Sunmi tried to live just minding her own business, she really did. After the fallout with Jeongyeon, she decided she would never look at her face ever again, and she was making very good on that promise. Sure, it was her sister, but she didn’t care, it didn't matter if their mother even tried to mediate, she was absolutely NOT even going to entertain the idea of being in the same environment as dear sister. So when Suzy showed up (yet again) with a message summoning her, she set it on fire and told the girl to conveniently ‘lose’ whatever new message she might receive in the future. She didn’t blame her, she knew it was Suzy’s job, but still, she didn’t want to hear from dear sister ever again.

 

If Jeongyeon would describe her sister, stubborn would be the first word that would come to mind, sure she wasn’t all that nice and understanding herself, but Sunmi was just irritating. It’s been years, so many she lost count, how long would the other woman keep a grudge! Sure, Jeongyeon messed up and rendered her sister badly injured, and Sunmi would forever have a slight limp to her step, but it was a mistake in a moment of rage. Sure, she was in the wrong, never really apologized and came out unscathered in the end because her sister was much better at controlling her temper than herself, but still. 

 

To anyone who knew them both, they knew the fight was bound to happen, and they also knew Jeongyeon was the one in the wrong, but Sunmi disappeared and everyone else was left to wonder about her perspective on things, so it was ultimately decided to wait for her to show up again but nobody really held onto it for too long. It was easier to side with whomever was present, not that everyone just let Jeongyeon off the hook, but they couldn’t hold a grudge when she was there and they all saw her doing her best to make up for her mistake (she wasn’t, really, but still). The few newer ones always felt it odd, but couldn’t really say much, as the other party remained out of reach.

 

Tzuyu always said things would work themselves out, to just give it time and be patient, but it was her job to think like that and keep being positive. Chaeyoung always kept a more realistic mindset and would usually tell her taller friend that things might not end up so well. The main thing was, Sunmi was gone, and not even Nayeon had heard about her in a long long time, and if Nayeon didn’t know, it was rare that anyone else would. Jihyo, as one of the newest ones, was never too convinced of this ‘just accept it’ mindset. She wanted to learn more about this whole thing and was certainly going to find out, first step, find Nayeon.

 

“You want to know something.” Nayeon says as soon as she sees the other.

 

“You already know all about why I am here, why ask.” Jihyo chuckled.

 

“Because I actually don’t. I know you want to know something, but that’s about it.”

 

“I want to know about the whole Jeongyeon and Sunmi thing that everyone refuses to talk about.”

 

“Well, it’s an old story, and nobody really knows why it blew up like it did.” The taller woman shrugs. “But I’m guessing you want to know whatever there is to know anyways and came to me because it’s the best bet.”

 

“That, and I know you can be bought with gossip and I have some really good ones for you.” Jihyo laughs.

 

“Well, pay up and I’ll give you information accordingly.”

 

“You know that Dahyun and Mina are together, right?”

 

“Yeah, I saw them…. Really wish I hadn’t.” Nayeon shudders.

 

“And do you know how Mina managed that?” Not seeing any signs that the other knew, Jihyo continues. “Mina invited Dahyun over, only to purposely lose a few games to her and let herself be ‘consoled’ for her losses. Which ended up in a few kisses and they went from there.”

 

“Mina lost a game?” The disbelief is understandable. “The goddess of competition, the sorest loser in Olympus, that Mina, lost a game?”

 

“Not A game, a few games.” Jihyo corrects.

 

“Well, Hyo, you got yourself access to my entire knowledge in the matter.”

 

“Thought I would. Oh, and last week Chae got her hands on a weapon she dismantled and wasn’t able to put back together to this day.” Jihyo adds for good measure.

 

“Any idea where said weapon came from?”

 

“None, but it is certainly not human.”

 

“Alright, I’ll tell you everything and you still have some to spare for later.” Nayeon agrees with a smile.

 

The goddess explains that it was a few centuries after they imprisoned Chronos, Sunmi brought up how much it took from her to keep him there and asked for a better prison to be built, Jeongyeon said she was just being dramatic and to deal with it. Sunmi argued that it wasn’t that simple and she wanted some rest as well. Chaeyoung said she would build a prison with virtually no way out, but Jeongyeon kept insisting that Sunmi should just deal with it. It was clear to everyone that keeping him at bay was draining and Sunmi was barely holding on, but Jeongyeon wasn’t hearing it. 

