Twice Golden [KPop Demon Hunters] [Completed]

[cliffc999]

Author's Note:

Normally I put these at the end of a fic, but for obvious reasons I'm putting this one in the frontpiece. Notably, the big gigantic…

Spoiler Warning: This fanfic spills all the tea about the big plot twists in the movie. If you have not yet seen the movie and would hate being spoiled on basically everything, close the tab now. And then go see this movie.

Because this movie is amazing. And I do not mean 'amazingly good compared to what we were expecting' or 'amazingly relative to how bad the premise sounded'. I mean amazingly good on an objective scale. The animation is beautiful, the soundtrack is so good it was leading worldwide music charts against real k-pop bands, the story is simple yet heartwarming, the characters are adorable, and it's just 95 minutes of the most enjoyable damn thing I have watched in several years.

This fanfic was inspired by the fanfic 'Past Till It's Weightless' on AO3. The premise is that all three girls timeloop from the moment they created the new Honmoon back to right before Rumi authorized the 'Golden' release. I just… couldn't let go of the mental images that created, so I had to do my own take on it.

Pairing: Rumi/Jinu

---

Rumi's throat was still partly clenched with the echoes of the sheer terror that had flooded through her only minutes ago. When things had suddenly faded to brilliant white during Gwi-Ma's banishment and the cheering crowds at Namsan Tower had faded away to reveal their familiar apartment, she'd at first been afraid that she'd blacked out. When enough awareness returned for her to realize that she was dressed in a bathrobe and staring down at the screen of her smartphone as she'd just been about to unlock the 'Golden' release online, she'd panicked. The sheer thought of going back to when Mira and Zoey didn't know yet drowned her in an inner maelstrom, her certain foreknowledge that they would accept her if she just approached them honestly buried underneath years and years of unyielding discipline and a lifetime of concealment habits and our faults and fears must never be seen-

Until the realization that Zoey had suddenly stopped cheerfully babbling about turtle videos and Mira had entirely tensed up from her utterly relaxed pre-couch slouch and they'd both stopped to look back at Rumi in shock made the entire world feel flooded with golden light because they'd come back too-

Rumi dragged her woolgathering thoughts back to the strategy session in progress.

"-Rumi!" Mira's voice nudged her firmly. "You with us?"

"Sorry." Rumi shook her head. "Still kinda in shock."

"Me too!" Zoey nodded vigorously. "But no matter what we do or don't do, the Saja Boys make their debut in only a few days. So we have to decide tonight if we try to rush the 'Golden' release or not."

"Which means we need a sound check right now." Mira insisted. "Your voice was fixed by the time of the Idol Awards, so if that came back with you too we can just go full Golden Honmoon. But if it didn't-"

Rumi took a deep breath and slowly, tentatively, began to sing.

"No more hiding
I'll be shining
Like I'm born to be
'Cause we are Hunters
Voices strong
And I know I believe!"

-and her soft and weak voice grew stronger and stronger with each line, until she swelled triumphantly into the crescendo without a single crack or tremor.

"YES!" Zoey shrieked as she happily bounced on the couch.

"Crushed it!" Mira grinned wickedly. "Go ahead, send the code! We are going to kill them this time!"

Rumi's thumb pressed down firmly on the touchscreen and sent the digital transmission that would place the already-prepared advance material for 'Golden' onto the public Huntrix website, and all three girls exhaled heavily with anticipation and then got up to get dressed in their costumes.

"And now it's back to the grind." Mira sighed. "But at least it's in a good cause this time-" She paused embarrassedly.

"Not that it wasn't last time!" Zoey contributed hurriedly. "I remember you how insistent you were that this was soooooo important." She paused and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You'd meant about your demon patterns, right? You were trying to..." She trailed off confusedly. "Actually, what were you trying to do?"

"You were trying to fix them, weren't you?" Mira realized. "What you said to us backstage at the Idol Awar-" Mira suddenly broke off.

"It's all right." Rumi said with soft reassurance. "You thought I was a demon wearing your friend's face. And you had every reason to believe that, given the circumstances."

"But we didn't even give you a chance to explain." Zoey said plaintively.

"I was not in any condition to explain then, believe me." Rumi insisted firmly. "The fake you and Mira exposing me like that on stage, Gwi-Ma's whole attack on my fears and my shame... I had a complete meltdown. I didn't even begin to recover until shortly before midnight."

"Yeah, but that's bullshit." Mira spat disgustedly. "If we'd actually believed you were a demon, then we'd never have let you run. We knew- on some level we still knew it was really you and that you were going through something horrible, and we just abandoned you!"

"No!" Rumi said. "Don't beat yourself up like that! That's how Gwi-Ma gets you!" She stopped and paused in realization. "Shame. Guilt. The more you feel, the stronger his influence grows. That's why my patterns kept spreading further and further the closer we got to the Idol Awards. That's why my voice only came back when I started-" she trailed off.

"The more you wanted to hide it from us, the less you were able to." Zoey said. "Ooooo, diabolical! Literally even!"

"Wait, that doesn't make sense." Mira blinked. "You were withdrawing from us more and more that whole time - it was even starting to kill our teamwork - but your voice got better right before the awards? If it's linked to shame and guilt, then how does that even work?"

"Jinu." The name came slowly over Rumi's teeth like a dying soldier trying to crawl over the top of a trench. "It was- after he saw my patterns during the fight at the bathhouse he... invited me to meet him and talk about it." Rumi chuckled ruefully. "I only showed up alone to the first meeting because I'd thought it was a chance to take him out quietly and that he'd never have showed his face if I brought the whole team. I spent that entire conversation trying to cut his head off, but he just stayed all friendly and smiles. And he kept messaging me back, and- and he already knew the worst part of what was going on with me, and-" Rumi broke off suddenly, her eyes moist.

"You just had to talk about it with someone, and you were already too scared to tell us?" Zoey guessed.

"Terrified." Rumi nodded rapidly. "How- our whole lives, our dedication, our mission, is to kill demons. All demons. So when you drew your weapons on me at the Idol Awards? I'd already had that nightmare about being found out, about having to fight my friends, for years and years. That's why when the Saja Boys did that whole thing onstage where I thought it was actually happening, I lost it so badly."

"Eugh, and I thought I used to get anxiety attacks." Zoey shuddered.

"Yeah. I never dreamed you could just... accept it like that." Rumi said wonderingly. "When we came back my first reaction wasn't even to be happy that we got a second chance, it was to be frightened out of my mind that I'd gone back to a time when you two didn't know. Because even after knowing you two wouldn't actually hate me for being half-demon, I still couldn't-"

"Whoa!" Mira suddenly broke in with an angry wave of her hands. "Half demon? I- but- what the hell?" her jaw dropped.

"My mother was a Hunter, and my father was a demon?" Rumi replied confusedly. "That's... kinda how being mixed-race works?"

"Too many mental images!" Zoey waved her hands frantically as if to ward them off. "But no, we meant-"

"We thought you'd sold your soul!" Mira gasped. "And to be honest I was just planning to skip right over that whole unanswered question for as long as we had this thing to deal with because as soon as it became clear at the concert that you were still fighting against Gwi-Ma that whole background data became kinda I didn't even want to know. But it's getting relevant now, so..."

"Is it?" Zoey broke in. "Of course yes I'm super curious but as long as Rumi knows we love her just the way she is anyway, does she have to tell us all the backstory right now? As long as she's not hiding her patterns from us we won't get the same problem as before."

"No, the Jinu part is still relevant." Mira insisted. "Because if it wasn't to sell us out then why were you dealing behind our backs with with him at all? When we were backstage you'd entirely admitted that you had some kind of deal going with him, that's why-" She swallowed heavily. "That's why I drew down on you in the first place."

"The deal was for him to sell the Saja Boys out to us." Rumi explained. "I'd thought- he'd told me that Gwi-Ma was forcing him to do this, that he was being controlled, and that he wanted a way out. He'd said he was so curious about my being half-demon because my demon blood meant that Gwi-Ma should be able to control me too, and he obviously wasn't, and that he wanted… "

"He'd promised you that he'd sabotage the Saja Boys at the Idol Awards, in return for which you'd help him get free of Gwi-Ma." Mira deduced. "Only he was playing you, and you walked right into his trap and that whole disasterpiece happened."

