It was you

The last thing Jinu remembered before he disappeared due to Gwi-Ma’s attack was Rumi’s tear-stained face and her eyes full of pain and regret for not being able to save him. But he himself did not regret at all that he had given his life for her. Moreover, he would do it again and again. “And why is this little fool crying?” — he thought then, although he himself was close to bursting into tears, because he knew that he would never see her again, would not feel the warmth of her small hands in his, would not meet her gaze full of warmth, which reflected the lights of Seoul at night. Jinu definitely regretted that he hadn’t met her sooner. But would it have been different then? Probably not, because he would have been a demon anyway, and she was a hunter, but if she had been born four centuries earlier.… It’s too late to think about that now anyway. Now it was worth thinking about where he would end up after his heroic demise. Where do people end up after death? Someone says that good people who have been honest all their lives and followed God’s commandments end up in the Garden of Eden. And the evil and dishonest, who lived in lies and spat on the laws, are burning in the infernal cauldron of Satan himself. In fact, Jinu is going to hell, considering what he did to his family four hundred years ago, but there is one thing: he has not been human for a long time. What about the theory of reincarnation? They say that we are reborn: our souls pass into other bodies, and in our new life we undergo karmic lessons — what we failed to do in our previous life is a consequence of our behavior. This is if you believe in the matrix of fate, which is now in fashion in the modern world, but there is a point here: Jinu has no soul. What does he even have? Is he there himself now? Is he really just going to exist and disappear at the same time?

***

Jinu opened his eyes and immediately squeezed his eyes shut against the sunlight that penetrated into the space. As soon as his eyes got used to the daylight, Jinu began to look around and the first thing he saw was a white stretch ceiling with a couple of lights screwed into it. It looked like a hospital room. Sick leave? What kind of strange association popped up in my head if Jinu had never visited a hospital? Continuing to look around, the guy turned his head from side to side, assessed the situation and concluded that he was in an ordinary room, which may have belonged to a teenager. “Not a hospital, thanks for that,” he breathed. What is this hospital doing in his head? Jinu got out of bed and was about to go to the floor-standing mirror, which showed a full-length reflection, but for some reason his head hurt uncomfortably, and everything blurred before his eyes, so he had to sit back on the bed. “What’s wrong with me? I’ve never felt as bad as I do now,” - Jinu wondered. When the feeling of dizziness subsided, the guy got up again and trudged towards the mirror. Nevertheless, the external condition had to be assessed. As soon as he caught sight of his reflection from afar, he abruptly froze in one place, as if rooted to the spot, and then with quick steps reached the mirror and pressed himself against it. What he saw put him in the deepest stupor: a guy with loose purple hair that reached right to the floor, whose shoulders and chest were covered with demonic patterns, was looking at him from the glass.; brown eyes (why were they that color?) they ran over the reflection from top to bottom, disbelievingly examining a body that definitely did not belong to him. Well, he was sure of it. “What’s that supposed to mean?” - Jinu whispered and started touching his face and hair. - “It can’t be that I’m alive. I gave my soul to Rumi.… Rumi! I look exactly like Rumi!" - A realization dawned on his mind, and Jinu staggered away from the mirror, sinking to the floor. Maybe this is all the delirium of a dying man before he completely disappears into oblivion, or where is he supposed to go? What is it? How is this possible? “It’s like a dream. A very realistic dream. It’s like it’s real. But why do I look like Rumi has become a man? Why Rumi?!” he clutched his head. Jinu would have sat on the floor all morning if there hadn’t been a knock on the door and then it was immediately opened. A dark-haired man dressed in a white pantsuit appeared on the threshold. He looked quite serious, as if saying that it was not worth joking with him. He looked at Jinu with a slightly surprised look and spoke: “Rum, are you up yet?” Get yourself cleaned up, Poppy will be here soon. The boys are already up,” he said. “Yes, Selinian,” Jinu said, and wondered how he knew the man’s name. And who is Poppy? The man, meanwhile, left the room and disappeared into a long corridor. “Why did he call me Rum? What kind of name is that?” In the man’s face, the guy saw familiar features that he had seen before, and his name definitely reminded him of something. “As if he’s… he’s a copy of Celine, Rumi’s guardian! She was a member of the Sunlight Sisters band with her mother,” he finally recalled. Before entering the human world in the guise of an idol, Jinu studied the information about Rumi quite well on the Internet, from which he found out that she followed in her mother’s footsteps and also became an idol, and was raised by her mother’s partner, Celine. The circumstances of Rumi’s mother’s death were not specified in any of the sources, as if the information had been well cleaned up. Well, this was quite a place to be in order to avoid a scandal — that was the way the entertainment industry was in Korea. Jinu followed the man out of the room and into the kitchen. There were two guys sitting at the round table, whose appearance was also painfully familiar to him. They were having a heated discussion while eating porridge with fruit. — Rum, finally! I thought you wouldn’t wake up on your own, and I wanted to go wake you up! — said the first one. “Zack, I told you he’d be up soon,” the other rolled his eyes. —Yes, Miran, you were right,” the first one nodded and pulled out a chair next to him. — Rum, sit down to breakfast, Poppy will be here soon! She’ll bring us the schedule for the week. Jinu tried not to show his concern and sat down at the table in silence. “Where did this Celinian go? I thought he was going to the kitchen.” The guys, his neighbors, were exact copies of the rest of the Huntrix band members: Zack was a short kid with short, spiky black hair and ridiculously short bangs that barely reached his eyebrows, and he had an earring in his ear; his face was round, resembling a baby face, and his eyes were large and expressive. To put it simply, he resembled a child. He was clearly supposed to be maknae in the group, the youngest and sweetest member. Miran turned out to be a tall and muscular guy with