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*knock knock knock* Jinu looks up from his spot on the floor petting Derpy to see Rumi dressed in her usual hoodie and the damn teddy bears and choo-choo trains PJ pant, leaning against the doorframe of the-guest-room-turned-his-room.
“Hey” she spoke softly, gaze gentle. “Hey” he returns just as soft. Their gentle tones complimenting the light rain hitting the massive windows, farther out the gray wet sky paints Seoul into a soothing watercolor landscape.
“Can I come in?”
“Oh y-yeah, sure, make *clears throat* uh make yourself comfortable”
Rumi smirks lightly at his adorableness for a moment before her expression turns more serious but still gentle. She walks over and perches at the edge of his bed.
This is when Jinu notices Rumi hiding something decent sized in her oversized hoodie pocket, one arm stuffed inside to hold the mysterious object steady.
Curious, and a little apprehensive, Jinu makes his way over to sit next to Rumi. Derpy blinks, one eye just offbeat from the other, confused as to why the petting stopped and makes his way over to them, plopping at their feet.
Giving the tiger a light smile Rumi uses the hand not hidden in her hoodie pocket to start petting him. Sussie half opens 3 of his eyes to assess the scene before resettling into the comfy spot he settled in on Derpy’s back.
Jinu enjoys the quiet that settles over them. Knowing that Rumi will break the silence when she is ready. He doesn’t have to wait long.
Taking a deep breath Rumi starts to speak, her gaze never leaving the spot where she is petting Derpy. “The original Hunters, the Mudang Trio, wove the first Honmoon not in some wealthy district or noble’s estate but in the center of an insignificant impoverished village.”
Jinu startles slightly in surprise, turning his head to look at her. Curious but unsure what was prompting this topic from seemingly nowhere.
“But the hearts of the villagers were strong, the desire to survive, to persist, to live. Even if, to do so, they had to make impossible choices. Choices that maybe weren’t always right, but also choices that no-one should ever be forced to make. *pause* They hoped for better, for more. Those hearts resonated so intensely to the Hunters’ song, that the first Honmoon was strong enough to cover the world with just that village powering it.”
Another deep breath and Rumi lifts her gaze to meet his. “To honor the first weaving and the ordinary people that made it possible the Mudang Trio established our Ancestral Hunter Sanctuary in that village and took the village name for itself…. Deokgok-ri”
Jinu’s breath seizes in his chest as his village’s name spills from Rumi’s lips. His eyes wide, face slack with shock.
Rumi continues before his brain can even fathom a response to that bombshell, “During that first weaving the Mudang Trio noticed that one of the villagers’ soul energy was different from the others. A little girl whose soul ached with the desire for more, to do better, not just for herself but for all those around her and beyond. The Honmoon danced around her in a way it did with no one else until they later discovered the other two hunters that would continue their legacy. That little girl, the first to continue on our legacy, her name was Dae-aera”
His vision swam as it hits him. Not only did his sister survive his abandonment and rise to a better life, but she became a demon hunter. The sharp relief and joy over his sister having lived a good and fulfilling life warred with the guilt and shame of what she would think of him, a demon, the very thing she devoted herself to destroying. He startles out of his spiral as something grips his forearm, looking down Jinu sees that it’s Rumi’s hand. Her gaze understanding, tears in her eyes as if she too is feeling the typhoon storming inside him. “Jinu, she figured out what happened to you and she forgave you.”
“…Don’t li*e to me” His voice, pitched and hoarse, cracks. He rips his arm from Rumi’s grasp.
Don’t give me false hope.
“I wouldn’t do that to you.” Rumi says, voice raw with emotions. She could see the fear to hope in his eyes, the knifes’ edge he is on.
“Here” pulling her hand out of the hoodie pocket Jinu could see that it was a book. Old, achingly familiar and foreign in the way most things had become from the time period he was human.
“This is the journal she left behind to help future generations of hunters. In it she speaks of how good and loving her brother was. How Gwi-Ma used the desperation of their poverty to ensnare you.” Rumi pauses before continuing.
