Chapter Text
Mourning was interrupted by cries of “encore!” Rumi rose reluctantly to her feet, wiping her eyes. The show must go on.
She turned, however, directly into Jinu’s chest, which proved distracting. “Wait,” she muttered as she reached out to poke at it, “You’re actually here?”
Jinu looked very cute when he was confused, which was as much confirmation as anything. He also looked exhausted, and when he spoke, there was a croak to it like he hadn’t used his voice in weeks. “Is…there a reason I shouldn’t be?”
Complicated vortex of emotions churning inside her notwithstanding, he could under no circumstances know she had been imagining him. “I mean you were dead, and then in my soul, and then asleep on my bus, so…yeah, it’s weird! I mean, why WOULD I expect you to be here - “
Understanding dawned on Jinu’s face and Rumi knew she had rambled too long. “Wait, have you been imagining me?”
That infuriatingly cheeky smile. Only Jinu could come back from the dead and be immediately ready to cause trouble. “No! It’s just that some jerk stuck his soul in me, so I’ve been trapped with him for two months.”
“Ungrateful,” Jinu sighed. “Give a girl your entire soul and she just complains she had to carry it. Imagine that.”
Rumi pushed him. “It’s not like I asked for it!”
“It’s a gift, Rumi, you don’t ask for gifts. Well, maybe a spoiled little pop princess does, but - “
“Jinu!” Rumi huffed. The sense of familiarity, the sparring, the easy affection, the way she thought she would never have it again suddenly overwhelmed her and the tears started again. She fell into him sobbing. “You suck.”
“I know,” Jinu said, wrapping one arm around her and awkwardly patting her back with the other.
“Are you holding me like a damn baby?” Rumi asked, hiccuping and incredulous.
“I don’t know what to do in this situation!”
Despite everything, Rumi laughed, burying her face in his chest for a moment. “Stupid old man.”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Jinu sighed. The shouts of encore began to grow in the crowd, and Bobby was giving them The Look. “Seriously, Rumi, are you okay? A lot happened, you don’t have to get back out there.”
Auntie rose, unsteady, to her feet. “It has to be done. The honmoon must be as strong as possible.”
Rumi felt her heart start to climb back up her throat. A stronger honmoon made it even less likely they could find Celine, but passing on the encore to save her would not only undo everything they had already done to fix it, it would hurt their reputation and potentially compromise their ability to respond in the future. “Auntie’s right,” she said, stepping back to wipe her eyes. She reached out to hold her bandmates’ hands. “Celine wants a strong honmoon more than anyone.”
“Your voice okay?” Mira asked, squeezing her hand.
“Honestly, yeah,” Rumi said, managing a weak smile. “The crowd’s energy, it really helped. I think I can hit the notes. Thanks, by the way, Romance.”
Jinu turned to Romance, perplexed. “He was helping?”
Romance responded with an awkward double finger gun type gesture.
Zoey waved them away. “Long story. Talk later. Sing now!”
“Golden?” Rumi suggested.
“Golden,” the others confirmed.
This was hardly the first time in her idol career she’d had to hold back an emotional breakdown for just another three minutes - then she could slink backstage with a forced smile and a loving wave to cope with it. Music was always good for Rumi’s emotional processing anyway. The confused elation of Jinu’s awakening and deep, abiding distress of Celine’s loss, both could fuel her song. Golden was about highs and lows, after all, and cherishing those highs.
“Thank you so much for coming, everybody!” Zoey said, always the one to close the show on a cheery note.
“You’re the best fans we could ask for!” Mira followed up. Affection for her was the most appreciated because it was seen as rare.
“It seriously means so much to us. What happened here,” Rumi’s throat began to close. Her time was running out. “I - it’s been rough, but you make it so much better!”
The crowd erupted into a chorus of “aww” and “we love you HUNTR/X!” Rumi smiled and wiped her eyes as the three of them came together to bow. Zoey and Mira thanked the crowd one last time while Rumi fought to keep her lip from trembling.
Back on the bus, Rumi was able to collapse onto a bed and into the full-body wracking sobs she’d been needing. Her friends wrapped around her too, crying their own tears, but she didn’t deserve their comfort. It would be months before they were prepared enough to return. Celine was as good as dead and it was her fault entirely. Their mission had been so simple, and she chose to endanger it, endanger herself, endanger all of them, to save just one more soul. Of course Celine would come save her. Of course Gwi-Ma would take the chance to destroy a hunter that had evaded him for decades. All her fault.
Jinu watched helplessly from the other bed. The other Saja Boys stood around awkwardly watching the girls cry. Auntie stood apart from all of them, a silent monument to grief. It felt like hours before she finished crying it out.
