Chapter 181

Chapter 181

"We got the registration forms for now . ”

Maru handed the forms over to Taesik . There were four third years who were just there by name, two new first years, and four second years .

“Oh, new kids from our class . ”

“Yes . I just wanted to fill in the numbers for now . ”

Clubs with less than ten people didn’t have the luxury of a clubroom, so Maru met the quota using ghost members .

“You must be thinking of finding other members next week . ”

Taesik leaned backwards with a troubled look .

“Is there an issue?”

“The rules have changed, unfortunately . The school recently had a meeting about this after they received a request from a student . ”

Taesik got up from his seat and walked out of the teacher’s office, Maru followed behind him . Taesik ordered two cups of coffee from the vending machine next to the school store before walking over to a corner .

“The faculty talked about how some clubs had clubrooms since the beginning of school . The principal seemed oddly willing to talk about this topic for some reason . Usually, he leaves this kind of stuff to the school council . ”

“ . . . Could it be . . . ”

“The school council decided to let other clubs try having clubrooms as well and the faculty agreed . So they decided to perform an investigation on all clubs that had clubrooms for more than five years . Ah, sorry, they already finished the investigation and made their decision . ”

“So what happens to the acting club?”

“We’re losing the clubroom . The reading, music, and toys club get to keep their clubs due to their results in various national competitions, but not us . ”

“So the winter competition wasn’t appealing enough . ”

Taesik nodded .

“I couldn’t say anything to the school wanting to let other students have a chance at getting their own clubrooms . Especially since they are right . ”

Taesik gulped down the chilled coffee, Maru finished his in one gulp as well .

“How long do we have?”

“The third week of March . ”

“It’s going to take a while to move all of the props . ”

“Worse, finding a place to keep all of it . ”

“You don’t happen to have a storage room somewhere, do you?”

“Of course I don’t . What made you think I would?”

“I was just asking out of false hope . ”

Maru was reminded of a time when the landowner decided to raise his rent . It must’ve been an obvious decision to the landowner, but Maru recalled the feeling of having his world crumble around him when he heard it . It almost felt like he got betrayed by his own house, even though that house was never actually his, to begin with . It was the same with the school, the clubroom wasn’t actually theirs . It was the school’s and there was nothing they could do about the school’s decision .

“We’ll have to find a new place first . ”

“I’ll help as much as possible . ”

“Do you know of a storage space the school doesn’t use?”

“Don’t know . I’ll take a look around . ”

“Thank you . ”

Maru returned to the classroom after finishing his conversation with Taesik, Daemyung greeted him with a bright smile .

“How’d it go? Did it work?”

“Nope, we’ll have to leave . ”

“What? Really?”

“The rules have changed . Can’t do anything about it . We’ll have to leave . ”

Maru gave back the registration forms he collected from his classmates .

“What the, what’s going to happen to you guys then?” Dojin asked worriedly .

“We’re screwed, obviously . ”

“ . . . Is it because I left?”

“You’re definitely not enough to influence this decision, so don’t worry . Explain to the others as well . We’re doing this because the school’s telling us to do it, not because you guys left . ”

Maru didn’t want the former members feeling guilty over this, they left because they all had their own paths to walk . Maru didn’t want to place any unnecessary burdens on them .

“So how did this happen out of nowhere, then?”

“Well, that’s the odd thing . ”

The principal probably took a liking to the school council’s suggestion . After all, the man disliked the acting club as is . But why did the school council speak out against it to begin with? Maru tried asking the vice president’s friend, but he didn’t get a decent response .

“I just know that the idea came out and it reached the principal’s ears . ”

Was it just coincidence?

“Let’s head to the clubroom after lunch . We’ll need a plan if we want to move everything out . ” “So we really are leaving, huh,” Daemyung sighed .

It was a done deal, so they couldn’t help it . They’d be better off trying to plan things out as fast as possible . On their way to the cafeteria after their fourth period, they ran into Taesik .

“They said there wasn’t a good place inside the school . ”

Bad news never comes alone, does it? The school didn’t even have a single storage room to spare .

“Thank you for looking . ”

“I’m looking for clubs willing to give up their clubrooms, but this isn’t easy either . ”

“You probably won’t find any, since people dislike letting go of things they have . ”

“Right . But I still have hope for now . ”

“We’re going to organize the clubroom after lunch . We’ll start with the heavier stuff close to the door first . ”

“And we’ve moved everything just two months ago too . ”

“We can’t help it, I guess . Please enjoy your meal . ”

“You too . ”

Outside the school… Maru didn’t have a very good place in mind . Just as he walked with a deep frown on his face, his back suddenly turned hot with a loud slapping noise . Yoonjung was smiling awkwardly behind him when he turned around .

“D-did it hurt a lot?”

She seemed to misunderstand the reason behind his expression .

“It’s fine . I was just frowning because of something that happened . Did you have business here?”

“ . . . I heard the news about the clubroom . ”

“Right . ”

“Did you find a place yet?”

“Mr . Taesik couldn’t find a good place, so I’m a bit stuck . We’ll have to move out . ”

“Out? Out where?”

“That’s the issue . ”

Maru scratched his eyebrows . There were only residences next to the school, was there a building that could house their stuff nearby?

“What about a tent?” Yoonjung asked with her index finger pointing to the air .

A tent, huh .

“We could get a shipping container . ”

“A c-container?”

