I am so curious about Mi-yeong Ryu, Rumi's mother, from KPop Demon Hunters.
Because the explanation we get is basically: she was a demon hunter, she fell in love with a demon, they had Rumi.
Everything we see in the film suggests demon hunters don't exactly have meaningful conversations with demons. Every interaction is a fight, a taunt, and attempt to kill each other. Neither side seems to view the other as people.
What kind of demon was Rumi's father that a veteran demon hunter not only stopped seeing him as the enemy, but also began to see him despite what he is? Was he genuinely kind? Charming? Did they meet repeatedly? Did he save her? Did she save him?
Or was it darker than that?
Was he manipulating her? Was there a power imbalance? Was it even consensual? We genuinely don't know.
Because the thing is, we're only getting Rumi's perspective.
Rumi is not a reliable narrator when it comes to demons. She has spent her entire life hating half of herself. Every time her markings appear she reacts with disgust, shame, and fear. She has internalised the belief that the demon part of her is something fundamentally wrong.
And that's proven true when mira and zoey (her friends and comrades) who have known her and fought besides her, did reject her at first (yes they hesitated and yes they were devastated but it can't be ignored that ultimately they did point their weapons at rumi, and they would have gone through with it), because they have the instilled instincts to fight and kill demons.
On top of that, almost everything she knows about her parents comes second-hand through Céline.
And Céline herself is hardly an objective source.
For all we know, Céline could simply be mistaken. She could have misunderstood what happened. Or she could be deliberately leaving things out—not because she's malicious (although thats certainly a possibility as we see throughout the movie that she encourages the girls to bury their fears and doubts), but because she's trying to protect Rumi.
Maybe "they were in love" is the only version a child can handle hearing about they parents.
Maybe Because it's one thing to grow up believing, "If I lose to a demon, they'll take my soul."
It's another thing entirely to learn there may be fates worse than death. Or to discover your mother lived through something traumatic. Or to realise the circumstances of your own birth were complicated, painful, or not particularly happy.
There are so many possibilities that the movie simply doesn't explore.
Maybe Mi-yeong was the first hunter to truly see a demon as an individual.
Maybe Rumi's father was the first demon to reject Gwi-Ma.
Maybe they secretly met for years.
Maybe they tried to end the war from the inside.
Or maybe the truth is tragic, and something Céline chose to bury forever.
I know it's ultimately a family film, so "they fell in love" is enough for the story it wants to tell.
But the worldbuilding opens the door to a much complicated story, and now I can't stop thinking about it.
It genuinely keeps me up at night sometimes.
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