Chapter 3 (1/2)

ACT FOUR

Scene One    Park bench.

A wind howls and then dies. Repeatedly.

Rain is expected.

Taemin fiddles with his wrist watch.

Eonsook studies him through it.

She wears a scarf to hide the bruises from before.Taemin: Thank you. For not pressing charges.Eonsook: He said he was losing his mind.A long minute of silence.

She doesn't repeat her question.

Even if it wasn't a question but a restating

Of unbelievable facts.

He hesitantly turns to her, then turns back to look ahead.Taemin: (nods silently)Eonsook: Tell me what he meant.Taemin: (rubs at his face and sighs) What good is closure going to do you six years hence?Eonsook: Just… tell me, Taem. I need to know. I need you to tell me. Please.Taemin: I won't make it pretty for you.Eonsook: And that's why I didn't go to Junghee.A bus passes by with a loudly rattling engine.

Leaves blow over, some dirty with wet clay.

They pay no heed to any of it.

She waits. He weighs.Taemin: (hangs his head) They’re called fugue states. The times when he suddenly changes into another character. It’s a dissociative disorder. That’s what his doctor said. It's like... (gestures) like his head shuts off for a millisecond and when it reboots it's all confused. He goes to another place in those milliseconds. He returns with no memory of what he'd been doing just before. Frank Abagnale becomes Clyde Barrow becomes D'Artagnan becomes Mikhail Bulgakov. It doesn’t last as long as in usual cases, but it can get... pretty bad.Eonsook: How bad is pretty bad?Taemin: He… (holds his forehead as if in distress) sometimes he doesn’t remember his episodes. It’s like waking from a dream for him. Except it was a nightmare. For those on the outside. (chuckles despite himself) I get envious of him. Where does he go while I wait for him to get back? What does he do there while I stall the audience here? What does he see while I search his face? I... I find myself wanting to follow him. Be where he is. Do what he does. See what he sees. But when I ask him about it... the slate is always clean. Eonsook: Why is it happening to him?Taemin: (shrugs uneasily) Depression, trauma, the alcohol… It could be anything. We don’t know.Eonsook: Wait, wait, what do you mean by depression? He’s not depressed! He's not traumatized!Taemin: (blankly) You said he was your everything. What the fuck do you think you meant to him? When he found out you were with someone else, what do you think it felt like inside him?Eonsook: (warns) Don’t make this about me! And anyway, I told him it wasn’t cheating, I just wanted to—Taemin: (livid) That’s not how it was for him, Sookie! (runs a hand through his hair) Do you really believe he understood that? The fact that you were fucking someone else for entertainment?! You think he took it with a pinch of salt and brushed it off his shoulder?! No! He swallowed all that salt and walked away with its weight still inside him. He felt tortured! Imagine being told by the love of your life that they’re bored of you!Eonsook: (shakes head frantically) I didn—Taemin: (holds up a hand) Don’t talk to me about this. I will always take his side.Eonsook: (weighs her words) Why do you talk to me like you love him?Taemin: (purses his lips) Maybe I do...Eonsook: (shifts to look at him with incredulity) D-does he know?Taemin: (with finality) I'd never allow it.Thunder is tumultuous.

A light drizzle begins to sprinkle their clothes with dark spots.

They stand and begin to walk towards stage right.Eonsook: What does this mean for the play, then?Taemin: The end.Lights dim with their footsteps and then go out.

Exit all.    Scene Two    Kibum’s home.

Two sofas aligned to face one another.

An empty plate and a pair of cups wait to be cleared away.

Sounds of a fire crackling.

A woman places her recorder back in her purse.

