synopsis: you grew up in a family full of occultists with the knowledge of demons and spirits in the countryside. years later after the disappearances in your hometown, you notice the same thing happening in seoul.
pairing: saja boys x gn!reader
content: shaman/witch!reader, body horror, mentions of death, suggestive content, canon divergence, violence
teaser
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SO MOTE IT BE (MASTERLIST)
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warnings: shaman/witch!gn!reader, violence, mentions of burn scars, body horror, mentions of death, suggestive content, canon divergence, violence
teaser
sneak peek
ch. 1
ch. 2
ch. 3
ch. 4
ch. 5
ch. 6
ch. 7
ch. 8
ch. 9
ch. 10
ch. 11
... and more to come!
AASB EXTRAS!
theory 1
theory 2
fanart 1
fanart 2
200 FOLLOWER SPECIAL Q AND A (CLOSED)
where I answer every one of your questions about AASB (yes, even the spoiler ones)
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warnings: mention of burn scars
kpdh m.list here
ch. 10 here
“My family and their unknowing followers worshipped me. They believed me to be divine. It was true that I possessed great power, but what was great power if I had no autonomy? If I could not form my own opinions and my own sense of self?”
You still didn’t know who you were. You longed for real friends, to have favorite things, to find joy in the simplest of life.
“To them all, I was Gwi-Ma. I was their god. I was never a child. I didn’t know any other life than this. I was content being ignorant and being strong.”
Your face soured. “But then I found out that even that wasn’t my power. Everything I had, down to my life, was borrowed. I never had anything of my own.”
Anger. Fury. Betrayal. You remember these feelings well from the night that you had found out the real truth behind your family.
You cried. You yelled. You shouted at them as you exorcised and killed each and every one of the people that had lied to you, asking them if you were still strong, if they still saw you as Gwi-Ma now that you knew the truth.
And it was then, in that short moment during the end of their lives, that they and Gwi-Ma had realized that no matter how hard they tried to mold every single aspect of a human, they will never retain their desired shape.
“When I found out that the debt was to be paid soon, I realized that this life wasn’t what I wanted. I knew they would all find me, so I had to kill them all. Every last one of them.”
You didn’t have much of a choice, of course. You mourned your way of life, but time never waited for anyone. You could discover what freedom truly was now.
But you should have known that you were never meant to have it.
After a long while of silence (even Haetae refused to meow), Abby gathered up the courage to speak up again, your backstory and lore intense enough to stun him in silence.
“So that’s why Gwi-Ma wanted you back.” Abby carefully chose his words. “You were supposed to be his one ticket way into the human realm.”
“I’m more curious about this, and forgive me if it’s invasive.” Romance said. “If… if you do have all of this power, then why is he so lenient on you? I’m surprised he let you roam around for as long as he did.”
Your eyes landed on your gloved hand, silent for a moment.
“While I haven’t spoken to him directly for some time, he made sure to take away what I once prided myself in. He took away my strength.”
You remembered the day where your spiritual energy slowly grew too painful to summon, your fingertips reddening and spreading up your wrist and arm, until it blistered and eventually charred. Your once while flames had now been tinted blue, an unwanted symbolism as to how his purple ones were destroying you as you were using your own.
It did hurt for a while until you couldn’t feel it anymore. The nerves were so damaged that your arm had grown numb from the burns.
The room was quiet again, clear that Romance and Abby felt shame in being associated with the demon that had put you all through so much. They knew what they were doing was wrong, you all did.
You felt mercy for them. You couldn’t imagine what Gwi-Ma had done to them either.
“But! But I quite enjoy my life now. I get to live here. I get to discover what life really is supposed to be like, and my job is something that I’m very well familiar with. I’ve heard that not many people can say the same about that though.”
You chuckled awkwardly. The two demons didn’t smile.
“It doesn’t… hurt? Whenever you have to fight anything, you destroy your body over and over again…” Romance hesitantly asked.
“Well, it does.” You clarified. “But I have to make a living somehow… and you know, the power that was given to me to destroy, I’m using it to help others.”
Okay, maybe you dealt with a few morons sometimes, but it was infinitely better than benign someone's puppet.
“You’re not afraid of dying?” Abby questioned.
You paused, your laughter trailing off and your expression wavering.
The truth was, you were. Death had never been a threat to you when you were younger, but the fact that you will never be able to live a full healthy human life… it terrified you. You were desperate to live on.
That’s why you kept using your power. You used it to remind yourself of what you could have been if you weren’t tethered to Gwi-Ma.
And yes. You missed being strong. You missed being a god, even if it was all a lie.
It was a cruel joke that even when you were seemingly free, Gwi-Ma was still trying to force you into making his decision.
But you knew. You feared deep down that even if you already had all of the rest of your life to live, you wouldn’t find it worth living.
In reality, you had no idea what was supposed to make your freedom so worth living. You paid for it in blood and your lifespan, but if you had to be honest… it was all pretty underwhelming.
You had no friends. You didn’t have much to look forward to everyday other than work. You were afraid to talk to others, go outside for… fun.
You would never admit it, but in the back of your mind, sometimes you wondered if you had made a mistake running away from your fate.
It seemed that the others realized that their question must have touched upon sensitive ground. Romance had decided that your cat was much more interesting, and Abby’s attention had been sucked into the TV.
A travel channel had been playing, the camera panning around the peaks of the mountains in Jeju Island and the greenery of the plants. It cut to the famed stone grandfather statues placed around the vast fields.
Perhaps you should go there one day. You heard the ocean was nice, too. You had lived surrounded by anything but the ocean in your hometown, and Seoul was mostly a mountainous region.
You heard that not only was the sea nice, but the weather itself was tropical. Perfect and popular destination for a honeymoon or a vacation.
Now that you thought about it, would the boys know that this was, in fact, Jeju? It was likely that in the past, they had no reason to travel there, let alone really have the opportunity to.
You found yourself curious now. What was their life like? What was their past? Perhaps because you were all on the topic of pasts that they would be open to talking about theirs, too?
But you have learned to be careful with these types of conversations. Your lack of socialization had made it difficult to converse with others, double meanings that you didn't realize that you were supposed to pick up on. Social cues that you didn’t realize said the opposite of what they meant had flown passed you.
You knew especially that the past could be a difficult thing to speak about in general.
“Does it look the same as before?” You carefully eased your way back into the conversation. “The land, I mean.”
Abby blinked, his expression confused, not judgemental.
“I mean, yeah. It does look different, but it’s been a few centuries since I’ve been here, so I can’t say I’m exactly surprised.”
Right. Of course.
Maybe you were a bit too light on your question?
“I guess Seoul looks much different from before.” You attempted again.
“I wouldn't know. I’ve never been to Seoul until now, so I wouldn’t know.” Abby shrugged in response.
Right. Of course.
For some reason, it never dawned on you that there was a very big possibility that these boys wouldn’t ever have had the chance to meet each other until they all became demons.
“Oh. Oh, I see. Then where did you live?” You corrected yourself.
Abby paused for a minute, tearing his eyes off of the screen and narrowing them in thought.
“Far, at the edge of the peninsula. I think it’s called ‘Busan’ now?” He answered.
Well, it wasn’t a huge surprise. Busan was the second largest city in modern day South Korea next to Seoul. Even in the past few centuries, it was a very populated place as it was near the sea. Another big factor was the fact that the port had resided there.
You realized how short his answers seemed to be getting. Perhaps it was best if you stopped there for now.
“What about you, Romance?” You pivoted towards the other pink-haired idol. He waved around one of Haetae’s toys, a colorful fishing rod with a tiny plush fish attached to the end of the string. Your cat was having the time of his life, swatting at the string and running around the floor as Romance entertained him.
“I’m not from Seoul either, but I’ve been here once or twice before this time.” Romance confessed. “I believe where I used to live is now called Daegu.”
Another huge province in Korea, of course. From your knowledge, you know that Daegu was known to be a cultural hotspot back in the Joseon era. You weren’t sure if it was as populated as it is now, however.
But then again, you can’t exactly go back in time to check.
You wondered if they were curious about how much it had changed, too. Sure, there was the internet that could show them how time and new history shaped what was now Korea in the modern times.
You wondered if they didn’t think about it for that exact reason. Perhaps they wanted to picture their home as it was before they had turned into demons.
Those were questions for another time. The boys had technically overstayed their welcome, and you weren’t about to be caught breaking your truce with their leader.
For demons that tried to kill you earlier that month, you found that you had enjoyed their company.
Maybe it was because the only company you usually have was Haetae, and you didn’t understand meows.
“Actually, I have a question.” Abby spoke. You looked up from holding Haetae in your arms, signaling that he could continue with his statement.
“Do you think that we could see more of that? Your work and… stuff?”
Romance nudged Abby’s shoulder, a silent stern look on his face that warned him to stop.
“We can’t be caught with fans in public. We’d also be distracting them from their job.”
You were about to point out that you weren’t exactly a fan, when Abby had interrupted him.
“Yeah, but it’s not going to be, like, a frequent thing. I’m just curious what else they can do.” Abby brushed him off.
“I’m still not supposed to be talking with you guys.” You chimed in.
“Yeah, yeah. What Jinu doesn’t know won’t hurt him, okay?” Abby joked, walking out the door with Romance. “Just think about it. We’ll try talking to him or something.”
You knew that that would be a bad idea. That would give away your betrayal and theirs.
“Let’s not do that.” You instructed him. He waved you off, which left you unsure if he even listened to your plea.
You shook your head, rolling your eyes before closing the door.
Jinu was going to kill you.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
The two boys barged into the apartment unit, their voices loud and most certainly running through the whole building.
“I know where you two were.”
They both stopped dead in their tracks, their voices immediately going mute. The familiar stern voice of their leader had them turning around, chills running down their body.
“Hey, Jinu.” Abby sighed. There was no point in trying to lie or weasel their way out of getting caught. “Good to see you too.”
They both could feel Baby’s eyes on them from the couch, his gaze lazily landing towards them before locking on.
It was going to be a long night.
ch. 12 here
a/n: eyyyyyy it's almost christmas! finals went really well, luckily. I've just been working on my comic the whole break (my reanimated corpse is typing this out currently) and I have a ton of time to work on the stuff i like!
I kind of want to post my comic stuff on here too cause I do want to do a "my oc interacting with the kpdh cast" post soon on this Tumblr account if you guys are interested (ill probably do it for shits and giggles.)
ty for the support! if you want to send stuff or ask me stuff about this fic (spoiler free, of course), my inbox is always open!
