In spite of Jinu's betrayal, Rumi and her bandmates are able to pull off the impossible, and create the Golden Honmoon at the Idol Awards. In spite of that victory, Rumi still loses, as the new barrier seals away every single demon in the underworld... half-demons included. Guess who’s a half-demon?
Now trapped in the land of demons with only Jinu and the reluctant help of the other Saja Boys, Rumi has to make a choice: find a way to break the Honmoon she spent her entire life helping to build... or be trapped in Hell forever.
Crashout is a KPop Demon Hunters Fan Fiction. It can be read on Archive of Our Own here
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Crashout Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Murder:
- According to Gardener, Celine killed Rumi's mother by accident while trying to kill him; she jumped in front of Celine's blade to defend him and Celine didn't stop in time.
- In a Noodle Incident, Abby apparently accidentally killed Jinu at one point. Because Death Is a Slap on the Wrist, he was fine.
- Adaptational Expansion: The fic gives more detail on various parts of the movie, such as demons requiring a connection to the human they target before consuming their soul, which explains why they never tried to sneak up on Huntrix.
- All Part of the Show: With Bobby's help, the Saja Boys claim that everything from HUNTR/X’s apparent breakup to the very public battle at the Idol Awards was an elaborate collaborative performance.
- Amazon Chaser: Both Abby and Romance have blatant crushes on Mira, precisely because of her strength and fighting prowess. A Running Gag has her threatening bodily harm to any of the Saja Boys if they hurt Rumi, with Abby and Romance being turned on by this instead of threatened. Abby even admits "I like a girl who can kick my ass."Baby: Come read the list of things Mira’s going to do to us if we hurt her precious friend.
Abby: *reading Mira’s letter* Rumi, please tell Mira I hurt you.
Romance: Tell her I hurt you more.
Baby: You two are pathetic. - At Least I Admit It: Baby views himself as this compared to Rumi and the other Saja Boys; he never claimed to be anything other than a monster who enjoys killing people, so why bother trying to become a better person?
- The Baby of the Bunch: Ironically, not Baby Saja; Abby is the youngest of the Saja Boys, having only become a demon nineteen years ago. Baby is actually the oldest of the group, having been a demon for an indeterminate amount of time already when Jinu arrived.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Gwi-ma enslaved Abby and Romance into demonhood by making use of this trope:
- Abby was born female, but suffered from severe gender dysphoria and depression as a result of it. Gwi-ma offered to give him the perfect male body without the need for gender reassignment surgery or hormone replacement therapy, neither of which Abby could afford financially. Despite Abby getting the body he always wanted, his relatives and friends didn't recognize him, which led to the subsequent feelings of shame that made his demon patterns grow until Gwi-ma claimed him.
- Romance was sick of constantly discovering his lovers never truly loved him, so Gwi-ma offered to make it so nobody would ever be able to lie about their feelings for him. Unfortunately, he discovered that people in general, not just his lovers, lied a lot more than he expected, which led to his self-hatred for being so naive as to believe that someone genuinely cared about him until Gwi-ma was able to claim him.
- Beneath the Mask: Celine claims not to care about Rumi's fate, painting it to Zoey and Mira as a "noble sacrifice" they should honor. Once she's alone, it becomes very clear she's absolutely horrified by what happened to her foster daughter and has no idea how to cope with it, and is falling back on her "Faults and fears must never be seen" mentality.
- Big Little Brother: Abby's this for the Saja Boys, on account of being the buffest and tallest out of them as well as being the youngest demon.
- Blood Knight:
- When pressed by Baby, Rumi has to acknowledge that, yes, there is a part of her that enjoys killing demons and hurting people.
- Baby has been fighting the various Hunters and eating souls for centuries. As he tells Rumi, the reason he’s been fighting so long is because he likes it.
- City with No Name: There's only one city in the Underworld, so no one ever bothered giving it a name. Everyone simply calls it "the city."
- Cuteness Proximity: Zoey's reaction to meeting Derpy; Mira has to restrain her from touching his paws.Mira: Zoey, no.
Zoey: Toe beans.
Mira: Claws, Zoey!
