Chapter Text
The sun rose as the plane coasted over the Pacific Ocean, the silver bullet splitting through the white, puffy cloud cover. The engine noise pitched, and the pilot announced over the intercom, “Please fasten your seat belts. We are landing in the next 5 minutes.”
The lights in the cabin were set low; Abby and Romance's golden eyes glowed in the dark as they cuddled on one seat. Nearby Poppy glowed from her computer screen as she furiously typed away, using Celine as a backrest while sitting cross-legged and sideways in the plane seat.
“Rumi Doe officially doesn’t exist.” Poppy declared over her laptop just as the tires of the plane touched down on the small private runway near the Hunter Compound. “Now I just have to give you three identities!” Poppy whisper-screamed that last part while baring her teeth. Abby and Romance just shrugged at her, not understanding the amount of forged documents in Poppy’s future.
Mi-yeong opened one eye, gave a little wink before happily resuming cuddle time with all three girls. Still a little grumpy she couldn’t transform. Something something, weight distribution, something something, pilot getting a heart attack, something something. The three hunters in training still slept in Mi-yeong’s embrace, even as the pilot called through the intercom that they’d be waiting on the tarmac for a few minutes.
It was only the plane shaking as the tug car attached that made Zoey, Mira, and Rumi hum in unison. Each had a stuffed animal clutched close: Baybay for Rumi, Sheldon for Zoey, and Mira had two. The pink turtle that had been the first gift she’d received upon her arrival in Burbank and now a pink tiger to join. She still refused to name them much to her girlfriends’ horror.
“Wait, I have an identity, it’s just been dead for like 70 years!” Abby quirked up, earning him several pens thrown at his head.
“Let’s worry about that later.” Celine’s voice is chilled, and she’s glaring out of the window. One arm instinctively pulled Poppy a little closer. “We have a welcome party.”
Outside, leaning against several blacked-out SUVs, was a stern, almost militaristic-looking woman. She led a whole gaggle of mudang behind her. Celine would recognize that sleek black bun anywhere; Gi, one of the Sunlight Sisters’ mentors. A woman who made Celine look warm and fuzzy in comparison. Gi stood with her arms crossed. Several scars criss-crossed her face, highlighting her fake left eye.
“Why is Gi here?” Poppy seethed.
“And miss an opportunity to talk down to us? Never,” Celine groaned.
“You’d think she’d’ve lightened up by now.” Mi-yeong carefully looked out, not showing her full face for fear of the old hunter seeing her. How would they explain her return from the dead one day? They had spent most of the plane ride thinking it over. “Don’t tell me she got worse.”
“We won’t say anything then.” Celine joked, slipping out from under Poppy to gently wake the girls. “Girls, wake up. We’re here.”
“Eomma, five more minutes.” Rumi murmured in her sleep, her head lolling to rest against Mira’s shoulder. Celine felt heat rush her fast as her eyes flicked to Mi-yeong. Mi-yeong’s smile looked crooked, clearly trying to hide the pain and failing.
“Kimbap,” Poppy said, hoping Rumi would be predictable.
“Where?” Rumi sat up very awake, sending both girlfriends squawking like Sussie.
“The day that doesn’t work, I’m gonna be so sad.” Poppy laughed, while silently encouraging Abby and Romance to go hide in the back of the plane with her phone. They’d take a picture the second they found a safe spot. Mira and Zoey glared at Rumi, who kept her eyes on Baybay.
The pilot moved to open the doors; he kept his eyes down. Paid to notice nothing. He slid the stairs free from their hidden spot. Mi-yeong sadly went to hide with Abby and Romance. The scrape of stairs on tarmac almost sounded more pleasant than Gi yelling, “Front and center, we don’t have all day.”
Poppy and Celine shuffled off first, shoulders squared, ready for the fight they knew was coming. Zoey, Rumi, and Mira right behind them, the two full humans exchanged worried glances with Rumi, who only flinched. She’d known Gi since she was little. She also knew that Gi was unpleasant on her best days. Celine had told her once that Gi thought it was a good idea to test Celine’s swimming ability by tossing her into a rushing snow-fed river. It was a good thing Poppy knew CPR.
The mudang moved forward in traditional robes, all white with bright cherry red sashes that went over their shoulders and tied around their torsos. They sang softly under their breath as they moved to unload everyone’s luggage from below the plane.
