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

Jinu POV!

-x-X-x-

Admittedly, the rest of the day is a bit boring for Jinu. Eventually he finds something to do with himself though, something he would never have considered in the previous timeline, not in four hundred years as a demon. Specifically, he meditates.

To be fair, back in the original timeline, meditation was forever a bust for demons on account of the voices in their ears. There was no 'centering oneself' or 'finding one's inner peace' when Gwi-Ma was playing your worst failures on repeat in your head.

The Demon King's voice is gone now though. It's completely silent in Jinu's head for the first time in four centuries. Or it would be if he hadn't been making a conscious effort to fill the void in with something else since he got back. Namely, HUNTR/X songs. He's basically been silently singing them in his head nonstop for days now if he's being honest.

As for the meditation, he's not really meditating just to meditate even now. Rather, he meditates with a purpose… keeping an eye on the health of the Honmoon and checking to see how much he's already changed it since coming back in time. After all, he's filled in more than a few holes in the original Honmoon at this point and the Rainbow Honmoon does seem to spread completely of its own accord, albeit extremely slowly.

Jinu doesn't pretend to understand how it all works, but what he does know is that there's enough of the Rainbow Honmoon's power in the old Honmoon at this point for him to be effectively connected to the whole damn thing. And he can do more than just cast illusions and show people the past with it too. He can outright monitor the health of the Honmoon and see the weak spots in it's beautiful tapestry if he looks close enough.

Luckily, in spite of Rumi's outburst earlier in the day, Jinu finds that the Honmoon is already recovering. This is in no small part because Gwi-Ma clearly lacks the power to keep up a proper stream of strong attacks like he would have in the other timeline with the help of the Saja Boys. However, it's also because the Rainbow Honmoon is overtaking the weak parts of the original Honmoon even faster than the other parts.

The whole thing is already a third of a way to being completely iridescent in fact. Jinu could probably sit back and just respond to demon attacks and the Rainbow Honmoon might be completely in place by the time the Idol Awards arrives. Then again, it might not… he couldn't afford to risk it. This was no time to be resting on his laurels just yet.

That's why he keeps an eye out while the girls are having the rest of the day to themselves, just to make sure there are no more surprise attacks from Gwi-Ma. If there are, he's hoping to deal with them before the girls can even be alerted… but ultimately, that proves to be unnecessary because it's an entirely quiet night.

Eventually, Bobby does invite him to dinner and the two eat in Bobby's apartment together before Jinu returns to his own living quarters and continues his vigil. That's how he spends most of the night except for a few hours to sleep, and while time feels like it's moving perilously slowly, morning also comes far faster than he's expecting.

It's around eight in the morning according to the time piece in Jinu's apartment when Derpy suddenly rises out of the ground next to where he's sitting cross legged, continuing his monitoring efforts.

Cracking an eye open, Jinu looks over at the tiger questioningly… only for Derpy to open his mouth and loll out his tongue, revealing a familiar purple invitation. Jinu snorts in amusement as he reaches out and takes it with one hand while his other hand reaches up to give Derpy skritches that the massive blue tiger happily leans into and begins to rumble happily over.

"… The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?"

Opening it up, he's not surprised that it's from Rumi. He IS surprised to see that it's also from Mira and Zoey though and he's being 'cordially' invited to have breakfast with the three of them up in their penthouse. Shrugging his shoulders, he rises to his feet, scratches Derpy behind one of his big ears a bit more, and heads for the elevator.

He arrives at the penthouse a couple minutes later, just in time to hear Rumi and Mira talking.

"It is kind of weird that Celine hasn't shown up yet…"

"Look Rumi, I've got security on the lookout for her. They're not going to stop her or anything, but the instant she uses her security badge to get into the tower, I'll know and be able to tell you so you can put on a sweater if you want. But you also don't have to do that much if you don't want to. Unless you changed your mind…"

Jinu raises an eyebrow as he steps out of the elevator to see Rumi covering up just like usual and Mira giving her concerned looks. But in the face of Mira's words, Rumi finally shakes her head… and takes off her sweater to reveal the patterns underneath.

He tries not to stare too hard, reminded of how she'd been dressed at Namsan Tower. He'd never really thought about it too hard, but it wasn't like he'd failed to notice that women of this time period dressed a lot less conservatively than they did in the past.

