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Chapter Text

Rumi saw the gold spreading as she twirled above the crowd on her hoop. 

It was working!

She was so close. 

Zoey and Mira hadn’t come back on stage, She could hear them in her ear-piece. Something had happened to Bobby, but they were on it. Rumi had to trust that they could handle it. 

It was up to her to finish this on her own. 

She could do it. 

She landed gracefully, and walked towards the end of the stage, arms out for the big finale. She could feel the soul energy coursing around her, flowing between her and her audience. She belted out the last high note.  The gold spread to the furthest edge, like a wave racing towards the shore. 

She’d done it!

The Golden Honmoon. 

Finally.

No more hiding. 

Now she could go back to how she was before she felt this crushing shame over her patterns!

She couldn't wait to see Jinu's face when he realised her 'crazy plan' had worked, and he got to stay.  She wasn't going to say 'I told you so,' but she was going to make the most I told you so face at him until he said she was right.

The Honmoon shivered, shimmered and then seemed to burst with golden threads.  

Then the music stopped abruptly.

It felt like the ground gave way underneath her. Suddenly she was falling.

Everything went dark. 

-0-0-0-0-

Rumi was dizzy.  She was lying on an unfamiliar floor. It felt like a stage. There was a huge crowd yelling just beyond her line of vision.

It sounded like thousands of people.

Rumi’s stomach twisted with anxiety. Where was Celine? Celine never left her alone when they were at events. 

Not ever. 

How did she get on stage on her own? 

Two enormous, mean-looking girls were next to her. They hauled her up unceremoniously by her arms. They were grabbing at her shoulders, then she heard fabric rip. 

They'd ripped her jacket off. 

No!

Celine said to never, ever take her jacket off in public, no matter how hot it was or how few people there were around her. Not ever. Now her jacket was off and she was in the middle of a stage in front of thousands of people and everyone could see!

“Give it back!” she shrieked in panic, and jumped. The gigantic mean girl with pink hair held what was left of her jacket too high for her to reach and smirked.  Then she started singing about how Rumi was hideous on the inside.  The other one pushed her, singing about how she was rotten within. 

Hey!

That was just bad manners. 

Grown-ups weren’t supposed to push kids. 

Rumi pushed her back as hard as she could. She wasn’t going to be pushed around by some giant meanie.  She already had her purple belt in Taekwondo!

The mean girl went sprawling on her ass. She groaned as she landed, patterns flickering. 

Demon. 

Rumi looked around in panic. She was in an enormous arena, and it was full of people, but not a single person was her foster-mother. 

Where was Celine?!

Rumi was all alone.

This was Rumi’s first demon fight on her own...but she had so much practice.

She was going to make Celine proud.

Rumi was going to annihilate these mean demon girls. 

She yelled a battle cry, and leapt on the smaller girl demon who was still on the ground.  Rumi summoned her sword from the honmoon as she leapt. 

The crowd cheered! 

They were on her side. 

The taller girl tackled her mid-air. They slammed back on the floor so hard it knocked the wind from Rumi's lungs.  The big mean demon girl wrenched Rumi's sword arm behind her back and got her in a ju-jistu grapple. Rumi cried out in pain.

The crowd booed. 

They hated the mean girls. 

“Leave her alone, you idiots!” A man’s voice yelled.  “She’s just a kid now!” 

Suddenly, the big, pink-haired one was being pulled off her.  The guy threw her like she was a football. She collided with the other demon. They landed in this big, dazed heap of demon limbs.

The guy crouched down to her level and helped her up. He was wearing all black, so he was probably a stage-hand. He had black hair and a nice face. 

“Rumi, are you okay?” he asked. He sounded concerned, and he seemed to know her, even if she had no idea who he was. 

Maybe Celine had sent him to help her?

“You knew this would happen!” The pink-haired one screamed at him as she pulled herself out of the demon heap. The two demons both shifted into full demon-mode and got into an attack position. 

Rumi’s sword arm was free now, so she threw it at the big demon like a frisbee.

It sliced the big demon in two, right through the torso, before it returned to her open hand like a boomerang.

The demon exploded into pink glitter.  

Yes! 

She got it!

Her first demon kill!

Eight more demons appeared on the stage in puffs of pink smoke, forming a circle around her and the guy.

They looked angry. 

Rumi didn't know if she could kill eight demons. 

Her frisbee trick probably wouldn't work again.

The guy swore under his breath. He used the word Celine yelled when their brand new dishwasher broke.  Suddenly, he picked her up and held her close to his chest. The ground lurched and pink smoke exploded around them too. 

Demon smoke!

Uh oh!

-0-

They landed somewhere outside. It was quiet. Nobody else was here. There was a soft breeze and grass beneath them. The guy put her down on the ground. Her legs felt wobbly and she fell forward, but the guy - no,  the demon caught her and held her upright. 

He'd done the thing with the pink smoke that the other demons had done in the arena, so he must be a demon too.

“Sorry. That was probably your first time, so you might feel dizzy. But you're safe here,” he said in a non-evil sounding voice.  “You might feel better if you sit down.”

Rumi nodded, and played along, like she was listening to him. He sat next to her quietly.  He didn't make any movements, sudden or otherwise, towards her and seemed content to let her collect herself.

Rumi used all her training from Celine.  She tried to assess her situation like a big, grown-up hunter would. 

She was a proper hunter now. 

She’d killed her first demon. 

It had exploded into pink glitter. 

That was awesome. 

No, wait - situational awareness. 

Rumi looked around, breathing deeply  to center herself and trying to get her bearings. It looked like she was in Naksan park.  She’d been here once before with Celine, when they’d come into the city a month ago. Celine had taken her to the best view point and told her about their sacred responsibility to protect people from demons.  The city was going to be her responsibility, and that had felt like a heavy thing to carry. But she remembered really liking the view. 

It looked different now though.  There were so many new buildings that hadn't been there a month ago. 

There was a demon guy next to her. He’d helped her in the arena. He wasn’t immediately attacking her.  His concern about her had seemed genuine. 

No. He wasn’t going to trick her into thinking he was nice. 

He was a demon. 

So she was going to have to kill him too. 

That was what hunters did to all demons. 

She inhaled deeply, and felt better. She felt battle-ready, and there didn't seem much point in delaying the inevitable.  There didn't seem much point in getting to know this demon if she had to kill him anyway.  He'd been nice, but...

It was wrong of her to think that  the demon was nice. 

Demons were never nice. 

They were liars and tricksters...and it was working on her because this demon had tricked her into thinking he was nice. 

She leapt to her feet, summoning her sword.  The demon was still sitting on the ground, and he looked up at her in shock. That was good. She used the element of surprise and went on the attack. She yelled a battle cry and swung her sword in a big arc, aiming for the demon’s head, but he was so stupidly tall and fast that he leaned back and rolled out of the way, so she missed. 

“Woah,” the demon said, instantly on his feet, his hands up, palms outwards like he was surrendering. He stepped back from her. She pursued, still swinging wildly at him with her sword, but he kept dodging and jumping out of the way. 

“Hey,” he said, leaping back to land on top of the city wall.  She followed. “Rumi, chill out,” The demon said as he dodged her again. “It’s just me!”

“Yeah! And you're a demon,” She said, slicing the air where he used to be. 

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” The demon asked, stepping backwards quickly and trying to avoid her blade as she charged him again. 

“I don’t care who you are,” Rumi yelled, throwing her sword at him like a javelin. 

It had worked on the other demon.

But she missed this one. 

He ducked easily. 

“Really? You’re just going to throw your sword at me now? Your form is so much sloppier when you're tiny,” he tsked with a little shake of his head as he stood back up. Then he smirked at her, like he thought he was hilarious.

“I’ll sloppy you!” Rumi yelled back, summoning her sword again. 

“That doesn’t even make sense,” The demon squabbled, looking amused. He kept dodging, but he was being lazy about it now. Rumi could tell he was doing it just to humor her.  

That made it worse. 

This demon was so annoying. She made a noise of frustration. She was going to get him so bad.  She was going to get him for real.  She lunged again, but he side-stepped her with a big grin, like this was fun for him.

“I think we’ve got off on the wrong foot here,” The demon said reasonably. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise…" he paused and shifted on his feet, looking uneasy for the first time since she'd met him. "I’m sorry about those two demons on stage. They were idiots,” The demon said, like their evil demonic behaviour embarrassed him somehow.

He stepped backwards from her again, even though she had stopped swinging her sword at him in sheer surprise. His hands were still up in the surrender position, so he really was trying to show that he wasn’t hostile. 

She almost believed him. 

He definitely hadn’t been in evil cahoots with the mean-girl demons. 

They’d been pretty angry at him back at the arena. 

“So what’s your evil plan?” she asked. She didn’t lower her sword, but just kept it pointed at him like an accusatory finger. “Why did you kidnap me?”

The demon seemed put on the spot. “I didn’t kidnap -” he started to protest, sounding annoyed, but then he looked at her and seemed to realise several things at once. 

Rumi made an unimpressed face at him, to make it clear she was thinking ‘Yeah, that’s right, dummy! She was a kid. And he’d taken her somewhere without her guardian’s knowledge or consent.’ 

That was textbook kidnapping. 

“Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess technically I did. The kidnapping was an accident,” the demon admitted. 

“What kind of idiot kidnaps someone by accident?” Rumi asked, waggling her sword a little at him. 

“ I didn’t know what else to do and it seemed like the best idea at the time.  I didn’t have an evil plan or anything,” The demon explained. 

“That I believe,” Rumi said, still making her unimpressed face and trying to make it clear that she didn’t think this guy could plan his way out of a wet paper bag.  “So what happens now?”

The demon was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking. 

Oh, jeez. 

He was trying to come up with a plan now. 

Rumi had no faith in his abilities in this area.

The dummy accidentally kidnapped people. 

“I'm going to get you home safely. Mira and Zoey will probably know what to do,” The demon said after a long pause. 

“Who are Mira and Zoey?” Rumi demanded, waggling her sword at him again. 

“When you're older, you're in a band called Huntrix. Mira and Zoey are your bandmates, but you guys are really good  friends too.  The three of you live together but it’s a bit far from here. They look like those girls on stage. Do you remember them at least?” The demon asked, looking like he really cared about the answer. 

Rumi felt uneasy. It felt like when Celine gave her a surprise quiz on something she hadn’t studied for.  She couldn’t remember people she had never met,  but the way this demon was asking her made her feel like she should.

“Those girls were so mean,” Rumi said petulantly, looking around feeling awkward.  She hated not knowing things. “How did I get here anyway?” She avoided the question by asking one of her own.  

“I don't know,” the demon replied with a hopeless shrug. 

What an idiot. 

He didn’t even know how his own pink-demon-smoke power worked. 

“You're the one who did it. We just went floof in pink smoke. That wasn’t me who did that, dummy,” Rumi rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. 

“Oh sorry, You weren’t asking about how you got de-aged and turned into the world’s most annoying brat. You're asking about here here,” The demon said, pointing around to the rest of Naksan Park. “The… floof was teleporting. It's how demons travel... but we might not use it to get you home safe, because hunters will throw sharp things at demon smoke.” 

Huh. 

He really did seem to want to get her home safe? 

And he'd actually put some thought into how he was going to do this. 

“So you're not going to try cook me over a fire then eat me and steal my soul?” Rumi asked, curious despite herself. 

“Gross,” the demon wrinkled up his nose. “That would be like… cannibalism. Is that what you think demons do? What the hell kind of bedtime stories is Celine reading you?” He asked, sounding very judgemental of Celine’s parenting. 

“How do you know about Celine?” Rumi demanded. 

“You told me about her. You said she was your guardian after your mother died,” the demon said quietly, sounding somber. It was like they knew each other well and the fact that her mother died when she was a baby made him sad too. 

Rumi didn’t want to think too much about that, so she went on the attack again. 

Just a verbal attack, though. 

She’d stopped swinging her sword at him a while ago. 

“Wait - cannibalism? That  would mean you were a person once. And you're not. You're a demon. And demons lie.  You are probably looking at me thinking I'm so tasty.” She did a little wiggle to emphasise her deliciousness. 

“Well, you're half-demon. Do you want to eat people?” The demon shot back, sounding irritated again. “ Are you looking at me and thinking I’m tasty?”  he copied her and did a little wiggle of his own. 

“No! Gross,” She replied. Then she mimed vomiting for good measure, so he would know how gross he was.  “Blurgh.” 

“Well, that’s how I feel about eating people. It would be blurgh,”  He replied, copying her pretend vomit.  

She looked at him a little gobsmacked, because he was actually… a complete doofus. 

He accidentally kidnapped people, and copied her insults,  and even the way he pretended to vomit was goofy. 

He hopped off the wall, and held out his hand to help her down, seeming unafraid of her sword. It should have irritated her, the fact that he wasn’t scared of her at all. 

But she also didn’t want to hurt him. 

He made her curious. 

She’d never talked to a demon before. 

He wasn’t like how she expected a demon to be at all. 

She put away her sword, since he didn’t seem like he was an immediate threat, so maybe ... she didn’t need to kill him straight away. 

He smiled at her like a big dork when she did that, like he’d won some kind of prize now that she clearly wasn’t trying to kill him.  He held his hand up a little higher for her to hold. 

Rumi made a face at him, and stuck out her tongue. 

Maybe she’d decided against killing him, but she still wasn’t going to hold his hand to get off a wall! 

He was treating her like she was a helpless baby, just because she was a kid, but she wasn’t a helpless baby. 

She was nearly ten years old, so she could get off a wall by herself. 

She was an independent woman!

She swatted his hand away, then jumped, landing lightly on the grass again. She stood with her hands on her hip.  “Why did you bring me here anyway?”

This guy clearly didn't have much in the way of a plan, but he’d chosen this spot for a reason when they teleported here. 

“You invited me here once. It was the safest place I could think of off the top of my head,” the guy said with a shrug.  “I just thought that I needed to get you away, because the crowd was going insane at the stadium, there were some bad demons around and I didn't know what the gold honmoon had done or how Zoey and Mira would respond to your patterns.”

He mentioned her patterns so easily, but she and Celine never told anyone and…

Her jacket!

She still didn’t have it. 

She’d been so distracted by trying to kill this demon doofus that she’d forgotten to try and cover her patterns. She'd gotten so distracted by this idiot that she just forgot about everything else. 

Rumi looked down, frantic. Maybe she could use her shirt to cover them? She was wearing a tight, sleeveless high-neck top that showed her tummy and white shorts and boots, but nothing else.  There was no way this white outfit would cover it!

The little flower of purple on her right arm was visible for everyone to see!

Even though everyone was just this one demon doofus, who already seemed to know about her patterns and didn’t seem bothered by them, Rumi still felt panicked deep inside. Her stomach was doing anxious flip-flops. She slapped her arm over her patterns. Then she looked up to see her worst fear come to life.

The honmoon was gold, but her patterns had stayed. 

She started rubbing at her arm, trying to rub the patterns off and pleading quietly under her breath. “No, no. Go away, stupid patterns. Please go away.” She felt a prickle of tears in her eyes and a sour lemon in her throat. 

The demon was suddenly right next to her. He crouched down so he was in her level. His big hand closed around her wrist gently. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” the demon was saying quietly, like he was trying to soothe her. “You don’t need to hide them from me.” 

She let him move her hand off.  He’d already seen them anyway, so there didn’t seem much point in hiding them.  She let her hands fall at her side forlornly. She didn’t know what to do now. 

The golden honmoon had been Celine's only plan and it hadn't worked.

“You don’t understand. They’re meant to be gone. The honmoon is gold and they’re meant to be gone,” Rumi said desperately. Her voice had a pre-cry hitch in it that she couldn’t hide. She felt absolutely mortified that this demon now knew she was about to cry, but she couldn’t stop it. 

Celine had promised. 

The honmoon was gold, so Rumi had done everything perfectly.

And she still had patterns. 

It wasn’t fair. 

She turned and took three steps to the city wall, trying to hide her face against the old bricks. 

She wasn’t going to cry in front of this stupid demon. 

She was tougher than that. 

She was a hunter… just like her mother. And hunters were tough. 

But her shoulders were shaking and that sour lemon in the back of her throat was being squeezed, and now the tears were squeezing out her eyes, and a little sob had burst out too. She hadn’t been able to suppress it. 

He was next to her again. She felt his hand patting her shoulder.   “It's a part of you. It’s half of you.  I don't think you can get rid of it,” the demon said gently.  "But it's okay."

"It's NOT okay," Rumi yelled, beating her fists against the bricks in desperation. She watched in horror as demon pink rippled out through a golden honmoon from where she'd struck.

She'd done that? 

She was demon enough to ruin a golden honmoon.

She covered her eyes with her hands, trying to press the tears back into her eyes and get control of herself. If she could control herself and not feel angry and upset and sad, then it wouldn't happen again. It only happened because she'd let her feelings out, and that was why Celine taught her so many control techniques.

The demon put his arms around her slowly, so as not to scare her with a sudden movement, like she was a skittish horse. Rumi stood frozen in shock and didn't stop him even though she had the chance, because a demon was hugging her and she'd never had any hug training, so she didn't know what to do. 

She didn't expect it. She was pretty sure hugging a demon back was against some kind of hunter rule. 

But it wasn't a bad feeling...being hugged.

Rumi didn't get many hugs.

Celine loved her, but she wasn't a hugger.

This demon might be a hugger though, because he was hugging her and telling her not to cry and saying that everything was going to be okay. He felt warm and safe and maybe Rumi liked being hugged by him.

It was probably bad that she thought it was nice.

It was definitely against the rules that she hugged him back and squished her face against him and cried on his shirt and got it all snotty. 

The stupid demon was making her cry more by being so nice about everything and hugging her. She pushed him away suddenly and wiped her eyes furiously.  He stepped back, arms up with palms facing out, like message received loud and clear.

Celine had taught her how to control her emotions better than this. She did the breathing trick to suppress big feelings, but it wasn’t quite working. “I'm still half demon,” she confessed forlornly.  “But I don’t want to be bad.”

She’d been taught that all demons were bad, and Celine would always quickly say But you're not one of them Rumi, whenever Rumi made an upset face.

But Rumi was!

She didn’t want to be, but she was, and she couldn’t help it. She just wanted to be normal, be a hunter like her mother, but no other hunter had ever had patterns. 

That was why Celine was always so worried about hiding everything from Auntie Dasom and the Diamond grannies. 

They only saw them in winter when Rumi could wear layer and layers and have an excuse. 

If the other hunters saw her patterns, they’d kill her just like any other demon. 

Even if they loved her as Rumi, they’d never understand and they’d probably try to kill her and Celine had promised that she would never, ever let that happen, but it was better not to tempt fate and it was better to hide it until they could fix it. 

But the golden honmoon hadn’t fixed anything. 

The demon didn't hug her again, but he knelt in front of her and put both his hands on her shoulder, so she had to look at his face. 

 “Hey, Rumi. It's not a bad thing with you.  You’re lucky. Gwi-ma doesn’t control you or force you to do bad things. You're not a bad demon. You're a good demon,” he said, sounding serious.

“Wait. There are good demons?”  Rumi asked with some surprise.

Celine knew everything about demons, and she said all demons were bad, but she’d been wrong about the honmoon, then maybe she was wrong about this. If there were good demons then maybe...

“Of course there are. I'm looking at one right now,” the guy said, and he sounded so sure, and he was a demon so he would actually know. 

“Are you  a good one too?” Rumi asked, excitedly. 

His face fell, and his hands dropped from her shoulders and he stepped back. He looked away from her, like he suddenly couldn’t bear to face her. “No, sorry. I'm a bad one.”

The demon looked like he was having some big feelings of his own. He was doing the breathing trick to try and push whatever they were down. 

His patterns on his hands glowed pink and he looked at them sadly for a moment.

She'd only just found out good demons were possible, and now the nicest demon she'd ever met was a bad demon too? 

Had his kindness just been a demon trick?

“Are we enemies?” Rumi asked, feeling wary again. She took a step backwards. 

Demons lie. This demon could have been tricking her the whole time. Maybe being nice to her about her patterns was just a way of getting her to trust him so he could do something evil. 

But he just admitted to being a bad demon, which would kinda ruin whatever his evil plans were. 

But then again, this demon was dumb. 

“I don’t think all that matters now,” The demon said philosophically, gesturing at the golden honmoon spread out below them. 

That wasn’t a no. 

It wasn’t a yes either. 

But Rumi had asked a yes or no question. 

This demon wasn’t telling her the full truth. He knew so much more than he was saying.  There had been a few times when they were talking, a slight hesitation here, a quirk of the lip there, that told Rumi he wasn’t telling her everything.  He was hiding something. Rumi was a champion at hiding things and lying and she knew how to spot a liar when she saw one. 

The demon looked over the wall and seemed a bit lost in in his own thoughts. He’d let his guard down completely around her. He seemed to trust her completely. He wasn’t scared of her at all, so he wouldn’t see it coming. 

She had the element of surprise on her side.  She could get her sword and…

No. 

She wouldn’t. 

She didn’t want to kill him. 

But she needed some real answers.

And this demon was lying about something. 

And she was going to find out the truth. 

She crouched silently and picked up a big rock. She turned slightly towards him with it hidden behind her back. 

“Mr Demon, I have something to tell you,” she said politely. 

He looked a little confused, but did what she expected. He  took two steps so he was in front of her. He knelt down so their faces were level, and he seemed interested in what she was about to say. He’d been pretty good at getting on her level  to talk to her ever since she stopped swinging a sword at him.

It was handy because it eliminated the height difference problem. 

“What is it, Rumi?” he asked, all unsuspicious and trusting. 

Whack!

She bopped him on the head with the rock, knocking him out cold.  He landed with a thud in a crumpled heap of gangly limbs.

What to do with him now?

The honmoon shimmered on the wall, giving her an idea.

Celine said it was possible to pull other things aside from weapons out of the honmoon when the need was great. Rumi's need was great.

Rumi had made this honmoon gold and it hadn’t helped her patterns, so it owed her a favour. 

She reached in and thought rope, and pulled out an iridescent cord.  

She shoved the demon up against the wall, in between two arrow slits. His head lolled to the side, but she tried to lean it up against the ancient bricks, so he’d be a little more comfortable. She passed the rope under his arms and through the holes in the wall a few times before tying it tightly and firmly. It was honmoon rope, so he wouldn’t be able to use his demon powers to break through it. 

She got more rope and tied his hands together. 

Then she did his feet too. 

Then she stood back to admire her handiwork. 

She’d killed a demon and trapped a demon all in one night, and she wanted to feel proud, but was this …too much? 

It could be overkill, tying his hands and feet,  since this demon didn’t seem dangerous. 

He’d done nothing but try to help her...though granted, helping her had involved accidentally kidnapping her and taking her away from Celine… but she'd been able to handle herself.  He was a dumb demon who couldn’t plan his way out of a wet paper bag and had been outsmarted by a nine-year-old, so she couldn’t expect too much from him. 

And…

He said he was bad, but he’d been nothing but kind to her, and not all of it was a lie.  He’d said demons were forced to do bad things by Gwi-ma before he’d admitted to being bad himself, but did it really count as being bad if you were forced?

Rumi really should kill him. Hunters were meant to kill everything with patterns and he had them.

But so did she. 

And he was the first person aside from Celine to ever see them and he’d been so sweet about them. 

 She’d let him live for that alone. 

But he better answer her questions properly when he woke up, or she’d hit him with the rock again!

-0-

Chapter Text

The demon winced and groaned as he woke up. “Urgh. My head,” he muttered.  “Did you hit me with a rock?”

“Let’s not get stuck on details like who hit who with a rock,” Rumi said in a business-like fashion, standing next to him with her arms crossed, trying to look like she was in-charge.

 She was the boss here. 

The demon tried to get up, then abruptly realised his tied-to-the-city-wall situation. He made an annoyed face. Pink smoke rose from the ropes around his middle in faint wisps, but he couldn’t teleport through the honmoon magic in the rope. He settled on squirming and wiggling like a disgruntled housecat.  

“ Don’t struggle. I used a Spanish bowline, so it’ll only get tighter if you wiggle too much,” Rumi warned him. 

The demon stopped wiggling and looked up at her, a baffled look on his face. “ A Spanish what?” 

“It’s a type of knot. Celine taught me all the survival knots during our wilderness training.  I’m really good at them. You should see my alpine butterfly,” Rumi bragged proudly, because it was true. That one was really difficult and it had taken her ages to learn and now she did it perfectly.

The demon hid a grin, like he thought her bragging was cute but didn't want to show it. Then he stopped smiling and put on a dumb frowny-face and lowered his voice so it sounded deeper and super-duper serious. “Young lady, you will untie me, right now,” he said,  like he thought he could be the boss here. 

Hard pass on that. Rumi was the boss. 

She made an unimpressed face at him. “What was that?”

“I was going for stern,” The demon explained awkwardly. “I’m older, so you should listen to me and do what I say.”

Yeah. So there was a zero percent chance she was going to take orders from this guy and they both knew it.   

“Dude, that wasn’t stern - that was weird.” 

“Was I even close?”

“No, not at all. Nowhere near,” Rumi said with a huge smile spreading on her face. She was going to tease him for that so bad. She was going to make so much fun of him for that!  “Stern Country is up here.” She lifted one arm up high above her head, “-  but you were way, way, way down here in Dorkland.” She  dropped her hand nearly to the grass, to demonstrate how far away from stern he had been. 

“Well, since you are the Queen of Dorkland, I’ll have to take your word on that,” the demon teased back. 

“Well… you are… you are the King of Dorkland, so you’re already there!” Rumi shot back, then stuck her tongue out at him for good measure.

Suddenly, a glowing blue  tiger popped up from the ground between them. Blue ripples, the colour of the old honmoon, spread out from its body as it came through the earth.

She jumped back in surprise, sword drawn. “What is that?!”

“Hey, woah, woah - he’s friendly,” the demon called from the wall, sounding actually stern now. He was worried she was going to hurt the tiger, and so she could tell from his voice that he was being serious. She put her sword away, and the guy audibly exhaled in relief. 

“What is he?” she asked.

“He’s … a tiger,” the demon replied simply, but there was a note of sarcasm in his voice. 

“I can see that.” Rumi rolled her eyes. This doofus thought he was so funny.  Honestly, hitting him with a rock was a mistake.  He didn’t seem to have that many brain cells to lose to begin with and now she’d made him even dumber.  “Is he a demon tiger?”

“He’s a spirit guardian,” the demon replied.  “His name is Derpy.”

“Derpy?” She said incredulously, with a raise of her eyebrows. 

Derpy was looking at her curiously, and now that she could see him properly, she could see that he was so cute.  He was beautiful, sweet and cuddly, and he was a good spirit… a good boy. 

(Celine had said there weren’t any spirit guardians left, but that was another thing she had been wrong about.) 

“You can pat him if you like,” The demon offered from the wall. “Just hold out your hand and let him smell it so he knows you’re friendly too.”

Rumi did what he said, and Derpy came over to her and gave her a sniff.

“See Derpy, it’s Rumi. She just looks a lot younger than she was the last time you saw her, but it’s still her,” the demon explained to the tiger. 

Derpy seemed encouraged by this, and he lowered his head and gave her shoulder a gentle bump, angling his ears so she could pat behind them. His fur was so soft. He was like a big affectionate kitty cat and she gave him scratches until he made a deep purring sound.

 He liked her!

They were making friends!

Suddenly, a six-eyed magpie landed on the tiger’s head, then squawked in her face. The bird turned to Jinu and squawked at him too.

“I know, Sussy,” Jinu said with a long-suffering sigh, like he understood bird-squawk. 

The bird, Sussy, squawked again. 

“I didn’t tie myself up, Sussy!” The demon protested, sounding offended. “ I’m not an idiot.” 

The bird did a little smirk with her beak.  It was an amused, disbelieving smirk. Rumi didn’t speak bird, but she knew that bird was saying oh honey, you are the biggest idiot I have ever met  with just her face. 

Rumi liked this bird. 

“Is she another spirit guardian?” Rumi asked. 

“Yeah, but she’s a lot cheekier,” the demon said fondly.  

A cool breeze blew over the hillside and Rumi shivered in her thin, white outfit.

“Sussy, could you please go  get Little Rumi a hoodie and some warmer clothes?” The demon said to  the bird as Rumi shivered again.

The bird chirruped.  

“I’ll ask her,” the demon said. He turned to look at Rumi. “Any colour preference for the hoodie?”

“Pink,” Rumi said quietly. It was her favourite colour, but she didn’t wear it much because it was a demon colour.

Sussy zapped through the honmoon, then reappeared at lightning speed. She dropped a pink hoodie on Rumi’s head and was gone again..

Rumi pulled it on quickly, feeling a lot warmer. It was a bit big for her, but it covered her patterns and she instantly felt better. 

The bird zapped back and dropped some kid-size jeans on her, and she pulled them on right over the top of her little white shorts. 

Sussy returned again with some white sneakers, which Rumi caught mid-air before they could clonk her on the noggin.  She looked inside them. 

“No socks?” Rumi queried. 

The bird squawked at her, sounding a bit put out. 

“I’m sure she’ll say thank you at the end, Sussy” Jinu reassured the bird. 

 Sussy made a little harrumphing noise and chirruped at him, and nodded her beak towards the ropes. 

Jinu looked down at the ropes, then back up at the bird.  They both looked in Rumi’s direction, then the demon said “It’s not like that, Sussy. We’re just …having a misunderstanding.” He  sounded like he was speaking up in Rumi’s defense.  

The bird rolled all six of her eyes at him and zapped away again. 

“Rumi, can you thank Sussy for the clothes when she gets back or I will never hear the end of it,” Jinu said with a fond little shake of his head. 

Sussy returned and dropped some plain socks unceremoniously on Rumi’s head. Rumi thanked  her profusely, in such an over the top way that the bird thought she was being sarcastic. (She was, but she didn’t think the bird would figure that out). 

The bird rolled her eyes again and flew over to land on Derpy, who had settled in next to the demon and put his big tiger head in the demon's lap.  The Demon’s hands were still tied - (and they were going to stay that way until Rumi got the answers she needed) - but he was still giving the tiger gentle scratches behind the ears with his fingers.  The tiger was purring contentedly. 

Rumi  sat on the other side of the demon and started unlacing the big white high-heeled boots, so she could put the more comfy sneakers on. 

How did Big Rumi even fight and perform in these?

Her stomach grumbled loudly as she pulled off the second boot. 

“Are you hungry too?” The demon asked, even though the answer was obvious. 

Rumi nodded. 

“What do you want to eat?” The demon asked, like it actually mattered to him if she was hungry or not. 

“Gimbap is my favourite,” Rumi told him. 

Sussy zapped away and came back with one gimbap roll. Rumi slid it under her nose and enjoyed the amazing gimbap smell. Ah, so good. She opened her jaw wide and started shoving it into her mouth.

“Maybe get more,” the demon whispered quietly to the bird as they both watched her eat the gimbap in two bites.   Sussy zapped away, then returned with a plastic bag full of gimbap with all different fillings. 

Rumi tore into the bag and grabbed a gimbap in each fist. She was about to shovel them into her mouth when she noticed the demon watching her. 

She’d been stuffing her face without even offering to share. 

Where were her manners?

Celine had raised her to always have impeccable manners all of the time. 

“You want some?” She held a gimbap out to him. 

“No, thanks.” The demon shook his head. “You look hungry, so they’re all yours.” 

Rumi nodded and went back to eating. Two gimbap later and she felt much better. She moved the bag a little to the side, and started putting on the socks.  They’d been so side-tracked by socks and snacks that she’d forgotten that she had tied this guy up for a reason.  

She hadn’t just tied him up to hang out with him and his spirit animals and have them take care of her. 

(Seo-Yoon from her old school was so mean when Rumi was doing wilderness training. She used to say mean things like Rumi would  have to tie someone up to force them to be friends with her. She’d said some other stuff too.  Rumi had ignored her, like the teachers had said to do, and she’d gone back to practising her knots by herself in the corner of the playground, but when she’d told Celine that afternoon Celine had been so mad and made some phone calls and they hadn’t gone back to that school). 

Rumi didn't tie people up just to hang out with them.

She had questions.

Rumi looked down at the ground and asked her first proper question. “The friends of Big Rumi, the ones you think can fix this, Zoey and Mira, they  don't know about my patterns, do they? You said you didn’t know how they would react, so that means they don’t know.” 

“No, they don’t,” The demon confirmed. 

“You took me away in case they reacted badly, and tried to hurt me?” Rumi guessed. 

Celine did the same thing if they ever ran into The Diamond Grannies or Auntie Dasom unexpectedly when they were out and about. Celine’s hand would close around Rumi’s shoulder and they’d make the quickest excuse and leave as soon as they could. 

“Yeah,” The demon said, looking down sadly. “I’m just not sure with Zoey and Mira. I don’t know them well. They might be cool about your patterns. Big Rumi told me she was going to tell them eventually, but she did get scared when they nearly found out one time.” He paused for a moment, then added, “ I think your real plan was to turn the honmoon gold and have your patterns disappear and then they’d never need to know.”

Yeah, that sounded like… a her thing to try and do.  

It was interesting, the way the demon switched between talking about Big Rumi, like she was a different person entirely and saying ‘you’, like little Rumi had done these things and had these ideas. It was like he was trying to separate them in his mind, but kept getting mixed up. 

“Why didn’t the golden honmoon take my patterns?” Rumi asked, still not looking at him. She concentrated on putting the shoes on. 

“I don’t know.” 

She crossed her legs, leaning her elbows on her knees, and continued her inquisition. “Why didn’t it take you?  You’re a demon. Aren’t all demons are meant to be -” She mimed being squashed down with her hands “- when the honmoon turns gold.” 

“I don’t know.” 

“How did I go from being Big Rumi to me? Have I been de-aged? Is it permanent?”

“I don’t know that either. This has never happened before,” The demon said, sounding perturbed and worried.

“How old am I normally?” Rumi tried an easier question. 

Honestly, this demon was no help at all. 

“I don't know.”

He was even more useless than she originally thought.

They were meant to be friends but he didn’t even know how old she was! 

“You really don't know much,” Rumi huffed with exasperation. 

“Alright, I can figure out that last one,” The demon huffed back, looking insulted.  He was quiet for a moment. He was thinking, so she stayed silent too. This demon clearly needed all the help he could get in the concentration department.

 “Um… you were in your early twenties? Mid twenties? Huntrix has been going for six years and you started when you were eighteen - so  23-24? His voice had a little upwards inflection, like it was a question. 

He looked about the same age, and he seemed to know other stuff about her, (nothing useful, but he definitely knew stuff) … and they had hung out, just the two of them… and  Big Rumi had talked about things with him that her little self could never imagine talking about with anyone.

“Do you  like like Big Rumi?” She asked, feeling curious and a little bit sassy.

The demon looked so flustered, then he looked away from her to hide how red his cheeks were going. “It's not that simple.” 

Oh my gosh, he did! Rumi thought to herself. 

“It kinda is!” Rumi said, feeling the need to tease him again. “Admit it, you had a big, fat, crush on Big Rumi,” she crowed. 

“This is so embarrassing,” the demon muttered, going bright red and looking up at the sky with some exasperation.  “Yeah, fine. You got me. I like her a lot,” he admitted, but he sounded super annoyed by this, like he’d never intended to have a big fat crush and it had happened by accident because Big Rumi was just that awesome. 

(Celine said not to worry about what the mean girls said at school, and Rumi would find friends of her own, and when she was bigger she’d be beating boys off with a stick. 

And Rumi had beaten this guy with…well a rock, not a stick... but still. Celine had been right about that, at least. 

Big Rumi was going to everyone’s type… even demons she was meant to kill found her great.)

“How did you guys become friendly?” Rumi asked, because that actually was pretty weird. 

Hunters weren’t even meant to talk to demons, let alone become friends with them. That was definitely against the rules. Maybe he’d been nice about Big Rumi’s patterns so she’d broken the rules for him. 

“We both had problems and we needed each other to solve them… we wanted to help each other… but we’re on opposite sides and that made things tricky,” the demon explained, choosing his words carefully. 

“What was the problem you needed help with?”

He shifted a little bit, like he felt uncomfortable. “I wanted to be free from Gwi-ma.” 

“You’re a prisoner?” Rumi asked with genuine shock. 

She’d been taught all demons did bad things because they were bad and they enjoyed being bad…not that they were all prisoners being forced to do bad things by Gwi–ma.

“Do you mean in general… or currently?” The demon said, nodding at the honmoon rope. 

“You’re not my prisoner,” Rumi scolded the demon for implying that she was keeping him prisoner, despite all evidence to the contrary. “I’m going to let you go as soon as you answer all my questions!” she reassured him. “How was big Rumi going to help free you from Gwi-ma?” she asked, moving the subject away from who had hit who with a rock and tied them up to the city walls with unbreakable honmoon rope. “Maybe I can do it too?”

“It’s already done. She thought if the Honmoon turned gold, but I was on this side, I’d be safe,” the demon replied. 

“Well, she was right,” Rumi said proudly. 

The demon didn’t look so sure. “Yeah, let's see how the next few days pan out. I think the other demons who are here probably aren't too happy with me right now. They’ll think I’m a traitor after what happened, and ...” he trailed off.

The other demons that floofed on stage to surround them had all be looking at her demon more than her. It was like they thought her demon was the real enemy. They'd been looking at him like they hated him and blamed him and wanted to hurt him. That made Rumi  feel worried.

The demon saw her face. He exhaled, like he was physically pushing his anxious feelings away. He tried smiling at her to put her at ease and pretend nothing was wrong. “Don’t worry about that. Didn’t you have any other questions for me? I’d like to get out of this rope sooner rather than later,” he joked. 

Rumi thought for a second. She knew Big Rumi’s side of the plan, but not his. “And what were you going to do to help her?”

“I was the lead singer of a demon boy band called The Saja Boys. We were competing at the Idol Awards against Big Rumi's band, Huntrix. That's what was going on at the arena we were at -” 

“I was on stage at the Idol Awards?!” Rumi blurted excitedly, interrupting him. 

“Yeah,” The demon smiled back.  

Rumi grinned so wide! Her first demon kill would be on TV so Celine would be able to see it. Celine was going to be so proud! 

She grabbed another gimbap, then made the go-on gesture with her hand. “So you had rival bands, then what?” 

“She thought if I helped her win by derailing our performance, she'd be able to turn the Honmoon gold,” the demon finished. 

(Big Rumi’s plan worked. Big Rumi was so smart. Big Rumi was beating off boys with rocks, so maybe Big Rumi had finally found a way to fit in… maybe she would fit in one day too.)

“I have another question,” Rumi said shyly. “Am I cool when I'm grown up?”

“Your band is the most popular in the charts.”

“Of course it is. Have you heard me sing? Celine says my voice is magic,” Rumi bragged.   “But I don't care about magic cool. That doesn't count. Am I cool for real?”  ‘Do people accept me?’ Rumi wanted to ask, but instead she said “Do people think I'm great?” 

“I think you’re pretty great,” The demon said with a little smile, before he looked pointedly at the rope “ - when you’re not tying me up with Spanish rope, that is.” 

“The knot is Spanish,” Rumi corrected him. “ The  rope is from the honmoon, not from Spain. Why would I go to Spain to get rope?”

“I don’t know,” the demon shrugged. “Maybe Spain is famous for rope in modern times?”

“Modern times?” She scoffed. “When are you from?”

“The Joseon era.”

“You’re so old,” Rumi informed him. “ Wait! What was it like living in the past? Were people all stiff and formal back then?  Did kings fall in love with mudang and women from the future  like they do on TV?” She asked excitedly. 

Celine let her watch an episode of the best drama on TV about this beautiful Mudang and her love story with the king, but she’d only seen one episode before she ended up here. 

What if she never got to see the end? Rumi thought with some alarm. 

“It wasn’t that great,” the demon said softly. “There was a pretty bad famine when I was alive, and things were hard… I went hungry a lot,” he added sadly. 

She pulled a gimbap out of the bag and offered it to him again. 

He didn’t have to go hungry now. 

“Thanks, but it’s wasted on me,” the demon said forlornly, looking at the gimbap like a sad puppy. “Demons don’t need to eat and we can't even taste anything -”  He leaned over and smelled it and sighed tragically, like he wanted to audition for a TV drama. Rumi would hire him, if she was a director. His longing was intense… the guy wanted to eat the gimbap so badly, but he’d been letting her stuff her face in front of him because he thought she was hungrier.  “It smells really good though.” 

“Can you eat? You’re not like a machine or a robot, where if someone puts food in you then you malfunction and break?” Rumi asked innocently. 

“I mean, yeah I can eat, but -”

Rumi broke off a bit of gimbap, saying “Smell and taste are connected. Just give it a try.” She leaned over, trying to shove the gimbap right into his mouth unceremoniously.

He spluttered a little at getting a face full of surprise gimbap, then opened his lips fully so she could put it in. Her belly did a funny little somersault when her thumb grazed his bottom lip. 

He started chewing, then opened his eyes wide in delight and made this mmmm  noise that people did when they really liked the taste of something. He even closed his eyes in bliss the gimbap tasted so good.

She'd been right, both about how gimbap was amazing and also about how the demon should just shut up and eat some and stop pretending he wasn't hungry so Rumi could eat. There was enough for both of them.

“What do you think?” Rumi asked.  

“That was delicious,” the demon said, his eyes falling on the gimbap bag with yearning.

It was only good manners to share.  

But Rumi wasn't going to hand feed him like he was some precious, injured songbird that she was nursing back to health!

He could feed himself. 

But he'd need his hands free for that.

Her demon wasn't all bad, even if he said he was. Maybe Rumi kinda liked his company…  He was nice to talk to. Sure, he teased her a bit but never in a way that was mean or made her feel sad. It was always in a way that made her want to laugh and tease him straight back. 

It was scary being in this strange place without Celine, but her demon felt like a safe person to be around ... Even though he was a demon. 

Maybe she could understand why Big Rumi might have been willing to break the hunter rules for him. 

It was probably a huge mistake to trust him and it was definitely against the rules….

But she was going to take a chance. 

“I’m going to untie your hands so you can eat all the gimbap you want,” Rumi said, coming to a decision. The demon smiled at her like she’d given him the winning lottery ticket.  She bent over his wrists and started undoing the knots. 

Wait. 

She should probably set some ground rules first. 

She sat back up and looked him square in the face. “But you aren’t allowed to do anything evil,” She warned, pointing a finger at him. “And I’m still the boss.”

He smirked, looking way too pleased with himself. 

“Yes, boss."

He was being sarcastic. 

She was going to get him for that. 

"Just shut up and eat some gimbap."

Chapter Text

Rumi was sitting cross-legged next to the demon, leaning against the wall, the gimbap bag between them. They were both stuffing their faces.

 It had silently become a sort of competition about who could eat the most, but Rumi was pretty sure she was winning.  The demon kept being distracted by the different fillings and having foodgasms. 

The foodgasms had originally been a little bit off-putting. The dude ate like he was starving and had never eaten anything as amazing as gimbap in his whole life… but Rumi had gotten used to it now. 

(This guy hadn’t eaten anything in hundreds of years, so  it was no surprise that an amazing gimbap was blowing his mind.)

“So you were telling me about the past,” Rumi said as they ate.  “What were people like back then? Did a magic chef ever travel back in time and fall in love with a royal?” 

“Is that also from TV?” the guy asked, still managing to smirk with a mouthful of gimbap.  

Rumi leaned over and flicked his forehead playfully. “Just answer my questions. Remember, I’m in charge.” 

“I reckon there must be magic chefs here. The food situation is so much better now,” the demon said, picking up another gimbap happily. “But regular people are pretty much the same in any time period. They like music and a good time, and some of them are great and some of them aren't so great. The nobility treated us commoners like dirt, so I don’t think a king would ever look twice at a mudang or a modern chef. He’d probably just -”  the demon stopped abruptly, glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, then chose his next work very carefully, “- use her then discard her.”  

“Oh,” Rumi said, looking down a little sadly. She kinda… really liked those shows with epic romances, even though she knew they were silly. It had been a dumb thing to ask.  People falling in love across all kinds of barriers wasn’t what happened in  real-life.  

“But what would I know?” The demon said gently, giving a little non-commital shrug. “I only worked in one castle… so maybe there were other castles where the nobles were much nicer and they were kind to everyone, and one of them fell in love with a commoner and they had a great romance and he let her eat dasik everyday and they were happy.”

He wasn’t actually being sarcastic. 

He was just indulging her and trying to cheer her up, even though Rumi could tell that he  believed not a single iota of what he was saying.

“What did you do in the castle?”

“I was an indentured musician, so I played light and relaxing music during the day and fun party music at nights.”

An indentured musician was like... A music slave.

That was a total bummer for this guy, Rumi thought

He’d gone from being trapped in some castle, having to take orders from some mean noble to being trapped in the demon world and having to take orders from Gwi-ma… to being trapped by a nine-year-old. She was going to let him go, but still...

He was just super unlucky with traps. 

“What instrument did you play?” Rumi asked curiously. She actually really wanted to know. 

“A bipa, and I sang.”

“Were you any good?”