“Wait, should we help them?” Zoey hugged Sheldon, feeling weird as she saw spiritual leaders acting like hotel jockeys.
“No, young one, they are doing two things at once: yes, grabbing your things but also trying to banish the bad luck that seems to have infested this generation. Celine, do tell, how did Rumi get to Burbank? How deep does this poison go?”
“Gi-nim, the honmoon pulled me there, it must have seen I needed to find Zoey soon.” Rumi answered, tone tilting to complete monotone, “I’ve missed you so very much and all your bright teachings.”
Zoey had to pinch Mira on the elbow so the pink-haired girl wouldn’t laugh. They could hear Rumi’s sarcasm and saw that Gi caught onto it too. The old hunter’s eye slid to the patterns on Rumi’s face; her grimace was not hidden as her eyes trailed down to see they covered every inch of Rumi’s body.
“Start the cleansing now.” At Gi’s harsh tone, three mudang skirted up with heavy cloth bags; they reached in and started spraying all five with white dust. Zoey sputtered in surprise, getting some in her mouth to discover it was salt. The mudang didn’t stop throwing salt at them and singing softly under their breaths until they were in an SUV and buckled in.
Gi sat in the passenger seat, Poppy and Celine in the middle, while the girls were shoved in the back.
“If you lecture us for the next hour, Gi, I’m jumping out the door.” Poppy snapped, arms crossed, ready for the debate about Rumi being a half-demon.
Gi didn’t respond, just reached over the mudang in the driver's seat, and hit the lock all doors’ buttons.
--
It took over an hour and a half to get to the sanctuary. The tried-and-true method of bathroom pictures allowed them to free Mi-yeong, Abby, and Romance from the back of the plane. They warned them that the gas station bathroom was clean but smelled like rotten yogurt.
The gates to the Hunters’ Sanctuary, to the general public, were the entrance to an old family villa for a branch of the House of Yi, relatives to the old ruling family of Korea. Rumi would explain later that several of the families that made their home in the sanctuary could be traced back to royal roots, her own included. The public had no reason to disbelieve these rumors because the gates that marked the beginning of the sanctuary were a good mile away from the first building.
Rumi had crossed the crimson and dark iron gates thousands of times, but being more attuned to her demonic half came with an unexpected problem. Carefully, she pulled out her phone to type in English what she was seeing. A blue veil hung over the whole sanctuary; red and yellow eyes would appear in the swirling cobalt mist, and they’d follow the SUVs as they entered. The very seals protecting the sanctuary, Rumi could see the spirits connected to them.
Mira furrowed her brows, looking at the sunny skies above, trying to imagine what a veil that reached the heavens looked like. She couldn’t come up with an image before they came to a stop in a cluster of buildings.
More mudang waited with salt; the Honmoon buzzed with energy as they stepped out of the car. It reacted to the mudang in a more limited capacity compared to its hunters. Small ripples to the waves hunters could cause. A few mudang plucked at its strings, creating a song similar to one made by a gayageum. The mudang didn’t even wait for them all to leave the SUV before starting another rain of salt. A few pounds had to have already been sprayed over them. Rumi strode forward with her chin held high as through the streams of salt was just another Tuesday, Mira had seen some of her more suspicious relatives do this so kept pace with Rumi, Zoey kept sticking her tongue out to catch some earning a smack from Poppy.
“The main Hanok, you can barely see it from here, we will be safe there.” Celine explained quietly, glaring right back at those who wrinkled their noses. “Stay close to each other around the rest of the spiritual community, girls. They aren’t happy.”
In all of Rumi’s worries, she’d never thought about the community that supported the hunters. What it would have meant not to have the support of those on Jeju. While on paper Seoul was listed as the headquarters for Sunlight Entertainment, its true center lay in Jeju. The board lived here. The top executives held their meetings here. They manipulated the world from here.
Now faced with them, her dream to become famous in the United States first before taking on South Korea felt childish. True influence and power dripped from every stone of the Hunters’ Sanctuary.