Zoey: Rumi said it’s a friend!
Mira: Even friendly cats don’t like it when you touch their paws! - Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: After Miyeong was killed, her seal stopping Gardener from being dragged back to the underworld by Gwi-Ma was broken, and he got sucked down and promptly devoured. He was only freed after Rumi split Gwi-Ma open during her battle at the Idol Awards.
- Deal with the Devil: In addition to Jinu’s backstory in canon, the rest of the Saja Boys made their own deals with Gwi-Ma.
- Abby, as detailed above, accepted Gwi-Ma’s offer to give him the masculine body he wanted, only to find that none of his friends or loved ones recognized him anymore and he couldn’t tell anyone who he was. On top of that, he admits to Rumi that he’d been inches away from ending his own life when Gwi-Ma spoke to him.
- Romance discovered that not only was his lover cheating on him, but she never cared about him in the first place, only wanting him for his looks. Gwi-Ma’s offer allowed him to fully know if someone was lying or not, and the realization of how untruthful those around him really were, turned him into a demon.
- Death by Childbirth: According to Celine, Rumi's mother died due to complications caused by Rumi's demon blood; it's something Rumi feels a lot of guilt over, believing she "killed" her own mother. Gardener reveals this was a lie.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: For demons it is; even when killed, they eventually reform in the Underworld. The only ones who stay gone are those consumed by Gwi-Ma, and even they've started returning after what Rumi did to him in the Idol Awards.
- Declaration of Protection: Rumi promises Bora’s mother, Stellaluna, that if Gwi-Ma ever returns then she and Jinu will protect her daughter.
- Didn't See That Coming:
- Baby genuinely doesn’t expect Rumi to agree with him when he calls her selfish and accuses her of enjoying killing demons, he expected she’d argue and/or he’d finally break her. He even says out loud "Okay, not where I thought this would go."
- Later, when Rumi swallows Jinu’s soul and admits to the Saja Boys what happened, she’s blindsided by how nonchalant everyone is. The others point out that A; Jinu is still alive, all they have to do is get him out, and B; demons like themselves are the last people who’d be upset at her for eating souls.
- Double Entendre: After Rumi swallows Jinu’s soul, she tells the Saja Boys "I think Jinu’s inside me." After a beat, Abby quips "Biting my tongue so hard right now."
- Elective Mute: Mystery very rarely speaks outside of singing; Rumi only hears him speak a single word out loud before Chapter 30. Instead, he uses basic hand gestures or, as Zoey discovers, writes long and detailed letters to express himself.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: In Chapter 31, Rumi notices the normally-calm Sussy is loudly squawking at Jinu as he leads her away from the festival, and grows suspicious. Sure enough, “Jinu” is actually Gwi-Ma.
- Evil Feels Good: Stealing souls is an intensely pleasurable experience; even demons who had to be forced into it by Gwi-Ma, like Jinu, have to admit when pressed that they do enjoy it. Rumi is disturbed by this, but later has to acknowledge she feels the same way about slaughtering demons. When she accidentally swallows Jinu’s soul in the confrontation with Gwi-Ma, she’s horrified to find they were right.
- Eye Scream: After Gwi-Ma mentally tortures Jinu by transforming into his sister, Rumi runs at him claws first. She manages to gouge out an eye before he teleports away
- Failed a Spot Check: Played for laughs. The Saja Boys continue to wait for Mystery to respawn and come home, until in Chapter 12 when everyone is loudly reacting to Rumi teleporting for the first time. Suddenly he exits his room, silently gestures for them to quiet down, then goes back in.Beat
Abby: When’s the last time you guys checked his room?
Jinu: Don’t say it.
Baby: He’s been here for days, hasn’t he? - Gas Leak Cover-Up: To explain the sudden absence of both Rumi and the Saja Boys.
- Zoey and Mira tell Bobby and their fans, on Celine’s suggestion, that Rumi is taking a mental health break.
- The Saja Boys work together with Rumi to release a video of the boys greeting the fans from a dorm room, assuring everyone the confrontation with HUNTR/X was a collaboration effort and saying they’re taking a short break to recover from their strenuous performance.
