Chapter Text
SHADOW OF THE SUN
COLORFUL LIGHT
June 10th
The sun was shining brightly over Soeul South Korea and the majority of the residents in the city were out and about enjoying the summer. Locals and foreigners alike were taking their holidays in luxury hotels and children and their families were enjoying the waterfronts of the beaches or at water parks. Most of the people were doing all they could to drink up those long summer days but for one person the start of summer had them held up in their room longer than others would consider ‘normal’.
High up on the twenty-eighth level of the Huntr/x Towers twenty-four-year-old Rumi was sitting up in her bed, hugging a large blue pillow to herself with her legs crossed as she scrolled down a page on her open laptop. Her eyes were fixated on the screen glowing back at her. Her back hunched over but unaware of how stiff her body was. She jumped when she heard a knock on her door at the same time something bumped her elbow.
The large yellow eyes of Derpy the tiger glowed back at her.
“For the last time don’t do that!” Rumi hissed.
“Rumi? Are you in there?” Zoey called from the other side of her door.
Rumi touched Derpy’s nose and he closed his eyes and purred at the touch. She sighed. “Yes, you can come in.”
The door opened and Zoey cautiously stepped in. Any other day she would immediately run up to Derpy the tiger and give him pets and squeeze his furry neck. However she knew that a lot had been on her best friend’s mind and wanted to take things slow. Zoey walked over and held a hand out to Derpy. He flopped down on his side like a giant golden retriever, asking for his belly to be rubbed.
“How’s our good boy?” Zoey gently asked and gave him a quick rub before turning to Rumi still sitting cross-legged on the bed. Zoey stopped petting the tiger and peered over Rumi’s shoulder. “Find anything new?” she asked softly.
Rumi sighed and finally set her pillow aside. “No, no trails or documents or anything. Just like the day before and the day before that. Nothing exists.” Her eyes traveled downward and she pulled at her pajama top. “It’s as if he didn’t even exist.”
Derpy’s eyes widened and he sat back up and gave a small ruffled sound and set a paw up by her leg. Zoey reached over to give him another pet.
“Don’t say that Rumi. He did exist. I believe you. I’m sure you’ll find something somewhere. Maybe try the library again?” Zoey said, optimistic as always.
“I didn’t find anything there except the usual books going over the Joseon Dynesty but that’s it.” Rumi sighed sadly. “I don’t even know when he was born. How can I find out anything if I don’t even have a birth year or even his last name?” Rumi could feel tears burning in her eyes.
For the last two weeks she had been pouring over any book, article, or internet page she could to try and find any information on Jinu. The man she had become vulnerable towards about her demon patterns nearly two months ago. The man that tried to sabotage her and Huntr/x to steal the souls of their fans for demon king, Gwi-ma. This man shared his own struggles with her and how he was a prisoner under Gwi-ma. When it came to creating a new Honmoon to protect the world from the demons, Jinu had made the ultimate sacrifice in shielding her from the eternal flames of the demon king. In doing so he gave his own soul to her and to her saingoem.
Rumi didn’t want to believe Jinu was gone because she felt they shared something she hadn’t felt with any love interest or friend. But he had come and gone from her life as quickly as a feather floating in the wind. Maybe that was all he was meant to be. Maybe there was no other reason for Rumi to come across this four-hundred year-old demon than for him to help her create a new honmoon. But it felt dishonorable to not at least try to find information on him for a sense of closure. This was proving difficult.
“I know you feel as if you keep hitting dead ends,” Zoey’s voice came back into Rumi’s head. “I don’t want to lie and say it’s easy to find out information on a person that existed hundreds of years ago. But maybe a break from the screens would help clear your head?”
Rumi looked back at her laptop screen. ‘Joseon Dynesty Nobels’ was the latest article headlining the device. “What did you and Mira have in mind?”
Zoey was smiling brightly and looked back to her usual upbeat self. “I was thinking we head to a café. Grab a bite to eat. Walk around Yeouido Hangang Park.” She squeezed Rumi’s shoulder. “What do you say? Fresh air is all that it takes to feel recharged!”
“What did she say?” came the monotoned voice of Mira as she leaned on the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest. There was a twittering sound from a six-eyed black magpie on her shoulder. It screeched again and rejoined Derpy on the top of his head.
Rumi sighed. “You guys aren’t going to give me a choice but to go out, are you?”
