“You want me to be the club president?”
Aram looked at Daemyung with a startled expression.
After stretching, Daemyung called for the 2nd year students. She followed him to the cafeteria while slightly confused since they had never been called out separately like this before, but it was happening now. Aram looked at Jiyoon and Bangjoo, who were standing next to her.
“Seonbae, what do you mean by that so suddenly?” Jiyoon spoke first.
Following that, Bangjoo also asked for an explanation. It seemed that it was the first time they heard about this as well.
“You were talking to Maru-seonbae just a while ago. Was it about this?” Aram asked.
“I have actually been thinking about it for a few weeks now, but after talking to Maru, I felt that it’d be better for both you three and the first year students if I decided quickly.”
“Why are you doing this so suddenly? Did someone say something to you? Are the first year students looking down on you? Who is it? I will trample on them.”
“A-Aram, calm down. It’s not like that.”
Aram panted and looked at Daemyung. If it wasn’t like that, then why was he suddenly quitting? Daemyung had led the club very well until now. Thanks to his gentle guidance, the first year students managed to adapt to the club quickly. On days where Miso treated them harshly, Daemyung encouraged everyone after practice and eased the atmosphere so that they didn’t hold any grudges.
Whenever she watched him, Aram felt that Daemyung was a really good senior. When she first met him during her first year, she didn’t like him. She was thinking that he was just an oversized guy who had a shy personality, but after finding out about his actual personality, she felt like he was a reliable senior. That was why she congratulated Jiyoon and Daemyung when they started going out. He would never hurt Jiyoon after all.
Yet right now, such a reliable senior was saying that he wanted to step down from his position, so she was very confused. Why was he stepping down when he had no trouble guiding her and her crazy antics even when he was in his 2nd year? No matter how she thought about it, the only thing that changed was the addition of the 1st year students, so she wondered if some of the juniors were looking down on him.
She quietly looked at Daemyung. Bangjoo and Jiyoon seemed worried as well.
“It’s not a problem with the first year students. It’s my own problem.”
“Your own problem?”
“Hm, honestly speaking, I’m a bit tired recently. As you know, Dowook and Maru haven’t been able to come to the club recently, right? It’s probably going to stay that way in the future. I tried to do my best by myself, but it seems like I was just too greedy.”
Daemyung smiled awkwardly.
“Thanks to your help, I managed to get through the two busiest months, March and April, but once May starts and the national competition comes around, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it.”
“Seonbae, you are preparing for college entrance exams, right?” Jiyoon asked.
After hearing that, Daemyung indeed looked considerably exhausted. When Aram thought about it, the other 3rd year students in the club were all busy with their own work and rarely showed up to club activities, yet Daemyung consistently came to the club and looked after the others.
‘It was always him who stayed behind until the end to clean up and turn the lights off too.’
Now that she looked back, all the trivial things were done by Daemyung. It was him who had everyone practice after talking with Miso, and it was him who came up with ideas for props. Maru helped out from time to time, but since he rarely showed up to practice in the first place, he didn’t contribute that much. Moreover, the first year students went to Daemyung with their questions since he treated them nicely and rarely went to Maru, whom they still felt distant to.
‘Leaving aside Dowook-seonbae and his violent tendencies, Daemyung-seonbae really did do everything.’
Now that she looked back in retrospect at the things that she took for granted, she could see just how much effort Daemyung had put in to lead the club. Bangjoo and Jiyoon seemed to have realized something as well as they were both making bitter expressions.
“I don’t plan to just push my burdens on to you. I’m still going to do what I have to do in the future, but I want you to succeed the role of the club president, Aram. We need a person who can handle the others even without me, and I think you, Aram, is the best fit for it. Maru has the same opinion as me in this regard. Dowook said he doesn’t care who does it, but mentioned your name in a text. The 3rd year students are all thinking that you are the right person for the job.”
“You aren’t going to just not show up like the other seonbaes, right?” Aram said jokingly.
“If I did, I’m sure you guys would come and grab me.”
Daemyung smiled faintly.
“Of course, I’m not forcing this on you. It’s a request in the end.”
“I’m good with things like that. Pestering everyone. The elementary school kids always freeze up when they see me at the dojo.”
