Chapter Text
“I don’t k-know what you are talking about!” Roh Seung protested.
“No wonder, Mystery didn’t smell a demon. You are not truly one of us yet,” Jinu muttered. His eyes were still glued to the faint purple traces. He remembered a time when his own marks were so pale. He remembered that time only all too well. Roh Seung tried to pull away from Jinu’s grip, but his hand was as heavy as a shackle around his wrist.
“What has he been whispering in your ear?” Jinu’s eyes were intense.
“I don’t-” He was not able to finish his sentence before Jinu interrupted him.
“Whatever he is telling you is nothing but lies,” Jinu hissed out. Just for a moment he dropped his disguise. His almost black demonic patterns and his glowing eyes made Roh Seung freeze in front of him.
“He will drag you into hell,” Jinu said softly.
“Every promise he whispers in your ear is a lie. It will all rot and in the end you will be his puppet for eternity. Gwi-Ma is a liar, he will kill you.” Jinu promised solemnly.
The light above them was flickering. A grim look settled in his eyes.
“He is coming, pray that you will survive,” Jinu said as he flexed his claws. Roh Seung followed the movement with his eyes. He had become deadly pale. His skin had an almost greenish hue to it.
The lights in the windowless corridor suddenly went out. A loud noise resounded in the narrow space, it caused their ears to ring. Just behind Roh Seung a rip was forming. An eerie red glow rose from the crack. Skeletal white arms adorned with claws reached out. Their black nails made an unholy noise as they scraped across the tiles. They were reaching for them.
Jinu could vaguely hear Rumi shout through the closed door. The door rattled, but it didn’t open. It was locked. Jinu silently cursed. He had not noticed that Roh Seung had locked the door when he scattered the papers. He could see Rumi through the small window of the door. She was shouting something. Jinu sent her a smile as he evaded the clawed hand that tried to grab him.
He pushed Roh Seung behind him and rushed into the fight. Adrenaline took over as his claws ripped through leathery skin. Screeches and howls echoed in the small corridor. Jinu ducked to avoid the slash directed at his throat. His claws were dripping with blood. It shimmered beneath the fluorescent lights. Another one tried to jump him, but he sidestapped and grabbed ahold of their arm. With a sickening squelch, he ripped a faceless one's arm off. Black blood splattered everywhere. This would suck to explain.
Jinu barely avoided an attack, but his shirt got caught in the claws and ripped to shreds.
“Hey, I liked that top!” Jinu protested. It was now unsalvageable. He spun around and kicked one of the enemies away from him. He spun around and ripped the throat out of the one that tried to sneak up on him.
Sometimes he wished that he was fighting with a weapon like Rumi. With his claws he had to get up close and personal. Maybe he would request some sword fighting lessons from her. It would be a good date idea.
The claws nicking his ear sharply reminded him that now was not the time to get distracted by thoughts of Rumi.
The sound of shattering glass echoed in the distance. Rumi’s voice was getting louder. While Jinu had been fighting they had broken a window and climbed out of the infirmary and had broken another one in the hallway to get to him. Jinu sidestepped another attack, a smile slowly overtaking his features. Reinforcements were here. He could see Mira dropkick one of the faceless ones as she swung her weapon.
A sudden burst of pain made him falter. It spread like fire across his back. Jinu looked over his shoulder. A blade was sticking out of his back. The handle was clutched between Roh Seung’s shaking hands. He was crying. Big fat tears were rolling down his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, but I have to save her!” He was sobbing. He stumbled backwards with a slight push because his whole body was trembling and had no strength left. With a wince Jinu pulled the blade out of his back. He let it drop onto the floor with a clatter.
“You cannot save her, if you follow the voice,” Jinu said with gritted teeth. It hurt, but it was nothing that would truly impact him.
“Jinu!” Rumi’s voice was filled with worry. Her sword disintegrated the two demons directly in front of her. She tried to get to Jinu but more faceless ones jumped into her path.
“This feels never ending,” Zoey said as she jumped out of the way of an incoming attack.