"Yes." Rumi nodded. "When I confronted him right after the awards he threw it all in my face – how it had all been lies, how every word had just been crafted to play on my feelings, how he was the worst person ever. How all demons deserved nothing but to exist in their pain and misery forever." She looked away as the tears began to fall. "And then at the final battle, he sacrificed his life to save mine."

"You're right, he did." Mira hugged Rumi apologetically from behind. "We both saw him jump in and take the hit for you with our own two eyes."

"It wasn't fair." Rumi whispered painfully, her eyes still wet. "He was supposed to be free. And he was! Right at the end. I saw the glow of his soul, his connection to the Honmoon. It was just as strong as ours is, as any of our fans' were! He'd finally gotten free, and then he died!"

"This… is gonna take some thought." Mira sighed as the two girls led the downcast Rumi back to the couch and sat down on either side of her. "If he's really an innocent trapped in this mess against his will, then we can't kill him."

"But if his decision was last-minute, then the past Jinu – the one here with us - is still a bad guy. So if Rumi tries to reach out to that guy again, he'll just try to hurt her again." Zoey rebutted.

"I don't know!" Rumi shook her head miserably. "I don't think he even knows!" She sighed. "He said he'd been living with his own shame and misery for four hundred years. I carried mine for only a fraction of that time and I still emotionally collapsed the instant I thought I'd lost you two. And he's spent centuries carrying his, all alone. The fact that he has even a smidgen of humanity left after all this time is a miracle."

"Are other demons like that?" Zoey wondered, her eyes wide. "Have we been… killing people who didn't want to fight us?"

"I don't think so." Rumi surprised her. "I mean, yes, obvious question to ask. I was agonizing about the same thing when Jinu first told his story to me." She nodded to Mira. "That's why I was starting to hold back in fights, why you caught me actually talking to that one demon. I'd been… asking him if Gwi-Ma was forcing him to do this as well."

"Isn't that the same demon who immediately tried to bite your head off as soon as you let your guard down?" Mira quirked her lip cynically.

"Yeah, kinda the point." Rumi nodded to Zoey. "Most of the demons we fight appear to be entirely okay with being all murder-y and demon-y. No hesitation, no remorse… no souls. Jinu's the only one who seemed… different."

Zoey gasped. "Oh my God! What if he's like you?" Rumi and Mira both immediately jawdropped. "You know… part human!"

Rumi was still gaping in shock when Mira shook her head side-to-side, as if flinging water out of her ears. "That… actually makes a weird sort of sense."

"It can't be." Rumi insisted. "If that were true he'd have mentioned that to me. It would have been the most obvious way to play on my sympathies even harder."

"That's exactly why he'd still have mentioned it even if it hadn't been true." Zoey replied analytically. "Except he didn't, which means that he already knew you wouldn't be ready to believe it. Which means that even if it were true he still wouldn't have said."

"And it would explain something else I've been confused about the entire time. Notably, who the hell comes up with an idea as crazy as a demon boy band and actually makes it work?" Mira continued. "We of all people should know exactly what kind of skills it takes to do successful promo, and the Saja Boys needed only a couple weeks to get as much hype as we'd spent years building up! The variety show appearance, the street concert, the social media campaigns, everything they did! They were a media manipulation machine, but the average demon is so bad at faking being human that they do dumb stuff like watering plants with coffee!"

"I… never thought of it that way." Rumi blinked. "But you're right, at least one of the Saja Boys had to have hung on to a lot more capacity to feel normal human emotion, to actually understand humanity, then the average demon has. Or else there never would have been a Saja Boys! Nobody in the underworld would have been able to write their script!"

"So what do we do if Jinu is half-demon?" Zoey wondered.

"Rumi's half-demon, but that does that change anything about our relationship with her?" Mira asked rhetorically. "He might be or he might not be, we have no way of knowing. But what Jinu is isn't half as important as what side he's on... and right now, that's not ours."

"... yes." Rumi agreed reluctantly.

"So right now we need to focus on what we're going to do. And we need to do the Golden release on time this time, so there's no weakening of the Honmoon that lets Gwi-Ma go on that soul harvesting rampage during the run-up to the Idol Awards." Mira said decisively. "Because whatever miracle gave us this do-over, we can't waste it. There were way too many casualties last time, and we made-"

"I made a lot of mistakes." Rumi insisted. "You just got tripped up by them."

"If we're not allowed to beat ourselves up in a guilt spiral then neither are you." Zoey insisted. "And as long as we're apologizing, can I say I'm super sorry for the 'Takedown' lyrics I wrote? 'When your patterns start to show / It makes the hatred wanna grow outta my veins'?" she recited disgustedly. "The whole time I was making you sing those kinds of horrible words about yourself? No wonder you were so afraid to tell us before the Idol Awards, and in hindsight I can see where you were almost about to!" Zoey started to blubber. "It must been so awful for you!"

"Yeah, absolutely priority number one for this redo? No hate music." Mira said adamantly. "Happy vibes only."

"I'm certainly not disagreeing." Rumi said as she gave Zoey a reassuring hug. "Look, Zoey, it's okay. It's okay! A lot of those weren't even your lyrics, remember? I was contributing them!"

"Yeah, and one of the several talks we're going to have after the victory party is about you externalizing your self-hatred and why let's just not." Mira said, putting her own reassuring arm around Rumi. "But that's for later."

"Hey girls!" Bobby's voice rang out as their apartment door flung open, to reveal their manager standing there still in the bathrobe and sunglasses he'd set out on his vacation with.

"Hi Bobby!" all three of the girls caroled cheerfully as they broke their group hug and turned around to greet him.

"I see you're all dressed up and ready to go! And while I don't know why you decided to authorize the 'Golden' release without telling me-" Bobby began.

"I'm really sorry about that." Rumi rushed to reassure him. "It was… really not the right time, until suddenly it just was."

"Yeah, artistic intuition thing and all that." Mira chimed in hurriedly.

"Hey, it's your label, remember? I just work here." Bobby reassured them. "And clearly your artistic intuition was firing on all cylinders again, because you are blowing up the internet! Everybody's listening to the teaser track, and the social media is going wild! So…" he dramatically tore off the bathrobe and spun around, revealing that he was already in his gold-and-black 'manager shirt'. "Let's go promoooo!"

* * * * *​

Rumi crouched on the peak of the gable rooftop, silently approaching her target from behind. She manifested her brilliant spirit blade and drew it as if back to strike… before suddenly letting it vanish back into the Honmoon and nonchalantly reaching out with her toe instead to push over the male figure standing with his back to her on the rooftop. The store mannequin dressed in expensive designer jeans and jacket toppled stiffly to the ground below with a muted clatter.

"You can come out now." Rumi sighed cynically.

"You're very alert. That's good." Jinu's voice came to her ears, smooth as silk. Rumi turned to see the ridiculously handsome demon, currently in his human guise, facing her across the length of the roof they were perched on as he affected a nonchalant pose. "I wonder if your teammates were as similarily alert at the bathhouse?"

"If you're asking whether they know about my patterns, do you really think I'm going to get into that? With you?" Rumi replied firmly.

"Which means, they don't know." Jinu replied calmly, as Rumi's shoulders sank slightly. "But I get that it's something that's really hard for you to talk about." He perked up brightly with false reassurance. "I know! Would you like me to go tell them for you?"

"What do you want?" Rumi asked quietly.

"I want to know why a demon girl is walking around free in the human world, hunting demons." Jinu said seriously. "I want to know how she can do that."

"And I should tell you why?" Rumi shook her head.

"Look. I know what it feels like to bear Gwi-Ma's mark." Jinu replied seriously. "I know what a burden it is to bear. The shame. The misery. I'm the only one here who knows that burden, besides you. Your teammates certainly don't."

"Go on." Rumi said softly after a long pause.

"I-" Jinu paused momentarily. "Okay, I guess I'm the one who'll have to unburden first. And I'll- I'll never forget the first time I heard Gwi-Ma's voice…" he began hesitantly, and then his voice grew more and more inviting, more human, the longer he spoke.

Later that night Rumi trudged despairingly back into the apartment, to be met anxiously by the other two girls.

