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Chapter Text

It was after Jinu had decided to shoulder check in the alleyway that he gotten a good look at her face. 

Of course he had known that it was them, having sent a few of Gwi-ma’s lackeys to track the Huntr/x singers down to the busy streets of downtown, where the rest of the boys had spent their time discreetly spreading pamphlets for their first appearance later that day. 

He had thought it would be a good idea in the meantime to start establishing a rivalry, assert themselves as worthy competitors to such idolized enemies in the living world. 

And so he had pushed her. Hard.

What he hadn’t expected was for her to be so breathtakingly beautiful.

While he had seen videos of Huntr/x’s performances, listened to their music, and studied their choreography extensively in preparation for their mission, he had never quite payed attention to their faces, mostly busy scribbling down notes for chord progressions that they seemed to like, or rhyme schemes that resonated well with the listeners instead of actually watching the videos on his newly acquired Iphone.

Besides, under all of that state makeup, he assumed that these girls were nothing that special to see. They were competition. Enemies. The very creatures that he needed to destroy so that he could free himself of Gwi-ma’s control over him. Why on earth would he ever put a single thought into whether or not he found any of them attractive? 

Hell was a damned place, one which sucked any fleeting hint of happiness, of love, and of pleasure from deep within his bones, leaving him as nothing more than a cold, lifeless being, roaming the outskirts of the fiery pits with nothing but his voice and his bipa for company. Even back at the palace, he had turned his nose up at romance and company, believing a creature like him never deserved to have such obsessions.

His life had never held worth. Well, he supposed he had a certain level of responsibility at one point, making sure his sister's belly was full, and that his mothers shoulders were warm, and that his bipa was cradled in his protective arms as he slept to prevent it being thefted, but the moment he had been granted nobility for his voice, the moment the emperor’s guards had stopped him at the gates - telling him that he was to be granted access to the palace if he left his mother and sister at the doorstep…

God, that moment.

He could still feel the guard's hand gripping his forearm, gesturing to his only living family being held back at the gates. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked, fear lacing his voice as a slow, creeping panic began to rise deep inside of him.

This was supposed to be it. The day he pulled his family out of poverty forever, and gave them a new life in the palace.

“Only you are granted nobility.” The guard said, his cold eyes unforgiving as his sister began to cry in realization, attempting to break through the barricade of spears and run to grip his leg like she usually did when she was scared. 

“No, no! I’m not leaving them!” He cried, shaking the guard's hand off of him and running back towards his mother. 

“If you do not comply, the three of you will be banished beyond the kingdom's walls.” 

“What?” Jinu cried, staring at the guard with nothing but pure betrayal in his eyes as he held onto his mother for dear life. 

“Jinu, look at me.” His mother said, cupping his face and directing it back towards her. “Go.”

“No!” He whispered, his voice breaking as she pushed him away.

“Go!” She yelled. “You’ve done what we couldn’t! You made it out! Take this opportunity!”

His sister was crying louder now, the noise filling the pavilion as Jinu was ushered to the palace doors against his will. He whipped around, just managing to take one last look at his family, at the woman who had cared for him since birth, and at his only friend in the entire world, before the gates slammed closed. 

And he never saw them again. 

In the cover of night, Jinu had snuck gold coins and paper money from the palace every now and then, paying off a young messenger to deliver them to his old house in the village, but there was never a guarantee that he hadn’t just stolen the money for himself. Jinu on the other hand was confined to the innards of the castle walls, more decorated prisoner than actual royalty. Who knows if his mother even still lived there? What if something had happened, or they had needed to move away to find work?

By the light of day however, Jinu sang. 

Whether it be in the courtyards or before the emperor himself, Jinu's voice was never given a rest - more music box than human as he was stationed around like a decoration, an exhibit for the nobles to gawk at. He turned down company almost nightly, the alluring women nothing but smirking reminders to him that he was nothing more than a toy for them to play with and discard, not allowing a single one of them to feel like they owned him, even just for one night.

Jinu may have been fed, but this new hunger - this far worse one - was more insatiable than his growling stomach had ever been, even in the worst of times.

And there was nothing to fill it with. 

He had died young, struck by a heart attack in the dead of night. He had opened his eyes in a blind panic for them to shut on him again seconds later against his own will, the life seeping out of him in a silent battle lit only by moonlight.

He had often wondered if it had been his deal with Gwi-ma that had caused it. He wouldn’t have been surprised if fowl play had been involved. 

But no matter. He was stuck in hell. And he would never see his family again. He never hoped to as well. There was no escaping this place, and the thought of his sweet baby sister trapped down here forever had him begging the universe that their souls ascended to a place worthy of their presence.

After that damned day, he had lived his life loveless, and unequivocally lonely. He never allowed himself to even so much as acknowledge those ongoings brewing deep inside of him though. It wasn't like he could fix what was broken inside of him anyhow. Gwi-Ma had collected his shattered pieces from the mortal plane and instead of assembling them back together, had had scattered them to the winds. 

But now, after brushing off his shoulder mockingly and taking a long look at the hunter he had just sent right into the ground, he couldn’t deny that this singer, - Rumi- he remembered from the posters, entranced him like no other had ever done before, unlocking some long hidden corner of his brain that spilled toxins and chemicals into his system that his body didn't even know how to process, the feeling reaching his legs and making his knees grow weaker with every second.

He couldn’t help but linger a second longer before her, his eyes tracing her likeness with a newfound interest he couldn’t quite describe.

Rumi's dark, expressive eyes gleamed like polished onyx, captivating him with an intensity that seemed to pierce right through his chest. Her pale skin glowed with a subtle sheen that highlighted the sharp contours of her features. The thick lavender braid cascading down her back like a serpent's coil drew his gaze to the elegant curve of her shoulders, and for a moment, he forgot to breathe properly, the air catching in his throat as he took in this enchanting woman before him. 

The one, he realized with a sharp drop in his stomach, he had completely just sent straight to the floor. 

Her lips were parted in confusion, her hand still slightly raised, as if enticing him to forgo this cocky persona and apologize profusely for pushing her and help her to her feet. 

And he wanted to. He couldn’t explain why, but he desperately wanted to.

His eyes locked onto hers, unwavering, and instead of obeying his pounding heart, he issued a gravelly; "Watch yourself." He then fervently shut his mouth to keep anything else from escaping it, anything that he would definitely regret when thinking about this interaction later.

With a subtle nod, Jinu signaled the band to follow him, ending their moment together with a harsh drop back into the reality of their situations. 

That's right, he was going to kill her. That's what he needed to do.

As he turned to leave, he allowed himself one last, lingering glance over his shoulder, his gaze drinking in the sight of her. For a fleeting moment, their eyes met again, and electricity coursed through his veins in a way he had never felt before.

Then he vanished around the corner, swallowed by the shadows. 

And she was gone.

“What..the hell just happened?” He whispered softly under his breath, putting a hand to his pounding heart.

Chapter Text

When the fight in the bath house had broken out, Rumi had come straight for him in a wild streak of leather and glowing lights.

She had looked..ethereally terrifying. Her eyeliner drew violent points at the corners of her eyes, reminding him of the false spots on the ears of a tiger, warning all potential attackers of their omnipresent senses. This similarity only further proven as she seemed to effortlessly predict every blow he tried to land on her. She flashed this way and that like a glittering python, her earrings and gems shining at him like some sort of deadly hypnosis, made to trance him into compliance. 

His quick thinking had at least saved the Saja boys from being slaughtered backstage of that stupid talk show - the taste of hot sauce burned deep in his throat as they had run for their lives to the bathhouse -.

But now it seemed that it had all been in vain however, as these hunters had been more than capable to track them down and trap them in the building, closing in like bejeweled snakes as they leapt effortlessly through the air like birds in the sky. 

Jinu all but had time to throw himself down a brightly lit hallway before her blade was dancing in every which direction, twisting himself this way and that to avoid its sharp edge. 

“You’ve got a temper on you.” He teased as she missed him by inches, slicing through the brick wall beside him with ease instead. 

“You have no idea.” Rumi hissed, advancing on him again. 

“I believe I’m starting to.” Jinu chuckled as he vanished in a puff of smoke right before her fist made contact with his head. He appeared behind her, ready to attack, but she had somehow already pinpointed his presence, sending a powerful kick into his stomach that had him crashing into the wall behind him.

Even with over four hundred years of time to practice growing his fighting skills should the time come, he realized with a jolt of fear that he had a pretty good chance of dying right now by her hand. 

He managed to get a few good swipes in, tearing at what little skin he could, but claws only took him so far against her swirling honmoon sword.

Her weapon came crashing down from above, and he could all but deflect its blade with his clawed hands before she was pushing the sharpened edge into his neck. He pushed back, but realized quickly with a fiery drop of his heart that she was much too powerful for him to overcome. 

Oh god. He was going to die.

“You’re strong.” He chuckled, hoping she didn’t hear the shake in his voice as he gritted his teeth, pushing with all his might as the blade inched towards his neck. 

At least his last sight would be of such a beautiful creature, if this is really how this evening was going to end for him.

But then his eyes landed on something that seemed to make them both falter.

There, under the flap of fabric he had torn from her jacket, imprinted under the long cuts he had left in her skin, were patterns. 

Demon patterns. 

Deep, purple patterns that twisted in every direction like little bolts of lightning, identical to the ones covering his entire undisguised body. 

“You’re part demon.” He whispered in shock. 

She instantly dropped her hold on him, inching back and covering her arm with her hand as if he had electrocuted her.

Jinu gasped at the air, able to breathe fully again. He put one shaky claw up to his neck, knowing that it had been seconds away from being sliced open. 

He turned towards Rumi defensively, ready to fight for his life again, but he quickly realized that she was having a similar moment of panic to his as she tried desperately to cover the purple marks, still extremely visible under her cupped hand. 

The expression in her eyes was of nothing Jinu had ever seen. Not since his mother and his sister... 

Anger, fear, and above all, shame rose from her like a deadly smoke, swirling around her and suffocating her to where she had started to hyperventilate. 

Her friends were calling to her, begging her for help against Gwi-ma’s monsters, but this only made her hand tighten over the rip, cowering away from them. 

“They don’t know.” He whispered.

Rumi’s head snapped to his, her eyes confirming his inference. She was the polar opposite of the woman she had just been seconds ago, no longer angry and determined, but lost and afraid, reminding Jinu vividly of how he had felt his first night being trapped in hell after his death in the palace.

There, he had clawed at his patterns until he had bled, wanting to strip his body of the mark that damned him to his actions, to his betrayal, and to what he knew to be his true, ugly self festering deep within his living body.

A monster.

He knew, without a moment's doubt, that the same destructive bomb of emotions was detonating in her own mind as she backed slowly away from him.

He could run right now. He could get out while she was distracted, and flee the bathhouse, leaving Huntr/x to fall apart from Rumi’s secret. He could have his memories erased in an hour's time if he could just get his feet to move. 

But her eyes. 

They were not the eyes of a hunter, but of a scared young woman, a woman who was not fighting tooth and nail for the satisfaction of killing demons, but one who was defending herself against the possibility of losing everything she had. If Jinu had torn her jacket in front of her friends, or if any other demon had…

In a moment of sheer instinct, Jinu ran towards her instead of the exit, pretending to attack from the front so that his body covered her shoulder from her friends. He worked fast, tearing a slice from his shirt and tying it tightly around her arm, pressing her head to his chest with his chin to keep her hidden behind the bulk of his body. 

“What are you doing?” She snapped, fighting to free her arms from his embrace as he secured the knot. 

“Saving you, dumbass!” He hissed at her slack jawed expression. “Hold still!” 

He tugged on the knot, making sure it would stay secure, and then gave her a small push, just enough to make it look like she had shoved him off of her, and raced out of the bath house, catching up with the rest of the Saja boys with his mind reeling from his discovery. 

Mys noticed him first, stepping aside to let him fall in line at the front of the group. 

“Hey, Jinu lived.” Abby sneered sarcastically as Rom chuckled beside him. “She had it in for you, didn’t she.”

“Yeah, uh huh.” Jinu said absently, not really even listening to him as he made another snide comment about what had just happened. 

She’s part demon…

His mind was racing. How had she escaped damnation? How had she ever become a hunter if she had been born with patterns? 

Jinu found himself overwhelmed with questions, even as the Saja Boys settled into their temporary mortal apartment building, all checked in under alias names. 

Amidst all of his questions, one still rang out louder than the rest. Why had he saved her?

He had no answer.

Except..no. No, it wasn’t that. Was it possible that he had seen even just a glimmer of..himself? In her? 

Even if he did, it didn’t matter. 

She’ll just have to die like the rest of the Hunters… he reminded himself as he settled into bed, staring up at the ceiling with wide, sleepless eyes. This doesn’t change anything.

But he knew that this changed everything. 

Hours later, just as his eyes had finally begun to close, a thought occurred deep within him, wriggling its way through the backwaters of his mind until he could think of nothing else.

What if…she would meet with him?

Chapter Text

Jinu had paced the greeting cards aisle almost five times before he had finally decided on the right card. 

He didn’t know why this was consuming him the way it was. It’s just a card, right? He could have just picked out a handful of the cheap, blank options shoved down at the bottom of the row and been on his way twenty minutes ago, but somehow, even just thinking of Rumi’s eyes staring up at him the way they had at the bathhouse had his gaze traveling up towards the more colorful options, deciding upon a more recognizable image for his first attempted contact. 

It’s to make it more personable. He told himself as he scanned card after card of hi’s and hello’s in fancy cursive writing. It’s so she’ll want to trust me more. 

Being a peasant in the streets, and then a noble in the palace, Jinu knew nothing about mail, much less the modern ongoings of technology and electricity, but he was sure that even someone well versed in the new age would have no idea what kind of card to give a mortal enemy.

This was absolute bullshit, he decided, groaning in frustration as he set back down a card of a dog on a pogo stick. These mortals had no class in any of their creations. At this point, he could just make his own cards and have saved himself half the trouble. He hadn’t been the worst artist, anyways. 

The shop’s warning bell sounded from some distant speaker, telling him along with the few other shoppers that they had ten more minutes to check out before closing time. 

Jinu huffed, knowing that he was no closer to finding a card that he thought Rumi would like than he had when he had walked in here. 

Not that I want her to like it, he reminded himself. He just needed her to trust him. Think, Jinu, think. What’s something that he himself would find trusting? Of course there wasn’t much down in hell that he had found trustworthy, barely trusting the rest of the Saja boys to do their job correctly. He supposed the only things that he was able to rely on was his Tiger, and that magpie that kept following it around…

And then he saw it. Sitting towards the top of the last row, sat a small pile of cards, sat a cartoonish white duck, its face strikingly similar to his Tiger‘s companion with his awkward smile of sorts.

He hadn’t known when exactly the Magpie had found him. He had only really started to recognize its presence after he had gotten extremely bored one day, fashioning a small hat for his tiger out of the hem of his old robes, testing a sewing needle in his clawed fingers for the first time. 

“Derpy, what is that?” He had groaned as the tiger had returned later that day with a magpie setted neatly between the top of his head and the hat. 

He had been deciding on a much more sophisticated name for his companion, but one stupid water demon had made a passing comment about him, saying that his smile was 'incredibly derpy', and the tiger would not respond to anything else after that.

He had shooed it off, but the magpie always returned, leaving him rolling his eyes as the six-eyed bird as he eventually accepted his presence, even sometimes digging a stray seed from the cracked soil to feed to it every now and then. 

He supposed it wasn’t the worst thing to happen, knowing company came hard out here in the land of the damned. He hadn’t quite sorted out this reality for himself, even after all this time. Food came by rarely, but it wasn’t like he needed to eat. His heart still beat, his blood still flowed, but the major injuries he had seen other demons give each other in scraps along the streets healed within days. 

Even still with this newfound immortality, he couldn’t risk getting too attached. 

But that magpie had butted into his life with nothing more than the feathers on his back, and already, Jinu knew he trust it to take good care of Derpy when he wasn’t around. 

Snapping out of his memories, he grinned softly, knowing that this funny looking duck was the perfect card. 

He was out the door three minutes later, hurriedly tucking a stack of the duck cards into his coat before any of the demon lord's spies spotted him with them.

He didn’t want Gwi-ma to interfere with what he had planned. 

Chapter Text

Jinu had originally planned for it to be him on the roof when Rumi arrived, but one look at her with her sword drawn as she crept slowly over rooftops had him questioning if this was really a good idea. 

He had vanished quickly, grabbing a similarly dressed mannequin from a nearby clothing store and propping it up quickly on the tiles. A moment lasted, and was very happy that he had, because he heard a soft patter of footsteps and then a cry of anger, its head had rolled to a stop at his feet. 

“I’m sure he had places to be today, y’know.” Jinu chuckled as the rest of the body toppled over with a loud plastic clunk. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting a hug, but-”

“You.” Rumi hissed, and suddenly her sword was inches from his neck again. 

“Jeez! Okay, okay, calm down!” He said quickly as he lept backwards, away from the point of her blade. “Come on, I'm trying here! I thought the mannequin was going to be a fun icebreaker! But..I see I was wrong..”

He had to leap backwards yet again to avoid meeting the same fate as the mannequin, jumping to a higher roof to escape the reach of her weapon. “By the way, you know that doctor you guys were coming back from? He’s absolutely scamming you. That was just pure grape juice. If you're having trouble with your voice, I would definitely recommend some nokcha instead-”

Rumi just took another swipe at him. 

“Listen, I just want to talk!” He said, throwing his hands up in the air as she cornered him between the curve of two large towers sticking up from the building he was now on. 

“Talk?” She sneered, fierce as ever as she slowly lowered her sword.

“About your patterns?” Jinu pleaded, hoping that he was getting somewhere with her.

He couldn’t help but notice though, -now that she was finally still- , how striking she looked bathed in moonlight. She was stripped of her leathers and makeup, leaving her looking more human, more..normal. Her oversized hoodie brought out the roundness of her face, emphasizing the blush of her cheeks and the curve of her lips. And the rest of her outfit..

“Uh, but first,” Jinu said without thinking. “I want to talk about those pants.” 

“What?” Rumi asked, caught completely off guard at his brazen statement. She looked down, and seemed to realize for the first time what she had been wearing when Derpy had gone to pick her up. 

