After Story 270

“This place looks good.”

Haneul stopped halfway up the stairs. It was a narrow and steep staircase that led up to the old town. Maru took photos of the scenery around him with the camera he had around his neck.

The broken walls, the old shack roofs, flyers that had turned yellow from time, as well as the fat cat that seemed to be the boss around her…

His wife sat down on the stairs and took out the storyboard. She also took out her pen and started writing something.

“It’ll be hard to bring proper equipment here, so let’s make the cuts short… or maybe we should just use it as a background shot without any actors. Sweetie, let’s come here again at night. I want to see the night scenery too.”

“The number of places we have to go to keep increasing.”

“I decided not to use a team of people for this, so I should be prepared for that much.”

His wife had refused all the works that were offered to her through the company and prepared for her own. This was only possible thanks to president Lee Junmin’s full support.

“Director Choi sent me some concept art as well as the modeling.”

Haneul tossed her phone over. Maru caught the phone and had a look at the screen. ‘Han Haneul’s room’ in the film was made into a picture.

He scrolled down and had a look at the structure of the room as well as the feel he got from it.

“It feels okay.”

“I should find props that are close to the things in there or have them custom-made.”

His wife opened a diary on top of the storyboard and started writing. Her method of writing was to write everything that came to her mind in the diary and then organize them later and put them into her phone.

“Have some water.”

Maru opened the water bottle and gave it to her. Although the heat had subsided a lot in the wake of September, it was still rather hot in the middle of the day.

Haneul tilted the water bottle and drank it. The water that was full was soon emptied out.

“That’s better. I was feeling a little stifled, but it turns out it was thirst.”

“You tend to forget about what your body wants when you’re focused.”

Maru crumpled the empty plastic bottle and put it in his bag.

“Let’s go to the backside as well. We should be able to see a site that’s just started redevelopment. I should see if I can use it as ‘Han Haneul’s commute.’

His wife’s face seemed to be filled with vitality after drinking that water. She took large strides as she walked across the old town.

“Here. How is it looking up from this angle?”

“Try standing.”

His wife stood in the middle of the steep road. He put his back against the wall and picked up the camera. Standing on the slanted road, his wife looked precarious, but also like she might run off somewhere at any moment.

“Try walking up.”

Maru captured his wife’s movements on camera and showed it to her when she came over.

“I think the mood will be good if we use the lights well. It shouldn’t be a bad idea to use blue as a key light.”

His wife started muttering and taking memos. Maru captured that on the camera as well.

Having realized what he was doing, his wife raised her head and blinked.

“What are you doing?”

“I was just thinking that we should make a making film.”

“But we aren’t in the making stage.”

“Let’s just call it a making for the making.”

His wife shrugged and smiled.

They went to a convenience store after they finished exploring the old town. They went back to the car after buying some snacks and lunch boxes.

“Why are we getting lunch boxes all of a sudden? There are good restaurants around,” Maru asked as he snapped the wooden chopsticks apart.

“I wanted to feel like a student again. I also wanted to eat it too. It’s been a long time since we have eaten any convenience store lunch boxes.”

She opened the lid to the lunch box with a delightful expression. It was one that had pink sausages in it.

Maru offered her a quail egg that was braised in soy sauce.

“How about we trade with your sausage?”

“That’s the highlight though.”

“That’s why I’m giving you the only quail egg in here. It’s a much higher class ingredient than ham, which is a processed food that contains flour.”

“But the taste is probably better, you know?”

“Don’t say that and give me one.”

He put the quail egg on top of his wife’s rice and grabbed a sausage. The taste he was familiar with spread around in his mouth.

“Do you want one more?” Haneul asked.

He nodded. As his wife had said, a convenience store lunch box was a rather decent meal after not having one in a long time.

After eating lunch in the car, Maru drove to Seojin University. It was the college that his wife had dropped out of.

“Many things have changed already,” she said as they went past the front gates.

“What has changed?”

“There used to be a resting spot here. It was the norm to get really drunk and sit down on the grassy resting area and daze out, but it’s been covered with concrete now.”

“Do you find it a pity?”

“A little, I guess? The memories of this life are the most intense after all.”

“Looks like you used to drink a lot.”

“Not really. I was too wary of others.”

He parked the car in the parking lot and they went to the building that had the campus managerial office. His wife opened the door and went inside. The woman right at the front flinched and looked at her.

“Hello.”

“Ah, yes. Hello,” the woman replied hesitantly.

“We came here to ask since we wanted to have a shoot within campus grounds. I was wondering if it was possible to shoot a film and whether there is another event in that time period.”

“If you’re a student, you don’t have to submit any applications for things like shooting within campus. You can do so freely and…”

The woman tilted her head as she said so. This time, her gaze was directed at Maru. She slowly looked left and right between the two.

“Uhm, are you two who I think you are?”

“Who are we?” his wife asked back mischievously.

I must be right, I must be right – the muttered to herself as she slowly stood up from the spot.

The way she expressed herself was rather unique. His wife also seemed to have found the woman’s response interesting as she kept watching.

“Right, am I right?”

“I’m not sure what you’re right about.”