“Used ones go for about two million won, so it should be a short term good solution . Oh, it might actually be a bit cheaper around now . ”

Just as he was thinking a little more about the solution, he heard Yoonjung let out an exclamation of surprise .

“You really know everything, Maru . ” “Yes, well . ”

“You should’ve been the president after all . ”

“Mm, that’s how things turned out . ”

“Really? What about Geunseok?”

“Something happened to him . He left . ”

“Really?”

Yoonjung widened her eyes, then left saying that she’d be talking to the boy .

“She’s the same as ever . ”

“She’d be popular with the boys too if she wasn’t so energetic all the time . ”

Maru could only nod at Dojin’s statement .

“A container, though? Can you even buy that?” Daemyung asked .

“There’s quite a lot of supply . If we ask the right people, we could even get it delivered for free . It could be even cheaper if all we’re looking for is a waterproof one . ”

“B-buying one? You said it was over two million . ”

“Well, if we can get permission from the school, there’s no reason not to . ”

“What about the money?”

Maru smiled at Daemyung .

“Alright, we found one solution, so let’s eat . ”

“No, but what about the money?”

“Let’s go . Noodles for lunch . ”

“What about the money?!”

Daemyung chased after Maru with a confused expression .

* * *

“Who was that girl at lunch? She was pretty . ”

“Someone who’s into me . ”

“Seriously?”

Geunseok shrugged at his friend . Yoonjung came to ask him why he left during lunchtime . He was annoyed at her for asking so many questions, so he just told her that he found the club annoying . He led her on a bit because it was cute watching her asking him to come back, but he had no intentions of going back . Well, not that he could to begin with . His dad wouldn’t allow it .

Nothing bad happened on the day his dad found out, thankfully . But he was told to give up on acting completely . Geunseok knew that he wouldn’t be able to change his father’s mind at all .

“Hey, Hong Geunseok . ”

He met his friend right in front of the council room, it was the council’s vice president . A few days ago, he gave his friend a little suggestion . To change the rules so that more clubs would be able to use clubrooms .

“Your request went through . ”

“Really?”

“The senior really liked it . The principal was a fan too . ”

Geunseok smiled .

“That’s good . ”

“Why did you ask for a change like that out of nowhere?”

“Just because? Fairness, I guess?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Ah, I was going to hang with a few girls, want to join?”

“When?”

“Tomorrow . ”

“Fine . Food’s on me . ”

He felt better already . He’d need to wait to hear the specifics, but the acting club would probably have to move out because of this . Geunseok walked up to the fourth floor through the central stairs . He noticed that the acting club’s door was open . Looking inside, he could see the club members moving several props .

“What are you doing?” Geunseok asked, suppressing a laugh .

“Organizing . ”

“Organizing? Why?”

“They said we need to move out, so we don’t have a choice . Want to help?”

“You think I’m as free as you people?”

He almost let his laughter slip out, Geunseok turned around after wishing them luck . He felt good already watching them being put to work, it’d take a lot of effort to move all of those props .

‘Should’ve acted tame from the start, fucker . ’

Geunseok took a look at the sign of the acting club before stepping downstairs . Acting was pretty fun . He didn’t have many regrets about stepping away from it, it definitely had its own charm . Too bad his father didn’t allow it, it wasn’t like he could rebel against the man anyway . Only crazy people like his brother did that, thinking about his brother made Geunseok’s stomach twist . His brother managed to get recognized, disgusting . The person who couldn’t even chase after his shadow was now acknowledged by his father .

“I hope you fucking fail . All of you . ”

Geunseok took a step forward with a bitter frown .

* * *

“I didn’t think you’d contact me out of nowhere like this . ”

“I happened to have the time and I also happened on some troubling news . ”

Hong Janghae took a sip of the porridge a fancy waitress had brought him . This multi-leveled Chinese restaurant wasn’t that big, but it was a place that many celebrities frequented . Janghae knew very well how difficult it was to reserve a seat here .

“Geunsoo told me that you enjoy Chinese food . ”

“Yes, quite a bit . This is a place I’ve been meaning to visit for quite a bit . I didn’t think my first time here would be for such an occasion . ”

He came thanks to Junmin’s invitation today, Janghae was a fan of the food and the quiet environment here .

“Do you drink?”

“I enjoy it . ”

Junmin put in an order after hearing that, a golden bottle of alcohol arrived shortly after .

“Please, have a drink . ”

He took a glass from Junmin . The orange lighting of the restaurant attached an ethereal quality to the alcohol, Janghae poured Junmin a glass, too .

“This drink is good as an appetizer . Let’s talk after our meal . ”

“Sounds good . ”

Janghae didn’t refuse, he was hungry . He slowly savoured each dish from the courses . The tantan noodles in the jade dish were the most inspiring . Once the meal ended, Junmin opened his mouth to speak .

“I heard Geunseok left the acting club . ”

Janghae nodded .

“I made him do it . Geunsoo is a very stubborn boy . I wasn’t able to stop him because of that, but Geunseok’s different . He listens to me very well . He returns to his rightful path with just a few words . ”

“I see . ”

Janghae let go of the glass he was holding just a moment before . He had the feeling he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear .

“I dislike small talk . ”

“Me too . So I’ll cut straight to the chase . ”

Junmin put his two hands on the table .

“What do you think about letting Geunseok continue acting?”