Chapter Text
The next day, Hanbin woke up to find out that none of this had, in fact, been a dream. It was all still real—Hanbin was still at a magic university, and he still (allegedly) had magical powers.
His morning had gone a bit like this: He had awoken to the sound of Matthew banging excitedly on his door. As soon as he’d opened the door, extremely groggy from lack of sleep, he found Matthew waving a piece of paper in Hanbin’s face. Matthew had told him that it was the headmaster’s approval of Hanbin’s application to the university, and that Hanbin could start attending classes that day, assuming he didn’t have other obligations. Hanbin had affirmed that he didn’t have to be at the elementary school for the next two days, and had followed Matthew to breakfast. After a stunningly bland breakfast—magical university food wasn’t any better than regular university food, apparently—Hanbin found himself seated in his first class of the day.
Which was where he was now, learning about the basics of magic with the help of student council president, Kim Jiwoong. Matthew was not-so-discreetly peering over Hanbin’s shoulder as Hanbin tried to follow along with the professor’s lesson. It was admittedly difficult trying to pay attention to both Jiwoong and the professor at once, but Hanbin was trying his best.
“We cast magic by drawing runes,” Jiwoong explained in a hushed tone. “All you have to do is use one of these magic tools to draw them on any surface. Here.”
A magic tool was nothing more than a pen, Hanbin figured out when Jiwoong handed one over to him.
“Just follow the order of the pen strokes when we draw the runes,” Jiwoong continued. “Look, here’s the one the professor is drawing. If you draw it right, it should push that glass across the table.”
Jiwoong pointed at the small glass cup resting on the ashy wooden desk. Hanbin leaned forward to watch intently as Jiwoong drew the rune that the professor had displayed on the chalkboard. As soon as he had lifted his pen from the paper, the glass cup slid about six inches across the table.
Hanbin, feeling his heartbeat quicken with excitement, stared at Jiwoong in awe.
“That’s amazing!” Hanbin said. “How did you do that?”
Jiwoong gave him a grin. “Just copy the rune. Here, you try.”
He pushed a blank sheet of paper towards Hanbin. Hanbin, feeling equal parts nervous and enthralled, gripped the pen in his hand.
Feeling like a little kid learning how to write for the first time, Hanbin shakily began to draw the rune that was written on the chalkboard. The professor droned on at the front of the classroom, but Hanbin could barely hear her voice as he focused on copying the curves and lines of the rune. The sunlight shone through the arched windows, casting a dappled yellow glow on Hanbin’s paper.
“Wait, Hanbin,” Matthew said suddenly, reaching out to place a hand over Hanbin’s. “Make this line more straight. If you curve it like that, it becomes a completely different spell.”
Matthew began guiding Hanbin’s hand across the page, and Hanbin watched, fascinated, as Matthew moved his hand in the opposite direction. It really did feel as though he was one of the elementary school students that he taught.
When Matthew let go of Hanbin’s hand, Hanbin moved to complete the rune. Drawing the last mark on the page, he lifted his eyes to meet the look of Matthew and Jiwoong.
The glass slid straight across the table, much farther than Jiwoong’s attempt, until it was nearly teetering at the edge of the desk, about to fall off—it was saved by Jiwoong, who grabbed it just before it careened off of the edge.
“...Not bad, for your first time,” Jiwoong said, looking impressed.
Hanbin felt a small bit of triumph at that, and at the way that Matthew hit his back affectionately.
“Should I try again?” Hanbin asked, a bit shyly.
“Sure,” Jiwoong replied, and then promptly hit his hand on the desk when he moved to bring the glass to the surface.
Hanbin tried stifling a laugh, and he almost managed to succeed, before Matthew burst into giggles. At that point, Hanbin couldn’t help himself, and he chuckled a bit at the way that Jiwoong winced and began massaging at the sore spot on his hand after setting the glass back on the table.
“Jiwoong is surprisingly clumsy,” Matthew teased, and Jiwoong gave him a mocking glare.
Hanbin felt a bit of fondness bubble up in his chest at the way his best friend smiled at Jiwoong, and at the way that Jiwoong looked back at Matthew with a sparkle in his eye.
