A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next FIVE chapters are up on my Patreon for early access!

Bathhouse Time!

-x-X-x-

The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon when a knock came at his door. It didn't disturb him though, Jinu was already awake. He'd slept the few hours he needed to sleep and then spent the past half hour or so considering what he was going to do next after everything that happened the night before.

When the knock came, it caught him a little off guard… but in the end Jinu just ambled over to the door and opened it up.

On the other side stood Bobby, who looked him up and down for a moment before nodding decisively.

"Good, you're already up. Come on, you and I are going to the bathhouse."

Jinu blinks, memories of luring the girls into a man's bathhouse and then setting over a hundred Water Demons on them flitting through his mind. Tilting his head to the side, he considers the proposition with no small amount of bemusement.

"… the bathhouse?"

But Bobby has apparently worked himself up into a state of being where he's decided that he's not taking 'no' (or at least befuddlement) for an answer.

"That's right. Do you have anything you need to grab? I don't suppose you have a phone or anything like that so you should be good to go, right?"

Jinu hesitates for a moment longer, but in the end he just shrugs and nods, stepping out of the apartment and closing the door behind him.

"… Alright."

Honestly, this didn't seem like a very productive use of their time… but Bobby was pretty much the only one in Jinu's corner at this point. Rumi had tried to kill him, Mira and Zoey were her fellow hunters, and Celine was Celine. Hell, even Bobby himself would choose the girls over Jinu if he absolutely had to. And Jinu wouldn't have it any other way.

Still, he figured he should at least make an effort to stay on Bobby's good side. As he follows the human man to the elevator, Jinu makes sure to put on a quick disguise, making himself look just like he did in the park before anyone else can lay eyes on his demonic visage. Bobby, having already seen him in his busker persona, barely reacts.

Rather quickly, they're in a 'car' on their way to the bathhouse. Jinu had to admit that he still wasn't fully used to the metal wagons they had in modern day Korea, but Bobby couldn't teleport like he could so if they wanted to get anywhere quickly, this was the best option.

And quickly they do, because soon enough they've pulled to a stop and Bobby is leading him inside of a bathhouse not unlike the one Jinu remembers from the original timeline. For a moment Jinu is worried about the place being crowded… but thankfully, there's nobody there. Actually, even if its this early in the morning, surely someone should be here right? When Bobby sees him looking around curiously, the stout man smirks slightly.

"I'm not as rich as the girls, but I do have a lot of money that sort of just… piles up. Being able to purchase some privacy at the bathhouse whenever I have the free time is one of the few luxuries I afford myself. You mind if I decide what goes in the water?"

Jinu just shakes his head wordlessly. He wouldn't have a clue what should or shouldn't be added to the bath himself, truth be told. While he had been allowed to take baths back in the Palace when he was still human, they'd been prepared for him. And that's setting aside what humans had managed to come up with in the four hundred years since then.

Bobby just nods and mixes some things that Jinu doesn't recognize into a steaming pool of water. Before Jinu knows it, both of them are stripped down and sinking beneath the water's bubbly, completely opaque surface, sitting across from one another. Bobby lets out a truly heartfelt groan as he tilts his head back and lets his eyes drift shut for a moment.

"Oh yeah… that's the stuff."

Jinu has to admit… it does feel good, especially as he sinks down to his neck in the water, mimicking Bobby. Silence falls for a moment as both of them just enjoy the soak. But finally, as Jinu is expecting, Bobby speaks up.

"Sorry about Celine. She crossed the line last night."

Raising an eyebrow at Bobby, Jinu can't help but huff a little bit.

"How would you know that, Bobby? You're still new to this and I AM a demon, after all."

Bobby just frowns.

"You have serious self-esteem issues, don't you?"

Wait, what? Jinu is taken aback… where the hell did that even come from?

"Or maybe it's self-loathing. Either way, if you're going to help my girls, you need to work on that. You can start by forgiving yourself, Jinu."

Okay… wow. Maybe coming to the bathhouse with Bobby was a mistake. Jinu is almost ready to get up and leave right then and there, but Bobby isn't done.

"The Honmoon itself chose you, yeah? Big magical shield created by ancient Korean Shamans to keep out demons? It chose you, gave you back your soul, and sent you here to help us. So maybe you aren't as bad of a guy as you think you are."

Jinu's jaw clenches. He could see how Bobby came to that conclusion. But the truth is, Jinu KNOWS that the Rainbow Honmoon sent him back because it didn't have access to anyone else. He'd sacrificed himself and given his soul over to Rumi, who had in turn woven him directly into the tapestry of the new Honmoon.

The only reason the Rainbow Honmoon sent him of all people was because he was the only fully intact soul it had access to. That had to be it, there couldn't be anything else. But of course, Bobby doesn't know Jinu is from the future. Bobby also doesn't know how much Jinu hurt Rumi in that other timeline… not the things he did to her nor the things he put her through.