“Teddy bears and choo choo trains?” Jinu asked, trying to keep the snigger out of his voice. “choo choo...” He said in his best mocking train impression. 

“Ugh! You were supposed to be dead by now!” Rumi yelled, advancing yet again. Jinu was starting to get the hang of her attack patterns, but she was still keeping him on the edge of his toes as he fought to balance along the pointed top of the four sided roof. 

“I could have told your friends about what you are!” Jinu reasoned, disappearing in a puff of magenta smoke as he almost topped off the edge of the building. 

“So why didn’t you?” She mocked, turning around to face him. 

He shrugged casually, remembering her face as her friends had called out to her for help. “Because they don’t know.” 

He spotted a flash of shame fleet over her face, and knew that he had been correct. “Ah, So I did guess right.” 

“Even if you did, I would do anything to keep it that way.” Rumi sneered, the honmoon swirling around her again as her sword pulsed dangerously. 

“Well forgive me, but I can’t help but admire it.” Jinu said. “A girl who bears the abilities of a demon, alongside the power of the honmoon? It’s an honor many would love to possess. How did you ever escape the demon world?”

“I am a hunter.” She hissed. “Not a demon.”

“Then how did you get the patterns?”

“My mother fell for one of your kind.” She spat. “And left me to bear the brunt of her mistake.”

“Huh. A half child.” Jinu remarked curiously. It would explain how she walked free of hell. She had never been there to begin with. He noted softly that she too seemed to have never known her father, a burden they both carried amongst the conflict.

 “You know, I know what it feels like to have them.” 

“Feel?” She snarled. “Demons don’t feel anything!”

“Is that what you think?” Jinu said sharply, his eyes narrowing at her. “That’s all we do. We feel the brunt of our mistakes, our sins, our failures. Trust me, I wish I felt nothing at all. It’s better than this.”

“Why would a demon regret any of their sins?” Rumi asked, still poised to attack. 

“It’s how Gwi-ma controls us.” Jinu said obviously. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he froze, looking across the rooftop at her. “Do you not hear him in your head?” 

“You can hear him?” Rumi asked, her sword lowering as her tone shifted to something a little less guarded. 

“Always.” Jinu said. “He reminds us every day of what we’ve done, exactly how he’s come to own each of our souls. It’s what keeps him in power.”

“And what did you do that binds you to him?” 

Jinu froze, and then squeezed his eyes shut, thinking fast. He was able to produce a half truth, a bended and twisted version of what he had done, framing his actions as sacrificial, not selfish. It was all he could do to keep her here, keep her talking to him. She could never face him again if he actually told her the real story. 

He stopped talking, realizing that he had somehow disassociated as he was recounting his lie. 

Four hundred years and I can’t even talk about them without breaking down. 

Gwi-Ma really did have him in a chokehold. 

“It’s a constant reminder of my shame.” He whispered softly, letting the patterns he knew so well fade over his skin like a shawl. He no longer felt imprisoned within them, more like an old friend than a mark of his sins. At times, he even thought them pretty. “It’s a reminder of every demon’s shame.”

“I have no shame.” Rumi said, suddenly defensive again. “If that’s what you’re trying to imply.”

“Sure.” Jinu said doubtfully. His eye caught a flash of white and red under her loose sleeve as her sword raised a fraction of an inch. They almost looked like..

Bandages. 

That’s right. 

He had ripped her skin open in their fight at the bathhouse, the same strike that had revealed her demon patterns to him. 

White hot shame rose within him as he looked at her, realizing that the entire time she had been brandishing her sword at him, her arm had been screaming in pain, bloodying her gauze as she sized him up. He supposed that being a hunter, this was not the first time she had needed to pull herself together like this. She may seem aggressive and arrogant in the moment, but all of her lashing out and attacks on him really were just another form of self defense. 

“I’m sorry about your arm.” He said honestly. It took him a second to wonder why he was saying this. Was there a tactical reason that he hadn't quite registered yet?

No, no there didn't seem to be. He was just being..honest?

Rumi’s sword dropped a little again, her hand going to cover her shoulder and she took in a small breath. 

A hurricane of mixed emotions were dazzling behind her eyes as she searched for any trace of dishonesty. Seeming satisfied in her quest, her eyes dimmed a little, and with what seemed like great effort, she said, “thank you.” In a low, flat voice. “I’m sorry about your neck.” 

“No harm done.” He shrugged.

What was this tingly, bubbly feeling writhing inches below his skin? It felt like lava, aching to spew forwards out of his mouth and tell Rumi everything. He wanted to know everything about her. 

“What was it like for you?” He asked slowly, measuring her expression as he paced lazily across the tiles. “The first time you saw your patterns?” 

“It didn’t matter.” She said, almost too quickly. He caught the waver in her voice, her puffed out chest, and the twitch of her eyebrow as she lied to him. 

The magenta mist began to creep around him again as he prepared to leave, knowing that she was about to spur up at again, like a wind-up toy finally reaching capacity as it was twisted this way and that. “Denial. I get it, I really do. I’ll be here when you’re ready to stop pretending.”

“There won’t be a next time!” Rumi screamed, swinging her sword around to point at him, but he vanished before she reached him, leaving Jinu one last glance at Rumi, Korea’s most accomplished hunter, leader of Huntr/x, and world renowned singer, in her oversized hoodie and her choo choo train sweatpants. 

I wonder where she got those.. Jinu thought to himself with a smile as he appeared back in his apartment. 

Chapter Text

Jinu shivered, tucking himself further into his fleece sleeping bag as he tried to make himself more comfortable on the cold metal chair he had brought to the line for the Huntr/x signing. 

This had been a terrible idea in hindsight. 

Abby, Rom, Baby, and Mys were all collapsed in a large pile of identical sleeping bags beside him, all of them snoring softly as the moon cast a small light over the growing crowd. 

They couldn’t have had a public appearance at the base of the Huntr/x tower? Or gone on another talk show to perform more songs? This is really what they had all unanimously decided would be the best idea?

He had decided quite early into the night that they had to be the stupidest demons in all of hell to think they could pull this off.

He had been trying for the past six hours to get even just a wink of sleep, but all his efforts had been feudal. The chatter of the fans had gotten louder and louder as the night went on, leaving him puffy eyed and irritated at the noisy crowd behind them.

“Don’t they ever sleep?” He grumbled to Abby, who was the closest one to him. 

“If they don’t shut up soon, I’m going to take all of their souls personally to Gwi-ma.” Abby responded, his eyes flashing yellow as his fists clenched into little balls. 

“These mortals…” Mys hissed through the curtain of hair in front of his face. “Their obsessive qualities are so stupid! They can’t actually love Huntr/x’s music enough to be out here in the cold all night long for a little signature!”

“Obsession? It’s in their nature.” Rom grumbled. “Just another opportunity for us to take advantage of.” 

“Yeah.” Jinu agreed, though his words held little value to him as he looked out over the line of people. 

They looked happy. 

Were Huntr/x’s songs really the cause of all this positivity? Already people were comparing posters and t-shirts that they were going to get signed. A few groups had even brought little portable speakers with them so they could play their music while they waited for the dawn to break. 

There were worse things to listen to than Rumi’s voice, he supposed.

Back in his village, no one had known who the hunters were. Nothing had united people like they seemed to do so effortlessly over the eons. The only music Jinu had ever heard in his living life was his own bipa, the only thing that could calm him and soothe his aching stomach as he went yet another night with no food. 

He reserved a certain level of respect deep within him for Rumi and her friends. They really had created something powerful with their fans, something that it would take them a lot of effort to even make a dent in toppling. 

“Excuse me?” A small voice said, snapping Jinu out of his trance. 

He braced himself, wondering if someone had recognized him. 

The person who had spoken was a young girl, possibly seventeen or eighteen. She was decked out, head to toe in Huntr/x merchandise, and tennantively holding her Iphone out to him.

“Could you take our photo?”

His shoulders relaxed, realizing that in the darkness, a group of bright-eyed teenagers had just thought him another fan waiting in line. 

“Yeah, sure.” He said slowly, standing awkwardly in his sleeping back and taking the camera from the girl who had asked him. 

The group she was with huddled together, displaying all of their posters and memorabilia as Jinu took a few photos of them. 

He had been given a small crash course from Baby on all mortal technology, having appeared in the demon realm more recently than he had, so he held a small sense of pride that he knew how to operate the phone’s camera.

“Thank you so much!” The girl said, taking back the camera from his outstretched arm and scrolling through the footage. “We wish we’d been as smart as you guys, bringing sleeping bags and all.”

“What? Oh.. yeah.” Jinu stuttered, realizing that she was trying to make small talk with him. “Just trying to keep warm.”

“So what brings you to a Huntr/x signing?” She asked, looking more like an overeager golden retriever than a girl. She really wouldn’t stop talking. 

“Oh, y’know, we’re big fans.” Jinu said, gesturing to the rest of the sleeping Saja Boys. 

“Oh, come on!” The girl laughed, as if he had just told an extremely funny joke. “You’re first in line! You’ve gotta have a better reason than that!”

“What’s yours?” Jinu asked, drifting the conversation away from him. 

“I actually had some pretty bad depression a few years back.” The girl said, her cheery tone dropping a little. “The doctors couldn’t do anything, and my family was at a loss for how to help. That was back in 2016, when Huntr/x released their first album, and it just really resonated with me. I was able to clear myself of depression, and actually start my own small music label so I could sing, just like them.”

“Oh! Wow.” Jinu said, not expecting such a deep answer. “That’s…amazing.” 

The girl smiled, and then turned to the rest of her chattering group. “They helped too.” 

“It’s good to have people to rely on.” Jinu said, looking at the way she seemed to light up as her friends beckoned her over to see the photos. 

“Yeah.” She said with a blush. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” Jinu said, waving at her as they parted ways. He sat back down in his chair, no longer blinking sleep from his eyes.

“What did she want?” Rom asked groggily, raising an eyelid to look at him.

“Nothing.” Jinu said quickly. “Just to take a photo.”

“Hmm.” He hummed, and then turned back around to doze off again. 

But Jinu couldn’t sleep, looking back over to the Huntr/x signing line without any malice in his eyes. 

Rumi’s music had done all of this. 

After his time on the streets of his village, singing until his throat bled for nothing more than a few measly coins, he had lost all faith that music could ever heal anyone of their struggles. 

His deal with Gwi-Ma had certainly improved his life through his sudden enchanting voice, but it had still been the work of dark, powerful magic, magic that had consumed him mere months after he had sold his soul to the demon lord. 

Music was a burden, one that had tempted him to destroy his life, his family, and his chance of ever becoming the man his mother had wanted him to. 

So why did she make him feel so incredibly hopeful every time her angelic voice washed over him?

Maybe being here, surrounded by her idolers and fans, by people who had been hurt and beaten by life and still made it through thanks to her. He supposed it just.. made him feel less alone. 

He was not the first person by a long shot that she had taken the broken pieces of and lovingly bandaged back together, but he was sure he was the first demon to have fallen for her wicked spell, and she had surely never intended for him of all people to be among the masses of stray, wandering souls looking for a place to call home.

If she had any inkling of what he was feeling deep within himself, would she still weave her healing magic into existence? Possibly, even just for him?

As the dawn crept closer, washing sunlight over the deserted streets and rousing Rom, Mys, Baby, and Abby, Jinu feigned sleep, hoping Mys wouldn’t catch the gleam in his eye always present when he was deep in thought. 

“Alright boys,” He said, standing up and signaling for them to follow. “Let’s go give them a little surprise.”

Maybe, just maybe, Rumi would be happy to see him again too. 

Chapter Text

She had asked him to sit with her. 

She had asked him to sit with her.

Well, she had at least asked the Saja boys to sit at their table. 

He saw the strategy in it, giving her back all the fans that had zoomed over to their table as it was being set up, but some giddy, boyish voice inside of him was squealing in joy as he settled into the chair right next to Rumi, angling his shoulders so that neither of their bandmates could see what he was doing. 

“I didn’t think you liked sharing.” He growled in a low voice as he leaned over to whisper in her ear. God, the smell of her was intoxicating, just begging him to softly tug the long braid from her hair and run his fingers freely through her violet locks. 

“I love sharing.” She gritted back, scribbling down a few signatures while avidly avoiding his eye. 

“Oh, so you shared your secret with your friends?” He teased, taking the opportunity to let his eyes shamelessly trace the curve of her neck, the swoop of her collarbone, and the deadly sharp angle of her jaw. He had the sudden - insane - urge to run his lips against it, something he quickly banished from his mind as he focused back into the moment. “Y’know, I could tell them for you.”

“No, I’m gonna tell them.” She insisted, whipping around to give him a warning look, reminding him with a single raise of her eyebrows of what she had threatened last time they had met. “Eventually.” She finished, somewhat lamely. 

A sudden voice broke through the bubble that had formed around their little moment. “Are you too whispering?” 

A girl was standing at the table, one with large glasses and a Huntr/x poster clutched preciously to her chest. 

And it was this moment that Jinu realized just how closely he had drifted into Rumi’s side. His shoulders were practically cradling her small frame, and his arms were wrapped almost protectively around the front of the table and the back of her chair. 

Rumi’s position wasn’t much better either, what with her lips being inches from his ear, or entire body rotated on her chair to face him. 

They acted as one, panicky being. Stuttering out complete nonsense, they simultaneously grabbed the nearest blank poster to them, scribbling down their signatures, and quickly handing it off to the girl, their faces mirroring the same guilty expression. 

Rumi's signature was adorable.

“Don’t worry.” She whispered in the same, sneaky rasp. “Your secret is safe with me.” She then moved the poster covering her shirt to reveal a very crudely drawn picture of Rumi sitting on Jinu’s back, who was sporting wings instead of arms. Above this unsettling sight was the caption ; Rujinu. 

It was all they could do to give her very forced grins as she walked away, squeezing out a parting, “Ohh, so cute!”

 A long silence passed between them. 

And then Jinu inexplicably found himself laughing. He had never laughed like this before, a sound taken from the depths of his lungs without even so much as a second thought. He hadn’t even known he was capable of making. It was undignified, it was crude.

But it was so freeing at the same time. 

And Rumi was laughing too. Neither of them seemed to be able to explain it. It was just so absurd that there was nothing else to do. They quite nearly collapsed into stitches, causing her friends and the Saja boys to all send similar looks down the table at them. 

“That was…” Rumi gasped, regaining control of herself and starting to sign posters again. 

“Rough.” Jinu finished for her, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "That was really rough."

”Yeah.” She choked out. A long while passed after that, both of them taking a moment to look over at Zoe deep in conversation with Mys, and Abby, Rom and Mira fighting over who got to sign a fans cast first. 

“I noticed you still haven’t taken any more of my invites.” Jinu noted after a while, grabbing a stack of Saja Boys merch to sign. 

“Well, I’m not going to talk to someone who’s helping Gwi-Ma.” Rumi said. The edge that was normally in her voice had seemed to soften considerably the longer he sat here. 

“I’m helping myself.” He told her, handing out a few T-Shirts as he spoke. “Look, if I help him, he’s promised to erase my memories. And then those voices in my head? They’ll be gone!”

“Pathetic!” She spat. 

“I’m pathetic?” He leaned in close, his lips accidentally brushing the shell of her ear, sending an electric shock throughout his entire body. “You can’t even talk about your patterns.”

He instantly knew he had taken it too far, and she was not going to have mercy on him. Her leg shifted, and then suddenly the tread of her thick boot was smashing down onto his unprotected sneakers. 

“Augh!” He groaned, biting his lip to keep himself from shouting and looking at her like some sort of kicked puppy. He supposed he deserved it, but holy hell she was strong!

“You want to talk about my patterns?” She sneered, hissing every word from behind gritted teeth. Her eyes flashed dangerously, and Jinu knew that he had struck an intense nerve with her. “I hate them! Just like I hate demons! And how I hate Gwi-Ma!” 

There it was again, that spark of himself flaring inside of her. He found himself speaking words that he wished someone had told him long ago. “If hate could defeat Gwi-Ma, I would have done it a long time ago.” 

She seems to deflate, sinking back down into her chair with a new understanding painted across her face. 

“Trust me.” He whispered. 

That moment seemed to stretch on forever, a million words transferring between their eyes in a flash of deep understanding. They had finally found something that they were united together against, something that pushed them together instead of pulling them apart. 

“Excuse me Mr. Jinu?” Said a young voice. Jinu’s gaze was torn away from Rumi’s, confused that no one else seemed to be standing near them, at least until he leaned over the table slightly, and saw a young girl, probably no older than five, holding out a sheet of crinkled paper to him. “I made this for you.”

“For..me?” Jinu stuttered, not understanding what was happening. Surely this child, this innocent little girl, hadn’t taken precious time to make him a drawing, had she? 

The girl nodded, standing on the very tips of her toes in order to hand him the paper. He took it with a feather light touch, like it would burst into flames if he so much as moved wrong. 

When the paper was in front of his eyes, he could do nothing more than freeze, not able to breathe, not able to think as his eyes traced the delicate crayon markings across the page. 

Jinu, you have a beautiful soul

Tears. Real tears were threatening to well up inside of his eyes as he just sat there and took it all in. 

“Maybe..” Rumi said softly, leaning in to take a look at the drawing as well. “You should listen to those voices, instead of the ones in your head.” 

“I…thank you.” Jinu said to the little girl, who beamed up at him with glittering doe eyes. “Here!” He said quickly, rushing for anything on the table that he could sign. He ended up taking his rose pink sunglasses out of his back pocket, signing the corner of the lens with a flourish, and handing them down to her.

She put them on, her face alight with joy. “Thank you, sir!” She called as her mother led her back towards the exit, a thankful grin on her face. 

Under the table, Jinu discreetly created a small portal, carefully sliding the paper onto his desk back at his apartment.

“You enjoyed that.” Rumi said slyly. 

“What? No, I just-“

“Come on, you’re just getting the real hunter experience!” Rumi teased. “That feeling? It’s more powerful than Gwi-Ma could ever be. It’s what powers the honmoon.”

“No, come on, I was just being kind,” Jinu said, a blush creeping across his cheeks. 

“Oh, so why did you just slip that drawing through that little portal?” She said with a sly grin. “I think that you liked it.” She leaned in again, her breath hot against his neck. “And I think you needed to hear it.” 