“I don’t know,” The demon said quietly. He looked away again, thinking. “It never got me anywhere back then, but times were… really hard and there weren’t many opportunities… but people really like my music now.  So maybe I could have been,” he said with a wistful sigh. 

“If you play a song for me, I can tell you if you’re actually any good, and then you’ll know for sure,” Rumi promised him seriously. “Celine says I have an excellent musical ear,” she bragged smugly. 

The demon raised an eyebrow at her and hid a grin. “I have a feeling you’ll be my toughest critic yet.”

“Absolutely!” Rumi agreed. “I’m not giving you a free ride just because you tried to save me through accidental kidnapping. I’ll only tell you that you’re good if you really are good.”

“I appreciate your honesty,” her demon said, giving her a fond smile. 

Honesty!

She needed honest answers out of him and he was distracting her again!

“Wait, I didn’t tie you up to talk about music - I have some questions!” She said abruptly. 

“You’ve been doing nothing but ask questions,” the guy pointed out cheekily. 

“No, these are better questions,” Rumi insisted. 

The guy put aside his gimbap and gave her his full attention. “Okay, I’m listening.” 

“So, you’re a demon -” Rumi began. 

“That has been established, yes,” the demon interrupted, smiling that dumb smile he smiled when he thought he was being so funny.

Rumi rolled her eyes at him. He was so smarmy. She was going to get him for it later. 

“Can you not interrupt me? This is an important question,” she huffed. 

 The demon did a little wave with his hand. It was a - the stage is yours - gesture. 

“Can you tell me how to get rid of these since the honmoon didn’t work?” She asked, touching her hand to her shoulder where her patterns were. The patterns were under her hoodie now, but they both knew what Rumi was hiding under the pink fabric.

The demon suddenly looked sad and serious.  “I’m sorry, I can’t.” He gave a little shake of his head.  “I don’t think there’s a way to get rid of them,” he added softly.   

Rumi inhaled, and leaned back against the ancient bricks next to him, looking to the night sky and blinking rapidly.  

There was too much light pollution in the city to see many stars, so she had nothing to wish upon.

If she had seen a star, she would have wished it could take her patterns away. 

That probably would have been as effective as everything else Big Rumi had tried. 

They were quiet as the demon let her collect herself.  

“Hey listen, Rumi. Your patterns - they grow with shame,” The demon said after a long moment.   “When you feel bad about your patterns - that is what will make them bigger.  But if you feel okay about them, then they’ll probably stay the same size,” he explained kindly.  

She sat back up, and looked at him with some surprise, because that actually made sense.

She knew he was right.

 Her patterns had stayed the same size for ages.

 But  they’d been growing recently, ever since she started really understanding what it meant to have patterns.

 (She’d overheard a conversation between the Diamond Grannies and Celine one night when they thought she was asleep. Rumi was too young to help on hunts yet, and sometimes Celine still needed some back-up. The Diamond Grannies had been talking about what they thought her father did to her mother and how Rumi had been a product of that… and that was probably what Celine meant when she said her mother made a mistake.) 

“If you want to cover them -” The demon started saying next to her. 

“I have to cover them!” Rumi interrupted. 

She didn’t have any other choice. 

“Okay, if you have to cover them, then maybe… try to feel good about your patterns anyway, and they’ll stay this size. I think it’s going to be easier for you to cover them if they’re only small.” 

“I can’t feel good  about them,”  she snapped. “I hate them.”

“You don’t need to be scared of them or hate them. They just mean you have some cool extra abilities,” The demon replied calmly. 

“Like what?” Rumi asked, feeling curious despite herself. 

“Well, Big Rumi is super strong, like way stronger than a normal human. Her arms are like steel and once she kicked me so hard in the stomach that I sailed through the air and crashed into this wall on the other side of the room -”   

The demon gave this longing sigh, like he had absolutely no idea of the vibe he was giving off at this precise moment. He was like that girl at the end of the ‘Regina George is Flawless’ montage from Mean Girls, the one who said “One time, she punched me in the face and it was awesome.”

His whole vibe was like one time, Big Rumi kicked me all the way across the room and it was the best thing ever. 

What a dork!

“So I think Big Rumi has a bit of demon strength… and she’s the fastest human I’ve ever met,” he continued cheerfully listing all of Big Rumi’s demon skills. He turned to her with a little smile. “ You can keep up with demons and we have super speed, so that’s amazing.” 

Rumi felt a little smile growing as she thought about it. 

“ -  and you can levitate,” he added almost as an afterthought. 

“Wait! I get to fly?!” Rumi gasped excitedly. “Why did you save that one for last? Flying is the best one.”

“I kinda like the strength one the most,”  the guy said with this soppy sigh.

Rumi totally ignored that. 

Whatever was going on there, She Did Not Want To Know. She did not need to know anymore details of his internal ‘Big Rumi is Flawless’ montage. 

“I'm like… a superhero… a super hunter!” She gloated, feeling the biggest grin spread across her face. She was going to be like The Flash and Wonder Woman and Super Man rolled into one. 

Strength, speed and flight!

“See. It's not all bad,” the demon said, smiling back at her.

“So having patterns doesn’t make me half evil?” Rumi asked. 

“You’re not evil!” the demon snapped instantly, sounding offended on her behalf that someone would have had the audacity to ever say this to her. 

(The someone was herself, though. She heard everything Celine and Auntie Dasom and the Diamond Grannies said about demons… and that was half of her… and Celine always said they didn’t mean her, and she wasn’t one of them. But Rumi had never quite believed her.)

 “Believe me, Rumi, I’ve seen real evil. I’ve seen real evil right up close, so I know what evil looks like… and you’re not it,” The demon said very earnestly.  “You're as far from evil as anyone can be.” 

“Really?”

“Really,” the guy promised, right before he gave her a cheeky smile. She knew he was about to say something dumb to lighten the mood.  “I mean, you’re not evil but you are a bit of a brat, and you’ve tied me up with a knot from Spain which is super annoying. I bet if you used a knot from Korea I would have escaped by now,” he grumbled in this exaggerated way.

“No way!” Rumi argued. “You could never escape me! Do you know how good I am at knots! I could tie you up so good that you’d be all tangled in my ropes forever!”

“Wow,” the guy shook his head, trying to suppress a laugh. “ What a fun thing to say to me when I’m trying to be nice to you.” 

“Sorry,” Rumi said sheepishly, hugging her knees into her chest. She knew he was just kidding, but it plucked at a taught, anxious string inside her. Rumi was still learning how to… not be too much. 

“Hey, Rumi, I didn’t mean it like that,” the demon said gently. “The rope-tying thing is… unexpected, but I’m getting used to it…but being good at survival skills isn’t bad, and you’re not bad either.”

“Thanks,” Rumi said, moving the abandoned gimbap bag and shuffling over so she was right up next to him. 

 If he’d been untied, he might have hugged her again, and that would have been okay. It probably would have been nice.

 Instead he inclined his head a little to the side to give her a soft, affectionate headbutt.  “You don’t have to worry about the patterns making you bad. That’s not how they work,” he reassured her. 

“How do they work?”  Rumi asked in surprise. 

She never thought of the patterns having a function. They were just something demons had… like how mandrill monkeys had blue butts.

“Well, for most demons, the patterns are a sign of our shame and misery. They’re what tie us to Gwi-ma. It’s how he controls us.  He can use them to yank us down or torment us,” the demon explained. 

She felt her guts twist up a little. 

She didn’t like to think about things like that happening to her demon. 

Good thing she had turned the honmoon gold, so now he was safe. 

“But Gwi-ma can’t use yours at all. So I think… maybe you get to decide what you do with them.  They give you some cool extra abilities, but I think you’ve just been using them to be a good hunter and keep people safe.”

Rumi felt a weird feeling inside, a strange sort of calm settled in her tummy. Maybe everything really would be okay.  Maybe it was okay that she couldn’t get rid of her patterns.  Rumi had always wanted to get rid of them, but now she knew that she was going to chase that dream for another 15 years and it wasn’t going to pan out the way she wanted, and maybe she could learn to be okay with that. 

Because patterns didn’t automatically mean she was bad and she was going to get to choose. 

She leaned her head on her demon’s shoulder and stayed there for a moment. He was stupidly tall and his neck was long so he could lay his own head on top of her own, like they were some kind of noggin jigsaw puzzle.

  “Thank you.  For explaining.  I think I feel okay now,” Rumi said softly. 

“I’m glad I could help,” her demon replied, equally soft. 

She moved forward and bent down to start untying him. She didn’t have any more questions and she was a woman of her word, so it was time to set him free. 

The demon sighed extravagantly as he stood, wiggling his legs a little to try to get circulation back. (Did demons even have circulation? It felt kinda rude to ask another question when she’d just let him go.) 

He didn’t immediately teleport away from her though.  He just hung around like he was waiting for what she was going to say next, and stretching. He reached up and grabbed his elbow with his other hand behind the back of his head, to try and stretch his shoulders.  His black shirt rode up a little because of his stupid tallness, and she saw he had a little bit of rope burn around the middle of his abdomen. 

“You should have told me it was too tight. I didn't want to hurt you!” Rumi gasped, feeling bad. 

“Don't worry about me. This is nothing,” the demon said with an easy shrug. “It’ll heal pretty quick, see -”  he lifted his shirt a little, and she could see the rope burn healing itself right before her eyes. 

“Will I get to heal like that too?” Rumi asked as the demon tucked his shirt back in. 

“I don't know.”

Rumi made the most unimpressed face she could muster, because that was, like, the eight thousandth time he’d said ‘I don’t know’ this evening.  Her whole face was saying You really don’t know much. 

Her demon got what she meant instantly. 

“What? Don't make that face at me!” He huffed back. “I've never seen Big Rumi physically hurt.”

“Well, Big Rumi is a Super Hunter, so you know, probably nothing can hurt her,” Rumi smugly assumed.

“We should probably get you home Super Hunter,” her demon reached over and ruffled her hair, messing up her braid! 

She swatted him away. 

Babies got their hair ruffled and she wasn’t a baby!

She was nearly ten, and that was pretty much a teenager.

Her demon ruffled her hair again.  He had a dorky expression on his face, so she knew that he knew it annoyed her. 

She swatted at his hands again.  He raised them either side of his face, palms outwards, in surrender. 

He was still stifling a smile, but he schooled his features and tried to sound serious as he said  “It’s pretty late. You must be tired. Derpy and Sussy know where you live, so they can take you home.”

The tiger and the bird had been dozing peacefully next to him, but they both looked up at the sound of their names.

“Wait! You’re not coming with me?” Rumi asked, suddenly anxious. 

“I really don’t think that would be a good idea,” her demon replied, not smiling anymore.  “ I mean - I’m a demon. They’re hunters. If they see me - “  he mimed some very badly done karate chops.

(And he said her form was sloppy).

“Oh,” Rumi said, looking down at the ground forlornly. It made sense and it wasn’t a dumb idea for once, but still.  Her voice had a stupid, annoying, little quiver in it when she asked  “Will I see you again?”

He made a face she recognised all too well in response to that question.

“ If you say I don't know again I’ll…” Rumi waggled a finger at him in warning and searched around for an end to her sentence. 

“ I’ll…”  

She’d what? Tie him up again? Hit him with a rock? She didn’t want to do either of those things now. 

“I am going to be so mad,” she settled on. 

The demon looked really put on the spot, and looked like he was searching for words of his own. He said slowly “I…. am unsure.” 

“What if Mira and Zoey don’t like me?”  she asked, looking down at the ground and fiddling with the edge of her hoodie. 

“They’re going to love you. They already do,” her demon said encouragingly.

“What if they see my patterns and try to kill me too? Maybe Big Rumi is super fast and super strong and can fly… but I can’t do any of that yet,” Rumi said, voicing her deepest worry. 

The demon thought for a moment then turned to the tiger, “Derpy - is there any way Little Rumi can signal you if she needs you?” he asked. 

Derpy did a little wiggle. His body glowed bright blue for a second, then he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. Her demon picked up something from Derpy’s mouth. It was a spit-covered whistle.

Her demon wiped the tiger drool off the whistle with his shirt. He came over and crouched down in front of her, so they were right up in each other’s space. “Okay, so if you get scared that someone is going to hurt you, you can blow this and Derpy and Sussy will come pick you up. This will summon them.” He put the whistle in her hand, (it was a little blue wooden whistle, with a tiger picture near the mouth piece), and closed her fingers over it.

“What about you?”

There was a long pause. 

“If I can be there, then I’ll come too,” he promised, but there was something in the way he said that...  He wasn't telling her the full story again.  He looked a little sorry as he added, “But even if I can't be there, you wont need me. Derpy and Sussy will keep you safe. They’re protectors.”

“Okay,” she nodded, feeling safer now that she had something from him. She had the oddest impulse to hug him, even though she’d never had any hug training. 

How hard could it be?

They were almost the same height when he was kneeling in front of her, so that eliminated the height difference. She suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and grabbed him like it was a sneak attack. 

The demon made a surprised little noise as her sneak attack hug unbalanced him a little. (Had she accidentally used her demon strength? Or was it just because last time he’d been kneeling down in front of her and she’d done a sneak attack, she’d hit him with a rock?)

But just as quickly his arms came around her middle and he hugged her back.  He was holding her tightly, his was head on top of hers, and it felt warm and safe and nice.  She gave him a big squeeze and sighed contentedly.  They stayed like that for a few moments, just holding each other.

Hugs were nice. 

 Even if it was against the rules, she didn’t care. 

She liked him. 

She’d woken up on a huge stage, exposed and vulnerable in a scary, strange place without Celine and surrounded by enemies, and she had found out that she’d never be able to get rid of her patterns…

It should have been the worst night of her entire life ever…

But her demon had kept her safe and made her feel okay about patterns, and he’d even made her laugh and feel happy.  It felt like they really were friends, and Rumi didn’t have that many friends, and so even though this friend was a demon, she was going to keep him. 

The tiger was next to them, giving them affectionate and increasingly impatient headbutts. 

Oh. 

It was time to go. 

They broke apart from hugging each other. 

The tiger lowered his belly to the ground and wiggled a little to show what a comfy seat he was. 

“He wants me to ride him?” Rumi asked, surprised. 

“Yeah. How else did you think he was going to take you home? He wasn't going to hop on a bus with you,” The demon teased, implying that she was the dumb one. 

She would let that slide this one time.

She didn’t want the last thing she said to him to be a squabble. 

Her demon helped her onto the tiger’s back and showed her where to hold on.  The tiger stood up when she was on his back safely, making a contented rumble as she gave him a few pats. Derpy felt steady and strong underneath her. He was preparing to jump -

“Wait, I have another question!” Rumi said urgently. 

“Last question for tonight,” her demon said firmly. 

It was her last question, but it really should have been Rumi’s first. She should have asked him when she first met him. If they were going to be friends she needed to know this.  She couldn’t keep referring to him as ‘my demon’. 

“What’s your name?” 

“It’s Jinu,” he said, sounding a little surprised at her question. 

Jinu. It meant true and genuine friend.  She liked it.

“It suits you,” she told him, and for some reason that made him smile really shyly. 

“It was nice to meet you, Jinu,” she said, bowing towards him from the tiger’s back.

“It was nice to meet you too, Little Rumi,” he replied, returning her bow. “But you better get home now. It’s  way past your bedtime.”

They were having a nice moment and he ruined it. 

Rumi gave an exasperated huff and rolled her eyes. “You’re so old.”

“You are such a brat,” he smiled back, then he reached over and ruffled her hair again, a split second before Derpy took off, so she wouldn't be able to retaliate and mess with his hair in return. 

That's what she was going to do next time she saw him. She was going to mess with his hair so bad!  She was going to get him for real. 

Derpy flew higher into the sky with Sussy gliding next to him. She turned around to wave goodbye to Jinu, keeping her eyes on him until he disappeared from view. 

Chapter Text

Derpy flew through the air towards a gigantic skyscraper, with Sussy gliding silently in front, leading the way.  The tiger landed softly on a plant covered balcony.  He crouched down so Rumi  could more easily slide off his back. 

There was a fancy bedroom just beyond the glass door, and Rumi could see into the hallway beyond. She could hear  a voice and footsteps approaching. Someone was pacing anxiously and talking on the phone.  Rumi ducked behind the plants, hesitant to go inside, and listened in. 

“Still no sign of her?”

There was a pause while whoever the woman was talking to on the phone responded. 

“No, Celine says demons can’t cross the honmoon now, so it wouldn’t be possible for that stupid jerk to take her down to Gwi-ma.  And demons can only teleport to places they know, and the Saja Boys were only ever seen in the city. They’ve  gotta be somewhere in the city. 

Another pause.

“Celine is still searching near the arena. Dasom says there’s no sign of them near the convention centres where we did the fan signing either.”  

The woman walked past the door. She sounded so worried and her face was all twisted up with distress. She had black hair which she wore in two low buns, and she was pretty short for an adult. If she was dangerous and turned on Rumi, then Rumi would have a chance at escaping and getting back to Derpy. 

But Rumi didn’t think she seemed dangerous. 

Sure, she looked like the enemy demon from the stage, but that was just because the enemy demon had been impersonating Big Rumi’s friends. It wasn’t like this woman really thought all those mean lyrics the demons had sang at Rumi with their demon song. 

They’re going to love you. They already do. 

Rumi couldn’t just live out here on the balcony and Celine must be so worried. It sounded like Auntie Dasom was looking for her too. 

“Hurry back. You can wait here in case she shows up and I can search Myeong-dong street again,”  the woman said as she wandered back down the hall just outside the door.  She hung up and sighed despondently. 

Rumi tapped on the glass as she walked past. 

The woman stopped, turned her head, and then her mouth opened in shock.  She dropped her phone in surprise, bolted to the door and practically  ripped it open, grabbing Rumi in the tightest hug ever.

 “Rumi!” The woman squealed, absolutely beside herself. “Oh my god! You’re so tiny! How did you get here? Are you okay? Are you hurt? What did that stupid jerk do to you!”  She squeezed Rumi again and almost lifted her off her feet, and didn’t let Rumi get a word in edgewise. 

But Sussy squawked loudly in protest at Jinu being called a stupid jerk. 

The woman dropped her, startled by the noise, and whipped into a fighting pose, hunter’s knives out. 

“No, it’s okay. It’s okay!” Rumi said instantly, getting between the woman and the bird. “She’s friendly.”

The woman dropped her knives back into the honmoon. Sussy got up and flew in a circle around her, like she was checking the woman out for bad vibes. She landed on Rumi’s shoulder  and gave her an encouraging nod, like she was trying to communicate that the lady was alright. 

“This is Sussy,” Rumi said, introducing them. “She helped bring me home.” Rumi remembered that Sussy was big on manners. She was like Celine in bird form. If Rumi didn’t say thank you, Jinu would never hear the end of it. 

“Thank you, Sussy,” Rumi said, (sincerely this time.) 

Sussy gave a little friendly chirrup in response. 

“Why does the bird wear a tiny hat?” The woman asked, tilting her head and looking at the bird with bafflement.

Bird smirked, like whatever the story was behind her hat was hilarious. 

“I don’t know,” Rumi said with a shrug. 

Oh no! She was sounding like him now. 

In Rumi’s defense, there had been so many other things on her mind and so many crazy things had happened that Sussy’s cute hat didn’t seem like a big deal.  She could ask Jinu when she next saw him. 

(She hoped there would be a next time). 

“How did she bring you home? Does she transform and get bigger,” the woman asked.

“Oh, she led the way, but I rode Derpy,” Rumi explained. She looked around the balcony. “Where is he?”  

Sussy flew to the corner and Rumi and the woman followed her. They found Derpy trying to put a flower pot back up the right way, but his paw was too big and every time he tried to fix it, he knocked it down and made it worse.  Rumi instantly went over to help him, but the woman seemed frozen to the spot for a second, like someone had pressed pause on the DVD. Her face was stuck in this absolutely delighted and excited expression. 

“A tiger!” The woman squeaked in joy. 

“He’s a spirit guardian.  I rode on his back,” Rumi explained. She leaned over to give Derpy a huge cuddle and thanked him too.   

Oof. 

The woman collided with Derpy next to her, like she had launched herself at him. She was cuddling him as well, running her hands through his soft soft fur. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You are such a good boy, Derpy. Such a good boy. Oh he’s so wonderful. He’s so beautiful.”

Derpy was just luxuriating in these cuddles and this barrage of praise and affection. He was rolling his head around so the woman could scratch him behind the ears. He did a deep rumbling sound that Rumi assumed was how he purred. “You did such a good job, Derpy Tiger. Yes, you did. Yes, you did.  You are the cleverest boy. You are the best boy.  You brought Rumi back safe to us.”

Saying this made the woman remember that Rumi was standing right next to her. She’d been so distracted by Derpy’s cuteness that she forgot everything else. But now she turned and gave Rumi another big cuddle, before holding her at arms length and smiling the most enormous smile  at Rumi’s face. “I’m so glad you’re okay Rumi. We were all so worried.”

Her eyes widened, and her arms dropped away from Rumi’s shoulders rapidly. She ran to the hall where she dropped her phone.  “Oh! I have to tell everyone,” she said as she started texting, her fingers moving like lightning.  She did that for a few moments, then looked up. 

“Now, that’s done! Let’s couch and you can tell me everything!” She said enthusiastically. 

Rumi hesitated. She didn’t even know this woman’s name, or what she was like beyond being very energetic, affectionate and an animal lover. She didn’t even know if this woman had seen her patterns or what she would think of them if she had. Rumi didn’t know how  much to tell her when she barely knew her. It wasn’t like she was Jinu, who already knew Rumi’s biggest secret. 

The woman instantly picked up on Rumi’s hesitation. She took a few steps into Rumi’s room, more slowly and calmly, like she was deliberately trying not to move too suddenly and startle Rumi. “Wait, Celine said de-ageing can be really unpredictable. And you might actually be a little kid, not a tiny version of our Rumi,” she said almost to herself as she approached. 

She crouched down, getting onto Rumi’s level, and asked “Do you recognise me?”

Rumi shook her head. 

“That’s okay,” the woman said instantly, trying to reassure Rumi. “My name is Zoey,” she said introducing herself.  “You’re young now, but in your future, you, me and Mira are best friends. We’re really close, like a family,” she said. 

Close friends.

Big Rumi got to live a life where she had two really close friends, and they were so close that they felt like family and they all lived together… and she still hadn’t told them the truth about her patterns. Rumi knew why, but it still made her feel a little sad for Big Rumi. 

Right now, Rumi didn’t really have any friends to tell, but keeping a big secret from someone you were living with must be exhausting. It was why Celine never let anyone stay over, so at least Rumi could be herself at home. 

“I’ll show you around. We’ll get you some pyjamas and some hot chocolate, and soon you’ll feel at home. Come on,” Zoey said, gesturing for Rumi to follow.

Rumi followed her, and Derpy as Sussy came too. She thought they’d go back to Jinu after dropping her off, but it looked like they were staying with her. 

“So this is your room,”  Zoey said, gesturing around at the fancy bedroom. “This is your bathroom, your toothbrush,” she added, pointing out the ensuite bathroom. “This is your walk-in wardrobe, but obviously everything in there is going to be a little roomy for little Rumi,” she chuckled at her own joke. 

Rumi chuckled too, feeling more at ease by the second. 

“But this is cute.  Where did you get it?”  Zoey said, nodding at her new pink hoodie and gesturing for Rumi to follow her into the hall. 

“Sussy got it for me. The white outfit was really tight and small,” Rumi replied.  

“I hear ya, sister,” Zoey commiserated. “ But you’ll want some pajamas to sleep in. I have some old shirts that might be good. I’ll see what I can find for you.  Mira and I will take you shopping tomorrow for some clothes. We don’t know how long this will last, so we may as well get you so many cute outfits,” Zoey said with an excited little  noise  as they walked through the apartment and into another bedroom. 

Rumi found herself looking forward to that. She’d never had any kind of shopping spree before. 

Zoey’s room was full of turtles. She had a turtle mural on her wall, a turtle blanket on her bed and a turtle plushie next to her pillow.  The shirt Zoey got out was, predictably, one with a big turtle on the front. It would fit Rumi like a nightdress. She held it up against her body. The sleeves fell past her elbows, so it would cover the patterns. 

Suddenly, the door burst open. Rumi jumped in alarm, ready to get into a fighting position, and turned to see a giant woman, with beautiful long pink hair, barreling towards her from the doorway. She scooped Rumi up in a fierce hug, and Rumi’s feet dangled off the floor.

“Rumi! You’re alright!  I’m so glad you're okay. I’ve been searching everywhere,” The tall woman was saying, squeezing Rumi even tighter. 

“So, Mira,  Little  Rumi doesn't recognise us. We’re new people to her… and we have to introduce ourselves again,”  Zoey said gently.  

“Oh, sorry,” Mira said quickly, putting Rumi back down on her feet. She crouched down in front of her, and really looked at her, her eyes widening. “Woah, she really is a kid again,” Mira said over her shoulder to Zoey, before she turned back to Rumi.  She pushed her shock and surprise away and tried for a calmer expression. “Hello Rumi. I’m Mira.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mira,” Rumi said shyly.  “Sorry you’ve been so worried.”

“It’s okay, Rumi.  It wasn’t your fault.” Mira waved that off dismissively, before her face clouded in anger. “ Where did that shithead take you? Did that shithead hurt you? If he hurt you, I am going to snap him in half like a twig.” Mira clenched her fist and waved it violently in the air. 

Uh oh. 

“Maybe don’t say s-h-i-t so much in front of Little Rumi,”  Zoey suggested, noticing Rumi’s reaction.

“Little Rumi has spent some time with him, so she already knows he’s a shithead. Everyone who meets Jinu thinks he’s a shithead. He just has shithead vibes,” Mira replied. 

“True,” Zoey nodded in agreement, as if Jinu having shithead vibes was a basic fact of the universe. “But it's like she’s… She’s only what? Six-years-old?” Zoey guessed. Rumi felt her jaw drop at the insult. “ I don’t think we should say s-h-i-t in front of a six-year-old,” Zoey finished.  

“I’m nine!” Rumi gasped, feeling soo offended! (so so offended). “I’m nearly ten! And that’s nearly a teenager!”

“Yeah, Zoey, she's nearly ten!” Mira said, backing her up instantly, and smirking at the other woman.

“And I can spell!  So I know you were spelling out swear words,” Rumi continued.  She was nine, she knew how to spell four letter words.  She wasn’t a baby, so that spelling words out trick wouldn’t work on her!

“She can spell Zoey, so we may as well say shit,” Mira chimed in like a grecian chorus girl, agreeing with Rumi wholeheartedly. 

“And Jinu is really nice!”

Mira instantly stopped agreeing with her.  

The change in attitude was so abrupt and jarring, that a record scratching noise wouldn’t have been out of place.

“Wait! What?” Mira spluttered. “Did you just say Jinu, the demon, is…nice?” 

“He took me to Naksan Park because he thought it would be safe and Derpy and Sussy are his pets and they got me warm clothes and dinner and made sure I was okay,” Rumi tried explaining. She liked these girls already, and she could see why Big Rumi was friends with them, but Little Rumi only had three friends and she didn’t like hearing two of her new friends plot violence and say bad things about her first friend. “I don't think he's bad,” she concluded firmly. 

“Derpy and Sussy belong to him?” Zoey asked, picking up on the piece of information that was most relevant to her. 

“What are Derpy and Sussy?” Mira asked, sounding unimpressed.

Zoey pointed to the tiger and bird, curled up in the far corner of her room. Mira had been too focused on Rumi to even notice a glowing blue tiger.  Mira beheld Derpy and Sussy in all their cuteness and smiled slightly, but then controlled her face so her expression was very unimpressed. 

“First he kidnaps Rumi and now he wants us to pet-sit his demon pets?” Mira said. She was not as easily swayed by cute animals as Zoey was. 

“They aren’t demon pets,” Zoey corrected her. “They’re spirit guardians.” 

“He didn’t kidnap me!” Rumi protested, mostly because it hadn’t really felt like a kidnapping. But technically, Mira was right, so… “Well, he did, but it was accidental. I know he’s a demon but he’s nice to me.”

Mira sighed, walked over to the bed and sat on it. She flopped back, and made an exasperated noise. “ Jeez, he has Stockholm-Syndromed Little Rumi so bad. What are we going to do?” she said quietly to Zoey.  

“What's Stockholm-Syndrome?” Rumi asked, before Zoey could answer. 

“It's when kidnapped people start liking their kidnappers,” Mira  said.

“Actually, the whole premise of Stockholm-Syndrome is unsound…” Zoey started to explain from where she was patting Derpy again. 

“Well, technically, I kinda kidnapped him in retaliation,” Rumi said,  interrupting her. 

Zoey and Mira were making it sound like she was just some helpless baby, but Rumi wasn’t helpless. She was tough and strong. She was going to be a hunter, just like her mother. She had sorted out the kidnapping problem really quickly, by herself, using only her wilderness training and a rock. 

“ I held him hostage for a while. And being held hostage is like kidnapping and I held him hostage for way longer than he kidnapped me. I was way better at it. I had a plan and everything,” She boasted, before adding with a fond little shake of her head, “Jinu didn't even have a plan.”

“What was your plan?” Mira asked, sitting back up. 

“I hit him with a rock and tied him up with honmoon rope.”  

“Sick,” Mira said, smiling widely, and giving Rumi an approving nod. 

“I'm so good at survival knots. You should see my alpine butterfly,”  Rumi added proudly.

“ I'd love to see your alpine butterfly,” Mira grinned, before looking over to Zoey and whispering “Can we keep her forever? She's so adorable."

Zoey gave her the thumbs up and came and sat next to Mira on the bed. 

“Then what happened?” Mira asked again, when Zoey had sat back down. They were both sitting in front of her and Rumi stood before them, fidgeting a little with her hoodie and explaining herself. 

“Then I interrogated him  for a while until he'd answered all my questions and -”

“What questions were you asking?” Mira interrupted.

It was beginning to feel like Rumi herself was being interrogated. Mira was very persistent when she had questions. 

Rumi didn’t know how much she could say, because they’d talked a lot about patterns, but they’d also talked a lot about TV shows.  TV felt like something neutral to talk  about.

“I was asking about the Joseon era. He’s from then, and I was watching this TV show and I wanted to know if it was realistic. So we talked about that.”

Mira snickered to herself, “Sorry, I’m just getting this mental image of a demon tied up by a child, being lectured about historical accuracy in k-dramas.”

“Rumi does love historical accuracy,” Zoey chimed in, giving Rumi a fond smile. She turned and mouthed to Mira, “She’s so cute.”

“Then what happened?” Mira asked, turning back to her.

“After that he promised not to do anything evil, so I let him go.  Then he was such an old dork and told me it was past my bed time, but I'm nearly ten years old.” Rumi rolled her eyes. 

Mira looked around, and seemed to be putting together the fact that it was late and Rumi was a kid.  “What time is your normal bedtime?  What time should kids go to bed?”

Zoey shrugged, because she had no idea either. 

Rumi realised something very quickly.

These ladies had no idea about kids. 

If they didn’t know what her bed time was, they probably wouldn’t enforce it. Rumi could stay up late and watch the shows Celine said she wasn’t allowed to watch because these ladies wouldn’t know about that either! These ladies thought she was six and they could do the spelling words trick. She could probably tell them that Celine let her have ice-cream everyday and they’d believe her.  She was going to get so much ice-cream!

Rumi was getting to set her own bedtime!

“Later than this,” Rumi lied easily with a little scoff. 

Pfft bedtime. She didn’t need one of those. 

She had been a grown up not too long ago, and she was sure that nobody forced Big Rumi to have a bedtime. Big Rumi was the best at everything. 

That reminded Rumi. She had a question of her own for Mira.

 “Mira, If I’m the best  at kidnapping does that mean I Stockholm Syndromed Jinu?”

Mira pondered this like it was a tricky scientific question. “No, he still would have Stockholm Syndromed you because he kidnapped you first.” 

“Yeah, but he was so lame at it.  He can't plan his way out of a wet paper bag.  That's why Big Rumi was in charge of all their plans,” Rumi bragged. 

The vibe change was instantaneous. 

One second, Mira and Zoey were looking at her with delight and amusement, and the next they were looking at each other with shock and wary apprehension.  

Uh oh. 

Making plans with demons was against the rules. 

“I knew Rumi  was hiding something from us. She has been meeting that demon in secret,” Mira whispered quietly to Zoey. Her voice was so soft that Rumi could barely hear her.  Zoey nodded in agreement.

“What kind of plans did big Rumi and Jinu have?” Zoey was the first one to speak again, and break the awkward silence.  She seemed friendly and she smiled brightly at Rumi. But it was a brittle type of smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. 

Rumi looked at the situation from a couple of angles, but she still couldn’t see anything wrong with what Big Rumi had done. Sure, she broke a few rules, but breaking the rules helped her make a golden honmoon.

Also, the rule about not talking to demons didn’t make much sense now that Rumi had actually talked to a demon.  Hunters treated all demons the same, but Jinu had to be different from all the demons they were hunting. 

She was sure some of the demons were very bad, but some of them were just mega dorks trying to escape demon prison.  But hunters would never be able to tell the difference if they never talked to demon to gauge their dork level. 

Rumi thought carefully about her answer, and decided to tell the truth for once. It felt uncomfortable and made her anxious, but she was going to do it. She didn’t want to lie to her new friends. 

“He wanted to escape from Gwi-ma and not be a demon prisoner anymore. Big Rumi said that if he helped her turn the honmoon gold by derailing the stupid demon boy band performance at the Idol Awards, then he’d be able to stay on this side of the honmoon and be away from Gwi-ma.”   

Mira and Zoey exchanged looks and talked in low whispers again.  They thought that if they whispered softly enough, Rumi wouldn’t hear. 

“Do you think he staged the fight with the other Saja Boys to let us go first?” Zoey asked. 

“To be honest, I thought it was just because the other Saja Boys got sick of him being such a shithead all the time, but… it’s possible,” Mira replied.  

“Does the honmoon hold hunters to their promises? Is that why none of the demons got expelled?” Zoey whispered very softly.

Zoey’s phone buzzed loudly in her hand, giving them all a startle.  Zoey looked at the screen, and said “It’s Bobby,”  to Rumi, but Rumi had no idea who Bobby was.  Zoey answered the call,  listened and made a few noises of agreement and then said, “Sure Bobby. That sounds great,” with that same brittle smile from earlier. 

She hung up, and then looked around in panic. “He’s two minutes away. We gotta hide Little  Rumi. If he sees her, he’ll freak out!”

-0-

Chapter Text

Rumi was hiding in Big Rumi’s room. She pushed the door until it was slightly ajar so she could listen in. 

A man came into the apartment and the girls called out “Hi, Bobby” cheerfully in unison. 

“Hi girls. So I’ve finished explaining everything to the label executives. I just wanted to check if Rumi was okay. Is she here?”  Bobby said. 

“No, she’s… at a special hospital for her voice,” Zoey said quickly. It sounded like everyone was in the kitchen. Rumi could hear the kettle being turned on for tea. “You know how her voice has been struggling so much recently.  You  remember the first Golden live performance when she couldn’t do it, and then she ran off and we didn’t know where she went? Well, it happened again, so she ran away and took herself to a place that could help her voice.”

Zoey’s lie must have had more than a kernel of truth, because Bobby was making sympathetic noises at poor Big Rumi’s plight, so the voice stuff and the running away stuff was True. 

Rumi’s mind was whirring at this information. Big Rumi’s voice had been struggling? Big Rumi had been running away from performances because she couldn’t sing? How could Big Rumi even be a hunter if she couldn’t sing?

“Yeah. Belting out Golden again was a bit much for her. She was worried we’d be expected to do an encore and she might do some permanent damage, so she left,” Mira chimed in, backing up Zoey’s lie smoothly.  “She needs to rest her voice so she can sing again. So no one can see her right now. She needs to rest.”

“Oh no. Poor Rumi,” was the first thing Bobby said, and he had real concern in his voice, like he actually really cared about Big Rumi’s well-being.  “What hospital is she at? I’ll arrange for all her favourite pick-me-ups and favourite flowers to be delivered. That may cheer her up a little.” 

“Send them here. I’m sure they will let her recover at home soon,”  Zoey said brightly. There was the chinking of spoons as something was stirred into mugs, so she must have been making everyone a warm drink. 

“So, can you three do a media appearance when Rumi is ready? That will really help smooth over any….. confusion about the finale of the performance,” Bobby said calmly, but there was an anxious uptick in his voice on the word confusion. He’d chosen that word very carefully and it still didn’t seem to be the one he actually wanted to use. 

Rumi got the feeling the word he actually wanted to use would contain a swear word, but this guy didn’t seem like the type of manager to swear  around his idols. 

“- I mean, I told everyone your story about how the “dramatic sequence” at the end was meant to be a sneak preview for the new album. I told them we used a child actor to pretend to be a little kid version of Rumi, that was all special effects and good choreo and no one was hurt…. but it will really, really  help if you guys can back me up in a media appearance soon,” Bobby finished. 

“Sure, but Rumi might not be feeling up to it tomorrow,” Mira agreed.  “But as soon as she’s ready, we’ll do that.”

“Honestly, given the way some people are reacting to your ‘new album teaser’, we could even do an interview with just you two.  We should do something sooner, rather than later. Let Rumi rest, and you two could do the appearance. People have questions and I’m sure your answers will calm everyone down,” Bobby said,  his tone implying that he’d had such a stressful night and he needed to be calmed down too. 

“Sure, Bobby. Set it up,” Zoey replied.  

“Great,” Bobby sighed audibly in sheer relief. There was a pause, then everyone drank their drinks.

 Bobby sighed again, then said “Hey…um… in future...is it possible for you three to give me a little notice about your surprise special effects?” he asked diffidently.

“If we gave you notice, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Mira said in a deadpan voice that could be mistaken for joking. 

Bobby gave a nervous chuckle, sipped his drink and then put his mug down decisively. It seemed like he’d decided he was going to let it go and move on to the next order of business.  “Okay, let’s talk about the new album. I’m assuming Takedown is going to feature - “

Rumi froze, hidden just behind her door. Takedown had been the song the demons had sung at her on stage when they were saying all those mean things and stealing her jacket, but Bobby was talking like it was one of Big Rumi and Zoey and Mira’s songs. Had the girls actually written a song like that or were the demons just changing the lyrics to make them worse?

“-  and based on what was shown on stage during your album teaser, fans will be expecting a song about childhood, a song with a sword, a song about fighting between friends and a song about battling demons. Are these demons metaphorical?” he asked suddenly, and then immediately thought better of actually hearing the answer.  “You know what, never mind. I’ll just listen to the songs when you’re ready for me to hear them,”  he said quickly. “Is a collaboration with Jinu from the Saja Boys in the mix too? The internet is really excited about that.”

Jinu? They were talking about her demon?

“Why would we ever work with him?”  Mira sounded very much not excited about that. 

Bobby gave another nervous little chuckle. “Because he was part of the teaser for the next album?“

“Oh yeah, right. We totally planned that with Jinu,” Zoey replied. “It was so totally planned.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Bobby said, sounding legitimately enthusiastic. “Jinu really  is the breakout talent from the Saja Boys.  Not to say that the other boys weren’t talented too - “ Bobby added quickly, like he was worried he would somehow hurt the other boys feelings by implying they were less skilled.  “But Jinu’s an excellent performer, and he’s got that extra something special.”

Rumi knew Jinu would be good. She was going to tell him that a top level manager of the k-pop industry thought he was extra special when she next saw him. 

“Yeah, it would be fun to work with him. Mira, won't it be fun?” Zoey said brightly. Mira made a grumble of acknowledgement.  “ But you know how tricky collaborations are,” Zoey sighed dramatically, as if she was lamenting all the failed collaborations in the world. 

“True, and the guy is flaky,” Bobby agreed.  “He really left the other Saja Boys in the lurch.  Sodapop just wasn’t the same without him….  But I’m not complaining.  We won in a landslide. The internet is loving it.”

Mira grumbled again, and Rumi came out of her door a little to see what was happening. She hid behind one of the indoor plants in the hall and peeked through the leaves.  Bobby and Mira and Zoey were all standing around in the kitchen. Mira was looking at a phone and clenching her fist. “The internet thinks he threw the competition so that we could win just because he has a crush on Rumi? We would have won on our own! We didn’t need him to do anything!”

Ha ha! The whole internet knew about Jinu’s big fat crush on Big Rumi, Rumi thought to herself. She was going to tease him so bad about it. 

“Who cares why he did it,” Bobby said with a shrug, taking his phone back.  “The Saja Boys are done and we are back on top.  We won! It’s our sixth time winning the Idol Awards in a row!”

“Yay!” Mira and Zoey both cheered. 

Bobby was a sweet looking guy, and he was evidently a sweet person, because the next thing he said was full of concern.  “Still, did you girls want to check on him?  I wouldn't like to be that guy when the one with the huge muscles catches up to him. The other Saja Boys are livid.  They all split up to go looking for him.”

“I hope Abs crushes his dumb, smug face like a nut,” Mira mumbled under her breath.

Rumi felt a twinge of worry, but she didn’t know what she could do about it.

Bobby didn’t hear what Mira said, and he looked like he wanted to ask for a moment, before he let it slide too. He clearly had something else to say. Whatever it was made him a little uneasy. Rumi could see him fidgeting with his fingers as he put his phone back in his pocket.   “Listen,  girls, I just gotta say that I love your energy and I love all your ideas. Really, you girls are amazing, but would it be possible in future if you run some of these ideas past me before you do them on stage?”

Mira and Zoey looked at each other a little shame-faced, and then back to Bobby. “Sorry Bobby,” The both said in unison and they seemed to mean it.

“No apologies necessary,” Bobby waved that off.  “I just want to help you girls. I could have really helped streamline this.  We could have figured out another way to show a conflict theme for your new album without casting you two as the bad guys.  The stuff Mira’s stunt double did could have been toned down.”

“People think I’m the bad guy?” Mira asked, indignant.  

“I know it was all choreo and stunt doubles and special effects and you guys have found a really really good child actor, but you know, beating up a kid and trying to wrench her arm out of her socket live on stage… It's not a great look for Mira’s image.”

Oh no!

Everyone was thinking bad things about Mira, but she hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn’t fair. Rumi didn’t stand for unfairness and letting people take the blame for things that weren’t their fault. 

She jumped out from behind the plant. Bobby and the girls jumped in surprise. Bobby even made a frightened little noise.  “I can tell everyone I’m fine, and it wasn’t the real Mira,” Rumi offered helpfully.

She could fix it. Mira was her friend. Rumi wasn’t having people think one of her friends was the bad guy. 

Bobby blinked at her in shock, looked at Zoey and Mira, then back to Rumi. He cleared his throat and seemed to collect himself. 

“Oh, hello. And who are you?” He asked kindly, with a very confused look on his face. 

Uh Oh!

Bobby knew Big Rumi and he was probably seeing the resemblance, but if he knew she was actually Big Rumi only de-aged, then he really would freak out, and it sounded like this guy had had a hard night already. 

“I’m… “ Rumi searched around for a fake name to use.  She couldn’t just say she was Rumi, because the last time Bobby checked, Rumi was a 23 year old badass popstar with awesome plans who was so great at singing she’d won the idol awards for the sixth time in a row.  He clearly didn’t know that Zoey and Mira were hunters or about the honeymoon or soul magic, so introducing him to a magically de-aged Rumi was going to explode his brain.  

Rumi needed a fake name to tell him, but she needed one that at least sounded a little bit like her own name because that would help her with remembering to answer when it was called. 

“I’m Bomi,” she said, feeling proud of her choice.

Nice save. 

She was so good at this! 

She really was a super hero with an alter-ego. 

“Well Bomi, you did such a good job on stage tonight. You were a crowd favourite,” Bobby said, kindly. “Everyone loved your little hi-ya when you did karate on the actors playing Mira and Zoey.” 

“It was Taekwondo,” Rumi corrected him. Then she added proudly,  “I have a purple belt.” 

“Wow! That’s amazing at your age,” Bobby said with genuine encouragement. He smiled at her warmly, then crouched down to her level. “Listen Bomi, I’m really sorry if our voices woke you. Me and the girls will try and keep it down. I am going to smooth everything over and no one is going to think Mira is a bad guy.  It’s my job to handle these kinds of things.  You don’t need to worry,” he reassured her. 

“Can I do a press conference thing and tell everyone that Mira is my friend and she didn’t hurt me?” Rumi offered, because she really wanted to be helpful. It sounded like she had caused a bit of a mess and she wanted to help clean it up. 

“I would have to discuss something like that  with your parents first,” Bobby said gently.  

“You can talk to Celine. She’s my guardian,” Rumi said instantly, before seeing Bobby’s look of puzzlement.  Uh oh. She had made an error. This guy clearly knew Celine and knew something was askew.  “I mean, she’s my guardian as well as Rumi’s guardian, because we are two different people,” Rumi clarified.  

“Ah, okay. I'll call Celine later to discuss this,” He said evenly.  “But we won't discuss it anymore tonight Bomi - it is way past your bed time.”

“Say goodnight Bomi,” Zoey said, instantly leading her back down the hall and into Big Rumi’s bedroom.  “Stay in,” She scolded as she closed the door in Rumi’s face.  

