Chapter Text
She had gone to see him once, just once, but now she wasn’t sure if that courtesy had been a mistake. Obviously, the slowly creeping doubts about the true nature of demons have been eating at her, and that fan meeting where they were interjected with the Saja Boys was a disaster, but there was this arguably worse, more incessant reminder that wouldn’t budge.
Seriously, Jinu must be a terrible pet owner.
Because his tiger and his bird have made themselves more than at home in her room, and they weren’t budging.
Truthfully, Rumi didn’t mind their presence, aside from the fact that they served as a jarring reminder of that oh too perfect face and soothing voice. They kept her company, and she had to admit, they were kind of cute. But when she woke up that morning, they were still there, and when she had left that afternoon for practice, they were still there, and when she got back that night, they were still there.
Are these just her pets now? She didn’t exactly sign up for this. And they haven’t eaten, she realizes with a bit of panic. She doesn’t have any pet food, and as far as she is aware tigers don’t eat ramyeon.
What do demon pets eat anyways, souls? She’s not feeding them souls. That quite literally defeats the whole purpose of her mission, and where would she even get souls? Shes pretty sure the local Family Mart doesn’t sell that.
The tiger stares back at her with big beady eyes, and the bird does the same but with three. She ruffles through her mind on what to do, as the thought of being in their position, not having eaten for a day, sends her stomach growling.
The tiger gently opens her mouth, revealing a letter. The same one she took yesterday; an invitation that only ended in argument. She didn’t want to take it, the less she spoke to this moron the better, but surely, the pet owner, no matter how terrible he may be, knows what to feed the strange demon-tiger-bird duo.
So she takes his invitation, and the pets disappear down the back alleyway. She changes her pants — no more teddy bear choo-choo trains, she doesn’t feel like being made fun of again — and makes her way down, following the pets.
“Didn’t expect you to miss me so soon.” Juni says from a distance, and despite his back being turned, Rumi rolls her eyes in retort.
“Didn’t expect you to repeatedly take a girl to a dingy ass alleyway.” She shoots back. “Way to treat a woman.”
Jinu chuckles, just a bit, and turns around to face her. “You didn’t specify you had a preference.”
“And I shouldn’t have to tell you I have standards . Seriously, someone else’s rooftop then my own fan-signing. I’d appreciate some courtesy around here. Was chivalry already dead 400 years ago?”
Jinu laughs again, and his hand grazes upon the tigers head. It leans into his touch, purring. “Apologies princess, will keep that in mind next time.”
“And I didn’t miss you.” Rumi adds, trying to add as much bite to her tone as possible. “I’m only here cause of those two.” She points at Jinu’s pets and he raises an eyebrow.
“Are they causing trouble?” Jinu asks, his quickly tone changing from smug to genuinely concerned, and Rumi holds back a laugh.
“Do they cause you trouble back home?”
“Not really, but the tiger keeps knocking down things then failing to put them back up.”
Rumi smiles to herself. “Same thing happened with my pots.” She says, walking over to pet the tiger too. It purrs into her touch, and moves closer. “Seems he likes me more, considering he’s spent the whole day in my room. Are you abusive by any chance? Is that a demon thing?”
“I’ll have you know they love me.” Jinu retorts. “And they’re only in your room to spy on you.”
“What?!” Rumi yells, and Jinu laughs at her reaction. She pulls out her sword, and points it straight at him. “You sly little shi-“
“I’m joking, I’m joking.” Jinu says, but his laughs are seeping through and his hands are resting sarcastically by his head, feigning surrender.
“Hmph, so they do like me.” Rumi says, putting her sword away.
“No, they just hate the demon world.”
“And they like me.” Rumi adds, to which Jinu rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, because you’re obviously soooo likeable, with your sword and choo-choo pants.”
“I changed my pants.”
“To impress me? Cute.”
Rumi makes a mental note to wear the choo-choo train teddy beat pants the next time they meet. She is not trying to impress him. Heck, she isn’t even thinking about what he thinks of her! Why would she care. Shes going to like, oppose the care, you know.
“Did you feed them?” She points at the pets and Jinu raises an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Your pets Jinu, they haven’t eaten yet have they? You can’t just make me your pet sitter and not tell me what to feed them, thats irresponsible parenting.”
“Is that what you came to see me for?” Jinu asks, and Rumi can’t tell if she’s imagining it, but he sounds very slightly hurt.
“I need to feed them.” Rumi answers, making a face. “Your tiger keeps staring at me with those big cute eyes and I’m starting to feel like a bad person for letting it starve.”
Jinu sighs, looking slightly amused. “What do you think demons eat?”
“Souls? Happiness? My precious time and sleep?”
“No.” Jinu frowns. “We’re basically undead, so we… don’t really have to eat anything.”
Rumi raises an eyebrow and stares down at the tiger. It looks perfectly fluffy, and plump, and well fed, and she can’t kept but notice Jinu doesn’t exactly look malnourished either. She supposes it makes sense, then. She doesn’t think there is much food in the demon world.
“They do like treats though.” Jinu adds. “Sometimes, I like to steal some from stores to feed them.”
“Anything in particular?” She asks, her fingers running through the tiger’s fur.
“Not really. They kind of eat anything.” Jinu answers. “You seem fond of them.”
“Heh, much more than I am of you.” Rumi says, but it dawns on her just how comfortable they are being with another. She should have her sword out, pointed straight at him; or better yet, she shouldn’t be here.
But Jinu doesn’t budge. He smirks, leans in just a bit, and places his hand over hers. “I think that’s a lie, if you’ve come to see me two nights in a row.”
Rumi yanks her hand away, and scowls at him. “And I think you’re an egotistical ass, if you can’t recognize that the only reason I’d ever come to see your smug face is for your cute pets.”
“You know, my favorite pick up line to use on girls is the whole ‘your pets are so cute thing’!” Jinu shouts, but Rumi is already walking away, hands in her pockets, with a tiger and bird following her.
“Like you can pull girls!” She yells back, but she is obviously lying; those good looks could charm anyone, and she can’t help but wonder, or feel just a tad bit jealous, of the girls he had charmed before her.
She shook her head as she continued walking away. It didn’t matter. And it certainly mattered even less, when she turned her head back to check on him, and Jinu was gone.
Chapter Text
Rumi’s feet are killing her. Eight hours of dance rehearsals and she’s essentially using the walls of her room as crutches for keep her from collapsing over herself. She thinks her legs are dead, maybe she broke them, maybe there are no muscles left to carry her.
She enters her room, tired and yearning for her bed, only to be greeted by Jinu’s tiger at the door, a letter in its mouth.
Today, really?
Truthfully, Rumi had spent the last few days waiting for another letter. She certainly wasn’t going to go see him again of her own accord, not when she had been so throughly and utterly chastised for it the last time. The last thing she wanted was to give that smug demon the satisfaction that she wanted to see him, much less that she had even given him a single thought to begin with.
So she spent the next few nights, waiting for a letter. Eagerly checking for contents in his tiger’s mouth, eyeing it for an invitation. None came, and she eventually resorted to stalking the Saja Boys instagram to see what he was up to. She was out of luck, and out of wits, at this point, out of patience. She was starting to feel ghosted.
But here it was, a letter and an invitation and an eager looking tiger.
“Not today.” She said, pushing its nose away from her face, and plopping herself onto her bed. “I’m too tired to see that ass.”
It jumped onto her bed with her and pushed itself face towards her, opening its mouth. Big beady eyes stared at her, and Rumi couldn’t help but giggle.
“So you’re stubborn and a rude, just like Jinu.” She says, rolling towards it and scratching the bottom of its chin. “The pet must take after its master.”
And a little cute, just like Jinu — but she doesn’t dare say that one out loud.
The tiger pushes it’s face closer towards her, and against her better judgement, she takes the letter from its mouth and opens it.
See me? - Jinu
Rumi scoffs. All this waiting and anticipation for a word from him and this is all she receives? Did he never learn how to write in his 400 years of life?
“Not today, tiger.” She rolled away, trying once again to push it away from her. But it nuzzles her further, and continually tries to push itself under her arm.
Seeing Rumi close her eyes and sigh, the tiger gets off the bed, and turns around. Rumi is confused, but she begins to notice its tail gesturing towards its back.
Oh, it wants her to ride it.
She looks down at her legs, sore and in need of a massage, and the tiger, looking back at her with big pleading eyes. She supposes she’s always wanted to ride a tiger, a want she had never particularly felt until this very moment. She supposes then too, that this would be a fun experience, riding a cute exotic demonic animal,
which is what she tells herself when she climbs on it’s back. Only a very few select people get to experience this, she thinks, so when she is holding onto its fur and it runs along the night sky, she tries to tell herself that that’s the only reason why she drags herself out of bed so late at night — to get the chance to ride a demon tiger, not to see an annoying self-absorbed demon boy.
It’s paws feel light, like it’s floating, and Rumi lets herself sink into the soft blue fur as it takes her through the city over the rooftops.
It doesn’t stop by the alleyway they met at last time like she expects it too, and she realizes Jinu took her note about the whole chivalry thing seriously.
And she realizes too she forgot to wear her choo-choo pants to piss him off.
Well how unfortunate, she thinks to herself, as the tiger continues running through the streets, the moon illuminating its fur and the journey. They stop at a riverbank, where Jinu is sitting on a rock, waiting for them.
He’s wearing a shirt she recognizes from checking (stalking) the Saja Boys instagram, and she realizes he’s come to see her after a performance. Annoying then, that he has to see her all tired and sweaty from practice, and she gets to see him all done up and prettified.
Not that he wasn’t already pretty.
“Well aren’t you spoiled, princess.” He says, gesturing at her riding the tiger.
“Oh please, this is the bare minimum treatment.” Rumi says, not getting off. She can still feel the muscles in her legs convulsing. “Did I not tell you already — I have standards.”
“Yes, yes, and I am trying my hardest to accommodate them. Now, shall we?” He gives her his hand for her to take, and bows ever so slightly. Rumi would have found it cute, and she does find it cute, but instead she’s awkwardly shuffling around, and wiggling her toes.
She sees a twinge of disappointment — or hurt — on Jinu’s face, and god he’s so cute this is not okay, and begins to feel a little sorry.
“M-my feet hurt.” Rumi stammers out, gesturing at the tiger. “Thats why he carried me over here.”
