Life, Once Again!

umstances, academic achievements, hobbies, friends, dreams.
After extracting a mean or median value from every single one of them, they would represent ‘Park Haejoon’.
He acted righteously from time to time, preferred not to stand out, and wanted to study well but liked playing games more.
To him, who felt a sense of kinship with the ‘average joe’ in textbooks, Yoon Jihae was a mystical being that lived outside the fence of ordinariness.

Yoon Jihae was a firm girl.
When the other people in the class boasted their brand-name student uniforms, she boldly boasted her second-hand one, and she always raised her hand to refuse when teachers asked who was willing to buy postage stamps from the red cross or badges from NGOs as donations.
To Park Haejoon, who unwillingly took out his money because he didn’t want to stand out, that was something very bold to do.

‘Maru’ knew her household circumstances, but Park Haejoon didn’t.
That was why his first line was that of admiration, envy, and respect.

“What do you mean?”

A rather gruffy reply came back.
Maru, no, Park Haejoon thought of that cold answer as an expression of confidence.
Compared to him, who could never say something like that in fear of ruining his relationships, she looked like a strong woman who could survive in the world by herself.

“I mean, before, when we were buying badges.”

“What about it? Are you dissatisfied because I didn’t buy one?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

“What then? What do you want to say?”

“So uh… you look really bold.”

“Are you mocking me?”

The moment he saw Yuna’s face as she said those words, Maru felt that the characters of Park Haejoon and Yoon Jihae that were within him were creaking a little.
Maru raised his hand.
Yuna, who was about to follow up, blinked her eyes and didn’t say anything.

“What is it, seonbae?”

“You’re doing well, but can you do that last line again?”

“The one where I ‘are you mocking me’?”

“Yeah.”

Yuna cleared her throat and said the line again.
With a prickly tone of speech, her lips curled up a little.
It felt a bit like she was mocking him.

“What is it? Was I strange?”

“Before that, can I ask how you interpreted this? I mean, people have their own ways.”

Yuna opened the script and spoke,

“I just said what I felt when I read this line.”

Maru nodded.
There were no directions for the expression of emotions indicated by the writer for that line.
It just went according to the flow.

“Was it strange?”

“If you’re sure about it, then I don’t really have anything to say to you.”

“No, say it anyway.
I have to learn a lot.”

Maru scratched his eyebrows and spoke,

“You know how when you see the other lines, the writer has indicated what emotions to express and the circumstances, right?”

“Yes.
At those times, I try to follow them.”

“There are times when you should change it according to the requests of the director, but most of the time, it’ll go according to how the writer wrote it.
The problem is when such directions aren’t there.
This is when the actors need to think about the most.
While the director is in charge of everything, she won’t instruct you on everything.
The director’s job is to bring out the best of each part after all.
So in parts like this one, the actor needs to decide how to say the lines and how to show them to the director.
If that process is smooth, the director would entrust the rest to the actor, but if there’s a disparity, the two should start tuning it together.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I’m saying this again, but this is an extremely personal opinion of mine, and I’m not telling you that your acting method is wrong, so just take it lightly.
First, the background of scene 3 is the classroom, right?”

“Yes.
It’s when the two first talk to each other.”

“As you know from the script, episode 1 doesn’t portray the household circumstances of the characters.
But we know about it already.
Park Haejoon is the epitome of being average, while Yoon Jihae is someone who feels that poverty is shameful and expresses herself as a vicious girl in order to hide it.”

Yuna flipped through the script and replied ‘yes’.

“If you say that line like how you did with just the information given in episode 1, I would say that your interpretation is good.
After all, these kinds of lines are usually said with a mocking tone in a drama.
It also suits the character of Yoon Jihae shown on the surface.
But you are already aware of what kind of life she leads at home.
Do you remember the script for episode 2? The scene where you hang up your call with your friends, who asked you to go out with them, and then started crying by yourself.
Her personality might be bold on the surface, but don’t you think that Yoon Jihae is actually extremely defensive and shy on the inside? If her exterior personality was because of rebellious psychology or some sort of self-defense mechanism, then I don’t think it’ll be a bad idea to say the line how you did.”

Maru looked at Yoon Jihae’s line.
Would ‘mocking’ be the only thing in her mind when Park Haejoon tells her that the shell she created for herself is cool and amazing? Rather than that, a dry rage without any sort of mocking tone would suit the line better.
In order to prop up the collapsing true self, she had to put up an even stronger barrier of falseness which would increase the intensity of the line instead.

“Are you mocking me?”

Maru said the line mixed with anger and wariness.
He could see Yuna flinching back a little.
Maru loosened his expression and showed her the script.

“You see my line right afterwards, right?”

“Yes.
Extremely flustered and apologetic, that’s what’s written above it.”

“If Yoon Jihae replied with a mocking tone, don’t you think that is overreacting?”

“That’s definitely true.
Now that you mention it, cold rage might suit the flow better.”

“Of course, I might be wrong.”

“No, I’m sure you’re right.
In the last part, the directions also say that Park Haejoon wants to talk to her but he could not.
He could not – this always tugged on my mind and I feel like I finally understand why.”

Yuna’s eyes sparkled as she kept reading through the script.
After she finished, she nodded as she accepted.

“This is what you call attention to detail, right?”

“It’s just a difference of interpretation.
I might be wrong about this, so don’t believe in me too much.”

“We’ll find out when we act it out later.
We’ll see which one the director likes better.
But in my opinion, I think what you said is close to the answer.
Ah, and here I thought I analyzed the script quite thoroughly.
I was unable to connect other characters’ lines to the stage directions.
I guess they don’t give you the script to just look at it.”

Yuna snorted before taking out a pen.

“Uhm, seonbae, let me write things down for a little.”

“Take it slow.
I think it’ll take a while for scene 13 to end.”

“Yes.
Please wait a little.”

Yuna’s hands started moving busily.