Chapter Text
Abby could tell that something had gone terribly wrong.
Everything had been going so well. They exposed Rumi in front of the world at the Idol Awards, which caused Huntrix to break up, and the Saja Boys won nearly every award as a result. Then, they summoned tens of thousands of people to Namsan Tower for their "special performance", which had gone perfectly. But just when thousands of people were about to walk into the fire, Rumi showed up. The half-demon demon hunter, who they'd exposed in front of the world and cast away in unrecoverable shame and sadness, showed up with a new song, and began pulling people out of their trance just before they were about to give up their souls. Gwi-Ma summoned hundreds of demons, and the Saja Boys jumped down to fight the Hunters. Then, when it looked like the tide was turning, Gwi-Ma called back the demons, channeling his powers into a beam of energy, and launched it at Rumi. She was blocking the beam, but she could only hold it for so long. Mira and Zoey were distracted momentarily, allowing Abby and Romance to attack Mira, while Baby went after Zoey. Abby had grabbed Mira's staff, and was attempting to wrest it out of her control, while Romance was attempting to attack her with his bare hands. But suddenly, Gwi-Ma's roar died down, and the music slowed to a crawl.
Abby looked up, and saw Jinu in front of the beam of energy, holding back the full weight of Gwi-Ma's energy to protect Rumi. Abby was as strong as steel, but in that moment, he felt like he could barely stand. "What the hell is he doing?!" Abby thought desperately. Jinu was Gwi-Ma's best soldier. He was the leader of the Saja Boys, the pride of the demon world. But more than that, he was like a brother to them all.
In another lifetime, Abby was a weak, frail boy named Kang-Dae. He was named because he survived a serious illness as a baby, and his parents thought he'd grow up to be a big, strong man as a result. But the illness weakened him, and left him very fragile. He was meant to be a farm worker, but his frail body had trouble working, and this disappointed his parents to no end. He was the only son of 6 kids, and he was expected to support the family and pass on the family name, but he wasn't strong enough to support them on his own. "Why can't you be a man? You're a disappointment to this family!"
One day, a purple flame appeared in a puddle, and a voice spoke to him. "You'll never be strong enough. You're a weak, pathetic disappointment, and your family will never love you...but I can make you strong enough. I can give you the most perfectly-sculpted body in the land." Kang-Dae took the deal, and soon, he was as strong as an ox. The family was proud of him, and showered him with praise for his strong body. Women watched him as he worked, thirsting over his muscles and body. But Kang-dae soon discovered that their eyes were only for his muscles. When he talked with the women, they didn't connect with his emotions. They never saw him, and he soon began to feel like all he had was his body. Soon, the shame overwhelmed him, and one day, he was dragged down to the demon world. He lived with that shame for centuries...until he met Jinu.
Jinu was one of the only people to look past the abs and muscles that Kang-Dae had and see him as a real person, rather than an object of desire. He had Kang-dae be the visual, and told him to use his abs to appeal to people (even naming him Abby Saja, after his abs), but he didn't let Abby feel like he was less than just his abs. Jinu had put so much work into this plan, spending years researching KPop, teaching them dance moves, finding demons to compose the perfect songs...and yet here he was, about to sacrifice himself for a Hunter. Abby felt a flash of anger at the word, remembering how they'd impeded Gwi-Ma's efforts over hundreds of years. He had been glaring at Mira with furious eyes a moment before, but now, his gaze was locked on Jinu, and everything else faded away as he stared, horrified.
"How...could you?"
Romance stood rooted in place, as he watched Jinu jump in the path of Gwi-Ma's rage. He'd been fighting Mira a moment before, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught Jinu floating. For a moment, he thought that Jinu was gonna jump down and attack Rumi, but then, he watched as Jinu jumped in front of the flame, and took the full force of Gwi-Ma's energy beam.
Romance knew that Jinu was dead. Gwi-Ma's full wrath and hatred was contained in that beam. Hundreds of years of fury and power, an uncountable number of souls, and with no honmoon to weaken him. Jinu would only last a couple seconds before he was destroyed. And even if he ran over and knocked Jinu out of the beam's path, Gwi-Ma would just destroy him. Romance could have never imagined that Jinu would give his life up for a Hunter.