Jinu looks surprised, then understanding, then apologetic. Seriously, is his face this expressive? She could have sworn he was the nonchalant type when they first met. But to Rumi’s dread, an amused and smug smile began to tug at the corner of his lips.
“So you can’t walk?”
“Eh, kinda.”
“And you snuck out in the middle of the night, without your teammates, to go see some demon whose boss wants you dead.”
Ugh, shit, he’s got a point. “Maybe…”
“Damn, didn’t realize I was that good looking.” Jinu says, and god his smirk is unbearable. “Making the legendary demon hunter Rumi toss out all logic just to see me. Maybe I should fulfill Gwi-Ma’s orders now, while you’re still weak and smitten an-“
And at this, Rumi is not just annoyed she is pissed. She hops off of the tigers back, ignoring the painful throbbing of her feet upon touching solid ground, and pulls out her sword.
“You really think I still couldn’t kill you now?” Rumi asks, her sword in his face.
“Well I bet you could, but I also bet you wouldn’t want to.” Jinu puts his finger on the tip of her blade, and gently puts it down. Rumi shoots glares but lets him. “Now, that was all in jest, and I wasn’t telling you to get off, please rest yourself. I’m no brute.”
When Rumi’s sword is down, he extends out his hand again. She rolls her eyes and takes it.
Rumi can’t help but notice his hands are soft; she didn’t think demon hands would be soft, shouldn’t they be covered in scars or something? He helps her back on the tigers back, and she pets it lovingly. He ushers for the tiger to follow him, and the two walk alongside the riverbank.
The walk is beautiful, and the moon is bright. Rumi’s eyes quickly ghost over the river, soft and illuminated, but quickly travel down towards Jinu’s arms, her eyes catching on a small glimpse of the patterns on his skin. She wonders what color his shine when he’s angry, and where his patterns are the most saturated and detailed.
She realizes then, that this is the first time she had ever been civil with someone else with patterns too — she wants to compare them someday, she thinks.
If there will be another day, fucking ghoster.
“Took you long enough.” Rumi says, breaking semi-peaceful silence between them.
“To?”
“To send me another letter. Way to keep a girl waiting.”
Jinu looks at her slightly confused. “I wasn’t entirely sure you wanted to come see me.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t men love the chase?”
“Well they certainly hate rejection.”
She scoffs and ruffles through the tigers fur. “Didn’t realize your ego was that fragile.”
“It’s not typically.”
“But it is with me? Didn’t realize I was special.”
Jinu sighs, and looks back at her. “You are special, demon girl. Why did you accept?
“Why did you ask me out?”
“What, a guy can’t ask out a girl he wants to see?” He asks. His smirk is ridiculous, but Rumi feels a smile tug on her lips the same way.
“What, can a girl not accept the invitation of a guy she wants to see?”
“Touché.” He says, running his fingers through the tigers fur. He’s close to her again, Rumi notices, and she feels her face heat up. In protest, she shifts ever so slightly away.
Its silent again, but comfortably so, and this time, Jinu is the one who breaks it.
“We’re here.”
Oh, there was a destination. Rumi hadn’t really thought about that. “The discount beach?” Rumi asks sarcastically, but Jinu just shakes his head and smiles.
“No. There’s something I want to show you, that only you can see.”
“Shit, are you taking off your clothes already. Too fast, Jinu.” Rumi retorts, and Jinu chuckles at her response.
“No, look.” He points at the river, and Rumi snorts but her eyes follow suit.
She stares blankly at the flowing current. “I like water too?”
“Be patient will you, princess.” He says, and with a roll of her eyes, Rumi’s eyes return to the river.
And then it happens, ripples of light, blue and purple, sift through the river. They look like shooting stars, or rainbows, and they sparkle against Rumi’s eyes. The aurora borealis, that’s that they resemble.
The hops off of the tigers back, and kneels by the water to touch it. To her dismay, it’s just water, and the light fades away.
“That’s the honmoon.” Jinu says, breaking Rumi away from her bewilderment. “Every full moon of the month, at midnight, it weakens, and the lost energy seeps into the river.”
Rumi’s trance is broken, and she glares at him. “So more demons will be out right now?”
“Not necessarily.” He joins her, kneeling by the river as another pulse of color shoots through. “The weakening happens in waves all night till the sunrise, and it goes on for around a week. The demons don’t strike till then, till the honmoon is at its weakest.”
Rumi’s eyes shift from the river to Juni. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Felt like it.” He says, letting his fingers graze the running water. “I’m sure you also noticed the pattern.”
Actually, they noticed that the demons would typically strike every third day of Zoey’s period (luckily she wasn’t the type to have cramps), and used that to track when they would strike, but she didn’t exactly feel like saying that out loud, especially not to a boy.
Rumi sits as the water continues to pulse. The tiger sits next to her.
“It seems like a lot of energy is being lost by the hanmoon.”
“It’s really not that much.” Jinu corrects. “It looks that way because of how vibrant the energy is, but after the weakening, the hanmoon barely loses a third of its strength.”
“A third huh,” Rumi’s fingers graze against the lights, captivating and beautiful, and she takes off her shoes. She pulls her sweatpants up and dips her toes into the river, letting the running water soothe her ache. “Is this a big day in the demon world?”
“Mhm.” Jinu responds, his eyes glancing at her awkwardly pulled up sweatpants, looking amused. “They have a big military parade on the first day of the weakening and stage an attack on the last. It’s quite a big deal down there.”
A smirk makes it’s way too Rumi’s lips. “And yet you’re here, with meeeee.”
“I don’t necessarily like the demon world.” Jinu bites back.
“But you like meeeee.” Rumi continues, shamelessly batting her eyelashes at him.
“Like I said, I just hate the demon world.” Jinu says, but Rumi keeps batting her eyelashes, and he relents. “I like you only a tad bit more, just a smidge.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Rumi says, satisfaction littering her voice.
“Are you not going to tell me you like me more than the other demons too?”
“Well, that really isn’t saying much, considering I kill the rest of them.”
“You still not going to say it? And I plan all of this for yo-“
“Fine. I like you more than the annoying ugly demons I impale with my sword on a daily basis.”
“So you’re saying I’m not ugly?”
Rumi scrunches her nose in disgust. Is this guy seriously trying this hard to feed his own ego? What a prick. But another pulse of energy seeps through the river, its beauty clouding Rumi’s eyes, and she realizes she can save her grievances with him for another day.
Slightly thoughtful demon, she thinks to herself, maybe chivalry isn’t dead.
“Objectively.” Rumi relents. “Objectively, you are slightly pleasing to the eyes.”
“Objectively? What about subjectively?”
“Oh, you make me wish I was blind.” Rumi retorts; and she’s lying, and Juni knows shes lying, so he smiles anyways.
“You’re going to make the only man who’s courting you lose interest with that nasty tongue of yours.”
Courting? Who uses that phrase in this day and age — geez this guy is really too old.
“I’ll have you know plenty of guys want me.”
“And you want none of them back.”
“I can’t date as an idol.”
“And yet you’re here out in secret with me.”
Rumi bites her tongue. Oh shit the asshat is winning, and god she wants to tear that smirk right of his face.
But he’s right, she realizes. She’s out with him, in the middle of the night, sneaking away from her friends and her duty, to meet with a demon boy. She hates how comfortable she feels, she hates how safe she feels in his company, she hates how she doesn’t want to leave.
She swallows the bile collecting at the back of her throat. “I should go then.” She mumbles.
Rumi sees it on his face again — hurt, washing over, but it’s gone in a flash, and it washes over his face like it was nothing. “I should too.”
She wants to take her words back, to ask him to stay, to maybe tell her more about the demon world, his past life, his pets, but she knows when she turns around to face him, Juni will be gone.
So she doesn’t turn around, she puts on her sneakers and hops onto the tigers back, and lets it take her home.
Jinu watches her leave, and some part of Rumi hopes he’s still there; not wanting to be disappointed, she doesn’t dare look back.
Later, in the middle of the night, she’ll realize that tonight is the first night of the full moon, and the only reason Jinu hadn’t asked her out in a while, was because he was waiting for the just the right moment. Maybe, she thinks, she will receive another letter tomorrow.
Notes:
comments fuel me so i am bakc me and my china vpn and note sapp against the world
Chapter Text
The letter arrives the next day, right on time, right when the clock strikes midnight, but Rumi, despite wanting to — really, she wants to — doesn’t respond to it. Instead, she lies awake in bed, with the ice pack on her forehead, and a thermometer in her mouth.
She’s sick, and she’s miserable.
38.5 Celsius, that’s pretty bad. This on top of losing her voice, that’s even worse. If she’s going to be such a sickly old woman, then maybe she isn’t cut out for being an active agile demon hunter.
She had to miss practice today too, and the girls had to clean up the demons in Myeongdong on their own. She feels guilty, really, but her throat is killing her and her bones are weak, and she had definitely overexerted herself yesterday.
And the medicine she had been taking, the medicine Zoey had so lovingly been shoving down her throat since she got sick, wasn’t working. If she had really been thinking about it, medicines haven’t really been effective on her since she was a baby — taking them resulted in no difference to her health.
She blames the boy; him and his stupid invitations and letters, and his cute but stubborn pet tiger. Instead of staying home and getting massages for her sore muscles, she was out at some random river, looking at beautiful lights with a beautiful boy. Thinking about it that way, it really wasn’t so bad, but thinking about it from the perspective of her throbbing head and warm neck, it was quite terrible.
The tiger’s face appears on her side, eyes pleading and mouth open wide. Begrudgingly, Rumi takes the letter.
Am I on time? - Jinu
Rumi chuckles. Yes, she thinks to herself, he is. She tries to sit up to respond to him, but her head throbs and she is forced back down. God, she is sic k and this is killing her.
She shoves her hands over her eyes, blocking out any light from entering them. “Not todayyy-“ she whines. But the tiger doesn’t budge, big beady eyes stare back at her. It opens its mouth, and another letter appears.
Rumi groans in a playful annoyance, but really, shes a bit excited. Two letters in one night, Juni must seriously miss her. She had always had a certain charm that worked wonders on men, she was pleasantly surprised it worked on demons too.
But as she shuffles in to open it, the letter is left blank, empty.
