APEX - Chapter Three

– 🍑 –

“ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴀ ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ‘ᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ɪ ɢᴏᴛ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴡɪʟᴅ–”

Romance groaned softly. He shifted in bed, his neck aching. He patted his sheets, trying to find his ringing phone. He accidentally pushed a bottle off his bed, causing it to shatter. He paid no mind to it, he could clean that up in the morning.

He finally plucked his phone up from where it was sandwiched in the folds of the covers. His voice was thick with sleep, “…Hello?”

“Hey.”

It was Mira’s voice.

That caused Romance to immediately sober up and sit upright against his headboard, “Hi.” Fuck, he already greeted her. He stumbled over his words, “Why- er.. What did you need?”

“I just wanted to know how the songwriting was going. You told the girls you were going to finish the song by tomorrow, so you all could practice it,” she recounted flatly.

“Right, right,” he looked around for his notebook. As he lifted his blankets to check for it, he added, “Must’ve dozed off, I guess.”

She gave an unamused hum, “Rumi gave me your number, by the way.”

Why did that question not even cross his mind? He kicked himself in his head for being so giddy about getting a call from his crush that he didn’t even question how she was even able to call him in the first place.

“Makes sense,” Romance cleared his throat as he finally retrieved his songwriting journal.

He flipped to the right page and saw that pretty much all of the song was done. Obviously not a surprise, since he was there when he wrote it. But it still stunned the wasted boy that he was able to finish writing the song in less than 24 hours–even with the extra help.

“Didn’t we tell you the song was almost done?” He spoke up again.

Mira’s whole body locked up. He was right, Zoey and he had said that the song just needed a few finishing touches that they would add tomorrow morning, if need be. She was even physically there when they completed their songwriting! There was no reason for the pink-haired girl to be calling him at this hour.

“Uh, Mira…?” He was concerned by the silence on her end of the line.

“What?” She snapped out of her own head. She then fumbled with her words before just completely hanging up on him entirely.

Romance was disappointed by her sudden goodbye, his shoulders slumping. He put his phone down and stared at the broken glass on the floor. He blinked.

How much would it really hurt if he just…–

No.

Now was not the time for these harmful thoughts.

He needed to finish up the verse he would be singing in the song. It still didn’t satisfy him all that much. And he needed to distract himself again. But hopefully in a healthier way this time.

– 🍬🍒 –

Zoey and Rumi were in the recording studio the next morning, waiting for Romance to arrive. It was pretty early, only about 6AM, but they wanted to get the song out as soon as possible. Or Rumi and Romance did, at least.

Awkwardly stumbling in, Romance panted softly, “Sorry I’m late. I’m a little out of it today and had some trouble finding the right place.”

“No, it’s okay. You’re just in time. Our manager, Bobby, just finished setting up the booths for us,” Rumi shook her head. “And if my directions were hard to follow, you just could have told me.”

“Nah, didn’t want to trouble you guys,” he brushed himself off.

Bobby then popped into the room with them and Zoey piped up, “Oh! Hi, Bobby! Bobby, this is Romance; Romance, this is Bobby.”

The pink-haired boy smiled, “Hello, seonsaengnim.”

“No, no! ‘Bobby’ is fine!” he replied. “I’m a big fan of your work. ‘Soda Pop’ was amazing, but ‘GGUM’ and ‘Sugar’ really showed that you’re amazing as a soloist too. And not a one-hit wonder!”

Romance rubbed the back of his neck, “Really, s- er.. Bobby. You know, your voice sounds awfully familiar. Have we spoken before?”

“Us? No, I don’t think so,” the older man replied.

“Huh, weird,” his peach-colored brows furrowed.

Rumi then spoke up again, “So, are we ready to start recording the song?”

“You’re eager to start, Rumi,” Zoey pointed out. “Don’t you guys want to practice the song together first before getting into the booth?”

“Not without me you guys aren’t.”

Mira. Again.

As expected, Romance spun around to look at the rose-haired girl, “Wow, surprising me twice in only twelve hours.”

Gosh, he was supposed to be his band’s charmer. Why was he such a bumbling idiot around her?!

She blinked, “What?”

“Like.. the call last night?” He laughed awkwardly.

“What call?” Mira cocked her head to the side, hair swaying with the movement.

He swallowed before shaking his head. His voice went quiet, “Nevermind..”

“So, what lyrics could I sing?” The tall girl turned to her friends.

Zoey excitedly pulled out her annotations of the lyrics, “You could sing the first verse with me, the second version of the chorus–again with me–and the last version of the chorus with both me and Romance.” She handed the notes to Mira with the new scribbles of the pink-haired girl’s name all over, “Study up and then get into the booth with us!”

– 🍬🍒🌶️🍑 –

“Girls–oh, and Romance–you all sound amazing!” Bobby exclaimed as he was listening to all of the recordings that they had been doing for the past few hours.

“Thanks, Bobby,” the girls said in unison, while the boy nodded sheepishly.

“You all go eat, I’ll have our fastest editor get the song all ready as soon as possible, so you guys can release it,” their manager assured them before shooing them off.

“Convenience store?” Zoey asked hopefully.

“Sounds good,” Rumi replied, looking at the other two pink-haired individuals.

Romance shrugged, but Mira shook her head, “I actually want to be in the studio to help with the song. Since I, y’know, kinda threw a fit about it at first. I’ll catch up with you guys later, though.”

Zoey whined, “Do you have to? We didn’t mind that you couldn’t help us with the song at first!”

The second-eldest girl sighed, “I know, but still. I’ve been trying to learn how to mix songs, so this will be a learning experience for me.”

The youngest wanted to protest more, but the purple-haired girl stopped her, “Okay, you have fun. We’ll bring you back some food.”

“Thanks,” Mira nodded as she entered the studio again, Romance gave an awkward wave.

When he turned back to the other two girls, they were looking at him with amused expressions, “What…?”

“You like Mira!” The girl with the buns squealed.

His eyebrows furrowed, “Well, yeah. That was never a secret.”

“So, what? It’s still exciting!” Zoey groaned. “You need to come with us! We’ll give you tips on how to win her heart, and you can tell us all about yourself, and–”

“It’s okay, I really need to check up on Baby–” Romance tried to cut her off.

“He’s a big boy, he can take care of himself,” Rumi rolled her eyes. “You need to tell me all you know about Jinu.”

He tried to protest, but the girls dragged him off.

– 🍬🍒🍑 –

“So, like, what’s your name?” Zoey asked as they walked through the aisles of the closest convenience store.

Romance raised an eyebrow, “Romance…?”

“She meant your real name,” Rumi huffed. “Like… Minjun, Seojun, Jiho…” she listed off some popular names.

“Oh,” he blinked. “It’s Baekho.”

“Cool! That means ‘white tiger’, right?” Zoey gasped.

He nodded, “Mm. I would still prefer it if you both just kept calling me ‘Romance’. I don’t really want my real name getting out to the public yet.”

“So, you wanna be mysterious, huh? Respect,” Zoey nodded.

“Zo, your American is showing,” Rumi said sarcastically.

Romance bumped into another man with a black hat. When he looked back, to mumble an apology, the man was already gone.

His eyebrows furrowed, but he continued walking with the girls. He murmured under his breath, “Weird..”

“Huh?” Zoey looked up at him.

“Nothing,” he shook his head as they made their way through the store. 

They soon hear Mira’s voice singing on the overhead speakers of the store. It was a bit muffled, but all three of them knew exactly who it was.

“ɪ’ᴠᴇ ɢᴏᴛ ᴀ ꜰɪɢᴜʀᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴘɪɴ-ᴜᴘ, ɢᴏᴛ ᴀ ꜰɪɢᴜʀᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴅᴏʟʟ, ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪ’ᴍ ᴅᴜᴍʙ, ɪ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴀᴛ ᴀʟʟ~”

“I didn’t know Mira released solos,” Romance commented idly.

“Us neither…” Rumi’s violet brows furrowed, and Zoey’s brown eyes were drawn to the ceiling in confusion.

“I’ll call her,” Zoey piped up, only to be met with the dial tone. “What? That never leaves me hanging like that…. Rumi, you try.”

The woman nodded, only to get the same noise in reply, “Nothing.”

“ɪ’ʟʟ ᴄʜᴇᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴜᴘ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ’ʟʟ ꜱᴘɪᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏᴜᴛ, ‘ᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ’ꜱ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ɪꜱ ᴀʟʟ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ~”

The man blinked as he listened to the music, “So, is this song new or something?”

“ɪ’ᴍ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ᴘᴏᴘ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴜʙʙʟᴇɢᴜᴍ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ~”

“Oh my gods,” the girl with the space buns whispered. “You guys don’t think she released this song in reply to ‘GGUM’, do you?”

“Why would she?” Romance shrugged.

“Well, her song is about gum too–and it’s her first solo song, like yours,” the brunette continued.

“I think it could just be a coincidence,” his pink hair shook along with his head. But secretly, he was hoping it was true.

“ɪ’ᴍ ᴍɪꜱꜱ ꜱᴜɢᴀʀ ᴘɪɴᴋ, ʟɪQᴜᴏʀ, ʟɪQᴜᴏʀ ʟɪᴘꜱ, ɪ’ᴍ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ʙᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴜʙʙʟᴇɢᴜᴍ ʙɪᴛᴄʜ, ɪ’ᴍ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ʙᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴜʙʙʟᴇɢᴜᴍ ʙɪᴛᴄʜ~”

Rumi then clicked her tongue, “Hey, isn’t your other song about lips?”

