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

In which we find out Jinu's 'Master Plan'.

-x-X-x-

It had taken a few days, but Jinu had a plan.

…

Alright, so really he had an idea of a plan. Or rather, more like he'd made a list of all the things he couldn't or shouldn't do and had ultimately been left with one real option.

First and most obvious was that he couldn't just walk up to Rumi or the other members of HUNTR/X and say "Yeah I know I'm a demon but look, the Rainbow Honmoon sent me back in time to help you create it!".

That was a great way to get himself killed or at least attacked. After all, Rumi, Mira, Zoey… none of them even knew what the Rainbow Honmoon was. Right now they were still angling for the Golden Honmoon, that unattainable and frankly undesirable goal that Rumi was pinning all of her hopes and dreams on.

Secondly, and this one he'd spent a long time considering… Jinu couldn't bring back the Saja Boys. It was just too much risk for too little value. If he remade the Saja Boys without the Rainbow Honmoon, then they would almost certainly fall under Gwi-Ma's sway and control. But if he did remake the Saja Boys with the Rainbow Honmoon, he would be spreading his current power too thin and risk losing everything in the process.

On top of that… the Saja Boys hadn't produced a single song worthy of bringing the group back together in this new timeline. All they'd done was harm HUNTR/X and feed hundreds if not thousands of souls to Gwi-Ma. Rumi and her friends didn't need rivals right now, they needed support.

Of course, that brought Jinu to his third discarded idea… disguising himself as a human to get closer to the demon hunters. All so that he could try to help them, mostly Rumi, get past the lies keeping them from reaching their full potential.

Even now though, the lyrics from 'What It Sounds Like' ring in Jinu's ears. Ultimately, how could he ever diminish that accomplishment by daring to start his relationship with this younger HUNTR/X through lies and deception?

Oh, don't get him wrong, he was still wearing a human disguise pretty much ninety-nine percent of the time here in the human realm. Gwi-Ma's forces would be hunting him and the last thing Jinu needed was for Rumi, Mira, or Zoey to hear reports of a stray demon wandering around Seoul and decide he needed to be hunted down and killed.

Not to mention… well, the last time around, Jinu could just retreat to the demon realm after every performance. And soulless demons didn't exactly need food and water like humans did. But that wasn't the case for him anymore. If he returned to the demon realm, he would be hunted. And apparently having his soul back, even empowered by the Rainbow Honmoon, had brought with it some irritating disadvantages like a rumbling belly and a parched throat. A need for human forms of sustenance.

At first, Jinu had just relied on Derpy's teleportation and Sussie's keen eye to get what he needed, having his pets steal food and clothes and the like for him. But within a day he started to feel guilt of all things. Having a soul apparently came with a far stronger conscience and moral compass than he'd had in the previous timeline. So eventually… he'd started busking in the park instead.

Nowhere near HUNTR/X's tower, obviously. He went pretty far afield but still found a fairly popular park within Seoul with a lot of foot traffic where he could set up and play his lute while singing a few of HUNTR/X's songs. That was how the Honmoon worked after all, right? The fans sung along and it strengthened the protective barrier, keeping demons out through the power of their souls.

Well, Jinu had a soul now, so he could do his part as well, even if most of HUNTR/X's songs were made for three-part harmonies and female voices besides. He hadn't let that stop him. When it came to music, he'd never let much of anything stop him…

Though… that also wasn't his idea of a plan either. That was just survival, plain and simple. Jinu didn't mind sleeping under the stars, but through his busking he was able to actually buy things that he needed like food and the like… and clothes, given his clothes were old fashioned and if he wanted to implement his actual plan, he needed the right attire.

See, Jinu had come to a simple conclusion. He didn't want to compete with HUNTR/X. He didn't want to lie to them either. And he couldn't walk right up to them and outright tell them the truth. So instead, he was going to show them something… something entirely different. Something new.

After all, sitting around and expecting them to do everything wasn't going to work. Because it wasn't the Saja Boys who destroyed the Honmoon in Jinu's previous timeline. All they did was tear away at HUNTR/X's fanbase so that lesser demons could slip through the cracks that were already there and steal human souls for Gwi-Ma.

The one who actually started off the beginning of the end and did the most damage… was unfortunately Rumi. From the very start, when she'd chosen to release Golden too early and her voice had started to give out on her, that's when it had begun to happen. Rumi had been the one to send out the first damaging pulse that had started the unraveling of centuries of work from her predecessors.

