Second Chances (KPop Demon Hunters)-Chapter 52: Revealed

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next FIVE chapters are up on
my Patreon
for early access!
In which nobody in this story is as slick as they think they are.
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Celine could admit, three times in less than twenty-four hours was rather… greedy of them.
But at least she and Bobby had the good sense to lock her office door and only remove the minimum amount of clothing necessary before doing anything. In the end, the biggest mess they'd had to clean up was the things Celine had swept off of her own desk as they'd gotten started.
With any luck, Rumi wouldn't-
"So… you and Bobby, huh?"
Celine freezes in place for a whole disastrous second before hastily managing to get her reaction under control. Arching a single eyebrow, she gives Rumi an unimpressed look.
"I'm not sure what you mean by that, Rumi."
It pains her to lie to Mi-yeong's daughter like this, but she can't let Rumi know just yet. She can't let anything distract from the Idol Awards. Only… Rumi looks back at her, just as unimpressed. Then, she reaches up and taps her nose.
"Demon senses. I smelt it all over the both of you the moment I entered the office. Just like I could smell it on Mira and Zoey the morning after they got together."
Celine stiffens, her lips pulling downwards into a thinned out frown.
"You're not a demon, Rumi. You're a hunter jus-!"
"-Just like my mother, I know."
She falls quiet in the face of Rumi's interruption. Rumi smiles a little sadly and sighs.
"I'm both, Celine. There's no denying it at this point. Look at me… look at my patterns. I'm part demon, part demon hunter. Maybe I'm part Honmoon as well, given that my patterns glow iridescent now. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with all of myself. I hope someday that you'll be okay with all of me too."
She can't… she can't give a proper response to that. So instead she focuses back on the previous topic. Seeing as it's impossible to convince Rumi of the lie, she instead tries defaulting to damage control.
"… Please do not punish Bobby for this. It was all me. I seduced him in a moment of weakness and manipulated him into my bed last night. I understand if you never want to see me again, but please forgive him, he's innocent."
Rumi stands there on the other side of the desk, silent for a moment. Standing in judgment of her, Celine imagines. Finally though…
"And what would Bobby say if I talked to him?"
Huffing, Celine shakes her head.
"It doesn't matter how confused he is, I'm the one in a position of authority, a position that I abused. I'll happily step down as CEO of Sunlight Entertainment and appoint any successor you name in my stead to make this right."
"Sure, let's make it Jinu."
Celine freezes, her jaw dropping open and her eyes widening. Surely Rumi was joking… and yet, the younger woman is as deadpan in her delivery as she can be, her eyes blazing with anger. Grimacing, Celine shakes her head.
"Rumi, please reconsider. Maybe you or one of your girls or…
"For fuck's sake Celine, I wasn't serious!"
Oh thank the Honmoon.
"I was trying to show you how ridiculous you're being! Stepping down as CEO? Sunlight Entertainment needs you more than ever! HUNTR/X needs you more than ever! Even Jinu needs your expertise right now to navigate his debut in the coming months. So no, you're not allowed to go anywhere. And no, I'm not going to punish you or Bobby for enjoying each other's company either!"
But she should… she had to. It was… Celine was an infection. A disease. She needed to… to be excised.
"It's not appropriate, Rumi. Even Bobby is convinced you're either going to kill him or fire him when you finally find out. And he wanted to tell you as soon as possible anyways, to face your judgment this morning in fact, but I convinced him to wait until after the Idol Awards so we wouldn't provide a distraction to you girls…"
Rumi crosses her arms over her chest, getting a certain look on her face that Celine recognizes all too well.
"Fuck appropriate. I'd be pretty damn hypocritical if I was going to get upset about you and Bobby being inappropriate."
Hypocritical? Celine's eyes widen and she gasps.
"Rumi, please don't tell me…"
"And now look who's being hypocritical. Yes Celine. I'm in a relationship with Jinu. I'm also in a relationship with Mira and Zoey as well. They all know about each other. They all want to be with me. Mira and Zoey even watched last night as…"
Here, Rumi's newfound audacity starts to trail off as she finally gets too embarrassed to continue. Her blush is intense but she nevertheless stands her ground, arms still crossed over her chest, eyes still fixed on Celine. And Celine… Celine can connect the dots well enough.
She's happy for Rumi and her girls, really she is. But Rumi and Jinu? It's happening again. Right in front of her eyes. And there's nothing Celine can do to stop it.
