Chapter 17.1

Chapter 17.1

“No, no!”

Miran hastily answered in a loud voice. She had decided to take his words at face value, but she almost misunderstood. In any case, the bed was out of the question.

“Um… what I mean is, let’s practice over there.”

Miran pointed to the table.

“We can sit side by side with two chairs.”

“Okay.”

André immediately changed direction and walked to the table, lifting the chair back with one hand as if pulling up a radish. After placing the two chairs side by side, he sat down first and gave Miran a slight nod.

“Let’s start.”

André commanded in a low, steady voice. Miran flinched. Her heart sank, and her limbs trembled slightly. She was more nervous than when she had auditioned. The script in her hand crinkled as she gripped it tightly.

André crossed his arms slowly, waiting patiently for her.

Swallowing dryly, she opened her mouth with a respectful posture, as if introducing herself to a director.

“My role is Chorong. The role you’ll be playing is Park Doosik.”

Miran knew she didn’t have a great talent for acting. When she saw friends who were truly good at acting, they seemed almost possessed, fully immersing themselves in their roles. Each time, she realized that talent was something one was born with.

Miran often received criticism for acting as if she were acting, but today, she didn’t need to act. Just the thought of practicing the role of Chorong with André made her knees tremble.

Miran hesitated as she approached and sat down next to André, clearing her throat to steady her voice.

“Ahem. Before we get into the actual practice, let’s start by reading through the script together from beginning to end and coordinating our movements.”

André gave a brief nod to show he understood. Miran placed the script between them and turned to the first page.

“Here. This is the scene where Park Doosik pulls Chorong close and, um, touches her. Then we can coordinate the scene where they pour drinks.”

Miran pulled the soju glass that André had been drinking from and placed it in front of him, mimicking pouring soju with an empty bottle.

“When Chorong pours the drink like this, Park Doosik holds it in his mouth…”

André suddenly leaned in close to Miran’s face. Startled, she instinctively closed her eyes tightly and held her breath. The distance was so close that she could feel his warm breath.

She counted silently in her head, but nothing happened. The only sound in the quiet room was the ticking of the clock. Miran fluttered her long eyelashes and opened her eyes.

Eyes darker than winter pine trees, a deep green, observed her with a somber gaze. The edges of the pupils, surrounded in a radial pattern, glimmered with a golden hue.

“And then spits that drink into your mouth.”

Startled by André’s blunt words, Miran jerked her head back and wrinkled her nose.

“Rather than spitting, it’s more like passing the drink from mouth to mouth.”

“Ah. Not spitting, but passing. Okay, next.”

Miran pointed to the next scene in the script with her hand.

“When Chorong starts coughing from choking, Park Doosik delivers his line.”

Then André read the line aloud.

“Hey, what’s your name, baby?”

“When she answers, ‘Chorong,’ Park Doosik, barely listening, tears Mimi’s clothes, and then Park Doosik’s next line.”

Miran pointed to the line with her finger.

“Chorong. Fu… f*ck.”

André reluctantly spat out the curse, his face contorted in disgust. This curse, one of the first words learned by U.S. soldiers stationed in Korea, was highly contagious due to its strong impact. He raised an eyebrow as he read the rest of the lines.

“You make me… h0rny. You, too, strip. H0rny?”

Lifting his gaze from the script, he looked at Miran as if waiting for an answer. Her cheeks, which had shown signs of calming down, flushed red again.

“Well, you see… Park Doosik is a gangster, so his language is quite vulgar. The word ‘H0rny*’ is slang, meaning… he wants to do it.”

*In Korean it’s 꼴리게.

Miran mumbled the last sentence. André didn’t let it slide and sharply pointed it out.

“I didn’t catch the last part. What does he want to do?”

She avoided his eyes and fixed her gaze on the script.

“Seeing Chorong excites Park Doosik, and it means he wants to have se… s*x.”