Conflict - be incompatible or at variance; clash.

Jiho has always been bold. His older brother Taewoon always fought with him when they were younger, one time over a piece of fried chicken. He learned that he had to stand up for what's right, and he knew that Prof.Jung could definitely not be described as someone who's righteous. 

Today's class was boring, but it was better than getting scolded. They had started reading "A Raisin In The Sun", which mainly highlighted the racial tensions that occurred in America between African Americans and whites. Jiho sometimes found it interesting; at other times it was plain boring, but mostly because he had to take notes. He still didn't understand what could possibly be extracted from such simple statements. His notebook was full of sloppy scrawls across his lined paper, noting how Beneatha would be a lady who acted stressed out and how Walter would probably shout a lot. He prayed that Prof.Jung wouldn't have any activities today, and luckily for him they just stuck to text analysis for today.

"Tomorrow, we'll be up on our feet, so be prepared for some acting tomorrow. I'll give you a more concrete lesson on analysis as well," Prof.Jung announced, straightening the papers on his desk. "To those who need office hours, I'm hosting them here. The rest of you may leave, and have a nice weekend."

Jiho sighed. Today was Friday, meaning he would be spending his time in this rotten class after school instead of going downtown with his college mates. Jaehyo looked at him sympathetically.

"That's a shame. I wanted to spend time with you and Kyung today. Maybe some other time?" he offered, to which Jiho smiled thankfully. He only met Jaehyo yesterday but he was already willing to be friends.

"Thanks man. Yeah...some other time," Jiho replied ruefully. He patted Jaehyo's shoulder, signalling him to leave as the room was quickly emptying. Jaehyo nodded, waving as he raced down the stairs. Prof.Jung brought chairs to the front of his desk and stared up at Jiho and the one other girl who stayed behind. Jiho recognized her as the girl who quietly mumbled in front of the room yesterday as she spoke; her name was Yeonjeong. With Prof.Jung's piercing gaze, they both grabbed their belongings and rushed down the white steps, unsure of what to expect during this session of office hours.

They both sat down in their chairs while Prof Jung was still standing, erasing the whiteboard. As he put down the black eraser and turned around, Yeonjeong stood up abruptly, grasping her bag tightly till her knuckles turned white. She stared at the table, clearing as she shuffled her feet nervously. Prof.Jung noticed her behavior and cocked his head ever so slightly, shooting her a look of confusion.

"You're here for office hours, aren't you?" he asked, knowing all too well that she was. His eyes bore into her wavering ones, and she gripped her bag even tighter. Jiho looked at her with sympathy, knowing that his professor was just playing with her feelings. What an , he internally grumbled, shifting back to sitting comfortably in his seat.

"U-um, the thing is, I want to stay, but t-there are some family issues so I have to go home right away. My t-train is at 4 so I need to um-"

"Very well. Go. Family issues are more important than a 50 in your gradebook. You may leave," Prof.Jung crudely answered her stutters, sitting down in his chair. Yeonjeong bowed, letting her auburn hair flip unattractively over head then back.

"T-thank you, Professor J-Jung," she mumbled, hurriedly fixing her hair as she staggered out of the room in her white heels. Jiho's eyes looked at the window as he clenched his teeth in second hand embarrassment. When he heard the door slam shut, he turned back, facing Prof.Jung who seemed to be unfazed by the turn of events. Yet it was only now that Jiho realized he was the only one left in the room and that his fellow classmate had gotten a higher mark than him for her disastrous mumbling. He almost scoffed, but lost the opportunity when his teacher began to speak.

"You're Woo Jiho, correct? The one with a zero?" he asked. As if he doesn't know, Jiho internally remarked.

"Yes," he answered. "But I don't believe that it was the grade I deserved," Jiho added on. Prof.Jung looked at him without changing his facial expression, opening his mouth to speak.

"Then I will let you know why," Prof.Jung began. "To put in simple terms, your performance was severely lacking. Yeonjeong's at least had some thought put into it, although her delivery was extremely awful. As for you, you're only seeing the outside shell of things. I can see your very simplistic approach to this text just by your over-decorative poses and sanctimonious tone. 'Oh, Caesar is a leader, therefore he must act like he's better than others'.Wrong. That is absolutely the wrong approach. You are disrespecting Shakespeare and the basic laws of acting," he criticized with a somewhat calm tone, gradually jabbing his finger at the paper with Shakespeare's lines. Jiho took in the criticism, but wasn't about to accept it. He chuckled with incredulity, rolling his eyes. He never imagined that his teacher would be this unprofessional. Jiho suddenly stood up, staring at Prof.Jung with his cat like eyes.