Mira smirked and made her way over. “You need to get out Rumi. It’s summer. You said so yourself you want to be comfortable showing off your patterns now. It’s the perfect time to do so,” she mentioned. She went to peek over at her friend’s laptop. “’Joseon Nobels’? I thought he was a peasant.”
Rumi frowned and finally shut her laptop closed. “His family was very poor yes. But he also said that he traded his soul to Gwi-ma and lived on the palace grounds. I was wondering if there were any documents of musicians favored or recognized by the king in that time period.”
“And?” Mira asked straightening up.
“Nothing. Maybe I should just face it. I’ll never find anything else out about Jinu. He lived four hundred years ago but I don’t even have a surname or date of birth on him. It’s too hard to find out that kind of information on someone that was born in the 1600s. Even if there was something it will have been destroyed a long long time ago,” Rumi said defeated.
Zoey and Mira both gave each other a sympathetic look and turned to Rumi. Mira put her hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t give up so quickly Rumi. Something is bound to turn up. Maybe you just need to go about it in a different way. Put something into the search engine that you hadn’t thought of yet,” Mira told her.
Rumi held onto her elbow as she got to her feet. “I appreciate it you two. I agree, I need to clear my head for a bit. Maybe something will come to me later.”
Mira and Zoey looked relieved their friend wanted to join them for some time outside. It had been increasingly difficult to convince her to go out when all she wanted to do was search for documentation that Jinu once existed. Mira and Zoey left to get themselves ready. Rumi opened the door to her walk-in closet to find something casual to wear. Once a frequent wearer of long-sleeves and sweaters even in the sun, she now had crop tops and sleeveless shirts added to the mix. She ended up choosing a pair of light-colored capris with a fashionable tear at the pockets, a pink top with a cute ruffled edge, and white sneakers. Derpy followed her into her closet as she chose what to wear, sniffing at the lush white carpet that was inside and poking his head into an opened drawer. Rumi smirked and pulled his head gently away.
“Thank-you but I already have my outfit picked out. And I don’t need it covered in blue kitty hair.” Derpy sat down with a big smile on his face and wrapped his tail around his feet. Rumi sighed and took hold of her clothes. “And I don’t need you watching as I get dressed either. Go bug Zoey, she’ll appreciate it.”
Derpy opened his mouth in excitement and slowly faded into the carpet. A few seconds later there was a cry from across the hall from Zoey’s room. No doubt Derpy found his way there and she was ecstatic.
Rumi sighed as she finished getting herself ready. She was still learning the fundamentals of the mystical blue tiger and his multi-eyed bird friend. At first the girls had tried to treat both animals as pets. They left food and toys out but neither seemed interested. Derpy would sit and gaze at the bowl of cat food and not touch it. Sussy also didn’t eat but did find enjoyment in taking bobby pins and other small objects that were laying around the house for his amusement. Rumi, Zoey, and Mira had to accept that the two were mere spirit guides that acted on their own accord and weren’t your typical pet. But they were good company. Even Mira had to agree even if she complained about cat hair the most.
The girls ended up spending the entire day walking around a park and grabbed a bite to eat at a local plaza. They had found out the more casual they dressed the less likely it was fans would spot them. Not that they weren’t grateful for fan encounters and took the time to sign autographs and pose for pictures if asked. However, this was only the start of their supposed three-month long hiatus before they even wanted to think about heading back to the recording studio. It was close to nine P.M. when the three returned home.
“Argh! Do we need to have the cleaning ladies come in daily now?” Mira cried out after walking in to see Derpy lying in her favorite blue cushion in the corner of the living room. It resembled a large beanbag chair.
“Ohh he doesn’t mean it Mira. He’s a good boy! Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” Zoey exclaimed excitedly and went to rub the great hairy chin of Derpy. He closed his eyes and purred at the touch. Sussy let out a screech and flew onto Mira’s shoulder and pulled at the silver earring in her right ear.
“Don’t even start you,” Mira bit back. Sussy glared at her. Mira rolled her eyes. “Fine, you can come with me but as soon as you try to take one of my earrings I am sending you outside.”
Rumi watched as Mira walked off with the magpie on her shoulder. He turned and smirked at her before they disappeared around the corner. Zoey continued to pet Derpy and he was enjoying every minute of it. Rumi rubbed her shoulder.
