Life, Once Again!

show her something different.
She continued watching the play while thinking about those things, but even now that the play was reaching its end, Maru did not show her any special acting skills.

Did his acting skills regress instead?

That was definitely possible.
While he managed to stand out even amongst many professional actors, maybe his skills were downgraded after having spent so much time with the ordinary kids.

No, it wasn’t really a downgrade.
After all, the play itself was going smoothly without any major flaws.
It wasn’t that his skills were lacking.
It just felt bland.
The heart-clenching excitement was gone.
She did not want to spend an entire Sunday just to watch something like this.

She became bored.
She felt like she shouldn’t have come to watch.
Since her high expectations snapped in just a short moment, she felt like she was being drained of energy.

Maru was someone she was inwardly jealous of.
She was envious of his skill.
At the same time, he made her look forward to the moment they would stand together in front of a camera.
A rival, of sorts.
She became fired up the more amazing Maru was, but it felt like someone poured cold water on top of the bonfire.

People that could act on that level could be seen everywhere in various acting schools.
Did she lose a competitive rival and gain a good friend? It disappointed her a lot.

‘Well, this girl said the same thing.
That he’s good but there was nothing amazing about him.’

Yoojin looked at her who was sitting next to her.
She could finally understand why she said that Maru didn’t show her anything special during the drama shoot, and she finally understood why.
Was what she saw from him back then a coincidence? A misunderstanding on her part?

“…So he can do things like that,” just then, she spoke.

Yoojin asked what was up.

“Maru.
He’s too good.”

“He’s good? Ah, I guess he’s good.
But honestly speaking, he disappoints me.”

“Why? How?”

She widened her eyes and asked with disbelief in them.
Yoojin explained what was on her mind; that it was just plain-old acting without anything special.

When she said that, she firmly shook her head.

“No, Maru’s acting is really incredible.
No, perhaps this isn’t about acting.
I can’t think of the right word right now.”

She looked forward with excitement.
Yoojin couldn’t understand.
Just what part of Maru’s current acting was ‘incredible’? Being ‘good’ and being ‘incredible’ definitely had different tones.

“Look at that.
Look at his expression when he exchanges lines with the others.
It’s very different.
At those moments, the other people’s expressions become more colorful.
It feels much more vivid.
Over there, he looked so unstable during his monologue, but he turns stable the moment he does something together with Maru.
No, it’s not just about the stability.
He becomes better.
His expressions become more confident.
Maru is inducing him to do that,” she spoke with conviction.

Induce?

Yoojin was just looking at Maru until now.
Although she had a grasp over the overall situation, she was solely focused on Maru, so she did not notice the changes in the surrounding people.

But after listening to her words, she caught that clear difference.
The difference between the parts including Maru and the ones without Maru was huge.
However, it didn’t make the play become more awkward.
The parts Maru were in just became more filled with life and easier to watch.

“Yes, that’s right,” she spoke as though she finally remembered the word she forgot.

“Right now, Maru is….”

* * *

“He’s incredibly… skilled.”

“You could even call him wonderful.”

Pilhyun looked next to him.
Skilled.
The leader of the theater troupe was leaning forward as he watched the stage.
The professor was the same.
Although she was sitting back in her chair, her gaze as she looked in front of her had more depth than before.

Just until yesterday, they were drowning in boredom and yawns.
That applied to him as well.
It was very hard to give a lot of points in the ‘fun’ category when it came to highschool plays.
Although they watched the stages out of duty, they dozed off most of the time.

And for the first time today, they focused on the play with their full concentrations.
It was just because of one boy.

“Woosung High, huh.”

“What’s that fellow’s name?”

“Please wait a moment.”

Pilhyun put aside the scoring sheet and picked up the list of participating schools and students.
He found Woosung High as he read down the list.
He saw the name of the teacher in charge, the title of the play, as well as the students participating in the play.

“Salaryman, Han Maru.”

“Han Maru?”

“Is it a name you know?”

“No, I just thought it sounds rather unique.”

Pilhyun looked at the troupe leader.
He also said that he hadn’t heard of the name before.

“I’ve been judging youth acting festivals for quite a long time now.
I’ve seen many people come and go.
Among them, there were many students that showed acting skills that were unbelievable of their age.”

He then crossed his arms.

“And that fellow over there doesn’t seem to be lacking compared to those special students.
It’s very easy for an individual to do well.
They would pop out more that way.
However, tuning everyone else and bringing out the best of everybody is another talent in itself.
Just look at them.
The air of the stage changes whenever he enters and leaves the conversation.
I wouldn’t be this surprised if it was them just becoming more relaxed because they were used to being around him, but that fella is adjusting the tension with his tone of voice and the rhythm.”

“It looks like he clearly knows what group art is.
Usually, people his age would want to pop out from the rest and catch the eyes of the people.
There’s the individual prize as well.
But he… looks like he’s adjusting himself to match the rest.
He could do more if he wished to, but it looks like he’s refraining himself.
That doesn’t make him half-assed either.
The balance is good.”

The leader of the theater troupe and the female professor gave him extremely high praises.

Pilhyun agreed with them.
That boy knew what it meant to lead everyone.
It seemed like he knew how to share his own energy with the others.

Actors say there are other actors that they felt comfortable with shooting together.
That was what was meant by a synergizing actor.
Actors that raise the acting skills of one’s own even if he or she didn’t get along with that actor on a personal level.
There were a lot of such actors among supporting actors.

In Chungmuro, people always did the legwork in order to get such supporting actors into their movies.
The result was that four of the five currently-airing movies would feature the same supporting actor.
It sounded funny, but there were precedents.

‘Someone that brings out the best of others, huh.’

Pilhyun sucked in a deep breath and appreciated the play that was nearing its end.
He could feel the two next to him watching with their breaths abated as well.
Their interest in this new item they found within the boring stage became deeper.