Jinu just shrugged, picking up another stack of cards and a sharpie. Rumi did the same, but after a few minutes of silent signing, Jinu felt a small pressure against the side of his shoe, the one that Rumi had stamped on. The side of her boot was pressing against his in a gentle caress. 

He looked over at her, searching her for any indication of what was doing.

She kept her eyes off of him, making him think for a moment that she hadn’t even realized what she had done, but then her shoe moved, caressing his with a gentleness that he’d never seen her express before. 

And hidden in her gentle touch, the words “I’m sorry” seemed to echo from her body. Whether it was for stamping on his toes, or for everything else, she was saying sorry.

Jinu smiled shyly, going back to his shirts, but keeping his foot against hers, both of them secretly holding on to each other as the hours in the signing hall ticked by. 

“Okay, that’s the last one!” Bobby called as the exit door clicked shut for the last time. “Saja Boys, thank you so much for coming!” 

“Oh, it was no problem!” Abby said, standing from his seat with Rom and Baby. “Come on boys, we’ve got to go.”

But Jinu couldn’t stand yet. He looked at Rumi one last time, a silent plea for her to finally return his letters. 

“I will.” She whispered, almost as if she could read his mind. He nodded, a small grin slipping between his lips.

“Jinu, Mys, let’s go!” Abby called. They both stood, separating themselves from Rumi and Zoey, and ran to catch up with Abby backstage. 

“You okay?” Abby asked, looking him up and down as he approached. 

“Yeah, all good.” Jinu shrugged, his body still tingling with her touch. 

“You should stay away from her.” Abby warned him. “I don’t trust the hunters, but her especially. She’s hiding something.”

“No kidding.” Said Jinu, with a lot more conviction than he was letting on. 

Chapter Text

When Derpy had finally returned back to the apartment yet again, Jinu fully expected him to be carrying yet another one of his returned letters. Even with her promise at the expo, he didn’t trust that Rumi would truly follow through with actually answering it. 

“What did she say this time?” Jinu sighed, setting down his sheet music and walking across the room to pet Derpy softly under his chin, still clad in his navy sweatpants from a rare day of relaxation as he hummed a few old tunes to the rhythm of fingers against the edge of his desk.

Derpy slowly opened his mouth, and Jinu did a small double take, not recognizing his signature duck pattern. 

“What’s this?” He asked slowly. Derpy just nudged the letter towards him, encouraging him to open it. 

The first thing Jinu realized as he brought the card closer to his eyes in the dim light, was that it had the same silly little duck on the front. On this card however, it was dressed sharply in a suit, complete with a monocle and cane. 

But it was what was written above the card that made his heart stop in his chest. 

Save the date

That word rang through his head, echoing louder and louder until no other thought could appear in his mind.

Date..   date…   date…  date…

Did she really mean it? She, -Rumi- wanted to go on a date with him? He grabbed the card, opening it carefully to read the loopy letters she had written inside;

Meet me at the walkway between Downtown and Namsan tower at 7.

Bring a jacket, it could be cold.

Jinu checked his watch, and panicked when he realized he only had an hour to get ready. He stashed the card in his drawer, alongside the drawing from the little girl, and spent entirely too long deciding on a nice pair of jeans and a white hoodie, throwing a worn leather jacket on as well as to her instructions. 

She cares if I’m cold..

He threw some product into his hair, checked his outfit one more time, and then teleported to the walkway, appearing behind a cluster of trees so as to not alarm anyone nearby. There was hardly any need to though, as no one was there. He walked slowly up the cobbled street, meticulously checking his watch as the minutes ticked closer to 8. 

He had settled up against the wall, watching the seconds hand tick past the twelve that marked the start of the hour. 

“She wants to meet, and she’s late?” He grumbled in frustration, looking back down the way he came for any sign of her, but when he swung his head back around the other direction, he was met with Rumi’s button nose inches away from his, seeming to have appeared out of thin air. 

An undignified scream fell from his lips, causing him to catch the wall to stop himself from falling flat on his ass. He clutched his heart, feeling as if it was about to beat out of his chest. “What the hell?” He whined, standing back up and dusting himself off. “Did you really make me come all the way out here just to scare the shit out of me?”

Rumi shrugged. “You knocked me over the first time we met!” She argued. “And you called me a dumbass at the bathhouse!” 

“Yeah yeah, I said I was sorry though!” 

“You said you were sorry about my arm.”

“Fine.” Jinu huffed. “I’m sorry for shoulder-checking you, and for calling you a dumbass while saving you, happy?” 

“It works.” Said Rumi, jumping off the wall to stand beside him. “Follow me.”

Jinu trailed beside her, kicking along a few pebbles as he watched her march up the cobblestone. “Well, I’m glad you’re finally ready to talk.” He said. “Although, you could’ve picked somewhere nicer for a date.”

“Date?” Rumi squealed, stopping dead in her tracks to look at him with wide eyes. “No, ew! What are you talking about?” 

Jinu lifted his hand, letting the card appear before her. His face was slack with confusion, wondering if he could have possibly misinterpreted the meaning. 

“That doesn’t mean- It’s a calendar date! Ugh, you’re so old.” Rumi finally settled on, starting to walk up the path again. 

“Oh.” Jinu just said, bowing his head a little. Like she would ever want to go on a date with you..  He was mentally kicking himself for thinking she would want to meet with him like that. Stupid..

Rumi seemed to notice his downtrodden expression, because she slowed down a bit, a guilty look flashing across her features. “We could..go get some bingsu after this though.” Rumi said slowly. 

Jinu perked up, wondering if she was saying what he thought she was saying. “Sounds great.” He replied. “Although I’m afraid I don’t know what bingsu is.” 

“You don’t know what bingsu is?” Rumi asked incredulously, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. “How..old are you?”

“By technical terms?” Jinu closed his eyes, trying to remember. “About four hundred. Maybe four thirty?” 

“Four hundred?” Rumi repeated in surprise. “Jesus! No wonder you didn’t understand my card! From that story you told me, I thought it would have been two hundred, tops!” She thought for a moment longer, then added. “What do you mean by ‘technically’?”

“Demon’s don’t have to be conscious during their time in hell.” He explained. “We have the ability to just kind of..fade into the mist. Just exist as more of a fleeting concept than as a physical being. It just helps the time go by I suppose. You don’t have to think too hard when you’re nothing.”

“Huh.” Said Rumi, and he knew that she couldn’t find words to comment on his information. “So you’re four hundred but you feel..what- 25?”

“That’s about right. It’s how old I was when I died, anyway.”

“How?” Rumi asked gently, the softness of her voice telling him that he did not need to respond if he didn’t want to. 

“Heart attack.” He said simply. 

“I see..” Rumi said, sympathy tracing her face. “That must have been scary for you.”

“Yeah..it was.” Jinu shrugged. He decided that he had steered the conversation too deep into his own treacherous waters, and vyed to change the subject. “Why did you bring me here?”

“What if I told you, there’s another way to earn your freedom? She said, approaching the crest of the path that overlooked the city and standing by the gap in the railings. 

“Go on.” He said skeptically. 

“You need to help us win the idol awards.” She said. “Because when we win, the honmoon will be sealed, and that’s what will guarantee your freedom. “Gwi-ma will be permanently cut off, and all the demons will be gone from this world.” Her tone shifted, becoming more breathy and uncertain. “I will finally be free of these patterns. No more hiding, no more secrets.” She turned to him. “You can be on this side when the honmoon in sealed, away from the demon world, away from Gwi-ma. You can be free from those voices. Forever.”

Would that really work?

“What makes you think the honmoon could save a guy like me?” Jinu rebutted, not quite meeting her eyes as he remembered bitterly that she didn’t know the full story of what he had done.

“A guy who tried to help his family? You made a mistake, Jinu, and you felt it today at the signing, the power of the fans, of the honmoon!” 

“It’s not that simple!” He scoffed. 

“Well, I am a mistake. She said in a low, quiet voice. Jinu stopped, caught on her every word. “I have been since the moment I was born. I need you to believe. And I have to believe…because, if there’s no hope for you, then what hope is there for me?”

Slowly, almost microscopically, Jinu raised his hands, asking, begging her to take them. She paused, only for a moment, and Jinu’s heart stopped beating. But then, she brought her hands to his, and delicately placed them in his palms.

Warm. Rumi’s hands were so incredibly warm. The tingles were back, zapping through his entire body with new vigor as he traced his thumb along her knuckles in small, soothing circles. 

“You are not a mistake.” Jinu whispered to her as she looked up at him with those glowing eyes. “You are anything but a mistake, Rumi.”

“I…” She trailed off, searching his face for any hint of a lie. 

They almost didn’t hear the footsteps of the elderly lady until she was right up next to them. “Bracelet?” She offered, holding up a purple cord with a woven pattern twisted into the front. “For your beautiful girlfriend?” 

They jumped apart, each stammering out a different set of excuses. 

“I-what? No, she’s not even my type!” Jinu was able to force out of his mouth. 

“Ah! Excuse me? I’m everyone’s type!” Rumi argued, turning to him with pursed lips.

He shot her a side eye, throwing his hands up in a mocking surrender. “You can’t even show up on time!” 

“I was thirty seconds late!” She said with a look that absolutely screamed, ‘not all of us can teleport!’

“Well, I can see why you’re still single.” Jinu mumbled, purely for the satisfaction of watching her jaw drop in shock. She was so cute when she was miffed..

“See?” He said, turning to the lady as if their conversation was some sorted of vigorous science experiment. “We’d never work!” 

The lady just looked at him with narrowed eyes, placing the bracelet in Rumi’s hand without breaking her gaze. “Here, free one. Go find yourself a better boy, this one’s hopeless.”

“Well, there’s your answer.” Jinu said in regard to their earlier conversation, chuckling at the lady’s antics and gesturing to himself. “Hopeless boy.”

Rumi looked thoughtfully down at the bracelet in her hand, then back up at him. “That’s the funny thing about hope.” She said with a small grin. “Nobody else gets to decide if you feel it.” She held the bracelet up to him, gesturing for him to take it. “That choice belongs to you.”

Jinu was so shocked by her kind words that he genuinely forgot to move, forgot to breathe, to function, and had definitely forgotten to say something. 

He watched as her hopeful face slowly dropped, and she withdrew her hand as if he had burned her. “Fine.” She drawled, masking her hurt under layers of sarcasm and indifference. “Your loss.” It was when she had turned to walk away that finally broke Jinu out of his trance. 

He lept forwards without a second thought, grabbing her wrist to keep her from taking another step away from him. Their gazes connected again, and Jinu felt a rush of pride as all of the hope and admiration seemed to drain back onto her face. 

“I..sorry, I just..I was just reaching for the bracelet.” He stuttered, all dignity lost. 

“Oh! Oh, yeah. Yeah, right.” Rumi rushed out. She took his arm, pulling to rest right in front of her, and carefully slipped the bracelet into it, tying it gently under the curve of his wrist. 

He watched her work, little hearts dancing in his vision as she finished. 

“For what it’s worth..” He found himself saying. “I think you’re an incredible hunter.” 

Rumi just went still, almost as if he had fried some sort of circuit in her brain. “Thank you.” She choked out, settling beside him as they continued walking down the path together, his hand slipping almost magnetically into hers. 

“Bingsu time?” She asked.

“Yes please.”

Chapter Text

“So..it’s just ice?” 

“There’s a lot more in there than ice.”

“But there's still ice in it!” 

Rumi rolled her eyes at him, leaning back against the ceramic tiles of the roof they had chosen, giving them an impeccable view outside the city limits and out into the wild countryside of Korea. 

She had been the one to go down to the bingsu place, pulling her hood over her violet hair to avoid being spotted, and had returned to him a few minutes later with two small bowls topped with a small collection of fruit. 

Back at the palace, only the emperor would have been worthy of such a meal. 

“Why are you so stuck on the ice part?” Rumi asked him through the strawberry in her mouth, bumping his shouder with hers teasingly.

“It never snowed in our village.” Jinu said simply. “I didn’t even know what ice looked like.” 

Rumi shot him a sorrowful look. “Well, this is pretty close.” She offered, gesturing towards the bowl. “Come on, take a bite.” 

Jinu signed, picking up his plastic spoon and scooping a small dent into the frozen lump, making sure to snag a few blueberries as well. “Here goes.”

He put the spoon in his mouth, and couldn’t help but moan loudly as the flavor washed over him, melting into his tongue and dripping down his throat like liquid gold. It filled his stomach like no other sustenance had, both satisfying his newfound craving for sugar, but also multiplying it tenfold. 

“It’s cold.” He noted, taking a large second bite. 

“No shit!” Rumi laughed. “Careful on the bites though! Too much and you’ll get-”

But Jinu had just rapidly set his bowl down, holding his head as a strange freezing sensation took over his brain. “Ow.” He muttered as the feeling ebbed and flowed and eventually passed. 

“Yeah. Brain freeze.” Rumi chuckled. “Didn’t know demons could get those.”

“But you’re a demon.” Jinu pointed out. 

“Yeah, but I’m alive.” Rumi retorted. 

“You know that as long as I reside in the mortal realm, I’m also technically alive?” Jinu told her. “Death gave me this form, and Gwi-ma keeps me down there, but every time he grants me access here, I live like a normal human.”

“So you’ve been aging every time you visit?” Rumi asked him. 

“Pretty much.”

“If Gwi-ma grants you access, why’d he let you come here?” Rumi asked him. 

“He’s under the impression that I’m back in my apartment.” Jinu said. This was the truth, as he hadn’t yet told Gwi-ma about their little meetings. He had planned to, but after everything had happened, he would rather die with this secret. “He thinks I’m writing songs.”

“Ah, so you’re the songwriter.” Rumi remarked. “You wrote soda pop?”

“Unfortunately.” Jinu groaned. “I’m never going to get a solid night’s sleep again without it playing in my ears.”

“Me neither.” Rumi admitted. 

They took a moment to enjoy their little treats, both of them taking in the stars that had begun to appear in the sky.

“Zoey absolutely has a thing for Mystery.” Rumi noted after a while, her spoon scraping the bottom of her styrofoam boal.

“Oh, one hundred percent.” Jinu agreed, still only halfway through his frozen meal. “Did you hear him fucking bark at that one fan who tried to touch Zoey’s arm? I swear, I’ve never seen him act like that before.” 

Before Jinu could even register what was happening, Rumi was leaning across his crossed legs, plastic spoon in hand, and quickly swiping a bite of his bingsu, popping it into her mouth and sitting up straight again like nothing had ever happened. 

Back on the streets, anyone taking Jinu's food was an automatic fistfight. Him being too hungry to spare a single crumb for anyone after most of the rations going to his mother and sister, leaving him with precious nothing to sustain him. 

But here? He strangely found that he didn't mind it, almost happy that she had felt comfortable enough to try a bit of his vanilla as opposed to the strawberry she had ordered for herself. Rumi had quite accidentally become the only person in the entire world that Jinu would ever willingly give up his food for. 

And she didn't even know it. 

“And I’ve never heard Zoey’s voice go that low.” Rumi giggled, continuing the conversation. “If things were different, maybe they’d make a good pair.” 

“Yeah…if things were different.” Jinu repeated, giving Rumi a meaningful look. 

“I mean.. They could talk without having to worry what their bandmates would say.” Rumi said slowly. 

“And they didn’t have to worry about Idol awards or Honmoons.” Jinu continued. 

“And they could just go on dates without worrying about being heartbroken.”

“Sing songs, play games.”

“They could just be together.”

“They could be free.”

A long moment passed between them, the tension wrapping its warm tendrils around their hearts until they were tangled hopelessly in each other's gazes. The bingsu forgotten, they leaned towards each other, both of them searching the other for any hint of regret or uncertainty. They were ten inches apart. 

“Do you really think they would work?” Jinu asked her.

Five inches. 

“I know they would, if they just had the chance.” Rumi whispered. 

Two inches. 

Their lips were ghosting over each other, so near that they could feel the shutter of the other's breath as they inched ever closer. 

They were but a half second apart from connecting, when a sudden screech broke the night sky. Rumi whipped up, seeming to sense something that Jinu couldn’t. Her eyes were darting across the night sky as if following some invisible current. 

“The honmoon.” She whispered. Without a second word, she leapt up from where she sat, running full speed down the side of the building and tearing down the street, leaving Jinu to appear in a flash of pink beside her and sprint to keep up. 

“What’s happened?” He called through the whoosh of the wind in his ears. 

“The honmoon’s ripped again!” Rumi called, her Sain-geom materializing in her hand as she turned sharply down a sidestreet. “I don’t have much time, they usually come after the children at night!” 

“Who-” Jinu asked, but then stopped dead in his tracks. 

There, at the end of the alley, cornered behind a tipped over trash can and a few loose boxes, was the little girl from the signing. Her mother lay unconscious beside her, surrounded by a gaggle of Gwi-ma’s lackeys, all of them looking ravenous and ready to feast. 

Rumi wasted no time in jumping into action. With a mighty cry, she leapt in from above, putting herself between the mother and the four demons. Her eyes glowed bright blue as the honmoon poured out of her, threatening to burst at any moment. 

What happened next was nothing short of a ray of colorful lights as Rumi’s sword swirled in deadly spirals, quickly taking out each demon with deadly precision as they fought to reach the little girl. 

Jinu had always known that certain demons were allowed up to the mortal realm to retrieve souls for Gwi-ma, but he had never quite pieced together what these missions had entailed. He had figured that their capturing had been done through slyness and trickery, and all those who had fallen for the bait had deserved to be fed to the demon lord. 

But this girl. She was not a sleazy superfan like the ones the Saja Boys had been targeting. Their goal had been to abduct the scourge of humanity, the mortals who had been given an entire life to live and spent it glued to their devices, stalking celebrities for their own sick, twisted fantasies.

That’s at least how Gwi-ma had promised him it would be like. 

But this girl. She was none of those things. She was an admirer. She had seen the Saja Boys perform, and had treated them like actual human beings. She had called him mister, she had given him a drawing, and she had thanked him for his time at the table. 

And now her kindness was going to cost her the rest of her life?

He was appalled. This was really what he had been standing for this entire time? Surely his stupid memories would never be a fair trade for a child’s life. Why hadn’t Gwi-ma told him the truth?