Her field of view suddenly narrowing, Celine realizes that she's once more struggling to breathe. Distantly, she hears Rumi calling her name. And then she hears the young woman again, this time right in her ear.
"Celine! Breathe, Celine! Listen to me! Focus on the sound of my voice!"
Rumi doesn't have nearly the same technique as Bobby did, but then to be fair Mi-yeong's daughter also doesn't have the same experience walking people through panic attacks apparently. And yet, with Rumi holding her in a warm embrace and speaking to her the entire while… Celine is eventually able to calm down and get her breathing back under control. It just takes a lot longer.
Long enough that…
"Celine!"
Bobby comes racing back into the office and is at her side in an instant, worry and concern writ large across the stout man's face. Rumi must have called for him while Celine was having this latest panic attack. She tries to find the words to tell him to go, that he shouldn't waste his time on a woman like her… but they stick in her throat, her tongue feeling leaden against the floor of her mouth.
Both Rumi and Bobby are holding her now and all Celine can do is sob like the broken woman she is. Bobby claimed she was strong. Rumi had said they needed her. But they don't know how truly worthless Celine is… they don't understand how much of a black hole she is, sucking up their compassion, their love, their affection… and giving nothing worthwhile back in return.
"Celine…"
Rumi's voice, when it comes, makes her flinch. Celine bites her lower lip, afraid to even meet the younger woman's eyes. But then…
"Does this have to do with my father, Celine?"
Celine's eyes snap shut, a quiet wail leaving her lips. But Rumi's voice just gains more strength and certainty.
"Celine, whatever my father did… Jinu will never be like him. He's connected to the Honmoon, he's connected to me. He can never hurt me. Jinu literally came back in time to save me… to save all of us."
… What? Once Rumi's words fully penetrate, Celine forgets to continue her pity party for a moment, completely caught off guard by what Mi-yeong's daughter just said. Did she just say… Jinu came back in time?!
Blinking rapidly, Celine finally looks at Rumi, furrowing her brow in disbelief. Rumi just smiles crookedly and nods. As focused on Rumi as she is, the older woman doesn't even notice Bobby watching this exchange without a single iota of surprise.
"I know. It sounds ridiculous. But it's true. In another place, in another time, Jinu gave his life so another version of me could defeat Gwi-Ma. And the Honmoon rewarded him by sending him back in time and giving him a second chance at happiness. A second chance he's utilized to the fullest extent, no matter what the self-deprecating jackass might try to say."
Celine is still stuck on the time travel part, truth be told, though Bobby does chuckle at Rumi's annoyed words. After a moment, Rumi sighs.
"They say seeing is believing. So maybe you'll believe once you see Celine. Let me try and show you… though bear with me please, I've never done this before."
It takes her a moment to realize what Rumi means. And then they're somewhere else entirely, her office falling away to be replaced by a stadium filled to the brim with fifty thousand people. Not just that either… Celine's eyes widen in horror when she looks around and her gaze lands on the massive flames. Gwi-Ma… in the human realm.
"It's okay Celine, it's just a memory. Just like the village with the First Hunters and Jinu's sister. Except this… this is the future. A future that will
never
come to pass."
Celine wants to question the certainty in Rumi's voice, but before she can speak… singing reaches her ears. Rumi's singing… except the real Rumi's mouth is closed.
"Nothing but the truth now
Nothing but the proof of what I am
The worst of what I came from, patterns I'm ashamed of
Things that even I don't understand~"
Her eyes land on the memory of Rumi and she gasps in horror all over again. Rumi looks… terrible in the memory. One of her eyes is yellow. One of her arms is demonic, skin grey and fingers transformed into claws. Her patterns, purple and jagged and angry, have spread all over her body. More than her Rumi's patterns, by far.
But then, as Memory Rumi sings, her patterns begin to transform… to change and fill with the same iridescence that Celine had seen in Rumi and Jinu these past few days.
And the more Memory Rumi sings, the more her voice carries, the more she reaches the memories of Mira and Zoey on either side of the stadium. Their souls light up blue amidst a sea of pink and red, of mesmerized humans holding Saja Boys light sticks.
Eventually, the memories of Mira and Zoey join in on the singing, arriving at either end of the stadium's massive catwalks. That's when Gwi-Ma steps in, summoning his demons and ordering them to stop the three hunters at all costs.