Rumi  could hear Zoey's footsteps walking away to go join the other two grown-ups. She opened the door a crack again so she could still listen in. 

“ – Resemblance is uncanny.”

“She’s related to Rumi….on her father’s side?” Zoey said, but she made it sound like she was guessing. 

“Okay, this is … a lot. This is a lot of new information for me to take in. Is Rumi’s father back in the picture? There’s always been such a mystery surrounding him,” Bobby said,  taking deep breaths like he was trying to calm himself. 

“No, um,...he just dropped off Bomi on Celine’s doorstep… with a note… like they did in the olden days?” Zoey tried again. 

“Bomi wants to follow in our footsteps and be a k-pop star and she’s Rumi’s… relative, so that’s why she’s staying with us, and why we got her to help us out with the album teaser,” Mira said in her usual deadpan voice, so she sounded much more sure and certain.  

“Okay,...well…. that is… quite a story,” Bobby said. 

There was a long pause, and it was kinda obvious that Bobby didn’t fully believe them, and everyone was waiting for what he was going to say next.  Then Bobby sighed the sigh of a man who knew he wasn’t being told the full story but was willing to work with the story he has been told as best he could.

“Listen girls,  I’m going to spin this as much as I can - that’s why you pay me three percent,” He chuckled, trying to put them at ease. “But…I think we should all take a much needed break after this is over.  We didn’t get to have a proper break after the world tour, and I can see how much stress it’s put on you guys these last few weeks.  We will just do that media appearance to explain the album teaser at the Idol Awards awards. Then we’ll take a proper hiatus.  What do you say?”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Mira agreed. 

“Great. Get some rest now girls. It was a huge night.”

-0-

Zoey and Mira came into Big Rumi’s room to tuck her in. 

Mira fussed a little with the blankets, saying, “Listen Rumi, we don’t want you to worry about any of that. The media side, Bobby can handle that, okay.  We are just going to focus on getting you back to yourself  and pattern-free.”

Rumi's heart stopped. She felt like her breath was caught in her throat. Rumi stared at her, feeling completely frozen in shock.  

“You guys know about my patterns?” She squeaked. 

“Yeah, Celine told us everything,” Mira replied in her usual even tone. 

“Yeah, and she told us little Rumi would be sensitive about them, so not to bring them up,” Zoey said, elbowing Mira slightly. 

Rumi felt hope and happiness blossoming in her chest. These friends knew about her patterns and they didn’t care. So what if Rumi couldn’t get rid of her patterns with the Golden Honmoon? That didn’t matter! Her friends knew and accepted her as she was!

Rumi didn’t realise how much she had wanted this,  and now she had it. The whole world felt lighter and brighter.  She was finally going to be able to just be herself all the time.

She felt like she had never been happier in her life. 

She wasn’t going to have to hide anymore. 

“Celine called right after the Idol Awards to warn us about how the demons had put a spell on you. They did some kind of demon trick that put patterns on your arm -   But it’s okay. We know you don’t really have patterns,” Zoey explained kindly. 

Rumi felt that little bubble of happiness inside her just deflate. 

More lies.

“Don’t be sad. We know it’s not the real you,” Mira added, like she was trying to cheer Rumi up. 

Both the girls noticed Rumi’s face fall, and they’d picked up on her low mood, so they tried again. “Don’t worry. We’re going to fix it,” The said in unison, wanting so badly to be helpful and for Rumi to smile again. 

So Rumi did so. 

She knew how to smile when she was supposed to. 

“Sounds good,” she said, then she faked a yawn. She rolled over, so she didn’t have to look at anyone and pulled the covers up over her head. “I might go to sleep now. I’m really tired.”

“Sweet dreams,” Mira said, smoothing the covers over her shoulder a little bit before she got up. 

“We shouldn't have brought up her patterns.  She’s so sensitive about them,”  Zoey said to Mira as they walked out the door. 

“I would be too, If I’d been a normal kid one second and then some demon put patterns on me the next.”

Rumi curled up on herself, stroking her arm softly, and tried to find the bright side. Now she knew shame would make the patterns grow, so she was trying not to be embarrassed.

 At least she didn’t have to hide them anymore.  All the hiding  was probably making them worse.

That was something. 

-0-

Chapter Text

In the middle of the night, Rumi was dimly aware of a figure entering Big Rumi’s room. She smelled Celine’s perfume faintly. The scent calmed her instantly.  It sounded like Celine was putting a pillow on the floor and arranging a blanket. 

Rumi felt a soft kiss on her cheek, and her hair was smoothed back away from her face then Celine tucked herself in to sleep on the floor next to Rumi, a protective barrier between Rumi and the outside world. 

Rumi felt more relaxed now that Celine was here. She drifted back to sleep. 

-0-

When Rumi woke again, it was morning and the sun was shining brightly.  She was waking up to the most fantastic view from a penthouse on the top of a skyscraper!

Big Rumi clearly wasn't hurting for money. 

Judging by the sun,  it was past 8am!

Rumi never slept in that long!

(She’d never ever stayed up as late as she had last night either.)

She was aware of the rustling of pages, and sat up to see Celine sitting in Big Rumi’s bean-bag chair. She looked older than the guardian Rumi knew, with grey in her hair and reading glasses on her face. She was gently turning the pages of an old book, with some paper and a pen for making notes at her feet. (But that paper was suspiciously blank, so Celine obviously hadn’t found what she was looking for yet.)

Celine noticed she was awake, and put the book to the side.  “Oh Rumi, I didn't mean to wake you,” She said softly as she took her glasses off and came to sit down on the bed. 

“Celine!” Rumi greeted her excitedly. “I was at the Idol Awards! I killed a demon! I killed a demon on stage! Did you see me?”

“I did. You were amazing,” Celine said proudly, reaching out to cup Rumi’s cheek gently for a brief moment. “And you made the Golden Honmoon. That is quite an achievement.”

“The Golden Honmoon didn’t work,” Rumi said, trying her best not to sound petulant, but Celine had promised her that her patterns would be gone. She pulled up the sleeve of the turtle shirt and showed Celine the purple zig-zag flower. 

“The Golden Honmoon did work. Gwi-ma is permanently cut off. That was always the main purpose of it,” Celine said evenly. But Rumi was still sure she heard the gentle scolding in Celine’s voice.  Celine didn’t say it out loud,  Rumi was sure she was thinking that Rumi  should be happy because she made the Golden Honmoon and now everyone was protected from demons, and that should have been enough.

 And Rumi was happy - she was.  

But she wanted what Celine had promised her - A pattern-free life where she was accepted and could go swimming in a normal swimming costume instead of a wetsuit. If she wasn’t going to get that then she wanted an explanation. 

She pouted slightly, unsure how to ask for this from Celine. 

“Rumi,  we will figure something else out,” Celine said, reaching out to give Rumi’s unpatterned shoulder a little squeeze. “Sadly, the cameras caught your patterns during the TV coverage.  Mira and Zoey were going to see it eventually. Dasom and the grannies saw … Dasom called me immediately to ask about your patterns and I had to think of something quickly.  I told them -”

Oh. 

They had seen. 

“You told them all the demons did this to me,” Rumi supplied, understanding why.

“There was a moment when the demon pretending to be Zoey grabbed your shoulder as she was taking the jacket off. I said it happened then. I told them it's a demon spell,  a trick by Gwi-ma to break us apart as an attempt to rupture the Golden Honmoon. I said it was his back-up plan in case we were successful.  They believed me and they want to help you,” Celine said comfortingly. 

“Zoey and Mira believed you too,” Rumi added, unable to stop her frown. 

Rumi knew her sadness shouldn’t be seen, but it was so hard to squash down sometimes. 

“This is a good thing, Rumi. Now we don’t have to worry so much about the others seeing your patterns,” Celine said, giving an enormous sigh of relief, like hiding Rumi’s patterns weighed heavily on her too. It had probably been weighing on Celine just as much as it weighed on Rumi.

Celine never went on dates or did anything without Rumi, because she didn't trust anyone to be a babysitter. Not because Rumi was a bad child, but because even well-meaning people might do things like try to help a kid into their pyjamas without asking first.  Celine had taken Rumi everywhere with her, and Rumi knew that Dasom and the Grannies gossiped about her being an “anxious mom” type.

Celine would have probably been less anxious if she could have a night off without worrying that the grannies or auntie Dasom might do something to Rumi if they ever saw. 

Even still, if they were going to be a little honest and let everyone see Rumi’s patterns, then maybe they could tell the whole truth. 

“Do you think we could tell them everything?” Rumi asked in a tiny voice. It was her deepest wish, a wish that she kept just to herself, locked up quietly in her heart. She just wanted people to know and to accept her anyway.  “I mean, I made the honmoon gold,  and Big Rumi has been such a good hunter…They’ll know she has patterns but she’s not bad…maybe everyone will be okay if they know the real truth about me?”

Celine looked away, blinking rapidly, and squashing her own feelings down. 

“I think it's better to be safe than sorry. At least until we can fix it,” she said after a long moment, her mind made up.   “At least you won’t have to hide so much. I know you didn’t like having to hide it from Zoey and Mira. You can go to the bath-house with them now.   We’ll just blame this on those demons, and no one will know any different.”

Celine gave her shoulder another squeeze, then she fiddled and re-arranged Zoey’s turtle shirt. “I need to get you some pyjamas,” She said like she was thinking outloud, and adding one more thing to her to-do list.  “I can take you home after breakfast. I still have a few clothes left from when you were this age. You can have your old room and  we can pick up some pyjamas on the way.”

Celine was home.

But suddenly, Rumi didn't want to go home anymore. 

Celine was safe and familiar, but Rumi had a real chance to see her future and to experience something new. She didn’t want to slide back into her old life and her old room.   She didn’t want to go back to the way things were.

“Can I stay here with the girls?” Rumi asked, trying to sound more confident in this choice than she felt.  Big Rumi had a whole life here and she wanted to see what it was like. The girls might treat her as more of a grown up and let her stay up to watch late night k-dramas. 

“I think it might be easier to stay here. Maybe I can fix my little problem if I stay here. Hunters are meant to work in groups of threes. Being close to the girls will help… and maybe being surrounded by Big Rumi’s life and Big Rumi’s things will make it easier for me to turn back into Big Rumi. I think  just being here is helping me…”Rumi said in a rush, her words all tumbling together.  “If the girls are responsible enough to be hunters and uphold our sacred duty, they’d be responsible enough to look after me, and I’m a good girl and I won’t give them any trouble and …I’ve never had any friends of my own and I want to get to know them,” she added very quietly.  

“You make a strong case, Rumi,” Celine said with the fondest smile that was only the tiniest bit sad in the corners. “I’ll check with the girls, but I am sure they would love to have you,” She gave Rumi’s shoulder another encouraging squeeze.  “But if you stay here, then I am going to stay in the city too. I’ll be close by whenever you need me.  I’ll head back and get those old clothes and then  - “

“Thank you, Celine, but the girls have offered to take me shopping and…I think I should  get some clothes that blend in with the future.  And I might have to look different from me in the past. We told Bobby I was a totally different person.  It’s like ... I’m a super hero with a secret identity,” Rumi whispered, unable to contain her excitement at the idea of having a secret identity. 

“Tell me about this secret identity?” Celine said with an encouraging grin. 

“Well, I picked the name Bomi because it sounds a lot like Rumi, so it will be easier for me not to get mixed up.”

“That is clever,” Celine nodded. 

“We told Bobby that you are my guardian, but I’m staying with the girls because I want to get a taste of the K-pop industry, and I’m related to Rumi on her Dad’s side,  and that’s why I look like her so much,” Rumi finished. 

Celine looked at her thoughtfully, and her eyes were sad again for some reason. “We should probably change this hair then, if you are going to have a secret identity. This braid is very…distinctive.”

Celine got up, went to Big Rumi’s ensuite bathroom and came back with a hair brush. She sat behind Rumi, and started slowly taking out her braid. She concentrated on brushing out Rumi’s hair, in long, even strokes. 

 It felt like Rumi had been wearing her braid forever, and now she was going to choose a totally different hair style. 

“You slept in late. You must be hungry.  I’ll make you some breakfast - would you like smiley eggs?” Celine offered when she was done. 

“Yes please!” 

Celine stood, then she leaned down to give Rumi a tiny kiss on her forehead. “You have a shower and freshen up and I’ll call you when it’s ready.” 

-0-

Rumi shampooed her hair  and squished it into stegosaurus spikes.  Maybe her new hairstyle could be a mohawk? she grinned to herself at the idea. She toweled her body down and walked out. Celine had laid out an outfit on the bed, a pretty dress and some underwear and socks. It must have been delivered while she was in the shower, and still had the tags on.  Rumi looked at the dress and checked it for pockets. 

Darn it. 

No pockets. 

She needed a pocket to keep her tiger whistle in. She put the dress aside and pulled on the jeans and hoodie from last night, putting the little blue whistle in the pocket,  just in case.  

-0-

Rumi could hear more voices in the kitchen. Mira and Zoey had returned from their press announcement with Bobby.  Celine was praising them for their quick thinking.  Rumi hid behind her usual plant to listen in.  The grown-ups didn't discuss everything in front of her, but Rumi wanted to know what was going on. 

“So what happens now?” Zoey asked. She was sitting at the breakfast bar, holding a coffee mug with two hands. 

“You girls take Rumi shopping and get her more age-appropriate clothes. She’ll need things to wear until we can solve the little problem,” Celine was saying as she stirred her pan. 

“How are we going to solve the little problem?” Mira asked bluntly, sitting next to Zoey and also holding a coffee.

“While you're out shopping, I'm going to keep researching all our historical records and see what I can find out.  Dasom and The Diamonds Grannies have agreed to help me, so we should be able figure something out.  After we have solved that, we should hunt down the last of the demons.” 

Rumi felt a twinge of worry. 

She should warn Jinu. 

“Would it be worth capturing one of the demons and tying them up with honmoon rope and interrogating them?” Mira asked directly. 

(She wanted to use Rumi’s idea!)

 “ - They might know how to undo the patterns”. 

“I doubt that,” Celine said quickly.  “Most demons are pretty stupid. They would have just been acting on Gwi-mas orders. They’re mindless slaves. They don't have independent thoughts and feelings, so there wouldn't be much they could tell us,”  She stirred her eggs with more force than necessary.

But that wasn’t right. 

Jinu might have been a slave, and clearly hated being a prisoner,  but he certainly wasn’t mindless. He very much had a mind of his own.  

And he had heaps of feelings. 

Celine had never actually talked to a demon as far as Rumi knew, so was she just guessing? Or was she just repeating what she learned from the Diamond Grannies?

Rumi might actually know more about demons than any of them.

 “ - I think it's too risky to try to detain a demon. It's just better to dispatch them,” Celine said firmly. 

“There are a bunch of demons on this side of the honmoon who didn't get expelled when it turned golden for some reason.  What do you think the reason is Celine? Could it be connected to Rumi's …little problem,”  Zoey asked, and it sounded like she was just thinking out loud, but she was also being very careful with how she asked her questions. 

“I don't think they're connected. The golden honmoon de-aged her,  but the demons are  the ones who gave her patterns,” Celine said as she started plating up breakfast. 

Mira made a face. “This golden honmoon is not what we were promised,” she said unhappily.  

“The golden honmoon isn't what I expected it to be, either, but we know it's impenetrable and Gwi-ma is permanently cut off.   After we hunt down and kill these last remaining demons, we will never have to worry about them again.”

“Yay! No more demons!” Zoey cheered happily.  

“You girls have fulfilled our sacred duty, and I couldn’t be prouder. After we sort out this last little hiccup, you girls can go on to have normal lives.”

Celine sighed wistfully as she said that. 

(Celine never got a chance to have a normal life or have a family and kids of her own because she was so busy with Rumi.)

“I’ll be staying at the hotel, so I can be close to you girls. I’ll check in all the time.  I’ll only be a phone call away,” Celine said, trying to make it sound like she wasn’t worried. She and Rumi were almost never apart.

But she was willing to help Rumi however she could, even if that meant stepping back. 

 “Now, at nine-years-old, Rumi was only allowed dessert on the weekends. Too much sugar made her very hyper, and her bed time was - “

No!

Rumi interrupted them before that conversation could go any further. 

-0-

Celine hugged her goodbye.  Rumi didn’t get that many hugs from Celine, so she squeezed her tight. She felt Celine do the same.  

“I love you,” Celine whispered, then kissed the top of her head and stepped hastily into the lift before Rumi could say it back.  She waved goodbye with a smile, but Rumi saw her surreptitiously wiping at her eyes before the doors closed.

Chapter Text

Shopping with the girls was amazing! 

Rumi was having the best day ever!

Mira got her a brown sugar bubble tea!

(Celine had warned  them about no late night TV but she forgot to warn them about brown sugar!)

Everything that Rumi wanted - she got!

She was going to look so glamorous!!

All of her new clothes had sequins or pom poms or rainbows or cute cartoons on them -  The height of style.

Rumi was going to be the best dressed and most sparkly nine-year-old in all of Seoul!

They even got her sunglasses in the shape of hearts and pyjamas with unicorns on them. 

Zoey and Mira seemed to love spoiling her. They would make these delighted noises and say things like ‘she’s so cute. She’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen,’ whenever Rumi tried on outfits and did her little catwalk strut out of the change room. 

The more time she spent with Mira and Zoey, the braver she felt, and the more sassy her catwalk strut became. 

Rumi’s hair was out, and she started doing fashionable hair tosses during her catwalk moments.  She was feeling so energetic and happy and she wanted to go fast,  so she put lots of enthusiasm into her hairflips and added heaps of wiggles to her catwalk strut.  Zoey seemed to think her hair was bothering her,  so Rumi might have been doing too many fashionable hair tosses with too much enthusiasm. Zoey offered her a hair elastic, plain blank, like the ones she used.  

Rumi put her hair back into a simple pony tail and told Zoey and Mira about needing a new hairstyle. Zoey had launched Operation: Let Your Hair Down. They were going to find Rumi’s new style together. 

-0-

“Your hair is so pretty and we could do so much with it!” Zoey said, as she went about pulling almost every bow and clip she could grab into their basket. “Oh this one is so so cute!” She picked up a clip in the shape of a turtle and popped it in the basket.  “What style do you want to try first?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never picked things for myself.  Celine always did my hair and she always picked the braid….” Rumi trailed off. It shouldn’t be that hard to pick a new style, but she just didn’t have much practice at choosing things for herself. 

Rumi was a good girl. She ate what she was fed, wore whatever clothes she was given, and did all the lessons she was told.

This morning was the first time she had picked out her own clothes, ever!

Mira and Zoey expected more independence from her,  and kept insisting she choose things for herself. So Rumi had chosen to be a user of green apple shampoo and strawberry lip balm. She wanted to eat Nutella crepes and drink brown sugar bubble teas. She was going to wear heart-shaped sunglasses, and colourful clothes and sequins.

“Listen, I know Celine always told you what to do, but it’s not going to be like that with us. You’re one of us, even though you’re small,”  Mira said suddenly. She crouched down in front of Rumi, and said in this serious voice,  like it was really important Rumi understand this next bit. “We aren’t going to talk down to you, or force things on you. You get a say with us. We’re going to treat you like an equal, okay?”

“Really?” Rumi said, smiling so happily. 

“Really.  I promise,” Mira said, holding out her arms for a hug, like this conversation was making her emotional too. Rumi fell into her arms and let herself be squished silly. 

 “You get to choose for yourself now, Little Rumi.  You are one of us now.” Zoey said as she squished into the hug from the back, so they were in a big group hug in the hair accessories aisle. 

-0-

Rumi felt so full of beans, she was wiggling and jiggling all over the place. Maybe it was just because she was so happy. 

She really was having the best day ever. 

They got some lunch. It was Rumi’s choice so everyone had gimbap again. The girls wanted to do something relaxing after all their hard shopping - like get a mani-pedi or go to a bathhouse.  

Or both.

Rumi was keen to try both.

The girls were so excited to finally get to go to the bath-house with Rumi, because apparently Big Rumi never went with them. 

Poor Big Rumi!

Rumi didn’t understand why! The bath-house was so much fun!

There had been an un-fun moment when the girls first saw her patterns. The small collection of purple zig-zags on her right shoulder clumped together like a little flower.  But Mira and Zoey made sympathetic faces and noises and told her not to worry. 

Then everything was fun again!

Rumi made a whirlpool in the bath by standing in the middle and twirling as fast as she could until she created her own current and all the water was splashing and whirling around her.  She was like a sea-witch creating a maelstrom.  

Mira and Zoey didn’t enjoy her maelstrom as much.  They decided it might be better to try to get a mani-pedi instead as their post-shopping relaxation activity. 

Rumi could not sit still for the mani-pedi. 

Sitting still was  too much! 

Who could sit still on such a nice day!

 Rumi chose iridescent glitter for her nails. She was going to sparkle like a million rainbows. The lady suggested that maybe Rumi could do jazz hands and wave her fingers and wiggle her toes in the air while they dried. 

Rumi stood up and did just that. 

She turned it into a funky little dance. 

-0-

“Do you think Celine was right about the sugar?” Zoey asked Mira quietly. 

“I think the second brown sugar bubble tea might have been a mistake,” Mira agreed. 

-0-

They took her jumping at Vaunce Trampolines in Gangnam. 

Zoey and Mira said it might help get some of her energy out. They bought Rumi an unlimited pass. 

 Rumi could jump on the trampolines as much as she wanted! 

Well, she could jump until the place closed. 

But still, this was more trampolining than she had ever done before. 

Zoey and Mira jumped with her for a bit,  and Mira even double-bounced her so she’d go really high. There was a moment, when she was sailing through the air, where Rumi knew she was staying airborne just that little bit too long. 

Was she levitating already?

She was going to have to ask Jinu to teach her how to do it. 

The sensible reason was that she didn’t want to do it on accident in the middle of the trampolines. 

But the other reason was that she wanted to fly so bad!

Zoey and Mira were so much older and they ran out of jumping energy a long time before Rumi. They went to get drinks and sat at the table with the best view of the trampolines. They would wave to her and cheer her on periodically.

Rumi ended up doing the obstacle course with a bunch of kids her own age. She was so competitive at it and she was the best. 

She crushed the competition! 

She did her victory dance, which wasn't too dissimilar from her dry-faster-stupid-nail-polish dance. 

Then Mira and Zoey were there, telling her it was time to go home.

-0-

After a big day shopping and relaxing and jumping, they went home to couch. 

(Mira and Zoey said couch like it was a verb.) 

Couching meant sitting on the couch, eating lots and watching TV. 

Rumi looooved couching. 

She'd jumped so much that she'd jumped all her energy out, and so she flopped down and sprawled across the couch like a lazy housecat.

They got dinner delivered. 

They were watching lots of turtle videos when both the girls got a message on their phones. 

“Urgh. Do we have to?” Zoey sighed and slumped back.  

“We actually don’t,” Mira said. “We’re meant to be watching Rumi.”

“What’s going on?” Rumi asked, un-sprawling a little.

“Oh, the Diamond Grannies have found one of The Saja Boys,” Mira said with a shrug. “I know they’ve been outta the game for a while, but if it’s only one demon, then surely the three of them and Dasom can handle it.”

“It’s not Jinu, is it?” Rumi said, sitting bolt upright, unable to hide her alarm. 

Mira checked her phone again. “Pink hair, so either Romance or Abs.”

“It’s so weird having them all in the city and wanting to hunt again,” Zoey said, a note of something unhappy in her voice. “We were carrying the weight of everything ourselves, but now that the honmoon is sealed, they’ve all decided to come out of retirement.”

Their phones buzzed again.  

“Celine says we should look after Rumi and keep her away from any active hunts,” Mira said after checking her phone.  “She’s too young for hunting.”

It used to make Rumi so mad when Celine would say that, and she’d point out that she was nearly ten which was nearly a teenager.  But Rumi didn’t care about that at all now.  She didn’t even want to hunt when she felt anxiety twisting around in her guts. 

She needed to find a way to stop them hunting Jinu.

The best thing to do when she felt anxious was something.

 Anything at all. 

Rumi found being busy helped her feel less worried and she’d just had an idea. 

“May I be excused?” Rumi asked politely.   “I have a project to work on.”

“Of course, Rumi,” Zoey said gently. “You don’t have to ask, remember?”

Rumi nodded at them, and hopped off the couch, bounding towards big Rumi’s room. 

Behind her she heard Mira say, “What project? Have you been giving her homework, Zoey?”

-0-

Chapter Text

Rumi had something to say to the girls, and she wanted to be taken seriously.  

The girls talked a lot about how cute she was, but grown-ups didn’t take cute kids seriously.  Grown-ups found it easy to ignore what kids were saying, especially  if they didn’t want to take it seriously. 

Rumi didn’t want to be ignored, because what she had to say was important. 

 The most serious people in the world were business people. 

So if Rumi just acted like a business person,  and dressed fancy and made a powerpoint presentation, then maybe she could convince the girls to let her demon live. 

(Celine said Auntie Dasom and the Diamond Grannies were set in their ways and struggled with new ideas, but hopefully Mira and Zoey weren’t. Hopefully they would be more open to the idea of letting a demon live if Rumi was very convincing about it. Then there would be at least two hunters who didn’t want to hurt Jinu. If she could get the two of them on her side, then maybe they could convince the others…)

Her tutor had just finished teaching her all about persuasive texts. She’d learned how to make powerpoints last year. Big Rumi had a laptop. 

Oh yeah. Her plan was coming together. 

Rumi opened the laptop, and thankfully Big Rumi was still using the same password she had when she was nine. (Rumi used her mother’s full name and birthday). 

She opened up powerpoint, and then wrote:

Don’t kill my demon - a short business presentation. 

If Rumi used the word business a lot, then the girls would take her seriously because business was serious.  Celine had taken her to a few meetings and even though Rumi had just coloured-in the whole time, she knew that everyone wore suits and there was always a presentation, and it was usually boring - but persuasive texts weren’t boring. 

She needed pictures to make her presentation less boring. 

Jinu was in a famous boy-band! 

Rumi could search the internet to find pictures of him. 

Searching the internet was a mistake. 

She found a picture of him very quickly, but underneath his picture there were lots of smaller pictures of different fruits and vegetables (as well as a whole lot of emojis that Rumi had never seen before) in the comments section. Rumi got the feeling they implied something rude and adult and potentially sexual and she Did Not Want To Know. 

Gross. 

She put the picture on the first page of her presentation and started typing.  She used a large font, so it looked like she’d written so much more than she had. She used pink and blue and purple rainbow writing for the title and pink for the headings - to make it more eye-catching and persuasive. She added star wipes for each transition. (Rumi loved star wipes and she didn’t care what her tutor said about them. This presentation wasn’t for her tutor. It was for Mira and Zoey). 

When she was done, she put on her most business-y outfit from the shopping trip.  She had a button down shirt -  it was covered in unicorns and had rainbow buttons, but it still buttoned down like a business shirt, so it would have to do. She tucked it into some plain black leggings, because black was a business colour, and business people wore plain black pants. She did her hair in a boring adult bun and only added one plain bow - so that Zoey and Mira would know she meant business. 

She was ready. 

She brought her laptop out and stood in front of the couch.  She reached down and picked up the remote to turn off the TV, and cleared her throat for attention.   Zoey and Mira both sat up a little in confusion. 

“Rumi, what’s happening?” Mira asked. 

“Can we have a hunter business meeting?” Rumi asked, with a big smile that her tutor told her was persuasive. “I did a powerpoint.”

Zoey and Mira exchanged a glance and made delighted faces at each other. “Was the powerpoint presentation your project?” Zoey asked. 

“Yes, because I have an idea that I need to present and I want it to be taken seriously and everyone takes business people seriously so I also dressed as a business woman,” Rumi explained, gesturing to her outfit. 

“I can’t wait for your business meeting,” Mira said encouragingly. “Do we need to make notes?” 

“That’s a great idea,” Zoey said and dashed off. She came back with two notebooks and pens. “This is seriously the cutest thing that has ever happened ever in this apartment,” she said as she sat down next to the coffee table. Mira joined her on the floor, and leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands, smiling at Rumi like she was a baby otter. 

Rumi set up her laptop on the other side of the coffee table and said  “I call this hunter business meeting to commence.” 

Did she need a gavel, like a judge? Rumi felt like she should bang something or make some noise to signify that the meeting had started. She clapped her hands - but that didn’t quite feel right. Rumi was pretty sure commence wasn’t the right word either, but it sounded long and serious and something a business person should say. 

It was her first time running a meeting, and the girls didn’t seem to mind. They were looking at her like she was a kitten trying to climb into a box and going ‘aaawww, she’s so cute,’ to each other. 

Rumi opened up her presentation.

Don't Kill My Demon - A Short Business Presentation

 The picture of Jinu she’d chosen twirled into view. (She’d chosen the swivel effect for maximum business vibes. It seemed more professional than the bounce effect). 

Zoey and Mira’s mood instantly changed. They weren’t making ‘she’s so cute’ faces at each other now, but were exchanging wary, perturbed glances.  

But they weren’t immediately shutting her down or closing her laptop and refusing to learn either - so they were willing to listen to her at least.

Rumi clicked on the next slide. 

Jinu  is a dork - he’s not dangerous.  

• He is easily beaten by me and  I'm nine and I only had a rock. 

• He thinks he is so funny but all his jokes are super lame and dorky.

• He doesn't like people feeling sad around him so he always says or does something dumb to cheer them up.

• He doesn’t eat people because he used to be a person and he says it’s like cannibalism.

• He never tried to hurt me in any way, even after I hit him with a rock.

Rumi explained her dot points, which she thought were pretty good. She didn’t see the problem with letting Jinu live if he wasn’t dangerous. She knew they were meant to kill everything with patterns but just having patterns didn’t  make someone bad. 

Zoey and Mira were looking at her with extremely bewildered expressions, but they also looked like they were thinking about what she was saying at least.

Zoey even wrote something down on her paper - She was taking notes!

She really was paying attention.

Rumi felt like this was going well, so she clicked onto the next slide. 

Jinu has pets. 

• Derpy and Sussy will be sad if he dies. 

• They probably wont let Zoey pat them if she kills him. 

• Good spirit guardians wouldn’t belong to someone bad.

This slide was pretty much aimed at Zoey, because Rumi knew Zoey was an animal lover and so this would be a persuasive argument for her.  Derpy and Sussy had left last night at some point after she’d fallen asleep, and they weren’t here now for Rumi to take a photo, so she’d used random pictures of baby tigers and magpies - but it still made her point for her. Rumi pointed out the extra little turtle she’d added in the corner, just for Zoey, to make the slide extra persuasive. Zoey could never say no to turtles.  Zoey looked away when Rumi explained this, covering her mouth with her hand, like she was trying to hide a smile. 

Jinu was nice to me. 

• He’s my friend.

• He got me gimbap and warm clothes.

• I think saving me got him in trouble with the other demons, but he did it anyway. 

• He told me lots about demons and answered all my questions. 

• He tried to cheer me up when I cried and didn’t complain at all that I got snot on him. 

• He makes me feel less scared about everything. 

“What were you scared about Rumi?” Mira asked, sounding worried, interrupting her presentation. "Are you scared of anything now?"

Uh oh. 

Rumi had used present tense for that. 

She was scared of the hunters finding out the truth about her patterns, but it would not be helpful to say that.

“It was a pretty scary night for me at the start, waking up on stage with those demons singing such an awful, hateful song at me,” Rumi answered, and that was honest.

 Obviously there were other things she was scared about, but she wasn’t ready to tell Mira and Zoey about it yet. They might not be ready to hear it, either. Just hearing that she’d been scared when the demons were singing their song was making Mira and Zoey make the most heartbroken faces at each other. 

“We should probably hold all questions until the end,”  Rumi said, and she felt confident in that one. She’d definitely seen a businessman say that in a K-drama.  But then she realised it was the end, so she closed her laptop and gave an awkward little bow to signify that she had finished. 

 She  looked at Mira and Zoey, waiting for their reactions. 

Neither of them clapped. 

“Any questions?” She asked, trying to sound more confident than she felt. 

“Okay, that was something,” Mira said with a huge exhale, like the Lion’s breath in yoga that Celine did to calm down. 

Zoey looked down at her notes. She tapped her pen on the first line. “You said Jinu was human before he was a demon. Do you think other demons were too?

“I don't know, but probably,” Rumi guessed. 

“Was he a jerk when he was human too?” Mira asked, crossing her arms. 

“No, he was an indentured musician in the Joseon era,”  Rumi replied, like that had been the question Mira had really asked. 

“Do you know why he chose to serve Gwi-ma?” Zoey asked, tapping a rapid beat with her pen on the paper. 

“I don't think he did choose that. He wants to escape,” Rumi said as seriously as she could. She didn’t know the whole story at all, but she didn’t think Jinu just woke up one day and decided to serve an evil demon for no reason and so she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  

“Most people  want to escape the bad choices they make,” Mira muttered to Zoey in a voice so low she probably thought that Rumi couldn’t hear her. 

Rumi was losing her audience.  She mustered up her courage and just said what she wanted directly to both their faces.  “Please don’t kill him. He's my friend. Maybe talk to him? You might like him if you talk to him.  And maybe if you like him, you could - “

“I’ve already spoken to him and that guy is super annoying,” Mira joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

But her joke made Rumi’s heart feel heavy, and she didn’t know what else to do but look at the floor and feel a little sad. 

Suddenly Mira was crouching in front of her, all apologetic. “Sorry Rumi. I can see this means a lot to you, and I’m glad you were so honest.”

“I really liked your powerpoint and your business outfit,” Zoey chimed in, putting her list of questions aside. Then she and Mira shared a glance. “ But we’d really need to discuss it.”

“Without me?” Rumi guessed, but she already knew the answer. 

She was nine and Mira and Zoey were in their twenties. They got drinks with little decorations while Rumi jumped on trampolines.  Zoey and Mira could say they were going to treat her like an equal over hair-ties and nail polish colours, but the important stuff would still be decided between grown-ups, and she wasn’t going to get a say. No matter how business-y her outfit, Rumi didn’t count as a grown-up anymore. 

“You guys said you would listen to me and -” Rumi protested. 

“We will!” Zoey insisted. “ But we need to have a grown-up talk first.” 

-0-

Zoey and Mira put on a K-Drama that Celine had specifically told them Rumi was not allowed to watch. 

Ha!

Amateurs!

They thought a forbidden K-Drama would distract Rumi while they had their grown-up talk and left her out of it?

(Besides you could pause TV in the future! Rumi could just press pause and not miss anything.)

Rumi got a glass from the kitchen and crept along the hall to Mira’s room. The girls had gone in and closed the door behind them. She put the glass against the wall and pressed her ear against it. 

“Do you think they were… friends?” Mira’s voice sounded uncomfortable. 

“It was a point on one of her slides - weren’t you paying attention?” Zoey replied. 

“No… I meant Big Rumi… I mean… She could have just been lying to him and using him. The golden honmoon was supposed to banish all the demons,  and Rumi knows that,” Mira said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself of something.  

“Maybe… but Rumi’s not a deceitful person. It doesn’t seem like something Rumi would do,” Zoey said,  

“No, it doesn’t,” Mira agreed. 

“Also this golden honmoon is nuts. This golden honmoon is doing some wacky things,” Zoey pointed out, sounding a little miffed at the honmoon. “Maybe Rumi knew something like this would happen and the demons on this side would get to stay?” 

“Well, why wouldn’t she tell us?”

“You know she wasn’t telling us everything these last two weeks,” Zoey said softly. 

“I knew something was up. She was fraternizing with the enemy,” Mira said in this scandalised gasp. 

“It kinda worked, though,”  Zoey said matter-of-factly. 

Mira did another scandalised gasp. 

“I mean Jinu did help us make a golden honmoon, and he definitely got Little Rumi away from a very bad situation at the Idol Awards when neither of us could get to her and protect her, and his pets are awesome. There is no way a beast as majestic as Derpy could belong to someone bad,” Zoey reasoned. 

Zoey really had been listening and making notes! She wasn’t just doodling!

"I guess a nice demon would be the least strange thing that’s happened in the past two days, so - “ Mira trailed off.

She wasn’t disagreeing with Zoey! She had been listening too.  They were both open to what Rumi had been saying and they’d both actually heard her. Rumi felt a wave of affection for the two of them. 

“We don’t know what’s really going on. Celine is definitely not telling us everything,” Zoey said suddenly, in a low voice. 

“I agree. I think we need to get to the real truth if we are going to have any hope of returning Rumi to normal,” Mira said firmly. 

“It was demon and honmoon magic onstage that night. It just makes sense that we would need a demon to undo it.  I reckon Jinu  will know something.  I think, if we see him, we - “

“Hit him with a rock and tie him up with honmoon rope and interrogate him?” Mira interrupted. 

“I was going to say ‘see what he knows’ … but yeah, that works for me too,” Zoey said in this chipper voice. “ I know we're meant to kill all demons on sight,  but I think we actually need to talk to Jinu.”

“Ugh. Why did it have to be that demon. Why couldn't it be Abs?” Mira groaned.

“Or Mystery.”

“Mystery only barks at people. Not a great conversationalist there,” Mira said jokingly.  “Listen, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We might not ever see him again,” She said more seriously.  “If Celine or Dasom or the Diamond Grannies find him first they will - “

“Especially the Grannies. They've got a surprising amount of bloodlust for boomers who knit and have crafternoons,”  Zoey cut her off.  

“Well, let's hope Jinu knows how to avoid a horde of angry,  crafty boomers.”

-0-

Chapter Text

Derpy and Sussy came back that night as Rumi was getting ready for bed. She was wearing her unicorn pyjamas and brushing her teeth when they crept up behind her.

She squealed in delight when she saw them in the mirror and gave them a cuddle. 

Then Derpy opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.  There was a little note card inside. She took it out with her thumb and forefinger and wiped the drool off on one of the bathroom towels.  She opened the paper. 

Just checking to see if you're okay and if everything is alright with Zoey and Mira,

 진우

He was such a dork. 

He’d written vertically and signed his note with an old fashioned dojang and red ink.  He’d probably even used a brush and ink to write with, like he was still back in the Joseon era. 

What a goof. 

Rumi smiled to herself as she took out a seagull card and a blue pen - like a normal person. 

Yes! Zoey and Mira are great. I had the best day with them. We went shopping and trampolining, and  I made a PowerPoint presentation about you and Zoey and Mira have agreed not to kill you if they see you. 

Rumi

She popped her reply in Derpy’s mouth and he disappeared through the floor.  He reappeared a few minutes later, and opened his mouth. He had Jinu’s reply. 

Thanks. 

What’s a PowerPoint presentation?

 진우

He was so old, he’d probably never made a PowerPoint in his life. Trying to explain PowerPoint to this old-as-the-hills guy would be too tricky. Rumi would just have to show him. She'd show him her presentation and the starwipes would blow his mind.  She wrote back:

I’ll show you. Do you have a phone or a computer?

Rumi

The reply came quicker this time. 

No. I have a tiger.

 진우

Rumi rolled her eyes affectionately. His jokes were so lame and he thought he was so funny.  But he wasn’t wrong. Derpy was better than texting. She gave the tiger some scratches behind his ear for being such a good boy, then wrote her reply. 

 I’ll find Big Rumi’s or ask the girls to buy me one. They are buying me everything I want.

 Rumi 

She waited eagerly for the reply. 

Lucky you.  Get some sleep now, Rumi. It’s late.  

진우

Well!

They’d been sending such nice messages and then Jinu had to ruin it! 

She grabbed her pen and scrawled angrily:

YOU ARE THE ONE WHO STARTED WRITING TO ME, SO YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS MAKING ME STAY UP PAST BEDTIME.

She put it in Derpy’s mouth before she could change her mind. But she didn’t see the harm in letting Jinu know he’d annoyed her.  It worked too, because his next note was more conciliatory and less scolding about bed-time. 

I just wanted to check you were feeling okay. Sussy said you got sad. 

진우

She looked at the note for a long moment, because she didn’t often have anyone worrying that she was sad, and she wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Celine wanted her to be happy, obviously. But sadness was an emotion that she’d taught Rumi to hide, thinking that if she hid it she wouldn’t feel it.  Rumi hesitated about what to say.  

They know I have patterns, but they don’t know why but for a second I thought - 

She crossed that out several times, then wrote underneath:

I’m okay now.  Thanks for asking. 

Rumi

She sent it off, then yawned as she waited for a reply.

That’s good. I’m glad you’re okay.  I’m going to sleep now.  Sweet dreams.

 진우

She chuckled to herself as she wrote back.  He got tired before a nine-year-old. She was going to tease him so bad when she next saw him. Even the grannies probably stayed up later than him. 

What a dork. 

Ha ha. Your bed-time is earlier than mine!

Rumi 

Confident she’d had the last word, Rumi tucked herself in and turned off her light.  She slept soundly the rest of the night, and her dreams were soft and warm and she felt understood completely in them.

-0-

Rumi woke up with the sun.

 She had forgotten to close Big Rumi’s curtains last night, so the morning light blazed in through the enormous floor to ceiling windows. 

Derpy and Sussy were sleeping beside her.  As soon as they heard her morning grumbles Derpy sat up and nuzzled her affectionately and Sussy warbled a cheerful little tune to her.  They hopped off the bed and disappeared through some blue honmoon ripples on the floor.

Rumi got up,  yawned and stretched, then started searching Big Rumi’s room for her phone. 

Rumi could finally have a phone of her own. 

Celine said she could have one when she was twelve, and that was forever away!

Waking up in Big Rumi’s life was like a short-cut to getting her own phone!

Rumi couldn’t find Big Rumi’s phone, and ended up getting distracted by all the Huntrix stuff she found in a special box in Big Rumi’s walk-in wardrobe.  Rumi was a sentimental sort of person and she kept ticket stubs for amusement parks and postcards from all the holidays Celine took her on.  Big Rumi had done something similar for her adventures with her friends. 

The first rough drafts of lyrics, candid polaroids, copies of their albums, magazine articles and prints from photoshoots were all collected.  Big Rumi clearly cherished her experiences with Mira and Zoey and her meticulous collection allowed Rumi to rummage through her future life. 

Big Rumi was beautiful and glamorous and elegant,  but she never smiled fully, not even in the polaroids where she was just relaxing with Mira and Zoey. 

Big Rumi smiled, of course she did,  but it never quite reached her eyes. 

Rumi looked at her future self and wondered how big her patterns had grown and why her voice stopped working. 

At a certain point, Big Rumi started always wearing jackets, even in summer, so they were probably growing down her arms. There was the odd photo shoot with bare arms, but Rumi was pretty sure Celine did her special makeup on her patterns for those.  Or maybe Big Rumi had learned how to do special make-up herself?

(Every now and then,  if they were going somewhere really planned and the environment was climate controlled, Celine would do make-up to cover Rumi’s patterns and let her go bare-armed. She said this was to throw off suspicion, because if there were photos of Rumi with bare arms from events, then Auntie Dasom and the Grannies would never suspect she had patterns.)

Rumi tidied everything up back into the box and slid it carefully back into place. 

-0-

Rumi decided to copy Mira and Zoey’s style for her hair today.

Zoey did two low buns, but Mira wore two little bows high on her head.  Rumi could mix those two styles together.  She tried doing two high buns that sat like cute animal ears but she couldn’t quite get them even. 

Zoey knocked gently on her door to tell her she’d made a smoothie. Rumi invited her in. Zoey saw Rumi’s attempted style and made a delighted little noise. She rushed over to help.

“This style is so cute for you!” She gushed. “Here, let me help. I know it’s so hard getting them even.”  She took the brush and started re-doing one of the buns.

“I wanted it to look like the two of you,” Rumi told her, but then she remembered how much the kids at school didn’t like her copying them. “I can change it if you don’t like it,” She added quickly.  

“No, it’s so adorable!” Zoey said with a big grin as she started twisting Rumi’s hair into place. “ Mira, we need hair bows!” she shouted over her shoulder. 

-0-

Rumi’s hair was perfect, her nails were sparkling and her overalls had so many pockets and a sequin rainbow on the front. She put on her sunglasses and she was ready for her day. 

The girls were having a fruit smoothie in the kitchen. Mira poured her one as she sat down. 

Rumi asked them if she could have a phone. The girls gasped at the idea that she didn’t have one. They realised that in the confusion of the other night, they’d left all of Rumi’s stuff in the dressing room of the Idol Awards.  A quick text to Bobby confirmed that he had collected Big Rumi’s things. 

(The wonders of modern technology. They could just text Bobby and know two seconds later. This was why Celine should have let her have a phone way before now). 

Big Rumi had apparently left all her stuff last time she’d run away from a performance too, so Bobby didn’t think it was odd.  He asked if Rumi was out of her treatment yet, and if he should bring it over, but the girls made some excuse that was probably more believable over text, since Bobby couldn’t see their frantic faces as they scrambled to come up with a cover story.  

On the bright side, Mira and Zoey were of the belief that everyone should have a phone, and so they agreed to get her one straight away. They didn’t go on and on about developing brains and too much screen time  and creeps on the internet the way Celine did whenever Rumi brought it up. 

YES!

Rumi was finally getting a phone.  

