{OP: "Dead Man (Carry Me)"--Jars of Clay]

When they finally got back to the tower, they inspected it.

There was a smell of new paint in the areas that had had to get patched up.

Otherwise, it looked the same as before.

Mira found they had fixed the window and everything else, to where you couldn't even tell it had been damaged... Even the holes she'd left in it herself by slamming things around were now gone.

And the story that they'd been robbed had worked...though it had also made the news, despite Bobby's best efforts.

But it wasn't like it was a scandal for someone to try to rob rich idols, though how they got past security was the topic of a lot of fan threads on the posts.

The girl declined to explain it to anyone. Even when called on for a comment on it, Rumi said it was too bad but that they'd recovered most of the stuff they'd lost.

"Of course, they'll think we should fire our security detail," she said. "But not like we're going to."

"Your security is bad enough if demons are getting past it," Raven said. "Especially if they're getting replaced by them."

"It could've been worse," Zoey said.  "Even if they did destroy our stuff...but the new sound board is just as good, and we didn't lose anything that important... It still sucks though."

"And I can get a new guitar also," Rumi said. "I'm glad it wasn't anything worse than that."

"By the way," Morph said, "Shine wrote us again. We told her about what happened... She sent us something to help."

He held up a vial of oil.

"What is that?" Mira asked.

"It's a symbolic thing, but she said that it can help to use real items, especially in a world where demons are physical beings," Morph said. "She said to put it around our room and also write out some verses and stick them on all the walls. It sounds...weird, but she swears that it helps."

"She has those around her daughter's crib," Raven said. "I've seen it. And in her room also."

"So they won't be able to invade our rooms again?" Rumi said.

"I don't know if it's completely guaranteed," Morph said. "But it might deter them... Worth a shot, right?"

"Yeah, okay, you should do it then," Rumi said.

"She also said she's sorry that happened to Mira," Morph added. "But that it's most certainly not her fault because the devil would attack us anyway."

"Does she really believe that?" Mira wondered. "Seems to me she's the type to find a reason for it, based on what you've said. She's training you to look for this stuff--she can't really think there's absolutely no connection to me."

"Fine, she did say that too," Morph said. "I asked her, to be clear, just because I wanted to make sure. Though I'm not blaming you for it at all...but her answer was vague...if you want to hear it."

"Sure," Mira said, though she didn't really want anyone else to hear it but didn't want to act afraid of it either.

Morph opened the letter and read one part of it: "'Strongholds are formed for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes those are our own choices, and other times, they are other people's. I can't possibly tell you which it is this time, and it would be very wrong for me to try. Don't assume blame. Remember the story of Job and his friends... We can think things happen for one reason, and then God will tell us we were totally wrong. Mira herself will have to decide if she thinks she did something or not. If you accuse her of it, you'll only make it worse, and you'd probably be overstepping. Any time we start to judge someone for the devil attacking them, we're basically playing God, and that's not okay. Please do not ask me to decide something like that again.'"

He looked up. "That's the sharpest thing she's ever written to us since we arrived."

"That was sharp?" Jinu said.

"For her, yes," Raven said. "And I could hear her tone saying it, too..." She shuddered.

"So there you have it." Morph waved dramatically. "Shine is wise enough to know not to assume anything, and I think we should take her cue. Whatever you think about the attack, it's your life...so..."

"Well, I'd like to know if Mira does think she's responsible for it then," Baby said.

"Shut up," Abby said.

Mira glared at Abby but then sighed. "It was probably a mix of a bunch of different things. But I've recovered more, so I don't think it's going to happen again."

She hoped that was true, anyway.

"Mira, you can always stay in our rooms if you don't want to risk it for a while," Zoey said. "At least until you're fully back to normal. I'm fine with it."

"It's smarter to do that," Rumi said. "No one should stay anywhere alone... Most of you already are doing that, since we're the only ones with our own rooms."

"And, to be fair, none of us have been attacked while in our rooms," Morph said. "Except the Saja Boys the first few days, but it hasn't happened again in awhile."

"Fine." Mira honestly was too freaked out about the incident not to take Zoey up on that offer.

* * *

After they'd resettled in and done the precautionary things, Rumi and Zoey wondered when to broach the subject of what they had learned to the boys.

It seemed that Romance needed help, but the other 3 probably wouldn't like it.

Zoey was worried that Mystery might panic again. He had never led to the subject of the past willingly, even since getting freed.