Smiling back at the two of them, Hanbin picked up his pen once again and began drawing the rune for the second time.
He had barely gotten down a few marks before he felt Matthew’s hand again, guiding him to get the shape of the marks correctly.
“You’re doing it again,” Matthew mumbled, brow furrowed in confusion.
At the expression on Matthew’s face, Hanbin gave a small frown. “Is it bad to draw them this way?”
“It’s not bad, exactly,” Jiwoong chimed in. “But it’s unusual… I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make this kind of mistake before.”
Well, that certainly did little to settle Hanbin’s newfound apprehension. Matthew helped him draw his lines correctly, though, and then nodded approvingly when Hanbin continued drawing the rest of the rune in what must have been the correct manner.
“Matthew!” The professor sharply called out, and Hanbin watched as Matthew whipped his head towards the front of the classroom. “Answer this question for me.”
Hanbin figured that Matthew had everything under control, and turned his attention back to the rune on the paper. Glancing up to reference the chalkboard once more, the sun briefly shone in Hanbin’s eyes, and he felt his head throb lightly, as if he was getting a headache. Strange.
Eyes back on his paper, Hanbin finished the rune with a broad swoop of his pen. Once he finished drawing, he looked up at Jiwoong to check and see what he thought.
Hanbin barely got to assess whether or not Jiwoong was looking at him with approval before the glass cup shot across the table, ricocheted through the air, and smashed into the wall in front of him.
Immediately, silence fell across the entire classroom. Hanbin felt everyone's eyes burning holes in him as they stared at him, the professor’s mouth open in shock. Hanbin felt a blush creep up on his cheeks then, and he awkwardly clenched his hand into a fist.
“I’m sorry about that,” Hanbin said, forcing a smile on his face. “I’m new to magic, I must have drawn something incorrectly. I’ll help clean it up.”
He moved to walk towards the shards of glass littering the floor, but the professor opened up her notepad and quickly scribbled something on it. As soon as she did so, the shards of glass rose in the air and, slowly, began to slot themselves back together, glittering in the sunlight, until the glass cup from before was whole again.
“What’s your name?” the professor asked Hanbin.
“Sung Hanbin, ma'am,” Hanbin replied, feeling a drop of sweat roll down his temple. Another sharp burst of pain bloomed inside of his head.
“May I see your rune?” the professor responded, hand outstretched.
Hanbin nodded and reached for the paper, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jiwoong place his hand on top of the paper and awkwardly twist it around, so that the ink smeared and the paper ripped cleanly into two pieces.
“Oops,” Jiwoong said to the professor. “It looks like I’ve accidentally ruined it. I’m sorry, you know how clumsy I am.”
Hanbin looked around the room, a bit panicked, and accidentally locked eyes with the man he’d seen the night before—Zhang Hao.
As soon as they’d made eye contact, Hanbin hurriedly looked away, feeling embarrassed.
The professor squinted at Jiwoong, clearly not believing him.
“...Alright,” she relented. Addressing Hanbin, “Please be more careful when drawing your runes next time.”
With that, she turned back to the front of the class, and resumed the lesson. The rest of his classmates followed suit, and Hanbin tried his best to follow along and not to feel embarrassed.
The pain in his head from earlier continued to throb.
*
“It wasn’t that bad,” Matthew said in between shoveling spoonfuls of rice into his mouth. “It’s your first day! Of course you’re not going to get the spell exactly right! Every one of us has a story like that, you know.”
He was, of course, referencing Hanbin’s giant mistake earlier in class that day.
After Hanbin’s classroom fiasco, Jiwoong had advised him to just observe for now. When Hanbin asked why he’d torn up his paper, Jiwoong had given Hanbin a thoughtful look and said something vague about trying to save Hanbin from embarrassment. It seemed a little bit like bullshit, but Hanbin didn’t think the two of them were close enough yet for him to call him out on it.
He’d taken Jiwoong’s advice, though, and spent the rest of the day observing in the few other classes he’d attended.
