Demon reader hired and trained (re: captured, bound, then molded into a self-hating, mindlessly loyal, deadly weapon) since childhood by Celine, and strategically placed within Huntrix’s inner circle. Blending into the background like she’s just another friend, another worker, watching over and protecting the girls from the shadows. The girls are aware they have a bodyguard, but not that their bodyguard is always there and knows more about them then they do themselves. They definitely don’t know that said bodyguard is a Demon.
Reader is always there, always acting supportive and as a unwavering ally, but she keeps a secure distance. She can’t get too close— she’s a demon. Ugly, sinful, born to suffer. (Celine’s A+ parenting strikes again!!)
She knows that Rumi is a half-demon, but she’s not allowed to share that information, to let Rumi know that she’s not alone. The seal that burns at her throat keeps her from spilling any secrets. (Again, Celine. Are you surprised?) She knows so much, too much, and yet she’s forced to remain silent. A weapon, a tool. That’s all she’s expected to be.
Enter the Saja Boy’s, who near instantly clock the fact that the girls seem to have an ever-present shadow. Who end up sniffing around and learning just a little too much about Reader’s existence.
She was never supposed to be noticed, never supposed to be the one forced on the run.
Except the Saja Boys find her intriguing. A human, slinking in the shadows like it’s where she belongs, disappearing into darkness and wearing the night like a cape of smoke? A human, who notices their presence lurking around the Huntrix girls and chases them off before they even sense she’s around?
Even more so when Gwi ma takes an interest in her, shifting his focus from the immediate gratification of destroying the Huntrix, to the possibility of being able to take them apart from the inside. Slowly, painfully, stripping them bare of all their secrets and protections.
He orders for Reader to be captured.
But of course, She doesn’t make it easy. Walking a careful balance of fending off their attacks successfully while also still keeping her Human persona intact. She can’t run too fast, or punch too hard. She can’t let her patterns glow when adrenaline pumps, or let her eyes shine with her victorious escape. It’s a delicate dance, but one she’s mastered.
She’s unaware of the Saja Boys plan to capture her at first, but she is aware that their intent has shifted, ever so slightly focused more on her then the girls.
It takes a week, a full week of her slipping from their claws and melting into the shadows. A full week where the boys return with nothing other than empty hands and growing frustration. Because how can it be so hard to catch ONE simple human?!
But then, She slips up. Too slow, too tired, too distracted, just for a single moment
She’s caught, jerking and snarling in Abby’s hold, but caught. And for once, she isn’t able to break free. And it’s terrifying.
She is not an easy captive by any means.
The moment they reach the boys penthouse and she’s set down for a mere second, she’s bolting. She’s caught again, but only just barely. She fights and flails, kicking jaws and throwing throat-punches, fighting dirty. She yells like a hellcat on cocaine. (Feral, desperate, terrified, rageful.)
She gives bruises, bloodies some faces and maybe even breaks a bone or two. But she doesn’t get away.
She’s tied, shackled to a chair because she somehow kept slipping out of the ropes— glaring down at some fuckass demons with her chest rising and falling in rapid breaths and her eyes flickering just dimly enough to be mistaken as a shift in the lighting.
Her ears are ringing, heart pounding, vision spinning. She’s panicked.
The boys leave her, reconvening on their strategy and cleaning the blood off their faces while murmuring in hushed, pissed-off tones as she pretends her trembling is purely from rage and not fear.
They return polished, once again flawless in that unnatural way that screams uncanny. They move as one, without words, close, standing before her in suffocating silence like she’s on trial for the death penalty.
She seethes, bearing dulled human teeth. Eyes daring them to try something, anything.
Jinu smiles sweet as sugar, fake, and more then a little condescending. It makes her jaw twitch. She can see the tightness around his eyes, the strain in his attempted charming grin. He’s already irritated.
“C’mon, no need for all that, we’re friends here. All you have to do is tell us what we want to know, and we can all play nice.”
He says it like he’s offering an irresistible deal and not a pile of rat poison on a silver platter.
She narrows her eyes further, offering nothing but silence.