A long, long time ago Romance had been a lonely little boy named Seo-Jun. He was a kind soul full of love for the world, from the flowers and trees to the birds and all the other animals. He had a big heart, and he could always find a place in it to love everything. But the world didn't share his kindness, and he could never find anyone he could give his heart to. One day, he went to a nearby field, and he spent the morning picking pink roses for a girl he liked. He knew they were her favorite flowers, and he made sure to find the most beautiful ones for her. But when he came to her door, heart in hand, she laughed in his face, and slammed the door on him. As he sat by a lake, crying, he heard him for the first time.
"They don't appreciate you. No one will ever give you the love you deserve. Your heart will never be satisfied." He tried to shake it off, but the next words the voice spoke would change his life forever: "I can make you the envy of every man and woman to cross your path. You can be the one they all love. You'll never have to be alone again."
He gave his soul to Gwi-Ma, and things changed the next morning. As he walked down the street, the women greeted him, and complimented his hair, his beautiful face, his fine clothing...even the girl who laughed in his face came to him, apologizing for what happened yesterday. Seo-Jun asked her on a date, and she swooned. It seemed like things were finally looking up for him. But Seo-Jun soon discovered the treachery of Gwi-Ma.
It turns out, the women did not love him. They loved the idea of him that they'd crafted in their heads, but of course, that didn't exist in real life. Seo-Jun wanted a deep, romantic type of love, but the women he courted never truly loved him the same way. He could bring them flowers, cook them meals, buy them the finest silk, and it wouldn't be enough. This sadness turned into insecurity, a feeling of "I'm not enough for them", and soon, it began to consume him. One day, he was transported to an ominous location, staring up at a pink and purple fire that spoke with an otherworldly voice. It took him a moment to place it, and he then realized: This was the voice that spoke to him at the lake. He tried to swear at it, curse it for twisting his wish and bringing him here. But the voice simply said: "You gave me your soul. You knew what you were getting into. And now, you will do my bidding."
And he did. For countless years, he did. He went back to the human world as a siren of sorts. He tempted many of the same women who'd been in love with him as a human, and stole their souls for Gwi-Ma. Then one day, a reaper approached him, holding a bipa, and introduced himself as Jinu. He told Seo-Jun that he could put his voice to use, and that he was putting together a group to fight the hunters. As they trained, Seo-Jun got to know Jinu and the other Saja Boys, and he began to feel loved. Jinu cared for him in a way that all the women from his past life never had, and being in a team with the others offered him a unique friendship, one that was worth more than all the shallow affection that people had heaped onto him.
This was the closest they'd ever been to defeating the Hunters. And now, after all the hard work they'd put in, Jinu had just jumped in front of the killshot. But more than that, Romance was about to lose the one person who'd helped him love again.
"I'm sorry...for everything."
Baby was close enough to hear the conversation occurring between Rumi and Jinu. As he heard Jinu apologize, Baby's heart ached, as he remembered what had happened earlier that night.
Baby had discovered Derpy with a note in his mouth, and figured out that Jinu was meeting up with Rumi. When he shared it with the others, they were about to riot. "This was his idea! Now he's gonna betray us for a Hunter?!" Right before they were supposed to perform at the Idol Awards, Baby confronted Jinu backstage. "You're throwing away everything we built together! Did you even care about us?!" Jinu tried to defend himself, but Baby was about to go feral, until Abby stepped between them to defuse things. They went ahead of schedule on Operation Takedown because they wanted to ensure Jinu's loyalty to the Saja Boys. Then, they recorded their message about the Namsan Tower concert, teleported back to the demon world, got changed and had one last conversation with Gwi-Ma. That was about 1 hour ago.
Baby was once a child entertainer named Min-Soo, who'd made a deal with Gwi-Ma to keep his youthful appearance and energy. Jinu found Min-soo frolicking in a garden in the demon world, and told him about his plan to take down the hunters. Min-Soo was all for it until he found out his name: Baby Saja. "THAT's your plan?! To make me into some cutesy little prop?!" But Jinu talked to him privately, Min-Soo explained his insecurities, and Jinu decided to let him be the main rapper of the group as a compromise. He didn't like having to be "the baby" of the group, and the others liked to make fun of him for it, but he had to admit, being loved by the masses again felt pretty good. And through it all, Jinu was there to make sure everyone was doing well. He was the grounding presence that Baby had always been looking for in his life.
Baby's last words to Jinu had been full of anger, and malice. If he had known what was about to happen that night, he would have never said anything. Because in the back of his mind, he realized that Jinu did care about them, and now, he'd never get a chance to apologize for what he said. But this didn't have time to sink in, because Jinu's next words to Rumi shook all four of the Saja Boys to their core.
