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

PANICK!

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Jinu's first thought is that he's been made. How the fuck had Bobby found him?! How had he managed to track Jinu down?! After a heartbeat of panicking though, Jinu second guesses himself. Why would Bobby come here alone like this? Jinu doesn't see or sense any of the girls anywhere nearby.

If Bobby really knew who he was, he would have told them… right? He definitely wouldn't have come out here all the way to the other side of Seoul all alone. That would be foolish. So… so maybe Bobby doesn't know who he is. Maybe Bobby is here in his capacity as HUNTR/X's manager or… or something?

"Come sit with me at the café over there when you're free. My treat."

And just as soon as Bobby has ambushed him, the disguised man is fading away into the crowd. The entire interaction doesn't last for more than ten seconds, though it definitely shakes Jinu up something fierce.

Which, he realizes after a moment is patently hilarious. He'd literally talked shit to Gwi-Ma to his face like three days ago and outright tried to kill him. But now he was getting nervous about a conversation with a mortal man?

Still… Bobby was good. As far as Jinu can tell, nobody even clocked that the manager to the most famous Idol Group in the world had just walked up to a busker and delivered those murmured words.

He's tempted to end his busking right then and there to go straight after Bobby… but no. No, Jinu knew that wasn't a good idea. There was a reason that the other man had told him to only come when he was free. Less suspicious that way.

Still, as he starts up another song, Jinu's mind is racing and whirling and catastrophizing all at once. Surely… surely if Bobby knew who he really was, or rather what he really was, the other man would have told Rumi and the others. It wouldn't have been their manager coming here all the way to the other side of the city. It would have been the hunters coming to confront him.

… Jinu is glad that it isn't, to be clear. He never intended for Rumi to see him like this… in a human disguise. The whole point of his scheme was no more relying on lies. This was just… this was only ever for survival. But now he found his busking persona only one step removed from the hunters; from the half-demon he never ever wanted to lie to ever again.

In the end, he can only bring himself to play the one more song before he winds up calling it. Some people in the crowd are disappointed, but Jinu doesn't give them the time of day. He just grabs his money-filled hat and flees the park, going in the opposite direction of the café that Bobby had mentioned.

Then, of course, once he's sure no one is following him, he circles back around. As promised, Bobby is sitting outside of the shop at a little table, a cup of tea in front of him and another steaming cup set across the table from him as well.

Carefully, Jinu settles down into the chair opposite of Bobby, still not entirely sure what to expect from this conversation. When Bobby doesn't speak at first, Jinu opens his mouth to say something instead only for the other man to pick up his cup of tea and then gesture for Jinu to do the same.

Hesitant as can be, Jinu does as he's 'told', enjoying the way the warm liquid lightly scalds his tongue before sliding down the back of his throat. By the time he puts the cup back down, Bobby has pulled out one of those human smartphones, pressed something on it, and is sliding the phone over to him wordlessly.

Jinu watches… himself. He watches as a video of him singing his slightly altered version of Golden plays. Someone had… recorded him with the smartphone? He… he realizes that he was vaguely aware that that was possible from the previous timeline, Romance had been insistent on taking pictures and videos of them for their Social Media all the time.

But he'd never… he didn't… shit.

"… I'll stop if you want me to."

He assumes that's why Bobby is here. And frankly, what a relief. Bobby hadn't somehow figured out that Jinu was the demon who saved him last night. He wasn't here to expose his true nature or anything like that. Jinu doesn't quite know why the man has such a problem with him playing HUNTR/X songs, but he HAD been feeling a little bit guilty over making money off of them so maybe-

"It was you last night. You saved my life."

Wait, what?! Jinu is completely caught out by Bobby's words, the certainty in the other man's voice causing him to rear back as if physically struck. His eyes wide, he stares at Bobby who stares right back with a certain degree of smug satisfaction lingering on his otherwise somber face.

Belatedly, Jinu realizes he should at least try to deny it.

"I don't know what-!"

But before he can even finish the sentence, Bobby stands up and bows low at the waist, hands at his sides in the most deep, respectful bow that Jinu has ever seen.

"Thank you."

He gets the feeling that if they weren't in a public place, Bobby might be all the way down on his knees with his forehead pressed to the floor! As it is, the hunters' manager rises after a single heartbeat, fluidly sitting back down as if nothing happened.

Jinu looks around wildly, but nobody nearby seems to have really noticed the action. Finally… it dawns on him what just happened.

"Wait… you did that on purpose! You hit me with the video, making me think you were here for one thing, and then you hit me with what you were really after when I was distracted. All so I would be so caught off guard that I wouldn't be able to bluff properly!"

Jinu is… in shock of the human man's audacity, truth be told. He's a liar through and through, always has been. For four hundred years, he lied his ass off down in the demon realm, manipulating and scheming his way into hearts and minds and always, always leaving nothing but despair and heartbreak in his wake.

Maybe having his soul back is throwing him off his game. Or maybe it's just that he doesn't want to lie anymore and it's made him soft. But all the same, Jinu can't help but look at this mortal who actually managed to pull one over on him and feel… nothing but awestruck admiration.

