Between the Lines┃Jaeyong

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

November 2018
Seoul National University
Seoul, South Korea
37.5665° N, 126.9780° E

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It was Taeyongs first year attending Seoul National University. He was enrolled as a business major. In high school he was fascinated with the idea of starting his own business and being able to take care of his grandma. And there, his dreams began.

Ever since his parents passed away when he was in elementary school, he was raised by his grandma and it's just been the two of them living together in a small two bedroom rental home.

His grandma who was now too frail  to do manual labour, sold whatever handcrafted items she could make. However, that was barely enough to put food on the table. Being the only man of the house, Taeyong took on the responsibility and sought out multiple part time jobs. He worked very hard to lift her burdens.

Despite having to work part time he was still a hard working student. He always handed in his assignments on time and got decent grades overall. Because his schedule didn't allow much flexibility, he usually did group projects alone. It also made it hard for him to make friends with his classmates.

Live a diligent life.

He recalled his mothers voice saying those words. Her statement had been his lifes motto from a young age. It was also why he was so hell bent on living a better life in the future.

Taeyong was seated in his economics class waiting for the lesson to begin. He took out the recommended textbook and his notebook from his backpack and laid them out on the desk in front of him.

Students shortly began to enter the classroom and went to their usual seats.

"Is this seat taken?" A voice beside him asked.

He quickly glanced up to see who it was, he saw a foreign looking male before he resumed reading his text.

"No, it's free."

"Awesome," the nameless boy replied as he took the seat next to Taeyong.

A few minutes later, the lecturer walked into the room and began the lesson.

As the class progressed, students slowly became weary and some had already drifted off to sleep.

The boy that sat next to Taeyong twirled a pen in his hand as he cocked his head on the palm of his other hand while his elbow rested on the desk. He looked over to Taeyongs direction and saw he was concentrating as he took notes.

"Can anyone tell me what the term Mental Accounting means?" The lecturer said as he noticed the students drifting.

The students looked alert and glanced at each other while they whispered, trying to figure out the answer. Taeyong looked around to see if anyone else would offer to answer. After he saw no one did, he raised his hand.

"Yes, you over there," the lecturer pointed over to Taeyongs direction.

"This is when people place different values on money leading to mental categorization based on importance." Taeyong answered.

The boy next to Taeyong stared at him in disbelief and made inaudible clapping motions.

"That's correct!" The lecturer clapped and he continued on until it was time for class to be dismissed.

Taeyong had exited the campus and stood at the nearest bus stop waiting for his bus to go home. He wanted to take a shower and check on his grandma before he went to his job.