"You gave me my soul back...and now, I give it to you"
Baby stared at Jinu and Rumi as he heard those words, not quite comprehending their meaning. Suddenly, a bright blue beam of light emerged from Jinu's chest, as Gwi-Ma's beam of energy began to tear him apart. The light encircled Rumi, giving her strength and power while Jinu smiled. Baby shared a glance with Mystery, and despite being unable to see his eyes, he knew that Mystery had the same shocked expression behind his wall of hair.
"We could be free?"
The Saja Boys had given up their souls hundreds of years ago. The idea that a demon could somehow gain their soul back was incomprehensible. After all, Gwi-Ma's power came from people's souls, and he always reminded people that he owned their souls, so they would do his bidding. So being able to gain your soul back from Gwi-Ma seemed impossible. And yet, Jinu had been able to do it. Gwi-Ma's most trusted leader, the one who devised this entire plan was able to redeem himself.
If Baby had known that demons could gain their souls back, he would have listened to Jinu when he talked about helping the hunters. Jinu told them that if they sealed the Honmoon and helped them defeat Gwi-Ma, they could try to get their souls back. Then, they could live as humans, and become a full-time idol group. Baby thought that Jinu was lying, but now, he realized they should have listened to Jinu, because he would have never gone along with any of this stuff if he knew that they could be saved.
"They could be saved?"
Mira hated demons. They were soulless monsters who stole people's souls for Gwi-Ma, mindless slaves that only caused death and despair. Abby may have been an attractive himbo that Mira was madly in love with, but he was a demon, and so he had to die. It was the way she'd been taught, after all. Celine drilled it into their heads that they should never get attached to a demon, no matter how tempting it may be. Demons were incapable of being saved, they were told. Incapable of gaining back their souls.
So seeing Jinu gaining his soul back made her suddenly question everything she'd ever known for the second time that night.
The first time was about an hour ago, when she saw Rumi with her demonic patterns. Her first thought was that a lot of Rumi's behavior in the past suddenly made sense now. Her second thought was about the bond they'd shared. How could she have built a bond with someone who was part-demon? The only two possibilities were that demons were capable of being nice, or that everything they'd ever built was a lie, and that Mira had, once again, believed in something that was too good to be true. She defaulted to the latter, obviously, because of Celine's training.
But now, she could see that she'd been wrong. Demons were capable of evil, but they were also capable of good. Jinu had sacrificed himself in the name of good, love, and redemption, and he was rewarded for it by gaining back his soul. But not only had he regained his soul, he then gave his soul to Rumi. She channeled Jinu's soul into a sword, and used all her power to attack Gwi-Ma. The sword sliced Gwi-Ma's flame in half, and he let out a demonic roar as Rumi began running towards him. Gwi-Ma reformed himself, and glared at Rumi, as the crowd began singing in harmony. Mira could feel the Honmoon growing in strength, and she realized that they could only defeat Gwi-Ma together.
Mira looked back, and saw Abby, who was frozen in place, and staring at where Jinu once was. In the blue glow of the Honmoon, she could see a tear in Abby's eye. "Is he...crying? Does he feel sadness over Jinu's death?" But she decided not to get distracted with the demons right now. Right now, Rumi needed them, and they needed to help her defeat Gwi-Ma. She pushed the staff forward, hitting Abby in the face with the handle, before jabbing Romance in the chest with the blunt end. Meanwhile, Zoey channeled her honmoon energy into the form of knives as she stared down Mystery and Baby, who barely had time to teleport out of the way as the two Hunters dashed towards them. They reappeared behind the hunters, standing next to Abby and Romance. Romance was on the ground, clutching his chest, while Abby hurried over to Mystery and Baby, making sure they were okay. Jinu may have been the leader of the band, but Abby was the most protective of them.
"He's gone..." Baby choked, as Abby wrapped him in a hug. Meanwhile, Mystery grabbed Romance's arm and helped him up.
"How...did he...?" Romance trailed off, as he clutched his chest where Mira's staff hit him.
"I don't know." Abby said. He was somewhat blunt, but it was the only way he could say it without crying. Baby let go of Abby, and stared up at the Hunters as they battled with Gwi-Ma.
"I...didn't even think...that was possible." Mystery rasped. He didn't speak often, but his voice was unmistakable. "We could have gained our souls back...this whole time?!" The four of them huddled together, with no one sure what to say next. They all shared the same feeling of shock and sadness as they tried to come to terms with what had just happened. Not only had their leader died, but he was also right the whole time, and if they had just listened to him, maybe they'd all still be alive.
