Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Last night, the Leader summoned Black Emperor and ordered him to enter Jaegyeom’s dream and find out what the boy had discussed with Seok Juryeon.

In response, Black Emperor went to the house and melted into the shadows cast by the large tree in the yard. From there, he stretched himself into the shadow of a branch near the boy’s window and quietly watched over the room, waiting for Jaegyeom to fall asleep.

But for some reason, the boy tossed and turned the entire night without properly drifting off. Since dreams only begin once a person falls asleep, the situation was deeply frustrating for Black Emperor.

By the time dawn approached, he had started wondering whether he should withdraw. Then, at last, the boy slipped into a shallow sleep.

Seizing the opportunity, Black Emperor immediately entered Jaegyeom’s consciousness. However, because the sleep was so light, the dream itself was unstable, making it difficult to manipulate directly. So he changed methods and planted a “seed” inside the boy’s consciousness instead.

The seed was linked to Black Emperor’s own consciousness. If the boy dreamed again later, he would be able to enter that dream through the seed. It was less effective than directly controlling the dream, but more than sufficient for a brief conversation.

No matter how cautious people were while awake, the walls they built around themselves often crumbled inside dreams. Secrets slipped out far more easily there.

Several hours later, during what seemed to be a brief nap, the boy finally began to dream properly. Just as planned, Black Emperor entered through the seed and met him inside the dream.

Afterward, he reported what he had learned to the Leader.

“It seems the director of the Office of Narye has taken an interest in him.”

The Leader, who had been idly rolling a hazelnut between his fingers, paused and looked up at the spirit.

“He said Seok Juryeon told him he would soon be summoned by someone above her. It seems there’s a chance the two of them may meet before long.”

The Leader fell silent.

Leaning back in his chair with his arms loosely crossed, he stared at the table without moving.

“...”

After letting out a long breath, he rubbed at his brow and asked,

“And? Anything else?”

Black Emperor hesitated briefly before answering in a low voice.

“In the dream... he asked, ‘Is this a dream?’”

“...What?”

The Leader’s eyes widened slightly. The hand that had been absently toying with the zipper pulled up to his chin froze in place. He uncrossed his legs and abruptly straightened.

“Really?”

He asked again, as though he couldn’t quite believe it.

“Yes... It was the first time a human had recognized they were dreaming. I was so startled that my control weakened considerably. After that, he began acting according to his own will and gradually took over the dream itself. Eventually... the dream started collapsing.”

As Black Emperor lowered his gaze and explained calmly, the Leader immediately lowered his voice.

“So? Did he notice you?”

“No. He didn’t.”

At that answer, the Leader finally relaxed and let his head fall back.

Just before the boy could fully realize something was wrong, an outside disturbance woke him up and abruptly shattered the dream. It had been fortunate timing. If no one had interrupted, the boy might have realized the dream had not been an ordinary one.

“Good. That’s a relief.”

The Leader sounded genuinely reassured by the fact that they had not been discovered. Even so, he still seemed shaken. With a complicated expression, he sighed and dragged a hand through his hair.

“And...”

Black Emperor trailed off.

The Leader looked at him, silently prompting him to continue. But Black Emperor only lowered his eyes, visibly reluctant.

Also... that man tried to kiss you.

Black Emperor was rarely rattled by anything, yet the shock had nearly caused him to lose control of the connection entirely.

The moment he entered the dream, he realized he had taken on the Leader’s appearance. At first, that had not alarmed him. Pretending to be the Leader was not particularly difficult. Since it was the boy’s dream, all Black Emperor had to do was mirror the version of the Leader that existed within Jaegyeom’s consciousness. The Leader inside the dream was merely a reconstruction pieced together from the boy’s real experiences, and the boy had accepted Black Emperor as the real Leader without suspicion.

Thanks to that, Black Emperor had been able to draw out the boy’s secrets without issue.

But soon, he sensed that something was wrong.

The realization came after he had already completed the Leader’s orders. Once his task was done, he had intended to lull the boy into deeper sleep, trap him in a dream within a dream, and then leave unnoticed.

“Your hair looks better down.”

Instead of sinking deeper into sleep, however, the boy kept talking to him.