 

After Charyoung finished the prison, Sunmi put a guard there and had a bit more room to breathe, but Jeongyeon was pissed, claiming this whole thing was just Sunmi being over dramatic and she should just it up. Sunmi argued that maybe Jeongyeon should give it a try before saying anything, to which Jeongyeon countered that she wasn’t the goddess of the underworld and Sunmi pointed out that she wasn’t a goddess of anything, but an exiled by her own sisters who was never even given a choice as to what she wanted. Jeongyeon lost her temper and threw her bolt on Sunmi, hitting her left leg and forever injuring her.

 

The consequences were immediate, Sunmi vanished with the bolt and threw it into the river Lethe. Jeongyeon had created many legends of a source of limitless power residing within the river to try and lure adventurers into retrieving the bolt for her, but it was fruitless. The bolt resides deep within the waters of the Lethe and the one person who could retrieve it was the very person who put it there. Even Nickun couldn’t control the waters to bring the bolt up, he tried and the river never stopped flowing as if he wasn’t even there. After learning all this, Jihyo was even more intrigued, she sure wanted to know more about the elusive woman and decided to take the investigation into her own hands.

 

The entrance to the underworld was fairly easy to find, Suzy had no problem taking Jihyo along, she would be guiding the souls there regardless. The challenge was to actually enter the underworld not being a soul. The three headed dog would be the first challenge, it was huge and vicious and looked ready to make anyone and anything a soul if they insisted on entering. It was the limits of where both godesses could approach, Suzy said she just had to guide the souls to the entrance, the souls would find their way from there, there was only one path regardless. Jihyo, on the other hand, took it upon herself to make it past the first hurdle.

 

It was about a month of Jihyo trying anything she could think of to get past the dog every single day, she brought treats, toys, food, nothing worked, so she just resigned to sit there and talk to the dog. Access was granted mainly because Cerberus took pity on the girl, was tired of hearing her babbler all day long and she would still need to gain passage through the Styx, so might as well let her pass the gates. Charon was absolutely not amused by this decision, he had to ferry the souls across the river, and made sure to let Cerberus know he was holding a grudge for this and proceeded to try his best to do his job without pushing this girl into the river.

 

Jihyo wasn’t deterred, she knew it was going to be hard, but it was getting tiring. Not letting herself be stopped, she moved on to chatting up Charon to allow her passage through the river. She didn’t necessarily need to be ferried, but she needed permission to pass before she could enter on her own. Sunmi had heard from the Erinyes that there was this one girl, not dead but not quite living as well, trying to gain access to the underworld, she thanked them for the warning and proceeded to go and have a talk to the ones responsible for this imminent ‘breach’. Both Charon and Cerberus told her they were fed up with the girl and just wanted her to leave them alone, Sunmi understood but had to be stern with them either way.

 

Another few days later, Sunmi was minding her business, doing her rounds on Chrono’s prison and making sure the guards were in place and actually paying attention, that no cracks were spotted on the structure and all that jazz. On that fine (not at all) afternoon, an angry Sana came barging into the underworld, the whole atmosphere and the whole death thing felt terrible to her but she was ignoring it for now, looking like she was ready to slap a . Indeed she slapped someone, not a though as Sunmi had been minding her own business for the past few millennia. Sunmi supposes it should have been painful, but she really didn’t feel that much, hasn’t felt much her whole life.

 

“What was that for?” Sunmi asks, very offended.

 

“What’s your deal, huh? Keep your hands off my daughter!”

 

“Get what off who, now?” The goddess of the underworld is visibly confused, but won’t back down after being slapped for nothing. “I don’t know if you remember, but I made it a point to live away from you s!”

 

“Don’t play dumb with me now, I know that Jihyo has been coming down here for months!”

 

“DO YOU ING SEE ANYBODY FROM YOUR PRECIOUS CITADEL AROUND?” Sunmi is pissed now. “I DON’T KNOW IF YOU EVEN LOOKED AROUND, BUT THERE’S NOBODY DOWN HERE WHO SHOULDN’T BE HERE!”

 

Sana balks a little, sure she came in angry, but being on the receiving end of the goddess of the underworld’s ire was just plain frightening. Sunmi would normally prefer to be calm and talk with as much respect as the other person deserved, but she will not be offended and slapped in her own domain, for something she didn’t even do at that! The thing about ruling the dead is that it takes a special kind of person with a particular set of powers, the underworld tries to eat away at you, to consume you from within, and one becomes rather skewed once they face the true darkness of the underworld for long enough.

