Seeing Suyeon smiling, Okseon calmed down her expression. She felt displeased since she saw the true face of the person who was once her idol, but she wasn’t going to do something pathetic like expressing her displeasure

“Unni, you’re too nice, taking care of others and not just me. That’s why we like you a lot.”

“Nah. I don’t like kids that much. Have you ever seen me go out of my way to talk to them? Probably not.”

“Th-that’s true.”

She was about to finish up the conversation with some formalities, but she got an absurd reply. Wouldn’t people normally reply with a smile here? Okseon made a vague smile. She wanted to finish this conversation smoothly, but it seemed that wasn’t going to happen.

“You don’t seem to be close to the others, huh?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I see you by yourself all the time during breaks.”

“I guess it does look like that. I’m not good with words, so I’m still quite awkward with them. But it’s fine since they’re all good people.”

“That’s strange. Yeseul seems to hate you though.”

“R-really?”

She didn’t think that Suyeon would bring up such a sensitive topic so openly. Just then, she met eyes with Yeseul, who was walking towards the school gates. Yeseul smiled brightly and waved at her as though to tell her to come quickly. She probably acted like that because Suyeon was nearby.

“No way. We aren’t that close, but we aren’t on bad terms. Yeseul is looking after me a lot now too.”

“Really? That’s strange. I think you’re being ostracized. No, to be precise, you don’t have any plans on getting close to the others.”

“Maybe it looks like that because I’m shy. I heard that I got embarrassed a lot when I was young. I guess that’s something I should try to fix. If I try to talk to them more proactively, they’ll treat me kindly soon enough.”

“Is that how it works?” Suyeon wondered out loud as she swept her hair backwards.

Okseon felt a bad taste in her mouth. Suyeon was being oddly persistent today. She wasn’t like this usually. When Okseon approached her and greeted her, Suyeon would usually return the greeting in kind and encourage her before going on her way. Okseon thought that Suyeon was a refreshing, cool woman, but that didn’t seem to be the case from what she saw today. This senior disappointed her a lot.

“Well, if you say so, then you must be right. Anyway, try to do your best to get along. You’ll have to see each other for months, so it’d be strange to not talk to them even once. Don’t you think?”

“I’ll try my best.”

She was cautious with her words because Suyeon might talk to the others about it, though that was very unlikely. Since she realized that Suyeon was someone who liked to meddle in other people’s matters, she had to watch her words from now on.

“Try, huh. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Those words sounded quite suspicious. Okseon looked at the hands that came to pinch her cheeks before subconsciously taking a step back. Suyeon’s hands stopped in mid air.

“Is the coquetry over now?”

Okseon widened her eyes at the sudden words. Coquetry, she said? Suyeon faintly smiled before turning around.

“Nothing. Do your best for the rest of the shoot. I’ll be watching from the side, so you can ask me if you’re stuck on something. I’m an unni after all.”

Okseon somehow felt chilled by Suyeon’s last words. She said goodbye to Suyeon, who walked over to a car before walking towards the school gates.

“I wonder what you talked about with senior Suyeon. Even though you don’t say a word usually,” Yeseul said after approaching her quietly.

Okseon maintained her expressionless face. Yeseul was feeling jealous right now. She was green with envy because she saw her talking closely with a senior. What a childish reaction. She was like a child who would cry when her toys got taken away. Okseon honestly didn’t feel the need to confront her. At the same time, she was surprised at herself for being calm and rational even after receiving such a gaze. I really am different from these kids - she thought.

‘I thought Kim Suyeon could be my conversation partner, but she was an idiotic woman like the others.’

Though, she still decided to maintain a good relationship with her. Bad rumors would start floating around if a senior saw her in a bad light after all.

“Can you hear me?”

“I can.”

“Then why aren’t you answering me?” Yeseul spoke in a small voice.

She was even glaring at her. Yeseul was under a misconception. She was riding on the bandwagon of popularity driven by Giwoo, but she thought that she was gaining popularity with her own skills. She was really pathetic and foolish. Once the main driving force, Giwoo, left, she would be stuck in that bandwagon without being able to do anything. Yet she still acted arrogantly as though she was the princess of the shoot. If it was a battle of words, Okseon had the confidence to make her start crying in an instant. However, going along with such a childish play would lower her status as an intellectual, so she decided to react appropriately.

