A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also ans the next FIVE chapters are up on my Patreon for early access!
: "This story will have so angst, so laughs, so tears, and lots of happy endings."
Also : "But what if it also had horror and trauma tho?"
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There are more demon attacks the very next night. Which on the one hand, is good for Jinu's purposes. It ans another opportunity to step in when HUNTR/X starts to get tired and help Rumi and her girls out of another jam. On the other hand, it's bad in that it will only fuck with the hunters' ntal health even further.
They don't have the Saja Boys to worry about this ti around, but Gwi-Ma also doesn't have the Saja Boys to rely on either. All the Demon King knows is that the Honmoon is paradoxically weakening while also getting closer to golden than it's ever been before. Like a cornered rat, Gwi-Ma is throwing everything he has at the wall just to see if sothing sticks.
Maybe that's why Jinu should have seen it coming… but truth be told, Gwi-Ma's latest plan almost completely blindsides him.
It starts while he's trailing the hunters. Rumi, Mira, and Zoey were in good form as always, slaying demons, winning battles, and closing tear after tear in the fabric of the Honmoon. However, they were also slightly more on edge than before and Jinu suspected that was because of him.
Admittedly, he didn't know what they'd thought of his intervention last night, but he had a feeling it would take more than one encounter for them to be willing to extend even a modicum of trust in his direction. Still, it did hurt a little bit to see them all so on guard… especially Rumi.
He knew she was still trapped in her own head about her demon patterns. Without him to manipulate her into opening up and without the Saja Boys as an enemy to latch onto, he suspected she was currently filled with self-loathing and sha over the damage she'd done to the Honmoon. But surely she should be looking for any hope to latch onto right? If soone like her could fight to protect the Honmoon despite her patterns, why not him as well?
Of course, even as alert as they seem, Jinu doesn't think they ever notice him. More than that though, they don't notice the second group of demons that appear out of a temporary tear just a hundred feet from where they're fighting the first group. But Jinu does and when he sees the small tear close behind the second group, he can't help but get suspicious.
Ultimately, he's expecting the new batch of demons to circle around and try to take the hunters by surprise, of course. Jinu even readies himself to intervene again, figuring this will be another great opportunity to help them out.
… But that's not what happens. Instead of moving to reinforce their flagging comrades at the first tear… the second group of demons turn and begin to flee into the city.
Jinu's eyes widen and then narrow thoughtfully at this behavior and of course he imdiately gives chase. This was a new gambit by Gwi-Ma, clearly. But then it made sense. Desperate as the Demon King was, he would take any souls he could get right now. Just as Jinu would do everything in his power to stop that from happening.
… Only, as this group of demons makes their way further into the city center, they don't actually go after any humans. Sure it's late at night, but there's still plenty of people out and about. If they worked quickly, this group of demons could have had dozens of souls in minutes.
The fact that they're ignoring the buffet practically all around them stays Jinu's hand for a mont and piques his curiosity. He needs to know what Gwi-Ma is up to and he won't if he just kills this batch without seeing where they're going. So instead, he continues to follow them, curious to see where they end up.
In ti, he realizes where they're going… HUNTR/X's tower. The big fuck off skyscraper that the suprely popular, internationally famous idol group owned from top to bottom. Jinu blinks at seeing this, carefully keeping himself concealed as he follows the demons to the base of the tower and watches them shapeshift themselves into human forms.
Were they… planning to sneak in now and ambush the hunters while they slept later? That was both clever and awful at the sa ti. But it might be of use to Jinu, in the end. If he could show Rumi and her girls that he would protect them even while they rested or were at their most vulnerable, it might be worth letting things get that far… right?
At the sa ti, he's not sure it's worth letting demons violate the sanctity of their ho. Might be better to just… kill these demons now and look for other opportunities to impress upon Rumi and the others that he's on their side.
Jinu is so torn with indecision that he almost misses it. He's almost too late in realizing that… the demons aren't making their way up to the top floor of the HUNTR/X Tower. No, they're stopping a lot lower than that. They aren't going after the hunters at all. They're going after…
Jinu's eyes snap wide open and he lunges forward, teleporting mid-movent.