“Jinu!” Rumi cried. Jinu snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that he was still glued to the alleyway’s entrance. She was currently being pinned down between the last two remaining demons, her biceps straining to keep their razor sharp teeth from meeting her skull. “Take this!” She quickly conjured a long dagger from the honmoon, and tossed it at his feet. 

Just seeing Rumi in danger sent Jinu into full lockdown mode, and he was suddenly running faster than he ever had in his entire life. He scooped up the dagger, plunging it into the first demons back and letting it disintegrate into ash underneath him. This gave Rumi ample opportunity to swing her own sword around and slice it into the last demon’s heart, letting it drift into nothing alongside its cronies. 

With no demons left between them, Jinu tumbled on top of Rumi, catching the bulk of his torso with his forearms as he landed above her. 

“Are you okay?” He asked gently, searching her for any signs of injury. 

“I’m fine.” She said quickly. Her hands raised, coming to rest on his shoulders and she looked him and and down. “Are you?” 

“Yeah, all good.” He said. He suddenly remembered the little girl, and stood up quickly, helping Rumi to her feet as he approached the two figures. 

The girl’s eyes were open, and in the darkness it took her a moment to recognise him.

“Mr…Jinu?” She gasped, looking awestruck as she looked up at him with nothing but admiration. “You saved me.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and suddenly her tiny arms were wrapped around Jinu’s legs, squeezing them as tightly as her little body could manage. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Jinu whispered, kneeling down so that he could hold her as she sobbed into his coat. “What’s your name?”

“H-Hana.” The little girl stuttered, and Jinu’s stomach dropped. It was..his sister's name. “I was named after one of my great great ancestors.” She rambled on.

No. No, it couldn’t be. This girl, Hana. Could it possibly be..his sisters family? Hana hadn’t been a very popular name in his village..

Those demons had almost killed his family. 

“Shh, it’s okay, Hana.” Jinu said as he rocked her back and forth. “What’s your favorite color?” 

While Hana was distracted, babbling away into Jinu’s shoulder, Rumi took the opportunity to crouch over the girl's mom, checking her wrists for a pulse. 

“She’s okay.” Rumi whispered to him. “Just knocked out.” She raised her hands, and the honmoon seemed to shimmer to life under her touch, swirling around the woman until her eyes began to flutter. Rumi quickly dissolved all traces of magic from the scene, her sword and Jinu’s dagger also disappearing. 

“Are you alright, ma’am?” Rumi asked her, gently coaxing her to her feet. 

“I..I think so.” The woman gasped, looking around wildly until her eyes landed on her daughter cradled in Jinu’s arms. “Oh! My baby! Thank you! Thank you two so much!” She said, taking the girl from him and holding her tightly to her chest. “What even happened?”

“You passed out.” Rumi lied effortlessly. “We heard the noise and came to help. You should really go see a doctor, just to make sure you’re okay.”

“I will!” She said, making her way out of the alley. “Bless you, bless you both!”

As her footsteps faded away, Jinu could finally take a deep breath, taking in everything that had just happened. 

“How..” He started to ask. “How often do you have to do this?” 

Rumi shrugged defeatedly. “Nightly? It’s been getting worse since you guys showed up.”

“Oh.” Jinu said lamely, not sure how to even put his revelations into words. “I..I didn’t know..the extent…he never told he- he was..”

“Hey, hey hey.” Rumi cooed at him, eyes dancing with concern. “It’s okay. I believe you. I saw how you reacted when you spotted them.”

“Oh god, Rumi. I’m so sorry.” Jinu sobbed, pulling her into a tight hug and hanging his head in the crook of her shoulder. “I would have never..if I’d known..”

“It’s okay.” Rumi reassured him. ”It’s okay. Everything’s okay.” 

Jinu didn’t know how long they stood there, wrapped in each other so tightly he feared he’d never be able to peel himself away from her. 

Nothing else in the universe mattered except this godly woman before him.

His sister had a family! Was it possible that the money had somehow made it to them? Had the gold and the gems at least given her enough stability to have children? He had been an uncle, and then a great uncle, and a great great uncle and had never even known..

“I need to go.” Rumi whispered after a while, gently letting go of him with a heavy air of regret. “Please write to me if you need me though.”

“I will.” He assured her. “And I’ll make sure the Saja Boys lose the Idol awards.” Jinu promised. “I’ll be with you when the Honmoon closes”

Rumi smiled at him, her final, guarded wall crumbling to dust as she looked at him like no other ever had. “I know you’ll do what’s right.”

“Take Derpy.” Jinu demanded as Rumi made to walk back to her tower, the blue tiger appearing beside her. 

“Thank you.” Rumi said. She made to mount the tiger, but then paused, looking back over at Jinu. She then jumped back off of Derpy, and ran back over to where Jinu was standing. “Be safe.” She whispered, and pressed a quick, chaste kiss to his cheek.

Then she was gliding away atop Derpy’s back. 

The kiss was burned perminany into his skin, the sensation not leaving Jinu’s flesh even as he teleported back to his apartment, changed into his night clothes, brushed his teeth, and settled into bed. 

He had even checked the mirror, making sure that none of the Saja Boys could see the burning outline of her lips on his jaw. It felt as if the pleasurable prickles would never leave the small part of his face she had blessed with her touch. 

Could this really be a reality for him? If the honmoon was sealed, and he ended up on this side..could every day be like this? Kissed goodnight by Rumi and spending every day eating desserts with her, bathed in starlight?

And with that ethereal vision dancing under his eyelids, and for the first night in four hundred years, Jinu fell asleep allowing himself to dream.

To dream of a future where things could be better. 

Chapter Text

The mid-afternoon sun beat down strongly on Jinu’s hood, making him regret bringing such a thick jacket for this excursion. He heavily considered taking it off, but one thought of what had happened to Rom just a few days ago when he had gone outside without a disguise made him tighten the strings of his hoodie and pull down his baseball cap even further over his face. 

In retrospect, it would probably have been better to wait for Rumi somewhere more shaded, but with the sheer number of people down here, all the plausible spots had been taken long before he had arrived. 

Mys was the only one who had questioned him as he was leaving the apartment, and Jinu had quickly told him that he was just going out to scope out the stadium for the idol awards. 

Mys had let him go, but not before giving him a long, hard look, his mouth twitching in suspicion.

He could only count himself lucky that Mys tended to keep things to himself.

 Jinu’s admission money rattled comfortingly in his pocket, and he played absently with the strings of his bracelet as he waited, not having taken it off once since Rumi had put it there. He had masked it with a small illusion a few times as he came across the Saja Boys however, turning it into a simple gold chain so they wouldn’t suspect anything more of it. 

The letter he had sent Rumi earlier was brief and humorous, not having to worry anymore about her rejecting his invitation. 

Meet me at the corner between the Bingsu place and the rooftops from last night for our second official date. 

Bring a jacket, it most certainly will not be cold.

Jinu checked his watch, seeing that it was ten seconds until Rumi would arrive. He braced himself, expecting another scare from her, but instead his eyes caught a small flash of chocolate brown eyes approaching from the stream of people coming up the street.

“Hey.” She said shyly, coming to a halt right before him. She was also clad in a large, grey hoodie, the strings pulled tight over her signature braid. 

“Hey.” He responded, seeing her already sending a fresh wave of calm over him as he let his eyes shamelessly take her in. “I notice you didn’t try to scare me again.”

Rumi shrugged. “I’ve had my fun, so I let you off the hook this time.”

“I’ll count my blessings.” Jinu responded. “Come on, this isn’t actually where I wanted to take you.”

“Where is?”

“Well, that would kind of ruin the entire concept of the surprise now, wouldn’t it?” Jinu said, flashing her a cheesy grin. “Follow me.”

He had expected Rumi to walk beside him, not imagining himself lucky enough to be able to hold her hand again, but small fingers were suddenly intertwining with his, and he gasped softly as their palms met again, just as intoxicating as the first time. 

She squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back, looking away from her as his cheeks flushed with pride.

He led her down a small number of sidestreets, winding through the groups of people and turning their faces whenever they suspected a phone might be recording nearby. 

“Where are you taking me, exactly?” Rumi asked as they began to approach a large blue building, tucked between a few warehouses as the road widened up and curved down towards the large river cutting through the edge of town. 

“You’ll see..” Jinu said mysteriously as he opened the door to the blue building, holding it open for her and gesturing her inside with a fancy wave of his hand. “Ladies first.”

“Well, aren’t you charming.” Rumi said with a halfhearted roll of her eyes. 

The threshold of the building was cool and dark, bathed by a few spotty colored lights, which cast the room in a shady blue tone. They both signed in relief as they pulled their jackets off, not worried about anyone recognising them in the darkness.

“What is this place?” Rumi asked as she looked around at the murals painted onto the walls, realization dawning on her face. 

“Well, a little birdie -a birdie and a cat- told me that you have a secret passion for marine biology.” Jinu said proudly. “So what better place to take you, than the biggest aquarium in Korea?”

“Jinu!” Rumi laughed, turning around to grin up at him with childish glee. “Really? How did they even- well, I guess I do have quite a few books…”

“They’re perceptive.” Jinu smiled. “Come on, you’ll have to be my guide, because I’ve never even seen the beach before.”

“Don’t worry.” Rumi said, her arm settling around his waist as they moved further down the hallway. “You’re in good hands.”

“Two adults?” Asked the man at the front counter as Jinu pulled the money from his pocket. 

“Yes!” Rumi confirmed. 

“Thank you!” The man said. “Feedings are at three and five, and the divers will be doing a small demonstration in the leafy kelp forest exhibit in thirty minutes.”

“Wonderful!” Rumi said. “Come on, Jinu!” 

Jinu followed her down another dimly lit corridor, the glowing light of the first tanks coming into view ahead.

“This map is saying that the otters are just ahead.” Rumi said, scanning over the brochure the man had given her.

“Otters?” Jinu asked in confusion. 

“Wow, we’re really not working with much.” Rumi laughed.

“The only sea creatures I know are the edible ones.” Jinu admitted with a grin. 

“Well, these guys definitely aren’t.” Rumi told him, bringing him up to the glass as the furry little creatures came swimming down from above, flipping and twirling around him with interest. 

“They’re…adorable.” Jinu gasped, tentatively putting his hand up to the glass as the otters rubbed up against it from the other side. 

He looked over at Rumi to find her eyes beaming up at him like he was the last good thing in the entire universe. 

“What else is there?” Jinu asked, flush with energetic curiosity as he leaned over her shoulder to get a look at the map, propping his chin on her shoulder as they surveyed it together.

“You ever pet a shark?” 

Five minutes later, Jinu found himself hovering over a small tank with an open top, several small sharks swimming inches below the water’s surface. The sign above the exhibit reading; swell sharks.

Sharks were something that he had been aware of, -even when he was alive- but only because of the horror stories he had heard from returning fishermen, who had lost sailors and ships to the beasts. 

“Rumi, are you sure this is safe?” Jinu asked as Rumi rolled up the tops of her sleeves, careful to conceal the patterns he knew were lurking just under the fabric.

“Don’t worry, they’re not those kinds of sharks.” Rumi giggled. “Besides, their teeth are barely half a centimeter long. They mostly eat little bits of squid, and have very bad eyesight.” She looked up at the employee on the other side of the tank. “Mind if I pick one up?” 

“Go right ahead.” The woman smiled as she walked by.

“Be careful..” Jinu said timidly as Rumi’s hands sunk into the tank. 

“I’ll be fine!” She laughed as she began to gently separate a sleeping shark from a small pile of them at the bottom. “You’re cute for being worried, though.” 

She seemed to settle on a small little one just near the edge of the tank. Her delicate fingers wrapped around its pectoral fins, and the shark’s back broke the water, cradled in Rumi’s hands. 

Jinu leaned in, fascinated by the sleeping fish. 

“Pet him.” Rumi said. “Go on.”

Jinu reached out with one, timid finger, and ran it along the length of the swell shark’s back. 

“It’s like sandpaper.” He commented as he petted the shark back and forth. “Or like Derpy’s tongue.”

Rumi laughed, letting the shark go as it drifted back down to the bottom. "Yeah. They have a special scale structure called dermal denticles that helps with them with their hydrodynamics."

“That's amazing." He said, working up the courage to pet another shark as it swam by.

“Right?” Rumi said, almost like a small squeal. 

“What’s this one doing?” Jinu wandered out loud, moving over to look at one of the larger swell sharks, who was slowly thrashing around at the corner of the tank, its middle abnormally large as it opened its mouth and let the saltwater pour inside. 

Rumi’s eyes widened as he leaned in to look closer. “Careful! There’s a reason they’re called-”

But it was too late. With a clench of its muscles, the shark spat a large mouthful of water out of the tank and directly into Jinu’s clothes, soaking the front of his shirt.

Rumi collapsed into a fit of giggles, wordlessly handing him her jacket to help him dry off. 

“Swell sharks.” Jinu said dryly with new understanding. “Yep. I got that now.” 

But he couldn’t help but laugh with her.

An hour later, Jinu and Rumi had pretty much explored every nook and cranny of the aquarium. Jinu had gotten to hold a few starfish, along with an irritated looking hermit crab, and Rumi had walked the undersea tunnel with him at least ten times, pointing out animals he couldn’t even begin to recognise and excitedly telling him where they were native to or what sort of diet they had. 

They had found a small cafeteria near the leafy kelp forest, and had commandeered a bench facing the colossal tank, their food tray sitting neatly between them. 

Jinu had noted with a hint of endearment, that Rumi was quite the monster when she was hungry. 

“Do you want me to go get some more kimbap?” He asked with a chuckle after she had practically swallowed the entire roll whole, not leaving a single speck of food on her lips all the while. 

“Oh, sorry.” She said as she was sucking the ends of her fingers, seeming to realize what she had just done. 

“No, no,” He rushed to reassure her. “I'm honestly really impressed.” 

“Shut up!” Rumi huffed, making him laugh as he took another bite of his fried rice bowl. 

“That’s a big fish.” Jinu pointed out that a funny looking animal with two triangular fins sticking straight up and down passed in front of them. 

“Sunfish.” Rumi said without missing a beat. "That one's pretty big for its species."

“Did you ever work at an aquarium?” Jinu asked her regarding her upbringing. “You would have done great here.”

Rumi shook her head. “Celene kept us all pretty isolated until we were old enough to tour.” She said, “We didn’t really need the money, the hunters passed their fortunes down from the generations so the public outreach would be secure. But I always wanted to.”

“It must have been lonely.” Jinu guessed. 

“It was, but I had Zoey and Mira.” Rumi said with a smile. 

“Those two seem good for you.” Jinu said, moving the now empty food tray over and carefully scooting closer to her. 

Rumi laughed, her head turning to his. “So do your tiger and your bird.” A small pause, and then, “Okay, I’ve been meaning to ask, why does the bird wear a tiny hat?” 

“Well, I made it for the tiger, but the bird keeps taking it.” Jinu deadpanned, not sure how else to even explain the situation to her. 

Rumi let out a chuckle, in which he was only too happy to join in on. “Here, I’ll take the tray back.” She offered, standing up to bring their empty bowls and her strawberry milk bottle back to the cafeteria. 

“Anything else we haven’t seen?” She asked as she returned, rubbing her hands together excitedly. 

“Well, we haven’t gone through that door yet.” Jinu said, pointing to a small door just off the side of the room.

“Shall we?” She said, offering him her hand again. 

He took it at once, rising to meet her. “We shall.” 

Rumi opened the door, and she gasped quietly, pulling him inside as her eyes trailed across the room. “Oh, wow.” She whispered. “This must be the open ocean exhibit.” 

Across the front of the room, lay a wall of glass so large, Jinu was sure that it easily dwarfed the size of the leafy kept forest they had just left. The rest of the room, (save for a few benches) was completely deserted, leaving them alone in the ambient hum of the water. 

Rumi walked slowly up to the front of the glass, her hands pressing against it like a child experiencing the purest of wonders. 

Jinu had decided long ago that the aquarium was his favorite place in the whole world. The way the pressures of the outside world melted off of the two of them in here was like nothing he had ever thought possible. 

And oh, the way Rumi lit up in here every time she looked at him.

The cool blue light radiating from the water cast her in an eerie blue halo, really making her look like an apparition of magic itself, just for him. 

He would trade it for nothing else. 

“It’s so beautiful.” She breathed as a glittering school of sardines overtook her viewpoint. 

“Yeah.” Echoed Jinu, not taking his eyes off of her. “Beautiful.” 

Rumi looked at him, the light making her soft pink blush appear indigo on her skin. “You wouldn’t think that if you saw the real me.” She said sadly. 

“What do you mean?” Jinu asked, his voice laced with concern as he stood inches before her.

“My true form, it’s mangled.” She said with great effort. “My half heritage..it did things to me. I’m too demon to be a true hunter…but not demon enough to even appear as one. It’s not the best sight, what with all of my cracks showing.”

“Rumi..” Jinu said, his hands curling around her waist. “I think…” He said, reaching for the hair tie at the end of her braid, and finally indulging in running his fingers through her silky hair. “You need to let your hair down sometimes.” 

Her hair fell in long curtains now, curling around her like a blanket. He allowed his patterns to overtake his skin, slowly lifting a gentle clawed hand to meet hers, his eyes glowing dimly gold. 

She hesitated only for a moment, and then took his hand, fingertips shifting to matching claws as her patterns raced up her arm until her entire body was wrapped in jagged purple lines.

“Look at me?” He asked, her hair hiding her bowed face. “Please?” 

Rumi slowly looked up, and Jinu slowly exhaled as all the blood rushed out of his head, leaving him in a loopy daze as her eyes met his, searching him for any signs of fear or disgust.

She didn’t seem to be able to fully shift into the same form Jinu had. Her other hand remained clawless, and the patterns only reached down one side of her face. Jinu marvelled at her as she blinked nervously up at him with one twinkling yellow eye.

“God Rumi.” He gasped, bringing both of her hands to rest on his shoulders as he put feather light palms on her back, terrified to let his claws anywhere near her. “You’re so beautiful.” 

He leaned in until their foreheads were touching, silently begging her for permission. “As far as I’m concerned? You’re still just as beautiful with the cracks showing.”

