In the next week the weather worsened and I officially gave up on summer. It was very cold and the rain was never-ending. I even worried that the sky would go dry if it continues in this pace. The atmosphere at school also started becoming gloomy with the new semester only at its start. Fortunately the big café stuffed between two school buildings was helping us lift up the mood slightly with the delicious cakes and good coffee.

“Look, it´s the new face from sociology.” “What a weirdo.”

Two women from psychology department gossiped after noticing Hyukjae entering the café. In the corner were a few tables that were traditionally occupied by the teachers from different departments of the faculty. I was also sitting there among a few guys from philology. We were chatting about yesterday´s soccer match when my new co-worker managed to shift all the attention to him. Hyukjae was bent down to have a better view at the cakes displayed behind the glass.

“I heard he´s totally lame,” the Spanish professor started, “Park Jungsoo was putting too many hopes on this guy.” I couldn´t but agree. Although Hyukjae wasn´t as bad as I thought at first, he definitely wasn´t the dream teacher we heard about.

“I thought it was a student,” the other philologist exclaimed surprised, “so this is the infamous Lee Hyukjae.” At that remark I glanced back at the white head that was just picking up his box with cakes. Hyukjae bowed to the waitress and was about to walk out when he noticed me sitting there. At first I worried that he might come and sit with me but he only raised his hand and waved slightly. I discretely nodded my head to greet him back and sighed when the man exited.

“Oh, right! He´s now your supervisor, right?” The Spanish professor laughed. “What a bad luck, huh?” He slapped my back and more of the people started laughing.

“Yeah, he´s a pain in the ,” I told them but it sounded bitter. I felt guilty for badmouthing my colleague and decided to return to school before my afternoon class starts.

I ran through the bad weather clutching my coat and quickly regretted not finishing the hot coffee before I left. Although I could have been outside for less than five minutes, I was completely drenched when I arrived back to my office. But when I entered the cabinet, a sweet smell invaded my nostrils.

“Do you want a cup of plum tea?” Hyukjae was standing in the doors to his small office holding a cup in his hand. At first I wanted to say yes because I absolutely desired the tea, but in the end declined. I was ashamed for my behaviour at the café. “I see, how many spoons of sugar should I put in?”

“Two,” I answered way too quickly, “uh, wait. I said I didn´t want to.” I corrected myself.

“It´s okay, I know it´s hard to associate with me in the public,” Hyukjae chuckled and poured the plum tea into my mug. He said it with such a light tone as if he was already used to this.

“I´m sorry, Hyukjae,” I said honestly. Putting away my wet coat I accepted the cup from his hands.

“Come here,” Hyukjae gestured me to sit on his couch. I sat next to the ubiquitous dog and Hyukjae seated himself on his leather chair. He brought his own cup to his lips and sipped from it, then he looked at three cakes sitting on a plate in front of him.

“Do you remember what I said about Chansung some time ago?” He asked me and spooned the chocolate cake. Indeed I remembered the ghost hunt from last week and Chansung´s pitiful fate.

“That he´s committing a social suicide?” I tried to guess. The spoon stopped a few millimetres from Hyukjae´s wide open mouth and his eyes glanced at me. The white haired teacher put the spoon back on the plate and nodded at me.

“Exactly that. You are pretty good, Donghae,” he praised me for something I wasn´t exactly sure about. “I said so and unfortunately since we forbid him to shave here at school, he tried it at the dorms but was caught right away by his classmates.”

“That´s bad but why are you saying it with such a serious tone?” I was a little confused by the unusual calmness of the man in front of me. It was honestly a little disturbing.

“I hoped his friends would take it easy but I´m getting slightly worried,” Hyukjae finally ate his bite.

“Like he´s being bullied?” I reasoned but still wasn´t really sure about it all. Hyukjae can´t just get concerned about every individual. He has a few classes to teach and to me he was being unprofessional and also picking in his students´ privacy. Behaviour like this was assuring me that Hyukjae wasn´t suited to become a teacher.