Of course, then Bobby goes and ruins it a little bit by collapsing back into his chair with a drawn out groan.

"Fuck I'm so glad that worked. And also that I wasn't wrong. If you'd just been some random guy, this would have seemed really weird to you."

Jinu can't help himself… he starts to chuckle, even as Bobby rubs his forehead. That in turn causes Bobby to freeze and look at him for a moment… before chuckling as well. They both chuckle for a few seconds, never quite graduating into anything too loud or noticeable, before finally calming down.

Getting serious, Bobby leans forward.

"Okay. So… the girls say you're a demon."

Jinu readily nods, not denying it.

"I am a demon. I lived as a human four hundred years ago. The Demon King, Gwi-Ma offered me a deal that I accepted and when my time was up, he dragged me down to the demon realm where I've existed as one of his toys ever since. Until now."

It takes Bobby a second to process that but Jinu doesn't blame the other man. It's a lot to take in after all. And the HUNTR/X Manager probably wasn't expecting Jinu to be so… honest about it.

"What sort of deal did you make? What did a Demon King of all things offer you that was worth becoming a demon for?"

Bobby's questioning tone almost makes Jinu chuckle. The only reason he doesn't is because the question itself brings back the memories. But without Gwi-Ma, the voices are not so loud. The memories still hurt and his heart clenches in his chest as his soul weeps with grief, but Gwi-Ma cannot control him with them. Not anymore.

"… I was a starving peasant. Me and my family were barely surviving. My sister, my mother, and I. We had nothing except this bipa to our names."

Bobby's eyes slide down to the worn lute that Jinu is holding across his lap even now.

"That thing is four hundred years old? Huh, I guess it kind of looks like it. Still, pretty good condition for that long."

Jinu just smiles thinly and gets back to his story.

"Gwi-Ma came to me and offered me a chance to escape my fate. He gave me a beautiful singing voice, one that finally brought us enough coin for all three of us to eat each and every day. One that brought me to the attention of the Emperor himself. I was invited to join the Emperor's Court, to sing for him and sleep in silk sheets with a full belly every night. But it came at a cost. I had to abandon my family. For the last four hundred years, Gwi-Ma has used the voice of my sister, screaming and begging to not be left behind, to torment and control me."

Silence falls over the table. Bobby stares at him… and Jinu stares right back. He's expecting judgment. He's expecting censure. When Bobby rightfully calls him a monster any moment now, Jinu is prepared to readily agree with it. But to his mild surprise… that doesn't happen. Instead, with something akin to pity in his eyes, Bobby just grunts.

"… What changed? You're saying you're not on Gwi-Ma's side anymore. So what changed?"

Here is where Jinu… hesitates. He doesn't want to lie. But he also knows how unbelievable 'I'm from the future' will sound. Trying to convince anyone of such a thing feels impossible. So he goes with the truth… just while omitting a couple of key details.

"The Honmoon. The Honmoon saved me. I have my soul back now, something that keeps Gwi-Ma from controlling me, from being able to see through my eyes and hear through my ears. He torments me no longer, but it wasn't without a cost. The Honmoon brought me here for a reason."

There. None of that was a lie. It just didn't include Rumi's part in everything, or the fact that Jinu had already lived these next two weeks once before. But then to be fair, Jinu himself didn't fully understand what had happened. He didn't know how he'd been sent back, even if he believed he knew why.

"And that reason is…?"

This definitely wasn't the first person Jinu expected to be telling this all to. But maybe that was okay. Maybe this was for the best. Bobby would spill all of this to the girls; Jinu was sure of it. And coming from him, it might actually land.

"The Golden Honmoon. It's a trap."

Bobby just blinks, prompting Jinu to lean in and expound on that statement.

"It's the pursuit of perfection. But perfection is impossible. Undesirable, even. In rushing for the Golden Honmoon, Rumi has hurt her voice and left the human world vulnerable when Gwi-Ma is at his lowest point. And in his desperation and fear at what the Golden Honmoon would represent, Gwi-Ma is getting more aggressive and innovative than ever before."

Seriously. Jinu really hadn't realized Gwi-Ma would actually come up with a halfway decent plan of his own in the absence of the Saja Boys. And yet… trying to replace Bobby? It was mediocre at best in terms of strategy, but it was still leagues ahead of most of Gwi-Ma's plots.

If it had worked, well… Jinu didn't think that the imposter would have actually been able to get close enough to harm any of the hunters. But just the act of losing Bobby at a time like this would have done more than enough emotional damage to stop the girls in their tracks for a while, if not forever.

Rumi would have blamed herself in particular. And given where she was at right now and what she was capable of, that might have been very, very bad. Bobby's continued survival might literally be one of the few things preventing a demon apocalypse from kicking off.

"… Perfection is the enemy of greatness, huh?"

Bobby's words pull Jinu out of his thoughts, causing him to raise an eyebrow at the other man. Flushing a bit, Bobby just chuckles.

"Just… something I read somewhere. Still, I'm not sure I fully understand. The girls… they're the latest generation of these hunters right? And the Honmoon… the entire point of it is to eventually make it golden, according to them. In that regard, it's less about perfection and more about… getting the job done, no?"