-0-

They were in a shop in Myeongdong, browsing phones together. The girls were comparing a few and discussing different phone things with an employee, like ram and pixels and stuff.  Rumi was a little bored. She was looking at the phone cases. She didn’t really mind what type of camera the phone had as long as she could have a shimmery phone case.  

Then she heard it.  

A song was carried faintly on the breeze. She stepped just outside the shop to hear better. 

Someone was singing and playing an instrument in the distance. It sounded a little like a mandolin, but it had a warmer and more resonant sound. Something about the voice was oddly familiar. 

Rumi really wanted to hear the song better.

“I can hear someone singing,” She said to the girls as they examined three different phones.

“It's probably just some busker,” Zoey shrugged.  “This one is better for games,” She said, turning back to Mira, holding up a demo phone. “Kids love playing games.”

“Rumi loved taking photos, so we should get the one with the better camera,” Mira replied. 

“I'm going to go listen to the music, okay?”  Rumi told them excitedly.

-0-

Rumi followed the sound of the music, and it led her to an open square. There was a big crowd gathered around a busker. They were tightly packed, cheering and dancing a little in place.  The busker was playing an upbeat tune that made Rumi feel a little bit cheeky and a little bit like she wanted to dance too. The song finished and there was lots of applause. 

“Do Soda-pop!” Someone in the crowd yelled out. 

“It’ll sound more acoustic, if that’s okay with everyone,” The busker said, and the crowd answered with even louder cheers. 

Rumi knew that voice!

Jinu!

Jinu started playing a song.  He actually had a really good singing voice.The crowd started bopping even more. Heads were nodding, toes were tapping and some of them turned slightly to the side to do this shoulder-dance. That created gaps that Rumi could squeeze through. She was only little so she could wiggle her way forward, squashing between the smallest gaps to get to the front.  She caught fragments of the conversations around her. 

“ -  told you it was really him.”

“-  it on instagram.”

“  sounds even better live.”

She finally made it to the front! 

Jinu was smiling at the crowd and playing a bipa expertly. It was such a traditional instrument and the song was so modern, and they really shouldn’t have blended so well together - but they did!  It sounded amazing. Jinu was a really good performer and he really captivated everyone’s attention. The mood was really jubilant and the song was infectious. Rumi found herself doing the little shoulder dance with everyone else. 

 Jinu noticed her in the crowd and Rumi smiled and waved happily at him.  He grinned back at her and inclined his head towards her.

He finished the song, and put his instrument down. “That’s all for now. Thanks for being such a great audience. It has been an honour to play for you," Jinu said, and then gave the crowd a polite bow.  

The audience clapped and cheered, and a girl next to her sighed “so hot and respectful,” with this really annoying, moony sigh.  People went up to put money in the instrument case, and crowded around Jinu to get selfies and autographs. 

Rumi had to squash through a crowd again!

But Jinu had clearly kept his eye on her, because he’d also squashed his way over to her. Suddenly he was next to her. So she reached out and took his hand in her own and held it. 

Celine had this rule that if ever she was having a fan interaction. Rumi had to wait patiently and not interrupt, because happy fans meant a happy honmoon. But she knew waiting would be hard for Rumi, so she said that if Rumi held her hand, then she’d know Rumi was feeling impatient and she would try to wrap it up quickly. 

Jinu didn’t seem to know this rule because he didn’t make her wait at all. 

He seemed really stunned that Rumi had taken his hand and held it. He paused mid-sentence when she did it, really caught off-guard. He looked down at her hand in his with an expression of open astonishment. She gave his hand a little squeeze, to let him know she was waiting patiently. 

Jinu immediately turned to face the last few people.  “That’s it for autographs and selfies. I’ll catch you at the next performance, but I have someone very important I need to see now.”

Rumi was that someone very important!

For once, she mattered more than the fans!

Jinu got a big hug for that.

As soon as he ducked down to be on eye-level with her, she threw her arms around his neck and squished her face against his shoulder. She was so happy to see him again. He cuddled her back and it was really nice. 

Jinu sat back on his knees a little and looked at her for a moment.  “Your hair is different,” he grinned. But it was his dorky grin where he was about to do something that he thought was so funny.  She should have moved away as soon as she saw it. 

He reached out, quicker than lightning, and mussed her hair a little. 

No!

“That took Zoey ages!” She squealed as she reached over and floofed his hair in retaliation. “I’m going to get you  for that."

Chapter Text

“Okay, okay. I give up. You win!” Jinu said, trying to duck away from Rumi’s hair-floofing offensive. She’d been relentlessly ruffling his ridiculously soft and thick hair with her hands until it looked super messy and fluffy and he admitted defeat. She was victorious.

“I win,”  Rumi grinned, stepping back one step so she could gloat in his face.

 Rumi liked winning.  

Jinu sat back a little on his knees and didn’t try a retaliatory hair-floof, so hopefully he’d learned his lesson there.  “So, what did you think of the performance?”  

“I loved it. You were amazing. You’re a really good musician and you’re a really good singer!” Rumi said honestly, because it was the truth. 

Jinu blushed and got all shy and awkward for a second,  like no one had ever given him a sincere compliment before.   “Well, that means a lot coming from my greatest critic,” he said after a few moments. 

“I only speak the truth,” Rumi replied sagely, with a nod. Jinu should give himself more credit, she thought. She couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t know he was good in the first place.  He was clearly super talented. 

“Are you here with  Zoey and Mira?” He asked, glancing around quickly.

“Yes. And thanks to me, they won't kill you if they see you,” she said proudly.

“That's good to know,” Jinu said with a little smile. 

“You were right,” Rumi said and he brightened up immediately. (He clearly liked being told he was right).  “They loved me straight away. They're so nice and they took me to get a mani-pedi.”  She held her hands up and wiggled her nails so he could see the glitter  shimmer in the sunlight. 

“Very sparkly,” Jinu said, giving her nails a big nod of approval.  “So, where are Zoey and Mira now?” 

“Oh, they’re just over there,” Rumi waved towards the direction she’d come from. “I’m sure they’re coming.”

“How about we wait around here for them?” Jinu suggested. “People are easier to find if they stay in one place.” 

“Okay,”  Rumi agreed, but right at that moment her stomach started grumbling. 

“You want one of those corndog things?” Jinu asked, pointing to one of the food stalls in the square. 

“Yes!” Rumi said eagerly. “I’m so hungry. I haven’t had a proper breakfast.”

“You haven’t had breakfast?” Jinu asked, sounding appalled. 

“I had a smoothie, but it wasn’t enough.  I think that’s all the girls have for breakfast,” She explained.   

“How about I get  you that pancake thing instead. It looks more filling,” Jinu said, pointing at the crepe stall.

“That pancake thing is called a crepe,” Rumi informed him. “ Have you ever had a crepe?” she asked curiously. 

He might not have. He only just started being able to eat again the other night, and crepe stalls hadn’t been invented in the Joseon era… Well, maybe they had in France, but no one was making Nutella crepes in Korea 400 years ago as far as she knew.

“I’ve never had a crepe,” Jinu answered, confirming her suspicions.  

“Crepes are amazing!  Let’s get one for you too,” Rumi said enthusiastically. 

“Okay. Just let me pack up,” Jinu said, gesturing at his instrument case. There was lots of money inside.  Rumi rushed over to help him gather it all up. 

“Wow! You made heaps.  Is this just from one performance?” She said, as she flattened the notes into a neat pile before handing them over.  

“Yeah,” Jinu said quietly. “I didn’t think I would make this much, to be honest.”

“This could be like… your proper job,” Rumi said excitedly.  “You should get a bank account and save money.” 

“I’ll take that under advisement,” Jinu replied with a smile, collecting up the last few notes.  

“What does that mean?” Rumi asked in confusion. 

“It means I’ll do this as long as I can, and if this works out long term, I’ll take your advice,” he explained as he folded all the banknotes and put them in his pocket. “But right now, I’m spending all the money I make the day I earn it.” 

“I really think you need to plan for the future and save money or something,” Rumi advised him seriously. “That’s what grown ups are meant to do.” 

“Or I could spend it on deluxe crepes with all the toppings you want,” Jinu said with a little shrug as he closed the bipa case and slung the strap over his shoulder. They walked together to the crepe stall. 

Rumi reconsidered the choice between boring grown-up financial stuff and deluxe crepes.  She didn’t know much more about finance aside from bank accounts with money in them were a good thing to have. However, she knew for certain that nutella crepes were awesome and they were going to blow Jinu’s mind.

“That does sound like a better plan,”  she agreed.  “Oh, we should get some sodas too. Your song made me want one.”

-0-

Jinu was having a flavour experience with his crepe. Just as she suspected, the nutella crepe was blowing his ancient mind. The food noises he was making were shameless.

“I told you they were yummy,” Rumi said smugly. 

“This is the best snack humans have ever invented,” Jinu said, as he paused briefly between bites.

“No way. Gimbap is still the best,” Rumi argued. “But crepes are still really pretty good,” she added in a more conciliatory tone.

“Now that I can taste again, I am working my way through everything I ever wanted to eat when I was alive, tteokbokki, japchae, bulgogi and all the hangwa,” Jinu explained. He glanced at all the food stalls curiously. “But I should definitely expand my list to foreign food.  There’s so many options now. “

“Yeah. You should try a burger too. And pizza.  And nachos,” Rumi said encouragingly as she started listing foods. “ -  And mini quiche.  And cup noodles. The huntrix girls all have their own flavour. There’s even a Rumi flavour, so you can taste me!”

Jinu went bright red and started coughing, like a bit of crepe had gone down the wrong way.  Rumi had already finished her crepe, so she reached over and gave him a few slaps on his back to help him. 

“Drink this,” She said, opening one of the sodas and giving it to him.  She’d already drunk most of hers. 

He sipped it then spluttered and coughed even more. “Why is it bubbly?” gasped between coughs with some indignation, like the soda had personally attacked him. 

“Have you never had a soda before?” Rumi asked with surprise.  

Surely everyone knew soda was carbonated?

“That was my first time,” Jinu confessed, when his coughing was under control.

“But you wrote that whole song,” Rumi pointed out, suppressing a smile. 

“I just knew it was a drink,” Jinu said in his defense. He moved the soda further away and scowled at it. “That’s not a drink. It’s full of angry bubbles pretending to be a drink.”

“That’s what soda is, you goof,” Rumi said with a laugh, unable to contain her amusement anymore. 

“You’re the goof,” Jinu replied, without any evidence backing that up. Rumi hadn’t done anything goofy.

“You got some nutella on your cheek, so you're the bigger goof,” Rumi grinned at him, touching her own cheek to show him where to clean. 

He reached up to wipe it off, but he still had some nutella on his fingers and made it worse.  Rumi grabbed a napkin, cleaned her own hands and then poured a little bit of soda on another.  She reached over and took his chin with her thumb and forefinger,  and wiped his cheek with the napkin in her other hand. He froze while she did so, which made it easier.  

He kinda went overboard on holding still though. Rumi thought he might have been holding his breath too, which wasn’t necessary. 

“There, all better,” she said as she sat back, satisfied that he no longer looked goofy. 

  Jinu wiped his own hands with the rest of the napkins and busied himself collecting their rubbish.  She got up to help, and they threw their rubbish away in the bin together. Rumi noticed Jinu threw the rest of his soda away with some alacrity, like his brain was going begone foul beverage as he chucked it in the rubbish. 

Jinu reached out to take her hand as they walked back to where he’d been performing.  Rumi had started the whole hand-holding thing after all, and now he presumed they’d just hold hands to walk around too.

Rumi wasn’t a baby. 

She was nearly 10!

She didn’t need anyone to hold her hand to get around or cross the road anymore.

But maybe Jinu wanted someone to hold his hand? 

Jinu was a bit clueless about things.  He didn’t even know that soda had bubbles in it. Electricity and cars hadn’t even been invented yet when he was a kid, so no one had taught him to look both ways and wait for the green man. The modern world probably heaps of surprises for this Joseon-era guy.  But Rumi could show him round and help him adjust. 

She took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

They walked back across the square. Jinu kept glancing around like he was looking for someone. 

“Have you had a hot dog yet?” Rumi asked conversationally. 

“Not yet.” 

“Have you had a cheesecake?”

“That sounds good, but no.” 

“It is. You should try blueberry cheesecake first. That's my favourite,”  Rumi informed him.  “Don’t try carrot cake. That's not good," she warned. Someone needed to give Jinu the heads up about the false-advertising around carrot cake.  It shouldn't really be classified as a cake. It was a salad pretending to be a cake. 

“Oh, and ice-cream! Have you tried ice-cream yet? You were alive before refrigeration, so maybe you never got to try one?”  she asked eagerly. 

“I  have never had an ice-cream,” Jinu confided, like it was a shameful secret. 

Rumi gave a scandalised gasp and stared at him, mouth open in shock. 

He’d never had an ice-cream!

That was even worse than never having a crepe. 

She felt bad for him just thinking about all the things this guy had never tasted!

Rumi was going to have the best time feeding him different things and seeing his reaction to them. 

This no ice-cream situation couldn’t stand!

“We have to fix this. We need to get you one right now!” Rumi declared. She started walking in a different direction, pulling Jinu along with her. 

She knew there was an ice-cream stall near where the car had dropped them off. Rumi thought she could probably find her way back to that street.  “I’m taking you to an ice-cream place.” 

Suddenly she had to pull his arm a lot harder, because Jinu had stopped walking.

 “I think we should stay here so Mira and Zoey can find us. We don’t want to run off and get lost.  You said they were just over there, right?” Jinu said, pointing at the direction Rumi had come from.   He craned his neck again, like he was still looking for someone. 

Rumi realised something. She’d only quickly told Mira and Zoey that she was going to listen to music, but she hadn’t waited for one of them to following her before setting off.

She had walked a fair distance to find Jinu.

“Oh, um… They might be further away then just over there,” Rumi said quietly. 

“They didn’t even give you breakfast and they let you wander Myeongdong on your own?” Jinu said, a little indignantly, like he was being super judgemental of Zoey and Mira’s skills when it came to looking after her. 

“It’s not their fault. I wandered a long way to find you.  I told them I was going to listen to music and I thought one of them would follow me,” Rumi said defensively. She wasn’t going to let her friends be judged by someone who didn’t know soda had bubbles in it until five minutes ago.  

Jinu looked skyward and sighed deeply. “They’re going to think I kidnapped you again,” he muttered to himself very quietly, but Rumi still heard. “Do you think you would know the way back? They’re probably worried and wondering where you are," he said to her in a more even tone.

Oh no! 

Rumi had been gone for ages. 

She’d been so distracted by her demon that she just forgot she was meant to be getting a phone with Mira and Zoey. Mira and Zoey would be looking for her by now… but they didn’t know she’d come here... They must have gone looking for her somewhere else… but Rumi had no idea where…and she didn't have a phone to call them.

How was she going to find them again?

Celine always got so mad when Rumi wandered, especially in the city! She'd scold about safety and good choices and stranger danger and say things like ‘You need to be smarter than this, Rumi” in this really disappointed tone. 

Rumi didn't want Zoey and Mira to be angry at her.

Or even worse, disappointed.

“Oh no, I'm in trouble,” Rumi said, twisting her hands together out of nervous habit. 

Her panic must have shown on her face, because Jinu was instantly crouching down before her. He reached out and gave both her shoulders a little calming squeeze.  “It's okay, Rumi.  You're not in trouble. We'll find them together,”  he said gently.

Jinu didn’t even sound a little bit mad, even though Rumi had  probably gotten him in trouble too - and that was really reassuring. Rumi nodded, feeling a little better. She looked towards the sea of people who were milling around and felt daunted. 

How would they ever find Mira and Zoey in this crowd?

“I have an idea. If I put you up on my shoulders, you’ll be able to see over the top of everyone. Mira's got bright pink hair, so she'll stand out.  That will make her really easy to find,” Jinu suggested.

“Zoey’s wearing a bright yellow bucket hat, so she’ll stand out too,” Rumi replied, feeling less anxious by the second. 

They had a plan. 

It wasn’t a bad plan, either, even though Jinu had come up with it. 

“Okay, hold on a sec,” Jinu said as he adjusted the strap on his instrument case on his shoulder, so it would sit lower and not bump Rumi as he carried her. “Okay, you ready?”

Rumi nodded, then Jinu ducked down even lower so she could climb on top of his shoulders. She scrambled up his back and tried to steady herself with one leg dangling either side of his neck.  He held her ankles to help her balance easily. 

“I’m going to stand up now, alright?” Jinu told her. 

“Oh my goodness!”  Rumi squeaked in surprise,  even though he’d told her was going to do it and she’d been expecting it.  It was such a strange sensation, lurching suddenly upwards while sitting on someone’s shoulders.  

She’d never been carried on anyone’s shoulders before, but she found her balance quickly, and then it felt kinda fun. She felt safe and secure and this was definitely going to make finding Mira and Zoey easier.  Rumi put her arms out, like she was an airplane.

 She was higher than everyone in Myeongdong! She could see for miles. 

“You okay up there?” Jinu asked. 

“Yes! This must be how tall people feel all the time! I can see the top of everyone’s heads. I’m like a giraffe!” Rumi said excitedly. 

“Let me know see Mira and Zoey from your high vantage point, Giraffe,” Jinu said from underneath her, with a little chuckle as he started walking towards where Rumi had come from. “I’m a demon looking for hunters. This is the literal definition of looking for trouble,” he muttered quietly to himself under his breath. 

“I heard that,” Rumi said.

 He tilted his head to look up at her. “You’re sure they aren’t going to kill me on sight?” he said in this light-hearted way, like he was joking - but he was also completely serious.  

“I promise no one is going to hurt you while I’m around,” Rumi said equally seriously.

And she meant it. 

She just wouldn’t let it happen. 

She wiggled her pinky finger in front of his face to show how serious she was. 

“Rumi, I can’t see where I'm going properly when you do that,” Jinu grumbled. “Why are you shaking your finger at me?”

“It’s a pinky promise. It’s like…a sacred promise. You’re meant to hold my pinky with yours and then I’ll never break my promise to you,” Rumi explained solemnly.

“I don't want to hold you to that. Pinky promises sound too serious for me,” Jinu joked.

“Just hold my pinky already, you dork," Rumi huffed impatiently, poking him in the forehead insistently with her pinky. 

“Will you stop poking me if I do it?" Jinu said, trying to wiggle away from her forehead pokes. 

“Yes.”

 He paused for a second, gave a resigned sigh, then let go of one of her ankles so he could reach up with his pinky. She wrapped her pinky finger around his and completed the sacred ritual of the pinky promise. 

“You’ll always be safe when you're with me,” she promised. 

 -0-

Chapter Text

Rumi was sitting on Jinu’s shoulders, and his hands were holding her ankles to help her balance while they walked. She was perched above the crowd, scanning for Mira’s pink hair or Zoey’s yellow bucket hat when she  suddenly said “Jinu I have to tell you something!”  

“Last time you said that, you hit me with a rock,” Jinu joked. 

“I’m not going to hit you with a rock,” Rumi said, giving his hair another teasing ruffle. It was really soft and fun to mess up. And she had unrestricted access to messing it up from her lofty perch.  And he just let her do it and didn’t complain at all

Which was nice, because running her hands through his hair made her feel less anxious about what she was going to say.

“I  just remembered that everyone hates you.”

“Thanks a bunch,” Jinu said sarcastically, sounding displeased.  “I think I prefer the rock.”

“No, I mean, Zoey and Mira won't kill you, but the other demons are after you and some of the older hunters are after you too. I just think you should… be careful. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you,” Rumi said in a little voice. 

“That's sweet Rumi, but you don't need to worry about me,” Jinu replied in this overly easy-going tone, like he was trying too hard to pretend he wasn’t worried either. 

But  Rumi did need to worry about him.

 Jinu was her friend. 

There were lots of people and demons who wanted to hurt him, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.  But everyone was looking for him, and he wasn’t going to be hard to find.  

He wasn’t even trying to hide. 

“Is busking safe? I mean, won’t you be spotted?  It seems risky,” Rumi  said, running her hands through his hair again. 

“It’s actually safer this way,” Jinu explained.  “I have a pretty recognisable face right now, so really hiding isn’t possible for me. So I have to hide in plain sight instead. I try to be in so many places that it causes confusion, and if I see pink ripples in the honmoon, I leave.  Besides, demons and hunters rarely attack when there’s a crowd of people.”

“This doesn’t sound like a great plan,” Rumi said skeptically. 

“It’s working so far,” he said, ever so slightly defensively.  “I do at least twelve shows a day, and  everyone looking for me has to search twelve different areas. I’ve stayed well ahead of them. Besides, I need to make enough money to eat and have a place to sleep at night.”

“I thought demons didn’t need to sleep,” Rumi said with curiosity.

“I didn’t before, but I’ve been getting tired at night ever since the honmoon turned gold.” 

“Where are you sleeping?”

“Hotels. It depends on how much money I make in a day.  If I make heaps, I can afford a place with a breakfast buffet,” he boasted proudly. 

“Do you like breakfast buffets?”

“They are amazing!” Jinu gave a happy sigh. “You can eat anything you want.”

“That sounds good. Eating what you want, doing whatever you want, no one telling you what to do,” Rumi sighed deeply.  “It sounds like fun.”

Jinu’s steps slowed. “Aren’t you having a fun time with the girls?” he asked carefully.

“It’s great with them,” Rumi said quickly, because it was. She loved living with Mira and Zoey, aside from one thing. “They know about bedtime now, so that's annoying -”  

“They didn't know about bedtime before?” Jinu asked, sounding aghast. 

Rumi ignored that.  

It wasn’t Zoey and Mira’s fault that they didn’t know much about kids. 

“ - Living with the girls is very  different for me, but it’s so much better than how things were on Jeju Island. I had so many lessons and tutors and I was learning taekwondo and gymnastics and survival skills and dance and I had singing lessons and hunter training all on top of the normal lessons,” Rumi said.

She didn’t resent it. She knew why it was important, and Celine was always on her side and trying to help her learn quicker and be better.

But it felt so good just not having all that pressure. 

“Wow - that’s a lot,” Jinu gave a low whistle.  “You were really busy.”

“It’s a good thing though. I’m good at everything, and who knows what skills I’ll need as a hunter. And school wasn’t that great the two times we tried it…” Rumi trailed off, not able to hide the sad tone in her voice. 

There had been lots of reasons why Rumi had been taught at home through a steady succession of tutors, but every now and then, Celine would get anxious about her socialising with other kids and they’d try school.

At least Big Rumi found some real friends. 

“If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t get to go to school either,” Jinu said kindly, like he was trying to cheer her up.

“Yeah, but you're so old. No one went to school back in your day,”  Rumi said cheekily, but then an awful thought occurred to her. “Wait, are you illiterate? It’s not bad if you are!” She added quickly, trying to make him feel better too. She’d seen enough k-dramas to know it wasn’t uncommon for peasants. 

She didn’t want Jinu to think she was teasing him for being illiterate, because that was super mean and Rumi wasn’t a mean person.   

“No, I’m not illiterate,” Jinu said, sounding like he was trying to suppress a chuckle.  “I wrote to you last night, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. You did,” Rumi said sheepishly, feeling a little embarrassed. She wondered who had taught him, but she also needed to change the subject to something different than her illiterate assumptions. Besides, there was something important she needed to know.

 “Jinu, can I ask you a question?”

“You just did,” he teased.  

“Uuurrgh,” Rumi rolled her eyes and groaned. Jinu made the worst jokes sometimes. He thought he was so funny.  “That was so lame.”

“Ask me anything you like,”  Jinu said more seriously.

“Big Rumi’s patterns - do you know how large they got?” She asked quietly.

“They were all down her arms and went all the way up to her throat,” Jinu said simply. “Why do you ask?”

“Big Rumi never really smiled in her photos, and I was just wondering if she was happy or if she was scared all the time. But hunters aren’t allowed to be scared. I know she was having some problems with her voice. Maybe being scared is what broke her voice?”   Rumi guessed, putting one of her worries out into the world. 

“No, the patterns did that.  When they went up to her throat she couldn’t sing, but her voice healed in time for the Idol Awards,” Jinu replied.  

“How?” 

Jinu was quiet for a few minutes, before he cleared his throat. “She said talking to me helped, but I think it was just that I accepted that part of her and made her feel okay about them. I didn’t do much,” he said with an effort at nonchalance. “It was all her,” he added softly.

“I think you still would have helped,” Rumi said honestly, now that she knew what happened. It was true, and she really thought Jinu needed to start giving himself more credit. He said he was bad, but he’d only ever been kind and helpful to her.  “I don’t feel scared at all when I’m with you,” Rumi confessed.

She’d never known what that was like until she met him, to not be even a little bit scared with another person.

Everyone else she loved, she had to hold a little bit of herself back and hide it  away, and there was always a tiny bit of her that was afraid of what would happen if they knew the truth. 

Even with Celine. She knew about the patterns, but they made her so so anxious, so Rumi tried to be a good girl and keep them covered all the time. She never asked questions about them because she didn’t want to stress Celine out. 

“What do you feel scared about when I’m not around?” Jinu asked instantly, sounding very concerned.

 “I get scared about what it means to have patterns, and I never had anyone I could talk to about it before you, and that made it harder to push the feelings away.  Hunters aren’t allowed to be scared. Celine says the honmoon doesn’t like it when we have bad feelings so I have to not feel them.” Jinu gave her legs a little reassuring squeeze when she said that -  “It sounds like you probably  helped Big Rumi feel less bad,” she explained. 

“She probably helped me more,” Jinu confessed quietly. “It was…the same, but opposite, if that makes sense.”

“Nope. That doesn’t make sense,” Rumi said bluntly. “What do you mean?”

Jinu thought for a moment. 

“Well, demons aren’t supposed to feel good feelings. We’re meant to only feel misery and other crappy feelings.  We’re trapped in our situation and we don’t get much choice, so it never felt like there’s much possibility that things would get better…” Jinu sighed a sad little sigh then. “Big Rumi made me feel like there was a chance, at least.  She said no one else could decide if I felt hope. I got to choose if I wanted to feel it for myself.”

“Big Rumi is the smartest person ever,” Rumi said smugly.

 She grew up to be so wise! 

“And she was so modest too,” Jinu teased, sounding amused. 

Modesty, schmodesty.

Rumi ruffled his hair affectionately in response.  “Did it work at least? Did you feel more hopeful?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess it did.  I could levitate for the longest time when I was with her,”  Jinu said wistfully. 

“Wait! Can you tell me how to levitate?” Rumi asked excitedly. “I think I nearly did it at the trampoline place.  But I don’t want to do it by accident.” 

“Well, normally you have to put aside all the things that are weighing you down. You’ve got to feel weightless in your mind and your body. Some demons can’t do it at all, some try to go blank but I used to use music. I can do it more easily if I’m playing or singing a song. I’d just concentrate on the tune, and nothing else in the world mattered. Then, you just visualise where you want to go and how you want to fly there,” Jinu said. 

Rumi spread her arms out like a plane and watched their shadows on the ground. She gave a few flaps with her arms and thought about flying.

“You don’t need to flap your arms. We’re not birds.” It sounded like Jinu was smiling as he said that. “And if you are worried about doing it by accident, just think of something really depressing. That’ll bring you back down to earth.” 

Rumi felt her heart lift. She had so many questions and she could just ask them and get an answer from Jinu. (And maybe some gentle teasing would be provided along with an answer, but that was okay too because it felt like the sort of teasing that came from liking the other person and laughing with them, not at them.)

She heard Mira and Zoey’s voices in the distance, which pulled her back to reality. She could faintly hear them calling out the name Bomi.  She told Jinu and he stopped to listen too. 

“Why are they calling you Bomi?” Jinu asked with some confusion.

“It’s my secret identity now that I’m little. We had to tell Bobby I was Rumi’s younger cousin or something, so I had to use a different name. I’m like a super spy,”  Rumi grinned.

“Do you spy Mira and Zoey, Super Spy?” Jinu asked as he walked quickly towards the sound of the  girls frantically calling for her. 

Rumi saw a flash of bright yellow, followed by Mira’s striking pink hair across the street.

“There they are!” She pointed cheerfully, breathing a huge sigh of relief.  She cupped her hands around her mouth in a megaphone shape so she could yell “Mira! Zoey!” even louder.

She wasn’t lost anymore.

She’d found her friends at last!

-0-

The girls looked up, and saw her sitting high above the crowd.They gaped at her and Jinu and started sprinting towards them. Rumi waved happily at them for a second before Jinu reached up and lifted her up by the armpits and gently put her back on the ground. Zoey and Mira ran over to scoop Rumi up in a hug. Zoey was almost crying with relief, but Mira was grumpy. 

“What the hell, Dude?! Did you just kidnap Rumi again?” She growled at Jinu, stepping forward to put Zoey and Rumi behind her.

“You could say ‘Thank you for returning the kid we let just wander off in the middle of Myeongdong due to our absolutely lax supervision’,” Jinu pointed out, and suddenly he was grumpy too. “She's only little now! Weren't you watching her?”

“When you were supervising, you got taken hostage by a nine-year-old,” Mira retorted.

“At least I didn’t lose her,” Jinu snapped back. 

Oh no!

This wasn’t going well at all.  

Rumi needed Mira and Zoey to like Jinu too, and then they might help her convince the older hunters to leave him alone. But that wasn’t going to happen if these two kept arguing.  And it felt like Mira and Jinu arguing was all Rumi's fault. She needed to fix it. 

“Please be nice to each other,”  She said, getting between them and trying to separate them. 

Mira moved Rumi out of the way. She was so strong that Rumi found herself bundled behind her back protectively again in an instant. Mira’s hat and secret identity glasses fell off in the scuffle, but she didn’t reach down to pick them up.

Instead Mira reached forward and grabbed Jinu by the collar with both hands and gave him little rough shake. “You need to leave Rumi alone or I’m gonna -” 

Nearby whispering interrupted her threats. 

“It is Mira from Huntrix!”

“What’s she doing threatening one of the Saja Boys?”

“I don’t know, but keep filming and -”

“Oh, shit. She’s seen us.”

There was a small group of teenagers in school uniform clustered a few feet away. Each other of them had their phone out, filming the scene.  Mira dropped Jinu in surprise, and froze in position, awkward smile frozen on her face as she looked at the teenagers. 

Zoey snapped into action first. She jumped in front of the scene, pulling Rumi along with her. “Oh no, this is… rehearsing.  We were practicing another teaser for the collaboration on our new album,” She lied easily. 

“Our collaboration is going to be great,”  Rumi said, hoping this would be helpful.  

“You guys are going to love it,” Jinu chimed in, backing up their lies quickly. He put his arm around Zoey's shoulder casually, like everyone was actually friendly with each other. “I’m really looking forward to working with Huntrix.”

“Yeah. There’s going to be a scene where I’m like ‘Ah Jinu, you make me so mad that I want to staple things to your forehead’” Mira mimed attempting to strangle Jinu at this point, but Rumi wasn’t sure if that helped their cover story. “ - that’s what you guys just saw then,” She finished. 

“It’s part of the next album’s conflict resolution theme,” Zoey said smoothly, then she grabbed Jinu with one hand, Mira with the other, and whispered “This is too public, but we do need to talk,” at the other grown ups. “Let’s bow and run away.”

They all did a quick bow for their accidental audience and then skeddaddled. 

-0-

They ended up in a quiet alley.

“You are coming to lunch and I’ll smash your face in,” Mira said to extend an invitation to Jinu. 

“Don’t you mean or?” Jinu replied. 

“What?” Mira looked at him in confusion. 

“You should say ‘you’re coming to lunch OR I’ll smash your face in’.  It’s a one or the other choice. If you say you're coming to lunch AND I’ll smash your face in… it’s like you are going to smash my face in over gimbap,”  Jinu explained. “Is there another option where violence doesn’t happen?” 

“Just come have lunch, dude,” Zoey said encouragingly, trying to keep the peace. She smiled at him. “I really want to talk to you. I promise I’ll be nice.”

Jinu clearly misinterpreted her smile and her attempts to be nice.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Jinu asked her, tilting his head to the side and looking at Zoey with a great amount of confusion. 

Zoey’s mouth fell open in scandalised surprise and she made an offended little noise. 

In general, Zoey was much harder to annoy than Mira. But Jinu had successfully annoyed her in less than five minutes. 

Jinu seemed to realise that he had said something wrong. 

“ It's okay… I just didn't see it coming. I’m flattered, really, but  - “  He said, very quickly trying to make it better. 

Rumi just had the feeling he wasn’t going to succeed in making it better, so she grabbed his wrist and pulled him down the alley to stop him talking and making it worse. 

“Come on, everyone. I saw a good place down this way,” She announced. 

The grown-ups were just going to keep squabbling if she didn’t take charge of this situation. 

-0-

Chapter Text

Rumi  walked like she knew where she was going. She was still holding Jinu’s hand and pulling him along, and the girls were following immediately behind. 

She had to take these adults somewhere quick before they started bickering again.

She saw a sign on the corner up ahead for Korean Barbeque. That was always a really big meal. Jinu had been starving back in the Joseon era, and she wanted to make sure he ate well and wasn’t hungry. 

“That’s the place!” She declared. 

-0-

“Don’t do anything evil while we’re here,” Zoey instructed Jinu seriously, pointing her finger accusatorily at him as they sat down. 

“Don’t do anything evil anywhere else, either!”  Mira added, also pointing. 

“I already promised Rumi I wouldn't do anything evil,” Jinu said defensively, holding his hands up like he was surrendering. 

“I think you’ve already failed that,” Mira scoffed, taking out her phone to do their order. 

“What? I’ve just been busking. Is busking evil to you?” Jinu said indignantly. 

“Depends what you play,” Mira said with a shrug as she completed their order.  “You play cover versions of What’s New, Pussycat and we are going to have a problem.” 

“What’s New, Pussycat?”  Jinu asked, looking baffled. 

“It is the most annoying song in the entire world. It drives everyone who hears it crazy.  It’s torture to listen to,”  Mira explained. 

“You wanna hear it?” Zoey offered as she dug around in her bag. She pulled out a notebook and pen and some headphones.  She held them out to Jinu.  “You can listen to it on these.” 

“Actually, I am kinda curious now,” Jinu said, taking the headphones from her. “I’ve experienced actual tort -” He glanced at Rumi, and then didn’t finish that sentence. “ - I mean, how bad can a song actually be?”  He gave a shrug and slid the headphones over his ears. 

His eyes widened, and he looked at Zoey in surprise. “The sound quality on these is incredible,” he said excitedly. His face wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand the problem with the song. This is actually really good. It’s got a great beat and fun tune and the singers sound like you girls?” 

Zoey looked up from her phone with a grin. “Thanks! That’s a really old one of ours from our first album. Listening to our songs calms me down when I’m stressed,” she added, fiddling with her phone. “Just let me find it…” she muttered.

“Makes sense. I’m feeling less stressed already just listening to this,” Jinu said, nodding his head a little and doing a bit of a shoulder bop to the music, a slight smile on his face.  

Rumi could tell the exact moment  Zoey changed the song on her phone because suddenly Jinu made a face.  He stopped doing his little dance and frowned severely. 

“It’s definitely annoying,” he said after listening for a few moments. “I don’t understand why he is singing about something so shameful. I know I’m from a long time ago, but back in my day if people were - “ he glanced at Rumi and chose his next words very carefully “ - being inappropriate with their domestic animals, they used to try to keep it a secret, not sing an annoying song about it.”

Zoey burst out laughing. “I think Pussycat was just his nickname for his girlfriend at the time.”

“We don’t actually know that for sure. He really could have been fu -” Mira glanced at Rumi too and paused mid-word, “ inappropriate with his cat,” she finished. 

“That’s so gross. The poor cat. Why do you girls spend all your time hunting demons when this monster is out there being inappropriate with cats,” Jinu joked, but it sounded like he was only half-joking and was actually dead serious about his anger at the animal abuse. 

Zoey gave him a thoughtful look. 

She was an animal lover too, so she probably agreed. 

Jinu listened for two more seconds, then shook his head. “That’s terrible. The song I mean, not these.” He slid the headphones off his ears and handed them back to Zoey. “These are amazing”

“They’re meze headphones,” Zoey said proudly. “They’re made with carbon fibre and they’re eco-friendly and - ”

Their meat arrived, and Mira slapped a piece of pork belly loudly on the barbeque. It landed with a thump and a sizzle, interrupting Zoey’s  excitement over her headphones. “So, what’s your plan, demon?” She asked Jinu bluntly. 

“My plan?” Jinu asked, sounding baffled. (Which was kinda how Rumi assumed he would react to the concept of having a plan). 

“Are you going to try to take over the world or try and break the golden honmoon or what?” Mira asked, slapping another slice of meat on the barbeque with some alacrity. 

“I’m just busking, eating and trying not to D-I-E,” he said with a shrug.

Rumi hated when grown-ups did this. 

She was nearly ten!

That was nearly a teenager!

She wasn’t an idiot. 

“I can spell, you know!” She snapped at Jinu. “And I knew  your plan sucked!” 

She knew it! 

Jinu was the worst at plans. 

He couldn’t plan his way out of a wet paper bag. 

This was why he needed Rumi to do the plans for him. 

“I’m not going to let you die.  You should come live with us and we will protect you,” Rumi declared to the table, her mind made up.  

There was an awkward silence around the table. 

Her plan was great, but it looked like nobody agreed with her. Instead, the grown-ups all exchanged looks, and it looked like they were agreeing with each other for the first time ever. 

“That’s not a great idea Rumi,” Zoey said gently. 

“Why not? Jinu’s my friend, and you said we were equals. I bet Big Rumi would have been allowed to keep a friend in the apartment,” Rumi huffed, crossing her arms and feeling an unusual stubbornness rise within her. 

Maybe it was because Mira and Zoey and Jinu weren’t Celine, so it felt more okay to argue with them. 

There was another awkward silence in the face of her stubbornness. The grown-ups exchanged another glance, like they knew something that Rumi didn’t. 

“The problem is…” Jinu started to say,  turning away from the girls and back to Rumi. “Ah… the problem is…” he paused again, and looked like he was thinking, and that was always a bad sign. “The problem is that Zoey has such a big, fat crush on me. She just can’t help herself. She’s always going to be asking me out if I stay with you.”

Oh no!

Not again!

Jinu was breaking the awkward silence and replacing it with something so much worse. 

Rumi made an absolutely scandalized face.

Zoey was never going to let Jinu live with them now!

“ - I mean, who could blame her when I look like this?” Jinu continued smugly. He gestured vaguely towards his own smug face. 

Rumi didn’t think it was possible, but he was making it worse!

Every word he said made it so much worse. 

It made Rumi want to hide her face from the sheer amount of secondhand embarrassment she was feeling. 

Rumi glared at Jinu,  shocked and appalled. She tried to mentally will him to just shut up. He needed to stop talking while she still had a chance to fix it. She tried to kick him under the table but her legs were too short, so she had to settle for nudging him with her elbow instead of stomping on his foot. He made a noise from being elbowed, but Rumi’s point sailed over his head and he continued blithely. 

“ If I lived with you three,  poor Zoey would just be tormented by her love for me and I’d drive her so crazy with lust  and everyone would be uncomfortable and it would make the vibe really awkward …. like it is in one of those TV shows you like,” Jinu concluded. He smiled that dumb smile that he did when he thought he was so funny.

Just. 

There was no fixing that. 

Jinu was so dumb!

He’d ruined her brilliant plan! 

The girls were never, ever going to let him live with them now. 

Rumi wasn’t even sure if she wanted him to live with them anymore if he was this dumb!

“Okay. You realise Zoey is going to slap you if you keep making dumb jokes like that, and I won’t do a single thing to stop it,”  Rumi scolded Jinu. 

Rumi couldn’t even look at Zoey right now, but she was sure the other girl was embarrassed and mortified. 

“I thought you were my friend,” Jinu gasped. 

“Nah, you are going to deserve it,” Rumi said, frowning severely at him. 

She didn’t understand. 

Jinu was always so nice to her. 

Why was he being so ridiculous around her friends? She’d only just got them to agree not to kill him, and then he went and undid all her good work! 

She had never felt  more  frustrated with another person in her entire life. 

“ See, this is why I can’t live with you. Even you’ll turn against me if we spend too much time together. I’m super annoying to live with,” Jinu said with a sad shake of his head, like him being annoying was an inevitability rather than something he could simply choose not to do.  “Trust me, Rumi. You don’t want me around,”  he added more gently.

He was wrong about that, but Rumi couldn’t fix this situation now.  

Rumil glanced at Zoey, expecting to see her plotting murder with the meat scissors, but instead she was giving Jinu an oddly fond look, as if Jinu had done her some kind of favour by exposing her super embarrassing crush. 

Oh no! 

Maybe the crush was real!

Zoey was looking at Jinu like she liked him and thought he was funny, and the only way anyone could think that after his ridiculous little speech was if they had a crush on him for real life!

“Thank you for respecting my feelings,” Zoey said, in this over-exaggerated way, like she was so overcome by emotion that she was nearly laughing. 

Gross!

Zoey really did have a crush on Jinu. 

Rumi wasn’t going to judge her friends. 

But Zoey had weird taste in guys. 

It was so weird and wrong that Rumi couldn’t help but feel so annoyed by it! 

This revelation was making her feel so uncomfortable already. Her whole stomach was churning at the idea of Jinu and Zoey together.  

So Gross

This was the grossest thing she had ever heard about in her whole life! 

 (Zoey and Jinu were both clearly animal lovers. They both liked good sound-quality headphones. They both had black hair. That was three things in common. Did that make them a couple already?)

Rumi’s mind whirred with questions. Did Big Rumi know about Zoey’s crush oh Jinu? Did she know about Jinu’s crush on her? 

Rumi had figured both out pretty quickly, but grown-ups were so weird about their crushes. She’d seen so many TV shows where the main characters just became complete idiots in real life the second they fell in love.  

Rumi loved watching TV shows, but she didn’t want to live in one, surrounded by lovesick weirdos. She didn’t want the beautiful Huntrix  apartment to have awkward vibes.  

Jinu living with them could have been having three adults being nice to her all the time and  giving her all their attention. 

But instead…

“Let’s forget about it,” Rumi said, shaking her head in disgust, closing the subject of Jinu living with them. “It was a bad idea anyway.” 

Mira had been concentrating on the grill and it seemed like she was struggling to keep a straight face. (She was probably suppressing her rage and using the barbeque tools for their intended purpose seemed to be helping her not commit murder). She started cutting up the meat, saying “It’s ready.”

Soon Mira and Zoey’s attention was completely focussed on watching Jinu eat.  He was eating at lightning speed. The foodgasm noises he was making were obscene. The blissful expression on his face as he ate was definitely going to make Zoey’s weird crush worse. 

(Rumi had seen enough romantic dramas to know that grown-ups liked watching each other eat. There was something sensual about it, but Rumi Did Not Want To Know). 

“He lived through a famine,” Rumi explained to the other two, trying to make excuses for the way Jinu shoveled food into his mouth. 

“It’s all good,” Mira waved that off, like no explanation was needed.  “But this is how it’s done.” Then she eyeballed Jinu, got a  huge chunk of meat, wrapped it in a leaf with all of the side-dishes, and shoved the whole fist-size bite into her mouth, and made her own food orgasm noises. “The sides are unlimited, so you can have as much as you want and they’ll keep refilling them,”  she said to Jinu when she finished chewing. 

“Good to know!” Jinu said, and copied what she’d done, trying to make his own massive mouthful with everything. 

Mira watched him and seemed to see this as some kind of challenge, because she made another, even bigger mouthful. 

Then Zoey joined in, seemingly out of solidarity. 

Now all three of them were doing it!

Rumi didn’t understand how it happened, but now some kind of eating competition was taking place right in front of her. They were all shoving massive fistfuls of food into their mouths, like they were trying to see who could fit the most in!

Celine had always been such a stickler for etiquette when they were at a restaurant. Rumi was allowed to eat normally on Jeju Island, but she had to eat daintily when they were in a restaurant especially in Seoul, because Celine often got photographed and she wanted people to think she was raising Rumi correctly, to be a polite and upstanding young lady. 

But this was a quiet restaurant and there were no photographers around and maybe Rumi could just start shoveling food into her mouth too?

If everyone else at the table was doing it, then surely it was okay?

And Celine wasn’t here. 

Rumi joined in. 

It would be rude not to. 

And she had good manners. 

Chapter Text

“We have a couple of questions for you,”  Zoey said, moving her plate a little to the side and picking up her notebook and pen. 

“Fire away,” Jinu shrugged before turning to Rumi to give her a goofy smile. “ At least I’m not tied up this time,” he joked. 

Rumi was still a little cranky at him, so she didn’t smile back. She reached up and put her hand over his face and smushed him away. “That is still very much an option,” she grumbled, even though she didn’t mean it seriously. 

“First question - where are Derpy and Sussy now?”  Zoey asked seriously.

Jinu looked a little surprised that this was Zoey’s first question, but then gave a little shrug and answered. “They do their own thing during the day up here. I see them more at night.” Jinu said.

Zoey scribbled something in her notebook then looked up again. “Where did you get them?”

“I didn’t get them from anywhere. They just came to the demon world and found me one day. Then they decided to stay with me,” Jinu explained  as he started piling up another leaf with some meat and side dishes. 

