KPop Demon Hunters’ Latest Artwork Finally Unmasks Rumi’s Mother’s Killer

Well, that escalated quickly. A new digital art book for KPop Demon Hunters just quietly confirmed a heavy fan theory about Rumi's past — and it points the finger at someone very close to her.

What the new art book actually lays out

• The digital edition of 'The Art of Kpop Demon Hunters' is out now, with a printed hard copy coming later. It digs into the visuals and backstory for basically every character and song in the movie.
• Buried in a section about the Sunlight Sisters — a trio of hunter-musicians that existed before HUNTR/X — the book explains that Rumi's mom, Mi-Yeong, was part of that group until she died when Rumi was a baby.
• After Mi-Yeong's death, fellow Sunlight Sister Celine stepped in, raised Rumi, and mentored HUNTR/X.
• The book frames HUNTR/X as a found family, especially for Rumi, whose life blew apart when her mother was killed — a detail the film never explicitly spells out.

The Sunlight Sisters and the mentor twist

The backstory itself isn't new, but the way the art book phrases it nudges the story from tragedy to something closer to a cover-up. The implication is that Mi-Yeong wasn't just lost — she was murdered. And if you connect the dots the book puts down, all signs point to Celine being involved. Yes, the same Celine who raised Rumi and trained the team.

'The trio each come from broken families, lonely upbringings where they never felt like they truly belonged anywhere, and so they really need this group to be their safe place.'

- director Maggie Kang

That quote fits the movie's theme, but in the context of the art book's write-up on the Sisters, it hits harder. If the person who became Rumi's surrogate mother is also tied to her real mother's death, that's not just backstory — that's a bomb waiting to go off.

The concept art that says the quiet part out loud

If you're still thinking this is all subtext, a post from visual development artist Simon Baek pretty much clears it up. In concept art for the film's final scene, we see Rumi in her demonic form — and the dialogue sketched beneath the image reads:

'Celine... why did you kill my mother...'

That line never appears on-screen, but it's about as unambiguous as concept art gets. It also lines up with the art book's version of events: Rumi was an infant when Mi-Yeong died, and Celine has been there ever since.

So what does this mean going forward?

The art book confirming this twist gives fans something big to chew on before the next installment. If Celine did kill Mi-Yeong, the eventual confrontation with Rumi is inevitable — and brutal. It also complicates the entire HUNTR/X dynamic, since the team's 'family' foundation suddenly looks a lot shakier.

This was first surfaced by Elton Fernandes over at SuperHeroHype.