Zoey hummed softly as she slid a magazine back onto the shelf. Her fingers lingered on the glossy covers of the others, skimming over bold titles and bright faces before she admitted that the one she wanted wasn't on this aisle.
Still humming, she wandered toward the back of the shop.
Huntrix had just wrapped their first tour of the year, and now all eyes were on the Idol Awards, the perfect stage for them to end the season with a bang and claim first place.
Zoey wasn't worried. Not in the slightest. Ever since last year's Idol Awards, Huntrix had only grown closer. Their chemistry had sharpened into something almost electric, and their performances… somehow, impossibly, had grown even stronger.
And with the Honmoon restored, demon threats had vanished for over a year. No late nights. No frantic hunts. For the first time in forever, Zoey had the luxury of focusing on other things.
Like now. Browsing shelves. Losing herself in the quiet joy of hunting down magazines, especially ones featuring the hunters who had come before them.
Her eyes caught on a familiar cover. She pulled down an issue on the Sunlight Sisters, flipping it open only to sigh in mild disappointment. She already owned this one.
Sliding it carefully back, she continued her search. The shop was hushed and still, the kind of quiet that made her savor every step. She could have just ordered the issues online, of course. But there was something special about moments like this. The weight of the magazines in her hands. The smell of paper and ink.
Besides, anything older than the Sunlight Sisters, magazines on hunters before their time, were nearly impossible to find. And sometimes, just sometimes, a forgotten treasure surfaced on a shelf like this.
"Oof!" Zoey grunted as she stumbled back, colliding with someone hard enough to nearly send her to the ground. She caught her balance at the last second, her hunter's reflexes kicking in, though her yellow hat tumbled from her head and landed on the floor.
Blinking, she turned to see who she had run into. The stranger was crouched, hurriedly gathering up a pile of magazines that had spilled during their collision.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Zoey blurted, bending down instinctively.
The girl shook her head without looking up. "No, it's fine," she said calmly, still focused on collecting the scattered pages.
"Here, let me help you," Zoey offered quickly, reaching for a few of the magazines. "I was distracted, I didn't mean to bump into you."
Their eyes met as the girl finally lifted her gaze. For a moment, time seemed to slow.
She was… striking. Handsome was the word that came to Zoey's mind. Her dark hair faded into red tips that caught the light, her skin seemed to hold a faint glow of health, and her eyes, the purest shade of silver she had ever seen, felt like they could see right through her.
Zoey found herself staring into the girl's silver eyes, utterly entranced. The world seemed to narrow to just that gaze, until a small cough jolted her back to reality.
"Uh…" the girl said, pointing behind Zoey. "I think you dropped your hat."
Zoey's eyes widened. Sure enough, her yellow hat lay on the floor, forgotten. And that meant the girl had seen her face.
'Great,' Zoey thought, bracing herself for the inevitable fan energy, the excitement, the recognition, the request for a selfie. Especially from this girl, who was incredibly good-looking.
But instead, the stranger simply stood, balancing the stack of magazines in her arms, while Zoey still lingered crouched on the floor.
"Um… are you okay?" the girl asked, tilting her head slightly. "You've been… staring into space for a few seconds now."
"What?" Zoey blinked, scrambling to her feet. She quickly realized the girl was only a little taller than she was, close enough that their eyes met naturally. "No, I'm fine. I was just… well… waiting."
"Waiting?" The girl repeated the word, curious but not suspicious.
Zoey nodded, forcing a small smile. "Yeah. Waiting."
The silence that followed stretched, the air between them becoming increasingly awkward. Zoey braced herself again for the request, an autograph, a photo, something.
It never came.
Instead, the girl frowned slightly. "Do I know you? Do we have a class together or something?"
Zoey froze. Her mind scrambled. 'She doesn't… know me? What?!'
She forced a nervous laugh. "Hehe, I guess you wouldn't. Sorry about that. We haven't met. I'm Zoey." She extended her hand, watching the girl's face carefully for any flicker of recognition at her name.
The girl simply adjusted her magazines and shook her hand. "Ruby. Nice to meet you. Or, uh, run into you. Literally. Whichever you prefer."
Time literally tripped, face-planted, and lay there groaning while Zoey tried to remember how to act normal.
Zoey laughed, the sound coming out a little too loud, a little too forced. She shoved her hands into her pockets only to remember, belatedly, that one of them was still holding a magazine. She almost dropped it in her rush to look casual. Smooth. Totally smooth.
Ruby tilted her head again, those silver eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Sooo, Zoey, what brings you here? Ah, that was a dumb question, obviously you're here for the magazines."
Zoey blinked. She had noticed that one of the posters right next to them had a picture of Huntrix, with her face smiling brightly. "Oh, uh, yeah. Super into them. Love… paper." she moved a little too casually, blocking Ruby's view of the poster.