“Aren’t you Miss Han Haneul? And the one behind you is Mr. Han Maru. I saw on the internet that the two of you are dating.”

“Yes, we are. But you’re really calm. There used to be a professor who spoke really softly when I was still here, and you remind me of him. I think his name was professor Jung Daeho?”

“I work under him as an assistant.”

“Really?”

They exchanged a short conversation before coming back to talking about work.

“Usually, people do this through email, but you came here yourself.”

“It’s to have a look around the campus. Also, there is the shallow thought that perhaps you might look at us in a better light if we came here directly,” said Haneul.

The woman told them to wait a moment before calling somewhere.

“The people in the office are out for lunch. They’re coming over right now, so please wait a little longer. If you aren’t students but outsiders, I don’t have the authority to give you permission to shoot.”

“Then we’ll wait. The air conditioner is good here, so I see no reason why not.”

His wife sat down on a chair against the wall. Maru also sat down next to her.

“Would you like anything to drink?”

“We’d love something.”

The woman took out some drinks from the refrigerator. Having handed over some drinks, the woman went to her desk and brought back pen and paper.”

“Uhm, can I ask you for an autograph?”

“You know how to strike a deal. You gave us drinks, so I can’t say no,” Haneul said with a smile.

After giving her autographs, people flooded into the office. There were over twenty people at a glance.

“We came over quickly after hearing the news that we have actors in the office.”

“Miss Haneul, your face is really small.”

“Mr. Maru, you are actually more burly than I thought.”

The people flocked over and took photos of them.

“Stop bothering busy people and go do your work,” said a man who had some flocks of white hair.

The man, who revealed himself to be the head of the office, said that it was okay the moment he heard Haneul’s request.

“As long as it doesn’t hinder people’s passage a lot, you’re allowed to shoot here. If it’s being used for commercial purposes, you have to put the name of our university in the credits.”

“I was worried that it wasn’t allowed, but that’s fortunate.”

“Miss Haneul, a former student, wants to do it, so we would change the rules if we have to. Also, Mr. Maru. I really don’t like movies that much, but I watched the historical movie that you were in twice. It was really good.”

The head of the office put out his hand. Maru shook hands with him lightly.

“I’m grateful that you watched it twice.”

They took one last photo with the people in the office and left. They didn’t know when they were walking in the corridor, but when they left the building, they saw quite a lot of people gathered around. It seemed that rumors had spread already.

The students all exclaimed and started closing their distance. Fortunately, no one acted out of line.

“Hello. Do you know who I am?”

Hearing Haneul’s question, the students answered like little chicks answering the mother hen: I know, I saw the movie, you’re pretty, etc.

Two weeks ago, the movie featuring his wife as the lead character was released. Unlike the first film, the responses were so good that there were many people who recognized Han Haneul as a film actor instead of just a musical actor.

People who had a keen interest in cosmetics would also think of her as a model too.

One of the girls raised her lipstick up high.

“Unni! This one has really good color! I’m telling all my friends about it!”

“Thank you. I really tried hard to come up with that formula in the lab.”

“You made it?”

“Yes. So please use it well in the future.”

She made a heart with her hand as she said so, and the girl, as well as the girls around her, all started screeching. The way she played around with the hearts of fans was nigh artistic.

“Who here knows that I used to be a student here?”

“Me!”

One of the students shouted loudly and raised their hand. When his wife told her to come forward, she hesitantly came out unlike her bold shout.

“Are you in your freshman year?”

“No, I’m a sophomore.”

“Then can I ask you a favor? You see I’m going to do a shoot inside the college. That’s why I hope you can guide me around some of the unique places or a special place that only you know. The campus is pretty big, isn’t it? The only places I’ve been to is the central building and the East-2 building, so I’m clueless about the other places.

“I know places like that.”

The other students also raised their hands, saying that they knew some popular spots.

“Are you okay on time?”

“I have plenty of time.”

Haneul walked over and grabbed the girl by the wrist. The girl screeched in joy before walking forward, saying that she’d guide them.

“Oppa, can I take a photo of you?”

Students flocked over to Maru as well. The students who only recognized Haneul also recognized him who had a hat on and screeched again.

“Shall we get moving for now?”

His wife walked off. Students followed in their trail like it was a street interview. Even the people who were watching from afar joined them wondering what it was, and the number of students increased dramatically.

“Watch out not to cause an accident. Also, we’re here to work today, so it won’t be that fun.”

Even the students that showed interest at first mostly scattered after 30 minutes. Despite that, there were still around 30 people.

“Thanks for the food.”

During break time, they bought something to eat for the students and handed them out.

“Hey, I thought you were a fan of mine.”

“Hyung. I’m a fan of yours, but also of hers.”

They had a makeshift fan meetup while eating as well. Maru took photos of them with the camera. The students smiled and asked him to protect their portrait rights.

“So when did you two have your first kiss?”

“Isn’t that too cliché to ask?”

“Cliché is good though.”

He gave a short smooch on his wife’s cheek in front of the students watching. His wife rubbed her cheek and glared at him. The students watching all screeched.

“Okay, we had enough rest so let’s get moving again. We don’t have any time to play around.”

Maru urged the students and they went to the next location.