“Do you know where they came from? We were told there weren’t any spirit guardians left,” Zoey continued. 

“I don’t know for sure, but sometimes…” Jinu trailed off and looked sadly down at his hands.  “Forget I said anything. It’s just a dumb theory.” He made a dismissive little wave, like he was trying to wipe away the idea. 

“I’d like to hear it anyway,” Rumi said, feeling curious. She gave Jinu a big smile, which must have persuaded him. 

“When I was a kid, our neighbour tried drowning the runt of her cat’s litter, but I fished it out of the water and saved it. My mother thought it was a stupid, useless cat but she let me keep it anyway. I found an injured magpie not long after, and I looked after that bird until it was healthy enough to fly again. Sometimes Derpy and Sussy remind me of those animals,” Jinu said quietly, and he sounded almost shy.  

“Aaawwww, that’s so cute!” Zoey grinned.

Oh no! 

That story probably made Zoey’s weird and wrong crush on Jinu even worse. She was a total animal lover… but she didn’t even make an adoring face at him despite the fact that it was actually kinda really sweet the way he looked after animals when he was a kid. 

Instead Zoey was straight back to business, and looking at the next question in her notebook. “If I wanted to get a magic tiger of my own, how would I -” She started to ask just as Jinu ate another mouthful. 

“No more animal questions,” Mira cut her off, and Rumi felt a wave of gratitude towards her. (If Jinu gave Zoey a tiger of her own, she wouldn’t just have a dumb crush, she’d be completely in love). “Let’s ask what we need to know,” Mira said to Zoey sensibly before turning and pointing her chopstick accusingly at Jinu. “The magic spell the demons used  to put patterns on Rumi - how do we reverse it?” she demanded.

Jinu’s eyes widened in surprise and he started coughing and spluttering, like the mouthful of pork belly he’d been eating had gone down the wrong way.  Rumi reached over and slapped his back to help.  Jinu cleared his  throat a couple of times before looking back up at Mira in confusion. “The magic what?

“Celine told us about how you demons used a magic spell to put patterns on Rumi and we are going to take them off,” Zoey explained. “We just want to know how it works and if it’s connected to…. the little problem.” 

“You're surprised by my question,” Mira said, narrowing her eyes and giving Jinu a scrutinizing look. “You’ve clearly never heard about a pattern magic spell.  Do you think Celine is lying to us?” Mira asked directly, pointing her chopstick again. 

Rumi felt anxiety crawling in her stomach. Mira and Zoey didn’t fully believe Celine, but how long would it be until they discovered  the truth? Her anxiety must have shown on her face, because Zoey reached out to her and rubbed her shoulder.  “It’s okay Rumi. We’ll figure everything out one way or another,” She said gently.  

Jinu was taking a long sip of his drink after coughing so much, but he also seemed to be thinking about how to answer Mira’s question at the same time. He put his glass down and swallowed slowly before speaking.  “So, I don’t know anything about a magic spell, but that doesn’t mean Celine is lying.  That sort of thing would be way above my level,” he said casually, like his answer didn’t make Rumi want to exhale this huge sigh of relief. 

“Level? We were taught that all demons were the same. Surely, you’re all on the same level?” Mira said, pointing her chopstick like she was trying to poke holes in Jinu’s story.

Jinu shook his head. “No, it’s not an equal opportunity society down there,” he snorted in amusement, like Mira had said something hilarious. “There are lots of different demon types  and some are way more powerful than others. Magic spells like that would need a lot of power. It would require an arch-demon, or potentially an enforcer - they’re pretty powerful too. They carry some of Gwi-ma’s magic with them,” Jinu said.

The girls exchanged looks, but they seemed to be listening. Rumi felt the tight knot of anxiety bunched in her stomach loosen a little as the conversation moved away from her and Celine’s lies. Zoey was scribbling frantically in her notebook, and Mira pointed her chopstick again. “Were there any of these types of demons up at the Idol Awards that night.” 

“There were lots of enforcers. Gwi-ma was hoping for…. a different outcome,” Jinu said, choosing his words carefully.  “Enforcers were sent to make sure me and the other demons fulfilled our mission, but they could have had other orders I don’t know about.”

“I thought you were the boss? So you would have known all the orders,” Mira said, pointing with her interrogation chopstick again. 

“Well,  the Saja Boys was my idea, and I was the best performer out of the music demons, but -”

“What’s a music demon?” Zoey interrupted, looking up from her note-taking. She actually seemed genuinely interested. 

“A demon who was good at music when they were human,” Jinu said, like this answer should have been obvious to them. “Before Gwi-ma rose to power, music demons would mess with instruments and make them play impossible melodies, or inspire musicians and help make music.”

“Evil music?” Mira guessed with a severe frown.

“All sorts of music,” Jinu said. “Angry music, sad music, dance music  - is that evil to you?” He frowned back at Mira. 

“Yes!” Mira said firmly. “You’re leading people astray with catchy tunes or making them sad or angry.” 

“People already feel sad and angry,” Jinu snapped, sounding genuinely frustrated for a second. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed deeply. “The hunters sing songs of hope and courage, but maybe people don’t feel hopeful and courageous all the time. Maybe they need music for when they feel sad and angry too,” he said more calmly. 

There was an awkward silence as neither Mira or Zoey knew what to say in response to that.  Rumi wanted to say something to smooth things over. The adults weren’t outright squabbling right now, but she could still feel the potential argument simmering below the surface and threatening to erupt.  

Rumi understood why the girls were mistrustful of a demon, but she wished they weren’t. Jinu was obviously getting a bit offended, even though he was trying to be patient. And he’d covered for her when the girls were talking about the idea that Celine was lying to them.  Rumi felt like she should stick up for him now so it wasn’t three against one. 

“I really liked the song I heard you play,”  Rumi said encouragingly to Jinu, who smiled gratefully at her. “His music is really good. You guys should listen to him, and give him a chance,”  She said, appealing to Zoey and Mira with what Celine called her puppy-dog eyes. 

Celine normally said the puppy-dog eyes wouldn’t work on her, but they clearly had an effect on Mira and Zoey.  They made a sheepish face at each other and seemed to silently agree to be less hostile. 

“So you think an enforcer could potentially have the power to put a spell on Rumi. What can you tell us about them?” Mira asked Jinu in a slightly softer tone, putting her interrogation chopstick down.

“They’re like… Gwi-ma’s police force,” Jinu said after a beat. “They enforce his order and his rules. They aren’t enslaved like the rest of us. They just like to be cruel.  They don’t come topside too much, because their main job is to keep us all in line down in the demon world.  But they come up for important missions to make sure the demons involved in them don’t screw up or try to run away.” 

“Demons try to run away?” Mira said, sounding taken aback.   

“Of course we do. Wouldn’t you?” Jin replied. 

“What do enforcers look like? We could catch one and interrogate it?” Zoey asked, looking up from her notebook after frantically writing something in it. 

“In their demon form they are huge, and they often have gnarly weapons. They have some of Gwi-ma’s powers. They carry a bit of his fire in their weapons and they can create and control their own faceless hordes - “ Jinu started to explain. 

“That’s what the demon on the train was. That’s what knocked Rumi down and took all the passengers,” Mira said to Zoey, like she’d just solved a mystery. 

“Big Rumi got knocked down?” Rumi asked, feeling an unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach. She thought she was going to grow up to be a super hunter, with super strength and super speed.  

“It wouldn’t have been your fault,” Jinu said quickly.  Enforcers are fu -”  he stopped and looked at her, “- fudging jerks.”

“Yeah, fudge the demon police,” Zoey said, holding up her glass for a cheers. 

“Fudge the police,”  Jinu agreed, clinking his own glass against hers.

Rumi absolutely knew what word they really wanted to say. 

She was nearly 10! 

 But they both seemed to think they’d done something noble to protect her poor innocent ears from swear words and were looking pleased with themselves. Since this was a huge improvement over squabbling with each other, Rumi let it slide.

“Zoey, don’t cheers him,” Mira said quickly, reaching her long arm out to lower Zoey’s glass.

 “Okay,  so the little problem - what do we do about that?” Zoey asked in a much more friendly tone, turning back to her notebook. 

“I don’t know,” Jinu shrugged. 

Mira made an annoyed noise. 

 She didn’t know that was just how Jinu answered most questions. 

“No, really. The little problem isn’t demonic. That’s definitely the honmoon’s handiwork.  Didn’t you see the gold wrap around Big Rumi?” Jinu asked. 

“No, because we had been tricked and led backstage by some fudging demons,” Mira grumbled. 

“Well the golden threads all wrapped around her and then everything went dark and then Little Rumi was here,” Jinu explained.

Bbbrrrr!

The sound of a mobile vibrating interrupted their conversation. Zoey pulled out her phone and looked up at them a little apologetically.  She put it on the table between her and Mira and pressed a button.  “Hi Bobby!” They both said in unison, using the same cheery sing-song voice. 

“Girls! I can’t handle this! What on earth is happening with Bomi wandering around Mye -”  Bobby’s frantic voice echoed out from the speaker on the phone. 

Rumi felt her guts squirming anyway. She’d made another problem for Mira and Zoey and Bobby and she didn’t know how to fix it. 

Mira very quickly took him off speaker. “One second Bobby,” she said into the phone before covering the screen with her hand.  “It’s okay Rumi. We’ll handle this,” she said gently, then she turned to Jinu. “ Don’t go anywhere,” she added in only a vaguely threatening tone. 

(That was a huge improvement for Mira.)

Mira and Zoey walked off to a quiet corner of the restaurant so that Rumi couldn’t overheard their conversation with Bobby.

“You okay?” Jinu asked when they were out of earshot. 

“Yeah,” Rumi nodded, forcing all her worries down deep and trying to smile. “Thanks for covering for me,” She added gratefully. 

“No problem,” Jinu said, giving her a soft smile. “I think I bought you some time, at least.  But why is Celine telling everyone that demons put patterns on you?”

“The TV cameras showed them after those mean demons took my jacket during the Idol Awards broadcast. The Diamond Grannies saw, and so she had to think of something quickly,”  Rumi answered. 

“Who are The Diamond Grannies?”

“They were the group of hunters before Celine and my mother and Auntie Dasom. They were called The Diamonds. Celine says  they’re massive boomers, so they are set in their ways, but they mean well,” Rumi explained. 

Jinu nodded and looked thoughtful. “I can see why keeping it a secret from them is a good idea, but did you want to tell Zoey and Mira the truth at least?” He asked gently. “A lot of weird stuff is happening and it might make figuring everything out easier if they know.”

“I can’t until I’m sure. They accept me and my patterns when they think it’s a spell and they’re just temporary… but I don’t know how they’ll react if they know,” Rumi whispered, keeping her voice low and glancing at Zoey and Mira to make sure they were out of earshot. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

Jinu looked incredibly sad for a moment. He looked down at his hands and sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.  “I won’t let you down this time,” he said after a second.

Rumi tilted her head and looked at him quizzically. This time? She wanted to ask him about the time he did let her down, since he’d always been such a good friend to her, but before she could ask, Zoey and Mira wandered back over to their table and their chance to just talk was gone again.

Chapter Text

 “We need to get Rumi back to normal as soon as possible,” Mira declared as she and Zoey sat back down after their conversation with Bobby.  “You don’t know anything about the little problem or the pattern spell, but do you at least know how to reverse it and take the patterns away?” she asked Jinu directly. 

“I really don’t know,”  Jinu said, holding his arms out in a what can you do gesture. “But I think that if Rumi’s patterns can't be taken away, it's not the worst thing,” he added oh-so-casually. 

“No! It is the worst thing,” Mira argued. “Some stinky demon has put his demon stink on her and now she's stuck with it.”

“I’m just saying having patterns doesn’t change who she is. She's still Rumi,” Jinu said reasonably.

Mira and Zoey were both quiet for a moment when he said that, and Rumi felt her heart lift a little in hope. Maybe they’d agree and…

“Yeah. We should look on the bright side. At least it’s just patterns on the surface. She doesn't have any demon powers,”  Zoey said, with an optimistic smile. 

Rumi felt her heart sink again.

She tried to keep her expression neutral, so her disappointment wouldn't show. But she didn’t trust herself to speak. Instead she just nodded back at Zoey.

Jinu sighed audibly and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He shot Rumi an apologetic look. She gave him a small, grateful smile. At least he tried, and at least she knew where she stood now. 

“Listen, I think you guys need to focus on the de-aging thing, not the patterns. It’s definitely the honmoon that did that and that is hunter stuff,” Jinu said firmly as he turned back towards the girls.  “ I think it's safer if Rumi is bigger. You guys are hopeless at looking after kids,” he added, sounding genuinely annoyed at Mira and Zoey. 

Mira and Zoey both made offended faces at him.

 “You’re the hopeless one!” Mira shot back. 

 “You didn’t even feed her this morning and you let her wander off in the middle of Myeongdong! What If I hadn’t found her?” Jinu pointed out, abandoning all attempts at being patient with this conversation.  

“She only did that because she heard your stupid song!” 

“Please be nice to each other,” Rumi interrupted, before this could become a full-blown squabble. Lunch had been going… she couldn’t say it had been going well, but it hadn’t been going terrible either. Now the adults were sniping at each other.  

Again.

Mira and Jinu both made sheepish faces in response to her scolding.  They didn’t apologise to each other, but they stopped arguing.

At least they listened to her. 

That was something. 

“The honmoon responds to emotion,” Zoey said quietly, turning her mind to the de-aging problem like Jinu suggested . She was trying to smooth over the squabble with Rumi by changing the subject. She made a quizzical expression and tapped her pen a few times.  “Rumi, can you remember anything that you were thinking and feeling when it was forming? You were the only one singing, so your emotions would have influenced it. Anything you can remember from being older could help."

Rumi closed her eyes and tried to cast  her mind back, but there was nothing from her big life in her brain. The last thing she remembered was watching TV in her bedroom before waking up on the stage. 

“Sorry. I can’t,” Rumi apologised. 

Suddenly Jinu sat up much straighter. His eyes narrowed and he looked  like  he was listening to something in the far distance. He bolted up to a standing position.  “Listen, Rumi’s safe back with you guys,  and that’s the main thing.  Just feed her more and keep her safe,” he said, pulling the strap of his instrument case over his shoulder hurriedly. 

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Rumi asked in confusion. 

“Sorry, Rumi. I have to go,” Jinu replied softly. 

 “We’re not finished here yet. I still have more questions,” Zoey said. 

“You’ll have to save them for another time,” Jinu said absently as he reached into his wallet and started counting notes at rapid speed. He put them on the table, and gave them a little bow. “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure.”

He almost didn’t sound sarcastic when he said that. 

“Bye Rumi,” Jinu said just to her, then he reached over and gave her hair another ruffle. 

She gasped loudly, but before she could retaliate, he’d gone. Jinu had walked out the door of the restaurant quick as a flash and within seconds Rumi had lost sight of him. 

“What was that all about? I wasn’t too mean, was I?” Mira asked, sounding a little perturbed.

As if in answer to her question, pink ripples shimmered through the honmoon. 

-0-

They got the bill and paid up. Jinu had left more than enough cash to cover lunch for everyone, and for some reason this really annoyed Mira. She put lunch on her credit card and shoved the cash back in her wallet. “I’m giving this back to him when I next see him,” she muttered. 

“I can't believe Jinu paid for our lunch. We have a private jet. He busks for a living. He didn’t need to do that. It’s gotta be a power play!” Mira grumbled as they walked towards the square  looking for the demons who had set off the honmoon.. “My dad does stuff like that. He pays for people so that they owe him something. I’m not going to be indebted to a demon.”

“I don’t think it’s a powerplay. It could just be that he’s from the Joseon era,” Rumi said sensibly in Jinu’s defense.  “That’s just how society was in the olden days. Men were expected to pay for everything. He’s just doing what he thinks is the right thing.” 

“Maybe,” Mira acknowledged. “It’s still annoying though.”

“It is,” Zoey agreed with Mira. “But I also think Rumi’s right. I don’t think he was doing it maliciously,” she added, so that she could be on Rumi’s side too. 

Rumi was quickly realising that Zoey always tried to be on everyone’s side in any dispute. 

The three of them arrived at the square and looked for those tell-tale signs of demonic activity.  Another busker was performing where Jinu had been; a street magician this time. A crowd had gathered around for the next trick. 

Three of the audience members looked very much out of place. 

 “Look - there they are!” Rumi said eagerly, pointing at the pink ripples round the feet of three enormous security guards, standing in the middle of the square.  

With some demons it was hard to tell if they were a demon until they showed their claws, but everyone recognised something off about the three security guards. People had left a wide circle around them and no one would go near them.

They were so tall they loomed over the crowd. Their eyes had an unnatural glow to them and their pupils were too small. They looked like the eyes of a predator.  Even the way they stood was menacingly as they scanned the crowd. 

The honmoon didn’t flash in warning around Jinu, but it was blinking demon-pink around these guys. 

The Honmoon warned them when demons with violent intentions were around. For it to keep warning them....

These guys were bad.

“Should we -” Rumi mimed a knife across her throat, excitedly. Celine never let her go on hunts, but it looked like Zoey and Mira might.

“It’s a bit public here,” Mira replied.   

“Oh look, they’re moving,” Zoey said, pointing. “Let’s follow them and try to lead them somewhere quieter.”

Rumi, Mira and Zoey followed them inconspicuously as the three security guards wandered over to the crepe stall where she and Jinu had got breakfast. 

The biggest one sniffed the air like a bloodhound. “He was here. The stench of traitor lingers,” he announced. 

“Traitors smell like crepes?” one with big ears asked.

“No, they smell like betrayal. I’m smelling betrayal!” Big Nose snapped.

“Betrayal smells like crepes?”  Big Ears asked with some confusion. 

Big Nose slapped Big Ears upside the head. Big Ears fell to the ground so forcefully he broke some cracks into the concrete. 

  “We’re really close this time. He might have only just left.  We can still trace where he went,” Big Nose added with a smirk.  

“Ugh. I'm so sick of chasing him,” the third security guard demon complained.

“Once we grab him, you can torture him as long as you want” Big Nose promised. "We'll catch him soon. He's getting slower. He never stays in one place this long."

“What's the point?” The Third One continued to complain.  “Gwi-ma already tortured the hell out of him before the Idol Awards for meeting up with that hunter girl -”

Rumi gasped, absolutely horrified, feeling her heart clench in her chest.    

“ - You’d think being tortured by Gwi-ma would get the point across, but Jinu still fucked everything up and betrayed us for her.  I’ll just rip his spleen out through his mouth and then it's done and dusted.” 

Zoey reached out and covered Rumi’s ears. It was unclear whether this was to protect Rumi’s delicate ears from swear words or from the knowledge that Jinu had been tortured because of her. Either way,  it didn’t work because Rumi could still hear them. 

“You can't start by ripping his spleen. That's too quick. Gwi-ma wants him to suffer,” Big Nose scolded. “There’s a list of stuff we gotta do to him before we can kill him.” 

“How long is this list?” The third one groaned. “I just need a rough estimate for how long it will take before I’m allowed to rip his spleen.” 

“Look, all I know is that  we have to start by breaking every single bone in his hands so he can't play that dumb instrument anymore,” Big Nose said before sniffing the air again. “He went this way.” 

The three demons started walking the way Big Nose had pointed. Rumi felt a little unsettled when she realised they were following the exact route that she and Jinu had walked this morning when they were looking for Mira and Zoey.  She tip-toed behind them with the girls.

“How will we know if we’ve got every bone? There’s a lot of bones in the hand, especially if the demon used to be human. You ever break every bone in human hands before?” The Third One continued to complain. 

“ I used to pulverise kneecaps,” Big Ears offered cheerfully. 

“Well, I wasn't asking about kneecaps,” The Third One snapped. “Kneecaps are an entirely separate subject.”

“If I pulverise his hands I don’t think any bones are coming out of that unbroken,” Big Ears said defensively.  

“Do you think I can get transferred to the Tongsin team?” The Third One suddenly asked Big Nose hopefully.  “They’re pulverising the blue haired one right now. Dumbass got caught at the airport trying to escape.” 

“No transfers,” Big Nose said sternly. “You’re on Kidari team until further notice.” 

“ I need a break from all this chasing. I  haven't ripped a demon’s spleen out through their mouth in ages,” The Third One sighed melodramatically. 

“Go rip some human spleens until you feel better,” Big Nose said, making a little shooing gesture with his hands. 

“I tried that. It didn’t work,” The Third One whined. “Human spleens just aren’t the same.”

“We know where two of the suckers are hiding. The idiots are just hunkering down in the same place.  That's two demon spleens with one stone,” Big Ears suggested.

“Two spleens with one bludgeon,” The Third One corrected, lifting the bludgeon that was attached to his belt slightly as he spoke. 

“Those two are for Hangang team,” Big Nose informed them. “They were decent soul-suckers before they got caught on the wrong side of the honmoon. Gwi-ma wants their hearts gouged and Hangang team are the best heart-gougers.” 

“Aw. That’s nice of Gwi-ma,” Big Ears said in a similar tone of voice to the one Zoey used when she was looking at pictures of turtles.  “See, Gwi-ma can be so  merciful. He’s giving them a quick death.”

“Yeah. He’s a good king.  He only orders demons pulverized if they deserve it,” The Third One agreed as they turned down the quieter alley that the girls and Jinu had hidden in after those teenagers had filmed Mira. 

“Well, Jinu deserves everything coming to him,” Big Nose said as he strode towards the restaurant they’d just come from.  

Rumi knew she was too young for hunts, she knew Celine would be upset to know she was even thinking about this, and she knew these demons were much bigger than average. 

But she was going to kill them. 

The alley was deserted.  This was going to be their best chance. 

She wasn’t letting these demons out of this alley alive. 

She wasn’t going to let them hurt Jinu. 

Rumi drew her sword. 

Chapter Text

Rumi charged forward with a battle cry, sword ready, just as Celine had taught her in training. 

The three demons turned. 

Big Nose smirked. 

He seemed to be the leader. 

Rumi would aim for him. 

She leapt in the air,  poised to strike like a hammer blow. 

The demon dropped his human disguise. 

Rumi’s eyes widened in horror. 

He grew in front of her until he was gigantic. 

The policeman’s baton in his hand transformed into something large and lumpy and covered in spikes. 

He swung it like a baseball bat. 

The blow caught her on the side of her body when she was mid-air. She slammed into the wall of the building on the side of the alley with a painful crunch. Her vision blurred. She slid to the ground slowly.  

She tasted blood in her mouth. 

Her ears were ringing.  

There was a flurry of fighting in the alley. 

She was dimly aware of Mira and Zoey yelling something.

 Perhaps it was her name. 

They sounded scared. 

“It’s our lucky day. Keep the other two back,” Big Nose barked at the demons. 

His shadow loomed over Rumi as he came close.

“I don’t see how running into hunters makes us lucky,” The Third One snapped, as he summoned a faceless horde with Big Ears.   The huge horde moved like a liquid stream of menace, scuttling towards Mira and Zoey. 

“This tiny girl is the one that made the golden honmoon.  The honmoon always weakens when a hunter dies. I think if we kill her, it’ll sap the golden shine right off honmoon,” Big Nose said happily. He smiled down at her, showing all his teeth. “ And she’s so little and defenseless now.” 

Mira and Zoey were both screaming her name now. 

Rumi could see the blur of their honmoon weapons over the top of the faceless horde. They were fighting their way to her.

Big Nose was raising his club above his head. 

Rumi’s heart pounded with dread.

Mira and Zoey weren’t going to get there in time. 

She had to do something.

Rumi’s side was screaming in pain but she reached forward to draw her sword again.  

She lunged out at the nearest part of Big Nose she could reach - his legs.

She stabbed him in the shin. 

Her saingeom slid into his leg like it was butter. 

She wiggled it back and forth slightly, and it cut through all the bone, muscle and sinew. 

He screamed in agony as his lower right leg and foot exploded into pink glitter. 

His stance was broken and his club was too large and unwieldy. Without his right leg, Big Nose toppled backwards and landed with a slam that shook the ground. 

Mira used her gokdo like a pole vaulter, while Zoey distracted the other two demons. She sailed over Rumi and Big Nose, her pink hair streaming behind her like a triumphant flag. She landed gracefully as a dancer  and drove the base of her gokdo into Big Nose’s skull. 

He exploded with a roar  of outrage. 

Mira was  in front of her, checking her over, her eyes wide with distress. 

“Mira, I could really use your help now,”  Zoey called out as the other two demons sent out a continuous stream of purple, blank-faced creatures towards her. 

“Get behind me. Stay low and stay out of this,” Mira instructed Rumi sternly. 

“But I can fight!” Rumi protested. 

She could help. 

She could. 

She was pretty sure her concussion was going away by magic. 

Her ears weren’t ringing anymore. 

She had a purple belt in taekwondo. 

“You’re too young to fight, okay? You’re only nine!” Mira yelled at her. 

“I’m nearly ten,” Rumi argued back. 

“Okay, so that’s still nine,” Mira sassed, moving Rumi behind her as she turned to swing out with her gokdo pointed towards Big Ears. 

TheThird One abandoned his friend,  and slunk into his own faceless horde, using them as human-shields, well demon-sheilds, against Mira and Zoey’s honmoon weapons.

Big Ears realised he had been left alone and was caught between Mira and Zoey.

“No Fair!” He yelled at the other faceless demon horde, before turning his attention back towards Mira and Zoey. He moved his hands apart and his horde split into two streams, but both were smaller and less crowded now. He aimed them at Mira and Zoey, who began cutting through what was left of his horde like reapers at harvest time. 

The other faceless horde dissipated, leaving no trace of The Third One. 

Rumi looked around anxiously for him. He was as big a threat as the other two, and she didn’t like that not having eyes on him.

Where could he have gone?

She took a step away from Mira and looked up and down the alley. 

She felt sharp claws at her throat. 

The Third One had materialised out of the shadows behind her.

“You really are defenseless now,”  He leered. Rumi could feel his hot breath on her ear and she shuddered in revulsion. One of his claws scratched up her side.  “I’ve never ripped a child’s spleen before,” he crooned, almost tauntingly. 

He was trying to scare her. 

That made her so mad!

She wasn’t scared of him.  

She didn’t have to be scared of him. 

She was part demon as well, and she was going to be a super hunter one day. 

He wasn’t getting her spleen!

He wasn’t getting her Jinu!

He wasn’t getting anything except a sword to the gut!

Rumi might be little, but she was never defenseless. This evil demon thought he could go around picking on little girls, but he had another thing coming.  She wasn’t going to let him kill her and open the honmoon for Gwi-ma again, not after everything Big Rumi had gone through to make the golden honmoon in the first place. 

She didn’t need her saingeom for this. 

It was too big and noticeable and he would see it coming. 

A eunjang-do was perfect. 

It was small, subtle, beautiful and deadly. 

She reached into the honmoon and thought stabby knife!

It came into her hands. 

She twisted her elbow so she could thrust backwards with her knife. 

The Third One howled in pain and released her. 

He was already disintegrating into pink glitter, but she still pulled the knife out of his gut and stabbed him with it again. 

And again. 

And once more for good measure. 

Until all that was left of him was pink specs wafting on the breeze

Just at that moment, Zoey had gotten close enough to slice Big Ears's neck open with her shinkal.  He exploded into pink glitter, the remains of his horde vanishing with him. 

Within an instant, it was over.

All was quiet in the alley, except for the gentle whisper of the breeze.  

-0-

Rumi felt the adrenaline leaving her body. She felt a little unsteady on her feet.  

She’d never been in a fight like that. It had been so brutal and violent.  She’d been so scared. Now that it was over, she felt drained of all her energy. She leaned heavily against the alley wall. Pain lanced up her side and she gasped. 

Mira and Zoey were fussing over her and scolding her and sending each other worried glances.  

“I have a little first aid kit,” Zoey was saying, “Mira, can you call for a car and I’ll do what I can.” 

Rumi felt a damp antiseptic square dab at a cut on her forehead, and she inhaled sharply through her teeth. It stung, but that wasn’t Zoey’s fault. Zoey muttered an apology as she  covered the graze with a bandaid.  

“So, the car will be here in two minutes and there’s a bunch of texts from Celine you need to look at,” Mira said, looking at her phone screen with consternation. 

Zoey checked her own phone. 

“Uh oh.”

-0-

The three of them were sitting in the backseat. The girls put Rumi on the window side. She’d had a big blow to the head when she’d hit the alley wall and they were worried she might feel nauseous. Zoey and Mira were trying to figure out the best way to respond to Celine. Rumi glanced over Zoey’s shoulder to read the screen. There was a small cascade of texts from Celine. 

Girls, I’ve had a call from Bobby? What on earth is happening??

   Girls, why is Rumi eating pancakes with a demon?

        Rumi is HOLDING HANDS WITH A DEMON. Where are you!?!? Why aren’t you with her?

                     EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF THIS!

Underneath that text message was a picture that had been copied from the internet.  It must have been taken by someone in the crowd when Jinu had been carrying her through the streets of Myengdong.  Rumi hadn’t been able to see his face when she’d been on his shoulders, but in this picture she could see that he’d been looking up at her with a big, goofy grin on his face. He was smiling like Rumi had said something that made him happy.  

The caption underneath said so cute, but clearly Celine disagreed. 

“Okay, this is bad. This is so bad! What do we tell Celine?” Zoey said anxiously. 

“I think we have to tell her the truth. She’s already seen the photos,” Mira reasoned. “And to be honest, some of the things Jinu told us today are things we actually should know about as hunters.  I think talking to a demon is okay if it is making us better hunters,” she said like she was trying to convince herself as much as Zoey.  “That rule doesn’t actually make sense. We should understand who we’re fighting.”

“I agree,” Zoey nodded. “And I think Rumi is right. Compared to Spleen-Ripper and friends, Jinu’s actually pretty harmless. He only wants to sing annoyingly catchy songs and eat barbeque and grumble at us about feeding Rumi properly. He’s like… a responsible demon.” 

“Yeah, we will tell Celine it’s totally fine that he and Rumi were hanging out, and we weren’t being bad babysitters, because she was with a responsible demon,” Mira said. “She’ll believe that, won’t she?”     

“We can show her my powerpoint,” Rumi chimed in. “Celine was the one who wanted me to learn how to use powerpoint, so she’ll be glad I made one.”

“Yeah! This is going to work,” Zoey said cheerfully. “That powerpoint is super convincing!”

“We’re just lucky she doesn’t know about us fighting the enforcers,” Mira said. “If she’s this mad about Rumi hanging out with a responsible demon, she’d have a stroke at the idea of Rumi being around spleen-ripping enforcers.”  

Rumi had never kept a secret from Celine, ever. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but she knew Celine would be so beyond angry about what had happened, and if she knew, there was no way she’d let Rumi stay with the girls. Rumi wanted to stay with the girls more than anything. She liked her life with them. 

She loved Celine, but it was just easier if she didn’t know. 

Still, Rumi wished she didn’t have to lie so much to the people she loved.

Chapter Text

The doors opened to the apartment. Celine’s voice immediately called out worriedly, “Girls! Where is Rumi?” 

Rumi, Mira and Zoey all jumped in surprise and looked at each other in panic. 

Rumi didn’t even have time to try and cover the bruises before Celine appeared at the end of the hall.  She gave Celine a little wave, whilst the girls shifted nervously on their feet. 

Celine saw her and visibly sagged in relief. Then she sprinted along the hall towards Rumi like she was running in the Olympics. She skidded to a stop and knelt down, her eyes going wide as she examined Rumi’s cuts and bruises.

 “Oh Rumi. What did that demon do to you?” She gasped, looking horrified.  Celine shot a look at Mira and Zoey and then purposefully put her hand on Rumi’s shoulder.  “Let’s go to the bathroom and get you patched up.”

Uh oh. 

That was Celine’s You are in so much trouble young lady look. Rumi had never seen it directed at anyone else, but it was always chilling to behold. She glanced worried back at Mira and Zoey. She didn’t want them to be in trouble. They all walked with Celine towards the largest bathroom.

“Celine, about today -”  Mira started trying to explain. 

“I don’t want to hear your excuses. Just go to the freezer and get Rumi an icepack,” Celine ordered.

She gestured for Rumi to stand in the middle of the room as she got the enormous first aid kit out from under the sink. 

“We really are sorry, Celine. We can explain -” Zoey tried. 

Celine held up her hand for silence.  “Don’t.”

 Zoey hovered anxiously at the bathroom door, as if she was waiting for further scolding. Mira returned and handed Celine the icepack. 

“Hold it on your head here,” Celine instructed Rumi, placing it over where Zoey had put the bandaid. Rumi was pretty sure she must have had a bruise coming up as well as a cut.  Rumi held the icepack against her temple and felt soothed. The cold definitely helped. 

Celine undid the buckles on Rumi’s overalls and started sliding them down brusquely.  Rumi felt suddenly shy about being stripped down and folded her free arm across her chest, trying to cover herself.

She knew the side where the demon hit her with his club was going to look bad, and she didn’t want to make things worse.  Celine was so upset right now, and Rumi didn’t want her to be any more stressed. She wasn’t yelling, but Rumi could still tell that she was inwardly freaking out.

“Rumi, you’re bleeding. Let me look. I just want to help,” Celine said much more gently.

There was no way to hide it.

Celine was going to see.

Rumi felt almost the tiniest bit of relief that there was no way to hide it. There was no point in lying, so for once Rumi didn’t even have to try.  

The girls had planned to put make up over the worst of it, then videocall Celine so she could see Rumi’s face. That way she’d know Rumi was okay now and she’d never need to know about their fight with enforcers.

But that plan had been torpedoed by Celine showing up in the apartment and waiting for them. 

“How did you get in here Celine?” Rumi asked as she unfolded herself and let Celine undress her. Her overall buckles were undone in a flash and the denim landed around her ankles. She dutifully stepped out of them.

“Rumi gave me a key to look after her plants while she was touring.  Her Rothschild Orchid is quite rare and they can be finnicky to care for,” Celine explained as she lifted Rumi’s t-shirt over her head.

She inhaled sharply as she saw Rumi’s side. 

It was a mottled mess of bluish purple bruises. The spikes had left some gouges in her skin. Some of them were still bleeding. 

Celine gave Mira and Zoey another look. 

“Zoey, go make a pot of hunter’s blend tea. Mira, go to the pharmacy and get three large water-proof wound dressings,” Celine commanded.

Rumi got the feeling Celine had sent them away out of her sight specifically so she wouldn’t shout at them.  Celine seemed to find it easier to be composed when they weren't in the room. 

Celine preferred being practical to showing emotions.  She immediately went back to her task. She wet a wash cloth with warm water and started cleaning off the worst of the blood, and checking for further injuries while Rumi stood shivering in her underwear and rainbow socks. 

“Big Rumi is into plants?” Rumi asked pleasantly, trying to engage Celine in conversation and take her mind off her bad feelings.  

It was a trick she’d learned from Celine.

 Sometimes Rumi pushed herself too hard in training. Celine always talked to her about the TV shows she was watching or homework she should be doing as a way of distracting her from her pain whilst performing first aid. 

“Yes, she got really into botany when she was teenager,” Celine said, dabbing at the grazes with disinfectant. “I had a little garden made for her at our home. She found the predictable nature of plants was relaxing.  She said she liked knowing that she just had to follow the care instructions and they’d bloom for her.” 

“What plants did -”

“Hold still and  just let that dry,” Celine said, cutting off her question and standing suddenly. “I’ll be back in a moment. There’s something I need to do.”

She walked out of the bathroom leaving Rumi alone.  Rumi looked down at the worst of the cuts. She was sure they were actually growing ever so slightly smaller… like they were healing on their own right in front of her. She didn’t heal as quickly as Jinu did, but it was still happening. 

“Dasom, we’ve found her,” Celine was saying into her phone as she paced up and down the hall outside.  Rumi watched her frantic footsteps  through the slightly-open crack in the bathroom door. 

“She’s alive, but she’s been hurt,” Celine said, her mouth pressed closed in a distressed frown.

There was a pause as Auntie Dasom said something on the other end. 

“I don’t have much time. I have to get back to her,” Celine said, running her hand through her hair distractedly and pacing back down the hall. “But I need you and the grannies to concentrate on eliminating the black-haired lead singer demon -”

No!

In an instant Rumi had opened the bathroom door and ran down the hall after Celine. 

“- Forget about all the others.  Focus on finding that one. He’s hurt Rumi. He needs to be eradicated with extreme prejudice.”

Rumi’s guts squirmed like wriggling snakes. She’d never disobeyed or disagreed with Celine, ever. They’d never even raised their voices to each other.

 But she couldn’t let this happen. 

She couldn’t let them hurt her Jinu. 

She jumped up and grabbed the phone out of Celine’s hand with a graceless yoinking motion. She ignored Celine saying “Rumi, what has gotten into you?” and pressed it to her ear. 

“Auntie Dasom, please don’t hurt him. He hasn't done anything wrong. Jinu's my friend. He’s not bad and - ” Rumi said, her words coming out in an urgent rush, as Celine tried to wrestle the phone back from her. 

“Dasom, I’m going to have to call you back,” Celine said into her phone once she had reclaimed it.  

She hung up and gestured for Rumi to walk back to the bathroom. It was a wordless command, but Rumi obeyed instantly.  

Maybe if Rumi was the best girl ever and followed all Celine’s instructions, Celine would be in a better mood and more open to listening. It was going to be easier to show her the PowerPoint and convince her if she was in a good mood.

Celine put her phone down on the counter and opened one of the compartments on the first aid box with slightly too much force.  She got out a tube of liquid stitches and wrenched off the lid. She started dabbing it on the deeper gouges in Rumi's side. “Rumi, that demon has violently attacked you. We’re just trying to protect you and - “

“No. Jinu took care of me. He didn’t attack me,” Rumi  protested. 

“This huge gash on your side begs to differ,” Celine said.

“It wasn’t Jinu. Jinu would never hurt me,” Rumi said with complete certainty. 

“Then who did this?” Celine asked simply, putting the ice-pack back on Rumi’s head for Rumi to hold. 

She sat back and waited for Rumi to answer. 

Rumi had promised Mira and Zoey that she wouldn’t tell. She never broke her promises.  But Celine could only see how badly she’d been injured, and the only demon that Celine knew for sure Rumi had been around was Jinu. She was an anxious and protective parent normally,  and she was only ever going to hate him and think of him as a threat if she didn’t know about the enforcer demons. 

But if she knew about the enforcer demons, she was going to be so mad at Mira and Zoey.

Rumi squished the icepack nervously and searched for an answer that wouldn't get anyone into trouble. 

“It was some enforcer demons,” Zoey confessed, answering for Rumi. She was coming down the hall carrying two cups of fragrant tea. 

“What?” Celine asked, looking gobsmacked. 

Oh, right.  She thought all demons were the same.

 She probably didn’t know what an enforcer was. 

“There’s different types of demons and some are really harmless. Jinu isn’t dangerous. He’s not going to hurt anybody,” Rumi said emphatically as she started her explanation.  “But some demons are really bad, like enforcers. They were just ripping random people’s spleens out because they were bored. They are baddies. We don’t need to hunt harmless demons but we do need to hunt baddies.”

Celine looked up at Zoey. Her eyes narrowed.  Zoey gulped. She put the tea cups down on the counter,  where they were forgotten immediately. She  shifted nervously on her feet and smiled sheepishly at Celine. 

Rumi could hear Mira coming back down the hall. 

“You. Took. Rumi. On. A. Hunt?” Celine asked, slowly and deliberately with clearly repressed anger. 

Mira’s footsteps stopped approaching.

“We just came across them. But they are bad Celine. Really bad. We had to act to save everyone's spleens. We tried to keep Rumi out of it but - “ Zoey began.

“What on earth were you doing bringing her around enforcer demons at all! What were you thinking! She’s only nine. She’s a baby!” Celine yelled, finally losing her composure. 

“I’m not a baby! I’m nearly ten!” Rumi interjected instantly. “I wanted to fight them. It wasn't Zoey and Mira’s fault. I was trying to help.  Please don’t be mad Celine,” she pleaded.

Mira had come to stand next to Zoey, so they could face their scolding together, but Celine stopped scolding and turned away from them to crouch in front of Rumi. She grabbed her by the shoulders, looking absolutely horror-struck. 

“Rumi, I know you want to do these things, but you just can’t. You’re still too little. The best way you can help us hunt is to focus on your lessons and eat all your vegetables so you  grow up big and strong.  And never, ever  go near enforcer demons,” she said, her voice shaking.

Celine never let her fears show, but she sounded afraid now.

“What are they even doing up here? They never come past the honmoon,” She asked, running her hand through her hair in dismay. 

“They are Gwi-ma’s police force. The golden honmoon didn’t banish any demons, so the enforcers are stuck up here with all the others.  It sounds like they can still communicate with Gwi-ma and he’s ordered the deaths of all the other demons on this side of the honmoon, so now the enforcers are hunting the other demons down,” Zoey explained, even though Rumi was pretty sure Celine had been asking her questions rhetorically. 

Mira was looking at Celine thoughtfully. “We only found out about them today, but you knew about them already. Why didn’t you tell us?” She asked, walking into the bathroom to give Celine the new wound dressings from the pharmacy.

Celine concentrated on opening the packet and didn’t make eye-contact with Zoey or Mira. The anger had been sucked out of her all of a sudden by Mira’s question. She seemed a little caught off-guard, but answered  “Well, there didn’t seem much point. We had enough to be getting on with fighting water demons and go-dokkaebi and gumihos. Enforcers never come up.” 

“How did you know about them? We only knew from talking to a demon.” Mira asked.

“Miyeong, Rumi’s mother,” Celine whispered.

And now she wasn’t looking at any of them. 

“How did Miyeong find out?” Mira asked persistently.  

Celine didn’t answer straight away, but focused on placing the large dressing over Rumi’s grazes. Mira had got a massive one that covered the whole area.  Celine started talking as she went about her task, her voice deliberately casual now. 

“Oh, there’s some old research books from the early hunters. Miyeong read those. Things have changed so much since the early days of the honmoon. Some of those older philosophies weren’t helpful for us. If they weren’t serving our mission, it didn’t make much sense to pass those lessons on. But Miyeong was interested.”

“I mean, it is interesting,” Zoey said excitedly.  “Some of the things we found out today could have made us better hunters. Mira and I think the 'never talk to demons' rule doesn’t make any sense. Jinu was helpful.” 

“A demon’s a demon. We kill them," Celine said simply. 

Mira looked uncomfortable at those words.

"There's no point in talking to them if we just have to kill them,” Celine added as she gathered up the rubbish and threw it in the bathroom bin with some force. "Talking to demons wont make you better hunters. Better hunters would have killed that demon on sight, not allowed this!” Celine reprimanded. She picked up her phone, and clicked through to something. She frowned severely at the screen then turned it around to waggle it accusingly at Mira and Zoey.

It was a quick video. Rumi saw Jinu carrying her on his shoulders through Myengdong. Rumi in the video was really messing with his hair, running her hands through it happily with a huge, mischevious grin on her face. Jinu was rolling his eyes with exasperation but his expression was very fond and amused. Then the video looped back to the start.  

Celine waggled it again, clearly flustered by the video. 

“She’s petting him. What the fu - “  Celine paused, and amended her sentence. “- What the heck is happening?! Why are you letting her go around petting demons?”

She was talking to Mira and Zoey like Rumi wasn’t there and that made Rumi feel weird. She could answer for herself. 

“I just play with his hair when I’m nervous. I was worried about finding the girls again and it calmed me down. And he let me, because he wanted to help me calm down,” Rumi explained honestly. 

Celine inhaled a big breath the way she did when practicing yoga. It was a breath to calm herself down. 

“See, he's not so bad,” Rumi added hopefully. “I even made a PowerPoint about how he’s not bad. Do you want to see it? You always wanted me to make a PowerPoint for homework and I finally did one.” She did her most convincing and cutest face.

“Not right now Rumi,” Celine said shortly. “That demon is responsible for weakening the honmoon so that his demon buddies could steal more souls. Do you know that missing person cases have increased astronomically since the Saja Boys came? They all deserve to die for that alone. I don’t want to hear any more nonsense about how they’re not bad and they didn’t do anything wrong,” she scolded.

“They’re slaves. They don’t have a choice.  He hasn't hurt anyone since the golden honmoon,” Rumi pointed out because she thought it was important. When Jinu wasn’t Gwi-ma’s prisoner, he just busked and made lame jokes and tried to make her feel better. 

“We always have a choice, Rumi,” Celine said severely. 

Rumi knew that Celine was right in the general sense. 

People were responsible for their actions. 

But she also wasn’t right at all, because some people could choose freely from equal options, and some people were trapped in terrible situations and didn’t have much choice at all. 

Celine always had a choice because she was rich and independent and powerful in her industry and she wasn’t a slave to anyone. But people who had to choose between obedience or starvation and torture and death by spleen-ripping didn’t have all her advantages. 

It was easy for Celine to say that Jinu always had a choice when her spleen wasn’t the one that was going to be ripped. 

But Rumi didn’t know how to put this into words. 

“Bobby tells me he brought her pancakes! Pancakes!!”  Celine yelled. 

Something about the pancakes really upset her. 

“It was actually crepes,” Rumi pointed out helpfully. 