Finally though, at dinner (which, now everyone but Romance had to eat, had grown their food bills a lot), they brought up vaguely that they'd found out more about the past on the internet.

Of course, Mystery stopped eating right away.

Zoey tried to make it easy for them by bringing up their idol names first.

"Oh, right," Abby said, "now I remember."

"It sounds vaguely familiar," Romance said, but he was frustrated, since the memory was still not coming clear in his head.

"Right, I remember it now," Baby said.

"Mind explaining the Benjamin one to us?" Morph asked. 

"It was a reference to some story about this guy who aged backwards," Baby said. "There was a joke that I looked young for my age, and I was the mankae, so we went with it."

[The story is Benjamin Button, if you've never heard of it. It's a movie and a book also, I think.]

"Oh..." Morph nodded.

Raven wondered if the girls were wise to bring this up at dinner, in front of everyone, and watched them warily.

"So--" Rumi cleared her throat. "We learned some other things too. Things that...could help you." She looked at Romance.

Romance froze.

"What kinds of things?" Abby said warily.

"Things about the accident and the other problems," Zoey said meekly. "If you want to hear it."

"I'd rather not hear it," Mystery said.

"I also don't care," Baby said. "Can't think too little about it now." He went back to putting hot sauce on his food.

Jinu and the other Sajas had all thought Baby would lose his taste for hot sauce after turning human again, since they had attributed his lack of real taste buds for how he could tolerate it.

This was not the case. Either he'd adapted to it while in demon form and it had carried over, or he'd just always been that much of a freak about food.

Even Mira couldn't handle as much spice as him, to her chagrin.

"What kinds of things?" Abby asked again.

But warily, not eagerly.

Rumi knew it would be difficult to bring up what they'd learned about him, and she didn't know if any of it was relevant for Romance to know or not.

"Well, just things about the members," she said.

"Like news coverage about the hospital stay," Zoey said, not seeing the same problem Rumi did immediately.

Abby tensed more.

Mira wasn't missing any of this.

She glanced at Zoey like she wondered if she was about to pull the wrong wire while diffusing a bomb.

"And maybe something about what you could have done to get in trouble," Rumi said to Romance. "If you want to know."

"I would like to know," Romance said.

Mystery shook his head. "Can I just go then?"

"Sure," Morph said kindly.

Mystery got up and left.

Baby ignored them.

"There wasn't a whole lot we could uncover," Rumi admitted. "But we did find something that might confirm the theory we all had about your having a relationship with someone that got exposed... Nothing about what happened to the girl though."

"People would have exposed her too," Zoey said. "But she could have just disappeared...not wanted to take the heat maybe."

"I see." Romance didn't seem pleased to hear this. "I guess that's something...but I don't know how the deal would be about that."

"Maybe it wasn't, but there wasn't a lot about it," Rumi said.

"We found out more about Abby than you," Zoey blurted without thinking, as if trying to make Rumi's point.

"What about him?" Baby looked up.

"Not important," Abby said hastily. "I'm already free."

"But really, what?" Jinu had known that Abby had refused to tell him and saw his chance to find out.

He was the only other one who didn't know. Rumi hadn't had the chance to fill him in, and Zoey and Mira didn't care to.

"Uh..." Rumi hesitated, since she didn't think Abby was just going to let her say it. "Maybe I'll just tell you later."

"Or you could keep it to yourself," Abby said darkly.

"Abby, no one cares," Zoey said.

This wasn't exactly true, since Rumi certainly had expressed concern.

And now she looked at Abby.

"Why are you so anxious to hide it? It's all in the past," she said. "And all of us could understand making mistakes, unless there is something particularly shameful about whatever it was."

"It's not worth talking about," Abby said, and he was getting more tense.

"If everyone but me knows already, why can't I?" Jinu said, was starting to take this personally. "You think I'm going to judge you?"

"I didn't want them to know either," Abby said. "It wasn't necessary for you to poke more into it."

"Uh, yeah, it was," Zoey argued. "We're trying to help Romance, and so far we haven't gotten closer to what his deal was...and if you're hiding something about it, Abby, you know, that's kind of selfish."

"What would I have to do with him?" Abby was getting confused as to how it could be connected, but still angry.

"Well, you might," Romance said. "What was it they found out about you? I'd like to know."

"Nothing," Abby said.

"So why do you need to hide it?" Rumi said. "Mystery owned up to what he did, and what could be worse than that?"

Mira knew Rumi was pushing this on purpose now.

She frowned at her.