“If anyone can survive in there, it’s Celine,” Mira said, squeezing her shoulder.
“If she’d wanted to survive, she would be here,” Auntie said, voice cold. “She made her choice. Now we have to live with it. Just like always.”
If she had any emotion left in her, Rumi would laugh. It was very like Celine to, essentially, kill herself in such a dramatic way that also completely pre-empted any chance for closure or showing vulnerability.
“Either way,” Rumi said, voice hoarse again, “Whether it’s all of her or just her soul, we won’t leave her to Gwi-Ma.”
“That’s right,” Zoey said, throwing her arms around Rumi’s shoulders.
Mira did the same. “So what’s the plan?”
“You saw how many he had down there. Five hunters were able to do a lot of damage, but still, we’ve got to do something about the numbers advantage,” Rumi turned to her erstwhile guardian. “Auntie, are there other hunters?”
“Not as such. Not to my knowledge anyway,” Auntie began, “However, any sufficiently talented and well-renowned band can unconsciously channel souls that naturally reinforce the honmoon a small amount. We relied on that quite a bit while you were being trained and Celine and I were…you know.”
“Could they be taught about how the honmoon works? Maybe even trained to fight?” Rumi pressed.
“Yes and no,” Auntie replied. “Training them to fight would take forever, but yes, at the very least, they could learn to manipulate the souls intentionally. It’s simply a matter of intention. Still, even that’s extremely dangerous. You can only do that with people you absolutely trust to work towards the strength of the honmoon, to resist Gwi-Ma’s influence.”
But Rumi shook her head. “Gwi-Ma’s influence isn’t a problem anymore with the new honmoon. There’s still risk, but we can mitigate it by getting to know these groups.”
“You could,” Auntie said, still wary. “What do you want to do with them?”
Mira was starting to catch on, and judging by her smile, she liked the idea. “If we could teach other groups to channel souls, then we could use all of that strength. We have millions of fans, but if every group we bring in has almost as many…that’s a lot of souls. Each of us could be an army all on our own.”
The gleam in Zoey’s eyes was dangerous. “And if any of them already know how to fight, they can join us too!”
“What about us?” Baby interrupted, blunt as ever. Romance and Jinu shushed him.
“No, it’s a good question,” Auntie said. “They can perform. They aren’t terrible fighters. They already know how to manipulate souls. But can we trust them?”
“Of course,” the girls chorused.
“Maybe not Abby,” Mira said, and when he gasped in mock offense she continued, “Because you don’t have a soul yet, calm down.”
“Yet,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “You have hope for me, then?”
“Dwindling by the second.”
“So you want us to get the Saja Boys back together?” Jinu said, grinning wickedly, and even though Rumi’s emotional well was long since dry she felt her heart quiver.
“And maybe do a joint world tour,” Rumi added. “That just happens to stop where these other groups are.”
“Sounds exhausting,” Baby whined.
“He’s not screaming, so that means he actually likes it,” Romance teased. “I love it, obviously.”
“I do want to travel with you,” Mystery said, looking squarely at Zoey, who giggled stupidly.
“I don’t know anyone else here, so why not?” Abby sighed.
“Sounds like we’re in,” Jinu said.
“Been a while since we’ve had you making decisions for us,” Baby groused. “We have our own minds now, you know.”
“That’ll take some getting used to,” Jinu teased, but it didn’t land well. “Sorry. You guys are down, right?”
Romance slapped Jinu’s back. “Of course! You know Baby. Well, I guess you don’t. But you will!”
“For better or for worse,” Mystery added.
“Shut up, simp,” Baby shot back, but he just leaned into Romance with a contented sigh.
“Sounds like the start of an ambitious and slightly insane plan,” Auntie said - and it was oddly appreciative. “I suppose this is something your manager will have to arrange.”
“Oh, right. Bobby’s out there helping with the cleanup,” Rumi remembered. “Let’s break the news to him later. Can’t have him getting excitable while he drives.”
*
Back at the estate, Bobby was nearly excited enough to pass out at the concept of a joint world tour. The Saja Boys had no representation, which was money on the table as far as he was concerned. They had a month of hiatus left to plan - more than enough time, according to Zoey. Their tour dates would have to be made in accordance with copious research, but if anyone could handle it, Zoey could.
They gave Jinu the whole warning talk about the wards and the demon barracks and such knly for him to be completely unphased. “Were you…pranking me or something?” He asked, waving his arms around like he expected them to burst into flames.
Romance, Baby, Mystery, and especially Abby slouched in and immediately felt the crushing pressure. “No pranks. This sucks,” Abby grunted.
“Fascinating,” Auntie said, at the exact same time Zoey said “Way cool!” The two of them swarmed Jinu, prodding and poking at his prismatic markings.