And then the entire world seemed to crash down on top of him as their lips finally met. 

Behind his closed eyelids, Jinu was seeing stars of every color dance before his eyes as her warmth pressed into his. Her lips tasted like honey and strawberries and every other good thing there ever was. They fit perfectly together, like two halves of the same universe finally merging together, showering each other in the most perfect starlight, bathing each other in the heat of a million suns.

Rumi’s tongue swept across Jinu’s lower lip, making him groan softly as their bodies moved perfectly in sync, both barely taking a full breath before diving back into each other. The curve of Rumi’s back arched under Jinu’s touch as she stood on the tips of her toes in order to gently sink her fanged teeth down into his skin. 

Jinu gently swung her around, pressing her back into the cool glass of the tank as his claws found her hair again, letting them comb through her lavender waterfall as her human hand came to rest on his chest, her pinky finger dipping below the hem of his shirt with a small caress. 

Forked tongue met rounded one, and his skin pricked as he heard Rumi softly whisper his name, her eye glowing brighter and brighter in the dim room. 

Jinu slowly, regrettably, pulled his mouth off of her after a while, not trusting himself to last another minute wrapped around her without causing a much bigger scene than they should be making in a public place like this. 

“Rumi..I..” Jinu whispered in the silent space, her eyes blinking temptingly up at him.

IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou

“I can’t wait to see you on that stage tomorrow.” He heard himself saying.

But again, it was as if Rumi could read his mind. Her eyes scrunched playfully as she humored his attempt at confessing his feelings. “I can’t wait to see you on this side of the golden honmoon.”

They both suddenly looked up to the tank as a large shadow passed over their heads, a large creature the size of a whale floating slowly over them with a small amada of fish swimming below it like a shimmering escort through the water, the tank sparking with every color imaginable as the animal dipped down past their viewpoint. 

"What is that?" Jinu asked Rumi, just so he could hear her talk again.

"A whale shark." She breathed barely glancing at it, even as it's nose settled inches from her on the other side of the glass, only having eyes for Jinu as he just grinned stupidly down at her. 

"Is it a whale, or a shark?" 

"It's a fish."

"Now I just know you're messing with me." Jinu chuckled, leaning back down to entrap her lips in his again.

They left the aquarium arm in arm an hour later, both back in their human forms. But they might as well have been wearing neon jumpsuits instead of their pulled up hoodies what with the way the people passing them seemed to melt at the sight of such a happy couple.

But Jinu paid them no mind, lost in the bliss that was Rumi’s company. He never wanted to leave this moment, never wanted to let go of this beam of pure sunshine that had struck its way deep into his chest. 

He had spent his whole life believing that there was something wrong with him, something wrong with his heart. His death had only ironically proven to him that it would never function right when he needed it to. He could never love the same way others seemed to love. 

But now? He knew unequivocally that the only missing piece that he had unknowingly been missing for over four hundred years..

Was her. 

Chapter Text

Jinu had never written a love song before. 

Well, did it count as a love song? Yes. Yes, it absolutely did. There was nothing else to describe it by. He loved her. Jinu loved Rumi. He loved her.

And she had kissed him. 

Jinu was so absolutely blown away by his bravado in that moment. Every time he thought back to it, he knew there was no way he could ever have recreated that moment in the same chivalrous way he had done in that dimly lit exhibit. Before that day, he had never even properly given a girl a compliment, never having the time to between busking the streets and feeding his sister.

But here he was. Rumi’s partner. 

He shook his head, grinning wildly as he dipped his quill back into his ink bottle to mark down a few chord progressions, testing the concoction on the strings of his Bipa and then adding the vocals overtop it, charting them down as he went. 

Keeping me in check, keeping me obsessed 

Play me on repeat, I sing free in your head

Anytime it hurts, I play another verse 

I can be your sanctuary

Know I'm the only one right now 

I will love you more when it all burns down

More than power, more than gold 

Yeah, I gave you my heart, now I’m here take my soul

The chord progression was steady, something that had been echoing in his head since the aquarium, since her lips had singed themselves into his soul.

 It just sounded like her. Stable, soft, and comforting. It was just him and his bipa, a language only Rumi would understand. 

I'm thе only one who'll love your sins

Feel the way my voicе gets underneath your skin

Listen 'cause I'm preachin' to the choir

Can I get the mic a little higher?

Gimme your desire

I can be the star you rely on

내 황홀의 취해, yeah I don’t look away 

Don't you know I'm here to love you

Now we runnin' wild

Yeah, you’re all I need, will you be my idol

He wondered vaguely if she’d sing it out loud when she got it, just to hear what it sounded like.

Uh, bichi naneun fame, gyesok oechyeo, you’re my idol

Thank you for the pain 'cause it got me going viral

Uh, yeah, 낫지 않는 fever, makin' you a believer

nareul wihae neon jonjaehaneun aideul

Don't let it show, keep it all inside?

The pain and the shame, keep it outta sight?

Let it explode, in a confession

And so god, give it to me, true expression

He hoped to capture everything, every little insecurity broken into a million pieces in the span of the song, something to comfort her in his absence as they awaited the few hours until the Idol awards.

Living in your mind now

Too late 'cause you're mine now

I will make you free

Yeah, when you're right here, with me

Listen 'cause I'm preaching to the choir

Can I get the mic a little higher?

Gimme your desire

Watch me set the world on fire

nae hwanghore chwihae, you can't look away 

No one is coming to harm you

Now we runnin' wild

I’m down on your knees, will you be my idol?

Jinu marked the final verse with a flourish, re-reading the lyrics with a blush on his cheeks at what he had created for her.

It just felt so..good. So good to create something sweet for once. Something with no manipulative undertones or fake emotions clouding the intentions. Soda pop had been fun, but it wasn’t him, the real him. The one that had grown up a songwriter at heart, not a fighter.

Most of all in his swirling accomplishment however, it felt incredible to do something for someone else for a change. 

“Hey, Derpy.” Jinu said, leaving the paper and the chord chart on his desk as he crossed the room. “Think you can deliver one more letter?” 

The tiger just blinked at him, that silly little smile making Jinu chuckle as he went to reach for the duck card.

But just as his fingertips closed around it, he felt a painful spike of unease race across his skin, lighting up his patterns in the way he knew meant that Gwi-ma had seized him. 

A portal fell open below his feet, letting him fall a good distance before slamming into the rock basin lining Gwi-ma’s shrine. He stood, groaning in pain as he rubbed the back of his head. 

Below him, the Saja Boys stood waiting, all of them looking extremely somber as they surveyed him with a certain gleam in their eyes that Jinu had never seen before. 

“What’s with the long faces?” he asked, noticing that Baby didn’t seem able to reach his gaze. “Everything’s going according to plan.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Abby asked him in an icy tone, distaste marked into the crease of his brow as he walked forwards, facing Jinu as he spoke. 

“Yes! Look at all these souls!” Jinu said, inwardly wincing as he saw the bright comets zooming over their heads. How many of those streaks of light was a child’s life, or a mothers? A fathers? Someone who had been loved, or had loved?

“You seem scared by them.” Abby noted. “Regretful.” He added with a darker hint of spite.

“So what?” Jinu groaned in exasperation. “Maybe I don’t think we should be killing children, who cares?” 

This seemed to spark something in the rest of the Saja Boys, each of them exchanging looks of questioning comprehension. So they didn’t know either..

“He does.” Abby spat, gesturing for Jinu to turn around. 

Jinu slowly spun on his heel, to reveal nothing less than a wall made of pure, glowing pink flames. Gwi-ma had almost tripled in size since the last time Jinu had seen him, making him take a single step backwards in shock as he took in the full might of the monster he had sold his life to. 

“That’s funny.” Gwi-ma growled slowly, his voice reverberating in Jinu’s skill so loudly it was almost painful. “I thought for a moment, that you actually believed that you could be free.”

“How did you know about that?” Jinu asked, his eyes narrowing at the jagged flames. 

“My spies see everything.” Gwi-ma said. The mist closed in around Jinu again, lighting up his patterns like needles digging under his skin, making his writhe in pain as he was lifted off the ground. “If you really believed her, If you really thought you could escape what you are.. what you did..

The inside of his mind was screeching with the unpurest of sounds.

“..You would have told her the truth!” Gwi-ma yelled. “You betrayed your own family! You left them behind.

You killed them

You killed them

You killed them

The voices were getting louder, chanting to an almighty crescendo that never seemed to end. They were written into the very fibers of his being, the words pumping through his blood, flowing through the valves of his heart, settling into the structure of his bones as he took intoxicating breath after breath to clear himself of this poison.

“Don’t forget about our deal, Jinu.” Gwi-ma continued. “I can turn those voices up, I can turn them up so high…

YOU KILLED THEM

YOU KILLED THEM

YOU KILLED THEM

A broken whimper escaped his lips, his voice cracking under the pressure digging into his neck as he gasped for mercy.

THEY’RE GOING TO DIE

“Don’t think you can escape.” Gwi-ma told him. 

YOU LEFT THEM

“And just so you don’t get any ideas about trying to escape your role..”

YOU KILLED THEM

Another portal opened beside Jinu, revealing Derpy and his magpie, both of them cowering in fear as Gwi-ma held them tightly in his grasp, encasing both of them in a prison of smoke and fire before they both vanished from sight. 

No. Not them. Anyone but them.

YOU’RE GOING TO KILL THE ONLY THINGS YOU LOVE

He took them. Gwi-ma had taken them. If he didn’t comply with Gwi-ma’s wishes..they were going to…

“No!” Jinu cried, reaching for where they had been not a second earlier. He knew Gwi-ma was merciless, had witnessed it countless times before, but this was crossing into an entirely new territory of maliciousness as he reached into the thin air that had once held them. 

THEY’RE GONE BECAUSE OF YOU

And then he was falling again, falling back to the stone ground at the altar. 

“Don’t think you have any power here.” Gwi-ma spat. "Get him out of here!" He screamed at the awaiting Saja Boys as he turned his firey back on the group of them.

“Come on, Jinu.” Mys said softly, being the first one to kneel down to help Jinu to his shaky feet and wrapping Jinu’s arm around his shoulder to support him back down the stone steps away from the simmering demon king.

"It's okay..It's okay.." Baby tried comforting him with, softing rubbing his hand over Jinu's shaking back as they tried to console him over the loss of what felt like his entire world.

 If Jinu hadn’t been gasping, choking on the ashy air for a trace of oxygen, he might have just noticed the small trail of tears shining through Mys’s curtain of hair, or how Rom had both opened his mouths to say something, but couldn't find the words, keeping his jaw firmly shut instead.

Abby just stormed ahead, a hurricane of emotions brewing just beneath the surface of his angry red face, not even allowing Jinu the comfort of a single glance from the man he had trusted to be his second in command.

Like he deserved an ounce of loyalty right now.

YOU KILL EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH

Chapter Text

Jinu hadn’t been allowed to return back to the mortal realm that night. 

He couldn’t sleep, laying there in the cold, dry dirt on the outskirts of town, couldn’t think of anything else but Derpy’s wide, innocent eyes as Gwi-ma had entrapped him in that cursed ball of flaming bars, stowing him and the magpie away somewhere he knew only the demon lord could release them from. 

Why hadn’t I known better? Gwi-ma sent spies everywhere, why not the bustling downtown street where he had met Rumi? What with select few demons having incredibly good hearing, he was sure they would have heard his conversation with Rumi in the aquarium from a full mile away. 

At least Gwi-ma didn’t seem to know how he had planned to help Huntr/x win the idol awards. 

The only thing that brought his twitching hands to lay still was to put them over Rumi’s bracelet, tracing the curls and twists of the thread like a lifeline as he waited for the dawn to break. 

How was he possibly supposed to help Rumi, and save Derpy at the same time?

That stupid tiger had been his only support in this entire miserable place, the only thing that brought him a sliver of peace in the dead of night when he could hear nothing but his voices deep inside his brain.

It was a debt Jinu knew he could never repay his beloved pet, and now his only friend was about to suffer the consequences of Jinu’s mistakes.

“Jinu, come on. You have to get up.” Rom’s voice suddenly said, breaking the dull throb of his heart in his ears. He was tapping his shoe against Jinu’s limp body, coaxing him from the ground.

Jinu sat up, realizing it was only him, and sighed in relief, not wanting to face Abby just yet. 

Rom pulled him to his feet, dusting off his shoulders with a look of pity in his eyes. “I liked that tiger.” He said sadly. “But I’m sure he’ll be fine. All we have to do is just get out there and sing, and everything will be okay.”

“But will it?” Jinu said in a low, raspy voice, still having not recovered from screaming his lungs out the night before. “These people that Gwi-ma is targeting, they’re not who he said they are.”

“I’ve noticed.” Rom said, both of them beginning to walk over to the misty portal that Rom had come through. “I had a man come up to me yesterday and tell me that he bought tickets to our show for his daughter's birthday to celebrate her beating cancer last year. I mean..what could I even say to that? Gwi-ma promised us rabid fans with no sense of personal respect. He promised us mindless drones just begging for a chew toy to drool all over, but this has been nothing like how he’s made it seem.” 

“I don’t know what to do.” Jinu whimpered, stepping through the portal with Rom and into his dressing room at the idol awards.

“I don’t know if there’s anything we can do.” Rom whispered sadly, opening the door and sliding out into the hallway. “But we’ll figure it out, I promise.”

And then the door clicked shut.

Five hours of pacing the room like a prisoner before the gallows, and suddenly the Idol awards were upon him Jinu had no closer to a solution than he had been the previous night.

He and the boys had left their dressing rooms, each wearing a corresponding black and gold outfit, and had walked single file to their waiting room, where they would spend their last few minutes before it was time to perform. 

They had passed Huntr/x in the hall, heading the opposite direction. Rumi had given him a small, barely noticeable twitch of the lips, and it was like he had been stabbed through the chest with a rusty fork, the tongs twisting painfully around his heartstrings like an evil marionette.

They had made it to their waiting room, a small television set up in the corner of the room so that they could hear what the live broadcasters were saying as they awaited their cue from the stagehand. 

As he and Abby seemed to settle into opposite corners of the room, Jinu racked his brain, thinking of any possible way that he could sabotage the performance without Gwi-ma noticing.

 If the worst came to the worst, he would do anything to make sure Huntr/x sealed the honmoon tonight, and he would return straight back to hell and offer whatever sick and twisted fancy he could possibly think of to get Derpy back. 

Five minutes until their stage cue, Abby finally broke the silence. “So Gwi-ma didn’t tell you guys about the reality of the fans?” 

“He told you?” Baby said, shooting up off of the couch with anger lacing his deep voice. 

“He thought I could handle it the best out of all of you.” Abby argued. “I didn’t like it any better, but it needed to be done! We’re so close to shredding the honmoon and letting the demons run free over the mortal realm!”

“Is that what you want?” Jinu hissed, firing up at his bandmate. 

“It’s not about what I want!” Abby yelled. “It’s about what Gwi-ma wants! It’s always about what Gwi-ma wants!” 

This is it, Jinu realized with a jolt of adrenaline pouring down his spine. This is how I sabotage the concert. 

“But lying to us?” Jinu yelled with a little more rage than he felt, trying to amplify the tensions running thick within the room. “That’s low, even for you!” 

“Says the one running behind ours backs with a hunter!” Abby shouted. “You fell for the first pair of pretty eyes you came across, nevermind the rest of us, even as they were writing hate songs towards us to perform at this show!” 

“So? They have every right to after what we’ve done!”

“Guys, please.” Mys begged in his usual low tones. “We can’t fight like this-”

“Oh, shut up!” Baby roared at him. “You think we can just brush this aside like nothing happened? Gwi-ma is taking innocent lives!”

“But we-” Mys begged.

“Do you two really want to pretend that you care about the children now?” Abby thundered. “Jinu, you left your little sister the first opportunity you got! Baby, your whole schtick is infantilizing yourself so that the fans will coddle you like some sort of stuffed bear!”

“Hey, that’s too far!” Rom growled, stepping between Abby and Jinu. “Don’t you dare bring that up-”

“Guys!” Mys said a little louder, but Baby and Abby quickly overpowered him. 

“They didn’t even go through with the diss track!” Jinu yelled, remembering Rumi telling him how excited she was to perform Golden tonight. “They show us mercy when we show them fangs! How can you stand to just-”

“Guys, look!” Mys commanded, pushing the three of them sideways and away from each other, all of them now facing the TV screen still playing in the corner of the room. “We missed our cue!” 

“Goddamn it!” Abby yelled, whirling on the rest of the Saja Boys with malice glittering in his eyes. “Jinu, you’re answering to Gwi-ma for this! Not me!” 

“I’m counting on it.” Jinu said with a bravado he just couldn’t seem to summon. Surely this fight had been initiated pretty mutually, right? Gwi-ma couldn’t pin this on him when Abby had been the one to instigate most of it. 

No matter though. He had made a different kind of promise last night, and now was the time to fulfill it. 

Jinu ran out the door, letting it slam behind him as he snuck beneath the scaffolding under the stage, finding a small gap on the left hand side just big enough for him to peek his head between and peer between the metal pipelines lining the underside of the stage. 

He had sworn that he would be there to see Rumi perform, and he was not about to miss it.

He scanned the dark stage, wondering when Huntr/x would be on, when the lights suddenly flashed to a brilliant orange, revealing the three girls in their glittering golden outfits as Rumi stepped into center stage, her voice ringing loud and clear across the captive audience like a siren's wail. 

He watched in a trance as she danced around the stage, hitting notes with ease that he didn’t even know were humanly possible to make. He wanted to give her everything, he wanted to give her his entire soul right here and now. If Gwi-ma really did drag him back down once the honmoon was gold, at least he would have the satisfaction of seeing her shine like this one more time. 

A golden hoop lowered from the scaffolding, Rumi climbing into it with ease as it took off from the ground and paraded her across the stadium as she sang. 

Rumi was the most beautiful songbird that Jinu had ever seen. 

She might as well have had gold encrusted wings, the way she glided through the sky. She seemed to be glowing with unbridled joy as she twirled around effortlessly on the loop of metal, the light so bright it almost blinded Jinu.

But then he looked down, realizing that the light was not coming from Rumi, but from his own chest itself, the honmoon swirling inside him like an old companion as he embraced the light he was emitting just for Rumi. 

