Shadow | Huang Renjun

29

The Min family are gathered in the living room of their home, surrounded by open books and writing equipment. Siho comes downstairs for a drink, pausing at the sight of his parents and sister discussing the clue Eunah found a little while ago– the two ladies on the floor and Jongsu on the sofa.

"You guys are weird..." he mutters, disappearing into the kitchen.

Namgyo shuffles forward, turning the book in her hand to show Eunah.
"The clue mentions a tomb, right? What about this?"

The left page has an image of a graveyard with a small mausoleum in the centre. Underneath is a caption, which states the name and location.

"It's a place of rest for Supernaturals in China. Maybe this is what it's talking about?"

Humming, Eunah jots that down and takes a cookie from the box beside her.

"Kiddo, why don't you ask those Demons you hang out with?" Jongsu queries, leaning back with a coffee mug in-hand.

She covers her mouth while she chews.
"They know as much as I do."

"Do they not have books in Hell?"

"They do, but only one had anything useful."

He takes a cookie from the box when Namgyo holds it up, thanking her.
"Why not invite them over? I'm sure a few extra minds couldn't hurt."

"Maybe..."

"Although, I'm not in the mood to carve out brains right now. Maybe later. We'll use your mother's ladle."

Eunah snorts with laughter, which only gets louder at the sight of Siho in the kitchen doorway looking disgusted. Namgyo lightly taps her husband's leg, causing him to grin.

"Daad, your jokes aren't funny!" Siho groans.

"Your sister thinks they are."

"Yeah, well, she's dumb."

This earns him a scowl from Eunah, which he promptly ignores and heads back upstairs. Jongsu chuckles, leaning forward to ruffle his daughter's already messy hair.

"He doesn't mean it, pumpkin. Ask your friends if they want to come over, we'll be happy to help."

She raises her brows, glancing between her parents.
"Are you sure? Don't forget, you guys are Angels too. I don't know how many people I'm allowed to involve without risking punishment."

The two nod, having already decided to help the night she asked if she was doing the right thing.

"We're sure, sweetpea," Namgyo hums. "We didn't move to Earth just for fun. It was becoming too obvious to us that the Angel way of life is built on obedience."

Eunah tilts her head, confused.
"And God just let you leave?"

"Mhm. We bore no ill-will towards them, so they let us move and keep our status as Angels. We're no longer bound by Divine Law, so what we do is irrelevant to an extent."

"Obviously if we sent an army to take over Heaven, then that'd have consequences," Jongsu adds. "But normal things like friendships with other species don't matter."

"Invite your friends, honey. It won't do us any harm."

~~~~

"It's fine, don't worry. Her parents are really nice."

Miyeon reassures her boyfriend, who is nervously brushing down his clothes in anticipation of Eunah's parents' judgement. Renjun rolls his eyes, calm exterior mostly successful in hiding his increasing unease if it weren't for the continual picking at the hem of his t-shirt.

She rings the doorbell, smiling to herself at the sound of hurried footsteps seconds later. The blurred image of Eunah can be seen through the frosted window on the front door, which opens to reveal the Angel slightly out of breath.

"Come in, come in! Dad's making pizza."

Contrary to her usual attire of a ponytail, cute dresses or skirts and light makeup, Eunah is bare-faced with her hair loose and slightly fluffy. She's wearing a plain, oversized t-shirt and some comfy shorts, white bunny slippers on her feet.

She ushers the trio inside, offering them guest slippers before disappearing into the kitchen. Miyeon walks right in, greeting Namgyo who is setting up cushions and blankets on the floor of the living room, while the two Demons awkwardly look around.

"Make yourselves at home," Namgyo comments, her kind smile reminiscent of the one so often found on her daughter.
"Food should be done soon."

"Thank you, Mrs Min."
Donghyuck bows, causing the woman to laugh.

"You don't need to bow, hon. Eunah's friends get a free pass."

"I told you they're chill," Miyeon interjects, having already sat down on the sofa.

"I'm just going to tell my son we have guests, so sit where you like."

While Namgyo heads upstairs, Donghyuck sits beside his girlfriend and Renjun curls up in the far corner of the sofa. Eunah returns from the kitchen, balancing several drinks on a tray, and tiptoes over the blankets.

"We couldn't find any blood that wasn't like, stale animal blood from the local butcher, so I made coffee and raspberry tea instead."

She places the tray on the coffee table, moving the corresponding drinks to a coaster in front of each guest. Donghyuck and Miyeon thank her, which she smiles at and takes the tray back through.

"Wife material," Miyeon comments, taking a quick glance towards Renjun.

He rolls his eyes again, taking a sip from his mug of coffee.

"Eunah, you suck!" Siho calls from the top of the stairs, coming down with Namgyo behind him, chuckling to herself.

"What did I do now?"
The Angel in question pokes her head around the kitchen door frame, frowning at her brother who glares back.

"You promised you wouldn't play without me!" he huffs, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"What?"

"You killed Mohg without me!"

Her eyes widen in realisation and she winces.
"Oops?"

Confused, the trio on the sofa look between each other then back to Eunah and Siho. Namgyo watches her children quarrel with a small smile and shake of her head, sitting on one of the floor cushions.

"They're playing a difficult game together," she explains, having noticed the baffled looks from the guests.
"They were stuck on that boss for a while, but Eunah got annoyed with it and did it herself last night."

"–We can kill him again on your save, it's fine."

"No we can't, it'll be updated to match yours!"

"Okay, fine... Then you get to kill one of the bosses solo."
Eunah raises her hands in surrender, her brother finally grinning in satisfaction at having won.

"I pick Morgott!"

She puffs out her cheeks, exhaling with raised brows.
"Good luck on that one, then. Extra 50% scaling, since it's my save."

"You watch, I'll do it in one try."

"Sure, sure."