Chapter 48
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Five Teachers, One Student
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I hate it! I dont like PE!
It had been a little over a month since we started rehearsals for Five Teachers, One Student.
I was syncing up smoothly with the five actors playing the teachers, no issues at all.
A lone transfer student who suddenly appears at a rural elementary school.
That was the role Id taken on this time.
The teachers, each with their own personal baggage, fumble around trying to handle the new kid.
As the play goes on, they run into one mishap after another with the transfer student Cheonho, and bit by bit, their individual issues start to unravel.
Hey, Teacher Kang. What did you do to our Cheonho?
...I really didnt do anything.
No, if you didnt do a thing, then whys Cheonho fine with all the other classes but throwing this tantrum about PE!
Choi Isub, whod played Youngsus father in People in the Attic House, was now the principal.
His skillful acting, aged up beyond his years, got a tasty comeback from the comparatively younger actor.
Im really innocent here, Principal!
A first-grader who should be loving to run around, refusing PE of all things!
With Choi Isub clutching his forehead, the other three teachers came rushing over.
This isnt a small matter.
Ive never seen anything like this in all my years teaching.
Next periods Korean, so maybe I can sneak in a question during class?
Good idea, Teacher Lee. Lets entrust this grave affair to you.
The scene wrapped with Choi Isubs line, delivered in a grim expression.
Cut! Good! Lets break here and ease into Act Two after a rest.
Yes, sir
At Kang Yonghwis upbeat call, the actors caught their breath and scattered to corners of the rehearsal room.
I toddled over to where my stuff was and gulped down some cool water.
Mom had packed it just cool enough so it wouldnt go lukewarm.
Ahh.
This time, since the student role was at the heart of the play, my lines were pretty hefty.
The title featured all five teachers and one student as leads.
But like the last show, this one was simple toojust those six plus one minor role.
Still, my part was way bigger than in People in the Attic House, so I was practicing with total satisfaction.
Kang Yonghwis playwright skills were top-notch, as expected.
His directing chops went without saying.
Director Kang, about this part...
Yeah, where?
Even during breaks like now, Kang Yonghwi never stopped.
Not just us from the troupe, but the actors brought in from other groups kept hounding him with their scripts from start to finish.
I hopped up onto my dedicated metal chair and swung my legs.
A bit more rest, then Id go listen in on what they were talking about.
Great as reading the script was, nothing beat mixing in with Kang Yonghwi and the actors to chat performance.
Maybe it was all that bright lighting nonstop, but my eyes felt dazzled.
They say closing them for a bit helps in cases like this.
I softly shut my eyes and quietly listened to the murmurs filling the rehearsal room.
Then someone approached and called me.
Siu.
Mm?
Wondering what it was, I opened my eyes and looked up to see Kang Yonghwi, who Id thought was over there talking.
Whats up? Some proposal?
Yes, Director.
Youre talking so well these days, but you still call me Director like that.
Hehe. Its nice, isnt it?
Well, anyway. You went to that book-reading thing today?
Yeah. It was pretty good.
Oh yeah? What book did you read?
Hunchback Old Man!
Ooh, folktale, huh. How bout it, our Emergency Iron 777 mascot? You breeze through tough scriptsdont tell me a simple fairy tale was too babyish now?
Mm, no. It was fun.
I shook my head side to side as I said it.
Oral folktales from this culture were still pretty foreign to me.
Sure, it had that classic moral structure like kids stories everywhere, but the material used to tell it was intriguing enough.
Id always preferred dramas and movies over fairy tales as a kid, so compared to other kids my age, I knew way less about them.
Moms bookshelf didnt have much for little kids like fairy tales either.
Even the few she borrowed, Id preferred the Shakespeare originals I dug out of Uncles stuff.
But going to the reading class this time and hearing what other kids thought of the tales? Pretty fun.
If theyd just handed me a folktale to read alone, I probably wouldnt have been half as hooked.
All reading the same thing, but the answers were so wildly different. Listening to them was a blast.
Yeah? Well, your face looks way more satisfied than after kindergarten.
Mm! Much better.
Good to hear.
Whew, being around adults all the time, I kept forgetting I was still just a kid.
I had to live another ten-plus years in this childs body till adulthood...
And Id keep landing kid roles in the meantime.
So above all, I needed to get kids thinking.
Youre not talking like you do at the troupe, right? If youre this sharp and snappy here, the other kidsll be intimidated.
Mm. Its fine.
I tone it down a bit there.
The new actors at Emergency Iron 777 were floored the first rehearsal with me.
Siu, youre really six? For real? My nephew just started elementary and hes not like this...!
Director! Sius too smart!
The troupe folks just grinned at the baffled newcomers, telling them to get used to it.
Seeing that, I puzzled over how adult to act without freaking out total strangers.
In that sense, the reading class turned out surprisingly helpful all around.
