Life, Once Again!

After Story 26

He could see the world cup stadium from the bus as he leaned his head against the window. There seemed to be some kind of event as there was a crowd of people in front.

Maru pressed the stop button when the bus drove further and he could no longer see the stadium. As soon as he got off, the heat of August enveloped him. The terrible heat that started in June showed no signs of ending.

He took out his phone after taking shade in the shadow of a building. He checked the audition venue and started walking again. Not too far away from the bus stop, he entered a building that was about ten-something stories tall. He waited for the elevator which was on floor 8 before deciding to take the stairs. When he arrived on the 8th floor, the audition venue, he saw people waiting in front of the elevator.

“Please get ready.”

He heard a voice inside the glass door. He peeked inside. There was a small waiting room past the glass door and inside there was another door. He could hear a dog barking and a voice that tried to console the dog from that inner door.

Maru stated his name to the employee in the waiting room. After checking the list, the employee told him to wait. As the space was quite limited, it seemed that the audition was held on a first-come, first-served basis.

“I don’t think you can do it. Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you, sir.”

A man left with a bitter smile on his face. There was a bunch of dog fur on his black clothes. The woman who went in after that also came back out to the waiting room not long later. Like the man before, she was covered in golden dog fur.

“Mr. Han Maru,” the employee called his name.

He went inside the room connected to the small waiting room. He saw today’s main character under the lights installed on either side. With golden fur, eyes full of purity, and a wagging tail that looked like it was about to fly off at any moment, the Golden Retriever kept running around as though it was showing off its stamina.

“Would you like to come here for a second?”

Introductions were unnecessary. Maru was instructed by the man he presumed was the director and stood in front of the lights.

“Miss.”

The woman wrestling with the Golden Retriever came to Maru with the leash in hand.

“Can you stay still for a second with the leash? Not a single person had been able to do that until now,” the director said while pressing his forehead.

The dog owner smiled in embarrassment and shame. It seemed that both the dog owner and the director were having a hard time because the main character of the commercial, the dog, was acting whimsically.

Maru held the leash and stood still. The dog started to jump from side to side. It seemed to find the sense of resistance on its neck rather pleasing as it pulled it over and over. The overwhelmingly big eyes were telling him: hello, mister, what should we play today?

The director’s request was to stay still. If Maru got dragged around by this playful little thing, he would fail the audition. Maru took half a step forward and slightly blocked off the dog’s eyes with his hand. When the dog tried to move its head and look at him again, he did not show any response and just moved his hand to block its eyes again. When he did that a few more times, the dog sat down. Its wagging tail drooped down like it was affected by the heat.

“Is this good enough?” he asked the director.

He had raised all sorts of animals, big, medium, and small, and he had even worked with them on several occasions. He even had experience in an entertainment show related to dogs where he learned how to train them. While he didn’t have a lot of professional knowledge, he knew how to calm down the dogs.

The golden furry kid looked at him in dissatisfaction, as though to ask why he wasn’t playing with it.

“It’s calm now,” the director said as though he could finally take a breather.

The dog owner also clapped. She also added that the dog was usually docile.

“Do you have a dog at home?”

“Not now, but I used to raise a lot. What should I do?” he asked.

The director told him to stay still and brought a camera.

“We’re going to take a few photos to use as a profile.”

“Is this posture good enough?”

“For now, that’s okay. Let’s try changing things up after taking some.”

Maru straightened his back and stood next to the dog. He could see the obedient dog perk its ears up.

Are we finally playing together? — it seemed to be expressing its anticipation.

“What’s the dog’s name?” Maru asked the dog owner.

“Collie,” the dog owner responded.

He pressed down Collie’s butt, which had puffed up like a balloon about to burst. The smart dog seemed to have realized what Maru wanted so while it complained, it didn’t jump around again.

The director put down the camera. He seemed to be checking the photos he took.

Maru pulled Collie’s leash lightly and immediately got a response. Collie stood up and rushed towards him. Maru ran around the studio while being careful not to tangle up the leash. If Collie used its body weight to push him, Maru also moderately pushed back. The dog listened to his orders to wait, so he needed to give the reward of playing. Collie would listen to him while this simple contract was maintained.

“Can I have a treat?”

The dog owner quickly gave him some dog treats.

“The previous applicants had a hard time taming him so there was no time to use treats.”

“One playful fellow I see.”

“A bit of a prankster. Usually, he’s quite docile and obedient, but it looks like the unfamiliar space is getting to him after all.”

“Getting excited is better than being uneasy.”

Maru put the dog treats inside his pocket. The treats were supposed to be compensation. He could not hand one to the dog without reason.

“Er,” the director spoke.

Maru realized what he was about to say and responded, “Han Maru, sir.”

“Yes, Mr. Han Maru. For now, it looks really good, and you fit the image too. Let’s take a few more photos in different positions.”

“What position would you like?”

“Try exchanging looks with the dog. Affectionately and warmly.”

Maru let go of the leash and grabbed Collie’s cheeks with both of his hands. When he twisted it lightly like tickling it, Collie’s tail spun around like a propeller. It seemed to like it. He bent down a little lower and looked at the dog at eye level. Collie did not freeze up and instead looked at him as though it wanted to see him more.