The three Hunters ran towards Gwi-Ma, the energy of the crowd powering them up as they floated into the air. The crowd's voices grew louder as beams of rainbow light began to circle the Hunters. The Saja Boys had never seen anything like it before. It was...almost beautiful. They had rarely felt any sense of happiness over the past hundred or so years, except for when they were performing Soda Pop, and pretending to be KPop stars. But this feeling touched their hearts in a way they hadn't felt in their entire lives. For the first time, they understood the beauty of the Hunter's music, and the Honmoon. The Hunters joined hands in a circle, as a ball of white energy began to grow in size and the music began to peak. The rainbow energy began to encircle the Hunters, as Gwi-Ma watched in fury, before the ball exploded.
Gwi-Ma's towering fire was vanquished with the explosion, fading away in a purple flash. This was soon replaced by a bright blue barrier that spread throughout the arena, enveloping the ominous pink glow, and shimmering in a rainbow glow. As it spread, the darkness faded away, replaced by beautiful beams of sun, as the audience cheered. The Hunters floated far above the arena as the song swelled in feeling, with thousands of people united together in one voice.
"They did it...they defeated Gwi-Ma..." Mystery said, as he stared up at the Hunters. The boys shared a look, and realized that his influence was beginning to vanish too. The voices that had haunted the boys were soon gone, replaced by a blissful silence. But this feeling of relief only lasted a moment before the full weight of their actions began to hit them.
They'd stolen thousands of souls, and if Rumi hadn't shown up, they would have destroyed humanity. They went along with Jinu's plan, and helped Gwi-Ma gain power. The Hunters would surely kill them for what they'd done, and they'd never be able to gain their souls back. There was no hope for them now. Baby was the first to start crying, followed by Romance, Mystery, and finally Abby, as they fell to their knees and hugged each other, waiting for the end. They would die...but at least they would die together.
When the girls were recruited to Huntrix, Celine brought them to her mansion to train them on demon fighting. But she didn't just teach them how to fight, she also taught them the history of what they were joining. She told them of how the original Hunter trio came to be, nearly 400 years ago, and the many generations that came before them. She told them how the Sunlight Sisters met, trained, and performed all across Korea, and how they were one of the first KPop bands to ever tour in America because they had to protect the Honmoon across the globe. She sobbed as she told them of Mi-Yeong's death, and how she had to spend 10 years raising Rumi by herself while also fighting demons. And of course, she loved to gush over her old friend Psy, and how he wrote Gangnam Style, which was such a massive global hit that it held up the Honmoon on its own for a decade and allowed Celine to start training Rumi.
Celine also drilled into their heads how important their job was. The goal had always been the Golden Honmoon, but it was unachievable for many years. Being able to secure it was a feat that could not be achieved in one generation, and it took hundreds of years to even get close to this. For years, they'd felt the immense pressure of being the "Golden generation" of Hunters, not only having centuries of history to uphold, and the knowledge of what could happen if they failed, but the immense weight and pressure of being the ones who would achieve the goal the Hunters had been building towards all this time.
However, the Honmoon would not be turned gold. Instead, a new Honmoon would be built, one built on love and acceptance, unity and truth. A Honmoon that wouldn't force Hunters to hide their faults and fears, that let them be open and honest with each other. A Honmoon that embraced its faults and mistakes, without demanding perfection. The days of seeking the Golden Honmoon were over. Now, the Diamond Honmoon would protect the world.
The Hunters floated down to the stage, feeling a sense of triumph and victory. Winning the war had been like a mirage on the horizon, something they never thought they'd achieve. They always talked about it as a certain someday, not knowing how far into the future that someday would be, because it seemed nearly impossible to achieve. And yet, they'd done it. The Honmoon was torn apart and rebuilt, and now a new era would begin. The crowd roared with excitement and love for Huntrix, and the three of them took it all in. "I love my girls!" A voice shouted, instantly recognizable. Bobby must have come here after the disaster at the Idol Awards, the girls realized. They instantly felt even happier, because not only had they saved the life of the greatest manager of all time, but he was there to witness their greatest triumph.
Which meant...he also witnessed everything that happened.