The honmoon had accepted him as a supporter, he realized. No demons had ever glowed like this, even the Saja Boys superfans. 

Rumi accepted him.

She touched back down on the stage, hitting yet another one of her high notes as turned around, looking for Mira and Zoey to complete the next verse. 

But then every light in the stadium suddenly shut off, leaving Jinu’s heart pounding for her as he wondered anxiously what had just happened. The light faded from within him, replaced by a lead weight that sank right through him like the sharpest knife.

Some foul play was involved, he knew it. 

Gwi-ma must have done something to stop the show, stop her from sealing the honmoon.

He needed to get her away from here right now.

Jinu made to sprint, to find some sort of stage access so that he could conjure a portal for her, but thick, dark smoke had already enveloped his body, freezing him in place as he heard that dreaded rasp in his ear. 

“You really thought starting a fight with them would foil my plan? Your performance was only half of the fun.”

Jinu struggled against the smoke, but it was too strong, scorching him every time he moved. 

“I want you to watch this carefully, Jinu.” Gwi-ma whispered. “Because if you ever want to see your little companions again, you’re going to take credit for it.”

The lights suddenly flicked back on, revealing Rumi’s total confusion as Zoey and Mira appeared suddenly beside her. 

But Jinu could instantly recognise the way their nails curled maliciously behind her, or how they seemed to move like spiders tracking the juiciest of flies. 

This wasn’t Zoey and Mira.

These were demons. 

And they had begun to sing. 

So sweet, so easy on the eyes, but hideous on the inside

Whole life spreading lies, but you can't hide, baby, nice try

I'm 'bout to switch up these vibes, I finally opened my eyes

It's time to kick you straight back into the night

Jinu watched in pure horror as the two demons started to take turns pushing and shoving Rumi, stripping her of her microphone and taking swipes at her jacket with razor sharp acrylics as they continued to spit insults at her, each more horrible than the last. This must've been the song, the one Rumi had refused to sing. And they were insulting her.

'Cause I see your real face, and it's ugly as sin

Time to put you in your place, 'cause you're rotten within

When your patterns start to show

It makes the hatrеd wanna grow outta my veins

He cried out as Rumi’s long sleeved protection was finally yanked free of her, her patterns shining dangerously in the shotty light as he watched her gasp for air and try to reason with the two girls she thought were her friends.

Her hands trailed wildly over her body, but it was two late. Her patterns were fracturing down her legs, splitting down her face until her pupil elongated into a sharp point, shining yellow on the dim state. The words unraveling her like a ball of yarn as Jinu screamed out in agony.

I don't think you're ready for thе takedown

Break you into pieces in the world of pain 'cause you're all the same

Yeah, it's a takedown

A demon with no feelings don't deserve to live, it's so obvious

It’s a takedown

He watched as the two slithering creatures leaned in over each of Rumi’s shoulders, both smirking devilishly at her attempts to hide. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he screamed in pain as Rumi collapsed into a small heap on the stage, erupting in a way Jinu had never known someone could do, making a sound so horrible it seemed to infest his very bone marrow.

Her voice sent shattering ripples through the golden honmoon, lighting up the invisible barrier like a line of shimmering fireworks as every light exploded all around her, plunging the stage back into darkness with Rumi in the center of the chaos. 

“No, Rumi! No!” He screamed, fighting the air around him as the smoke pulled Jinu back down under the ground, holding him face to face with the demon lord's fiery mouth. 

“You land the final blow, and I let them go.” Gwi-ma hissed, every word as slow as he could make it. “If you don’t..”

And every inch of Jinu’ skin was suddenly bursting into flames, making him write like a beast gone feral against the needle-sharp pain.

And then Jinu was being thrust up back through the barrier, appearing somewhere deep within the understage’s innards with the two fake hunters standing behind him with identical smirks painting their faces. 

And then he heard her voice, crying out for him like a lifeline as her footsteps echoed distantly through the hall. 

“Jinu, Jinu! Where are you?” She screamed, finally seeing him at the end of the hall. 

He couldn’t look up, couldn’t bear to see the dawning comprehension on her face. 

“Jinu!” She screamed again, anger seeping into her voice as she slowed to a halt before him, taking in the sight of the two demons standing behind him like a vicious lineup of the people who had betrayed her. 

Her chest was heaving as she took the final steps up to him, his face setting into stone to keep himself from crying out at the sight of her. “Say you didn’t do this.” She commanded him. 

He just snapped his fingers defeatedly in response, letting the demons crumble to ashes behind him. 

“How could you do this?!” She sobbed, pushing him with all her might, and making him stumble a few paces back to regain his balance. 

“It was all a lie.” He whispered, not trusting his voice to go any louder as her onyx and golden eyes both narrowed at him in the most tender and raw of hatreds. 

“It was real!” She wailed. “What we had was real, I know it was!” 

Please believe me, it was! His eyes screamed. Do that thing you’re always so good at, please look at me, see that I’m lying, please see that I have no other choice.

“The things I said?” He murmured, keeping the waver from cutting into his throat like barbed wire. “I just needed you to trust me. That’s all.” He turned around, not able to stand the look of her falling apart by his evil, clawed hands. 

“No, No! I know your story, Jinu! You were a good person, and you still are! You just made a mistake-”

White hot pain seared through Jinu’s temples, his voices returning like they had before in full strength. 

IT WAS NO MISTAKE

YOU LEFT THEM

YOU LEFT THEM

YOU LEFT THEM

“I left them!” The words tumbled from Jinu’s mouth like putrid vomit as Gwi-ma’s mist forced his legs to spin back around to face her. He quickly reeled back in his flaming gold eyes, realizing with a self hatred of no other comparison how scared they seemed to make her. 

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. I lied to you.” Jinu said, almost hyping himself up for the words he knew he had to say to free his tiger, the words he had stupidly, ironically, wanted to tell her from the very beginning. “I only made a deal with Gwi-ma to get myself out of that miserable life! I left my sister, my mother, alone! While I slept on silk sheets in the palace with my belly full every night!” 

Her eyes widened in shock.

“I left them.” The strangled squeezing through his constricting windpipe as tears ran like magma down his cheeks. “I left them.”

“But that’s not all you are!” Rumi argued, “That’s just your demon talking!”

God, she wasn’t going to make this easy on him. Rumi had snaked easily through all of his defenses, leaving him nowhere near where he needed to be to fulfill his debt.

Gwi-ma was expecting her to suffer by his words, and there was only one more place that he could go to satisfy his need for spectacle. 

“You have to fight it!” Rumi screamed.

“That’s not how it works!” Jinu roared, one thought of his companions in their prison of fire only reminding him of how little power he had to do anything to help the people around him. 

“Yes it is!” Rumi howled, her voice turning deep the same way it had on stage, shaking the earth with vengeance and shattering the fragments of honmoon that still lay intact at her feet. 

They both just stared in horror, taken aback by the sheer power of her destructive vocalized pain. 

“Listen to yourself.” Jinu began, knowing that this was it, the final straw that would break her for good. He squeezed his eyes shut, not able to even look at her as he twisted the final blade. “Is it working?” 

Rumi fell to her knees in the wreckage, clawing at her throat.

“You’re a demon, just like me.” He fought to form the words. “All we get to do is live with our pain, our misery.”

The flames were licking his ankles, threatening to pull him at any second. 

“That’s all we deserve.” 

My eyes, Rumi. He wanted to yell. Look at my eyes, look at me. You’re not a monster, you’re not a mistake. Please look at me, they have Derpy, they have my tiger. They have-

But he was sucked down into Gwi-ma’s waiting arms without a second more.

“I knew you could do it, you horrible excuse for a demon.” Gwi-ma cooed mockingly, slamming Jinu back onto the altar. “A deal’s a deal, I suppose, even for a slimy eel like you.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jinu saw the fiery cage rise from unseen depths, unravelling to reveal Derpy and the magpie cowering inside, all eight eyes looking straight at him in relief as he stumbled to his feet. 

“You’re okay.” He gasped, falling to his knees and grabbing the tiger around its neck and hugging him close. “Listen to me,” He said quickly, Derpy's blank eyes focusing in on him with incharacteristic seriousness. “You need to get as far away from here as possible, okay? I’ll find you, I promise. But right now you need to go, get away as fast as you can, got it?” 

Derpy purred, pressing his large head to Jinu’s chest in acknowledgement, before sinking down into his self-conjured portal, hopefully hiding away in the most remote of places.

Jinu stood slowly, nothing more to lose as he turned back to Gwi-ma with pure loathing glittering in his glowing eyes, his patterns pulsing and thrumming to the wild beat of his heart as he stood valiantly before the king of the damned, offering his twisted body to the unforgiving monster. 

“What now?”

Gwi-ma’s fiery mouth seemed to elongate into the most cursed of smiles. “I feast.”

Chapter Text

“We re-wrote the song.” 

At first, Jinu didn’t even hear Mys as he slowly stepped towards him, his hands tucked neatly into the folds of his flowing black robe. 

None of them had bothered with human disguises for this final appearance. After all, what witnesses would there once Gwi-ma was done with all his victims?

Jinu had been waiting, crouched just behind the large curtain covering the back of the stage as he listened to the sounds of the hypnotized crowd slowly file into the stadium.

“What song?” He asked uninterestedly as he fiddled absently with one of the tassels at the end of the curtain. 

“We found that song you left on your desk.” Mys told him, his tone flat.

 Jinu’s heart jumped, and then plummeted straight down into his stomach. 

“I thought we had finished all of our pop hits. We didn’t need any more.” 

“O-oh.” Jinu said, quickly trying to cover his tracks and play along to whatever Mys had assumed about the song meant for Rumi. “Yeah, well I thought it would be nice to have one more, just in case we needed another showstopper.”

“I mean, it worked.” Mys said with a small, forced laugh. “We had to change it a bit, but we’re luring the crowd in with it tonight.  We thought it would help disguise Gwi-ma as just being some fancy pyrotechnic stunts.”

“We are?” Jinu asked. 

“Yeah.” Mys said slowly. He reached out a taloned hand to give Jinu a small roll of paper, watching him carefully as his eyes dawned in horror at what they had done to his lament. 

“We butchered it, didn’t we?” Mys said, head bowed in shame as he gave Jinu an apologetic pat on the shoulder. “We would have gone with literally anything else, but you’re our only songwriter.”

“No, it’s fine.” Jinu said stiffly, crumpling up the paper and throwing it harshly across the stage, burying his chin between his knees.

Mys apologized again, settling down beside Jinu with a soft grunt. He then quickly looked around, making sure none of the other Saja Boys were eavesdropping on them. (After their fight at the Idol awards, none of them had really crossed paths across the expansive complex that was Namsan Tower). 

Once he was sure they were alone, he whispered, “What is up with you? You’ve been acting strange since.. well-  for a while, anyway. ”

“What are you trying to imply?” Jinu said slowly, his voice lowering considerably as he buried his head further into his hands.

“Nothing.” Mys said, but it was clear that he was waiting for Jinu to continue. 

When he didn’t, Mys suddenly spoke. “You care for her.” 

“You’re way out of line!” Jinu shouted as he popped up from when he sat, now angry at his bandmates' pointed observations. 

“I never said it was a bad thing.” Mys replied, still keeping his cool, even tone. “I agreed with you back at the Idol awards. What Gwi-Ma did to them..that was never how we were supposed to win.” 

“Well that doesn’t do us much good now!” Jinu raged. “What do you even have to be sorry for? You didn’t care for any of them!”

“Is that what you think?” Mys said, rising quickly to meet him.

 It was the first time Jinu had ever heard his voice raise.

 “You think it didn’t hurt me too, seeing the look in Zoey’s eyes when we pretended to take Bobby? She worked her entire life to be good enough for those girls, and we took it away in a heartbeat!”

They had reached a standstill, both of them slowly deflating and sinking back down to rest on the ground again. 

“I just don’t want to see her get hurt.” Mys admitted. “Especially the way Gwi-ma made you hurt Rumi.”

“It..I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive me.” Jinu choked out through a dry sob, finally breaking down after bottling up his misery for so long. “She’s out there somewhere, - in pain- because of me. And it’s not like I’ll have any opportunity to fix it. In less than an hour, my memories are going to be gone, and Gwi-ma will be powerful enough to burn this entire world to shreds.”

They sat in silence for a few beats, Mys taking in what Jinu was saying with a gentle comprehension only he would be able to possess in such a moment. 

“Why did you want your memories gone in the first place?” Mys suddenly asked him, his bangs swinging slightly as he tilted his head at Jinu. 

Jinu felt that this was a stupid question, but he indulged Mys in what he thought was the obvious answer. “So that Gwi-ma would have nothing to shame me for, and his grip on me would be lost.” 

Mys contemplated this. “So what’s stopping Gwi-ma from just shaming you for erasing your memories?” 

Jinu was quick to retort, but as he was lifting a scolding finger, he realized he had no argument. 

Oh god, what if that’s what Gwi-ma had been planning on doing all along?

“I really do believe..” Mys said knowingly. “That it’s our fear of Gwi-ma that tethers us to him. You wouldn’t know this, but he tried summoning you that night, the one where you were out with her, but it didn’t work, because from what I can gather, you weren’t hearing the voices.”

“He did?”

“And he couldn’t so much as track you.” Mys told him. “I think if you tried hard enough right now, you could take yourself wherever you wanted to go without having to even spare Gwi-ma a second glance. He’s told us our entire existence that only he can silence the voices, but I think it’s been us the entire time.”

Jinu pondered this, tracking this logic through all his experiences with Gwi-ma. “You really think that could work?” 

Mys shrugged half heartedly. “I don’t think there's much else to believe in right now.” 

The two boys just sat there as they listened to the sounds of the seats slowly filling outside. 

“Would you have done it all differently, if you had the chance?” Jinu asked Mys, his eyes searching for that same hint of pure devotion he felt light up his face every time he thought of Rumi’s smile.

“For Zoey?” Mys murmured. “I’d have burned hell to the ground.”

The stadium was reaching its breaking point, the fans screaming at the barricade as the Saja Boys gathered behind the main curtain, all dressed in their sultry black drapes. 

Jinu discreetly turned his corded bracelet back into the gemed chain, tucking it deep under his sleeve as he prepared himself to be forced out on stage yet again to perform to an audience of walking corpses, none of them knowing that this would be their last hour living. 

“Jinu?” Abby called as the five of them began to take their positions, waiting for the moment where they would transport onto the stage and begin Jinu’s twisted serenade. 

Jinu braced himself as Abby stepped closer to him, readying himself for yet another blowout.

“I..I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.” 

Jinu’s eyes flew open, reeling from Abby’s words. “W-what?”

“I’m sorry.” Abby repeated, gritting his teeth as he rubbed angrily at his wrists. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you back at the Idol awards, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about what Gwi-ma was planning. I thought if I could just push through to the end all of my doubts would eventually fade, but now that I’m here..” He trailed off, his eyes glazing over as he looked over his shoulder at the strip of fabric that separated them from over a hundred thousand screaming fans.

“It’s okay.” Jinu said, placing a hand on Abby’s muscular shoulder. “I forgive you.” 

Abby shot him a small smile. “Break a leg out there.” He chuckled. 

Jinu thought the moment was over, but then suddenly, Abby leaned in close, his short hair tickling Jinu’s ear as he spoke quickly. 

“When the song ends, you need to go find Rumi.”

“What?” Jinu hissed, mind reeling at this sudden change in demeanor. 

“You need to find her!” Abby hissed quickly. “We don’t have much time! She’s the only one strong enough on her own who would be able to collapse Gwi-ma’s hypnotism. After that, we might have a chance at fighting back.” 

“You’re.. you’re all really willing to do that?” Jinu breathed, turning to the room at large with wide eyes.

 Baby, Rom and Mys all nodded fervently at him. 

“We’re done helping him steal souls.” Baby said through gritted teeth. “Get Rumi, and we might just have a chance.”

Jinu faced the curtain again, filled with fresh vigor at the support of his bandmates. He no longer felt trapped in this constricting stadium, no longer felt stuck clawing at the insides of his mind for some escape of the dark and lonely prison he had willingly locked himself inside of.

He could physically feel the chains lifting from his wrists and ankles, the venom that had shifted within him for so long slowly draining from him like an old dam bursting into fragmented pieces. His friends was behind him, the five of them swelling with pride as they united in a connection running deeper than bandmates.

“Okay then,” He said, lifting his hands to open the portal that would take the five of them to center stage. “Let's give Gwi-ma a show.” 

As they lifted into the air, and Abby began to sing the opening verse, the stadium seemed to quake under Jinu’s boots, the sheer force of the people packed like sardines between the rows of seats casting a liquid sort of texture over the tops of the people’s heads, all of them swaying back and forth like a great hive of hornets as the group worked their way through the choreography. 

It still hurt him greatly, to sing this song for tens of thousonds of screaming fans when the only one he had ever meant to hear it was nowhere to be found. 

But no matter. It was all about to come crashing down anyways.

Gwi-ma had appeared now, casting ghostly flames behind Baby as he spat out his rap verse to his end of the stage. 

Jinu just continued to sing, even going so far as to smirk at Gwi-ma’s flickering tendrils as he danced around them with ease. He no longer accepted Gwi-ma as the main pilot of his own life, yanking back the controls from him with every sneer sent his way. 

As Rom took his featured part of the second verse, Jinu’s eyes locked with Mys’s, and he was shocked to find his face drained of all color, his skin pearly white as he danced closer to where Jinu was. 

“They have Zoey.” He managed to whisper as he passed. “They have her!” 

Sure enough, as Jinu crouched before the rabid fans lining the edge of the stage, he scanned the rows for a sign of Zoey’s glittering white jacket. His eyes landed on her blank, still face, and his heart clenched for Mys, knowing that if this was anything like how he had felt when Rumi was fighting for her dignity on stage, this was nothing less than torture. 

Across the expanse, he could also just make out Mira behind a sea of screaming fans. Abby and Rom also seemed to notice this, as both of them sent him fervent, panicked looks as they all gathered to sing the final lines. 

“When we say ‘ idol ’, you go.” Mys mouthed at him as they all rose into the sky, arms outstretched as the entranced prey began to march towards the stage, following them blindly toward the light of Gwi-ma’s monstrous jaws. 