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warning: mention of burn scars
kpdh m.list here
ch. 9 here
”Palace cat!” Abby exclaimed, scooping up your calico in his arms.
Your cat hadn’t had the foresight to scurry away. He was too preoccupied trying to escape your house. He gave a pitiful meow, a plea for help.
”His name is Haetae.” You betrayed your cat by turning to the doorframe and plucking the yellow slip of paper off.
”Oh, like the stone lion creatures outside the palace.” Abby nodded.
”It’s not as bad as you described.” Romance commented about your house.
You kept it tidy, but you couldn't do anything about the miscellaneous stains that dotted the wallpaper and the poorly installed vinyl floor.
Despite the basement being humid, you made sure that you bought many dehumidifiers so that there was no chance for mold and mildew to form
Taking off your shoes, you crumbled the paper talisman that decorated your door in your fist, inviting them in.
“There’s no living room or anything. We can do this in my room.” You explained. Abby had to shuffle sideways to make it between the narrow kitchenette and bathroom door towards your room.
There was another bedroom next to yours, the floor strewn in various different items. They didn’t question it too much.
“How much do you pay for a place like this?” Abby asked, before shutting up immediately after Romance elbowed him in the ribs.
”Well, since it's about half the size of a standard apartment in Seoul, it’s pretty cheap.” You said. “And, you know, it’s a basement unit so it’s on the cheaper side.”
“It’s nice, it’s nice…!” Romance complimented as his eyes landed on a stain on the wallpaper.
“You don’t have to lie.” You waved them inside your room.
Your room was slightly bigger than the kitchenette. Your futon was neatly folded away and kicked in the corner. The TV ran in the background, the news reporter droning on and on in a monotone voice.
“In case Haetae gets bored when I’m gone,” You explained. “Alright. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
Holding the accessory up to your ear, you heard faint roars and snarls. Quiet scratches scraped against the plastic.
It reminded you of a seashell in a way, where instead of hearing the ocean, you could hear the fury of a destructive mythical creature on the other side.
You took the compact mirror from Romance’s hands, careful to crack the clasp open.
Immediately, a claw shot out from the reflective surface. Quickly snapping it back closed, you nodded in understanding.
“Got it, got it…” You hummed. Uncrumpling the paper that you had taken off from your doorframe, you grasped the ends of it, rubbing out the creases on your knee before rapidly opening the mirror and shoving the talisman between the clasp.
The noises stopped almost instantly, bright light seeping from the cracks until it all faded away.
Just like that, a week of Romance’s problems were gone. All it took was a single piece of paper.
“I thought you said that they couldn't be exorcised.” Romance pointed out after a moment of silence.
“They can’t.” You responded, handing the mirror back.
“I don’t know, man. That looked like an exorcism to me.” Abby shrugged. “You got anything protein-based here?” He walked around to the cubicle of a kitchenette. “I always see you at convenience stores and stuff.”
“I’m going to hope you mean before the palace incident.” You narrowed your eyes. “There’s a yogurt cup in the fridge.”
“I hope you don’t have any hard feelings towards us.” Romance apologized. “Gwi-Ma… you know how he is.”
“The whole Jinu thing we attempted to protest. We tried to reason with him, you know.” Abby defended him, picking out a spoon from one of the cupboards.
“I figured you didn't have much of a choice in the matter.” You dismissed him. “It’s… difficult under your circumstances.”
You were aware that this was merely excusing their actions towards you. It didn’t make it okay that they still attacked you, but you couldn’t help but empathize with them.
You’d know.
“But I have been meaning to ask: why? I mean, I get that Gwi-Ma breathes down your necks and everything, but if you protested Jinu’s request, wouldn't that mean that the second time he met me with you guys was of his own volition?” You asked. “I mean, it’s not like I was actively trying to stop you all. You seem to be dealing with the hunters well, so far… not like I know who they are, though.”
“See, that’s exactly what I said! What would be the point of fighting you and interrogating you if we’re already doing well?” Abby responded, his hand brushing along your cat’s back. Romance nodded in agreement.
“You didn’t seem very open to sharing information and working with us. You made it explicitly clear, even threatened Jinu that you had no interest.” He said.
“I really don’t.” You confirmed. “But that’s that. He had to sit me down the other day to form a truce.”
You paused, replaying his words in your mind.
“Wait, but then… wouldn’t Jinu know that you guys are here?” You remembered that you had already clarified earlier that you weren’t supposed to be talking to them.
You still let them in though. You were supposed to let them in and out, quickly and without a trace.
They were clearly making themselves at home. Abby had finished his yogurt cup and Romance was teasing your cat.
What were you doing? You didn’t exactly think too highly of Jinu, but you still had to respect his truce that you both did agree to.
“What Jinu can’t see won’t hurt him.” Abby waved off, as if he heard your thoughts.
You took note of how he used see instead of know in his sentence.
You were doomed.
“Oh, wow. I only skimmed the contents of this room while walking past, but these are quite the weapons you have in here.”
You whipped your head out your open bedroom door down the hall. Romance stood in front of the other room, water glass in hand as he inched towards the threshold.
“Was that what those were?” Abby questioned, sprawling his body outside of your doorframe to get a better look at the contents of the second room. “Couldn’t tell with the lights off.”
“Is this… legal? Are you allowed to have this many weapons in your possession?” Romance wondered aloud. “Surely, there’s some sort of law-”
“Oh, no. I don’t have a permit for any of these.” You laughed.
“Is that what I think it is?” Abby bolted up, his fingertips brushing along the blades of one of the swords in the collection before flinching back suddenly. “I haven’t seen these in a long while. Didn’t even know they still existed.”
“They don’t.” You established. “They’re at least extraordinarily rare now, to my knowledge.”
“I’ve never seen this weapon before.” Romance commented while picking up two circular silver blades by the leather handles.
“They’re chakrams from India. I think those two are dated around the sixteenth century?” You explained. “They’re all holy items, so be careful in handling them.”
“Right, of course.” Abby examined his slightly burned finger. His eyes landed on a sword, its blade inscribed in a language that he had never read.
“Is this… English?” He asked, admiring it. His eyes skimmed over the letters again and again, as if perhaps if he committed its appearance to memory, he would understand eventually.
“Latin.” You responded. “I think that one says ‘Puppet Of The Gods’.”
“‘Paragon of Human Souls’,” Romance slowly transcribed the phrase aloud from one of the Chinese polearms. “I believe that is what that says. Hanzi does tend to look different from Hanja.”
“Woah, is that, like, obsidian?” Abby gasped, his attention sucked in by a dagger. The blade itself was small, its hue a deep dark black. The handle was bone, to which another language was inscribed upon.
“Obsidian dagger, gifted by the Aztec Empire.” You nodded.
“So do you just…have these?” Romance asked. “I can’t imagine how much this whole collection would cost. Some of these have had to have been robbed from a museum.”
He took great care in inspecting the other weapons in your possession.
“My family’s just had them for generations. I just didn’t know about them until recently.” You laid back, letting Haetae crawl into your lap.
“Wait, yeah. Pretty sure Jinu told us that you were a shaman.” Abby recalled. “But if you had all of this and it’s been passed down for generations, wouldn’t that mean that your family taught you?”
“Or perhaps you would have at least known about their existence even before you took them into your possession?” Romance finished up Abby’s thoughts for him. “For someone of your power and lineage, I would have assumed that your knowledge came from your family.”
It looked as if Jinu didn’t tell them about everything, you thought.
You were, admittedly, a little shocked that he didn’t.
Not that you expected him to blab about your private business to his other teammates. Sure, he might have stalked you, attempted to fight you, and gotten other people involved in his petty antics, but you couldn't fault him too much.
It was something that he was tasked and forced to do, but he had to admit that his recent actions had been fueled at least a little by spite.
At least you both had agreed to a truce to not get in each other’s way.
Not that you were doing too good of a job upholding it.
“It is true that shamanism has run in my lineage for generations. A lot of them traveled the world, learning different practices, helping other shamans and mediums alike.”
You gestured to your littered floor. “These were all gifts, titles, and honors that’ve been bestowed on them.”
Abby and Romance listened carefully in thought, all weapons forgotten and all eyes on you.
“But somewhere along the line, somewhere recently I suppose, my guess is that they saw that less and less people needed people like them.”
This was all theories, speculations that you have had that you haven’t told anyone before.
Truthfully, this was the first time that you have ever opened up about your thoughts on the matter.
The death of your immediate family had you swearing yourself to secrecy to your early grave.
“Less people began to respect shamans. Demonization of witchcraft and persecution became more and more of a threat until entire cultures that have once respected all of those things were wiped out.”
You couldn’t blame them. Many were forced to hide not only their spiritual practices, but their entire way of life.
Colonization and ethnic cleansing were a big factor to many of these practices being culled. Forced religion as well.
“And slowly, without traditions being upheld and beliefs becoming weaker, many of the newer descendants became weaker in spirituality as well. It was at this point where they had become desperate for power, for respect. My ancestors did not help others for this reason, yet we have become greedy.”
You took a deep breath before continuing, ashamed of actions that you had no part of.
“So they worshiped an ancient evil, turned themselves into demons, and promised to dedicate their immortal lives to await his coming in the human realm. They lured humans into their worship, only for their souls to be taken by it.”
“Gwi-Ma.” Abby finished for you.
“They wished for me to be the strongest heir they’ve seen in centuries. They had gotten what they had wanted, but in exchange for my control over my own fate. I possessed many of the abilities that made me suitable for Gwi-Ma’s vessel.”
You hated yourself for this. Hated yourself for something you weren’t ever able to control, for something that you weren’t responsible for.
It brought you nothing but pain, and you were enslaved practically since birth.
And you found out later on that you could never be truly free.
ch. 11 here
I AM NOT DEAD! I just have finals this week and I've been also slaving away at my original comic (You can see content of it on my TikTok @goblin_trash1.) I will update with another chapter in two weeks since I am very behind on chapters at the moment!
also, a friend of mine found AASB and had this lovely commentary about the first chapter:
"I feel bad for that demon's dentist."
"I'm headcanoning that this reader looks like Voldemort."
"I'm going to watch KPDH just so when we're reading this aloud, I can do the voices of the guys more accurately."