The mudang herded them to a low building with a sloped roof and dragons carved into every available surface; incense smoke curled out from the windows and doors. Inside, it was one enormous meeting hall with dark floors and richly painted pillars. Almost every living hunter sat on cushions; all the generations stretching back to the generation just below Young-Soo. Gi took her place with her sister in arms, whose fingers tapped against her prosthetic leg. Beside her, with no reason to be in this meeting, sat May, the girl everyone wanted the Honmoon to choose over Rumi.
May looked almost pleased, her blue eyes gliding over Rumi’s patterns, every patterned inch making her smile wider. Mira leaned in to cut off May’s view, glaring at the brunette. May just covered her mouth from everyone’s view but Mira’s and mouthed. ‘They’re ugly’
Rumi grabbed Mira before she even thought about lunging in front of their elders.
“Celine, Poppy, step forward.” The oldest hunter, with a voice like warm tea, was a frail woman by the name of Sook. She had brown eyes that still burned with the energy of a tiger despite her hunched and withered body. She commanded a space by just existing. She sat on her knees just like every hunter around her. The other hunters flanked her on both sides, making a circle in the room. All sat on cushions, with military rigidity about them, and as Mira looked, no one was spared from old wounds. Apparently, even after the Honmoon moved on, life wasn’t safe for hunters.
Zoey noticed as well and shrunk a little into Rumi’s side, relieved to feel her girlfriend squeezing her hand.
Celine and Poppy stepped forward, taking the two cushions set in the middle of the circle. Poppy tried to beat back the image of a noose in her head.
The old hunters leaned forward, ready to see Sook rip the previous generation apart.
“I assume the two have summoned their weapons.”
“Yes, Sook-nim.” Celine and Poppy said in unison.
“What are they?”
“Shin-kal and Gok-do.” Murmurs and hisses went through the old hunters at the news of the Gok-do. May’s eyes glittered with jealousy; the grip on her sweats looked close to tearing the fabric. Mira turned, noting that some hunters looked a little pleased at the news of a Gok-do user. That’s when Mira remembered one of her first lessons with Poppy. The older hunter had explained that Gok-do users were famous among hunters. Their battle prowess always became legend.
“She’s very tall and lean for her age. You must be the one named Kang Mira. Step forward, girl, right up to me; my eyesight isn’t the best.” Sook waved her hand, a pleased smile on her face. The hunters’ brows furrowed around the room in obvious disappointment at this being the direction of the conversation. Mira tilted her chin to the ceiling, seeing more than just dragons carved into the dark wood rafters; there were tigers now, along with foxes, magpies, and even a deer. The walls were decorated with old minhwa paintings, including one that had a very familiar tiger and magpie.
Mira saw three cushions set right in front of the old hunter and took the one on the right, letting the woman’s withered hands cup her cheek and turn her head. “Good structure, a little long but I see the grace and strength of a Gok-do user for sure. You need more patience, though. A fantastic visual you’ll be. Now Banks Zoey, shin-kal user, step up.”
Mira blinked in surprise at hearing anything close to praise. To her bafflement, Sook just reached over to pat her knee.
Zoey gave Rumi one last squeeze before walking forward. Part of her was thrilled she left Sheldon with their bags, as she already felt childish amongst all the hardened warriors around her. Images of the library flashed in her mind; it felt like an embodiment of the surrounding hunters, itching to take over if she showed weakness. The Huntress they all wanted her to be lived in her, and yet felt holy separate.
She settled on the leftmost cushion and allowed Sook to examine her. “Shin-kals, ranged weapons, but good up close. Very versatile. You’ve been through much already; I can see it. Mediation and a salt bath for you. You will be a wonderful maknae. Ryu Rumi, come here.”
Zoey breathed out relief; she hadn’t been ready for the first thing she heard from the Hunters to be how she wasn’t enough.
Rumi felt all the anger in the room thicken the air, the incense drowning out her senses with the sickly sweet smoke of a dozen different scents. A shake developed in her core, forcing her whole body to clench. Not to show weakness. The floor creaked under her step, and all eyes were on her. All their thoughts were visible in the sneers and downturn of their features. She was a mistake. She was an abomination. She shouldn’t exist. The cushion felt rough under her knees, and she bowed her head to the oldest huntress.
Sook’s rough palms cupped her cheeks, bringing her face up. “Beautiful as always, Rumi, you’ll make a wonderful leader.”
