Yeri heard her shoes clack against the white marble floor as she stepped out of the train and onto the platform. She looked around. Archways towered around her, yet somehow it seemed like she was standing outside due to the spotless glass ceiling, letting all of the sky’s blue in. 

The halls were filled with the sounds of arriving and departing trains, combined with the sounds of rushing water from the numerous fountains placed around the station and the buzzing of the crowd. She was finally here. It was really happening. 

 Before she could fully compose her thoughts, she got interrupted by the hiss of the train doors, announcing their imminent closing. Startled, she turned around and snapped her fingers twice, and a purple suitcase almost as tall as the girl herself came rolling out, just barely fitting through the shrinking opening before the doors shut completely.

 The train whistled a cheerful melody before steadily resuming its way on the track ahead, which curved straight up onto the wall, all the way to the top of the station. Once the train had reached the ceiling, instead of shattering through the glass, it appeared to dissolve into thin air. Yeri's mouth fell open. She had seen countless pictures and videos of this place, but seeing it happen right here in front of her made her feel like a little girl again.

 In her moment of wonder, Yeri had lost control over her suitcase, making it topple over behind her. The little golden cauldron strapped to the top came off and rolled over the platform. The sound of metal clanging against marble pulled Yeri back to the moment. She snorted angrily and pulled the cauldron back towards her. "Come on Yeri, focus." she mumbled to herself while reattaching it to her suitcase. "No blunders on your first day." 

 She walked across the platform, her suitcase rolling obediently after her, when she heard a chirping noise coming from inside her pocket. She sighed. “Of course.” She pulled her smartphone out of her pocket. A little bird was fluttering around on the screen, with the text "Mom" above it. Yeri held the phone in front of her and tapped the screen three times. The bird glowed up, then freed itself from the screen and flew a circle around Yeri's head before staying still in the air a few inches away from her face.

 "Hey sweetie!" sounded the voice of a middle aged woman when it opened its beak. "Did you arrive safely?" Yeri gave a faint smile. "Yes mom, I arrived safely... About two seconds ago. Did you trace the train or something?" The bird laughed. "Oh sweetie, your mommy didn't become a fortune teller for nothing, did she?" Yeri rolled her eyes. "You said it, not me. I'm glad I'll be getting a little privacy from now on." "Well pardon me for wanting to know if my daughter is safe or not!" the bird said indignantly. Yeri sighed. "Yeaaah mom, it was just a joke. Everything went well, really. But I really have to go now, I still have tons of stuff to do this afternoon."

 She tried grabbing the bird, but it skillfully evaded her hand. 

"Wait, I still wanted to-"

 "BYE MOM!" Yeri yelled. 

"But-" was the last word the bird managed to get out before Yeri managed to catch it in her fist. "I'll call you back when I'm in my dorm!" she said before pressing a soft kiss on the birds beak and pushing it back into her phone screen. Yeri blushed when she noticed some of the chuckling passengers that had caught the interaction. "I should've never agreed on putting crystal ball screen glass on this thing." she groaned.

 Yeri continued her way towards the exit of the station. The crowd around her had started to thin out. Suddenly she heard hasty footsteps coming from behind her. She turned her head. A girl came running past, followed by her own suitcase. It was even bigger than Yeri’s, but still managed to be packed far beyond its capacity. As such, the suitcase was wobbling after its owner, struggling to keep up. As the duo passed Yeri, one of the straps on the suitcase came loose, and a book fell off, landing before Yeri’s feet. Yeri bent down to pick it up and yelled after the girl.

“Hey! You dropped something!”

The girl stood still and looked back in surprise. “What?” she yelled back. Before Yeri could respond, the girl’s suitcase caught up to her. With a loud ‘THUD’, the rolling colossus collided with its owner, knocking her to the ground and spilling its contents over the station hall. “Oh my god!” yelled Yeri while covering . She ran towards the girl to help her up. “Are you okay?”

“Ungh…” The girl on the ground groaned while massaging her knees. “Yeah, I’m fine, thank you.” She opened her eyes to look up at Yeri, and then at the mess surrounding her. “Oh man…” she whimpered. “Now I’m definitely going to be late.” 

Yeri helped the girl up. “It’s okay, I’ll help you collect your stuff.” She started picking up some of the books and flasks spread around the floor. “Thank you.” the girl replied with an awkward smile.

“Yikes.” Yeri said while carefully picking up the crystal shards of what used to be a set of potion flasks. “I’m sorry…”

“Ah… I-it’s okay” the girl replied. “I’ll buy some new ones later.”

