Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Today, Im Hyomun was on the afternoon shift. Even though he could have slept in, he still set an alarm early and started his day before sunrise. He had somewhere to be before work. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Dressed in a neatly pressed suit, he boarded the bus as usual.

The appointment spot wasn’t far from headquarters. At this hour, the buses cutting through the heart of Jongno were crammed with office workers heading in, packed tight as sardines. Im Hyomun squeezed himself aboard and got off two stops past headquarters.

He arrived exactly on time and waited by the entrance, humming to himself as he looked around for the person he was meeting. About ten minutes later, a familiar face appeared in the distance. Im Hyomun immediately broke into a grin and waved both arms.

Unlike him, the other person looked thoroughly displeased.

“Oh! Seventy-Seven! Over here!”

Jaegyeom shot him a sour glare.

“Keep it down. You’re too loud.”

The place where Jaegyeom and Im Hyomun met was a movie theater.

The day before, the two of them had played Friends Pang in the third-floor break room at headquarters. The loser had to treat the winner to a movie. As expected, Im Hyomun won. Jaegyeom had gotten competitive halfway through, ruined his pacing, and crashed out at a miserable fifty thousand points—nowhere near the seventy thousand needed to win.

As a result, he’d ended up promising to buy Im Hyomun a movie ticket.

Luckily for him, Im Hyomun already had a movie he wanted to see, so he immediately asked if they could go the next day.

“Sure.”

Jaegyeom had nodded without much thought, asked how much tickets cost, then simply pulled out his wallet and handed over the money.

“Then enjoy the movie.”

“...What?”

It turned out Jaegyeom had no idea what “treating someone to a movie” actually meant.

Dumbfounded, Im Hyomun had to explain that it didn’t mean paying for someone else to go watch alone. It meant going together and watching it together at the theater.

Jaegyeom had been horrified.

He had absolutely no interest in making plans to meet Im Hyomun outside work. If he’d known from the beginning, he never would have agreed to the bet. Unfortunately, it was too late to back out now.

And so he found himself making an unexpected trip to the theater.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, both of them happened to be on afternoon shift that day. Their schedules lined up easily, and Jaegyeom reluctantly agreed to get it over with as soon as possible.

From the moment he woke up, he regretted it.

Jaegyeom was not a morning person.

At this hour, the only people wandering around the theater in office clothes were him and Im Hyomun. The reason they’d met so early was because Im Hyomun firmly believed that “weekday mornings, when the theater’s empty, are the golden time for movies.”

It was Jaegyeom’s first time at a theater, but he was still too sleepy to care. Nothing felt exciting or novel.

“Seventy-Seven, let’s get the tickets first.”

Unlike Jaegyeom, who looked like wilted greens boiled to death, Im Hyomun was bursting with energy.

Jaegyeom dragged himself after him toward the ticket kiosk.

“Hey. I’ll pay, so you handle it.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I’ve never been to a theater before. I don’t know how this works.”

The moment Jaegyeom handed over his card, Im Hyomun’s eyes widened.

“What? You’ve never been to a theater?”

“I grew up in the countryside. There weren’t any theaters around.”

Jaegyeom lied casually.

In the end, Im Hyomun stepped up to the self-service kiosk himself and started tapping through the reservation screens.

Then his expression slowly stiffened.

“...Huh?”

No matter how much he searched, the movie they’d come to see wasn’t listed anywhere.

Thinking something was wrong, he called over a nearby employee and asked.

“Sir, that movie isn’t showing at this theater...”

“What?!”

Im Hyomun stared blankly for a moment.

He was sure he’d checked yesterday.

Frantically, he pulled out his phone and searched again.

“Ah! Damn it, I mixed it up with another theater!”

He collapsed dramatically like a punctured balloon and clawed at his bleached hair.

There were several theaters around Jongmyo, and he’d mistaken one for another. They’d timed their arrival perfectly for the showing, so even if they rushed to the correct theater now, there was no guarantee they’d make it in time.

Scratching his head awkwardly, Im Hyomun glanced over at Jaegyeom.

“What do we do, Seventy-Seven? Want to just reschedule for another day?”

“Are you kidding me? You dragged me out here this early. Let’s just watch something.”

“But what if it sucks?”

“So what? People who make bad movies still need to make a living.”

Jaegyeom scratched absently at his ear, utterly indifferent.

“...”

Well. There really wasn’t much to say to that.

Jaegyeom didn’t care whether the movie was good or not. The important thing was keeping his promise. He’d already come all the way here, and he didn’t want to leave empty-handed.

More importantly, if they postponed it, he’d have to meet Im Hyomun again for another movie outing.

Absolutely not.

“Okay... fine. Let’s just pick something.”

