EIGHT RUN

The curtain falls and I’m out of breath

I get mixed feelings as I breathe out

Did I make any mistakes today?

How did the audience seem?

I’m happy with who I’ve become

That I can make someone scream with joy.

Still excited from the performance,

I stand on the middle of the empty stage, still hot.

“Min Yoongi Haksaeng!”

Someone was calling him when Yoongi and Jin were walking on the aisle in front of classrooms. They were about to visit school cafeteria to buy some snacks.  When Yoongi turned his body he was an old man with almost bald hair, wearing black training clothes and holding a long wooden stick. That was Park Sem, their physical education’s teacher, counselor, and the one who in charge of disciplining student with school’s rule.

Yoongi sighed secretly. Not again. Was this his bad day? A teacher scolded him for fallen asleep in the class on earlier period and then at this moment the notorious Park Sem decided to have a moment with him.

“Come here.” The teacher waved his hand to call Yoongi.

While scratching back of his head Yoongi walked toward the teacher. Jin was standing on his place watching his friend go to the teacher. Yoongi didn’t scared of him like the other student. He despised the teacher for his vile attitude and also his differ treatment toward student based on gender. He acted well to girl, especially the pretty one.

“What can I help you, Park Sem?” Yoongi didn’t really mean it but he did it out of courtesy.

“How many time I should tell you to dye your hair back to black?” The teacher waved his wooden stick almost hitting Yoongi’s head several times as he talked.

Of course Yoongi knew it already. If Park Sem decided to have a talk with him, it mostly was about his hair color.

“Like never?”

Yoongi almost rolled his eyes if he didn’t remember that the man was around his father’s age. He tried to hold his patience. He knew there was no good on picking a real fight with the dense teacher. He, and also the other teacher, wouldn’t understand. They would only do anything based on those stupid rules. Rules that they didn’t even understand why those were made. Probably they wanted to create standard-quality product. This place called school was more like a factory to produce robots called students. They couldn’t handle diversity.

“What do you want to grow up into if you keep acting like this?” 

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t ask for your help about it. I can take care my self.”

 “What’s with your attitude, huh?” The teacher started to nudge the edge of wooden stick to Yoongi’s body.

“I’m just stating a fact.” Yoongi tried to hold himself so he wouldn’t fall behind from the push. Think about something that makes you happy, Yoongi.

“How dare you to argue with me?” 

Yoongi would want to laugh on the sentences if Park Sem didn’t look wanting to eat him alive. Well, probably he would do it nonetheless if the man kept saying something ridiculous. Yoongi was thinking about how big those adults’ ego. They wouldn’t want to hear any younger people stated something that could deflate their ego. The adults wouldn’t want to acknowledge that they could be wrong at some points. They didn’t want to see the truth. Each time the younger one did it, they would say that generation had no manner.

“They should already punish you hard or kick you out from this place. You’re really a bad example for other student.”

“If you thought that was a good idea, then you’re welcome to do it.” Yoongi shrugged his shoulder. It was not that he didn’t care about his study or future. It was just he didn’t care about this place.

“Just because your parents have power here it didn’t mean that you could do anything you want here.”

“Oh, don’t worry. My parent wouldn’t need to do anything to help me if I do anything here this time. I can take care my own dirt.”

“Keep talking back at me and I will make sure you’ll get hard punishment from me, Boy."

"Try it, if you dare enough."

The teacher already held up his wooden stick. He was about to hit the boy with it. Yoongi didn’t flinched an inch when he saw it. In the end he knew the man wouldn’t dare to touch him. His parents’ influence was bigger than what that man dared to do. Yoongi was sick about those fake acts. In front of those people who held power, these fakers could be as slick as slime. But at behind, they would curse on them badly.

“PARK SEM!” Another old man jumped in the fight. It was the school’s principal. “What are you doing here?”

“I was about teaching this boy a lesson. He didn’t want to hear me or follow school rules.”

“Don't you remember who is he?” The man whispered nervously.

“Just because his parent was the biggest donator for this school it didn’t mean that he could do things as he wants. School has rules. I’m disciplining him.”

“And you don’t want your job anymore?”

The teacher’s face because stern as he heard the warning from the principal. 

There was it, his parents’ power. As much as Yoongi hated it, he acknowledged that it did the biggest part of protecting him from every bad attitude Yoongi did.

“Yoongi, say sorry to Park Sem.” The principal handled the situation for him again.

Yoongi raised his eyebrow. The principle became scared again.

“Alright, you can go. Don’t get into trouble again.”

Sometimes Yoongi secretly hoped that they would treat him like the other students. But then, what did the equality mean? What did equity mean? No one was being fair. Yoongi couldn’t be sure that being treated like the other student would make him felt easier.

“I’m sorry for being rude to you, Park Sem.” Yoongi said it even though the principal wouldn’t force him to do if he didn’t want to say it. Not that he regretted what he said before. It was just because he knew that he hurt the teacher’s ego and that was everything for the old man. Anyway, it didn’t mean that he would do things as the teacher’s wish.

Yoongi walked out from the scene with a careless attitude. He stared around. Some students were watching the event at the moment, like usual. Being a spectator then after the show was ended they would spread out the news as like everyone should know about it.

Yoongi glared at them. The students quickly went to other way or got back to things they did before. But there was a student who didn’t do the same. The boy was standing with his two friends stared back at Yoongi as he wanted to challenge him. Yoongi remembered the boy and his followers. They were the group he met under the stair just before he saw Namjoon for the second time after new semester opening speech.

“Let’s go.” Yoongi let out a sneer while moved his stare from the boy to Jin who was still waiting for him.

“What are you thinking actually to challenge Park Sem?”

As usual, Jin disliked when Yoongi caused trouble with Park Sem. He couldn’t understand why Yoongi would fight back each times Park Sem tried to discipline him. Yoongi wasn’t like that before. That was started from the earlier period of their high school year.

One day, Yoongi had a big fight involve him and another teacher that caused the teacher hospitalized for several months. Once he got better, the teacher decided to resign from the school. Then, Yoongi suddenly turned up at school with his red hair and never talked about his true reason for fighting with the teacher. He just said that he hated the teacher's gut. Jin couldn’t believe the reaso