"… You don't know what you're talking about, Bobby. If you did, you wouldn't be able to even look at me."

But of course, Bobby refuses to let it go.

"Is this about what happened to your family?"

Jinu's breath hitches. He actually hasn't thought about them or heard their voices since coming back in time. And yet… they're as good a reason as any and it's not like he can tell Bobby he wound up here after ripping the Honmoon apart and breaking Rumi's heart in another timeline.

"… Yes."

"See, I've been thinking about what you told me. About how you told me that story. And look, I'm not some massive history buff… but what I am is a workaholic. I'm like a dog with a bone, once I get it I can't stop chewing until I get to the bottom of things."

What? What was Bobby even talking about? Jinu can't help but be a little amused by the other man's rambling. At least… until he gets to the point.

"So yeah, I looked stuff up when I had a free moment yesterday. Here's the thing… four hundred years ago wasn't a very good time for Korea, was it? So here's my question for you, Jinu. Did you really choose to abandon your family just to fill your belly? Or were you forcibly separated from them?"

Jinu blinks. He opens his mouth to respond. But before he can… it's like Bobby's words have unlocked something. His eyes widen as he feels himself being pulled into memories he hasn't had to think about since he stopped hearing Gwi-Ma's voice.

"No…"

Why would the Rainbow Honmoon do this to him? Why would it make him relive those memories after freeing him from Gwi-Ma's torture? Jinu tries to fight it. He thrashes in the water, trying to struggle against it. But… it's already too late.

"Jinu-?"

Bobby's voice is the last thing Jinu hears before he's pulled fully into the past.

-x-X-x-

Jinu sees everything through his own eyes, at least at first. But he can't actually do anything to change any of it. He sees himself playing his bipa on the street. He sees his mother and sister close by, sickly and frail. They'd be fine if he could just get them clean water and rice. If he could get them some food and drink, they would be perfectly alright.

… But he can't. He's useless. Worse than useless. He and his family are the lowest class of peasant in the Joseon Dynasty. This means that they're shunned by everyone, including other peasants. Jinu can't even get work as a laborer because of their rock bottom social class. Him, his mother, and his sister… are considered worse than filth. Left to rot and disappear on the side of the road like all the other refuse.

All they have to their name is Jinu's bipa, his instrument. All he can do is play it and hope someone takes pity on them. But no one does. Day after day, nobody so much as spares them a passing glance.

Until… the voice. Jinu of the past doesn't know what it means, but Jinu of the future does. Gwi-Ma, whispering in his ear. Telling him what he can do for him. Telling him how Jinu cannot help his family, but Gwi-Ma can. And all Jinu has to do… is make a deal.

And so he does. What other choice does he have?

This is where things take their first turn for the… different. Whenever Gwi-Ma would torture him over the past four hundred years, the memories would go from Jinu accepting his deal to the Palace after being summoned by the King. This time around, they do not.

Instead, Jinu gets to watch as he sings on the side of the road for the first time. The look of shock on his mother's dirty face, the wonder in his sister's young eyes. He sings and he plays the bipa and… thanks to Gwi-Ma, he seems like a natural. Talented beyond belief. Too good for words.

Too good, even, for something like their status to stop people from listening and enjoying his music. And for the first time that Jinu can remember… some take pity on them. A coin here. Some rice there. Jinu sings and he plays and it attracts notice and by the end of the first day, he has enough to feed his mother and sister. He goes hungry that first day, but they do not… and that by itself is enough to fill his belly.

Jinu can't believe he forgot this part. On the other hand… he sort of can. Four hundred years as a demon under Gwi-Ma's thumb. Four hundred years of the voices, the torture, of Gwi-Ma magnifying the worst parts of Jinu's actions. Was it any wonder the good eventually got buried beneath the bad?

And good it is. Day after day for an entire week, Jinu is able to provide for his family. Himself as well from the second day onward. They eat and drink their fill for the first time in years. He's even able to get newer clothes for all of them. Still worn and old, still little more than trash, but newer than what they had before. There's almost enough coin in his bowl at the end of a day of busking for Jinu to start setting some aside. The idea of them maybe putting a roof over their heads in just a few more weeks starts to creep in.

Then… the good times end even if Past Jinu doesn't know it yet. Word of Jinu's voice has reached the Palace and someone has been sent to retrieve him by order of the Emperor himself. In the memories that the Rainbow Honmoon is showing him, the memories Jinu had forgotten, his mother outright tells him that they can't go with him, that they won't be allowed in. She does so out of earshot of his little sister, in a hushed and worried tone.