“Really? These look expensive.”

“No it’s fine, really. I just- I just really need to hurry right now.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

Yeri whistled over a nearby garbagoyle to clean up the shards and continued collecting the girl’s luggage. Among them she noticed some familiar books. 

“Hey, Tranation 101, Basic Potions and their Applications… Are you taking Alchemy?”

“Uh, yeah… It’s my major actually.”

“Oh wow really?! Me too!”

“At SUMAC?”

“Yes!! What’s your name?”

“Sooyoung. Oh, or uh, Joy for my wizarding alias. You?”

“Yerim or Yeri. Either is fine.”

“Alright, well it was nice meeting you Yeri, but I really have to go now. Maybe I’ll see you in class later?” 

“Yeah for sure! Good luck!” Yeri yelled after her as Joy finished packing up her suitcase and sprinted towards the exit, waving back without looking. 

Yeri started to stroll along her own way again, when she noticed something shiny laying on the ground. “Hey, you forgot something!” She yelled after Joy, but she was already out of the picture. Yeri kneeled to pick up what she had found. It appeared to be an earring in the shape of some kind of tropical bird, glittering in all kinds of colours due to the enchanted gems embedded in its feathers. 

“Wow…” Yeri whispered in awe. “This thing looks amazing. I’m sure she’s gonna miss that.” She stood up. Well, good thing she shared a class with her. She reminded herself to give it back to Joy whenever she would run back into her. Right now, time was starting to run out for her as well.

 

When Yeri finally made her way to the exit of the station hall, someone was there waiting for her. A boy stood leaning against the side of the doorway, playing with his watch. “Jeez Yerim, that took you a while.” he said after a big yawn. “I thought you were getting lost in there. Where have you been?” 

“Sorry Hanbin,” Yeri said. “I got held up at the station. You know, mom and stuff. Thanks for waiting for me.” Hanbin laughed out loud. “Wow, your mom is already on your , huh? Well little Yeri, welcome to the land of the free. Enjoy it.”

 The pair started walking the streets, away from the station. Yeri huffed . “Well it wouldn’t be so bad if you hadn’t installed that stupid Tweeter app on my phone. Now I need to catch that freaking bird everytime I try to hang up on her.” Hanbin put an arm around her shoulder. “Come ooon, Yerim. I worked on that app myself for my Magical Programming exam. Surely you would want to support your best friend’s project, right?” 

 Yeri smiled. “As soon as you manage to put a cage on my phone for that thing, I’ll think about it.” she said with mischief. 

“Will do.” answered Hanbin. “Here, let me make it up to you by treating you to a coffee before your first class.” He pointed towards a café on the other side of the street. Yeri shook her head.

 “Sorry, I can’t.” she replied. “I’ve been delayed so much already and I want to set up all my stuff at the dorm before the opening ceremony.” Hanbin rolled his eyes. “Really? You’re going to ditch free coffee with your friend for that boring ceremony? Principal Jung says the same every year.” 

“It’s my first year, Hanbin, I’m expected to be there! Plus, I’m gonna have class from her sister, so I want to make a good impression.”

“Make a good impression? You think the principal is going to notice you between the hundreds of students packed into that hall?”

“Well, I don’t know, maybe Mrs. Jung is going to ask us questions about it in class later.”

“Oh yeah, because hearing her sister’s speech about history and accomplishments is really gonna help you guys with turning rocks into gold.”

“Joke around all you want, I’m going.”

“Welp. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. See you after class?”

“Yeah, sure thing. Bye!” Yeri waved at Hanbin, who took off towards the café. It had been hard to keep in touch with him after he left for university two years ago, so she was glad they finally got to spend some time again, now that she made it here herself. 

 

The first towers of the Seoul University of the Magic Arts & Crafts started appearing on the horizon. The university was an architectural masterpiece, seamlessly combining the aesthetics of the old magical traditions with the slick, modern style of today’s age. Of course,  with having some of the most prestigious wizards in the world work at and graduate from your program, keeping your style up to date was somewhat of  a necessity. 

The fun thing about magic buildings was that there was no reason for them to stay the way they were built for very long, and as such, the SUMAC campus was an ever evolving landscape. 

Yeri could see the giant glass towers of the Cosmic Wing, the moving statues of the Charmed Sculpture Garden and the archaic outer halls of the Great Library. As she further approached, she could start to make out the shapes of the university's main building, the only part of the campus that had stayed the same for all of its existence. These days it was almost exclusively used for special occasions and ceremonies, like the official opening of the school year Yeri was about to attend. 