"Paper," Ruby repeated, her grin widening as if this was the most normal, exciting answer she'd ever heard.
"Yes," Zoey said firmly, doubling down because it was too late to back out. "Big paper fan."
Ruby giggled, juggling the stack in her arms. "Well, hey, that's cool. I'm mostly here for the weapons mostly, which is... Kind of weird for a girl to read, and I can't seem to keep my mouth shut." she seemed to get more awkward as she spoke.
Zoey stared at her. She couldn't tell if Ruby was joking or dead serious. She sounded so different than she looked. Either way, she found herself laughing again, this time for real. "No, it's cool. There's nothing wrong with that."
Desperate to steer things back toward normalcy, Zoey cleared her throat. "So, Ruby… you, uh… you don't really watch TV, huh?"
Ruby scrunched her nose in thought. "Sometimes! Usually cartoons. Oh, and cooking shows. I like the ones where everything goes wrong. You?"
Zoey opened her mouth, ready to casually drop the biggest televised event of the year, the Idol Awards, into the conversation. But before she could, Ruby adjusted her magazines again and smiled so brightly that Zoey's brain forgot how words worked.
Instead, what came out was: "I… like… paper."
Ruby blinked, then burst out laughing. "Still on the paper thing, huh?"
Zoey's face went red. "Yep. Big fan. Huge."
Ruby just kept laughing, not unkindly, but with this bubbling warmth that made Zoey's embarrassment somehow feel… fun.
A buzz from her phone drew Zoey's attention. She glanced down, reading the message Rumi had just sent her.
"Looks like I've got to go." She slipped the phone back into her pocket before looking at Ruby. "Do you come by here often?"
Ruby's face lit up, her cheerful tone matching her bright smile. "Oh, yeah! I'm a student at Yonsei University. I usually stop by here whenever I want to relax a little."
Zoey blinked. Yonsei. One of the top universities in Seoul. Of course the gorgeous stranger who didn't know her was also a brainiac. Because why not.
"Wow, impressive," Zoey said, trying not to sound like she was suddenly re-evaluating every life choice she'd ever made. "I, uh… also go to a… school."
Ruby's grin widened, like she could sense the weird energy but decided to roll with it. "That narrows it down! Is it nearby?"
Zoey froze. She could practically feel the poster of Huntrix smiling smugly behind her. "Uh… yeah. Very nearby. Super nearby."
Ruby tilted her head, silver eyes studying her like she was trying to solve a puzzle. Then, with zero warning, she shifted the stack of magazines to one arm and extended the other. "Well, if you're around here a lot, maybe we'll bump into each other again. Hopefully less literally."
Zoey stared at the offered hand, her brain short-circuiting for the second time in ten minutes. Shaking hands again felt weird. But leaving Ruby hanging felt criminal. So she shook it, trying to look casual about it. Normal. Totally normal.
Ruby's handshake was firm, warm, grounding. Zoey wanted to say something clever. Anything. Instead, she blurted, "I like… books too."
Ruby's laughter rang out again, light and genuine, making Zoey's stomach do a full somersault. "Good to know! You really are dedicated to the whole paper thing, huh?"
Zoey opened her mouth to protest, but her phone buzzed again, this time with a second, much less patient text from Rumi. She winced. "I really do have to run."
Ruby nodded cheerfully, shifting the magazines against her chest. "Then go. Don't worry, I'll guard the paper aisle in your honor."
Zoey grinned despite herself, tugging her hat back on as she backed toward the door. "Thanks. Uh, see you around… maybe."
"Definitely," Ruby said, like it wasn't even a question.
Zoey stepped outside, the cool air hitting her like a reset button. She exhaled sharply, pressing a hand to her hat.
She'd just survived a conversation where someone hadn't recognized her. Someone hot. Someone funny. Someone who… didn't care about Huntrix at all.
And, against all odds, Zoey wasn't sure if that terrified her, or if she kind of liked it.
---
"How was shopping?" Mira's voice was the first thing that greeted Zoey when she pushed open the door to their suite.
Mira was sprawled across the couch like a discarded jacket, her hair messy and her arm dangling dramatically over the side. Two trays' worth of snack wrappers were stacked in a sad pile on the floor beside her, evidence that she had consumed at least twice her body weight while Zoey was gone.
Zoey sighed, dragging herself forward before flopping over the back of the couch, her head coming to rest on Mira's leg. "I had… the strangest day."
"I'm not too sure about that," Mira groaned, lazily nudging one of the empty trays with her foot. "Rumi's been freaking out the past thirty minutes."
That got Zoey upright immediately. "Why? What's wrong?"
"It's Celine."
The voice came from the doorway. Rumi stepped in, her expression unusually uncertain, phone clutched tightly in her hand. "She… wants to meet. With all of us."
"Celine?" Mira sat up straighter, her drowsy tone evaporating. "She hasn't… It's been a year."