Jinu felt that same damaging pulse days ago, just a few hours after he'd arrived in the human realm. He couldn't have stopped it anyways, but that didn't make it all any less frustrating. It had already begun and the Honmoon was already under threat. Without the Saja Boys to distract and harass HUNTR/X, it might be that Rumi, Mira, and Zoey would come together and figure things out, but Jinu wasn't betting on it… nor did he actually want that to happen.

One might ask WHY that was, given he had his soul back and Gwi-Ma had no hold over him anymore. But really, it was simple. Jinu hadn't been sent back here to help pave the way for the Golden Honmoon. He didn't want the Golden Honmoon. Even if such a thing was possible, it was too rigid, too unfeeling, too… cold.

Sure he was more than a little biased, but the Rainbow Honmoon was just plain better. And he figured it was up to him to show HUNTR/X that, one 'chance encounter' at a time…

-x-X-x-

"On your left!"

"Got it!"

Rumi tries to keep her breathing steady as she swings her saingeom sword through yet another demon's skull, cleaving it in two in a shower of red dust. On either side of her, Zoey and Mira are tearing through their own demonic assailants as they work to close another tear in the Honmoon.

This wasn't good. It wasn't right. She… she was pretty sure this was all her fault. Her little temper tantrum the night that they were supposed to perform Golden in front of a live audience for the first time had cost the Honmoon something. She'd run away from the show before the audience could even be let in, fleeing to a random rooftop where she was sure Mira and Zoey wouldn't find her.

And then she'd thrown a fucking fit and let out a wave of energy that Rumi was beginning to believe HAD to be demonic. After all, the pulse had been dark, dark red… and the very next day, holes just like this one had begun to open up in the Honmoon. More tears then Rumi had seen since their debut, truth be told.

"Hiiiyah!"

As Zoey slams a demon down into the ground and then ends it by plunging two of her shin-kal throwing knives into its back, she straightens up and gives them both a bright sunny smile.

"Looks like that's the last of them! Let's sing this tear closed, yeah? Then we can get back to resting your voice, Rumi!"

She doesn't know. Neither of them do. They don't know this is Rumi's fault. They don't know how she's failing them. And if they did… Rumi is certain she would be dead. Demons didn't deserve to live, after all. But of course she lets none of that show on her face, smiling right back as she and Mira close in on Zoey and join hands in a triangle in front of the tear.

As they begin to sing together, the Honmoon reverberates through them, the usual blue lines racing through the air to fix the tear and put back what had been ripped apart.

… Only this time, before that can fully happen, a pair of massive hands suddenly comes out of the rip in the air and grabs the edges of the exit from the demon realm. Rumi's eyes widen along with her bandmates and fellow hunters.

All of them go for their weapons, but they're out of position and caught off guard. Before they can do anything, the hulking demon pushing his way through from the other side lets out a roar that feels like a veritable wall of sound, throwing them all ass-over-end away from the tear.

"No!"

By the time they can right themselves, the tear is even bigger than before and the large demon who made that possible has friends crawling through under him as he holds the rip open with his hideously bulging back muscles.

Mira snarls as she resummons her gok-do polearm and uses it to push herself back to her feet.

"For fuck's sake! Don't these assholes ever know when to STOP?! I wish I had whatever was hurting the Honmoon in front of me right fucking now so I could KILL IT DEAD!"

Rumi flinches hard, but luckily neither Zoey nor Mira notice, too busy already preparing to charge back into the fray. And Rumi needs to back them up, because at this point keeping the two of them, the REAL hunters, alive… might be all she's really good for.

However, before the three of them can really engage this latest wave of demons again, something else happens. Something… inexplicable. A male singing voice alights upon the air.

"Hear my voice unwavering,

'Til their song defeats the night,

Makin' fear afraid to breathe…"

It's not the full verse, but damn if it doesn't do something. Rumi stares, mouth agape, as iridescent energy lashes out, first at the small fry demons charging towards them and then onwards to the big bastard demon holding the tear in the Honmoon open.

Everywhere the rainbow energy touches, demons die, cut apart and ripped to shreds as surely… as surely as the weapons that Rumi, Mira, and Zoey summon from the Honmoon. And when the iridescent whips of power finally reach the big guy… they tear right through him as well as the male singing voice echoes through the air.

"That's how it's done, done, done."

The lashings are timed perfectly with each 'done', until the big demon falls backwards through the portal while also falling into a dozen cut up pieces that all go up in red smoke. Rumi can hardly believe it, but honestly all of that was nothing compared to what happens next.