Not that she wouldn't have done this herself, if she were Rumi--and didn't already know--but if it wasn't her doing it, she could more easily see why it might be a bad idea.

Funny...self reflection came only with noticing other people's poor choices sometimes.

"Rumi--" Abby was getting closer to losing his cool. "--you of all people have no room to expose anyone else's secrets without a second thought."

Rumi frowned. "But my secrets were a huge problem, so I should know better than anyone that keeping them is a mistake."

"I don't think this is going to affect the Honmoon," Abby said. "And if you already know, you should know that. Jinu doesn't need to know, and neither does Romance."

"But I would if it could be relevant," Romance said.

"And I'm sure I'd find out eventually," Jinu said. "So why are you so defensive about it?"

"Jinu, shut up," Raven finally spoke up. "Enough pushing. And Rumi, drop it."

"Raven, you don't just make that call unilaterally," Rumi said. "What about Romance?"

"I don't see how what we learned would help him," Raven said. "And Abby has a point... For someone who had the same problem as him, you are very eager to not tolerate it in other people."

Rumi frowned. "But we're trying to learn from our mistakes."

"You can push things too fast, Rumi," Morph said.

Morph meant that to help, but Abby didn't quite like how to implied that they all thought he was still being only stubborn.

With a dark look, he got up and left the room.

"That went well," Baby said. "Good job." With a thumbs up.

"You must remember it yourself now," Raven said. "Do you think he has a reason to hide it?"

"I remember it, all right," Baby said. "I mean, not until you brought it up, but then it popped back into my head. And, it's not a big deal."

"That's a huge deal," Rumi said. "Is it true he was almost arrested?"

"The police just talked to him," Baby said. "He wasn't actually taken to the station...but yeah...that's serious."

"Honestly, any other K-pop idol would have ended their career if they even got close to being violent or arrested," Zoey said. "How would he get away with that?"

"I wasn't actually close enough to see the whole thing," Baby said. "And I don't think I want to tell you anyway... And the truth is, I don't think he did. Gwi-Ma probably erased those memories also... But I remember now-- bby changed a lot after that... I think, after Mystery, he was the first who made his deal."

"How could you know for sure?" Mira asked.

"I didn't know about the deals till later," Baby said. "And I'm not sure exactly, only that I remember all of them acted differently after they made them, and you could kind of tell if you knew them well enough... Mystery was even quieter afterwards... Abby just acted off--I can't exactly put it into words. I never wanted to talk about it, but if you're going to pry into it anyway..." He looked sullen.

"But what do you mean off?" Zoey said. 

"I just said I can't put it into words," Baby said.

"At least try," Morph said. "Please...we don't know how the process works the other way, only heard about it, and Jinu didn't get the chance to ask anyone if he showed signs of changing."

Jinu looked down.

Baby sighed and then leaned back. "I guess...Gwi-Ma takes people souls piece by piece, till they finally turn into demons and he can take them to his realm forever, right? So at first, it's not obvious that's what's happening, or they wouldn't make the deal. I think there's...a hollowness to it, I guess. Little by little, they stop caring about things they used to care about. That's what I think it was. You've noticed that Mystery is kind of a weirdo--hyper fixates, doesn't talk about much... He was like that before too..but it was like he just stopped wanting to do anything he was interested in. And people thought the the accident and scandal had made him depressed, and maybe it was that...but the deal, I think it made him unable to care, even if he wanted to."

"Come to think of it, that's how it was," Jinu said soberly. "I didn't really enjoy anything after I made the deal. I thought I would, but I didn't...and then slowly I became more possessed by it till Gwi-Ma pulled me into his realm. I pretended to enjoy things, but I didn't... I couldn't stand myself."

Rumi put her hand on his gently.

"Anyway, Abby was the same way," Baby said. "You'd think they'd be glad that, suddenly, no one remembered what they did. It was like magic. I thought it was so strange, and I asked them about it... Finally, they mentioned the voice in their heads...and I saw the patterns."

"Wow, and you thought 'I have to get some of that'?" Mira said flatly.

"None of them knew what they were," Baby said. "At first they just kind of look like scars...and by the time I knew, I'd already made my deal. Romance had too, but I can't remember when it happened...and that's all I know. Can we drop this now?"

"That didn't help me," Romance said. "I still don't remember a thing. My head just hurts trying, like always."

"But what did Abby do?" Rumi pressed. "I know you remember it, Baby."

"Why do you care so much?" Baby said tightly.

"She's worried that if he truly has a violent side, it's dangerous." Raven finally just said it outright.

