Chapter Text
Since Celine was away on a business trip it took the girls four days before they could get a hold of her, and even then, she did not prove to be too helpful. She offered no insight but at least she agreed to see the haechi in person. Rumi relayed the information to Lee Dongsik and they agreed that she should come and pick Han Joowon up.
This was how Rumi found herself back in Manyang on a wet and dreary Saturday. She was meant to arrive at noon, but she was caught in such horrific traffic that it was almost one o’clock by the time she finally made it.
She contemplated the rusty garden gate. It was unlocked again and she couldn’t find a bell to ring, but she still wasn’t sure if she should just barge in. Would that be okay? It seemed impolite to come into the garden of a complete stranger but then again, her visit was expected, maybe she should ring him –
‘Can I help you?’
Rumi looked up. The speaker was a stony-faced young woman. She stood just behind Rumi with a large grocery bag in her hand and based on her tone and expression actually helping Rumi was the last thing she was about to do. No problem, Rumi was a seasoned professional. Managing strange and often hostile people on-and offline was something she had a lot of experience with.
‘Ah I’m just here to see Inspector Han’ she said, putting on her most winning smile.
The woman narrowed her eyes.
‘He is… indisposed.’
‘I know’ Rumi said brightly ‘I’m here to help him, I came to pick him up.’
This finally melted the ice on the lady’s face.
‘Oh, you’re one of the -? That’s different, come on in.’ she said, stepping past Rumi and pushing the gate open. When they were both inside, she turned, bowed and held out her hand. She introduced herself as Yoo Jaeyi.
‘I’m sorry about earlier’ she said ‘We get all sorts here. True crime people, you know. They hang around the old grocery store and harass Dongsik ahjussi.’
Rumi hissed in sympathy. She was no stranger to obsessive fans but at least she was trained to handle them and they weren’t drawn to her because of the story of the brutal murder of most of her loved ones. She followed Yoo Jaeyi through the small garden and into the (also unlocked) house.
‘Ahjussi said you were a shaman of sorts’ Yoo Jaeyi said as they took off their shoes ‘Is that true?’
‘Sort of… Say, how many people know about this?’ Rumi asked, slightly vexed.
Yoo Jaeyi held up her hands with a little conciliatory laugh.
‘Just me and ahjussi’s oldest friend. She had to know because she’s their best bet on smoothing things over with Joowon-ssi’s boss and getting him a believable doctor’s note. Everyone else thinks he’s in a hospital with some terribly contagious disease, so he won’t be home for a while and can’t be visited.’
‘Oh, I’m sure we can help with the bureaucracy!’ said Rumi, relieved that the secret seemed to be mostly contained. She did note, however, that Yoo Jaeyi failed to explain why she herself had to be in the know, though Rumi had a tentative theory. She only got a brief glance at Han Joowon as a human but she did recall he was exceptionally handsome and, well, this lady was about his age, so… Before she could truly get invested in constructing her imaginary corkboard of conspiracy theories Lee Dongsik and Han Joowon descended from upstairs to greet them.
This well-rested, well-groomed Lee Dongsik, viewed in the light of the day, seemed to be a completely different person than the one Rumi met four days ago. Han Joowon was also doing much better: his fur was clean and glossy, brushed to perfection, and his speech also improved a lot. He no longer tried to force the sounds through his mouth but figured out how to let his magic do the work. His sentences were still sluggish and his voice had a strange, bronze-bell echo to it, but he was much more intelligible.
Rumi also learned that Yoo Jaeyi’s reason for visiting was to bring a packet of raw meat and innards for Han Joowon.
‘Aigoo, Jaeyi-yah you didn’t have to come all the way here, I would have picked these up!’ Lee Dongsik fussed.
‘Not a problem, I was going to the hairdresser, so I thought I’d drop these off on the way’ she shrugged with a smile. As she disappeared in the kitchen Han Joowon shot a sidelong glance after her.
‘Getting her hair done the second time this month. This is not like her.’
Lee Dongsik sniggered and crouched down to whisper to him.
‘She didn’t tell me anything official, so you didn’t hear this from me, but the saloon does have a very pretty new hairdresser. Very, very pretty.’
Rumi stifled a laugh and pretended not to have heard anything. This new information did shoot her theory about why Yoo Jaeyi was let in on the secret though. She tried very hard to remind herself that as long as the news didn’t travel any further it was ultimately none of her business but part of her was still itching for gossip.
‘Aish, this girl, always rushing these days’ Dongsik clicked his tongue in mock-exasperation when Jaeyi left.
‘This reminds me’ Rumi said, turning to Han Joowon ‘You’ll be with us for a couple of day. Is this all you can eat now? Raw meat?’
‘Mostly’ he nodded ‘Meat and hard-boiled eggs.’
‘Also try giving him some liver, it should be good for him’ Lee Dongsik butted in’ And some vegetables.’
The haechi shot him a dark look.
‘You eat raw ramyun, you don’t get to play nutritionist.’
The older man shrugged, grinned and went on.
‘If it’s all arranged nicely enough it looks like sashimi, so it isn’t all that bad. Also, technically he can sit on a chair but it’s a whole balancing act, so we’ve been eating at the coffee table.’
‘Right… I’ll just tell our manager I want to try out a new fad diet and he’ll get all the ingredients, it won’t be a problem’ she thought for a moment ‘While I’m here, can I take a look at that basement? And the grocery store?’
‘I wasn’t being serious; you really don’t have to do that!’ Lee Dongsik protested, holding up his hands. After a beat though, he let them drop. ‘…But you’re the expert. If you think it’s necessary, then of course.’
As he led her downstairs it occurred to Rumi that following a strange man into a basement where a (female) corpse was found walled up did not have the best optics, even if the owner of the house most empathetically did not put said corpse in there. Oh well. Rumi was here in a professional capacity as supernatural safety inspector, and anyway, she was quite assured of her ability to fold this ahjussi into a pretzel, should he try anything.
He did not, but neither did Rumi find anything other than a vague dissonance in the Honmoon, neither in the basement nor in the ruined grocery store.
‘So, you say there wasn’t any suspicious activity here?’ she asked Lee Dongsik as they stood inside the crumbling building.
‘Aside from the occasional idiot Tiktokker trying to film a spooky video? No.’
Rumi hummed and nodded.
‘Sometimes it really is nothing… Tragedies often cause a turbulence in the Honmoon, and sure, usually nothing comes of it and it smooths out eventually, but in the meantime, it becomes easier for demons to break through. We’ll keep an eye on it.’
Lee Dongsik cocked his head to the side. For a middle-aged man, he could be disarmingly cute, with his deep laugh lines and eyes that crinkled with every smile. For example, this particular expression reminded Rumi of an inquisitive fox.
‘What’s the Honmoon?’
‘It’s a magical barrier’ Rumi explained. It felt strange, talking about this to a civilian, but with the whole haechi situation, it was better for Lee Dongsik to know ‘It was created to keep the demons away from the human world and it usually works just fine, but sometimes they still break through.’
‘Yeah, that would explain it…’
‘Explain it…?’
‘Explain where everyone else is’ Lee Dongsik said with a shrug ‘Joowon-ah turning up like this got me thinking, you know? Haechi are real so what else is? And why don’t we ever see them? Where are all the dokkaebi? All the gumiho?’
‘All tucked away safely behind the Honmoon ‘Rumi smiled ‘No need to worry about them, ahjussi.’