Those same waving lines of rainbow energy slide along the edges of the tear in the Honmoon… and begin to sew it back together, mending it right before her eyes. Shimmering light fills the air even as the exit from the demon realm is forcibly closed once more, the threat ended.

"Um… g-guys?"

Rumi blinks, pulled from her thoughts when she realizes that even though her and Mira are staring slack jawed at the closed tear, Zoey… Zoey is not. Their youngest member is currently turned around and is looking behind them, pointing up at a nearby rooftop.

As Rumi and Mira turn too, the iridescent whips of energy flow back from the tear to their origin… which also comes from that nearby rooftop. There, standing silhouetted in the light of the moon… is a man. No, a demon. He's wearing an old traditional style wide-brimmed hat atop his head… and a sleeveless low cut shirt with the HUNTR/X logo emblazoned on it. that only half covers his chest. He's got pants on as well, but Rumi admittedly isn't looking at anything below the waist right now.

Because there, standing out rather proudly and in your face on his bared arms and upper chest… are the demon patterns. But they aren't the familiar purple. Instead, they're the same color as the rainbow energy that had just saved their asses and helped Rumi and her girls repair the Honmoon just now. And indeed, that same energy flows back into the demon's hands before he drops them to his sides and stares down at them all with yellow eyes and a slight smile.

Then, just as Rumi is opening her mouth to say something… he's gone, vanishing in a familiar puff of smoke and disappearing without a trace.

"Um… you… you guys saw that, right?"

Zoey's words cause Mira to huff and roll her eyes.

"Sexy demon bad boy with rainbow patterns and wearing our merch winning our battle for us? Yeah Zo, I'm thinking we both saw it."

Rumi blushes hard at Mira's terminology because… truth be told she'd been thinking it as well. He was… attractive. But he was also a fucking demon!

"It… it's a trick of some kind. Has to be."

Zoey and Mira turn to her, the latter already frowning while the former tosses her hands into the air.

"But what if it's not! What if he's a GOOD demon?! He had one of our shirts on! Ohmygod, he's a FAN! Do we have fans in the demon realm-"

"There are no good demons!"

The words spill forth from Rumi's lips, cutting Zoey off before she can really start to ramble. She expects to hear the same thing from Mira… for her to back Rumi up, but instead the other woman stays quiet for a moment. She looks… thoughtful, though finally she joins in on Rumi's side like she should have in the first place.

"… I guess it's probably no coincidence that this guy showed up at the same time that the Honmoon has been having so much trouble."

Rumi nods, latching onto that like a lifeline. She's been drowning for days now in her misery and guilt. But what if this was the true cause of the Honmoon's issues? What if it wasn't her after all?!

"R-Right! And we're so close to the Golden Honmoon too!"

Even if it felt like it slipped further and further away with each passing day.

"This must be a trick of some sorts! A trap to get us to lower our guards!"

Mira snorts, flicking her hair back over her shoulder with a huff.

"Can't believe the demons are so desperate they're even resorting to singing our songs and wearing our merch now. Honestly, he sounded like trash."

That… Rumi isn't quite sure she agrees with. He'd sounded good… too good for her tastes. In fact, she hated how good he sounded. But then, she suspects from the way the other woman is looking off to the side that Mira feels the same way and is doing what she always does in a situation as uncomfortable as this one. Bluffing.

"W-Well… if he is a bad guy… and this IS a trap… then we might really be in trouble, guys."

Once again, Zoey is the one who pulls their attention to what's most important. She's turned back around and Rumi and Mira join her, looking to where she's staring with wide eyes. Their own eyes widen as well as they find themselves looking at the Honmoon… or more specifically the patch job their mysterious rainbow patterned demon had done in it.

He hadn't just sealed the Honmoon back up. He'd… he'd infected it with whatever that rainbow shit was. It was IN the Honmoon now, holding it together but also… also spreading through it. Just a fraction of a fraction at a time, but still visible the longer Rumi stares at it with her bandmates.

No one wants to say it. But in the end, they all turn to one another in unison and admit the last thing any of them wanted to admit, speaking in unison.

"""We need Celine."""

-x-X-x-

A/N: Jinu: "Actions speak louder than words so I'll SHOW them I'm on their side and be completely honest with them while doing it!"

HUNTR/X (but really mostly Rumi and her self-destructive tendencies) doing their best Admiral Ackbar Impression: "IT'S A TRAP!"

-x-X-x-

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