Chapter Text
Rumi was nervous. She was washing the dishes while her laptop sat open on the kitchen table. From the window, she spotted Celine feeding the chicken and checking the fence for holes. Some months before, some wild animal had managed to kill a rooster, so they had to double their efforts to protect the birds.
And further away she could see the mountains. It had rained the week before, so everything was green. Rumi took a deep breath and felt the clean air fill her lungs. She’d heard things about big cities, that the air was thicker, nastier. Too much concrete, not enough trees. And here she had it all.
She grabbed another dirty plate from breakfast and sighed. She’d lived her entire life in that place. The farm, the little town and the temple had been her home for as long as she could remember. But now, she had an opportunity, a chance to explore something else.
That morning, she’d received her admission letter. Chemistry at Seoul National University. She had worked hard for that, studied hard for the tests, put up with so much during school. That letter was her chance. But how would Celine take that? She couldn’t leave her alone, and worse, she’d leave just before harvest season.
“Rumi,” Celine was suddenly in the kitchen “, I can’t find the wheelbarrow, did you put it somewhere else?”
“I put it under the big tree. I wanted to do some gardening later, do you need it right now?”
“Later” Celine sat down and wiped the sweat from her temple. “The weather today is humid, don’t you think? More than usual, I mean.”
“Yeah” Rumi looked down and took a deep breath. Better say it now than later. She turned around and faced her guardian, who was writing something down in their grocery notebook.
“Celine?”
“Yes, dear?” the woman didn’t look up from the paper.
“I got an e-mail. Today. From Seoul National University.”
“Was it a good e-mail? Or not good?”
“No, no. It’s good” Rumi inhaled sharply. “I got in. Chemistry. Starting in August.”
Celine smiled and stood up to hug her.
“I knew it. I knew you could do it. I am so proud of you, Rumi.”
Rumi hugged her back with equal force, her eyes stung a little, so she buried her face in Celine’s shoulder. Celine pulled back and noticed her bloodshot eyes.
“What’s wrong, aegiya?” she cupped her face. “Why are you crying? This is good, Rumi.”
“I’m… scared. I don’t want to leave you, Celine.”
The older woman smiled softly in understanding and wiped the few tears that escaped her eyes.
“You won’t leave me, Rumi. You’ll come back during the breaks. Maybe some weekends too? And I will visit from time to time. And you’ll call.”
“Will you come to drop me off?”
“Of course.”
“But then you’ll be alone here. And harvest season is coming. And the chicken, the field, the trees…”
“We’ll hire someone, we can afford it. And the neighbors have always helped during harvest season. And I will take care of the animals. Please don’t worry about this. This is your moment, Rumi. Your mother would be so proud of you. I am proud of you.”
Rumi teared up again at Celine’s words and hugged her again. This was the beginning of something new. Something entirely hers. But she would be lying if she said she wasn’t scared. She was terrified. But this time, it was in a good way.
“Come on, kid, cheer up,” Celine patted her cheek. “We’ll celebrate tonight. I’ll cook something nice and then we can talk about logistics. But for now, you still live here. When you finish with the dishes, there’s a fence that needs repairing.”
That same night, they started planning Rumi’s departure to Seoul. Rumi had never been to a city that big before. Celine and her visited Busan when Rumi was seven or eight years old, but she hadn’t left the farm or the town since then. Some short trips to neighboring towns or small cities nearby, but not for long. Not alone.
Celine was going with her to help her get settled in. She’d pulled a few strings to get Rumi a small place near campus, where she could be alone. Rumi felt safer that way, she didn’t want to worry about bumping into too many people.
Her aunt didn’t like to admit it, but being a former K-Pop idol really paid off. She didn’t get much of the royalties, almost nothing, but the contacts were there, and sometimes it just took a call to have something done.
Celine put on her glasses and looked at Rumi’s laptop screen. She squinted her eyes and gestured for her to put the laptop farther away.
“You know I’m not very good with technology. I will give you the text for the job offer and you can post it? Or how is it called? And they can call you or send you an e-mail.”
“Yeah” Rumi looked for the notes app and started writing what Celine told her to.