Celine was a touchy subject for them, especially Rumi. Ever since their victory against Gwi-Ma, they'd only seen Celine once, and it hadn't ended on the best terms. Everyone had agreed that their mentor would remain an unspeakable topic until Rumi was ready for a confrontation.
"I know." Rumi crossed the room and lowered herself onto the couch, her movements careful, almost tense. Zoey didn't hesitate, she vaulted over the backrest and dropped into the space at Rumi's side, eyes wide.
Rumi drew in a slow breath, her fingers tightening around the phone. "I haven't… forgiven her yet. And I know she's probably been giving me space, letting me work things through on my own. Which is why…" She hesitated, voice faltering for just a moment. "…if she's calling me, calling all of us, now…"
"Then it has to be important," Mira finished for her, her expression sharpened with the kind of seriousness she rarely showed.
Rumi nodded once, the weight of it sealing the thought.
---
The ride over had been mostly silent. Even Mira, who usually filled every gap with chatter or humming or both, kept her thoughts to herself. The city lights blurred past the van's windows, reflections flickering across Zoey's face as she sat pressed against the glass, lost in thought.
When the driver finally turned down a winding road lined with iron streetlamps, the shift was immediate. The noise of Seoul faded, swallowed by the quiet wealth of the hillside. At the end of the drive, the building rose into view.
The gates creaked open at their arrival, and the van rolled slowly up the stone drive. Zoey felt her chest tighten the closer they came. It had been a year. A year without Celine's voice, or presence, her razor-sharp gaze that seemed to guide everything and everyone in a room.
When the van stopped, the doors clicked open. Rumi was the first out, her shoes crunching against the gravel path, posture rigid. Mira followed, stretching as if to shake off nerves, though her eyes flicked everywhere, up the columns, across the wide steps, over the carved lion statues flanking the entrance.
Zoey lingered for a moment before slipping out after them. The building loomed even larger up close, its entrance crowned by a massive oak door inlaid with brass. She tugged at her yellow hat, a nervous habit, before trailing after the others.
The door opened before they reached it.
Celine stood framed in the light of the foyer, poised as ever. Her hair fell in sleek waves around her shoulders, not a strand out of place, and her dark outfit, tailored and elegant, fit her like armor. But it wasn't the clothes or the mansion that hit Zoey hardest. It was Celine herself.
Those eyes, sharp and unreadable. That presence, cool and commanding, so untouchable.
"Rumi. Mira. Zoey." She called with a small and welcome smile.
For a heartbeat, none of them moved. Rumi's jaw clenched. Mira shifted awkwardly. Zoey felt her pulse hammering in her ears.
Then Celine stepped aside, gesturing smoothly for them to enter. "Come in."
Zoey trailed behind the others, trying not to let her sneakers squeak against the floor. She glanced at the pictures as they passed, their best moments frozen in time, most of them performances, a few candid smiles. But there were no recent ones. Nothing from the last year.
Celine led them into a sitting room just off the main hall. A fire burned low in the hearth, the only sound besides the faint tick of a grandfather clock. Plush chairs circled a low glass table. It felt both welcoming and… staged, like everything had been arranged for this exact meeting.
"Sit," Celine said, her voice calm but carrying no room for argument.
Zoey sank into one of the chairs, her hands twisting in her lap. Mira plopped down across from her, trying to look casual but failing. Rumi, however, didn't sit right away. She stood, arms crossed, staring at Celine as though trying to read something hidden in her expression.
Only when Celine met her eyes, unflinching, did Rumi finally lower herself into the seat closest to Zoey.
The silence that followed stretched long, heavy, filling the room until Zoey thought she might choke on it.
Celine let it linger. She always had. She knew exactly how to make silence feel like a conversation in itself.
Finally, she folded her hands in her lap, her gaze sweeping over the three of them.
"Why did you call us?" Rumi asked, her face shadowed with cold anger. The sharp edge in her voice made Zoey almost flinch.
"Rumi, I..." Celine started, her words faltering.
"Why have you summoned us, Celine?" Rumi pressed, her fist tightening at her side.
Before Celine could answer, another voice cut through the tension.
"If it wasn't for those disgusting patterns on her skin, I might have liked her."
Celine's expression crumbled, and the others turned toward the new speaker. A tall woman in a greyish-blue suit strode confidently into the sitting room, followed by three young women and a broad-shouldered man whose presence filled the doorway.
"Who the hell are you?" Mira demanded, her irritation flaring at the insult to her friend.
The woman ignored the hostility. She moved with deliberate poise, taking a seat beside Celine and crossing her legs as though she owned the space. Her disappointed gaze lingered on Celine.
"It seems Celine failed to explain things properly," she said coolly. Then, with a faint smile, she looked at the group.
"I am Zerida, leader of the Magwi Sanyangdan, the Demon Hunters Corps."