Chapter Text
Rumi walked through the halls of Honmoon High School wearing her varsity football letterman jacket with the word "Demon" on the back. It was her nickname that started out as a joke the first football game of her freshman year. Coah Gwi-Ma real name Lee Hyun, was skeptical to put her in the game but did for the second half since they were down by 13. The Tigers were on defense and it was 3rd & 10 in the third quarter. Rumi got down and noticed the guy in front of her was someone she used to practice with at whatever training camp was happening.
"If it isn't Kang Rumi."
"Park Ji-hyun, I haven't seen you since that Jaguars training camp in America." Rumi said.
"I see you made your school's football team. We'll talk more after the game." Ji-hyun said as his snapper was about to snap the ball.
It all happened so fast to other but so slow to Rumi and Ji-hyun. As soon as the ball was snapped, Rumi was up and moving. She was on demon time to others as she made her way to the quarterback who threw the ball but couldn't get it to his receiver as Rumi intercepted the ball and ran down the field into the end zone.
To those who saw the whole thing up close, it looked like Rumi was moving like a demon. She was fast and she wasn't stopping anytime soon.
"Well I'll be damned, Abby! Why the hell didn't you tell me your cousin was this good?" Coach Gwi-Ma asked looking at the tall redhead who was watching from the sidelines.
Abby just smiled at his coach clearly proud at Rumi who scored a touchdown from an interception the first game she's played in. They had won by 20 soon after and Rumi was given the nickname "Demon" because she went on demon time during games. As she walked down the hallway to her locker, she noticed her older brother Jinu talking to his coach about something before he looked her way and waved her over.
"Coach Park, this is my sister Rumi. She'd make a great thrower, don't you think?" Jinu said wrapping his arm around Rumi's broad shoulders.
"We do need another thrower for the girls team. Bring her to practice today after school and I'll try to find the event she's best suited for." Coach Park said as he walked away.
"Jinu what was that about?" Rumi asked her brother as she looked down at him.
"You'll be joining the track team this spring and before you get mad at me, think about it this way. By doing two different sports, you'll get more scholarships to D1 colleges." Jinu said.
Rumi paused and thought about it for a bit then nodded her head slightly. What Jinu said did make sense and it'd broaden her chances of getting accepted to good colleges.
"Good also eomma, umma and appa were the ones who told me to talk to Coach Park about you joining the team." Jinu said which didn't surprise Rumi at all.
Once school ended, Rumi met up with Jinu and her other cousins, Romance (Kim Seungmin), Mystery (Lee Hyung) and Baby (Kang Eun-min). They walked to the football field and then past the field to where the baseball and softball fields were. Right next to said fields and a great distance away for safety was the throwing field. Jinu waved them off and walked back to the track while Romance and Baby walked to the long jump area. Mystery led Rumi to the actual field where two girls were warming up and stretching at.
"Girls, we have a new thrower joining us today." a short, chubby man said as he noticed Mystery approaching.
"That's just Mystery." the black haired girl said confused.
Rumi walked behind him after having to catch up because she got distracted by the throwing rings.
"Is that Demon? Why is she here?" the pink haired girl asked slightly annoyed.
"Mira, Zoey, this is Kang Rumi. She's Jinu's sister and she'll be joining us as a new thrower." the man said. "Rumi, this is Mira and Zoey. They'll be helping you get settled into this sport." he added.
"Bobby, I'm not sure if we should have Demon on this team. Track is a very different sport compared to football and she's probably an egotistical jock who thinks she knows everything about throwing." Mira said.
Mystery nudged Rumi slightly in encouragement.
"I'm Kang Rumi but you already know me considering you know my nickname." Rumi said rubbing the back of her neck nervously. She never was one to be social and most of her friends followed the "Extroverts Guide to Adopting an Introvert" which is how she got them. "I'm very excited to learn about this sport." she added with a nervous but polite bow.
"She's not really good at socializing." Romance said from where he and Baby were warming up at.
"All you have to do is be more social than her and then she'll understand that she's been adopted by two extroverts." Baby said sarcastically.
"Baby shut up." Rumi said as she glared at her cousin.
"Try not to overwhelm her, she's an introvert and will go into shutdown mode if overwhelmed with too much noise and social interaction." Mystery said before he left to warm up with the other male throwers.
Rumi stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do. Mira seemed skeptical about her and Zoey was just confused as to why she was there.
"Welcome to the team Rumi, I'm Choi Zoey and this is Kim Mira. It's nice to meet you." Zoey said as she held out her hand.
"Choi Zoey? I know you, I saw you working with Kang Soomin at Sunlight Entertainment last week. You have really good rapping skills." Rumi said as Zoey blushed slightly.
"You were there? I'm glad you think so." Zoey said.