“The shoot is going to begin soon.”

“I know.”

“So unless it’s something critical, please leave it for later. We aren’t close enough to talk to each other during shooting hours, right?”

“What was that?”

“Also, it was senior Suyeon who talked to me first, what can I do about that? Is talking to a senior such a big fault? Do I have to get your permission or something? If that’s the case, I’ll immediately go up to her now and say that Yeseul said such things.”

“Wh-when did I say that? I’m asking because I was just curious. You’re overreacting, geez.”

Yeseul walked over to Giwoo while grumbling. She tapped Giwoo’s shoulders as she glared at Okseon. She was like a little child going to her mom to tell her what others did wrong. Giwoo consoled Yeseul with a smile and just greeted Okseon with his eyes.

As expected - Okseon smiled in satisfaction at Giwoo’s reaction. Giwoo was the only one worth talking to here. It would be great if she was the female lead. Thanks to Yeseul, who had zero skill in acting being the female lead, she had to bring Giwoo down. This was a perfect occasion for the saying ‘one loach could muddy an entire creek’.

There seemed to be some problems with the lighting as the shoot was delayed a little. During this time, Okseon approached Maru, who was taking a phone call in a remote place. She watched him until he finished his call before calling out to him.

“You seem to be on close terms with Suyeon-unni, huh?”

“Rather than close, we’re in a cooperative? No wait, enemies that have to be kept at bay? It’s a complex relationship.”

“If you’re trying to sound funny, it wasn’t.”

“That’s why I’m not aspiring to be a comedian. Because I’m not funny.”

“You turned out to be a really boring type huh. I didn’t think that would be the case.”

“You know, it really makes me wonder whenever I talk to you. Just what kind of person is Han Maru in your head to be disappointing you all the time? Did you perhaps mistake me as a perfect person? I’d be rather embarrassed if you did.”

“Me? No way.”

“Right? Then don’t be disappointed in the future. Why get disappointed about someone you didn’t have any expectations for, to begin with? It makes me sorry for disappointing you.”

Okseon felt her toes tensing. She felt this yesterday, this boy’s speech could really make people uncomfortable. She decided to endure since it wouldn’t be mature of her if she got upset over some wordplay like this.

“Suyeon-unni says she’s close to you though.”

“So you’re investigating the relationship between Suyeon-noona and me after the one between Giwoo and me? Man, I feel like I’m leading a fulfilling life because of you.”

“You have a talent to put words in a funny way, huh.”

“Now I have a talent to say funny words after not sounding funny? Okseon, should I be aspiring to become an average comedian then?”

Okseon frowned. This guy was really frivolous. He had no weight to his words just like how boys would play pranks on girls when they were toddlers. He was beyond idiotic and had no wits. This was why talking to dumb people was excruciating.

“Suyeon-unni is quite a good person, isn’t she? Looking after you and all,” she said with a smile.

She was being sarcastic, but as Maru didn’t have a brain, he would probably interpret those words as-is.

“Of course, she is,” Maru replied with a smile.

There. The boy in front of her did not know the concept of sarcasm. This was why he was not able to predict what kind of consequences there would be if Giwoo continued to improve. He was done for. It would be much easier if he just went to Giwoo and told him to stop as she said, but he couldn’t even do that. He just kept saying unfunny words.

‘Suyeon-unni is close to a guy like this? I guess JA Production isn’t as great as the rumors say.’

It seemed that president Lee Junmin has gotten on in years if he decided to take Maru under the wing of his company. Although he was called the maestro of digging up new talent, he didn’t have much activity recently, did he not? Even a master craftsman would return to being ordinary if they did not continue to polish their skill. She could already imagine what the future of JA Production was going to be like.

“So why were you waiting for me when I was on a call? If it’s about Suyeon-noona, I’m willing to talk about her more.”

“Forget it. I just asked to confirm.”

“Did the matter with Giwoo go well?”

“Why? You worried now? I said go tell him if you’re so worried about it. I’m giving you this advice for your sake.”