“Listen, I was wondering if it would be okay if”-
Zoey paused in stroking the long hair on the tiger’s belly. “Sure, go ahead. Maybe you’ll find something this time,” she told her gently.
Rumi touched her chest in relief and walked off in the direction of her room. She shut the door behind her and closed her eyes trying to steady herself. She could feel them stinging with tears and she didn’t know why. She walked back to her bed and took off the clothes she had on in favor of her pajamas. Her hand went to grab the checkered cat pants she had been wearing recently before her hand retracted. She slowly made her way to her closet and again steadied herself as she opened a drawer in one of her dressers. She touched the top of a particular pair of pajama pants. Blue with teddy bears and trains.
“Teddy bears and choo choo trains? Really?” Jinu had poked fun of her during their first meet up away from her friends and the other Saja Boys.
Rumi felt the tears well in her eyes again as her hand sat on top of the pants. She had planned to toss them after that encounter only to fish them back out from her waste basket the following week as she felt her feelings for the man grow. Man. Demon. Four-hundred-years-old or permanently stuck at the age of twenty? Did it even matter?
Rumi sat down on the cushioned white seat in her closet and wiped her face. She stared at her bare feet in the carpet. “Why does it hurt so much? I didn’t know you. I felt nothing but hatred whenever I saw your face. I wish I at least had the chance to say goodbye properly. It just hurts so much Jinu. None of this was fair to you.” Rumi sighed as she allowed another tear to roll down her cheek. “I just wish you knew.”
Suddenly the entire room illuminated with iridescent light. The same way it did when Rumi had created the new Honmoon with Mira and Zoey. Rumi gasped, hand on her chest. She could feel her heart beating fast. Had she imagined it?
“Jinu?” Rumi whispered, frightened. She had her hand out, ready to pull her sword from the honmoon to fight a nearby demon if need be. The same lights pulsated across the walls of her closet and the entire penthouse a second time. Rumi didn’t hesitate this time and ran a hand across the floor and her saigoem materialized. She swung it around when she heard her bedroom door fly open and Mira and Zoey ran inside with their own weapons drawn.
“You saw it too?” Mira gasped, her waldo gripped close to her side.
“Do you think there’s something in the building?” Zoey asked with her blades at the ready.
Rumi was breathing quickly as her eyes looked about her room. “We haven’t seen or felt anything since that night. The honmoon is sealed. Nothing can get in.”
“We’re still figuring out the mechanics of this new honmoon though,” Zoey reminded her friends. “Maybe there is a way for someone to cross over.”
All three stood in silence with their weapons out. The walls and ceiling looking as it always did and the shadows and soft lighting in place how it always was too. Rumi cast her eyes at her sword. It wasn’t glowing and felt strangely hallow. Along with the new barrier she still didn’t understand how her weapon worked since Jinu sent his soul to it. She sighed and looked at the dull blade. No doubt he wasn’t inside it now.
“Must have been a false alarm. Maybe the new barrier reacts to strong emotions.” Rumi sighed. “I’ve been thinking about Jinu so much and it’s neither something positive to strengthen it nor negative to feed off of.”
“You think so?” Zoey asked quietly as she lowered her blades.
Rumi nodded and held up her sword. “It’s not even glowing. It’s useless.” She flicked her wrist and the sword disappeared. Zoey frowned but twisted her wrists as if she were holding a deck of cards and her weapon faded back into the honmoon. Mira looked hesitant to let hers go.
“If there were any demons around we would have seen them by now,” Rumi informed her.
Sighing loudly, Mira relented on her sword. “If that wasn’t a warning then I’d hate to know what it will look like if there is one nearby.”
Rumi scanned her eyes around her bedroom ceiling. “I think we’ll be good for now. Sorry for alarming you two.”
Mira and Zoey exchanged questionable looks but decided not to linger over it. They said their goodnights and left. Rumi stared at her closed bedroom door before casting her eyes back up.
“Jinu? Was that you just now? Do you hear me?” Rumi asked in a hushed voice. She waited and waited; heart still beating quicker than normal but this time ready to face any odd thing that may be taking place in her own home. There were no more odd lights.
Even if she didn’t understand what had happened moments ago she also didn’t feel a sense of danger. Rumi checked her phone sitting on her bed. It was close to eleven. She looked at her closed laptop a few feet from her phone. As much as she wanted to do another deep dive she was tired. Hoping she wasn’t going crazy, Rumi made her way to her attached bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed.