*Reading about the reader, annoyed that they have to kill a demon* Oh my god, aura farmer! Sung Jin Woo, is that you?
ty for the support! if you want to send stuff or ask me stuff about this fic (spoiler free, of course), my inbox is always open!
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warning: mention of burn scars
kpdh m.list here
ch. 8 here
Gangnam.
You had to admit that you were surprised that with a district this big, there weren't as many cases here.
There were house calls of course, but for the entire district? Not exactly.
Just thinking about coming here made your pockets hurt. Everything was extremely expensive, not to mention so loud and crowded.
Okay, maybe you were coping.
But your basement did just fine at sheltering you, so… you couldn’t really complain.
The roads were so large, and still bustling late at night. You didn’t peg Gangnam to be so lively at this hour, but this was downtown technically. You expected there to be a bigger population maybe in Apgujeong?
This wasn't a specific house or place you had to hunt down and exorcise. Much like the incident at Insadong, this was more of a city wide thing
Except, you really didn’t have much to go off of today.
You were given quite vague instructions: to ward off any large influx of spirits.
This was quite the easy task. You even came early today so that you could go home earlier too.
All you did was set up spiritual barriers around the district, before exorcising any of the harmful spirits inside. You made sure to do this before nightfall, where the most spirits were active.
The problem was that you didn’t know yet if you had finished.
It was one of the biggest districts, and it already took you a good amount of time setting up the borders. Now you had to search all of Gangnam to finish the job.
And yet…
It had only been about maybe an hour and a half and there were no signs of any demons.
Less work for you but was this cause of concern, you wondered.
Tilting your head up towards the sky, the net of cerulean strings bobbed up and down. They rolled, inclining and declining in ocean waves.
It looked healthy enough tonight. This wasn’t a completely accurate judgement. Many holes have been exposed in the Honmoon since your pursuers had made it to the human realm…
But of course, that wasn’t your job. As much as you wanted to help, you had a truce to uphold. You had to look out after-
Metal scraping against a solid. Your ears perked up from the sound.
Teeth. A resonating shing from the contact. You were positive that metal braces didn’t make those types of sounds.
Looking up from your phone, you realized that the noise had not come from the main road, but from the same alleyway that you found yourself aimlessly wandering in.
Perfect. If it was a spirit, hopefully they would lead you to a tear or another pack full of them.
You ducked on instinct as a vibrant pink sword hurled its way towards your skull and lodged itself in the wood of the landline pole. You whipped your head around quick enough to spot pink glitter where a demon had stood previously.
Your heart quickened exponentially as you saw your life flash before your eyes.
“I am so sorry!” A panicked feminine voice apologized. You were still frozen in place from the aftershock.
A young woman bounded towards you, her long braided violet hair trailing behind her.
She looked familiar. Maybe you’ve seen her in passing? You only knew that you’ve never met her before.
”No, no, it’s fine. I’d rather lose ten years of my lifespan than all of it.” Your words came out breathless, your eyes still shot wide open. She chuckled, slightly relieved that you were alive enough to crack a joke.
At least you were unscathed. She had a giant tear in her hoodie, exposing her pattern covered shoulder.
Your eyes trained onto the purple stripes, lingering long enough for her to notice. She slapped her hand over her skin, her laughter immediately halting. She stepped back, ready to bolt.
”I won’t hurt you!” You blurted, your hands raised up in surrender. “I’m not… I’m not going to do anything, I promise.”
You didn’t really plan that from the start, anyway. If a demon killed another demon, Gwi-Ma wouldn’t have let it slide so easily.
But she was different. Unlike most other demons, she didn’t have the telltale giveaways.
The Saja Boys looked the most human you’ve ever seen any demon, yet they still had some tells that you were able to identify.
They looked too perfect. While the girl in front of you was undoubtedly, very beautiful, her appearance didn’t border on being alien-like.
And she didn’t stalk you. You technically stalked her.
She killed her own kind.
That was enough to trust her.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
“You can see them.” She spoke after taking a sip of her strawberry milk. You both sat on the chairs perched outside of the convenience store.
It didn’t take a genius for you both to realize that you were on the same side.
At least, allied closer than the opposing side.
“It’s rare to find people that can see them.” She concluded.
”You’ve never met anyone like us?” You questioned.
“Oh, I mean… I work with two other girls that do, but other than us, no.”
You couldn't help but feel like she was tiptoeing around a lot of your questions.
“Your sword,” You began. It had been on your mind since you saw it. “Is it made of spiritual energy?”
She summoned it out of thin air. You wondered if it was as heavy as a real one.
”It’s made out of the Honmoon, if that’s what you mean.” She answered.
It was a beautiful item, really. Holographic. Sleek. Radiant. You stuck with your own physical weapons, though.
“So how did you learn? To kill demons, I mean.” She asked you. Something about the way her question was worded bugged you, but you brushed it off.
”I was taught. It was a family thing.” It wasn't the most descriptive answer but you figured that you deserved to keep things to yourself too. “But I never really cared for it.”
“Were you the one that put up those small barriers across the district border?” She connected two and two together. You nodded in response. “They were really well done. How did you do it?”
Another strange question. It was weird in the sense that she was able to summon a sword out of the spiritual barriers, but not able to cast a simple barrier.
But again, maybe it was the way she was taught. Maybe she was taught how to wield a weapon before she was taught how to defend herself.
The more you thought about that implication, the more you wondered if a part of her resents being a demon.
Perhaps she was one affiliated with Gwi-Ma, just as you once had?
A wave of sympathy hit you. You, too, could relate.
Because of your past connection with the demon overlord, your life had been consumed by his presence since the day you were born.
No matter what, he always tried to slither back into it.
“It’s easy compared to that.” You pointed at her sword. “It’s one of the more basic protection barriers.”
Maybe she never got any formal training for her abilities like you did, considering she was a demon.
It was hard for you to find a job in the spirituality circle too, considering you were cursed from birth, technically. It was actually the reason why you freelanced. You were mostly for hire.
”I’m going to be honest,” The girl sighed. “None of my friends know that I’m… I’m this.”
She gestured to her now-wrapped shoulder, courtesy of your handkerchief. Must be cathartic for someone to know, you thought.
”I don’t know why I’m talking about this to a stranger but…” She sighed.
”No, no. There’s a lot of prejudice in the circles we run in, unfortunately.” You reassured her. “I just choose to ignore it.”
You looked at her and her shoulder, before you spoke again. “I just don’t let them get to me. I can’t change my circumstances, but I can learn to work with them, right?”
It wasn’t the best motivation talk, but to be fair, you weren’t exactly a demon. You won’t ever be able to know her whole story, but as long as you understood, that was fine, right?
”I guess, yeah…” It did look to be that your words did help at least a little. Her face brightened up just a little more. “Right, it’s getting late. We should be heading back.”
To that you stood up.
”Actually, is it alright if we kept in contact?” She asked.
Well, you didn’t really see the harm in that. You could teach her a thing or two, and maybe you could help her out around the spiritual community.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
You two both separated with each of your phones one more contact full.
You were satisfied, having found what you believed was a real shaman friend.
She was satisfied, having found what she believed was another demon hunter with demon blood.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
“Oh my god, what now?” You grumbled.
Two familiar tall figures stood outside your front gate. Abby waved vicariously, arm traveling in huge arcs to wave you down.
Romance waved too, but he was much more graceful and his hand was leveled with his face.
”It’s late.” You huffed, looking through one of the tree post boxes bolted onto the arc of the gate.
“And yet, you’ve just come back.” Romance pointed out. “I really do apologize for the intrusion, but I needed your help, sweetheart.”
You raised an eyebrow, your gaze moving to the side to indirectly point at Abby’s presence.
”I’m here for emotional support.” Abby responded.
”He just wanted to go on another adventure.” Romance clarified.
”He wouldn’t stop crying over his haunted mirror-“
”That thing tried to swipe at me-!”
”You could have just gotten a new mirror, they’re like a thousand won at Daiso-“
”That would just be a waste of money when I have a perfectly good one! It’s just… cursed!”
You rolled your eyes, ignoring their argument and turned to the door.
“And you two are supposed to be centuries of years old?” You scoffed, unlocking the gate before pushing it open. It swung to the side with a rusty creak.
“We do look young for our age.” Romance beamed.
“I wasn’t talking about your appearance.” You stated, before closing the door. Romance grasped the bars, his face disturbingly desperate over his seemingly minuscule problem.
”Please. I know that Jinu left a bad impression of us, but I promise that we’ll be out of your way after this. We’ll be in and out.” He pleaded. Your face didn’t change.
But as much as you wanted to deny them entry, you knew that if that mirror cracked open that that creature had a chance to escape.
And you didn’t know much about these two, but you weren’t going to risk it.
And yeah, it was kind of your fault for forgetting to seal the mirror.
”You know you guys aren’t even supposed to be talking to me anyways, right?” You pointed out.
“Jinu doesn’t have to know everything.” Romance waved off. “We have free will.”
You begged to differ, but you understood his point.
“And we won’t see each other again after this, probably. Maybe. Totally.” Abby added on.
“My house is small. I live in the basement unit.” You attempted to deter them again.
”No worries. We won’t judge.”
They were really getting on your nerves. Didn’t they know that you were trying to shoo them away?
Maybe they did know and didn’t care. That was the more likely scenario.
If they were this adamant to come in over a damn mirror in this hour, then it was better to do it in the cover of the night rather than in the middle of the day.
If they were to kill you, you didn’t need to worry, as your house was the safest place for you. There was always a weapon within reach.
Should you? Should you not?
”Alright. Come in.”
ch. 10 here
a/n: I do need to catch up with the newer chapters this week so I think this next chapter will be delayed a couple of days.
ty for the support! if you want to send stuff or ask me stuff about this fic (spoiler free, of course), my inbox is always open!
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warnings: mention of death
kpdh m.list here
ch. 7 here
You should have known you wouldn’t get a second of peace in your line of work.
It had been about a week since the whole Bulgasari fiasco. You had hoped that this would be the end of your involvement with the Saja Boys and Gwi-Ma, who were most likely thoroughly intimidated by your holy water guns and knowledge of spirituality.
But that was just wishful thinking, of course. This was your life you were talking about.
At least the stalking was gone for the most part.
You say mostly because of a certain blue feline and its corvid companion that lurked near your presence when you went outside. A can of tuna and unsalted nuts became a part of your inventory.