Now, he was once again enjoying the bland food of the dining hall with Matthew before Matthew had to head off to an evening class that was supposedly too advanced for Hanbin to sit in on.
“Anyway, though,” Matthew said. “How was the rest of your day? Did you like it?”
Matthew almost sounded more excited than Hanbin felt, which was probably accurate. Matthew was known for being cheerful, and he seemed to be taking his role as Hanbin’s guide really, really seriously.
“I did,” Hanbin replied honestly. “I know I have a lot to learn, but everything was so interesting.”
Matthew gave him a cheeky grin. “Aw man, enough of your perfect speaking. How was it really? You can be honest with me, you know!”
Hanbin shook his head. “I’m serious! Thank you for introducing me to this world, Matthew.”
“Aw, you’re going to make me blush,” Matthew said, beaming.
And Hanbin was serious. Thrust into a world where you could conjure fire with your fingertips or move objects with just a few lines on a paper was amazing. Not to mention the giant, ancient university that looked like it was ripped straight out of the pages of a fairytale. It was quite the difference from the sleek, modern look that Hanbin’s old university had.
But because he was Hanbin, there were a few things nagging in the back of his mind.
“Do you know if there’s any place where I can work on my plans for the elementary school? We’re hosting another summer camp in a few days.”
The stack of papers and mess of plans had been weighing on his mind all day, making it difficult for Hanbin to immerse himself in his classes as much as he’d have liked to. It made Hanbin feel a bit guilty, especially when he realized that Matthew was so excited for Hanbin to get involved with the school, but what could Hanbin do about it? These were his responsibilities.
“Do you want to go to the library?” Matthew asked. “There’s not that many students around in the evenings, usually. It’s got a lot of nice study spots.”
Hanbin didn’t get the chance to respond before Matthew suddenly looked at the clock and gasped in almost a comical fashion.
“Oh shit, I’ve gotta get to class!” he nearly shouted, abruptly standing up with his tray. “Do you need anything, Hanbin?”
Hanbin shook his head.
“Alright, gotta go then,” Matthew said, looking distressed.
He slung his backpack over his shoulder and practically ran out of the dining hall, Hanbin smiling after him amusedly.
*
Hanbin found the library easily enough, thanks to the help of a map Jiwoong had given him earlier in the day.
If Hanbin had thought that the rest of the school was beautiful, then the library was truly a sight to behold. It was huge, with ceilings even higher than the ones in the main hall. Any bare inch of walls were covered in murals of stained-glass windows and elegant scrolls of prominent magical figures. Decorative columns framed the ornate, polished bookcases that surrounded the entire room, packed full of books. The bookcases were so high that when Hanbin looked up at the top of them, he almost felt dizzy. He had no idea how anyone reached the books at the top.
Scattered across the painted tiles of the main room were large, sleek desks with antique desk lamps and parlor chairs. Hanbin also saw alcoves nestled into the corner of the corner of the walls. The entire library was so opulent that he almost felt he’d break something if he touched it.
Taking a few steps forward hesitantly, very aware of the clicking noises of his shoes against the tile, he made his way around the room slowly, looking for a spot to study. As he did so, he kept looking around the room, swiveling his head back and forth, eyes wide as saucers.
This proved to be a poor idea, because while he had been staring up at one of the long wall scrolls, he ran straight into one of the study desks off to the side of the room.
Briefly hissing with pain, Hanbin clutched his leg. The pain faded, though, once he glanced up and saw that there had been a student sitting at the desk.
Not just any student, either. Hanbin was looking straight at Zhang Hao, the supposedly reclusive genius.
Hao was looking at Hanbin with a look of surprise, and Hanbin found his gaze so intense that he shyly averted his eyes. Hanbin noticed that in front of Hao was a casting paper, as well as one of the tiny glass cups they had been practicing with earlier in class. On the paper was a mark that was clearly too long and jagged—and judging by the way that Hao was still gripping his pen, Hanbin could only assume that when he’d bumped into the table, he’d also ruined Hao’s spell.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Hanbin exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to mess up your spell!”