"How did it-?" Zoey began eagerly, only to fall quiet at Rumi's expression. "Oh no."

"No." Rumi agreed. "The only differences in the conversation were ones prompted by my choosing different lines, or when I didn't bail out early this time. Otherwise…? He made the same pitch, he gave the same origin story…" She collapsed sadly onto the couch. "He told all the same lies."

"Damn." Mira said quietly. "I know what you'd hoped for."

"But it looks like I'm not getting it." Rumi agreed sadly. "Look, I made sure not to burn any bridges in our conversation, even if I didn't want to look like I was falling for his pitch too easily. So even if he's still… his old self… I can still try to…" Rumi broke off guiltily.

"It was your life he died saving." Mira nodded. "If you want to still try and reach him, then you've got the right to make that decision. Just…"

"Just as long as I don't screw up and actually give him an opportunity to betray us all with again." Rumi agreed. "Not botching the 'Golden' release has kept the Honmoon stronger this time. We're not having anywhere remotely as bad a casualty count that the 'Soda Pop' release enabled last time."

"We even deliberately punted on the assassination attempt at the variety show and did the bathhouse fight the same way so as to not give the game away." Zoey agreed. "Which means, yeah, you need to keep drawing out that string. If we don't give Jinu reason to believe his old plan is working, then he'll just think up a new one. One that we don't know about in advance. And we already know that he's a really clever guy."

"But I'm not sure I can fake the same amount of sincerity I was giving him last time." Rumi said. "Not when I already know-"

"You can't fake sincerity, that's kinda the definition of the word." Mira eye-rolled. "But you shouldn't need to. As long as you don't give away any of the big secrets, simply keeping up your engagement with him will keep him biting the hook. From what you described he's a veteran con man, and the one thing con men never lack for is self-confidence. For as long as you're even vaguely looking like you're a sucker, he'll want to believe he's successfully playing you."

"Yay me." Rumi smiled weakly.

* * * * *​

"Ahhh!" Jinu screamed, as he turned around to see Rumi crouching menacingly barely a foot behind him on the overlook railing. He windmilled back frantically, almost sliding down the stone stairs. "You made me come out all this way just so you could jumpscare me?!?"

"I'm sorry." Rumi quirked her lip embarrassedly. "I just... couldn't resist the temptation."

"I guess I'm the last person who can criticize someone for doing that." Jinu agreed. "So, you asked me out here. I guess that means you're ready to talk?'

Rumi sighed. "Ready or not, we need to talk. Jinu, I-" She stopped. "Had a whole speech rehearsed and everything. And now I'm here standing face to face with you, aaaand it's gone."

"It's okay. Take your time." Jinu said compassionately.

Rumi faced away from him, standing on the high stone railing looking out over the city. "Last time we talked, you told me how horrible it was to have your soul in the clutches of Gwi-Ma. How much of a misery it is. How can you work so hard to deliver other souls into that misery?"

"It's not as if I have much of a choice." Jinu said bitterfly, climbing up on the railing to stand alongside her. "He doesn't ask, he commands. And his punishments for disobedience are-" He shook his head. "If you don't already know, then I don't want to be the one who gives you those nightmares."

"Is that why you did it- do it?" Rumi hurriedly corrected herself, and then turned to look at him imploringly. "Fear?"

"And what if it was?" Jinu said heatedly.

She immediately waved a hand placatingly. "I'm not judging! Gwi-Ma's vastly powerful and horrible, you don't need to tell me that! I just... need to understand." she trailed off.

"... yes." Jinu said softly. "I'm afraid of him."

"But you're not the only one." Rumi said. "Do you-" She paused again.

"I thought you came here to talk about you." Jinu rebutted. "You're deflecting."

"What's really there about me that you don't already know?" Rumi asked him. "I'm a demon hunter who's half demon, and I've... spent most of my life hiding it. Being ashamed of it." She continued softly. "Feeling like my whole existence was a mistake."

"And you need to talk to someone about it, but you don't dare reveal it to them." Jinu said wisely. "Do you talk to me about it because I already found out about it on my own, or because eventually you're going to finish that fight we started so it doesn't matter what you tell me?"

"Everybody who knows - which is a number so small I wouldn't run out of fingers counting them on one hand - has found out about it on their own." Rumi admitted honestly. "I've never been able to willingly tell anyone."

"Makes sense." Jinu asked. "But is that it? I'm just... a place to vent?"

"No." Rumi reassured him. "It's way more complicated than that."

"Oh." Jinu looked askance at her. "Complicated?"

"Have you ever... wished things were different?" Rumi asked him. "That you... didn't have to work for him?"

"Hah!" Jinu huffed scornfully. "Only every day of my life!" He angrily waved a hand in the air as he turned and started pacing down the stairs, with Rumi keeping pace with him as she balanced on the railing. "For all the good it's done me."

"What if I offered to help you with that?" Rumi started him.

"What?" Jinu turned to look at her suspiciously. "Is this where you say that Hunters have some secret demon purifying magic they don't normally use, but I'm special?" He looked her square in the eyes. "As con games go I'll give you top marks for effort, but zero for believability."

"No games." Rumi reassured him, entirely unoffended. "And the magic is special, but you'll definitely believe in it... because you already know about it." She waved her hand out over the city, the brilliant glow of the Honmoon clearly visible to both their mystic natures. "It's not as if the part where the Honmoon is on the verge of turning golden is a surprise to you, after all - that's why Gwi-Ma got desperate enough to try the Saja Boys scheme!"

"That's certainly true." Jinu said semi-apologetically, coming up to stand almost shoulders-touching with Rumi. "But the thing that's going to seal every demon in the underworld forever is hardly going to help me, now is it?"

"It will... if you're on this side of the barrier when it goes up." Rumi implored him. "And I know how to make that happen for you." She smiled. "You'd be beyond Gwi-Ma's reach - beyond his voice, his punishments - forever. Just as I'll be... safe."

"And why would a girl like you do such a thing for a demon like me?" Jinu asked probingly.

Rumi's shoulder slumped slightly in disappointment. "More than a couple reasons. But right now-"

"Bracelet?" an old woman's voice broke into their conversation. "For your beautiful girlfriend?" They both turned to see a souvenir vendor reaching out to them, several colorful plastic bracelets in her hand.

"Girlfriend?" Jinu stammered desperately, while Rumi stifled a giggle. "We're not a- she's not even my type!"

Rumi smiled at the vendor and reached out to gently take a bracelet. "We're... still in the 'will we or won't we' phase. But I appreciate the best wishes."

"It's nice to see at least some young people still have the sense not to rush into things." the vendor smiled at Rumi. "Good luck to both of you."

"Uh..." Jinu struggled to recover himself for a long moment even after the vendor had already left. "Do people really see a couple when they look at us?" he asked her in honest amazement.

"And from that question I can definitely see that you're not the Saja Boy who monitors the social media accounts." Rumi covered her mouth with a hand to stifle her giggles. "You do not want to know what the online shippers are saying."

"Shipping? What do packages have to do with-?" Jinu was cut off by Rumi's explosion of laughter.

"Oh God, you're so old sometimes!" she chuckled. "But never mind, if you don't already know then I don't want to be the one who gives you those nightmares." she quirked a brief grin.

"I'll take your word for it." Jinu agreed amusedly, before his gentle expression faded away to be replaced by a more somber one. "Is that why you offered this to me? You have... feelings?"

"... okay, if I said that was the only or even the biggest reason I did it, then I'd be lying." Rumi said with equal sobriety. "Because my offer? You're right, it doesn't come without a price. Help us."

"Now I'm starting to believe you." Jinu nodded. "So... help you with what?"

"The Idol Awards. Sabotage the Saja Boys at the last minute. Help us clinch the win. A clear victory for us there will lock in the Golden Honmoon... and by the time Gwi-Ma knows you've betrayed him, you'll already be safe from his wrath." Rumi offered.

"... that's not even a plan, that's a goal!" Jinu shook his head. "I can't risk everything on a-"

"Jinu, if we swing and miss, then you can tell Gwi-Ma that you've just done your job - to prevent the Golden Honmoon. And if we don't miss, then you've won. We've all won. Everyone except Gwi-Ma, and those whose souls are already too far gone to ever escape his service. Which is a category that I do not believe that you are in."