You found out soon that they were Jinu’s familiars, which made you immediately stop paying attention to them. A twinge of guilt always tugged at your mind whenever you spotted them in the corner of your eye.
You had your own pet to worry about now, anyway. The calico had come home with you that night, to which you immediately got them sterilized (you found out that he was a boy, which was exceedingly rare in calico cats) and vaccinated.
He was a master escape artist, however. Every time you opened the door to your home, he was posted right next to the frame, ready to pounce.
He kept the crickets at bay. No need for an exterminator if there was one already living in the house.
You had wondered if he was already adopted. His coat was clean, which indicated that he was quite a healthy cat. Perhaps he had already gotten his vaccinations?
He was also very friendly. You worried often that he really was a house cat that had escaped like he so desperately tries every time you come home.
You put up a post of him on your socials and asked around the neighborhoods near the palace, hoping you would be able to find his owner somewhere. It was too early to determine anything for sure, but no one had stepped up yet to claim their cat.
The times where he did get out, you ran after him. The strange thing about his escapes was that he always seemed to wait for you to catch up before running off further down the road.
You didn’t know if it was the most loyal thing an animal did for you or the most infuriating.
He sat down on the street, his tail swishing side to side as he waited for you to catch up to him. You didn’t bother running towards him, taking your time until he seemed to tire out.
After all, this was how humans became the most effective hunters in prehistoric times.
Aside from your adventures with your cat, things have gone back to normal.
Well, as normal as your life as an exorcist could be.
You still saw the boys around in the form of posters, ads, and interviews. They practically invaded Korea overnight, which you predicted was their plan.
It was ingenious, really. Their fans, hearts captured by the picture perfect demon boy band, were unknowingly celebrating the end of their lives without knowing it.
And what were you doing?
Nothing.
You were sure the hunters had a plan already, discussing a counterattack.
You couldn’t lie, you did feel a twinge of guilt at the fact that you weren’t doing anything to help them, but you knew that if you got involved, things would become even more needlessly complicated than it already was.
As long as you weren’t roped into their little feud, you were good. You were happy.
You had just finished up a house call, a bit of a rare occurrence for you. Most of your assignments came from your peers, but it seemed that your name was becoming more and more popular in the community.
Good news for you. You can pay the bills now, no problem.
You got your phone fixed ever since Baby had shattered it in his temper tantrum the other day. It had been a long explanation for your co-workers though.
Punching in the string of numbers on your keypad, you slipped inside swiftly in case your cat decided that he would sling himself right out of the door.
”Hey, bud?” You softly called out.
It was strange. Your cat usually greeted you when you came home.
A blur of white, orange, and black sped between your legs, darting out of the door before you could react.
He was learning! You gasped, alarmed before you also followed him.
He was faster than you’ve ever seen him, weaving around the late night stragglers and the traffic.
You panicked, tightly shutting your eyes when it seemed like your furry friend was going to become a speed bump.
Just where was he going? Why was he so goddamn fast? Why wasn’t he stopping like he usually did for you?
And when you thought you had lost sight of him?
There he was underneath a park bench, licking his paw and grooming himself like he didn’t just give you multiple heart attacks.
You tsked before scooping up the feline in your arms.
”You’re lucky that you’re the only normal being in my life.” You scolded before you began to turn back home.
A furry head brushed against your elbow, to which you sighed.
”Look, you can’t keep following me.” You turned, your eyes meeting Derpy’s orange ones.
You loved the guy of course, but you knew that it was just because of Jinu’s orders.
Just what did he want from you now? Couldn’t you both just pretend that nothing happened? It would certainly be helpful on his end considering that he had proved his embarrassment over the whole situation.
Derpy only opened his mouth. A wet and slimy invitation card sat on the middle of his tongue, silently urging you to take it.
Fine. If this got him to stop stalking you around, then what the hell.
You opened the card, the corners of your lips immediately descending down into a frown.
“We need to talk.”
He couldn't have done this from the beginning?
You scoffed. Now he was being sensible, huh?
Fine, fine. At least he was trying…
”I don’t have a pen on me right now. Stay right here, okay?” You asked Derpy,.
It looked like he was already prepared for that too. He coughed up a thin black marker, grinning as you picked it up between your thumb and index finger.
”…thanks.”
He only purred in response.
You finished up your answer before you handed the two items back to the tiger. He seemed to be more interested in grooming your cat’s fur though. Muffled meows were able to be heard from your cat as Derpy continued to drench him with his saliva.
Now, all you had to do was wait.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Couldn’t you two have met up at a park or something?
The time of day would have been easy for you two to meet up in secrecy.
But no. He chose a cafe.
Did he want his identity to be revealed that easily?
You pushed the glass door open, spotting him almost instantly in one of the booths.
Well, at least he had the logic to disguise himself before meeting up with you. Didn’t want rumors to spiral. That would just be more things on your plate.
But there was a very slim chance that it would mean perhaps you would be permanently banned from meeting them anymore?
You sat across from him, his face obscured by his baseball cap.
You were tempted to make a slight at him, perhaps about the privacy of where he picked. Nothing really came to mind when you tried to speak.
The elephant was in the cafe as you two attempted to start off your conversations.
It was no mystery why he had called you here. You knew. He knew.
But where would it start?
”Have you met the hunters yet?”
Well, it wasn’t the start you were exactly expecting. You expected him to come out strong, something like your history with Gwi-Ma or your history with demons.
“They haven’t come to mind in a while. I’ve been busy with work.” You confessed. “But I’m acutely aware of the fact that they most certainly have a plan for you all.”
You weren’t aware of how much those words had stung Jinu, but it was the truth. They must be, right?
“Do you know who they are?” Jinu continued. You shrugged. Again, you never cared for demon hunters. They didn’t exactly exist in your circle.
You half-expected Jinu to interject, likely gloating about how he’s gotten everything under control. Maybe. Possibly.
He only nodded in response.
”Now… I want to know how you know about Gwi-Ma.”
And there it was. The million dollar question.
And already you wanted to bail out of the interrogation.
But if he was going to keep asking invasive questions, then maybe you should just tell him all the answers before he asked.
Your brow lowered, your frown creasing the skin between them.
“I’m a shaman.”
”You told me that already.”
”Oh good, then you have been paying attention. You just choose to ignore me when I tell you I won’t help you.”
That shut him up.
“I’ve never met him. Not… exactly. I’ve known of him since I was young.” You said. “My family were shamans before they sold their humanity to him.”
You could feel Jinu’s intense gaze on you, absorbing the information that you had withdrawn from him for so long.
”Somewhere along the generations of ancestors, the energy began to fade. They weren’t as powerful as they were before, and they had made their sacrifice so that I could return it.”
You pulled up your sleeve, your scars visible once more to him.
”But these types of deals never go the way you want it. You know that.”
You pulled down the cloth, folding your arms on the table in front of you.
“He wanted more. If he was creating a powerful shaman, then he could speak through me as a puppet. What choice would I have? My family celebrated and worshipped him.”
And in turn, they treated you like you were something holy.
”My technique was precise. There was nothing that I didn’t know about how this power could be used. I excelled at everything that I learned. I was untouchable. I was… a god.”
Was. You were the strongest, but now cursed to be never again.
”And then I found out the truth. The lies. The reason why I was revered. I was to give up my body to Gwi-Ma, forever locked away as he ruled over humankind with my form.”
You clenched your fist in anger.
”And I killed them.”
That wasn’t the end of your story, though.
”He saw this coming and tainted my energy. Every time I used my raw holy energy, I summoned demonic energy along with it. And because I’m not a demon…”
You gestured to your arm.
”Time is wasting. I could die soon, but I’ll be damned if I let anyone lock me away and use my body.”
Finally looking up at Jinu, you narrowed your eyes. You knew that it really wasn’t in his cards to go against the demon lord but it was either you and the entire human realm or all of the demon population.
You didn’t have many people that would mourn your loss. You didn’t have friends nor family to remember you. The only ones that did at one point in your life were only willing to remember you as an extension of Gwi-Ma.
You weren’t anyone else.
And yes, there wasn’t anyone on Earth that you would consider yourself close with, but you were also one of the people on Earth that would be affected if Gwi-Ma won.
So no. You weren’t going to help them.
And this also meant that you were putting yourself and everyone else first before all of the demons.
You had nothing against them. You can’t stop them.
You weren’t what you once were, and you loathed yourself for it.
You’ll die before you will ever be able to stop him.
Was this an apology? A plea? A threat? Would he take it in any other way?
He stood up from his seat, a hint of resignation creeping up on his expression.
”Alright.”
You breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he seemed like he was willing to listen to your reasoning
No more Jinu, no more demons chasing after you. Just peace.
”We promise to leave you alone, in exchange for you not getting in our way.”
Not like you really could in this state.
”And you don’t affiliate or make contact with any of the hunters. You don’t make contact with any of us.”
It was only natural for him to set a boundary like that, you concluded. You were both cutting ties, and have agreed to stop getting in each other’s way. You were slightly disappointed that you never went to actually meet the hunters, but you were determined that they could stop the boys.
Hopefully.
Because if you couldn’t and they couldn't, then who could?
ch. 9 here
a/n: YAYYYYYY A LITTLE LORE DROP!
If you guys like As Above, So Below and So Mote It Be, you should follow my other Tumblr, @goblintrash1 where I post sneak peeks of an original comic I'm working on!
Still not interested?
it's about doomed gay lovers.
ty for the support! if you want to send stuff or ask me stuff about this fic (spoiler free, of course), my inbox is always open!
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warnings: mention of burn scars
kpdh m.list here
ch. 6 here
Bugasari. A terrifying hulking creature born from myth, known for its bizarre animalistic features and its insatiable appetite.
Most notorious for its craving for metal.
Its hybrid characteristics were the most telling of its species. It had the torso of a bear, the trunk of an elephant, and curved lethal talons.
You didn’t know how you hadn’t noticed this beast of a creature running around Insadong.
They were rare creatures to come across, you concluded. You’ve never seen one in person in your time in Seoul, and many of your peers believed it wasn’t a real spirit.
While every single creature born of legend had a seed of truth inside of it, there were many things that were changed over time. They were not always accurate depictions of the real spirit. After all, most of the population could not regularly see spirits. Most descriptions and information was based on a single glance.
The only reasonable explanation that you could come up with for your incompetence at not spotting it before was that it grew every time it ate. At what rate, you didn’t know.
