Second Chances (KPop Demon Hunters)-Chapter 61: Spirit Weapons

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next FIVE chapters are up on
my Patreon
for early access!
The girls drag Jinu over to Jeju Island for some reason.
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"So now can I know what exactly we're doing out here, ladies?"
Jinu's question is met by Rumi, Mira, and Zoey all exchanging conspiratorial looks with one another for a moment before finally nodding in unison. The four of them are standing in a dusty dirt circle out behind the Hunter's Compound on Jeju Island.
When they'd told him they had a surprise for him today, Jinu had been curiously intrigued. But admittedly, at this point he was starting to become rather… bemused with the whole situation. Especially after they'd insisted on taking a helicopter to Jeju instead of Derpy Express. Something about keeping up appearances and establishing a proper paper trail when necessary or whatever.
The helicopter ride had been… harrowing. On a rational level, Jinu knew he didn't have anything to fear necessarily. After all, not only would a fall from any height do no damage to him, but also he could teleport. And
fly
. And yet, something about that blasted metal contraption that had brought them to Jeju just set him on edge. He hated it and after the return trip they had to take today, he was going to lobby for never using one ever again. Screw paper trails!
Of course, after the helicopter ride, Jinu had been ready for something fun and exciting for his surprise. Instead, the girls had brought him here, to this dirt patch behind the house where they'd all trained to be hunters. Needless to say, Jinu was more confused than ever before.
"Right. It's time."
Jinu raises an eyebrow at Rumi.
"Time for what, exactly?"
With a flourish, Rumi summons her saingeom sword, Mira brings forth her gok-do polearm, and Zoey manifests her shin-kal throwing knives. Jinu tries not to be too alarmed, though he really doesn't like how they're all looking at him…
"It's time for you to learn how to manifest your Hunter's Weapon, Jinu!"
Wait, what? Jinu furrows his brow and shakes his head.
"… But I'm not a Hunter?"
Mira offers him a shrug at that.
"You kind of are dude. You're connected to the Honmoon, your little sister was an Ancient Hunter, your descendant was our mentor. You're pretty much an honorary fourth Hunter at this point."
Zoey bobs her head excitedly.
"Yeah, which means you should be able to summon a Hunter's Weapon!"
Furrowing his brow, Jinu considers that for a long moment.
"I mean… I already sort of summon these energy whip things from the Honmoon. Maybe this is my weapon?"
He demonstrates a moment later, letting the iridescent energy of the Honmoon spool out of the patterns across his hands and arms. It flows up into the air, dangerous to nobody except for demons.
But Rumi shakes her head.
"That's not a Hunter's Weapon, Jinu. While we do need to be Chosen by the Honmoon to summon them, our weapons don't come from the Honmoon directly. They come from within, from our souls. That's why in the other timeline, when the old Honmoon was gone but the Rainbow Honmoon didn't exist yet, we could still summon our weapons."
Oh, that actually made a lot of sense now that he thinks about it. Jinu pulls back in the Honmoon energy he's been using to fight ever since coming back in time and frowns.
"Okay so how do I pull a weapon out of my soul?"
Just like that, all three girls become predatory again.
"The same way that Celine taught all of us."
"You get your ass kicked by someone who can summon their weapon until you get a feel for it."
"Don't worry Jinu, with all three of us beating on you, it should go super-fast!"
Wait what? Jinu shakes his head in disbelief.
"There's no way that Celine-eep!"
He dodges back, Rumi's saingeom soaring through the air where his head had been moments before. Then, he teleports away entirely, barely escaping a barrage of shin-kal aimed for his chest and a very long gok-do coming in for a textbook leg sweep.
"Whoa! Hey! Girls, c'mon! Can't we talk about this! I just want to talk!"
Rumi just smirks as she keeps on coming.
"Yeah Jinu, I've heard that one before."
Jinu screams in a very manly manner as he proceeds to flee for his life all over the training yard… also in a very manly manner.
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"Oooogh… not… fair…"
"Seriously… endless stamina… is… bullshit."
A couple hours later and the impromptu hunt finds itself thoroughly on hold on account of two out of three of the hunters having collapsed into the dirt in exhaustion. Zoey and Mira are laid out on their back and front respectively, groaning and shuddering as their bodies refuse to listen to their commands.
Rumi HAD tried to keep going after Jinu for a couple minutes after her girls collapsed, but in the end her concern for Mira and Zoey had won out. Now, she and Jinu are standing over the two exhausted humans side by side. Lips pursed, Rumi shakes her head.
"I just don't understand. We went all out on you for two hours straight. You didn't feel anything in your soul? You were trying, right?"
