Life, Once Again!

yone 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.