Chapter 1
Merlin's School for Magical children was everything one could imagine, need and so much more. It was constructed on the boundaries of Busan, along the coastal area, protected by barriers of enchantment that kept it out of the sight of the 'Regulars'—non magical folks.
What appeared to be the sea to any Regular out there was actually the ground on which the school was constructed. Any person with magical blood in their veins could walk over that azure sea and get enrolled in Korea's biggest school for the irregulars.
The eight towers interlinked with four dormitories and bridges were surrounding the widest, biggest and the most beautiful lush fields of green. The bridges were constructed on artificial rivers and the seasons were changed magically.
Apart from rest of the Korea, where the sun was scorching, when Jeon Jeongguk entered the magical boundaries of MSMC, he felt snow on his fingertips. Instantly his grief was washed down with all white that surrounded those ancient looking, black painted towers. With a red beanie covering his head, a varsity jacket slung over a black tee-shirt, a baggy beige pant that made his legs look like shapeless logs and brown timberlands on his feet, Jeon Jeongguk was ready to enroll.
11-year-old Jeongguk was admitted in the school with a bright smile from Principal Lissy and was escorted by Taemin, the student body president, to his dormitories. His parents had already bid him a hasty goodbye as they were getting late for their respective jobs.
All along the way, Jeongguk witnessed the modern aesthetic of the hallways with floating objects, bewitched antiques, talking tapestry, and self cleaning windows. His parents lived in the Regular parts of the Daegu so they had to maintain a proper cover in order to avoid exposure of their magical community. His mother was an Irregular, she could turn invisible, and his father was a Regular. Magic was never an constant in his life, but suddenly this much exposure to magic had left his adolescent mind, boggled.
A little too boggled.
"Make way! Enchanted trolley incoming! Make way!" someone shouted from behind him. Jeongguk turned around to see a tall, lanky teenager with purple hair, trying to control a trolley filled with delicious looking cakes and pastries. But the only thing that captured his attention were those shorts clad, meaty and muscular, "Wow, thighs!"
The wheels of the silver trolley swayed uncontrollably on the azure tiled floor making screeching sounds. "Not him again," Taemin whispered under his breath, sighing, as he pulled Jeongguk closer to the walls. The bewitched antiques along with everyone present in the hallways took alarmed steps left and right to avoid collision.
"Pardon me! Apologies! Coming through!" another voice shouted from beside the trolley man. He was a handsome teenager, Jeongguk would give him that. His jet black hair were tousled over his head, a set of sharp eyes, straight nose, beautiful plump lips and a sharp jaw line. "I swear Namjoon, why do I even trust you?" the older of the two scowled, as said Namjoon, the trolley boy, ran flustered without a direction.
If the wheels would go left, Namjoon would curse, and the bystanders would gasp and run to the right and when the wheels would turn right then the handsome boy would curse and try pushing everything and everyone out of the way. The spectacle was too entertaining to witness and nobody was bold enough to mess with one of the Cursed items.
One of the china plates settled on top of Jeongguk's head and giggled, enjoying the way girls and boys were submerging into one another like gushing waves. Jeongguk's soul almost left his body when it happened.
And suddenly the trolley turned his way. Jeongguk's heart hammered in his chest, his mind was still boggled when Taemin rushed to the other side, calling out for Jeongguk to move...but the little brunette was stuck in time. Namjoon was shouting at him to get away, the handsome guy was waving his arms to gain Jeongguk's attention, even the China plate was bouncing on Jeongguk's head to make a move on and suddenly there was BAM!
It all happened in mere seconds. And Jeongguk never was a quick person.
The trolley crashed into Jeongguk. There were collective gasps from the bystanders, a loud curse from Taemin and a cry of glee from Namjoon. The silver trolley was now lying in two halves, the cakes smudged against Jeongguk's red and white jacket and the floor, while the brunette just stood there wonder-struck. The trolley had crashed against him and broke itself in two. The china plate sighed in relief and slumped on his head then suddenly Jeongguk felt someone hugging him.
"Oh dear Merlin, I thought I would have a heart attack!" the handsome boy exclaimed, hugging Jeongguk close. Namjoon was busy admiring his hands as if he just got a brand new pair.