Unable to argue with Jaegyeom’s stubbornness, Im Hyomun reluctantly gave in, fiddling with his piercings as he browsed the listings. Since the original movie was out, he just picked the next available screening without overthinking it.

“Since you’re buying the tickets, I’ll get the popcorn.”

He headed over to the concession stand beside the ticket counter and came back carrying a large popcorn set. The bucket overflowed with mixed caramel and buttered popcorn.

“This stuff’s really good. Here, Seventy-Seven, try it.”

The moment Jaegyeom tasted one, his eyes widened.

Jeongju had made microwave popcorn once before, but this was on an entirely different level. He felt like he could finish the whole bucket by himself.

“Hey. Can we buy more of this?”

“Huh? Popcorn? Sure. Why?”

“For Mes—”

Jaegyeom stopped himself abruptly.

“...For my younger brother.”

He wanted Mesan to try movie theater popcorn too.

“Hm. Then wouldn’t it be better to buy it on the way home? It’ll probably go stale.”

“Oh. Really?”

“But wait, Seventy-Seven, you have a younger brother? How old is he?”

Jaegyeom hesitated slightly.

Then he answered vaguely.

“Uh... probably old enough to have eaten popcorn before.”

Crunch.

Jaegyeom shoved another handful into his mouth as he followed Im Hyomun into the screening room.

The theater was so dark he could barely see his feet. He missed a step on the stairs and nearly pitched forward, slamming face-first into Im Hyomun’s back instead.

“Eek?!”

Im Hyomun shrieked loud enough to startle nearby moviegoers.

“S-sorry! Sorry!”

He immediately began apologizing like a lunatic.

Watching him panic made Jaegyeom want to laugh. He quietly bit the inside of his lip to hold it back.

The two found their seats and sat down.

Jaegyeom subtly copied what Im Hyomun did, placing his drink in the cup holder and hanging his bag on the hook in front of the seat.

The theater was dark, cold, and deafeningly loud.

Im Hyomun suddenly lifted a hand and pointed toward the front.

“Hey, Seventy-Seven. There’s a ghost over there.”

In front of the screen, a ghost crouched with its neck bent at a grotesque angle, staring upward at the movie screen.

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

Dark, cool places naturally attracted ghosts, and movie theaters were notorious for having plenty of them.

Im Hyomun leaned closer and lowered his voice.

“After the movie’s over and people leave—”

“If it wants to watch the movie, why doesn’t it sit in the back? That looks uncomfortable.”

Jaegyeom spoke matter-of-factly.

Im Hyomun paused.

Then he slowly turned to stare at him.

“...What?”

“Hm? Nothing.”

The movie started.

Originally, Jaegyeom had planned to sleep through it.

As far as he was concerned, simply showing up and sitting through the movie fulfilled the promise. Nobody had said he actually had to watch it. Besides, the seats were so soft and comfortable that the moment he sat down, his eyelids started drooping.

But once the film began, he found himself opening his eyes wider instead.

The movie Im Hyomun had picked at random turned out to be a historical drama set in a fictional Joseon-era kingdom.

Because of the setting, Jaegyeom ended up becoming unexpectedly absorbed in it.

The story took place in the middle years of Joseon.

The king ruled as an absolute tyrant, tormenting the people while corrupt officials filled the court. The country had fallen into chaos.

The film’s protagonist was Prince Inyoung, born to the king and one of his concubines.

After witnessing the suffering caused by his father’s tyranny, Prince Inyoung resolved to stage a rebellion. He decided he would depose the king himself and take the throne, gathering officials who shared his ideals to build his power.

Then one day, Prince Inyoung met a young man named Lee Hyun.

Lee Hyun came from a ruined noble family. Though he held no official title and lived in obscurity as a scholar, he possessed learning and insight greater than anyone else.

Prince Inyoung recognized his talent immediately and brought him in as an advisor.

Lee Hyun quickly became indispensable.

He guided the prince back toward the proper path whenever he strayed and never hesitated to rebuke him harshly when necessary.

“Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War that subduing the enemy without battle is superior to winning a hundred victories in a hundred wars. Do not lower yourself to brawl with those no better than beasts. One who fights a petty man becomes petty himself. How can a ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) noble person stoop to quarrel with the base?”

Without noticing, Jaegyeom had stopped eating his popcorn.

“My lord must become a man of virtue. A petty person is like shallow water, stirred by the slightest breeze. A wise man is like the sea, unmoved even by a storm. Why trouble yourself over such insignificant things?”

Without realizing it, Jaegyeom nodded slightly.

Then, suddenly, he thought of Yoon Taehee.

The memory of Taehee deliberately provoking him surfaced in his mind.

At that moment, Lee Hyun no longer felt like Prince Inyoung’s strategist alone.

He felt like Jaegyeom’s too.