Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Seonoh hid inside the half-closed chest, listening to the voices drifting in from outside.

Fire? I’m the one who started the fire. But why all of a sudden...?

“I don’t know. How would I know?”

Yoon Wonjoong answered with a hearty laugh.

“Please don’t make this difficult. I didn’t want to do this to you either, senior.”

“Haha, I told you I don’t know. Are young people these days hard of hearing?”

The other person seemed to decide the conversation was going nowhere and called for a colleague.

“Manager Chae!”

“Yes, Chief! You called?”

A bright, lively voice immediately joined them.

“How many gifted live in this neighborhood?”

“Hmm. I investigated thoroughly, and including this man, there were four.”

It was a familiar voice.

From that moment, Seonoh’s heart began to pound.

“Mr. Yoon Wonjoong. If you don’t talk, I’ll kill every gifted person nearby.”

That voice was unmistakably—

“Oh, but there’s a kid who lives in this house... Come to think of it, where is the kid? Grandpa, where’s your grandson? You do have a grandson, don’t—?”

Manager Chae, who had been tilting their head in confusion, suddenly seemed to remember something and added,

“Oh? Wait a minute. Could that kid have started the fire? He’s gifted too, isn’t he?”

At the mention of his grandson, Yoon Wonjoong gave a mocking smile.

“Yes. I started the fire.”

“What? You just said you didn’t know... Anyway, where’s the kid?”

“Talk sense. How could a legally incompetent person like me raise a child?”

“What? I clearly heard you say it back then. What are you talking about? Chief, he’s lying. If it weren’t for that kid, I wouldn’t even have known this man was Yoon Wonjoong. At first I thought he was mute, but then the kid said his grandfather was sick...”

Yoon Wonjoong cut Manager Chae off with a booming laugh.

“This house is only full of stray ghosts. You look half like a vagrant yourself. No wonder you can’t even tell ghosts and humans apart.”

The person called Manager Chae flared up and started shouting, “What did you say?” But the earlier voice cut in.

“Enough. Go see the commissioner.”

After sending Manager Chae out of the room, the person called Chief asked in a low voice,

“Mr. Yoon Wonjoong. I’ll ask one last time. Did you really start that fire?”

“Yes! I started it because I wanted to burn this damned world to the ground!”

After Yoon Wonjoong’s shout, everything outside went quiet.

Silent.

Completely silent.

Seonoh couldn’t understand what was happening out there. Why had it suddenly gone so quiet?

Just as the thought crossed his mind—

Creak...

The chest opened with a chilling sound.

Light poured in all at once.

A person in a black mask looked down coldly at Seonoh, who was wrapped in the blanket.

“...”

Seonoh said nothing. He held his breath and stared into the black-masked person’s eyes.

Only the person’s eyes were exposed.

Blood was splattered near them.

“...”

Then—

“Juryeon.”

A soft voice called from the yard.

The black-masked person flinched and looked back.

Then they looked down at Seonoh again and closed their mouth.

“Juryeon, did you kill them all?”

For one brief instant, the person’s gaze shook violently.

“Juryeon?”

“......”

The black-masked person looked at Seonoh one last time.

“Yes. I killed them all.”

Clack.

The chest closed.

“...”

And once again, there was only darkness.

***

An eerie silence settled outside, dead as a rat.

There was no telling how much time had passed.

At some point, the smell of burning filled the air.

Seonoh crawled out of the chest.

The house was engulfed in flames, and the floor was soaked with blood as though it had been flooded.

“...”

Seonoh stood blankly amid the thick smoke.

His vacant gaze fixed on the jackknife lodged in Elder Yoon’s chest.

He approached the old man’s fallen body and knelt beside him.

The blood was still warm as it soaked through Seonoh’s knees.

“This... this is the Four-Tiger Sword. A sword forged in the year, month, day, and hour of the Tiger. They say anyone killed by this sword can’t become a ghost, no matter how much regret or resentment they have. They simply vanish.”

Before the flames could spread any farther, Sisi urgently urged him to leave.

Seonoh only stared at Elder Yoon.

Then he gripped the sword’s handle and pulled the blade free.

“...”

He stared blankly down at the hilt.

They’ll come... They’ll come!

Only then did Seonoh realize it.

Everything had been true.

“Kijun... yes... it’s Dad...”

Yoon Wonjoong’s face twisted into a smile.

He laughed through his tears.

Seonoh knew who Kijun was.

Yoon Wonjoong often cried that name at night.

“...”

Seonoh buried his face against Yoon Wonjoong’s chest.

The hand gripping the sword hilt trembled violently.

Seonoh retched.

From his wrist, Sisi shouted,

“What are you doing? We have to get out of here before the fire spreads!”

Yoon Wonjoong, who had been gazing up at Seonoh with dim eyes, weakly pushed him away.

“Hurry. Go now. Go somewhere, forget all of this, and live...”

Seonoh staggered to his feet.

His vision was blurred. He could barely see ahead.

Every door in the house stood wide open.

The moment he stepped out through the side door, he began to run.

His body shook violently, like an aspen tree.