bright pink hair as long as Jinu’s; his face was not like Zack's, but elongated, oval; his eyes with a slight squint seemed to be watching others. In fact, he had to be a visual artist, as his appearance was unusual and attracted attention. “It’s amazing, but it’s Zoey and Mira, only in male form! It’s like another world…” Jinu began to guess. “How’s your voice?” Miran asked. “The voice?” Yes, it seems to be fine… — the memory immediately flashed before my eyes. There were only a few minutes left before the broadcast and the fan meeting, so the band was honing the choreography for the new song “Golden”. “I’m not hiding, I’m shining, that’s why I was born… hmm!” the guy suddenly coughed. “Are you okay?” Miran asked and put his hand on his partner’s shoulder. Okay, let’s do it again. From the beginning, but the guy couldn’t sing the second time either, because only wheezing came out of his mouth. “Rum, is everything okay?” Maybe you need some water. “What is it?” the worried manager asked, glancing at the operator every now and then. “I need five minutes.” I’ll be back in five minutes. “Five minutes?” But we have a broadcast in ten! — the presenter shouted after them. — Okay, I can handle it, don’t panic. Imagine that there aren’t ten thousand screaming fans at the entrance,” Poppy tried to calm herself down and began pacing from side to side. Room hurriedly entered the dressing room and began to take off his jacket. Breathing heavily, the guy stopped at the mirror. —Good… He reached for the star lock on his tank top and pulled on it. The lightning began to disperse, exposing her fair skin. Rum gasped, shocked by what he saw: the patterns that had previously been only on his shoulders had spread all the way to his throat. “My voice?” Oh, no. No. No! His breathing quickened several times, and his gaze darted around the room. Exiting through the back door, he didn’t even glance at the group of fans waiting for him, he raced away. A song he had sung as a child echoed in his head.: — We are hunters, the voice is strong. With our song we destroy our enemies. We have to fix the world. Darkness will meet light,” sang a little boy, looking at his father’s grave, on which stood a vase with sprigs of white chrysanthemums. A man combing his hair sang along to the beat. “Selinian, do hunters kill all the demons?” — he asked. —Yes, — he nodded. — So, everyone who has patterns? Rum pulled up the sleeve of his green shirt and looked at the purple patterns covering his shoulder. Selinian tugged the sleeve of the child’s shirt down. “You only have them because… “Was my mom a demon?” The boy finished for him “You’re not them, Rum. You’re a hunter, just like your father used to be. When Hongmun is sealed, all the demons will disappear from this world. Just like your patterns,” the man held Rum’s shoulder tightly. “So they’ll disappear?” — the kid was surprised. - yes. They will disappear. Apart from childhood memories, Jinu saw that Rum always refused to go to the sauna with the guys, promising to go next time. But this, for obvious reasons, was not destined to happen. When Rum asked Selinian if the guys would be able to understand him, he replied, “No. Keep quiet until the patterns disappear.” Rum ran onto a roof and, panting, yanked off his jacket, threw it on the floor, baring his shoulders, along which the marks of Guim spread like a spider web. Looking at Seoul, already immersed in the darkness of the night, he took a deep breath and began to sing: — I’m not hiding, I’m shining, that’s what I was born for! We are hunters, the voice is strong, I know, I believe! But instead of beautiful singing, there was a wheeze, then a cough, and Rum fell to his knees with a crash. — How can I fix the world, myself, if I don’t have my voice? “What is it?” he whispered in despair. “Why now, when I’m so close?” Why? Why? The voice broke into a demonic scream and rippled through Seoul with such force that Hongmoon appeared before his eyes, turning red for a second. The terrified Rum tried to catch his breath while a voice sounded in his head: — We are hunters, the voice is strong. With our song we destroy our enemies. We have to fix the world. Darkness and light will meet. “So that’s what Rumi’s life was like. So her father was a demon in that world.” — Are you sure it’s okay? Zack asked. —Yes, I’m fine,” he nodded. “Anyway, we have two weeks to make sure he’s definitely okay,” Miran reminded her. Jinu immediately remembered that after his escape from the set yesterday, the broadcast was postponed indefinitely due to his voice problems, and they had to take a short vacation to fix Room’s voice. My friends tried their best to show that this could happen to anyone and convinced me that the show could be rescheduled. They decided not to inform Selinian about what was happening because: — We are Hunters, the voices are strong. Your mistakes and fears should never be noticed! — the guys mimicked him. When Zack offered to skip the Idol Awards, Room confidently refused, because this performance was the most important one, thanks to which they could strengthen Hongmoon for the whole year. Poppy soon arrived, and Gina recognized her as Bobby’s manager, who helped Huntrix with their concert activities. Poppy turned out to be a pretty optimistic woman who always had everything in mind and at hand. Poppy informed them that there was nothing to do today, told them about the next week’s business and left to monitor their chart ratings, which were just bursting due to the release of the new song “Golden”, so the guys decided to go to the doctor, which Zack had been talking about all breakfast. Rum, aka Jinu, went to his room to prepare for the outing. The fact that he was alive and now playing the role of Rumi was unsettling. When you’ve lived much longer than you’re supposed to, you don’t think about whether there’s anything after death. Jinu didn’t even think about all these parallel worlds, heaven and hell, nothingness—why, if you’re going to live forever? But he clearly did not expect that he would ever die, which is why he was now in limbo. He sat down on the floor in front of the mirror again and began to stare at his reflection. It wasn’t hard to get used to someone else’s body, but it still felt strange. Yes, Jinu remained a man, just like in his first life, but he was not himself and did not live according to his script. Sometimes it seemed as if a real Rum lived behind him: it was enough to remember how he called Selinian by name, even though he had never seen him before. A young man looked at him from the mirror with a slightly surprised look. Jinu admitted that Rumi looked good as a man. Very sexy, to be honest. If he were a girl, he would definitely fall for such a cute face. “So now I’m the leader of the Huntrix group. Does this count as a promotion or