"I'm flattered that you believe that... and also wondering if you took a hit to the head in our last fight, that you even could believe that." Jinu said. "A guy like me, and a girl like you?" He shook his head disgustedly, turning away. "Hopeless."

"Only if you want it to be." Rumi reached out to him imploringly, holding the bracelet on her palm. "Because that's the thing about hope. Nobody else gets to decide if you feel it. That choice belongs to you."

"I... need some time to think about this." Jinu temporized desperately.

"... I figured you would." Rumi sighed. "Here, keep this." She tossed him the bracelet, which he caught out of the air reflexively. "Because the offer remains open."

"I... uh..." Jinu stood there, in an agony of indecision. "I..."

"Good night, Jinu." Rumi said gently, her voice downcast. She turned and strode away, her head lowered and shoulders slumped.

Jinu stood stock-still watching her walk away, still holding the bracelet, until Rumi was no longer visible in the dim evening light.

* * * * *​

The subway train pulled away from the station platform as a teary-eyed Rumi collapsed into the arms of her two teammates.

"They survived!" Rumi whispered joyously, her voice still thick with emotion. "We didn't- I didn't fail this time."

"We didn't." Mira agreed, squeezing Rumi so hard her ribs began to strain. "But hot damn that was still close." she exhaled heavily.

"Yeah." Zoey agreed soberly, as she came down off her own adrenaline high. "Gwi-Ma must have put half of everything he had left into forcing that one big tear. If he'd sent even a few more demons- if we'd been even a little bit slower-"

"Not letting myself get sucker-punched like an idiot made all the difference this time." Rumi agreed as the girls drew themselves up and began to head back to the apartment. "But it was still down to the razor's edge."

"Yeah." Mira nodded somberly. "Replay or not, this is still anyone's ball game. We have got to clinch this shot, or else we'll be right back at having to last-minute cancel the apocalypse again."

"And we might not even be that lucky this time. No, the Idol Awards have to go smoothly." Rumi said adamantly. "We have to achieve the Golden Honmoon while we still can."

"I almost wish we could redo what we did with the new Honmoon last time." Zoey said wistfully. "But that requires letting the old one collapse first, and there's no way to do that deliberately without-"

"Without letting innocent people die when we could have saved them." Mira said flatly.

"Yeah." Rumi said distantly.

"What's wrong?" Mira said immediately.

"Noth-" Rumi broke off. "Sorry. Habit. I just… I just realized that we don't actually know what will happen to a half-demon if the Golden Honmoon is achieved. I mean, I've believed what I've believed – what Celine believed – my whole life, but that's…"

"Zoey, do you have any ideas for getting the Rainbow Honmoon instead, without the casualty count?" Mira said urgently. "Because if Rumi's saying what I think she's saying…"

"She is." Zoey replied, her eyes wide with fright. "And… I don't. Not fifty-seven, not one, none." She trailed off in a despairing whisper.

"Girls." Rumi said firmly. "We already agreed, if we miss our window this time then we're risking the end of the world. And we already risk our own lives every time we go out. This is just… one more risk."

"No, it's you willingly marching to maybe your death." Mira sniffled. "I don't want a noble self-sacrifice, I want my couch buddy to stay right where she is! Who else would keep me from strangling Zoey when she drops yet another damn turtle video into the playlist?"

"I know you don't mean that and don't pretend you do." Zoey side-eyed Mira before suddenly glomping Rumi. "But she's right, without you, we'd be-' we'd be-" she trailed off into incoherent blubbering.

"With the Golden Honmoon, our team retires." Rumi replied softly. "Not having my voice on the team doesn't threaten the world if the barrier's already sealed forever. And I know how much you'd both hate to see me go. Trust me, it's not half as much as I'd hate to leave you two! But… we swore an oath."

"We are Hunters, voices strong. Slaying demons with our song. Fix the world and make it right. Till darkness finally meets the light." all three of them chanted.

"Fix the world and make it right." Rumi echoed. "Even if it costs."

"We love you so much." Mira said, and Zoey sniffled and nodded.

"I love you too." Rumi agreed. "And if this is all the time we're allowed to have together, then let's not regret a single second of it."

"Easier said than done." Zoey sighed.

"Trust me, I know." Rumi agreed ruefully as the three girls continued walking home. "Jinu – Future Jinu – I barely knew him, and I still always feel an empty place where he was standing. Talking to his past self…"

"At least you don't have to torture yourself like that anymore." Mira hurriedly agreed. "The Idol Awards are tomorrow, and everything's still on track."

"Is it?" Rumi asked. "We just beat the subway attack, where we failed to last time. So Gwi-Ma will know our team still has full cohesion, unlike last time. Which means Jinu will still be desperate to drive a wedge in, because soon enough he'll know that he doesn't actually have one." Rumi shook her head. "No, I have to go to the last meeting. I have to…" She sighed. "And I want to try something really, really risky."

"Okay. Then try it." Mira said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Rumi turned to her confusedly. "I- we're so close, and one careless word on my part could ruin the whole thing, and-"

"Rumi," Mira shook her head. "We just got through reaffirming how much we mean to each other. And you haven't been making the same mistakes as last time – hiding things, making deals behind our backs. If we couldn't trust you now-"

"Then we'd be the liars." Zoey agreed firmly. "I know you still want to try and save Jinu. And I know you're smart enough to not screw it up. So if you feel you need to throw a Hail Mary, then you go and throw it." She quirked a smile. "What did you just say? Let's not regret a single second of it?"

"I don't deserve you guys." Rumi smiled back at them.

"Nobody does, but you got lucky anyway." Mira teased weakly, and both her and Zoey nodded goodbye to Rumi as they continued heading home and she split off from the others.

"Rumi." Jinu said diffidently, as she walked up to him in the twilight bathing the same hilltop that had seen their prior conversations. Rumi's eyes flickered briefly to Jinu's wrist, where the friendship bracelet she'd given him at their last meeting was a barely visible bulge hidden under his shirt cuff. "About what you said the last time-"

"Jinu, I- I'm sorry." Rumi interrupted him.

"For what?" Jinu asked her in honest amazement. "You've been nothing but..." he trailed off. "Kind. Accepting."

"But not honest." Rumi looked at him apologetically. "Last time you accused me of trying to put the con on you. And you were right. I was."

Jinu's face immediately slammed shut like an armored door. "So it was all a lie?"

"No!" Rumi pleaded. "What I thought- what I think about you was all true! What I asked you to do, why I wanted you to do it, I meant every word of it!" Rumi slumped "But how I was asking you was... manipulative."

Jinu's posture relaxed, as his face softened. "Manipulative... how?"

Rumi looked up at him. "I really, most sincerely believe that you can change, Jinu. But it's not something I can trick you into doing. It's not a prize I win if I just push the right buttons in your head. I need to let you make your own choices - fully informed choices. Which means I need to tell you the whole story behind why I'm trying what I'm trying, and that's... really not going to be easy for either of us."

Jinu nervously rubbed his wrist with his free hand. "Rumi, I-"

"So, starting at the heavy end. Jinu... I know you left them." Rumi said firmly.

"What?" Jinu gasped.

"Your family. The one you told me you made a deal to save. I know the deal you made was only for yourself. I know you abandoned them at the palace gates." Rumi confronted him.

"How- how did you-?" Jinu's voice tore, as he flinched away from Rumi. He turned away, his demon patterns flickering into visibility on his face. "So you saw through me the entire time."

"Not the entire time." Rumi answered softly.

"But you figured it out eventually." Jinu's shoulders slumped in resignation as he turned back to face her. "You said that you thought I was a good person trapped in a bad spot, and now you admit this?" He tensed himself to either fight or flee as might be necessary. "You really were trying to psych me into being 'better', weren't you? I suppose I should thank you for at least having enough respect to come and admit that to my face, after all the talks we've had. But if you know the truth, then..."

"I'm not giving up on you, Jinu." Rumi said compassionately. "When you told me in our first conversation that we both knew what it's like to live with a shame that consumed our lives, you weren't lying. But we're more than just our mistakes. I was lucky enough to escape that trap, even if I needed a lot of help. And I want to be the one who helps you do the same."