Rumi tossed and turned through the night. Her mind on Jinu and the honmoon activating. When she awoke it was bright and sunny but there was also bustling in the kitchen. She glanced to her bedroom floor expecting to find Derpy since he slept with her every night. He wasn’t there. Frowning, she stepped out to see two older ladies sizzling eggs in pans and fixing up other breakfast food. Mira was slumped on the couch scrolling on her phone. She looked up when Rumi walked over.
“Bobby apparently doesn’t want us to lift a finger cooking our own breakfast during our ‘hiatus’,” Mira informed her.
“Ohh. That was nice of him. Ms. Kim and Ms. Kim cook the best out of any of the other housekeepers,” Rumi tried to smile.
“I know that but try telling that to Zoey.” Mira smirked. “You know she’ll go stir-crazy if we continue to have everything done for us these next three months.”
As if on cue Zoey came walking into view, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
“Good morning Zoey dear!” The lady fixing coffee bowed to the girl.
Zoey’s face fell. “Aww, we can’t even cook our own breakfast?”
“Bobby’s orders,” Mira smiled.
Rumi tried to look upbeat for her younger bandmate. “It’s fine Zoey. The whole point of our hiatus is to relax. It’s been a very long tour and… everything that happened after the tour.”
Zoey dragged her body over to sit on the comfy chair across the couch. “We need to go somewhere fun then if we’re taking a break. I don’t want to sit around home being bored for three months. I wanted to at least try my hand at cooking again.”
Mira raised an eyebrow. “The last time we let you touch a wok you forgot the veggies that were cooking in it and nearly burned down the kitchen.”
“Well the one recipe video had another right under it that looked just as good so I wanted to watch.” Zoey shrugged. “One video led to another and another… I forgot I was cooking in the first place. Sorry.”
Rumi smiled. “And you two think I have a problem with relaxing.”
The three of them laughed. Rumi tucked a lose hair behind her ear. Her braid was coming undone and she’d have to wash her hair and redo it today. She turned to Zoey.
“Did Derpy sleep with you last night?” she asked, trying to keep the conversation light while they waited for breakfast to be cooked.
Zoey looked confused. “No, he always sleeps in your room. Why are you asking?”
Rumi tensed up at those words. She rubbed her shoulder. “He wasn’t in my room last night and wasn’t there when I woke up either.”
Mira glanced to the ladies cooking in the kitchen. She leaned forward so only the other two could hear.
“I haven’t seen that bird since last night either. He’s usually trying to steal my ear rings when I take them out at night.”
Zoey gasped. “Where would they be? Have you checked the entire house yet?”
Rumi held her hands up so she wouldn’t catch the attention of the Kim sisters in the kitchen.
“I’m sure they’re around. This isn’t the first time they left without warning.”
“You really think so?” Mira raised an eyebrow. It was evident by her expression she thought the absence of the two animals was connected to what happened last night.
“They’ll turn up,” Rumi looked down with sad eyes. Suddenly she felt a wave of that same helplessness overtake her. There was no flicker of the honmoon so she didn’t feel they were in danger.
“We should go out for another walk today after we eat. Maybe hit up to the top of the complex to swim,” Zoey suggested. They had a large pool deck situated on the second-to-last floor of their penthouse. She turned to the ladies in the kitchen as they wrapped up cooking in the kitchen.
Rumi sighed and played with a strand of her long hair poking from her braid. “You two go ahead. I want to do more research after we eat.”
Zoey’s face fell. “Oh, okay. If you’d rather do that. Maybe you’ll find something this time.”
Mira leaned forward, face serious. “Rumi, Zoey and I were starting to worry if”-
“Breakfast is ready!” rang in the voice of the lady with graying hair tied in a bun.
Mira sighed but got to her feet to head to their awaiting dishes. The ladies immediately went to cleaning the place up as the girls ate. Rumi sat down at the table but poked at the eggs staring back at her. She couldn’t explain it but she was coming down with random bouts of sadness that had no origin. With the negative thoughts came a lack of appetite. She ate what she could to not worry the others before she headed to her room again to not fall apart completely.
She steadied herself against the wall as she felt her eyes water. She growled and began to throw her braid over her shoulder and furiously began to take out the hundreds of rubber bands used to keep it in place. There was nothing to worry about with Derpy and Sussy being gone. And there was nothing for Mira and Zoey to worry about when it came to her either.