demotion?” — even in such a difficult situation, Jinu wanted to keep a positive attitude. Yes, Rumi was quite attractive in a woman’s body, so he was sure that she would have no shortage of male admirers, even if she wasn’t an artist. What’s to hide: he himself felt something more for her than just sympathy. Over breakfast, Jinu realized that he had childhood memories of this body, and from them he learned that Rumi had purple hair since birth. Well, now he has it too. “It would be nice if I could remember them at any moment. But in order to learn some information from the past, I need to at least start a dialogue with someone. Impractical,” Jinu took one last look at his reflection in the mirror, pulled the hood of his pink hoodie over his head and left the room. *** — Her tonics are magical, I’m serious! She can cure anything! — Zack kept repeating loudly, walking down the street with his partners. — Zack, be quiet! — Why are there so many people here? “That’s where we’re going!” — they turned the corner to a building made in traditional Korean style, on which hung a sign “HAN 의원 (Han Ae Won)”. —Yeah, 'everything is legal here, ' as I expected, — Miran said incredulously, reading the sign on the door. — “The earth and what it has grown.” In my opinion, it is quite legitimate? - yes! That’s the attitude! — a joyful Zack was the first to run into the room. “Let’s go, or they’ll notice,” Miran drawled, and followed Rum out the door. “Well, let’s see what this little doctor tells me. It will be good if she really gives this body back its voice.” Already in her office, Room looked suspiciously at the photos of the woman with other idols hanging on the wall. But, contrary to Room’s expectations, the doctor did not inspire confidence from the word at all. He even thought she was a charlatan: she talked the whole session about some walls-a lot, a lot of walls—and from somewhere she heard that he didn’t go to the sauna with his friends; she insisted that you need to look at everything as a whole, not in parts; she didn’t believe it when Rum said, That he was just focused; he even called him closed! Miran and Zack were delighted with her insight (if that’s what you could call it). However, later this woman “exposed” Zack and tried to do the same with Miran, but the choreographer of the group did not let her do it. After the appointment was over, Room started looking at the wall of photographs again, but this time in the lobby, and saw a photo of his group, on which the doctor clumsily stuck herself with a miraculous tonic in her hands. In the end, she handed him a box of medicines and sent him on his way. As soon as he and his friends left the small building from the doctor, several shadows appeared around the corner and voices began to be heard. Fearing that they were particularly annoying fans, the sasaens had tracked them down after all, the guys hid behind the wide back of the Room, and the three of them slowly trudged to the main street. Four girls suddenly appeared in front of the guys, who were dressed quite brightly and openly, a little eccentrically. Jinu recognized them as his former friends, members of the Saja Boys group: Romance, Baby, Abs and Mystery. Zack and Miran, seeing such beauties, immediately got out from behind their leader and looked at them so that their mouths watered, and hearts appeared in their eyes. Rum, assessing the situation, frowned. Did they fall for them? No, the girls certainly looked unusual, but to fall in love at first sight… The first one he noticed was a girl with short bright pink hair. She was wearing a green Hawaiian long-sleeve shirt, the buttons of which were unbuttoned and revealed a large, toned chest in a yellow tank top with thin straps and abs cubes. On her feet, she was wearing impossibly short denim shorts, and because of their length, she could admire her delicious rounded hips, which she wagged beautifully. “It’s definitely Abs, — Jinu guessed. To her right was a girl with medium-length purple hair that completely covered her eyes. Her neck was covered by a yellow tank top, on top of which was a pink sleeveless vest — instead of them there were yellow mittens stretched to her fingers. Her hips were hidden under a denim skirt that barely reached her knees. “And this is Mystery.” To the left of the pink-haired beauty was another girl: also with pink hair, but a shade lighter than the first, but in length they were like the second. She was wearing a light yellow blouse with pink buttons buttoned up without one, with a deep neckline, in the middle of which was a green heart pendant. The lantern sleeves fluttered beautifully in the wind. She was clearly a lover of jewelry: earrings hung in her ears; two bracelets hung on her left hand; a ring on her thumb; and her nails were painted with varnishes of different colors. There was even a bright chain hanging from the waistband of her jeans. — “Romance!”. Next to her was a girl whose hair shone beautifully turquoise in the light and was tied with a large yellow bow on top of her head. She was wearing a pink sweater with a shirt collar the color of her hair sticking out from under the neck-the shirt was about a size bigger than the sweater. Her nails were also colorful, just like the third participant’s. She was wearing purple leggings. Perhaps, of all her clothes, they were the most closed. “I recognize Baby.” Looking at the company walking towards them, it seemed to him that someone was missing. Suddenly, a fifth appeared from behind the four girls: a black-haired beauty, whose hair was the longest of the company. She was wearing a tight—fitting plaid shirt without sleeves, and her buttons were buttoned up exactly to chest level, revealing a pink tank top that did not cover her cleavage. A thin gold chain hung around her neck. She was also wearing blue jeans and low—heeled sandals, and she was walking in a straight line like a cat. Jinu froze, looking at her. He seemed speechless — the girl, who, by the way, looked straight into his eyes, looked so impressive and confident. It was like a scene from a drama.: she looked at him from under slightly lowered eyelids framed by thick black eyelashes, and he stood with his jaw dropped to the ground (his hood even fell off!). The guy hung up a bit and didn’t notice how she walked past and brushed his shoulder, and he began to fall right onto the asphalt — and again everything happened in slow motion. The box he was holding fell out of his hands with a crash, and all the miraculous elixirs prescribed by Dr. Han fell out of it and were now scattered on the street. The girl turned around, stretched out her hand in his direction, and Rum thought that she wanted to help him get up, and even began to pull her hand in response, but the stranger arrogantly shook off her shoulder after the collision. Rum