Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Seonoh sank deeper and deeper beneath the water.

“Who are you? Why did you come for me?”

Long ago, Seonoh had asked that question to whatever stood outside his door.

And now, this scene before him seemed to be answering it.

Amid the chaos of rocks crashing down like meteors, the first thing Seonoh noticed was someone reaching toward him.

The boy who normally always wore a detached, indifferent expression now looked completely stripped of composure.

The moment their eyes met, a cold shiver ran through Seonoh.

Yes.

I was right all along.

You were a trap.

From the very first moment they met, something had felt wrong.

That eerie sensation whenever everything aligned too perfectly, as though carefully cut into place with a blade.

All the moments when things he had secretly wished for—even without realizing it himself—came true.

The boy had once said the world could be malicious for no reason.

And only now did Seonoh finally understand what kind of “malice” he had meant.

The malice the world bestowed upon me—

was you.

Otherwise, none of this made sense.

It couldn’t be like this.

When paradise collapsed and the past crumbled into ruins, he should not have been standing there before him.

Blankly, Seonoh thought:

I never should have met him.

This wasn’t merely a feeling.

It was certainty rising from somewhere deep inside him.

Every sign had pointed to one answer.

He had wondered countless times why it had to be him.

Why was he drawn so helplessly toward him without any reason?

Why did he keep finding himself wishing it would be him, over and over again?

Again and again, he had asked himself that question.

But now he understood.

The world had prepared him as a sweet trap meant to bring about his ruin.

He was both the world’s malice toward Seonoh—

and its trap.

He came to destroy those ten years.

He’s come. He’ll take everything I have and ruin it all.

—Everything began the moment I met him. He truly was the harbinger of my downfall.

It was all because of you.

“Yoon Taehee!”

Seonoh squeezed his eyes shut.

“Taehee——!”

At last, Yoon Taehee grabbed hold of Jaegyeom’s outstretched hand.

The instant their hands met, a powerful force yanked him forward.

Within the violently swirling water, Jaegyeom wrapped one arm tightly around Taehee while gripping the sword firmly in his other hand.

He drove the blade into a massive nearby rock to anchor himself.

Then, gathering spiritual force into the sword, he used the recoil to propel them upward.

The two of them burst from the lake.

“Pwah—! Hah...!”

As they broke the surface, the cave around them was collapsing.

Jaegyeom coughed violently, spitting water from his mouth. Meanwhile, Yoon Taehee hung limply in his arms with his eyes closed, seemingly unconscious.

There was no time to check properly.

The cave would collapse completely if they stayed any longer.

Jaegyeom hauled Taehee onto his back and started running.

Whenever falling rocks blocked the path, he infused force into his steps and smashed straight through them.

He ran desperately, as though something were chasing him.

At last, he spotted the exit in the distance.

By the time they escaped the cave, night had already fallen over the mountains.

But even after getting outside, Jaegyeom didn’t stop immediately. Faint tremors still rumbled beneath his feet from the cave collapsing behind them.

Only after putting enough distance between them and the mountain did he finally stop and lower Yoon Taehee to the ground.

Panting for breath, Jaegyeom grabbed Taehee’s cold cheek.

“Yoon... Yoon Taehee!”

He seized him by the shoulders and shook him hard.

Still, Taehee didn’t open his eyes.

His face was deathly pale from the freezing water, and with his eyes closed, he looked disturbingly corpse-like.

“T-Taehee!”

Fear suddenly gripped Jaegyeom’s chest.

Could he really be dead?

No—that couldn’t be right.

They had just looked at each other.

Taehee had reached out and grabbed his hand.

In the end, Jaegyeom slapped him hard across the face.

“Answer me, you fucking bastard—!”

At last, Yoon Taehee’s eyelids slowly fluttered open. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Jaegyeom froze mid-motion, his eyes widening.

He woke up.

Quickly lowering his raised hand, Jaegyeom stared down at him anxiously.

“A-are you okay?”

“No...”

Yoon Taehee murmured weakly.

The grandfather who had gone out to buy groceries never came home.

No—

now he never would.

The house he had shared with his grandfather was gone.

The ghosts had all been swept away into the whirlpool.

And the water ghost that had almost reached his hand in the end had slipped away through his fingers.

Seonoh’s childhood shattered and vanished into the depths of the whirlpool.

“You ruined everything.”