Even still, how much did it eat to grow this size in such a short amount of time?
The boys looked up, paralyzed by the onslaught of debris traveling through the sky. Their eyes landed on the hulking chimera of a creature, widening to the size of saucers.
There wasn’t much known about this spirit other than the rumors of its origin, and even still was it alive even before these boys were most likely born.
Its rhino-like eyes fixated on all of you, pausing its advance before it raised one paw.
Step. Step.
Crush. Crack.
And it began to sprint towards you all with an inhuman speed.
You managed to slip out of Jinu’s grip, bolting away from the rampage.
While you were most likely safe from its jaws, the collateral damage that it was doing was the biggest threat to you.
You weren’t who it was gunning for though.
Bulgasari, while it was most famous for its ability to eat metal, was a creature that also exorcised evil spirits.
Whether it ate them or whether it merely killed them, you didn’t know.
It wasn’t really your problem though. If it wasn’t causing so much destruction, then it was likely that you and your peers would have left it alone to aid you all in your jobs.
Hopping from one roof to another, you secured a route to Jogyesa temple. While the Bulgasari was technically a benevolent spirit, the temple is a sacred place protected from possible destruction from spirits. It would be able to give you some time to formulate a plan to try and overpower it.
The creature’s size was its biggest hindrance to its speed. This didn’t mean that it wasn’t fast. In fact, it was right on the heels of the boys, and not that much further from you.
Except for Baby.
He moved in a blur of pastel colors, speeding past you and the rest of his bandmates.
So much for collaboration.
Well, you didn’t know where exactly he was going, but you sure hoped that he knew of a safe place.
It seemed that the rest of the boys weren’t nearly as fast as Baby was. Mystery outran the rest. His movement was daring, risky, and almost forceful, consisting of vaults and leaps. Each move was calculated, moving from one roof to another in the most efficient and time saving way possible.
Romance followed behind, his own being nimble, graceful, and mostly aerial. He focused more on footwork and jumps.
Jinu was right beside him, his stride straightforward and to the point. No need for any complicated hops, no need to do anything but run.
The beast was hot on Abby’s tail, who opted to slow the creature down rather than run from it. Every few meters, he hurled a chunk of the wreckage at it, to which it halted and devoured.
It would turn every minute or so, seemingly more interested in the remaining metal of the buildings it had plowed through.
You knew it was still a ways to the temple, now exiting the Hanok village and to the street. You had to get on higher ground to outrun this thing.
You wondered if Baby ever got to safety, or if he was wandering aimlessly around the district. Either way, it didn’t seem like he had much thought of staying behind with his group.
The rustling of the paper lanterns in front of the temple informed you that you were almost near your sanctuary. It was late enough that the monks and the people that were temple-staying were asleep, and it was closed to the outside public.
All you needed to do was pass the reliefs of the four heavenly kings guarding the entrance. You would be safe from all of your pursuers.
You practically launched yourself through the entrance, sliding from the polished stone stairs into the sand of the courtyard.
Safe and sound.
A pained hiss followed by a string of curses had caught your attention, which prompted you to prop yourself up.
“Fuck! Holy place!” Abby groaned, dragging his hat over his face.
“Remembered the hard way.” Baby replied, picking at his nails. He must have had the same idea you had, and in your urgency had run past him.
“Right….” Jinu sighed. “And any other place around here would be guarded against us too.”
”Home.” Mystery grunted as he rubbed his cheek where the wall of holy energy had burned him. The Bulgasari was only about a hundred meters away now, its eyes set on the demon boys.
But its pupils glazed over at a moving blur, distracting it from the rest of you.
“You can’t go home.” You pointed out. The others turned to you, puzzled.
”Why can't we go home?” Jinu urged you to finish as the Bulgasari had directed its gaze towards the group of demons once again.
”That thing most likely had your scent now. If the stories about them are correct, then it will chase you down through the rest of Seoul and exorcise or eat you.” You finished.
All the boys gave a groan in unison, looking as if they had already accepted their fate.
“Can’t you exorcise it before it kills us?” Abby asked, a hint of plea in his voice. You bit your lip, your expression explaining it all.
“These things aren’t evil spirits. Holy energy will do nothing to it. Even if we did find a way to harm them, they can regenerate.”
Baby twisted his lip in thought.
“There has to be a place nearby here that will guard us all, right?” He said.
Us? Who were they talking about? You already had a sanctuary and it was right here in the temple.
”Gyeongbokgung Palace.” Romance accidentally fished out his compact mirror, shoving it back into his pocket before he held up his phone. “Gwanghuamun gate is the closest entrance to here. It’s likely that the palace has protections against destruction, but not evil spirits. It’s too bad we couldn’t come in the daytime, the pictures would be stunning…”
Romance slipped his phone back in his pocket. You laid back onto the sand while the demons bickered over a plan. The main problem with their plan was that it was likely that the Bulgasari would wait them out of the palace as well.
Baby could be a distraction, but you were doubtful that he would volunteer. The rest of the boys wouldn't be able to outrun the creature. Even if they did make it to the gates, there was still the problem of it continuing to wait.
The arguing had stopped abruptly, to which you decided to focus back on them. You only found their eyes on you, seemingly expecting you to form a plan.
That was until Jinu spoke up.
“Baby is the fastest of all of us. He can’t carry us all to safety, and we don’t have a vehicle fast enough to outdrive this thing but if we had some sort of vessel to possess…”
Five pairs of eyes landed back onto you.
“You mentioned how you come from a long line of powerful occultists, correct? Surely, there must have been at least one person in your family that has dealt with spiritual possession-“
“Absolutely not.” You snarled. To think that Jinu proposed using your body and powers as some sort of mech was highly offensive. They could all die for all you cared for. “I will not let you use my body as some sort of-of toy from what you brought upon yourself-“
“You need a plan too-“
“This is a completely inappropriate use of my abilities-“
“You’re going to let your pettiness destroy thousands of homes and lives-“
“This is karma for your doing-“
“So what is the plan?!” Baby interrupted, pointing to the Bulgasari that was now approaching the temple gates.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Everything felt so tight.
It felt as if you were wearing a shirt five times too small, your body completely unable to house five extra souls.
The fact that Jinu was able to guess that you were able to do this off the top of his head was both infuriating and impressive.
”Jesus, who’s fangs are these?” Abby complained, running your- his- everyone’s tongue across the sharp canines.
Mystery grunted in response to his question, confirming.
The way you appeared when possessed by a spirit looked the exact same for a layperson.
The way you appeared in front of the spiritually aware was a different story.
You slid your sleeve up, your eyes meeting non-scarred flesh for the first time in years. Instead what decorated it were patterns upon patterns, overlapping each other until it almost resembled a purple glove.
What used to be your nails were now thick bird-like talons, much sturdier than the average flimsy keratin that it replaced.
Not to mention how much more muscle you seemed to put on, no doubt with the help of Abby.
You peered into the small pond of lotus flowers next to the entrance, taking a quick glimpse of your body.
Patterns climbed the edges of your face, one particular stripe reaching across your nose bridge. Your eyes were now a golden-yellow hue.
Questions fired off from every single boy and you were struggling to speak over them.
“Why is our left arm so much bigger than our right arm?”
”Sharing a penthouse with all of you fucks was bad enough, now I have to share a body?”
”You’re not the one that even cleans it!”
”Interactive livestream.”
The beast stomped closer, which brought you all back to the reality of your situation.
“Do any of you know how to get to Gwanghuamun gate?” Baby asked. The others hemmed and hawed, which only made you facepalm.
”My phone is in my pocket.” You ordered. As Baby typed on your screen, the creature swiftly swiped its palm towards your body.
”Run!”
”What are you doing, man?!”
”Hurry up!”
And you could have sworn you had gotten whiplash from how quickly Baby darted forward between its legs.
”This is degrading.” He muttered. Abby cheered, his laughter ringing in your skull. Jinu groaned, keeping track of all of the street signs while looking at the map.
Baby decided to flank towards the cultural street, narrow alleyways where it would take the creature much longer to chase you all.
“In five- in ten- in twenty meters-“
“Hold on, what is it doing, what’s happening?” Romance questioned. You held up the map to your eyes, only to realize that you all have been going the opposite direction.
”Baby!” Jinu scolded.
“You navigate us, then!” Baby shot back. In his fury, your phone flung from his hand, to which it faceplanted on the asphalt ground with a crunch.
”Forget it.” You sighed. “Let’s take to the roofs then. We can see where our destination is and we have less worry about directions.”
The roofs were a whole different story.
Now you had to worry about falling off and the ground being knocked out beneath your feet.
The Bulgasari ran beside you on floor level, occasionally swiping its paw at all of you.
The building from underneath you collapsed, the one closest to all of you being much more than just a leap away.
Baby stopped, hesitant to continue onwards. If he failed, then it was the end for them. Your legs would surely break from the impact, and they would all be food.
“We’ll make it.” Mystery confirmed, picking your feet back up.
Oh, dear god you can’t look.
You closed your eyes, only to be met with more screeching to keep them open. “Alright. I trust Mystery.”
”I sure fucking don’t.”
“We die either way, lose-lose guys. Rather go out on my own terms.”
A leap. Whistling in your ears. Cold air hitting your face as one foot extended out to touch the ledge…
And missed just by a hair. Your toes had barely grazed it, too.
Ah. So this was where you were going to die. Surrounded by the biggest morons you have ever met.
You thought it was an appropriate response to close your eyes now, and no one else protested.
A yank from your shoulder blade and the feeling of your claws sinking into brick had your eyes tugged wide open. You saw that your stronger left arm had carved claw marks where you all had missed the ledge.
”I got us.” Mystery grinned. You all cheered while he pulled all of you to safety, up on the roof.
”Alright, Baby. Almost there.” You coaxed him. Baby only tsked before he resumed the journey towards the palace gates.
Approaching the gate, you all detached from each other rather violently. Your body felt much lighter now, and your proportions were much more even.
All of you were strewn across the palace stairs catching your breaths.
There was only one problem.
You all had conveniently forgotten that it was nighttime, and way past closing.
The gates were locked.
”No one thought to check the time?” Baby grumbled as he slammed his fist on the stone step in frustration.
A familiar hiss echoed in front of you. You lifted your head to realize it was the very same calico cat you had hung out with earlier tonight. Its gaze focused on the Bulgasari, its eyes narrowing at the creature.
