I got the motivation to write so here we are. Also this is a reupload because there was some continuity error. Also changed/addded some things
(This is a reference to this)
The last thing Miyeong remembered was falling through a tear.
They had just barely gotten home to their Jamsil unit after finishing performing their title track, Light of My World at the International Idol Awards and, by some miracle, be the first to ever win its Best New Group award despite only having debuted months ago, when they felt it.
Hyeonjeong groaned, sprawled out on her bunk bed, halfway through changing into her pajamas. âNoooooo. We just got homeââ
Celine had looked nearly deadâhead nodding off as she brushed her teethâwhen the lines of pink spread above them like tides. Her eyes hardened and her back straightened (âlike a Jindoâ as she and Hyeonjeong once teased their maknae for the way she looked whenever she sensed demons nearby. The offended look she gave them for comparing her to a dog made them snicker harder). She spat into the sink. âBig one. Maybe three blocks north.â
Miyeong felt herself sigh as she set their award down on the coffee table. "I haven't even changed out of my dress yet."
After a very quick change for them, they were scaling the apartment complex from the 3rd floor to the top in hurriedly thrown-on coats and beanies. The streets were quieter this time of night, but they werenât risking getting hit by cars or creeps, so leaping from roof to roof it was
They found the tear in the middle of a fenced grassy space, and from it swarms of demons poured in like blood from a woundâred, blue, white, and purple, small and large, all covered in the same jagged patterns.
âThatâs more than usual,â Hyeonjeong whistled, already reaching for the Honmoon.
"Not more than the ones that interrupted Park-seonsaengnim's birthday," Miyeong hummed.
"Let's just make this quick, I really want to go to bed." Celine sighed.
"Aww, not even gonna drink with your unnies?" Hyeonjeong grinned.
Celine stared. "I'm seventeen."
"So? Miyeong's eighteen and she's still drinking with me."
"Miyeong-unnie would help you catch a bird with your bare hands if you wanted to, for fun."
"Right, right, I forgot. You're a stickler for rules and a bore."
"And that's why I'm the leader, wait whatâyou know, what, we can argue later."
Miyeong shakes her head. Her girls are so silly. She glided her fingers upon the honmoonâs surface, joining in as Celine starts singing the beginning of a song and their voices blend into a harmony. The Honmoon hummed with them, and threads of light wove themselves into a gakgung in her left hand, its gung-dae around her waist filled with endless arrows.
The demons took notice of them. Finally. She picked an arrow between her fingers and casually nocked it, aiming at a particularly large, ugly red dokkaebi. From the corner of her eye, she saw her girls with their own weapons at the ready. Celine looked at her and Hyeonjeong with a smirk.
âLetâs kill these guys.â
The massacre began with an arrow sailing like a shooting star, burying itself deep in the dokkaebiâs head, knocking it onto its back and making it crumble like dried earth.
Celine and Hyeonjeong jumped into the fray, with Hyeonjeong swinging wide arcs, killing demons that dared get too close, while Celine snuck from behind, her ssanggeom slashing at the monsters distracted by Hyeonjeong.
âThree on your right!â Miyeong called from above, picking off the demons one by one, covering where her girls could not see, and in return Celine and Hyeonjeong stopped the demons making their way to the building where Miyeong stood.
âGot them!â Celine shouted back, her blades flashing.
They made quick work of themâthe demons had interrupted their drinking game before it even got started; after all, they ought to pay up somehow. Soon there were only about ten of the things left
âAlmost done,â Hyeonjeong said, crushing a blue demon under her heel. âThen we can actuallyââ
She was just about to take another shot at a jeosung saja trying to climb the fence when she heard the telltale sound of a ripâsilent to human ears but like the shrill screams of a thousand crying in agony to hersâand with it, the scalding heat of Gwi-maâs realm, just inches behind her. Miyeong quickly turned, but a hundred thin emaciated arms grabbed at her legs with stone-like grips and started dragging her down, making her fall on her back with a yelp.
âCeline! Hyeonjeong-ah!â
âUnnie!â She heard Celineâs scream, high and terrified.
âHold on! Weâre coming!â Hyeonjeongâs voice, closer, desperate.
But she knew there was no time to wait. Her left hand dug into the concrete even as her nails bent and hurt, to stall as long as she could until Celine and Hyeonjeong could help her. She grabbed one of her spilled arrows and started stabbing whatever she could see, but it never seemed to end. When one arm disappeared into smoke, another came to take its place, dragging her closer and closer into Gwi-maâs clutches.
âMiyeong!â That was Celine again, closer now but not close enough.
The Honmoon slid around her arm as if to keep her in place, but even it was not enough, and Miyeong heard herself scream as she fell into the underworld.
For a few minutes, Miyeong waited. Waited for the fall to come, to feel the burning cold of the underworldâs realm, to hear Gwi-maâs triumphant howls. But instead, grass tickled her face and the wind whispered to her as if it was gently asking her to wake up. Miyeong reluctantly opened her eyes and found herself face to face with the clear night sky and its many stars, the moon gazing back at her. She sat up, hissing as her left leg burned when she tried to stand.
"Ah! Ow..." She was about to roll up the leg of her jean to find the fabric torn to shreds and beneath it, scratches marring her leg, numerous and bleeding.
Behind her, a door slid open and warm white light engulfed her back.
âCeline?â Miyeong turned, a breath of relief ready at her throat, but her smile faltered at the person she saw.
This person looked like Celine, but it wasnât the 17-year-old maknae whose face sheâd last seen filled with fear minutes ago. This girl...this woman was older. Much older. Gray blended with black in her wavy hair. Even from where Miyeong sat, she could see the lines around the crevices of her eyes and in the space between her eyebrows where she had often warned Celine sheâd get wrinkles if she kept thinking too hard.
The womanâs face went through a series of emotionsâshock, recognition, then something dark and terrible. âNo,â she whispered. âYouâre notâyou canât beââ
Miyeong blinked once, and suddenly she felt herself being pushed down onto the dirt, a blade pressed too close to her nape, and a growl in her ear.
âWhy do you wear her face?â
And all Miyeong could think was "Even now, she still acts like a Jindo"
"Ah, I said that out loud, didn't I?"