Rumi struggled with a particularly tough part of her braid. She forced her hair out of the band but it got caught up in the rest of her hair.
“Argh!” she yelled and wiped her hair back and sank down to her knees as fresh tears stung her eyes. She wiped her nose and looked outside the glass doors to her private deck as if expecting something to be there. Finding there was nothing, she slowly made her way to her bed and went back to taking down her hair. This took over an hour. She jumped when she heard a knock at her door.
“We’re going to leave for the pool. You’re welcomed to join us whenever you want Rumi,” Zoey’s voice was heard on the other side.
“I’m fine. You go ahead. Please don’t worry about me,” Rumi found herself saying.
Zoey didn’t linger. Rumi twirled her hair up into a simple bun and fasted it with a large clip. She would wash it that night. Instead she curled up with a pillow on her lap, a notebook and pen by her knees, and her laptop opened. Rumi’s fingers hovered over the keys.
“Okay Jinu, point me in the right direction,” she whispered to the device and typed in ‘Traditional Korean Music’ into the search bar. She began jotting any tiny bits of information she could into her notebook. For one that used to dread history lessons in school Rumi found herself glued to anything she could find information on.
Hours went by. The sun had shifted into its position in the sky, ready to set for the evening. There was another soft knock at her door. This time Zoey and Mira forced themselves in. Mira sighed when she saw Rumi asleep on her bed, laptop and notes off to the side.
“She’s becoming obsessed,” Mira noted as she took hold of the laptop and plugged it into the wall to charge.
“I’m worried. She has every right to want to find evidence he existed but it was so long ago,” Zoey glanced down at all the different variations of words crossed out onto the paper. ‘Ceremonial Korean Music’, ‘Famous Bipa Players’, ‘Joseon Era Royalty’, ‘Plagues of Joseon Era’.
“I know Bobby would never force us into recording if we weren’t ready. I just hope she will be when the summer is over,” Mira stated and began to pick up the dozens of rubber bands strewn over the floor.
Rumi lay on her side asleep, her hands close to her face, curled up with her hair half over her shoulder and on her covers. Her lips moved in her sleep. for a split second the room sparkled in rainbow light.
“Did you see that?” Mira gasped, standing rigid.
Zoey turned her head around suspiciously too. “Another false alarm?”
Rumi’s lips moved as she slept. “Ji… Jinu… Ji-Jinu?!” she suddenly gasped and sat up wide and awake.
“Rumi, are you okay?” Mira asked, hand on her shoulder.
“Jinu- he was- I could have sworn”- Rumi’s eyes darted around her dimly lit room, the sun hidden from view.
“You look like you were dreaming.” Zoey sat down next to her friend and touched her notebook. “All of this research is making you anxious Rumi. You need to be away from it for longer than a night.”
Rumi tussled her hair over her shoulder. “I just haven’t found the right article yet.”
Mira sighed and took her hand away. “Look, I’m sure Jinu appreciates what you’re trying to do for him. The thought of you going through all this trouble just to find something as simple as his full name or birthdate is a lot. It would be amazing if you could find either of those things. But we want you to be realistic in the thought that such a record is exceedingly difficult to find. Even if they were well-known.”
Zoey nodded slightly as Rumi took hold of her pillow tightly. “She has a point. Do you know how much is known about all the kings and nobles of the Joseon era? Some of them don’t even have a surviving portrait.”
Rumi released her hold on her large blue pillow. “Something still feels incomplete. And that’s what hurts the most. He made the ultimate sacrifice, and I never got to know him. Or thank him.”
There was another flash of iridescent light, this one lingering for a moment longer. All three girls got to their feet. Mira didn’t hesitate to pull her woldo from the honmoon. Zoey had two blades out just in case. Rumi stayed standing without anything in hand.
“That happened five minutes ago when you were sleeping. It can’t be an accident,” Mira stated, listening intently for any signs of trouble.
Rumi remained calm as she stood by her best friends. “Maybe it reacts if strong emotions are being detected but not if a demon crossed over like the old one did.”
They stood waiting, listening and looking around the area. There was a sudden crash outside the bedroom. This time Rumi held her hand up and her saingeom fell into it. It glowed a dimmer light than her old one but it was something. Zoey went full blades and Mira pressed herself next to the door, ready to throw it open and attack whatever made that noise.