frowned slightly. The girl sighed with displeasure. Rum’s frown deepened. The girl threw a disgusted “careful” and left with her friends, who, by the way, gave him contemptuous glances. Jinu realized in an instant that this girl was an exact copy of him, but from another world — his own, as if he had become a woman. He was now convinced that he was in a parallel world. — Be careful yourself! I’ve scattered everything! Look at this mess! “She’s beautiful. That is, me. Rather, Rumi is beautiful. No, I’m Rumi now. Just beautiful!” he thought. So this is what he and the Saja Boys would look like if they became girls. Jinu managed to evaluate each one and thought that if they had been reincarnated into such girls, the Huntrix would have been instantly defeated. But the current Huntrix of beauty, of course, did not recognize them, so they began to simulate vomiting and collect tonics from the asphalt. “Yes, in our first meeting with Rumi, I behaved like a boor, to put it mildly. And how did she not smear my face on the spot?” Jinu grinned to himself. — Hey, where’s the music coming from? Zack asked suddenly. Looking around the street, the guys noticed that people were flocking somewhere towards the square, where the energetic melody was coming from, and followed them, not forgetting to make sure that the disguise was in place. All the passers-by were holding some colorful flyers, which depicted a lioness and said “Saja Girls” in English. « “Saja Girls”? That’s right, our band is supposed to be performing right now!” And so it happened: five beauties came out of the purple haze and began to sing the same song that Jinu had once sung with other demons — “Soda Pop”. Even the words were not changed! “Those idiots again! Rum swore. “Are these girls a girl band?” It turned out that the black—haired actress had stolen one of Rum’s tonics — he realized this when he saw the medicine in her hands and immediately began to count the dispensation. Zack liked the melody because he began to actively move his shoulders up and down, but froze under the gaze of Rum and Miran, and then began to do it less intensively. “It’s a stupid song, but it’s catchy,” Rum admitted. “Like hell,” Miran agreed, and they both danced their shoulders slightly. Continuing to watch the artists, the group noticed tags on two of them: first they appeared for a second on the arm of a girl with abs, and then on the black-haired woman’s neck. “They’re demonesses!” Rum and Miran realized at the same time. “They’re magicians!” Zack shouted, but when he faced the displeased stares of his friends, he corrected himself: —Demonesses! Of course! Damn, they’re good. “But why a demon girl band?” “I don’t care, demons are demons. We’ll kill them,” Miran moved forward towards the protruding ones, but was stopped by Rum’s hand, which he placed on his shoulder. — No, it’s too crowded here. “But what if they try to kill these people?” “It doesn’t look like it. Meanwhile, the Saja Girls gave out gifts to their audience and even helped a boy spread strawberry jam on bread and made him a sandwich. “Actually, it looks like they’re kind demons, — Zack suggested. — There are no such things! Miran and Rum protested. The trio immediately ran to “save” the listeners: they threw out the sandwich and trampled on the children’s gifts, which were handed to them by the demons. Making his way closer to the stage, Room expressed his guess: “They’re after the fans. We have to stop them. Rum was watching the idols closely, not taking his eyes off, and a black-haired girl noticed him. She grinned unkindly, leaned over to the edge of the stage and dusted off her shoulder. Oh, she definitely recognized him. He also dares to mock him! “Was I really that much of a show—off?” wondered Jinu as he watched her. — That’s all for now! I’ll see you on your favorite show today,” the leader pointed to the message that appeared on the screen — “Play game with us”. — Saja Girls loves you! The girls disappeared into a purple haze. Huntrix exchanged glances with each other. “Still, magicians can do that too, — Zack said softly. —Oh, they’re demons. And we have to destroy them, — Rum replied. *** The three guys spent the whole day stubbornly tidying themselves up, sneaking behind the scenes of the set, where right now there was a live broadcast with the girls. They even donned new leather suits, which they never went out to their audience with. Yes, for the sake of such an event, I covered my nails with gel polish and wrote “KILL SAJA” on them! “As soon as the show is over and they leave the stage, we jump on them and show them!” said Rum. Laughing ominously, the guys called up their weapons and ran away from the wings and climbed to the top of the background with the name of the show, from where they had a view of the entire studio. The Saja Girls competed with one of the co-hosts in eating hot sauce. Gina, who was almost breathing fire, was the first to be blown away. Abby followed her, rolling down the chair and exposing her abs, which the camera immediately took in close—up. Then Mystery, who burst into tears from the joke, and Romanti, who almost had her heart jump out of her chest, dropped out of the game. In this game, the undisputed victory was won by Baby mcnae group. It seemed that she wasn’t drinking hot sauce, but regular apple juice for children, because unlike her teammates, whose faces were twisted by the unbearable sharpness, she remained unperturbed and even relaxed. — My co-host couldn’t! Baby Saja wins! Applause! — the presenter shouted. —Goo-goo-ga-ga, — the girl said pathetically. “I’m sorry to say goodbye to you, it was fun…” the presenter drawled with annoyance in her voice. Gina, who was standing between the girls, looked up somewhere, and then interrupted the presenter and took the microphone from her.: — Why say goodbye if we still have extra-special guests? — the audience was delighted with this statement and froze in anticipation. “What’s he doing?” Rum frowned, sensing something bad. — Please meet… Huntrix! She pointed up, and the spotlight immediately shifted there along with the camera lenses, and everyone saw the three guys. Someone shouted from the podium: “I love you, Huntrix!” “We just came by to congratulate the young people on their debut and…” Rum started waving his hand. — And, of course, play with us! Slides to the studio! — four other participants immediately rolled three high slides with a pool with colored plastic balls to the background, on which there was a clumsy inscription: “Huntrix”. I couldn’t refuse, because the joyful crowd of fans was loudly chanting: “Into the balls! Into the balls! In marbles!”