JOB OFFER: WE ARE LOOKING FOR A FARMHAND. FARM NOT FAR AWAY FROM GWANGJU, JEOLLANAM-DO. WE OFFER:
- ALL BENEFITS STIPULATED BY LAW
- THREE MEALS A DAY
- INSURANCE
- ACCOMODATION
- A CALM ENVIRONMENT
- GOOD SALARY, ABOVE AVERAGE
WE LOOK FOR SOMEONE:
- WHO DOESN’T MIND WAKING UP EARLY
- IS HONEST
- CAN DO MANUAL AND ADMINISTRATION WORK
- LIKES ANIMALS
PLEASE CONTACT KWON RUMI PER CALL OR MAIL, NUMBER: ; E-MAIL:
Mira read the text on her phone several times. She checked the source. The place, it was real. The town nearby looked small and boring, but the nature seemed beautiful. The number and the e-mail were real, she’d looked Kwon Rumi up and found an old facebook post from her mother, possibly, Kwon Celine. It seemed legit. It seemed too good to be true. This place was there, the job was there and Mira needed an escape.
She’d found the offer scrolling through some job searching website. It wasn’t a company nor technology-related, so it didn’t have many upvotes. But maybe that was her one in a million opportunity.
She looked around her. Her big room in her big house, in a rich neighborhood in Seoul. So many people would kill to live the life she had. Except this wasn’t her house, it didn’t feel like it. It felt cold, unwelcoming. Even there, in the apparent safety of her room.
She was supposed to leave for university soon. Her parents were sending her to the UK, somewhere far away, somewhere where they expected her to ‘thrive and live up to the Kang name’. Mira wasn’t thrilled at all. They could still manipulate her from there. No, she needed to disappear. And disappearing meant starting over. Untangling herself from the Kang Family and severing ties without mercy. She could do that. But she needed a plan, and that little farm in Jeollanam-Do was only the start.
Mira grabbed her phone and dialed the number on the screen. Fifteen seconds later, someone answered.
“Kwon Rumi. How can I be of help?” The voice on the other side of the line was young, her age, maybe even younger. Mira’s heart thumped inside her ribcage. She took a deep breath and answered.
“Hello. I saw your… uhm, your job offer. I’d like to… is there an interview or…?”
“Uh, yeah, the announcement” the girl stuttered. “My, uh, I mean, Celine is… uh… I’ll give you Celine’s number. Can you write something down?”
Mira called the number she was given. Rumi had said that Celine would give her more information. Rumi herself wasn’t at home at the moment.
The person who answered sounded older than the first voice, more mature. Probably a middle aged woman.
“This is Kwon Celine. You call for the job, am I right?”
“Yes. My name is Kang Mira.”
She winced. She didn’t know if she would be recognized, but it didn’t seem like it, because the woman hummed and then asked:
“Are you near Gwangju? Could you be here tomorrow or the day after?”
“Yes,” Mira lied. She grabbed her laptop and quickly searched for train and bus tickets. “I can be there tomorrow afternoon.”
She clicked on the buy button and saved the tickets on her phone. She looked at her room. She needed to pack too.
“You are the first person to call,” Celine told her. “We were afraid no one would respond. I understand if it is too far away. The town is small, there isn’t much to see, but I will provide you with food and a room, so you don’t need to worry about groceries or hygiene stuff.”
“I…thank you. That sounds good to me.”
“You can look at the contract tomorrow, we are a family business, but we want to offer a formal job. With insurance and everything.”
“Sounds perfect. I will be there tomorrow.”
“Good. I will see you tomorrow.”
The line went dead and Mira stared at the screen in front of her. Fuck. This was real. She was doing it for real.
“I need to pack,” she muttered to herself.
Mira started to pack quietly, but quickly. It was already late and she intended to take the first train in the morning. She’d tell her family that she was visiting a friend, so they wouldn’t send any bodyguards. Then she’d tell the taxi driver to head towards the train station.
She needed to pack efficiently, so they wouldn’t notice anything out of place. Everything had to fit inside her backpack, the one she used whenever she went outside. She packed clothes, enough for two days, she could buy more when she left Seoul.. She thought about packing another pair of shoes, but there wasn’t enough space. Her battery pack, her charger, teethbrush, skincare products, her notebook and her personal documents fit well and now she needed enough cash, because almost all of her cards were linked to her family’s account and were easily traced, but that was absolutely no problem for her.