The barely audible whisper made Jaegyeom go still.

His gaze trembled violently.

Water dripped steadily from his soaked body as he stared silently at Taehee.

Part of him had expected this.

He had expected resentment.

Blame.

Bitterness.

He understood too well what Taehee must be feeling right now.

And yet his chest still ached.

Biting his ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) lip, Jaegyeom finally forced the words out.

“Even so... I don’t regret it.”

The moment he finished speaking, Taehee’s breathing became uneven.

Suddenly, something burning surged upward from deep inside his chest.

He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and clenched his teeth as though trying to force the emotion back down.

“Really?”

His voice came out rough and wet.

“But I do.”

He swallowed harshly before speaking again.

“I regret meeting you.”

Long ago, Yoon Taehee had vowed never to regret anything.

Regret changed nothing.

All it did was leave behind self-loathing and bitterness.

Do you know why regret and remorse are such fucked-up things? Just feeling regretful about the past makes people think they’ve become better somehow. Even though all they did was sit still and think about it, their guilt fades and they start forgiving themselves.

That was what he himself had once said.

But in truth—

Yoon Taehee had spent his entire life drowning in regret.

It was all his fault.

Not a single day had passed without regret.

He shouldn’t have opened that door.

He should have been kinder to the water ghost.

Every day afterward, those regrets haunted him.

Regret clung to him like a shadow.

Like a brand burned into his flesh.

Like punishment.

His entire life had been one long act of self-condemnation.

And yet—

the moment he saw Jaegyeom reaching toward him through the collapsing water—

Yoon Taehee finally understood something.

Ah.

So this is why I was born.

For this moment alone.

That was why he had opened the door that day.

Why he had wandered through the freezing snow into the mountains.

Why he had come into this world at all.

To arrive here.

To meet you.

Jaegyeom had dragged him out from the swamp of his past.

He had severed the chains binding him there and shattered apart his ruined childhood.

Yoon Taehee had spent his entire life regretting the moment he opened that door.

He had lived consumed by guilt, hatred, and vengeance.

But the moment he saw Jaegyeom come for him—

for the first time in his life—

he no longer regretted stepping outside that day.

“I’m supposed to regret that day forever.”

Yoon Taehee slowly sat upright.

“I watched my grandfather die right in front of me. I lost everything that day.”

His eyes locked onto Jaegyeom’s.

“But because of you...”

“Because I met you beyond that door...”

“I can’t completely regret it anymore.”

He stared directly into Jaegyeom’s eyes.

“And that’s why I regret meeting you.”

Jaegyeom stared back at him, stunned.

Yoon Taehee’s face had lost all trace of its usual composure.

Raw emotion burned in his eyes.

It was the face he only showed in moments when he completely lost control of himself.

“Everything became a complete mess after I met you.”

His breathing grew harsher as he spoke.

“I kept thinking over and over that this wasn’t why I brought you with me.”

“But in the end... there was never any other possible outcome.”

Like someone finally exhaling after holding his breath too long, the words poured out faster and faster.

“After that kiss, I regretted it every single day.”

“I told myself dozens of times. Hundreds of times.”

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I couldn’t afford to get any more emotionally involved.”

Lowering his head, Taehee gripped his soaking wet hair tightly.

He looked exhausted.

Fragile.

As though he might collapse at any moment.

“No matter how much I thought about it, there were more reasons not to do this than there were reasons to do it.”

“I understood all of them. I accepted all of them.”

“But every time I saw you, my head just went blank.”

“I couldn’t understand myself anymore.”

“And eventually I started thinking...”

A bitter laugh escaped him.

Fuck. I really must be losing my mind.

Slowly, his hands dropped away.

“But now I understand.”

He lifted his head.

Their eyes met in the still night.

A cold wind brushed lightly past his cheek, carrying droplets from his wet hair.

“I wanted to infect you with this disease.”

Teacher, how can you call this love? Love is a disease called destruction, punishment, and suffering...

If love truly was punishment, suffering, and destruction—

then Yoon Taehee wanted Jaegyeom to suffer from it too.

He wanted him to ache.

To hurt.

To become just as ruined as he was.

That was why he kept wanting to kiss him.

“I was wrong.”

“You’re not some disposable pawn.”

Only a handspan separated them now.

And even being this close hurt unbearably.

Pain tightened around Taehee’s chest like a vise.

