Chapter Text
It wasn’t public knowledge, but two years ago, Mira and Zoey began dating. It happened quietly, almost accidentally. A routine trip to the bathhouse ended with a shared kiss, a moment that felt both startling and inevitable. They had known each other for years, felt the pull of something unspoken, but never dared to acknowledge it until that night.
When they finally admitted what they meant to each other, another truth rose between them; they were both in love with Rumi. Before making anything official, they asked her, gently, earnestly, if she wanted to be part of their relationship. Rumi, though touched beyond words, turned them down.
She was happy for them, truly. But as long as her patterns remained unsealed, she felt she couldn’t let anyone close, not even the two people she loved more fiercely than she dared admit. Rumi dreamed of their lips, of their hands on her skin, of being wrapped in the warmth she saw between them. She imagined kissing them until she forgot the world. But her shame was heavier than desire.
Celine had drilled it into her since childhood: hide your patterns. Never reveal them. Don’t you dare let anyone see. Rumi was convinced Mira and Zoey would recoil if they ever found out what she truly was, and the thought of losing her best friends was more terrifying than any demon she had ever fought.
Some days, she’d walk into the living room to find Mira and Zoey curled up on the couch, legs tangled, soft kisses shared between stolen laughter. Days off were rare, but whenever they came, the couple made the most of them. Rumi sat nearby, pretending to scroll through her phone, pretending the sight didn’t make her heart ache with longing. She didn’t begrudge them happiness; she only wished she could be brave enough to reach for her own.
Her curse ruined everything. The patterns were a prison etched into her skin. As long as the hoonmon went unsealed, she believed she could never be loved, not fully, not safely. If she could just rid herself of them, she could finally claim what she wanted most.
Then Jinu appeared.
For the first time, Rumi wondered if love might be possible after all, if maybe a demon was the only one capable of loving someone cursed like her. It wasn’t the love she dreamed of, not really, but it was something. He understood her in a way no human ever had, and that strange understanding felt…comforting.
But life was cruel. The patterns were revealed, exposed not only to the world, but to Mira and Zoey. All because of him. The look in their eyes shattered her. Terror, pain, confusion, everything she feared seeing. Her worst nightmares collapsed onto her all at once.
Yet Jinu, for all his sins, wasn’t heartless. He was a monster, but a misunderstood one. Rumi was the only soul he had ever allowed himself to care for. In four centuries, he had never done a single selfless thing until her. As he gave his life, a single tear slid down her cheek. His sacrifice broke the bindings on her future. Her love did not belong to him, and he was aware of it. But he opened the door for her anyway.
And after the shock faded, Mira and Zoey didn’t turn away. They didn’t fear her. They embraced her. They loved Rumi, not the mask or the idol image, but the real Rumi. And that love only deepened once everything was laid bare. In the aftermath of the demon catastrophe, the world learned the truth. No more myths. No more whispers. Demons were real, and so were the ones who fought them.
Some people sang to protect humanity.
And Korea’s saviors had a name:
Huntr/x.