. After exchanging glances with each other, the guys nevertheless crossed their legs and began to roll down the slide. But at the moment of their departure, an incomprehensible creak was heard. “What is this?” Stop it! The fans shouted, and the Saja Girls twisted their faces. — Treacherous skin! — Zack realized. The trio finally got down and immediately fell into the pool: Rum was swinging his legs, which were now higher than his head; Zack was lying face down in the balls, sprawled on them; Miran was lying displeased and glaring at the grinning girls. Finally, they were able to get out of the pool and stood in front of the girls. “Well, it was fun,” Rum said awkwardly. “It’s an honor for us to share the stage with you,” Gina thanked them politely, and bowed along with the group. The crowd cheered: “It’s so hot! They’re such ladies!” — No, it’s an honor for us! Rum said, and the three guys bowed back. — No, for us! The girls bent lower. — For us! — the Hunters also bent lower. — For us! — For us! “My back!” The boys bent down as low as their black leather pants would allow, which made it difficult to move. The curtain came down. The guys looked up, and the Saja Girls were already running backstage. Rushing after them, Huntrix found themselves on the street and noticed that the girls had disappeared into the sauna. “Follow them!” — Room pointed, and they moved towards a building with a bright sign. — We’re going to the sauna with a Rum! — Zack rejoiced. Locking themselves inside with weapons in their hands, they looked around and froze: there were only women around! — Women’s bath! — Miran hit himself on the forehead. “Really?” — there was a voice from the side, and three of them immediately turned their heads. “Did you really follow us here?” Gina bared her teeth in displeasure. “I knew they could. One of them keeps his eyes on me,” Abby nodded towards the guys. — Nothing like that! — Do you think that we will give you our fans? Fight with us for them! Rum shouted. — Yes, get your hands off our Hongmoon! —Oh, no, no, we’re not here to fight. And here they are… — after Gina’s words, dozens of angry demons began to appear from the floor of the bathhouse. “Water demons! — Great, my dears! Miran chuckled. “Get rid of the Hunters,” she whispered to one of them, squatting down. “Then you can eat all the souls you want, — Gina encouraged them. And yet they didn’t need many words: in an instant they jumped out of the portals and began to surround the hunters, trying to touch them with their ugly long claws. — Don’t think that all baths are like that, Rum! Usually it’s always fun here and you can relax! — Zack was worried and at the same time fought off evil spirits. — Have a nice stay! Gina gloated and ran away, but slipped on a puddle. —Oh, my God! She disappeared into the hallway. Rum ran right after her, his sword gleaming dangerously in his hands, and he began to exorcise demons, cutting his way to the corridor where the demoness had run into. Finally, he managed to catch up with Gina, who had noticed him. With a jerk, Rum climbed onto the wall, made a jump and found himself right in front of the girl, who immediately hid in the room, avoiding another blow. He ran into the room after her, and a fight broke out. Meanwhile, new gaps began to appear on Hongmoon, from where more and more demons penetrated into the world — it began to weaken. Miran and Zack found it harder to deal with the creatures without Room’s support. — Where did the Room go? We can’t do this without him! — Rum, where are you?! Rum, on the other hand, was trying to defeat Gina with all his might, waving his sword right in front of her face. — Ah! Not the face! It is necessary for your fans! — the girl wailed. Gina threw a pot at the Hunter, which immediately broke into small pieces on the sword. She then lunged and her claws grazed his arm, tearing the sleeve of his leather suit. Hoping that an inconspicuous attack would help her escape from Rum, the demoness was behind him, ready to strike, but Rum’s reaction was excellent: he quickly turned around and kicked her right in the stomach, so hard that she flew to the bench, to which Rum managed to pin her. The girl was breathing heavily, trying to keep the magic sword as far away from her neck as possible. Gina laughed.: “You’re strong,” she grinned, having previously looked the hunter straight in the eye. But then her gaze shifted a little lower, to her hand, and surprise appeared on her face. Rum followed the trajectory of her eyes and discovered that the costume no longer hid its demonic patterns. Gina, taking advantage of his confusion, pushed the guy away from her and jumped to her feet. Rum staggered back and began to cover his shoulder with his palm, looking at his opponent in fright. “A hunter who’s half demon?” — She was surprised. Suddenly, there was a crash behind them as the demons broke through the wall of the room, behind which Zack and Miran were trying to push away the servants of Gwi-Ma. — Rum, help us! “We need you, Rum!” they shouted, because they could not cope with the onslaught of monsters. Jinu panicked. He remembered that in his world, Rumi hid her marks from her friends—in this world, they should have been hidden by Rumi. Now he found himself in a desperate situation: to help his friends and tell them a secret about himself, or to keep everything a secret, but… “They shouldn’t know, it’s not the time yet! But how… What should I do?” — the guy was torn. His friends are about to notice him. A black crown flashed before his eyes. He lowered his head and saw Gina in front of him, who hugged him. She stared at him for a while with her brown eyes steadily. Once again, Jinu felt like he was in a drama for a moment. Gina abruptly pushed the guy away from her and disappeared, leaving the hunters with the water demons and disappeared from sight. Rum looked at his hand and saw that it was now tied with a checkered handkerchief. He realized that the danger of revealing himself had passed, and without hesitation rushed to his friends to help. As soon as all the demons were destroyed, the hunters were kicked out of the bathhouse by some lady — after all, they were in the women’s bathhouse. Apologizing profusely, they ran home, where they began to heal their wounds. *** Looking out the window at the night lights of Seoul was painful: Hongmun, which covered him, was covered in red spots, from where crowds of demons could come out at any minute and start hunting for fans. I couldn’t believe that Gwi-Ma found out that they were close to the golden Hongmoon and sent a girl band that really worked! Poppy came into the room, upset, with her phone in her hands. She was extremely upset that the newly debuted Saja Girls group already has its own fandom, slogan, and all social media feeds are full of short clips of their song “Soda Pop.” — This is a battle for hearts and minds. The battle for the fans. And where is the biggest battlefield? Rum asked. — The idol award? — the