Jinu’s brows twitch like he’s trying not to glare. It smoothes out and he changes tactics seamlessly like running water over a polished riverbed.
He walks closer, circling her with his hands held neatly behind his back. She tracks him with her peripherals, he smirks.
“We’ve been watching you, y’know.” He says like it’s something ominous, like it should send her trembling in fear.
No? Really? She hadn’t noticed the sudden uptick in ugly ass faces watching her when they thought she wasn’t aware. Not at all.
She doesn’t respond, doesn’t blink. Giving no signs of discomfort. Jinu continues.
“We know what you do, how you work so hard and no one ever notices. Not so much as a thank you.” His voice dips low, sympathetic. Taunting.
She immediately catches onto the new tactic, laughing internally. Emotional manipulation, really? She plays along, her face wavering. Victory curls in her veins when Jinu catches it, eyes flickering gold briefly like he smells blood in the water.
His hands fall on her shoulders, soft and coaxing. Gentle, even. “We see you.” He hushes, “We see everything. We understand.”
She sees Baby smirk, sees Abby grin behind his fist like she’s already caught up in Jinu’s jaws. Perfect wounded prey to eat up in one bite.
His face dips to her level, and she lets her eyes flicker with uncertainty, mouth wavering like she might break. Internally she goads him closer, practically vibrating with yes, yes, yes— almost.
“We could show you the appreciation you deserve. All you have to do is help us, and you’ll have a place to belong.” Jinu whispers, and the words curl around her like sweet temptation.
Her mouth opens, brows furrowed and voice soft. “I…”
Jinu leans in, eyes shimmering with satisfaction and lips quirked with a sly grin. Close enough to kiss. Close enough to eat her up. “Yes?”
Unfortunately for him, there’s always a bigger fish.
She lunges forward, quick, far too quick for a human, snapping her jaws around his soft, vulnerable neck and sinking her fangs.
Jinu chokes, gasping wetly as blood splatters between them. Warm, thick, and heady as it fills her mouth, coating her lower face and dripping down her neck. She digs her teeth deeper before she’s suddenly yanked back, fingers pressed cruelly into the hinges of her jaw to force her to let go.
Jinu stumbles back, clutching his neck as rivers a crimson slip from between his fingers. He stares at her, eyes wide with surprise and breathing wheezily. Romance curses and moves to help to staunch the flow, but it’s already healing.
Abby’s fingers jerk away now that no-one is in biting distance, growling low and pissed. She grins, licking the blood of her teeth, eyes dark with challenge. “Try me again, fucker. See what I bite next.”
Abby’s hand goes to her throat, growling a deep, booming sound of warning that makes her nerves skitter with suppressed panic. Her breath goes fluttery under his grip, restricted. But she only has eyes for Jinu.
His face darkens, hand falling away from his neck as the wound seals, slick with blood. Purple patterns pulse, dark and jagged. His pupils slit within gold, lip curling in a snarl.
Her heartbeat trembles, but she stares back at death defiantly. Chin raised and eyes narrowed. Come at me.
Quicker then a human eye could possibly hope to catch, he moves forward and snatches her chin in a punishing grip, smearing blood and claws pricking her skin. She doesn’t flinch, she saw it coming.
“We have ways of making you give the information we want.” He warns darkly. The air seems to burn around him.
She grins, sharp as broken glass and just as bitter, knowing the hidden seal around her throat will keep her silent even if her will is broken. Not that she plans on going down easy.
Thing is, they think she’s human, and humans are fragile. They can’t cause too much harm, otherwise she’ll be useless. It’ll be easy to outlast them and figure out her escape.
“Fine,” Jinu releases her chin, only for Abby’s hand around her neck to tighten. “Hard way it is.”
Her eyes flick around the room, looking for anything to aid in her escape. She shifts her hands carefully, ensuring the chains around her wrists don’t clink together and draw attention. Her hands are behind her, pressed against the back on the chair. Not ideal, but not impossible.
Her thoughts scatter abruptly as the pressure around her throat tightens enough to make spots dance behind her eyes. She doesn’t struggle even as her chest burns, doesn’t give them the satisfaction.
