Chapter Text
Okay. Kai could do this. Yes, these were demons who were here to steal everyone’s souls through music and almost succeeded in the past he was from before it was prevented by his sister and her friends—
But! They thought that he thought that they were just a trainee K-pop boy band. Unless…could they read his mind? Did they know that Kai thought that they thought that he thought that they were just a normal idol group? Or could they sense he was lying so he would have to be careful just in case they thought that Kai thought that they thought that he thought that they were just a normal idol group? Would they find out that he thought this? Would he have to reinforce his mind so they think that-
Okay, never mind, too many mind games. If they could read his mind they’d probably just have a stroke.
Focus!
Kai slapped his cheeks—lightly, so that it wouldn’t be seen on his face—and pulled himself together. These were just his five slightly odd patients, and he was a professional doctor at a small, random clinic. He was thirty-five in his past life, and a pediatrician. Odd patients were his forte.
He took in a breath as he left his office through the door that Dr. Han forgot to close in his excitement, walking downstairs with quiet footsteps, more so out of habit than anything. He paused in front of the door separating the clinic from the door, but when he finally opened it, he emerged from it with his usual, professional smile.
“Hello! Welcome to Han Clinic, how can I help you?”
Kai barely held back from flinching when all five Saja Boys turned their necks all at once with those creepily perfect smiles. Yes, just their necks. Even seeing an owl for the first time after never having heard of their existence would probably be less unsettling.
While they all seemed to have different expressions, the blank look in their eyes was the same. Lifeless, the kind you’d expect from someone living paycheck to paycheck with no passions in the hell that is capitalism.
He was thankful, at least, that he had spent some of the panicked, sleepless hours last night in recalling his memory. Jinu, at the front, the leader of the Saja Boys, and the only one whose stage name also seemed to be his real name. Mira said that ‘he had morals, albeit questionable’ considering he sacrificed himself to save Huntr/x, ‘but he hadn’t been someone trustworthy’, betraying Rumi after earning her trust.
“Oh, hello there, Dr. Kai. We met yesterday at the traditional Korean restaurant nearby. You remember us, yes?”
Jinu’s greeting was formal, but…it seemed almost robotic. Kai had been chronically offline practically all his life, and the only ‘modern’ artists he listened to was Huntr/x, but last he checked, he was pretty sure an idol needed to sound less dry to be popular in the ruthless industry that Mira seemed to both love and hate. Maybe he was just being professional?
“Ah, yes, hello! The idol trainee group, right? ‘Saja Boys..?’”
God, Kai was struggling to act like he had no idea who they were. Happy thoughts. H a p p y t h o u g h t s. Stop thinking about the fact that they’re demons ackkkk Mira save me I don’t want to die-
“Indeed we are. It was…quite convenient that five spots were freed up at the clinic for today. Dr. Han had mentioned the same when we called regarding our appointment. Impeccable timing.”
“Aʰₐhₐhᵃ, convenient indeed. You’re quite lucky. I’d assume you’d like to be done with the checkup quickly, considering your hectic trainee schedule, so feel free to read some brochures while I set the equipment up.”
After handing the Saja boys some brochures to read, Kai practically ran upstairs back to his office, hoping they would just think that he was rushing off to fix everything up for their physicals. Which, well, technically he was. Earlier, he had brought out stuff needed for all the middle-aged women who seemingly had 'mysterious' neck and throat pains. A physical—or well, five of them—would need different equipment;
Damn my good organisation skills, I’ll be done fetching everything in no time! I still need time to collect my thoughts.
“...It wasn’t a coincidence.”
Mystery broke the silence cautiously, a few moments after the young doctor left the room. Romance, who seemed almost dazed by the peace, nodded once he snapped out of it.
“Of course it wasn’t, did you think Gwi-ma had just happened to shut up last time? After yapping in our heads for so many years without stopping?”