- The Ghost: Gwi-Ma hasn't been seen or heard from since Rumi defeated him at the Idol Awards, and demons no longer hear his voice in their heads. Baby is pretty confident he'll return before too long, though, and much of the story is spent preparing for that event. Sure enough, he reappears in Chapter 31.
- Gone Horribly Right: The Golden Honmoon was supposed to seal away every demon in the world permanently. It did... along with every human with so much as a drop of demon blood, no matter how many generations removed, including Rumi.
- Green Thumb: The demon known as Gardener has the ability to make plants and even an entire orchard bloom in the barren wasteland of the Underworld, something Jinu thought was impossible. It's a huge help as well, since it means the half-demons have a stable food supply in the Underworld. During the festival, he teaches other demons to do it as well. It's something he learned from his wife, Rumi's mother.
- Guardian Entity: According to Gardener, this is what Derpy and Sussy are: guardian spirits who bless and protect certain people when asked to. For a demon to have one is rare, and for anyone to have two of them is even rarer, meaning someone must've really wanted to make sure Jinu was alright, although Jinu has absolutely no idea who. (He has a pretty good feeling he knows who, and the thought of them
easily forgiving him even though he left them behind in poverty for a supposedly better life in the palace makes him cry with guilt.) - Heroic Sacrifice: The Gardener reveals that Rumi's mother died protecting him by jumping in front of Celine's blade when she tried to kill him.
- Hidden Depths:
- The Saja Boys are given more depth than the film; Abby is a Supernaturally Validated Trans Person, Romance had his heart broken in the past, Mystery is a talented writer and lyricist, and Baby is a Deadpan Snarker who resents his youthful face and the role he had to play in the group.
- Bobby’s leniency with HUNTR/X compared to real-like managers in the industry is explained as being the result of having a rigid, draconic manager when he was in an idol group in his youth. After years of being beaten down and nearly "destroyed," as well as watching his friends suffer alongside him, he vowed he would never treat any group he managed the same way.
- Human-Demon Hybrid:
- Rumi, along with a lot of other people who all got sealed in the Underworld.
- A little girl named Bora, whom Rumi meets fleeing from "monsters" in the city. Her mother is a demon, and Rumi not only reunites the two but continues to check on them.
- I Do Not Want To Know: When seeing Mystery on the verge of a meltdown, Rumi gives him one of Zoey’s hoodies… which he puts his face into and take a deep inhale of her scent. Rumi quickly decides she does not want to know what that’s about.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Mira's more skeptical compared to Zoey as to whether they can trust and work together with the Saja Boys for them to help Rumi and the other half-demons. A Running Gag has her threatening bodily harm to them in the letters she sends to Rumi if she finds out they betrayed or hurt her. Instead of getting intimidated or scared, however, Abby and Romance fall head-over-heels in love from the multiple graphic ways she will allegedly torture and kill them.Romance: *with a sigh and a dreamy look in his eyes* What a woman.
- Jackass Genie: As it turns out, Gwi-Ma has a tendency to twist wishes to ensure those who make a deal with him are miserable before he claims their souls. Abby made a deal with Gwi-Ma to be turned into a man so that he could avoid the stigma of transitioning medically, only for Gwi-Ma to make his male form completely unrecognizable to his friends and family. Jinu had made a deal with Gwi-Ma to be pulled out of a life of poverty, and Gwi-Ma made it so by having the king force Jinu into a Gilded Cage where he would perform for him whenever he wanted.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Rumi finally listens to "Your Idol" and hears Abby sing "I can be your sanctuary." After a beat, she turns to him and asks if that was supposed to be a pun on "abbey," to which he cheerfully says it is.
- Living Lie Detector: Romance can tell when someone is lying or not, as a result of his deal with Gwi-Ma. This makes him the perfect person to gather intel, which Jinu utilizes frequently.
- Meaningful Rename: Gardener used to be known as Blight before his Heel–Face Turn. He doesn't like it when his former teammate, Baby, calls him by his old name.
