It feels absurd when he thinks about it again. Both the person who called him out without telling him anything, and himself for obediently following along without asking or questioning anything.
What Yujeong’s hand pointed to was a poster for some theater attached to an electric pole. Then it must mean going to see a play…, but watching a play alone together in Daehangno from lunch on a weekend—isn’t that close to a textbook date course?
“Do you like plays?”
Hearing that question, Seongjo, who had been contemplating, immediately turned his head to stare intently at Yujeong’s face. He couldn’t guess what was on his mind. Though it was said jokingly, Seongjo had definitely told him “it’s not like I don’t have the intention to scheme a bit.” Whether he was able to call him out like this because he took those words as 100% a joke, or whether he listened somewhat seriously…… he wanted to ask a little.
But what he couldn’t know for certain was Seongjo’s own feelings as well. At least the only clear thing for now was the fact that he was interested in this man. So without saying anything else, he readily nodded his head.
“Not bad.”
In reality, Seongjo wasn’t particularly interested in plays, and if he had to pick, he was more on the side of preferring opera. But from the moment he agreed to his suggestion to meet on the weekend, he was prepared to adjust his sphere of activity to match Yujeong’s.
“I haven’t watched them often, so whatever you show me will probably be a first encounter. That works out well, right?”
Seongjo added playfully again this time. Yujeong seemed to have sharp intuition for sure. Just from those words, he seemed to have noticed that Seongjo didn’t particularly enjoy plays, as he replied.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be easy to watch even for a beginner.”
* * *
The true meaning of those words, which he’d thought were simple consideration, could be understood not long after.
On the way to the theater. Yujeong and Seongjo walked maintaining a distance that was neither very close nor too far. At least it was close enough to recognize them as companions.
The entrance of the theater building they arrived at like that was quite crowded. However, since the crowd filling the entrance wasn’t adults but children who looked to be at most elementary school lower grades, it wasn’t too stuffy.
Did a school come out for a group viewing? Looking at the door where children were flooding in, the title of a children’s musical was written: <Detective Toltori – The Magic Pot and the Goblin Prince>.
Detective Toltori and the children didn’t leave a very deep impression on Seongjo. It was just to the extent of thinking, I see. Seongjo turned his head toward Yujeong without much thought. To ask what play they would be watching. But in Yujeong’s hand, a poster was already being held.
“Look.”
Seongjo inadvertently received the poster he held out. Fairy tale-like colors and round fonts. A cute green-faced goblin was holding a club while wearing detective clothes. It was the poster for <Detective Toltori – The Magic Pot and the Goblin Prince>. No way…… Seongjo threw out a question with an uneasy premonition.
“Why this?”
“You should know what it is before going in. Let’s go.”
A laugh inadvertently slipped from Seongjo’s mouth. It’s not that he felt bad. No, but…… it was absurd. He didn’t think it would be, but was the play he said to watch really this?
“So…… you’re saying let’s watch this Toltori together?”
He even asked once for confirmation in a calm voice. Yujeong nodded with an indifferent face. Seongjo glanced back at the line of elementary school students filing in, then moved his gaze back to Yujeong. Even though he must know what that look meant, Yujeong kept his mouth shut instead of adding words or making excuses.
At least one thing was clear—it was far from a date. The remaining question was whether Yujeong brought him to a place like this because he wanted to tease Seongjo, or whether he really had a hobby of watching children’s plays like that.
If by any chance it was the latter…… certainly he might not have had the nerve to visit the theater alone. Seongjo chose his words as carefully as possible.
“……It certainly doesn’t look difficult.”
“That’s right. Children’s plays should be able to be watched and understood even by young students.”
Yujeong, completely unaware of Seongjo’s worries, answered in an utterly calm voice.
“Do you originally like cute things like this?”
When he asked carefully and seriously once more, only then did Yujeong take his eyes off the poster and look straight at Seongjo. The corners of Yujeong’s mouth were slightly raised.
“It’s preliminary research. I have a group viewing to attend with students coming up soon.”
He couldn’t tell at all what part was amusing, but Yujeong was definitely smiling. He added.