Hao stared at him for a beat or two, before cracking a small smile.
“You’re supposed to be quiet in a library, you know,” Hao quipped.
Hanbin felt his face flush.
“Sorry,” he said, this time in a whisper. “I forgot.”
“Forgot you were in a library?” Hao looked amused.
“Ah, well, no, I was just—startled,” Hanbin said hurriedly, for some reason struggling to find his words in the moment.
“I really am sorry for messing up your rune, though,” he added.
“It’s fine,” Hao replied, gaze falling back on his paper. “I can still fix it… Unless you want to try?”
Hanbin was pretty sure that Hao was joking, poking fun at the way that Hanbin had messed up earlier in class. It didn’t feel malicious, though.
And for some reason, he found himself nodding, not of his own accord.
“I’d love to!” Hanbin said, the words falling out of his mouth involuntarily.
Hao looked surprised at this, but barely a second passed before he was setting down his pen, lying it flat on top of the paper, and pushing it towards Hanbin.
Hanbin, suddenly feeling a bit nervous, picked up the pen. Hao was looking at him intensely, and Hanbin felt his cheeks begin to heat up.
Trying to recall his professor’s instructions from the day’s earlier lesson, Hanbin began drawing. He felt as though Hao’s eyes were boring holes into his head. It was a bit difficult to remember how exactly to draw the rune, but Hanbin was pretty sure that he was doing things correctly.
That is, until he drew the last mark, and then Hao was saying “Ah, wait—”
The glass, rather than inching across the table, slid halfway across the table and then seemingly exploded. Unlike what had happened in class earlier, though, the cup hadn’t needed to hit anything before shattering into pieces. It seemed to simply explode for no reason.
The shards of glass scattered across the table’s surface. One of them flew across Hanbin’s hand, and another one flew into the air and nicked Hao’s cheekbone, leaving behind a thin line of red.
Eyes wide, horrified, Hanbin said, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that—are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” Hao choked out, reaching up to touch his face.
When he pulled his hand back and saw the red that was speckled across his fingers, he didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. Rather, his eyes were glued to the paper in front of him.
“How did you… Where did you learn to draw the rune like this?” Hao asked.
Hanbin, still taken aback by what had just happened, tilted his head in confusion. “I thought that’s how the professor taught us?”
When Hao just stared at the rune, brows furrowed in confusion.
“I’m really new to magic,” Hanbin continued. “So if I made a mistake… I’m not really sure what I did wrong. Are you sure you’re not hurt? Your cheek…”
Hao waved his hand, as if he was dismissing Hanbin’s comments.
“Do you see how you drew your outer lines curved here?” Hao pointed at the outer ring of strokes. “They’re supposed to be straight. I’d avoid drawing them like this, if I were you. The professor won’t like it.”
Now that Hanbin was thinking about it, these lines looked similar to the mistake he had made earlier in class.
“I see,” Hanbin said. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“No problem,” Hao muttered, before quickly scribbling out another rune that mimicked the professor’s spell from earlier—the shards of glass lifted into the air and rearranged themselves back into the shape of the glass cup.
“I’ve got to go,” Hao said, somewhat abruptly, shoving his books into his bag.
Hanbin blinked at the sudden shift in Hao’s demeanor. “Oh, okay. Thanks for helping me just now—and I’m sorry about your…” He gestured to Hao’s cheek.
“Like I said, it’s fine,” Hao repeated, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
When he wiped his cheek, a small spot of blood smeared across his cheek. It didn’t seem to do much to stop the bleeding, either, and Hanbin suddenly found himself clumsily opening his backpack and digging around inside.
“Ah, wait,” Hanbin said. “Just one second.”
Finding the package of bandaids in his backpack, he quickly opened one and leaned forward.
Hanbin heard Hao inhale sharply as Hanbin gently placed the bandaid across Hao’s cut. Patting it in place carefully, Hanbin gave Hao a smile and leaned backwards. Hao looked bewildered.
“Thanks,” Hao said. “You should probably use one for your hand too.”
Hanbin had honestly sort of forgotten about that, but when he glanced down, he saw that his hand was indeed still bleeding.