Huh. She knew Jinu wrote like a man of few words, but this was starting to get a little bit ridiculous. Four words she was used to, two words would annoy her — no words and Rumi was starting to wonder if Jinu thought she had demon telepathy or something.
Jinu’s three-eyed bird lands next to her with a pen in its beak; not one she owns, it’s heavier and made of a material she can’t quite place, and it drops the pen into her hand.
Oh, it wants her to write back to Jinu.
She gently takes the pen out of its beak and ponders for a moment. Both demon animals have their eyes set on her and her fingers, and she would have certainly found it creepy if she wasn’t so fond of them. She bites the tip of her pen and thinks to herself — she wants to whine about how sick she feels and how terrible her day has been, she wants to jest about how he finally wrote to her on time, she wants tease him for thinking about her.
But Jinu writes like a man of few words, and Rumi can not be the clingy one between the two of them, so she decides, she must do the same.
Sick. Ur fault. Fk u. - Rumi
She laughs to herself and gently places the letter into the tiger’s mouth. Releasing a sigh of relief, she closes her eyes, and drifts off to sleep.
———
She wakes up to the warm smell of chicken ginseng soup, and the clattering of kitchen pans and appliances.
She didn’t know Mira knew how to cook this (she had immediately ruled out that Zoey possibly could) and gladly pushed herself off the bed. She was still lightheaded and her toes still ached, but oh she would do anything for some nice warm soup right about now.
She glanced at her phone to check the time, to send a little thank you text to her friend, but was startled to see it was three in the morning.
Shocked, her eyes shot back towards her window. The curtains were closed to block the light out in the morning, but even so, a little bit of sunlight always managed to seep through. It was pitch black outside.
And weirder still, the silly tiger who loved to take up half her bed and the strange bird that she could sworn was watching her in her sleep were no where to be seen.
She begrudgingly puts on a hoodie, covering up her hair, and steps outside.
“Why are you in my house?!” She yells, and there lies Jinu, hands occupied with a ladle brought right up to his pretty lips. “You intrude in the middle of the night, and use my kitchen and-“
Jinu almost drops the ladle but stops himself. Putting it down and running straight over towards Rumi. One hand finds its way to covering her mouth, and the other shushes his own.
Oh my god, she wants to bite his hand off. Her eyes shoot glares at him, and if looks could kill, Jinu would’ve been dead six times over. But he shushes her again, harsher this time.
“Whisper please.” He tells her, and Rumi could tell he would be screaming if he could. “I’m trying not to wake your friends.”
She yanks his hand away from her lips, and looks indignantly at him. “You fucking broke into my kitchen.” She whisper-screams.
“And you’re sick! Go back to bed.” He hissed back.
“You stupid-“ but her eyes catch Jinu’s three-eyed bird on the ladle, stirring the soup, and his tiger stoking the flames. His demon pets are… cooking? In her joint apartment with her friends, at three in the morning.
What the fuck is going on. It’s too early for this shit, and Rumi is too sick to be dealing with it.
“Go to bed, please.” Jinu says, a hand rubbing his temple. “I promise you I’m not trying to steal your utensils.”
She looks at his expression — god, he’s so expressive — and it’s far too sincere for her liking. The pets are still shuffling behind them, trying their hardest with their limited limbs, to cook the soup to some satisfaction.
She realizes then, that Jinu is cooking the Chicken Ginseng soup, a notoriously healthy korean soup packed with healing properties, for her.
“Oh.”
“Oh what?” Jinu asks, still exasperated. “Go back to bed, Rumi. I’ll be with you when I’m done.”
She scoffs in retort, and she wants to argue with him. But her head throbs again, and Jinu notices her expression getting heavier. He offers his arm up as support for her, and she begrudingly takes it as he escorts her back into her room.
She notices, of course without meaning to, how toned his forearm is. It’s hard, but not rough, and muscular but not too overly inflated.
She wonders then, where he got this body of his, that perfectly sculpted face. Demons can shape shift, she noted, and she wonders if he was choosing his body for himself, or if that’s what he looked like as a human those 400 years ago. She wonders then too, how many women he must have charmed as a human, and how many more he did as a demon.
Does he sleep with girls and steal their souls? Rumi has to admit, if it werent for that jarringly terribly personality of his, he would’ve made a pretty successful succubus demon.
He helps her onto her bed, but as he’s about to pull his arm away from her grasp, Rumi tugs back.
She doesn’t know what makes her act that way. When she wakes up the next morning, she will blame that action on her sleep deprived brain and sickly actions. But her eyes are captured by the show of Jinu’s patterns littering his arm, and her mouth opens on it’s own accord.
“Stay.” She mutters. It’s under her breath, soft and barely spoken, but it’s enough to make Jinu freeze in his tracks.
“What?”
“Please.” She whispers again, and if her brain were functioning properly, she certainly would have scolded herself for repeating these words; but it’s not, so she mutters once more. “Stay.”
Rumi’s not quite sure if she expects him to, but Jinu doesn’t tease nor chastise her. He instead gently smooths her blanket, tucking her into bed and grabs an iced towel.
“Take off that hoodie of yours.” He says. “I can’t properly ice your forehead with you bundled up like a rabid caterpillar.”
She snickers but does as she is told, revealing a small fitted tank top and loose messy hair underneath. Jinu is staring at her, and hes being so painfully obvious about it too. Rumi feels a smirk creep up against her face.
“I’m just so pretty aren’t I?” Rumi says, all smug and silly. Jinu, however, doesn’t laugh or tease, his hands gently run through her hair, and he pauses.
“The color.”
Ah, right, the patterns on her scalp.
They run down her arms through her shoulders and over her scalp. The markings color her hair, a darker purple indicating the placement of her markings. She braids her hair, thick and over her scalp, to cover these. Every morning without fail; it used to take her 50 minutes, now it hardly takes 15.
A familiar feeling washes over her, the one that arose every time Celine would do her hair, or pick out her clothes. Her patterns became all too visible to her eyes, and every mark on her skin became more vibrant and loud. The urge to cover herself — to hide, arises, like a tital wave within her; but Jinu’s eyes, despite staring so deeply into her soul, do not share the gaze that Celine’s do.
There us no indication of judgement within them, no ounce of disguist or hatred. It is only a careful, genuine curiousity that passes through his gaze, and Rumi can’t help but lean into it.
His hands are so soft and gentle, and he hovers his fingers over her discolored hair — her markings — for just a little longer, like he was asking for permission to touch it.
Rumi nods, and his hands caress through her patterned hair, a darker shade of purple than the rest.
“You should wear your hair down more often.” He remarks, and is voice is so soft Rumi almost thought she imagined it.
“The patterns, Jinu.” Rumi reminds, but she knows that Juni is already aware of them.
“I don’t care,” he says, not taking his eyes off of her. “They’re beautiful.”
Rumi’s stomach jumps, as his fingers continue down her hair, and onto the patterns on her arm. He doesn’t yet touch him, but his eyes are studying them like they’re stars, and Rumi’s heart is racing.
She had never before shown anyone but Celine these patterns, and no one before had ever looked at them with anything but terror and disgust. These kind eyes, these soft hands, she shouldn’t let him but she wants to; maybe for once, she could let this part of her body — this part of her — that she has hated so viserally all her life, be loved.
“May I?” Jinu asks, and Rumi dreads her answer, knowing that she will let him.
The door bursts open, and the two of them are jolted out of their trance as the tiger waddles into the room, carefully balancing a warm bowl of soup on it’s head. The three-eyed bird is frantically flying around it, shooting gusts of wind at the dish to keep it from spilling.
Rumi holds in a giggle, while Jinu sighs and takes the bowl off of the tiger’s head.
“They’re cute.” Rumi says. Jinu inspects soup and begins stirring it. He grabs a spoonful, blows gusts of air at it to ensure it doesn’t burn Rumi’s mouth, and gently brings the spoon to her lips.
Rumi glances at the spoon, then back at Jinu, his expression soft and solemn.
He’s the enemy, a demon, and she shouldn’t be taking any gifts of favors from him without taking into account that he would expect something in return. It could be poisoned; drugged with a potion that would further ruin her voice, and leave her mute. She should bite at him, refuse his gift, push him away.
But she doesn’t want to, and she can’t. So she leans towards him, and accepts his gift. “Careful, Jinu. I’m starting to think you care about me.” She mutters, taking a sip of the soup.
Oh god, it’s good; was this demon boy a chef in his past life? Rumi can’t hide the smile that tugs at her lips, nothing beats good food, and Jinu falls into a comfortable smirk.
“This sickness you have is my fault, taking care of you is the least I could do.”
Rumi scoffs, but can’t help but feel bad about the letter she sent him. Did she really have to antagonize him so much, blame him for her current plight? She chose to go out that night herself, to go see him — she wanted to, just as much as he did.
But her pride won’t let her admit it, so she takes another sip of his soup, and smiles. “So you do care about me?”
“Well these two certainly do.” He points to the tiger and bird, both looking at her with kind and engrossed eyes. “You know, she doesn’t let many people ride on her — hell, she doesn’t even let me. She likes you quite a bit.” He scratches the bottom of the tiger’s chin, and Rumi’s eyes light up in a smile.
“So she does like me more.”
“No, she just pities your entire existence.”
“Heh, what is there to pity—“ Rumi tries to retort, but then it dawns on her. Her existence, her creation, her mistake. Jinu seems to notice the change in her expression, and immediately backtracks.
“Rumi, I didn’t mean it like that.” He says, and while she wants to snap at him, hurl insults at him for cutting her where it would leave the deepest of scars; she knows too, that he really didn’t mean to hurt her.
It’s silent for a moment, or maybe more than a few. Jinu carefully lifts the soup up towards Rumi’s lips, and lets her slowly drink it up.
“You know, patterned hair is considered very beautiful in the demon realm.” Jinu says, breaking the silence. Rumi can’t help but scoff at him rolling her eyes.
“Seriously, demon beauty standards?”
“Mhm. They like purple too, so you’d be a winner down there.”
Curiosity washes over her, and she leans forward. “So would those demons like, court me, or something?”
“Well, demons don’t necessarily court — they can’t love. Demons can’t love, and they can’t be loved, that’s how Gwi-ma chooses the humans to inflict with his curse.”
