at the academy because of the wedding. I don’t have any work either. I was rolling around at home all day, so I was feeling a bit itchy. That’s why I accepted when my darling asked if I could take care of the acting club again.”

“Ah, darling, huh.”

“Yeah, my darling.”

Miso winked. Maru couldn’t bear to look at her expression. After shuddering once, he asked,

“What’s this person’s name?”

“Oh her? Kang Sora.”

“Kang Sora? It’s a girl?”

“Yeah. You like that?”

“Not bad, I guess.”

“Should I tell your girlfriend what you just said?”

“You don’t know her number though.”

Maru saved the number that Miso told him. With the name, Kang Sora.