“Oh, yeah,” Hanbin said. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
“Right,” Hao said slowly. “Well, I’ll be going.”
“See you around,” Hanbin said, giving Hao a small wave.
Hao just smiled back, then turned around and retreated from the room. As soon as he left, Hanbin felt the tip of his ears begin to burn.
*
Hanbin had honestly completely forgotten about his encounter with Hao as he dove headfirst into his work.
There was so much to be done. Hanbin felt a bit like he was drowning in the amount of paperwork and planning he had to do. There were parents to contact, schedules to create, future lessons to plan for, and lots of record-keeping he’d volunteered to do to take the load off of the admin.
When he was hunched over his work like this, he couldn’t help but feel as though his entire body was tensed up, as if he was a spring tightly wound up. There was a constant thrum of anxiety that laced its way through his body, and he felt very on-edge.
Hanbin hadn’t even noticed that he was tired until the words on the page in front of him began to swim in front of his eyes. Glancing up at the clock, he realized that it was nearly two in the morning.
Reluctantly, he stood up and packed his bags to make the trek back to his dorm room. As he exited the library, he tried to ease the frantic beating of his heart.
*
The next day was a bit more difficult than the first.
Hanbin had tried the spell with the glass cup again, paying careful attention to avoid drawing his rune with curved lines like Hao had advised him. Hao himself was nowhere to be seen—Hanbin hadn’t seen him in any of his classes, despite the fact that he knew Hao should’ve at least been in the morning class where Hanbin had his glass-shattering fiasco yesterday. Hanbin had felt a little disappointed, if he was honest. He’d wanted to check up on Hao and ask him if he was alright after last night. (If he maybe also wanted to get to know him a bit more, that was nobody’s business but his).
Regardless, though, Hanbin found Hao’s advice to be useful—he’d overprojected the glass cup’s course yet again, but at least it hadn’t gone careening into the wall again. All of his glass cups had remained intact, earning him a few cheers and a pat on the back from Matthew and Jiwoong.
That would have been fine, but Hanbin found himself to be exhausted after only getting a measly four hours of sleep the night before. He was also unfortunately extremely preoccupied with all of the work he’d left unfinished the night prior.
So currently, he was heading towards the library in the evening again.
Walking down one of the stone tile hallways, he was so lost in his own thoughts of work that he didn’t see when someone approached him from the side and slammed into him, knocking Hanbin straight into the ground.
Stars swimming across his field of vision, Hanbin winced as he sat up on the cold ground, gripping his head in his hand.
Sprawled out in front of him was another student who was surrounded by a flurry of papers that had spilled out from his backpack. Rubbing his arm, the student locked eyes with Hanbin and his eyes widened.
“Ah, I’m sorry,” Hanbin said apologetically. “I must not have been watching where I was going.”
“It’s okay,” the student replied, very awkwardly.
He was staring at something behind Hanbin. Hanbin, confused, glanced over his shoulder. Behind him was a gray stone wall, but there was a large gap in some of the stones, leading into an inky darkness. Hanbin watched, unsure of what to make of this, as the stones gratingly slid into place, covering the gap completely.
When Hanbin blinked, he’d found that it was hard to believe there had ever been a hole in the first place.
The other boy was staring at him, eyes darting back and forth from Hanbin’s face and where the hole had been in the wall.
“Um,” Hanbin said, clearing his throat. “I didn’t come from there, if that’s what you were wondering.”
The other student nodded his head jerkily, but was still looking at Hanbin suspiciously.
“Here, let me help you,” Hanbin said kindly, moving towards the papers scattered about on the floor.
The student didn’t protest, and began slowly collecting the papers together with Hanbin. Hanbin noticed the student’s eyes drifting continuously to the spot in the wall where the gap had been, and then it suddenly hit Hanbin.
“Oh,” Hanbin said. “Did you come from that gap in the wall?”
The boy’s shoulders promptly stiffened, and he ducked his head to avoid making eye contact with Hanbin.
“No,” the boy replied, but it was obvious that he was lying.
