Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“Gyeom-ah.”

The next morning, after waking, Myojeong called out from the yard.

“I hung my robe up yesterday, but I can’t find it anywhere. Have you seen it?”

Pretending not to know anything, the boy answered that he hadn’t. Myojeong searched for quite a while before finally giving up.

“A wild animal must’ve come down from the mountain in the night and dragged it off. What a shame. I was fond of that robe...”

The boy acted as though he hadn’t heard him and deliberately occupied himself with other thoughts.

Because it was something Myojeong treasured, he wanted to mend the robe himself. Seomal, who was good with a needle, could have finished the embroidery in half a day, but the boy had only just started learning to sew. He planned to embroider a pattern of green leaves onto it. It wasn’t something he could finish in a single day. It would take at least three.

***

Around noon, word spread through the village that there would be a wedding feast. The boy went with Myojeong to watch.

A wedding day was as good as a festival in a village like this. By the time they arrived, the place was already crowded with people. Myojeong lifted the boy up and sat him atop the wall so he could see better.

“Since we’re here, we should at least eat a bowl of noodles before we go back.”

Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, the tall man peered over the wall at the ceremony. Dressed in wedding robes, the bride and groom exchanged bows with flushed faces.

Sitting on the wall, the boy suddenly glanced around.

Several people were stealing looks at Myojeong.

‘...’

A strange thought crossed his mind.

Even when they wandered from province to province, Myojeong drew attention everywhere they went. Sometimes women in veils even came looking for him late at night.

Doesn’t Myojeong want a family of his own?

Am I getting in the way of that?

People already mistake him for a widower traveling with his child...

“Myojeong, why don’t you get married?”

The question was so sudden that Myojeong blinked.

“Hm? Me?”

“Yeah. You’re already older than most men who marry.”

After a brief silence, Myojeong grinned shamelessly.

“Isn’t it obvious just from looking at me? If I got married, dozens—no, hundreds—of women would fall sick crying over me. I’ve kept my topknot untied out of consideration for them.”

“...”

The boy narrowed his eyes in disbelief, and Myojeong awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Well... marriage isn’t something you can do alone. You need another person for it.”

He was handsome, tall, and kind. If he ever had children, the boy thought he would probably be a good father to them too, just as he had been to him.

For some reason, that thought made jealousy stab through his chest.

He knew perfectly well there was no real bond tying him to Myojeong. If Myojeong started a family of his own, there would no longer be any place for him beside him.

Because he wasn’t family.

He would have to leave.

If Myojeong married and had children, there was no way they could keep living together like this. At most, he might visit from time to time.

Born alone in the world, the boy was suddenly overcome by a deep loneliness.

***

By the third day, the embroidered leaves were almost finished.

“Thank you. I think I can manage the rest on my own now.”

The boy dug through his pocket and pulled out a single coin he had been saving.

“Aigo, it’s fine.”

When he tried to hand it to Seomal, she smiled and waved him off.

“No. Please take it. It’s a token of thanks.”

Just then, torches flared up behind them.

A group of officers from the local government office rushed over. Seomal startled and hurriedly lowered her head.

“Seomal. What are you doing out here at this hour?”

“I-I was only teaching the child how to sew because he asked...”

The officers dragged both Seomal and the boy straight to the government office.

Though it was already late at night, the place blazed brightly with lantern light. The magistrate stared down at the boy with sharp, suspicious eyes.

“You two were plotting something together, weren’t you? Speak!”

Both Seomal and the boy were bewildered. No matter how many times they explained that they had only been sewing together, the magistrate refused to believe them.

“That man you called your father the other day—he must’ve seen something, didn’t he? He told you, and you were trying to pass it on to Seomal. Isn’t that right?”

The boy had no idea what he was talking about.

He insisted again that he had only gone to learn sewing, but the magistrate flew into a rage and struck him across the face.

“Silence! What kind of boy learns sewing? At least make your lies believable.”

SMACK.

The boy’s head snapped sideways.

“...”

“With filthy blood like yours, your father must’ve whispered something to you. You told Seomal behind my back because you were planning to bring disaster down on me...”

The boy slowly turned back, glaring at the magistrate with blazing eyes.

