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The hardest part about Jinu’s agreement with Rumi, beautiful Rumi, was convincing the Saja Boys of it.
They were Demons. They were proud. And they were Gwi-ma’s trusted team. They were getting results for the first time in centuries. He couldn’t just give up now.
Jinu leapt into their dorm room, sliding open the door. Their company had them in the trainee dorms, which was so annoying. He didn’t even get a phone. He’d been interested in trying it out for the first time.
Everyone else was laying in their beds, though Romance was awake, laying beside an awake Abby in their bed, while Baby and Mystery were dead asleep, wrapped around each other.
Jinu smiled and sat on his bed, which Derpy and Sussy were sitting on already.
“Where were you?” asked Romance, looking up from the historical romance he was reading.
“Out.” Jinu said, flopping onto the bed.
Romance raised an eyebrow. “Right, you weren’t out with the half demon you’ve been exchanging letters with, were you?”
Jinu’s face flushed vibrantly. “Like you wouldn’t snatch up the chance if Mira was half-demon.”
Romance huffed, his hair flopping slightly, out of its perfect heart shape. “Fine. But you’re literally glowing.”
“You are.” agreed Abby, who was quiet up until then, running his fingers over Romance’s abs. He didn’t have as many as Abby, but he had them.
Jinu rolled his eyes and fell down face first onto the bed. His eyes closed. Jinu had missed sleeping. That wasn’t really something people did in the Demon Realm.
Both because of the environment, and because Gwi-ma was too loud in your ear to sleep. Luckily he let the Saja Boys up a bit so they could sing and dance without distraction.
The quiet wasn’t complete, but it was enough for them to sleep.
It was a nice feeling, and Jinu enjoyed it as he fell asleep.
He dreamt about his family again, as he always did when he did sleep. The horrified look on Duri’s face when he left, and the resigned look on his mothers. His name meant precious friend, at least the sino-korean writing of it, but he was in no way precious.
He betrayed them.
When he woke up, they were in the car on the way to the idol awards. He was sitting in Mystery’s lap, since he was the tallest and could carry Jinu most comfortably.
“And our leader is finally awake!” said Baby with a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sleep that soundly.”
“Probably because of his date.” said Romance, smirking as Jinu moved into his own seat.”
“Ohhh, he got a date.” said Baby with a small clap.
The car rolled to a stop, and Romance smirked as the door opened. “I’ll tell you guys later.”
The Saja Boys walked out on the walkway, the picture of Idol Idealization. The parasocial relationships were flourishing for sure.
Once they made it inside, they quickly made their way to the back room. When they passed Huntr/x, Jinu and Rumi made eye contact, briefly. She seemed happy for him.
“How was your date last night?” asked Romance, fluffing up his hair, making the heart shape of his bangs perfect.
Jinu looked over at Romance with a frown. He was getting ready backstage for the Idol Awards, and his patterns slowly faded into his skin. “It wasn’t a date. Rumi and I were just talking.”
Baby, who was sitting on Abby’s lap, looked over at him and rolled his eyes. “Please, we all heard about that post-duet glow clinging to your skin. Your patterns were sparkling. You said she was half demon, right?”
“Oh yeah, that.” Jinu smiled softly. “Helping her come out with her patterns. Soon enough she’ll come out and we’ll see her friends reject her.” he smiled wickedly, though it was clearly fake, and the other Saja Boys would know.
Baby sighed and got up, even though Abby whined about him leaving. He walked over to Jinu and placed a hand on his shoulder. “What did she promise?”
“She said she had hope for me and she thought I could be forgiven. She said they’re going to create the Golden Honmoon tonight.” said Jinu with a small frown.
It went silent. “She what?” asked Baby, his deep voice rising in horror. “Ssi-bal.” he said in fury, kicking the table with a frown on his face.
“Don’t say that.” said Mystery quietly, snapping the pen he was holding in half. “We have to stop that ho-ro-sae-ggi and her team.”
“Don’t call her that.” said Jinu as well.
“What?” asked Baby, looking at him. “You talking about letting her seal us?”
Jinu shook his head. “No, of course not.” he turned to look at them all. “I say we be on this side when the Honmoon is sealed. Gwi-ma will be cut off and we’ll all be free. We can keep being Saja Boys. I know you guys like the fans.”
The other boys looked offended. It was true that they did enjoy the fans, and being Saja Boys, even if they didn’t always understand them.
“Are you crazy?” hissed Mystery, coming to his senses first. Mystery’s voice was quiet and low, but commanding none-the-less. “No matter where we are, we could be on the top of Mt. Everest and the Honmoon would still drag us beneath. Especially once it’s Golden.”
“But this could be our chan–” From the stage came the familiar sound of Rumi singing, alongside the other two in Huntr/x.
“Ssi-bal.” spat Baby. “We need to stop this somehow.”
“I have an idea.” said Romance. “Do any of you know what their manager looks like? We need to convince Mira and Zoey to leave Rumi alone. Then we can reveal who she truley is with our own demon copies.”
“I know.” said Abby.
Jinu sat in the back as the rest of the boys worked on their plan. They were right. So was Gwi-ma. He’d never be free of this.
He was hopeless.
Jinu stood up. “They had a song to expose us,” he said quietly. “I know some of it. We can use that.”