guys suggested. “The fair?” Poppy suggested. — That’s right! We have to light up there, outshine everyone and finish off the Saja Girls! Zack, we need a new song! — Twenty-three notebooks with disses on demons! Colorful notebooks appeared in Zack’s hands — We’ll bring it up to 30! Poppy said confidently. — Miran, the choreography! — Yes, I’ll make it hot! The choreographer chuckled with satisfaction. — The backup dance is ready! “Poppy sent a few messages to someone on messenger. “We’ll write a new song and expose the Saja Girls,” Rum concluded with confidence in his voice. — Let’s send them to hell, where they belong! Zack added. - yes! Miran enthusiastically agreed with him. “Kick their asses!” Zack shouted, and the three guys ran out of the living room. — These are my guys, that’s their name! I’m not sure about all these demonic things, but they look good and they radiate energy! Poppy’s mood clearly lifted when she saw how joyful her charges had become. Rum went into his room and pressed himself against the door, exhaling softly. He noticed a bright box standing by the door, reached for it and took out one of the tonics. —Okay, tonics. Let’s do it,” the positive attitude sounded in his voice exactly until he noticed that the label on the tonic was starting to peel off. — what? He tugged at the edge of the paper—it had completely peeled off the tonic. It turned out that the label was pasted on top of the inscription “100% grape juice”. —Oh, Zack, — Rum sighed in disappointment. He looked down at his bed. In addition to a blanket, pillows, and a large teddy bear, there was a plaid handkerchief on it, the corners of which were tied in a knot. Rum involuntarily touched his hand, on which his owner had tied a handkerchief. “A hunter who’s half demon?” Her voice echoed in my head. Then a memory flashed before his eyes of how Gina had covered him up, so that his secret would not be revealed to his friends. Lying on the bed, Jinu stared at the white ceiling and wondered how he could exist in this world now. If he hadn’t thought about it in the morning, now one disturbing question has crept into his head: what awaits him in this world? In the first world, he had, perhaps, an unenviable fate, but he understood that it was only his fault: if he hadn’t listened to Gwen then, or at least if he hadn’t betrayed his mother and sister, everything could have been different. And now there was a chance to create everything from scratch, because it was a new life. But Jinu understood that if he took Rumi’s place in this world and became a Demon Hunter, then Rumi herself became a demon here, trying on his role for herself. Then it turned out that in this universe it was she who would sacrifice herself to save him. Could Jinu have let this happen? “If only I could consult with someone…” — the weight of this question weighed heavily on his shoulders. He tried to analyze each of his decisions in order to choose one of them, but in each case, someone had to die — as if it were impossible to do without victims. There was a sudden knock on the door, and then a voice: — Rum, can I come to you? — the owner of the voice turned out to be Selinian. “That’s right, Selinian. After all, Rumi trusted Celine, which means I can trust him.” “Come in.” The man entered the room and closed the door behind him. “Are you all right?” It’s like you’re in another world today. “Well, actually, it is.” Jinu knew that in this world, Selinian was his body—Room’s guardian. Rum’s parents died when he was very young. His father fell in love with his mother, who was a demon, and he was the result of their union. After the death of his father, who was not only an idol of the Sunlight Brothers group, but also a Demon Hunter, Selinian, as his partner and close friend, promised to take care of his son and took custody of him. Selinian had been taking Rum to the red carpet since childhood, so the boy had been under the gun of cameras for a long time. And, of course, he followed in the footsteps of his father and guardian and also became an idol and a Hunter (but this role was not known to the public, of course). “I’m just, well…— the guy hesitated. “Is it because of the patterns?” Are you worried about them again? Selinian sat down next to her on the bed. —No, not at all. I’m just thinking…” but Jinu couldn’t bring himself to express his thoughts. What if he doesn’t understand? — Will you tell me about what? The man smiled kindly. Jinu suddenly felt that he was not alone. The last time he felt this way was when he was with Rumi, when he opened up to her. “It’s a strange feeling. It’s like it’s not mine at all.” Taking a deep breath, he asked: — Do you think there are parallel worlds? “What an interesting question, — he chuckled. — Our universe is limitless, so I think so. Why are you so interested in this? — Tell me, what would you do if you suddenly found yourself in a parallel world? One day you had a life, and then everything became different. —Hmm… I think I would accept that and live in the place of who I have become,” Selinian shrugged his shoulders. — And you wouldn’t have changed anything? - no. — What if your love decides to sacrifice himself in the name of your salvation? What would you do then? Jinu asked. Selinian paused for a moment, choosing his answer. “I think such an end is inevitable anyway, — he said. — No matter how much I love it, but something has to happen. Even if I know what’s going to happen, interfering with the passage of time is a bad idea. —That’s how…— Jinu drawled. — Do I understand correctly that there is someone who will sacrifice himself and someone who will survive? Selinian asked. - yes. “And you’re asking me what I would choose if I were in a parallel world?” And who was I originally? — Those who sacrifice themselves to protect their love. — So I have to be the one who survives in a parallel world? — Yeah. “You know, I think there’s a nuance here, — he said thoughtfully. — It depends on what kind of world it is. That is, the second world can be a mirror of the first: if you sacrificed yourself, then now they are sacrificing in your name. And the fourth can be a mirror of the third: in the third you become a woman and sacrifice yourself, and in the fourth they sacrifice in your name. Thus, there are more than four worlds, and… —More than four, — Jinu repeated and fell silent. — yeah. So, what kind of world am I in, you say? — I think… It seems to me that in the one where they sacrifice for you… But I’m not sure. —The second one, — Selinian realized. — Then I wouldn’t change anything. After all, there are at least four universes where someone is alive and someone is dead. — So you would let your love die? “Interfering in fate is not a good decision,” he reminded her. “Who knows, maybe you’ll end up somewhere where everyone is alive,” he