"Isn't that hypocritical for a hunter to think?" Baby said.

"We're violent against demons, not humans," Zoey said. "But I thought, maybe, it wasn't as bad as that. No way he'd actually assault someone, right?"

Baby was silent.

Rumi frowned at him.

"Like I said, I didn't actually see it," Baby said. "Romance might have, but he doesn't remember, and Mystery won't tell you anything, since he'd blame himself for it happening."

"Why?" Mira said.

Baby frowned at her. "I'm not saying any more. And you're pretty aggressive already, Mean Girl, so what's it to you?"

Mira hadn't said anything judgmental about it thus far, but of course Baby assumed the worst about her.

She pushed her chair back angrily. "Shut up, you little twerp!"

Then she left also.

"I didn't think she'd get that mad about it," Jinu said. "Though, that was mean." With a frown at Baby.

"All of you say worse to us all the time," Baby said.

"Since you turned human we haven't," Rumi said.

"Well, Miss Juvenile Delinquent has probably gotten in altercations before," Baby always shocked them when he used big words, though he clearly knew plenty of them. "And you've never asked her?"

"No, we never asked her," Zoey said. "Didn't think we should. And I don't think she did... That's pretty serious, and wouldn't it have come out?"

"Celine no doubt concealed any records of things like that," Raven said. "How else is someone who is known for being the 'problem child' in a country like Korea not considered a bad influence? Don't your fans even say they don't know why she's considered that?"

"Well, yeah," Zoey said. "Because she's cool. She's not violent like that to anyone but demons."

"I've seen Mira fight," Raven said. "And I've seen you fight. And if I had pick who most likely had fought with someone before she was a hunter, it would be Mira. Celine is good at her job, clearly. She covered the whole thing with Rumi's mother easily enough... She must have connections. You two have never asked yourselves if Mira has a darker past than you thought?"

"Mira can't really have ever gonna that far," Rumi insisted. "I'm sure that would have come up."

"Knowing Celine as well as we do," Morph said, "I can't help but think she might see it as positive if someone already had fighting experience, as long as they could be taught to control their anger. And Celine doesn't seem to have a problem with anger being directed at demons, based on what you've told us. Are you so sure?"

"I just can't believe it," Rumi said. "Mira is not a bully."

"You assume she'd have to be a bully?" Raven said. "She's said she has a short fuse. Someone could have tried to start a fight with her. I've heard how bad bullying is in Korea." [In a lot of countries actually, not just Korea.]

"I think we couldn't blame Mira for that," Zoey said. "But this is different. It's public... Rumi was only worried about it showing a lack of self control."

"But is that worse than us?" Jinu asked Rumi.

"I don't think it's the same," Rumi said. "Your deals were all selfish, but they only were to protect you from poverty or consequences for your actions, and in a way, maybe you even thought it would help other people... I mean, did you know you were going to...leave your family?"

"No, not at first," Jinu said. "But I still did it."

"There are things Gwi-Ma makes you do after you make a deal..." Rumi said. "But we're talking about even before the deal was made, being willing to do something to someone else that's that serious... I mean...we've talked before about how some people could just...be bad before they even made their deal with Gwi-Ma, and we need to be cautious about that. I was only worried about it."

"You know that is not half as bad as most things I've done," Raven said. "Why are you so worried about it?"

"Because sometimes he's still kind of like that," Rumi stated. "We've all seen him get really angry, even with us."

"To defend Mira," Morph said. "And his friends."

"But how far does that go?" Rumi asked. "Because even if we were insulted by someone in public, none of us would start yelling or threatening anyone over it."

"I don't recall him threatening anyone," Morph said.

"But did he before? Could he again?" Rumi said.

"Okay, this is really getting ahead of ourselves," Jinu said. "We don't know that Abby did anything that bad."

Baby was glaring at Rumi.

"Well, if he won't tell us, and Mystery won't, and I can't, and Baby wasn't there, we're kind of stuck," Romance said.

"Then let's change the subject," Morph said. "Rumi, this won't get us anywhere... I think it's best to wait for things to work out sometimes."

Rumi sighed. "Fine... Well, let's talk about Bobby. Since he's not quitting, he wants to talk about changing things, now that he knows the truth. And...we must think of Celine eventually finding out that we told him, and she'll be back here sooner or later, I think. She's still hasn't told us the full truth so... I mean, I know we're slowing down a little, but it's been days since we got anywhere with this, and I'm getting tired of the attacks... Now that we're back here, Gwi-Ma will attack as soon as he can..."