Abby’s grip let’s up and she breathes a little heavier, a little shallower.
“What do you know about the Huntrix girls? What is their next move?” There’s no more sweetness to Jinu’s voice, no more faux empathy.
She doesn’t answer, returning his empty gaze with no more then a glare.
Abby squeezes again, longer this time. Enough that her brain starts to go into that instinctual panicked state that leaves no room to be rational.
Her head spins when she’s able to suck in a breath again, heart pounding and blood rushing in her ears when Abby growls with thinned patience. “Answer.”
“Wrong.” Abby’s thumb drags across her neck, sharp claw cutting shallowly into her skin. The sting of it is harsh, and the cut instantly begins to well with blood.
Panic strikes her, but not because of the danger.
She stops breathing, falling deathly still as the wound seals mere moments later.
She knows the moment Jinu sees it. His head tilts slightly and his eyes narrow.
Her chest tightens and her vision wavers as dread settles into her stomach.
“Cut her again, deeper this time.”
Abby doesn’t hesitate, raking his claws across her neck. She flinches at the burn, hissing in pain as blood spills from the gashes. He forces her chin up, exposing the wounds and making them stretch open painfully.
Her pupils shrink and her breath hitches, feeling the wounds begin to seal as time seems to slow.
Romance sighs, sounding utterly put out. “A demon… well, that complicates things a bit.”
Abby releases her, stepping back. “Damn.”
The world is spinning, tilting, wavering. She’d fall if she weren’t chained to the chair.
Panic suffocates her, building in her chest like an overpressurized ballon. Her shoulder twitches in an abated movement that causes the chains to rattle. Fear.
No one, no one is supposed to know. No one was ever supposed to find out—
Abby sighs an aggravated noise, jaw ticking as he gestures to her accusingly. “A Demon? Gwi ma didn’t say she’d be a Demon, how are we supposed do deal with her now?”
Her eyes flick to the door, wrists shifting. If she can snap the chains and move quickly enough, then—
Mystery breaks her line of sight, blocking the door and crossing his arms over his chest. Escape blocked.
It’s 1v5, not the worst odds she’s fought against, but then again, she mostly fights low level demons Gwi ma throws at the girls. Her eyes flicker, pupils slitting as tries to form a plan of escape through her growing panic.
These demons are higher level, even then her, but she already knew that. They move faster, hit harder, heal quicker. They’ll be a lot harder to take down, and even more difficult to keep down.
She’s not at their level, she knows that. But if she’s smart enough—
Abby pauses, a lightbulb visibly going off in his head. He smiles, slow, dark, dangerous. Readers heart freezes.
“Guess that just means we don’t have to be so careful.”
The tone in his voice makes her thoughts scatter like shards of glass, like he would love nothing more than to hurt her in ways a human could never hope to recover from.
She stops thinking rationally.
The chains around her wrists snap apart and she throws herself from the chair, putting distance between her and the demons. The only thought in her mind is escape.
Mystery growls, demon marks flaring as he crouches low and gives chase.
She maneuvers around furniture quickly, eyes darting towards doors and windows. There’s a large one near the center of the living room, the city glows from far below, too far to survive the drop. Not viable.
Mystery swipes with darkened claws, and she leaps over the couch, just barely avoiding being sliced open.
The others don’t bother chasing her, leaving the most feral of them to deal with her escape. Standing back at the sidelines like the possibility of her actually escaping is so minimal that they needn’t even bother.
Her heart thunders, face drawn in a snarl that’s something between rage and terror.
She leaps over the kitchen island, skidding across the tile until her shoulder slams into the fridge, hard enough to make it wobble. She scrambles to right her footing, but she ends up boxed in by arms on either side of her head.
Her back flattens against the fridge, cold steel leaching away the frantic heat built in her body. She growls, but Mystery growls back louder, deeper. Lips pulled back in a snarl that shows off each and every sharpened fang.
Her patterns flare, black, dark and matching the quickened pulse of her racing heartbeat. Her eyes flick to the side, muscles bunching in preparation to flee—
Claws drag down, and she flinches against the sound of screeching metal so close to her ears.