It was just that Rumi was usually a lot more clothed than most on account of her patterns, so he wasn't used to seeing so much… skin from her. Of course, she and Mira are so caught up in the moment that they don't even notice the elevator's arrival or him stepping off of it. When he figures this out, he feels like even more of a creep.

Before he can say anything, however…

"CELINE!"

Zoey's angry shout echoes through the penthouse, causing Jinu to nearly jump out of his skin as both Mira and Rumi spin in that direction with wide eyes.

A moment later and Zoey comes stomping out of her room looking like a particularly angry kitten, all fluffed up and growly with her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"Where is she?! Is she here yet?!"

Mira just shakes her head in wry bemusement.

"Sheesh. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed and chose violence. I'm totally here for it though."

Rumi on the other hand looks concerned.

"Zoey… what's going on? What happened?"

Making a visible effort to calm herself down, Zoey huffs.

"Just a realization I had upon waking up this morning. Do you both remember back in the day when we were training to summon our Spirit Weapons?"

Mira and Rumi both nod at this. Zoey just growls some more.

"And do you remember my Hon-Glocks?!"

Rumi groans and covers her face with her hands while Mira lets out a bark of laughter. Jinu just furrows his brow in silent confusion. Hon… Glocks?

"Yeah, I remember. Those things were sick as fuck."

Zoey points at Mira with a look of pure vindication.

"That they were, Mira! That they were! And do we all remember WHY Celine said I couldn't use them?! Do we remember her EXCUSE for WHY I had to find something else?!"

Mira furrows her brow for a moment, but Jinu notices that Rumi actually goes a little pale. In the end, Mira shrugs.

"Wasn't it something to do with ammo or something?"

"Right again, Mira! Celine said that I wouldn't be able to create spirit bullets because the 'Honmoon can't do ammunition'! But then what did we all see yesterday when Jinu showed us that vision of the First Hunters?! ONE OF THEM WAS WIELDING A BOW! AND SHOOTING SPIRIT ARROWS!"

… Huh. So they were. Jinu tilts his head to the side, slowly nodding in remembrance. Zoey, meanwhile, just snarls some more, stomping around the penthouse angrily.

"When I get my hands on her I swear I'm going to-!"

"It was because of me."

Until suddenly, Rumi's tired and apologetic voice cuts through the air, slicing Zoey's anger clean in half and bringing all eyes onto her. Rumi's pattern-covered shoulders slump and she sighs.

"I… I tried to argue with her later in private after that. Told her you should be allowed to use what feels right to you and we shouldn't give up so quickly on trying to figure out the ammo situation. That's when she told me why she did it… why she lied to you. Because aside from other demons, I'm the only thing in the world that our weapons can harm. And spirit bullets are a lot harder to dodge than shin-kal, so…"

There's a long silent pause as the last remnants of Zoey's anger seem to flow right out of her.

"Oh."

And then the youngest hunter is bounding across the penthouse and wrapping her arms around Rumi in a hug. A hug that Mira quickly joins.

Jinu starts to wonder if maybe he should leave and come back, but at this point he knows enough to understand that the elevator departing would probably give him away, especially with how quiet the penthouse has become.

Just when he's starting to remember he can teleport however… Zoey notices him first despite being the last to wake up, the younger hunter's eyes always quickest to wander at any given moment.

"Oh! Jinu, you're here!"

The other two look at him as well as Jinu raises a hand in greeting.

"Ah, yes."

"H-How long were you standing there?!"

Rather than answer Rumi's sputtered question, he just gives her a proud smile and a thumbs up.

"I'm glad to see you acting a bit more freely with yourself. How does it go? 'No more hiding…'"

Rumi blushes hard as Zoey immediately picks up on the song with a giggle.

"Now she's shining!"

Even Mira gets into it with a smirk, though she doesn't even try to actually reach the high note at the end.

"Like she's born to be~"

Groaning, Rumi shakes her head.

"You guys are just too ridiculous sometimes. Let's just eat, okay? And maybe figure out this Celine thing while we're at it?"

Situation defused, thankfully. As they all sit down at the table, Jinu clears his throat.

"Celine thing?"

Stabbing her chopsticks in Rumi's direction, Mira takes lead on the explanation.