"Help me how?" Jinu asked her nervously.

"Before I answer that question, I want to get rid of your eavesdropper for a while." Rumi smiled. "And I'm pretty sure I know how I can do that. Just try to follow along." And then she began to sing.

"You tried to hide, but something broke.
I tried to sing, couldn't hit the notes.
The words kept catching in both our throats.
I tried to smile, was suffocating though
But here with you, I know that I see
The man you've lost, but you still can be
I once lived without hope, but I learned I could change
But it'll hurt, if you're not by my side."

"I know it's foolish, but I want to let you in.
I know you feel like, no one will forgive your sins.
All the secrets that kept you in chains, and
All that damage that might make you dangerous
You've got a dark side, but you weren't the only one
It's time we both tried, fighting what we're running from
You can't fix it if you never face it
But I know I can help you escape it.

You could be free, free
You can't fix it if you never face it
Let your past be the past till it's weightless."

Rumi's angelic serenade faded away as she turned back to face him imploringly, and Jinu's voice broke as he sang through his sobs.

"Time's gone by, I've lost my perspective.
Hope only hurts, that's why I forget it.
Here you're looking past all the dark in me when I thought that nobody could
But you're only chasing a dream if you think that I'm any good.

I sold myself to a monster and I'm lost inside of my head
Ain't no choice when all these voices keep pointing towards no end
I chose myself, and I damned myself, and I thought that you never knew
But now you're here, and now I fear, that you'll hurt yourself if it's true."

Rumi's voice joined Jinu's as they harmonized.

"So why does it feel right, when you ask to let me in?
Why does it feel like, I can tell you anything?
We can't fix it if we never face it.
What if we find a way to escape it?"

"We could be free, free.
We can't fix it if we never face it.
Let the past be the past till its weightless."

"His voice. It's... gone." Jinu said wonderingly.

"Yes." Rumi nodded. "But that won't last long, so I'd better not waste any words. Jinu, I know your secret because you told me. You confessed your sins to me, and you were weeping when you did so. You revealed your deepest darkest shame, and then you told me that feeling miserable about it forever, being pained by it forever, was all that you deserved. But don't you understand?" Rumi begged him. "If you can be tortured by it, then that means you feel guilty over it! And if you can still feel guilt, then you're not entirely lost yet!"

"What are you even talking about?!?" Jinu begged desperately. "I never told you any of this!"

"Not yet. But you did, in the future." Rumi answered him. "Our future. I'm not going to explain how, or why, or when – but I remember meeting you before. I remember you unburdening yourself to me before. And then I came back in time, and now we have a second chance to make it right."

"Time travel? Are you joking?" Jinu goggled. "And wait, are you saying that I did help you at the Idol Awards last time? Is that why you're offering me this chance?"

"You didn't help me." Rumi shook her head. "But you pretended that you wanted to. And then you led me right into an ambush."

"But you still came here?" Jinu staggered, completely unable to process Rumi's logic. "You're still trying to-? But if you knew I was setting you up the entire time, then why-?" He broke off and flinched away, turning pale with fright, as Rumi's sacred blade manifested from the Honmoon.

Rumi immediately laid the flat of the blade across her other palm and then took her hand off the hilt, supporting the blade on both upraised hands as if it were a sacrificial offering. "I'm not going to hurt you, Jinu." she said compassionately. "I just want you to look at this."

"What- what am I supposed to see?" Jinu whispered desperately, transfixed by the glowing blade.

"Your soul." Rumi replied urgently. "In the future, it came back. It came back, do you understand me? I don't believe that you can be free of him, I know you can be! I saw it!"

"How… do you have my soul?" Jinu husked out. "How do I even know that it's real?"

"I carry your soul, because you gave it to me as your final act." Rumi's eyes started to leak tears. "When you sacrificed yourself to save my life."

"Impossible." Jinu shook his head frantically. "It's- it's just some Hunter trick! Just an illusion! It HAS TO BE!"

"I owe you my life, Jinu." Rumi said resolutely. "I owe you my friends' lives. I owe you everything. And in repayment of that debt… I offer you this." She smiled at him, her voice as soft as spring grass. "Take it. It's yours."

"I-" Jinu slowly, irresistibly reached out to touch the blade… and his demonic shriek of pain cracked stone and shook the Honmoon with an argent ripple for dozens of feet around the instant his finger contacted the sword.

"Jinu!" Rumi vanished the sword in an instant, diving forward to catch the crumpling Jinu as he fell forward. They ended up face-to-face, each kneeling on the sidewalk.

"Take it away!" he begged. "Don't make me- please don't make me- it hurts…"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" Rumi begged him. "I didn't mean to-"

"I know you didn't." Jinu reassured her weakly. "I know it was really my soul. I could recognize it. And that means… you weren't lying. About any of it."

"Not a word of it." Rumi agreed immediately. "You can still be saved, Jinu. Even if it didn't work tonight, maybe we were just going too fast. Maybe if we don't do it all at once… or after the Golden Honmoon can protect you from Gwi-Ma-"

"You're half demon." Jinu interrupted. "How do you know that the Golden Honmoon won't banish you just like it would banish any other demon? Or worse yet, that it wouldn't tear you in two?"

"I don't." Rumi admitted matter-of-factly. "But if it did happen… I'm a Hunter, and the daughter of a Hunter. My mother died in the line of duty, and it's my duty too now."

"So... if I accepted your offer. To sabotage the Saja Boys. To help you create the Golden Honmoon. Then I wouldn't be risking anything… that you aren't already risking."

"Whatever happens, we'll both face it together." Rumi promised him. "However long or short we have, you'll never be alone again."

"Then… I guess we're doing this." Jinu agreed.

* * * * *​

"Did the social media thing happen last time?" Zoey asked as the three girls walked into the Idol Awards. "Because I'm not sure if it did. We were really distracted the couple of days before the Idol Awards last time."

"You mean the whole online whispering campaign about Rumi allegedly trying to hide 'health problems'? Or a 'skin condition'?" Mira asked.

"That probably did happen last time and we were just too lost in our own drama to notice it." Rumi nodded. "It would be an obvious priming the pump for what they dropped on us during the competition, after all."

"I suppose Jinu still has to pretend like he's doing his job or else Gwi-Ma will get wise." Zoey nodded. "Assuming…"

"Assuming that he isn't going to back out at the last minute." Rumi said ruefully. "It's okay, you can say it. It's the obvious thought, especially after the light of his own soul burned him so badly." She trailed off despondently.

"None of the spoilers Rumi gave him during their convo actually had any tactical value that I can figure." Mira reassured Zoey. "Heck, she didn't even give away if they won or lost the Idol Awards. So even in the worst-case scenario it should still be fine."

"Totally." Zoey nodded rapidly. "I mean, we know 'Golden' came this close to sealing the deal for us last time, and now we've had two extra weeks to rehearse it."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough." Rumi said as they met up with Bobby and several security guards from their record company and headed into the backstage corridors. All three girls drew themselves up tensely as they saw the Saja Boys appear at the other end of the hallway. The group strode forward in taut silence, adamantly not making eye contact with any of the demon boyband, who all walked briskly past them returning the same courtesy. Rumi and Jinu passed closely enough by each other to almost touch shoulders, but it still felt as if all the depths of the Underworld gaped between them.

"Whoo. Tense." Rumi let out her held breath with a gasp as they entered their dressing room.

"Then do your relaxation exercises." Mira suggested firmly as she took a warm-up pose and began slow-motioning through a portion of the choreography. "We have to stay locked in."

Zoey was already deep into her own pre-game nerves-calming ritual by rapid-firing lyrics under her breath, aiming for a hypnotic rhythm of patter, as Rumi began a standing meditation. The event schedule was for the Saja Boys to go first, as the challengers, and then Huntrix to go on last as the reigning champions, but if-

"Girls!" Bobby burst into the room eagerly after a bare minimum of knocking. "The Saja Boys are fighting backstage over something! The event manager just said we go on in two!"

Rumi broke into a glorious smile. "He did it." she whispered happily.

"Target acquired!" Mira fist-pumped.

"Let's get it done-done-done!" Zoey bounced cheerfully from foot to foot as the girls did a final makeup and costume check, made sure their microphones were in place, and headed out together.