So, she was back to her usual self, they all thought.

Oh well, at least she was more cheerful when she could focus on something else.

* * *

Mira questioned if she should do what she'd left the room to do, but finally she decided that she wasn't going to be afraid of it.

She found Abby downstairs. He'd gone into the gym, where he was most likely not to be disturbed.

He wasn't using it, just sulking.

As soon as she walked in, he glared at her.

"Did they tell him?" he asked.

Mira raised an eyebrow. "I left before they finished, but didn't seem like Baby was going to say it..."

"Oh, great." Abby didn't sound convinced. "But Rumi is going to tell Jinu later, I bet... And everyone else already knows? Word sure travels fast."

He hit one of the punching bags, though not very hard, like he was distracting himself more than anything else.

Mira watched with a non-plussed expression.

"Rumi doesn't like to let things drop," she stated. "And normally, neither do I... If only Jinu and Romance don't know anyway...it's not that different if they tell them."

"If that's your way of telling me to go back up there and deal with it, forget it."

"Wow, so the big man can dish it out, but he can't take it?" Mira was savage. "I seem to remember someone telling me to just go talk to my friends about my problems... Was that you or Romance?"

"Not the same thing." Abby wasn't in the mood for sarcasm. "There's a difference between being upset about something and being treated like a criminal."

"The article never said you actually got arrested." Mira decided to just say it. 

"You all did a lotta digging." Abby was not pleased.

"We wanted to find out more about it for Romance." Mira didn't know why she felt the need to defend them for this... It seemed more invasive now that the guys were real people and not...mindless drones.

"It had nothing to do with Romance," Abby stated.

"Sooner or later, it's going to come out," Mira moved on. "You know that, right? One of them will remember it. Gwi-Ma's power is weakening on their minds more all the time...but you remembered it last week, didn't you? It didn't take that long."

Silence.

Finally, Abby said, pretty sullenly for him, "I remembered part of it the same day Celine visited."

"That...soon?" Mira thought that had been only a day or so after he'd turned back human.

"Something about that triggered it, and the rest of it came back little by little afterward," Abby said, still sullenly. "I didn't see a reason to talk about it though. The whole point of this was getting a fresh start. Mystery hasn't talked about it either, so I know he agrees."

"He's too scared to talk about it," Mira stated. "Like with everything... Amazed he broke his curse at all, actually... But how bad could it really have been?"

Silence.

This was unlike Abby...

Mira could at least see this was not going to be easy.

But, never one to let that stop her from prying, she just tilted her head. "Baby did mention some other stuff."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"He didn't say anything about that, but he said he thinks it was after that that you and Mystery made your deals...that you changed after that...became hollow, disinterested in anything else..." Mira still found it really creepy, and shuddered as she said it.

"You've heard Gwi-Ma's voice... It blocks out everything else." Abby didn't mind saying this as much, apparently. "It starts once you make the deal, though it's slow at first, but it spreads the more the patterns do...or they spread the more it talks, not sure. Well, I know what I heard now. I couldn't remember it before..."

"So what was it?" Mira was blunt.

"You know, it's very strange that you're asking this at all. Suddenly you care?" Abby wasn't about to just give in that easily. "The other day you tried to pry too... You wouldn't be taking an interest in our personal lives now, would you?"

"Stop acting like a teenager." Mira had her limit of patience, and this was hitting it. "You know exactly why I'm interested."

"I do?" With a smirk.

"I said stop it." Mira frowned. "I bet if I went again and asked Mystery, he'd cave eventually... I can be persuasive."

"No! Don't do tha--" Abby stopped. "That's not a real threat. Besides, he won't."

"If I don't, someone else will." Mira was sure Rumi wouldn't give up on this so easily. "Just saying."

"I believe that, unfortunately..." Abby grumbled. "Who knew Rumi was this nosy also? She's kind of being a hypocrite about it though."

Guess he thought the same as Baby.

"Tell me something," Abby abruptly changed the topic. "Have you really gotten over her lying to you for years? Or are you just pretending you have?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mira glared.

"It's a big thing to lie about," Abby said. "Someone being part demon, your sworn enemies...must have been a shock... Probably makes you question if you really knew that person at all."

Mira didn't like how that was almost exactly what she'd thought too.

"But you let it go," Abby went on.

