Chapter Text
One moment Jinu was watching Rumi, with tears rolling down her cheeks and beautiful iridescent patterns glowing in the light, and the next moment darkness had swallowed him whole. He felt blessed that the last thing he had seen was her. His soul would be in good hands. He was finally free, he welcomed the darkness that wrapped around him. Silence surrounded him and the last cadences of her voice slowly disappeared. His heart ached at the thought of leaving her behind. Her tears hurt just as much as her sword could.
His consciousness was floating in a black void. Nothing hurt and nothing burned. No whispers were invading his mind. No demon god of fire burning in his veins. He wanted to laugh from the relief. He was truly free. Still it felt hollow, he wished that he could have stayed beside her.
A golden light pulsed in the darkness for a moment and then he woke up.
He blinked as he stared at the ceiling of a dilapidated building. He knew this ceiling, but that shouldn’t be possible. He shouldn’t be able to see that ceiling. There was a giant hole in the roof, he could make out the blood red sky through it. He was in the demon realm.
“Is he dead?” A voice asked in a bored drawl. Jinu knew that voice. It was Baby Saja. Four people leaned over him.
“I think he finally realised that he has been torturing us for the last year,” Romance said as he ran a hand through his hair. He was leaning against Mystery.
“You alive down there?” Abby asked as he nudged Jinu with his foot. The four Saja Boys stood over him. Their demonic orange eyes watched him attentively. The last thing he remembered was them being discorporated by the hunters and consumed by Gwi-Ma’s flames. It should not be possible for them to be here.
Once a demon got killed in the real world, they would not truly die. Instead they rematerialized in the underworld after a while and more often than not, Gwi-Ma killed them for failing. If Gwi-Ma killed you there was no turning back. There would be no second chance.
“What happened?” He asked. He was sure that he had died and given his soul to Rumi.
“You collapsed in the middle of practice,” Mystery whispered as he leaned down and held a hand out to Jinu. He took it and let himself be pulled to his feet. Mystery froze for a moment after Jinu dropped his hand. He stared at his own hand as if it held the mysteries of the universe.
“I don’t remember, what day is today?” Jinu asked with a groan.
“No idea. I don’t keep track of the human calendar. But I remember you saying yesterday that you want to present Gwi-Ma with your idea in three months,” Abby said with a shrug. He was watching him closely, so he noticed when Jinu froze.
“I haven’t presented my idea yet?” He asked slowly. He had gone back in time. They had not debuted yet, he had not yet met Rumi and the award show hadn’t happened yet. He had not yet doomed hundreds of souls. He had not yet hurt Rumi.
He was in the past. Jinu felt his hands shake. He covered his face, trying to hide his expression from the others. He was truly in the past.
He was in the past but he didn’t hear him. There was no whisper of Gwi-Ma in his ear. There was no whisper of failure and promises of torture anymore. He couldn’t hear him. Their connection was not there. Gwi-Ma had no hold over him. The calls of his mother and sister no longer howled in his ears. Instead he could remember the good times as well, their loving smiles and touch. The betrayal was no longer the only thing that he could recall. Tears stung in his eyes.
Erasing the memories would not have helped. Gwi-Ma was the one that kept the pain fresh that kept the shame and the betrayal bleeding like an open wound. Without his whispers, their memory no longer burned.
A maniacal laugh left his lips. He hastily brushed his tears aside.
“After four hundred years, I think he has finally lost it,” Baby muttered as he slouched. Reflexively, Jinu kicked his shin. He had hounded them about their horrible posture so many times leading up to his proposal. Before he could open his mouth, the other four demons interrupted him.
“Keep your back straight, good posture is the image of an idol,” the four of them said at once, clearly remembering all the times Jinu had tried to drill it into their thick demonic skulls.
He could no longer go through with the proposal. He couldn’t betray Rumi again. God, Rumi. He could hear her laugh and see her smile. He wanted to run to her. He wanted to be beside her.
She didn’t know him, at least not yet. He wanted to meet her again. He wanted to get to know her once more.
“Jinu, touch me again,” Mystery said as he held out his hand.
“That sounds all kinds of wrong,” Baby said as he shuddered dramatically.
“The kind of thing shippers would go wild for.” Romance acknowledged. Jinu had pounded into them all things about idols and their fandoms. They were supposed to be idols, so they needed to know this stuff. Jinu was like a drill sergeant and had haunted their nightmares.
“Please,” Mystery said. Jinu blinked at the demon but obediently held out his hand. It was at that moment that he realised his patterns had changed. They were dark purple but glistened with an iridescent shimmer. They nearly seemed black when he moved his arm a certain way. Mystery seemed to relax as soon as his fingers came into contact with Jinu.
“I can no longer hear his whispers.” His voice was filled with awe. Exclamations of surprise rose and soon Jinu found himself surrounded by them. They were all touching him.
“It's quiet.” Baby’s voice was filled with awe.
“We can only faintly hear him,” Romance whispered.
“You are like a buffer,” Abby said as he leaned fully against Jinu.
Jinu was feeling overwhelmed and he slowly sat back down on the ground again. The other four followed him, keeping close contact with him and relishing the quiet in their heads. Jinu had become like a sudden oasis in the desert.
They must have looked ridiculous to anyone else, as they were piled close together.
“I need to think,” Jinu muttered, doing his best to ignore the other four demons.
He had returned to the past, Gwi-Ma's voice no longer reached him, he was a buffer for the other Saja Boys and he needed to escape the demon world. If Gwi-Ma caught wind of this, Jinu would be disintegrated again. He didn’t want to die twice. He didn’t want to leave Rumi behind.