But Jinu is riding high on life, on power, on his voice. He tells his mother not to worry, and regales his sister with tales of all that they will get to do in the Emperor's Court. His deal with Gwi-Ma has made everything better… how can this not also work out? There's no way he will be refused. They'll have to let him bring his family into the Palace too… right?

No. His mother is right, in the end. The three of them arrive at the Palace… and are forcibly separated from one another by the Palace Guards. His sister screams for him. Jinu wants nothing more than to run to her and his mother, to refuse the Emperor's summons… but his mother catches his eye and shakes her head as she pulls his little sister back away from the threatening weapons.

Because she knows as well as he does what will happen if he does not obey. If he fights back. They will all die right then and there… or worse yet, they will kill her and his sister and take him to the Emperor anyways. And so he has to let them go. He has to abandon them.

It hurts. It hurts so much. And his little sister's screams haunt him from that moment on. Every moment he's awake. Every second he's asleep. Jinu sings and plays for the Emperor and his court for months because he can do nothing else. Even if he has this sinking feeling in his gut that his mother and sister are already dead, there is always the chance that they will be found and hurt in order to compel him to entertain, to perform.

Until finally, almost mercifully, Gwi-Ma comes for him. Jinu's patterns, grown by his shame and guilt and self-loathing, finally consume him and his soul. He's dragged down to the demon realm once and for all, where he will spend the next four hundred years being tormented by his sister's wails and his mother's tears.

… Except that's not where the memories end. Jinu can only watch on in disbelief as the Rainbow Honmoon shows him more. This time, not from his point of view, but rather the view of a bird flying high over a village. It seems like a peaceful place, with the sun having just set but a full moon shining high in the sky.

Only… the peace does not last. Jinu watches as demons crawl out of the ground near the village's edge, chasing men and women and sucking out the souls of those unfortunate enough to be caught unawares. He watches these helpless villagers try to defend themselves but to no avail, and knows that the entire village will be lost. After all, the Honmoon does not exist yet.

To his horror, Jinu sees his mother and sister among them. His sister is a little older, his mother a little more weathered… but both look to be doing better than he expected. Almost as though they have found a place here. As though this small community might not care about their status and has perhaps welcomed them with open arms.

Of course, any happiness Jinu could have gleamed from this is greatly diminished by the demon who is currently approaching his mother and sister with malicious intent. His mother holds up a pitchfork, showing all the bravery he has always known her for, while his little sister hides behind her, making herself as small as possible.

But Jinu knows that a mundane pitchfork will do little against a demon. Is the Rainbow Honmoon about to show him his family's deaths? Is he-

And then he hears a feminine voice on the wind and watches from his bird-like perspective as three Mudang, ancient Korean shamans just as Bobby had said, alight upon one of the village's rooftops. They are… magnificent to say the least. Garbed in glorious blue dresses, wielding spirit weapons and singing songs that give the demons pause and the humans hope.

Before the demons can even truly react, the warrior women are among them, cutting them down, killing them off. But it's not just that… the singing continues and builds, until the very souls of the villagers who have just been saved resonate with it and start to glow.

Jinu watches as one of the shamans pulls a strand of light from his little sister's soul before rejoining her fellows in the center of the village. And then he watches as the very first Honmoon is created, building a barrier that pushes back the next wave of demons and forces them down into the demon realm once more.

In the aftermath, Jinu watches the villagers come together to thank the shamans… no, the first hunters. Because that's what these three are. They aren't just Mudang… they are the first Hunter Trio, the progenitors of the original Honmoon.

And more than that… the Rainbow Honmoon shows him a bit more, going so far as to let him watch as his mother invites the three hunters to join her and his little sister in their home. It's not much… but it's more than they'd ever had when Jinu was still with them.

He gets to see his little sister smile; he gets to watch as one of the first hunters even makes her laugh. He also sees more than that though with his outsider's perspective. Jinu sees the way the hunters all look at one another and then at his mother and more specifically his sister.

And even though he doesn't see much more than this, he somehow knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that his little sister will grow up to be one of their apprentices. Far from starving to death in a ditch somewhere, Jinu's little sister will go on to become one of the second generation of hunters. A warrior shaman who will do her part to strengthen the Honmoon and protect the human world from demons just like him.

… He couldn't be prouder.

-second chance-

-you earned this-

-don't waste it-

Jinu stiffens at hearing that familiar feminine voice again. Then… he wakes up.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I almost made myself cry writing this chapter lmao. Something about having to write Jinu and his family being forcibly separated at the palace while his sister cried and he and his mother had to be stoic and strong was very tough for me.

But hey, we're finally here. This combines a lot of the hints we get in the movie with some headcanons of my own. Hope people enjoy it!

Feedback is GREATLY appreciated, every comment helps me shape a story like this one!

-x-X-x-

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