Rumi tilts her head, her long hair falling with her. “So they just like… fuck?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
Rumi’s mind, and not of her own free will, wanders into thoughts of Jinu with bed with some crazy lust infested demon. She winces and shivers, and clutches onto the sheets. “Ew.”
“Yeah, ew.”
“So have you fucked any demons?” Rumi asks, it’s morbid curiosity that leads her to do so, and its a twinge of jealousy that sets her off the edge, but Jinu’s cheeks go beet red, and he shakes his head.
“Oh god, no.” He winces, seeming equally as disgusted at the thought. “And please never ask me that question again.”
Rumi leans back smirking, feeling satisfied at his answer. At least they both don’t get game — at least there isn’t some other demon girl who gets to have his attention, see his cute silly pets, and drink his ginseng soup.
“Is that your real form?” She asks, letting her guard down around him. “Like, you know demons can shapeshift, is that what you looked like as a human?”
“Yeah, pretty impressive right.”
“Ugh, was hoping you were some old hag.”
“Would sure be a nice surprise; and I’d love to ruin your day by breaking the news to you that the pretty boy you’ve been seeing has secretly been a wart infested boar this whole time.” Jinu remarks. “But when transforming for long periods of time, demons can only turn into the human forms of their previous lives. Any other disguise can’t last for more than a few hours.”
Interesting, Rumi thinks to herself, and she wonders if she could use this information to her advantage someday. Jinu was a pretty nice (and pretty pretty) 400-year old demon encyclopedia, how convinient it was having him around.
She’s about to tease him about it, smirk about how useful he’s being, but a loud ringing noise from the other side of the apartment jolts her awake, and she panics.
“Oh shit shit shit, Jinu what time is it?” Rumi asks, but she grabs her phone before he can even answer. “5:30, Mira’s awake.”
Crazy woman with an even more crazily efficient sleeping schedule. A knock on Rumi’s door sends her panicking (how did she even get from her own room to Rumi’s in the span of maybe 3 seconds at most?) and Rumi quickly turns to Jinu to warn him to quickly get out and leave.
But much to her surprise, he’s already gone, and Rumi realizes, with a twinge of guilt and dismay, that she didn’t even get to say thank you.
Notes:
U guys in thecomments r so sweet 😭😭 i havent pubkished a fanfic in like 4 yrs
Sorry im still on my notes app and my phone; also do u giys want longer or shorter chapters; tis shit keeps getting longer and longer if i dont chop it up
Chapter Text
Rumi is thankful, don’t mistake her skeptiscism for ingratitude, but she seriously needs to know what was in that soup.
She slept a little too well, and she woke up feeling a little bit too swell, and her temperature dropped back to normal levels almost instantly. This wouldn’t have been such an anomoly, and she really should just take the blessing and move on with her life, but she had always been notoriously terrible at healing from even the most minor of viruses.
Medicines never really worked on her; despite the fact that Rumi rarely ever got sick, when she did, it was usually enough to send her bedridden for at least a week.
She doesn’t want to question Jinu’s kind actions — wait no, questioning is good, Jinu is the enemy, never let her guard down — but she was starting to get antsy about the good luck she was receiving.
She frowns and takes a piece of paper off from the tiger’s mouth and the pen out of the bird’s beak. They’re both watching her, eagerly awaiting her words, so she scribbles them down and stands up to get ready for her award show.
What was in that soup? - Rumi
Rumi is braiding her hair, and it doesn’t take her long to receive a response.
No thank you? - Jinu
Rumi scoffs. She was planning to thank him in person, give him a little gift bag perhaps (possibly of Huntrix photocards of herself, personally signed, what a great gift), but asking for an apology was a bit tacky, no? She decides to ignore him, writing back the same question.
What was in that soup? - Rumi
It’s an even shorter wait for Jinu’s response this time, and Rumi is starting to feel a little giddy about how eager Jinu is to talk to her, but any smile she may have had on her face quickly turns into a frown when she reads Jinu’s response.
Idk. - Jinu
Oh, he is so dead to her.
————————————
“Huntrix with the song Takedown, you are up next!” Bobby yells from the intercom, and Rumi is practically falling over herself trying to execute the finishing touches of her make up.
She is running so late. Zoey and Mira, as far as she is aware, are already at the curtains waiting for her, and the Saja Boys are about to finish their performance. She needs to be on stage in five.
Paging for Rumi! I repeat, paging for Rumi! We are on next!”
Rumi groans to herself as she runs out of her room, the laces of her boots still untied and trailing behind her, and shes basically hopping on one foot to keep herself from slipping.
Really, she should agree to let make-up artists and hairstylists do her hair, like they do for Mira and Zoey; but doing so would mean she would have to let someone touch her hair and see the patterns on her scalp. Worse yet, they would want to lotion and tone her arms, her neck, and see the markings and patterns that define her down there.
She shakes her head. Nope, definitely better to do it herself, even if shes constantly running late.
“Saja Boys just finished! Paging Huntrix!” Bobby voice rings through the intercom.
Rumi stops by the elevator and immediately presses the ‘up’ button. It doesnt show up, so she taps it again and again, basically hitting it.
Ugh, its occupied. She would take the stairs, but her shoes aren’t even being worn correctly, and tripping over and injuring herself before a performance would be even worse than being late.
To Rumi’s relief, the elevator door finally opens — but that relief immediately disappates when she sees that face again, terribly beautiful and terribly smug, laughing among his team members. He notices her, and they lock eyes, and Rumi shoots daggers at him.
“You!” She yells, stepping into the elevator and pushing her finger against his chest. The rest of the Saja Boys stare blankly at her, exchanging confused looks with one another. Sensing the awkwardness, or Rumi’s fury, one of the two, they all quickly scurry out of the elevator, leaving the two of them alone.
“I have a name you know.” Jinu deadpans, but Rumi immediately turns around and jams the button to take her to the stage floor.
“What was in that soup?” She questions, her tone getting more and more accusatory by the moment.
“Chicken and rice?”
“No, Jinu.” Her hands are on her hips now. “There was some magical healing property in there. What did you use?”
She sees Jinu look away, avoiding eye contact with her, and Rumi frowns. She’s right and she knows it; he’s hiding something. She’s about to question him further, when the elevator stops suddenly.
But the doors don’t open.
The lights shut off, and Rumi squeals despite herself.
She begins looking around frantically, her eyes locking in towards the already very abused elavator buttons. “What the fuck?” Rumi cusses, and she once again begins jamming the buttons on the elevator. Jinu grabs onto her wrist and stops her.
“You do know that’s not going to make us go any faster, right?” Sarcasm laces his tone, and Rumi tugs her arm away.
“Did you do something?!”
Jinu meets her accusations with a look of hurt, and Rumi bites her tongue in response. She knows she shouldn’t be so harsh with him, make poor assumptions of his character when really he’s been treating her well. But facts remained facts, and her destiny as a demon hunter should not be entangled with him.
These walls, she has them up for a reason, and to break them down so swiftly and willingly for a boy, a demon boy at that, in spite of how beautiful he may be, is not something she should be so eager to do.
A soft hand comes up to her forehead and gently rests on it. Jinu is close, so close, and Rumi feels her breath hitch.
“Do you feel better?” He asks, and she avoids his gaze but doesn’t flinch. “Your temperature seems back to normal.”
“I-it is. I mean I do. I do feel better.” Rumi admits, but the caring gaze of Jinu’s eyes does not go unnoticed by her; she feels every bit of his… she’s not quite sure what he feels for her, but it’s strong, and it’s engulfing.
“Hello? Is this intercom working? Ah, it seems to be.” Rings Bobby’s voice through the speakers. Rumi can hear it echoing too from outside the elevator, so it seems this announcement is stadium wide. “Apologies to all the guests of the Seoul Idol awards, a black-out is causing major technical difficulities. Will resume programming as soon as possible.”
Rumi lets out an annoyed groan, banging her head onto the elevator door.
“I told Baby Saja this was a stupid idea.”
Rumi turns indignantly at him, her expression quickly contorting into anger. “So it was you!” She accuses, but Jinu just swats his arm away.
“No, like I said, it was Baby Saja.” He deadpans, looking less than amused. “He told us to shut off power during your performance to make you guys lose, but I told him weekly idol awards aren’t that big of a deal and that we could beat you guys organically. But I guess he’s stupid, and he can’t even time his own plans correctly.” His hand is on his temple and he is, like Rumi, clearly annoyed.
She crosses her arms and leans herself on the elevator door frame. He’s telling the truth, she knows it; he doesn’t seem like the type to play unfairly with her unless he’s forced to. But she can’t help but feel pissed, and there’s no one else in the room to blame but him, so she sneers.
“Still your fault.” She mumbles under her breath. “All you demons are the same.”
She expects him to remain silent, to ignore her little tantrum. What she doesn’t expect, however, is for his gaze to go dark and his jaw to clench. She sees his arms tense, and she freezes.
“Do not say that again, Rumi.” Jinu warns, but Rumi doesn’t bite her tongue.
She doesn’t even believe what she had just said, Jinu was different and she knew it, she’d seen it. She doesn’t know what makes her snap back — perhaps it was her pride, preventing her from awknowledging her misakes; or maybe it was het fear, fear of getting too close, the fear of letting him see too much of her, all of her. Celine’s voice echos through her mind like verse, like prayer, and she argues in spite of herself. “Really, because as far as can tell, you’re just as much of Gwi-Ma’s lapdog as everyone else!”
“What did you just say to me?” Jinu steps closer towards her, and Rumi notices for the first time how broad his shoulders are. In another universe, she would run into them, collapse into his arms, fall for his gaze. But not in this one; her destiny stands opposite to his, and she knows it.
“You’re out in the human world doing Gwi-Ma’s bidding like a lapdog, that’s what I said.” Rumi bites. “Taking souls, ruining lives. All you demons are the same.”
“So what about you, hm? You’re just like me then!” Jinu hisses. “You’re a demon too, and all you do is paint a false lie for all your friends.”
“We are not, the same.” Rumi steps closer to him, her body tensing.
“Really? Because you share these patterns too.” Jinu pushes up his sleeve, revealing the purple patterns lining his forearm. “You may not hear his voice, but you share these marks!”
Tears begin to form from the corners of her eyes. “They’ll disappear.” She says, but her voice cracks with every world. “She promised me they would.”