Baby replied, sarcastic as always. Abby just sighed at the familiar tone. Jinu, however, noticed the difference. Mindless chatter, except for during appearances, was rare for this group. The moment they weren’t in front of other people, the guys would usually turn lifeless again, following orders like puppets while Gwi-ma's voice boomed in their heads.
They didn’t seem to remember their robotic states—only snapping out of it if something important happened or if they were in front of others—but Jinu, who had always had a little more freedom from Gwi-ma, knew how quiet their group usually was.
“The doctor, didn’t he seem…more on-edge this time? His heart was racing again.”
Jinu asked, bringing them back to the topic on hand. However, the others just shrugged at him. Romance, at least, bothered to reply verbally.
“I mean, isn’t everyone more tense at work? He was probably more relaxed since he was on break.”
Abby and Jinu nodded in reply, brushing it off.
None of the Saja Boys even suspected that it might have to do with the creepy way they turned their heads at him in sync. Or their fish eyes. Really, if Kai was here for this conversation, he would’ve had a stroke at the sheer lack of brain cells involved.
Kai clicked his pen a few times as he paced the room. He already had everything ready for the physicals—hell, he rechecked his list enough times that he even took out some spares in case the guys broke something due to demon physiology—but he still hadn’t calmed down completely yet.
Should he call Mira? No, she was busy with the tour right now... Plus, how would he even explain his suspicions to her? Sure, she was much more involved with the whole…magical thing than he was, but even she would send him to psych ward if he said something as outlandish as ‘I helped an old lady on a subway platform and got sent back 11 years into the past!'.
No, it’s fine. Just a physical, and then he’d send them off. Maybe drop a few hints to Mira when she inevitably came to the clinic right before the Saja Boys debut. Yeah, everything was going to be okay, it all ended well anyway, right? He shouldn’t intervene too much.
He took in a deep breath for what felt like the millionth time, before plastering on his usual smile and cracking open his door to the waiting room. He headed downstairs and peeked through the door.
“I can take whoever would like to be first!”
Kai called out, and his heart jumped slightly less this time when all five of them turned to look at him, ending whatever conversation they were having. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think he had a microphone attached to himself considering how his voice seemed to make them all pause.
The Saja Boys just looked at each other for a few seconds, and then, as if coming to some silent agreement, Jinu spoke up.
“Dr. Choi, I apologise, but would it be alright if all five of us came in together? We won’t bother you, of course, but we’d like to stick together if you wouldn’t mind.”
Kai had no idea why they would possibly want to come in for the physical together. It wasn’t like he could even manage to get a scratch on any one of them, so 5v1 would be kind of unfair. But Dr. Choi Kai had years of experience as a pediatrician, so having some onlookers wasn’t too weird of a feeling.
“Oh, yes, of course. Head upstairs, I’ll be right behind you.”
He replied, moving aside and opening the door wide so they could all come in. They did seem to take a minute before they got moving, but the wait wasn’t long enough for Kai to think of it as significant.
“Ah…thank you.”
Jinu’s reply came first, polite like the archetype of what a leader should be. He headed to the stairs, hesitating for a moment and then walking up confidently. And like ducklings following their mother, the other four demons followed.
Kai nodded for them to enter the door that had Dr. Choi written on it. He had been embarrassed when Dr. Han got it made almost immediately after giving Kai the job, but it did feel familiar if he ignored the lack of the words ‘Head Of Pediatrics’ under it.
“Alright, I should’ve asked you to fill these earlier, but it slipped my mind. Please fill in these sheets with your details. Name, age, any family medical history and such. Considering you’re trainees, I’ll assume you live in the same dorm? In that case, just one of you filling in the address part is alright.”
Kai explained, passing the forms to each of the Saja Boys for them to fill up. Jinu and Mystery sat on the chairs prepared for patient consultations, Baby perched on one of the beds with his legs swinging off the edge, with his head leaning on Abby's shoulder, who seemed to be making himself comfortable sitting all criss-cross applesauce. Romance, on the other hand, was half laying down already, back to the wall in a posture that'd send Kai's parents into cardiac arrest if they saw Kai sit like that. He was about to go get them some pens as well, but they seemed prepared, since five pens immediately appeared in their hands. Were they always prepared to give autographs, or what?
