random acts of love!

the stranger in the forest

or perhaps a certain someone that rumi knew

This fic is really good! Go read it. And give @arendellesfirstwinter a follow. There’s lots of mysteries, between Rumi’s strange condition, Mira’s past, Zoey’s family, etc. But the largest mystery has yet to be solved: who is Hunter?? This question has plagued KPDH fandom spaces for far too long, so today, I set out to solve it. 

Full fic spoilers ahead! Up to ch4. 

So what do we know about Hunter?

Feminine lower voice, she/her pronouns 

Face, neck, arms, hands covered by sleeves. Also wears a hood. 

Excellent at singing, dancing, lyricism (according to Mira and Zoey). 

An idol under Sunlight Entertainment 

Launched 7 Years ago (from Ch1) 

Active in Sunlight Entertainment Tower 

Hosts live shows, very rarely talks. 

Rumi doesn’t like her, or at least thinks she could improve. 

Okay! So! Let’s go down a list of characters and eliminate them based on whether or not they could be Hunter. 

Zoey/Mira- The easiest ones to mark off. They stayed at home during a Hunter concert, which was live. So they cannot be Hunter. 

Celine- Celine was already an idol under Sunlight, many years ago. She already had a successful career. It is true that the girls rarely see her, signaling she may be busy as Hunter, but they have also heard her sing during her idol years. If Celine was Hunter, they’d probably recognize her singing voice. Also, Celine is older now, and probably couldn’t keep up with Hunter’s busy life and demanding choreo. 

Jinu- Jinu is a guy. However! Hunter is completely covered. He may just have excellent voice training and control. He is rarely in the fic, matching Hunter’s busy schedule. He also is shown to have scars on his chin, explaining why he would wear a mask as Hunter. Rumi also is annoyed by him, so it would make sense if he was Hunter, Rumi’s annoyance is probably constant. 

Jinu also mysteriously was able to get tickets to a Hunter concert. And when Mira/Zoey cancelled, he still went. Maybe he had to go, due to being the main performance. He also gives a vague reason for having to go, like “Supporting a friend.” Maybe he’s talking about himself in third person. He also states he can easily get them more tickets in the future. Him being Hunter would explain this. 

So it appears Jinu is a fine contender, but there may be more! Let’s keep going. 

Rumi- Most people would probably point to her. However, there’s a few issues with Rumi being Hunter. One, Rumi criticizes Hunter a lot. And if she were Hunter, this would show severe self worth and perfectionism issues. And that would be sad. I don’t want Rumi to be sad. 

Rumi in this fic also wears long sleeves, with a mask. But she’s shown while eating around Mira/Zoey to reveal her mouth. In the latest chapter, we also saw she had scarring on her chin. Hunter covers her entire body, staying completely anonymous. Hunter is less concerned about covering “flaws”, and more concerned about staying hidden. Rumi is very not hidden to Mira and Zoey. 

And speaking of Mira and Zoey! They’ve seen Rumi dance, and Mira noted it wasn’t perfect. But Mira thinks Hunter is perfect. Are you implying Mira has some sort of subconscious idol worship? No, that would be sad. Also, surely they would figure it out by now, them not knowing is a ding against Rumi. Rumi still covers her arms and hands religiously, like Hunter. However, there’s an easy explanation for this. She is half demon, and is hiding glowing vibrant patterns. It just makes sense. 

Rumi is mysteriously absent during Hunter concerts, but this could be a coincidence. See the mountain of evidence above that she isn’t Hunter. 

Overall, I think Rumi is a close friend of Hunter’s, who is concerned about his or her progress as an idol and she’s just a good friend. (another point towards Jinu). 

Okay! Who else? 

Mi-Yeong- Mi-Yeong is dead. So probably isn’t Hunter. Also, Rumi being mean to her mom would be sad. Mi-Yeong did die in a tragedy, so perhaps she was left scarred in an attack and now has re-debuted as Hunter. However, the Celine issue of recognizing her voice still applies. I doubt Mi-Yeong is hunter. 

