Polaris (Taekook)

1 - First lecture

As a professor, life wasn't always full of reasons to smile. The dull eyes of the students, the unbearable silence in the classroom when you ask a question, just proving that no one was actually listening to you, and not to forget those who sleep all the way through the entire class, making you wonder why you choose this job in the first place. It was Taehyung's third year as a professor of sociology and he still felt like he wasn't suited for this job. After he graduated from university, he applied for this position on a whim. Everyone around him had pretty much found employment that corresponded to their studies. Taehyung, with a Master's Degree in Social Science, couldn't see his future. After several months of running and walking around in the hope of finding employment to feed himself, he settled unwillingly on his current job.

"Taehyung-ssi," A voice called.

"Good morning Ms. Lee," Taehyung greeted.

"Come on, just call me Mirang noona, I'm not that old,"

Ms. Lee was the professor of politics and the only person in this university, who was close to his age. They often took their breaks together, discussing about each other's courses and sometimes about Mirang's love life and how all the men that she met so far are so boring, that she started to feel anxious about ending her life all alone.

Love.

Taehyung was a study freak in high school so all he dated was his school's textbooks. His parents had great expectations of him and they absolutely wanted him to enter one of the top universities in South Korea: Seoul National University. But unfortunately, Taehyung surrendered to the pressure of the exam, and on the day of the entrance exam, he messed up big time, making his parents disappointed in him. He managed to get a seat in a local university but it wasn't enough to make his parents happy. They were far from being satisfied with his current job as they kept on comparing him to his other relatives who were businessmen, engineers, or doctors, meanwhile, he was just a professor in a low rated university.

"So in the end, I lied that I had to go to the restroom and left," Mirang said.

Taehyung simply smiled. Every day looked the same, the same scenery, the same people and this wouldn't change any time soon. As he was waiting for the lift, he saw a man dressed in a rather expensive suit, discussing with who seemed to be a student? Taehyung wasn't sure, he couldn't see the latter's face.

"Just listen to me!" The man in suit screamed, startling everyone around him, including Taehyung who almost dropped his hot chocolate, coffee being too bitter for him.

"It looks serious over there..." Mirang said.

Taehyung tilted his head, trying to see what was happening and his eyes landed on a boy with rather long hair, multiple piercings in both ears, and his left arm fully tattooed. The type of boy that the young Taehyung would have never approached because according to his parents, they were "too dangerous".

"You're a disgrace to our family,"

The boy kept avoiding the gaze of the man in a suit, as if he was annoyed by this entire situation and Taehyung felt bad for him, no one deserved to hear such harsh words.

"Taehyung-ssi, the lift is here, let's go," Mirang said.

Taehyung got in the lift, but his mind was filled with the thought of the young boy. He hoped that everything would be all right for him.

The next day, Taehyung came to work as usual, and he was surprised to see the staffroom filled with so many people, most of them were men dressed in black suits. It reminded him of the man of yesterday and he started to feel nervous. He squeezed through the men, attempting to reach his desk, but he bumped on one of the men's back, who turned around and glared at him.

"I'm sorry...but I would like to pass,"

All men turned around, making Taehyung freeze in place. What was this situation?

"Taehyung-ssi, Taehyung-ssi,"

He could see Mirang's hand waving at him from her desk.

"My seat..." Taehyung said to the men as he pointed to Mirang.

They finally let him pass but Taehyung couldn't fully feel relieved as he could sense their eyes scanning his every move.

"What's going on?" Taehyung asked.

"I don't know. When I came this morning they were all already here,"

"Who are they?" Taehyung asked as he took out from his bag his belongings and placed them on his desk.

"I have no idea, but I saw the director entering his office with the man from yesterday," Mirang said as she pointed her index finger to the director's office, across the room.

Taehyung's eyes fixed the director's office door and soon the man from yesterday stepped out, followed by the director who bid him farewell with a ninety-degree bow, making Taehyung wonder what kind of person the man was to even have the college's director look so intimated.

All of sudden, the young boy from yesterday stepped into the staffroom, disheveled hair and the top buttons of his white shirt undone.

"Old man, you can't do this," The boy said, with an unexpectedly deep and low voice.

"Jeongguk, stay out of this, I already asked the director to expel you from this college, you can't tarnish my name anymore,"

So his name was Jeongguk.

Taehyung came to himself, after realizing what the man had said: expelled. It was the first time Taehyung saw a parent asking for their own child to be expelled from college. Surprised was a weak word to describe what he was feeling right now. He gazed at the boy who had his fists clenched while looking down.

"You are really a waste of space, I can't keep on paying for a college year to someone as useless and stupid as you,"

Something ticked in the back of Taehyung's mind. An unpleasant feeling emerged inside him as he glared at the man who uttered these vicious words to Jeongguk.

"I feel sorry to all the professors and the director for having to bear this brainless kid, anyways, start the car," The man said as he was about to leave.

"The brainless trash here is you," Taehyung blurted out.

All eyes were on him, as he stared back at the man. He didn't even know why he said that, but hearing those words and seeing Jeongguk's disheartened expression, he couldn't help but let out all the anger he held inside.

"Jeongguk, you don't have to listen to this idiotic person, do whatever you want and you are old enough to make decisions for yourself, don't let him order you," Taehyung declared, slightly surprised at the fact that he managed to say all of this without stuttering a bit or embarrassing himself.

The man glared at Taehyung, and soon the director stepped into the picture and went over to the man.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Jeon, he's just a new professor, he doesn't know anything, please forgive him. Taehyung-ssi apologize right now,"

Taehyung sighed.

"I won't."

With this being said, Taehyung took the materials for his class and left the room. On his way out, he patted Jeongguk's shoulder, hoping that he could cheer up and move forward, without knowing that his simple gesture and words awakened a brand new season in the young boy's mind.

[I apologize if there are any mistakes, thank you for reading!]