DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.52

either jeongin was a masochist or there was some extremely powerful spell working for the other team's part, because jeongin couldn't stop watching their performance, even if it meant wasting precious time for a last-minute rerun through his lines.

there was no word to describe how jeongin felt when neo culture high stepped on stage. they had those unbelievably realistic high-tech machine costumes that made jeongin wince from only imagining how awful it'd be to carry one of those things. all of them wore very heavy makeup, full of colorful lines contouring their features as if their faces were a canvas to be painted on. jeongin had never seen anything like it.

from his side, also hidden behind a heavy curtain, jeonghan sneered in disgust.

"those freaks," he began, "i've been trying to beat them for years."

jeongin was startled by jeonghan's words. never in his life would he have thought that jeonghan could be defeated by anyone. the boy was an indie movie star! he was everything jeongin wished to be in the future, and here he was lamenting his downfalls!

jeongin nervously bit his lip as he went back to focus on the ones on the stage. he felt like he was in a video game on the way to have a final boss fight.

"you've competed against them before?" it was an unnecessary question, since jeonghan had already stated that fact, but jeongin just wanted someone to talk to so he wouldn't fall apart.

"yeah," jeonghan answered it anyway. "have been for years now. those bastards think they're too good for me."

jeongin frowned, "what do you mean?"

jeonghan sighed.

"me and seungkwan applied to study at neo high years ago. it's too expensive so we tried to get a scholarship through their drama club." jeonghan tightened his grip on the fabric of the curtain. "seungkwan and i... we auditioned together. we reenacted some parts of the odyssey, you see? and, like, of course i had to be achilles. i mean, look at me!"

jeongin just dumbly nodded as if he knew what he was talking about.

"my relationship with him was already not the best at that time, and seungkwan got mad, said that i was a self-absorbed asshole and just yelled at me for, like, one hour. so i let him be achilles. i was..." jeonghan paused, as if it was too hard for him to say it: "...patroclus."

"as you guessed, we didn't get in. i blamed seungkwan, seungkwan blamed me, we fought, he transferred and we didn't talk anymore." jeonghan concluded.

jeongin swallowed, his mouth feeling a bit dry. jeonghan's story left him a bit uneasy, remembering the small fight with hyunjin the other day. even if it wasn't related to theater drama, jeongin couldn't help but stress over the fact that they were on bad terms. what if they never talked anymore, just like jeonghan and seungkwan? if someone had asked him that months ago, he'd roll his eyes and say he didn't care, but now... he did care.

he didn't want to lose a friend, no matter how blurry their relationship was (felix was his friend, but they never kissed, so what did it make hyunjin, then?).

the play began, and jeongin was instantly enthralled by it, eyes fixated on the stage, even if he could only see everyone sideways. from the silence, jeonghan seemed to be doing the same.

it was a clever hamlet adaptation set in outer space, very well-done, with believable sound effects and high-quality props. some robots even got up to sing!

jeonghan scoffed. "predictable. they always do this shit, trying to be all avant-garde or whatever the fuck." he rolled his eyes, "i mean, you're ahead of your time, we get it, geez."

jeongin only half-heartedly heard it as his eyes focused on the boy dressed in futuristic armor walked to the middle of the stage. he was clearly the main character. once he started reciting his lines, jeongin wanted to recoil into himself in self-loathing. they could never beat this school.

after hamlet's dad died, he appeared to his son as an android, but jeongin didn't really get whether his consciousness had been transferred or it was built to think like the king, but whatever.

then the boy kept being surrounded by robots and side characters every ten seconds, appearing ever so slightly different after being engulfed by the actors. jeongin was afraid they were going to break into a dance, but then he also noticed that his voice also changed drastically in pitch and tone after every transformation.

then jeongin got it. eyes widening as realization washed over him. the boy was playing all the characters!

he only noticed when, after a pause of half a minute, the boy resurfaced by the sea of people and appeared with a dress! and a wig!

"shit!" jeonghan exclaimed, "fuck! he's ophelia!"

jeongin was petrified in place, wondering if it would be too bad if he just vanished from this earth.

nonetheless, they kept watching, it was too addictive.

bad idea, because they were exposed to the fact that the boy was also playing horatio, who voiced out loud to the audience his blatant attraction to hamlet.

jeonghan lowered his head as if he was about to cry.

"they have the gay points. the precious gay points," he choked out. then looked straight at jeongin, it all felt like he'd pass out at any moment.

"it's over, jeongin," jeonghan said. "go home."

from the stage, the boy proclaimed, "the lady doth protest too much, methinks!" as he dressed like the queen gertrude.