"It's alright, I'm quite fine, You got your shirt dirty because of me," Jeongguk managed to choke out when the older boy pulled away. He gave Jeongguk a charismatic grin saying, Nevermind that, at least you are fine!" and smacked Namjoon's head. "Will you apologize or not?" the boy questioned.
"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Namjoon exclaimed, bowing in front of Jeongguk. The brunette blushed as Namjoon continued, "I'm sorry. I did not know that Jaechen had switched my trolley with the cursed one and I was on Community Service today and I was kinda late so I grabbed it hastily and then I couldn't let go and suddenly it was just dragging me away! I had no idea what to do!" Namjoon rapped out, standing straight now, and rubbing the back of his neck.
Jeongguk just stared at the boy with wide eyes. The older one rolled his eyes and introduced himself, "I go by the name of Kim Seokjin, or World Wide Handsome—I won Korea's most handsome teen award when I was 15 and MSMC's heartthrob when I was 16, not to brag or anything but you're lucky to meet me in person," Seokjin held his head high and gave a proud flying kiss. "Though, you can call me Jin. Congratulations on getting rid of that cursed trolley." The ravenette stretched out a hand for Jeongguk to shake.
A million and one thoughts did a whirlwind in Jeongguk's head, as he gulped. Jin looked at him expectantly and Namjoon stared at him sheepishly. Jeongguk pressed his lips in a straight line and slowly stretched out his to shake Jin's. The older grinned and Jeongguk realized that Namjoon also had his hand out. The tall teen pulled his hand away, giving himself a high-five and an awkward smile to Jeongguk, "Bingo!" he laughed.
Taemin coughed to gain the trio's attention and suddenly Jeongguk realized that everything was normal again, as normal as it could magically be. The tapestries were talking among themselves again, there was distant chatter in the hallways, the floor had cleaned itself and the two halves of the trolley were strolling side by side like drunken old men—going Merlin knows where.
"Congratulation on the spectacular introduction," Taemin addressed Jin and Namjoon, and then turned to Jeongguk, "You just met your dorm mates."
Jeongguk's lips formed an 'O' as Taemin further continued addressing Jin and Namjoon. "This type of behavior is unacceptable in our school. You are a Third Year student now Namjoon, when will you stop being so chaotic? And Jin, it's unpleasant to see you like this. If the news travels to your father, he will have your head!" Jin visibly flinched. "Detention! Both of you! Cut the grass with a pair of scissors!"
"But—" Jin tried to reason.
"Wait till I get my hands on that Jaechen wannabe prankster! How dare he meddle with the artifact room again?! I will settle that ungodly vomit-colored blonde head of his for once and for all! " the Head Boy boomed and strode away, following the trolley.
Namjoon shrugged and Jin just exhaled a strangled breathed, looking like he was on the verge of tears.
Jeongguk stood between them rather awkwardly.
Namjoon slung an arm across Jeongguk's shoulders, "So kiddo, your first day, huh?"
Jeongguk nodded, trying not to look at their faces. They proceeded toward their dorms. Jin walking beside them with his hands in his pant pockets.
"Are you excited?" Namjoon asked and Jeongguk shook his head. Jin smirked.
"Are you nervous?" Namjoon asked and Jeongguk nodded.
"Don't worry kiddo; we'll take care of you; you're in good hands now," Namjoon spoke in a 'matter-of-factly' tone.
"Something tells me to not believe that statement," Jeongguk muttered under his breath and Namjoon gasped. Jin chuckled.
"Oh! It speaks!"
Jin smacked Namjoon's head again and the younger scowls at him, rubbing his head. They took a lot of turns that Jeongguk was damn sure he'll forget before by the end of an hour and climbed three stair-cases which left the poor brunette panting for breath. 'When the whole school was magic, then why in Merlin's name the stair-cases so similar to the Regulars?!' Jeongguk whined in his head.
"We're here now," Jin announced, standing in front on a teal door that read 'T-7'.