She freezes, his voice sending shivers down her spine.
Romance laughs, like it’s just another Tuesday. Like she’s not held captive by a demon who looks two seconds away from tearing her throat out like she had Jinu. Except, she doubts that she will heal from it.
“I wouldn’t run again if I were you, our dear Mystery tends to get a little too excited when things act prey,” Romance purrs.
Reluctantly forced into taking his advice, Reader stills, forcing her muscles to relax and her breathing to slow. Meeting his hidden eyes with a steady glare. Not prey. Not prey. Not prey.
It take three, excruciatingly long minutes of continuous stare down, watching as Mystery’s arms twitch and his claws flex, growling under his breath and breathing heavy. Until he takes a single, forced step back. Like he’s fighting everything not to lunge at her.
She keeps her eyes on him, heart still pounding in her ears.
She twitches as footsteps approach, but she doesn’t dare look away from the feral beast in front if her.
A heavy hand lands on her shoulder, fingers bruising in their group. Abby. “Ready to answer now? Or are you gonna try and run again and let Mystery have a go at you?”
She doesn’t answer, mouth sealed shut. But she doesn’t make a move to run again.
Abby grunts, frustrated as her tugs her forward, shoving her hard enough to make her stumble before forcing her back into the chair. But she’s not chained again, there’s no point.
She sits stiffly, waiting for the next opening.
Romance sits on the kitchen counter, legs crossed and swaying idly. “So tell us, how does a pretty little demon like you end up working with those brutish Huntrix girls?”
Her eyes snap to him, glare deepening to something purely infernal at his gall to insult her girls. “Says the fucker who kidnapped a random person and chained them to a chair.”
Romance just grins, wide and unnatural as he leans forward, eyes locked on her like she’s something strange and shiny. His eyes glint like a predator.
“Oh but you’re not random, are you? No, you’re special. Something hidden that was never supposed to be found.”
Her skin erupts in goosebumps, warning alarms blaring in her skull. Her lips press into line, she doesn’t respond.
Jinu leans back against the counter, arms crossed and gaze heavy enough to burn. “I never would have guessed that Huntrix would have a demon on their side. Unless…” something flickers behind his eyes, something dark and wicked that whispers. Gwi ma.
“They don’t know, do they? They have no idea that there’s been a demon working amongst them all this time.”
She looks away, jaw tight. Her silence is enough.
Romance sighs, “Well I suppose that answers the question of how you kept sensing us and getting away. Though it is a bit anticlimactic.”
She doesn’t dignify him with a response, glancing flatly at her surroundings. She’s on the top floor of some tall, extravagant building. Bright, modern, and drenched in the scent of Demons. It’s several times larger than the ones the girls have, even more so the one she herself resides in.
She’s sat in the open space between the kitchen and living room, able to see the front door, and a long hallway that presumably leads to rooms. The large floor to ceiling window in the living room has a glass door leading to a balcony, but she’s already ruled that out as an escape route. They would catch her before she could scale the building—
She twitches at the loud ‘pop’ of a soda can opening, eyes snapping to glare at Baby. He smirks, sipping obnoxiously.
Jinu sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay, how about this. You tell us the girls plan for the honmoon, and we won’t tell them you’re a demon. No torture necessary.” 
She bares her teeth, claws curling into the seat of the chair. “I’d rather die.”
Abby cracks his knuckles, “That can be arranged.”
Jinu stares at her for a long moment, and she stares back, eyes narrowed.
“Fine, have it your way.”
She blinks and he snaps his fingers, the sound of metal rattling is her only warning before Abby teleports behind her and she finds her hands back behind the seat, chains humming against her skin.
She jerks, trying to free herself again, but the chains don’t break. They loop around chest and cross over her arms, woven through the back of the chair and latched at her wrists. The metal hums, warm and alive with something.
She pales as she realizes the only thing it could be. A seal.
She tugs again, rewarded only with the sound of rattling and metal on metal.