“Please stop?” Jinu begged, quietly, confused by their scientific assault.
They complied with some reluctance. “Your marks are just like Rumi’s,” Zoey mused, “And you’re not bothered by the wards like Rumi…did being merged with her soul make you like her?”
“A demon becoming a half-demon,” Auntie whispered. “This one was a human once, correct? Perhaps being merged with Rumi purged so much of Gwi-Ma’s influence that he’s no longer fully a demon.”
Jinu ran his fingers along his patterns like he was seeing them for the first time. “How about that, Rumi. You fixed me.”
Rumi was still kind of lost in the conversation, stuck on Jinu being a half-demon now for some reason, and how it was maybe because of her, but that particular phrase caught her ear. “Don’t say that!”
Jinu was confused, having expected that to be funny or sweet. “Why not?”
“You’re the one who made the right choice, for one thing,” Rumi said, pushing his shoulder. “More importantly, there wasn’t anything to fix.”
“This coming from little miss ‘I’m a mistake,’“ Jinu teased.
“Says little mister ‘I don’t think you’re a mistake!’”
“You’re not!”
“Then you shouldn’t call yourself one, either!”
Zoey and Auntie exchanged a knowing look before they walked away, leaving the two of them squabbling. The other Saja Boys quickly joined them. It took a few minutes of back and forth shoving for the two of them to realize they were alone.
“I think we scared them off,” Jinu said, sheepish.
Runi chuckled weakly. “More like annoyed them away.”
Jinu reached out with an open hand, waiting. Rumi laced her fingers with his, looking down at them as her cheeks burned. “It may be under weird circumstances, but I’m really glad to be back.”
“Back when we were investigating we found out that merged souls would be reincarnated together,” Rumi explained. “Was that your plan?”
Jinu laughed. “Plan? My plan was just to keep you from dying and then help you beat Gwi-Ma. What made you think I could scheme like that.”
“You did scheme to destroy my group and the honmoon.”
Jinu rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. “Okay, ouch, but fair. Sorry again.”
“Help us kill Gwi-Ma and save my…Celine’s soul and we’ll call it even,” Rumi said, stepping forward to lean on his chest. “I’m glad you’re back too. Even if you’re already annoying me.”
He wrapped his arms back around her. They stood like that a while until they heard a chirp, followed by a big furry head rubbing at them. “Hey, guys,” Junu said, all sweetness. He dared move one arm off Rumi to pet them but she decided to forgive him just this once. “You took care of her for me, huh?”
“And your bandmates,” Rumi added. “Romance and Abby would have died without them.”
“Oh. Thanks for that too, I guess? I’m still surprised they’re not dead or like, evil.”
“They’ve been through a lot considering it’s been not quite two months,” Rumi said. She grabbed his hand and wrapped it back around her despite his pets’ protests. “You really should catch up with them. Get to know them.”
“You’ll have to let me go first,” Jinu said.
“I’ll get back to you on that,” Rumi replied, tightening her arms. “I’ve missed you, did I mention?”
“You could stand to say it more.”
“I hate you.”
“Of course.”
*
The moment they arrived in the demon’s makeshift barracks, Baby was swarmed by his little attendants, and a very emotional Jelly slimed his way out of the water pump to greet them. “You came back!” His enormous eyes filled with watery tears. “I’m so ha-ha-happy!”
“Alright guys, damn,” Baby squirmed out of the claws of his companions, reluctantly giving them a single head pat each. He slipped past them to crash into his bed, holding an arm out for Romance, who quickly joined in.
“We’re glad to see you well, too,” Mystery told Jelly, bowing slightly in greeting.
Abby picked Jelly up for a hug that would be crushing if Jelly had bones. “Good news, little guy. Jinu’s back too.”
“He’s what,” Jelly gasped. “How?”
“No fucking clue,” Baby said, though it was muffled by Romance’s chest.
“Magic soul stuff,” Abby said. He ushered them the rest of the way inside.
Romance stroked Baby’s hair, eliciting a soft hum. “So what do we do about Jinu, anyway?”
“Do? Do what?” Abby asked.
“I mean, does he just go back to being our leader or what?”
“Fuck no,” Baby said. “He definitely doesn’t get to boss us around anymore. You’ve been doing all the work.”
“Yeah, you’re kind of group dad,” Abby said, before cracking into an evil grin, “Which makes Baby our mom.”
“Motherfu - “
“Actually,” Mystery said, preempting any violence, “You have been very kind and nurturing when one of us showed up. Me, Abby, even Jinu.”
“Yeah, for someone annoyed at him, you sure were taking good care of him,” Romance said, smiling.