“It came from the living room,” Zoey whispered, inching forward to back Mira up.
The girls nodded at one another before Mira opened the door with a mighty yell, sword out to face their assailant. The glow from her weapon illuminated the intruder.
“Derpy?” Rumi questioned, lowering her sword.
“Derpy!” Zoey squealed and her sinkal disappeared and she went to give the tiger a hug. Sussy sat on top of his head and squawked before flying over to Mira’s shoulder.
“What the hell was that noise?” Mira asked annoyed.
Rumi bent down to pick up the overturned plant that was sitting close to their front door. She looked to her sword. It flickered erratically as if a firecracker was going off inside.
“What is going on?” She looked to the saingeom and then at Mira and Zoey. The latter busy giving Derpy pets as he bumped his furry head into her hand and purred.
“Something weird is going on and I don’t like it. None of this happened with the old honmoon,” Mira observed.
“How can we tell if it’s malicious or not?” Zoey wondered, pausing in petting Derpy.
“I don’t know but I don’t want to wait any longer to find out. I say we call Celine and see what”- Mira began.
“No,” Rumi cut across her roughly.
Mira sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Rumi, this is beyond what any of us know about the honmoon. I’d rather we ask someone that has more experience than we do. She was once a hunter too. She knows when it’s reacting.”
“I don’t trust her word on anything. I want to distance myself until I feel she can speak to me and her not be repulsed by my patterns,” Rumi turned her nose up as if disgusted.
Rumi’s sword stopped flickering and went silent. Derpy laid down with his paws crossed looking proper. Zoey took note of Rumi’s now lifeless weapon.
“I still think the new honmoon is something we won’t fully understand until we keep track of it and learn from it ourselves.” Zoey sat down on the couch and held her hand out again for Derpy to push his head into. “We created it. If anything, as long as we’re in control the barrier will hold up.”
Rumi held her sword in front of her. “Yeah, maybe. We all hold it up. And Jinu is making sure nothing gets past it.”
Mira and Zoey looked content with this notion. Rumi held her hand out and pushed the sword back into itself. “I’m sorry I skipped out of the pool and slept all day. Maybe we can relax and I don’t know… watch a movie together?”
Zoey gasped and clapped her hands together. “Oh you mean it? What should we watch? Comedy? Drama? Romance? Maybe not romance, that’s spelled disaster for all of us recently. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come off like that. Maybe we can watch horror instead?”
Mira held out a hand. “You’re the one with the vast movie library. Surprise us with something we haven’t seen yet.”
Rumi gave Derpy a boop on the nose. “I’ll start up some popcorn.”
The girls settled in to watch a cheesy Korean drama for some laughs. Rumi sat against the armrest of the couch closest to Derpy. He would occasionally stretch his paws out and ask for pets but remained focused on the moving pictures on their giant television screen. It was eleven by the time the movie had ended and the three were growing tired. Rumi ran a hand through her hair; she’d have to wash it tomorrow.
“At least these two showed up. Even if we almost killed them,” Mira stated as Sussy pulled at one of her ear rings on her left ear. She waved a hand and he let out an annoyed sigh but stopped.
“I don’t know if they can be killed. They’re spirits, aren’t they?” Zoey asked. She gave Derpy a stroke on his head. He closed his eyes at the touch.
“It’s nice they’re back,” Rumi stated simply. She had no idea where they could have gone but these animals that were Jinu’s companions gave her a sense of comfort. She yawned and stood up. “I’m going to head to bed.”
Zoey stretched her arms above her. “Good thinking. We need to be refreshed and ready for another day of couch tomorrow!”
A small grin pulled at the corner of Rumi’s mouth. “See you two.” Derpy got up, excited, as if he knew she was headed to bed.
Mira gathered the empty bowl of popcorn off the table in front of the couch. “You good Rumi?”
Rumi nodded once. “I will be. Eventually. Maybe I’ll have more energy tomorrow.”
Zoey looked serious. “Yeah, sure. Whenever you want to do something just tell us.”
Rumi turned on her heels and made her way to her room. Derpy followed behind, walking slowly as he usually did. He sat at the foot of her bed, the big cheesy grin on his face as she slowly shut her door. She crossed her arms.
“Really, where were you today? Where did you go?”
Derpy titled his head confused.