“It takes a long time to write songs! She probably had this in the drafts way before she heard my songs,” he waved it off. He felt his cheeks heating up at the growing hope that she really did write a song about him.

“Yeah, but it took us literally a day to write ‘Touch’,” Zoey countered.

“Well, Mira’s not really a songwriter,” Romance replied defensively. “I mean, this is a wonderful song, and I would never doubt her, but I don’t really think that she could write a song in a few days.”

“Hmm…” The youngest squinted at him.

“ꜱᴏᴅᴀ ᴘᴏᴘ, ꜱᴏᴅᴀ ᴘᴏᴘ, ʙᴀʙʏ, ʜᴇʀᴇ ɪ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ, ꜱᴛʀᴀɪɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏ ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ~”

Romance swallowed, “Okay, this is getting a little awkward….”

“We’ll just ask her later,” Rumi sighed. “And, besides, you promised to tell me more about Jinu.”

“What? I didn’t promise that–” Before he could finish his sentence, the violet-haired woman knocked him in the ribs. He groaned, “Well, Jinu-ssi was very private about his life. I wasn’t as close to him as Abby was, so I don’t have too much to say.”

“Did he ever mention me?” The girl with the braid asked hopefully, completely out of character for her.

“…Not that I know of?” He took a step back. “But it was obvious he liked you, if that’s what you’re trying to get at.”

Zoey gasped as she shook her unnie, “He liked you!”

Rumi felt herself smile for a moment, but that happiness began to melt away as she remembered that he was gone…

– 🍬🍒🌶️ –

Rumi and Zoey were silently sitting on the couch when Mira came home.

The redhead sighed, “I’m guessing you both heard the song?”

“How could we not? Everyone in the city was listening to it,” Rumi replied. “We’re proud of you, yeah, but you could have let us in.”

“You’re one to talk,” Mira huffed.

The youngest quickly butt in, “Guys, please don’t fight again, seriously. I’m tired of it.”

“I’m not trying to pick a fight,” the purple-haired woman glanced at Zoey, “and I know I wasn’t the best friend in the past, but I thought we were all over this ‘secret’ thing. I never thought you would pull a stunt like this, Mira. I’m just a little disappointed.”

“‘Disappointed’? Who are you? My mom?” She tensed up.

“You don’t mean that, Mi,” Rumi shook her head. “Why don’t you take some deep breaths and we can come back to this later?”

The tallest woman raised her brows, “Don’t therapy talk me right now!”

The eldest closed her eyes, “I’m just trying to help. I just don’t want to fight in front of Zoey again.”

“Thank you!” The brunette threw her hands up at someone finally listening to her.

Mira clenched her jaw, “Fine. Later.”

– 🍬🍒🌶️ –

But that later never came. Not really. With all the preparations for their live performance of “Touch” coming up, and all of their interviews about it, they never found that time to properly talk about it. It was okay, though, things weren’t as tense between them all anymore.

Bobby brought them all drinks into their dressing room, “Here you go, girls! I have to be quick, because I don’t want Romance’s drink to get cold either.”

“Thanks, Bobby!” Huntrix replied in unison.

The rose-colored hair boy was already in his place on stage. The girls’ manager came up to him and handed him an iced americano, “Here you go!”

“Oh. Thank you, s- Bobby. You didn’t have to do this,” Romance said awkwardly.

The older man shook his head and waved him off as he started heading backstage once more, “It was no problem!”

Once he was sure the man was gone, Romance handed the drink to Baby. The turquoise-haired boy happily accepted it, “Are we any closer to getting Hyung and Zey back?”

“Soon, Woo, soon,” Baekho shook off the pre-show jitters.

They headed backstage once more, so Romance could touch up his makeup. He was inside of his dressing room while Baby waited outside, sipping on the coffee.

Rumi soon popped in, “People are starting to come in– You don’t have a makeup artist?”

“Not in the budget,” the man answered as he was doing his eyeliner.

“We could’ve paid for it no problem,” the girl shook her head with a sigh. She came up to him and took the liner pen, “Let me help with that.”

“Oh. Thanks,” Romance said as she easily made small, even wings.

“I love doing eyeliner art on myself,” she explained lightly with a smile. “I was never able to do it with the girls until recently, separate dressing rooms and all.”

“Really? Why– oh, the marks. Right,” he sighed. “I get it.”

“You do?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she capped the liner and set it back onto his dressing table.

“Yeah, I–” He hesitated. “Nevermind. Some other time.”

“Guys, c’mon. Show’s starting,” a monotone voice said from the door. It was Mira. How long had she been standing there…?

When the girls came out onto stage, everyone screamed with excitement. The music started and everything was going smoothly, until Romance came out and he started singing his part. Yes, his choreographic timing was great, and he was hitting all of his notes–

Until he spotted a red-haired girl in the audience.

No, not pink-ish red like Mira’s. Dark red. Sinister. Stained. Bloody. It made the man freeze up. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He dropped his mic as fear began to consume him. His entire body locked up, when inside he was screaming at himself to pick up where he left off. But he couldn’t.

He took a step back. He blinked, but she was still there. Sitting there. Watching him. His throat closed up.

Huntrix had been around him the whole time, lightly shaking him, asking him what was wrong, trying to coax him into breathing properly. But nothing. It was like he didn’t even know they were there. It was like he was stuck in a dark pit, consisting of just him, that woman, and darkness.

Baby, backstage, had been squinting to try and see what his friend was looking at. When he caught sight of the family woman, he bolted onto stage. He pried the girls off of Romance, “We need to go.”

The younger boy ushered the frozen man out of the spotlight and into the dressing room.

“Inari,” Baekho managed to squeeze out of his throat.

“I know,” Min-woo swallowed. “Don’t worry, we’re going home.”

– 🍑🍭 –

Romance and Baby were silent for a while as they walked home.

“How did she even find me…?” The pink-haired male whispered to himself.

“She didn’t find you, you’re popular, aren’t you? She’s probably just attending the show like any other fan,” Baby reassured him.

“Maybe. But she’s not dumb. We still look the same as before,” Romance shook his head. “Just different hair colors.”

The younger one sighed, “Don’t worry about it too much. We’re demons now. She’s got nothing on us anymore.”

“I wouldn’t be so su…” Baekho paused his movements, stopping his friend too. “Wait.”

“What?” Min-woo whispered.

The man glanced around, “I feel like there’s someone watching us.”

The other’s teal eyebrows furrowed as he looked behind them. There was a light gray Sapsali trailing them, “It’s just a dog, Hyung.”

Sighing, Romance shook off his weird feelings, “My mind is a mess today. I need a drink.”

As they continued walking, Baby held his older friend’s arm, “Hyung, we talked about this.” He tried to pull Romance back to the house instead of the route to the convenience store, “Please, just sleep it off.”

Romance felt the dog’s fur on his calf as it passed him, when he stopped to tear his arm from the younger boy, “I’m an adult. I can drink when I want.”

“But that doesn’t mean you should!” Min-woo argued.

“Don’t pick fights with me, Woo,” Baeko shot back.

Even as he swallowed, the boy pressed on, “Please. Be a responsible adult for me just for this one night. Let me rest easy.”

Romance pinched the bridge of his nose, “Just this once. But never ask this of me again.”

When they got home, they found their door unlocked.

“Fucking wonderful,” the rose-haired boy muttered under his breath as he quickly pushed inside. A purple undertone glowed under his skin. His nails grew more claw-like as his now-yellow eyes scanned the area, “Stay outside, Woo.”

Baby begrudgingly complied.

The pink demon flicked on the lights as he heard a rustle. Instead of the woman he expected, it was…

Mystery.

– 💭 –

Little 7-year-old Baekho skipped around the park. His mom had dropped him off there and went to get a manipedi. He smiled as he noticed two other boys sitting on a bench. One was about his age, the other looked to be a few years younger with a lollipop in his mouth.

His hair bounced as he made his way over to the other boy, “Hi, I’m Baekho!”

One of the boys glanced around and pointed towards himself, as if he was unsure if this hyper boy was talking to him. When Baekho nodded, the kid mumbled, “My name is Min-ki, and this is my baby brother, Min-woo….”

“I’m not a baby!” The younger kid whined, taking the candy out of his mouth.

Baekho giggled, “Well, hi Min-ki and Min-woo! Let’s play together!”

– 🍬🍒🌶️ –

“I knew you were falling for this one too,” Mira murmured sarcastically as Huntrix got back to the penthouse.

“What?” Rumi looked at the redhead in confusion.

The other girl sighed, “I saw you and him earlier. In his dressing room. You guys looked close.”

“Well, we’re friends. But it wasn’t like that. I still like Ji–” She didn’t even have a chance to finish her sentence.

“Jinu is dead!” Mira hissed.

The purple-haired girl stood there in shock. She blinked, “Mi.. I- I know, but…– I–”

She shook her head and just walked away, heading to her room. Just when she was beginning to come out of her slump, she retreated back to her shell.

Zoey whispered, “Mira… that was mean, even for you. She knows he’s gone. But she can’t control her feelings.”

The defensive woman scoffed, “So, what? She shouldn’t have fallen for him anyway. If she didn’t entertain him in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“He understood her…–” The brunette tried to explain.

“Just shut up! Don’t fight Rumi’s battles for her,” the former spat out without realizing it.

Blinking back tears, Zoey stood there, dumbfounded.

– 💭 –

“She’s going to America with me!” Her father yelled.

“No, she is not!” Her mother screamed right back.

“She will have much better education and career options in America! I’m doing this for her future!” He argued.