She sat on the train, cap on and hoodie hiding her face. She couldn’t believe it had worked. The train was moving and it would arrive at 10:00 in Gwangju. It was the start of her new life.
Mira’s heart beat violently as the taxi approached the little town.
“Visiting family?” The driver asked politely.
“Something like that,” she answered and looked out of the window. The mountains looked beautiful, it looked like it had rained recently. The rice and tea fields were everywhere to see, and the air was humid and sticky.
Celine had called her in the morning, to confirm that she was coming and to tell her that she would pick Mira up in front of the grocery store. The only grocery store in the whole town. It was really small.
Mira waited for some time, until she saw an old Kia Sorento approaching the square. Mira’s mother wouldn’t be caught dead inside a car that wasn’t made that year or the year before. Now, Mira didn’t give a single fuck.
It parked in front of her and a really good looking middle aged woman stepped outside. She had hair past her shoulders, with some gray strands here and there. She wore practical clothes, but carried herself with the grace of a dancer. Mira thought that she seemed familiar, like someone she had seen somewhere before, maybe in a dream.
“You must be Kang Mira.”
Mira blushed lightly and bowed quickly.
“Yes. Hello.”
“Welcome. I see that you haven’t brought much with you?” Celine pointed at her backpack and the plastic bag with socks she’d bought at the train station, because she had forgotten to pack socks. How silly of her.
“Uh, no. I…this is everything. I was hoping to maybe buy a thing or two here?”
Celine nodded and gestured for her to follow her and get in the car. It took a few tries to get the car to start, but soon they were leaving the town and driving into the middle of nowhere.
Mira looked out of the window and smiled. Nobody would find her here, she hoped. Here she could reinvent herself and escape from the weight of the name.
Zoey read the text a few times, translated it from Korean to English and then back to Korean to make sure she was understanding it well and that it wasn’t a dream.
Fuck, this was exactly what she was looking for. A job in a quiet farm, far away from the noise and restlessness of Seoul. Someplace where she could keep busy and not think about…everything that was going on. She knew she needed that space. And she could send her mother the money. Hell, the pay was even better than her monotone job at the boba place downtown. She just needed to convince her mother that it was just for a little while, maybe a semester or a year.
She walked into the living room and looked at her mom, who was watching the news.
“Ask your father” she answered when Zoey explained her plan to her. Her mother nodded absently, not really listening. “Have you been biting your nails again?”
Zoey fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, self conscious now. Why did her mother have to be like that? They were all stressed, there was no need for side comments like that.
“He… uh… he’s never home when I am. And I don’t want to talk to him…” when he’s drunk, she wanted to add. “Plus, I’d be saving some money for university.”
Her mother sighed but nodded in defeat.
“You know I can’t stop you. If you ruin your life that’s entirely on you.”
“Thanks mom!” Zoey hugged her. The hug wasn’t returned, and on the inside, Zoey felt glad that she was leaving the apartment. Even if it was for a short period of time. The divorce process was taking a toll on everyone, it was her chance to finally breathe without having to run away from home.
She loved her parents, really, but that last year or two, they'd been stressed, irritable and they both fell into less than productive habits, like drinking or watching television until late at night. She almost screamed 'THANK GOD' when her parents announced their separation at the kitchen table.
Zoey went to her room to make the call. Now she only needed to get the job. That was easy, she could do it, right? She dialed the number on the screen and put her phone on loudspeaker.
“Hello?” A young woman’s voice filled the silence in her room.
“Hi! This is Choi Zoey. I called because of the job offer I saw online.”
“Uh…Zoey. Hello. Uh, we already have someone but… I… look, I’m not there right now, but can you write? I’ll give you my aunt’s number. She’s, uh, the one in charge.”
“Thanks, Rumi. I… I really need this job” she admitted quietly.
Zoey called the number Rumi had given her and the line beeped a few times before a middle aged woman answered.
“Hello. Who is calling?”
“Uh… is this Kwon Celine?”