 

The serpents started gathering around, a few rams that were closer had approached as well, Sana could hear a disturbing noise approaching and figured it must be the owls. Sunmi’s aura was getting out of control and her rage was summoning her companions and things could go very wrong and very fast, so the goddess of harvest had to defuse this situation immediately. She took a few steps back and fell on her knees, already regretting not listening to Dahyun and staying put, but the muse was famous for her humor, Sana didn’t think she was even capable of having a serious conversation.

 

“I am very sorry and apologize for my unthoughtful actions. Please, oh great goddess of the underworld, the dead, darkness and wealth, forgive this foolish youngster and find it within you to spare my worthless life.”

 

“Look, Sana.” Sunmi sighs lengthy and tiredly. “I have no idea what in the hades you are doing here. I didn’t even know you had an immortal daughter, let alone who would voluntarily be down here. I don’t have visitors, if you forgot.”

 

“I am very sorry for my actions, please forgive me.” Sana is relieved to not be struck down right there. “I heard from Nayeon that my daughter was coming down here and just lost it.”

 

“You know I don’t take kindly to you olympians coming here, especially like you just did, for any reason whatsoever. Just leave and never set foot down here again.”

 

Sana takes the excuse to just leave happily, once Sunmi got angry she felt the whole underworld weighing on her like never before, and that was something she really never wanted to feel again. In the whole confusion, Jihyo found her way into the underworld, she merely followed her mother and found a way in that didn’t have to go through the same path as the souls. It was great, but she did witness her mother just barge in and slap another tall woman out of nowhere, then there was screaming and she felt a surge of darkness all around her. It wasn’t the worst thing Jihyo ever felt, it was mostly loneliness, sadness, anger and bitterness, and she understood that the tall woman was the elusive goddess she had been trying to meet.

 

Jihyo stayed in her hiding place, she saw the tall goddess stand there and look at where her mother had been for a few moments more and sigh. The woman turns to the creatures that had approached and dismisses them with a lot of care, then grabs her spear and goes on with her walking. It was clear that there was a problem, the woman had a severe limp, not enough to stop her from walking, but she certainly was pushing herself with this patrol(?) she was doing. Pain was visible on Sunmi’s face whenever she had to walk longer distances, and Jihyo could see it clearly as well.

 

For the following days, Jihyo stalked the elusive goddess. It was interesting, if not heartwarming, seeing the tall woman do her thing. Sunmi was very kind and caring to the inhabitants of the underworld, she was also rather meticulous of her duties, a fair judge to the souls that came to her, and overall a pretty stand up girl. What Jihyo hadn’t noticed, however, was that she wasn’t as sneaky as she liked to believe she was, everyone in the underworld had already seen her the very first day of her ‘espionage’. It was cute, and Sunmi decided to allow it just to spite Sana and because the girl wasn’t really bothering anyone anymore. 

 

“Right, so I was going to keep pretending you are being sneaky, but I really need you to not come down tomorrow.” Sunmi says from behind her visitor.

 

“ARRRGHH!” Jihyo jumps and hits her head on the pillar she was ‘hiding’ behind. “Ouch!”

 

“Sorry, I didn’t think you would get scared like that.” Sunmi chuckles. “I’m Sunmi.”

 

“Jihyo.” The smaller woman tries to pretend nothing happened. 

 

“Well, Jihyo, like I said. It’s been cute watching you, but I really need you to not come down tomorrow.”

 

“And why would that be?”

 

“Tomorrow is the annual meet in Olympus, and I really need you to be present as I’d hate to have to deal with your mother again.”

 

“Yeah, about that. She was really out of line.”

 

“Oh, I know. But this time you really are down here, and if there is something I pride myself in, it is that I don’t lie.”

 

“Good to know, but how long have you known I was roaming around down here?”

 

“I noticed the day your mom barged in. I can sense any kind of disturbance down here, you see. It’s something I developed because of the whole ‘watch daddy dearest and get no help and nothing in return’ thing.” Sunmi complains, it’s a bit cute.

 

“Oh. And why didn’t you say anything?” Jihyo gets flustered.