He needed to leave the Demon world.
“Gwi-Ma cannot learn of this,” Abby said from beside him.
“He would kill you,” Romance whispered.
“We will try to keep your secret,” Mystery said. They could only try, Gwi-Ma had ways to get the information he wanted. None of his methods were pain free.
It would be easier to leave them behind but as he watched their content expressions as they leaned against him he couldn’t do it. He had something far more precious than fear that bound them to him. He was their salvation. Now he had something that none of them wanted to lose. Quiet and peace. They would be sceptical but for now he was their ticket to some much needed solace from Gwi-Ma’s whispers. Most importantly though, Rumi wouldn’t leave them behind.
Maybe this was a good chance to practice not being selfish.
He had invested hours, weeks and months into them. He didn’t fully trust them but they were useful and he somewhat begrudgingly even liked them. He had picked the members of the Saja Boys carefully, they all had retained a sliver of their humanity.
Still, if Gwi-Ma got ahold of them they would still betray him. His new-found ability was good leverage to keep them on his side. Still, he knew just how poisonous the words of Gwi-Ma could be. Almost every demon lived in fear of him. The demon king knew all their weaknesses and he would make use of them.
He would remain cautious around them. His caution had saved his life more than once in the last four hundred years.
He would take them with him when he escaped to the human realm.
There was only one thing they were all good at and that was being an idol. He had coached them relentlessly. It had been months of work. It would be a waste not to make use of it.
They would have to become idols once more and this time Jinu refused to do everything alone. Last time he had been producer, choreographer, song writer, manager and idol all in one. It had been stressful and a pain.
They needed at least a manager of some kind. Someone that could schedule their promotions, shows and interviews. He had just the demon in mind. He vaguely remembered that water demon that had been decked out in their merch. He had cried when they had performed. He had been joyful when their music echoed in the underworld, he had worshiped them. Jinu knew that he could draw him in again. A single touch from him would seal the deal. He would make the perfect manager or at least fan manager. Jinu grinned wickedly and somewhere else in the demon world an unsuspecting water demon had to sneeze.
He would need to find a small agency in the human world that would be willing to debut a boy group. He needed to do research in the human world. He needed to find a rift, a bridge between worlds. They occurred naturally, often at midnight when the veil was thinner. The only thing Jinu was worried about were the other Saja Boys. They were still clinging to him. He wasn’t sure that he could even leave the building without them.
“Guys, there will be a change of plans,” Jinu said out loud.
“I guessed as much.” Romance sighed theatrically but he still leaned against him.
“Please, don’t tell me that the months of practice were for naught.” Baby groaned as he flopped onto the floor. His knee was resting against Jinu’s own.
“Oh no worries, you will need that practice,” Jinu promised darkly. There would be much more practice in the future.
“Demon.” Baby pouted. Abby and Romance let out a pained chuckle.
“We will just do it without Gwi-Ma’s permission.” Jinu grinned.
“Even if we don’t hear him anymore when we touch you, he still is connected to us, he could pull us to him at any moment.” Mystery warned.
“There is nothing that can sever our connection with him.” Abby groaned in defeat.
“The hunters, if they seal the Honmoon, the connection will be lost,” Jinu exclaimed. When he had sung together with Rumi, there had been no connection with Gwi-Ma at all. Only afterwards had he been able to grab him. If the Honmoon was strong, maybe Gwi-Ma would not be able to pull them in.
“Great, you expect us to just go up to them and ask them to sing for us?” Romance said with a laugh.
“Demon hunters and demons are kind of mortal enemies, in case you forgot,” Baby said as he rolled over. He was now using Jinu’s knee as a pillow.
“I think he really hit his head hard when he fell earlier, if he is even forgetting existential stuff like that,” Romane mused with a wicked grin.
“Abby, can you grab the notebook? I want to try something out,” Jinu asked. With a pained sigh and clearly reluctant, Abby got up. He broke his contact with Jinu and he could see him wince. The voices had returned. Abby had gotten up and walked over to the other side of the room to grab a notebook.
Jinu opened his mouth and the lyrics for Summer Dream spilled from his lips. It was a Huntrix song. They had released it last year as a summer song. Jinu could only vaguely remember the music video. All he could really recall was Rumi in a pretty floral summer dress and large sunhat. His voice filled the building. An upbeat melody that invited anybody to sing along. It was a simple feel good song. As the last notes left his lips, he could feel himself smile.
Abby was still standing on the other side of the room. He seemed frozen for a moment.
“It stopped the voices.” He sounded like angels themselves had given him a blessing.
“The song did the same as your touch.” Abby’s eyes were sparkling. He looked far younger than he was.
Jinu spent the rest of the day trying out, if all the songs worked or if it was just Huntrix songs. He sang Soda Pop but the effect was not nearly as good. They also tried out for how long the effect lasted. Nearly the whole day, a whole day of peace. The other boys looked like they were about to cry. Jinu watched them celebrate. He trailed his fingers over the patterns on his arms. Giving his soul to Rumi had triggered something in him. He had awakened abilities he would have only attributed to a hunter. He didn’t understand how or why but he knew that it was a blessing. A blessing he had gotten because of Rumi.
Something had happened when she had embraced his soul. Maybe a part of hers had traveled with him. Maybe in some form, they were still together. It had echoed in the songs he had sung. His fingers ran along the lines of his patterns. He wanted to touch the patterns Rumi tried so desperately to hide. He wanted to tell her that they were beautiful. He wanted to tell her that she was beautiful with all the cracks and even broken. She shone like the moon in the eternal darkness.
Soon, he would be able to see her again. Soon.