18: The Hotel Hysteria and Soda Bottle Diplomacy

Chapter 18: The Hotel Hysteria and Soda Bottle Diplomacy

James stood outside the hotel where Moon and Kai were staying, staring at the signboard with squinted eyes.

"Wait a minute," he muttered, tilting his head, "Did I even read the name of this hotel before coming in?"

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and took a step forward.

Truth be told, James had rushed in such a hurry that he hadn't even noticed the name of the place. And now that he was standing here, something felt oddly familiar. His eyes widened.

"Wait... isn't this... my own family's hotel?!"

He almost facepalmed. In his defense, it was one of the smaller businesses under his family's empire—so small that it was basically ignored at board meetings, and definitely not something he'd paid attention to.

Without wasting more time, James marched through the hotel's glass doors and headed straight for the reception desk. His steps were hurried but also slightly awkward, like someone trying to act confident but internally panicking.

"Hi there," he said to the receptionist, slapping both hands on the counter. "I'm looking for two guests. Moon and Kai. Can you tell me which room they're in?"

The receptionist, a young man wearing glasses slightly too big for his face, looked up with an expression of forced politeness.

"I'm sorry sir, but we do not share the personal room information of our guests. Privacy policy," he said in a robotic voice, as if reading from a script.

James blinked. "Yeah, I get that. But you see, they're my friends."

"Still, sir, I—"

"They're not picking up my calls. And I'm kind of... uh... the owner?"

The receptionist gave a dry laugh, then quickly realized James was serious.

"Owner? Sir, respectfully, you came here in a T-shirt and half pants just to check a room? That too with out shoes ?"

James looked down at his dusty flip flop .

"Oh come on, who cares what I'm wearing? It takes five minutes from here(obviously due to the portal)!"

James sighed, pulling out his phone. "I'm literally calling my dad. Just wait—"

Just then, the phone on the reception desk started ringing.

The receptionist quickly picked it up.

"Hello, front desk speaking."

A calm but authoritative voice responded from the other end.

Kai: "This is Kai. The person standing in front of you is with us. Please give him the room number."

The receptionist blinked in surprise.

Receptionist: "Sir... this guy seems a little strange. Are you sure? You might be in danger."

Kai (firmly): "No, he's my student. And yes, he really is the owner of the hotel. Please cooperate."

The receptionist's face went pale. He slowly looked at James again—this time with new respect and a bit of fear.

The receptionist looked like his soul had left his body.

Still confused, he handed James a room key hesitantly.

Just to add to the confusion, James casually dialed his dad anyway and passed the phone to the receptionist.

"This is for your emotional damage," he said dramatically.

The call lasted less than 10 seconds. James's dad, who was somewhere halfway across the galaxy, simply praised the staff for following protocol and hung up. The receptionist stood frozen for a second. Then slowly sat down, staring into space like a man who'd just met God... and been asked to serve coffee.

---

Meanwhile, upstairs…

Moon was lying on the couch with his feet up, happily munching chips. He had one leg hanging off the armrest and a soda bottle on his stomach.

Kai, as usual, was standing by the window, arms crossed, quietly calculating the next 20 moves of their lives like a chess grandmaster.

A knock came at the door.

Moon didn't even move. "Can you get that?"

Kai sighed and opened the door.

"Finally!" James burst in, panting like he had just climbed ten floors (even though he took the elevator). "Why didn't you pick up my call?! And why the hell did you guys come here without telling me?!"

Moon didn't even look up. He lazily tossed a cold soda bottle from beside him. "Here. Chill, bro."

James instinctively caught it, eyes still narrowed in frustration. "This isn't funny."

Moon raised an eyebrow. "That's literally a soda bottle. It is funny."

Kai stepped aside, ignoring the whole exchange. "James, now's not the time. We're trying to figure out where we're going to live next. This place isn't exactly permanent."

James cracked open the soda and took a long sip like a tired dad after work. After a dramatic sigh, he said, "Okay. Fine. I'll get you a place."

Kai immediately raised his hand like a traffic cop. "No. You've already paid too much for our training. We won't accept any more favors."

From the fridge, Moon shouted, "Bro, we just drank tap water. I'm not above favors."

James smirked. "Okay then. I'll just cancel the reservation I made for you two at Zenith Vista."

And start calling someone

Moon froze.

He slowly, like a cartoon character hearing a magical word, stood up straight. "Wait. Did you say Zenith Vista?"

"Yes."

"The Zenith Vista?" Moon asked again, as if double-checking if he'd heard "heaven" right.

"The one and only."

Moon ran over and snatched the phone from James's hand. "Hello? Hello?! Yes—please clean everything. I want floors shining, windows sparkling, and prepare every fancy towel you got!"

Kai looked at him in disbelief. "I said we're not—"

"Shut up," Moon interrupted. "Kai is stupid. Ignore him. We're coming. I've had dreams about that place. Literal dreams, a..and also James also insisting it can't make the boy sad!"

James scratched his head. "Wait… when did I insist on anything? I just offered once—"

"Shhh," Moon said dramatically. "Let me be dramatic, please."

---

Half an hour later…

James led the two into the main district where Zenith Vista, the most premium residential colony in Nova Lumina, stood in all its sparkling, overpriced glory.

As they entered, even Moon looked nervous. His voice dropped to a whisper.

"Bro… I thought we'd be staying in one of those tiny back-lane flats."

James chuckled. "Nope. We're going to the biggest house. The luxury one. Nobody lives there now."

Moon's mouth fell open.

His soul left his body and hovered above him for a second.

"This is illegal. This is emotional damage. I'm gonna cry."

James grinned. "Too late to back out now."

Moon started wiping imaginary tears from his eyes. "Do you have tissues?"

Kai rolled his eyes.

Just then, Moon actually teared up.

"I told you it was a dream," he mumbled.

Then suddenly—a splash of water hit him on the face.

"WHAT THE—?!"

Moon turned to find Kai holding a small orb of harmless water. "You were sleepwalking," Kai said with a poker face. "I thought you needed to wake up. Because, you know… humans only dream in sleep."

Moon glared. "That was the worst joke ever."

Kai nodded. "Correct. Just like your cooking."

James was watching the entire banter like it was a comedy show. "You guys are… seriously unfit to be mentors."

"Silence, peasant," Moon declared, holding up a random spoon like it was a sword. "You stand in the presence of Royal Broke Boys."

Kai suddenly asks "where the hell did you get the spoon from" but he leaves that matter aside.

Kai followed up, "With zero rent and infinite pride."

---

They entered the house, and it was exactly what Moon had imagined in his dreams—white walls, glowing orbs of ambient light, a personal gym, a small training arena, and even a robotic assistant chef.

Moon did a slow spin and flopped on the velvet couch.

"Okay. From now on, I will live here. Even if I die here."

James added, "This is just the guest room."

Moon almost passed out again.

James lay down on another couch and sighed contentedly. "Ah, what a day. From being laughed at in public to watching Moon get hit by a water ball… beautiful character development."

Kai sat calmly, checking the property's defense mechanisms. "We'll stay here for now. But we owe you."

"You owe me entertainment," James replied.

Moon threw a pillow at his face.

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To be continued...

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