“It’s okay if you did!” Hanbin assured him quickly. “I won’t tell anyone about it or anything!”
The boy glanced up at him again.
“You won’t?” he asked quietly.
“No,” Hanbin replied, shaking his head. “I’m new here, so… I don’t really have any reason to tell on you. Your secret’s safe with me.”
To be honest, Hanbin didn’t really know why he was so ready to trust this other student. He didn’t know him at all, hadn’t seen him around even once—for all Hanbin knew, this guy could be some sort of sneaky magical serial killer.
But there was something about his awkward mannerisms that made Hanbin hesitantly decide he was trustworthy. Besides, he had the school-issued textbooks, so the likelihood of him being some criminal sneaking into the university seemed pretty low. That and the fact that Hanbin didn’t really know if these secret passageways were common, or anything. He’d have to ask Matthew later.
“Thanks,” the boy said quietly, once he and Hanbin had finished picking up the remaining sheets of paper.
“No problem,” Hanbin said. “I didn’t catch your name, by the way. I’m Hanbin.”
The student gave him a hesitant smile, one that reminded Hanbin of a shy cat who was finally deciding to open up to a stranger.
“I’m Ricky,” he said.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ricky,” Hanbin said. “I hope you have all your papers! I was just on my way to the library.”
Ricky frowned. “The library?”
“Yeah,” Hanbin replied. “It’s this way, right…?”
His voice trailed off at the end when he surveyed his surroundings and found out that he didn’t actually recognize the hallway he was in. Like, at all.
…He supposed that he’d gotten too caught up in thinking about his long to-do list to pay attention to where he was going.
“It seems I’ve gotten lost,” Hanbin said, blinking as he looked around him.
“...Do you need some help?” Ricky asked, in a tone that almost seemed unsure.
If only Hanbin had taken the map Matthew had given him the other day with him. But, alas…
“If you don’t mind,” Hanbin said sheepishly. “Sorry, I’m new to this school, so I’m not used to the layout yet.”
He gave Ricky an apologetic grin.
“It’s okay,” Ricky said quietly. “The library’s this way.”
And then the two of them were off, footsteps pattering on the ground as they walked through the hallway. The sun was beginning to set outside, and the stained glass windows filtered the light that shone through it so that there was a myriad of colors shining through the hallway.
“So, where were you headed, Ricky?” Hanbin asked conversationally.
“Just the dorms,” Ricky replied.
“Oh, which hallway is your dorm in?”
“Um, I actually don’t know,” Ricky said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I was supposed to get a new room assignment soon, but I haven’t yet. My old room is in the east hallway, I guess.”
“The east hallway!” Hanbin exclaimed. “I’m in the west hallway, so let me know if you end up there.”
Ricky nodded.
“How long have you been attending here?” Hanbin asked, just to keep the conversation going. “I’ve only been here for a few days.”
“About a year,” Ricky replied.
“Do you like it here?”
Ricky nodded. “It’s nice here. It’s a bit far away from where I come from, so sometimes it’s hard to meet up with my friends and my boy—I mean, um. My friends.”
He stammered it a bit awkwardly, eyes darting nervously towards Hanbin’s face.
“Your boyfriend?” Hanbin prompted gently. “It’s okay, I won’t judge you. I actually… Well, I like men too.”
It wasn’t exactly Hanbin’s preference to come out to someone when he’d first met them, but this was clearly an exception. Apparently, the presence of magic within society didn’t mean that homophobia didn’t exist.
Ricky looked a bit surprised at first, but after a few seconds, a wide grin spread across his face. His smile looked so pure and genuine that Hanbin felt a swell of affection for him, despite the fact that they had met not even a mere half hour ago.
“Really?” Ricky asked excitedly.
“Yeah,” Hanbin grinned back at him.
He had gotten caught up in their conversation, to the point where he hadn’t realized they had just stepped into the library.
“Oh, we’re here,” Hanbin said, blinking at their surroundings. Turning back to Ricky, he continued, “Thanks for showing me around, Ricky.”
Ricky gave him another shy smile. “It’s no problem.”