You turned your head towards the other boys, chests heaving and bodies limp with almost no energy. The stuff from all of your pockets had escaped their cloth confines, which skidded across the stone floor.
Your eyes lit up when you noticed Romance’s compact mirror.
Immediately you shot up, snatching the black circular case from its resting place and hurried to stand in front of the cat.
It was like the creature didn’t even notice you. It zeroed in onto the helpless resting boys on the stairs and charged like a bull towards your group.
Opening the mirror, you held it up in the air, your sigils glowing faintly through your sleeve.
There was a reason why many people didn’t sleep with their mirrors facing the bed.
One reason was because of the bad feng shui.
Another more popular reason was that it was an open portal for spirits to enter and exit your home.
If your theory was correct, then it meant that mirrors could act as a portal to the other side of the Honmoon, whether it be the spirit realm or the demon realm.
The Bulgasari was sucked into the reflective silver screen of the mirror. The force of it all had you having to prop your arm up with the other. A whirlpool blur of blue and the glowing cerulean hue of the Honmoon ignited the reflection, before it had been completely sucked in.
You snapped it shut before handing it to Romance.
”You should wait a few days before using this again.” You suggested, out of breath.
The others stared at you in what seemed to be shock, fear and perhaps admiration.
The cat padded up towards you, rubbing its body against your legs. It’s body rumbled with a soft purr.
”Palace cat!” Abby exclaimed, his wide arms wrapping around the calico. The feline gave an uncomfortable meow as Abby hugged it, holding it up like a baby. His eyes sparkled. “You tried to save us!”
He was ignoring the actual person that saved them all, being you.
You shook your head, sighing as you gathered the things from your pockets to leave. It had been a long night, and you were ready for some shut eye.
”I have to admit that I was quite impressed, sweetheart.” Romance confessed, his signature smirk stretching across his cheeks.
The cat finally escaped Abby’s clutches, speeding away from him towards Mystery.
The rest of the boys froze. They weren’t sure if Mystery would do well with animals, considering how he acted when he didn’t particularly like another person.
But to their surprise, Mystery outstretched a hand towards it, to which it immediately headbutted his fingers. It crawled towards his lap, marking its resting spot.
“Huh. Thought your whole, y’know, dog aura would scare it off.” Abby commented. Mystery continued to pet the animal, his breaths visibly more shallow so that he didn’t scare it off for real.
”They like me.” Mystery only responded. The cat curled up in his lap, a sigh of content escaping them.
”Anyways, we should totally do that all again. That was… that was a lot of fun that I haven’t had in forever.” Abby suggested.
”No. Absolutely not. We aren’t friends.” Jinu began, his eyes landing on where you had been standing.
But you had already disappeared into the night.
ch. 8 here
a/n: ohhhh my god I experimented with the possession thing, which I didn't really get to back in AASB, so uhhh I'm hoping you guys like it!
new chapter next week, of course tee hee
ty for the support! if you want to send stuff or ask me stuff about this fic (spoiler free, of course), my inbox is always open!
If I made a blog specifically for my original characters and stories, would you guys follow it?
I know this account is almost all fanfic and headcanon stuff, so if anyone was interested in my original stuff I was gonna make a blog specifically for that…
I have a ton planned, and since tumblr is the platform I have the most reach on, I was thinking of starting here and then branching out!
My original works blog is @goblintrash1 if you wanted to check it out!
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warnings: mention of burn scars
kpdh m.list here
ch. 5 here
translation notes at the end!
“You are one loyal feline, huh?”
You ran your hand across the spine of the calico cat from the other day. It strutted away, before turning back around to headbutt your hand for more pets.
Insadong never slept, you were sure of it. Perhaps it was because the palace gate was open twenty four hours.
Of course, the night did filter out most of the visitors. At least the streets weren’t as crowded in the daytime. You were now able to walk in and out of the temple freely if you so wished without having to worry about pictures being taken.
If only coming to this beautiful traditional hub wasn’t so expensive.
Not like you had much of a choice this time, though.
The monk wasn’t so happy to see you again. You came to him regularly, but his mood wasn’t exactly… elated.
“You burned through all these seals at once?” He sighed, rotating your forearm as he inspected your unmarked skin. You only awkwardly chuckled, rubbing the back of your neck with your unblocked hand.
Hey, what could you say? You weren’t exactly expecting Jinu to follow you all the way home.
“I’m sorry. It’s just with my line of work and with my… circumstances, I can’t exactly do these sigils myself. This time, it was an emergency.” You apologized.
The monk cocked an eyebrow at you, frowning.
“… and I know that this is quite difficult on both of us. I can’t exactly come here too often because of the distance, and you’re taking time off of your schedule for me whenever I have to visit.” You continued.
“What I don’t understand is why you can’t ask those shamans you work with to seal you instead.” He asked before he began to trace his fingers along your rough, waxy flesh. With each sigil that he drew, it made its appearance known by illuminating your skin.
“They’re…” You hesitated. You stopped yourself. They weren’t exactly well-equipped for something like this, which wasn’t the wrong thing to say, but you cut yourself off at the risk of sounding pretentious.
“…they’re my bosses. It would be too much to ask, considering they are paying me too.”
In unison, all of the sigils lit up. From each one, glowing chains began to span across your scars. They spiderwebbed across your burns, before it stopped at your newly injured shoulder and disappeared into your flesh. You breathed a sigh of relief, your lungs decompressed from the lack of stress.
“You do use different methods of exorcisms for your assignments, no?” He questioned.
You did, but unfortunately, emergencies did happen. You didn’t always carry around tools, considering you didn’t exactly need them to do all the small stuff.
Admittedly, you weren’t very adept in your tools. You could squeak by with your lack of proficiency in tools in most assignments, but for more hostile spirits and demons, you had to use your raw power.
You were also impatient, and drawing out fights longer than you needed to was vexing enough to break your seals.
Recently though, your clients have been hearing complaints from the residents of Insadong. A lot of metal structures have gone missing, and the pieces they could find were chewed through clean.
Sure, some of the buildings were quite dated, but for them to collapse so suddenly with no explanation… it didn’t make sense.
Now that you thought about it, the last few times you had come here, you’d kept hearing grinding noises.
The only way you could only describe them was… chewing?
You thought it must have been some sort of accident in construction, that the building structures were just becoming weak from age.
It didn’t really make sense, considering most of the structures weren’t even over 100 years old.
“Thank you, sir. I promise I won’t break them… too quickly this time.”
You stifled a laugh as the monk gave you a disapproving head shake. It wasn’t a guarantee that you would be able to completely keep them intact, but you can promise that you would never come back as soon as you did this time.
Even though it was the night, it was still enough to make you sweat. You fished out your handkerchief from your jacket, wiping away the beads that formed on your temples.You had been in Insadong for a good few hours now, with still no sign of whatever your clients had spotted the other day. You occupied your time worth sight seeing, even though you came often… a little more than you should.
At least you were stationed inside of Seoul. You didn’t need to worry about getting from one place to another that much, considering how well the transportation was set up here.
You had to admit that it wasn’t wise of you to come unarmed. You didn’t know what you were going up against, and if you would need to fight back.
But you weren’t one of the best practitioners for nothing, of course.
Your sheer power had defined you for most of your life but after the burns on your arm began to spread at an exponential rate every time you used it, you found yourself returning to the basics.
Sigils and runes were the most simple to use, as well as a great way to reduce the amount of energy you used when activating. They hold up well for a fundamental and easy skill.
You possessed many holy items, most of them weapons. Because of their already blessed status, you had no need to use any energy at all to exorcise spirits.
Your knees popped as you stretched your hands over your head. The cat followed your movements, leaning back onto its hind legs as it extended its front paws forwards.
“Come on, let’s go.” You waved them forwards, to which they trailed behind you.
You were going to be here for a while, and hey, you didn’t exactly want to eat alone.
Rounding the corner, you stopped at the twenty-four hour convenience store, instructing the car to stay outside as you went to pick.
There was always the option to choose a pre-packaged meal. Ramen was a good option too. Maybe you could just choose to eat a bunch of snacks instead of just one meal?
You settled on a salad, before snagging a can of tuna on the way to the register. Walking past, you noticed colorful neon water guns packaged in clear plastic bags.
You had to be resourceful with what you had on hand.
Grabbing two chilled water bottles to add into your inventory, you swiftly checked out your items before you sat outside on one of the plastic chairs.
You peeled back the lid of the tuna can before you set it down by your feet. Your calico companion rubbed its body on your calf, before it buried its face into the tin.
The receipt was smooth in between your fingers. You skimmed the printed, blocky words and numbers before you ran your nail across the paper harshly. A grey line cut through the typed contents. You repeated this a few times, your nail leaving patterns through the white of the receipt until you were satisfied with the results.
Scratching off the price tag on the barrel of the water gun, you tore the yellow price sticker in half before taping the paper onto the neon water barrel.
It was never too cautious to be prepared.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Jinu would be lying if he said this didn’t hurt his pride.
This, combined with the fact that he had to swallow his already bruised ego to ask the others for their help was humiliating.
He really could have just sent Abby to you first and had avoided the shame ritual you put him through that night.
What he wouldn’t admit to himself was the fact that that gave him a lot more information that he would have gotten then if he went with his original plan.
For days, he’d been watching your routine, observing your habits. He didn’t really have anything worthy to note other than the fact that you didn’t seem to have a traditional job, if you had one at all.
Surprise, surprise, what did they all know? You were at that same temple that they all knew you would be at.
Didn’t you have better things to do than hang around at a temple all day? Why did you come so often to this specific temple too? It was far from where you lived, as Jinu had noted.
“Honestly dude, I think that you’re only making us go after them because they kicked your ass.” Abby shrugged, stretching his arms above his head as they all walked. “I mean, I didn’t expect it, but you just have to accept losses. Resentment is unhealthy, you know.”
Jinu narrowed his eyes at his bandmate’s accusation.
”We’re already doing well on our goal. We’ve swept the nation with Soda Pop and the Honmoon is weakening at a much faster pace than before.” Romance added.
“Wasting time.” Mystery muttered.
Jinu stopped abruptly, sharply turning to face his group with a huff.
“I’ve seen what they can do. We have to stop them before they find Huntrix and join them as a hunter.” He had explained this several times, to which he realized that he had waned his patience for absolutely nothing.
Just like how it always was in this damn group.
They all shuffled through the village-like neighborhood, concerned that the residents might perhaps suddenly wake up and see the most popular boy band in Korea right outside their window.