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Under normal circumstances, a manager living with the talent was extrely inappropriate, especially in this day and age. And especially when the manager was a man and the idols in question were younger won.
But to be completely fair, nothing about HUNTR/X was normal even in the slightest. The idol group didn't just have their own place… they had their own entire skyscraper. Yeah, they were RICH-RICH. The very top floor of the tower, the penthouse, was dedicated to the girls' living quarters. But so was every other floor of the skyscraper, all the way to the very bottom floor.
In that regard, Bobby living in the HUNTR/X Tower with his girls was perfectly normal. They had access to everything and everyone else they could possibly need at the drop of a hat, so why not their manager as well? And to be perfectly clear, it wasn't like Bobby really did live with them anyways. He had his own completely separate apartnt sowhere around the middle of the massive building, fully furnished and stocked and what have you.
He was always an elevator ride away if the girls needed him for anything and frankly, that was the way Bobby liked it. Especially because with how popular HUNTR/X was, it wasn't just Rumi, Mira, and Zoey who had to deal with weirdness from fans sotis. Once in a while, Bobby himself was targeted by… certain types.
That's all to say though, the security at the HUNTR/X Tower is second to none. Frankly, it might be the most secure building in all of Seoul. That's why when Bobby wakes up to a sound out in his living room, he really doesn't think much of it at first.
He just gets up out of bed, smacking his lips and rubbing his eyes as he makes his way out of the room and down the hall to check it out, feeling like a bit of a zombie all the while. Truthfully, the HUNTR/X Manager doesn't start to fully wake up until he peers into his living room… and sees dark blobs in the shape of people waiting for him.
Jolting backwards, Bobby is just about to run for the bedroom so he can lock himself in and call security… when he instead runs into soone behind him. Soone incredibly large and solid. Soone who places a hand on his shoulder and stops him dead in his tracks.
Imdiately, Bobby tries to do what he does best and talk the situation through.
"Look, guys… whatever you're hoping to get out of this, it's not going to go the way you think. I'm sure you're all big fans but this isn't how to do this… any of this!"
There's a brief mont of silence… and then laughter. Dark, vile laughter that crawls underneath Bobby's skin and makes him think he might have read the situation wrong.
"Is that what you think, human? That this isn't going to go the way we think?"
One of the dark shapes moves closer and Bobby swallows thickly. Until suddenly, they're right in front of him… and he's staring at his own face but with yellow eyes and sharpened canines. Bobby's eyes widen in disbelief, words clogging in his throat as the imposter runs a hand back through HIS hair.
"I don't know… I think this will go exactly how we think. We'll kill you and send your soul onto Gwi-Ma right here and now. Then, we'll have take your place to get nice and close to those fucking hunters so we can kill them once and for all."
… What? Bobby's mouth opens and closes in disbelief, utterly bewildered but also terrified. He didn't know who Gwi-Ma was or what all that talk about his soul ant, but the killing him and impersonating him thing was pretty cut and dry. Even if it does take a second for Bobby to properly connect that they were referring to HUNTR/X… to his girls. Which of course, causes him to act… impulsively.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRLS!"
With a shout, Bobby lunges forward at the bastard wearing his face, trying to reach him, trying to… to get him. Bobby isn't a particularly violent person so admittedly he doesn't know what he's going to do beyond that. But in the end it doesn't matter. He never gets the chance, not with the bigger one holding him back so hard his shoulder screams in pain. anwhile, his imposter just laughs.
"Oooh… feisty for a human, aren't you. Don't worry. I'll be sure to take real, real good care of 'your girls' for ya."
And then the imposter is reaching for him and sothing in Bobby's chest suddenly feels so heavy. He tries to fight it. He tries to struggle. But it's getting harder and harder to even keep his eyes open and-
"What?! The traitor, he-urk!"