“Yes, good.”

He could hear continuous shutter sounds. After that, they changed positions a few more times before taking photos. They sometimes lay down together, and he used Collie as a pillow. When he was asked to nibble on the dog’s ears, Maru looked at the dog owner.

“It’s something this kid is used to, so it should be fine.”

Just as the dog owner said, Collie stayed still. Maru patted the dog’s head and gave it some of the treats that he received. Collie ate them all in a flash and rushed towards him, asking for more.

“Mr. Han Maru. That’s it for now. Thanks for coming.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Maru said goodbye to the dog owner as well before leaving the studio. While the mood was good, he couldn’t tell whether he passed or not, he could only wait. He brushed off the dog fur on his body as he left the building.

The next audition was also in Mapo-gu. It was an audition to pick a minor actor for a low-budget film. When he saw the post on the internet café, he saw that the view count was past 700.

A male actor with a standard body figure and was between 170 and 180 cm in height.

That was the only condition in the post, so every single male actor that visited the café should have applied for it. Contrary to this thought that he would never be able to pass the resume round, he was contacted to come to the offline audition. It was an opportunity he had to grab.

Before going to the audition, he changed his clothes in a bathroom at a shopping mall. He wasn’t notified of the dress code, so he went with a casual-style suit.

Clothes were the only forms of promotion for minor actors who had a hard time getting themselves known. When Maru was also a judge, he would remember the applicants through their clothing and appearance, even if he couldn’t remember their names.

When he arrived at the building where the audition was going to be held, he visited the bathroom again and checked his attire. He also loosened up his expression. While his facial muscles weren’t to his liking, it was much better than in June, when he just regained his memories.

He got on the elevator with men in their 20s and 30s, who clearly seemed to be here for the audition.

“Applicants, please check your names here and receive your name tags. Check your orders as well.”

The air changed as soon as he got off the elevator. Minor actors with name tags filled the corridor. They were all practicing while looking at the ceiling or the floor to get immersed. Maru knew that he had to calm down, but it was hard to suppress his excitement.

Perhaps this was how fish felt when meeting water after being dried out on land. A pleasant sense of heat spread around his body. He got a good feeling. He felt like he would be able to show a satisfactory act right now.

“Han Maru, Han Maru… I’m sorry but you’re not on the list.”

“Can you please check again? I got a text message too.”

Hearing the employee’s words that took away the heat in his body in an instant, he inquired again. The woman looked at the list for a while before calling for another person. A man in his 40s and wearing glasses came over and apologized to Maru.

“I’m sorry. There was a mistake in the process and some people not on the list seemed to have been notified.”

“So I won’t be able to take the audition then.”

The man nodded firmly. He didn’t leave any room for doubt.

Maru did not major in theater, did not belong to an agency, or had any decent pieces that he participated in, so he did find it a little suspicious that he passed the screening round. Still, he thought that he had gotten lucky and tried to grab the opportunity, but this was how it turned out.

“I’m sorry about this.”

The man handed him 20 thousand won for transportation. Maru received the money and left the building. While he was disappointed, it was nothing to feel attached to. He experienced too many accidents and events that dragged him down to be disappointed by something like this. Today, he could be satisfied by just having a peek at the tenacity of minor actors.

Moreover, the auditions weren’t over yet. Maru called director Lee Yoonseok. Today’s last audition was a place for the director to judge an actor but also for the actor to judge the director. While the director sounded pretty humble in the email, he might be different in real life.

If Maru was far from the actor they wanted, this contract would fall through.

“Director, I plan to visit you right now. Are you okay with that?”

-Yes. I’ll see you at the main gate. If you give me a call once you arrive, I’ll go pick you up right away.

Maru took the bus to Hohun university in Jongno. He got off the bus stop and followed the signs for about ten minutes where he saw the university gates.

He made a call in front of a toast store. He could see a man in an indigo shirt right in front of him pick up his phone.

“Are you perhaps wearing an indigo shirt?”

-Yes. Do you see me?

Lee Yoonseok waved his hand in the air. Maru hung up and approached Yoonseok.

“Hello.”

Seeing his face, Yoonseok kept staring at Maru, with no signs of greeting back. When Maru smiled and greeted again, only then did he respond to the handshake.

“Sorry about that. You were so similar to the image I had in mind. I thought you would look a little different in real life, but now that I saw you here, I’m convinced. You’re the man for the job.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

“For now, let’s go to where the rest of our members are. They’re in an empty lecture room. Everyone’s waiting for you.”

“Then we should go quickly.”

Yoonseok, who was turning around, suddenly told him to wait before running into the toast store. As he was ordering in front of the store, he shouted to Maru.

“Mr. Actor! Which one would you like?”

There was no need to refuse since he was getting treated. He asked him to get the same thing as him before waiting.

A moment later, Yoonseok brought a large plastic bag.

“This is our dinner. We’d love to treat you to some beef and have a long talk, but our pockets aren’t deep enough.”

“As long as we can have our fill, it’s fine. Let’s go. I’m sure everyone’s waiting.”

Yoonseok nodded and took the lead.