Jinu looked at Mys one last time, his eyes glittering with the question he dared not speak out loud;

What if it doesn’t work? What if I can’t resist his grasp?

Mys just smiled at him, his dimples creasing as his lips formed the words, "Because you’d do anything for her.”

Jinu turned his chin back up to face the sky, fire blazing in his gaze as his face split into a manic grin, arms grasped above his head as magenta smoke enveloped his body. 

“Imma be your idol!” The boys shouted above the chaos.

And Jinu was gone.

Chapter Text

Jinu half expected himself to still be stuck suspended in the air above Namsan tower when he opened his eyes. 

What if it hadn’t worked? What if Mys had been wrong? What if Jinu hadn’t been able to rid himself of his inner voices long enough to escape Gwi-ma?

But the silence stretched on around him, coaxing him to realize that Gwi-ma was not coming for him, that he was finally free of his grasp.

He lifted his eyelids slowly, not even quite sure where he had ended up. It was almost like his body had gone into overdrive the second that he had vanished from the rest of the Saja Boys, like a beacon finally connecting back to its homing signal. 

He let his eyes adjust to the new darkness surrounding him, the fresh scent of damp soil and peppermint leaves filling his head like a cool breeze as he looked down to find himself standing on a small dirt path lined with lupins of violet and lavender, leading him gently through a tranquil patch of trees. 

His gaze was drawn in every which way as he searched for any trace of Rumi. 

“Rumi?” He called through the forage. “Rumi, please, where are you?” 

He had received no answer, and was just about to start shouting her name louder when a groundshaking screech broke the still air, rippling the honmoon and splitting it at the seams in the same way it had when Rumi had screamed at him.

It was her.

And the raw emotion lacing her voice sent Jinu’s feet stumbling, one after the other as he chased down the sound, hoping he wasn’t too late to reach her. 

“Rumi, I’m coming!” He hollered, cresting the top of the hill towards the center of the ripples.

He sprinted down the remaining path, the flowers widening into a large garden that surrounded the largest of the trees he had seen so far, teetering precariously over the edge of a large drop off that cast a shimmering wall of mist across the small outcroppings of forest beyond. 

Below the skyward facing branches of the tree lay two figures, one of which Jinu didn’t recognise. 

But the other…

It was Rumi.

Rumi was facing the unknown woman with utmost betrayal, her expression somehow even more shattered and fragmented than it had been when Jinu had been forced to betray her. The woman was backing away from her, her chin tucked into her chest as her eyes shrunk back into her skull.

“Look at me!” Rumi howled at her, the woman only turning further away from her. “Why won’t you look at me?” Tears were streaming down her face, watering the earth below as she walked. “Why couldn’t you love me??” 

“I do love you!” The woman protested, hands raised in fear as Rumi neared her, nowhere else to retreat to with her back up against the tree’s long stump. 

“All of me!!” 

Her words sent the honmoon bursting into bright pink flames all around them, not only striking fear into Jinu’s heart at how destructively powerful she had become, but also into the woman's. Her eyes shifted slightly, her gaze trailing to her nearby scythe tucked around the other side of the tree. 

She moved at the same time Jinu did, her hand closing around the blade’s handle just as Jinu threw himself between the woman and Rumi, claws unsheathed and growling teeth bared as her eyes widened at the sight of his presence. He easily swiped the curve of metal from her hands, bending it to a molten heap with ease and throwing it over the edge of the cliff beyond.

“If you touch her, if you so much as lay a finger on her..” Jinu roared, all dignity abandoned as his patterns flashed dangerously, like an electric eel right before striking the water with its deadly charge. 

“Jinu?” Rumi gasped, her feather-soft voice coaxing him to leave the woman alone as he slowly spun on his heel, finally facing the girl whose life he had burned to an ashy heap for a paradise reaped from the most wicked of lies. 

“Rumi.” He gasped.

Rumi’s usual uniform braid had been mussled to a collection of stray flyaways, drifting this way and that with the wind as her sullen eyes carefully took him in. Deep wells had been carved from the space beneath her eyes, tears welling there like rainwater to a reservoir, making her glowing patterns beneath shimmer like the bioluminescent algae they had seen at the aquarium not a day prior. Had it really been just a few short hours since he had felt her lips caressing his?

“What are you doing here?” She growled, an animalistic snarl building in the back of her throat. “Haven’t you said enough?”

“No, Rumi please!” Jinu begged as her head drifted defeatedly towards the ground. “Please, you don’t understand, I never wanted to hurt you, I never wanted to make you feel like anything less than what you are!” 

“But you did!” The sob she let out put painful cracks across Jinu’s heart, making him feel as if he was having another heart attack all over again. “You really think anything can fix this now? Mira and Zoey turned their weapons on me the moment they found out I was working with you! The honmoon is gone, innocent people are dying, my voice is gone! You’ve ruined everything!”

Jinu just took every insult, knowing he deserved all of them. 

“You made me feel like…like I could do anything, and then you stabbed me in the back!” She cried, her claws twitching as if she was fighting the urge to sink them into his face. “You selfish, loathing, evil-”

But she was suddenly cut off by Jinu’s arms wrapping around her, engulfing her shaking figure in his ebony silk. 

She struggled against him for only for a moment, and then completely collapsed against him, her entire body heaving with gasping sobs as he slowly lowered her to the ground, stabilizing on his knees and draping her body to rest across his as he stroked his hands down her back. 

“I’m sorry.” Now Jinu was crying too. “I’m so sorry, Rumi. He forced me to do it. He..he had Derpy and the Magpie.”

“W-what?” She trembled, looking up at him with pleading eyes, as if begging him for this to be untrue.

“He took them.” Jinu told her in a broken murmur. “If I didn’t say those awful things to you, if I didn’t take credit for Gwi-ma’s stunt with the song change, he was going to kill them.”

“No..” Rumi whimpered. She shot up, looking all around the clearing in a frenzy. “Where are they? Are they safe, are they okay?”

“They’re okay!” Jinu comforted her, pulling her gently back to rest as she gasped for air again. “He let them go as soon as you left.

“I…I’m so sorry.” Rumi sniffled. “I- I didn’t actually mean any of those things I said. I’m sorry I ever thought..”

“Shh, shh. It’s okay.” Jinu told her, taking her demon hand and putting it to his chest in an effort to help her calm her breathing, urging her to match his. “There was no way you could have known, there was no other way to free them.”

“You didn’t believe any of that, then?” She breathed, her watery eyes peering up at him through her bedraggled hair. “The things you said to me?”

“Not a word.” Jinu said. “It hurt me so much to see you like that, to know that it was my fault.”

“It’s not your fault.” Rumi said slowly, her head lifting off of Jinu’s chest with a newfound flame burning in her throat. She seemed to brace herself for a minute, and then her shaking muscles solidified under Jinu’s arms, her breath evening out with newfound purpose. “It’s Gwi-ma’s. It’s that horrible monster, everything that has ever happened is because of that..that stupid fucking ball of flames!”

“Rumi, I need you to come back with me to stop him.” Jinu begged, hope flashing inside him at her newfound determination. “You’re the only one who has the power to overthrow his spell.”

“I..but my voice!” Rumi reminded him, panic flashing in her eyes. 

“Gwi-ma only holds control over us if we let him use it.” Jinu told her, his words mirroring what Mys had said to him back at the tower. “Let go of him, let go of the insecurities, the fears, the doubts, and he owns nothing that doesn’t already belong to you.”

Rumi pondered this, many expressions fleeting across her face. “I can’t do it without Mira and Zoey.”

“They’re trapped in Gwi-ma’s trance.” Jinu said. “They can’t break free on their own, only you can snap them out of it in time before he begins to harvest.”

“They’re in danger?” Rumi said, sitting up and turning around to face Jinu with wide eyes. “We..we need to go. We need to go right now!” 

Jinu was shocked by this sudden one-eighty, standing quickly by her side and grasping both her hands in his. “I’ll be with you, Rumi. Every step of the way.” This woman.. She really would be the death of him. He would have kissed the oxygen back into her lungs if she had let him, would have rearranged the very stars just to make her smile.

She hugged him again, her nose burrowing into the crook of his neck and inhaling his scent, a final tear seeping from her eyes and dropping into the fabric of his robe. 

“Let’s do it together.”

She took one last look at the woman, still with her back pressed against the tree in fear, and her eyes narrowed, signaling unfinished business between the two. 

Jinu just glared at her, not trusting himself to say anything. Whoever she was, whatever relation she had to Rumi, it hadn’t been enough. It would never be enough to undo what had just happened.

With both of her hands clasped in Jinu’s she closed her eyes, tapping into that once forbidden faucet of demon magic she had never allowed herself to touch before, and let it consume her, her patterns lighting up the ground around them as the pink cloud returned to surround them. 

“I love you.” She whispered as they fell into that split second of darkness between teleports. 

“I love you, too.”

And then they had appeared at the entrance of the stadium, hearing the distant sounds of the chaos within as they sprinted down the tunnel leading to the main walkway over the crowd. 

The scene before them was absolute mayhem at best. 

The four Saja boys were scattered to the winds, each of them holding back a large mob of spiny black demons that Gwi-ma had pulled from the faucets of his own magic to fight his little band of doublecrossers. 

Each of the boys would break off every so often to try to push back the crowd that was still marching slowly towards Gwi-ma’s inferno, but they ever persisted, drawing the Saja Boys further into the monster's grasp. 

“I think I know what I need to do.” Rumi whispered, taking deep breaths beside him as they both slowly emerged from the shadows of the entrance tunnel. 

Jinu just held her hand tighter, allowing his fingers to trace her spike-studded purple knuckles as they walked. “I'm here, tell me what you need.” He swore to her. 

“Just follow my lead.” She told him, and then took a deep breath in, her chest puffing with what Jinu knew to be the famed hunters battle cry. 

A haunting wail sounded from deep within Rumi, her siren song shaking the walls of the stadium, echoing off of every pillar and every soundboard until the very earth beneath them seemed to shake to her godly note. 

After getting a decent read on the swell of the chord, Jinu joined in, his lower harmony multiplying the echoing volume until clouds of dust were rising from the ground all around then, casting the arena into a blurry mess, lit by Gwi-ma’s fire. 

The monster-demons stopped their attack on the Saja Boys, their forms retreating back to ash as Gwi-ma absorbed their power back into himself, the zombie crowd stopping inches from his mouth as he rose to look at the pair as their harmony reached a crescendo. 

“You come here like this?” Gwi-ma chuckled, looking upon them with malice. “You really think you can fix the world?”

An outstretched tentacle of smoke lashed out at Rumi, too quick for even Jinu to deflect as it came straight for her. “You can’t even fix yourself!” 

But the moment the smoke touched her skin, it evaporated as easily as water on red hot sheet metal, leaving Gwi-ma reeling as he shouted out in pain. 

“Can’t I?” Rumi smirked at his confusion and rage.

“It still doesn’t change the fact that everyone finally sees you for what you really are!” Gwi-ma growled. 

“They do.” Rumi confirmed, standing proud against the demon lord with a devilish smirk on her lips. 

“The honmoon is gone.” Gwi-ma told her, as if trying to scare her into submission by beating down all she had worked to conceal.

“It is.” Rumi said. Her eyes narrowing into slits as she glared bullets into Gwi-ma’s sharpened teeth. 

A pause.

“So we can make a new one.”

She stepped forwards, her hand still grasped in Jinu’s as they both marched purposefully down the catwalk, their strikes syncing as Rumi began to sing again, the lyrics pouring out of her without a trace of doubt. The beat and melody seemed to come to him at once, the both of them acting as vessels for the song to form within, bubbling out through their mouths without a moment’s doubt as Gwi-ma screamed in fury. 

Nothing but the truth now

Nothing but the proof of what we are

The worst of what we came from, patterns were ashamed of

Things that even I don't understand

We tried to fix it, but I tried to fight it

My head was twisted, my heart divided

My lies all collided

I don't know why I didn't trust you to be on my side

She held Jinu’s hand lovingly as they both turned to each other for that last line. 

We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back

But now I'm seeing all the beauty in the broken glass

The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony

My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like

A new voice had joined in, Zoey’s sleek form emerging from the darkened crowd, sprinting towards the two of them as fast as she could.

Why did I cover up the colors stuck inside my head?

Mira had escaped her part of the hive minded crowd as well, matching Zoe’s pace down the opposite path as well.

I should've let the jagged edges meet the light instead

Rumi’s face split into a wide smile, echoing back her sentiments from across the stadium.

Show me what's underneath, I'll find your harmony

The song we couldn't write, this is what it sounds like

“STOP!” Gwi-Ma cried, a fresh new stream of monsters crawling menacingly from deep within his flames, fanning out equally between Zoey, Mira, Jinu and Rumi, and the rest of the Saja boys. 

But his monsters scared none of them, Zoey rushing over to Mys and Baby and tossing them each a conjured weapon, arming them against the impending attack. Mira did the same for Abby and Rom, handing each of them glittering blades as the monsters closed in. 

“Dagger or sword?” Rumi grinned, calling the honmoon to her side with ease, waiting to shape it into whatever Jinu told her to. 

“No need.” He smirked, summoning a swirling blue strand of magic to him as easily as if it were his hundredth time, forming two large daggers in the palm of his hand. “I think you were right about me receiving the full hunter experience with you.”

“Welcome to the club.” She giggled, her sword lengthening across the clearing just as the first monsters were upon them. The glimmering song was back, resting on the tips of their tongues as they cut a path through the raging sea, the other five singing just as loud.

We're shattering the silence, we're rising, defiant

Shouting in the quiet, "You're not alone"

We listened to the demons, we let them get between us

But none of us are out here on our own

So we were cowards, so we were liars

So we're not heroes, we're still survivors

The dreamers, the fighters, no lying, I'm tired

But dive in the fire, and I'll be right here by your side

They had finally all emerged on the other side of the wall of demons, all flushed with victory as they looked around at each other, hunter and demon alike holding blades of glittering honmoon as they all turned to look at Gwi-ma, eight pairs of gleaming eyes focusing in on him with deadly precision as they all slowly strode towards him, watching in satisfaction as his flames withered slightly as they approached. 

We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back

But now we're seeing all the beauty in the broken glass

The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony

My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like

Why did we cover up the colors stuck inside our head?

Get up and let the jagged edges meet the light instead

Show me what's underneath, I'll find your harmony

Fearless and undefined, this is what it sounds like

“STOP THIS MADNESS!” Gwi-ma screeched. He writhed in agony, curling in on himself as he concentrated all his energy inwards.

Jinu knew what was happening, had seen it befall many an unlucky demon in his time, and his eyes widened in horror along with the rest of the Saja Boys as they recognized this death blow about to befall them. 

“Look out!” Mys yelled, pushing Zoey and Mira to the ground as Abby, Baby, and Rom all ducked for cover.

The beam came straight for Rumi, leaving her just enough time to raise her sword to the fiery comet as it beat relentlessly down in her, forcing her to sink to her knees as the fire pushed her backwards, threatening to knock her to the ground and disintegrate her on the spot. 

Rumi was screaming, Jinu was running straight for her, Gwi-ma was laughing.

And then it all went silent. 

Rumi’s sword flew from her hands, no longer pushing against anything as the cascade of fire ceased all around her. She opened her eyes, gasping for air, and looked wildly around, wondering what had stopped the torrent of flames.

And then her eyes met Jinu’s.

He gasped slightly, the flames pushing against his skin like an old friend as he held them protectively away from her, his eyes soft as pure gold as she stood, eyes wide in terror at the sight. 

Jinu knew the layer of honmoon magic he had cast across his skin wouldn’t last for long, taking every last moment to absorb her, anything about her. The way the shell of her ear curved down into her shimmering earrings, the gentle swell of her lips, the crease in her eyebrows. Being torn apart by molten flames was nothing to him if it meant keeping Rumi safe, willingly accepting his fate for even the slightest glimmer of hope that Rumi would be okay.

“Jinu, no!” She gasped, watching the fire pour ever stronger onto his weakening shield. He didn't know how much longer he had, wanting to tell her everything in his final moments as Gwi-ma pushed harder against him.

“I’m sorry..” He breathed raggedly. “For everything. You.. you gave me my soul back, you freed me from-”

“No!” Rumi suddenly screamed, cutting him off as she summoned all her might, conjuring a large shield from the honmoon and fortifying it with her ancient chants, the shield growing ever larger as her eyes narrowed in anger at…him? “No, you do not get to pull this shit on me after all you’ve done! You’re not dying today!” The shield was at least seven feet in diameter now, secured to the center of her wrist as she raised it menacingly above her head. “Get behind me, now!” She ordered with a cry.

Just as the edges of Jinu’s back began to light up in pain, signalling that Gwi-ma had broken through his protective barrier, Rumi grasped the collar of his cape, pulling him into her side as she lifted her shield to meet the fireball instead. 

Jinu quickly lifted his arms to the edge of the shimmering protection, helping her hold it in place against the growing steam. “It’s not going to hold!” 

New hands suddenly found purchase next to his though, and he turned to see Abby smiling over at him, their feet finally stopping as they no longer slid slowly across the stage as Baby and Rom joined in. Their combined strength allowed them to take a step forwards, forcing the energy back into Gwi-ma like a deadly mirror as they walked his fire tunnel back towards him.

Mira, Mys, and Zoey had also joined behind them now, the eight of them walking the shield back up the catwalk until they were standing back where they had started. 

Rumi had begun to sing again, the same long, ringing note that she had produced when they had arrived. Jinu quickly harmonized to her again, Zoey and Mira also finding purchase within the chord. Abby, Baby, Mys and Rom had also joined in, the eight of them creating such a noise that Jinu had never even thought possible to form into physical wavelengths, a sound only residing in his deepest musical fantasies floating around in his mind. 

And just when the crescendo couldn’t have possibly gotten any louder, the captive audience, -seemingly freed of their hive mind- each picked a harmony to follow, a hundred thousand voices rising in triumph against the ever shrinking demon king. 

They walked the shield forth, deflecting Gwi-ma’s attacks back at him with fury, each time extinguishing him down in a puff of smoke as he retreated across the arena.