“Rumi, that is not the point!” Celine chided.

 Rumi huffed. Sure, it might not have been the point Celine was making, but it was certainly a point.

“Where were you two? How could you let this happen?” Celine admonished the girls, who looked suitably shame-faced in response to her reprimands. 

“Celine, it was my fault. I heard him playing music and I wandered off,” Rumi interjected in defense of her friends. . 

“Rumi, you’re a kid. Kids wander,” Celine waved that off dismissively. She turned back to the girls.  “She’s only little! Anything could have happened to her on her own. There’s kidnappers and weirdos and -” Celine’s voice hitched in her throat, showing real anxiety. 

“It’s okay Celine. Jinu found me and he made sure that I got back to the girls safely,” Rumi said comfortingly. 

Clearly being told a demon had been helpful was not something that Celine found particularly comforting.  But if Celine could just listen then she might hear the whole story and understand better and then she wouldn’t be worried. 

“Then we had lunch with him and - “ Rumi started to say, wanting to try explaining herself and what had happened in the morning better. 

“You had lunch with him?! What is a demon even doing at lunch besides deceiving you. They can’t eat!” Celine interrupted her. 

“Jinu can. He likes gimbap and nutella and banana crepes,” Rumi supplied. 

“I don't want to hear any more about the demon, Rumi!” Celine finally snapped.

Celine almost never snapped at Rumi. She obviously felt a little bad, because she didn’t keep yelling, and made an almost apologetic face. 

She'd also clearly been lying about not wanting to hear anymore about Jinu because her next question to the girls was about him. 

“What is a demon doing mooching lunch off three hunters?  We should be killing him on sight, not buying him lunch,” she fumed. 

“Actually he paid for lunch for all of us,” Rumi jumped in, not sure of this bit of information would calm Celine down, but surely it couldn't make things any worse.  Rumi knew she kept answering for the girls, but Celine was asking all the wrong questions and Rumi just wanted to give her more information so she could ask the right ones. She just needed Celine to stop yelling at them and listen to her.

She didn’t want the girls in trouble and she didn’t want Celine and Auntie Dasom and the grannies  to hunt Jinu.  If Celine could just listen -

“ - And I asked the girls to promise not to kill him. They were just keeping their promise to me.They didn’t to anything wrong.  I really think you should see my PowerPoint.  I can show you if you like, and then maybe you can promise too. I don’t want anyone to hurt Jinu. I promised him no one would hurt him.  Please don’t hurt him, Celine,” Rumi begged, her words coming out all in a rush again.

She was trying to say what she had to say before Celine could start yelling about them letting a demon pay for lunch.

Celine suddenly looked at the ceiling, blinking back tears. 

Rumi wasn’t expecting her PowerPoint to have that effect on Celine.

Celine hadn’t even seen it yet. 

Rumi had never intended to make Celine cry. 

“Celine, I’m sorry, ” Rumi started to say, knowing she should apologise if she’d done something to make her adoptive mother cry.  

She should probably apologise for the whole day. For wandering off, and getting lost and needing Jinu’s help and lunch and then fighting the enforcer demons. All of that had been Rumi’s idea and all of it had really distressed Celine. 

Celine wiped her eyes with her palms quickly and gave herself a little shake. “It’s not you, Rumi. I just had a bad memory,” She said, kneeling down. She took Rumi by the shoulders gently and looked into her eyes with a really serious expression on her face.  "Rumi, listen to me, caring about a demon... it’s a mistake.”

Rumi shook her head and pulled back slightly, but Celine squeezed her shoulders and kept her in place. 

“It’s a big mistake,” Celine insisted.  “This demon is confusing you. You need to understand that everything this demon has said or done is some kind of lie or trick. Demons are liars. Demons are selfish. They only care about themselves.  He doesn’t care about you.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely true,” Mira said from behind her, speaking up for the first time since Celine started scolding. 

“Mira!” Celine exclaimed, looking up at her with shock. 

“Look, I used to think that those demons were just punk-ass, evil, nasty,  jerks shoved up the butt of stupidly sexy dudes and they were all lying liars who lied,” Mira said bluntly.  “But I’m kinda an expert on reading people, and Jinu is actually pretty genuine. Most of what he said at lunch was the truth. He really cares about Rumi.  That bit isn’t a lie.”

“I agree,” Zoey chimed in quietly, in support of her friend, clearly choosing a side. “We know letting Rumi wander was bad, and we’re so sorry. But we were lucky that they found each other." Zoey seemed to be gathering her courage to disagree with Celine, because she puffed her chest up a little bit and her voice was a little more firm when she next spoke.

"If Jinu wanted to hurt Rumi, he’s had a million chances, but  instead all he does is make sure she gets safely back to us and scolds us about our baby-sitting. He’s all like - ” She did a funny expression with her face and dropped her voice to its lowest register to do an impersonation of Jinu.  “- You need to feed her breakfast. Don’t let her wander around Myengdong on her own.” 

Celine nodded emphatically for a split second. She clearly agreed that breakfast was important and Rumi shouldn’t be allowed to wander Myengdong alone, but then she realised she was agreeing with a demon and her whole face dropped, her expression absolutely horrified. 

“That's totally what he sounds like,” Mira smirked at Zoey, proud of her friend's skills at impersonating people.  

“Yeah, that's exactly how he said it,” Zoey chuckled, glad of the praise. 

“You didn’t feed her breakfast?” Celine interrupted their chuckling, completely aghast. 

“We had smoothies,” Zoey offered. 

“Well, Rumi likes smiley eggs!” Celine yelled. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose as if she was trying to squeeze away a stress headache. She made a noise of frustration. “ Ugh. I'm getting upset at the wrong things.”

Celine breathed in deeply, then again. She stood up, clenched and unclenched her fists, and then folded her arms. Her expression was implacable and she’d just made her mind up about something. Her voice was calm again when she next spoke.  

“Girls,  I’m going to be taking Rumi home with me to Jeju Island this evening,” she announced without further preamble.  “The Grannies think we can cure her on Jeju Island and get the real Rumi back.” 

“ I am real,” Rumi said in a small voice.  

Sometimes Celine spoke like Rumi wasn’t in the room, and it was making her feel bad. 

“I know that Rumi. I didn’t mean it like that,” Celine apologised. “But we need Big Rumi back if only to stop poor Bobby having a stroke trying to manage the PR around the little problem. Today was such a hot mess,” she said with a shake of her head. 

She wasn’t directly scolding Rumi, or shouting at anyone anymore, but somehow that made Rumi feel worse. It was like when Celine said she wasn’t mad, just disappointed. Bobby was so nice and Rumi didn’t like thinking that she had made his life and his day any harder.

“Getting you close to the original soul magic on Jeju and the sacred dangsan tree is going to help. The grannies have found heaps of treatments that could be able to return you to normal size.  Auntie Dasom also has some ideas she’d like to try...  And it’s still summer. I can take you swimming,” Celine offered as a deal-sweetner. 

They always went swimming in summer and Rumi loved it. 

Sometimes they even got a boat out to the reefs to see the soft corals together. 

Celine had already made up her mind. There was a real finality in the way she spoke. Rumi felt her heart twist in dejection. She loved living in Seoul with the girls and that was coming to an end, no matter what she said or did. Celine wasn't going to budge this time. 

But at least Rumi could look on the bright side. 

She was good at that.

She might get to go coral diving with Celine, and that was always fun. 

Rumi nodded and Celine gave her the smallest of smiles. 

Going to Jeju Island might actually work too, and it would probably be better for everyone if Rumi could get back to her big self sooner rather than later.  That was another bright side. 

And Rumi just had another idea. 

“Will all of you go with me? I want Auntie Dasom and the diamond grannies to come,” Rumi said emphatically. 

If they all came to Jeju Island, then they wouldn’t be in the city to hunt Jinu and he’d be safe from them. He could just busk and eat good food in peace. 

“Yes. We will all go with you,” Celine promised. 

“We’ll go pack,” Zoey said excitedly. 

“You girls should stay here,” Celine snapped. She was clearly still mad at them. “ …and help Bobby clean up this PR clusterfu … clusterfudge,” she added more reasonably. “He’ll need you both to do some more appearances to smooth things over." 

Celine crouched down, and brushed Rumi's hair off her face and gave her a soft smile.  It wasn't for a medical first aid reason. She just did it because she wanted to show Rumi they were still buddies.  “Now Rumi, you should get cleaned up, and pack your things.  I’ll make you some afternoon tea,” Celine said. She patted Rumi on her shoulder and left the bathroom, head high and posture ramrod straight. 

Mira and Zoey knelt down and hugged her tightly in a little group hug. Zoey sniffed back tears. "I’m going to miss you.”

“It’s not forever Zoey,” Mira said. “She’s still our Rumi. She’s just going to come back bigger.” Still, Mira squeezed Rumi a little tighter as she said that. 

Rumi nodded into the hug. “I’m going to miss you guys too, but I think it’s for the best if I grow up again.” 

Everything would safer, and easier and less stressful for everyone if she was Big Rumi again. 

Rumi just hoped Jeju Island had the answers. 

-0-

Chapter Text

Rumi started running the shower, then she noticed it. 

Celine had left her phone on the bathroom counter. 

Rumi had an idea. 

She peeked out the door. Celine was currently busy berating Zoey and Mira in the kitchen while she fried up something for afternoon tea. 

Rumi closed the door again. 

The running shower would cover the sound of any conversations she had in here. 

She reached out to take the phone, then hesitated. 

She had to hide a lot. She didn’t like to do it. It felt a lot like lying.  But it was just how life was and she had gotten used to it. 

But she wasn’t used to this. 

This felt deliberately sneaky and deceitful. 

Celine was going to be so mad if she found out.

Then again, she was already so mad, so it wasn’t like Rumi would be making it worse. And she’d tried so hard to explain, but Celine wasn’t using her listening ears right now. 

Rumi knew it was hard for people to use their listening ears when they were really upset, so she just planned on trying again later with Celine.  She’d probably be a lot calmer on Jeju Island. 

But this couldn’t wait. 

After a second of internal debate, she decided to do it anyway.   

Jinu mattered to her more than upsetting Celine. 

Rumi tapped in Celine’s passcode and breathed a sigh of relief when the phone opened with a little noise. Celine’s passcode in the future was still the same as it had been in the past. (It was Rumi’s mother’s birthday). Her phone background was a picture of her and Big Rumi in some field surrounded by flowers. 

Rumi clicked the little phone icon and made a call. 

Auntie Dasom picked up on the third ring. 

“Celine? Any updates on Rumi?” She asked, sounding worried. 

“It’s me, Auntie Dasom,” Rumi said into the phone. 

“Rumi, Darling!” Auntie Dasom squealed in delight. “Oh my goodness - You do sound so young!” she said excitedly. “ Are you alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine. It was just a few grazes,” Rumi said firmly, so Auntie Dasom would know she hadn’t been too badly hurt. 

“That’s wonderful to hear. Sorry, I haven’t been able to kill that terrible demon for you yet, but I will call Celine as soon as I do.  We could all go out for icecream afterwards to celebrate,” she said breezily. 

Rumi breathed a sigh of relief. 

They hadn’t found Jinu yet. 

Time to put her plan into action. 

“Actually Celine asked me to call you guys and tell you to stop hunting Jinu.”

“Which one is Jinu? I get those boys confused.”

“The black-haired one,” Rumi said, feeling strangely irritated. 

(She just couldn’t imagine mixing Jinu up with anyone else.  He was such a Jinu. His name really suited him and he wasn’t like anyone else Rumi had ever met. It seemed weird that Auntie Dasom could just mix him up with someone else and not know he was special.)

“There's been a big misunderstanding,” Rumi continued. “He’s not dangerous and he didn’t hurt me.  You and the diamond grannies need to leave him alone. Can you tell them?” Rumi said, using her businesswoman voice so she sounded authoritative. 

“Celine said that?” Auntie Dasom said, sounding skeptical. 

Auntie Dasom and the Diamond Grannies were like Celine. They just weren’t going to listen to her if she tried to say good things about Jinu. They didn’t want to understand. Maybe they would understand better after seeing her PowerPoint. She could even add more slides to explain today. A good PowerPoint and a business outfit had worked on Zoey and Mira after all.

She didn’t have time to fix the PowerPoint and show everyone.

Rumi needed a different tactic. 

Auntie Dasom and the Grannies wouldn’t be able to understand why she liked Jinu, but  they definitely understood the importance of good PR in the K-Pop industry.  They cared about Huntrix’s image.  Celine and Bobby were clearly friends. 

Rumi could use that.

“Yes. The demon is actually really important for the PR surrounding everything that’s happened,” Rumi said, deliberately not using Jinu’s name this time. “Bobby needs him to do some TV appearances with Mira and Zoey so that teenagers don’t think Mira is a bad guy. She was caught on film attacking him and we need to smooth it over.  If you kill him, we can’t smooth it over and it will look even worse for Mira,” Rumi explained, sounding reasonable. 

“That makes sense,” Dasom agreed.  “I can’t believe a demon agreed to that,” She added incredulously. 

Saying Jinu was her friend and he’d probably do it if she asked nicely wouldn’t go down well. The older ladies just didn’t hear her when she said things like that. 

“We can be surprisingly persuasive,” Rumi said mysteriously, but trying to imply that threats had taken place.   

“I bet you can,” Auntie Dasom chuckled. 

“You can’t kill him until after he's done the TV thing for Bobby. Poor Bobby has a really hard job right now and we need to help him. Please tell the grannies to stop hunting him,” Rumi said. 

“Okay, Darling.  I’ll let the grannies know,” Auntie Dasom replied. 

Rumi felt a wave of relief. She exhaled a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding.  

It worked!

She’d bought Jinu some time, at least. 

“Thanks Auntie Dasom. You’re the best,” Rumi said happily, feeling a lot lighter now. 

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you later tonight, darling,” Auntie Dasom and  blew an air kiss into the phone with a loud mwah. 

Rumi did an air-kiss back and hung up. 

-0- 

Afternoon tea was awkward. 

Celine had obviously given Mira and Zoey the scolding of a lifetime while Rumi was in the bathroom.

They ate smiley eggs mostly in silence.  Celine urged her to eat up because they had a late flight, so it was going to be a long time until dinner.

Then she sent Rumi to her room to pack.

-0-

Derpy Tiger and Sussy came to see Rumi just after sunset. She’d been  trying to choose the cutest of her new outfits for Jeju Island when they landed on her balcony. 

  Derpy opened his mouth to show Rumi a little postcard for her on his tongue. It was a pretty painted picture of Yeouido Park at Cherry Blossom time.  Rumi turned it over excitedly. 

Hi Rumi,

Sorry I had to leave so quickly today.  Did you get home okay?

 진우

Rumi smiled at the note. 

Aww. 

Jinu was writing with a ball-point pen! Not a brush and ink like last time!

Look at him learning how to use modern things.  

And he’d written horizontally this time too - not vertically like they did in the olden days. 

He was trying to fit in with the modern world!

He still signed with dojang like a complete dork though. 

Rumi grinned as she touched the red ink of his signature and wondered where he got the stamp from. It wasn't professionally finished and looked like it had been hand-carved. 

Rumi reached for an Artbox card with a picture of a seagull going on a picnic on the front and wrote her reply. 

Hi Jinu,

We are home safe now. 

We killed the three enforcers who were after you. So now you don’t need to worry about them. 

 But now everyone is in big trouble with Celine. She says nine-year-olds shouldn't be near enforcers, and she’s really annoyed about the whole morning. 

Also, she and the diamond grannies really want to kill you. I tried to tell her that you’re my friend but she says you're lying to me and she won't believe it. 

So  I told everyone you’re necessary for the PR  instead. I said you’re going to do a TV spot with Mira and Zoey about our new album so people don’t think Mira is the bad guy.  And now they’ve agreed not to kill you because PR is very important to them. 

♡

Rumi.

Sussy perched on her desk while she wrote. It felt like the bird was reading over her shoulder. Rumi wasn’t sure if the bird could read, but she definitely chirruped approvingly when Rumi wrote about killing the enforcer demons. She also seemed to be snickering when Rumi got a red pen so she could add a little heart when she signed her letter.

Rumi ignored the nosy, judgemental bird. Maybe she just wanted to add some red to her signature too. It wasn't a big deal.There wasn't anything weird or funny about that.

She gave the letter to Derpy. 

They came back with another postcard within a few minutes. It was another painted scene - Changgyeonggung Palace covered in snow this time.

Rumi turned it over. There were big indentation marks in the cardboard, like another postcard had been written on top with too much pressure on the ballpoint pen and lots of crossing out. She tried to make out what that message could have been, but gave up. Instead she concentrated on the words written on the paper in Jinu’s surprisingly neat handwriting.

Rumi,

 I don’t want you going anywhere near enforcers, especially not for my sake.  Celine’s not wrong about that. They're really dangerous. 

Your safety is important.

Are you okay? Really?

I’ll do the TV thing for you. I can only stay for an hour at the most though. Just let me know the details. 

 진우

Rumi grabbed another card, feeling oddly cross and not really understanding why.

 She fought enforcer demons for this guy! 

The least he could do was say ‘Thank you Rumi. You are so awesome and a total badass. You are the best girl in the whole wide world and you saved me from having my spleen ripped.’

Instead he wrote that he didn’t think he was worth it, and he didn’t think she was capable and he agreed with Celine.

And it was one thing for Celine to think she wasn't capable but for some reason it annoyed her so much more when Jinu implied the same. 

I’M OKAY!

Everybody needs to stop worrying! It was fine. I have a purple belt in taekwondo and a sword. I think I have a little bit of demon healing too. I saw the biggest gash start healing on its own. IT’S NOT EVEN BLEEDING ANYMORE. So I’m all good now. 

I could even summon a eunjang-do from the honmoon and I STABBED THE CREEPY SPLEEN-RIPPING ONE SO MANY TIMES!

THAT’S WHAT HE GETS FOR BEING SO SO CREEPY AND TRYING TO GET MY SPLEEN.

And they all wanted to kill me because they think killing me will destroy the golden honmoon. And it was really scary, BUT IT’S ALL FINE NOW, and hunters aren't allowed to get scared anyway, so I wasn't scared.  

I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want people to fuss and I don’t want anyone to be in trouble. I don't like being treated like I am a problem. 

So please don't make a fuss because IT’S FINE. 

It occurred to Rumi as she looked over her reply and its frequent use of capital letters that she was perhaps being too honest about some things. She thought about crossing it all out and starting again, but decided against it. 

If she sent it, then at least someone would know how she really felt. Jinu cared how she really felt and he wasn't going to judge her or tell anyone, so it was okay to send it to him.  

Sussy was standing on Derpy’s head right behind her, being nosy as usual. She reached out with her wing and stroked Rumi’s shoulder gently, like she was trying to offer comfort. She moved to the desk so that Derpy could give Rumi some affectionate head butts.

Both Jinu’s animals were trying to make her feel better… so Rumi got off her chair and reached out and hugged Derpy and buried herself in his soft fur, and screwed up her face against the tears that were threatening to spill out. 

Derpy curled himself around her protectively, and Rumi felt an impossibly delicate wing stroking her hair soothingly… 

And for some reason that made holding back tears even harder. 

No one had hugged her since it happened and everyone had been too busy arguing in the bathroom and they were too worried about her injuries to cuddle her, and Rumi used to be okay with almost never getting hugs but things had been different since she woke up in the future. 

Lately she’d been thinking that maybe she actually liked hugs after all.  

She knew it was terrible and disloyal to even think about it, but she didn't want to go to Jeju Island.

She wanted to go with Derpy and Sussy to wherever Jinu was and then she could just stay with the three of them instead…and they'd hug her and they'd care about the real her and she wouldn't have to pretend about anything anymore.

Rumi knew she was being silly to wish for something like that. 

That wasn't going to happen.

She wasn't going to be allowed to do that. 

The jet had already been scheduled and she was all packed. She had to do her duty and pretend nothing was wrong and go to Jeju Island and get big again.

She sat back upright, wiped her face and took a deep breath and pushed those bad feelings down so deep. She squashed them up into a little ball inside. 

Rumi got up off the floor and went back to her desk and picked up her pen again. She was going to finish this letter sensibly. She had to tell Jinu she couldn't do the TV thing with him at least. 

I’m being taken to Jeju Island by Celine and Dasom and the Grannies. They think they can reverse the little problem closer to the sacred tree.  So the TV thing will have to be just with Zoey and Mira. 

♡

Rumi.

-0-

Zoey and Mira knocked very quietly and tiptoed into her room.

“Celine is on the phone to Dasom right now, so we have a few minutes,” Mira whispered as she noticed Rumi’s curious look.

They sat on her bed. Mira gestured for Rumi to come and sit in between them. Rumi nestled in between them and they both put an arm around her. 

For a second, it felt warm and safe. 

Zoey broke away first. She reached into her pocket and pulled a phone out. She  handed it across to Rumi.  It had a shiny case with glitter embossed bunnies.  “This is yours now, Little Rumi,” Zoey said quietly.

Rumi took it with both hands and looked at Zoey curiously. She felt a little delighted at finally getting her own phone. She couldn’t believe Zoey was really giving her one. 

They’d never ended up buying a phone today, and Rumi had resigned herself to never getting one. She wondered where Zoey had got this. 

“It’s my old one. Well, it's one of my old ones. I can be a bit of a hoarder. I set it back to factory settings so it will be almost like it’s brand new,” Zoey explained. “But I added our numbers so you can call us and message us any time, and I installed some games I think you’ll like.  The camera is really good on that one, so you’ll be able to take photos when you’re on Jeju Island.”

“Thank you, Zoey,” Rumi said, clutching the phone to her chest for a second like it was a lifeline. 

“Oh, and I added a fun camera app,” Zoey said, taking the phone back delicately and showing Rumi a little icon to press.  

A selfie cam popped up with different filter options. Zoey and Mira posed next to her and she took a few photos of the three of them.  They could look like cats, or fairies or like they were wearing those funny french hats and moustaches. Within seconds the three of them were chuckling softly about how goofy they looked in the pictures.

Rumi leaned back against them and sighed wistfully. “I love living with you guys. I wish I could stay.” 

“You’ll be back and bigger than ever before you know it,” Mira said encouragingly, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We are going to see you really soon and we can call you every day in the meantime.”

“Yeah, this isn’t forever,” Zoey agreed, giving her a very careful one armed hug. 

“Rumi, are you ready?” Celine called out loudly from the living room. 

Rumi got up to put the new phone in little backpack she was taking as her carry-on for the plane.  Mira pulled the charger and cable out of her pocket and slid it in to the backpack too. Then she helped Rumi sling it over her shoulder.

Rumi turned and hugged the girls again, a little group hug for the three of them. They were both careful about her bruised side, but their arms came around her and they held her gently and Rumi just wanted to stay with them forever. 

"Rumi?" Celine's voice called again. Rumi could hear her footsteps in the hall. 

Rumi stepped back from the girls and walked out into the hall towards Celine. 

It was time to go.

Chapter Text

Celine, Auntie Dasom and Rumi were waiting for the grannies in the VIP lounge for private jet passengers.  Dasom and Celine were drinking white wine and nibbling at the finger foods and talking about Auntie Dasom’s investments.  Rumi didn’t have any interest in the stock market, so she had tuned them out.

Rumi wasn’t playing the games on her phone, despite the fact that she really, really wanted to. Celine didn’t know she had a phone and she didn’t want to risk it being taken away. That phone was staying in her backpack for now.  Celine had packed her some mindfulness colouring in books and brand new pencils for the flight, and Rumi was working on the picture of the phoenix when the grannies finally arrived.  

The grannies; Binna, Sana and Yuna, all descended on Rumi in a flurry of costume jewelry and strong perfume and cheek kisses. They took turns exclaiming over how little she’d grown, like they thought it was the world’s greatest joke.  

Granny Binna asked the waiter to bring them more wine and they all sat down.

“How did it go… at the bank?” Auntie Dasom asked. 

Ugh. More banking talk. 

Rumi was so bored already. 

She went back to colouring.

“It was harder to catch the banker than we anticipated -” Granny Sana said, taking a big sip of her wine. 

Rumi glanced up quizzically. The way Granny Sana said it made it sound like they were chasing some poor banker through the banking vaults.  Granny Sana noticed her confused look.

“- He was busy. Too busy to see us. So we were unable to go through with our planned meeting,”  Granny Sana finished.  

“You can just make an appointment and meet up with him when you’re next back in the city. Lots of banks let you schedule online meetings now,” Rumi offered. (Celine said that because the grannies were boomers they weren’t good at technology  - But Rumi could help them.)

“Oh, we definitely intend to catch him when we are next back in the city,”  Granny Binna said firmly.

“We have to do the thing before the end of the school holidays. You know I’m on school drop-off and pick-up for my littlies,” Granny Yuna said.

“How many grandkids do you have now?” Rumi asked curiously. For Rumi, Granny Yuna's first grandchild had just been born, but that was fifteen years ago for this woman. 

“I have five now! Would you like to see some pictures?”  Granny Yuna said excitedly, reaching for her phone. 

“She doesn’t want to see some pictures, Yuna,” Granny Binna answered for Rumi. “Couldn’t your daughter's terrible mother-in-law do a day here or there to give you a break? They're her grandkids too.”

“That woman is awful. I’m not subjecting my littlies to her. Besides, they tell me her tangerine squares are a little dry and my cakes are better,” Granny Yuna boasted, like she’d won some kind of favourite granny competition against the awful mother-in-law.  “ I make mine with love,” she said conspiratorially to Rumi with a little wink. 

“If we could talk about the investment again,” Auntie Dasom said, trying to steer the conversation.  

“What are we investing in again? This isn’t like the time you wanted us to invest in that pyramid scheme your boyfriend got suckered into, is it?” Granny Yuna asked. 

“Ex-boyfriend!” Auntie Dasom said, going red. 

These ladies had all had so much life happen to them in the past fifteen years that Rumi knew nothing about. She almost felt like she had to get to know them all over again. 

“ Yeah. I would dump someone for getting suckered into a pyramid scheme too,” Granny Sana said with an approving nod. 

“That wasn't why I dumped him!” Dasom huffed. “Listen, I think we are getting off track.  There's been some miscommunication about investing today and we all need to get on the same page.”

Ugh. 

Investments.

If Rumi never had to sit still while grown-ups talked about finance again, it would be too soon.  

She missed living with the girls already. 

Mira and Zoey never bored her to tears talking about their stock portfolios and putting weird emphasis on different finance words.  They always tried to include her. 

But ever since Auntie Dasom had arrived, she and Celine had been talking about finance over Rumi’s head, and using all these obscure words so she couldn’t really follow what was going on in the conversation. 

Not that she wanted to. 

It was a boring conversation.

But still, it would be nice to feel like they were at least making an effort to include her, rather than talking about a subject that she didn’t know much about so she got left out of the conversation completely. 

Rumi was so bored, but she knew better than to complain. She tuned out and just concentrated on the phoenix. 

“I think I might have been hasty with my decision to invest,” Celine said firmly over her head. “I overlooked Mr Roberts’ company.” 

“This Mr Roberts better not be a scam artist,” Granny Yuna chimed in. 

 “Mr Roberts is not a scam artist,” Celine replied primly.

“His company better not be another pyramid scheme, That’s all I’m saying,” Granny Yuna said, taking a big bite of a  biscuit. 

“You know what we should invest in? My son’s boyfriend wants to start his own vodka distillery in  the Scottish highlands,” Granny Binna said suddenly. 

“ Isn’t the Scottish highlands famous for whiskey?”  Auntie Dasom pointed out.

“The boyfriend isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed,” Granny Sana informed her with a teasing grin at Granny Binna.  “Why is your son’s idiot  boyfriend trying to mooch investment money off you and not his wealthy parents?” She asked Granny Binna bluntly. 

“They cut him off,” Granny Binna said, leaning forward to gossip. 

The other grannies gasped in an absolutely scandalized fashion, like they could never imagine rejecting one their own, and now they could judge Granny Binna’s son’s boyfriend’s parents freely. 

Even Rumi looked up from her colouring, happy they were no longer talking about banking at least. 

 “Because of the gay thing?” Granny Sana asked, already super offended on Granny Binna’s son’s boyfriend’s  behalf.  She was back on his side after calling him an idiot a few moments ago. 

“No, because of the immature thing. He's waffled between a lot of things, and doesn't stick anything out.  But I think he just needs to find his passion,”  Granny Binna informed them.

“And he thinks his passion is vodka-making in the Scottish highlands?” Granny Sana said dryly, raising her eyebrow and implying her solidarity with the dumb boyfriend was over and she was back to thinking he was an idiot. 

Suddenly a waiter came over and bowed deeply to Celine, then kneeled directly in front of her and bowed again, his head nearly on her toes. 

All conversation stopped. No one knew quite how to react to this stranger barging into the middle of their conversation. 

“Can I help you?” Celine asked the waiter at her feet with some confusion. 

“Please,” the waiter whispered. 

“Please what?” Celine asked, still baffled by his odd behaviour. 

He sat up and parted his hair off his face with both hands, like he was opening some curtains to a stage. He had the longest fringe Rumi had ever seen and it was dyed this silvery colour. It must have been a more modern fashion from 15 years into the future.

The waiter looked at Celine solemnly then his eyes flashed demon gold for a second.

 “Please,” he repeated. 

“Oh,” Celine said, clearly taken aback. She even moved back away from him in her chair. Suddenly she had the most stricken expression on her face.

“It's a bit public here,” Auntie Dasom whispered to Celine.

“We could find a quiet spot on the tarmac. Would you like us to do it on the tarmac… young man?” Granny Yuna asked the demon waiter gently.  

“Quiet is good,” The waiter nodded.  

He had such an odd way of speaking, like he wasn’t used to using words. 

“Are you sure you want Celine to do the honours? She’s never done this before.” Granny Binna asked, looking at Celine for a moment. 

Something was very wrong, but Rumi wasn’t sure what.  She didn’t know what this demon was asking of Celine, but it was something unsettling, even though he was asking nicely and saying please. Celine looked so uncomfortable. 

“I have mudang knives, and they’ll do the job for you - quick as a flash,”  Granny Sanna offered kindly. 

“The executioner's sword, please,” the demon requested, nodding his head towards Celine again.

The executioner's sword was Celine’s Honmoon weapon.  He was asking Celine to -

“No!” Rumi said, standing up. Her pencils clattered to the floor. “This isn’t right.”  

She knew what the demon was asking for now, and it felt so wrong. She went to stand between the demon and Celine. “We don't need to hurt him,” Rumi declared, hands on her hips.  

The demon huffed, like he was frustrated with Rumi. He stood up behind her, walked in front of her and tried to kneel in front of Celine again, but it was a bit of a tight squeeze because Rumi was feeling really stubborn and she wasn’t going to budge. In the end the demon settled for trying to wiggle between her legs and Celine’s knees but it was a tight squeeze. He lowered his head slightly, bowing towards Celine as best he could. “Please.” 

“You don't have to die,” Rumi said insistently as she crouched next to him. She gave his shoulder a little shake. “Jinu has been able to avoid the enforcers by moving around a lot. It’s actually a clever idea, but don’t tell him I said that. He’d be such a dork about it,” Rumi added with a fond roll of her eyes. 

Jinu would get a big head if he knew she said anything good about his ideas and then he’d be so smug and insufferable. He’d make a dumb, dorky joke and he’d never let her forget it. 

Rumi couldn’t be having that. 

The ghost of a smile passed over the waiter’s face. 

Maybe Rumi could save him too.

“ You can do that too. Just keep bouncing from place to place all day and you can stay ahead of them,” Rumi said encouragingly.

“I am so tired, little one. No more running.” The demon shook his head, then gave Celine a hopeful look. “Let me rest.”

The honmoon shivered fuschia pink underneath them. It shook - a little shudder of revulsion - then a bunch of lines gathered together and raced through the airport in the direction of whatever was coming.

It was different to how the honmoon normally warned them. Normally there was pink in a slow undulating wave.  The honmoon didn't shake normally.

But Rumi had seen it do this before. 

“Enforcers are coming,” She told the others, alarmed. 

All the grown up hunters leapt to their feet. The waiter grabbed Celine’s hand like he was begging. His eyes were wide with terror and he started trembling. 

The grown up hunters all exchanged a look. 

“I’ll handle the little problem, you four handle the big and ugly problem,” Granny Sana commanded. 

Granny Sana was the oldest and she normally had the final word out of the grannies. She was also the tallest out of the grannies. Rumi didn’t realise the significance of this until the oldest hunter lunged. 

Granny Sana swept her up with one fluid movement. She hauled Rumi over her shoulders like she was a sack of rice. Rumi’s head was dangling at an awkward angle.  She struggled as Granny Sana ran with her, but the older woman’s grip was like iron. All the blood was running to her head, making her feel dizzy. She  saw the tiles change to asphalt and then they were in a room with lots of noisy machines.  Granny Sana dropped her into a storage cupboard. 

“I’m so sorry darling, but this is for your own good,” Granny Sana said as she slammed the door and locked it.  Rumi heard a wooden sound, like a broomstick was being slid between the handles, so it would be impossible for her to even pick the lock and escape.

“Please let me out, Granny Sana!” Rumi called out. “I can help.”

“The best way you can help is to stay safe,” Granny Sana said, yelling to be heard above the loud machinery.  Rumi could hear her footsteps running again.

Rumi tried calling out to her again, but no one heard her.  

-0-

Rumi tried picking the lock anyway, She tried breaking the doors. Then she  tried yelling for help. Lastly she tried having a good old sulk. She pouted and huffed and stomped her feet a little.

This wasn’t fair!

She turned the mop bucket upside down and sat on it, feeling very very sorry for herself. 

She didn’t know how much time had passed. 

Then she heard Celine calling her name.

“I’m here,” Rumi called out. 

“Rumi, thank goodness!” Celine cried, sounding so relieved. 

Rumi could hear her running footsteps and then Celine was fumbling with the broom and the lock. She grabbed Rumi off the mop bucket and pulled her into a tight hug with astonishing speed. 

Celine held her close to her chest.  Rumi’s feet were hanging in the air  while Celine squeezed her tight.  She sniffled quietly like she was trying to suppress her tears and pretend she wasn’t crying.

Rumi tried to hug her back as best she could, but Celine was holding her shoulders so tightly. It was hard to move her arms, and that sucked. They almost never hugged and Rumi wanted to be good at hugs with Celine. 

If she was good at hugs she might get more.

Celine clearly needed a proper hug right now.

Celine clearly never had any hug training at all, because if she just held Rumi a little less tightly then Rumi could hug her back and love her back properly. 

Celine inhaled, doing her calming breath trick, then she lowered Rumi’s feet gently to the ground. “Rumi, I’m so sorry about that. We just couldn’t risk another repeat of what happened today,” Celine apologised. 

“It’s okay Celine,” Rumi said, not wanting to be churlish and complain now that Celine had come back for her. It looked like she was so stressed as it was. 

It had obviously been a difficult fight. Celine's shirt was torn off at the sleeve, a big bruise was coming up on her shoulder and she was bleeding from several scratches all over her body.   

Rumi didn’t want her to feel worse. 

“Come on. Let’s get on the plane,” Celine said in her briskly positive way.

 Suddenly there was no trace of how upset she had been. 

It was like a magic trick when Celine did it. 

She could make all her bad feelings disappear so quickly. 

 She led Rumi through to the tarmac where their private jet was.  Her gait normal and her expression sensible and calm, like she was the sort of person who lived a peaceful life and never had to pick up a weapon for any reason whatsoever.

-0-

Chapter Text

Everyone was quiet during take off. Once they’d reached cruising altitude all the grown ups unbuckled their seatbelts and got up. 

Auntie Dasom got a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar and gulped down a glass before leaning on the counter heavily, making an obstacle of herself. The hostess had to walk around her to fetch a bottle of champagne from the fridge. She set it in an ice bucket and took it to the table with some glasses. 

Granny Sana grabbed a fistful of ice from the ice bucket. She held to a spot on her head and sighed deeply, then she sent the hostess away with a polite command. Granny Yuna slumped over the table, pulled out a little first aid pack from her purse and started cleaning her scratches with alcohol swabs. Granny Binna was stretching out a pulled muscle and groaning loudly. 

Celine was busying herself with setting up Rumi’s ramyeon and plane snacks on a tray at the counter. 

“I’m getting too old for this,” Granny Binna mumbled as she started trying to stretch out her other side. 

“I’m glad you were here. You shot that one with the eyeball fetish in the eyeballs,” Auntie Dasom said with grim satisfaction as she poured champagne for everyone. “Another one bites the dust,” she said, raising her glass in salutations towards the grannies.

“He was so obsessed with eyeballs. What do you think he did with all the eyeballs he gouged anyway? Did he keep them in a jar as souvenirs like a serial killer?” Granny Sana wondered idly as she took a dainty sip.  

“Does it really count as being a serial killer if it's just his job? His job is to gouge the other demon's eyes out. Eye-gouging and then pickling the eye-balls to make eye-ball pickle is just an ordinary Tuesday for him,” Granny Binna grumbled, still rubbing the sore spot on her back. 

“Oh, he definitely got more than a professional sense of satisfaction out of his eyeball collection,” Auntie Dasom said, her lip curling in disgust. 

“In all the true-crime podcasts I listen to, the killer always gravitates towards employment that can give them opportunities,” Granny Sana said.

“Well then, Eye-gouger lucked out. Perfect job for him,” Granny Binna said, drinking her champagne down in two gulps. 

“How long do you think it took him to get a thousand eyeballs?” Granny Sana asked, with a scientists’ interest.  “He said to the boy that he’d gouge his eyes, wait for them to grow back then gouge them again…so he hasn't gouged a thousand demons.”

“It’s only 500 demons if he’s gouging both eyeballs,”  Auntie Dasom said, doing the math quickly.

“You know, It could just be one demon having both his eyeballs gouged 500 times,” Granny Yuna chimed in. She shuddered a little at the thought.  

“I think this is NOT a conversation for when Rumi is at the table,” Celine said sternly, putting Rumi’s plane snacks in front of her with a heavy thud. She gave all the older hunters a severe glare. 

The women were silent for a long moment after that. Celine had killed their conversation stone dead. 

Rumi had a question. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like the answer, but she knew she had to ask anyway.  She needed to know. 

“What happened to him?  The waiter?” She asked quietly, breaking the silence. 

“He got what he wanted,” Celine said, concentrating on stirring Rumi’s ramyeon to cool it faster. She was always worried about Rumi burning her tongue, but Rumi thought her extreme attention to this task was just so Celine could pretend to be busy and not look her in the eye.

“But he wasn't hurting anyone!” Rumi protested. “He was just scared of the enforcers.  We could have helped him!”

“I did help him,” Celine replied. “I got him away from that monster and I made it quick and painless for him.” 

 “Rumi, we aren't in the business of helping demons,” Auntie Dasom scolded her. She was firmly on Celine’s side. 

“We are doing them a kindness,” Granny Yuna said gently.  She was on Celine's side too, but she was nicer about it. “There are very few ways demons can actually die.  We are one way. The alternatives all involve Gwi-ma or his enforcers,  so they aren't… very nice,” Granny Yuna explained, choosing her words delicately.  “Sometimes, after centuries of torture, some demons just want to… not suffer anymore.”

Rumi’s mind was reeling. These women had all taught her that demons were all the same and they all  had no feelings, but  they actually knew better. 

“But, doesn't this prove that demons have feelings and we shouldn't be -” Rumi started saying. 

“I wouldn't call it having feelings. They're still demons,” Granny Binna cut her off. “Whatever feelings demons have don't count.”

Rumi knew she must have made a face in response to that, because when Granny Sana next spoke, she was using her most persuasive voice.

“Think of it this way; Demons are like rabid dogs. They’re doomed and nothing can be done to help them, and meanwhile they’re a danger to everyone and everything around them,”  Granny Sana said, looking at Rumi seriously as she explained. “The ones that come up to us and ask, like that boy did tonight, they know it. They know they've got rabies and they know there's no hope for them… We’re just like veterinarians. It’s our job to put them down.  But we try to make it quick and painless when they ask nicely.”

“But couldn't we try giving them hope?” Rumi said earnestly. 

“There isn't any hope for them, so why waste their time and ours?” Granny Binna shrugged. 

“Gwi-ma yanks them back down faster than lightning if he realises they’re trying to escape, even if that escape is just choosing which of us they’d like to do the job. If they’ve taken the risk in asking, I’m going to honour that request as quickly as I can,” Granny Yuna said softly. “We can save them a lot of pain.”

“But Gwi-ma can't do that now. The honmoon is gold,” Rumi pointed out petulantly.  

Big Rumi had made the honmoon gold and now  it could keep everybody safe. 

There was an awkward silence in response to that. None of the older hunters seemed to know what to say to her.

 The golden honmoon was meant to change things for the better,  but they were going to keep doing things the exact same way they’d always done them and never even try to do things differently.

And these ladies knew they’d been teaching her the wrong things. They knew about enforcers and they knew not all demons were the same. There were, like, levels of badness, and some demons were way worse than others and some weren’t even bad at all.  

They clearly knew that demons felt sad and scared, so the ‘no feelings’ thing was also a lie.  

 Rumi knew she didn’t really have a right to be cross about being lied to, considering how many lies she had to tell every day, but she still felt it.

“Why do you teach us that they have no feelings and they’re all the same?” She asked, feeling her stubbornness rise. She wasn’t going to drop it until she got a proper answer. 

“Because that’s how we’ve got to treat them,” Granny Binna said bluntly. “It’s just how it has to be, darling,” She added kindly.  

“Sure, maybe one demon might seem special, but we can't jeopardize the safety of everyone in the world just because one hunter finds one demon somewhat good-looking and they used to be human and she thinks they've got a cute butt and a tragic backstory,” Auntie Dasom ranted suddenly. “No butt is cute enough to jeopardize the fate of the world.”

At first Rumi had felt super alarmed that she was talking about her and Jinu, because he was special, even if Auntie Dasom was wrong about the somewhat good-looking thing. 

Rumi had done her research for her PowerPoint. According to the internet, Jinu was considered hot. There were always lots of fire emojis and the red, sweaty face under pictures of him. He was also sometimes described as delicious with lots of different fruit and vegetable emojis that Rumi didn’t understand (and she didn’t want to understand because she was pretty sure they meant something gross).

Even so,  she was still certain that so many eggplant emojis meant that Jinu was better than ‘somewhat good-looking’. 

And maybe Rumi could understand  why other grown ups would find him handsome. 

NOT HER.

Obviously not her. 

Rumi knew Jinu was actually a  giant goofball who made dumb jokes all the time, but she totally got why people might like looking at his face… 

Before they found out he was a dork, that is.

And she already knew he was a dork, so it wasn’t like she liked his face. 

But she got why other people liked it.

But she had never TOLD ANYONE THAT, EVER!!! 

So how could Auntie Dasom know?

Rumi felt a wave of acute mortification. 

Could Auntie Dasom read minds?

Then Rumi realized that she never even thought anything about butts unless someone farted. Rumi didn’t even consider butts cute.

That was so weird. 

Butts were just butts. 

She didn’t get why grown ups found each other's butts so interesting. 

But Auntie Dasom had been angry about cute butts specifically.  So Auntie Dasom was ranting about someone else.

 Someone she knew well enough to know when they liked a butt.

Someone she still felt a little mad at regarding their choice of butts to like.

 A Grown-Up hunter who was old enough to find butts cute, and made an exception for a demon because she thought he was special and his story moved her and she thought he looked handsome.

Oh.

 Rumi’s mother was haunting this conversation the way she always did - just out of sight. 

“ - We don’t show fear or favour to any demons. If  ever a demon tries to gain our favour, it’s always going to be part of a larger scheme to trick that hunter into making a mistake,”  Auntie Dasom finished ranting, her whole face agitated, like she had so many feelings going on under the surface but she was trying to hide them all behind being cross.

Rumi was now completely certain Auntie Dasom was actually talking about her mother.

Whenever ‘mistake’ was said in that tone of voice by one of these hunters, they were always talking about her mother. 

Miyeong’s Mistake was something all these ladies had strong feelings about. 

Rumi had always thought they were referring to her as the mistake.  

But now it seemed like her mother had made other mistakes.

Rumi always wanted to know more about her mother. It really upset Celine to talk about her too much, but she tried sometimes. Rumi knew that her mother and Celine had been raised together after her mother’s parents had passed, and they had been as close as sisters could be. 

She knew how her mother braided her hair and liked to take her ramyeon, because Celine did those things for her. She knew that her mother had been an amazing hunter, because Celine always said she was going to grow up to be an amazing hunter, just like her mother.

But now Auntie Dasom was  talking about her mother and her father and Rumi didn’t know anything about him at all. 

She didn’t know his name or how they met or what their relationship had been like.

The grannies and Auntie Dasom had always assumed  there was no real relationship and that he tricked Miyeong somehow.

Rumi had thought the same until just two seconds ago. 

But the grannies and Auntie Dasom made lots of assumptions that Rumi knew were incorrect. So maybe they were wrong about this too. 

It sounded like her mother had … liked him. 

Jinu was her friend, so Rumi knew it wasn’t impossible for a hunter to make friends with a demon. But maybe her mother made more than friends with a demon for real and there hadn’t been any tricks or mistakes involved. 