Kwon Celine. Like Kwon Celine from the Sunlight Sisters, her favorite vintage band. What a funny coincidence, but it surely wasn’t her. The remaining Sunlight Sisters were rich, they probably had a mansion in Seoul and a villa in Tuscany. Not a small farm in Jeollanam-do.
“Who is calling?” the woman demanded.
“Sorry, uh, this is Choi Zoey. I spoke to Rumi some minutes ago. She told me to give you a call. About the job. She told me you already have someone, but I really, really need this job. Do you have any other vacants? I can mop. I can cook too. I just…”
Zoey was breathing hard. She needed this. She needed to get out of Seoul. Out of her parent’s apartment. The woman’s voice softened a little at Zoey’s urgency.
“I already have someone, but if you don’t mind sharing a room, we can offer you something.”
“I don’t mind. I… Thank you. Really. I need this job so much you can’t imagine. It’s just… I need to get out of here.”
There was a long silence, until the woman cleared her throat.
“Well, I can afford to hire another person. How quickly can you be here? I’d like to do the farm tour with both of you, I don’t like repeating myself. The other girl arrived today..”
“Uh… maybe in two or three days? I still need to pack and organize some stuff.”
“Perfect. I will be waiting for you, Choi.”
The line went dead. Zoey was smiling so hard it hurt. She added both numbers to her contacts as ‘Boss Kwon Celine’ and ‘Rumi’ and then texted Rumi quickly.
Zoey[19:47]: heyy this is choi zoey, thx for everything, i got the job. tell ur aunt thx
Rumi[19:49]: glad I could help :)
Zoey[19:49]: how old r u btw?
Rumi[19:50]: 19, you?
Zoey[19:50]: 18. will i meet u tmrw?
Rumi[20:03]: unlikely. But maybe later! :)
Zoey[20:04]: :)
Zoey closed her eyes. The next day she would buy some train tickets and pack, and then she would leave. And with the money she’d earn, she’d try to find a place of her own before starting university. Somewhere far away from her parents, maybe in another country too.
She felt like she’d just opened a door that led to a thousand different paths. Now she only needed to choose one of them. But first, which of her shoes were farm approved? Would it seem too childish if she took her turtle plush with her? Or a poster to decorate her side of the room? She jumped out of her bed and started sorting things.
The train and bus rides had gone smoothly. She couldn’t afford a taxi, so she walked an hour from the bus station to that small town. The town itself had no bus station.
Celine had told her to wait for her in front of the only grocery shop in the town. It wasn’t hard to find. As she looked around her, she took in the important buildings: school, administration, grocery store, small park, temple, tailor, carpenter and blacksmith. And that was it.
An old lady approached her, with her foldable cart behind her. Zoey almost jumped, she hadn’t noticed her. The town was empty, she should’ve seen her.
“You must be Celine’s new farmhand,” the woman said as a greeting. Zoey bowed quickly and nodded.
“Yes. Uh… it’s legit, right?”
The old woman laughed softly.
“Yes, yes. Celine is real. Beautiful farm they have, we all go to help during harvest season.”
Zoey sighed in relief. Okay, so this wasn’t a scam. Unless, it was a collective scam and the entire town was involved. That only happened in movies, so she should be alright.
“You’re quite the restless one,” the woman commented smiling. “I hope you don’t climb walls too, Celine’s had enough with one.”
The old lady went inside before Zoey could ask her what that meant. Not long after, she saw an old car approaching. That had to be Celine.
The window rolled down and Zoey’s jaw went slack.
“You must be Choi Zoey. Welcome, I am Celine. Get in the car, we have lots to discuss.”
Fuck. Was that the real Celine from the Sunlight Sisters?
Zoey opened the passenger’s door and looked at Celine. She bowed and then looked at her again with her mouth agape. There was no way she wasn’t dreaming.
“What’s wrong?” the woman frowned. “Are you feeling alright?”
Zoey blinked a few times. Yes, this was the one and only Kwon Celine. A former idol, someone she’d written fanfiction about, her face was plastered everywhere in Zoey’s childhood room.
“You’re a Sunlight Sister!” Zoey blurted out. She didn’t mean for it to come out so rude. “Sorry.”