smiled. “Is there such a universe?” Jinu chuckled sadly. He would give anything to be in a world where neither he nor Rumi should die, where they are together and happy. “I do not know why you are so concerned about this question, Rum, but you can find a way out of any situation,” Selinian put his hand on the young man’s shoulder. — Go to bed, don’t think about such heavy things at night. Good night. “Good night.” Selinian left. Jinu, after all the shocks of today, did not want to sleep at all from the word: his mind was so excited and trying to find a way out of the current situation that it was difficult to sit still even in one place. There was a chirp from the balcony. Rum turned around and saw a black bird sitting on the railing, which had eyes not only on its head, but also on its neck, wearing a strange tall hat. “A bird in a hat?” He immediately recognized her as the bird that had been his companion for four hundred years. He ran out onto the balcony and approached her. —I thought I wouldn’t see you again,” he smiled and wanted to stroke the spirit, but it almost bit his finger. “You don’t greet your old master very kindly, you know. The bird walked along the railing in the other direction, and Rum followed it. There was another sound he didn’t recognize behind him. Rum turned around and saw two bright yellow eyes looking at him from a bush that was blooming on the balcony and dangerously approaching him. He was slightly startled, and a sword immediately appeared in his hands. Soon the owner of the lightbulb eyes came out of the bushes — it turned out to be a big blue tiger. A very clumsy big blue tiger, I must say, because on his way to the Room he dropped a flower pot and had been unsuccessfully trying to put it back in its place for a minute. The guy looked at the bird, which made a sound in response, as if it was tired of such antics of its companion. Rum squatted down and put the pot back in place. — Well, come here, my friend. I’ve missed you,” the guy stretched out his arms, and the tiger went to him again, but dropped the pot again. Rum looked at the bird, which exhaled with fatigue in its voice, and he smiled. Tiger was about to make an attempt to put the pot back in place, but Rum beat him to it. — no. Nothing, seriously. Everything is fine. Just leave it. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. The tiger opened his mouth, and a wet envelope with a picture of a duck and the inscription “hello friend” fell to the floor from his tongue right into his saliva. “An exact replica of mine,” he chuckled. Rum froze, looking at him. So Gina wants to see him. The first time they met, he sent her a message like that. Without hesitation, he took the envelope from the tiger and read only one word written in black ink with a brush: “만날래? 진우(Meet me? From Gina)”. “Yes, it’s from Gina.” — Does he want a meeting? Good. Lead the way. The bird flew around the room and landed on the tiger’s head, the floor under which turned blue, and the animals passed through it. The tiger watched the pot lying on the floor. Following the tiger through the streets, he turned into an alley. The tiger stopped near a stone statue of a tiger, which, like the floor on the balcony of the Room, turned blue. He, with a bird on his head, jumped into it and disappeared. Rum saw a mannequin on the roof of one of the buildings. Yes, it was exactly like that when he invited Rumi to the meeting. Having quickly covered the distance to the desired roof by jumping over the tiles on neighboring houses, a sword appeared in Rum’s hands and he cut off the mannequin’s head. He fell to the ground. — Wow. I wasn’t expecting hugs, but I thought the mannequin would become a funny kind of icebreaker. But I see that I was mistaken — it came from behind. “I won’t attack her like Rumi attacked me. I don’t have a goal to kill her.” “Why did you call me?” — Not a very warm welcome, you know. But I didn’t expect more, either,” the demoness frowned slightly. “I wanted to talk about your patterns.” But first, can we talk about your pants? A teddy bear and a steam train? Seriously? Rum looked down and saw that he was wearing dark blue pajama pants with embroidered bears and steam locomotives. — Choo-choo-oo! “Damn, this is embarrassing. I didn’t even change my clothes, I went straight to her,” Rum blushed slightly and immediately remembered that he had once put Rumi in exactly the same awkward position. —Rumi, I…” he began, and saw the girl’s expression turn surprised. “It’s sad that you didn’t remember my name, — she snorted. “No, I remember, but what about you?” Somewhere inside him, there was a small spark of hope that Gina, that is, Rumi from that world, remembers him and her other life. He doubted whether it was worth it to dump information about another world on her like that. What if she doesn’t understand, or does it somehow affect the world order? But he couldn’t help but try. If there was any chance that she remembered, then it would be much easier for him-together they would definitely find a way out of here. — What should I remember? “What is it?” she asked suspiciously. Gina seemed to be getting bored with what was happening. — Is it possible that you remember one of your past lives? — the guy thought it was pointless to hide something from her, because she already knew his most important secret. What if she really remembers? “Kid, did you hit your head on the way?” That’s not why I called you. Listen…” Gina tried to change the subject, but was interrupted. — No, Rumi, that is, Gina, listen to me first! Rum approached her and grabbed her by the shoulders. — Hey, hands! Gina took a couple of steps back. “We’re not that close yet. What, do you want to cross the line as soon as possible? —You’re going to die, Gina, — the hunter finally said. — Yes, really? There was a hint of sarcasm in the girl’s voice. “I thought you were smart enough to understand that demons don’t just die.” I’m four hundred years old, boy, I should have died three hundred years ago or more. “You’re going to die soon!” “Stop it!” he shouted. — You will sacrifice yourself so that me and the girls, that is, the boys, can defeat the Gwi-Ma! Rum began to explain to the demoness everything that was going to happen to her. She was silent for a while, unable to find the words to answer. Would it be an exaggeration to say that she took it as pure nonsense? To be fair, anyone would consider such an unexpected statement about his imminent demise to be nonsense. So did Gina, because she was no exception. Moreover, she really lived for four centuries, remaining safe and sound, why should she suddenly give her life for some boy whom God forbid she knows for a day? “You know, I think you’re crazy,” the girl finally said. — You should go on vacation for a week or two, because your attic seems