Her heartbeat spikes, filling her ears. This wasn’t something she’d accounted for— how could they possibly have chains engraved with demon seals—
Abby grabs the back of her chair, and the world tilts backwards. Her stomach swoops low as Abby drags her down the hall, she growls and twists, but she isn’t able to stop herself from being dragged to a new, darkened room.
She squints as harsh lighting is flicked on, plain white walls and a featureless bedroom filling her vision. The air is old, stale. The room is untouched, probably a spare.
Abby brings her to the center, letting the chair go and fall back on all four feet. She snarls angrily as the world lurches once again, but she’s paid no mind.
Abby stands before her, silent like a soldier as Jinu strolls in, slow and unhurried like he has nowhere else to be. Her skin crawls as his eyes fall on her, cold and calculating. Considering.
“Let’s start with something simple. Where are the girls planning their next concert?”
She glares, saying nothing. Jinu makes a movement with his hand, and Abby finally moves.
She gasps as his fist slams into her stomach, pain blooming through her abdomen. Her body curls instinctively, but the chains halt the movement. She groans as the pain washes over her.
“Where. Is. The next. Concert?”
She forces herself to sit upright, ignoring the painful twinging from her abdomen that begs for her to curl into a ball a protect herself from further blows. She raises her chin defiantly. “Go fuck yourself.”
Jinu’s eye twitches, and Abby aims another blow at her stomach.
The impact leaves her wheezing, hot, throbbing pain spreading through her organs. The taste of iron creeps along the back of her throat.
Jinu starts again, “How are they planing to form the golden honmoon?”
She doesn’t answer, and receives another punch to the gut.
“What is the condition of Rumi’s voice, and how long will she be out of commission?”
She clenches her teeth, breathing carefully. Another blow.
“How close is Huntrix to actually sealing the honmoon?”
Her head is filled with the deafening buzz of pain, a scream of panicked brain signals and instincts that go ignored as her vision swims. The questions shift.
“How have you gone undetected by Huntrix for so long?”
“Who else knows what you are?”
“Why are you working with them?”
“How are you unreachable to Gwi ma?”
Each unanswered question receives another blow. She coughs and blood spills from her mouth, hot and wet and bitter on her tongue.
“We can keep this up as long as we have to.”
She groans, breathing in sharp, tiny breaths that send burning pain throw her body. Something’s wrong internally, she can feel it. But the punches come in faster then she can heal them.
Another hit, higher then the ones before. Harder.
A sickening crack rings through her body, wet and muted beneath flesh. It starts as an ache. A deep, blooming wrongness. Pressure.
Sharp, searing, inescapable pain.
She sucks in a breath and her vision whites, nerves screaming against the sharp movement. A soft, choked sound escapes her and she stills, pale skin deepening to dark gray, black markings throbbing against her skin.
Her vision swims, fangs elongating and slicing open her lip. Animal instinct prods at her with sharpening desperation. Run. Escape. Hide. Stop the pain.
A hand lifts her chin, touch cold and unkind. Jinu’s face is blurred, like murky watercolor bleeding through pages. Her lips twitch, baring fangs instinctively, but her eyes are unfocused with agony.
Jinu tilts his head slightly, considering her as she drags in careful, pained breaths. He hums, eyes lidded with something contemplative. “I know that you’re close with those girls, I know you know things. It’s only a matter of time until you break.”
His grip tightens, free hand moving to press cruelly into her cracked ribs, making her wheeze a sound uncomfortably close to a whimper.
He doesn’t grin, doesn’t laugh. Just leans in and examines her like this is nothing but business. Likes she nothing but a stubbornly locked chest he intends on opening, by any means necessary. “The only thing you’re in control of,” Jinu starts, low and purposeful, “Is how much pain you have to endure before we get there.”
Her chest spasms, and breifly, the thought of giving in flashes through her mind. Empowered by the pain that won’t ebb or dissipate, and the fear of what may be next should she refuse.
Maybe… maybe just something small? Just until she can heal from this first round? Just until she can gather and rebuild herself again, just a small insignificant detail, just one little answer—
Jinu sees the weakness written on her face, the way her body stills with wavering resolve. He pushes again, easing the pressure off her ribs to coax the answers to tumble from her lips.