Jeongguk expected the room to have chandeliers, comfortable four poster beds, walk in closets, wallpapered walls, talking lamps, fragrant sheets and so much more. But what he got was two bunker beds, three desks, one cupboard, white walls, teal sheets, a calendar, a bedside table and an alarm clock. He frowned.
"What happened? Is it not everything that you expected?" Jin asked, pushing Jeongguk in and instructing Namjoon to close the door behind them.
"It has nothing that I expected," was Jeongguk's sad reply. A cute pout graced his lips.
Namjoon grinned. "At least it cleans itself..."
And now it was Jeongguk's turn to share the grin.
<3
Halfway through his first day, Jeongguk had gotten pretty famous as 'The boy who destroyed the cursed trolley.' It was embarrassing at first but after meeting Jung Hoseok at lunch, Jeongguk decided that nothing could embarrass him anymore.
There were two reasons for this spontaneous decision. Firstly, Jung Hoseok was wearing a flower crown in school hours, had a neon pink jacket that read, 'I'M FABULOUS!!', and was busy doing ballet in the hallways. Secondly, he was emitting farting noises from his mouth.
When Namjoon questioned his sanity, Hobi replied in his usual dramatic flair-making sure his audience had all the audio and visual required, "Yoongi hyung farted in second period-a small pout sound that you'd make while clicking your tongue on't'-due to his stomach problem and someone made fun of him, so I started making these noises—bum chica t t—and pretend that I was doing it all along so that those bullies would be pissed. And pissed they were, as they tried to insult me and I word-farted in their faces! When one of them decided to punch me, I cried out loud—in my horse whine—but then the Teacher rushed in and punished them and let us off the hook."
His monologue ended with a bright smile on his face, chest out with pride and hands on his waist. Only for the moment to be ruined by a loud smack from Yoongi to Hoseok. "How dare you describe my fart out loud?"
Jin had grinned proudly on that, "If you're doing something embarrassing, then doing it with your friends makes it less embarrassing. So let's all get embarrassed together!" Jeongguk shuffled uncomfortably over the thought of wearing neon pink and taking out farting noises. He shuddered. Only Jung Hoseok could pull that off with confidence.
Namjoon whistled lowly and Yoongi smacked Hobi's head for the second time-just because he could. Jeongguk just eyed them with amazing respect and sealed lips. He found Hobi and Yoongi to be an odd pair. While Hobi was an active, bubbly, charming and loud red head, Yoongi was a small, pale, lanky, lethargic blonde. They were so different when, upon introduction, Hobi had pulled Jeongguk into a hug, patted his back and promised to be an ideal hyung and Yoongi had ruffled his hair and promised to give him food and be friendly as long as he does not disturbs his sleep. Was he a dog now?
But still, Yoongi knew just when Hobi wanted water, a hug or a napkin and Hobi knew just how Yoongi ate his eggs, how he wanted his coffee and where he slept to bunk classes.
"Yeah, that's quite alright, but why are you still making these noises?" Yoongi questions.
"I find these beats quite addicting and I just cannot stop," Hobi confessed, grinning sheepishly. And those long farting sounds followed Jeongguk everywhere for the next few weeks.
<3<3
Jeongguk was practically adopted by his former dorm mates, now best friends, and an year alter, he felt like he was leaving a part of him behind when he had to leave for summer holidays. Jeongguk did not shed a single tear when he was parting from his family, but on watching a pouty Jin, an expressionless Yoongi, a sad faced Namjoon and a sobbing Hobi, Jeongguk couldn't help the tears that treacherously fell off his eyes.
He hugged them close, not wanting to let go.
The year had flown by in haste and Jeongguk had a better control on his powers now, but still no courage or patience to meet the one he left behind. Maybe Jeongguk's absence made Taehyung realize how much he was missing on? Maybe Taehyung had forgiven him? Maybe Taehyung had finally revoked Jimin's 'Best Friend' title and was waiting back home for Jeongguk to take it? Maybe he just missed his presence?
Jeongguk could just hope as he followed his hyungs to teleportation point, the empty rooftop of the seventh tower. There were multiple white boxes numbered from 1 to 10. Jeongguk hugged them one last time, stepped on the box nearest to him, number 9, and shouted, "HOME!"
<3<3<3