“And what if they don’t?” Jinu asks, and Rumi doesn’t know what to say. She freezes, she bites her lip, she looks away.
These markings, these are reminders of the mistake she is, of the curse she bears — they have to go away. They must.
“They will.” She answers finally, but her voice is shaky, and she’s not even certain she believe herself when she says it.
Jinu takes a step forward, and with a soft hand, wipes away the single tear from her eye. “You know, if I wanted to sabotage you, I would have let you lay sick in bed all week.” He says, and Rumi may be imagining it, but he sounds sincere.
Jinu has a point, Rumi realizes. He’s right. He’s been nothing but kind to her, if not a bit rude, and she can’t keep clinging on to this hatred and hurting him. He helped her hide her secret from her friend, showed her the beauty of the hanmoon, took care of her when she was sick, made soup for her-
Wait, the fucking soup.
“Tell me the truth.” Rumi says, and this time her voice is steady and calm. “I won’t get angry, I promise. What was in that soup?”
Rumi watches Jinu’s expression shift, like he’s debating on telling her. His lips settle and his brows unfurrow, and he takes a deep breath. “Souls.” He finally says.
What.
“WHAT?!” Rumi yells, and she feels in the back of her throat convulse as if she’s about to barf. Souls?! That’s very thing she swore to protect — did Jinu kill someone?! Did she eat someone?! Is some poor little girl dead now and in her soup-
Jinu’s hands grab onto her shoulders snap her out of it. “Calm down. It’s not what you think, Rumi.”
“Calm down!?” She screamed, her face contorting and getting indignant. “Did you fucking kill someone?!”
“No, no. Of course not. So please relax.” Jinu’s grip on her shoulders strengthens, and following Jinu’s direction, Rumi takes a deep breath in and out. “You’re only half demon, I wouldn’t even be sure your body can sustain a live soul.”
Relief floods through her. “S-so… where did you get it?” Rumi asks, still taking deep breaths.
Jinu looks confused. “Wait, do you not know what happens to dead souls in the demon realm?”
Is she supposed to know that? As far as she was aware, Celine didn’t tell her anything about this. Rumi shakes her head, and Jinu looks indignant.
“Wow. For girls who claim to be demon hunters, you sure don’t know a lot of about us.”
Rumi rolls her eyes. “What even is there to know?” She quips sarcastically, but Jinu doesn’t budge. Instead he offers his hand out to her.
“Let me show you.”
He looks completely serious, and Rumi feels completely confused. “Show me what?” Rumi’s asks, but she isn’t refusing him. Better than being stuck in an elevator during a black out.
“The demon realm, let me take you there.”
Rumi can’t hide the shock that shows up on her face. Oh no no no, this was a bad idea, she could get jumped in there, or worse, traped — but Rumi had to admit, she was more a little bit curious.
Wait, actually, thinking about it, this is a great idea. A hunter in the demon realm? She could gain so much intel from this, find out their weak spots, learn how to strengthen the honmoon.
So that’s what she tells herself when she places her hand softly on top of his and nods.
“Okay.”
Notes:
I am no longer in china but still on my notes app
Quicj question, when i reach the part of the canon with that date w the old lady from the movie, do u guys want me to skip it or tell it briefly for continuitys sakes, or rewrite it a bit. If i skip it ill be able to churn out another chapter faster so lmk
Anyways rah
Chapter Text
Rumi doesn’t really close her eyes, she blinks; but when they next open, and she doesn’t quite know when it happens, she is in a different place entirely.
Or perhaps a different world.
The sky is purple and it almost looks heavy, and her feet feel equally heavy beneath her. She looks down, and she doesn’t know what she’s expecting to see — dead hands crawling at her, splattered blood, the heads of horses?
But instead, it’s flowers. Rows and rows and rows of flowers, more than she could possibly count, stretching til enternity.
And her shoes are gone, but it’s not like she ever tied up those laces.
She kneels down, letting the petals engulf her legs. The flowers look like lilies, but they’re all a shade of purple she can’t quite name. She takes in a deep breath expecting to be drowned in the fragrance, but they surprisingly don’t smell like anything at all.
A black robed figure kneels down next to her, and Rumi knows who it is without even looking.
“Where are we?” She asks, her eyes still fixated on the flowers around her.
“The border between the demon realm and the human world.” Jinu answers, and his hands reach out for the flowers too. She notices then, that his skin looks different — its purple too, and his patterns are more saturated. This must be his demon form, she supposes, but despite his skin being a different color, it looks just as soft.
She realizes then, that she wants to touch him.
She shakes herself out of it, directing her gaze to his face, but it’s obstructed by an excessively large black hat.
Jinu seems to notice her staring, as the corners of his lips curve up into a smirk. “Curious?” He asks.
“Maybe I just want to see how much worse you look now.” She retorts, but before Jinu can respond, a burst of light, almost like a shooting star, hurls through the sky.
“Souls.” Jinu says, answering the question that was just starting to form on Rumi’s lips. “That’s what they look like before they settle down in the realm of the dead.”
“Settle down?”
“Come, let me show you.”
Jinu stands, and Rumi attempts to follow him but her limbs collapse beneath her. She tries to pull herself up, but it feels as though some invisible force is tugging her down. Briefly, she panics, thinking that this is how she dies; sinking into a sea of beautiful yet demonic flowers, but Jinu’s arm quickly yanks her back up, and she suddenly feels lighter than air.
“What the hell was that?!” Rumi asks, borderline yells, in panic, but the Jinu’s strong grip calms her down, and she finds herself leaning closer towards him.
“Sorry, I thought you’d be able to cross alone because you’re a half-demon.” Jinu answers. He doesn’t look at her, but he sounds apologetic (seriously, both his face and voice are so terribly expressive), so Rumi decides not to antagonize him further. “Since that’s not the case, hold onto me. I’ll keep you from sinking.”
Rumi treads carefully on her next step forward, but her feet are light now and she is able to safely move through. He tightens her hold on Jinu’s arm, afraid of letting go.
“Humans can’t walk through the realm of the dead without the whispers of death sealing them in.” Jinu explains as they pass through. “They need a demon guide to help them.”
“How convinient you’re here then.” She jokes, but her eyes aren’t on the flowers. Walking side by side, Rumi can finally get a proper look at Jinu’s demon form.
She never noticed how much taller than her he was, or maybe it was that excessively large hat that causing her to feel that way. Her eyes cast themselves upon his face, a face she’s studied so intently in all their moments together, a face so dangerous it could pull her deeper even than the whispers of death.
It remained largely unchanged, she noted, aside from the purple patterns running down his neck and over his face. Imperfections breed disgust — that’s a phrase Celine used to tell the girls when they were training to become Kpop idols; a single pimple could lead to scandal.
But these so-called imperfections that marked and scarred Jinu’s otherwise flawless face did not take away from the beauty she always associated with him. His eyes were golden now, striking in a way that could pierce through someone’s soul. Some would call it terrifying, but Rumi could only find it enticing.
Jinu notices her staring, and looks away, avoiding her gaze. She expects him to chastize her for oogling at him or to tease her and boost his own ego, but he doesn’t. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this.” He says instead, and Rumi bites her tongue.
‘But you’re beautiful.’ She wants to tell him, she almost tells him; but the words die on her throat, and her voice trails off into nothing.
Demons kill, demons destroy; to seal them away is our ultimate duty. That is the doctrine she’s been taught.
But fuck it, who knew demons could be so pretty.
Jinu stops walking, and Rumi, still griping onto his hand, does the same, but their surroundings didn’t change; it’s still the same sea of flowers for miles and miles on end.
How big is this place, and heck, where is it? Where is ‘the border between of the human world and the demon realm’ supposed to even be geographically. That would be vital information for her if she ever decided to ventire into the demon’s world to confront Gwi-Ma, but even so, she wouldn’t be able to cross without sinking into death. So much for her whole intel gathering plan.
Jinu kneels down and Rumi (very awkwardly, she’s holding onto him for dear life) does the same. He reaches forward with both hands, so she moves her own to grab his forearm. Rumi looks closer, and in Jinu’s hands is small budding flower.
“This one passed early.” He says solemnly, softly.
“What do you mean passed early?” Rumi asks, her tone uncertain and shaky — but deep down, she thinks she knows what he means.
“This soul.” Jinu said. “He found this realm too young. It is only right then, that he can rest here.”
Rumi watches him carefully place down the bud amongst the rest of the flowers. He covers it in what looks like soil and carefully lays down the bud.
Rumi treads the topic carefully. “These flowers…” she says, but Jinu already knows what she is going to ask.
“Yes, they’re the souls of those who have passed from the human world.”
Rumi’s eyes gaze once again upon the sea of lilies, looking at them with a new meaning. “So this is what you fed me?” She asks, drifting her eyes to the newly planted bud.
“Just the nectar.” Jinu clarifies. “These souls like to give us demons some nectar as a thank you for raising them, and they have many healing properties for us demons. You’re half-one, so I thought some nectar might do you well.”
Any guilt Rumi may have had for killing a poor unsuspecting soul in her soup fades in a sigh of relief. “Do the demons tend to the flowers?” She asks, and Jinu just shakes his head.
“Few still do. I think many more used to, but I wouldn’t know.” Jinu talks with a sense of reverence — a quiet respect, and Rumi realizes she probably shouldn’t start an argument with with him in front of thousand-year-old dead people. “I wasn’t born before Gwi-Ma ascended, but he’s only really interested in live souls.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know.”
It’s quiet between them now, and Rumi’s free hand, the one not holding onto Jinu, reaches forward for the bud. Jinu doesn’t stop her, but he warns her.
“Be careful. Young souls are volitile.” He says, but Rumi can’t help but feel curious, she can’t help but want to know more, so her fingers reach forward and lightly graze the blossoming petals.
And suddenly, she feels so much.
There is joy, an abundance of it, of a young boy and his family, running through the fields; anger, the fury of arguing siblings, and the end of friendships; fear, of the invitable end, of death; and there is sadness, of a cancer-ridden boy on his deathbed, surrounded by his loved ones on the ends of his life.
But she is not shaken by the rouse of emotions, because at the end of it all, at the end of all she feels, is a calm peace of the whispers of death.
“All demons do is feel.” That is what Jinu told her when they first met, when he told her about his past as a human. Perhaps this is what he meant.