But it doesn't matter. Rumi and her girls cut through the demonic hoards like they're nothing. In fact, as they're fighting their way to one another, Celine notices something even more amazing… they only have eyes for each other in that moment.
No matter the demon, no matter the attack, no matter the enemy… Rumi, Mira, and Zoey never look away from one another. Their eyes remain on each other as well as the ultimate prize, the center of the stage. Until finally, the last of the demons fall and they come together, embracing in the middle of the stage in an explosion of spiritual energy that takes Celine's breath away.
Only… there is no Honmoon right now, Celine notices. In this memory, there's no Honmoon to react to the girls' embrace. Yet… that doesn't stop them. They're waking up the crowd. They're pushing forward together against the demons.
Celine's eyes narrow when she realizes Jinu is among some other demons, floating in front of Gwi-Ma. But everything happens too fast for her to truly question it. One moment, Rumi is stalking forward… the next Gwi-Ma is trying to burn
her daughter
Mi-yeong's daughter to ash.
She only realizes how badly she's trembling when the real Rumi's hand is suddenly in her own, giving it a comforting squeeze as if to let her know that this wasn't the end of her. That this can't be where she died. Because as she'd said before… Jinu gave his life to make sure Rumi lived.
The practiced eyes of a veteran hunter let Celine see more than she would have liked about the moment in question. Jinu doesn't just step in to protect Rumi from Gwi-Ma's flames… he steps in because Rumi's saingeom sword
fails
.
There, in the moments before the end, Celine sees Rumi's weapon flickering red, signaling the blade's imminent collapse. It's not something she's ever seen before outside of a hunter's initial training when they're learning to keep their spirit weapon manifested. No demon except for Gwi-Ma would be strong enough to destabilize and overpower a hunter's weapon like that.
But Gwi-Ma is very, very powerful right now. He destroys Rumi's sword and would have destroyed her too… if not for Jinu's sacrifice.
Celine admits, she squeezes down on Rumi's hand a bit hard as she watches the exchange play out in the memory. Jinu claims Rumi gave him his soul back… and then backs up that claim by giving his soul to her in turn.
That starts an avalanche. The crowd, broken free of their hypnosis, begins to sing along with the girls. There's no Honmoon for them to resonate with, but much like the First Hunters pulled upon the souls of their first audiences, Rumi and the girls are doing so now as well.
Iridescent energy flows out of fifty thousand people in waves, reaching forward and encircling Rumi, Mira, and Zoey. For Zoey and Mira, this means they can kill off their own opponents and rush forward. For Rumi, it means summoning a new sword twice the size of her original and using it to cut a furrow through Gwi-Ma's tower-sized body before she begins to race down the length of the catwalk.
Things proceed apace from there, until at long last… the Rainbow Honmoon is born and Gwi-Ma is vanquished. Killed or banished, Celine doesn't know… but she does know what success looks like. The memory ends in victory, the fifty thousand souls saved, the girls triumphant. And Jinu… well, it's like Rumi had said. Apparently the new Honmoon they'd created had decided his story wasn't done yet.
As the memory comes to a close and Rumi lets out a panting breath from the exertion, she nevertheless has eyes only for Celine.
"Now do you see, Celine? Jinu is on our side. He has been since he arrived in this timeline. It's thanks to him that we have the Rainbow Honmoon so much earlier now, without all of the loss and heartbreak that preceded its creation the first time. You can trust him with me. I promise you can."
… The thing is, Celine had already accepted that Jinu was trustworthy. He was a demon with a soul who had apparently been her ancestor's brother four hundred years ago. She acknowledged that he was an ally and that he had done nothing but good things since coming into their lives. Or as she now knew it, nothing but good things since
coming back in time
.
But knowing that he was a trustworthy ally and accepting that he was in a relationship with
her daughter
Mi-yeong's daughter… were two very different things.
"Celine… I never asked before because I knew you didn't want me to. Even as a child, I could tell you wouldn't be happy if I tried to get you to talk about him. But I think it's time. I think I need to know now… everything you know about who my father was… and exactly what he did to my mother."
Celine stiffens, her breath hitching.
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A/N: You know, I've been sitting on the lore concerning Rumi's father in this story since like… Chapter 8 I think. Next time, it all comes out.
Fair warning, my headcanon for Rumi's father has pretty much zero chance of being the true canon whenever we finally get answers regarding him. But I think my idea is neat anyways, hehe.
Feedback is GREATLY appreciated, every comment helps me shape a story like this one!
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