"Rumi decided last night that she's ready to tell Celine that we all know about her patterns. But Celine never came back last night or this morning. Seems like she stayed overnight at the old hunter's compound and now we're wondering when she's coming back here. We don't really want her to just randomly jumpscare us, basically."

Jinu slowly nods. Admittedly, now that he's caught up to speed… he doesn't really have anything to add to the situation. Luckily, Zoey pipes up a moment later.

"Maybe just text her and ask her when she's coming back today, Rumi! Nothing wrong with wanting to know that sort of thing right?"

Rumi pauses… and then nods and pulls out her smartphone.

"Yeah, you're right. It's a perfectly normal thing to ask."

She types for a second and then presses one final button decisively before putting her phone down.

"There. Sent."

Silence falls for a moment save for the scraping of chopsticks and the chewing of food. Then Rumi's smartphone makes a noise, causing her to pick it up with a bit of trepidation. She reads it for a moment before her brow furrows in confusion.

"Um…"

Jinu watches as Mira and Zoey share concerned glances.

"What is it, Rumi? What'd she say?"

Rumi bites her lower lip for a moment before hesitantly reading the message out loud.

"She said… 'I will not be returning to the city. Do what feels right and follow your instincts. I trust you, Mira, and Zoey to make better decisions than I ever could. I'm proud of you and know that you will not fail.'"

Mira's nose wrinkles as the words settle over the table like a cloud bank.

"Fuck. Bit melodramatic, isn't she?"

"Mira!"

Rumi's protest falls on deaf ears though as Mira rolls her eyes. Zoey on the other hand, looks a little bit more worried despite her previous anger over the 'Hon-Glocks'.

"It doesn't really sound like her though, does it? Did something happen?"

Smirking, Mira leans forward.

"I'll tell you what happened. She found proof that Jinu is exactly who he says he is. That what he showed us yesterday through the Honmoon was real. And now she can't even bring herself to face her twelve times great granduncle. Heh, coward."

Zoey frowns while Rumi just keeps staring at her phone. Mira, seeing this, sighs and shakes her head.

"Look, if you're worried Rumi… then just have Bobby go check on her."

Jinu watches as Rumi immediately perks up at that idea. A moment later and she's placing a call and setting her phone down in the middle of the table as the video connects and Bobby's face fills the screen.

"Morning girls! And Jinu!"

"""Hi Bobby!"""

Jinu just waves.

"What can I do for you all?"

Rumi clears her throat.

"Well… it looks like Celine won't be coming back to the city today. Or at all, really. And… we're a little worried about her so we were hoping you might be willing to check on her for us?"

Jinu wonders if Bobby will really be up for something so far out of his way and-

"Oh? Sure, I can make time to get over to her and see how she's doing! Did she say why she wasn't coming back?"

Huh, Jinu supposed he already knew how easygoing Bobby was, but he had to admit, the man continues to surprise him.

Rumi, meanwhile, winces and then parrots back the general contents of Celine's message to Bobby. The HUNTR/X Manager frowns and shakes his head.

"Okay yeah, that does sound a bit weird. I'll be sure to make time to look in on her later today as soon as I'm free. Though speaking of which, while I have you three on the phone we need to talk business for a second."

Jinu watches as all three hunters suddenly straighten up and square their shoulders at the mention of 'business'. If Bobby notices, he doesn't call them out on it, merely continuing on unabated.

"PR contacted me this morning and was hoping they'd be allowed to put out a statement. We've been radio silent since that failed Golden Live Performance and while people were willing to accept the cover that Rumi caught a cold, there's speculation starting to crop up about whether it might be something worse than that. Even the people in charge of the Idol Awards have started asking if you're going to perform this year or not."

Huh. Jinu supposed that without him and the Saja Boys to light a fire under the girls' collective behinds, they had been taking it a little easier this time around. At least, publicly anyways. Privately they'd still been fighting demons and protecting the Honmoon from Gwi-Ma. Still, as far as everyone else was concerned, there'd been no news and no word from them so far.

All three girls share looks for a moment before Rumi clears her throat.

"You can have PR release a statement saying I'm on the mend, Bobby. And that we'll be good to go to perform Golden at the Idol Awards."

Jinu frowns but doesn't even get the chance to speak up before Mira and Zoey are doing it for him.

"What about your voice, Rumi? How are you going to heal it in time?"