She takes her hand off of the flower, and smiles.
“Beautiful.” Rumi whispers. She’s not quite sure what she’s referring to. May it be the memories of the passed soul, or the endless sea of lillies, of souls, of the honmoon overlooking the sky —
Or the boy next to her, patterns and everything.
The silence is solemn between them, so much so that the footsteps they hear crossing through the petals echo.
“Is that you, Jinu?” Calls the voice of an old man. Rumi freezes, worried that the demon might alert Gwi-Ma of her presence here. She hides her face, burying herself closer to Jinu’s arm, but a soft chuckle from him calms her down.
“Relax, princess.” He whispers, so close to her ear, with a voice so smooth and silky it sends shivers down her spine. “He’s blind. Gwi-Ma took his eye out centuries ago.”
“Hello Mister Suk.” Jinu returns the greeting cheerfully, and Rumi turns to face the old demon.
He looks frail, short and thin, and his movements are slow and shaky. A large hat, one quite similar in style to Jinu’s, covers his eye — or lack there of — completely, but the thin smile of his lips still peaks through.
“I sense another one with you, young boy.” Rumi snickers a bit at the word young, as far as she’s concerned Jinu is an ancient relic. “Have you finally given a chance to one of your admirers.”
Rumi makes a teasing face at Jinu who only ignores her. Admirers, what a skank this boy is; she pushes down the twinge of jealousy that bubbles within her at the thought of other girls wanting him too.
Not that she does, she definitely, certainly, positively, does not.
“No no, this is Rumi. She’s my…” He pauses and bites his lip. He looks to Rumi for an answer, but she too is stumped as to what to call their relationships.
Friends? No, they are hardly friends, but she can’t exactly tell this old man that they are enemies either. That leaves lovers, and they most certainly are not lovers.
But, admittedly, if you take away the demonic tendancies and terribly smug personality, maybe lovers isn’t so bad.
The old demon does not wait for an answer, he swats Jinu’s hand away from Rumi’s, holding her himself. “I tell you young lass, this boy is bad news.” He drawls, and Rumi snickers. “He is always getting into trouble, always sneaking off to who knows where. Don’t let that pretty face fool you!”
Jinu pulls her back towards him, almost possessively, in a way that makes Rumi’s heart jump. “Mister Suk, will you please leave her alone.”
“Oh but you are a poor choice of man, Jinu!” He raises his voice. “I like her she is pretty.”
“Mister Suk, you cannot see her.”
“Ah no, but I can sense her. Beautiful patterns.” At this, Rumi blushes. Instinctively, she pulls her jacket closer, as if wanting to hide them even more.
“T-thank you Mister Suk.” Rumi says, bowing down. The demon pats her head, but Rumi doesn’t flinch at his touch.
“Take this, young lass.”
He hands her a flower, a purple lily, like the sea behind her — a soul. “I-I could not possibly take this.” Rumi stammers, but the old demon shushes her.
“That is not a whole soul but rather a gift from one.” He explains, sensing her nervousness. “Now don’t be so humble. An old man like me sees no use for a nice flower.”
“Just take it, Rumi. He won’t stop bothering us if you don’t.” Jinu whispers playfully.
At this, Rumi takes the flower off of his hands. She inspects it, soft and glowy — and she thinks that if she closes her eyes for too long, she will bear witness to a life.
“Now, I must be going.” He says, already trailing away. “Someone must care for these souls nowadays.”
Rumi awkwardly waves goodbye, turning to Jinu with a million questions in her mind.
“Save the questions for next time, princess. We must return.”
She wants to quip back, to chastise him for calling her ‘princess’ again, but she starts to hear the Bobby’s voice through the intercom, and when she opens her eyes again, the vast sea of flowers, stretching for as far as the eye could conceive, is gone.
The doors to the elevator open, and Mira and Zoey pull her out.
“Oh thank god, that took forever.” Mira drawls, pulling Rumi away. “C’mon, the lights are finally on. Let’s crush this thing.”\
Rumi turns around, in a panic that they may have seen her in there with Jinu, but the elevator is empty, like he was never there to begin with.
“Technological difficulties have now been resolved.” Bobby’s voice echos through the speakers. “Paging Huntrix to be out in five.
————————————
The girls lose that award show, and while none of her friends voice it out, all are aware that Rumi wasn’t really giving it her all.
The song Takedown — she just couldn’t sing it, not after what she had seen. She couldn’t possibly convince herself to loathe demons, not in the way she used to, not that one.
Her eyes drift to her pockets, where the soft lily lies, unchanging and unrelenting, still as beautiful as when she first received it.
And she realizes, she never got to tie her laces.
And she realizes, she never even got to thank Jinu.
Notes:
I TOOK A LOT OF INSPO FROM HSR AND AMPHOREOUS LMFAO (if anyone plays that add me) FOR THE DEAD REALM — always found Rumis unhatred of demons thingy to be a lil rushed, so I wanted to add some lore hehe
I think this fic will be around 12 chapters, dont wanna drag it
kudos and comments are always appreciated, i read every single one u guys r amazing and like so funny 😭 eat good guys
Chapter Text
Rumi is in the kitchen, her hands full and her mind racing. Eating is a great distraction, yes, and so she eats, and eats, and eats…
Her third serving of ramyeon is boiling now, and Rumi isn’t even hungry anymore. She’s avoiding going back to her room. Jinu’s pets reside there, rent free and without permit, and she doesn’t want to see them — another reminder of him.
She groans to herself. Was his plan to show her the demon realm to make her falter like that? Because if so, it worked, and she let her guard down far too much. She blames herself for Huntrix’s loss earlier that day, and while neither of her teammates said anything, Rumi is certain they blame her too.
Her eyes drift out to the window, focusing on the honmoon, or more accurately, what was left of it. Their recent loss further damaged the barrier, and new purple spots emerged where it was once blue — almost golden.
It was the worst view she could possibly imagine.
“Lovely view, isn’t?”
Rumi jumps in shock at the sudden company, and finds Bobby standing next to her with a drink in his hand and a calm expression. At first, she thinks he may be drunk on wine, decompressing after their latest loss, but upon closer look, he’s simply drinking a mug of hot chocolate. At 1 am. In the summer.
How very Bobby of him.
“Y-yeah, lovely view.” Rumi lies, but her poor mood seeps through her voice. It’s so obvious that even Bobby notices it.
“You okay, Rumi?” He asks, and she almost lies to him, she probably should lie to him — but she’s at her wits end. She can’t exactly tell her friends about the definitely not friendship she’s forming with a demon, and she can’t necessarily confide in Jinu that she feels manipulated by Jinu; it would only make it easier for him to manipulate her. Celine would probably disown Rumi if she found out, so that rules her out.
Rumi looks towards Bobby, his face so concerned and sincere, and terribly overworked, just like the girls. He puts so much time and effort scheduling their events, booking venues. He’s always the most thrilled when their albums do well. She’s probably disappointing him too.
“Sorry I didn’t perform my best today.” She mumbles. “I was distracted.”
She expects Bobby to frown at her, maybe scold her a little bit, but he sighs into a comfortable smile. “You remember that time your music video tanked on youtube and performed 80% worse than we predicted it would?”
“Yeah?” Rumi asks, confused as to where this is going.
“Well, that may possibly sort of kind of perhaps may have been caused by me.” He says, speaking so quickly that Rumi thought she might have imagined it
She chuckles, taking her boiling raymeon out of the pot. “Really, how so?”
“I sort of kind of possibly perhaps may have accidentally posted it on kids-youtube.”
Rumi snickers at first, then begins to laugh. She remembers her, Mira, and Zoey watching the numbers so anxiously, and rereading the comments as to figure out why their MV had flopped. It was years ago; and while at the time it filled them all with so much stress, they all look back at it fondly, as it helped them learn so much about the industry.
“We should fire you.” She jokes, but Bobby simply returns with a calm smile, like he was some wise old man from the nineties.
“What I’m saying is.” Bobby goes on. “Is we all make mistakes. We all get distracted sometimes. That’s just life.”
Rumi smiles. She’s not quite sure if it’s Bobby’s kind words, simple as they may be, that comfort her; or if it’s the innocence of a man who knows nothing about their fight against the demons and his silly willingness to try. Either way, she lets herself relax, as she picks on the ramyeon she cooked for herself with her chopsticks. She really isn’t hungry, she realizes; her favorite food in the world looks particularly unappetizing to her.
The two of them eat quietly.
“Soooo….” The silence is broken before it even settles. “Is it a boy?”
Rumi almost spits the noodles out of her mouth.
“A boy?! No, no, no-“ she rambles out, hands in the air like she’s being held at gun point. “W-why would there be a boy? I don’t even know any boys.”
“Eh, or a girl.” Bobby continues. “You said you were distracted. Could it be, matters of the heart.” He makes an over exaggerated gesture pointing towards his chest, and Rumi winces. “You know, when I maybe sort of possibly kind of perhaps accidentally posted your guys’ music video to the kids youtube, I was going through a really rough heartbreak. I was distracted by a terribly pretty boy.”
At the mention of the word ‘pretty boy’ the image of Jinu’s face rushes through her mind — surprisingly, it’s not his human face that she sees, perfectly sculpted and pristine, but his demon form, patterns and marks and imperfections and everything. The same face that flashed through her mind while singing Takedown, that made her choke on verses and made lyrics die on her throat.
Oh my god Bobby is right, she is tossed up over a boy.
Rumi bunches up her face into her hands, groaning in realization. Her mission to save the entire fucking world is being derailed because of a fucking boy — a demon boy at that (albeit a rather pretty one). She is so screwed.
“Relax, Rumi. I’m not one of those hardcore strict ‘you can’t date, you can’t talk to boys, you gotta remain single for the fans’ managers.” He says, playfully mocking the so-called managers he’s referring to, and also totally oblivious to the real fate-of-the-world plight Rumi is facing. “I’m like, the chill cool guy manager, you know. So long as you like totally keep this totally under wraps from the papz, then we chillin.”
Rumi stares at him in incredulity. They were not on the same page, frankly they were on completely opposite pages, but the sincerity of his gaze does not go unnoticed by her, and it’s not like she can confide in either Mira or Zoey.