His legs nearly gave out beneath him again and [N O V E L I G H T] again.

Seonoh ran across the snow-covered ground.

He had just climbed up behind the house when—

“Seon... oh...”

A faint sob stopped him cold.

“Read... book...”

Seonoh slowly turned around.

Someone was staggering after him from below.

Seonoh laughed like a madman and hurried back down the way he had come.

“Ha... haha... haha...!”

But he twisted his ankle and rolled down the slope.

The water ghost was coming toward him with a book clutched in its arms.

Panting, Seonoh grabbed the ghost’s hand and pulled hard.

“Okay, it’s okay. Let’s go. Let’s go together... Come with me from now on!”

He tried to drag the water ghost with him, but stumbled and fell.

His hand had passed straight through the ghost’s body.

Thrown off balance, Seonoh stared in bewilderment, then began groping frantically at the ghost.

Something was wrong.

He could touch the left side of its body, but his hand passed through the right.

Frantic, Seonoh examined the ghost’s body.

The water ghost was holding a book.

Seonoh snatched it away and threw it aside.

Only then did he see the talisman hidden behind it.

It was a talisman meant to send ghosts onward.

With it attached, the ghost’s form was slowly fading, becoming transparent.

“Yoon Wonjoong must have stuck that talisman on it to send everyone off peacefully before they could fall victim to those people. The ghost is holding on by sheer will. It must have wanted to see you one last time before disappearing,” Sisi said calmly.

“This... this... No, wait...”

With trembling hands, Seonoh covered the talisman.

Just as Sisi had taught him, he pressed his hand against it and closed his eyes.

He tried to focus.

He tried again and again to recall the strokes.

But the talisman would not come off.

After clawing desperately at it, Seonoh shouted down at his wrist.

“Huh? This... Why? Why isn’t it working?!”

He looked at Sisi with panicked eyes.

From his wrist, Sisi answered,

“That talisman was written by Yoon Wonjoong using all his spiritual force. It’s several times stronger than the ones you’re used to. Your power is still too crude to break it.”

Seonoh’s eyes shook violently.

He was no longer in his right mind.

“Seon... oh...”

Now much fainter, the ghost picked up the book Seonoh had thrown away.

“Hold on. You can’t go.”

“Read... book...”

“No. No! Don’t!”

If he could just break this talisman, it wouldn’t disappear.

Seonoh reached for the talisman again and again, but in the end, he was no different from a child throwing a tantrum, clawing uselessly at the water ghost’s chest.

Nothing worked.

“You said I had the mark of hometown! You said hometown cherished me!”

Seonoh screamed, clutching the ghost’s body.

Thud.

The book fell onto the snow.

All that remained in his arms was cold, empty wind.

The sensation vanished.

Only the book lay fallen at his feet.

Seonoh sank to his knees.

On the cover, written in crooked handwriting, was a name.

Yoon Seonoh

Once, when they had lain side by side, the ghost had scribbled on Seonoh’s most treasured book.

The foolish nameless ghost had clumsily copied the letters.

It was more drawing than writing.

“Why...?”

Seonoh hugged the book and collapsed into the snow.

“Why...?!”

The black snake, Sisi, said nothing.

“You said I had the mark of hometown...”

Helplessness crept through his bones.

Seonoh’s shoulders shook violently as he lay in the snow.

He clenched his fists as though in prayer.

The words the ghost had whispered while stroking his hair echoed in his mind.

Seon... oh...

Take... care...

“I’m sorry...”

The stray ghost had no name.

He should have given it one, at least.

He should have given it a name.

He should never have done what he had done back then.

He should have said he was sorry.

No.

He should never have been cruel to it in the first place.

He should have let it stroke his hair.

He should have thanked it when it brought him books.

“I’m sorry...”

Why had it remained on earth instead of moving on?

He should have asked it that, at least once.

Seonoh slowly lifted his head and looked down at his wrist.

Then he raised the sword to it.

The Four-Tiger Sword he had pulled free earlier.

“If only you... If only you hadn’t told me how to break the talisman...”

Then he never would have gone outside.

He never would have reached the hut.

He never would have started the fire.

Those people never would have found Grandfather.

And if he had never learned how to break talismans, he never would have trapped the ghost.

If only.

If only that had been true...!

Hot blood gushed from his wrist.

“Are you blaming me?”

Sisi’s eyes narrowed.

“You wished for this.”

The black snake flicked its tongue.

“I heard everything. I heard you wish for everything to disappear.”

Ah.

That was right.

“You meant it back then, didn’t you?”

“...”

“That’s why it happened. Kekeke.”

“...”

“It’s all because of you.”

“...”

“See? Hometown is still on your side, isn’t it?”

“...”

Kekeke...

Sisi was mocking him.

Seonoh stared down at Sisi with empty eyes, then lifted his gaze to the sky, gray even through the raging blizzard.

Warm blood dripped from his wrist onto the white snow.

Staggering, Seonoh walked into the dark forest.

“Yes... that’s right...”

Seonoh shivered.

Not from cold.

Not from fear.

From hatred.

Hatred for himself.