That little sick girl at the park- This little sick girl has one mention. It would be narratively interesting if all three girls were at the same park growing up, but I doubt this is Hunter. We didn’t even see her sing! She did love flowers, but we haven’t seen if Hunter loves flowers. 

Elsa- This may seem like a wild pick, but think. Arendellesfirstwinter. Arendelle. From the movie Frozen. Elsa wears sleeves to hide her ice powers. Aren has also written Frozen fics before, and people have pointed out the similarities between Frozen and KPDH before. What if Hunter is Elsa? Maybe she hides due to being previously cancelled for casting Arendelle into an eternal winter. 

Aren- Hunter could be Aren. Perhaps it is a self insert. I doubt it, though. I don’t think Aren is a KPOP idol. Also, Aren’s favorite character is Rumi. Surely, Aren would make Rumi Hunter. But we already established Rumi isn’t Hunter. 

The reader- Meta. The story is Meta. The story is about how the characters are inspired by the reader, how they only exist in the minds of the reader. How the reader is perfect to the characters, for the reader translates the words into a world. It’s meta commentary about how KPOP idols are nothing without the fans, so it’s a story about how these up and coming idols look up to the ultimate: the reader. Probably not though. The reader isn’t absent during Hunter concerts, and we don’t see Hunter’s pov. 

Me- Maybe I am Hunter. I can’t sing, though, and I’d probably know by now. Also, Hunter isn't a shark.

Well dang. It appears as we’ve run through our options. From all of these, our strongest contender was Jinu! There’s one piece of evidence that seals this pick.

Jolaf.

Jinu, canonically, dressed up as Olaf for halloween. That’s a costume. A mask. He’s used to being hidden, another self. And it’s Paint my Frozen Heart. Frozen. Arendellesfirstwinter. Aren loves Frozen. Jinu is the only Frozen mention. Aren loves Jinu. She has called him her little Meow Meow.

i'm back with another author recommendation, this time for eyexsight!

they absolutely excel in setting mood and tone, and they're especially good at writing horror, which is a genre i adore but find a lot of people struggle to nail down. but, holy shit do they get it right every time.

rainstorm [E] [Polytrix] [Ongoing]

Rumi has spent four years away from her hometown. Now that she's graduated, she's ready to visit her family again. But time has left her behind and things have changed—and someone else has taken her place.

this is, genuinely, one of my favourite fics. of any fandom. if you like folk horror and that sort of slow, creeping dread that comes with it i cannot recommend this enough. if you don't like that i recommend reading this anyway cos maybe you do and you just haven't seen it as masterfully written as this.

i am not kidding that i have a spreadsheet for tracking my theories and making comments on things i think might be important later. this whole fic is absolutely dripping with mystery. why are the trees like that? was it even a tree? what's with the Thing In The Barley? i think i'm being gaslit by this fic and i've never been more here for it.

waiting like a dog at a grave (for love to return) [E] [Polytrix] [Complete]

Rumi has always kept a tight leash on herself—until her control starts to slip.

good lord please mind the tags on this one, but if it's the sort of thing you enjoy reading you'll love this. hell, it's not the sort of thing i normally read and i loved it.

they're all so complicated and troubled, but for once it's Mira i want to throttle until some common sense shakes loose.

it's heavy on the dissociation and jesus christ does Rumi go through it, but it does also have a happy and satisfying ending

you're never gonna love me (so what's the use?) [M] [Rumira] [Complete]

Mira has been grieving the real Rumi for months. One day, she finally breaks.

this one is a very small little drabble and a great teaser for the way eyexsight writes. it's a Pluribus AU which, i think, probably tells you exactly what you're about to get into.

after coffee, sitting all alone in thought [M] [Polytrix] [Ongoing]

Sometimes love and death look the same.

this is an absolutely fascinating take on the golden honmoon sealing Rumi away in the demon realm and it's written in such an engaging way. there's a sort of vagueness to it, a lot of detail being glossed over in favour of feeling. as with everything here, i highly recommend it