 

“Because it was fun watching you thinking you were being stealthy. Regardless, make sure you don’t let any other of you olympians know of your way down here. I really enjoy not having any of them show up at all, and I’ll close the way you use. Just come in through the front gates and I’ll show you the new path I’ll build for you.” Sunmi huffs. “If your mother knew about it, they all know about it and now I have to make a new one.”

 

“And you don’t go to the meeting?”

 

“And what? Listen to whatever bull Jeongyeon will talk about this time? See those selfish cowards look at me thinking they know anything about me, or my life or even the reason I can’t really walk anymore? No, thank you.” 

 

“I won't press it for now. I’ll do as you asked and stay up there tomorrow.” Jihyo agrees, sensing the pure anger emanating from the woman in front of her.

 

“Thank you. Now, please go up. My judges are about to arrive and we have some urgent things to take care of.”

 

Jihyo wanted to argue, but something told her it would be better to leave so she went. The annual reunion was something she really hated having to participate in, well she didn’t have to, have to, but Sana would never shut up about her not showing and that was something she absolutely did not need. Now, when Sunmi says ‘olympians’, she refers to everyone up in Olympus, and many wouldn’t understand that, but Jihyo figured what it was around the third time Sunmi said it. Anywho, the annual meet was exactly what the goddess of the underworld said it would be, Jeongyeon was up there talking whatever about how great she is and how merciful she has been all these years and whatever else, Jihyo paid attention to the first speech she heard but learned to tune it out after that.

 

The annual gathering usually lasted a week, all gods and goddesses would reunite in Olympus and Chan would open up his special brew, things would get chaotic very fast, and many didn’t stick around for long after the formalities were done. Jihyo would stick to her mother and just roam around, but this year she had someone to go to, somewhere else to be, and to the underworld she went, taking a bottle and some food with her. Sana saw her daughter leave and decided to follow, she was getting curious about where the kid would vanish to and why did she always return with a dopey smile on her face that never vanished. Imagine Sana’s surprise when she found herself in the underworld, through a passage she had no idea existed, and saw her daughter hugging Sunmi.

 

Now, Sana knew it couldn’t possibly be some sort of magic or anything, she knew Sunmi didn’t even like people, and Jihyo was looking way more excited than the other woman about this excursion. It looked rather cute, really, until Jihyo did something so fast and so out of the blue that nobody could react nor really absorb everything that happened until some time later. 

 

“So, why don’t you ever let me eat anything down here? I always have to bring my own.” Jihyo asks as she watches the other breaking open a pomegranate.

 

“Because if you eat or drink anything down here, you’ll be forever bound to the underworld. And I really don’t wish for anyone to do that.” Sunmi explained, a little saddened.

 

Jihyo looked like she was thinking a bit, then snatched half of the pomegranate, took twelve seeds and launched them into , immediately swallowing. Sana, who had been close enough to hear everything, could only watch helplessly, Sunmi, who was just minding her business and enjoying some fruit, couldn't even react on time.

 

“Oh, noo.” Jihyo says with the most monotone and bored voice ever. “Looks like I’ll have to stay here foreveeeerrr.”

 

Sana couldn’t stay quiet anymore and stormed towards her daughter.

 

“Jihyo! What the hades?”

 

“What she said.” Sunmi adds.

 

“Tee-hee.” Jihyo answers, putting her tongue out cutely.

 

“You do not ‘tee-hee’ me, young lady!” Sana is pissed, and that’s something.

 

“C’mon, mom. It’s not like you didn’t see this coming.” Jihyo huffed.

 

“Okay, this is too much.” Sunmi starts panicking. “I’d say take it home and talk it out between you both, but Jihyo is bound to be here now.”

 

“Sunmi, I’m gonna need you to breathe.” Sana gets worried, pinning her daughter down with a stern look. “Come on, let’s sit you down.”

 

“Sunmi, you need to stop panicking.” Jihyo throws noncommittally.

 

“You be quiet, you idiot! She’s like this because you went ahead and ate that damn fruit thing without warning.” Sana turns to her daughter now that the underworld goddess won’t pass out. “Now why on Olympus would you do that!”

 

“I like her.” The young goddess shrugs. “Sunmi is nice, gentle, thoughtful, always too respectful and I came to like her after spending some time together.”

 

Sana is the one looking faint now.

 

“Mom, sit down too, you look like you are about to pass out.”

 

“Jihyo, you are a .” Sana heaves as she sits.