“I said I don’t plan to. I just asked out of curiosity. It doesn’t seem that important though, huh?”

“Not important?”

This time, she couldn’t hold back her vexation. They were away from other people, so there was no one to hear. It wouldn’t be a problem even if she snapped out a little.

“You really are clueless, huh. Even after the lengths I went to explain to you in kind. Just how much more do I have to explain so that you can understand that you are in a bad situation?”

Her lips were trembling due to the frustration.

Maru spoke with a smile.

“Okseon. I really like people like you. You keep taking action to do something. It’s really good to see that you’re trying to do something rather than sighing about it while doing nothing. But you know? You really don’t take other people’s words seriously, do you? Or is it that you forgot in such a short time? You take pride in yourself for being smart. So act like it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I told you that the matter with Giwoo is for you to solve, right?”

“I told you several times that it’s for your sak….”

“Second, if you really don’t want to do it, I told you to prepare a form of compensation if you want me to take action. Did I not?”

“The whole premise is wrong! This is for your sake! Why do I need to do something like that?”

“They say the thirsty will dig the well, but you just look thirsty. If you are thirsty, you should be the one to dig the well. That’s what desperation is, and if you aren’t, then just let it go.”

“You really are dumb, aren’t you? You just can’t understand a single thing I say. You should just listen to me, go to Giwoo and tell him to stop copying you. I told you that your life will become much better if you do, didn’t I?”

“Oh, it was about my life? I didn’t know that. If it’s like that….”

At that moment, Maru retracted his smile and put on an expressionless face. Okseon was a little surprised at this new side of him. When hanging out with Dongho and Joomin, he was always smiling like a fool. Maru moved to the side before turning his back to everyone else. Now, Okseon was the only one who could see Maru’s expression.

“Okseon.”

“Wh-what?”

“I’ll say this again, but I really like that you’re trying to take action. Your thoughts are reasonable, and your actions have a reason behind each one. You probably thought that the attention you receive will rise once Giwoo falters and Yeseul’s acting skills fall in tandem. It’s reasonable. But why are your thoughts the only things that are reasonable? If you want to attain something, you need to give up just as much in order to attain it. Do you want to take it? Then you should go get it. Do you want to have someone else do it? Then you should compensate that person. This is the second time I’m telling you this. I quite like you and I respect your thinking, but if you keep treating me like your personal property and try to order me around regardless of the time, then I can only change my opinion of you.”

Maru took a step closer to her. Okseon stepped back just as much. She felt scared for some reason. Maru’s slow moving hand grasped Okseon’s arm softly.

“Just like how you want to stay quiet among us, I want to smile. I do not want my workplace to have a stiff environment. Dongho has adjusted himself to the current atmosphere, and the same can be said for Joomin-noona as well. I painstakingly made this atmosphere, so it would be quite troublesome for me if you keep acting like this. The two of us will just keep our businesses separate and to ourselves, okay?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Good, that’s good. But you know? I hope you don’t talk about other people’s lives so easily like that. I’m quite desperate, you know? And desperate people don’t see anything other than their objective. If I think I can only survive by stepping on someone else, I really will do it. So be careful when you approach me. Stepping on a friend isn’t really pleasant. You know that, right?”

Maru returned to his smile. It seemed as though the childish character from when he was with Dongho had come back to him. However, Maru’s eyes just now were nothing like the frivolous boy’s in front of her. They were incredibly ferocious. He was like a wild dog that growled at other animals that tried to invade its territory.

“Haha, I just tried being heavy, because you seemed to like this sort of stuff. You’re quite mature, you know? You like this kind of thing better than talking with a smile, right? How was it? Was my acting okay?”

“...Yeah.”

Maru tapped on her arm before turning around. Okseon couldn’t say anything besides that ‘yeah’. This was the first time a man felt scary to her. She couldn’t even budge her lips.

“Talk to me from time to time, okay?”

Maru waved his hand before walking away. At that moment, she heard that the shoot was ready as the lights turned on. Okseon was about to follow Maru, but waited until Maru disappeared into the crowd.

She slowly breathed out before taking her first step. She felt a little dizzy.