Jinu shakes his head and turns over one of his hands, letting some of his demon patterns show across the inside of his arm. They glow iridescent in the sunlight, not too obvious to anyone further away… but immediately drawing Bobby's eye.

"There's a better way. The Rainbow Honmoon. This is why the Honmoon brought me here. The Rainbow Honmoon isn't perfect, but it doesn't have to be. It just has to be enough. Enough to stop Gwi-Ma, enough to protect human souls from him and the other demons. Enough to let everyone live freely with their scars and their truths."

Bobby blinks for a moment, tilting his head to the side as he considers the rainbow patterns Jinu is showing him. After a moment longer, Jinu hides them away again, not wanting anyone else to see or be drawn in by the 'pretty colors'. After a beat, Bobby just shakes his head and huffs.

"You should really be telling all of this to the girls. If you're right, if you're telling the truth… and I think you are, then they need to hear this from you directly."

Jinu hesitates.

"… I'm not sure that's a good idea. The Honmoon might have given me a second chance, but I'm still a demon, Bobby. A monster who abandoned his family to starve just for a full belly. I've been trying to help where I can so far, but… I know how hard it will be to convince them of my sincerity. It might be better if this all comes from you."

Blinking, Bobby scoffs.

"Me? The guy who only found out demons were real last night? Man, I don't know about that! I mean yeah, I'm going to tell them everything we discuss here for sure, but you already knew that didn't you?"

At Jinu's mute nod, Bobby grins lopsidedly.

"Yeah I couldn't possibly stomach keeping this from my girls and I'm glad you understand that. Still, they're just going to have more questions after this. Questions I won't be able to answer. Questions it sounds like only you can answer, really."

It's unfortunate how… right Bobby is. Because even though it's part of the plan, Jinu isn't sure he's ready to face the hunters yet. More than that, he's not sure he's ready to face Rumi just yet. But then, he's sure they aren't ready to handle him either.

"The time for questions won't come until they're finally ready to stop killing me solely for being a demon, I'm afraid."

But much to Jinu's surprise, Bobby just shakes his head.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure they're already past that point. Overheard them talking about it last night when they thought I was already asleep. The current plan is to capture you so…"

What.

Jinu blinks rapidly, more than a little confused. Capture… him? The three demon hunters who had been taught all their lives to kill demons on sight? To the point that he was able to use Rumi's shame against her in spectacular fashion because she was terrified Mira and Zoey would try to cut her down the moment they knew she was a half-demon?

Those girls were trying to… capture him?

"I'm serious man… err, demon… err, actually I'm just now realizing I never got your name. Sorry."

Blinking, Jinu answers on reflex.

"Jinu… my name is Jinu."

"Right. Jinu, I'm serious. Come back to the tower with me. Let's talk this through with the girls. If you… turn yourself in or something, it'll look even better for you right? It'll give more weight to your words if you stop skulking in the shadows."

It wasn't supposed to be about Jinu's words, at least not at this stage. The point was to start with actions because actions spoke louder than words. But it'd literally only been two nights of him trying to help the hunters patrol so far. It didn't feel like it should have been enough but… apparently they were already trying to capture instead of kill him? Why?

… This is all moving faster than Jinu anticipated. He thought he'd have more time to… to prepare himself. But at the same time, how much time do they have really? The Idol Awards shouldn't be their deadline this go around, but it might be if Rumi gets too much more stressed.

The truth is, Jinu longs to say yes. And as he fights with himself, the fragment of the Rainbow Honmoon buried inside of him pulses warmly. Almost like… almost like it's trying to be encouraging.

Fuck. This isn't about him is it? It never was.

"Not… not the tower."

Bobby blinks, prompting Jinu to smile crookedly.

"I don't want to invade their space like that. Go and talk to them and tell them everything I told you… I'll wait for them in the park later tonight once the crowds are gone. I promise I won't run."

That last sentence draws a derisive snort from Bobby.

"Wasn't really worried about that if I'm being honest. I may have been a little out of it, but I saw you tear through those other demons last night in literal seconds. I'm under no misconceptions about whether or not I could keep you here, even if I wanted to."

Slowly, Bobby takes his smartphone off of the table where it had been lying between them this whole time. He stares at the screen, letting out an audible gulp. Jinu watches him curiously.

"What? What's the problem?"

Bobby laughs sheepishly, scratching at his cheek for a moment with his free hand.

"Ahaha… it's just… well, it seemed like such a good idea at the time. You know, seeing your video this morning, thinking I recognized you, and deciding I needed to be sure before I involved the girls. But now? Now I have to tell them I went off on my own to meet with a suspected demon the day after surviving a demon attack."

Oh. After a moment, Jinu leans over the table, reaches out, and puts a hand on Bobby's shoulder, causing the other man to go still and look him in the eye with a kernel of hope in his gaze, like he's expecting Jinu about to offer his assistance in some way.

"Good luck."

The hope dies in an instant, snuffed out as Jinu lets go and sits back, a merciless smile on his face.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Jinu: "Gotta slow burn it, can't rush this."

Bobby taking control of the narrative in the span of two chapters: "I'll ignore that."

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