Maybe her mother had liked her father on purpose?

“That’s why we decided that never talking with demons should be one of our rules. Why give them the opportunity to deceive us? They always lie about everything,” Granny Binna agreed, backing Auntie Dasom up. 

“ We decided after…” Granny Sana paused, and looked momentarily heartbroken.

(After whatever happened to her mother - Rumi knew how to spot her mother’s ghost haunting a conversation very well, and there she was again.) 

“ -  We decided that it would be better for everyone if you and the girls were taught that all demons were the same and they all had no feelings and to never, ever talk to them. It was to make your job as hunters easier and simpler,”  Granny Sana explained. 

There it was. 

Rumi had her answer. 

All that demons are all the same and they all have no feelings and Never, Ever Talk To Them stuff was actually a recent development in hunter teachings.  

They started teaching it because of what happened with her mother. 

“Listen Rumi, what happened tonight wasn't… nice, but we can't get too bogged down in how demons feel. It’s just part of our job as hunters. It will be your job too, when you’re older again. You'll understand one day. If a demon ever asks you to do them a service, don't hesitate,” Granny Yuna advised her gently. 

It was another piece of advice that felt very well-meaning but also very wrong. 

Rumi would never, ever be able to do it to Jinu, even if he asked.

She'd find a way to save him somehow.

But it was five against one. Rumi was a kid and they were the grown ups...

She didn’t know how to explain it, and there probably wouldn’t have been much point in trying, even if she could find the right words. 

Rumi didn’t even know what they could have done differently, but she was sure there was something. 

“I still think we could have found a better way,” Rumi said petulantly. 

“As soon as you find that better way, you let me know,” Celine said softly. 

Celine wasn’t open to listening right now, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be open to it in the future. 

It was the most encouraging thing anyone had said in this conversation, so Rumi was going to latch onto it.  Celine wasn’t shutting Rumi down completely, and so Rumi chose to look at the positive. 

Maybe she could find a better way, and then she could tell Celine, and then Celine would listen this time, and then things would be fairer for everyone. 

-0-

Chapter Text

Rumi woke up just as the sun was rising. She could hear the grannies laughing in the orchard near the house. Celine and Auntie Dasom drank too much soju last night and were still sleeping. Rumi threw on some clothes and tiptoed past their room and out to the garden.

“Come join us,” Granny Yuna waved when she saw her. They were picking the late season tangerines from the trees for Granny Yuna’s citrus cake. 

“They say vitamin C helps ward off going potty in our old age,” Granny Yuna explained to Rumi as she plucked a particularly fragrant tangerine.

“Well, it’s not working in your case,” Granny Binna teased playfully.

Granny Yuna tossed the tangerine at her lazily.

They walked back to the house. Granny Yuna and Granny Binna started preparing the tangerines while Granny Sana got the first aid kit out. She tapped the seat next to her. “Come here, Rumi. I just need to check your side.”

Rumi sat next to her obediently. Everyone always did what Granny Sana said. Granny Sana started to lift up her shirt. Rumi stifled a wave of panic and reminded herself that these ladies now knew she had patterns, so she didn’t really have to hide anymore. Even still, she wanted to clutch her shirt to her chest. Granny Sana examining her side made her feel exposed.

“No need to be shy, dear,” Granny Sana said, making a tsk sound. “Celine made such a fuss about you getting injured yesterday. If it’s as bad as she says, then we need to change the dressing frequently.”

“Perhaps I could -” Granny Binna began to say.

“My daughter’s a doctor. I know what I’m doing,” Granny Sana replied shortly.

Granny Sana’s daughter had only just qualified when Rumi had last seen her...but that was fifteen years ago. So much had changed in the future, but Granny Sana bragging about her doctor daughter was still the same.

Granny Sana slowly peeled the dressing Celine put on yesterday. Then she made the tsk sound again, loudly. “That’s all? Celine made such a fuss about one tiny little scratch. I think it’s better if we just let the fresh air get to that one,” she advised kindly.

Rumi looked down and saw that the injuries on her side had almost healed completely, leaving no evidence that she'd been whacked like she was a baseball with a gigantic spiked club.

She did have some type of demon-healing. 

Granny Sana wasn't satisfied with only looking at her injury. She kept pulling Rumi’s shirt over her head, while saying “Alright - lets see these patterns, now.”

Rumi didn’t even have a chance to protest or say no. It was too late to grab her shirt back. Within a second the chill morning air was on Rumi’s bare skin and giving her goosebumps. Granny Sana was staring at her shoulder silently, eyes widening. Granny Binna and Granny Yuna stopped making juice and wandered over.

“I bet they aren't as bad as - “ Granny Binna started saying, but then she gasped loudly, in shock and disgust. She tried to pretend that she hadn’t, but Rumi still heard.

Rumi stood in the garden, feeling naked and ashamed.

“Let’s just cover that back up,” Granny Yuna said, taking the shirt from Granny Sana and pulling it over Rumi’s head briskly. Rumi threaded her arms into the sleeves as quickly as possible. She pulled the shirt down and tucked it into her pants, and then hugged herself tightly, trying to cover where her patterns were with her hand.

“How about you go play? We’ll fix up a good breakfast and call you when it’s ready, sweetheart,” Granny Sana said calmly, finding her voice again.

Rumi nodded and walked away from them and back into the house. She could hear the grannies talking behind her when they thought she was out of earshot.

“I am really worried about Celine, you know. She truly needs to go see someone for her anxiety. That scratch is tiny,” Granny Sana was saying. “If I were her, I'd be so much more worried about the patterns. Those are unsightly.”

Rumi reached her hands into her pockets and felt for the tiger whistle. She held it tightly in her hand. There was a solidity to it that felt reassuring.

“Imagine kicking up such a fuss over one little scratch when your kid has that on their arm,” Granny Binna agreed.

“True, but you know how Celine is. She’s always been so precious about Rumi. She’d wrap the poor girl in bubble wrap for the rest of her days if she could,” Granny Yuna chimed in.

“Celine is going to be even worse with this little problem. Yuna, do you have any ideas how to fix it?” Granny Sana asked.

“I actually have 127 so far!”

-0-

Rumi closed the door of her room. She held the tiger whistle closely to her chest for a moment, running her finger over the fine grain of the wood. She could blow it, and tell Jinu all about what happened and then he’d make a dumb joke and she’d feel better.

But Rumi knew she shouldn’t.

It was morning. Jinu would either be at a hotel breakfast buffet, or busking. Jinu said Derpy and Sussy were more active at night. She didn’t want to bother Derpy. If he was nocturnal, he probably needed to sleep during the day.

Rumi was pretty sure the whistle was only for emergencies, or if she was worried she was going to be physically hurt.

Hurt feelings didn't count.

She tucked the whistle safely back into her pocket.

Then her eyes fell on the corner of the phone sticking out of her bag. She grabbed her phone tightly in her hand.

Rumi would need somewhere private to make a call. She called out to the grannies that she was going to the forest to her tree house, then she walked quickly towards the trees and didn’t glance back.

Celine had added rope ladders and a tree-tops obstacle course for Rumi’s survival skills lessons.

Those lessons were always pretty fun and Rumi loved the view from one of the higher platforms. She tied a prusik hitch to the main rope and started to climb. When she got to the top she rolled onto the wooden boards and took out her phone.

Zoey and Mira were the only two numbers in her phone. Zoey had also set up a group chat.

Could she just call?

Maybe she should just message first, and see if they responded. She could send them a photo of the view, that way she wasn’t just messaging them for no reason. She lifted the camera high and took a photo of the valley below.

She sent it before she could change her mind.

This is my view this morning. How are you guys?

Hi Rumi. Great picture! Are you free to talk now? Can we call you?

Yes, I can talk now.

As soon as Rumi sent the last text, her phone started ringing in her hands. She answered it, and Mira and Zoey’s faces appeared on the screen. They were smushed close together so they could both wave at her. “Hi Rumi,” they both said in unison with big smiles.

“Guess who we ran into,” Zoey said cheerfully.

Before Rumi actually had a chance to guess, Jinu was also on screen, trying to squash into the frame on Zoey’s other side, looking surprised and confused. “Rumi?”

“Jinu?!” Rumi gasped, astonished.

She had no idea what all three of them could possibly be doing together.

“Can you see me too? Wow! We really can see her and talk to her,” he said, giving Zoey a big grin. “How does this work anyway -”

Suddenly the picture on the phone tilted wildly, Rumi saw the sky, the street, a finger, a cafe table, a flash of Mira’s pink hair and then one of Jinu’s eyebrows in such quick succession it made her feel dizzy.

“You’re way too close, dude,” Zoey advised.

“You're worse than my grandfather,” Mira grumbled. “Give it here.”

The screen lurched wildly again, flashing between table, street, sky, table, hand - then the screen went completely blank.

“Oh no. Zoey, I think broke it. I’m sorry,” she heard Jinu’s voice say.

“It’s not broken. One second,” Zoey's voice reassured him.

“You need to get a phone of your own and learn how to use it, dude,” Mira scolded. “ It’s 2025. You can’t keep using a tiger like a carrier pigeon.”

Zoey cleared her throat loudly. “Actually, I think he can definitely keep using the tiger.”

The video blinked on again. Zoey must have propped her phone up on something. Rumi could see a bit of the table and then all three of them in the frame, sitting together at some outdoor cafe, drinking… was that a brown sugar bubble tea?

“I’m so happy to see you guys,” Rumi said, unable to hold back her smile.

Just seeing the three of them was making her feel happier already.

“How’s everything on Jeju Island?” Mira asked. “Everything okay?”

“Oh…you know…it’s okay,” Rumi said with a little noncommittal shrug. She didn’t really want to talk about what was happening on Jeju Island. She wanted to talk about what on earth was happening on the other end of the phone. “ What are you guys even doing all together?”

She could never imagine those three sitting down for any kind of peaceful discussion without her, yet there they were.

Then Jinu got that dumb grin on his face.

Oh no.

He was about to say something so dumb. She just knew it. 

“Zoey couldn’t help herself. She asked me out again,” Jinu said smugly.

Rumi’s jaw dropped in shock, feeling so offended on Zoey's behalf.

She’d almost forgotten how dumb he was.

Zoey gave him a little playful whack, but didn’t seem overly bothered. In fact she seemed amused. Which should have been a good thing because Rumi didn’t want the girls to hate Jinu. But she also didn’t want Zoey to be playfully whacking him and sitting squashed up next to him while having a crush on him either, because that was so weird and wrong and annoying.

“Derpy came with a letter for you after you’d already left for the airport. I hope you don’t mind, but he gave it to us and we read it,” Mira explained honestly.

“And then we replied to Jinu and he wrote back and… Oh Rumi -” Zoey’s face crumpled a little and she suddenly couldn’t finish that sentence. Instead she sniffed loudly and wiped at her eye.

Zoey was sitting in the middle of the other two, so Rumi could see Mira touch her shoulder and whisper “Be cool,” on one side.

“She doesn’t want us to make a fuss,” Jinu added, in a low tone, on her other side.

Zoey nodded and tried to collect herself.

“ - And the girls found out I’d never had a bubble tea before, so they forced me to come to this place and have breakfast and drink this concoction,” Jinu said, raising a brown sugar bubble tea towards the camera on the phone like he was trying to cheers her. “They tell me this one is your favourite.”

Rumi saw right through him

He was just trying to smooth over the awkward moment, because he’d obviously told the girls how upset she’d been about everything that happened yesterday.

Jinu was so dumb. He thought she’d really believe that they’d all just decided to go for bubble tea one morning? He expected her to believe that he’d decided to skip a hotel breakfast bar just to hang out with Mira and Zoey?

Rumi wondered if she should be mad at him for telling the girls how upset she’d been yesterday.

She wasn’t meant to let anyone see when she was upset, because her faults and fears couldn't ever be seen... but yesterday she’d actually wanted people to know and she hadn't known how to tell them.

And now Mira and Zoey did know, and nothing bad happened. They just wanted to support her.

And all three of them were hanging out because they liked her more than they hated each other and they all wanted to help her in their own way.

And it kinda made Rumi feel better, knowing the three of them had made an effort to get along just for her sake.

“What do you think of the bubble tea?” Rumi asked Jinu curiously, deciding she wasn't angry with him at all for telling Mira and Zoey.  It seemed like it had worked out okay for everyone. 

“They’re really sweet. This is a lot of sugar,” Jinu said as he took a big sip, then exhaled extravagantly. “It tastes like I'm drinking my entire lifetime's wages in one go.”

“Stop complaining. You love it. You’ve had three since we’ve been here,” Mira said with a slight smirk instead of a sneer.

(Rumi loved brown sugar bubble teas, but Jinu was a peasant from the Joseon Era. He'd probably never even tasted refined sugar in his entire human life. Was having  that much brown sugar in one go going to be bad for him?)

“I didn’t say sweet was bad,” Jinu replied with a little dramatic huff, but he didn’t seem overly offended. He took a theatrical sip of his brown sugar tea and made a big show of how tasty he found it, as if this was proving some kind of point to Mira.  “ You always think I’m complaining when sometimes I’m just talking.”

So they were squabbling, but it didn’t seem like they hated each other anymore.

It seemed like some kind of understanding had been reached at this cafe table, and Rumi didn’t even get to be there to know what it was.

She wished she could be there. She wished she was at a cafe somewhere in Seoul, drinking brown sugar bubble teas with her favorite people.

“So you’re all just getting together and having bubble tea without me?” Rumi said with a tiny pout.

“Well, Zoey still had a few more questions about demon stuff for this guy,” Mira said, gesturing at Jinu.

“I told them about how you wanted us to do a TV thing, so Bobby is sorting that out now,” Jinu added.

“Jeez, we are really going to have to do a collaboration album at this rate,” Zoey sighed dramatically. “Anyone got any song ideas for reals?”

“Listen Rumi, if you need us to do anything else for you, just ask,” Mira said suddenly, ignoring Zoey’s request for song ideas completely. Her voice was full of sincerity as she added, “Whatever you need, we are always here for you. Call us any time, okay?”

Rumi felt warm all the way in her heart when Mira said that.

“Thanks you guys,” she said softly.

She could hear the grannies calling her from all the way back at the house.

“Uh oh. I gotta go,” she said with a sad sigh. She waved at the three of them.

“Bye Rumi,” They all said at slightly different times, not at all in sync, but at least they were saying it together.

She hung up the phone and hid it safe back in her pocket. She climbed down the rope ladder, her heart so much lighter than it had felt on the way up.

-0-

Granny Yuna outlined her first solution over breakfast. It was some kind of herbal bath that was meant to cleanse impurities, so she hoped it would get rid of her patterns. It would take a little while to prepare.

“How about you and I go for a walk to see your mother while we wait,” Celine offered in the sort of tone that couldn’t be refused.

Rumi followed.

-0-

One of the first things Celine always did when they came back to Jeju Island after being anywhere else was to tend her mother’s grave. It was already fairly neat and tidy, and Celine was still a little hung over because she was moving slowly as she piled the apples up in offering.

“Rumi, I need to talk to you about something,” she said as she went carefully about her task.

“What is it, Celine?” Rumi asked, sitting cross-legged at the base of the grave, arranging the flowers in the vase. 

“Yesterday, you took my phone and you lied to Auntie Dasom. I’m not angry, I’m just very disappointed. You know you aren’t allowed to use my phone young lady,” Celine scolded. She moved to start pulling out the weeds that had grown around the edges of her mother’s grave.

“Sorry Celine.”

“This demon - just tell me why. Why would you go to such lengths and lie to me and to Your Auntie Dasom for him?” she asked calmly, like she really wanted to know the answer. But before Rumi could say anything, she reached forward and started pulling out weeds more violently. “Just…How on earth can you be friends with a demon?” she muttered, sounding frustrated.

“Jinu is nice to me, and he’s not bad or mean. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone,” Rumi said as clearly and as sensibly as she could, trying to channel her business-woman voice, even though she wasn’t wearing her outfit and she didn’t have her PowerPoint.

Celine stopped weeding, and looked up at her with a thoughtful expression.

She was actually thinking about it.

Rumi felt a surge of hope, so she pressed on.

“He makes me feel safe and he makes me feel better about my -” Rumi added, but the words caught in her throat. After this morning, it felt harder to talk about the patterns. Celine would know what she meant if Rumi just showed her. Rumi started to lift up her sleeve.

Celine reacted instinctively. Quicker than lightning, she pulled Rumi’s sleeve back down to cover her patterns. She seemed to realise what she had done and that it wasn’t necessary anymore, because she apologised sheepishly.

Rumi forgave her instantly, because she knew that Celine wasn’t trying to make her feel bad. Celine had to hide the patterns to protect Rumi for so long and it was going to be hard for her to change.

“Jinu says they’re not bad and I don’t have to be ashamed. It just means I have some extra abilities, like healing -”

Rumi lifted up the side of her shirt instead. She showed Celine the tiny faded scratches. What had been deep, worrisome gouges yesterday were just fine lines of slightly pinker skin today.

“- Look at my side now. It’s all better. I can heal myself,” Rumi told Celine proudly. “Maybe it can be a good thing that I have these patterns. You don't have to worry so much about me getting hurt now.”

Surely Celine would be able to see the good in Rumi having the ability to heal herself?

It was one less thing for her to worry about at least.

Celine reached out, her eyes full of wonder. She delicately touched one of the healed scratches like it was some kind of miracle. But then her expression darkened and she shook her head. She withdrew her hand and put it in her lap.

“Rumi, however you did that - don’t do it again,” She said uneasily. “Using your demon powers… I’m sure it’s not good. It might make you… more like them.”

-0-

Chapter Text

The grannies had prepared for Rumi the most fragrant  bath of her life. It was filled with lots of essential oils and dissolvable multivitamin tablets (Granny Sana’s idea - to help her grow big and strong). The surface was strewn with every single herb and flower that was growing round the house.  Tinkling spa music was playing out of a little speaker.  Granny Binna had even lit a scented candle.

Rumi soaked for a while, feeling a bit like she was in one of those old European paintings of Ophelia. 

“Rumi, can I come in?” Celine asked, tapping on the door gently.

“Yes, Celine.”

Celine came in and sat on the edge of the bath. “May I check your shoulder?”

Rumi sat up and lifted her shoulder for Celine’s inspection. The little starburst of purple was still there. 

“Did it work Celine?” Granny Binna called out. 

“No, but -”

Before Celine could finish that sentence, Auntie Dasom struck like a ninja. She jumped into the room, dumped a huge bucket of ice in the bath water and jumped out again. 

Rumi squealed in shock and tried to get out of the bath, but slipped back, splashing the now frigid water everywhere. She felt frozen through and scrambled to plant her feet.

“Sorry Rumi, but an ice bath is meant to be purifying,” Auntie Dasom called from the door as Celine held out her arm to help Rumi out.  “It’ll shock the patterns right off you.”

“It didn’t work, Dasom,”  Celine snapped,  grabbing a towel and rubbing Rumi’s arms to warm her up. “I told you it was a dumb idea.”

“Put her back in,” Auntie Dasom replied. “The internet says a person needs to be in the ice for five minutes to get any benefits.”

“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet,” Celine scolded her and she bundled Rumi past.

-0-

Celine muttered extensively about Auntie Dasom’s ‘wellness phase’ under her breath as she dressed Rumi in her training clothes and braided her hair up in the usual braid. 

She took Rumi training because endorphins were meant to be a good antidote for a bad mood. 

The fact that Rumi wasn't in a bad mood didn't seem to matter.

-0-

After lunch, Celine took her swimming. 

They glided next to the corals. They saw thousands of shimmering fish, and even a salmon shark!

Celine liked sharks. She donated a lot to a marine charity and had even given an important speech in a big auditorium about how sharks were an important part of the eco-system and deserved protection just as much as whales and dolphins.  

They climbed back into Celine’s boat and dried off. The sunset was pretty and Celine was in a much better mood after seeing a shark looking healthy and happy in its natural habitat. 

Rumi knew it would be a good time to ask her for a favour. 

“Celine, can we do this every day while we are here? I won't mind all the healing attempts so much if we can swim in the afternoons.”

Gliding through the water, surrounded by coral and odd creatures, would make all the other stuff okay. 

“Of course we can, darling,” Celine said, putting her arm around Rumi’s shoulders for a tiny moment.  Then she started the motor and began driving back to the harbour. 

She was still in a good mood, so Rumi tried another favour. 

“Would you be able to watch my PowerPoint? I worked really hard on it,” She asked in her most persuasive voice. 

“We don’t have reception out here, Rumi,” Celine reminded her, which wasn’t a no.  It also wasn't really relevant, because Rumi didn't have her laptop on the boat. 

But Celine didn’t ask to see the PowerPoint when they got back to the house either. 

-0-

Auntie Dasom had made a ‘purifying’ soup for dinner. It was a recipe from one of her wellness cookbooks. 

Rumi had to eat it all just to be polite.

But she wished she could just be rude for once.

-0-

Auntie Dasom and Granny Yuna woke Rumi up at the crack of dawn to do a long yoga practice. Afterwards Auntie Dasom had a friend who came over to give Rumi a ‘sound bath’. Both were pretty relaxing. The yoga and the sound bath were meant to put her in a deep meditative state, which was somehow meant to help her grow up again. 

But all that happened was breakfast being late and Rumi being hungrier. 

-0-

Rumi got a message from the girls asking to call her. 

She told the older hunters she wanted to go climb her treehouse again.  She called Mira’s phone when she got to the top. Three faces popped up on her screen. 

Mira, Zoey and Jinu were at another cafe somewhere near a park. Rumi could see the green trees behind them.  

“Hi guys,” She said, waving happily. 

They all gave her little waves and different greetings.

“How is everything today?”  Mira asked directly.

“Auntie Dasom is into wellness, so there’s lots of wellness happening,” Rumi said, trying to keep her voice neutral. She looked at their drinks with envy.  Those drinks were definitely not wellness friendly. 

“You're not having bubble tea today?” Rumi asked. 

“No,” Jinu said far too quickly. “I'm good for bubble tea. I think I had too many yesterday.”

“You think?” Mira said, raising her eyebrow in an amused smirk. 

“What happened yesterday?” Rumi asked. 

“This one had his first ever sugar-high,” Mira grinned, nodding at Jinu, who smiled ruefully and shook his head. 

“I was buzzing Rumi. I felt so… ziggy-zaggy,” Jinu confided in her in a stage whisper.  He did a little wiggly gesture with his hands to illustrate what he meant by zigg-zaggy. 

“We got him a loaded milkshake to try today instead,” Zoey said, and she slid Jinu’s milkshake closer with a mischievous glint in her eye.  

 It was the most decadent drink Rumi had ever seen. There were two different shades of chocolate and what looked like whipped cream and ice cream. The rim of the drink was covered in crushed lollies and the top was full of caramel popcorn, and cookies and m&ms.  

Rumi could foresee that they were going to run into a similar sugar-high situation today. 

Unless that was the plan?

Were Mira and Zoey just feeding Jinu random things to see how he’d react to them?

Rumi kinda wanted to be the one who got to feed Jinu ice cream the first time he tried it. 

But now he was going to try it with Mira and Zoey instead. 

And that was okay, she could share her demon. 

Like, obviously, he was free to eat ice cream whenever he wanted. 

 But still. 

She hoped Mira and Zoey left some first time things for her to give Jinu.

“Do I drink it or eat it?” Jinu said, looking at the concoction in front of him with some bafflement. 

“You can do both,” Mira said, and handed him a spoon. 

They all got to see Jinu’s reaction to ice-cream and m&ms - which was both loud and very appreciative. There were noises.  He even closed his eyes in bliss at one point and declared the milkshake was the best thing he had ever eaten. 

“Just wait until you try nachos,” Zoey said. “They’re better.”

“What’s a nacho?” Jinu asked. 

“It’s corn chips with guacamole and -” Zoey began excitedly. 

“He doesn’t even know what a corn chip is,” Mira interrupted her. “Just trust us, dude. They’re delicious. Rumi likes them too.” Mira gave a nod towards the phone. 

“Nachos are yummy,” Rumi promised him. “What are you guys doing today?”

“They’ve made me come to brunch and I don't even know what brunch is either,” Jinu replied. 

“It’s an American thing. It’s like a breakfast and a lunch at the same time,” Zoey explained. 

“Like a cheerios burger?” Jinu guessed. 

Mira snorted so hard a bit of milkshake came out her noise. 

“What? NO!” Zoey shook her head. She looked so much more offended by Jinu thinking she ate cheerios burgers than she had any of the times he brought up her crush on him. “Why would you even think that?”

“Americans eat cheerios for breakfast and burgers for lunch,” Jinu said with a shrug, explaining his reasoning. 

“You have to admit, he makes a solid case,” Mira said to Zoey, still trying to stifle her laughs. 

Suddenly Jinu sat up straighter and squinted, like he was paying attention to something in the far distance. He sighed in frustration. “ I didn’t even get to finish my milkshake,” he said sadly. 

“Go dude,” Mira waved him off.

Jinu stood up and reached for his wallet, but Mira was quicker. She gave his hand a little smack. 

“Don’t you dare pay,” She said, waggling a warning finger at him. 

“I’m just trying to be polite,” Jinu replied. 

“Well, stop it!” Mira scolded. 

“Meet us here for dinner,” Zoey said, handing him a card quickly.  “It’s a nacho place.” 

“Bye Rumi,” Jinu said, waving into the phone screen before taking the card from Zoey and disappearing out of frame. 

Mira got up to go and pay at the counter, like she’d won some kind of victory.

“What's going on?” Rumi asked Zoey. 

“We’re going fishing for enforcers, and we’re using Jinu as bait,” Zoey said excitedly. 

Rumi knew her alarm must have shown on her face, because suddenly Zoey was back-tracking. 

“I didn’t mean bait in the we’re going to let him get eaten by a fish way, but we just dangle him in front of the bad demons, and then they come to us,” Zoey said quickly, trying to make it better.    

“We’ve all  talked and we've agreed that the demons who rip peoples' spleens out for fun are a bigger priority for us,” Mira explained, sitting back down next to Zoey.   “We’re meant to protect people, but enforcers don't come near us at all.  Jinu always has a group following him. So we get a bite to eat together, wait for the honmoon to turn pink and then he bounces and we do our thing.”

Rumi did not like this plan. At all. Everyone freaked out about her fighting enforcer demons, but that had been necessary. 

This struck her as just dumb and reckless.

She didn’t want Jinu dangled anywhere near enforcers, especially if she wasn’t there to make sure nothing bad happened to him. 

“Is this a good idea?” Rumi asked hesitantly, but she was pretty sure her disapproval showed. 

“It was Jinu’s idea,” Zoey said. 

Ugh. 

Of course it was. 

“That means it’s a bad idea,”  Rumi said, feeling even more alarmed now. 

“Don’t worry Rumi. We won't let anything happen to your demon,” Mira said, trying for a reassuring tone. “But this really does make the most sense. We can’t let spleen collectors run amok.”

“We always check in with him afterwards. Tell you what, how about I send you a photo of the three of us from the taco place tonight? That way you don’t need to worry,” Zoey offered. 

“I’d like that,” Rumi nodded. 

Pink rippled through the honmoon behind Mira and Zoey.

The enforcers had arrived somewhere near them. 

“Showtime,” Zoey said, her eyes shining with anticipation. 

“We will call you later, okay Rumi,” Mira said, and then the screen clicked off. 

-0-

 There were miles and miles of volcanic caves on Jeju Island but only a tiny section was open to the tourists.  They snuck past eight different CAUTION: DANGER and WARNING - UNSAFE SURFACE signs before they came to a narrow, low opening.

Granny Yuna had a big backpack and a cheeky grin.  “Follow me,” she said as she dropped down on her hands and knees. 

“You know I can’t do that with my knee replacement,” Granny Binna reminded her. 

“Please, you just don’t want to get those Gucci pants dirty,” Granny Yuna said with a fond little roll of her eyes. She crawled in through the hole - pushing her backpack ahead of her. 

Rumi followed Granny Yuna, and Celine and Auntie Dasom were right behind her. Granny Sana chose to stay outside and keep lookout with Granny Binna.

The tunnel opened up into a big cavern. They walked across it, and through another narrow opening and then down a longer lava tube. Granny Yuna seemed to know where she was going, which was a good thing because Rumi was feeling all turned around, surrounded by all the dark volcanic rock.  

Eventually they came to a little cave.  Granny Yuna got some thin paper and crayons out of her backpack and then she turned up the brightness on her lamp. 

The walls of the cave flared into view. There were inscriptions, handprints, drawings, diagrams and song lyrics and musical notations all painted and carved onto every inch of surface as far as the eye could see. 

“What is this place?” Celine gasped. 

“This is the Great Cave of Hunter Wisdom,” Granny Yuna said with a pass of her arm. “Whenever the hunters of the past made a new discovery they came in here to make a record of it. This place was sacred and secret, so any knowledge written here was safe for all the ages,” She explained.  “My own grandmother used to bring me here. I really should have brought you all here long ago,” She said with a little apologetic smile at all of them. 

“If there’s an answer, we might be able to find it here,” Granny Yuna declared. 

The grown-ups divided the cave into sections to search. Granny Yuna and Auntie Dasom both very quickly found things they thought would be helpful and they started making imprint rubbings. Celine was reading everything in her section very thoroughly.

 Rumi was given a little outcropping with mostly pictures to study. (Granny Yuna gave off the impression that she had just picked the least complicated section of wall for the youngest member of their group, like she didn’t think Rumi would be able to decipher the longer passages).

Still  Rumi studied the drawings intensely, treating them with the respect they deserved. Some hunter long ago had drawn the steps to a dance with two figures. Rumi followed the illustrations until they ended with a picture of a rising sun. 

Then two handprints, like signatures, had been pressed to the rock underneath. One was a normal human hand print, the second had unmistakable claws. 

Looking closer, Rumi could see the second figure in all the drawings also had claws. 

She called the other women over.  “Look, a demon and a hunter wrote this together,” she pointed out. “There must have been some ritual that needed a hunter and a demon.”

“It was a different time. This inscription dates back to the Three Kingdoms Era. A lot has changed since then,” Granny Yuna said gently.  “But once upon a time, hunters would occasionally co-operate with demons.  We used to have some common enemies. It was pragmatic to work together, nothing more.”

Rumi looked at Granny Yuna, baffled. Maybe the old lady needed her glasses? Surely she could see how the fingers were intertwining and they were holding hands in each picture? 

That wasn’t nothing.

No one else knew that Mira and Zoey were working with Jinu to catch the enforcers. But still... hunters and demons were working together in the present day as well.  So it wasn't like working together was something that had been lost to time.  It was happening right now. 

Maybe this inscription had something important to teach them. If only Rumi knew what it meant and what the dance was a ritual for. She had the sneaking suspicion Granny Yuna knew, but she wasn’t telling. 

“Come on, let’s get back to the others,” Auntie Dasom said firmly, closing the subject.  

Granny Yuna tucked the rubbings they’d taken from the wall into the inner pocket of her backpack and the older hunters all turned to leave the cave, no longer curious about Rumi’s discovery.

-0-

Celine spread a blanket and a pillow out for Rumi under the base of the sacred tree.  “Just lie back and try to relax,” she instructed. 

Rumi looked up at the branches above her, silhouetted against the sky.

The ritual had to be done at moonrise. Granny Sana had translated an ancient song, and Granny Binna figured out the tune. Auntie Dasom and Celine worked on the rubbing describing the dance. 

Celine and Auntie Dasom and the Grannies had all dressed up in their old ceremonial gear. They danced around her in perfect unison as the moon rose, singing a song Rumi had never heard before. They each played a different instrument and the honmoon pulsated to the beat, almost like it was dancing with them. 

The lines on the honmoon reached out towards Rumi and started to lap at her legs like gently breaking waves. 

Then waves of honmoon light started washing over her legs and up her body. The lines were surrounding her. She couldn’t remember it happening the first time, but it must have been scary for Big Rumi. 

Rumi knew her faults and fears couldn’t be seen, especially by the honmoon!

She reached out to touch the roots of the tree to steady herself. Since she couldn’t be afraid, she would just do something grounding and then she could be brave again. 

The moment her hand touched the roots, she heard it - a sixth voice was harmonising with the old hunters. 

Only it wasn’t really a single voice at all. It sounded like it was made up of thousands and thousands of voices, and yet they were all singing in unison like they were one entity.

Rumi felt the presence turn its complete attention towards her. 

Why so sad, little one?

The voice echoed in her head, but she knew exactly where it came from. 

She was talking with the honmoon itself! 

-0-

Chapter Text

The honmoon flowed around Rumi like water in the ocean. She could still hear its words echoing in her head.  She tried to send her response back to it, with only her thoughts. 

I’m not sad.

So sad even when I gave you what you wanted, what you needed, The honmoon observed. There was no point in trying to lie or hide anything from the honmoon. It could see inside her soul.  So Rumi could just talk honestly. 

Did my gifts fail to make you happy?  The honmoon asked. 

Gifts? Rumi replied, letting her confusion show. 

The time before shame, the boy. These are my gifts to you. 

 I need to give one of these gifts back, Rumi replied politely. 

It's the boy, isn't it?  The honmoon gave a little wiggle of exasperation, as if Jinu had somehow already irritated it with his Jinu-ness. Don’t worry. I can change him, it declared with some resolve. 

You don't need to change him. I’d like to keep Jinu the way he is, please.  Rumi replied instantly, feeling anxious that the honmoon might make Jinu nine-years-old too, and then how would he ever stay safe from enforcers? Rumi had heaps of adults trying to look after her during the little problem, but Jinu didn’t have anyone except her and she was also currently nine. 

Obviously, if they were both nine she would be the smarter nine-year-old, so she should be the one in charge…

But Celine probably wouldn’t let her keep him.

It would just be better if neither of them were nine-years-old, Rumi decided. 

We all change -even I must change, the honmoon remarked enigmatically. 

Rumi didn’t know quite what to say to that, and she felt they were getting off track. If she could talk to the honmoon, then she could ask it directly to fix the problem it had created. 

I need to give being nine-years-old back.  I think there's been a misunderstanding. This isn't what I wanted at all,  she replied to the honmoon as kindly as she could. She knew she was meant to be gracious and accept all gifts, but this one was definitely inconvenient for everyone. 

No misunderstanding.  You desire unconditional acceptance and unconditional  love. The honmoon threads curled tighter around her, almost like they were trying to hug her.  My gifts will bring these to you. The voice in her head was gentle and reassuring and it wanted to help. 

It wanted Rumi to be loved fully and accepted as she was. 

It knew that Rumi wanted love and acceptance right down to her very bones.

How? Rumi asked, feeling hope and anticipation rising in her chest.

I  plant the seeds, but what grows is up to you.  

Humph. 

A mysterious answer.

That was annoying. 

That wasn’t the answer Rumi wanted. She wanted step-by-step instructions on how to achieve unconditional love and acceptance. 

If she couldn’t have detailed instructions, then she wanted to be Big Rumi again. Then she could go back to Seoul and drink loaded milkshakes with the girls and Jinu, and being with them would make her happy. 

I need to grow myself. I need to be Big Rumi again.  Please. 

Acceptance is the answer,  The honmoon said serenely, and then it let her go.

 It ebbed away like the ocean at low tide, and covered the earth like a blanket once more. 

Their conversation was over. 

-0-

Rumi felt a little dizzy after talking with the honmoon, so Celine helped her back to the house. Auntie Dasom made a big pot of tea. The older hunters all clustered around her as she took a few sips of something floral and sweet.

“Well? What did the honmoon say?” Granny Sanna asked after a moment. 

“The honmoon says acceptance is the answer to the little problem,” Rumi informed them. 

“Acceptance? Acceptance of what?” Granny Binna wrinkled her nose in confusion. “What does it mean by that? 

“I don’t know,” Rumi shrugged and sipped her tea.

-0-

Rumi was exhausted after her day, but she still waited up a little while. Zoey was meant to send her a message and a photo. 

But none came. 

It got later and later.

Rumi felt uneasy, but told herself that it was probably nothing. Zoey was probably having such a fun time eating nachos with the guy she had a crush on that she forgot that Rumi would be worrying. 

She told herself everything was fine and rolled over to go to sleep. 

-0-

In the morning there was a message from Zoey, but no picture of them all happily eating nachos. 

Everything’s okay and we are all alive. That’s the main thing. Don’t worry Rumi. 

Rumi worried. 

Of course she worried. 

No one sent a message saying we are all alive and that’s the main thing unless one of them came very close to being NOT alive. 

Rumi normally sent a text to check that it was okay before calling, but this morning she hit the phone icon immediately.

It was really early in the morning though, Rumi thought to herself as it rang.

But the girls did say she could call any time… 

Zoey answered on the third ring. She wasn’t asleep in her bed, so Rumi hadn’t woken her up.

She and Mira and Jinu were in some alley, all wearing matching tight black t-shirts for some reason. 

“Sorry Rumi, we can’t talk now,”  Zoey said in a low whisper. Her eyes had a mischievous glint in them. “We’re doing crime,” she added excitedly. “I got us matching outfits and everything.”

“We aren’t doing crime. We’ll put it back.  It’s not a crime if we return it,” Mira insisted, butting her face into the screen.  “But if we get caught we can just blame Jinu,” she said added a teasing grin.  She shook her head at him, like she was pretending to scold him. “You’ve been a terrible influence on us.”

“Me! This was your idea!” Jinu pointed indignantly at Mira. “You just asked me if I was cool with stealing something for Rumi, and -”

“You answered yes pretty pretty quickly as I recall,”  Mira smirked. 

“We’ll have to call you back,” Zoey said diplomatically into the phone, and then the screen went blank. 

Rumi gaped at in shock and indignation it for a good five minutes. 

She left them alone for a few days, and they were already using Jinu as bait and nearly getting killed and now they were doing crimes!

This was why she should be in charge of all the plans.

When she left those three alone, they came up with the worst ideas. 

-0-

A large gift basket arrived  for Rumi from Bobby while everyone was having breakfast. Auntie Dasom let Rumi have as many treats as she could eat while Celine called Bobby to thank him for his generosity.

Celine asked him a bit about the PR situation and seemed very confused by the answers.  She sat back down and started talking about finance and investments again, so Rumi excused herself from the table,  sneaking some treats into her pockets on the way. 

-0-

They did some kind of smoking ceremony with a little bonfire of fragrant leaves. It  didn’t make the honmoon speak to her or solve the little problem or make her patterns disappear. 

But it did make Rumi cough a lot. 

-0-

An acupuncturist came to the house and treated Rumi.  Her chi pathways were opened and she felt relaxed.

But she remained nine years old.

-0-

“The acupuncturist gave me an idea,” Granny Sana said over lunch. “Needles. How about if we just tattoo over the patterns. We get a tattooist to just use the same colour ink as Rumi’s skin. We can cover them up that way. Maybe it’s a case of out of sight, out  of mind.”

“You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to let  Rumi be tattooed,” Celine said immediately.

Celine almost never disagreed with Granny Sana,  and even today she was using her usual cool and calm voice. She said it like an offhand comment, like she was joking - but she also had a real ‘don’t mess with me’ vibe going on right now. Granny Sana backed down immediately. 

“You’re quite right Celine. That was a silly idea,” She said with a dismissive little wave. “What was the next recommendation from the cave?” she said, turning to Granny Yuna. 

Rumi listened to all their planned ideas for the afternoon.  Cupping, Gua Sha treatment and a crystal massage were all expected to be the answer.

She hoped one of them worked.

-0-

Rumi's body was bearing the marks of all these cures. She was covered in strange circular bruises from the cupping. Longer scratch marks from the Gua Sha treatment were all up her back like a tiger's stripes.

But her patterns still remained and she was still nine years old.

She had a little break before her crystal treatment, so she told the older hunters she was going to her treehouse.  She messaged the girls. 

Is the crime finished?

Mira called her back two seconds later.

She and Zoey were sitting on a couch in their apartment whilst Zoey examined a scroll and made notes.  There was an ornate box full of scrolls and books on the coffee table.   Jinu was in the kitchen opening and closing their fridge. It looked like he was trying to figure out how the light worked. 

“Yes! We got them,” Mira declared, and she lifted up one of the scrolls for Rumi to see and gave it a triumphant little waggle.

“I got them. I teleported nearby and deactivated the alarm and tricked the sensors and figured out the code and then snuck in and grabbed them,” Jinu corrected her from the kitchen.

He picked a sauce (strawberry- that was interesting), poured way too much of it over three bowls of ice cream and brought them over to the couch.  He gave Rumi a little friendly wave as he sat down.

Then he turned to Mira, handed her an ice cream bowl and shook his head, like he was teasing her about being a bad accomplice to his crimes. “You guys just stood around and said weird things to that guard.” 

“We distracted that guard,”  Mira pointed out. 

“What did you get from the crimes?”  Rumi asked curiously. 

“The National Institute of History had some texts written by previous hunters, but they kept them locked in this climate control room. We’re just going to read them and then Jinu’s going to take them back. We’re trying to research the little problem, but we don't actually know that much about the past hunters,” Zoey explained, looking up from the scroll she’d been reading.

“I’m finding out so much here too,” Rumi said,  excited to share what she had discovered with people who might listen for once.  “The grannies know demons have feelings and they know they’ve been lying to us and there’s this whole cave full of engravings -”

She told them about the airport, and Jinu looked very perturbed over what had happened to the long haired demon.

Maybe they had been friends? The long haired demon had seemed happy to hear that Jinu was still alive. Rumi felt bad for just blurting it out, because it looked like she’d also made Zoey sad too. She started apologising.

But they both said they were fine and encouraged her to keep talking about her discoveries and everyone was actually listening to her. 

The three of them listened while she talked and asked the occasional questions and Zoey was making notes.

And it felt wonderful to be heard. 

Rumi told them about how the grannies had changed what they taught them, but she had to be really vague about the reason why. She couldn’t very well say that her mother had a baby with a demon, so they decided that no hunter should ever speak to a demon ever again.  So Rumi just repeated what Granny Sana had said to her - they’d changed their teachings because they wanted to make being a hunter easier and simpler.

Mira snorted derisively at that, and whispered to Zoey “I knew they were keeping something from us.”

(Rumi didn’t tell them about talking to the honmoon, because there was no way to describe what the honmoon obviously meant by 'the time before shame' without telling them that she was half-demon. It mader her feel bad that the Grannies weren't the only ones keeping a secret from them.)

But Rumi told them everything else she knew. She got to tell them about what she found in the cave and she could reassure Zoey and Mira that they weren’t wrong to work with a demon because that’s what the hunters in the past did too. Zoey had been making notes the whole time, but she started trying to draw the pictures as Rumi described them. 

Mira got up and looked through the box of scrolls.  She pulled one out . “This is a hunter’s scroll from Silla. It’s over a thousand years old - so it’s from that same time period,” she told Rumi as she carefully unrolled it. She turned to Jinu. “Hey, Jinu, back in the day did -”

“Girls, we’ve been through this.  I’m not that old. I don’t know  what happened back in the day in Silla,” Jinu huffed.  “ Why don’t you ask your phone?” he suggested. 

“Why don’t you get a phone?” Mira shot back, sounding really annoyed at Jinu’s lack of phone.  She turned to the camera, so she was looking directly at Rumi through the screen. “Rumi, he needs a phone. Tell him he needs a phone.”  

“You need a phone,” Rumi said to Jinu, agreeing with Mira instantly because Mira was right,

“Fine. I’ll get one.” Jinu gave an exasperated sigh.

Mira did a little fist pump dance, like she’d just won some kind of argument. 

Jinu rolled his eyes at her little victory dance, but appeared to be conceding defeat. 

Rumi was struck by a powerful wave of homesickness, even though Jeju Island was her home and she’d only known the three of them for a few days.  But suddenly, all she wanted was to be back in Seoul with the three of them.

They clearly needed her. 

She was sure that something bad had happened last night, but all she knew was that they were all lucky to be alive, and Jinu not having a phone caused some kind of issue and nobody got nachos to eat and at some point they had all decided that their only option was crime. 

Rumi had always assumed that there was a sensible one in every group, but she didn’t know who that would be out of Jinu and Mira and Zoey. 

Now she was dealing with the horrible realisation that none of them were sensible, and even though she was only nine-years-old, she was still the smartest one in the group.

Rumi just felt sure that the whole night would have gone a lot smoother if she had been there.

“Rumi, there's a way you might be able to get some memories back,” Zoey said suddenly, looking up from the scroll Mira had unrolled with delight. “There’s a story here about a hunter who lost her memories. She had to go to a dark cave with no light and magic water that anyone could float in -”

“That sounds like a sensory deprivation tank,” Mira interjected. 

“ - It does, doesn’t it,” Zoey agreed. “Or maybe the hunter’s cave might have a pool like that. It would be great if you could get back in and take some pictures for us.”

“I’ll try,” Rumi agreed, feeling hopeful. 

This sounded like a more helpful solution than some of the wellness stuff they’d been doing. 

Zoey scanned the scroll again.  “So it sounds like it’s not going to be all your memories, but things that were important about why this happened should surface for you.  Understanding what’s going on could really help us fix it.”

-0-

It took Rumi three days to get back to the cave. 