Jinu huffs and rolls his eyes. Because yes, he HAD in fact been trying.
"Yes Rumi. Considering I thought it was the only way to get you three to stop, I was very much trying."
"Hm… maybe it's because you weren't really in any danger. It's not like our weapons can kill you."
"No but they can still hurt a lot before the Rainbow Honmoon heals me!"
From down on the ground, Mira lets out a breathless laugh.
"Ugh… quit… being a big baby, demon boy."
Jinu just rolls his eyes again.
"Says the woman who's face down, ass up because she couldn't cut it against this 'demon boy'."
Both of Mira's middle fingers come up at that.
"Screw you."
But Jinu just grins.
"Wouldn't think you'd be in the mood right now."
Before they can continue their sniping however, Rumi lets out a groan, prompting Jinu and the girls to look at her. She has her phone out and is staring at her screen like the device has somehow personally betrayed her.
"What? What is it?"
Covering her face with her palm, Rumi groans again before finally telling them.
"Just texted Celine. Asked her if fighting to summon your Hunter's Weapon for the first time was tradition or not. Turns out, you normally summon your Hunter's Weapon by meditating on your soul for weeks, sometimes months. She was in a rush so she… used an 'alternative' method for our training."
Silence lays over the training yard for a moment before Mira's muffled voice comes up from the dirt again.
"Ima kill her. Ima goddamn kill her."
Zoey whimpers and nods, limply raising a thumbs up a couple of inches into the air.
"I'll help."
Rumi just rolls her eyes at the both of them before turning to him again.
"So… yeah, sorry about that Jinu. Maybe just… try sitting down and meditating on the Honmoon and your Soul and see if anything happens?"
Tilting his head to the side, Jinu slowly nods. He'd been doing that back when the Honmoon wasn't even fully Rainbow anyways, though it had been less about looking inward and more about looking outward and making sure no demons were trying to get through.
Still, it sounded simple enough. Moving down to the ground and sitting with his legs crossed, Jinu closes his eyes and begins to meditate. Reaching out with his mind to the Honmoon is incredibly easy at this point but finding his own soul sounds like it might be a little harder.
Before he can even start searching however, Jinu is a little distracted when he realizes he can feel Rumi, Mira, and Zoey in the Honmoon as well. Specifically, he can feel the gigantic bruises that Mira and Zoey have become.
It's not hurting the Honmoon or anything to be clear… rather, it's like the Rainbow Honmoon is pointing them out to him… like he might be able to help them somehow. Curious now, Jinu carefully reaches out to see what he can do. The Honmoon guides him and before he knows it… he's doing something. Something good, he hopes.
"Wha-?"
"Holy shi-!"
Jinu's eyes snap open and he watches as iridescent energy encircles Zoey and Mira much in the same way he remembers happening back at Namsan Tower in the original timeline. The two girls slowly lift up off of the ground, both under their own strength and the power of the Honmoon, until they're standing again and looking… reinvigorated.
"What the fuck was that?"
Jinu grins at Rumi, more than a little smug.
"The Honmoon showed me how to get them both back on their feet. Easy enough."
"I feel amazing…"
"Yeah, this is incredible!"
There's a pause as all three of them look to him, but Jinu just holds up a hand and shakes his head.
"Don't even think about it. No more sparring. I'm going to sit here and meditate and commune with my soul the way everyone before your crazy mentor did things, got it?"
Mira snickers and Rumi smiles apologetically. Zoey on the other hand…
"Actually, that's okay! Because that means I can focus on something I've been meaning to test out. Talking about wanting to murder Celine reminded me!"
Jinu watches along with Rumi and Mira as Zoey holds out her hands in a weird, curled gesture, her face scrunched up in cute concentration. And then… in a flourish, appearing in her palms, are what can only be human handguns from what little Jinu knows.
Immediately, Zoey's face lights up.
"OH YEAH BABY! The Hon-Glocks ride again! And now that Rumi and Jinu are Rainbow Demons™, I don't even have to worry about shooting one of them by accident! Now I just need to figure out ammunition for these bad boys and we're in business!"
Jinu grins at Zoey's exuberance and notices Rumi chuckling softly and shaking her head as well. Mira on the other hand… her brow is furrowed.
"Hang on a sec, Zo. I didn't notice back during our training but… those aren't actual Glocks, are they?"
Zoey freezes in place, eyes widening as she stares at Mira in disbelief.
"Wha- pssh, what are you talking about? Of course these are Glocks! Glock is just a synonym for handgun Mira!"
"No it's not. It's a
type
of handgun. And I know you know that Zoey."