“Maru said that that’s what’s good about you.”
“Then what is it that you see in me?”
“Your sense of responsibility.”
“I don’t have any of that, you know?”
“I think you do. You can do this. I feel like the others are relying on you a lot as well. I’m not saying that Bangjoo and Jiyoon are bad. If we had small numbers like before, I would instead have picked Bangjoo or Jiyoon. Bangjoo maintains a close relationship with the juniors, and Jiyoon is someone who looks after others a lot from behind, so they’re well-suited to lead the club when there are not many people. However, there are more than 30 people now. If we assume that a similar number of people apply next year and that some of the current recruits quit next year, we will still have over thirty people. With more people, there’s bound to be more conflict, and I felt like the new president needs to be able to maintain order at times like that.”
“If it’s like that, it’s not like I can’t accept….”
“Is it too hard after all?”
“Being hard doesn’t really matter. If it’s something I like, I’d do it even if it’s hard. But, you know, it’s just a bit of a pity. You were doing great until now.”
“It’s thanks to everyone being good kids and following my words.”
“I tried handling some children in place of the master at the dojo, but they don’t just follow someone because they’re gentle. It’s because you were doing well that they would rely on you and follow you.”
Aram turned his head sideways.
“What about you two? Are you two fine with me doing it?”
Bangjoo and Jiyoon both nodded their heads.
“If you stop showing up to the club like the others just because you stepped down from being president, I’m going to find you and drag you here.”
“O-okay.”
“Fine. I’ll do it. Also since I’m doing it, you should understand that I’m going to do things my way.”
“Of course. But what are you going to do?”
“You probably don’t know, but groups have formed among the 1st years recently. Well, you can’t really stop groups from forming since there’s a lot of them, but there are some that slightly look down on others. I have my sight set on a few that got roles this time. I haven’t said anything until now, but I am going to interfere starting now.”
Hearing that, Daemyung just quietly nodded. He seemed to know something.
“Seonbae, don’t you have something to say?”
“For now, I’ll just listen to what you have to say first.”
“Hm, okay. Firstly, I can say with confidence that you are perceived very highly even among the 1st year students. You get along with them without getting angry, right? That’s why everyone likes you. The problem is Maru-seonbae.”
Aram thought about Maru’s face before continuing to speak.
“You know, some people have the tendency to either talk bad or suck up to people who seem to be doing better than them, right? It was fine when Maru-seonbae showed up to practice frequently, but recently, there are people that are starting to look down on Maru-seonbae. They only judge what’s shown on the surface since they don’t get to spend a lot of time with him. You know the things unique to girls right? Where they express their disdain for others without actually doing it directly. If I was in the same class as them, I would have grabbed them by the hair and just…!”
“Aram, calm down,” Jiyoon said as she grabbed her sleeves.
Aram sighed.
“I tried to talk to them nicely about it, but they said they didn’t do it. Even though it was as clear as day. Those devious bitches….”
“Aram, watch your mouth!”
Jiyoon looked at her with a sour expression. Aram smiled awkwardly. She promised one thing with Jiyoon and it was that she wouldn’t use bad words in front of her. Jiyoon said something about how girls shouldn’t use such words or something.
Aram started talking again.
“They acted ignorant and I didn’t have concrete evidence, so I just told Maru-seonbae about it, but Maru-seonbae just told me to let them be. When I asked why he just said that I shouldn’t be the one to be in that position. That’s why I let them be. Recently, though, I think they became more obedient since Maru-seonbae hasn’t been showing up at all.”
Aram sometimes couldn’t understand Maru’s actions. He could just give them a sharp scolding, but he didn’t do so and didn’t let her do it either.
“That problem does exist,” Daemyung said.
Aram twitched her eyebrows.
“You knew that?”
“I was with you every day, how could I not?”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I felt like it would be better not to do anything for the time being. In one way, that’s one of the reasons I’m giving the title of the president to you.”
Daemyung made a soft smile.
“I think it was at the end of March? When I started seeing signs of that. Especially after Maru started taking time off because of the film production club, bad opinions of him started popping up. Unlike the drama, the film production club is just another club that’s like us, right? They probably got the notion that he’s placing more importance on the film production club than the acting club. Of course, I know that most of them don’t think like that. A lot more people treated Maru like a senior even though he didn’t show up that much. That’s when I talked to Maru about that, and asked what he thought.”