Once Yeri entered through the outer gates of the campus, she reached for her phone and looked for her invitation mail to find the exact location of her dorm. She could still feel the bliss she felt back when the mail first arrived, signifying her official acceptance into the SUMAC Alchemy program.

 She also remembered how she had to get this new phone because she had thrown her previous one across the room in excitement. Once she retraced it and tapped the notification, a scroll came flying out of her screen and unrolled in front of her eyes, unveiling the entirety of the elaborate university document. 

 

“Dear Kim Yerim, we are glad to notify you of your acceptance 

Into the Alchemy program here at Seoul University of…”

 

“Yeah, yeah… congratulations Yeri” she mumbled impatiently while rapidly scrolling her finger through the text on the virtual scroll. “Now tell me where I need to be.”

 

“...Your dormitory is situated on room number 26, tower 4 in the Eastern Wing of

The Student Dormitory Complex. You will be sharing your dormitory with 4 other stu-”

 

“Got it.” Yeri stopped scrolling and closed the mail. Eastern wing it is. She went up to one of the big maps near the front gate of the campus. “Alright, Hanbin told me about these.” Yeri said to herself. “Let’s see if they’re really as cool as he claimed.”

 She pressed her hand against the surface of the map. A small wave rippled through the canvas. “Hello, new student. Welcome to Seoul University of the Magical Arts and Crafts. How can I assist you” sounded a light, sultry voice from within the map. Yeri squealed in excitement. “Oh my god, it knows I’m a student!!” She quickly composed herself. “Please show me Tower 4 of the Eastern Wing.” Immediately after her command, the ripple disappeared and the map started shifting in front of her, moving towards the eastern side of the campus. “Tower 4 of the Eastern Wing, located.” The map proclaimed as a red marker appeared on Yeri’s destination.

 “To receive personal navigation, please touch your marker. If the location displayed is incorrect, please restate your command.” “Personal navigation?” mumbled Yeri befuddled. “I guess I don’t see why not?” She reached forward and gently pressed the marker that had just appeared on the map. She could feel a pulse under her touch and another ripple went through the map, only this time it wasn’t the map that moved. As soon as her finger left the board, the marker started shifting shape and coming loose from the canvas. A little red butterfly started taking shape in the air in front of her. “Please follow me to your destination” The same voice proclaimed, but now coming from within the butterfly as it fluttered ahead of her and took a turn onto one of the nearby paths.

 “Wait, hold up!” Yeri yelled as she chased after her guide, her trusty suitcase following in line. The butterfly led her through a vibrant garden filled with a variety of flowers she couldn’t even name, then a big white-tiled square where students were chatting, hanging out or practicing spells, followed by a small maze where the waist-height hedges seemed to bend out of their way to clear a path for her. 

 Yeri wanted to stand still and take a moment to take it all in, but the butterfly’s pace forced her to abandon every scene and keep moving. Then, after crossing a set of ponds over bridges made entirely of lily pads, the butterfly kept a halt in front of a wooden door, surrounded entirely by branches of ivy. 

“You have arrived at your destination.” Said the butterfly, then twirled around one last time before disappearing in a puff of red smoke. Yeri looked up, but the ivy climbed up as far as she could see. She tried the door. Locked. Confused, she looked around her, but there was nothing else here. She turned back to the door and knocked. 

A rustle went through the ivy leaves. “Yes?” sounded a voice from behind the door. “Uhh… hello?” said Yeri cautiously. “I need to get inside this tower.”

 The voice paused before answering. “Really now… And why would you need to be inside this tower?” Yeri frowned. “Uhm… because I need to live here? This is tower 4 in Eastern Wing, right? Or did the butterfly make a mistake?” 

“No no, this here is tower 4.”

“...Okay, then can I go in?”

“Well I don’t know, can you?”

Yeri’s confusion started to shift towards frustration

“Am I missing something here?”

“I don’t know, are you?”

Yeri gritted her teeth.

“Why aren’t you letting me in?”

“Why should I let you in?”

“Because I’m a student and this is my dorm!”

“You’re a student?”

“Yes, I am a student.”

“If you were a student, you would know how to get in.”

“Well, I’m not a student YET, but I’m going to be.”

“So you’re not a student.”

“No, I AM a student, I’m just new here.”

“Aaah, so you’re a new student?”

“Yes!”