"Shit, are we gonna have to explain all this to Bobby now?" Rumi thought. Their line of work was normal to them at this point, but the idea of having to explain the entire story of demons, Hunters, the Honmoon, and everything else to someone who knew nothing about it would be incredibly difficult to do. And Bobby would definitely have questions, because he was as sharp as a shuriken. He'd probably wanna know what the hell happened at the Idol Awards, why they humiliated Rumi in front of the whole world by ripping her outfit off and exposing... what were they even exposing? Oh right, Rumi's demon patterns, which Zoey and Mira just found out about that night. It was probably hard enough for them to comprehend that Rumi was half-demon, but Bobby had no idea what those patterns even meant...as a matter of fact, nobody else did. They'd have to come up with some sort of public explanation for all of this.
But as she glanced around the arena taking it all in, she spotted something at the end of the stage that stopped her in her tracks: The four remaining Saja Boys were on their knees, hugging each other, with tears falling out of their eyes. Zoey and Mira noticed too, and they stared cautiously.
"They're still alive?" Mira questioned.
"I...guess so", Zoey responded. The new Honmoon must not have destroyed all the demons.
"I think they're crying", Rumi added, and she felt a pang in her heart as she realized they were probably crying over Jinu. She had shed a few tears over Jinu when he faded away under the wrath of Gwi-Ma's fire, but she didn't have time to grieve, because she still had a giant, flaming demon to defeat, and a Honmoon to restore. But now, the full weight of Jinu's sacrifice hit her, and she had to hold back from crying too.
"They're probably faking so they can get the drop on us", Mira said, as she summoned her weapon. She thought back to a couple minutes earlier, when she saw Abby with what appeared to be a tear in his eye as he watched Jinu's sacrifice. Demons may be a little more complicated than she initially thought, but this was just a trick, right?
"No, they look real." Rumi responded, as she stared at them. She could feel the emotions of people as a result of her Honmoon connection, and as she stared at the Saja Boys, she felt pain. Genuine, unfiltered sadness and sorrow, an unfathomable sense of loss and regret like nothing she'd ever felt before. Despite what they said when they were writing Takedown, demons did have feelings. And right now, the Saja Boys were hurting.
Rumi rushed down the stage towards them. Mira held her staff in a defensive position, waiting for some sort of double-cross, while Zoey summoned a single knife, but kept it by her side. As they got close to the boys, they noticed the Hunters, and they looked up. As Rumi looked at the boys, she noticed that the demonic yellow glow in their eyes had vanished, replaced by their normal eye color. Their eyes carried immeasurable sadness and heartbreak, along with an element of terror as the Hunters approached. They probably thought they were about to die. Rumi looked at Baby, who was staring up at her like a stray puppy, his blue eyes full of tears.
"I'm...sorry." He said, in a way that reminded her of how Jinu said it to her. As he said this, Rumi knelt down and hugged him, feeling his fragile frame in her arms. He may have been a demon, but Rumi couldn't bare to see anyone feeling this much pain. After a quiet gasp, he hugged her back, and began crying even harder. "We're sorry...for everything." Baby said, between sobs. As he said this, Rumi lost all her composure, the emotions from Jinu's death leaking out. She rubbed his soft robes and his cotton candy-scented hair as she started crying. Hunter and demon, once mortal enemies, were now bonded together in a shared grief.
"We...we loved him." Baby sobbed.
"I did too", Rumi responded. She never said this out loud, and in fact she didn't even register it until now. But once she did, she realized how true it had been. The audience's cheers had stopped, and people were staring at them, wondering what was going on.
"We're gonna make this right...I promise you we will", Baby said, his voice gaining a little bit of resolve. "We'll do...whatever it takes to get our souls back."
Rumi pulled back, and stared Baby directly in the eyes, her hands on his cheeks. "And we're gonna help you. No matter what it takes." He was too sad to smile, but Rumi could tell that he was happy to hear this.
"Wait, what?" Mira said, still holding her staff towards the weeping demons.
"Mira, these guys are telling the truth. They wanna be saved, and we can save them."
"How do we even redeem them?" Rumi paused for a moment. That was actually a good question. Jinu gained his soul back by throwing himself in front of Gwi-Ma's energy beam to protect Rumi, but he died in the process. And on top of that, they'd never seen a demon gain their soul back before. But they had a lot to learn about demons.
"Jinu found a way to gain his soul back. I'm sure they can too."
"Yeah, but...how are we supposed to help them?" Zoey asked. "I mean, they're demons! And demons are-" She had reached down to part Mystery's hair, but was cut off by the sight of Mystery's eyes. They were beautiful, even when they were rimmed red with tears. "...so cute and perfect..."