At first, when the boy asked whether this was a dream, Black Emperor had merely been impressed by his perceptiveness. But then he realized Jaegyeom was beginning to seize control of the dream itself. The things the boy said were especially strange. They were words he had never once spoken to the Leader in reality.

The unfamiliar situation left Black Emperor unsure how to respond, and unease steadily crept over him.

He fully understood that control had shifted the moment the boy began moving freely through the dream.

Jaegyeom climbed on top of the Leader’s body.

From that point onward, the situation completely reversed. Black Emperor found himself unable to move even a finger. For a dream demon like him, it was outright humiliating.

But at the time, he had been too shocked to even feel anger.

The boy had tried to kiss him.

Startled, Black Emperor attempted to resist, but it felt as though his limbs had been pinned beneath a massive stone. He could not move at all.

He could scarcely believe such a bizarre, monstrous person actually existed.

Completely at a loss, Black Emperor anxiously tried to make sense of the situation. Judging from the context, the two of them had apparently kissed before, which only shocked him further.

What exactly had happened between them? And could it be that Taehee-nim...

“Yes? And then?”

“...It’s nothing.”

After a long hesitation, Black Emperor swallowed the rest of his words.

The Leader and Paehyeon exchanged puzzled glances. It was rare for Black Emperor to stop himself like this. After watching him for a moment, the Leader ultimately chose not to press further and merely nodded.

Black Emperor gave a slight bow before turning to leave.

“A summons from above, huh...”

After he left, the Leader sat reflecting on the report, lightly tapping his fingers against the table as he stared blankly out the window with distant eyes.

“...”

Then it struck him how unusually quiet the pavilion was today.

“Where’d all the others go?”

“They’re probably gathered in the room at the end.”

“Really?”

The Leader zipped his jacket all the way up to his chin and rose to his feet. Paehyeon followed close behind him like a shadow.

As he strode down the corridor, the hem of the red cloak hanging to his knees fluttered softly behind him. The closer they drew to the end of the hall, the louder the murmuring voices of the spirits became.

Without bothering to knock, the Leader pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“Hello.”

Three spirits occupied the spacious room.

“Unnie!”

The first to rush over was a spirit wearing the form of a child.

With her bobbed hair cut like an upside-down bowl helmet and a flower-patterned T-shirt, she looked about six or seven years old. Tiny freckles dotted her cheeks, and the gap where her two front teeth should have been made her look oddly adorable.

A geomungo far larger than her body hung across her back, yet she carried it as lightly as a backpack.

The Leader spotted the spirit charging toward him, lifted his brows slightly, and spread his arms wide.

Yeonok launched herself straight into his embrace.

“Well, if it isn’t our adorable little Yeonok.”

Smiling warmly, the Leader effortlessly picked her up with one arm.

“Unnie! Yeonok waited forever... Why did you come so late?”

As though scolding him, Yeonok lightly smacked his shoulder with her tiny fists.

“Did you? I’ve been very busy.”

“Unnie, Leader-nim Unnie.”

“Hmm?”

“Did you miss Yeonok? Hurry and say you missed me.”

Yeonok wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, nearly whining.

“Mhm. Leader-nim missed Yeonok very much.”

Satisfied, Yeonok burst into giggles and rubbed her small hand against the Leader’s chin.

Though his face looked smooth from shaving, the touch was faintly rough. Yeonok liked the prickly texture, and whenever she sat in his arms, she would absentmindedly rub at his chin like this.

The Leader indulged her with the affection one might show a much younger sibling.

“Unnie, I’ve gotten way better since last time!”

Yeonok quickly jumped down from his arms and slipped the geomungo off her back. With a bright expression, she plucked at the strings before looking up eagerly at the Leader.

“Come on! Listen to Yeonok play.” 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She readied herself to perform, fingers poised over the strings.

But the Leader merely fiddled with the edge of his eyebrow, looking utterly uninterested.

“Hmm... maybe later.”

Yeonok’s hand faltered mid-motion.

TWANG...

A bizarrely discordant note rang out from the geomungo.

“...What?”

A miserable shadow seemed to fall across Yeonok’s face.