"Excuse you, but I won't accept such groundless criticism. I expect you to act like a normal teacher and guide me rather than throwing insults around!" Jiho exclaimed, to which Prof.Jung now cracked a smile. He stood up, towering over Jiho and looking at him.

"At least you have the guts to do that, huh. But let me tell you one thing. I've seen so many theatre students leave their class, attempting to go into the industry, and get rejected. Why? Because they don't understand what to do. They have such a basic understanding of acting that lacks the sincerity and genuinity it requires. They gloss over the text and characters, and they use props and costumes and all that rubbish to cover that lack of talent. That is simply because their foolish teachers coddled them and let them 'explore'. I don't believe in that garbage. You guys are going to come here without experience straight away and get this criticism so that whoever needs to learn will learn. I will drive skills into you. If you want to be coddled, go ahead and drop my class. You'll be behind but it doesn't look like you care, seeing as you want to talk back," Prof.Jung ranted with a composed manner, taking Jiho aback. He didn't expect such a detailed explanation, but he still disagreed. He thought for a few seconds of how to handle the sticky situation he put himself into, and in the end decided that at this point, he lost any chances of getting on his professor's good side anyways. 

"Coddled? Caring is suddenly so bad, right? Everybody is too scared to even try because you're so aggressive!" Jiho shot back without regret.

"If they are too scared of this, then I don't know how they'll survive in the real world, especially those who want to get into theatre," Prof.Jung commented with amusement, shaking his head. "I'm not going to waste any more time with this. You're here for office hours, not to talk back to me and question my teaching. I've been here for years and the department has found no failures amongst my students who have put in effort. I will not brainwash untalented students into thinking they  have talent. You will now sit here and get this over with, understood?" he asked in a tone which Jiho couldn't defy. With hesistance, he sat down, clearing his throat as he scooted closer to the table.

"What you didn't do yesterday was understand the text. You glossed over it. Did you read each word carefully? Did you think about what would happen if you put emphasis on different words? If you changed your facial expressions? Pauses? Hand gestures? Speed?" Prof.Jung questioned. Jiho felt a bit embarrassed now, but didn't want to admit that his professor was right, just in a very wrong way.

"Fine. I'll try it now," he curtly answered, standing up with his line still memorized. In front of Prof.Jung, he tried many ways of doing his line. He sped up the pace of the phrase 'many deaths' with a wistful tone, he emphasized the word 'but', he tried speaking quieter, and he tried looking woeful. He tried many things, but got no response. Prof.Jung only looked at Jiho, popping a lemon candy into his mouth as he observed his student. Jiho wanted him to take back his insults and apologize, acknowledging that he did nothing wrong and that he is simply a learning student, much like several others. Despite his wishful thinking, Prof.Jung was unmoved. 

"Hey, I just did so much and you aren't giving me feedback!" Jiho whined. "After all that talk, I had a little bit of faith in your teaching abilities, but I guess I was wrong," Jiho commented, glaring at Prof.Jung. 

"You aren't doing this for me, but for yourself. How about you think about what makes it right, and then come back to me tomorrow with your interpretation. I want you to decide for yourself, and then I'll criticize you if I need to," Prof.Jung replied, standing up and collecting his belongings. Jiho was surprised, given that his professor just implied that he may possibly not receive criticism. He grinned mischeviously.

"So there is a chance I did what you like, am I right?" Jiho asked expectantly. Prof.Jung showed no emotional response and continued with his work.

"Don't let your head get filled with even more hot air," he warned. "Just leave."

Jiho let out a 'hmph' and walked away. Hot air? He should look at himself.

"Have a nice weekend!" Jiho exclaimed sarcastically, feeling a bit annoyed that he didn't get even one comment of praise and that in the end, he really only spent ten minutes with Prof.Jung. He didn't mind having more time to himself, but after a big speech from his teacher, he expected more attention.

He left the classroom and walked outside the building, glad that the sun was still shining brightly above him. Jiho's annoyance, however, for some reason, began to dissipate the more he thought about that brief session with his teacher. In fact, as he basked in the warm sunlight, he actually appreciated Prof.Jung a bit. Sure, he was rude and mean to everybody, but he was skilled and