Chapter 128

* * *“Is that your plan? Tell the teacher everything? You think our homeroom teacher will understand any of this? He’ll probably see this as an opportunity to get us all suspended. But you’re saying we should tell him everything? Aren’t you even considering what would happen to our class representative?”“Hey, why are you bringing up the class representative? Why do I need to be considerate towards him?”“Considerate? When did you become so childish?”“Lee Seulmi. Watch what you say.”“I should have known once I saw you befriending and hanging around those guys. This selfishness is the real you, right?”“Me? You think I’m selfish? That fucker is the one who’s selfish!” Maru shouted while huffing and puffing.Yoojin shrunk back inside. For a brief moment, Yoojin broke out of character after seeing his fiery stare. If it was the character Seulmi, she wouldn’t have backed down. Actually, Seulmi would have instantly replied back. However, for that brief moment, Yoojin broke character and felt her body stiffen from Maru’s stare. Once she realized what was going on, Ganghwan has already said “Stop there.”"Since it’s not the actual run, we’ll stop here. Everyone, gather around.” Yoojin bitterly smiled. The instructor recognized what happened quickly, there was no way that anything would pass by his discerning eyes. She felt exposed from the quick recognition and action from Ganghwan, she felt embarrassed and a little ashamed."Is it because bully #3 is not here? Why are all the bullies without energy today?”"There’s a break in the flow of our lines, so I don’t think we can help it.”"That’s why I’ve been reading bully #3’s lines for you guys.”“C’mon instructor, it’s different hearing the lines in a man’s voice. Plus, your voice is so deep.”Everyone started giggling, Yoojin included. Ganghwan conducted practice and his instruction in a relaxed, comfortable way. He gave precise feedback when needed but was mostly easy-going during practice."Yeah, I guess so? Still, let’s focus. There’s exactly 29 days left. Let’s be more careful and focused.”"Yes, instructor.”“And Maru…” he said while gesturing with his finger to come forward. Maru, who was in the back, walked to the front."Don’t put too much force into your acting. Are you trying to pick a fight?”"It’s the scene where we fight, though.”"It’s a good portrayal, but you need to understand where you both are emotionally. Although you’re both angry at the situation with the student representative, you were both happily walking back from the cafeteria in the previous scene. There needs to be a reason for such a powerful show of emotion. This is especially true for the character Chuljin, who’s been on friendly terms with everyone. Obviously, Chuljin goes astray towards the latter half of the play, but we’re only at the transition phase right now. If you go full on angry right now, then it’ll have to be much worse later on. This play isn’t that twisted and cynical.”"I understand.”"You did well to hold back when I told you to do so before, but you’ve seemed to have reverted to old habits recently. If you show strong emotions at logical times then there’s no worry, but if you’re getting swept up in the heat of the moment then you’re overdoing it. You have to better control your emotions.”"It’s difficult.”"Anyone can scream or cry. But few people can cry while smiling or laugh while crying. If you can convey sadness with a blank face, then you can say that you’ve become an acting god. Let’s go slowly. Develop the character and then release your emotions. Okay?”"Yes, I’ll do that,” Maru answered as he nodded his head in agreement.Yoojin was jealous of Maru. Ganghwan had two ways of giving advice. He could go with the flow and comfortably speak as he did with the bully characters or be detailed in his explanation to an individual, as he did with Maru. When he was largely unsatisfied, he would go with the flow and give general feedback, but when he gave specific feedback, it meant that he was satisfied with everything else outside that one detail."And Lee Yoojin.”"Yes?”"Don’t get surprised. Do you understand what I mean?”"… yes.”"For the most part, you did well. But you were definitely losing to Maru right now. He can’t control his emotions well right now, but it’s also a problem if you can’t appropriately react to that. If you guys can match each other’s level of emotional output then there could be some positive synergy, but just now you lost the initiative, causing your character to wilt. Your character was domineering over Maru just a moment ago. Once you lost and got pushed into a corner, I couldn’t enjoy your character anymore.”"Just now… It was my fault.”“If you know then I won’t waste words. You’re smart, so you should understand what I mean. And student representative!”"Yes!”"You little… come over here.”Ganghwan put on a playful face while shaking a leg. The actor playing the role of student representative gave a smile and walked forward."Aren’t you motivated? You need to ignite a fire in your stomach and bring it outward. You saw those two next to you, right? Han Maru and Lee Yoojin. If you’re not careful, your main character role will become a side character to those two. You know how important your character is, right? Your character is supposed to ramp up the anxiety and nervousness level. But you’re standing back and losing? You can’t do that. You can’t! You should be the one oppressing those two. Take that to heart when you’re acting. Act as if only you can shine in this play.”"Yes!”"And…”Yoojin drifted away from the ongoing conversation and started to reflect on what happened between her and Maru. His stare was unsettling. When he started ramping up emotionally and shouted, she froze. She felt as though he was going to rush at her at any moment. The acting seemed too real. If this were easy, then anyone could be an actor.Acting is a form of lying, an actor portrays a character in the character’s made up personality within a fictitious world, but one cannot truly impress by just lying. Only when a lie is wrapped up in some truth does it become effective. Then what truth could she find. The answer was emotion.She needed to wield her emotions to transform a lie into a truth. Maru excellently showcased this transformation.'Alright. So, you want to compete, huh.’She became determined. To combat the intensity of Maru’s emotions, she had to face him with as much intensity. Until Ganghwan says, “Don’t overdo it,” she was planning to meet Maru’s force with force.