- Mysterious Past: No one really knows anything about Baby's human life; he was already a demon by the time Jinu arrived in the Underworld, and is the oldest of all the Saja Boys. He refuses to share and won't even tell them how he got the nickname "Baby."
- The Needless: Demons don't need food or water; they technically don't need sleep but begin suffering mental decline if they go too long without it. This is a problem because half-demons like Rumi do need these things, and there's very little of them in the underworld, meaning they only have so much supplies before she and the other half-demons start to starve to death. Luckily, a demon nicknamed Gardener has been growing an orchard that's able to supply Rumi and a good number of other half-demons with fresh fruit to lighten the food shortage.
- Older Than They Look: Baby is the oldest demon among the Saja Boys, even older than Jinu.
- Once More, with Clarity: At her prompting, Jinu tells Rumi the full story of the last time he saw his mother and sister. Rumi then picks up a detail Jinu overlooked: they were surrounded by guards with weapons, which were all pointed at Jinu’s family. With this, Rumi is able to help him start to realize he did not willingly abandon them, but that the king forced them apart. She further realizes that since Jinu was kept in the palace to entertain the king upon request, he was essentially kidnapped and held prisoner in a Gilded Cage, another detail Jinu had overlooked.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Most demons forego their human names in favor of a nickname given to them in the Underworld, usually one that reflects some obvious characteristic of theirs. "Mystery" being The Quiet One, Romance for being The Social Expert, Gardener for having a Green Thumb, etc. Baby refuses to elaborate on how he got his nickname.
- Past Experience Nightmare: Jinu refuses to sleep because when he does, he has nightmares of the day he left his family. As he tells Rumi, sometimes it goes as it did in real life, but other times a guard cuts his sister down.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Rumi shoves the seed Gardener gave her into Gwi-Ma’s chest, causing a tree to grow around him and trap him inside. The Saja Boys theorize that as long as the tree lives, Gwi-Ma will remain trapped.
- Security Blanket: Mystery has a collection of masks that serve as these for him; Jinu repeatedly reminds Rumi they have to give them back when they’re done using them. With his mask collection depleted, Mystery takes to using one of Zoey’s hoodies as this as well.
- Ship Tease: In addition to both Abby and Romance swooning over Mira, with Mira not seeming too upset when she’s reminded of them, Mystery exchanges long letters with Zoey and tells her things he’s apparently told nobody else. Mystery also takes to keeping Zoey’s hoodie as a Security Blanket because it smells like her.
- Something Only They Would Say: Stellaluna is able to convince Bora she’s her mother by singing the special lullaby she taught her father.
- Supernaturally Validated Trans Person: A dark example; Abby was born female and made a Deal with the Devil to become this trope, rather than having to face the social stigma of transitioning medically. It backfired horribly, as he was then left without any friends or family because no one could recognize who he was, and he was dragged down by Gwi-Ma shortly thereafter.
- Title Drop: The name Mystery comes up with for the song the Saja Boys write for the demon festival is "Crashout."
- True Companions: The Saja Boys are this, having been together long before the events of the movie, with Baby having been the one to find most of them. Baby tries to argue that they’re only together out of necessity, but Rumi sees for herself that’s not true. Gradually, Rumi finds herself considered part of their group as well.
- Trust Password: Jinu warns Rumi that demons can shapeshift to look like anybody, so even if she thinks it’s him, she should ask something only he would know, or for a code word. He chooses “choo choo,” much to her consternation. This comes up later, when Rumi asks a strangely out-of-character Jinu to tell her how she got her new shoes. He can’t answer because he’s actually Gwi-Ma.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Abby genuinely isn’t surprised or confused at all when he reforms and sees Rumi is staying with them. Instead, he’s more confused as to why she’s wearing official Saja Boys merch.
- Wham Line: Courtesy of Gardener: "Oh, my Rumi. You look just like your mother."
- What You Are in the Dark: Gardener had the perfect opportunity to creep up behind Mi-yeong and kill her when she was bent over with grief at her mother's grave shortly after the latter died in a car accident (with Gwi-ma yelling at him inside his head to do so), but he had grown to care for her by then and walked her home instead, alerting her to his presence with a small cough.