She suggested it, but she couldn’t say the girls had told her since she wasn’t meant to have a phone. Mira and Zoey tried calling Celine, but they couldn’t say that they had stolen priceless rare documents from the National Institute of History,  so Zoey had ended up saying she just had ‘a vibe’ that a sensory deprivation tank was a good idea. 

Celine thanked them for their concern, but told them that she had enough wellness mumbo-jumbo to be getting on with and didn’t need them to also  start suggesting random treatments.  Then she hung up. 

It was only when Granny Sana translated a similar inscription from one of the rubbings in the cave that they agreed to take her. 

Rumi  asked if she could take some pictures of the inside of the cave to send to the girls on Celine’s phone. (Hers was still staying hidden for the time being).  Granny Yuna said the flash might harm the paintings, but let Rumi take some rubbings of the inscriptions. 

Auntie Dasom found a cave that was pitch black, with a pool of warmer water that was fed by a hot spring. They led Rumi to it, and Rumi got undressed down to her underwear and slipped into the water. Auntie Dasom turned off her torch, and Rumi floated on her back in complete darkness. 

The water was the exact same temperature as her body, and she could no longer tell where she ended and it began. She felt her consciousness expand with the ebb and flow. 

Then it started. 

Chapter Text

Images danced before Rumi in a frenzied blur of colour. She saw Big Rumi and felt echoes of her feelings. She caught fragments of sentences, snippets of songs, and sometimes whole conversations. The images started with Big Rumi on a plane and ended with her on stage, triumphant, but unaware of the golden honmoon reaching shimmering tendrils up her legs.  

Rumi gasped with shock as she felt herself pulled under. 

Water hit her nose and mouth.

She flailed in the water and couldn't tell which way was up. 

The adults were yelling, and then there was a splash. 

Celine had jumped in.

 Someone turned on the lantern and light illuminated the cave above. Celine was in the water with her,  and she reached out to pull Rumi to safety.  Rumi climbed over the slippery rocks, spluttering. It felt like she was coughing up an entire ocean.

Somebody wrapped a towel around her.

“No more today,” Celine told the others firmly. 

-0-

It was dark by the time they got back home. 

Celine made her favourite noodle soup, not Auntie Dasom’s wellness recipe. 

The others even let her pick the TV show they watched that night.

Rumi was mostly quiet. 

She was trying to sort through everything she’d seen. 

It had been a lot. 

-0-

The girls messaged her in the morning, but for once, Rumi didn’t want to talk to them. 

In the memories she’d seen, they’d been fighting... 

About a song.

But they’d also been arguing about everything. 

“Why are you questioning everything we stand for!” Mira had yelled at Big Rumi.

But Mira hadn’t wanted to hear the answer. She’d just wanted to shout some more. 

Rumi had seen Big Rumi trying to tell Mira, and trying to tell Zoey that the song they were writing was too hateful and it wouldn’t beat Gwi-ma - and they got angry every time. 

But Big Rumi would have been right. 

Hope strengthened the honmoon. 

Courage strengthened the honmoon. 

Love strengthened the honmoon. 

Hate only hurt the honmoon. 

Rumi knew that and she was only 9!

Rumi had only heard a few fragments of lyrics as they were brainstorming them, but she could tell they were on the wrong track with the song.  But the girls reacted so strongly every time Big Rumi tried to point it out. They got annoyed. They asked questions but didn’t listen to Big Rumi’s answers. They said it didn't matter what Big Rumi thought and they wouldn't understand her.

Watching it unfold made Rumi feel uneasy and misunderstood.

It was how she felt talking to the older hunters. 

Rumi had seen Big Rumi and the girls be friendly before the Idol Awards performance, and she’d seen them have a nice conversation about their faults and fears. She knew Zoey and Mira loved her now, and they love Big Rumi too. 

But Big Rumi had been anxious around them, and Rumi had felt that as strongly as she’d felt the love. Big Rumi had felt certain that nothing could change until her patterns were gone. Zoey and Mira would never accept her as she was. 

Rumi knew where Big Rumi had gotten that idea from.

She went to talk to Celine.

-0-

The Grannies had given her a day off being cured, and so nothing was planned.  Auntie Dasom was reading her book in the hammock. The grannies had set up a board game and were gossiping loudly about their lives.  Rumi  found Celine in the flower garden, deadheading the dahlias. 

Rumi went and sat beside her. Celine offered her a pair of secateurs. Together they cut off the old blooms. The wrinkled flower heads wouldn’t serve the plant well anymore and they would only drain its energy. If Celine and Rumi did a good job, then new buds could grow and be healthier. 

“Celine,  why did you think the golden honmoon would get rid of my patterns?” Rumi asked quietly as she snipped a withered stem.

Celine paused and settled back on her heels and sighed. “There was an old hunter’s legend that new honmoons grant the sincerest wish of their creators. I assumed that  if you succeeded in making a golden honmoon, you would be able to wish your patterns away,” she explained. 

“Oh,” Rumi said quietly. 

Maybe she  hadn’t wished hard enough?

“Is this to do with what you saw in the cave?” Celine asked gently. 

Rumi nodded. 

“Would you like to talk about it?”

“Big Rumi was fighting with the girls before the Idol Awards,” Rumi confessed, like it was a shameful secret. She couldn’t believe she had ever fought with anyone, much less people she loved as much as Mira and Zoey.  “She thought a song they wanted to sing for the Idol Awards  was too full of hate and wouldn’t beat Gwi-ma.”

“Hate wouldn’t have beaten Gwi-ma. Hate empowers him,” Celine said sagely. 

Rumi remembered a moment from her visions. Big Rumi had been sitting next to Jinu at some kind of fan event. If hate could defeat Gwi-ma, I would have done it a long time ago. Trust me.  Big Rumi had trusted that he was telling the truth about that. She had been surprised to realise that some demons honestly  hated Gwi-ma too.

But all the demons hating him didn’t harm Gwi-ma at all.  Maybe Celine was right and their hatred gave the demon king an odd kind of strength.  If love and hope and courage weakened him, it made sense that hate, and despair and shame would empower him. 

“So Big Rumi was right and the girls didn’t listen,” Rumi said, snipping a wrinkled stem grumpily.

“Oh Rumi,” Celine said, reaching out to give her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You girls were under so much pressure then.  People say  things they don’t mean when they’re stressed and scared…  I know you girls made up by the time the Idol Awards performance came around.  You chose to sing Golden, and that’s a beautiful song about the best of you.” Celine lifted her chin up and smiled softly. “So the girls did listen to you in the end,” she concluded. 

“Yeah. I guess they did,” She smiled back at Celine, feeling comforted. 

-0- 

When the girls texted her the next morning, Rumi ran to her treehouse to call them.  

Celine had been right.

 It had been just one squabble and everyone had been stressed. Grown-ups always said bad things when they were stressed.  

And the girls were so kind to her, and they were trying so hard to help her and all their research was better than wellness cures.  They deserved to know their hard work was paying off at least.

“It worked! I remembered stuff!” Rumi said excitedly as soon as they answered. 

“Yay!” Zoey gave a little cheer.  

“Sick,” Mira said with a little fist pump. 

Someone was missing.

“Where's Jinu?” Rumi asked casually. 

“He was like “I have to go work at some point, girls. I can't just sit around eating corn chips and planning heists all day,”  Zoey said, dropping her voice to the lowest octave to do her impression of Jinu.

“Yeah, that's exactly what he sounds like,” Mira chuckled. 

“That’s exactly how he said it,” Zoey grinned.  

“Wait - You guys are planning another crime?” Rumi asked, because she felt that was the salient point here. 

Zoey and Mira looked at each other sheepishly, before turning back to her.

“ Anyway… What did you remember?” Zoey said brightly, obviously changing the subject away from their secret life of crime. 

Rumi wanted to be as honest with them as she could be.

She wasn’t going to lie when she didn’t need to. Besides, maybe if she talked it over with the girls and could hear their side, she’d feel better about the way their squabble.  Rumi knew she was just jumping to conclusions based on very limited information, and that wasn’t fair to Zoey and Mira. 

Rumi told them about what she had seen in the cave and how it was all still a blurry memory soup for her, but she was getting better and picking bits and pieces out.  She asked them directly about their fight. 

“Yeah, we wrote a song about the Saja Boys for Idol Awards. Big Rumi thought it was too mean, and … eventually we decided to go with Golden instead,” Mira explained.  

“The way she was acting makes so much more sense now.  I can see her point now I’m friends with a dumb demon,” Zoey added. 

“ Yeah, but Jinu says he doesn't have a problem with it,” Mira said, a little defensively. 

“I don't think he'd tell us if it bothered him. He also only just stopped making dumb jokes about how we were going to change our minds and kill him,” Zoey pointed out hesitantly. 

“Now he just makes dumb jokes about other annoying crap,” Mira shrugged. 

“His jokes are so dumb. And he always makes this face “ - Rumi did her best impression of Jinu’s dumb face -  “ right before he says something that he thinks is going to be hilarious, and that’s how you can tell that the next thing he’s about to say is going to be ridiculous.”  She shook her head fondly. 

She could hear Auntie Dasom calling for her in the orchard. 

The Grannies had uncovered a sort of pilgrimage route to sacred sites all over the island. Some were only accessible by hiking, so they had decided to hike the whole way. A three day hiking trip had been planned without Rumi getting any input whatsoever.  Rumi told Mira and Zoey about the planned adventure.  (No internet and no phone and no TV for three days! No Ice cream! Only wellness foods and the Grannies gossiping!) 

Rumi wasn’t going to get to talk to her girls for three days.

“Please don't do anymore crimes while I'm gone. No breaking and entering, okay?” Rumi advised them. 

Mira and Zoey blew some kisses at the screen and said they would miss her.

But they didn’t agree to the 'no crime' thing. 

They thought Rumi didn’t notice - but she did!

The girls thought they were so slick, but Rumi figured them out every time!

This was why she needed to be back in Seoul. 

Who knew what those three goobers would get up to without her there to supervise.  

-0–

Celine had taken her swimming each day they’d been on Jeju Island. On the second afternoon of their hike, they got to swim at a beautiful white sand beach together. 

The sacred sites hadn’t been helpful.

It felt like Rumi had meditated in so many sacred grottos and done kata on so many bits sacred basalt, and sought ancient wisdom from so many caves and blessed the light from the top of every mountain on Jeju Island. 

“Sorry nothing’s working,” Rumi said quietly. She buried her toes in the sand and hugged her knees into her chest and sighed. 

“We’ll be back home tomorrow afternoon, and you can choose whatever you want to watch on TV for the rest of the time we’re here,” Celine said apologetically. Her expression was sad.

“It’s not so bad. The Island is beautiful and this is almost like the holidays we used to take,” Rumi said cheerfully, trying to make Celine feel better.  She didn't want Celine to feel sad. 

It wasn’t Celine's fault there was something wrong with Rumi. 

Auntie Dasom missed her pour-over coffee each morning.  Granny Binna’s knee replacement was acting up.  Granny Yuna hated camping. They were putting up with all this discomfort to help Rumi, and they were trying to be nice about it, but Rumi couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault.  She was the problem. She was the reason for substandard instant coffee and aching knees and no soft beds. 

She had to look on the bright side.

 She got to spend every afternoon swimming and doing wilderness training with Celine.

It was almost like how things used to be back when it was just the two of them.

 They normally went on remote holidays. They’d get an isolated cabin somewhere, so they didn’t have to worry so much about Rumi’s patterns being seen and Rumi could run free in short sleeves.  Celine would teach her wilderness training, and how to tie different knots, and orienteering and abseiling and they’d build their own bonfires to chase away the dark. 

Rumi had liked those holidays.  

-0-

They got back late at night on the third night. In the morning, Rumi ran to her treehouse the first chance she got.

She called the girls. 

The girls had missed her and she had missed them. They spent ages talking about how much they missed each other. 

But Zoey was practically bursting to tell her something. 

“We have some brand new information Rumi!” She said excitedly. 

It was then that Rumi noticed the boxes piled discreetly next to the kitchen counter. Scrolls and books were peeking out of the open flaps. Some were labeled with things like  Seoul Museum of History, National Folk Museum of Korea, Museum of Shamanism.

Uh oh!

How many museums had those goobers robbed together?

“How did you acquire this information?” Rumi asked.

“There was no breaking and entering this time,” Zoey said quickly. 

“I can see the museum boxes behind you,” Rumi pointed out. 

“Let's just say one of us is actually freakishly talented at pickpocketing, and was able to lift access passes from various curators, and snuck past different security systems and borrowed more reading material,” Mira explained bluntly. 

“Nothing got broken.  So it's not breaking and entering. And just entering is… a victim-less crime,” Zoey assured her. 

“Please don't ask my demon to steal anymore stuff. I don't want him to get caught,” Rumi told them flatly. 

“Pfft. Jinu’s not going to get caught,” Mira scoffed at the idea. “He's actually really good at it. You know, if busking doesn't work out for him, he'd actually make an amazing thief.”  

“Yeah. Think of it this way -  he’s like Matt Damon in Ocean’s 11, or Mark Wahlberg in The Italian Job, or Leonardo Dicaprio in Catch Me if You Can -” Zoey started to say. 

“I haven’t seen any of those movies,” Rumi interrupted, still feeling displeased. 

“ - or Flynn Rider in Tangled or  Aladdin in Aladdin?”  Zoey tried again, picking kids' movies this time. 

Rumi crossed her arms severely. 

“I don't think that's helping,” Mira whispered to Zoey.  “This might make you feel better. We think we found why the honmoon went so wacky.”

“I’m listening,” Rumi said, feeling mollified. 

“So, apparently there have been a few honmoons before ours - but they were normally just temporary.  Ours is unique because it's been continuously in place for the last 400 years. When a honmoon is created, it wants to grant a wish to the creators  - the older generations of hunters were taught to think only peaceful thoughts  when they were making one. That way, the new honmoon would give  peace,” Zoey explained. 

“Probably something the diamond grannies and Celine thought wasn’t useful to us to know,” Mira said bluntly, raising one of her eyebrows and making an unimpressed face.

“I guess it’s hard to think about peaceful thoughts when we’re slicing demons in half. That would be a bit of a mixed message, eh? Chop them up into little pieces… but do it peacefully,” Zoey said.  She turned back to Rumi.  “Anyway, since it was just you on stage when the honmoon was created, whatever you were thinking about at the time, whatever you wanted…the honmoon would have been listening, and that desire would have been magnified.”

“Celine said something similar," Rumi offered. She couldn’t say they’d been talking about her patterns, so instead she said ‘There was an inscription in the cave.”

Zoey and Mira nodded, like this confirmed some kind of theory they had. 

“Maybe you were thinking about a childhood memory and that's why you became younger or -” Zoey started guessing. 

Rumi had seen Big Rumi make the honmoon, and she’d wanted two things.  One of those things was related to her patterns, so she couldn’t tell the girls about that. But, if she was going to be honest with them as much as possible, then she had to tell them about the second thing. 

“Big Rumi was thinking about Jinu,” Rumi said quickly, just ripping the bandaid off and getting it over with. 

The girls exchanged a glance, puzzled. This clearly didn’t match with whatever theory they had.

Then Zoey grinned. 

“Wait, did Big Rumi … have a crush on Jinu?” She asked.

“NO!” Rumi squealed. 

Because Zoey was so wrong. 

Jinu was a dork and a goober. 

He was also apparently a thief now. He kept robbing every museum that Zoey and Mira pointed at, so like, obviously no. Celine would never let Big Rumi date a criminal. 

Or a demon for that matter. 

“No. No no no. Not like that. Obviously not like that. When Big Rumi was on stage and she couldn’t wait to see Jinu because she wanted to make a million I-told-you-so faces at him. He thought her idea was dumb, but she was right! Big Rumi was right and he was the dumb one! Big Rumi wanted to point at him and go ha-ha, dummy,” Rumi explained.  

“Maybe that’s why the honmoon left him alone?” Zoey said, thinking out loud.  “ It left him so that Rumi could rub his face in it?”

“Why did it leave all of the others?” Mira asked. 

“Maybe… demons are like a variety bag of candies?” Zoey guessed. “Sure, there’s heaps of different types in the bag and Jinu would be something squishy like a gummy bear and the enforcers are the gross liquorice bullets… but they all have the same barcode.  Maybe the honmoon can only do all or nothing? Maybe it can only squash all the demons or  leave all the demons. Maybe the honmoon thought Rumi wanted Jinu around so it decided to leave all the demons?”

There was a little silence following that.

Rumi knew she was gaping at the screen with bewilderment. 

Surely…

That couldn’t be why, could it?

“So your theory is - all the demons got left up here because Rumi wanted to say ‘I told you so’ to that doofus at the wrong moment. And he’s a gummy bear in a mixed bag of liquorice and the honmoon didn’t want to open the bag and pick out all the licorice?” Mira asked Zoey. 

“Yeah, pretty much,” Zoey grinned sheepishly. 

“Eh, that makes as much sense as anything else that’s been happening,” Mira said with a shrug.

“Are you guys seeing Jinu today?” Rumi asked, changing the subject away from the honmoon. 

And she kinda wanted to know what he was doing. 

She hadn’t seen him for days. 

He hadn’t been there the last two times she called, and she kinda…maybe… missed him a little.

She still had the Derpy whistle in her pocket, but she didn’t want to bother Derpy if he was nocturnal, and she was kinda saving it for an emergency. 

“No. It’s going to be harder to see him today. He has to move super quick through the city. The more places he visits the harder it is for the enforcers to track him, so he’s going everywhere to give us enough time for the TV spot later,”  Mira explained.  

“I gave him one of my old phones, so he can call us if he needs us,” Zoey added, so that Rumi wouldn’t worry. 

“Can he though?” Mira asked, with a great deal of skepticism. So she clearly didn’t have any faith in Jinu’s ability with technology.  “I can't show him how to use it again, Zoey,” Mira grumbled. 

“Aww, you guys are trying to teach Jinu how to use a phone?” Rumi smiled. 

It was kinda sweet of them. 

“Yeah, we made a PowerPoint to teach him about apps and help him get on social media, but he got super bored and said he only needs a phone to call people. But he doesn’t even call us! We always have to call him and be like ‘What’s up - you still alive?” Zoey said. 

“I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually. He's not as dumb as he seems,” Rumi tried to reassure them. 

Then she realised something. 

“… Wait! You guys aren't still doing the awful bait idea as well as robbing museums are you?”

Mira and Zoey exchanged a look. 

“Oh my goodness, look at the time! We have to go get ready for the TV show,” Zoey said quickly, convincing absolutely no one.

“Bye Rumi,” they both said, and blew her kisses and hung up. 

Rumi stared at her phone screen with exasperation.

She really needed to get back to Seoul as soon as possible. 

Still, at least she knew what she wanted to watch on TV tonight. 

-0-

Chapter Text

“Celine, I miss Seoul. Can we go soon?”  Rumi asked quietly as they dried off after their  swim. “I don’t think I’ll get cured here.”

“These cures... I know you don’t enjoy them but we need to play along. Just let the grannies exhaust all their ideas and then I’ll take you back,” Celine said as she wrapped her towel around her waist. 

“Can I live with the girls again?” Rumi asked softly. 

“No, Rumi,” Celine said quickly, clearly thinking about the day Rumi wandered off in Myeongdong. “If these cures don’t work, but you want to live in Seoul, I will buy us an apartment and you will live with me.”

Celine didn’t like visiting the city. She thought it was too busy and too noisy and everyone was too rude. Rumi couldn't believe Celine would actually move there for her. She gaped in surprise.

“If you are stuck like this, then I will be the one to raise you and take care of you again,” Celine promised, giving her shoulder an affectionate squeeze. 

-0-

Rumi checked her phone in her room when she got home. 

She had a new text from a strange number.  She clicked it. 

It's Jinu. Can I call you?

Rumi ran so fast out of the house, she was almost flying. She called out to the others that she was just going to her treehouse. 

“What is she even doing in that treehouse anyway?” she heard Auntie Dasom ask Celine.  She didn’t hear Celine’s response, because she was sprinting for the forest as fast as her feet could carry her.  

-0-

You can call me now. 

Her phone rang in her hands and she clicked the green button instantly.  Jinu's face popped up way too close to the camera. She was mostly seeing one of his eyebrows.  

“Hi Rumi. Did it work?” she heard him say. 

“It worked but you need to move the phone back,” Rumi told him. 

The screen blurred. She saw trees, sky, a hand, some gravel, the sky again and then finally Jinu.  He was sitting in some kind of well-forested park with wide, flat  footpaths.  A couple and some kids were riding their bikes behind him. He’d obviously leaned his phone against a tree and was sitting cross-legged in front of it.

Rumi put her phone up against the railing and sat crossed-legged in front of her screen, so their postures were almost mirrors of each other. 

“The girls gave me a phone, and I finally figured out how to use this thing,” he said, clearly pleased with himself. 

“I knew you'd figure it out!” Rumi said delightedly. “I told the girls you're nowhere near as big an idiot as you seem!”

“Thaaanks?” Jinu said slowly, clearly not sure if he should take offense or not. 

“Am I the first phone call you’ve ever made?”

“Yeah. I kept missing you when you called the girls, so I thought I’d give this a try and -”

“I really missed you too,”  Rumi said so quickly she interrupted him. Then she realised that Jinu had been talking about missing her in the he-was-out-when-she-called way, not in the daydreaming-about-eating-crepes-with-her way.  

Jinu blinked in surprise, then suppressed a smile.

“Sorry. I interrupted you. What were you about to say?” Rumi asked, trying to hide her embarrassment and move the conversation along. 

“Oh, nothing. Just people here have been super helpful,” Jinu said with a shrug. 

“Wait - you asked random people in the park how to work your phone and not the girls?” Rumi asked. 

Were any of the people Jinu asked for help in calling her K-Pop fans? Was this going to be bad for PR?  Was Bobby having another busy day at work right now?

“The girls showed me, but it had been right after a really long night and I wasn’t paying close attention, and Mira had already explained three times. I knew she'd get annoyed if I asked her a fourth time. Then Zoey ranted about evil billionaires for 48 minutes without pausing to take a breath,” Jinu said with a fond smile. “I’m just going to assume the tweeting birds did something wrong,” Jinu wondered outloud, sounding like he was still confused about bits of Zoey’s rant. 

“So you feeling all set for TV tonight?” Rumi asked, mostly because she didn’t know what evil tweeting birds had to do with social media either.

“Yeah, I think so. There's apparently a music trivia bit. I only really have detailed knowledge about the recent K-pop scene, and they’re going to ask questions about music from everywhere.”  Jinu reached into the backpack next to him and brought out an old ipod and gave it a wiggle at the screen to show Rumi. “But Zoey gave me something called a 'Nano’ and her spare headphones, so I've been listening to lots of new music.” 

"I have one of those too," Rumi said.  She could have given Jinu her Nano and it was nearly brand new, so it would have been better. Zoey's old Nano had so many dents and she probably dropped it while skateboarding. 

Rumi wasn't sure how she felt about Zoey giving Jinu so many presents, considering her weird and wrong crush on him. 

“You can help me study then. What are your favourite songs from overseas and I’ll see if this Nano has them,”  Jinu asked curiously, like he really wanted to know. 

Rumi actually knew so much about music! She was, like, a music expert, and she definitely had the best taste in music out of anyone she knew, so she was actually really helping. She told Jinu about her favourite international bands, and what their best songs were, and which instruments they used in interesting ways. At one point Jinu asked her to stop so he could start writing everything down. He reached into the bag and got out a little notebook and a pen. 

“You can just make a playlist on the ipod, you know,” Rumi offered. 

“I don't know how to do that yet.  This stupid thing only has one button,” Jinu said with some disgruntlement.  “Okay, tell me your list.”

Rumi told him her top  international songs of all time, and a list of songs that came up a lot on different variety shows, and Sunlight Sisters songs where her mother was the lead singer, just in case he wanted to hear what her mother’s voice sounded like -

Then she realised how long she’d been talking for. 

Maybe it wasn’t as long as Zoey could rant about evil billionaires, but it still felt like a long time. 

“Thanks for listening. Sorry if I bored you,”  Rumi said apologetically. 

“You never bore me. I like hearing what you have to say,” Jinu said, waving off her apologies with a little dismissive gesture.

“Still, I'm sorry I held you up so long. Shouldn't you be moving quickly?” Rumi asked. She was trying to sound casual and not  at all worried. 

“Ah, I'm good,” Jinu shrugged, not even slightly concerned. “I’ve been on the go since super early, so I think I bought myself a good chunk of time for the TV thing tonight, and I was just taking a little break.” 

“And you called me instead of snacking?” Rumi asked, astonished. 

“Talking to you is more fun than crepes,” Jinu replied.  

“Woah. That is, like, a huge claim.  You think crepes are the best!”

“I know, and you always tell me that gimbap is better,” Jinu said with a grin. 

“Because it is!  It's absolutely the superior snack!” Rumi argued. “Think of any situation and add some gimbap and hey presto -”  Rumi did a little jazz hand gesture to emphasise the hey presto, “- that situation is already better.”

Rumi sat back, feeling satisfied that her logic was completely fool-proof. 

“So you think I should take some gimbap with me when I try to open a bank account. I'll just say ‘Hi Mr Bank-guy, I don't have a birth certificate, but I do have gimbap,” Jinu joked. 

“I think it's worth a try. Gimbap is very persuasive,” Rumi agreed. “You should take me with you too. I’ll come with you to the bank,” she offered after a moment. 

Rumi  hated banks and found waiting in line with Celine to be horribly boring. But if Jinu needed help at the bank, then she would be a good friend and go with him.  

“I'm super persuasive. No one can say no to me,” Rumi added. 

“That I can believe,” Jinu smiled at her. 

“I'm glad you're doing my idea… about saving money,” Rumi said, feeling a little shy for some reason.  

The older hunters didn’t really take any of her ideas seriously because she was a kid and they were grown-ups, but it was still nice that Jinu took her seriously. She hadn’t even needed to dress up in her businesswoman outfit either. 

“Bobby wants to pay me for the TV thing, but I need a bank account,” Jinu explained. “Besides, me and the girls have made a pretty good team. There's far fewer enforcers on this side of the honmoon now, so maybe…” He trailed off and gave a little sigh. “Maybe things might work out this time,” he said hesitantly. 

“Things are definitely going to work out. This is why you need to listen to me because I’m always right” Rumi boasted.

“And you’re so humble too,” Jinu said, giving her a wide smile.

“Exactly. It’s why I’m the boss out of the two of us,” Rumi agreed. 

“Has the stuff I borrowed from those museums been helpful? You feel any closer to being bigger again?” Jinu asked suddenly. There was something hopeful in his tone that Rumi didn't want to think too closely about - like he missed Big Rumi and was trying to get her back faster, even if it meant stealing from every museum in Seoul. 

Rumi could have taken the chance to tell Jinu not to steal anymore, but he asked so nicely and she kinda wanted to tell him everything.  And truthfully, the stealing had actually been super useful. Rumi didn’t want Jinu doing anymore crime, but she should at least let him know that all his thievery had paid off. 

“I think so. I got to see a little of Big Rumi's life before, and I think I know why I got de-aged and Zoey has a theory about why you were allowed to stay - Oh and I got to speak to the honmoon itself!” she said excitedly, listing all her discoveries.  "I haven't been able to tell the girls but the Honmoon can talk!"

“Wow!  What did the honmoon say?” Jinu asked, fascinated. 

“It said acceptance is the answer to the little problem,” Rumi said, trying to put on a deep and wise-sounding voice when she spoke as the honmoon. “But it didn't give any other details. The grannies aren't sure what that means,” she added. 

“Maybe it just means you need to be accepted as you are,”  Jinu guessed. “ Big Rumi wanted to get rid of her patterns because she didn't like hiding and lying, but maybe you could be accepted without having to hide and lie.  I think that's what she really wanted,” he said softly. 

Rumi had wanted that her entire life.

She’d wanted to be fully accepted ever since Celine put a long sleeve t-shirt on her in the middle of summer and sat her down to explain why they could never, ever let the Grannies or Auntie Dasom see her patterns. 

But even after more than a week on Jeju Island, Rumi hadn’t been able to shift their ideas about demons and patterns even a little bit. 

She could understand now why Celine was always getting her to hide. 

And she couldn’t see that ever changing. 

“The grannies and Celine and Auntie Dasom are pretty set in their ways.  I don't think I'll get any acceptance here,” Rumi said with a little frown, unable to hide how sad the thought made her. 

“Well, I accept you as you are,” Jinu said simply, like it wasn’t the nicest thing anyone had said to Rumi ever. 

Rumi  gaped at the phone for a long second until it got awkward.

Rumi knew Jinu accepted her just as she was. 

That wasn’t new information. 

But knowing something was a totally different thing to having him just come out and say it to her face!

It was too much.

Jinu was too sincere.

She didn't know what to say in response. She half wanted to say ‘okay bye’ and hang up, because the real honest truth was that it felt like her little heart was filling up with joy. Rumi didn’t know what to do about feeling so good inside but she was pretty sure she was going to say or do something super embarrassing. 

So she copied what Jinu did when things got too emotional.

She was going to make a dumb joke to try and brush it off. 

“Well, you think crepes are the best, so you don’t have high standards,” Rumi teased.

“I'm just trying to see if hearing someone say they accepted you helped at all,” Jinu huffed. 

Maybe it did? 

She was feeling a lot happier and the honmoon wanted her to be happy. 

Rumi checked her shoulder to see the little flower of purple patterns were still in place. “No difference, but thanks anyway. It was worth a try,” she said softly.

They were silent for a moment.

  “Can I ask a question?” Rumi asked abruptly. 

“Sure.”

She needed to change the subject to something else, anything else.  

“How do you know how to pick-pocket?” she blurted out. 

She’d actually been wondering.  Were all demons good thieves, or had Jinu been a thief when he was human?

“Oh, um… the demon world is pretty boring actually. So whenever a new demon showed up who had an interesting skill, I’d do a trade. Music in exchange for them teaching me.  I tried to learn anything I thought might be useful,” Jinu explained. “I actually learned how to do it from this travelling magician. I have lots of tricks up my sleeve,” Jinu mimed the way magicians rolled their sleeves up before they did some magic. 

“Could you teach me?” Rumi asked eagerly.  “I like learning useful things too.”

Rumi knew knots and abseiling and first aid and how to navigate by the stars. She could learn this too. She wouldn’t use it for crime, but it could come in handy one day. 

Jinu made a skeptical face at her. 

“What if I get kidnapped for real by some evil Russian spies who want to infiltrate the K-Pop industry for spy reasons, and I can’t use my sword on them because they’re human, and they drive me out Siberia in their spy trucks and  only way I can escape is to do some cool sleight of hand and get the keys out of their pockets?” Rumi asked. 

“That's a highly unlikely situation… but fine,” Jinu chuckled. “It would be easier to show you in person, but pickpocketing is a lot like a magic trick. It's all about misdirection and diversions and…”

There was a creak in the wooden floorboards. 

 A face appeared behind her on the screen. 

Celine’s head had popped up over the edge of the treehouse as she reached to pull herself up. Rumi saw her at the exact same moment that Celine glanced at the phone and saw who she was talking to.  

Rumi gasped in shock and horror.

Celine gasped with even more shock and horror than Rumi.  

Uh Oh. 

This was bad.

This was really really bad.

“Hi Miss Kang. I was just - “ Jinu started to say nervously. 

Celine narrowed her eyes and made a growling sound like a protective bear.  She grabbed the phone with her long arm and hunter’s speed.  “Don't call this number again,” she yelled at the screen, then she  hung up.

-0-

Celine was agitated. She was pacing.  But the treehouse was very small so she was just shooting from one side to the other like a ping-pong ball of crossness and anxiety. She was muttering to herself.  Eventually she put Rumi’s phone in her pocket, and crossed her arms. 

“I can explain,”  Rumi said desperately. 

Celine stopped pacing, leaned back against the tree trunk and sighed a big sigh to calm herself down. 

“Okay, explain,” she said with gritted teeth.

Rumi said she’d gotten the phone from the girls. They gotten it for safety in case Rumi ever got lost in Seoul again. It was a sensible and safe idea for her to have a phone.  Rumi said safety a few more times and worked it into as many sentences as she could because Celine loved safety.

Rumi said she had only been using it to call her friends and she knew it looked bad that she was talking to a demon, but Jinu wasn’t bad and  - 

“Rumi, the demon was teaching you how to pick-pocket,” Celine said, pinching the bridge of her nose like a headache was coming on.  “He's not only a demon, he's a common criminal!” She spluttered with some indignation, like Jinu being a criminal was just as bad as him being a demon and now there were two strikes against him. 

But life wasn’t baseball, and Celine wasn’t going to give him a third chance unless Rumi could change her mind now. 

“No, but I asked him to -” Rumi started to explain. 

It wasn’t fair!

Jinu had only been talking about pickpocketing because Rumi asked, and he’d only been stealing stuff from museums to help her. 

But Celine didn’t care about any of that. She didn’t even let Rumi finish.

"Rumi, you're a good girl and we are wealthy. You will never need to pick-pocket.” Celine said firmly. “Can't you see this demon is a terrible influence on you! He’s a demon and a thief and a liar." 

“But he’s not like that. He’s sweet and he actually listens to me and - “ Rumi tried again. 

“No more about the demon, Rumi!” Celine snapped, not wanting to hear another word. 

She did another big yoga breath to calm herself down. 

“Rumi, you've been sneaking away to talk to a demon behind my back. I will be confiscating the phone.  You are  always with us, so you don't need one for safety while we are on the island,” Celine said in a cold, hard voice.

Rumi felt tears come to her eyes. She knew her faults and fears couldn’t be seen, but she couldn’t help herself. Her lip was wobbling and a sour lemon was being squeezed in her throat. 

She knew Celine never changed her mind when she used that tone of voice, but it all just felt so unfair. 

Celine knelt down in front of her, and put her hands on her shoulders. “I understand it's hard for you here. If you ever want to talk to the girls  you can call them from my phone in the kitchen. You can call them anytime, okay?”  Celine said in a more gentle tone.  “But the lying and the hiding has to end.”

Rumi looked down at her feet and sniffled. 

The lying and the hiding wouldn’t really end.  Celine just didn’t like things being hidden from her. 

“When we get back to Seoul I will buy you a brand new phone, but you will have to promise to never speak to that demon again,” Celine said in a more conciliatory tone.  She stood back up. “Now wipe your eyes and come back to the house. It’s dinner-time.”  

And with that just hanging in the air, Celine climbed back over the edge of the treehouse and made her way down the rope. 

Rumi sat on the floorboards and hugged her knees into her chest,  and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands.

Her phone was gone. 

Any chance of Celine listening to her was gone too. 

-0-

Chapter Text

Rumi was scolded by every single grown-up in the house over dinner.

It was currently Auntie Dasom’s turn.

 Auntie Dasom had been ranting for more than twenty minutes about Rumi's bad choices, how demons were nothing but selfish liars and it was bad and wrong for hunters to feel any affection for them. (Cute butts had been mentioned far more than was strictly necessary and Rumi knew this rant was actually about her mother.)

“Rumi made… a mistake, but she's learned her lesson and we can drop it now,” Celine suddenly interrupted her, looking like she regretted all her life choices too. She seemed upset about something Auntie Dasom had said. 

Rumi wasn’t sure what. She’d started to tune out. She was thinking about how unfair it was that the only thing she got to know about her dad was that Auntie Dasom could very begrudgingly acknowledge that his bottom was a nice shape. 

“We can’t drop it until Rumi promises to never speak to that demon again,” Auntie Dasom replied. “It’s for her own good. Demons are dangerous, duplicitous and shifty. They’re  hiding who they really are inside.  I see the barest hint of patterns and I -” Auntie Dasom started doing a brutal stabbing motion mid-air, “- without hesitation and without mercy. It’s the only way to deal with these monsters.” 

Rumi recoiled a little. Her hand reached up to cover her shoulder instinctively.

“If they have purple on their skin, then I’m going to stab my chain knife in,” Granny Yuna said, trying out a rhyme like it was a song lyric.

“If they have patterns the colour of blueberry pie - then they gotta die,” Granny Binna added to the tune. 

Rumi hunched her shoulders like she could make herself smaller and less noticeable. 

“If their skin has marks of purple, then I'm going to….” Granny Sana trailed off and cast around for a way to finish that sentence.  “Nothing rhymes with purple,” she said after a second.  

“Nurple rhymes with purple,” Granny Yuna offered. 

“Nurple isn't a word!” Granny Sana replied.  “And it's gotta be a word about killing them.  I know - If they have patterns that are a mix of blue and red, then they’re gonna end up dead!”

“Let’s not talk about this anymore!”  Celine snapped. She’d come to stand behind Rumi. She put her hands over Rumi’s shoulders - spreading her fingers to cover the patterns.  

The other hunters at the table seemed to suddenly realise what their conversation sounded like to Rumi.  They all looked a little sheepish. 

“Oh, Rumi - We just forgot!” Granny Yuna exclaimed. 

“We didn’t mean you, Rumi,” Granny Binna said, looking apologetic. 

“Of course we didn’t mean you,” Granny Sana said, her voice a little defensive, like she thought Rumi had jumped to an unfair conclusion and she was being accused of something.  “Those patterns aren’t your fault. The demons put them on you. But we will put everything to rights, you’ll see,” Granny Sana promised her. 

Rumi nodded, not trusting herself to speak.  She turned to Celine and asked in a small voice, “May I be excused?”

-0-

“This is why I never tell them anything. They can’t be trusted not to say something terrible for five damn minutes,”  Celine muttered  to herself in a very low voice as she looked in Rumi’s dresser for her pyjamas. 

Celine had come with Rumi to take her braid out,  even though Rumi could do it herself.  The TV show would run past Rumi’s bedtime, but she was allowed to watch it as long as she went to sleep straight after.

Celine started brushing her hair out in smooth even strokes.  She stopped muttering and started breathing deeply, like brushing Rumi's hair calmed her. 

“I’m sorry about that,” Celine said softly after a moment. 

“It’s not your fault, Celine,” Rumi replied.

“They don’t mean anything by it,” Celine said, trying to sound optimistic and reassuring. 

But that was a lie, no matter how much Celine and Rumi wanted it to be true. 

-0-

Rumi came down to the living room right before the variety show was meant to start.  The grannies and Auntie Dasom had made popcorn and an ice cream sundae for her as a special treat, and Granny Yuna even apologised!

Rumi settled on some cushions on the floor while the older hunters reclined in the chairs.  They cheered loudly when Mira and Zoey came out. 

Jinu was with them. 

The three of them looked so good. They were dressed in these casual outfits that sort of matched. Everyone had a bit of yellow in their clothes. 

“Bobby’s going for the approachable and easy-going angle,” Auntie Dasom remarked. 

“That's why he chose this show. He thought the playful games might help rehabilitate Mira’s image more than a normal interview,” Celine explained. 

“It’s actually surprising the demon even agreed to this.  He must be working an angle, but I still can’t figure out what it is. This only helps Mira. There’s nothing in it for him,” Granny Sana whispered quietly to Granny Binna. 

“I asked Jinu to help us and he said yes,” Rumi informed them, even though it probably wouldn’t make much difference. They always acted like they didn’t hear her when she tried to talk to them about her demon.  

“Let’s just watch the show,” Auntie Dasom said, and turned the TV up. 

Zoey was the first to spin a game tile. She got a game called misheard lyrics. It was a trivia game about lyrics, and Zoey was ready!

( Zoey was actually super competitive. She’d slam the button with this manic energy  and yell the correct song lyrics and the title often before the host had even finished the question.) 

“Okay, so this next misheard lyric is - sweet jungle wet dream tomato,”  the host said, side-eyeing Zoey with surprise as she let him get to the end of the question. 

Zoey looked a little stumped for the first time. 

Suddenly Jinu whacked the buzzer.  “Jay Z featuring Alicia Keys - Empire States of Mind!”

“How do you even know that?” Zoey asked him, looking baffled.

(It had been one of Rumi’s favourite songs, so that meant Jinu had actually listened to the songs on her list.  Rumi smiled a little smile to herself.  It was good he listened to her recommendations, because she had excellent taste and had just won them some points.)

“It was on the ipod you gave me,”  Jinu told Zoey. 

Some people in the audience made an Aaawww sound, like they thought it was sweet that Zoey gave Jinu presents. 

Rumi stopped smiling to herself, and started frowning. 

“I’ll need the real lyrics as well as a title,” the host promoted. 

“I thought those were the real lyrics,” Jinu replied. 

“You thought Alicia Keys wanted everyone to have dreams about tomatoes?” Mira asked slowly, unable to hide her grin. 

“I’m not judging what Americans get up to in their dreams,” Jinu gave Zoey a little nudge but she waved him off and turned back to the host. 

“It’s concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh,” Zoey finally answered the patient host’s question. 

“Ten points!” The host declared, and the show went to a commercial break. 

Celine and Auntie Dasom were checking different social media sites for the fans' reactions during the breaks. They both got out their phones.

“Mostly positive on the bird app,” Celine told the group.  

“Same here, but my feed is full of gloating zojinus,” Auntie Dasom said. 

“What's a zojinus?” Rumi asked. 

“Delusional people who think Zoey and the demon look cute together,” Auntie Dasom informed her. 

“That is delusional,” Rumi said, frowning even more. 

After the commercial break, Mira got a pictionary game where she had to draw song titles. The comedians went first and did some funny doodles. They won lots of points. Then it was Mira’s turn at the whiteboard. She was actually a really good artist. Zoey and Jinu guessed the first few easily.  Then Mira drew a newspaper and a cat.  

Mira pointed at the cat picture and circled it.  She drew a little frowny face on the cat. Zoey started giggling uncontrollably. 

“It's that song. It’s torture to hear it because the guy is singing about being inappropriate with his cat,” Jinu guessed, pointing at the whiteboard accusatorily. “It’s something pussycat.”

Mira nodded. 

“I’m going to need the exact title,” the host prompted. 

Mira did more scribbles on the newspaper and started pointing at it  dramatically, almost stabbing the whiteboard with the pen.

 “Scribble Square Pussycat?” Jinu tried. 

Mira made an exasperated noise, then added more scribbles.

“What's new, pussycat,” Zoey finally gasped between bouts of laughter. 

The host awarded them more points. 

For the last game, Jinu got a game called mystery instrument. Jinu and the comedian both had two minutes to try and learn how to play a weird instrument, and then make a song with it.  Jinu reached into the black bag and pulled out a strange bit of metal. He looked at it with confusion, and held it out to Zoey and Mira for their inspection. 

“It’s a Jaw-harp! It makes a boiing noise. It’s used a lot in country music,” Zoey explained eagerly. “Okay, so you need to blow and flick like this,” Zoey said, moving her hands around her face to demonstrate. 

She pretended two of her fingers were the tines of the instrument and put her lips between them and blew.  She added some flicks with her other hand. 

“Like this?” Jinu said, copying what she was doing with the instrument. It started making sounds. 

“More blowing and flicking,” Zoey said encouragingly, wiggling her fingers in front of her face to demonstrate again. 

“Does he need to get his tongue involved too?” Mira asked, trying to be helpful. 

“What are you girls trying to get him to do?”  the comedian asked cheekily. Then he wiggled his eyebrows. 

He clearly meant something adult and sexual.

The audience laughed and Jinu laughed too, but he also looked really flustered and started blushing.  He tried to regain his composure. “I’m a serious musician - I can do this,” he said, mostly to himself. 

“I'm not… but I have a lot of practice with blowing and flicking,”  the comedian replied, winking at the camera.  

It must have been another adult joke because the adults all snickered at that, even Celine.  Rumi decided she Did Not Want To Know.  

The practice time was over. The comedian and Jinu had to see who could play a song better with their jaw harps. 

The comedian made a series of tuneless bouncy noises with his jaw-harp. His song sounded a lot like farting. 

Jinu played a little tune that Rumi recognised.  It sounded like his Sodapop song. Zoey’s shoulders started bouncing in time. The host was dancing too.  The audience were cheering and they clapped wildly at the end. Jinu bowed and handed the jaw-harp back to the host. 

The host awarded Jinu lots of points for his song, so he and Zoey and Mira won the games part of the show.  

It looked like they gave each other a congratulatory group hug just as the show cut to the next commercial break. 

  Auntie Dasom and Celine checked social media again. 

“Nothing bad about Mira. Some people are surprised by what a good artist she is,” Celine reported, sounding relieved.

“The demon is coming off too good though,” Auntie Dasom complained. “The audience love him. They’re really falling for his bashful boy-next-door schtick.”

“He’s a good actor,” Granny Yuna pointed out. “If I didn’t know he was a demon, I’d assume he’d be the sort of boy who would help old women with their shopping and save cats who got stuck up trees. He clearly knows how to get people to lower their guard.”

Rumi knew there was no point in telling them she knew Jinu actually was the sort of person who saved cats.

“He definitely knows how to manipulate people to get them on his side,” Granny Sana agreed.  “I’m just glad Mira and Zoey are too smart to fall for his tricks.”

“Are they, though? They seem really friendly,” Granny Binna said suspiciously. 

“Celine, you've spent the most time with the girls. What do you think?” Granny Sana asked.