Hidden Patterns | Kpop Demon Hunters x Reader

[ 11 ] ghosts in the night

All four of them are petrified.

They might not say it out loud—they might even be too proud to admit it—but they're frozen stiff in front of you. They can't help it. It's the first time they've seen you like this, in your demon form. Their instincts are screaming, sounding alarms that no words can silence. Your power has spiked. Visibly. Palpably. It clings to the air like static, humming through the wind, thicker than mud.

Even so, they don't run. They hold their ground.

Which means they've made their decision already. They're seeing this through to the end. You suppose that means they're brave. Brave enough to stay even when their survival instincts are telling them to run. They're either brave for not backing down even now, or they're incredibly stupid.

Not that the details really matter at this point.

Abby is the first to strike.

He doesn't say a word. He just forces himself forward, pushing through the weight of his own hesitation. A guttural noise escapes his throat as he lunges toward you. You blink once, and he's already wrapped his arms around your waist, slamming you down onto the pavement.

Maybe it's meant to disorient you. Maybe he thinks pinning you down will buy the others time to close in—which they do.

The moment Abby brings you to the ground, still clinging tightly to your arm so you can't wrench yourself free, Romance and Mystery descend on you like shadows. There's a split second where you see the blur of their fists as they come down, fast and hard, landing directly on your stomach. Their combined impact shakes the ground.

You don't move.

For a moment, they believe they've done it. All three of them stare at you uncertainly, then heave a collective sigh of relief.

Unfortunately for them, however, your voice quickly cuts through the silence.

"Is that it?"

You look up at them, eyes sharp and unfazed. A faint trickle of crimson slips down the corner of your mouth, but your expression doesn't change. If anything, you just look bored.

Before any of them can react, your power flares. An invisible pulse ripples out from your body, cracking the pavement beneath you. You move in a blur, twisting your arm free from Abby's grip and flinging all three of them back in a single breath. They tumble through the air, bodies colliding against each other like ragdolls, until they eventually crash down across the street.

Abby scrambles upright, staring at you in disbelief. There's not even a single scratch on you. As if your apathetic reaction from earlier wasn't bad enough, you're not showing any signs of being physically affected. Most demons would have taken a considerable amount of damage just now.

Most.

But now that he stops to think about it, you can't exactly be grouped under the same category as all the others.

You glance around, eyes sweeping the surroundings for any signs of human interference. Everything is still quiet. No civilians yet. That's good. But it only takes a brief shift in your attention for the others to recover and launch themselves at you again.

Romance comes in first, trying to grapple you from behind. Mystery follows from the side, reaching to grab your wrists, while Abby sprints in head-on, preparing another punch.

But Baby still hasn't moved.

He's frozen.

Even now, he's still kneeling on the ground where you left him, ever since you hurled him through your apartment window. He's watching, and unlike the others, he knows. He finally understands now.