“What did he say?”
“He said that the method is important.”
“What does that mean?”
“The fundamental problem is that Maru was negligent about the acting club. This is the undeniable truth. The first year students are different from you three. You know what kind of person Maru is since you got to spend a year with him. The first year students, on the other hand, only saw Maru for a month, no, even less if you actually calculate the time. What do you think when Maru misses practice?”
Aram replied without hesitation.
“Nothing. Maru-seonbae isn’t taking the day off to rest.”
“I think so too.”
“I always think that he has his reasons.”
Aram looked at Jiyoon and Bangjoo. Both of them were thinking the same thing as her.
“Exactly. You know Maru’s circumstances, so you understand him. That’s not the case with the first year students. They know nothing about him. At most, it’s that he shows up on TV. That’s why Maru, during the beginning of the semester, mentioned that he doesn’t plan to get the senior treatment in the club. You know how clear Maru is when it comes to drawing the line.”
“He’s not just clear, he’s kinda merciless about it.”
“Maru is thinking that it’s natural for him to be hearing things like that since he is unable to do the things he has to do as a senior. However, he simultaneously knows that it would negatively impact the whole club if it continues.”
“That’s why he should have scolded them at that time. Even if he doesn’t want to get the senior treatment, there’s a minimum amount of courtesy towards other people in the club, isn’t there? Take this as something coming from a former athlete, but I hate hierarchy becoming messy. I’m not going as far as to say that we should maintain order, but I think we should keep everyone in line.”
“Yes, what we have to set straight, we have to set straight. It’s just like how school rules exist for a reason – the club has its own rules. Since the acting club isn’t something we made but received from our seniors, we should take care that it doesn’t become a mess. That’s why I’m going to give you the role of the president. This was what I was talking about with Maru in the hall earlier. Maru was talking about the method, and I was talking about the order.”
“So me becoming the president comes first in this order?”
Daemyung nodded.
“Maru compared it to this: If a fresh employee insulted the president and the manager scolded him about that, that company would definitely not see a good end. Of course, I think that’s taking it a little too far. Maru’s serious when it comes to things like that, but he wasn’t entirely wrong, so I thought about it. We will graduate and leave the school after this year anyway. The ones remaining behind will be you guys and the first year students. In such a situation, is it a good thing for a crack to appear between the first and second years? Maru and I don’t think that’s the case.”
Aram’s lips twitched.
“But once I become the president, I’m not going to let the backtalkers be, you know?”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s after you become the president.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the club president who makes the mood of a club. When you interfere with the first year students while I’m still the president, they might start thinking ‘who are you to say something when even the president isn’t saying anything’ or something like that. Though, it’s a different story if you’re the president.”
“Some of them will start hating me, are you okay with that?”
“That’s why you’re the president. The ones scolded by you will probably go to Jiyoon and complain to her about it. I guess you’re the dad and she’s the mom in that sense.”
Bangjoo, who had been staying still until now, asked what he was.
“The unemployed uncle who freeloads in their house. I feel like playing with the kids suits you the best.”
“No way, unemployed is a little….”
Bangjoo chuckled.
“Does Dowook-seonbae know about this as well?”
“Dowook is barely conscious at school because of his family matters. He’s not going to college as he is going to succeed the family business. Even when I try to talk to him about the club, he just says ‘I don’t care!’ in a loud voice.”
“That’s just like him.”
Aram sighed.
“Sheesh, Maru-seonbae makes things way too complicated. We should’ve just scolded them at once. Sometimes, I feel like he’s some stuck-up geezer.”
“Well, his style is to do everything meticulously.”
“There’s you too. You never said a word to us.”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to make you guys worry.”
“That’s the problem. You are tired because you are trying to do everything by yourself. Fine! I’ll take that president role. Unlike you though, I’m going to be strict from the beginning. You can’t say anything about that, okay?”
“I will absolutely not say anything about it.”
Aram nodded.
“Then that’s that, right? Let’s go up. We’ve been talking for more than 10 minutes. They must be waiting,” she said as she looked at the time.