“I hope to see you around soon,” Hanbin replied, lifting his hand in a wave.
Ricky waved back, then retreated into the hallway. Turning around to walk into the library, Hanbin felt the dread creep back into him as he remembered the reason why he was here in the first place—to finish his work.
*
The next morning, Hanbin was trekking through the woods with Matthew again.
The woods were much less eerie in the daytime, nothing at all like how they had felt just a few nights ago, when Hanbin had accidentally stumbled across this magical world. In fact, when the sun was shining through the treetops and the birds were chirping, the woods actually seemed quite peaceful. There was a slight breeze that felt nice on Hanbin’s skin.
Matthew had seemed like an expert navigating the forest the other night, but when Hanbin was no longer feeling a heightened sense of surprise and mild fear, he saw that there was actually a clear pathway towards the portal door.
“Here we are!” Matthew chirped, gesturing dramatically towards the portal door.
“Thanks,” Hanbin said. “Which rune should I use?”
“Oh, I asked Jiwoong to make a couple for you,” Matthew replied, and began digging around in his pockets. “Just finish the seal, and then write the address of the destination you want to go to underneath it. You can use them when you come back here, too.”
“Right,” Hanbin said, taking the papers that Matthew handed to him. “Uh, how do I get back here, exactly…?”
Matthew blinked owlishly up at him for a few seconds.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you,” he said. “But they should work in just about any doorway if you draw the rune and write your location. We just have to go into the woods while we’re at school because portal magic is banned at the university.”
“Banned?”
“Yeah, but I mean, it’s no big deal. It’s mostly so that the university can keep track of who enters and exits the university. Like, the school is not gonna let some dark magic user just waltz right in.”
“Makes sense,” Hanbin said, and then held up one of the papers against the bark of one of the trees that made up the frame of the portal door.
Finishing the rune that Matthew had drawn was easy enough, and Hanbin had barely finished scribbling his apartment’s address underneath it before the portal door was glowing the same icy, brilliant blue he had seen a few days ago. Hanbin watched, not at all used to the way the trees in the forest in the doorway swam before his eyes, before it faded and turned into the familiar setting of his apartment.
“Dude, you’ve gotta clean up in there,” Matthew said, clearly stifling a laugh.
Hanbin looked at the messy bedroom that was shown through the portal, desk scattered with papers and the bed unmade.
“Yeah, I know,” Hanbin said, not bothering to hide his own chuckle.
“Well,” Matthew said, throwing an arm around Hanbin’s shoulder. “Good luck! I’ll see you in a few days?”
“Yeah,” Hanbin replied. “I’ll be back once my daycare shifts are done for the week.”
Matthew gave him a grin and a wave, and then Hanbin was stepping forward towards the portal door. The door was glowing, and Hanbin felt almost entranced watching the blue light emanating from it.
He felt a bit nervous, if he was honest. The last time he’d gone through the portal, he hadn’t been conscious of any of that. (In fact, as Jiwoong had explained to him earlier, it was likely that he stumbled through the portal unconsciously as part of his magical powers spontaneously awakening). Hanbin doubted the experience would hurt, but he felt a little thrum of anticipation anyways.
He glanced over his shoulder quickly, and saw Matthew watching him. Matthew gave him a thumbs up.
Taking a deep breath, Hanbin faced forward again, and stepped into the doorway.
He registered a feeling akin to falling, or the dropping of one’s stomach when they were on a rollercoaster, and then all of a sudden, he was back in his apartment.
Looking around, Hanbin found himself wondering again if the past few days had all been a dream. Suddenly, he was zapped back to his very normal, very typical reality of your average worker. Everything was exactly as he’d left it.
Hanbin patted the pocket of his pants, and found that the runes Matthew had given him were still there. Using that to ground him, he pulled out his phone and checked the date.
Sure enough, the past few days he’d spent in the castle had passed in this world as well. Hanbin would have to ask for more details on how all of that worked whenever he went back to the university, he supposed.
But that was for later. For now, it was a clear, blazing summer morning, and Hanbin had to get back to work.