So she sighs, and takes the bait. “It is a boy.”Rumi admits, borderline whining. “I can’t believe it’s fucking a boy!” She slams her palms down on the table with every word.
“I remember my first crush too.” Bobby drawls, knowingly, like he’s a generation above her (he is 4 years older than her). “Like you, it drove me crazy.”
It’s. NOT. a crush. Rumi screams in her mind.
“I-It’s not a crush.” Rumi stammers out loud
“Denial is the toughest phase of grief. I would know. That guy — let’s call him Jason right. He was a real piece of work. Listen when I tell you this, men are EVIL.”
“Men areeee evil.” Rumi agrees, her hands slamming louder and louder on the kitchen countertop.
And this one is quite literally evil, she wants to say, soul eating demon and everything.
Except he’s also soft, and caring, and kind. He made a mistake once in his past life, and now guides seas of souls. He has a voice smoother than sin. He kept her secrets, showed her the beauty of worlds beyond hers, he made her chicken ginseng soup when she was sick.
“But men are also complicated.” Bobby continues.
“Too complicated.” Rumi agrees again.
“And yet so terribly simple.” Bobby finishes. “So, tell me about this boy.”
Oh god, where does she even begin?
“H-he,” she pauses, unsure of how exactly to define this. “He’s a bad person.”
“What did he do?” Bobby asks, and Rumi bites her lip.
Well, he is helping the ultimate demon lord speed up the destruction of all of humanity — but she can’t exactly say that.
So she settles on the understatement of the century. “We exist on opposite sides of uhh... he’s part of like some paparazzi journalism.” She lies. “He’s written some bad articles about me and my friends; lied in them, hurt my reputation.” She chuckles when she lies about Jinu writing, seeing how short his letters to her are. “Said a lot of nasty things.”
“So, why don’t you hate him?” Bobby asks, tone curious.
“I don’t know…” she pauses, and her mouth goes dry. “I think I should, but he just seems lost; like a boy who’s trapped in a life that isn’t him, all because of a few mistakes he’s made.”
Bobby takes a sip of his hot cocoa. “Damn, that’s deep.”
Rumi snorts a laugh, and the room falls silent for a moment, before Bobby continues.
“What makes you think he’s different now?”
Rumi pauses for a moment before answering. “Well, he kept a really big secret for me — actually went out of his way to help hide it for me when he accidentally found out.” She said, remembering their first fight and his handkerchief. The way he could have so easily taken advantage of that situation, used her temporary weakness to gain the upper hand. “He didn’t have to, we were kind of mortal enemies before then.”
“Dang, how big is the secret.”
Rumi winces, her arm instinctively hugging her hoodie closer towards herself. “Like, the scandal so bad the group would probably have to disband level bad.”
“This guy sounds pretty bad at his job, if he’s in the paparazzi and not reporting on it.” Bobby jokes. “You know as your manager I should probably be worried that one of my girls is keeping a huge career ending secret from me, but I’m the chill type manager so I’m just gonna let it slide.”
“Thank you, Bobby.” Rumi smiles, and sighs. “It’s just-“ she pauses. It’s the first time she’s voiced how she feels out-loud, and every word she mouths feels almost like a betrayal to her friends, to herself, to the doctrine that dictated her all her life. “I feel like if he was a really the bad person he portrays himself to be, he definitely could’ve used that information more to his advantage.”
“Like, blackmail you for money or something?”
More like blackmail her and use said information to destroy the world, or something.
“Yeah, kind of.” Is all Rumi responds.
Bobby thinks for a moment, and Rumi isn’t quite sure what he will say. He puts down his mug, and stares at her with a serious look on his face.
“That’s the bare minimum.” Rumi stares back at him in shock, but he continues. “I mean yeah not ruining your life is like really cool and all, but it’s still, you know, the bare minimum.”
Rumi laughs at such an absurd response, but she doesn’t know why her heart tightens. The conclusion being that Jinu was treating her with the bare minimum of respect for her, for some reason, didn’t sit right with her — almost as if she wanted it to, wished for it to, be more.
“But, he is still hurting his own career and job to help you, so that does count for something.” Bobby takes a sip of his coffee. “Do you think if his boss finds out he’s not reporting your secret he’ll get fired?”
Rumi winces. She hadn’t even thought of that. She hadn’t thought about Gwi-Ma’s wrath or the consequences Jinu might face for… for what exactly? He wasn’t exactly helping her — not really, he is still pursuing his quest to destroy the honmoon, the current state of the damaged barrier served as proof.
But he could have ruined her, she realizes. When her clothes ripped that day, he could have pushed her back towards her friends, exposed her secret to them. He could have let her remain sick at home and automatically lose the award show. He could have had his cute little pets, that silly tiger and strange bird, spy on her and ambush her — but he didn’t.
“I think it would ruin his life.” Rumi finally admits. I think Gwi-Ma would kill him.
The seriousness of Rumi’s answer is sort of lost to Bobby, who only nods contently. “Okay that’s a green flag — taking risks for you.” Bobby says with satisfaction. “I was initially skeptical but I’ll give him a solid 6/10 so far. Anyways, I’m sure you must have other reasons to like him.”
“I don’t like him.” Rumi corrects, but Bobby clearly isn’t fooled, and she’s not quite sure she is fooling herself either.
Rumi’s mind races through her memories with him, the demon. The annoying arrogance that made her want to hit him when they first met, the fear that washed over her when he first saw her patterns, and the moment she felt her heart soften towards him. So she starts there.
“He told me a lot about his past.” She begins. “And I feel sorry for him. I think he’s being manipulated to stay in his job. I don’t think he actually believes in what he’s doing.”
“Damn Rumi, paparazzi is annoying, but you make it sound like he’s working as a murder or something.” Rumi winces, it might even be worse than that, actually. She’s not sure how to answer him, but thankfully Bobby continues on his own “Anyways, what’s he being manipulated by? His family, the government?”
“Uhhh loan sharks.” Rumi decides on. “Yeah. Loan sharks. It’s kind of tricky but he has to keep… uhhh paparazzing or he won’t be able to pay the loan sharks.”
Bobby looks pensive for a moment. “Damn, this is complicated.” Bobby says, a hand on his chin in thought. “Does he treat you well though?”
We aren’t dating, Rumi wants to say, he doesn’t treat me like anything. But she remembers then, the ways in which he held her that night when she was sick, the feeling of her hair, soft against his fingers. She remembers the way in which he looked at her that night, patterns and everything, the way he called her beautiful.
And the way she almost felt she was too.
“He took care of me when I was sick.” She answers simply. “Brought me chicken ginseng soup.”
He makes me feel special, she wants to add. He makes me feel whole.
“Ohhh, that’s a complicated recipe, you know?” Bobby chimes, and Rumi smiles in contentment.
“He showed me his home too.” She says, smiling as she remembers the garden of lilies.
“Did you meet his parents?”
His parents died 400 years ago, Rumi wants to say — but the old demon Mister Suk flushes into memory, and she chuckles. “Sort of.”
“Okay, so: makes sacrifices for you, check; takes care of you when you’re sick, check; eager to let you meet his family, check. That’s definitely green flag material then.”
Rumi chuckles. “I just don’t know what to do.” She admits, running a hand through her braid.
“I mean, it’s obvious isn’t it? You like him, just date him.”
She laughs at his ignorance. “It’s really not that simple-“
“But it is!” Bobby argues. “And for what it’s worth, I’m willing to bet he likes you too.”
“I really don’t think so-“ Rumi responds, but Bobby grabs both of her shoulders, and takes a deep breath.
“You see you, you’re all walls.” He concludes. “You have so many walls up, too many walls.”
“I-I don’t have walls.” Rumi exclaims. “I don’t know why everyone keeps saying I have walls!”
“Listen Rumi, you’ll never even get to really see that boy for who he really is with all these walls up. You’re guarded, like a fat cage, or a prison cell, or a box, a really hard metal box. The point is, he takes another deep breath. “If you never put your walls down, you’re never going to really see him. And if you never get to really see him, you’ll never get to really know him, and if you never know him, you’ll just be filled with thoughts and regrets of what could have been for the rest of your life.”
She looked down at her hands, her eyes imagining the spread of her patterns on them. She remembers the one time she let Jinu really see those patterns, thinks about the way it made her feel, about the way he was so gentle with her. For the first time in her life, those patterns she had spent all these years trying to erase — they felt like a part of her, like a part of her she wanted to share with him.
The one time she let him in, the only person she’s ever let in — she loved it.
“You should at least give it a chance.”
Rumi smiles. “Maybe I will.” She concludes, her hands now imagining the feeling of his entangled with them.
Bobby smiles in satisfaction, sensing his work here is done. “Okay, final question.” He adds. “Is he pretty?”
Rumi’s face heats up, the image of his smile, both demon and human, running through her mind. “Yes.” She answers briefly.
“Is he like, Jinu from Saja Boys level of pretty?”
She face heats up once more, and she fumbles on her voice. Oh god, he is.
————————————
She is giddy that morning and her hands ghost over the petals of the lily, counting on its petals. She went out to meet him that day at the park, sent the invitation herself, went the whole shebang — and despite feeling like it was a mistake, despite knowing it was, she couldn’t find the resolve in her to regret it.
She runs her fingers over the tigers fur, and places the lily in a vase. It doesn’t need water, she assumes, but she decides to water it anyways. After all, it serves as a reminder of him.
And the bracelet Jinu received that day, Rumi hopes that it will serve as a reminder of her.
Notes:
We all love bobby we say in unison and hes gay cause headcanons r fun
sry for the lighter chapter w no direct jinrumi interactions, but i hope silly bobby and rumi talking abt him is enough to fuel u guys; evcerything from here on out is gonna be v heavily jinrumi hehe
Chapter Text
It is a rough night, and Hongdae is infested with demons. It is their duty as demon hunters to purge them, to keep the human world safe — but some days are hard, even for them.
Rumi’s sword slashes through the demons running at her, one after the other after the other. There are hoards of them, but Rumi thinks, at the very least, it seems to be almost over.
“Watch out!” Mira calls, and a demon whose claw was hairs away from the back of Rumi’s neck vanishes with the slash of Mira’s spear.
“Shit, thanks!” Rumi returns, her sword cutting through another demon. She’s about to kill the next one chasing after her, but in a flash, her sword is taken from her mouth and into an alleyway by a quick blue figure.
