Life, Once Again!

r ”>-She never made another visit.
Just like that.
Ever since I made my resolution, I kept staring at the door, waiting for that woman to come in, but she didn’t.
It was frustrating.
Ah, I should have asked for her number at least – I regretted that as I continued working there.

“You never thought about looking for her?”

-Nope.

“You’re starting to lose credibility that you fell for her at first sight.”

-I must have been just that cowardly.
I only fantasize about it in my head.
Can I find her? If I find her, will that change anything? What if I get ignored? Then I just came to accept myself.
Ah, it would never have come to fruition anyway.

“How pathetic.”

-Indeed.
Despite that, I kept working there, looking at the entrance, wondering that maybe, that woman would open the door and visit again.
A month passed like that.

The masked man shrugged.

“So you worked there for a whole month?”

-Yes.

“That’s incredible in one sense.
I wouldn’t have done that.
Whether it’s love or loss, it only begins once you start taking action.
If you stay still in one spot, the only thing that remains is the regret of not having done anything.”

-You’re entirely right.
I thought that in my head as well – I must look for her before I regret it.
But it was hard to put it into action.
I did have the will to do it, but I kept hesitating.
I kept looking for a reason that I wasn’t able to do so, persuaded myself, and well, spent a month like that.
Do I look like a stupid person now?

“You do.
But I do understand you.”

-I knew you’d understand.
Of course you would.

The masked man chuckled as he covered the red-painted lips on the mask.

-Her face, which I could swear I could draw on a piece of paper, became blurred after a month.
Inside, I thought about numerous reasons why she and I would never be a thing and I leaned towards giving up.
I felt a little depressed as well.
Was I so pathetic that I can’t say a word to the woman I fell for?

“So, did that girl return to the restaurant?”

-No.
We met outside; in Hyehwa station.
I was walking towards the station to go home, and her face suddenly appeared when I went down the stairs.
She was with a friend and was wearing a white scarf.
I didn’t think about anything back then.
She was laughing with her friends as though she was talking about something funny.

The man stood upright.

-I froze then and there.
Maybe it was the cold wind.
I was frozen stiff like an icicle beneath the roof right on her path.
The distance between us kept shrinking, and eventually, she walked past me.

“Did you just send her off like that?”

-I was going to.
She was with her friends, and if I had the guts to talk to her so openly in the middle of the street, I would have done so already back at the restaurant.
According to my personality, it was nonsensical that I would take action in that situation.
But when I came to myself, I was standing in front of her.
My vision turned pure white and my head became empty.
Her friends whispered among themselves and she looked at me, but I was frozen stiff, looking dazed.
It was the perfect situation to be treated like a psychopath.

“So, what did you do?”

-I said my name.
A self-introduction, perhaps.
I fell for you, please tell me your name, I want to talk to you – I wasn’t able to say anything constructive like that, so I just said my name.
Hello, I’m Masked man.

“It wouldn’t be strange if you got ignored.”

-Indeed.
Even if she snorted at me and just walked by, it wouldn’t have been that surprising.
But that woman told me her name just like I did.
She also added that I should maybe add what business I had with her next time.

“Sounds like she’s a bold girl who’s wasted on you.”

-You’re right.
She’s endlessly wasted on me.

“So, how did it turn out?”

-It seems like she liked the immature-looking side of me.
After that, we met a couple of times.
Our dating location was always the theater.
For me, who worked near Daehak-ro but have never seen a play before, it was a fresh experience.
And eventually, I had this thought.
What would it feel like to stand on stage with her? Ever since I had that thought, I made the most impulsive decision in my life.
I quit college and jumped into the acting life.

“That’s a little too courageous for a man who couldn’t even talk to a girl.”

-I was half crazy after all, for her, that is.
Well, I guess this would be boasting, but I did pretty decently at acting.
I won a minor character role in the first audition I ever took to gain some experience, and through that, I kept working as an actor.
She worked in the theater area, while I worked in films.

“I see.”

-Those were good days.
We rented a small semi-basement and started living together.
When I returned after shoots, she would be sleeping, and I would lie down next to her and chuckle.
I thought it was a dream.
I wondered if I could be so happy.
Back then, I won a supporting role in a commercial movie, and she was pregnant with my child.
The movie did pretty decently, and she gave birth to a healthy girl.
Our parents met each other with the grandchild.
We were scolded a lot, but we managed to get married with the blessings of our parents.
I gained a decent amount of money through commercials and dramas, so we left that basement and got an apartment.
She, who left the theater troupe after getting pregnant, started working as a local acting teacher in the neighborhood.
When I didn’t have work, I would watch over the child, and in the opposite case, she would look after the child.
Every day was a blessing.

The masked man stopped talking.
Maru could tell that he was making a warm smile.
He couldn’t see the face behind that mask, but from the way he acted, as well as the atmosphere, everything was pointed towards the word ‘happiness’.

“Must have been good.”

-Yes.
We couldn’t be happier.

Maru sighed softly.

“But the fact that you are in that shape means that she is no longer of the living, right? Or maybe I became crazy and created an ego who could create a story like this.”

The masked man shrugged.

-You can make a judgement after you listen to the story until the end.
Though, like I said, it is nothing special.

KTLChamber's Thoughts

Now I get why the inner Maru is wearing a mask….
and is asking all those questions.

He's the same as us readers.

“REMEMBER MARU! REMEMBER HER!”

Editor's Note:
Not like this.
Interesting that Masked Maru's life was so different tho.
Even with memories, I thought they'd be similar.
Though, the just giving a self introduction is the same lul.