Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“The person we talked about before.”

Jaegyeom’s fingers stilled against the folded corner of the newspaper.

The timing made it even worse, coming right after a dream like that.

Catching the subtle shift in his expression, Im Hyomun’s eyes widened dramatically.

“Wait, seriously? What happened? Did they contact you? What’d they say? What did you talk about?”

Jaegyeom hesitated, slowly rolling the edge of the newspaper between his fingertips.

Technically, Taehee hadn’t contacted him. They’d met in person.

Still, same difference.

And judging from the way Hyomun was looking at him, if he refused to answer, the guy would cling to him like a leech until he did.

So Jaegyeom reluctantly opened his mouth, deciding to leave out as many details as possible.

“I asked why they kissed me.”

Im Hyomun’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull.

“What?!”

“You asked them that directly?!”

“And they said kissing wasn’t a big deal to them.”

“...What?”

Hyomun recoiled like he’d just been punched.

“I knew it. Holy shit.”

He grabbed the back of his neck in disbelief.

“Hey! Asking that—ah, fuck, seriously...”

Both sides were insane.

At least, that was Hyomun’s conclusion.

Seven-Seven was clueless enough to ask something like that outright, sure—but what kind of twenty-six-year-old answered that a kiss meant nothing?

That person’s personality was obviously rotten.

The problem was that Jaegyeom still looked completely unaware of it.

“I seriously don’t know what I’m supposed to do with them from now on.”

Jaegyeom muttered it with genuine concern.

“Hey! I already told you. That person is—”

Hyomun abruptly stopped himself and sucked in a breath.

Shouting wasn’t going to solve this.

He needed to explain it in terms Seven-Seven would actually understand.

“Seventy-Seven. Okay. Let me put it simply.”

Hyomun leaned forward.

“Say there’s a kid who’s never eaten ice cream before in their life. Then one day, you buy them ice cream for the first time ever. How do you think they’d react?”

The analogy was so unexpected that Jaegyeom blinked.

How would they react?

Actually, he knew exactly how.

He remembered the first time he’d bought Mesan a Melona at the supermarket near their house.

Mesan had been utterly shocked by the taste.

For days afterward, he’d been obsessed with it.

My lord, my lord, why is it called Melona? Why is Melona green? Why is it square instead of round? Am I only allowed to eat one a day? What happens if I eat two? Why don’t they make giant Melonas?

“...They’d probably keep talking about the ice cream nonstop.”

“Exactly!”

Hyomun slapped the table triumphantly.

“And how would you feel watching that?”

“Well...”

Cute, obviously.

Made me want to tease him a little.

Though Melona was good.

Even though Jaegyeom answered flatly, Hyomun clapped his hands like he’d just received the perfect response.

“Right! Exactly that! You get it now?”

“...Get what?”

“Seventy-Seven, to that person, you’re the kid trying ice cream for the first time.”

Hyomun pointed accusingly at him.

“Look at you. You’re freaking out over one kiss. How entertaining do you think that is from their side? They’re playing with you. They enjoy your reactions. They’re having fun controlling you.”

Hearing it explained that way, Jaegyeom reluctantly admitted it made a certain amount of sense.

“...Then what should I do?”

After sitting quietly for a moment, he asked the question seriously. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“What should you do? I already told you—stop seeing them!”

“I told you already. I can’t.”

“Ah, right...”

Hyomun groaned and dragged both hands through his hair.

“Then... okay. No reactions.”

“What?”

“That’s the answer. Don’t react.”

“No reactions?”

“Only give boring reactions. Listen carefully—the one who thinks too much loses. No matter [N O V E L I G H T] what they say or do, just act completely unfazed. Eventually they’ll get tired of it and back off on their own.”

Jaegyeom slowly considered it.

Actually... that made sense.

If you poked a worm and it wriggled around, you’d probably keep poking it just to watch.

But if it didn’t react at all, eventually you’d lose interest.

Realizing he’d somehow become comparable to a worm left him feeling complicated.