"I did..." Mira said. "Because she saved us. That means she was the same person we always knew, and we just couldn't see it, for a moment. She even stood up to Gwi-Ma while having those marks... I can't explain how they're possible, but I know Rumi is not a demon...and maybe I wouldn't have wanted to talk about it either...if I were her. Celine is not easy on demons... I can imagine what she must have made her feel like. That's why... You have a problem  with that?"

"Not in the least, but why is she so set against giving someone else that same kind of understanding?" Abby replied flatly.

Mira looked away.

She wasn't so sure herself.

Rumi had accepted Jinu. She'd accepted the other boys... Was it just the unknown part that was bothering her?

Or was it that Celine had ground into their heads that, whatever else their problems were, the K-pop image was sacred and they couldn't break the rules of it?

"If she's concerned, it's probably because she thinks it's potentially a problem still," Mira finally said. 

"That sounds familiar," Abby noted. "But they didn't understand when you thought the same thing."

"So this is back on me now?" Mira said.

"You want to take everything as criticism, anyone ever tell you that?" Abby turned away.

"That remark was a critical one," Mira pointed out.

"Well, no one's attacking you right now, so just stop," Abby said, kind of curtly.

"No one's attacking you right now either, though that could change if you push me," Mira shot back.

"I know you're only doing this because you agree with Rumi about it," Abby said outright. "And you clearly already know what happened, so what do you want to hear? That it was wrong? That I shouldn't have done it? That it was unprofessional? Our manager's favorite word about it, I remember...all of those things."

"I want to know the truth," Mira said. "I don't like it when people hide stuff from me."

"Why? Because you can't trust them then? Or they might secretly be evil?"

"I never said evil...and for the record, I never said that to Rumi either!" Mira said warmly. "I don't like it when people have secrets... Secrets are dangerous."

"Don't you know enough already? I'm sure the news said everything about it." Abby was more emotional now.

However, he wasn't doing anything that seemed threatening, so Mira wasn't worried about it.

She could handle people getting upset...as long as they weren't taking it out on her.

"News can get it wrong," she stated.

That response surprised him more.

He gave her a strange look.

She folded her arms and looked to the side. "I just wanted the real story... If there was anything about it that might make it sound less bad, it'd be better to just own up to it. They'd understand probably, if there was just an explanation."

This was weird to say, but she thought it was true.

Rumi and Zoey weren't that judgmental, and Raven and Morph never seemed to care about it period. She also didn't think the other Saja Boys really cared about the incident if there was a reason for it... Who were they to judge?

"It's cute that you think that's how it would go down." Abby sounded incredulous. "But you're not going to leave until I tell you... Fine. Whatever."

Mira knew better than to say anything to ruin it now.

She just waited.

"For the record, I was never actually arrested," Abby stated. "And I never really...hurt...the guy. At least, I don't think I did. It happened after Romance and I were released from the hospital, and the group had started try to do events to rebuild our reputation... They tried to hush up things around the accident, but people suspected the truth of course. Anyway, there was some event. I can't remember what it was about now, but Mystery and Romance were answering questions...  We weren't that popular, so we weren't signing autographs or anything, just there to promote things..."

He paused.

Mira waited still.

"Anyway, some muckraking reporter walked up to us and wanted to get a bite about the accident," Abby recalled, sounding angry already. "Of course, that's not new--a lot of people approached us. Fans of other groups even did... But this guy was different. He was really pushy. He didn't take any normal answer. That's unprofessional for the news industry, and I think he even go fired for it, but...well, Mystery looked like he was struggling, and he had panic attacks after the accident... He started getting upset. Thought he might start crying...which would not be good...or freaking out. Romance and I both told the guy to stop, but he and his camera got closer instead, wanting to get juicy footage, probably."

Mira frowned at this in disgust.

What kind of person did that?

"I...have had a bit of a temper when it came to people bullying other people." Abby said this like it was a bad thing. "I don't recall it very clearly even now. I know I just saw red... Romance said I swung at his camera and knocked it out of his hand. It broke. I think I also cussed him out... Mystery and Romance held me back before I did anything else, that I can remember...but that guy said I assaulted him. He sued too. And security came... The police showed up, but enough people said that the reporter started it, and I didn't actually touch him, so I wasn't arrested...but the idea was enough to get out there, and my reputation was totally destroyed after that... So there you have it."

Mira was silent for a moment.

[Both not as bad and way worse than you thought, right?

For real, I don't think a k-pop idol would recover from that, short of magical memory loss. It's pretty much unheard of that to happen. I guess Americans are more tolerant of that behavior in our celebrities.]