Until suddenly it isn't. Suddenly, Bobby's entire living room is lit up with iridescent glowing streams of light and… and he watches as soone else appears among them. This new arrival tears through the… the creatures that Bobby can now see in the lit-up apartnt in full detail. That glowing rainbow energy that illuminates everything cuts them all down along with Bobby's imposter, and the one behind him holding Bobby in place for good asure.
The heavy feeling disappears, leaving Bobby able to breathe again as it all ends in monts. By the ti he's able to look up, there's nobody there except for him… and the one who saved him. Bobby takes note of the attire, even as a pair of glowing yellow eyes peer out from beneath an old, traditional-looking hat's wide brim.
"Sorry. I should have stepped in sooner. I… never mind. Take care of your girls Bobby. They need you now more than ever."
With that frankly insane warning delivered, the figure vanishes in a puff of smoke. Bobby just stands there gaping for a mont… before finally collapsing to his knees as the events catch up with him. Surely that wasn't real right? That had to have been a nightmare. He hadn't… it wasn't…
Shaking, Bobby reaches over and pinches himself. It hurts, so he's pretty sure he's not dreaming. Nor is he waking up either. Fuck… scrambling to his feet, he races back to his bedroom and grabs his phone off the charger to call Rumi imdiately.
Technically he could have gone up to their penthouse instead, but he tried to avoid doing that unless he knew they were awake. Phone calls were less… intrusive. Even if it felt rather crazy to keep to those sort of things at a ti like this.
Fortunately, Rumi picks up on the second ring. She doesn't sound tired despite the ti of night. Quite the contrary, she sounds alert.
"Bobby? What's up?"
His heart still racing, Bobby swallows thickly as he starts for the door to his apartnt.
"Are you in the penthouse right now Rumi? Because… because sothing happened. And I'm not sure you're going to believe but you still need to know."
There's a pause followed by a tone of voice that Bobby is used to from Rumi after years as her manager. Her concealing sothing from him. It's okay, he doesn't need to know every secret that his girls have. But he's gotten good at knowing when they're not being entirely honest with him.
"Oh! No, um… and the girls just popped out for so fresh air, sorry. What's up though Bobby? I'm all ears!"
Bobby stops moving at hearing that, now knowing there's no point in going all the way up to the penthouse. Instead he slumps his back against the inside of his own apartnt door after making sure the damn thing is locked. It is, which begs the question of how his assailants got in. And-
No. Focus Bobby. Rumi is waiting.
"Right. Okay. I might be going insane here, Rumi. Feel free to have committed if it proves necessary."
Another pause, followed by Rumi's voice now sounding truly concerned for him.
"Bobby… what's going on? What do you an 'going insane'?"
Letting out a shaky laugh, Bobby stares out at the living room where it all happened. There's no evidence of anything so he really might wind up in a ntal hospital for this. Doesn't matter though. His girls co first.
"Well, either I'm going insane… or actual shapeshifting demons just broke into my apartnt and were planning to kill and replace to get at you guys before a Jeoseung Saja wearing your rch and wielding the power of the damn rainbow saved in the nick of ti."
It all cos out as one long run-on sentence. Bobby can pretty much hear it as it spills forth from his lips. And yet… he had to say it. Because if it was real, if sothing really was trying to replace him to get at his girls, then they needed to know about it. They needed to be on guard in case this wasn't the only attempt.
Funnily enough, this ti around Rumi isn't quiet for nearly as long despite the absurdity of what he just said. In fact, it's barely three seconds during which he vaguely hears her speaking to others (probably Mira and Zoey) and then her voice is coming through, strong and clear.
"We're coming Bobby. Hang on."
Bobby wants to say it's fine. He wants to say the danger has already passed and they don't need to rush. But he can't lie to them. It's not fine… and he has no clue if the danger has really passed or not. In the end, Bobby sinks down to the floor, back still against the apartnt door and lets out a shaken, ragged breath before responding.
"… Alright."
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A/N: Fun fact, Jeoseung Saja are the Korean version of the Grim Reapers and what Jinu and the Saja Boys are dressed as in their demon forms during the film!
Anyways, yeah the masquerade just got blown WIDE open for poor Bobby. Eh, he'll live. Thanks to Jinu anyways~
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