A man crosses his arms and legs, leaning away from the table between them.The interview has ended.Minjung: Thank you so much for taking your time out for this, sir. And may I say I’m so honored to have been allowed to meet you—Kibum: Kibum. (nods) Just Kibum is fine.Minjung: (shyly) A-aniyo. You’re such a big actor. I’m—I’m just a smalltime reporter for the entertainment page.Kibum: (indulgently) Sweetheart, people only read the entertainment page these days. (long pause) By the way… you pointedly steered away from personal questions. I must thank you for such courteousness but it still remains… why’d you do that?Minjung: I…Kibum: Wanted to make it off-the-record?Minjung: No.Kibum: No?Minjung: (reluctantly) … y-yes. (trying to clarify) I—I mean! Uhm… only out of personal curiosity. But of course I couldn’t ask you anything you’d be uncomfortable with.Kibum: (teasing) My~ you’re generous!Minjung: … A-and are you?Kibum: (laughs, wagging a finger) Well played, Minjung ssi! (nods appreciatively) OK, then. Ask me what you want to know. But only on one condition! (points at her) You’ll have to go out with me. A round of wine and dinner after the premiere of As You Like It. And... (cheekily) maybe possibly ice-cream after. No, don’t ask for any leniency! I’m a very strict follower of equivalent exchange. Alchemic, almost.Minjung: Uhm…Kibum: So? Do we have a deal? You can say no, I won't be offended.Minjung: (nodding shyly)Kibum: Alright, then. (claps his hands) What rumor do you want cleared up?Minjung: You've... you've been in love before?Kibum: (long pause) It’s a difficult question.Minjung: How so?Kibum: (shrugging) Just is… I (fiddles with armrests) I suppose I was in love. Once. Unbearably deep and low in love. It was—a large burden to heft around. That’s probably why you call it baggage, I suppose. (chuckles)Minjung: (solemnly) It sounds like a sad thing. I’m sorry… some wounds must never be scratched over.Kibum: (shakes his head dismissively) What else do you want to know?Minjung: Uhm. You and Taemin ssi… what are you?Kibum: (amused) Well, now, that’s interesting.Minjung: (leans forward) All your plays are together. You're a team with him. As in, (gesturing) a team of actors. That's never been done before in Korean theatre. You never take up plays unless he’s a co-star, or at least a standby to your role. There's been a lot of talk that you’ve refused to be paid more than him even when your parts were bigger or more important. I assume you choose what play suits him as a person and then yank him on board? And—and I’m not sure he’s held the same consideration for you. So... it sounds like a one-sided love to me.Kibum: (looks at her with interest) You sure you write the entertainment section and not the relationship advice column? Ask Auntie Choi, that sort of thing?Minjung: (flustered) A-aniyo!Kibum: (sighs deeply) Since you've asked. (gets a faraway look) Taemin is… everything.Minjung: Everything?Kibum: Everything. Because you see, since a very young age I liked playing pretend… For a long time I wanted to be someone else. I used to dream of being not me. Not normal. Not ordinary. I’d wish to be some other person. Someone better. Someone more glamorous and fashionable and popular. And once we started acting in plays, it was possible for me to be those things. Even if just for a short while in the day. Minjung: Right….Kibum: (pause) I found my bonus in Taem because he’d seen the real me and the pretend me, yet preferred the former. He’s the only one who understands that after I’ve stopped changing, after I’ve stopped wanting, I’m… I’m not nothing. I’m still here. It—it wasn’t as fortifying as it was validating. And because of that… because of that he is more than a friend, more than a brother, more than a lover.Minjung: (speechless)Kibum: You seem lost (chortles heartily)Minjung: I… I just feel like you're so much wiser than you're meant to be. Why is that?Kibum: (sighs loudly, slumps tiredly) Who knows, Minjung ssi? Who the fuck knows?A clock ticks somewhere in the room.

He looks like he's expecting more.

She looks like any more might be cruel.

He reaches forward and picks up a crumb from his plate.

She reaches for her bag, making to leave.But stops.Minjung: (hesitates, then blurts) And your affair with Lee Eonsook?Kibum: What of it?Minjung: Well... (pauses a long while) barring the media fiasco that followed your breakup, what happened?Kibum: Nothing.Minjung: Nothing?Kibum: Hmm~ (smiles) you want to know if I still have feelings for her. So, I ask you Minjung ssi--do you have feelings for me?Minjung: S-sir... that would be highly unprofessional.Kibum: (annoyed) Nothing is unprofessional about feeling a certain way. It's a human thing to feel. If your idea of professionalism is being a robot then you wouldn't be half the reporter you are today. If you like me, say it out loud. Like a real woman. Don't cower behind your recorder.Minjung: (sits up straighter) Then... are you still in love with Lee Eonsook ssi?Kibum: On some days, yes. But not today.Minjung: That's a very strange answer.Kibum: Well, I'm a very strange man!Minjung: Yes, but--how could you love and not love someone that simultaneously? It's not a switch. I mean, (shakes her head, gesturing) For a whole week the newspapers printed nothing but details of your wedding. The cake, the flowers, the dress, the guest list. There was all the hype about a church ceremony following one in a temple. You gave rise to the biggest fanclub any celebrity couple Korean entertainment has ever seen. The two of you were... like the prince and princess of a romance novel.Kibum: I prefer the term horror story.Minjung: (pitiably) What happened that shattered the glass for you?Kibum: Reality. I found out that we weren't, in fact, made for each other. She was here, and I was me. We were never us. No matter how much we tried to pretend. (picks at armrest) So I went my way, and she followed to steal jobs from real thespians (chuckles)Minjung: Does your past make it difficult to work with her?Kibum: And my disease.Minjung: Ah... (looks ashamed) I'm sorry. I heard what happened after your last rehearsal. Your co-actors at the presscon said you acted crazy, that you were out of your mind. I am... (looks lost for words) I am so sorry.Kibum: Crazy. Heh. Colloquial for dissociative disorder, yes.Minjung: But you agree, that was definitely unprofessional.Kibum: It was what it was, I wouldn't pay it much mind. People say whatever they want because they have mouths. I choose not to shut them up. Never been one to dirty my hands, quite frankly... So! (stands, begins to clear the table) Would you like to stay for lunch? I'm ordering Chinese.Lights fade out.

Exit all.    Scene Three    Stage lights focus on one man.

There is stunned silence as he speaks.

A woman intently listens from the front row.

Two others watch from a backstage wing. One is proud, the other is nostalgic.