"Okay but hold on, how do YOU know that Mira?!"
Jinu watches as Mira just smirks and crosses her arms over her chest.
"Back in the day when I was trying to figure out how best to really stick it to my parents, I did a lot of research into different forms of rebellion. Spent like, a month on becoming a 'gun nut' only to find out that shooting guns in South Korea is sort of a rich person thing since we're the only social class who can get around the laws and restrictions surrounding them. So I had to drop it because at that point I was in danger of conforming instead of rebelling."
Huh. He understood maybe… fifty percent of that, but to be fair he'd also never been a 'rich person' to begin with. Regardless, Mira jabs a finger at the 'Hon-Glocks'.
"Those, Zo, are not Glocks. Those, if I'm not mistaken… are Desert Eagles. Which frankly, are barely even handguns. More like hand-cannons if you ask me."
Zoey stays frozen for a moment longer before finally collapsing to her knees and wailing as she holds the now-identified 'Desert Eagles' off to either side.
"Waaaah! Yes, okay! It's truuuue! I could only ever summon Desert Eagles! But Hon-Eagles sounds so much lamer than Hon-Glocks! You were never supposed to be able to tell the diffeeeeerence!"
Jinu exchanges a glance with Rumi only to find her looking just as bewildered as he is by all of this. Guess she had just as little experience with handguns as Jinu did, in the end.
Chuckling at Zoey's theatrics, Mira walks over, grabs the shorter girl under the armpits, and lifts her off the ground with ease.
"Quit your wailing. We'll call 'em Hon-Glocks for you if that's what you want."
Zoey immediately stops the waterworks, her eyes glistening as she stares at Mira in hopeful disbelief.
"Y-You will?"
"Sure. Now let's figure out how to summon bullets for your 'Hon-Glocks'. Though… uh, does a Desert Eagle use a clip or a magazine?"
"They use magazines, Mira. Clips are another thing entirely. I'm sure you know that and are just trying to make me feel better."
"Whaaat? Nooo…"
As they begin working on the spirit ammo, Rumi turns to Jinu and peers at him.
"Hey! Less lollygagging and more meditating, buster!"
Jinu raises an eyebrow at her and smirks.
"I doubt anyone has ever been able to meditate successfully about anything with someone looming over them and demanding they meditate."
Rumi starts to flush, but Jinu isn't done.
"Especially someone so beautiful~"
That makes Rumi go bright red as she sputters and quickly averts her gaze. Even now, even after everything, Jinu could still deliver critical blows whenever he wanted, heh.
"Besides, I think I already got it."
Rumi perks up at that and even Mira and Zoey stop looking at references on Mira's phone for a moment to whip in his direction.
"Wait, really?!"
Jinu hums and nods. Watching Mira and Zoey be so silly together, enjoying Rumi's company… forget meditation, being around the girls was all Jinu really needed in life to get in touch with his soul. It was all he ever wanted to do with the rest of his immortal life if he was being honest. It was also a thousand times better than just sitting there with his eyes closed trying to mentally feel around for that shit.
To prove it, he puts out his hands and reaches inward, able to feel the shape of his 'weapon' already. From there, he manifests it in his grasp just like Rumi, Mira, and Zoey always do.
Silence falls over the training yard when he does so though, prompting Jinu to quirk up the corner of his mouth in a smirk as he raises an eyebrow at all of them.
"What's the matter? I've got my Hunter's Weapon now, don't I?"
Rumi stares for a moment longer before groaning and pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Jinu… that's not a weapon. That's a bipa."
Looking down at the bright, glowing copy of his family instrument held firmly in his grasp, Jinu hums and nods.
"So it is."
Mira breaks next.
"How are you supposed to fight demons with a bipa?!
Tilting his head to the side, Jinu raises an eyebrow.
"Well, for one thing… there are no more demons to fight anymore anyways, Mira. The Rainbow Honmoon keeps them all down in the depths and the remade Saja Boys are currently watching them all while seeing if any are worth saving. But even if I do need to fight a demon… I mean, I'm sure I can just smash this thing over their head pretty effectively. It's not like it's made of wood or anything."
Mira's mouth opens and closes wordlessly as she finds she has nothing to say in the face of his impeccable logic. Zoey on the other hand… drops to her knees, wailing again.
"I-I'll never get to shoot a demon motherfucker with my Hon-Glocks! NOOOOO!!!"
Jinu just watches on in amusement before bringing the spirit bipa into his lap properly and starting to strum it. Huh, sounded pretty good, to be honest…
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A/N: Jinu continues to be a master rage baiter.
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