“Just one little answer,” He promises, “That’s all you have to give.” He knows exactly how to push to make her give, knows just what method to use to make her fold. “Just answer one question and the pain stops.”
Her mind latches onto that possibility, the promise of an end, trying to distance herself from the pain. She sits rooted between ending the pain, and the loyalty imprinted into her very soul.
Abby huffs impatiently, shoving Jinu’s hand away to dig his fingers savagely into her wounded side. Her broken ribs creak and shift, giving in queasily under the pressure. She makes a strangled noise, high pitched, pained and vulnerable. Her vision whites and her ears ring.
“Answer,” He hisses into her ear. “Or I’ll break the rest of them, one after another. And when you pass out from the pain?” He laughs, low and dark. “I’ll be right there to start it all over again when you wake back up. Over and over, every time your bones mend. As many times as it takes.”
Terror overtakes her brain, flashes of pain, of torture, flooding her mind. Fear loosens her words before her brain can stop her.
Her words cut off abruptly, and she seizes.
Dark, ancient hanja bleeds into existence on her skin, sprawling across her throat like ink from a brush. A seal of silence.
Her body stiffens and bolts of electricity zap through her veins, alighting every nerve in her body with agony. Her jaw clamps painfully shut, teeth grinding against a scream as involuntary spasms wrack through her body. Her back arches unnaturally, mind going blank of anything but white hot, searing pain.
It goes on forever, unending and relentless for even daring to spill her secrets, to betray her family. The punishment is brutal, swift, and just.
Her body sags when it ends, limp like a puppet with cut strings. She pants haggardly into the suddenly silent room, body twitching with the aftershocks as her brain tries to recalibrate. Each breath shifts her broken rib, and she feels nauseous at the horrible sensation.
Tears fall from her glazed eyes, and she stares unseeing as the world bleeds around her.
“A seal. Of course. That makes her fucking useless.”
“No, Gwi ma says he still wants to use her.”
“How? I can’t exactly punch open a binding of silence.”
Voices drift in and out around her as her brain throbs. Lights too bright, sounds too loud. It feels like her brain is bleeding with thousands of sharp blades. Her eyes squeeze shut and she whines, feeling nothing but pain in her body.
Abby grunts and moves past her and Jinu to the door, and Jinu follows as they speak in hushed, agitated tones. She barely hears a muffled, “Mystery, stand watch.” Before darkness descends upon the room.
There’s a soft shuffle of clothing as someone enters the room, and then silence and the door clicks shut, blocking out all light. She’s not alone.
She blinks rapidly to clear her blurred vision, pupils slitting to see through the darkness. It’s faint, but she can see a figure crouched on the ground next to the door, body poised to attack or chase. Mystery.
She hisses and bares her teeth weakly, the sound more like a pathetic deflating of a ballon than anything near threatening. Mystery doesn’t bother to dignify her with a responding growl, just waits, and watches.
Spots creep at her vision and her head dips even as she strains to hear the words being spoke beyond the door. Exhaustion tugs at her unwilling mind, headless of the danger. Pain drags her down, down, down. Into the dark, quiet place that hides her from the world while her body slowly shuts down, prioritizing healing over vigilance.
One by one, her senses fade despite the threats lurking so near. She fights as long as she can, until inevitably,
Sooooo— is this anything??
Y’all, I’ve been OBSESSED with this movie since I saw it, I even went to go see the sing-a-long event in theaters after I’d already watched the movie on Netflix more than ten times lmao. I really didn’t need another hyper fixation… but here we are!!! :D
Also, I know genuinely nothing about K-pop or Korea in general, so if anything is incorrect detail-wise I apologize! I’m trying to research as I go, but I’m sure I’ll mess up some things along the way :/
I Also Wrote These Things for the boys if you wanna look at that.
(I have no idea what to name reader, so she’s just referred to as She and Her for now. All I know is that she’s female, a demon, and her demon markings are black with gray skin. The boys will all keep their purple markings because they are owned by Gwi ma.)