“And how exactly is she going to get that ‘better’ education if she can’t even speak their language? She’s going to get bullied for being Asian! You’ve heard the stories!” She shot right back. “It’s safer for her here! We have family here!”

He scoffed, “She’s a big girl, she can take care of herself just fine!”

Four-year-old Zoey sat on the floor of her room, holding back her small sniffles. She listened to the Sunlight Sister’s old songs as she colored in the turtles of her ocean coloring book sadly. She didn’t want to leave Korea. She had friends here.

She then picked up some colored pencils and drew a girl with a teal one, and a boy with the purple one. She labelled the girl “mɘ” and the boy “minniɘ”. She titled the drawing on the margin of her page “FRiƎNDƧ ♡”.

OMG YES!!! I GOT THE CHAPTER FINISHED WELL BEFORE THE EVENING!!! ik last time i posted a chapter i said “i hope it wont take a month before i post the next part” and it ended up being… like four months lmao… haha.. im gonna try not to do that next time, but i dont think i can promise that after everything. please bear with me. im in the last quarter of my school year, which is when im the busiest, so we’ll see if im even gonna be able to get a chapter out before summer starts :( i sure will try tho!! (for real this time). but HUZZAH everyone, we are officially 25% through the fanfic! the plot is just gonna get much crazier from here ;) sending lots of luvs <3

Chapters: 27/?
Fandom: KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mira/Rumi/Zoey (KPop Demon Hunters), Celine & Rumi (KPop Demon Hunters)
Characters: Mira (KPop Demon Hunters), Rumi (KPop Demon Hunters), Zoey (KPop Demon Hunters), Celine (KPop Demon Hunters)
Additional Tags: Drabble, Sparring, Sparring as Flirting, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Self-Reflection, Metaphors, Drabble Collection, Music, Romantic Fluff, Honmoon Lore (KPop Demon Hunters), Fluff, Romance, Affection, Lovergirl Mira (KPop Demon Hunters), Soft Rumi (KPop Demon Hunters), Soft Zoey (KPop Demon Hunters), Soft Mira (KPop Demon Hunters), Pets, Pre-Debut Huntrix (KPop Demon Hunters), Pre-Canon, Ryu Miyeong | Rumi’s Mother Haunts The Narrative, Kissing, Grief/Mourning, Complicated Parent Celine (KPop Demon Hunters), Mild Blood, Soulmates
Series: Part 34 of Tracing Patterns, Part 21 of Soul Song
Summary:

For those moments between.

Nightmares

hey anon! this was lovely to think about - though i’m realizing belatedly that i didn’t really talk much about the hunter aspect oops - hope it’s still okay!

It’s not that Mira doesn’t like birthdays -she loves celebrating Zoey’s with all her excitement and joy, loves too celebrating Rumi in her quiet surprise- Mira just doesn’t really like her own.

She doesn’t tell the girls her birthday when they first meet -even though it was one of the first things Zoey had offered- and had managed to go for several years keeping the date under wraps. It’s not until they’re about to debut that the others find out - them and the public at large. The profiles they submit to the company have their birthdays and more: height, weight, blood type, siblings (though the others had left that last one blank in solidarity; Mira’s thanks had been in the form of a huff and buying them boba), even sleeping habits.

Mira knows that they know, tells them bluntly over breakfast a few weeks before that she doesn’t want to celebrate it. Zoey and Rumi exchange glances but they eventually nod and Rumi continues going over their schedule for the week.

When the day finally comes, Mira half-expects them to go back on their word - because why not? Everyone else did. Why would they listen to a request so absurd?

But no one mentions the day’s significance. At least, not in words. Rumi greets her in the morning with her customary cup of coffee, but also casually makes one of Mira’s favorites for breakfast (it’s anything but casual, actually - Mira spends the whole time watching Rumi cook, smirking at the furrow in Rumi’s brow, her stubborn insistence that she can do it herself; it turns out all the more sweeter even though the meat comes out slightly charred).

Zoey gives her an extra long ‘good morning’ hug that Mira tolerates with a roll of her eyes, but she finds she doesn’t mind. Not when they gently put her in the middle in the car or their cuddle pile in between takes; that they just so happen to have a pair of glittering accessories she’d been eyeing on their last shopping trip, waiting in their dressing rooms; when they handfeed her her favorite snacks; when they find some reason to always hold her hands.

It’s a surprise, to Mira most of all, that she doesn’t mind it, these small reminders of kindness; these reminders of how far she’s already let them in.

Night has long since fallen when they finally made it back home, and it’s likely mere minutes until tomorrow when Zoey tugs on Mira’s sleeve and asks, “Did you have a good - day?”

Mira doesn’t mention the stutter, though she finds it makes a warmth bloom in her chest, having evidence of their care - their thoughtful words, their careful hands, their wide, adoring eyes.

“Yes,” Mira answers honestly, because that’s all she ever is with them. “It was one of the best days I’ve ever had.”

Somehow they end up in a three-way hug, tangled in warmth and giggles and sighs. “We’re gonna give you even more great days,” Zoey vows, her words muffled against Mira’s chest.

“Not just for your birthday,” Rumi continues, just below Mira’s ear; Mira sighs into their embrace, tightens in response as Rumi finishes, “But because you deserve it always.”

Gunha’s Battle Scars

Without looking, the pads of his fingers brushed the contracture scars that ran up his arm, miles of smooth, raised pinkish color scar tissue. He found his reflection in the mirror - the scars wrapped up his arm, over his shoulder and down his back, huge tendrils of broken skin.

-Take Me Back to Eden: Chapter 78

Thank you to everyone who filled out the interest check! The Polytrix Reverse Big Bang info doc should be ready soon, so expect to see us again in a few days 💃‼️

And for those who submitted questions, we’ll answer those below! ⬇️

Yes, OCs are allowed as long as Polytrix is still the main focus of the work!

As long as you have a discord (and AO3 if you’re a writer), then you can participate!

The minimum word count will be 5,000 words for PRBB fics.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll be writing Rujinu or a Saja Boys-centric work, since this event is centered around Polytrix.

In addition, writers will be ranking which artists’ ideas they’re most interested in writing for, so you definitely get to voice your preference!

We do not have issues with omegaverse, as long as 1.) the portrayal of the characters aren’t bigoted/fetishized and 2.) any trans headcanons are properly labeled in the final work.

We don’t tolerate harassment in the PBB, but we won’t tolerate discrimination/bigotry either.

It’s the Oscars, and one upon a time all 3 of us were obsessed with Kpop at the same time, so you KNOW we had to watch this sooner or later

Commentary for KPop Demon Hunters

One time I played Legend of Zelda for 10 hours streight trying to beat BOTW with a random weapon chosen by a wheel, and only that weapon

So many fanfic…

Just so much

And online books

And 30 tabs of just recipes and one of which that is an amazon tab with a thing I want for my birthday as a little hint for him

Then there’s a sims 4 thing open where i put random characters from my favorite tv shows into diffrent households and the towns are seperated by the tv show it fits the best, and it is HEAVILY moded

A guied on how to use LOZ bugs legally inchallenge runs

A playlist of minecraft music

And my oprah gx browser, where I do all my work, that is LGIO themed and has only 2 tabs open, surprisingly

Then a few tabs open where I window shop for things I know I don’t need and look at baby stuff for when out egg eventually hatches or if we have another one.

That’s all!

@bobbydamanager1

You ever just write the most emotionally devastating scene in your life, but you can’t share it because it’s +230k words deep into a self-indulgent kpdh omegaverse fanfic?

If I wasn’t a coward about a fic with an OC, I’d post it just because of the scene alone. My version of Celine is kind of out of left field, but her meeting with Rumi’s father, who she is personally responsible for his living hell? God, it hurts real good.

Gonna take a walk or something, fucking hell. I need to work on my Star Wars AU, but this scene has been stuck in my head for WEEKS and I needed it out.

Rambling complete.

DTIYS/WTIYS here! Thank you @/sleepykai32 on X for this beautiful art! Want to join? Draw your own version of this piece or write a scene based on it, and either reblog this post with it or @ us when posting it! We look forward to seeing what you create from this fantastic work!

(Ooc: im bored so poll time again)

hi! luke leia and han as thjs image i dont make the rules

(Ooc: cause I find the irony funny of the name, ive decided ha-eun’s late daughter’s name (well her preferred name) was Su-jin which translates into long life span/precious or rare)

Imagination monster 19

Chapter 19

Summary: Back to action

Rumi walked down the shopping district with soyeon by her side. Bags were in both of their hands. Mostly from designer brands. Soyeon used telekinesis to make some of their bags float.

Rumi urged her not to use it out in public. But soyeon had a mischievous streak to her. None of the people paid any mind. They were either busy looking for the next drop or talking amongst themselves. Rumi just didn’t want them to draw attention.

Then everything stood still. This made soyeon drop the bags. Rumi saw that everyone didn’t move. She walked up to a woman who was on her phone. She waved a hand in the woman’s face. There was no reaction from the frozen woman. 

“They can’t be here?” soyeon said. 

“Who?”

The ground underneath them vibrated. Rumi was expecting to see tears in the honmoon. But there was none. “It’s here.”

The ground began to shake. A large hand bust through the ground. Rumi and soyeon watched a red and blue woman tear herself from the ground. Soyeon summoned her hwando, I know I can’t purify that well but I’ll try not to fail. 

Rumi’s saingeom appeared in her hand. She gripped the hilt of it. “Rumi, this is a remnant. This is the monster I was talking about.”
The large woman stared down at them. The two looked back at it. 