“Die!” Mira shouted with a gleeful laugh. As he weeping beheaded one of the enemies with a sharp precision.
Had Jinu not been so focused on the man in front of him slowly being consumed by the poisonous whispers he would have laughed. Instead, he was focused on the man in front of him. For now, he was still a man. A man tempted by the whispers of a being powerful and weak at the same time.
“I have to save her,” Roh Seung was muttering. Jinu reached out and grabbed ahold of his wrist in hope of blocking out Gwi-Ma’s voice. His eyes were frantically moving from left to right. His touch didn’t seem to have done anything.
“Focus on my voice,” Jinu said forcefully. He was no longer watching out for enemy attacks. He trusted Rumi and her friends to keep him safe.
“The one that is whispering to you is called Gwi-Ma, the king of demons, ruler over the underworld. If you follow his voice these marks will darken and spread,” Jinu said fiercely. He pointed at the patterns on Roh Seung.
“You will turn into a demon, a slave to Gwi-Ma. He will drag you into the underworld. If he consumes your soul, you will be nothing but a husk following his every command,” Jinu growled as he pointed at the faceless ones surrounding them. They had no concrete proof but these mindless demons most likely were the demons whose souls had been consumed entirely. Baby had the theory that using his power consumed the souls Gwi-Ma had in his hold. A demon was created by selling your soul to Gwi-Ma. He hoarded those souls. The more souls he had the more power. After a while though, even the brightest soul gets extinguished under the strain. Consumed like a log in the flames.
“I have been under his thumb for four hundred years, that is the truth,” Jinu summarised in a tone that allowed no argument.
“He promised that he could help.” Roh Seung sniffed. Jinu suppressed the urge to shake the man.
“He is a liar. The scam artist of all scam artists,” Jinu exclaimed loudly and with clear frustration in his voice. Zoey started cackling somewhere in the background.
“If you want to survive right now don’t interfere and ignore the whispers as best as you can,” Jinu growled as he pushed Roh Seung backwards, out of the way of a clawed hand. Jinu grabbed the faceless ones’ wrist and threw him over his shoulder before stomping on its throat with a vicious smile. With a satisfying crunch, the oesophagus broke beneath his shoe.
“Brutal, I approve,” Mira said with a smirk as she cut one in half.
“I live to serve,” Jinu said as he mockingly bowed. One of the demons tried to attack Jinu from behind, but Rumi’s blade cut the head clean off.
“Thank you, my knight,” Jinu blew a kiss towards Rumi who even with a light blush dusting her cheeks sent one right back.
“Disgustingly in love,” Zoey sang as she jumped onto the shoulders of one of the enemies. She stabbed the enemy in the face with her Shin-kals before jumping down.
“Jinu!” Another voice suddenly shouted. Abby and Baby came running into the corridor. Patterns on full display as they joined the fray. Rumi had alerted Baby just before they shattered the window of the infirmary.
“The others are on the way!” Abby shouted. Baby grabbed one of the faceless ones and ripped the throat out. He flicked the black blood off his fingers. Abby evaded one of them by jumping over and doing a backflip before his claws cut through the flesh as if it were butter.
Mira let out a snort at the random move before she refocused on the enemy in front of her. Mystery came rushing around the corner. Only Romance had not joined the others. He was making sure that no human got too close to the fight. Music was playing over the speakers in the corridor, it only barely drowned out the sounds of the fighting.
“Excuse me.” Mystery gently took a hold of Zoey's wrist and elegantly spun her out of the way of an incoming strike. A giggle escaped her before her weapons pierced the faceless one.
“This is becoming a party,” Abby remarked as he kicked one of enemies towards Mira who impaled it. He let out a whistle of appreciation.
“Blood looks good on you,” Mystery said. He wiped a streak of blood off Zoey's cheek. He licked the blood off his fingers. Zoey went as red as a beet. Mira made a noise as if she was retching.
“God, why is everyone flirting?!” Rumi muttered quietly as she flicked the blood of her blade.
