Polaris (Taekook)

2- Second lecture

As Taehyung was about to leave the campus, he spotted a familiar figure standing near the exit.

"Jeongguk" Taehyung called as he stood before the young man.

The latter did not respond and kept on staring at Taehyung as if he was looking for something on the professor's face.

"Are you okay?" Taehyung inquired, worried by the lack of response.

Jeongguk took a few steps back, before ruffling the black of his hair and letting out a sigh, piquing Taehyung's curiosity.

Soon, the campus's guardian stepped out of his office, going for his usual rounds through the university. Taehyung checked his watch and realized that he was about to miss the last train to go back home.

"Jeongguk, I'm sorry but I have to go, be careful on your way home," He said as he began walking away.

"Wait!" Jeongguk shouted.

Taehyung turned around, wondering what Jeongguk could have to tell him, having him so hesitant and nervous.

"Thank you for earlier,"

"Oh,"

Taehyung smiled. He was glad that he could have been a little bit helpful, but judging from the director's reaction, he will probably either get suspended or fired. Yet, he couldn't stay still, turning a blind eye on what was happening in front of him.

It made him wonder whether his younger self would have done this much, just to defend someone who was unrelated to him. Probably not. He would have just left the place or pretend not to see or hear anything to avoid any problems. That was why he was still surprised by how he managed to act so bravely today.

"It's okay, then see you,"

See you. Well, if he is getting fired, then it's likely goodbye, but he couldn't say that to a student right now, he did not want to discourage him or make him think that he got fired because he defended him.

When he got home, Taehyung slumped down on his sofa, loosened his necktie, and closed his eyes.

"What should I do now?"

Now that he was about to get fired, Taehyung wondered how he was going to announce the bad news to his parents. They'll probably yell at him and remind him of how incompetent he is. As he was engrossed in his thoughts, his phone buzzed, informing him of a new message.

From JimJim

Taehyung, my best friend, what are you doing this weekend? Won't you come to my bar, I'm holding an event to celebrate the arrival of a newbie.

Oh. He had to tell the news to his best friend too. Jimin was his childhood friend. They
knew each other since kinder garden. When Jimin got enrolled in another local high school, while Taehyung got into one of the prestigious ones, Taehyung's mother told him to distance himself from his one and only friend. Even today, his mother would occasionally tell him things such as "I hope you are not hanging again with that Jimin guy" especially after she was informed that Jimin opened his own bar. But, she ignored the complete fact that Jimin was more successful than her own son, as he owned several bars, classified as the top-visited place in Seoul. Jimin, unlike him, was happy and satisfied with his life. There were times he really did envy Jimin, but he could only blame himself for not having the courage to step up and choose for himself.

"do whatever you want and you are old enough to make decisions for yourself" the words he told Jeongguk echoed in his mind and he couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.

To Jimin

I have something to tell you, so I'll come.

He stood up and decided that maybe a good night's sleep would give him the energy to face the devastating situation he was going through.

The next morning, Taehyung stepped into the college campus with a heavy heart. In his bag, there was his resignation letter, which he would give at the end of the day when he had finished all his classes.

When he walked into the staffroom, much to his relief, it was empty. He quickly put his belongings on his desk and only took with him the materials he needed for his classes, along with his resignation letter in case someone saw it and left the staffroom hurriedly.

He let a long sigh as he leaned against the elevator wall. This day won't go as smoothly as he thought it would. The elevator stopped at the second floor and Taehyung's mind too focused on how he was going to face this day, did not notice the presence of someone else entering in.

"I'm done for life," He let out.

"What?"

Taehyung looked at his left and his eyes widened as he saw Jeongguk, staring at him in confusion.

"O-oh Jeongguk, good morning, haha,"

He hoped that his forced smile could conceal his nervousness and despair.

"Good morning,"

The floor reached the third floor and Taehyung rapidly left the elevator, after saying a quick "have a nice day" to Jeongguk.

The classes were not any different. Taehyung wondered whether these students were aware that starting from tomorrow, they won't see him again.

Will they miss him? Unlikely.

After this, Taehyung realized that he would have to go through the hell of finding a job again. He could only sigh thinking about his life.

He took slow and heavy steps towards the staffroom. It was over. The moment he would enter the room and hand in his resignation letter, his life would jump back straight to the time he had nothing except the judgments of people around him and the looks of the disappointment of his parents.

He walked over to his desk and displayed the piles of files on his table.

"It's not here..."

He couldn't find his resignation letter. He searched again in the files and in his bag and he couldn't find it. He gripped the edges of his desk, head hanging low, thinking about where he could have mislaid it.

"Taehyung-ssi, " The director called him from his office.

Taehyung panicked. Without a resignation letter, he won't be eligible to get unemployment benefits and he won't be able to find another job with a decent wage. On top of ending as jobless, he would also become poor. He started thinking about what he could have done wrong in his life to go through this misery and then Jeongguk's face popped into his mind. Did he regret defending him? Not a single bit. But could he have used better words? Definitely.

"Yesterday, you made quite a fuss...."

Taehyung did not say anything and simply waited for his punishment to come.

"The man to whom you said those inappropriate words was the Minister of Education,"

Great. Finding a job in a similar field was now impossible for Taehyung.

"Normally, you should be fired for saying that,"

He is right he shouldn't have gone that far.

Wait. Normally?

Taehyung looked up at the director in confusion, assuming he misheard something.

"But the Minister said he will forgive you on one condition"

"A condition?" Taehyung asked, still baffled by this unexpected turns of event.

"That you become my personal tutor," Jeongguk said, leaning against the door frame with his hands in his pants' pockets.

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