"Dammit, Zoey..." Mira said, shaking her head. As much as she loved Zoey's energy, sometimes that girl wasn't right. Zoey knelt down and kissed Mystery's forehead, before sweeping him up in a hug, and telling him everything would be okay.
"Look Mira, we have to try. I know that demons have always been our enemy, but this is a new Honmoon, and we have to do things differently. If demons can be saved, and if they want to be saved, we should be able to help them." Rumi said, still soothing Baby Saja.
"Gwi-Ma is gone", Abby said, still staring at Mira's blade. "If he's not here, then we have a better chance to gain our souls back."
"Please...we have nothing left." Romance begged. Mira held up her blade for another second, before she sighed, and released it back into the Honmoon.
"Fine. But if you try anything, I'll make you wish you'd died with Jinu."
Rumi stared at the ground for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts and figure out a plan moving forward. "You guys can stay at Huntrix Tower with us while we try and figure out how to redeem you guys", Rumi said.
"I'm not sharing a room with these guys!" Mira protested.
"They're not gonna be sleeping in our rooms, guys." Rumi responded, slightly annoyed.
"So what, they're gonna be sleeping on the couch? Because I'll be damned if I let these demons anywhere near our couch!"
Rumi sighed in frustration. As much as she loved Mira's energy, sometimes she could be a real pain in the ass. "They'll stay in the spare bedrooms, or they can sleep on the ground. There's enough room in the tower for them."
"Fine..." Mira sighed again.
Rumi let go of Baby Saja, and stood up. She offered her hand to Baby, and helped him on his feet. Zoey did the same with Mystery, and Abby reached his hand out to Mira, but she scoffed and ignored him, so Abby stood up on his own and helped Romance up.
"So what now?" Mira asked. The audience had gone silent, unsure of what was happening. They had to say something to explain what the hell had just happened. "We're gonna have to come up with some way to explain all of this."
"Leave it to me", Rumi said confidently. "I know how to handle this."
"You think you can explain this all away on your own?"
"I had my demon patterns for years without you guys finding out. I'm kind of a pro at making believable lies."
"Alright, fine...so what's the plan?"
Rumi took Baby's hand in hers, and told them all to join hands. She noticed how they were in the same order as they were during the meet and greet, except she was next to Baby instead of Jinu. Zoey eagerly took Mystery's hand, while Mira sighed as she took Romance and Abby's hands. Rumi took a deep breath as she tried to gather her thoughts again. Coming up with a lie on the spot was a bit difficult to do, but she'd had a bit of practice in the past. She took a deep breath, and started speaking:
"Thank you all for such an amazing show! Ever since the Saja Boys debut, we've been wanting to do some sort of collaboration with them, and they were more than willing to play along with our whole "demon-hunter" theme. I know there were stories about a "rivalry" or whatever between us, but this was just tabloid fodder, and the Idol Awards stunt was staged for us to put on this concert together. We're sorry for all of you who thought we'd broken up, it was just a stunt for us to apologize for cancelling Golden's live performance due to my voice being stressed from the tour. But I'm proud to announce that my vocal cords have healed, and Huntrix is coming back from our temporary hiatus! This collaboration is a part of our new era, which we'll tell you all about soon. We'd like to thank all of you for coming out to see us, and especially to the Saja Boys for their incredible work! Goodbye, Seoul, and we'll see you again soon!"
The crowd went wild. Mira stared incredulously at Rumi as she finished, impressed by how detailed and believable her lie was, how it was entirely improvised, and how the audience bought it with no question. She was starting to understand how she missed Rumi being part demon all those years. "She's just self-conscious about her body, that's why she refuses to go to the bath-house, and why she wants her own dressing room." "She grew up in a warmer part of Korea, so she wears hoodies and long-sleeve shirts because she's not used to the cold here." She thought herself observant, but she was starting to doubt this after she mentally re-evaluated all the hints that she'd missed over the years.
The 7 of them took a bow, turned around, and started walking off-stage, the crowd still cheering louder than they'd ever heard before. The world would certainly have something to say about all of this: The tabloids would talk about the "insane stunt the two bands pulled off", fans would speculate about their relationships together, and people would inevitably ask questions about what happened to Jinu. And of course, Rumi and the demons would have to deal with the reality of Jinu's death. But right now, none of that mattered. What mattered was that a new era had begun, one where Demons could be free.