"I was helping out a solo artist with producing a song and I walked past the studio you were in when I heard you rapping." Rumi said.
Zoey looked at her and realized that she did in fact remember seeing purple hair in a dragon braid walking past the studio room she was working with Soomin in.
"Kim Mira right? I remember Celine talking about a girl with a sharp tongue and blunt attitude being an amazing dancer. She did say her only concern was the attitude and the lack of being able to take criticism." Rumi said as she looked thoughtful.
"You know Celine?" Mira asked.
"I know all the Sunlight Sisters, I work for them in a sense." Rumi said. It wasn't a lie, she did work for the company but she also didn't tell them that she was their daughter.
"We should get started before Zoey starts fangirling about them." Mira said as Rumi nodded slightly.
Taking off her jacket, she started stretching completely oblivious to the stares she was getting from Mira and Zoey who were staring at her muscles and the way her white tank top accentuated her abs in all the right ways.
Clearing her throat with a blush, Mira grabbed her shotput and held it out for Rumi to grab.
"It's 8lbs and it's what you'll be throwing during meets." she said as Rumi grabbed the shotput slightly put off by the weight difference and size. "That's the shotput ring, I'll be showing you how to throw, enter and exit inside it as well as what counts as a foul during a meet." she added as she pointed the slab of concrete with a metal ring inside in a circle and metal block at the end of said circle.
Mira showed Rumi the proper way to hold a shotput as well as how to release it before she stepped inside the circle and started explaining.
"You can enter from anywhere in the ring but you always and I mean always have to exit out the back half. If you don't then it's a foul." she said as she pointed to the back half of the circle. "This is the toeboard. You can hit the bottom and the middle of it but your foot can't step on top of it or step out of the circle after you throw otherwise it's a foul." she added as she pointed out the toeboard.
Rumi nodded at the information before Mira stepped out and gestured for her to step in. Placing the shotput on her neck and following Mira's directions and demonstration of a standing throw and got into position.
"When you release the ball, it's a flick of the wrist and not a throw. Like this." Mira said demonstrating the proper way to throw a shotput.
Rumi nodded and followed Mira's direction. She got low and then let her left arm come up followed by her hips and released the shotput. It went far until it landed just a bit above 8 meters. Romance, Mystery and Baby whistled as Bobby measured. Mira and Zoey stared at Rumi in shock as Bobby called out the number the shotput landed at.
"Is that good?" Rumi asked as Mystery nodded.
"Not bad for your first time." he said as Zoey giggled lightly at his a small smile.
Rumi took note of said giggle and gagged mentally.
'Mystery? Really? He's not even fun to hang around.' she thought.
Romance ruffled her hair before moving to flirt with Mira who growled.
"Romance leave her alone, you're chopped as fuck and she's way out of your league." Rumi said. "M from McDonald's having hairline. 'Badabababa I'm lovin it' ahh hairline." she continued roasting him.
"Damn Ru, you ain't have to be mean about it." Romance said as he moved away from Mira while Baby laughed at him.
"Your head look like the back of a toaster too." Rumi continued.
Romance blanked before wrapping her up in a headlock. Rumi laughed before standing up to her full height and throwing him over her shoulder onto the ground.
"So uh how do you all know each other?" Zoey asked as she noticed how comfortable and relaxed Rumi is around the three boys.
"We're cousins." Romance wheezed as he struggled to get up.
"You're related to these three heathens?" Mira asked incredulously as Rumi nodded.
"How's everything going?" Jinu asked as he walked from the track followed by Abby.
"Oh great, he's here too." Mira said sarcastically.
"You sound happy to see me Mira, did you miss my abs?" Abby said.
"You mean the abs you built on buttermilk lies?" Rumi said as she pushed him being mindful of his broken arm.
"You wound me Ru, I thought we were close." Abby said dramatically.
"Why is Romance on the floor?" Jinu asked.
"He thought he could put me in a headlock." Rumi answered.
"Let me guess, Jinu and Abby are also your cousins." Mira said.
"Jinu's my annoying older brother." Rumi said.
"I see you're being adopted by Mira and Zoey as their introvert friend." Jinu said which resulted in a punch to his arm. "Ow, so violent!" he said rubbing his arm.
"I'm glad you're fitting in with the throwers." Abby said as he used his good arm to ruffle Rumi's hair which led to a resounding smack on the back of his head. "Ow! Dude, seriously?"
"Yes, you deserved it." Rumi said.
"Why are you choosing violence today?" Jinu asked.
"Because you all are dumbasses." Rumi said.
Mira and Zoey looked at each other before Mira cleared her throat.
"Can we get back to practice now?" she asked as Zoey nodded.
"Right, yeah. Sorry." Rumi said as she pushed Jinu and Abby away.