Before they could attack. The creature snapped its hand. Rumi was back on Jeju but this time, she was her adult self. “How?”

She went outside her room. The hallway was just like how it always was. Then Rumi heard sobs down the hall.

These sounded like Celine’s. Rumi slid the door open. She saw bottles of different alcohols laying next to Celine. Celine’s head hung off the bed and her body laid stiff. Rumi wanted to know if Celine was still alive. Her black hair covered her face.

“Cece.” Rumi said. This woke Celine up. The woman’s body jolted up. The woman muttered something under her breath. 

“Celine, are you okay?” Rumi bothered her.
“Why did I end up with you?” Celine was her ‘normal’ self. 

Rumi was used to this celine. The cold one, who rather not be sober at times. She grew up with this celine. The one who would come home reeking of alcohol. But this didn’t feel like her celine.

Usually Celine would hide her drunkenness and give rumi a hug. 

“Cece, you smell weird?” as a child she would say.

“It’s nothing,” Celine would lie. Then she would hug Rumi. The young Rumi just thought Celine was being nice. But the smell still seeped from her pores.

This celine was raggy. Her hair was way too long. Rumi felt uneasy around her, “Celine, why are your fingernails sharp?”
Celine hid her fingers. Rumi began to notice the room around them was warping. The walls turned into blue swirls. 

Below their feet, they stood in red liquid. The celine in front of Rumi turned into a fleshy creature. Sharp horns split through its head. She couldn’t make sense of the creature in front of her. She did know, she wasn’t letting it get near. 

The creature rushed at Rumi. The woman jumped over the creature. Then it ran at her like a bull, using its horns. The creature was going to skewer rumi. Rumi pulled out her sword. The horns were going to pierce her but its head ran into her weapon.

Green liquid splurted on to rumi. Its smell made her gag. Her clothes were covered in it. If this is what soyeon has to deal with, forget it. I’ll stick to my demons. Rumi was repulsed by the deceased creature. 

Her childhood home was now a labyrinth of red and blue mixed together to make a hazy purple. Even belongings floated around. The only thing that was on Rumi’s mind was leaving and finding soyeon. 

Rumi walked past a scene from her memories. It was when her and mira beat up a demon that tried to turn a group of aunties into brunch. One where zoey was making ‘beats’ on the computer. Then another one, where all of them were doing their battle cries. This made her laugh. Good times, then rumi walked into something. She saw what was in her way. 

“No…” she backed away. What blocked Rumi’s path was no other than.

“Jinu.” The name rolled off her tongue. The man had a grin on his face. 

“Rumi, you’re okay.” He tried to hug her but Rumi retracted. Then he felt hurt. 

“Look, I’m sorry.” he was trying to be smooth. Rumi wouldn’t fall for his tricks.

Jinu approached her closely but Rumi kept moving away. “I get, I hurt you but I want us to try again.”

“Try again? So you can feel better for yourself.” she remarked.

“Rumi, you’re no angel either. You kept Mira and Zoey in the dark. For your own needs. If anything, me and you are the same,” Jinu smirked.

Then he came close to her in earshot, “You almost consumed zoey and your little soyeon, cause you let those urges get the best of you.”

This had sent the fire inside of Rumi ablaze, “what was that?”

Jinu just laughed, “I guess we are the same. We both want to consume the souls of others. You’re the same cold-hearted demon like me.”

Jinu turned his back to Rumi, “Plus where is that little girl? Cause I know she’s always on your mind.” 

Then he looked down to see her saingeom was through his stomach. He hacked out the same liquid the bull creature spewed. A fake jinu? Rumi looks back on her conversation with soyeon. “They feed off your mind, so be wary of their mind games.”

Why did he feel real? These creatures were not like her typical demons. If they resulted in things such as this. How were maidens able to deal with them? She felt for soyeon and the others.

Rumi couldn’t stand here and think about other things. She had to keep moving. Rumi stepped over the fake jinu like he was just rubbish in her way. 

“I have to find her and leave.” Rumi chanted. 

Soyeon opened her eyes. Her father was by her side. His medium length black hair with his white back. His easy brown eyes. He had a smile on his face. Jeon’s smile was usually reserved for his family. People at the office and enemies never saw this smile. Only his businessman look. 

“Dad?” soyeon called.

“You’ve been knocked out for some time.” He stroked his daughter’s hair. Soyeon held on to his hand. She missed how it felt. His hands were of a wealthy man’s and sometimes they felt like a warrior’s hand. Jeon would always keep his hands clean.

He never wanted to touch his wife and daughter with dirty hands. Soyeon relished this. “Soyeon, you’re usually not like this. What’s wrong?”

Soyeon saw that she was a child. No more than the age of four. “I missed you.”

“Little one, I make sure I come home every day to see you and your mother. My love for you two keeps me going.”

These were the words that he always would tell them. Soyeon wished he held himself to his word. The child hugged her father. Jeon reciprocated. “Let’s go inside. I don’t want you to melt.” Her father joked. 

He picked his child up and went into the house. He placed the tiny soyeon down. The man was dressed in his usual business suit, the typical black. He came back with a cup of juice. Soyeon drank it. The sweet juice quenched her thirst. 

Her father sat next to her, “soyeon, who’s Rumi?”

How does he know who Rumi is? Soyeon was bewildered.
“I just want to know?” his tone was raised. 

Soyeon realized that she was back in her early twenties. And the jeon that sat next to her, had a warped smile. 

He bared his teeth at her and his body began to snap into a pink and blue slug. Horns came out of his back and two eyestalks were like rabbit ears. Soyeon’s hwando were in her hands. She didn’t even call it to her.

The couch they sat on was nothing but a hard rock bench. A roar tore from the creature. Soyeon just was still. I can’t hurt him, Her mind was working against her. She hesitated at first. If I don’t deal with it. It’ll maturate outside of the domain. Soyeon hated when remnants did this. Why use her missing father against her.

She gripped the sword in her hand. Yet, she didn’t want to face the creature before her. “It’s not him.” she repeated. When the rabbit’s ears twitched, it felt like the quirk he had.

It’s not your father, soyeon’s blade glowed blue. The creature slithered towards her. It was moving fast. Soyeon hesitated and the creature’s tail flung her. She let out a painful hiss but got back up. She rushed at the slimy thing. But it whipped its body back. Soyeon tripped over. 

She didn’t let her body hit the ground. The slug-like creature tried to snatch her little body. But soyeon moved out of the way. Why can’t I lay a hit on it? Soyeon still felt the creature was him. 

When the creature turned part of its body, soyeon sliced across its midsection. The remnant howled in pain. Soyeon winced a bit, “what.”

Red liquid oozes from its cut. Soyeon had weakened her enemy. That meant she had to begin the purification process. This daunted soyeon, She had no second maiden. Only a missing hunter, she loved. How could she do it without wasting her body’s energy? 

Soyeon wished peraline was by her side or at least ruri. Doing this would kill her but she couldn’t let the remnant blight the world. 

She began to sing, her breath was shaky. Her hands trembled but she stilled them. The light inside of her began to radiate outside of her. 

Rumi heard her voice, “soyeon!”
She had to follow it. Rumi saw blue light shining underneath the gap to the door. Maybe that’s where soyeon was. 

Soyeon continued her song and her hand turned blue. Light emitted itself from her palm. The tips of her hair turned lighter. Her body began to sting from it. She felt it everywhere but she had to continue. Failure would result in the destruction of life.

It was a maiden’s duty to make sure harmonic balance was restored. Any slip up and the world would begin to wilt. Soyeon and others who took on this oath would never let this happen. Or their loved ones would suffer at the hands of these fiends.

The light expelled itself from her body and burned the remnant. The skin of it began to melt revealing red flesh underneath. Its skin curled and more of its blood leaked. Soyeon let out her last breath, which she prayed she never would do. Maybe death is where she wouldn’t have to think hard of keeping people safe.

Maybe she was destined to die. Soyeon smiled as the light engulfed her. Rumi pushed through the door. She saw the creature that was set ablaze and the comatosed soyeon.
“Soyeon!” she screamed. Rumi sprints to her. She picked up soyeon. She checked her breathing and her pulse. 

Soyeon was out cold. Rumi sighed in relief when she got an answer. 

Now how would they get out of here? Soyeon felt her embrace and woke up to a battered rumi. Her braid had strands of her poking out. Rumi was covered in liquid, that soyeon was happy she couldn’t smell. 

“You’re okay.” Rumi gleamed.
Soyeon couldn’t let her body give out. She had to continue fighting this battle. To ensure a future for others. That was a maiden’s job.

Her body ached as she tried to get out of Rumi’s arms. But she stumbled and Rumi caught her. “Don’t strain yourself.” Rumi said.
“Are you going to carry me?” soyeon asked.

“Yes, my little princess.” Rumi sang.

If soyeon wasn’t in so much pain, she would wallop rumi. But she found it kinda cute, “alright then.”
Rumi carried soyeon, she’s so light. They walked down a path. Light was nowhere to be found, unless you counted rumi and soyeon. As Rumi’s patterns were the only source of light. 

“And you’re a flashlight too.” soyeon jest.
“I discovered this ability before when the power went out.”

What can this woman not do? Probably not restrain herself from gouging on food. 

Rumi heard something. It sounded like large footsteps. Rumi clutched soyeon tightly, “rumi?”

Then it came at them. Rumi hovered over the creature with soyeon in her arms. She wouldn’t drop her mentee. The creature looked similar to a wolf. It was horned and covered in red liquid. What dangled from its mouth were innards.

