My tame demons

      The alarm on Rumi’s phone — always ill-timed because no matter how professional you are, extra sleep always feels precious — burst into an uplifting melody, or at least it had seemed uplifting the night before. Before Rumi could even pry her eyelids apart, her face was abruptly smothered by what felt like a massive, fluffy pillow. A few seconds later, the strange pillow vanished, compelling Rumi to finally open her eyes. It turned out the tiger had decided to contribute in his own modest way and, ignoring human technology, woke his mistress in the old-fashioned style — gently poking her cheek with a paw the size of her head.       Rumi threw a deliberately threatening glance at her pet, squeezed her eyes shut again, and blindly reached for her loudly ringing phone. Just five more minutes wouldn’t hurt; nobody would die from five more minutes of sleep, and no apocalypse seemed imminent. Unfortunately, the tiger had other plans beyond simply demonstrating feline affection today.       The alarm didn’t even get to finish its first chorus. The cheerful track by her favorite K-pop group, chosen specifically the previous evening for an energizing start, was tragically cut off at its highest and most piercing note, followed immediately by a quiet crunch.       Rumi sleepily cracked open one eye. Hovering over her bed was an enormous, striped blue face. The tiger — her new roommate — stared down at her with an expression of universal sorrow, holding between his teeth the object that had, just moments ago, been her smartphone. The screen now resembled a spiderweb of cracked glass, and from its center protruded one particularly stubborn claw. That huge, clawed paw had (entirely unintentionally, of course) pressed onto the screen not just lightly, but destructively so.       “Oh no…” whispered Rumi, bolting upright in bed and burying her face in her hands. Damn, damn, damn…       “It… was screaming,” the Tiger rumbled in a low, resonant voice, carefully placing the remains of the phone onto the blanket. Rumi flinched slightly, still not entirely accustomed to the fact that demon animals, after the construction of the new Honmun, had acquired fully human voices. “I wanted it to stop. So Mistress could sleep.”       From the top of the wardrobe came a high-pitched, mocking giggle.       “I warned you that these mortals' morning arias would bring trouble,” the magpie croaked sarcastically from above, preening her feathers. Her three tiny eyes sparkled mischievously as they all simultaneously turned toward Rumi. “Good morning, Mistress. Looks like today you’ll be cut off from the world.”       Rumi suppressed the stream of curses she’d picked up from Mira and forced herself to carefully pick up the mutilated gadget. Squinting, she inspected it as meticulously as she would study the notes of a new song. Well… things weren’t entirely hopeless. The body wasn’t broken, and the device itself still worked — Rumi tapped the display, and it lit up casually, as if nothing had happened. Tough little thing. The seller could confidently write in the reviews that his phones survive demon attacks. Still, the screen itself was definitely beyond saving. Home remedies wouldn’t help here; it would have to go to the repair shop.       Taking a deep breath, Rumi slowly counted to ten, fighting the urge to snap. It was going to be a long day. It was only the second day of her life with these demon animals since Jinu had died and they’d stayed behind in the human world, recognizing her as their new mistress. Rumi already couldn’t fathom how Jinu had managed not to lose his mind during their four hundred years together.       “Tiger, I really appreciate your concern,” she began carefully, trying to sound calmer and keep the demonic patterns on her skin from darkening, even though internally everything was slowly igniting and exploding. “But that thing… I needed it. My manager sends me schedules there. I talk with the girls. The fans…”       The tiger’s ears drooped guiltily as he nudged his nose against her shoulder. His large, fluffy, incredibly warm body—which could have easily crushed Rumi and broken all her bones — vibrated with a quiet, apologetic purr. Rumi found herself smiling involuntarily; irritation evaporated instantly at the sight of his adorable face, despite the fangs, and she scratched him gently behind the ear. It was simply impossible to stay angry at this big baby.       “Alright,” Rumi sighed, setting aside the corpse of her phone. “I just need to replace the screen. And maybe get a new smartphone as well, just in case you guys…” she winked at her pets “… decide to play another round of ‘Squid Game’ that my phone won’t survive.”       “Buy?” The magpie immediately latched onto the only word that interested her. She flew down from the wardrobe and perched on the back of the bed, tilting her head curiously. Three pairs of eyes drilled into Rumi intently. “Is that like exchanging something for shiny round things?”       “Something like that,” Rumi nodded, standing up and heading toward her laptop. On the way, she noticed that the magpie had already managed to “tidy up” her vanity table, sorting the cosmetics according to their shininess. Wonderful. Another thing to deal with. But surely the bird couldn’t seriously damage lipstick and eyeshadow, right? “Except now the round things are mostly digital.”       Still dressed in her comfy bear pajamas, Rumi opened the website of her favorite electronics store and began clicking through the product catalog. She already knew where to replace the screen, so she just needed to quickly select a new smartphone model to avoid wasting what little free time she had.       “Okay, let’s see…” she bit her lip, listening to the melodic clicks of the mouse and keyboard—these sounds always calmed her. “I need something affordable but with a good camera…”       “Oh, this one!” the magpie exclaimed, instantly landing on Rumi’s shoulder and poking her beak at the screen — fortunately, less violently than the tiger had earlier. Apparently, the lesson was learned. Rumi followed her gaze and rolled her eyes. Predictably, the magpie had chosen the most expensive phone — a limited edition adorned with crystals and a shimmering mother-of-pearl casing. “It’s worthy of you, mistress! It shines almost as brightly as my hat in the sunlight!”       Rumi’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the screen:       “That thing costs three months of my earnings! No.” She quickly shut the laptop before her pets spotted anything else interesting and expensive.       “A pity,” chirped the magpie without much regret. “Mortals are so illogical in their attempts to save money.”       The tiger, who had been sitting quietly in the corner — suspiciously quiet, Rumi noted — suddenly stirred and stood up. Drawing attention to himself, he rustled his fluffy tail along the back of the sofa.       “Rumi,” he stated firmly, fixing a determined gaze on her. “I will get you a phone.”       It took a moment for Rumi to grasp what he meant, and she instantly regretted it:       “What? No, wait, don’t…”       Too late. With the swiftness of an ancient and powerful creature, the demon leaped through the open window the moment Rumi opened her mouth. She dashed to the window but only caught a glimpse of a blue-and-black striped tail disappearing into the bushes.       “Tiger, stop!” Rumi shouted helplessly, but it was useless. No one heard her, only the wind rustling through the leaves where her overly considerate demon friend had vanished.       The magpie beside her theatrically sighed and adjusted her hat:       “Well, now he’ll return either with a phone booth — if he even understands the difference between ‘phone’ and ‘phone booth’ — or someone else’s car, if he can’t find anything at all and decides to please you with something random. And, of course, he won’t pay for anything. Poor thing still confuses ‘hunting’ with ‘shopping’.”       Rumi clutched her head with both hands and cursed loudly several times, strongly enough that a faint wave of demonic magic rippled through the city. Her peaceful morning was turning into yet another mini-apocalypse. It couldn’t compare to what she and her friends had endured a few days ago, but it was still damned unpleasant. Rumi started frantically searching for clothes, wondering how much damage the tiger could inflict in just five minutes of freedom and if she could manage to prevent any of it.       Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, there turned out to be nothing left to prevent.       Not even ten minutes had passed before the tiger’s pleased face appeared again at the window, clutching something in his mouth. He climbed proudly into the room, leaping over the windowsill, and deposited his “trophy” at Rumi’s feet.       It was a crumpled car license plate.       Rumi stared silently at the dirty piece of metal lying on her clean floor. The tiger gazed at her adoringly, nearly purring, clearly awaiting praise. Unable to endure the scene any longer, the magpie burst into creaky laughter and hid her beak beneath her wing.       “It’s… shiny,” the tiger purred hopefully, looking up at Rumi with devoted, glittering eyes. “And it has numbers, just like that thing. And it’s much bigger, so I definitely won’t break it!”       Rumi felt rare tears welling up in her eyes — whether from despair or laughter, she wasn’t sure. She sank to the floor and hugged the tiger tightly around his massive neck.       “Thank you, tiger cub. That’s… very sweet,” Rumi whispered, burying her face in his warm fur, smelling faintly of ozone after his outdoor run. “But it doesn’t work like that. To get something, you have to pay money for it — money I earn from my job. And to do my job, I need… a phone.”       She pulled back and looked at her demons. Both — the huge, sincere one, and the small, sarcastic one — watched her, expecting Rumi, as always, to resolve everything since they couldn’t. After all, she was the leader. Not only of a musical group made up of the fiercest hunters but also of their small, strange family left to her by Jinu, who had trusted her, knowing she could handle it. She wouldn’t let down the world, herself, or her adorable little demons, who would be lost without her.       “Alright,” Rumi exhaled, rising determinedly to her feet. “Here’s the plan. I’ll quickly get ready now, go to the store to replace the screen, and buy a backup phone. And you—” she gave both of them a stern look, causing the demonic patterns on her skin to flash purple, “—stay here. Quietly. Don’t break anything, don’t 'hunt' anything, and don’t order anything on my laptop. Understood?”       The magpie nodded dutifully, like a diligent student. The tiger purred in agreement, nearly knocking over a nearby floor lamp with the sound, then loudly yawned and curled up on the carpet, clearly signaling he wouldn’t budge without his mistress—and besides, he was exhausted from his heroic adventures.       Rumi shook her head doubtfully but still went to take her morning shower, hoping it would pass without any supernatural incidents. Perhaps one day their life would become normal. But evidently not today. And, if she were being completely honest with herself, Rumi quite liked this abnormality.