“Who do you think you are, hitting me?”

Even Myojeong had never struck him before.

A violent surge of fury rose inside him.

His hair bristled upright. A blinding rage flooded his vision white. Around him, a strange red mist slowly began to rise.

“Who do you think you are...”

Something hardened inside his chest.

It felt as though an egg had cracked open within him.

In an instant, the boy shook off the officers restraining him.

“How dare you lay hands on someone when you don’t even know what he is?”

Tilting his head to one side, the boy sneered.

“You bastard. Daeju of the Choi family. How dare you touch another person’s vessel?”

His eyes had turned eerie now, unsettlingly bright.

“You want calamity? Fine. I’ll gladly bring it down upon you.”

At once, every torch ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ lighting the government yard went out.

Only the whites of the boy’s eyes remained visible.

The terrified officers staggered backward.

“What kind of calamity would you like? Starting with the next harvest, this village will suffer famine year after year. Every descendant of your bloodline will die of measles and strange diseases. Every night, the sound of people weeping tears of blood will echo through your house. That is what I’ll give you. Even if every other household escapes the plague, yours never will. I’ll make certain of it. I’ll make certain it comes to pass.”

“W-what... what are you...?”

“Daeju of Choi. Why are you trembling? Because the child sees spirits? Because you feared he might uncover your filthy secrets? Were you afraid Seomal might learn she’s your daughter? Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

“...”

“And that isn’t all, is it? Daeju of Choi. Or are you frightened I’ll expose how you murdered your own brother? You poisoned his medicine, stole his life, and took his place. Isn’t that why you’re so desperate to silence people? You climbed your way up by sucking the blood of the villagers dry. How could a house like yours avoid being cursed? I’ll return every bit of that misfortune to you twofold.”

“...”

“Why are you so shocked, foolish human? The child truly knew nothing. That man told him nothing either. If you wished to conceal your sins, you should’ve stayed quiet. Why did you expose yourself by laying hands on someone else first? If you truly wanted to bury your shame, you should never have acted this way. Fine. I’ll reveal everything.”

The boy suddenly smirked. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“You bastard. So you really did buy this position with gold bars bribed to high officials.”

The magistrate’s face turned corpse-pale.

“...”

His entire body trembled uncontrollably.

“H-how... how do you know that...? W-who are you...?”

At the question, the boy threw back his head and laughed loudly.

“So who do you think I am? What do I look like to you?”

“...”

“Well? Answer me, Daeju of Choi. What do you see when you look at me?”

“...”

“No answer? Fine, then I’ll tell you myself.”

Wrapped in red mist, the boy strode toward the magistrate with wild eyes.

The magistrate clutched his head and screamed.

“Hhk—don’t... don’t come any closer...”

Just as the boy reached out toward him with those white eyes—

“Stop.”

A sharp voice cut through the darkness.

At the same time, someone seized the back of the boy’s neck.

The boy twisted around.

Myojeong stood behind him.

His face was terrifyingly cold, his eyes sharp as he looked down at him.

Their gazes met.

“...”

“...”

Myojeong spoke in a low, harsh voice.

“Sit.”

Instantly, the white faded from the boy’s eyes.

The red mist surrounding him scattered away.

A crushing weakness swept through his body. His knees buckled, and he collapsed unconscious.

“I have committed a grave sin.”

Myojeong immediately bowed deeply before the magistrate in formal apology.

“I failed to guide the child properly. It is entirely due to my lack of virtue. The child was possessed by a ghost and spoke nothing but nonsense. Everything he said was falsehood and madness.”

Then Myojeong slowly raised his head and looked around at the surrounding officers and attendants.

“As one who can also see and hear things beyond ordinary people, I assure you it was all meaningless rambling. Please think of it as the delirium of someone out of his mind and forget what you heard.”

“...”

“Give us three days, and we will leave this village. Magistrate, as one entrusted with caring for the people, I beg you to calm your anger and show mercy...”

Myojeong lowered himself completely, pressing his forehead against the ground.

The officers and attendants all held their breath as they watched the magistrate.

With trembling legs, Magistrate Choi slowly rose to his feet.

“G-get out... get out of here at once...”