Rumi wanted to barf at the sight, “How do you guys put up with these things.”

“We don’t, that’s why we kill them.”

Rumi knew soyeon was handicapped, as fighting it with a weakened maiden would be futile.

“You can put me down, I can manage to fight it.” soyeon told her. Rumi didn’t believe her, “what if you.”
Soyeon hated to be babied. “Just put me down.” soyeon ordered. Rumi respected her wishes. Once her feet touched the ground, pain shot through her. This would demoralize her but yet she still stood ten toes down. Soyeon looked at her opponent. The wolf circled her and Rumi. Rumi already had her saingeom out and soyeon summoned Icicles. She sent them towards the wolf but it dodged them. 

The wolf tried to bite Rumi but she swung her sword hitting the creature. Rumi thought she landed a hit on it. But not even a scrape. “Is this thing made out of steel?”
Soyeon kept throwing frosted projectiles. The wolf scampered away from them.

This angered both Rumi and soyeon. The two sent fury towards the unstoppable canine. Rumi sliced at it and soyeon threw an orb of light towards it. The creature whimpered as both women. Sent pain its way. Rumi punched it and soyeon kicked it. The women played a game of who would attack first.

Obviously rumi was more feral than the poised soyeon. Soyeon even heard her growl a bit. This was probably because rumi had her demonic feline tendencies. And these were giving said tendencies, their gratification. Soyeon giggled at her partner. 

Rumi threw the creature at the hard wall. Soyeon froze the creature to the wall. Rumi stuck her sword through its stomach. Soyeon snapped her fingers and light burned the creature. It whined but its whines were reminiscent of a man’s.

Rumi’s expression turned to fear but soyeon placed her hand on shoulder. “It does that to get in your head. It’ll use the screams of others for its advantage.” Soyeon’s body began to buckle and she almost dropped to her knees. Good thing, Rumi was by her side. 

“Let’s get out of here.” Rumi decreed. Soyeon nodded in agreement. Her body couldn’t take another fight. 

Soyeon noticed the sweat that trailed down from Rumi’s forehead. Soyeon found it attractive. Maybe she didn’t mind rumi carrying her. At least she was up close and personal with her. 

The two women made it pretty far down the path. Things just still resembled the same. “Soyeon?”
“Yes.”

“Do you know how to get out of here?” as rumi was lost. 

“When the main remnant is destroyed. The domain is supposed to go alongside it. Unless, that wasn’t the main.” soyeon prattled.
Rumi just wanted to get out of her stained clothes and be back with the rest of huntrix. Her only objective was to find soyeon and leave the domain. She wanted to gnaw on Zoey’s chips and talk to mira about god knows what. Being with soyeon made her happy but being in this domain? Rumi hated every second of it. The area was so disorienting and why were they being attacked by animals? Rumi didn’t want to hurt any more. 

But she knew it was going to make a meal out of her and soyeon. So, she let her survival senses take over. Being a half-demon meant that sometimes her morals could range from good or to dubious. But rumi thought protecting you and the one you loved was okay. So fighting the wolf didn’t put herself at odds. 

That creature wasn’t an animal at all. How could it be? It didn’t resemble any creature Rumi had seen. Now this domain was getting to her. The silence was starting to play tricks with her mind. So she interrupted, “soyeon, what are you planning to do after this?”
“I’m going to shower and probably rest. You?”
“Just going to hang out with my girls.”

Soyeon did feel disheartened. As she and her friend weren’t on good terms. She wanted to talk to peraline. But she felt it wasn’t the right time. Then Rumi brought her up, “how are you and peraline doing?”

“I haven’t spoken to her yet. I don’t think she wants to talk to me.” soyeon said.
Quitting a group that both strived to be in. Of course that would hurt someone.

Rumi recalled from zoey that peraline was distraught as well. But something was also different about zoey. Her hair and everything was a mess. Rumi didn’t want to pry in her maknae’s business. But she smelt perfume on Zoey and Zoey never wore that scent before. 

The two got tired and they rested against a tree that had ribbons and sigils swaying from it. “How did that get here?” Rumi asked.

“It pulls things from your mind. You think we’re in Jeju but we’re not.” soyeon reiterated.

Soyeon felt her pain subsized. She still could feel it in her bones but she felt a little better. 

“Unnie, did anything happen when we separated?” soyeon checked in. 

Rumi told her about how she fought a creature that was Celine.

“It made you fight your mother?” these words almost sent rumi into a frenzy but she couldn’t let it ruffle her. 

“Yes.” Rumi replied. 

“Well mine made me fight my father.” soyeon confessed. 

Soyeon was persuaded that her father was still there. That everything that had happened to her in her life was just a nightmare. But no, this was the painful reality she grew to hate. One where her beloved father was gone and where her body held her back from her potential.

She had to give the remnant’s credit. Playing with things that were dear to her to drag her in was classic. Soyeon was pleased when she thought she would live her life in an illusion.

Rumi said, “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. That’s what these wretched things do.” Soyeon let out a sigh.

Rumi did see her old love Jinu, but why bring him up when she was with soyeon. Rumi didn’t feel happy to see Jinu at all. That made things for her bizarre. He was near her and yet, Rumi felt nothing for him. No sudden happiness and her love. Just indifference. She did stab him. Then she felt like a weight was lifted. 

Rumi wasn’t a part of him and he wasn’t a part of her. That heaviness that Jinu carried with him. Prevented rumi from feeling anything else other than heartbroken. But being able to face him. These feelings had dissipated. Did she sever her connection from Jinu? She felt delighted.

She looked at soyeon. The girl’s hair was all crazy but Rumi liked that about soyeon. And the fact soyeon was a bit stubborn like her. But she loved Soyeon’s selflessness. However, Rumi wondered if this put a whole lot on soyeon. She didn’t want soyeon to be burdened with things.

“Unnie, what are you and Celine’s relationship like?” soyeon had this in the back of mind for a while. 

Rumi was silent and then she had to find the words. “She is a mother but I just don’t like to think of her as one.”

“My mother wasn’t the best towards me either but I love her.” soyeon stated.

How could someone love a mother who didn’t view them as a person.

“Does yours teach you shame?”

“No.”
“Then why are you asking me this question?” Rumi was a little rough.

“I just thought after facing that remnant. It scared you.”

“Soyeon, I felt cathartic when I shoved my sword through its head. If anything it made me feel…” Rumi didn’t know what she was saying. 

Seeing Celine in that state would always break her heart. When she was a child she never understood why Celine wasn’t sober. But as she grew older, she began to realize the reason she was drunk. It was because of her.

Rumi would go through Celine’s things. She was quite the noisy child. Then she found a photo of her mother and Celine at some place. It looked like a social club. Then she found a light blue book. Rumi remembered from her home school lesson, on how to read. 

“Maybe, I should read this. Cece did say reading is fundamental.” Rumi said. 

When she opened the book. All the pages were dated in years. From the 1990s to the early 2000s.

Rumi found a page that was dated 2003, she started on the page. 

“This child has patterns and she can vanish. This was quite the discovery but it’ll be hard keeping her down. Should I put another sigil on her back?”

Then went to the other page, “I’m trying to see if this child has demon urges. Rumi doesn’t seem to want to feed on souls, this is a blessing. Prefers human food.”

Rumi was confused, “I do like food.”

Then the page in the book goes back to 2001. “How could she take on this? Why mi-yeong? Why did you want to be with him? He’s a demon. Now you’re going to let this baby destroy you from the inside. I told you to nip this one in the bud.” 

The pages began to get worse. Celine wrote her feelings towards Rumi. “Why am I left with this creature? How could someone want to unionize with a demon? Then leave this burden on me. I know I told her when she died, I would take on her child. But I should’ve just dropped her off at the local orphanage. However, that would be unfair to the orphanage.”

The child began to sniff and tears clouded her vision. Rumi read another page, as she couldn’t tear her eyes from the diary. “I hate that I decided to take on this role of a mother. Why mother an abomination? My bandmate spoke to me. I know Mi-yeong’s death hit us hard and I can understand why she feels this way-” before Rumi could read the rest. Celine stood above her.

“Rumi, what are you doing here?” Celine’s voice was loud. The child dropped the book and dashed out of her room. Celine saw that she was in her things and the diary was opened. 

“Rumi!” she yelled.

In the present, soyeon was now informed. “That’s how she feels towards you?”
Rumi nodded. Soyeon wanted to strangle Celine for making Rumi feel this way. How could you treat your own daughter like that? But Rumi felt the same way towards Soyeon’s mother too.

“You want me to not hold animosity towards Celine in that way but yet your own mother is cold towards you.” Rumi snickered

This made soyeon angry, “My mother loves me.”

“Soyeon, your mother literally only cared for her needs. She never once thought about how you felt. Well that’s what you told me.” Rumi was only stating what she had heard from soyeon.

“So we both have shitty mothers, huh.” soyeon grunted. 

“I guess we’re in the same boat. Self-serving women who only care about how they feel.” Rumi couldn’t hold back her laughter. This girl is so much like me, it makes no sense.

Soyeon was irritated by Rumi’s attitude, “You don’t even know her.”

“And you don’t even know Celine but yet you act like she’s nice. Is it because you two cooked together? Soyeon, she just does things like that. It’s just pr.”
The two were not liking what the other had to say. Soyeon said, “I don’t think she’s nice for how she treated you.”

“Don’t try to change your tune now, little girl.” Rumi insulted her.

Author’s note: I wanted to go into depth with celine’s relationship with rumi.