“She is the reason the hunters have a long history of investing our funds into social causes and charity. No only because it is a good thing to do, that everyone should do if their able to, but also because the more we care and invest in people the less people are driven to the brink that Gwi-Ma can prey on. She got the original trio to do it and every generation since then has continued. We also often go into social justice causes after retiring too. Doing our part to protect people and the world even when we are no longer the voices weaving the Honmoon.”
Rumi held the journal out to Jinu.
“I think you should read this, hear it straight from her in a way. But only when you’re ready”
Jinu just stares at his sister’s journal for a long moment, hands trembling and vision blurry from the tears in his eyes.
He reaches out, trembling hands hesitating for just a moment before taking the book from Rumi. Tears now streaming from his eyes, his breath coming out in shallow gasps.
“Please try not to get tears on it” Rumi gasps out as her own tears start to fall down her face, “Celine and the girls will kill me for not keeping this perfectly preserved for future hunters”
All Jinu could do is nod as he cradles his sister’s words in his hands.
Then something in his chest cracks, like a dam shattering and millions of pressurized water roaring out.
He wails.
Huge, ugly, chest heaving cries as 400 years of shame, agony and regret pours out.
And all Rumi could do is cry and cling to Jinu as he curls around his sister’s words.
Outside, the rain still pours over Seoul.
…
Jinu stares at the journal from his bed as it rests on the desk. Encircled in a warm circle of light from the lamp, waiting for him.
Unable to open it just yet, but also equally unable to be too far from this preserved piece of his precious sister.
Rumi hadn’t left him last night as he cried himself to sleep, still there when he finally woke up in the morning groggy and emotionally wrung out with a massive headache. Making sure he drank some water, took a pain pill for the headache, and had a protein bar before just holding him as he slowly mustered enough energy to face the day. Eventually though, her stomach decided to growl loud enough to wake Derpy. Smiling at Rumi’s embarrassment for interrupting the quietness, Jinu insisted that she go eat something, she refused, not wanting to leave him alone, but caved when he expressed the need for some alone time and that he wasn’t hungry anyway.
“Thank you” he had told her softly, “for everything.”
Rumi smiles faintly, “of course.”
Her face then drops into a more serious and concerned expression, “Just….a word of warning. The prevalent belief regarding demons then was that they lost all their humanity, emotions, and memories only upon first being pulled down into the underworld. Whatever you read from her about being an actual demon, remember that is just what she was taught, and if she had known the truth she would have never stopped fighting to bring you back to her.”
He smiled at her, although it turned out more like a grimace, “Honestly, it wouldn’t feel real if there wasn’t some hate for me, for what I became, in there.”
Rumi placed her hand on Jinu’s cheek, eyes searching his face. He didn’t know what she was looking for or what she saw but she placed a gentle kiss on his other cheek.
“I’m here for you, anything you need don’t hesitate to get me ok”
He gave her a sad smile back, “ok”.
But that was hours ago at this point, and he hasn’t moved since taking up his current position.
Outside the rain still pours over Seoul, the sky a dark gray.
He wants to read it, knows he won’t have any peace until he does.
But the terrifying reality of finally knowing the truth of what his little sister thought of him, especially knowing how badly he fucked up, is making the older brother in him freeze up.
Eventually, Jinu gets this feeling of being watched.
It felt like his little sister’s infamous unimpressed stare. The one she gave him when the hunger wasn’t as biting and she thought he was being particularly “boy dense” as she put it. An adorable, not that he would tell her lest he risk the wrath of her tiny fists, yet dangerous stare that felt just as potent and familiar now in his memories as it did in person 400 years ago.
The feeling became so strong he instinctively turns to look over his shoulder. There is a brief glimmer in the Honmoon, so soft he isn’t even confident he truly saw it until he sees it happen again, then a third time, before disappearing completely and the Honmoon goes back to its rainbow state. He feels his emotions clench at his throat as he recalls how he would always give his sister 3 gentle tugs on her hair when he would try to comfort and encourage her.
“Well” Jinu finally mutters to himself, “We can’t fix it if we never face it”
Taking a deep breath. Jinu turns, reaches out, opens his sister’s journal, and begins to read.