 

“I know, but Sunmi wasn’t picking up what I was putting down. Plus, I got curious about not being allowed to eat, when she said I’d have to stay, I saw my chance and took it.”

 

“Well, Sunmi.” Sana looks very defeated. “Looks like your exile will have to include one more now.”

 

Sunmi had passed out. She started hyperventilating, but she spent so long by herself that producing sounds had become irrelevant, so she didn’t. It had been milenia since there had last been anyone to listen to her, the underworld inhabitants just felt her, and Charon was busy ferrying the souls, mostly too far from her. So Sunmi hyperventilated and passed out beside the arguing duo and they never heard a thing. Sana was more appalled than anything, how had this even been possible. Jihyo sighed, but moved to help the anxious emo out.

 

They managed to hold Sunmi up, both surprised about how light the woman was, being significantly taller than them and all. Jihyo made a mental note to question Sunmi about her diet later, but for now, she saw a ram passing by and called out. The creature huffed, visibly fed up with the visitors, but guided them to the castle regardless. The judges were waiting by the door, it was past the time for Sunmi to have returned from her daily patrol, imagine their surprise when two olympians showed up carrying their unconscious leader. They all felt some shift, like something being added to the balance of the underworld, now it was clear that they had one more idiot to care for.

 

Sana was resigned about her daughter’s fate, negotiating with the to spend half the year above and half below. Jihyo only agreed after the judges said their still unconscious brooder needed some time alone or she would certainly go crazy at some point. News travels fast, and everyone and their cousin knew Sunmi had entrapped the young goddess with her lies and manipulation and Jihyo was tricked into eating twelve pomegranate seeds so she would be bound to hades for eternity. Anyone who bothered to actually listen to Sana would know the truth, but the one person who did was Nayeon. 

 

The goddess wanted to know exactly what happened down there, and there were three people who could tell her. Two were in the underworld and Nayeon was absolutely NOT going down there. She was very afraid of Sunmi’s protectors and the direct passage they knew about had been closed. So it left Sana, who happily told her the whole incident. She agreed Jihyo was an idiot, but found it hilarious that she fell for Sunmi, of all gods. Nayeon would go on to tell anyone who came to her the true story, but most just went with the ‘Sunmi is pure evil’ idiocy, mostly because it came from Jeongyeon and the goddess was adamant that her version was the true one.

 

Time in Hades went by very differently. It wasn’t like Olympus where it stretched, and not like on earth where it flew by. It was a mix of dragging by and standing still, Jihyo felt like nothing moved, but things always changed down there. It was also very clear that ruling the underworld was a very taxing task, she was granted her wish to share some burdens, but Sunmi insisted she wouldn’t be sharing the burden of holding control over everything, especially when it came to Tartarus, before she was better acquainted with her new home and everything that came with it.

 

“Can you just say whatever you are thinking about so we can get to the fun part of our evenings?” Jihyo demanded as she came out of the bathroom.

 

Sunmi had been looking at her from their bed since the older woman had gotten out of the shower herself. That was about an hour before.

 

“Tomorrow is the annual gathering.”

 

“I’m aware. Suzy has taken to handing any summonings to me, as you tend to set them on fire.”

 

“Because I refuse to actually go near those damn olympians and sister dearest insists I should have forgotten and gotten over everything already.”

 

“I know everything that happened now, and you have the right to still be pissed at them.” Jihyo approaches and gives her wife a peck. “But don’t you think it would be alright to show up once?”

 

“Now, love. I know you will be attending because you like to be there for your mother. But don’t try to make it something it isn’t, I will never be setting foot in that damned place without sister dearest stepping down from that pedestal she put herself in and acknowledging everything she did and showing repentance for it all.”

 

“Alright. I should be gone for three days, though. Mom asked me to hang around for a while longer, something about rumors of my new home.”

 

Sunmi growls a bit, she always hated even talking about olympus. Jihyo knew that perfectly, and she exploited it for her own pleasure. Sunmi was always rougher when she got angry and her wife absolutely loved when that happened, not that she would ever tell anybody. Don’t get her wrong, she loved Sunmi, but the older one was just too nice. Even when asked to be rougher, Sunmi was still too gentle. Therefore, Jihyo exploited whatever opportunity she got to have fun with angry Sunmi.