“Love is in the air,” Jinu sang, while he ducked from a strike. Mira was making another weird gurgling noise in the background in clear protest of that comment.
Somehow what was supposed to be a fight for their life turned into something that was almost fun. Romance joined the fight after he managed to barricade the door leading to the fighting area. Fighting with the Hunters was far smoother than he had thought was possible. None of his members fell behind. Now if only their teamwork could be as good for the award show stages.
Just as the flood was starting to lessen, new rifts ripped open in the floor and more hands blindly reached out through them. Jinu let out a string of colourful curses.
One of the clawed hands had somehow gotten ahold of Roh Seung and was pulling him towards the rift.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Jinu cursed out loud. He reacted without thinking and grabbed ahold of Roh Seung’s wrist. Half his body was already disappearing in the red glow of the rift. Jinu could hear Gwi-Ma’s cackling laughter faintly echoing.
Jinu tried to pull him out, but he was slowly being dragged towards the rift. His sneakers squeaked as he was dragged forward on the blood slick floor.
“Hell no.” Rumi’s blade beheaded another opponent before she rushed towards Jinu. Rumi grabbed ahold of his other wrist, trying to help him. Whatever was pulling Roh Seung down was powerful. Gwi-Ma’s laughter was getting louder.
Abby and Zoey were suddenly beside them, also grabbing ahold of Jinu and started to pull. Romance and Baby were keeping the still attacking faceless ones at bay. Mystery and Mira both joined in with the effort of trying to save Roh Seung.
“We need to strengthen the Honmoon, maybe we can seal the rift,” Mira managed to get out between her gritted teeth.
“If we strengthen the Honmoon now will he be cut in half?” Zoey wondered out loud between her grunts of exertion.
“Not an image I want to imagine!” Romance exclaimed as he kicked one of the faceless ones away.
“You literally ripped someone's throat out and that makes you squeamish?” Baby asked as his claws tore through flesh and bones.
“I have standards,” Romance said with a shrug. At the same time, he stuck his hand inside a torso and ripped the innards out.
Rumi made a choice and soon her voice echoed across the corridor. Zoey and Mira joined her without hesitation.
‘How It’s Done’ echoed across the corridor. The Honmoon started pulsing along. Jinu’s voice joined theirs and the other Saja Boys followed suit. With one last pull, they managed to rescue Roh Seung from the rift.
With the music echoing, soon all the rifts slowly sealed themselves under the Honmoon’s pressure. Romance and Baby dispatched the last of the faceless ones.
All eight of them fell onto the floor exhausted. Roh Seung was a trembling and crying mess. As they sat on the filthy floor, Rumi couldn’t help herself, she wrapped her arms tightly around Jinu.
“I’m okay,” Jinu promised as he hugged her back. Even covered in demon blood and grime Jinu still smelled and felt like himself. Rumi hid her face in his neck as she clung tightly. She ignored the cooing noise Zoey made in the background.
Jinu couldn’t quite hide the wince when Rumi touched his stab wound. Rumi immediately let go of him.
“Fuck, you got stabbed!” Rumi exclaimed with alarm, only now it was truly sinking in.
“Come back!” Jinu whined. He didn’t quite care about his injury. He just wanted her close. Romance grabbed the infirmary key from Roh Seung and tossed it towards Rumi. She caught it and immediately staggered back onto her feet.
“Anybody else hurt?” Mira asked the group at large. Everyone shook their heads. No one else had gotten hurt.
“I will look at Jinu’s injury in the infirmary,” Rumi said as she helped Jinu to his feet.
“Someone has to clean up this mess,” Mira said with a frown. The whole corridor was covered in the black blood. It was even dripping from the ceiling.
“Last time we fought them they left nothing behind,” Rumi commented. Usually, demons just disappeared without a trace after their weapons took care of them. This time though, residue was left behind and it left her with an uneasy feeling.
“Celine might have an idea, I will call her,” Zoey said with a frown.
“We are going to explain demonology to him,” Romance said with a wicked grin as he pointed at Roh Seung.