‘No, no!” He wailed, screaming as his attacks lessened, all of them practically running the shield across the final stretch to his glimmering molten core. He was fifty feet now, thirty, fifteen..

“You wastes! You beings of nothing!” Gwi-ma cried in his final moments, shrinking to the size of a campfire as they approached, setting the shield down as Rumi marched towards the pink flames, now just down to the glimmer of fire found on the edge of a matchstick.

“You cruel, backstabbing, horrible-”

But Gwi-ma’s final words were cut off, stamped out unceremoniously underneath Rumi’s shoe. 

The harmonic chord glimmered to a passing melody, the crowd slowly echoing the slow beat of something else entirely, something calm. Something pleasant. 

“Was that..was that really it?” Zoey gasped, staring at the small scorch mark left by Gwi-ma’s final resting place. 

“It’s over.” Mira said timidly, as if she didn’t quite trust her own words to be true. 

“He’s dead…” Baby gasped, his dimples flashing again as his face slowly split into a soft grin. “Gwi-ma is dead.”

Jinu’s face was suddenly being cupped between Rumi’s hands, her teary eyes beaming up at him with a broken laugh. “You’re okay.” She sobbed. 

“Of course I’m okay.” He whispered gently, swooping in to plant a soft kiss to her cheek as she squeezed him around the middle with all her might, never wanting to let go. 

You saved me..

They turned back to their group with wide grins, Huntr/x and Saja alike as they all slowing faced the cheering crowed below them, all screaming in joy as the dawn finally seeped through the dark clouds above them, enlightening the land to a baby blue hue as the warmth painted their skin, demons and demon hunters united at last. 

”So what now?”

Chapter Text

“Working under Bobby is sooo much better than the shit Gwi-ma had us doing.” Abby sighed contently, settling onto the empty spot on the corner of the girl’s couch with his large tray of sweets.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Mira snarked, plucking the cheese cube that was halfway to Abby’s mouth out of his fingers and sinking her teeth into it with a cheeky grin. “Bobby is literally an angel.”

“Cheers to that.” Said Baby from the kitchen, raising his polished wine glass in a salute to Bobby and taking a long sip of it with a flourish, finishing the glass with a small ‘ ah ’.

“You know, you should wear your hair like this more often.” Zoey giggled, fastening the final rubber band onto the complex braid in Mys’s hair that she had been working on for the past few minutes. 

“And ruin my one intriguing feature for the fans?” Mys said, sending Zoey a small wink over his shoulder from his spot between her legs as he looked at her with contempt and loveshining  in his large, expressive eyes. 

“You’re nothing but intriguing features!” Zoey laughed. She gave him a small peck on the cheek, and then patted the space between her and Rom, who was leaning against Mira’s other shoulder. Mys settled beside her, his cheeks flushed pink as she lazily stroked little patterns into his resting forearm.

“I'm never getting off this couch.” Rom sighed euphorically, seeming to sink a couple more inches into the soft cushions. 

“We literally start touring tonight!” Mira groaned, rolling her eyes at him as she popped a few whoppers into her mouth. 

“Can we take the couch with us?” Rom asked her pleadingly, Abby leaning into her eyesight with a similar inquiring look on his face. 

“You figure it out.” Mira sighed defeatedly. “I’m not the one who can teleport, I don’t know how it works.” 

While the two pink haired boys cheered, Mira let just a sliver of a smile peek from her thin lips before they could notice, not wanting to give them the satisfaction that she humored their antics.

“Where are Rumi and Jinu?” Mys suddenly asked, tearing his eyes away from Zoey for only a moment to scan the room again for any sign of the pair, realizing they had said they would be there over ten minutes ago.

“Do you really want to know?” Baby groaned, placing his empty wine glass in the sink and flopping down in the corner between the two halves of the couch, picking up the remote with little interest as he squinted down at the little buttons. “Why do you think I just drank half a bottle of wine at four in the afternoon?” 

“Oh god, did you walk in on them again?” Mira guessed, rolling her eyes.

“Does walking in count if they just seem to pick the most open corridors possible in this damn building?” Baby argued as he flipped through the nature channel. “I can handle a small peck every now and then, but god, he acts like he’ll starve if he’s not kissing the living daylights out of her every goddamn second.” 

“Cut him a break, he literally almost died last month!” Abby called to the two of them between bites of his ramen noodles. “And it’s not like that man has seen much action the last four hundred years, or any action for that matter-”

“Why do I just know you three are talking about me?” Jinu suddenly teased, the penthouse elevator doors whooshing open to reveal him and Rumi hand in hand as they both took the last remaining spots on the opposite arm of the couch from Abby, Mira and Rom. 

“I dunno. Stop mouth-fucking your girlfriend in my wing of the tower.” Baby called out, finally having landed on an oceanography program and harshly tossing the remote onto the pillow beside him. 

Jinu spluttered, throwing his hands up in a surrender. “God, fine! Sorry that I love Rumi or whatever!”

“Ignore him.” Rumi drawled, hooking her ankle around his and bringing their legs up to rest against the coffee table, settling her face into Jinu’s chest like it was her favorite warm pillow. “They’re just jealous.”

“Jinu!” Rom whined loudly, his eyes landing on their legs, tangled together and resting on the coffee table. “What are those?”

“What are what?” Jinu grinned slyly, fully aware of what Rom was talking about. 

“Those pants, man!” Rom complained. “What are those pants?” 

“What, not a big fan of bears and trains?” Jinu asked, lifting a long leg to proudly display the patterns on the fabric. 

“Yeah, but did you really go out and find the most stupid looking sweatpants I’ve ever seen just so you could match with Rumi?” Rom asked, gesturing to Rumi’s identical pajamas. “You’re so cheesy, dude!”

“Do you have to be so mean?” Mys whined, his head now tucked beneath Zoey’s chin as she listened intently to the program. “No one else here is really any better.”

“Speak for yourself.” Rom and Abby said simultaneously, both of them staring straight at Mira with sultry eyes. 

“...What’s going on with them-“ Zoey began to ask with her eyebrow raised, but both Rumi and Jinu had sprung out of their seats, lunging across the couch to slap both of their hands over Zoey’s mouth. 

“Don’t ask.” Rumi hissed with wide eyes, gesturing to the three, who had begun to bicker like they normally did when left to their own devices for too long. 

“Bu-“ 

“Seriously.” Jinu cut in. “Don’t ask.”

“It’s complicated.” Rumi whispered warningly. 

“Okay then…” Zoey said, hands up in the air as she settled back into Mys’s side. “Not asking.” 

She turned back to Jinu, both of them settling back down like they had been before. “Hey, hopeless boy.” She teased, ruffling her fingers through his hair. 

“Hey, Rumi.” He grinned lazily up at her, absorbing her praise like the warmest bath. 

The last month might as well have been a century in how much had changed for them. After Gwi-ma’s defeat, Jinu really hadn’t been sure what was in store for them, just thankful that everyone had made it out alive and well. 

He had initially rejected Rumi’s offer for the boys to stay in Huntr/x tower, not wanting to be a bother to them, but what will all of the insane press surrounding their little stunt concerning Gwi-ma and Bobby’s insistent personality, they had eventually all taken up permanent quarters in the many floors of the complex, slowly coming to grips with their new lives as Korea’s new most popular band. 

Huntr/x and the Saja Boys

It had been a bit of a simple conception, neither group really wanting to part with their namesake, but it got the point across. The eight of them had started production on a new album almost at once, the Saja Boys admitting cheekily that the K-pop life had grown considerably on them since their debut.

Most afternoons on their month long hiatus had been spent on the couch, whether teaching the Saja boys how to play Mario Kart or introducing them to yet another in a long string of Disney movies that they had yet to see, Jinu was sure that they had all surely left dents in the soft fabric in the shape of their usual spots. 

Jinu opened his mouth, probably to say something stupid and cheesy to Rumi, when a large weight suddenly shifted on top of him, blocking his view of the TV in a large mountain of blue fur. 

“Holy shit-” Jinu was able to choke out from the crushing weight on his chest. “Derpy, you’re getting to be a bit big for this, bud.”

“I dunno, you seem fine.” Rumi laughed at him as his face started to turn red from the pressure. “Come on, Derpy, come sit by me, yeah?”

The large tiger just blinked slowly at her, purring at her request and slowly stepping off of Jinu and over Rumi to settle in beside Rumi and Zoey. 

“Aww, how’s my little yeobo?” Zoey cooed at him, careful to avoid the Magpie as she scratched him across the top of his head. 

“Jinu, we talked about this!” Mira called to him exasperatedly. “He sheds all over the couch!” 

“All eight of us can wield magic!” Jinu cried out at large, reaching over to swipe a large collection of blue hairs off the couch with a swirling wave of the honmoon to prove his point. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“The couch is white.”

“That literally doesn’t even matter.” Jinu countered. “Still, magic!” 

“Guys shush! The turtles are on!” Zoey squeaked, scooting forwards to the edge of her seat as the shelled creatures entered the frame of the camera. 

“Loggerhead, leatherback, green, hawksbill.” Jinu pointed out to Rumi with accuracy as the clips shifted back and forth between different clips of turtles swimming through the water.

He looked at her proudly, like a student acing a test they had studied very hard for. 

“Look at you, Mr. Herpetologist!” Rumi praised him, watching as his face swelled with pride.

The two of them may or may not have returned to the aquarium many times over in the past few weekends to follow through on some unfinished business regarding a certain open ocean exhibit. Rumi had also finally taught Jinu how to properly hold a swell shark in their last visit. 

“I try.” He said humbly. 

“Speaking of trying…” A familiar voice said as the elevator doors slid open yet again. “Who’s ready to try their best tonight at their first concert togetherrrr?” 

“Hi Bobby!” The eight of them chirped unanimously, parting in the middle to make way for their manager on the couch. 

“Aww, you guys!” Bobby laughed, nestling into the new spot. Derpy had perked up at the movement, turning his head to nuzzle into Bobby’s shoulder. “I still can’t believe you guys thought you could try hiding an entire demon tiger from me when you moved in.” Bobby commented. “You know I didn’t even have a pet rule to begin with!” 

“Maybe it was the demon half that we were still trying to figure out how to break to you?” Rumi said sarcastically, remembering full well that fateful night when they had all sat Bobby down and told him the truth about their secret lives, about what they had been accomplishing behind his back for years while touring. 

“Well, I would like to think that I took it in stride.” Bobby said. “And we save millions on stunt equipment now, so really it’s a win-win for both of us.”

“No kidding.” Said Mys, summoning himself a glass of water from the kitchen and taking a long sip of it. “I like being able do to that without you freaking out.”

“What’s the set list look like again?” Abby asked through half-closed eyelids, threatening to doze off on Mira’s shoulder as he sank further into the couch like a boneless sea slug. 

“We’re opening with your new single,” Bobby said, referencing the first song that the eight of them had released last week. (Jinu and Zoey were a pair of absolute wizards when working on a song together). “Then it’s ‘How it’s done ’, ‘ Soda Pop ’, ‘ Golden ’, ‘ My Idol ' , Baby and Zoey’s freestyle rap battle, a dance-off between Mira and Rom, and then that duet Rumi and Jinu are doing together.

Jinu grinned over at Rumi with cheeky raised eyebrows, remembering the sleepless nights they had spent together forming their dual parted song. It was something that they both felt represented the unification of Huntr/x and the Saja Boys, a song that reminded them of stolen hours on city rooftops and Bingsu under the stars. 

‘Free’, they had decided to call it. 

“I can’t wait to see the stupid fanart they’ll start drawing when you two go floating off the stage together.” Mira smirked, referencing their planned choreography. 

“Still not as bad as the shipping wars you three are starting right now.” Jinu quipped back. 

“Baby is literally Zoey and Mys’s baby, how is anything worse than that?” Rom said. 

“I’m content with it.” Baby said with a smile. “At least people won’t draw pictures of me like they do for Abby. I saw one just last week of him using his T-shirt as a-”

“Stop! I actually want to keep my food down, thank you very much.” Abby groaned, sending his empty food tray into the kitchen with a swish of his hand and a puff of magenta smoke. 

“That’s the spirit!” Bobby said, checking his watch as standing back up. “I have to go check on transportation now, but please eat up before the show! It’s a lot of choreo to get through on an empty stomach.” 

“Thanks Bobby!” They all called again as Bobby left. 

“See what I mean? Angel.” Mira said as if it were the most well known fact in the entire world. 

The band sadly parted ways with their beloved couch a few hours later, all of them retreating to their rooms to change into their respective show outfits. 

Once Jinu had pulled on his baggy ripped jeans, throwing his dark purple jacket on -bedazzled in patches and charms- he set out on a familiar trek across the hallway, knocking softly on Rumi’s door with a curled knuckle.

“Come in!” Rumi called to him, recognising his presence at once as he slowly turned the door handle. 

He had spent an embarrassing amount of time during their rivalry wondering what the inside of her room had looked like. Jinu had pictured something of a western beach house, starry twinkling lights glittering above bookshelves overflowing with Rumi’s famed marine biology collection, the one Derpy had reported back to him before their aquarium date. 

He hadn’t been far off, save for the beachy theme being a little more toned down than he had imagined. Blankets and pillows were strewn across her bed and bean bag, casting more of a pillow fort than a complex and sophisticated modern house, but Jinu wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

He loved every blanket, every throw pillow, even the occasional Saja Boy Soda can left out on her desk (Rumi had a particular fancy for the Jinu themed flavor).

“Where are you?” Jinu asked, stepping further into the L-shaped room and rounding the corner to Rumi’s open bathroom door. 

“I’m putting on my earrings!” Rumi said, making eye contact with him in the mirror and giving him a chipper smile, her similar jacket shining yellow in the fluorescent bathroom ring light. 

Jinu came right up behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle and nuzzling his chin into the top of her head, sighing contentedly as she laughed at his antics, noticing with a fuzzy feeling that he was still wearing her bracelet, it still knotted proudly against his pale skin. 

“Jinu! You’re gonna make me drop my earring!” She laughed as she fiddled with the small silver hoop she was currently fitting into her cartilage.

“You already have like, ten on!”

“Says you, with your new double lobes!” Rumi countered, reminding him that he indeed had let her pierce his ears for him a few weeks ago, as to Mys’s encouragement. 

“Mys was right though, they do look good on me.” He said, admiring the small diamond studs just above his usual silver loops. 

“Anything looks good on you.” Rumi snorted, picking up some edge gel and patting down at her bangs. 

“You’re living proof of that.” He murmured seductively.

“I look good whether I’m on or off you.” Rumi smirked, turning around to run the remaining edge gel through his black locks as she styled his hair for him, resisting the urge to fasten his hair into a large spiky mohawk. 

“Do I get a choice as to which one?”

“Always.” 

“Good.” 

Their lips met easily, slotting together like the most perfect of puzzle boxes. Rumi sighed contentantly, running her fingers over the patch on the front of Jinu’s coat bearing his name in fancy looping letters. 

“This is nice.” Rumi breathed as Jinu lifted her gently off her feet, setting her down on the bathroom counter and stepping between her legs with ease as his hands found her long braid, toying with the end of  the long tendrils.

“I couldn’t imagine a better life.” He told her, leaning in to swipe another kiss from her as both of their patterns flashed happily across their skin in a dance of acceptance and love, both of them lost in each others presence as Jinu pressed himself further into Rumi’s chest.

“Guys, we have to go!” Baby’s muffled voice suddenly called, breaking them apart as they both turned towards Rumi’s door. “Please don’t make me go in there, I’ve had enough today!” 

“We’re coming, we're coming!” Rumi told him, grabbing a tube of mascara and a lipstick bottle and shoving them into her pocket as they both met Baby at the door. “How’d you know Jinu was with me?” 

“I didn’t even need to check.” Baby said simply. “He’s always in there.”

“Fair enough.”

Even though six out of the eight of them could teleport, they still took the limo to the venue, not wanting Zoey and Mira to have to make the trek all by themselves. 

“I’m still amazed by these little things.” Abby commented on the stretched cars’s minifridge, pulling out a Saja Boy soda can at random. “Hey, I got Mys!” 

“Taste the Mystery.” Rom said in a low, commercialized voice, raising his hands like he was presenting some sort of slogan. 

“I hate it so much when you say it like that.” Mys groaned. 

“Come on man, there are worse things to taste like than oranges and clementine.”

“You’re just making it worse.”

Abby cracked the can open, the tab making an almost identical *hiss-pop* that marked the intro to the catch of their debut song. 

“You’re all I can think of, every drop I drink up..” They all found themselves singing absently under their breaths to the chorus of the pop song on. They all paused, looking around at each other, and then burst out laughing, Abby spluttering slightly on his drink. 

“I hate all of you.”

The limo pulled up to the stadium right on cue, Bobby waiting with a dorky grin for them as he led them straight to the platform that would raise them above the stage to begin their first song. 

“Do any of you need anything?” Bobby asked them fervently as they all fervently began their pre-show rituals, involving many unflattering vocal warm ups and a series of static stretches to loosen their muscles. 

“All good, Bobby!” Rumi called between her fast paced C-scale she was humming under her breath. “Thank you!”

“Five minutes until the platform rises!” A crew member called out to them as the lights began to dim outside, sending the crowd into a screaming mass as their pre-recorded intro video started playing across the large screens above the stage. 

“Are you guys ready for this?” Rumi asked as they all moved into their final positions, all spread out across the platform on their little marked dots as the clocked ticked closer to showtime. 

“Let’s do this.” Baby answered her, finishing up his shoulder stretches with a small shake and adjusting his neon green jacket one last time. 

“I’m ready.” Mira grinned, tossing her powder puff to her stylist and giving her a small thumbs up. 

Abby, Mys, Zoey, and Rom all nodded as well, all of them set with their game faces as the video outside neared the end of its runtime. 

“Jinu?” Rumi called, looking up at him with large doe eyes as she offered him her hand, him taking it at once with a determined grin. 

“Right here, always.” 

“Then let’s give the fans what they’re asking for.” Rumi said as the platform began to raise into the light above, Rumi turning to grasp Zoey’s hand, who in turn grabbed Mys who passed the sentiment down to Abby, until all eight of them stood proudly on the rising platform, hand in hand as they crested the top of the stage and looked out over the sea of cheering fans, the honmoon sparkling a blinding gold above their heads.

“Together.”