The houses were unlike anything that they’ve seen so far in modern day Korea. The architectural aesthetic of each home was delicately designed to take from older styles in the past.
Each house was shorter than the two to three storied homes in other places in Seoul. These houses were only one unit, and it seemed only one family lived in each one.
The roofs were tiled black, uniformed and neatly lined up with the next house.
It was also how they found you.
Carefully one by one, they stealthily climbed up three roofs behind where you stood.
You were alone. Outnumbered. Whatever advantage you had back when Jinu had attempted to fight you, you had none now.
The cat in front of you yowled, before it hopped away from the roof you were standing on.
Ah, shit. Their position had been compromised.
”That damn furball…” Baby mumbled underneath his breath.
You had whipped your head around, eyes widened and on alert. When you spotted them, your shoulders seemed to relax.
It pissed Jinu off.
Before you could even utter one single cocky line from your mouth, the boys all lunged.
Baby took the lead, his speed far greater than the rest of them. His attacks were lazy, his technique relaxed, but faster than lightning.
Dodging was effortless for him, and the fact that you had no offensive technique to combat against any of their attacks made this whole match entirely against you.
Jinu knew it was petty, but he disguised it under orders and duties under Gwi-Ma.
You dug into your coat, your hand fiddling as you gained a grasp on what you needed.
Did you bring a weapon this time? Had he needed to be a bit more careful?
What kind of weapon would fit into a coat anyway? Maybe it was like one of those ritual daggers that that one Huntrix girl used.
Baby folded over cackling when you had reached into your coat and pulled out a vivid, nearly glow-in-the-dark water gun. Abby gave a very similar reaction, his face covered by his hands as his shoulders shook from the spasms of his diaphragm.
Baby held up his hands in mock surrender, still holding back his laughter before a sharp burning sensation shot through his palm.
The water that had met his skin sizzled his flesh, the droplets leaving red melted skin in its wake.
They all stared for a moment in shock.
It hurt, yes, but it was more of the fact that a water gun, a toy used by children in the summer, had done damage to them.
Jinu looked back up at your weapon, only to see the hastily placed receipt paper on the barrel.
On the paper, he was able to make out a choppy but legible sigil scratched onto it.
Holy water.
Not only that, you had managed to make it so that you didn’t have to use much of your energy to keep blessing it every time it ran dry. He’s seen what it does to your body during that fight.
As long as the sticker was still there, you could refill it as much as you wanted and it would still be blessed whenever the stream hit the barrel.
He had to give it to you. You were a genius.
The stunned discovery of your secret weapon had given you time to close the distance on them, droplets of water spraying across the air.
You targeted Baby first, who desperately wiped off the water with his sweater sleeve for his skin to stay intact. His movements became aimless and sedated, which you were able to easily avoid.
You pulled the trigger to the toy at the last minute behind you before Mystery could sink his talons in your flesh. His stealth was unmatched and his speed was also nothing to scoff at.
Unluckily for him, you had noticed him when he was just a hair away from you.
This meant that he was hit with a full stream of water.
Mystery staggered backwards, a pained growl rumbling from his throat as he held his face in his hands.
Romance weaved through your assaults. If Baby was fast, then he was slippery.
Forget using water on him. He was water.
His moves were overly complicated, yet it did a fantastic job at cornering and closing the distance between you two. Every time you striked, it was almost as if Romance was calculating how he could time when you let your guard down to attack.
That was when he stuck back.
He mostly focused on kicks, his legs the primary source of his power.
Unfortunately for him, there wasn’t really a way to shield his legs.
His method of cornering you was also his biggest mistake.
Like what you did with Mystery, you shot a full stream at his legs, the cloth of his pants soaking through to his skin.
He shuffled back. The cloth clung to his flesh, and it extended the life of the presence of water coming in contact with him.
Abby was strong, there was no doubt about it. After all, he was most known for his muscle mass and his strength.
But his mass made him the slowest out of the boys.
Baby’s build varied the most from Abby’s physique. He was toned, lean, and short. His body was built for speed.
Even though Baby’s attacks might be fast, they lacked mass. One could sacrifice taking a few punches from him during combat.
Abby’s blows were devastating. If you slacked for a second, that was more time he could take to charge up acceleration in his punches.
Lighter punches were faster to execute for him, but they didn’t have as much power behind them. They were still enough for you to dodge, though.
You had taken a hit, which made you stagger backwards. Taking advantage of this, you circled to the left as he came forwards. Abby was a wall. You looked like you knew this and you were attempting to take advantage of that by giving yourself more space.
Jinu filled the space, side by side with Abby so that you had a harder time evading.
Jinu would be the first to admit that he wasn’t specialized in physical skills like everyone else.
This most certainly didn’t mean that he was easy to defeat.
He didn’t exactly have a specific physical trait he excelled in, but his quick thinking and his wisdom was what carried the team.
They both charged, overpowering you as their strikes were relentless.
You used your water gun on Abby, making sure to hit both of his eyes. He hissed, his forearm covering the top half of his face.
You slipped outside Jinu’s first jab, before you pulled the trigger on the gun to his face.
He cocked his head to the side, the clear stream missing him by just an inch. Before you could react, his torso followed his head and twisted to the side. His leg raised, and he was able to kick the water gun out of your grasp. The toy flew across the air, before the barrel bursted. The remaining water spilled into a puddle around the plastic remains.
You held your hand, running to where the gun had landed and crouched down. The water pooled at your feet, seeping under your soles. Jinu let you mourn your little plastic weapon, before he began to make his way towards you again.
You wrapped your hand in a handkerchief.
Jinu sped up when he realized what you were planning, but it was too late.
Your kick stung his flesh, the water underneath your shoe burning his skin. A clothed wet punch burned his face.
You slipped past him towards the other boys, who had recovered from their previous injuries.
Mystery’s low ground blows were easier to predict. Romance’s overcomplicated moves might have made him unpredictable, but it took too much time away from him. Baby’s lazy and cocky strikes were uncalculated, and relied entirely on his speed. Abby almost never used his legs.
You had figured it all out.
With each strike and each holy water soaked attack, you were able to hold your own against four powerful demons.
When the water had run out on your shoes, you focused more of your fists, your attacks faster than before.
But Jinu had waited until the holy water on your cloth and on your shoes had almost dried to pounce.
He caught you off guard, knocking you to the ground as you both wrestled.
Crunch. Crunch.
”You keep ending up like this.” Jinu sneered.
Crunch. Crunch.
You glared daggers into him, the sigils on your arm glowing through your sleeve.
Crunch… then a hail of bricks through the air.
Jinu’s body had unintentionally shielded yours as the rocks and debris cut through his shirt.
You tilted your head upwards to see what Jinu was staring at in the distance.
Even upside down, the glow of giant yellow eyes in the distance was unmistakable. A ginormous elephant trunk swept through the roofs, destroying and littering metal and bricks across the street.
The weight of its paws as it collided with the asphalt shook the ground, the blue hue of its skin illuminated under the street lights.
So that was your real target. The source of all the chewed up metal and the destroyed buildings.
Bulgasari.*
ch. 7 here
a/n: I'm not too satisfied with the fight scene of this one but I do really like this chapter and the next one anyway.
I've been preoccupied a little this week, so we'll see when I post next week (hopefully same day)
Bulgasari is a Korean mythical creature with a diet of metal. Its hide is made of iron, and it grows every time it eats.
it is effectively immortal.
ty for the support! if you want to send stuff or ask me stuff about this fic (spoiler free, of course), my inbox is always open!
I have to get this off my chest it’s been EATING away at me
Baby just SCREAMS Janis Ian to me like SCREAMS bro.
I genuinely can’t see it any other way tbh that little shit totally gives me Janis Ian vibes.
Also this WILL be a controversial opinion but Abby as Damian.
Romance as Gretchen. Like spot on. Big hair because of all the secrets. Literally him. He’d totally be the one to snitch on Jinu to Y/N.
Sigh… Mystery as Karen. I’m gonna get so many pitchforks for this but listen: it’s not because Mystery is dumb, okay? Karen has that whimsy to her like she’s lost in her own little world. Maybe she doesn’t really think about what she says but like… she always gave me the vibes of a Weird Kid that just so happened to be really pretty and fell down into the Plastics rabbit hole. Totally believe she would bark at people too.
Jinu as Regina. I hate him.
Okay but fr yeah he’s super hot and cocky yk? I don’t think it’d be too much of a stretch if he was nice to everyone on the outside but super fucking mean behind their back.
For example:
Baby: *leans in and sniffs* What is that smell?
Y/N: Oh! Jinu gave me some fragrance!
Baby: *leans in closer* …you smell like a baby prostitute.
Y/N: ….
Baby: *sprays Lysol everywhere*
Romance: Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant, while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big. Feet? What’s so great about Caesar? Hmm? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Okay, Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that’s not what Rome is about. We should totally just STAB CAESAR!
Romance: You know I’m not allowed to wear hoop earrings, right? He told me two years ago that hoop earrings were “his thing” and I wasn’t allowed to wear them anymore. And then my parents got me a pair of really expensive white gold hoops and I had to act like I didn’t like them…. It was so sad.
Abby: [delivering candy canes] Zoey, two for you. Mira? FOUR for you, Mira! You go, Mira. And uh... "Y-Y/N". Do we have a "Y-Y/N" here?
Y/N: It's Y/N.
Abby: Oh, here you go, one for you... And none for Romance, bye.
Y/N: Well, there must be something you’re good at…
Mystery: I can put my whole fist in my mouth. Wanna see?
Mystery: Romance, I'm sorry I laughed at you that time you got diarrhea at Barnes & Nobles.
Mystery: And I'm sorry for telling everyone about it.
Mystery: And I'm sorry for repeating it now.
Jinu: (about Baby) I like… invented him, you know what I mean?
Celine: I'm kidding. Sometimes older people make jokes too.
Abby: My grandma takes her wig off when she's drunk.
Celine: Your grandmother and I have that in common.
Y/N: I'm sorry, I can explain...
Baby: Explain how you forgot to invite us to your party?
Abby: Baby, I cannot stop this car. I have a curfew at 1:00 AM.
Y/N: You know I couldn't invite you. I had to pretend to be plastic.
Baby: Hey, buddy, you're not pretending anymore. You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic!
Abby: Curfew, 1:00 AM. It is now 1:10.