The entire room erupted as Huntress leaped to their feet around the room, but to Rumi’s surprise, most were leaping to restrain the more impassioned.
“Are we not going to address the lies?”
“She can only harm the Honmoon.”
“She wears the mark of the beast! She can’t be a hunter.”
“SILENCE.” The Honmoon surged from Sook, pushing all the other huntresses back down onto their cushions. “We do not dare question the Honmoon; Gwi-ma has tried to snuff out the next generation. Los Angeles bleeds because of his desire, yet battered and beaten, their voices stayed strong. Now they are safe with us, and they will all be safe with us. My decision on the matter is final. The only ones at risk of punishment today are Celine and Poppy for hiding the truth. I highly doubt they will see even that considering what I’ve heard you all get up to.”
Rumi blinked up at Sook in surprise, the older huntress's hands still rested on her cheeks, a thumb brushing against a pattern. At her look of genuine confusion, Sook smiled and whispered. “Don’t look at me so strangely; I’ve known you all your life. Nothing has changed, you are still the little troublemaker I snuck mochi.”
Rumi smiled, leaning into Sook’s touch.
“Now you three, I will have my great-granddaughter show you to your home. Any further discussion is only for sworn hunters.” At Sook’s words, a girl a few years younger than them stepped out from behind a pillar with a big grin, dressed in gray training robes to be a Mudang. She bowed to the three and waved for them to follow. Mira and Zoey shoved themselves shoulder to shoulder with Rumi, glaring at the older huntresses who spoke up as they passed.
A huntress that had to be in her 70s openly glared at Sook and whispered to those around her. Rumi frowned, knowing this huntress well, the one who had hated her before all of this.
The second the three stepped out of the meeting hall, shouting erupted behind them. They sounded more like furious football fans than ex-idols.
“Well, that could have gone worse.” Zoey whispered, looking back.
“Almost half of them hate our guts!” Mira said, already exhausted. “I don’t think we are in the clear, Zoey.”
“For a moment, I thought they’d want me hung.” Rumi admits, knowing what the punishment is for a traitor. In the history of the hunters, they’d never had a hunter betray the cause, but they had friends, associates, and merchants betray them for Gwi-ma’s gilded song.
“Several argued for it.” The girl commented, playing with her blonde hair as she skipped between the cobblestones. “Chun-ja, especially.”
“Chun-ja hated me before all this; I can’t imagine what she thinks now.” Rumi rubbed her face, able to walk the Hunters’ grounds blind, easily turning down the old, pitted path to the main Hanok. “Oh, Zoey, Mira, this is Kimmy-nim.”
Kimmy spun, walking backwards with her hands clasped. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”
“Excuse me for being suspicious, but I was expecting more…” Mira doesn’t finish, just reaches to clasp her hand with Rumi’s, thumbs rubbing her patterns.
“Anger? Trust me when I say outside of my family, it will be like that.” Kimmy sighed, letting her shoulders slump. “Grandma Sook had a vision; she told the whole family about it. How Great Aunt Young-soo visited her in her dreams, pleaded with her to brace for a surprise but to welcome it.”
“When did she dream this?” Zoey asked.
“The day Rumi went missing; you scared everyone, Rumi,” Kimmy scolded, stopping to poke Rumi right in the chest. “No note, no nothing. I had to hear May hoping you never came back.”
“Let me guess, the May girl was the one positioned behind Gi?” Mira growled. “You know what, I should pick up boxing just so I can deck her.”
“Do it.” Rumi said, surprising Mira. “May hates me. She’s a year older, and they made the mistake of saying the Honmoon chose her when she could touch a string. I feel bad for her; her parents really wanted her to be a Huntress, gave her a western name and everything for reach.”
“I still think they just named her after our doctor because they couldn’t decide.” Kimmy snickered, pointing to a modern-looking white building over on the inland side of the compound. It stood in stark contrast to all the traditional buildings that looked like they belonged in a historical recreation. “You’ll be very familiar with Doctor May. She’ll patch all of you up when things go wrong.”
“I can’t wait to see her; it will be nice to have a normal appointment again, not have 7 vials taken at minimum.” Rumi sighed, her mind turning to all the candy she got after every doctor’s visit. The strawberry lollipops, her mouth watered remembering them.