 

As always, the reunion was boring. The one exciting part was when Jihyo made her entrance with her new underworld ruler fashion and got quite a few impressed looks. Nayeon signaled she wanted to talk later, to which she got a nod and was happy enough to go on ahead with whatever she was doing. Jeongyeon began as she always did, with her self righteous speech that nobody really listened to anymore. Sana made regular visits to the underworld, to talk to Jihyo, but mostly because she worried about how Sunmi was hanging in there. After the harvest goddess got to know her daughter-in-law, she grew very worried about her own daughter killing her wife at some point.

 

Sana’s visits were always nice, Sunmi took to allowing her to accompany her patrols, and Sana experienced for herself how taxing ruling the underworld and keeping tartarus under control really was. Sana started her #team_sunmi crusade soon into the, somewhat, forced wedding and would never fail to praise how hardworking and dedicated Sunmi was. It worked to some extent, but Jeongyeon’s quest to make Jihyo the helpless victim and Sunmi the heartless villain was making it hard for more gods to see the truth.

 

This time, however, Jihyo found herself braver than before and decided to voice out what everyone thought but were never strong enough to speak up. She had enough of Jeongyeon’s boring ‘speech’ that droned on for hours and not one single deity paid attention to in centuries. Now, one might say Jihyo was about to be disrespectful or anything like that, but she was queen of the underworld now, and the title came with more than just a new, killer fashion sense. She stood up, which was already surprising, and spoke up in the loud voice she had been blessed with.

 

“Alright, we know how highly you think of yourself, now can you wrap this up?”

 

There was a collective gasp and Jeongyeon spluttered in whatever it was she was saying. 

 

“I’m in the middle of my speech, this is hardly acceptable.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Jihyo dismissed, letting out a bit of her frightening aura she picked up from her wife. “We all know how you love yourself for hours and making us all pretend to listen to it. Now, I won’t say much about how we all know you aren’t half of what you swear you are, but I do have a big problem with the smear campaign you are trying to pull against my wife.”

 

“You should really start respecting me more, kid.” Jeongyeon stood up, looking very angry.

 

“Or what? You’ll get pissy and injure me for life because you can’t be wrong? Oh, wait, you can’t, can you?”

 

“You talk big for a young goddess without much to fend for herself.”

 

“Please, Jeongyeon. Everyone here knows your bolt is in the one place where nobody can really get it. So you’ll have to step down from that pedestal you put yourself in and acknowledge you were wrong and honestly apologize for injuring your sister because she rightfully asked for her load to be lessened AS IT SHOULD HAVE FROM THE BEGINNING.”

 

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that!” The air crackled around Jeongyeon.

 

Now, one thing all present had forgotten was how terrifying the ruler of the underworld really was. Once Sunmi felt Jihyo was in the slightest danger, she put a pause in her promise to never set foot in Olympus again and went to her wife’s aid. Despite their beginnings, Sunmi grew to truly and honestly love her wife, and she was absolutely NOT about to allow a single threat to get in the vicinity of Jihyo, no matter the cost. Sana was surprised, to say the least, she forgot how powerful her daughter-in-law really was.

 

“I do not think it wise to continue, Jeongyeon.” Sunmi says in her low voice.

 

The underworld ruler hadn’t come alone, however. Two night hags flanked her and two styx dragons s themselves around Jihyo and Sana, ready to tear anyone who even flinched their way into pieces. All couldn’t help but shiver, some even cowered at the new arrival.

 

“I- I a- I thou- though you weren’t stepping in olympus again.” Jeongyeon stammered.

 

“I wasn’t. Until you decided it would be wise to threaten my wife, that was.” Sunmi was still threatening as ever. “You see, Jeongyeon, you can say whatever you want about me, slander my name to those who don’t really know how wretched you really are. But you will never come after those I love and get away with it.”

 

“Like I wasn’t the one who incapacitated you all those centuries ago.” Jeongyeon gets brave.

 

“You mean this?” Sunmi shows her leg for everyone to see for themselves. “Yeah, it’s a bit of a bother, but you forget I’m the one who can retrieve your bolt, while I’m still holding my spear right here.”

 

Jeongyeon lounges for the spear as soon as it’s summoned, the hags are quick to stop her and force the goddess into her worst nightmare. Jengyeon goes limp and fidgety and Sunmi’s servants vanish just as she hits the ground. There’s a relief that spreads around but Sunmi still hasn't backed down. She waited a bit to be sure Jeongyeon was really out, then turned to the god of sleep.