I KNOW it’s prob not accurate at all but I HAD to get this off my chest lmao
synopsis: after escaping the countryside and starting a new life in seoul, you’re faced with the decision of choosing between the life you once had and rekindling your occult family legacy. the only catch is that there’s no time. there are many people that are more than willing to choose your fate for you.
pairing: saja boys x shaman/witch!gn!reader
warnings: mention of burn scars
kpdh m.list here
ch. 4 here
The rope constricting his body was the first sensation he felt when he woke up. His arms tingled, his fingers turning slightly purple. He could feel it on the edge of falling asleep.
He shuffled, the rubber soles on his shoes squeaking as they rubbed against the glossy green paint of the roof.
It was wide, and he could get a good view of the other houses as well. He sat in front of a rooftop shed.
Surrounding him was a salt circle.
Contrary to popular belief, regular table salt did not repel evil spirits. They had to be blessed.
He knew that you were educated enough to know this, of course. You didn’t seem like the type of person to do something just because.
There were a few paper talismans stuck between the ropes, protection sigils and characters repeatedly scribbled on pieces of paper.
They seemed to be more of a binding talisman rather than protection ones.
His eyes locked onto you, sitting a few feet away from him.
Your arm was now completely exposed, the sigils that previously marked sections of your arm had completely disappeared.
The burns, which you were tending to with a wet cloth, were raw, and seemed to reflect the way it looked when they had first grazed your skin. It was a stark difference to his much faster healing factor, which left his own burns to nothing but pink patches.
Now that your jacket and your shirt sleeve was nothing more than burnt flecks, he was finally able to see just how far your scars spanned. It engulfed your entire left arm, before tapering off at your shoulder in an angry red.
Your eyes met his, before you quickly draped your jacket back onto your shoulders.
”You came here to talk. I’ll do it, but I’ll be the one asking you questions.” You started off.
Well, if Jinu was in a talking mood earlier, then he really wasn’t now.
”This wasn’t how I wanted this to go.” He admitted to you as a humorless laugh escaped him.
”Well, that much is obvious.” You shrugged. “But these are the circumstances that you’ve put yourself in. You should have known that this plan wasn’t going to end well.”
Jinu hated that your logic was right. Your insults dug under his skin like sharp metal barbs. It didn’t cross his mind that you would be on guard from other demons, considering what you knew about them.
Damn him.
”You couldn’t have just arranged some sort of… I don’t know… an accidental meeting?” You asked. “But realistically, I would have still said no anyway.”
You were totally toying with him, but he couldn’t help but be slightly amused by your demeanor.
Slightly.
Maybe if he wasn’t tied up, he’d feel it just a little more.
”We want your help in aiding Gwi-Ma.” Jinu demanded, cutting straight to the main topic. Your face hardened, twisting into a deadpanned expression.
”I figured it was that.” You only responded, before twisting over to prop your arm on the rooftop ledge.
‘So that’s a no,’ He thought to himself. He didn’t blame you at all, really. Jinu hated working for him, as did every single demon that was stuck in the demon realm.
But he couldn’t let this opportunity pass by. The hunters were so close to sealing the Honmoon. Once they did that, the demons would be forever sealed away in the demon realm with Gwi-Ma.
And he couldn’t stand another moment longer with his voice in his head.
You wouldn’t know anything about that though. You weren’t anything like himself, after all.
You didn’t seem like you hated demons, though. If you did, you’d have killed him on the spot once you saw him, much like how Rumi nearly did when he had talked to her.
You were taking your time. You wanted answers more than the desire to stop him and Gwi-Ma.
He didn’t know which one he preferred.
At least he could get a word in. You two could harbor a conversation if you know, you weren’t exactly at his throat right now.
All he could do is answer, ask, or stay silent.
“How do you know him?”
It was the elephant on the rooftop, threatening to cave in and drop down to the second floor of the house. The boys never got a very thorough explanation on why you were so helpful to their plan. After all, their base plan was working perfectly, anyway. Soda Pop was soaring the charts, and Huntrix was on the verge of being dethroned.
Was it because you were the only one that could potentially stop Gwi-Ma?
Actually, was that the reason why he sought you out? To convince you to their side so that you wouldn’t stop him?
Even with the amount of power you merely radiated, you looked to be held back.
If Jinu was correct, then the holy fire you summoned to exorcise demons was hurting you.
And yet you were able to lay him out with those limits.
Color him impressed.
“He’s… familiar.”
Jinu’s brow twitched. He didn’t particularly love how the tables had been turned on him. He couldn’t help but fantasize about what would have happened if the roles were reversed. He wouldn’t be getting these half-assed cryptic answers. You wouldn’t have much of a choice.
Instead, you turned back to him, your eyes narrowed. You seemed to be more focused than he’s ever seen you.
Jinu’s composure further unraveled when you kneeled in front of him. Scanning, your eyes roamed across his body before meeting him.
He felt his face heat up at the sudden eye contact.
“You look so real.” You only commented, before you let go of him. Standing up from your spot, your line of sight fell to the spanning neighborhood.
“You must still be young in demon years. Or maybe you haven’t lost your humanity completely yet. With how strong you are, you must be one of his favorites...” You deduced. Not many demons could hold up their glamour very well. More powerful ones could, but it was true that it was more common in demons like Jinu that still looked and acted somewhat human.
Jinu didn’t exactly care too much about how strong he was. He especially hated being even perceived as one of Gwi-Ma’s favorites.
You probably knew that and didn’t care. Perhaps because it could be you too.
Strong. Human. Spiritually attuned. If he could, he’d most certainly have an army of you instead of the demons in the demon realm.
You didn’t really seem like the type to follow orders, though. A few lines of Gwi-Ma’s torture would probably keep you in check.
“… but that’s the worst part.”
Did you read his mind?
What were you talking about? You’ve established that you weren’t a demon.
It looked as if not only you knew about him, but had some sort of connection.
“Who are you?” Jinu could only whisper. You must be someone who is aware of the spirit world. A medium? A witch?
It still didn’t exactly explain how you knew Gwi-Ma personally.
Hopeful for an answer, he waited with bated breath as you opened your mouth.
“I saw you. At your street performance.” You evaded his question. “I didn’t think that Gwi-Ma would get so desperate to send the five of you up here.”
The Honmoon flowed up and down, the movements like water ripples. There were significant holes in the barrier, more than there usually was.
All thanks to them.
”You’re not the only reason why we’re here.” Surely you knew that. If you didn’t, then maybe you weren’t as big of a threat (or help) as he previously thought.
“I figured. You want to break the barrier, don’t you?” You pointed up at the undulating threads. “There’s a lot of people that won’t let you do that, you know.”
”We’re already overtaking the hunters.” Jinu pointed out. You turned to him, your eyes stunned and wide with realization.
”So they’re real.” An intrigued and calculating look overtook your features. “And I thought they were just an urban legend…”
What the hell did he just do?
Did he just lead one of their rivals to their other rivals?
You shook your head, your shoulders shaking as you chuckled quietly. You kneeled down to his level, looking up at his eyes as a grin decorated your expression.
“I have to thank you… Jinu, right? I really thought that you and your little group would be my one ticket out of this mess. Now, I have options.”
Oh no.
This was much worse than he expected this plan would go.
He had to stop you before you teamed up with Huntrix. You were incredibly strong by yourself, and considering what kind of information you had on your hands, you would be indispensable to that group.
And he waited much too long for a chance like this.
“I really appreciate you coming here and proposing Gwi-Ma’s plan to convince me to stay, but now I might need to hear the hunters’ side.”
You planted yourself on the rooftop, sitting criss-crossed.
“But…I kinda wanna know what your master plan was to try and convince me to go to Gwi-Ma's side. How much did he tell you?” You tapped your chin in what appeared to be in thought, your hands holding your face as if you were listening to him.
Jinu wasn’t about to inflate your ego, though.
“He said you were difficult. That you’d help us because you were desperate.”
Jinu emphasized the exact thing that he knew would strike a nerve. Sure enough, your brow ticked just noticeable enough for him to catch.
Your pride would be your downfall.
Maybe this little interview was more helpful than he thought it would be. All he had to do was let go of his just a little.
Some sacrifices need to be made after all, and your information was invaluable.
And this specific piece?
Something expensive, something that he wouldn’t have been able to afford if he had just kidnapped you now.
You talked to fill the silence a lot. Was it because you were hoping that he would respond? Were you taunting him? Trying to rile him up so that he could slip?
Maybe he could take advantage. Start with something light, something that you both already know.
“So you’re not religious, it appears.” Jinu began. Your face scrunched up slightly when he asked this, but it didn’t exactly look to be in disgust.
“Oh, no.” You waved off, snickering. “No. I come from a long line of occultists.”
So you really were a sort of practitioner. It was a little strange that you went to other spiritual places for what he thought was help…
…or maybe they needed help themselves.
What kind of services did you offer? How did you use your power? If you were a spiritual practitioner, what did you excel in?
What was your training?
So many questions…
Another question he had was about the burns. If you were a practitioner, then why did using your energy hurt you?
It was also another piece of information that was pivotal.
You had been careless about tending to your wounds in front of him.
You weren’t as strong as he thought you were, right? As anyone thought you were.
You just had a huge ego.
“Mm. Well, that’s all I needed to know, really.”
You suddenly dismissed him. Jinu’s eyes narrowed, as if to say, ‘what’s the catch?’
You waved. “I’m letting you go. You’ve already answered most of my questions, anyway. I’m sure that fight took a lot out of you too.”
You walked over around towards the door of the unlocked rooftop shed, before you fished out a small broom.
You scattered the salt around, enough for the line to break, but also for Jinu to walk out.
He continued to stare at you. You only stared back.
He cleared his throat. “My binds?”
Realization struck you, slightly embarrassed.
“Uh… let me go downstairs.” You sheepishly commented before you climbed down the steps.
You cut him open with a box cutter. He immediately stood up, not daring to lay another finger on you.
He knew that you both knew this wasn’t over.
It was only over for tonight.
And soon, you’ll be encountering each other again.
ch. 6 here
a/n: omg finally finals are almost done! I can go back to my regular scheduled program! I'm excited for you guys to read the next chapter, as the fight scene style is going to be a bit unique, but TRUST THE PROCESS!! I'll see you guys next week!
ty for the support! if you want to send stuff or ask me stuff about this fic (spoiler free, of course), my inbox is always open!
