Chapter Text
The male ran through the dimension, wind burning his cheeks as he heard the footsteps of the creature behind him. The creature screamed, making the ground shake and causing the male to fall at the edge of pool of black water. He glanced at his reflection in the water, taking in the scratches that marred his face before moving again, crawling towards the mirror that rested just past the large, barren tree a few feet in front of him.
Just before he reached his destination, the creature reappeared, roaring louder than ever before. He quickly rolled onto his back and raised his hands up. "Yuegang trabem!" He exclaimed, a burst of energy shooting out of his palms and striking the creature as it was about to engulf him.
ʘ
Hoseok woke with a start, shooting up in bed as he clutched his chest. He took deep breaths to calm himself down from the extremely realistic dream he'd just had as his phone continued to buzz on his nightstand. Once he was breathing somewhat normally, he grabbed the electronic, eyes widening as he saw that he had overslept by two hours. "Shit!" He jumped out of bed and rushed around his room to get dressed.
Once clothed, he ran out of his room and across campus until he arrived at his advisor's office, dropping into the chair across from her desk unceremoniously. "I am so sorry!" He apologized profusely. "I overslept."
"That's alright. It's not like you're late." Mrs. Lee stated with a smile. She rifled through the papers and folders on her desk. "Sorry I'm not more prepared, I'm not used to getting students requesting meetings this early in the semester." She finally found the right file, her eyebrows furrowing as she scanned the contents. "I'm having trouble understanding why you're here. Perfect grades, perfect attendance, you're basically the perfect student."
Hoseok sighed a bit, picking at a loose thread in the hole of his jeans. "It's kind of complicated. Like, I know that I should be satisfied and joyful but…I'm not. I mean, I'm trying, I really am, but no matter what I do, it just…it feels like I'm in some kind of waiting room hoping someone will call me forward, but no one ever does."
Mrs. Lee tilted her head, eyebrows raised slightly. "What exactly are you waiting for?"
The student shrugged. "I don't know…just something to shake up this cycle I'm in. Something to make life seem more…adventurous."
"Adventurous?"
"Yeah, when I was little, I always fantasized about exploring new worlds and collecting ancient artifacts with mysterious powers…" Hoseok shrugged once more. "I guess I'm still hoping for that one day. Or at least something like that."
Mrs. Lee clasped her hands together and leaned over her desk. "Well you certainly have ambition, Hoseok…but this is college, not a fantasy world. I can't really help you there."
"I know, I don't expect to be whisked away on a quest to find the phoenix gem or something." Hoseok nibbled on his lip before continuing. "I just don't feel like I'm in the right place. Like I don't belong."
"It's common for a lot of students to feel this way, especially in their first year." The advisor gave Hoseok a look of sympathy before frowning. "There are a lot of options for you to find whatever it is you're looking for…one of which would be dropping out of SNU."
Hoseok bit his lip. "I'm not gonna lie, I have considered that."
Mrs. Lee nodded as if she had expected that answer. "Don't do that. This is just some young adult phase of finding yourself. And once you move past it, you don't want to feel regretful that you didn't persevere and get your degree."
"But what if it's not some young adult phase of finding myself?" Hoseok inquired. "What if I never stop feeling like I don't belong here?"
The advisor sighed and gave him a small smile. "Why don't you go back to your dorm and think it over a bit?"
Hoseok nodded. "I guess I can do that."
ʘ
Hoseok stood in his dorm bathroom, hands resting against the sink as he stared at his reflection. "You belong somewhere." He whispered to himself.
He stiffened as the lights started flickering. "What the fuck?" He looked around the room, trying to figure out the cause of the sudden electricity issue. His attention was then recaptured by something glistening in the mirror. He turned forward again, the glint disappearing to reveal someone that wasn't him in the glass. Hoseok screamed in fear, jumping back slightly. "Who are you?" He asked, but got no response, the person just continued to stare at him.
When he realized they weren't doing anything, he stepped forward again and raised his hand up towards the glass. A shiver ran down his spine when he noticed a slight ripple in the mirror, as if it were moving. "Did I fall asleep?" He asked himself as he reached forward to touch the mirror.
A gasp ripped through him as instead of feeling the cool, hard glass, his fingers went straight through, as if it wasn't even there. "Okay, this is actually pretty cool." That thought disappeared almost immediately as he tried to pull his hand back, only for him to realize it was stuck. He tugged again, soon feeling some kind of force pulling him in further.
He yelled out for whatever it was to stop, but it was too late as he found himself no longer in his bathroom. Instead he was completely submerged in a body of water. He started thrashing around in fear, the shock of what just happened blocking his memory of how to swim. Just as his lungs started to burn in need for air, he felt someone grab him by the waist and pull him forward, laying him down in some grass instead.
Hoseok began to cough, wiping water away from his eyes before looking around in shock. His mouth fell open in awe as he saw many old buildings spread around the area, along with a statue in the middle and many braziers lit up around the cobblestone walkways that were filled with people. As he continued to look, he noticed that the statue was actually moving, an observation that caused him to squeak. He glanced up, another gasp escaping him as he noticed that people were flying around, some on brooms and some on rugs. "I have to be dreaming right now." Hoseok muttered to himself.