“Don’t kill him and don’t let Baby close to him,” Jinu instructed immediately. His ankle felt like it was on fire by now and his back was also burning. Rumi was not wrong in taking him to the infirmary.
“Let Jelly help,” Jinu added. The water demon was kind and also currently pacing up and down in the waiting room of the Saja Boys fraught with worry.
“Jelly would love to murder him just as Baby,” Abby added with a snort. Jinu underestimated just how loyal his fans could be.
“I will stay with Rumi and Jinu,” Baby declared. He knew himself, he wouldn’t be able to hold back from hurting Roh Seung. Even now his hands were trembling with the urge to hurt. He had dared to harm Jinu.
Slowly they dispersed. Mira and Zoey were standing in one corner, calling Celine and trying to organise some sort of clean up through her. They also needed to organise some way to delete the security footage of the cameras. Both of them were tense, they didn’t want to talk to Celine but no way in hell would they let Rumi talk to her right now. Romance, Mystery and Abby were dragging an apathetic Roh Seung towards their waiting room.
Rumi unlocked the infirmary and together with Baby helped Jinu step inside. Jinu gingerly sat down on one of the beds in the room. He took off the last remains of his shirt.
“Turn around,” Rumi instructed. He now sat crosslegged on the bed, his back facing her. She let out a small hiss at the blood that was smeared across his back. Baby was rummaging through the different drawers looking for bandages.
“I had hoped there would be better circumstances to showing you my bare back,” Jinu said with a light laugh in hopes of lightening the mood. Rumi just rolled her eyes before she gently cleaned the blood off. She lightly gnawed on her lips as she examined the wound.
“You might need stitches,” Rumi muttered.
“I will heal, demons are hardy,” Jinu said with a shrug.
“You got stabbed,” Rumi was frowning. She did not like seeing him injured at all.
“Only a scratch,” Jinu said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Don’t buy his tough guy act, we still feel pain,” Baby commented as he handed her some bandages. Baby leaned slightly towards Rumi.
“He nearly cried when he stubbed his toes on one of Abby’s weights,” Baby pretended to whisper into her ear.
“I can hear you,” Jinu said with a roll of his eyes. Baby stuck his tongue out towards him. Rumi continued to do the first aid while Baby hovered.
“Can you grab me a glass of water please?” Jinu asked Baby after a while, hoping to stop his silent vigil. Reluctantly, Baby walked towards the other side of the room to grab a glass of water. He kept glancing towards Jinu the whole time.
“He is such a worrier,” Jinu said with another roll of his eyes.
“Understandable,” Rumi muttered. Jinu couldn’t help himself. He turned around, so that he could face her directly, ignoring Rumi’s protest.
“Hey, look at me,” Jinu whispered. He gently took ahold of her chin and tilted her head up so that their eyes met.
“I am fine, I am still here.” Jinu said solemnly.
“And I will do everything in my power to remain by your side, I promise,” Jinu said as he leaned forward and gently placed a kiss on her forehead. Rumi answered with a watery smile and a nod.
Baby returned with the water and some painkillers he had found in one of the drawers. Painkillers only worked mildly on demons.
“Thank you,” Jinu sent Baby a smile. He took the pain killers and drank the water. Rumi finished up her first aid and Baby unearthed a pair of crutches from somewhere. Jinu protested that he was fine walking without them, but both Baby and Rumi insisted.
They left the infirmary together. Both Mira and Zoey had gone ahead to meet the one responsible for the clean up that Celine had sent. The rest of the Saja Boys were already in the waiting room where Roh Seung was subjected to an angry lecture from Jelly much to the others amusement.
Baby had pulled out his phone and was showing Rumi some of the embarrassing pictures he took of Jinu. Thanks to the crutches Jinu was not fast enough to stop him. The two of them were walking a bit ahead of him so that he couldn’t snatch the phone.
It was also the reason why they didn’t immediately notice when another rift opened up beneath Jinu’s feet.
He fell.
A scream echoed.
Hands reached for him.
They were not fast enough to save him.