For a few seconds, the Saja Boys just blinked. Jinu, at least, scratched his head a little, but the others? Just slow blinks. They blinked for so long they were starting to sync up. Finally, when Jinu noticed and also started wondering what was going on, Mystery spoke up.
“...Jinu”
He muttered, trying to hide the sheet from Kai while pointing at something, but Kai, who had (re-)designed these forms, knew exactly which box Mystery was pointing at. The ‘Full Legal Name’ field.
Jinu and Kai seemed to realise the problem at the same time, though, before Jinu could come up with a clever excuse, Kai decided he did not want any part in this conversation, nor did he want to see the demons’ awkward attempts at whispering and sign language.
“Excuse me for a moment, I’ll just use the restroom. So sorry for all the delays.”
Kai stood up, excusing himself. He bowed a little while ignoring the four pairs of thankful, glittering eyes focused on him. (He was pretty sure there were five, but who knew where Mystery’s eyes were looking behind that veil of purple hair?)
The Saja Boys waited for a few moments after Kai left, only speaking again when Romance, who was closest to the door, nodded to say it was safe.
“Jinu, do you remember our names?”
Romance asked with zero hesitation. Abby brows were scrunched, as if he was trying to remember but coming up empty. Baby poked the wrinkles and Abby’s face instantly smoothed. Mystery muttered some names under his breath, shaking his head at each one that didn’t feel right.
Jinu bit his lip. Of course he remembered their names. The Saja Boys…well, these boys other than him, were all from his mission, after all. He was the reason they were scouted to be demons—and the reason they didn’t remember their own past lives.
“Baby’s was Ha Dojin, he was 24. Romance was Min Jiwon, 23 years old. Mystery was Choi Minsoo, also 23. And Abby was Jeong Kiho, 22 years old.”
Baby didn’t look up when his name was called, just scribbled it onto his sheet, as if unaffected by his own name. But he did seem to look up when the others’ names were spoken, as if he was on the verge of remembering something, but unable to actually recall anything.
Romance paused at hearing his own name, but then nodded, mumbling “Yeah, that feels right~”, under his breath before writing his details down. Mystery just let out a quiet “oh” while penning his name onto the paper, and Abby tensed, appearing almost embarrassed at his cute sounding name.
“Wait, I was the youngest?”
Abby questioned, looking around at the others, wondering why they never said anything. When he got no reaction back, he looked at Jinu.
“Was it obvious???”
“Very much so.”
Jinu replied, writing down his own details. Abby looked at the others, still bewildered, tugging on Baby’s sleeve and pointing at his face, repeating the words ‘Really? Like, really really?’ like a broken record, while Baby only sighed at his antics.
He did, at least, quiet down when they heard a knock on the door. Kai peeked in, looking around as if to check if they were done with their talk.
“Come in, Dr. Choi!”
Romance called out, waving with a flourish as usual. Kai just sighed, wondering what they were talking about. Not about eating me, I hope. I’m too young to be the first victim. I’m not even your target demographic. Please have picky palettes, I don’t taste that good.
He collected their sheets one by one before heading to his seat, sitting down as he examined the details. Park Jinu, Ha Dojin, Min Jiwon, Choi Minsoo, Jeong Kiho, huh? A few of these seem…familiar. Hm. I don’t remember Mira telling me anything about Jinu’s surname…
“You’re the youngest?”
Kai asked, looking up from Abby’s sheet. Abby gave the others a look as if to say See?! before nodding at Kai’s question. Does he think he’s being subtle? He does know people would question that reaction, right? You know what, never mind. This one physical and I never have to talk to them ever again.
“Alright, please come over here one by one for your physical.”
Kai said, standing up and grabbing his things. Being a pediatrician really gave one the patience of a saint.