"I'm not going to be able to perform if we might turn the Honmoon gold, Rumi!"

But Rumi just smiles and reaches out, offering her hands to her girls, which they each reach back and take in their own.

"None of you have to worry. My voice will be fine… and I'm not trying to turn the Honmoon gold anymore either. We'll figure it out, get everything settled and squared away, and then also crush the Idol Awards for good measure after the fact, alright?"

She even meets his eyes as she gives that speech and Jinu thinks he can see the honesty in her gaze. She really means it. Jinu can't help smiling, something that Rumi returns for a moment before blushing and averting her gaze.

Bobby finally breaks the silence.

"Well, it sounds like you guys have it all under control on your end! If you're sure Rumi, I'll let PR know asap so they can craft and post the message on all our socials!"

Rumi, still holding Zoey and Mira's hands, nods decisively.

"We're sure. Go ahead Bobby. And let us know when we need to repost it on our own accounts to boost the signal."

"Will do!"

Before he can hang up and get to work though, Mira suddenly reaches over and grabs the phone.

"Oh and Bobby, we need to talk about your compensation. You're getting a raise. 10%."

Bobby blanches HARD on the phone's screen.

"Uh… what was that Mira? Sorry, I think you're kzzt breaking up kzzt, I'm going to have to-!"

"If you hang up this call, we're taking that as agreement and will just start depositing the extra money in your account."

That gets Bobby back into the conversation.

"Mira! You can't do that, it's illegal!"

Smirking, Mira leans back in her chair, holding the phone out so they can all still mostly see.

"So sue us then."

Bobby groans as she calls his bluff.

"… 10% is way too much! Just… donate more money to charity in my name or something!"

"You could take the money and donate it yourself, Bobby. We already donate enough to enough charities as is. Any more donations and we'd start looking like criminals laundering money."

Jinu furrows his brow, struggling to follow the conversation, especially this part. Why would too much charity make them look like criminals? And what did laundry have to do with anything?

"I don't want a raise! 3% is already more money than I could ever know what to do with! I'm fine!"

"Yeah well 15% is industry standard soooo…"

"There's nothing 'industry standard' about HUNTR/X and there never will be, Mira!"

"Oh look, it just went up to 11%"

Bobby looks to be on the verge of pulling his hair out. Jinu would be more miffed at Mira's behavior, but from what little he CAN understand of this exchange, he's pretty sure that she's trying to offer Bobby more income and he's trying to talk his way out of it. Strange, but Jinu is firmly on the side of 'Bobby deserves to be paid more' so he stays quiet.

"You… 4%!"

Rumi and Zoey both perk up at that, with Mira throwing them both knowing smirks.

"Hmm… 4% is still way too low Bobby. You just found out demons were real, almost got your soul sucked out of your body, and now you're dealing with Celine more and more so we don't have to. Let's meet at 8%."

"That's still too much! 5% and not a percentage point more! Final offer!"

Rumi and Zoey are both bouncing in their seats excitedly at this point, big smiles on their faces as they nod up and down. Mira, meanwhile, schools her own expression and pretends to think about it for a long moment of hemming and hawing before she finally nods.

"Fine. 5% it is. We'll make sure you have the contract in front of you within the hour. And if you don't sign it, I'll have Zoey make puppy dog eyes at you until you do."

Bobby just groans.

"Not that… anything but that… you win Mira, damn you. I'll sign…"

"Pleasure doing business with you Bobby. If Celine is too much, don't hesitate to call us in so we can give her an ass kicking, alright?"

"… Sure Mira. Talk to you girls later as soon as I can get over there and know more."

With that, the call finally comes to an end. Jinu has to admit… he still barely has even the vaguest idea what just happened there. But Rumi, Zoey, and Mira are all happy.

"You did it Mira!"

"That was incredible!"

"Yeah, and we'll do it again in another few months. Can probably get him up to at least 7% before he really puts his foot down."

There's a pause… and then Mira looks to Rumi and Zoey is only a second behind her.

"So… what's this about knowing how to fix your voice, huh? And about being so sure we'll be able to perform Golden at the Idol Awards?"

Rumi winces while Jinu just raises an eyebrow. Wait… had Rumi still not told them that her patterns and her lost voice were because of her shame?

… Well now, this was going to be an interesting conversation.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I'm sure Celine is fine.

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