Take Me Back to Eden: Chapter 27

Take Me Back To Eden - Chapter 27 - shewolfspirit - KPop Demon Hunters (2025) [Archive of Our Own]

Summary: Jinu navigates his attraction to Abby and Romance

Jinu vaulted up, pulling himself onto the roof of the dilapidated shrine, a structure held together by vines and moss, grateful to finally free of the mud and still water. At least now my clothes have a chance to dry. He looked around, noting the layers of chipped tiles and exposed rotten beams breaking through like teeth. He sat down, reclining against one of the exposed  pillars. He kicked out of his shoes before stretching his long legs out in front of him, ankles crossed. He wrinkled his nose - thick, foul-smelling mud the reeked of wet death and bits of moss and grass stuck to his legs from their trek in this goddamn swamp. And it was cold, draining the heat from his body and he shivered. 

Abby and Romance weren’t much better, but he’d been ignoring them for the past few hours. Because this miserable trek was their goddamn fault. Because he’d let them convince him it was good idea. 

He pulled out an apple he’d traded away too much for, taking a bite, while steadfastly ignoring caterwauling of his red-headed friend still on the ground. 

“Come on, Jinu,” Abby whined, “Trust me!" 

"Uh-huh. Sure.” Jinu took another annoyed bite, trying not to imagine it was Abby’s throat under his teeth instead to take out his aggression on.  “Why? You’ve had us walking in this godforsaken quagmire for three days.”

A scramble of claws as Romance hauled himself up on the other side of the beam, where he settled cross-legged. Both of them stared down at Abby, deadpan. They were all tired, irritable and snappy, having been slogging through mud, moss and swamp water, looking for some mythical black-market trader that Abby swore up and down he had connections with. But it had been an absolute clusterfuck from the get-go. 

Abby pouted, followed by the scrap of his claws as he tried to climb up. “Because it’ll be worth it! The trader has lots of things from the human world!" 

Romance glanced over to Jinu, ”…Booze included, you know. It’s been too long since I’ve had anything to drink!“ He laughed, leaning back onto his hands. ”….annnddd it’s the good stuff too.“ 

Shit, he wanted to be so goddamn annoyed. But the prospect of having a decent drink overrode that - he hadn’t had any alcohol since his last travels in the human world. ”Fine.“ he grumbled, reaching over the edge to grab Abby by the back of his coat and hauled him up. Even though the other demon was taller, he had the grace of a brick tied to a dead cat - his arms and legs flailed even though Jinu was holding him up by the scruff. "But if we don’t find it soon, I’m leaving you both to rot in this swamp.”

Not that he would mind a moment of peace - Abby and Romance hadn’t let him have a moment alone in ages. One of them was always right on top of him. 

“That’s the spirit!” Abby laughed, finally having stopped his wild scrambling to get himself onto the roof. Jinu released his grip, and he flopped down onto his back. 

Jinu settled, staring. He noted the streak of mud on Abby’s cheekbone, his eyes chasing it down the slope of his jaw, his nose. his lips - No. Stop thinking like that. Another shiver. 

Abby’s eyes flickered over to him. “You cold?" 

"No." 

"He lies.” Romance commented from the other side of the roof. 

Jinu huffed in irritation, as Abby moved and sat next to him, roof tiles clinking as he walked over. He bared his teeth as Abby swiped the apple from his hand, taking a small bite. “Fucking fine, I guess you can have it.”

Jinu side-eyed him as Abby took another bite, juice trickling down his chin. Abby met his gaze, a sly smirk on his lips as he wiped his face. What is this? His eyes flashed over to Romance, who was watching with amused curiosity, cheek resting on his knuckles. 

“You can have it back.” Abby’s hand flashed in front of his nose. Jinu looked at his face, confused. What the hell is he getting at? “But only if you eat it out of my hand.” Abby’s voice was teasing, mischievous.

Embarrassed heat crawled up Jinu’s face and he grabbed Abby's  wrist, shoving him away. The red-haired demon went tumbling towards the edge with a surprised yelp. His hands clawed at the clay tiles in a failed attempt to stop the slide and he hit the ground with a resounding thud. Jinu hadn’t intended to shove him that hard, but annoyed muttering from ground told him he was fine.

Romance chuckled at the interaction. “That’s what you get for being insufferable!" 

"Are you at least going to help me get back up?” Abby whined again, hidden by the edge of the roof.

Jinu tapped his claws on the tiles, considering. He wasn’t really going to let the Abby stay down in the mud, but he was going to let him sweat a bit first. He leaned back, arms interlaced behind his head. Maybe later. 

——-

He seems interested. If a bit hesitant. Romances voice was tinged with hope. The subject of that statement had slipped off the safety of the roof hours  ago, slinking off like a cat into the quiet of the night.

Abby hummed in response, pulling Romance closer to his chest. Was the apple thing a bit much? 

What do you think? Romance huffed a light laugh, his breath quick as he broke out into a giggling fit. He shoved you off the roof, you idiot! So, yea, I think you might’ve been coming on a bit strong. 

Abby growled, I kinda have to! Otherwise it’s like I’m trying to flirt with a wall. He tucked his head against his lover’s neck, placing a chaste kiss. I don't  want to spook him off, but I don’t think he gets it. So short of ‘hey, I’m flirting with you’, I don’t know how much more obvious I  can get. 

Romance reciprocated by picking open the buttons of his hanbok, exposing more of his chest. He pushed the edges of fabric down over his broad shoulders. Romance lowered his lips to collar bone to deliver a quick bite, before sealing his lips over it, sucking. Shit, that felt good. 

Abby groaned, his arousal already building. Horny bastard. He reached down, pushing up the tails of Romance’s coat to cup his ass. He guided his lover to rut against his hip, his erection already straining the fabric. 

Romance fisted his the  fabric of his coat, What? It’s been awhile. His breath starting coming in faster, shamelessly humping Abby’s leg.

Abby grinned, grabbing both of his hips to pull the pink-haired demon on top of him. 

Does getting cucked really get you off that much? He palmed at the tent of Romance’s pants and he moaned, sharp and endlessly needy. Does the thought of me fucking Jinu while you watch excite you? He knew he  shouldn’t be talking about their friend in this context - he’d kill them both if he ever found out - but they could both be ashamed about it later.

An image flashed in Abby’s mind, Romance’s fantasy - Jinu writhing underneath him in pleasure, his hand wrapped around his cock while Romance watched, his slim fingers working  his own erection.

“Yes…” Romance voice was small, excited and embarrassed chasing the heat of Abby’s hand.

His own moan was low, guttural as he ground up in Romance. They let their mutual pleasure flow across each other, as they leaned down to capture their lips in kiss. Romance shuddered as his orgasm crashed over him. “Sorry…” he dropped his head to Abby’s shoulder, “it's  been awhile." 

Abby’s thumbs massaged his hips, but he was already lost in thought. "It’s alright. But…we shouldn’t think of him like that. We don’t know if he’d even be interested…"  

——-

Jinu snarled in frustration, another orgasm just beyond his reach.

His entire body was on a razor’s edge, every nerve firing in double time, every muscle tense. His hands curled under the fabric of his shirt, fingers harshly pinching and tugging at his nipples, the pain shooting up his body. His back arched, breath panting. He wanted to cum so fucking  bad, and he’d been pent up for weeks. Romance and Abby hadn’t given him a moment of seclusion, short of trying to sneak  away. But even then, they had a habit of interrupting him, more often than not leaving him quickly shoving his still-hard cock back into his pants. 

Even just walking around, his cock threatened to swell with just the the slightest stimulation. 

He shoved a  hand down his pants, fisting his cock, slick with precum and he moaned.  Loud. His other hand continued to roll his nipples in his fingers, buds red  and irritated, sensitive, on fire. 

Another  orgasm crept up on him, edging himself. Shit. It’s still not ENOUGH. 

His hand dropped to his hip, cock too sensitive to continue to masturbate. That stupid bastard getting him worked up like this, shoving his hand in front of his mouth, fruit juice dripping down his attractive face, coating his lips. He had honestly considered taking a bite, just to see what his reaction would’ve been. Would he have continued to hold the  half-eaten fruit to him in offering? Would his pupils have  dilated in want as his lips grew close to his  fingers. He'd  wanted to pull that Abby to him, crush his lips against his to taste that sweet flavor. To see what he tasted like. He didn’t want to be attracted to Abby, he had to admit it. He was stupidly head-over-heels lost in lust and want for the red-haired demon. 

Mystery was quiet in his attraction, in opposition to the  aggressive way he fucked - Abby was loud, but he seemed gentle, an act of  loving instead of an act of claim. Mystery loved him too, in his own way, but they were different, polar opposites.

And Jinu wanted both. 

He relaxed back onto the one solid piece of ground he managed to find, his breath steadying. He  ground his teeth, nostrils flaring. "Shit. FUCK.” he snapped. 

——-

“So, you were telling the truth…” Jinu admitted, and honestly, a touch impressed. “I thought you were full of shit." 

Romance and Abby walked ahead of him through stacks and stacks of wooden crates, filled to the brim with goods from the human world. Everything from the utilitarian, like textiles and cloths, survival goods, quality hides and leathers, weapons. Things meant for survival….to the more exotic, more…pleasure fare. Like alcohols, fruits and spices he could only dream of, that he would’ve died never knowing even existed in his human life. Goods that Gwi-Ma would destroy them for it they were discovered - that why the dealer had been so hard to find, a nameless demon in exile that traversed the Honmoon at will. He lived the human world to escape Gwi-Ma’s assassins, but risking the veil to bring back some of the few pleasures that existed in the demon realm. Facts that Abby had spilled to him as they travelled for another two days before they found the high, solid ground in the middle of the quagmire.