“You see, I´m sure you have some great info in that little head of yours about bullying,” Hyukjae said and I was slightly getting angry sensing the sarcasm in his tone. Nevertheless I couldn´t help it but review that exact info. How was it? In Japan and South Korea, bullying is more likely to focus on social exclusion rather than any beating up among classroom peers. An entire classroom might discriminate against one individual. Ugh, why does this sound so familiar suddenly?

“There are a few ways to fight bullying but most of them apply only for the bully or the bullied,” Hyukjae continued in his serious tone but the spoon, that was by now in half of the second pastry, was making him look more gentle.

“I take it that you want to intervene,” I decided to give Hyukjae a chance. For the tea at least.

“I do but I was invited to this school to do bigger things than just help Chansung find a better place to shave his legs secretly.” Almost all three deserts were gone by now. Wait, he really wants to do things in bigger scale? I´m not confident if it´s a good idea. I know he was invited here to do exactly that but taking into account his personality, I´m not very sure about the outcome.

"Remember this, Donghae, hold bystanders accountable. Bystanders provide bullies an audience, and often actually encourage bullying. For now I will save Chansung but you have to help me from the back, okay? You are here to assist me, aren´t you?” Hyukjae smirked and at that moment I knew that a new disaster was about to come. But opposite to my thinking I agreed. I pray it won´t turn against me.

The next day I was waiting on the full hallway for Hyukjae who was to arrive soon. I was tapping my foot nervously because I didn´t know what the latter was planning. But I have to admit that yesterday he guessed the situation perfectly. I was watching out for Chansung and other kids today and I witnessed not really nice behavior towards the shaved boy. But Hyukjae clearly told me not to intervene in a way that would harm him even more. ´It´s important not to ignore the situation and act when you feel something´s not right, but direct intervention helps on during physical or verbal conflict. When a person is being ignored, you have to return him back to his peers and not detach him even more, thinking you are protecting him.´ I wonder how he knows all that stuff. Study, own experience or is he really a genius? No, scratch the last, I spotted Hyukjae coming to work.

That idiot was wearing light green suit, pink buttoned down shirt and brown leather shoes. But what caught, and not only mine, attention were his pants. I´m not joking, he cut them high above his knees and with hands shoved into his pockets he was walking leisurely down the hallway. At Seohyun´s remark about his inappropriate wardrobe he answered, that he was wearing a suit and short pants were trendy. I couldn´t understand his acting at first but suddenly I noticed an important fact. Hyukjae´s legs were as smooth as Seohyun´s!

And as expected it took only a few tweets and photos before Hyukjae´s model-like legs were all over the school. Even if the teacher is being often reprimanded for his fashion sense, I have to admit that he´s always up to date and when he wears something, the youngsters always praise him greately. So this is how he indirectly wanted to help Chansung. Smart but in the end I didn´t find out what he meant by my assistance.

“He´s here again.” “And he´s wearing those pants again.” “He looks just like a woman with those legs.”

My co-workers were yet again in a full gossip mode when Hyukjae one afternoon arrived to the café for his dose of pastry. And right at this strange moment I finally understood the meaning behind Hyukjae´s words and also why the topic of bullying sounded familiar to me from the start. Fifty-three percent of people have been the victims of bullying at work. Hyukjae was being bullied and I was the bystander.

“Hey, Hyukjae!” I called before I could stop myself. “I owe you a cup of tea, come to sit here and I´ll buy it for you.” First it was his right corner of mouth that went up, then all the hell broke free and Hyukjae was smiling.

Hi! So the topic is a little heavy this time around but I hope Hyukjae made you smile in the end. :) Gosh, I hope SUJU win the music shows! I´m so excited for this comeback. And here for those who haven´t seen yet. Shirt uncut version. The choreo is an absolute perfection! ShinHyuk combo hit jackpot this time. And look how much fun they are having, all smiles: "[MPD/직캠] 140904 SUPER JUNIOR - SHIRT" I hope it´s not deleted by the time you get to watch it. Thank you for reading, commenting and simply liking my story. - Worker PandaHero