“Rumi, quiet!” Kimmy scolded, and the huntress shrank back, much to the giggles of Zoey. “Celine and Poppy are already in trouble; don’t get Dr. May in trouble too!”
“Right,” Rumi flinched, realizing that no one else knew how big her patterns had gotten before she left. How Dr. May already knew about them and had known since she was little.
Kimmy led them up the winding path; thick fir and nutmeg trees replaced buildings. Rumi saw the fork, the one that led to the Hunters’ graveyard, and smiled in a strained way. There was a gravestone up there that didn’t need to be, but with the older Huntress watching she couldn’t just have her Eomma whenever she wanted. They didn’t want to risk her eomma or the boys getting hurt.
The Hanok stood with timeless charm, surrounded by vegetable patches and hibernating flowers. When Rumi left, the flowers had been blooming, but now withered and dried petals littered the ground. That didn’t stop the stems from still being green with lush leaves. Jeju’s coast didn’t really get cold.
Rumi beelined for the door. The hanok had a traditional sloped roof, just like the meeting hall down the path. It also had two wings shooting off on both sides that surrounded an inner courtyard. In the past, it had been the building for everything. So it was normal for Hunters to never have to leave their Hanok. It meant Rumi was rarely around the rest of those living at the sanctuary. She knew that was partly because of her patterns, and partly Celine's anti-social nature.
“I’ll be back later, welcome back Rumi!” Kimmy waved and ran back down the winding path. Rumi truly believed that Kimmy and Eva would get along great.
Eva.
“We promised to call Eva when we landed!” Rumi gaped.
“Shit!” Zoey and Mira paled. It’d been hours now; their poor friend must be tearing her hair out. Rumi struggled out of her shoes, slotting them in the rack before dragging her girlfriends towards her room. The inside of the Hanok smelled a bit like dust, but someone had been in to spruce it up. By the faint hint of limes, Rumi was pretty sure it was Yoon. The old woman wasn’t a mudang, but years ago had been rescued by Celine and seen way too much. So, she was hired to keep the Hanok clean when they were away.
Rumi shouldered her door, the old hinges still a little stiff. All her plans about settling on her bed and calling Eva came to a grinding halt as a bit of yellow paper fluttered in the door's breeze. Completely coating her lilac bed were bujeoks, talismans to ward off evil, the red ink burned on the yellow paper. Rumi growled as she imagined the hunter sanctuary had to be out of them with how many were stuck to her bed like post-it notes.
“Is this a prank?” Zoey mumbled, stepping around Rumi to kick a wayward talisman.
“No, it’s a message.” Rumi rubbed her eyes; the longer she stared at them and her bed, the worse the halo effect around her bed got. Stomping forward, she started tearing them off; they felt uncomfortably warm against her fingers and palms, like holding a scalding drink. The tips of her claws pushed through fingers, blood even dribbling as they touched the talismans.
Mira saw the minute flinches, the way her hands pulled back at the last second before tearing at a bujeok. Slowly, Mira pulled Rumi back, kissing her cheek before saying. “Let me. Zoey, go grab a trash bag.”
They filled the whole trash bag by the time they were done, and Rumi’s bed still itched against her skin. All too warm, like a burning fire was just under the purple comforter. The three tried to keep smiling faces as they FaceTime Eva, but she saw through them and promised to send care packages. Mira and Zoey tried to snuggle under Rumi so she didn’t have to constantly touch the bed, but they could only do so much.
The sun had set by the time Celine and Poppy arrived; salt still stuck in their hair. All three girls rushed to see the damage. The two older hunters looked tired, huge dark circles under their eyes, but no evidence a fight had broken out.
“How’d it go?” Rumi mumbled, leaning against the entrance to the hallway leading back to the rooms. Poppy grunted, settling on the white couch while Celine went to the kitchen, pulling out everything for tea.
“Sook weighed in our favor; we avoided punishment by a few votes,” Celine grumbled, eyeing a bottle of whiskey stored above the fridge. “Things have gotten complicated. Mi-yeong found somewhere for her, Abby, and Romance to hide, please be careful when you visit.”
“We will,” Mira and Zoey said at once.
“I don’t think I can,” Rumi admitted. If her tail were out, it’d be lying on the floor lifeless. “They are going to be watching me like hawks…
... I have to be perfect.”