Thinking back, he really had reacted every single time Taehee provoked him.

Even in the dream earlier.

Honestly, seeing Taehee look flustered in the dream had felt weirdly satisfying.

Now that he’d experienced it from the other side, he could sort of understand the psychology behind it.

“...Yeah. You’re right.”

Lost in thought, Jaegyeom finally nodded.

“Okay. I’ll do that from now on.”

From now on, no matter what Yoon Taehee said or did, he’d just let it slide.

That was the conclusion he came to.

At first, he hadn’t even wanted to have this conversation, but after talking to Hyomun, he strangely felt like things had become clearer.

Some of the heaviness inside him eased a little.

“But...”

Without realizing it, Jaegyeom kept talking.

“...Honestly, I wanted us to get along.”

Hyomun’s expression gradually turned serious.

“Because... I didn’t dislike them.”

Jaegyeom stared blankly at the newspaper in his hands as he spoke.

“I thought maybe we were the only people who actually understood each other. I even thought we could become friends.”

He gave a quiet, bitter laugh.

“But I get it now. I was the only idiot getting my hopes up.”

For once, Hyomun listened without interrupting.

When Jaegyeom finally stopped talking, an awkward silence settled over him. Feeling embarrassed for some reason, he lowered his eyes and unnecessarily rustled the newspaper.

“Seventy-Seven... having expectations isn’t wrong.”

Hyomun spoke quietly.

“It’s not your fault. I mean, sure. If you never expect anything, you’ll never get disappointed.”

He shrugged.

“But people still need expectations to live, don’t they? Otherwise life would be boring as hell.”

Jaegyeom slowly looked up.

“So just think of this one as a dud and move on. Like, ‘Fuck it. Better luck next time.’”

Hyomun grinned crookedly.

“What I’m saying is, don’t take it too hard.”

Then, immediately ruining the mood, he added energetically,

“You’ll meet someone better next time anyway! But seriously, next time pick someone your own age instead of some older creep!”

The conclusion veered off somewhere bizarre, but despite himself, Jaegyeom felt oddly comforted.

The sincerity behind the words came through clearly.

Im Hyomun was a much better person than he’d first assumed.

“...”

Quietly, Jaegyeom rolled the edge of the newspaper again.

I hate Naja.

Like most things in life, he’d never once imagined becoming one himself.

He’d only entered the Office because circumstances forced him to.

To him, all Naja were swindlers and bastards not worth associating with.

Honestly, he still thought that.

And yet—

Feeling strangely conflicted, Jaegyeom stared at Hyomun.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“...Hey.”

Jaegyeom spoke abruptly.

“Why did you become a Naja?”

Caught off guard, Hyomun blinked.

“Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“What was your reason?”

Jaegyeom looked unusually serious.

Hyomun fiddled awkwardly with his piercing.

“Why I became a Naja...”

He trailed off thoughtfully.

Watching him hesitate, Jaegyeom suddenly felt weirdly nervous.

To drive evil ghosts out of the world?

Because he wanted to protect people with his abilities?

To prove his own worth?

To do righteous things?

“Because you get a pension when you’re old.”

“...What?”

“Stable employment, man. Being a civil servant is the best.”

Hyomun’s expression was utterly sincere.

“If I failed the Naja exam, I was gonna take the civil service exam instead. Most of my friends are studying for that right now...”

Then, suddenly turning serious again, he pointed a finger at Jaegyeom.

“Seventy-Seven, if you ever go to college, major in engineering. Seriously. Never humanities. Absolutely never.”

He sounded like a man speaking from deep trauma.

“This is real life advice from someone older than you. Humanities degrees just get you unemployed. Why the hell did I major in philosophy? Philosophy should be done alone at home with a book open while staring into space.”

Hyomun continued ranting bitterly.

“...”

At a time when jobs were scarce everywhere, maybe becoming a civil servant really was the best option.

“...Right. Good luck with that.”

Eventually, Jaegyeom gave up and responded with profound exhaustion.