Untitled Hero

Now, while Celine wants nothing more to dive into the demon realm and rescue Rumi, the rational part of her brain knows she would most likely die. (I would love to make her strong enough to pull a Doomslayer on Gwi-Ma and his demons, but this isn't that kind of story.) If she dies, she leaves the world without any hunters. So she compartmentalizes (not healthy but what are you gonna do) and sets about training the next generation, with the goal of both turning the Honmoon gold as well as saving Rumi.

Because that's the other thing she knows. Celine rationalizes that Gwi-Ma wouldn't go through the trouble of kidnapping Rumi if he didn't plan to keep her alive. If he wanted Rumi dead, he would have just had his demons kill her. But he didn't. So Celine reasons that Gwi-Ma has plans to use Rumi’s status as both hunter and demon to create a servant with unimaginable power. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), she's right.

Celine recruits Mira and Zoey, training them to hunt the demons that bare patterns. But in every lesson about patterns, every lesson about demons, every lesson about being a hunter, she tells them about Rumi. About the girl with patterns, the girl who is both demon and hunter, the girl she lost and would do anything to get back.

Their first encounter goes poorly for both sides. Rumi no longer looks human on top of being a decade older than she was in all the pictures that Mira and Zoey have seen. So neither of them recognize her. On the other hand, Rumi can smell Celine’s scent (demons have a really good sense of smell) on them, and it sets her off. Gwi-Ma has been telling her for years that Celine never cared for her, that Celine replaced her, that Celine hated her, and seeing two hunters trained by Celine basically confirms it.

Eventually, Mira and Zoey finish training, and the world is introduced to the K-pop duo of Huntr/x. And coincidentally, Gwi-Ma is finally ready to send his most prized soldier onto the field. A demon whose voice can cut through the Honmoon. A hunter who takes souls from humans to give to her master. A girl who has all but forgotten the stories of the mother who birthed her, and the love of the mother who raised her.

Needless to say, all three walk away from the fight severely injured, with Mira and Zoey wondering what happened to make a demon that bloodthirsty. They bring it up to Celine, who is concerned and offers to join them on their next hunt to help. (She doesn't know it was Rumi they fought cause Mira and Zoey unintentionally didn't give her enough details on the demon to piece it together.)

Mira and Zoey protest, stating that they're more than capable of handling one demon. They're fully trained hunters, after all. Celine counters with the argument that hunters usually operate in threes, and they're short one. Mira gets annoyed because "since moment one, it's been 'Rumi this, Rumi that,' and she's probably fucking dead so I don't know why you keep insisting on bringing her up." Celine obviously doesn't take this very well and orders them to get out. After they do, she breaks down in tears because what if Mira’s right? What if Rumi is dead?

For the next several months, Mira and Zoey keep running into this demon. They never outright lose any of the fights, but it gets very fucking close a few times. At best, they're walking away with scrapes and scratches that will be a nightmare for the make-up department to hide. At worst, one of them will be out of commission for a week due to near fatal injuries.

After a few too many close calls, Mira and Zoey realize that if they want to take this demon down, they'll need a third hunter. So they call Celine and (after Mira begrudgingly apologizes) ask her to join them. She does, and they head out to confront the demon that's been causing so much trouble.

Of course, Celine recognizes Rumi. How could she not? That's her daughter. The girl she raised. The girl she loved as her own even if they didn't share blood. On the other hand, Rumi also recognizes Celine. But after years of having her worst fears repeated over and over in her head, about how Celine abandoned her, how Celine didn't lover her, how Celine would rather she died, and seeing those fears seemingly confirmed as Celine is now working with the hunters who have been trying to kill Rumi, all she can do, all she knows how to do, is kill.

Taking a step back and jumping forward a bit, I basically see this ending one of two ways. Either a happy ending or a sad one. In the happy ending, Celine, with Mira and Zoey’s help, is able to pull Rumi from Gwi-Ma's influence, ultimately saving her. In the sad ending, Rumi, in her anger, kills Celine, which snaps her out of her bloodlust long enough for her to hear Celine’s last plea for Rumi to come back to her. Rumi remembers all of Celine’s kindness and compassion and knows that she would never just abandon her. But now it's too late. Rumi goes feral and dives back into the demon realm to confront and kill Gwi-Ma. When she returns, she kneels down and asks Mira and Zoey to kill her, offering herself to their judgment.