Baby pouted. “I’m glad he’s okay and all, I just don’t want him acting like he’s better than us again.”
“We weren’t real people to him then,” Romance reminded him, stroking his hair again, “Now, he’ll learn. Or we’ll beat it into him.”
“Hopefully I’ll learn quickly, then,” Jinu said as he leaned in the open doorframe.
“How long were you eavesdropping, weirdo?” Baby snapped.
“I just got here, I swear!” Junu raised his hands in surrender. “Can I come in, or will I get my fave clawed off?”
“Oh, there’s always a chance of clawing,” Abby said, “But it seems low at the moment.”
Jinu stepped cautiously inside, Derpy lumbering in after him. “So this is where we live now, huh? Bit of a step down from the luxury hotels, but not bad.”
“The constant low-grade headaches beg to differ,” Romance said.
“Low-grade? Lucky you,” Abby pouted.
“Yeah…Rumi said something about you guys having souls?”
Romance nodded. “Turns out we can get ours back like you did. It seems ti happen whenever we form kind of emotional connection. Like me and Baby, or Mystery and Zoey.”
“Or me and Rumi,” Jinu finished. “So what, love is the answer or something?”
“No,” Mystery interrupted. “Romance and Baby might love each other, but Zoey and I aren’t like that. Neither are you and Rumi, correct?”
“Oh. Yeah. Right,” Jinu rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Wow. So, who do we hook up Abby with?”
“I keep suggesting a threesome but Romance and Baby are being difficult.”
“We didn’t say no, we said to quit being gross,” Baby shot back. “You should make your own damn connection anyway, dammit.”
Abby shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.”
Jinu chuckled. “Well, I’m glad you guys have a shot at life outside of Gwi-Ma. I guess demons are more complicated than we thought. Who knew?”
“Rumi, I guess,” Romance said. “I guess you have decent taste, Jinu.”
Jinu’s face burned. “Maybe I liked it better when only Abby was cheeky enough to make fun of me.”
“Nah, it’s all of us now,” Abby said, gleefully throwing an arm across Jinu’s shoulders. “Missed you, bud.”
“Me too,” Mystery admitted.
“And us. Even if Baby’s being difficult, he was also fussing over you the whole time you were unconscious,” Romance added.
“Fuck off!”
Romance squeezed Baby tighter to prevent escape or violence. “Anyway…glad you’re back. Everything’s gonna be different for the Saja Boys now.”
“Different,” Jinu agreed, smiling, “But good.”
*
Four demon hunters and a band manager knelt together in the main hall of the estate. “So…when is Celine coming back from her sabbatical?”
“No clue,” Rumi said honestly. “Auntie - I mean, Seon-hwa here will take over her duties.”
Bobby cast a wary eye at the heavily-dressed woman glaring at him. “O-okay. So, uh, we’re planning a world tour in one month, huh?”
“That’s the idea,” Zoey said, cheery.
“You okay for that?” Mira followed up.
Bobby grinned. “You know I’ve got you, no matter what crazy plan you have in mind. I’ve gotta earn that four percent.”
“You really, really do Bobby,” Rumi said, and she meant it with her whole heart. Most idols would kill for a manager like Bobby who worked as hard as his idols and fought for their rights and comfort. “Love you Bobby!”
“Fuck yeah, we do,” Mira added. She slugger Bobby lovingly in the shoulder as he winced.
“You’re the best, Bobby!” Zoey added, laying her head on his other shoulder.
“Oh, girls,” Bobby said, eyes shining with tears. “I’m the luckiest manager in Seoul!”
“And the hardest working,” Rumi added.
“He will be when he gets off his ass and starts working,” Auntie said. Bobby snapped to his feet so fast Zoey almost fell.
“Yes ma’am! I’ll get the finances sorted right away!” Bobby skittered off to the office without a look back.
“Be nice to Bobby,” Rumi said, frowning.
Auntie raised an eyebrow. “Was Celine nice to him?”
“…she appreciated his service.”
“Mhm,” Auntie grunted. “Alright girls. I hope you understand this whole idea is insane, time consuming, and guaranteed to be exhausting both physically and spiritually.”
Mira grinned. “Sounds like idol life, alright.”
“Just another day at the top,” Zoey giggled.
“Huntrix don’t quit,” Rumi sang. “We’ve got this. For Celine. For the boys. And for every other demon and human Gwi-Ma has ever tormented.”
Rumi held out her hand, waited for the other two to put theirs on top, cast a meaningful glance at Auntie who rolled her eyes and strolled over.
“Time to plan the world tour to end all world tours,” Rumi said, smiling, determined, at peace. “Happy fans, happy honmoon!”