Does celine as an adult tell the girls she’s a wolf shifter (either before or after the idol awards) in the wolf shifter au?
So I think after debute and before Miyeong died, Celine's favorite mentor -- her second mother, if she was being honest -- died. Her other two mentors had always been a little more leery of Celine shifting so she tried to limit it around them.
When Miyeong and Third died, Celine just fell apart. She shifted into a wolf and just disappeared for months after leaving baby Rumi with the (remaining) mentors. When she came back, the mentors sat her down and told her that she had a responsibility to a baby now and she couldn't just shift into a wolf and run away from her problems anymore.
"No more shifting, no more running away, Celine-ya," Eunji said.
And Celine had agreed.
So there really had been no point in telling Rumi (and Mira and Zoey); she wasn't planning on shifting again. They had no reason to be told something that would only scare them.
After the Idol Awards, Celine feels like the worst person in the world so she shifts into the worst version of herself -- a giant, monsterous half-wolf, half-human creature with none of the good qualities of either side of her.
When the girls come up to the hanok to speak with Celine, because Celine hasn't responded to any of their texts or calls, they see Eunji-nim outside, with a giant butcher knife, cleaning a whole sheep.
"Grandmother?" Rumi asks, tilting her head.
The last surviving mentor spent most of her time in her villa, in a community of equally old retirees. And rarely came out this far. It was usually her and Celine visiting Eunji-nim.
"Oh, did Celine-ya finally come to her senses and let you three know she's alive?"
When the three of them shake their heads, Eunji sighs.
"That girl has always been so dramatic," she says. "Ever since she crawled out of the woods and we took her in --"
"Wait what?" Zoey asks.
"Crawled out of the woods?" Rumi looks confused.
Eunji sighs deeply.
This makes me think of those legends about werewolves where if a loved one of the werewolf calls their name, they turn back into a person.
Eunji tried, but Celine didn't share quite the same level of connection needed for this to work. The wolf/human hybrid form she's in is too strong. There are too many negative emotions trapping her for Eunji's words to reach her. There is enough there, at least, that hearing her name spoken in Eunji's voice kept the wolf from tearing her apart. Much like a wild wolf recognizing the human who rehabilitated it as a pup.
Mira and Zoey try, and there is more recognition. The wolf went from actively trying to eat them to confused and worried mother dog. Who are these children? Why are they out here in the woods? Don't they know there are hunters out here?
But Rumi... Well, she tries, too. And the wolf listens. The wolf hears her voice and immediately thinks "that's my pup". But Celine? Celine is questioning everything, and all she can remember is what Rumi accused her of under the tree.