 

“Hyunjin!” The poor soul jolted awake. “Can you make sure she won’t get up until tomorrow?”

 

The poor guy takes a second to understand what is happening, last he knew, Sunmi never came to olympus, and now Jeongyeon is in some deep sleep on the ground?

 

“Sure, I can keep her asleep until tomorrow.”

 

“Great.” Jihyo decides to speak up. “Now, if you all will excuse me, I’ll be on my way to the underworld where the company is better than this one.” She nudges the thunder goddess with her foot at that.

 

“Now, Jyo, don’t be so crass.” Sana lightheartedly reprimands. “And you, stop trying to make everyone here afraid.”

 

“But I’m supposed to be feared.” Sunmi whines, immediately dropping her façade. 

 

“Wait, hold up.” Dahyun decides to ask.

 

“Yes, Hyun?” Sana concedes.

 

“What’s going on?” The pale goddess gestures to where the whole scene took place.

 

“Oh, right.” The goddess of harvest seems to have remembered something. “I keep forgetting none of you bothered to see the truth behind Jeongyeon’s lies through the centuries.”

 

“What?” Chaeyoung chimed in.

 

“I thought you of all people would know what I’m talking about.” Sana continues. “Regardless, Sunmi is the biggest softie to exist. She’s just overworked and desperately needs a long vacation.”

 

“Can you, please, stop exposing me like that!” Sunmi grumbles to her mother-in-law.

 

“I really have no clue about what’s going on here.” Dahyun insists, her face funnier than ever.

 

“I’ll explain it.” Jihyo gets fed up. “This is Sunmi, goddess of the underworld and all that, yall know. So, my lovely wife here is the kindest soul I’ve ever came across, can’t hurt a fly, and really goes above and beyond with her duties, despite having been forced to do it by sister and brother dearest over there.”

 

Jihyo gestures to Jeongyeon who is still passed out on the floor and Nickhun who was trying to get away before anyone remembered him. “I spent a while visiting her in Hades and fell in love. Then I ate the pomegranate seeds so she would have to let me stay down there.”

 

“Honestly, I’m still mad at you for that, by the way.” Sunmi remembers and frowns.

 

“Not the time, love.” The shorter queen of the dead dismisses. “Where was I? Oh, yeah, I ate the seeds so I could force this wedding to happen because as nice as she is, she can be equally dense.”

 

“And Sana let you?” Nayeon decides to get all the information she could.

 

“Not at all, but she did it so fast that neither I nor Sunmi could have stopped her.” Said goddess shrugs. “Plus, I came to like this big grump too. It’s all good.”

 

“I guess if she could get your approval, then she must be lovely.” 

 

“The loveliest, Nay! She even made me a path to visit her back then after mom barged in and got all mamma bear on her.” Jihyo gushes.

 

“Okay, I’ll just-” Sunmi tries to escape back to her isolation but is held in place by her wife.

 

“You will stay here and socialize so these idiots can see how lucky I got to snatch you and that Jeong is just full of . Also, don’t think you don’t have a lot to answer for, Nickhun! I see you trying to leave.”

 

“I really don’t want to have this conversation, can I just be put to sleep like Jeong and you two can reveal all my dirty secrets?” The man complained.

 

“Oh, not at all. I still have to tell everyone how your trident took residence at the bottom of the Lethe because you thought you two had the right to be s and keep me down there without acknowledging it’s thanks to me that daddy dearest isn’t destroying everything as we speak.” Sunmi was fed up and decided to just let it all out. “Also, Hyunjin! Keep the idiot asleep until I’m gone, will you?!”

 

The god of sleep promptly agrees, also eager to know all the gossip behind the biggest fight Olympus has ever seen. Everyone had heard Jeongyeon and Nickhun talking about their great battle and all, but nobody really heard everything about the fallout and how the real hero has been keeping Chronos imprisoned and allowing them to enjoy their lives freely. 

 

By the end of it all, Sunmi was the lovely grump everyone adored, Jihyo was a very jealous wife, Sana was a very happy mother who managed to show everyone how good of a woman her daughter (in-law) was and Nayeon heard enough to have a hold on Jeongyeon and Nickhun for the rest of eternity. All in all, a great week for everyone… If Hyunjin forgot Jeongyeon asleep for a few more weeks after that, nobody bothered to point it out.