"Now remember Bobby, stick with the security detail." Mira cautioned him firmly as they walked towards the stage. "No bouncing around checking everything out by yourself like you usually do. Remember that anonymous tip we got about possible backstage harassers tonight."

"Oh yeah. Always have to take those anonymous tips seriously!" Rumi agreed brightly.

"It'll all be fine." Bobby reassured him. "I promise."

"Don't leave him alone for a minute when you're backstage." Rumi told the other two, who both nodded briskly.

"Rumi." Mira suddenly replied, her voice taut. "If this-"

"If you don't..." Zoey whispered.

Rumi smiled at her friends gently. "Then I'll see you on the other side."

"Ah, okay, there's been a slight change in schedule! So instead of the Saja Boys, here to perform their hot new single 'Golden' is our defending champions, Huntrix!" the Master of Ceremonies announced, and the curtain opened to reveal all three girls standing on stage as they triumphantly launched into their opening dance routine.

"I was a ghost, I was alone. (Hah!)
Eo du wojin (Hah!) ap gil sok e (Hah!)
Given the throne, I didn't know
(How!) To believe I was the queen I was meant to be!

The girls seamlessly switched position to put Zoey in the center of the formation. Of all the people in the venue, only they and the Saja Boys had the eyes to see the rising streaks of gold in the Honmoon.

"I lived two lives, tried to play both sides.
But I couldn't find my own place!"

Mira triumphantly stepped forward as the other two danced back. The gold patterns grew thicker and more intricate-

"Called a problem child, 'cause I got too wild!
But now that's how I'm gettin' paid! (kkeuteopsi on stage)"

"I'm done hidin', now I'm shinin'
Like I'm born to be
We dreamin' hard, we came so far
Now I belieeeeve

Rumi triumphantly strode down the center walkway for her solo as Mira and Zoey waited backstage for their next marks. The Honmoon swelled a brilliant blazing gold, as the victory that generations of Hunters had labored towards for centuries hung tantalizingly within reach. As soon as the song finished its climax, finished touching the hearts of fans worldwide who had already known and loved Huntrix for so many years, the demon world would be defeated forever.

"We're goin' up, up, up
It's our moment
You know together we're glowing
Gonna be, gonna be golden
Oh, up, up, up
With our voices-"

And then the entire amphitheater, which had been joyously singing along, fell silent in shock as the power went out and the whole venue went pitch-black.

"What?" Zoey gasped, backstage.

"Bobby!" Mira looked around frantically. "Are you okay!"

"I'm here!" his voice sounded from next to them and a dim light shone out in the pitch blackness as he turned on his phone screen. "Okay, okay, it's just an equipment failure… as soon as they get the lights back on I'll go talk to the judges and tell them that we get a full restart, from scratch. I've got the rulebook right here in this text file, I'll cite 'em chapter and verse…" he muttered to himself as he hurriedly tapped his phone's touchscreen.

Zoey finished discreetly poking Bobby lightly in the back with one of her spirit knives to check if they'd swapped him out during the distraction, and her and Mira both went limp with relief as the demon check came back negative.

"Okay, it's not that." Mira whispered to Zoey relievedly. "Wait." She went bolt upright with worry. "But if it's not that, then what are they do-"

A flashlight shone out in the hands of one of the new arrivals, to reveal that all five of the Saja Boys had silently arrived to block the hallway during the momentary blackout.

"You're not going anywhere near that stage." Jinu smirked at them.. "And while we're just innocently chatting with you in the hallway, you can't so much as raise a hand to us here without immediately disqualifying yourself from the Idol Awards. Neither can they." He nodded at the security guards.

"What are you even doing?" Mira fumed. "You think holding us up for just a minute-"

"Sometimes a minute is all it takes." Jinu said coldly.

And then the stage lights snapped back in an angry, demonic red, as the first bars of an infamously hated song rang out through the speakers.

* * * * *​

TAKEDOWN?!? Rumi shrieked inside her head as the demonic imposters of Mira and Zoey appeared alongside her in the angry red lighting and seamlessly launched into their routine. Jinu, why? she pleaded inwardly even as her heart broke.

"So sweet, so easy on the eyes, but hideous on the inside
Whole life spreading lies, but you can't hide, baby, nice try
I'm 'bout to switch up these vibes, I finally opened my eyes
It's time to kick you straight back into the night."

This isn't them. This isn't them. They already know, they said they loved you- Rumi fought her panic attack with everything she had while her body, although two weeks out of practice, clumsily followed along with the choreography by force of habit-

"'Cause I see your real face and it's ugly as sin
Time to put you in your place 'cause you're rotten within
When your patterns start to show
It makes the hatrеd wanna grow outta my veins!"

Rumi spun around as the fake duo ruthlessly circled her, pushing her and roughly stripping her of her jacket. Her demonic patterns showed brightly on her bare arms, visible to the entire studio audience and all the millions of viewers worldwide.

This can't be happening! Rumi spiraled helplessly. They can't even know these words, we never- And her eyes snapped wide open in realization.

"I don't think you're ready for thе takedown
Break you into pieces in a world of pain-"

"CUT!" Rumi shouted into her still live microphone, her voice rippling across the world as all movement in the arena ground to a halt and the soundtrack immediately stopped. "I don't know what you saboteurs thought you could pull off, but finding body doubles for my bandmates while you lipsync to one of our abandoned projects you dumpster-dived out of our garbage is not going to work! Mira, Zoey, get out here!"

The real duo managed to shove their way past the Saja Boys and out onto the stage as the camera panned back between them and the fake duo in shock. The studio audience gasped in confusion.

"Folks, something has definitely gone off-track here and there will be a brief intermission while we discuss this with the event managers." Rumi reassured the crowd. "But we got some anonymous tips earlier today that some kind of backstage harassment or sabotage might happen, and clearly they weren't wrong."

"Don't worry, though." Mira broke in as her and Zoey reached Rumi and each grabbed her in a side hug. "Huntrix is still here!"

"And we're not going anywhere! Security, get these phonies off of our stage!" Zoey shouted firmly, and the guards stepped forward to escort the non-resisting and silent fakes away.

"Take five everybody, we'll be right back!" Rumi reassured them, and they headed back offstage as quickly as they could.

"Nice recovery." Jinu confronted them. "Much better than I expected. So you did tell them. And here I thought you'd never have the guts."

"Nice sabotage." Rumi replied evenly. "It came completely out of left field."

"It did, didn't it?" he grinned at them. "Yes, we failed to leave you too broken up to perform and that means we'll end up being disqualified and not you. Even without any proof, in an our word against yours situation? You're the number one band in the world and we're a one-hit wonder nobody really knows. The Idol Awards will entirely take your side just because you ask them to... but even that much will still ruin you."

"Clever." Mira spat. "We'll win our sixth Idol Award, but it'll be nowhere near enough to close the Golden Honmoon because of the big fat asterisk you stuck on it. Plus, your fanbase will go entirely toxic at how you were cheated because of industry unfairness and the social media flame wars will rage forever."

"And your social media images are nowhere near as impregnable as you might think." Jinu agreed. "It took Rumi years to shed the 'nepo-baby' label the online hatedom tried to stick her with and legitimately get acknowledged for her talent, and that was just when she was the tragically orphaned daughter of a Sunlight Sister and mentored by another. When you got us poor suffering underdogs banned from competition because somebody pranked your act and you blamed us as the nearest scapegoats? And on top of your having lied to them about Rumi's 'skin condition' for years? Your fanbase will be full of controversy. Contentious. Divided. You'll never see a Golden Honmoon again in this lifetime."

"Whatever you've got left to do, go and do it." Rumi replied calmly. "Well, unless it involves eating souls or something. We've still got a song to finish."

"Oh don't worry, the only thing I want to spend the next few minutes doing is watching you flail around trying to find a way out of this." Jinu smirked. "Come on, let's go get ourselves disqualified. And then let's go get a box seat and watch them flop."

The Saja Boys silently faded away as Bobby came up to them. "I… kinda caught the tail end of that. Wow, those guys are foul. I am so going to have them blacklisted all over the industry as soon as I can start hitting my rolodex!"