Rumi walked over to him. “You were his messenger. but he can’t send me anything anymore because- because he’s gone,” her voice dropped, and she felt sadness wash over. Derpy made a low sound and bumped his head to her hand. She stroked the top of his head. “You’re all that’s left of him. That and my useless saigeon.” While it was a relief she hadn’t had the need to use her weapon since the battle between Gwi-ma two weeks ago she felt uneasy that it didn’t glow as it had before.
Rumi brushed her teeth, turned off the lights, and crawled into bed. She lay on one side for a moment before turning over to the other. Her laptop was still plugged in as it was when Mira came in hours ago. She scooted over, bent down, and unplugged it. She stared at the closed device, thinking. She was suddenly struck with a brand-new angle in her research. She quickly pulled her laptop up, opened it, and clicked the search bar.
‘Traditional Music from the Joseon Era’
As the original court music of the Joseon Dynasty, Jongmyo Jeryeak (royal ancestral ritual music) was performed at the Jongmyo Shrine during ceremonies for the eternal response of deceased kinds of the dynasty.
“Okay that doesn’t tell me anything,” Rumi told her laptop and went back to refine her search.
‘Song titles of the Joseon Era’
Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven was the first written work in Hangul. The book was published in 1447 written by Chong Inji, An Chi, and Kwon Chae.
“Argh, work with me Jinu. You had to have existed somewhere. Show me what I’m missing,” Rumi moaned to herself as she got out of this page and went to click on another. And another. Sixteen webpages in she clicked onto yet another shady website with one large paragraph about traditional poems and songs of the era. Rumi turned to her right. Derpy had fallen asleep by now. Rumi enhanced the words on the webpage to read them clearly.
There are little records remaining of specific songs written in the early Joseon Dynasty. While it is hard to trace songs during the 500-year era one that has had historians baffled for centuries includes a script dating back to the early-to-mid 1600s. Written on this ancient paper is the word kkaeuda, which, translated to English, means awaken, call, arouse. Historians have made out the first line of the song or poem as follows: ‘When your voice echoes in the moonlit night it will awaken colorful light’. Little else is known about this one stanza. Found deep in old documents of traditional music pieces in the Royal Palace in the year 1886. The line scrawled on a scrap of torn paper with no author attached.
Rumi felt her heard beating madly under her ribs. She leaned forward, closer. “That’s beautiful,” she whispered to herself. Even if she was on a three-month long break from recording music she suddenly felt inspiration to write something based off this ancient text. Rumi smiled and stared ahead into the darkness of her bedroom.
“’When your voice echoes in the moonlit night it will awaken colorful light,’” she sang to herself.
Suddenly there was a clasp of thunder. She gasped and shut her laptop screen. Her room shown with the rays of rainbow of the new honmoon. It bounced off the walls almost as if to the beat of a song. Derpy awoke from the thunder and light filling the room. He lifted his head curiously. Rumi stood back, ready to run out her door to find the others. Surely they saw it too? She watched as Derpy slowly walked to the large glass windows leading to her balcony. He sat and stared.
“What? What do you see?” Rumi hissed, not wanting to know the answer. She gasped when she heard a squawk and Sussy materialized out of nowhere and rested on top of the blue tiger’s head. Sussy flapped his wings and stared out the window too.
There was another clasp of thunder and suddenly she heard something heavy falling on the deck. Rumi raised her hand to grab her sword from the honmoon. She stealthily walked against the walls of her room to get closer to the door outside. Her sword was glowing pink as it used to weeks ago. She had no time to wonder why that was. She waited with bated breath, not knowing if there was someone just outside or if a plant had fallen over in the sudden summer storm. Rumi had a firm grip on the hilt, hardly breathing.
Derpy stared out the window and slowly turned to look at her. He opened his mouth in a smile. Annoyed that this weird spirit tiger thing wasn’t taking this seriously, Rumi moved a foot out to grab the handle of the door and go for the attack. She swiftly moved against the wall and through the darkness of the night could just make out a human figure bent over in the corner. In one fluid motion, Rumi threw open the door with a yell and propelled her sword forward at the person.
“Ahh! Oww! What the hell?!” cried out a man’s voice.
Rumi’s hand found the light switch for the balcony and flipped it on. She gasped, dropping her sword as her hands flew to her mouth, feeling as if she could throw up.
“Ji-Jinu?”