"You okay?" Hoseok's head snapped around to see an unfamiliar male crouching down next to him. Judging from how the sleeves of his hoodie were wet, Hoseok figured this was the person who had saved him. "I'm guessing you're a new student?"
"Uh…" Hoseok blinked, mind moving too slow to formulate a proper response as he was still processing everything that had just happened. " I am a student."
The male chuckled. "Well I'm sorry to say you slightly missed the Hall of Mirrors. But welcome to Penderghast College of Elemental Magicks!" Even though he didn't think it was possible, Hoseok's eyes widened even more. "We should get you to the dining hall for orientation. But only if you're feeling okay." The male's eyes filled with worry.
Hoseok started looking around the alleged college campus again, this time noticing someone standing just a few feet away from them. "I guess they were right about the admissions standards being extremely low. Did you even read the information packet?"
The other unnamed male rolled his eyes. "Since you're so interested in what he did or didn't do right, why don't you make sure he gets to orientation?"
Rude guy scoffed as if he were offended. "I am Kim Taehyung; I don't have time to spare on scraggly imbeciles who can't even land in the right place." Taehyung shot Hoseok a glare before stalking away.
"I'm Kim Taehyung blah blah blah." The guy who had saved Hoseok grumbled, rolling his eyes before turning back to him. "And then there were two. I'm Seokjin." Seokjin offered his hand to Hoseok, who accepted it, ignoring the way his hands were still trembling from shock and from still being soaked.
"I'm Hoseok." He introduced himself. "And I'm very confused...and very cold."
Seokjin chuckled again. "I can help with that." He clapped his hands together before bringing them to his mouth and blowing into them. Hoseok felt a gush of air rush over him, and when he looked down, he and his clothes were completely dry. He opened his mouth to ask how he did that, but Seokjin was already talking again. "Good as new! Although you still might want to change clothes at some point. It gets kind of chilly at night." Seokjin then repeated the motion, this time drying his own sleeves. "Sorry if there are still a few wet spots. Air magick isn't the exactly easy for us Earth-Atts, but Professor Eun says I'm getting it!" Hoseok's eyebrows furrowed at the terms he didn't recognize, but Seokjin obviously didn't notice as he then gestured for the male to follow him. "Come on, I'll take you to orientation."
Seokjin walked away quickly, and Hoseok rushed after him, stumbling a bit. "Wait, magic is real? Like, really real?"
Hoseok earned a nod in response. "Or we're all trapped in the same fever dream." They walked past the large statue in the center of the campus, and Hoseok jumped as its head swiveled around to look at him. "That's just the security system." Seokjin explained. "It's set to vaporize any Attuneless intruders, but there haven't any of those since…I actually don't even know the last time there was one. It was way before my time."
Hoseok's eyes widened yet again in fear as he silently prayed to not be vaporized by the creepy statue. Eventually the statue turned its head away, and Hoseok finally let out the breath he'd been holding. Seokjin soon led him into the largest building on campus. "If you follow me, I can show you the-" The male was cut off by a bell chiming in the distance, causing his eyes to widen as he looked at his watch. "Shit, I totally forgot about the Thief team meeting."
"No, no, no, you can't leave me-"
"Don't worry." Seokjin assured Hoseok. "I'll still take you to the dining hall, we'll just have to take a rain check on the tour." He led Hoseok upstairs to long carpeted hallway. "The dining hall is on the left at the end of the hall. In this building, you can also find the reception, the dean's office, classrooms, and sometimes Attunement placement exams happen here."
Hoseok cocked his head in confusion. "Attunement placement?"
"Yeah, I think it's silly too." Seokjin replied, misunderstanding Hoseok's confusion. "I've known that I'm Earth Attuned since I caused a tiny earthquake while throwing a tantrum when I was five."
Hoseok's jaw dropped slightly at the story. "Uh, right, totally. You are definitely…that."
As they passed an open door, Hoseok heard a couple of strange sounds, followed by someone yelling out, "Fuck!"
"Seokjin?" The male turned to him. "What's that room?" He pointed to the room the sounds had come from.
"The Hall of Mirrors, where you were supposed to come through."
They heard another thud come from the room, prompting them to step inside. Once there, they found a tiny male lying on the floor, his foot stuck inside one of the mirrors that lined the walls of the room. "Oh, hey, people!" The male exclaimed once he saw them. "A little help here, please?" Seokjin and Hoseok rushed forward, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him until his foot was free. "Thanks~" The male said as he stood up, brushing himself off as he introduced himself. "I'm Min Yoongi."
"How'd you get stuck?" Hoseok asked.
Yoongi ran a hand through his hair. "Mirrors and I don't get along too well. I much prefer air travel." Yoongi then shrugged. "But I made it anyway, I was five minutes away from starting my freshman year a month late."
Hoseok tilted his head in curiosity "Why a month?"
Yoongi's eyebrows furrowed as if Hoseok should have already known. "That's when the first Visitors' Day is. They close the wards until then."
Seokjin then stepped forward, holding his hand out to Yoongi. "Welcome to Penderghast! I'm Seokjin, and this is Hoseok. He's a freshman too. I was just showing him to the dining hall if you need help too-"
Yoongi raised his hand to cut Seokjin off. "Don't worry about it, I'm legacy student. I already know everything about this campus." Yoongi stalked out of the room as Seokjin and Hoseok shared a look.