"The immediate problem right now though is, how do we get our momentum back? Bobby, social media check?" Mira asked briskly.

Bobby immediately brought out his phone to text Huntrix' support staff for an emergency progress report, and winced at the results. "It's… not good. That whispering campaign? Rumi's, uh, birthmarks have kinda thrown gasoline on those embers." He sighed. "You know how irrational some elements of the industry gets about not having perfect skin."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Zoey eye-rolled.

"Well, we can handle that tomorrow. For right now I've got to go get your restart scheduled, You can still hit the marks on 'Golden' even despite the everything, right? Or… do I need to say that the disruption's bad enough that we…?"

"No. We go on as soon as the stage is ready." Rumi said firmly. "But they were right about one thing. We can't really get the momentum we want now with 'Golden', that would just be a limp to the finish line. We need to go big or go home."

"But what else have we got?" Bobby said. "We didn't do any major creative work last year because we were busy with the world tour, 'How It's Done' certainly isn't going to land as hard as 'Golden' does, and that's the only other new thing in your discography since the previous Idol Awards! And- and- okay, please tell me that artistic intuition is having another lightning strike, ladies, because I'm coming up dry here!"

"Don't worry, Bobby." Rumi reassured him. "I've already got an idea."

* * * * *​

This will not be the victory I desired! Gwi-Ma's voice raged inside Jinu's head.

"Sometimes you can't get it done all at once." Jinu replied tightly. "She was supposed to have a full mental collapse and tear the band apart when her patterns were revealed, but apparently they already know. That was not anticipated. By any of us."

But the Honmoon will not be broken tonight, and neither will Huntrix!

"Not tonight." Jinu agreed. "But what we have accomplished here will prevent their victory, and in the long run that will be as good as defeating them. The Honmoon will be weakened for an entire year. We can feed, and strengthen you, and next year we will have accumulated such power that we can crush them. After all, these mortal identities are disposable guises. And new bands come and go all the time."

Yes. Gwi-Ma's anger ebbed. You have not earned your reward yet, Jinu. But you have not failed me yet, either. Even if I STILL do not know what you are concealing from me!

"The Huntress' magic seared my mind as well as yours in that moment, my king." Jinu reassured him. "That moment was all a blur to me as well. But whatever she attempted, it has not changed my loyalty."

See that it doesn't. Gwi-Ma replied.

"Sssh. They're about to go on." Jinu smirked, as the MC came out to announce that despite the disruptions to the schedule and the equipment failures Huntrix would, as the contest rules required, get another chance to perform while their initial scores were entirely voided. "Let's see how well their not-so-Golden song plays now."

"Everyone." Rumi began as the girls took the stage. "We know tonight's already had a lot of unscheduled events. We know that people might be confused about what happened, or about my new look, or about a lot of things, and that speculation is running rampant. Right now all I want to say is that yes, there are indeed things I should have shared about myself earlier – things that the people who cared for me had every right to know about, and that I was afraid to tell them for so long. Things that our mysterious interruption found out about and decided to try and publicly embarrass me with. But embarrassed or not, the show must go on... and so, as an apology to all the people who might be let down about how some things were not given the transparency they deserved, and as a message to anyone and everyone who is struggling with things that they're not proud of about themselves or are afraid that the people who love them won't be able to accept, we are pleased to announce that we are not doing 'Golden' for our re-scored performance tonight, but instead are doing something never before done at an International Idol Awards by making our contest entry our world premiere of an entirely new and unreleased song!"

And as the muttering and contentious crowd suddenly fell silent in awe at Rumi's surprising announcement, before bursting out into raucous cheers, the speakers suddenly kicked in on a quiet, low score.

"Nothing but the truth now
Nothing but the proof, of what I am
The worst of what I came from, patterns I'm ashamed of
Things that even I don't understand
I tried to fix it, I tried to fight it
My head was twisted, my heart divided
My lies all collided
I don't know why I didn't trust you to be on my side.

We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back
But now we can find beauty in the broken glass
These scars are part of me
Darkness and harmony
My voice without the lies
This is what it sounds like!

Zoey chimed in, her voice pitched like a beautiful bell.

Why did I cover up the colors stuck inside my head

Mira's voice rang out like a brassy martial trumpet.

I should have let the jagged edges catch the light instead

Show me what's underneath, we'll find our harmony
The song we couldn't write
This is what it sounds like!

STOP THIS SONG! Gwi-Ma raged helplessly as the wavering Honmoon began to pulse and flash a brilliant gold again.

"How?" Jinu asked calmly. "They're on stage. The whole world is watching. You know why we never do our attacks in public. How revealing the existence of demons to the world only defeats us as thoroughly as a Golden Honmoon would. And you don't even have enough energy left to force a tear through this much interference!"

We're shattering the silence, we're rising, defiant
Shouting in the quiet, "You're not alone!"
We listened to the demons, we let them get between us
But none of us are out here on our own!
Sometimes we're cowards, sometimes we're liars
Not always heroes, but still survivors
The dreamers, the fighters, no lying, I'm tired
But dive in the fire, and I'll be right here by your siiiide!

The girls' group hug on stage flashed out in a brilliant ring of spirit energy that echoed to the far side of the world, and Gwi-Ma's raging voice shrieked and fell silent. The Saja Boys all flinched in panic, and turned to their silent leader for guidance… to fall back in shock at the quiet smile on his face.

We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back
But now we're seeing all the beauty in the broken glass
The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony
My voice without the lies
This is what it sounds like!
Why did we cover up the colors stuck inside our head?
Get up and let the jagged edges meet the light instead
Show me what's underneath, I'll find your harmony
Fearless and undefined
This is what it sounds like!

The entire audience rose to its feet, the glow of all their souls filling the entire venue with blinding light for those with the eyes to see. The Saja Boys shrieked and ran, heading for the door leading back out of their viewing box, while Jinu remained behind, a steadfast witness to Huntrix' triumph.

THIS IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE! Roared the crowd as one, as the entire world turned a brilliant, sparking golden, and then Jinu saw no more.

* * * * *​

"Did you freestyle that?" Bobby asked the girls in awe as they headed out towards their limousine. "Because I never heard you rehearse that one."

"We kinda did actually freestyle it the first time." Rumi blushed. "But we had a couple weeks to polish it a little while you were busy with the event run-up."

"It was…something we were eventually going to do when it came time for the public announcement on Rumi's weird birthmarks!" Zoey gushed. "Which, uh, we're still sorry for not cluing you in on, but Celine and Rumi were really sensitive about telling people about them. Like, traumatized sensitive?"

"It took years for us to get read in." Mira backed her up.

"Hey, like I said, you're the boss of me and not vice versa." Bobby agreed. "I don't own your personal lives… well, except when it becomes your professional lives, but then we all talk about that. As a team."

"Which we entirely will. Tomorrow." Rumi agreed. "But for right now I am exhausted, and I need to get back home and collapse."

"It has been super emotional the past couple of weeks." Mira agreed.

"Absolutely." Bobby agreed. "Okay, if there's nothing else you need tonight-"

"Knock off, Bobby." Rumi agreed. "You'll have an early morning tomorrow. The chauffeur can get us home without you."

"Then good night, and I'll see you tomorrow!" Bobby agreed, and after a cheerful exchange of goodbyes the three of them were left alone in the night.

"Rumi, I'm so glad you didn't, like, evaporate?" Zoey squeaked tremulously.

"Wow, Zoey, way to be super literal. But same." Mira agreed.

"Yeah." Rumi agreed quietly. "We did it." They all looked up and out at the glorious golden curtain that overlay all of reality, that only the mystically aware could see. "No more demons. No more lost souls."

"And no more double shifts!" Mira yawned, her back cracking as she stretched. "Which… will probably be killing us with boredom inside three months. Eugh, what are we gonna do now? Extreme sports?"

"I'm sure we'll adjust." Rumi sighed as she looked around. "And-"

"You really think he'll still be here?" Zoey asked. "I mean, he kinda made it obvious what side he was really on just now."

"He did." Rumi agreed. "But not the way you think! Because didn't you-"

"Hey there." Jinu's voice broke in softly, to the complete surprise of two of the girls. "Sorry I'm late, but I wasn't sure I'd be..."

