During the artistic interval, Sung-Ho did not let Soo-Ah go out of his sight. He struggled to read the unspoken words emerging on her expression, trying to figure out where she'd disappear for so long. At first, the woman stared back at him, appearing to be severely shaken, until she directed her attention at the dancers. Then her distraught look had turned to that of a lunatic, by having her eyes follow the entertainers' movements, obsessed with what she was seeing.
After the performance ended and the dancers cleared the stage, Sung-Ho dashed in Soo-Ah's direction. He found himself slaloming around the people who by now flooded the space around them to find each other without the masks, like locusts swarming on a fresh field.
The music was still playing in the background and the volume of people's chatting gradually rose.