Abby looked back over his shoulder, "See? I told you!” He peeked around the towers of crates, eyes scanning for the mythical trader. “He has to here somewhere…" 

Jinu continued to maneuver around, curious, as the pair moved in the other direction. There was so much. How had one person managed to collect all of this? He rounded another corner and stopped short, breath caught in his throat. Laying across a table was the pelt of a large animal, absolutely pristine - long white fur, speckled with grey and silver guard hairs. He left his fingers drift across the surface - the long guard hairs tickled at the pads of his fingers. He lowered his hand a little further into the undercoat - soft, warm, comforting. Mystery would look good with this around his shoulders. Sadness crawled in his throat, threatening to breech the surface - it had been months since he’d seen Mystery last. If he was even still alive.

Jinu’s fist clenched, driving the tips of his claws into his palm. The sharp pain stopped his spiral, but barely. It was getting harder and harder to manage. What had started as him pressing his dulled human nails in the soft skin of his wrist, leaving temporary marks had quickly devolved. Devolved into sharp claws slicing into the meat of his ribs, spanning his side in muted red lines, something he could hide. A pain he could concentrate on, a pain he could feel that wasn’t a mental break, dragging him out of that vicious spiral. But it was requiring more and more. 

"An Arctic wolf.” A soft, unfamiliar voice spoke from behind Jinu - he flinched. He hadn’t even felt the demon’s presence, but here he was, less than ten feet from him. The demon stepped around him, silent as a shadow - he dressed in layer and layers of clothing - hanbok, overcoat, a cloak with deep hood pulled up over his face, a linen mask over his nose. Even his hands were covered by gloves, not an inch of skin showing. The only part of the man JInu could see, that proved he was more than a walking pile of cloth, was the glow of golden eyes under the hood. Jinu sniffed, trying to pick up a scent, only to find nothing. Those glowing eyes flicked over to him, in a look that said, “Good luck." 

"Hey!” Abby exclaimed, striding up to the stranger with confidence. “It’s been a long time.” The company redirected his mind away from the past.

“It has.” The hooded man replied, “What do you come here for today?” Jinu noted the way the fabric of his cloak shifted in an odd way. 

Romance wasted no time, “Alcohol." 

"Hmmm…I certainly do have that.” The stranger’s hood shifted again. Finally, he raised his arm and lifted the edge of his cloak, revealing the animal curled there. Pointed ears, small narrow muzzle, brilliant crimson fur. The stranger gave the fox a scratch between its ears, “You can get down, you know.” The fox yawned, showing off rows of teeth before it jumped to the ground - a narrow ring of pale white around its throat. It sat down next to the demon, watching. Eyes that were was too expressive to be a normal fox. Way too knowing. 

The trader noticed Jinu’s attention on the animal, “A fox spirit, a kumiho, that I rescued from a land far, far north of Seoul. A place of nearly perpetual winter.” The fox barked, shrill. “She hasn’t yet learned to take a human form.” Jinu had heard of such creatures before - but he’d never seen one. Were they not demons? 

The stranger turned his attention back to the three demons, “I have plenty to offer you.” He turned away, gesturing at the row after row of towering crates. “Take your pick, friends, I’m sure we can come to an arrangement.” With that, the stranger walked away, the fox trotting along beside him. 

After a moment, Jinu questioned, “Is he always that odd?" 

"Yes. Every time.” Romance commented. “The kumiho is a new addition though." 

"Why have I never seen one? Are they not demons?" 

Abby answered, voice tight, "They’re spirits, not demons. And Gwi-Ma had them wiped out for some reason. Sent his hounds after all of them and they were pretty rare to begin with. Those that survived fled into the human realm." 

Jinu hummed, drumming his fingers against his thigh. He couldn’t say he was at all surprised that Gwi-Ma would turn on his own like that. The demon king was silent, complicit in watching his horde assault him. Maybe even took some perverse pleasure in it. 

"But that happened centuries ago.” Romance grabbed his elbow, dragging him from his thoughts, “Let’s find something to drink!” The three of them broke off, searching the area of ill-gotten gains for spirits of the alcoholic variety. But every time Jinu passed the white pelt, he eyed it. On the third pass, he rolled it up and tucked it under his arm. Whatever the trader wanted for it, he’d be willing to offer. 

They found the trader later that evening, Abby and Romance both hauling up individual crates filled with every manner of container - waterskins, bottles, jugs - full of every manner of alcohol the merchant had to offer. They found the trader perched on a tower of crates, the fox lounging out at his side. 

The red-headed pair sat down their haul, “What do you want for this?” Abby questioned, gesturing vaguely.

The merchant stood up, making a slow circle around what they’d brought, “A human liver. Or a heart.” He stated, like that was the easiest thing in the world for them to acquire. 

Romance’s face fell, “Come on, you know we don’t have that.”

The stranger made another circle, before his glowing eyes landed on Jinu, “Or knowledge." 

"Knowledge?” Jinu muttered, confusion tainting his voice. “What good is knowledge for you?" 

The stranger canted his head, gesturing towards the fox, "It’s not for me. If she determines what knowledge you grant is sufficient, you may take whatever from here you like.” Jinu looked towards the animal, which had sat up, tail wrapped around its paws, too-knowing orange eyes staring back at him. What knowledge can I offer a fox? “Including that pelt you have." 

He wracked his brain- he’d been bitten by the very same kind of deal. Something that had seemed so ordinary, so asinine, it had seemed like nothing could go wrong. But he also truly wanted the soft fur, so he wracked his brain again, trying to come up with some obscure fact from his admittedly small fount of information. Everything he came up with, he had a feeling that it already knew. His knowledge of history was barebones, at best - and if the kumiho was older, than it knew all of that anyway. How to cook or play an instrument, how to fight was no good to a fox! 

He settled on something simple, something a fox wouldn’t - no, couldn’t - know. His name. "My name is Jinu." 

Abby and Romance both groaned out, "Really?” but he ignored them, staring at the mysterious merchant. 

The cloaked figure looked towards the animal, before speaking in a rough language, “Что ты думаешь, лиса?" 

The fox answered, its voice feminine, in that same harsh language, "Это приемлемо”

“She accepts.” Jinu released a breath, “Take what you will.” The merchant turned around, the fox jumping back up onto his shoulders. “Just be gone before nightfall - I will not be here come morning.” At that, he disappeared with a wave of demonic magic. 

“Thank the gods,” Romance grumbled, “Now let’s get out of this swamp so I can forget we ever came here!" 

Take Me Back to Eden: Chapter 26

Take Me Back To Eden - Chapter 26 - shewolfspirit - KPop Demon Hunters (2025) [Archive of Our Own]

Summary: Baby is a Menace (To Mystery)

You. 

Stupid. 

FUCK. 

Baby sat cross-legged on the roof of the penthouse, hunched over the glowing screen of his laptop. Rumi’s phone that he’d swiped from her purse rested on his knee, tethered to the laptop by its cable. His fingers flew across the keyboard, entering another string of code, breaking another layer of encryption. I better find you before they do. Something had spooked the alpha demon, enough that he’d take Zoey with him. “Rumi’s ready to rip your balls out through your throat, IDIOT.” he muttered, as if Mystery could hear him. 

He pulled his sweater closer, glancing down at the time at the corner of the screen - 12:28am. Zoey and Mystery had been MIA for the better part of 12 hours. The last time any of them had seen her was around 2pm that afternoon. Baby knew Mystery wasn’t going to hurt her, and definitely not in the way Rumi and Mira thought. But it was hard to argue with the small snippet of information, and it wasn’t like the demons hadn’t tried to kill them before. 

Baby’s finger slipped, mistyping a character. He bit his tongue, annoyed at the error code that popped up. 

No amount of convincing could settle the hunter’s nerves, no amount of empty promises or pleas. It started with a shared look between Abby and Romance, complicated emotions etched on both of their faces. Baby pinched his tongue harder in between his teeth, his chest tightening.

—-

Rumi, I know what it looks like - but he wouldn’t. 

Mira whipped around back to Abby, stalking up to him as he took a cautious step back. “You tell me what the hell that was then.” He raised his  hands in surrender, but Baby recognized the sad look in his eyes, the  resignation. But  then his eyes flickered to Romance, then to Mira. Then back again to Romance. A look that said ‘we have to tell them something’. 

The older demons had never told him the full extent of the abuses that Jinu and Romance had been through, the ones they’d shielded him from…but Jinu especially had horrific nightmares - ones that woke up with him screaming, ones that bled over into waking and across their bond. Abby’s voice was quiet, as he relayed in basic terms what had happened. How they’d gone through hell and high water to stop the very thing the hunters were worried about, while trying to let the other keep their dignity. 

Baby tasted iron on his  tongue- That wasn’t his story to tell. 

His earliest memory as a  demon was similar to all other humans that had fallen - the pain, the death, the transformation. As the demons began to descend upon him, he heard the horde begin to roar in pain, in challenge. But at least for the moment, they’d turned their attention away from him. The demon on top of him had his arm ripped off with pop, before claws wrapped around its throat. Baby had been afraid, frozen - a grim reaper in black drenched in blood and  viscera, with shining golden eyes and black hair,  staring down at him. The perfect demon archetype. Behind him stood the horde, eyes blazing with hatred that this stranger had stolen their meal from waiting jaws.

The reaper had turned back to the salivating throng, “This one is under my protection.” He glanced over his shoulder at the new demon, eyes glowing under the cover of his gat. 

