The dorm door creaked open like it was scared of what was inside.
Relatable.
I stepped in, expecting dust, quiet, and maybe a cursed bunk bed.
What I got was:
Fire.
A glowing circle on the floor humming with arcane static.
A shirtless guy in pink bunny slippers waving a spatula at a mana crystal.
"Back! Back, ye cursed batter!" he shouted as something exploded softly on the stove.
"…I don't even know what part of that sentence to worry about first," I muttered.
He spun around, eyes wide, flour on one cheek like battle paint. "Yo! You're the Special Admission kid!"
I blinked. "And you're clearly unsupervised."
He grinned. "Name's Ren! Heir of the majestic Aethergaze Clan. Owner of exactly one functional mana rice cooker and several bad decisions. You must be Jihoon, the guy who got name-dropped at the ceremony and didn't immediately combust."
"Excuse me—'didn't combust'?"
"I had money riding on you spontaneously exploding. You messed up my odds, bro."
Fair point.
I looked around. There were three levitating books, a sock draped over an enchanted staff, and what looked like a spellbound crystal screen showing... was that Squid Game?
"…Are you watching Squid Game?"
"Obviously," Ren said proudly, tapping a floating orb with remote-like runes. "Aether Sight, baby. I can stream Earth content directly into my eyeballs through calibrated soul frequency arrays. You like variety shows? I got you. Want manga? Say less."
I blinked. "So… you're a chaos wizard with Netflix?"
"I'm a cultural preservationist with questionable aim and great taste."
Another soft boom came from the stove.
"Okay, less great cooking skills, though," I added.
"Those pancakes are alchemical," he defended. "If you survive eating one, you get a temporary buff to luck and possibly diarrhea."
I dropped my bag and flopped onto the edge of my non-glowing bed. "I thought I was gonna be the weird roommate."
Ren tossed me a mana-fried pancake. It bounced.
"You still might be," he said, grinning like we'd known each other for years. "But now we're weird together."
And honestly… I didn't hate that.
My eyes wandered toward his nightstand—and froze.
Taped to the side of the wood like a badge of honor… was a sticker.
Sharp smile. Finger guns. Smug energy radiating off cheap paper like a boss aura.
It was Lloyd.
The Lloyd. Lloyd Frontera. From The Greatest Estate Developer.
The menace. The mastermind. The chaos god in business casual.
I pointed, eyes wide. "Wait. Is that Lloyd?"
Ren whipped around like he'd just heard a prophecy being fulfilled. "Water is good."
My jaw dropped. "Water is Lloyd."
We both stood. Locked eyes.
"LLOYD IS GOOD."
*HIGH FIVE*
"HELL YEAH."
And just like that—
Two idiots.
One dorm.
Infinite chaos.
The academy had no idea what it just allowed.
"Alright," Ren said, stretching and cracking his neck. "Now that we've spiritually bonded over pancakes and propaganda"
Ren clapped his hands like a man possessed by caffeine and poor ideas.
"Alright, Jihoon," he declared. "Time for the Unofficial, Ren-Certified, Mostly-Accurate Dorm Tour.™"
"Mostly accurate?"
"Accuracy is subjective. Let's go!"
He tossed me a spare mana cloak that still smelled faintly of burnt lavender and regret, and dragged me into the hallway like a budget magician pulling a rabbit out of a dimensional rift.
"This hallway?" he whispered, pointing to a long corridor glowing faintly blue. "Cursed. Don't walk down it on Wednesdays. Or during lunar eclipses. Or if you're holding soup."
"…What happens if you do?"
He leaned closer. "You don't want to know."
"First stop," Ren whispered like a sneaky gremlin, "The Eternal Bathroom."
"…Why is it called that?"
He pushed the door open dramatically. "Because someone cursed it three years ago. Every time you walk in, it resets to your preferred temperature, your favorite shampoo scent, and once, for me, it started playing lo-fi Earth jazz."
I stepped inside. The torches flared a calming lavender. Steam drifted up from a perfectly drawn bath. Somewhere, faintly, a saxophone solo played.
"…Okay, this place wins."
"Right?" Ren said proudly. "Also, the mirrors whisper compliments if you brush your teeth for a full minute. Encouragement magic. Very underappreciated."
We passed a large iron door sealed with about eight layers of arcane locks.
"That's the Detention Vault," Ren whispered. "But it's mostly just used to store volatile students. Or haunted textbooks. One time, a guy summoned a sentient midterm. It started grading people in their sleep."
A faint humming came from a side chamber where mana mist drifted lazily across the floor.
"That's the Laundry Pool," Ren said. "You throw your clothes in and they come out clean, folded, and sometimes enchanted. It's fifty-fifty whether your hoodie gains +5 fire resistance or starts whispering existential dread."
I stared. "What's the worst thing it's done?"
He shrugged. "Sang K-pop covers of breakup songs for three days. In reverse."
He pointed to a quiet alcove with a cracked mirror and a crystal plant growing out of the ceiling.
"Avoid this spot if you're emotionally unstable," he said solemnly. "The mirror reads your aura and then shows you what anime character you're most spiritually aligned with."
"…And that's a problem?"
Ren shuddered. "I got Yamcha."
In the stairwell, he motioned to a rune-marked vending machine humming ominously.
"Only use that one if you're desperate," he warned. "It doesn't take coins. It takes secrets. Say something embarrassing, and it'll spit out a snack."
"Seriously?"
He nodded solemnly. "I once confessed I cried during that Rengoku scene. The vending machine gave me a limited-edition mana bar and whispered, 'Your flame still burns.' Totally worth it."
We passed a student cafeteria. Ren slowed his pace.
"If the soup whispers back," he said gravely, "just eat it fast. That way it doesn't have time to learn your name."
"Excuse me?!"
"It's fine. Only happens on full moons."
Near the back of the building, we stopped at a locked door labeled "Magical Maintenance."
"This is where the custodial golems live," Ren whispered. "You don't open this door. Ever. One time a guy peeked inside and got vacuumed into the astral plane. He's fine now. Sort of. He twitches near brooms."
Back at the room, I flopped into my bed, brain overloaded.
"You good?" Ren asked, sipping mana tea out of a mug that read: 'I Paused My Reincarnation for This'.
"I think I just toured a cursed building, heard whispering food, and possibly got diagnosed by a mirror."
Ren grinned. "Welcome to Drakensoul, baby."
📺 Chapter 6 One-Line Trailer:
Jihoon's first class at Drakensoul Academy involves exploding runes, weaponized sarcasm, and the horrifying realization that "Orientation" was just code for "Survival Trial, Good Luck."
📝 Author's Note – The Chaos Was the Correct Answer
📊 Last Chapter's Poll Results Are In:
Q: What will Jihoon's first class involve?
Answer: Stay tuned for Chapter 6 to find out...
(But let's be honest—it's probably all of the above.)
This chapter introduced Jihoon's greatest weakness:
✨ Chaotic best friend energy with zero adult supervision.
Let me know in the comments:
If you had to survive a dorm like this, what's your first move?
🛏️ A) Claim the glowing bed
🧪 B) Eat the pancake for the meme
🪞 C) Stare into the aura mirror and accept your fate
📚 D) Transfer to a normal school with less risk of soup-related death
Or, let's be real...
E) Join Ren and cause even more problems on purpose 😈
Until next time—stay unpredictable, stay powerful, and remember:
LLOYD IS GOOD.
—Your mildly hexed narrator 💀🐉