Jungah looked down at her hands. Her hands were clasped neatly and placed right below her belly button. She couldn't utter a word as though she was being rebuked by her professor.

"I felt really proud when I saw everyone perform the play with confidence. Ah, you must have prepared a lot and have practiced well enough to act without embarrassing yourselves in front of the audience. But what's this? Had you told me that you were not fully prepared yet, that you weren't good enough to respond to accidental events, or just that you were going to practice, I wouldn't be this flabbergasted," Maru said as he looked up at the stage.

Jungah felt bitter inside. Maru's rebuke made it clear that it was not just a problem with the actors on stage. He, who had a warm smile on his face until just twenty minutes ago, was scanning the stage and the actors on it with feelings of tragedy, as though he was more angry and flabbergasted than anyone else here.

He was just two years older than her. If a senior at her college acted like that, she would have accepted it, but she would have still retorted. She would have said that this wasn't a proper stage and that while they were doing it properly, this was still closer to a practice run.

However, looking at Maru's face, it was hard to even budge her lips.

There was no pretense in his words at all. Every single word that came out of his mouth contained his genuine feelings. He...