Unlike kindergarten, kids took turns sharing thoughts, so it was solid practice.
Seemed like more valuable time than Id figured.
Mom was liking it more than Id expected too, which put her at ease.
Kindergarten everyone else sends their kids to.
Even if I threw a fit, she couldve just sent me anyway, but shed considered everything.
Her feeling better after I started the reading class was the biggest relief.
Way better than kindergarten. Got to hear how kids think these days too...
Youre a kid these days too, yknow? Sheesh.
Kang Yonghwi shook his head at me muttering like Id lived a full life.
But then I think of your article, and it makes sense.
Hm? You saw it too, Director?
Yeah. With every actor yapping about it, how could I not?
Hehe.
The interview with Lee Ga-eun had dropped just yesterday.
Neat and tidy article, as always.
Mom and Uncle were thrilled, printed it out, and added it to the scrapbook.
Howd you even come up with that stuff? Interpretations are flooding in.
Mm? Interpretations?
Nothing in that interview needed interpreting.
Just straight talk.
Dont get me started. A kid already wary of the complacency and sloth money brings?
Heh.
Oh boy.
Never figured itd get such a philosophical spin.
Some say youve got an innate artists temperament shunning cash, or that youre showing resolve to pick roles over moneyfolks even guessing your familys loaded. You guys rich, Siu?
Hmm, dunno.
Probably not.
Chicken shop boomed after the World Cup, so things got a bit better?
Wild.
Cute and precocious comments popping up together. Precocious and cute, huh?
Hm, better than folks ripping into me for not being kid enough.
Kang Yonghwi shut his mouth and stared at me, wide-eyed.
Ah... Adults always reacted like this when hate comments came up. Guess Kang Yonghwi was no different.
Gotta switch gears quick.
No biggie. Lets focus on our show?
I shrugged and grinned.
Meant it.
No stopping baseless haters, past or present.
Better spend that energy on one more scene run-through.
Gulp.
In the quiet meeting room of Emergency Iron 777 theater.
Five people sat around the wide table.
Han Yuju and Cha Ilnam swallowed dryly, watching Han Sius expression intently.
Just yesterday, Han Yuju had finally finished the script for A Cactus Flower Bloomed.
Shed sent it straight to Cha Ilnam.
Hed rushed it to Kim Sangcheol.
Kim Sangcheol got the email, printed it, and handed it to Han Siu.
Thrilled by the news, Siu had started reading right after last nights show.
And now, he was quietly finishing the final episode script.
Back-to-back shows yesterday and today meant he hadnt gotten through it all yet.
Beside him sat his guardian Uncle Ji Dongwook and Kim Sangcheol.
Across were Han Yuju and Cha Ilnam.
It was Sunday, April 1st.
Monday, the next day, was offno show for Five Teachers, One Student, where Siu was performing.
Figuring no show tomorrow either, Han Yuju and Cha Ilnam had come right after tonights curtain, eager for Sius verdict.
A bit early for the appointed time, but they couldnt just waithence showing up at Emergency Iron 777 ahead.
Tension etched their faces.
But confidence brimmed too.
Cha Ilnam had devoured the script the second Han Yuju emailed it yesterday.
The early parts he knew were good, but it only got better toward the end.
Rushing through his juniors script from morning, his tear ducts had burst.
Weeping in his pajamas on the bed, enough for his wife to ask what was wrong.
Howd she craft this in so little time?
No oned believe it easy.
Howd this prickly junior spin such a moving tale?
In that short span too.
Truly baffling. No oned buy it.
MaybedefinitelyHan Yuju had even greater talent than Cha Ilnam knew.
But anxiety crept in too.
This stellar script needed top-notch acting to shine.
Especially from the two child actors.
Cha Ilnam had prayed fervently since last night.
No one but Han Siu could nail the little brother role, in his eyes.
The emotional arc gets tangled deeper later on.
As Cha Ilnam and the network folks worried, the scripts latter half shone with profound psychological depth.
Fine for a novel or comic.
No humans acting it.
But drama had limits.
Humans had to embody it.
Could this young boy before them grasp the characters psyche? Legit worry.
Hed shone in past works, sure, but a one-act play wrapping in an hour differed from unfolding a long saga in 16 episodes.
Demanded stubborn character builds and interpretations.
Rustle.
The script in Han Sius hands thinned out.
Proof he neared the end.
As few pages remained, Han Yuju squeezed her eyes shut like she couldnt watch.
Thud.
In the silence as all watched Siu, he slowly set down the script and lifted his head.
Kim Sangcheol and Cha Ilnam saw his face and stiffened.
Han Yuju, peeking through slitted eyes at his reaction, broke into a smile.
Plip.
A single tear dropped onto the script in Han Sius hand.
The most honest response from someone whod read A Cactus Flower Bloomed to the end.