“If you were a new student, you would have an invitation.”

“I HAVE an invitation!!”

‘Well, if you had an invitation, you would have the key.”

“What?”

“The key.”

“Yes, no I heard you. What do you mean by ‘the key’.”

“Well, what do people usually mean by ‘the key’?”

“You mean I can open this door with my invitation?”

“Not exactly.”

Yeri screamed in anger. “Why don’t you just tell me what I’m supposed to do here!”

“But I am telling you.”

Yeri sat down on the ground and put her head in her hands. Her shoulders started shaking. “Is this some kind of test?” she cried at the door. “Is this some kind of riddle for new students that I’m too stupid to understand? I just wanna get in!” 

The voice behind the door remained silent for a few seconds. Then it answered:

“You haven’t read it, have you?” Yeri looked back up and sniffed her nose.

“What?”

“The invitation. You haven’t read it.”

“Of course I’ve read it. Why else would I be here?”

“I mean FULLY read it.”

Yeri blushed and started searching for her phone. “No no, I’ve read all of it. For sure. I mean, the important parts at least… Maybe I missed a few tiny details here and there-”

“Look, young lady, I get it. The length they make the scrolls these days… If they were still made out of paper, I’d be having some strong words with them about forest conservation.”

The sudden change of tone made Yeri calm down somewhat. The voice continued

Anyway, just give me your phone.”

Yeri gave the door a puzzled look. “Uhh… how?”

“By handing it over to me.”

“H-how do I do that?”

“Just put it right here.”

“Where is here?”

Suddenly, Yeri noticed one of the ivy branches shaking and coming loose from the wall, stretching out towards her like a held out hand. After a brief hesitation, Yeri placed her phone gently on the branch, which wrapped around it and brought it back towards the door, where another branch came loose and started scrolling through her screen in search of the invitation mail.

 Yeri, now alleviated from the task of trying to get inside the tower, felt her curiosity flare back up. “So… who am I talking to, exactly?” She asked. 

“Well you’re talking to me, I hope. Otherwise, this conversation has been a rather peculiar coincidence so far.” the voice replied. Yeri rolled her eyes. Whoever was behind the voice, they had an exceptional talent of getting on her nerves. “Yes, very funny. But who ARE you?” 

The voice chuckled with a rustle of the leaves. “I suppose it was about time for an introduction.”

 

Yeri screamed as a face started to form in the ivy leaves above the door. Two hollow eyes stared at her through a mask made of bark, covered in green. The creature seemed amused at Yeri’s dismay, and his laugh sent a rustle through the vines, all the way up the tower. “What is that?!” yelled Yeri. The mask frowned at her remark. “What? So I’ve already been reduced from a who to a what? Now that’s not very polite. And just as I was about to let you in, too. The name’s Vern, by the way, might you still be interested.”

 Yeri scrambled to her feet, afraid she had just blown away her one chance of getting inside this door. “Oh, no no no, I’m so sorry mister Vern… sir. It’s just- It’s been a long day and I’m new here and I’m not yet used to all of this… this stuff happening. I didn’t mean to offend you, just, please let me in.”

The creature looked down at her and cracked a smile. “It’s alright, young lady. Old Vern is used to a little marvel from the newcomers. I figure you’re not here for a major on the Studies of Mystical Creatures, huh? Yeri blushed. “No sir, I’m an Alchemy major.” 

“Oooh, alchemy!” Vern bellowed. “Well I do love me some shiny things. Anyway, since you asked so nicely,” he continued with a wink, “I’m what you would call, an Ent.”

“An Ent?” was Yeri’s surprised response. “I thought Ents were, you know, trees.”

Vern laughed. “Well sure, some of us are. However, some of us prefer to keep to a more… subtle appearance.” Yeri frowned. “Subtle like covering the entirety of a tower wall?” she said. Vern responded with a booming laugh that frightened the birds away from  the nearby bushes. “You have some wit to you, young lady!” He giggled. “I think I’m going to enjoy your residence.” Yeri returned a smile.

“Now, where were we.” The Ent continued. He opened Yeri’s invitation mail on her phone and started to scroll rapidly throughout the pop-up message. “Now, this might take a while…” he said while continuing to move his branch through the entirety of the scroll. When he reached the final line, he gave the scroll one more firm swipe, revealing the spill around which the message had been rolled. A long, thin key fell out from the paperwork and was skillfully caught by one of the ivy branches. Vern held the key up before Yeri’s face and smiled. “Enjoy your stay, young lady.”