“I was,” Celine smiled softly. Her demeanor changed completely. “Come on, kid, get in. Then you can ask questions.”
Rumi lined up her notebooks on her desk for the seventh time in the hour. She was nervous, she was starting university the next day.
She traced the patterns that covered her arms, they were pale and translucent, almost opal-colored. They were a reminder that she was something impossible, something that wasn’t supposed to exist. A half-demon.
It was no secret to Rumi that her aunt had been a hunter in her early life. A warrior trained to hunt and kill demons. Her own mother had given her life protecting the world from them. And Rumi, she was a contradiction of everything she knew.
When she was only a few months old, Celine, her mother and their other teammate (who Rumi did not know) had sealed the Honmoon, the protective barrier that kept demons from trespassing, for good. There were no more demons, the world was safe. There was the occasional demon that wasn’t sealed out, but it was quite peaceful. But Rumi existed. She was living proof that demons and evil existed. She hated it. She hated that it was the only reminder of her late father.
“He was a good man,” Celine had told her years ago. “I understand why Mi-Yeong chose him. He was a decent demon, Rumi.”
“Do our patterns make us evil?” she had asked.
“No, dear. You mustn’t think so. You exist because your parents loved each other, and it’s quite beautiful. And both parts of you, the demon part and the human part, are equally beautiful, and equally loved.”
Celine had told her that she had nothing to be ashamed of, that she could tell everyone it was just a skin condition, that her fangs were some hereditary thing and that her hair was dyed, but still…the last thing she needed was to stick out like a sore thumb. During her school days, classmates had laughed at her patterns. Teachers had scolded her for her dyed hair, they never believed her when she told them it was its natural color. And now she wasn’t in her safe little hometown anymore. She was in Seoul, the biggest city in the country.
Seoul, she’d come to learn those past few days, was unforgiving. The city moved quickly and violently, so she couldn’t afford to stumble. She couldn’t afford weakness. So she laid out her outfit for the next day. Jeans, her worn out sneakers, an oversized t-shirt and her black hoodie. Normal enough.
She smiled when her phone buzzed. Zoey, her eomma’s new farmhand, texted her regularly.
Zoey[21:30]: WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME UR AUNT WAS A SUNLIGHT SISTER!!??
Rumi chuckled. Her thumb hovered over the screen for a moment before typing a quick reply.
Rumi[21:30]: fan?
Zoey[21:31]: hardcore. i had a gigantic poster of her face on my wall
Zoey[21:32]: she’s more beautiful in person 😻
Zoey[21:32]: like she could punch me in the face and i’d say thank you
Zoey[21:32]: which makes me wonder why she's in that farm and not in a villa in italy
Zoey[21:32]: no offense
Rumi[21:33]: …
Rumi[21:34]: please don’t talk about my mom like that
She wondered if it would be confusing to Zoey to see her refer to Celine as her aunt and as her mom at the same time. During the first years, Celine had refused to be called mom or eomma.
“Celine. Ce-line.” she’d correct baby Rumi.
But as the time passed, she’d come to accept it. Rumi didn’t remember her mother. She knew the pictures, she’d memorized her songs, but she had no memory of her own. Celine had been there every step of the way. Celine had seen her first steps, she had watched her fangs grow amongst other things. She’d been there for Rumi’s first breakup with some boy in her class and she’d taught her to fight and fend for herself. She saw Celine as her mother, and she knew that Celine referred to her as her kid.
Now she couldn’t stop grinning. She couldn’t wait to meet Zoey when she went home for the break. They had only spoken by text, but Zoey seemed approachable. Maybe they could even be friends? Rumi didn’t have many friends. The people in school hadn’t been nice, they’d mocked her and pushed her away. The town was small, and there wasn’t much to do, and she doubted that Celine’s knitting club counted.
Her phone buzzed again in the nightstand. She turned it around and this time, the message was from Celine.
Eomma[21:36]: Don’t stay up too late. I’ll call you tomorrow after dinner. Good luck on your first day 🍀👍
Rumi inhaled deeply and turned the lights out. She pulled the covers over her head. She had a big day ahead of her. She had dreamed about this for so long, and now it was real. She was going to get her degree, and she was going to make Celine proud.