Almost immediately, she runs after it, her feet carrying her. Normally she’s a lot more graceful and swift when she runs, but the sudden panic of losing her weapon makes her feel exposed.
The figure who stole her sword seems familiar, but it’s running too fast and the night is too dark for Rumi to accurately make out its silhouette. Rumi is gaining on it, and she’s so close, she thinks if she leans just a little forward, she can snatch it back-
But a demon’s claw is suddenly up against her throat, and Rumi is pushed against a wall. Her hands scrape against the demon’s wrist, the darkness making it hard for her to make out its face. Her reflexes act, and Rumi kicks the demon’s abdomen with all the force in her, but while she hears the demon grunt in pain, she still isn’t released.
And then they vanish. Rumi blinks and she’s suddenly in another place entirely, and she realizes the demon must have taken her there.
Rumi starts panicking. She’s isolated now, and at any moment, the demon’s grip on her throat could tighten and constrict her airways, causing her to pass out from a lack of a lack of oxygen. She holds her breath, but the force she’s awaiting never arrives, and she slowly realizes that while the hold on her is remains firm, it is suspiciously gentle. Rumi glances down at demons wrist, and she sees a familiar blue bracelet.
“Aren’t you being overly aggressive today, princess?” Calls the voice, strained and yet still terribly recognizable. The clouds above are hit by a gust of wind, and the light of the newly exposed moon illuminates the demon. Rumi finally catches a glimpse his face, perfectly sculpted in all the ways it shouldn’t be, and she feels her heart skip a beat.
“Couldn’t wait to see me, huh?” Rumi bites back, a smirk seething on her lips. “Did you miss me that bad, pretty boy?”
As the words ‘pretty boy’ leave her mouth, Rumi can’t help but notice the way Jinu’s face goes ever so slightly red. It’s cute, she thinks — no, Rumi, it’s an opening, and she uses it to lock her legs around his knees, and twist herself out of the position while knocking down Jinu process.
The hunter lands on top of him, practically straddling him. She pushes down the painful way her heart clamors against her chest ands pins both his wrists above his head.
“You look pretty hot like this.” Jinu deadpans and Rumi almost slaps him.
“What are you doing here?” She questions sharply. “Don’t you have demon boy band training to do or something?”
“Always have so much to say, don’t you, princess?” Jinu chimes, and Rumi internally rebukes herself for letting her guard down around him. “Say, let me go and maybe I’ll tell you.”
Rumi frowns. She really shouldn’t, this piss-faced idiot stole her sword, ambushed her, and then teleported her to the fuck middle of no where away from all her friends. She should slap some sense into him, and yet, she can’t bring herself to sense any serious urgency in this situation; she realizes she doesn’t feel at all like she’s in danger — like a whisper in the back of her mind, promising her that Jinu would never hurt her.
Celine would scold her naivety, really, Rumi knows she should scold herself too, but that’s a losing battle. Her grip falters only slightly, though Jinu doesn’t try breaking free. He’s not even struggling against her, she realizes, not until she fully lets him go.
“Give me my sword first.” She settles on.
Jinu head motions behind him, and his tiger trots towards her, her sword in its mouth. It avoids her gaze, looking guilty as charged, and drops the sword next to Rumi.
“Hey, you betrayed me!” She exclaims at the tiger, sounding more offended than angry. It whimpers and nuzzles up to her in an apology, and Rumi’s heart softens.
“He’d probably eat me if I tried hurting you.” Jinu jokes, pushing himself up, his face etching closer to Rumi’s. She’s still straddling him, and the position is painfully awkward, but she doesn’t want to be the one removing herself first — lest she look too affected by his presence; nonchalance is an art she must perfect.
“Did you not attempt kidnapping me?” Rumi deadpanned.
Jinu looks at her, with an expression so aggrieved one would have thought she kidnapped him. “You think too little of me.” He playfully taps her forehead with his finger, and she blushes. “No, I saved you. Look.”
He points his finger behind her towards Hongdae, towards where she and her friends just were, and a bright flash of purple light erupts. Rumi pushes herself off of Jinu, swiftly standing up as panic swelled within her.
“And you left my friends?!” She screamed. As she contemplates booking it back towards Hongdae, Jinu gets up and places two firm hands on her shoulders, grounding her in place.
“Relax, princess. They’re fine. That’s merely Gwi Ma recalling all the demons back to the demon realm.”
Oh. The knowledge of her friend’s safety causes relief to flood within her, but the moment her eyes lock onto Jinu’s, she remembers the situation she was forcibly put in, and that relief is swiftly replaced with annoyance.
“So why did you bring me here then?” Rumi asks with a frown. “I know I’m irresistible but could you really not bear two days without seeing me?”
“No.” Jinu answers, and Rumi’s scowl deepens at the mention of him not just dying to see her. He sighs. “Gwi Ma’s summon engulfs entire cities at will. He doesn’t use it often because it takes up a lot of his power, but it’s very potent.”
Rumi stares blankly at him. “Thanks for the intel, I guess?” She says, sarcasm lacing her bvoice. “I mean you kidnapped me to tell me information that’s not very usefu-“
“No, Rumi you don’t understand.” He furrows his brows, and Rumi flinches at his tone. He sounds stressed, serious. “Gwi Ma’s summon affects everyone with a mark. They’re immediately taken to him, in the demon world.”
Everyone with a mark — every demon, including her. The realization dawns on her and the image burns vivid in her mind. Stranded, in the demon world — face to face with Gwi-Ma, without her friends nor the power of the honmoon to support her. She shivers.
“Including me…” Rumi finishes, suddenly all too aware of the patterns she bears. It’s all too similar to them, the demons – all too similar to him.
“I couldn’t let him take you there.” Jinu says, and Rumi feels probably overdue gratitude swelling within her. “You probably would never make it back.”
Rumi nods, unsure of what to say. The gravity of the danger she was in is finally sinking in, and she’s not sure how to thank the demon. It seems like she's starting to owe this demon a lot.
“You keep doing me favors.” Rumi laughs. “Keep this up and I might think you care about me.”
At first, his mannerisms make him look flustered, nervous. It’s cute, Rumi thinks, and she almost teases him about it.
But on a closer look, she notices Jinu’s hands pressed tight against his abdomen.
Right where she kicked him earlier.
“Shit, Jinu are you okay?” Rumi immediately bends down, her hands hovering beside him, as if deciding whether or not to hold onto him. “Did I do this?”
Jinu chuckles, but his voice is strained, and his face is contorted in what Rumi can only discern is pain. “Relax, princess. I’m not so weak that your little tantrum kick is going to kill me.”
“But-”
Jinu smirks. “Keep this up, and I might think you care about me.”
Rumi’s protests die on her throat, and she forces herself to roll her eyes, pushing down the worry (and apologies) threatening to spill out of her. “Don’t flatter yourself, demon boy.” She quips, but the words carry no bite in them. Rumi pauses, awkwardly pondering on what to say. She glances at him, smug and pretty and perfect, and decides she’d rather not say anything, lest she say too much.
Get yourself together, Rumi.
“I’m leaving.” She announces suddenly, and she’s about to do so, really, she should. But, her gaze lands on his wrist, and she catches a glimpse of a blue bracelet, a bracelet she gave him, and her heart skips a beat.
Get yourself fucking together, Rumi.
Rumi turns around. She wants to slap herself. “Will you be okay?”
“So, you do care?” Jinu teases, and his lips curved into a smirk that looked oh so infuriating and yet oh so attractive at the same time. Rumi scowls.
“Do you want me to kick you again?”
Jinu laughs and relents, sighing as he leans his body weight onto a wall behind him. “Demons heal pretty quick.” He explains, but Rumi notices his hand still clutching his abdomen. “Besides, I doubt Gwi-Ma will be that upset with me. He’ll assume I just tried to catch you and failed.”
Rumi pauses before the next question leaves her lips, as if debating on whether or not she should ask it. She glances at Jinu's demon marks – Gwi Ma’s marks – and thinks too of her own.
“What does he do?” She speaks, carefully, as if her words may hurt him. As if the demon, hard and scarred, was as fragile as lily. “Gwi-Ma. When he’s angry with you?”
The silence between them is loud, palpable, and Rumi notices how Jinu’s eyes avoid hers. His jaw is clenched, and Rumi can’t help but notice the subtle ways in which he tenses his fists.
It is the lack of an answer that is worse than possibly any Jinu could’ve given.
“It’s getting late, Rumi.” Jinu says, his voice is quiet, soft. “You should head home.”
Rumi nods. She really should, she knows she should, but something about the boy in front of her, demon and everything, prevents her from taking a single step away from him.
She doesn't want to send him back to the demon world; not now. Not after he had just just saved her life, not with him injured in front of her, because of her.
Celine’s voice echoes in her mind like psalm, her reminders, Rumi’s truths. But the voice is quiet now, drowned out by the thoughts running through Rumi’s head and the throbbing of her own heart.
This was a mistake, but to her it was merely a responsibility, or perhaps a favor. Take care of his injuries, and then maybe they would be even. He took care of her once too when she was sick, and no mortal wants to have debt held with a demon.
That’s what she tells herself when she bends down and holds onto his hand, an action she will certainly chastise herself for later, an action she swears to herself she won’t willingly do again.
Her voice shakes, as if unsung confessions lie on the cusp of her lips. “What if I don’t want to go home?”
***
Rumi: sorry gang idt i can make it back tonight
Rumi: i got fuckin teleported to Myeongdong
Zoey: oh no r u okay?
Rumi: yea im fine took care of the demons i just cabt find a taxi at this time
Rumi: cant*
Rumi: ill js find a hotel in the area
Mira: Ok b safe
Zoey: see u tomorrow! and text us before u go to sleep so we know ur okay!
Rumi: ofc
Rumi: love u guys
Notes:
sorry for the late update gang i got a job im selling my soul to the corporate of investment banking help me
i also lowk didnt have mptivation to write for a bit but what motivated me was this one person whos on their 3rd reread who commented like 10 times u know who u are ur so iconic i love u
also i drank a heavily caffinated boba at 11pm and its 4 am rn and i cant sleep and im so hungry i wanna cry and i have ameeting at 9 am tmrw help me im so hungry im so hungr im ao hungry
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