“I don’t particularly dislike or like things like this.”
Whether he was playing a sort of cute prank, or whether he held a mischievous intention to tease him. In any case, for the first time, Yujeong felt quite hateful. He could have gotten angry and complained about being called out just as an experiment for a play for kids, but he didn’t do that. Seongjo asked in a reluctant voice.
“I see, so it’s a field trip…… But with me?”
“Yes, please view it as much as possible from a teenager’s eye level.”
Should he call this funny? While Seongjo continued to be unable to hide his empty laughter, Yujeong moved into the theater with a light smile on his face. Without even checking if he was following, the way he walked with large steps seemed to believe that Seongjo wouldn’t refuse. Seongjo lightly shrugged his shoulders and followed behind him.
The seats were quite filled. Besides the children who came for group viewing, there seemed to be many family unit audiences. They were mostly families accompanied by children who appeared to be kindergarteners or elementary school lower grades.
Though Detective Toltori and Seongjo were meeting for the first time, he seemed to be quite popular among the children present. Even before the play started, excited voices chattering about Toltori could be heard. Apparently it was based on a popular TV series that aired on a children’s channel.
The plot of the play hardly strayed from Seongjo’s expected range. The protagonist, green goblin Toltori, was a famous detective who solved humans’ problems with his smart brain. This Toltori had a story of losing his family when he was young and coming to live with humans, and this play contained the story of Toltori one day discovering a magic pot of the goblin tribe and finding his lost goblin family while chasing its traces……
In the ending part, a scene continued where Toltori, who finally deduced where the village where the goblin tribe lived was, agonized over whether to return to the goblin village or continue living with his human friends. Whether it was to protect the children’s hearts or because they had to continue airing the TV series in the future, Toltori decided to remain by his friends’ side.
It was a story with lessons and emotion. If there was a problem, it was that those lessons and emotion were at about a 7-year-old viewing level……
As soon as the play ended, Seongjo let out a long sigh as if he’d survived. He’d never once felt that he lacked stamina in his life. After watching a children’s play and coming out, even though Seongjo himself hadn’t accompanied a child, he strangely felt drained. Was it because he was crushed by the children’s energy? Thanks to the children showing enthusiastic reactions every time Toltori did something on stage, the atmosphere was quite heated.
Only after completely exiting the theater building could he finally catch his breath. When Seongjo was stretching long to loosen his stiff body, a family passed by them. Parents holding the child’s hands on both sides asked a child who appeared to be about elementary school lower grade.
“Toltori was so smart. How was it, Sujeong?”
“It was fun. But the process of Toltori finding the goblin village with the magic pot was awkward. The deduction content is worse than other Toltori series.”
The child seemed to be an enthusiastic and rational fan of the Toltori series…… Only then did Seongjo examine Yujeong’s face.
He had such an intact and calm face that it was hard to believe he’d come out after watching the same play. Looking at that face, Seongjo thought that Yujeong was a teacher after all. Since it was a job where he was always surrounded by students, maybe he didn’t get newly tired to this extent. Yujeong, who examined Seongjo’s expression in return, asked first.
“How was it?”
How was it, it was absurd. He swallowed his words and smiled slightly. Seongjo wasn’t innocent and emotional enough to be deeply moved after watching a children’s play. However, he also wasn’t rotten enough to get angry saying it was childish and boring because of that. It was passably watchable.
“Should I write an essay and submit it?”
So instead of leaving his impressions right away, he countered with a joke. As an honest feeling, he also didn’t have confidence to tell more eloquent impressions than the child who just passed. Then Yujeong, who had been staring intently at Seongjo’s face for a moment, said.
“Yes, write about five pages by tomorrow night……”
“No, I’ll just say it now. I can’t even make a joke.”
Seongjo waved his hands and laughed. Soon a sound of contemplation flowed from Seongjo’s mouth.
“Hmm, but…… If I even tell you my impressions, shouldn’t you really do something for me?”
Amid the brief silence, Seongjo smiled mischievously on purpose. Yujeong was looking at Seongjo with a calm face.