"I promised you that you'd never have to be alone again." Rumi smiled at him joyously. "And are you…?"

"I still have them, just like you do." Jinu's patterns flashed into visibility briefly on his human guise. "But I don't hear his voice anymore. He can't reach me. I'm free."

"What am I missing?" Mira asked. "Rumi, did you do another deal under the table with Jinu you didn't tell us about? Because okay, I'm not really mad this time but holy backsliding!"

"No, I just spotted the clue I was trying to explain to you before we got interrupted." Rumi smiled. "Think, Mira. We never actually wrote down the lyrics or the score for 'Takedown' in this timeline… so how could Jinu have possibly known them?"

"Whaaaa-?" Zoey's brain segfaulted. "But that would mean- HOW THE HECK DID YOU COME BACK TOO AND STILL NEVER LET ON?" she shrieked.

"I didn't." Jinu chuckled. "But when Rumi tried to give me my soul back last night, I saw – well, glimpsed – the life that Jinu had lived. Or at least the last several days of it. So I knew what plans I'd made in that future, and I knew how you'd reacted to them. And how you'd defeated us."

"So you did your best to recreate those conditions, as bloodlessly as possible." Rumi realized. "Which is exactly what we'd been doing with everything when we realized we'd time looped."

"Exactly." Jinu smiled. "Plus you underestimated how closely Gwi-Ma was monitoring me. He could hear every word I ever said to anyone or vice versa, except for those few crucial moments you'd blocked him out. So if I'd accepted your bargain without already having a plan for how I'd betray you – a plan that Gwi-Ma would accept – he'd have killed me the instant I left your immediate presence that night." He nodded ruefully to himself. "Even if I was doing my best to pick a plan that would fail."

"Then I'm really glad you didn't turn out to be an evil jerk after all." Mira admitted. "Because you came in clutch there, big guy. Twice around, even."

"I was an evil jerk after all." Jinu admitted somberly. "But… Rumi convinced me that I didn't have to stay that way forever."

"Then… it's really nice to meet you, Jinu." Zoey said warmly. "And thank you for saving Rumi's life in the future."

"Same." Mira nodded. "Hey, did the other Saja Boys-?"

"No." Jinu shook his head. "They were long since hollowed out. Completely empty. They didn't remotely have enough of their souls left to hope to stay on this side of the Honmoon. Even I'm not sure I could have if Rumi weren't already carrying mine." He continued more awkwardly. "Somehow the tiger stayed, though. So did the bird."

"Tiger? Bird? … okay, we can figure out all the vast world-shaking philosophical revelations tomorrow." Zoey agreed briskly. "But it's getting late, so we should get in the car. And by we I mean 'not Rumi'."

"I, uh-" Jinu suddenly looked embarrassed.

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Mira grinned wickedly at them as both girls dived into the nearby limousine and slammed shut the doors. The windows rolled down long enough to let them cheerfully wave at the bemused couple as the car pulled away to a soft chant of "Couch couch couch couch…" coming from the inside of the car.

"Couch?" Jinu turned to Rumi bemusedly.

"We'll… introduce you to couch later." Rumi blushed. "It's a tradition we have. But we are…" she trailed off awkwardly.

"So." Jinu agreed after a long pause. "Augh, this is ridiculous! We barely even know each other!"

"Well… I hear talking is good for that?" Rumi raised a tentative finger.

"Talking." Jinu started to smile. "That's… not a bad idea. Just… talking. For now."

"For now." Rumi nodded vigorously, before blushing her way into an awkward silence again. "So, you… wanna… go get some noodles? Or something?"

"… I'd love to." Jinu replied with a warm smile, as the two of them turned and walked away into the night.

 

[S.I.N]

I fucking hope jinu gives Rumi the full story on what happened with his family so she can point out how he didn't infact abandon them. God there's so much going on in this movie that can be covered it's crazy.

Also good job jinu is very accurate manipulative asshole but with that spark or good In there.

 

[cliffc999]

I am going to pat myself on the back a little for the bit with Jinu closing it out as Revolver Ocelot's apprentice as he proceeds to betray Gwi-Ma while pretending to betray Rumi on her original deal with him to betray Gwi-Ma that he was originally going to use to genuinely betray Rumi to Gwi-Ma. Because as we recall from the movie, Jinu is legitimately talented and cunning as a BS artist. There's a reason I have Mira calling him a 'veteran con man' in this story, he is one.

And one of my most favorite bits to write.

"Nice sabotage." Rumi replied evenly. "It came completely out of left field."

"It did, didn't it?" he grinned at them.

Click to shrink...

This remark of Rumi's is of course absurd on the face of it - she already told Jinu during their last conversation that he pretended to take her deal and then betrayed her at the Idol Awards in the previous timeline. This is knowledge that even an unaware non-looping Jinu still has and that Rumi knows he has, as she's the one who gave it to him. So the absolute last thing his betrayal at this Idol Awards could be is "completely out of left field".

So what Rumi is actually doing here is asking Did you timeloop too?, underneath Gwi-Ma's and everybody's nose. And when Jinu comes back with the smug answer of pretending to have totally run an unexpected con on Rumi - which both Rumi and him know isn't true - then she gets her answer. Yeah, something like that!

There's a reason Rumi's so totally relaxed from the instant she came to the realization about the 'Takedown' clue even if the other two are still wired... she already knows what side Jinu is really on, and thus she knows that they've already won.

 

[ArsMagna1337]

Everyone knows that there's only one guy who can make a Golden Honmoon easily as breathing air.

Spoiler: The real reason why there are no demons around for a whole decade until Huntrix

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/c3zVeNEf2fw

 

[cliffc999]

Random bit of nonsense I drop here because there's no other thread it belongs in. Me doing an Incorrect Quote...

Mira: I've only had Zoey for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her I would kill everyone in this classroom.
Mean Girl: ... and then yourself?
Mira: No, just you.

 

[cliffc999]

While normally it's a failure as an author to have to explain what my characters are thinking - and to be honest, I don't think these explanations are necessary to either understand or enjoy the story - given that one of the things this story does is have people layer a lot of double-meaning into things, I figured it would help to provide a brief crib.

Most of these 'underneath the underneath' moments are of course from the middle convo, where Rumi is still trying to use her future knowledge to manipulate Jinu into making the right decision, before she finally abandons that as a false path. In the first convo Rumi's just letting Jinu set the hook without giving him much, and in the last convo she is going for complete transparency.

"What's really there about me that you don't already know?" Rumi asked him. "I'm a demon hunter who's half demon, and I've... spent most of my life hiding it. Being ashamed of it." She continued softly. "Feeling like my whole existence was a mistake."

Click to shrink...

Rumi is of course not feeling this way now, but still has to appear emotionally vulnerable to keep Jinu's attempts to sleaze his way into being her confidant working. So she does the best she can here without actually saying an untruthful statement, because she did indeed legitimately spend most of her life feeling that way... until last week.

"Everybody who knows - which is a number so small I wouldn't run out of fingers counting them on one hand - has found out about it on their own." Rumi admitted honestly. "I've never been able to willingly tell anyone."

Click to shrink...

Also the exact literal truth. At this point, to the best of Rumi's knowledge exactly four living people other than Rumi are aware of her being half-demon (Celine, Mira, Zoey, and Jinu himself) and she did not voluntarily tell any of them.

"... okay, if I said that was the only or even the biggest reason I did it, then I'd be lying." Rumi said with equal sobriety.

Click to shrink...

This is still Rumi being not a liar, although also being misleading. While her personal feelings for Jinu are a definite reason she's doing it, the two biggest reasons she's doing it are that she is trying to repay the life-debt she feels she owes him and that she woudn't abandon someone potentially redeemable to suffer under Gwi-Ma even if she didn't like them.

"Because my offer? You're right, it doesn't come without a price. Help us."

Click to shrink...

And this is the first direct lie Rumi throws into the convo. Rumi would of course help Jinu out for free, or at least for the absolute minimum price of 'just don't actively stab me in the back while I'm trying to help you'... but she also knows Jinu would never believe that she'd be doing it without an angle, so she tries claiming to have one just to hopefully get him to take the offer at all. Her dejection immediately later on is because, of course, this gambit failed.