The horde gave way, hatred and hunger burning in their eyes as the stranger walked back through his path of destruction, absconding with their meal. Baby following on his heels.

That was his first meeting with Jinu. 

—–

He carefully worked in another access code -but at least they weren’t out for blood anymore. Ok, maybe some blood, but not outright murder anymore. The others were still out in the city, somewhere, searching in pairs. MIra with Romance, Abby with Rumi. 

It’s pointless. He exhaled slowly. None of them had the tracking ability to hunt down Mystery - he was especially good at covering his tracks when he didn’t want to be found, including masking his alpha scent. Rumi had scent tracking down at a basic level, like following along with a tutorial, but not yet experienced enough to tailor those skills to a more advanced degree required. The other alpha they’d hunted wasn’t over a thousand years old and had the experience to back it up. Combined with the fact he could change his appearance at will complicated things. They would be nothing but run into dead ends on that front. 

That left using any info Zoey had left behind -He couldn’t track Mystery, but he could track Zoey. She’d sent Rumi and Mira text earlier, around 8pm, but nothing since. Baby typed another string - a text wasn’t exactly proof of life, and anybody could’ve sent it. But it was a start. That’s why he’d swiped Rumi’s phone and was currently hacking into their phone network. Because of course all of Huntrix would be on the same phone plan. 

The computer dinged, another firewall broken. Good - he had access to all the info he was after. Call and text logs, geographic data, network information, tower pings.  

He accessed the text logs first and the geographic data for Zoey’s phone. It had last pinged far on the outskirts of the city, in a heavily wooded area. “Of course he’d been in a forest somewhere." He snorted. He tracked back further into the data - it had pinged off the latest tower starting around 7:30 the previous evening. Before that, there was a gap - no gradual transition from tower to tower as one would typically find when one was travelled. Ok. They must have teleported around then. 

But what happened before that? That’s the important question. 

His brows pinched in confusion, staring at the glowing screen, trying to work it out. Something doesn’t make sense. He flipped to the text and call logs. The timestamps from when Zoey returned to the penthouse made sense, matching the info from the tower pings. Around 2pm.

But, then nothing. No tower pings, no network requests. He opened up the call log on Rumi’s phone - she’d tried to call Zoey after Mystery had contacted them. That was around 4pm. He could see the phone call on Rumi’s end - Zoey’s phone didn't receive a call from Rumi until about 3hrs later. He doubled checked Zoey’s phone status during that period - no network outages, battery was mostly charged, internet and Bluetooth still active. There was just a blackhole of information for the better part of 4 hours. That geographic info that made sense was from the text log, around 2. That put Zoey in Huntrix tower, then nothing until the next ping after they’d teleported. They were in the tower the entire time - nothing explained why Zoey’s phone would’ve been acting up. 

Baby steepled his fingers, thinking. 

As he scrolled, he reached out, prodding against the shields Mystery had built. That was two things he was good at - hacking and just annoying the ever-loving shit out of his packmates. Little chaos gremlin indeed. 

He felt a shift, as Mystery carefully lowered his shields. Dude, thank FUCK. Where the hell are you?? He opened up a search engine, a satellite view, searching the area around the last tower ping. Woods, woods, more woods. He zoomed out further. Then he spotted it, a large structure hidden among the trees. Rumi and Mira are about ready to rip your dick off! Is Zoey ok? He opened another tab - real estate records.

She is fine. Why? He replied, annoyed. Is that why you woke me? 

It was Baby’s turn to be exasperated, Do you even know WHAT you showed us? A large mansion, a relatively new build, sitting on miles of wooded land.

What? Baby pushed through with the memory of what they’d all seen. 

See the problem? Baby rubbed his temples, I know you wouldn’t, but you can’t argue that it’s not what it looks like.  The property had last been sold to a private buyer about 2 weeks ago. 

…I see. Mystery opened up, filling him in on the rest of the proceeding events, of the demon that was in the tower. I was going to bring her back in the morning. 

Goddamn it, man, that CONTEXT is IMPORTANT. Baby snapped his laptop closed in annoyance. He swiped the phone, tucking it into his pocket. They wouldn’t be trying to kill you! 

I had to protect her. Then, however unintentionally, the sensation of a warmth seeped into their bond, the press of another body against theirs, a sleeping Zoey curled against his chest. Mystery was wrapped around her, purring. Baby stopped short, the realization hitting him like a freight train. A mischievous grin split his face - Dude, you didn’t! Mystery quickly realized his mistake. See, I KNEW you had a thing for her! You’ve been whipped for her ever since the fan signing! 

Lies. Mystery grumbled back, flustered. He cackled wildly - this was enough to give Mystery shit about for ages. He liked really like Zoey, and she gave him shit as much as he gave her. He even found her kinda cute, but that was a different story. 

Yea, yea, says the guy that just got laid. Just tell her to call Mira before they kill you. Mystery didn’t answer, only proceeded to shut him out again. Baby opened up the listing for the property, paying careful attention to the photos of the yard and driveway. Teleporting to somewhere he’d never been to or seen in person was tricky. But he thought it could manage. He had some more dogging on Mystery to do, and he was running purely on spite and caffeine. 

He reached out to the rest of the pack, She's  fine. He typed pulled out his own  phone, linking the listing and scheduling it to send out later that day. 

—-

"Goddamn it…” Mystery grumbled, his purr dying. Baby was going to send him back to the underworld with the amount of shit he was about to get. He was also angry at himself that he’d put the both of them in this predicament. Baby was right - if he’d just explained himself, the rest wouldn’t be scouring the city, out for his blood. But opening up to the hunters like that was a struggle. 

Zoey mumbled, her sleep interrupted from his muttering.  She was cuddled up against his chest, her arms loosely threaded around his torso. His shirt slid off her shoulder, still clinging by hopes and dreams by the one button that remained fastened. His eyes drifted downwards, noting the numerous marks he’d left on her shoulders, many already starting to bruise. I can’t be so rough. Not that he’d been particularly rough this time, and she seemed to enjoy it- but humans didn’t heal as fast as demons did. He hummed and rolled to face her, dragging his tongue over the marks he’d left in apology. He thankfully hadn’t broken skin anywhere. 

The hunter was starting to wake up fully. “Hey…” she mumbled, sleepy. She carded her fingers into his hair, and he started to purr again at the feeling. “That feels nice…” she whispered, turning her head to give him more space. He paused, pulling away before either of them got too carried away. 

“You need to call Mira." 

She sat up, stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. "Yea…I probably should’ve done that from the get-go.” She rubbed her eyes, feeling around for her phone that was buried in blanket somewhere. Device secured, she dialed Mira’s number. Mystery rested his head in her lap, fingers idly tracing up her leg.

It rang once before a voice answered on the other end, “Holy shit, Zoey. Are you ok?”

Zoey pressed the phone against her shoulder, “Yea, Mira. I’m good. A random demon broke into the tower and Mystery helped me.” Mystery’s jaw clenched - it wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.

Zoey couldn’t see the figure in the darkness - the bloated, rotting remains of a human corpse possessed, limbs moved by the puppet’s strings of a demonic force. Maggots crawling and writhing under skin near the exposed pieces of skull, a matching small hole on the opposite temple ringed in gunpowder. He’d kept that little piece of information from Baby as well. 

A pause. “He helped you?" MIra’s voice was hesitant. "That’s not what it looked like. I swear Zoey, if he hurt you - " 

Zoey snapped back, "Mira, I’m fine. We’re coming back in the morning, so both of you stop freaking out, ok?” She paused, listening. Mystery had tuned Mira out, “Ok, see you guys in the morning." 

He sighed, swallowing his pride, and reached out through all of the bonds with intention. The relief was immediate, both from his packmates and the hunters. They were on a road to finally trusting each other, but it was still quite a journey. With what he had to tell them, he needed to tell all of them. In person. 

The click of Zoey’s nails clicked on the screen as she ended the call. She winced, sucking in a sharp breath, "Hey, that kinda hurts…” she pouted. Mystery hadn’t realized his claws had grown in his rumination, sharp tips pressed into the meat of her thigh. He relaxed his hand. “Are you ok?" 

"Yes. Thinking.” he muttered, non-committal, petting at the indents his claws had left. “Are you hungry?” he redirected, hoping she wouldn’t push. He was getting antsy. 

Zoey stretched again, her shoulder giving out a solid pop, “Yea, I’m pretty hungry.” she admitted, sheepish. “But it’s so late…" 

"So?” Mystery replied with a stretch of his own, his long legs kicking the covers off. “There are places that are still open. And your friends are looking for you. We could meet them somewhere." 

"I mean…if you want to. You didn’t seem to be the biggest fan of Rumi.” Zoey questioned, confused. “Why, are you hungry?" 

” I am.“ He buried his face against her stomach, "Whatever sounds good to you." 

Yes.

Voices echoed in his head, the voices of his brothers asking him that same question.

Aren’t you growing hungry, Shieldbreaker? 

Saw an outfit and knew I had to draw Baby in it.

(Ooc: that moment when you realize you forgot very important details for your OC and should of been writing them down and cataloging them, details such as their late kids name, ya know one of the very reasons for their origin)

(Ooc: Update: oops realized i never gave her a name)

Rumi: I want to live. I choose to live.

Hayoon: What the fuck does that mean. Did Celine not teach you that idealize suicide is one of the most important parts of being a hunter? Why would you want to live. You’re a hunter wanting to die in a honorble way should be at least in the top 3 of your fantasies