to be leaking. “Don’t go, Gina. I’m really not lying to you! “I wanted to talk to you about your marks because this is the first time I’ve seen… a half—breed?” The devil knows who you are. But now I have no desire to chat with you,” Gina turned around to leave, but Rum grabbed her arm. —What?” “What if I tell you that I know your story?” “You first heard his voice four hundred years ago. Your family was extremely poor and unhappy. All you had was an old beep. You wandered down the street as a musician, but you didn’t achieve anything. You were desperate because you were starving. Then you heard her. “You can’t do anything for your family. You’re not good enough for them. But I can help you become good enough.” Overnight, your fate changed: you were praised for your voice, even the king himself noted it.; Your family and you started living on the palace grounds, eating your fill and wearing clean clothes; you were happy. But the patterns… They spread until they swallowed you up. And you were condemned to live in the demon world, becoming a prisoner of Gui-Ma forever. Your family lost everything and it was even worse without you. Since then, every day you’ve been haunted by memories of how you failed them. “You left them. Betrayed them. I let them down.” And these patterns are your reminder of the shame you’ll never escape. Just like mine,” he finished. Gina stared at the Hunter in surprise, unable to say a word. Her head must have been full of thoughts: how could he know her story in such detail and tell it as his own? — I don’t know what kind of methods you Hunters have, but you… I don’t want to talk about it,” Gina disappeared, leaving behind only a pink haze. Well, to sum up, it’s safe to say that the plan failed miserably because Rumi-Gina didn’t take Gina-Ruma seriously at all. Rum returned home and entered his room through the balcony. As he walked, he pulled off his pajama pants and threw them in the trash. The guy pulled on black pants without drawings, grabbed a guitar standing by the window, and went out to his friends. The guys sat down in their mini-studio and began to think about the lyrics of their new song, which will serve as a diss for the Saja Girls. — You will never defeat us, your plan will never work, we will never… The guys were desperately trying to find the lines, but they seemed to be standing in one place all the time. Rum, frowning, held a guitar in his hands and strummed the strings, did not say a word; Zack, who dropped his head on the synthesizer, screamed: — The song sucks! — We just need the best diss in the world for the Idol Award or there will be a demonic apocalypse. No stress,” Miran fell on the ottoman and launched, without looking, three darts at once, which hit Gina’s photo — she acted as a target. The entire wall of their closet was covered with photos of the five band members and bad words about them. - yes! We need to go after them and dump everything in their stupid faces! In their vile, disgusting, ugly… fresh, symmetrical, shining… — Zack, crawling up to the Mystery poster, began to drool. —Okay, that’s enough! I will defeat them! Miran jumped up, pushed Zack aside, and began ripping posters off the walls. “Smash it?” Rum asked. — A rout! It’s a song! “You look so sweet and pleasant, but you’re so disgusting inside,” Zack suddenly began to rhyme. —Nice, — Miran concluded with satisfaction. “Do you like it?” Zack clapped his hands. “You’ve been living a lie all your life, but you couldn’t hide,” Miran continued. —Nice try, kids, — Rum finished. —Wow, that sounds good, — Miran nodded. — I’ll switch… hmm! — suddenly coughed Room. — Sorry, guys. “No, it’s fine,” Zack smiled. — Yes, don’t bother your voice before the Idol Award. Huntrix decided it was time to rest and went to their rooms. Jinu, left alone with himself again, began to reflect on the failed conversation with Gina. He realized that he had come to this world all by himself, because Gina did not know about anything parallel. “Maybe some of the Saja Girls remember their past lives? Rumi’s friends had banished them. Could they have gotten here the same way I did?"— Jinu did not dare to develop this guess only because he had too little information about how their universe works. It was good that he knew about the existence of parallel worlds, but that was where his knowledge ended. — “Gina definitely won’t let me get close to her girls after today, so I’ll have to rule out the option of interrogating them."—if there was any hope that Gina knew something, even if it was small, but Jinu believed in her, then he wasn’t sure about her partners at all- He saw that they had dissolved after encountering the magic weapons. Based on what Selinian had said, then, in addition to the two worlds Jinu had visited, there could be at least two more. But was it so? Of course, this theory had a much stronger foundation than the theories of heaven and hell, if only because he himself found himself in another world. What if that’s it? Guinea itself has no power over the souls of its subordinates as such, because it lives in their minds and terrorizes them with voices or worse. And what happens to those demons who were exorcised by the hunters with their weapons? They don’t come back to roast in the kettle to the Gwi-Ma — they end up in a place that is very difficult to get out of. This place is called the Prison of Souls. Demons trapped there are forever forced to hear the echoes of their sins over the centuries. Jinu didn’t know if there was anyone who was able to get out of there, but he was probably glad he was in the wrong place. “It turns out that Gina does not know that she is in a parallel world simply because it is her home world and because her copy from another world, Rumi, has not died,” Jinu guessed. “Also, it turns out that after your first death, when you enter a parallel world, you enter the past. Now I’m experiencing what I’ve already seen from Gina. If there are other parallel worlds, then if I die here, will I also end up in the past in the third and subsequent worlds?” Thinking about such a difficult topic, as Selinian put it, gave Jinu a headache. There are so many questions around him that he has to deal with.… But the most important thing for him was only one thing: how to behave in a fight against the Saja Girls? If he’s trying to act like he’s really a Demon Hunter right now, and he can still control his feelings, then what about when the battle comes? Selinian said that one should not interfere in the course of fate and one should leave everything as it is. “But I’ve already changed the course of fate here when I told Gina that I came from another world. Does it make sense for her sacrifice? What if she invites me to a meeting again and believes me?” — while thinking, the guy didn’t even notice how he fell asleep.