“If you die, everything ends.”

His voice trembled faintly.

“You’re my king.”

Jaegyeom stared at him blankly, unable to process any of it.

“What...?”

“What are you talking about?”

Yoon Taehee slowly raised a hand and cupped the side of Jaegyeom’s face beneath his ear.

His pale fingertips trembled faintly.

His gaze traced over Jaegyeom’s features one by one.

Then suddenly, Taehee looked away sharply and clenched his teeth.

He tried desperately to suppress the emotion rising in his chest.

But in the end, his breathing shook.

Slowly, he turned back and met Jaegyeom’s eyes again.

His own eyes were faintly red now.

“It means...”

His voice cracked slightly.

“I love you.”

The confession burst out of him almost violently.

“...What?”

Yoon Taehee grabbed the back of Jaegyeom’s head and yanked him forward.

Their foreheads collided roughly.

Their noses pressed together harshly.

Jaegyeom stared at him blankly in shock while Taehee’s fingers tangled deep into his hair.

“I couldn’t help it either.”

His breathing was ragged, almost frantic.

“I dreamed about you every night.”

“...”

“Every night, I imagined us tangled together like animals.”

“...”

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Jaegyeom’s eyes widened slowly.

And then Taehee kissed him.

The kiss was desperate.

Fervent.

Almost prayer-like.

Unable to say a single word, Jaegyeom was swept away by the intensity of it.

Their tongues tangled together.

Hot breaths mixed between them.

Only after a long while did Taehee finally pull away.

Still holding Jaegyeom’s face, he buried his forehead against Jaegyeom’s neck.

One large hand gripped tightly at Jaegyeom’s chest as though he needed something to cling to in order to stay upright.

Ah.

So in the end...

I really did fall in love with you.

“...”

Jaegyeom stared blankly into space before slowly lowering his eyes toward the man leaning against his neck.

His heartbeat pounded violently.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

“Gasp—! Save me! Please save me!”

A desperate scream suddenly echoed from somewhere nearby.

Jaegyeom jolted violently back to reality.

Startled like someone caught doing something wrong, he sprang to his feet.

Only then did he remember the turtle.

He had left him behind inside the collapsing cave.

Alone, the turtle must have run into trouble escaping.

Jaegyeom’s face flushed bright red all the way to his ears.

His head spun chaotically.

Clenching and unclenching his fists helplessly, he staggered toward the distant cries.

The cool night wind rustled softly through the dark forest.

Swish—

“...”

Meanwhile, Yoon Taehee collapsed backward onto the ground in exhaustion.

Lying flat on his back, he slowly raised one hand toward the night sky.

It was no longer the small hand from his childhood memories.

Now it was large, with long fingers and prominent knuckles.

After staring at it quietly for a moment, Taehee slowly brought his wrist to his lips.

He kissed the bracelet there and murmured softly like a sigh.

“You called for me, Taehee-nim?”

Paehyeon appeared and bowed his head.

“I have something to ask of you.”

“Yes. Please speak.”

But after starting, Taehee fell silent for a long while.

Slowly closing his eyes, he let the silence stretch.

Paehyeon waited patiently.

At last, Taehee exhaled quietly.

“No... forget that.”

“It’s not a request.”

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

“It’s an order.”

His dark gaze fixed itself on the night.

“Find a way to break the curse of immortality.”

Yes.

In the end, desire consumed me.

The shame of failing to remain myself.

The humiliation of losing myself.

I couldn’t protect myself from you.

You stole me away from myself.

And now—

I’ll make you mine in return.

Misfortune and fate prowled everywhere around them like starving stray dogs baring their teeth.

The sky might collapse.

The earth might split apart.

Every place they passed through might crumble into ruin.

But none of it mattered.

In this collapsing world, Jaegyeom would save him again and again.

Like a single flame refusing to go out within a raging storm, he would always reach toward him.

If you are the harbinger of my downfall—

then I will gladly become the obedient beast that follows wherever you lead.

Even if there’s a cliff waiting at the end of the road—

if you pull the reins, I’ll follow you willingly to the edge.

Rumble...

A faint tremor spread through the ground beneath Taehee.

The deep vibration rolled upward through the earth and into his spine.

And he understood exactly what it meant.

It was the sound of the past ten years of his life collapsing.

—What is this mysterious force that brings both death and life?

You, who once came from far away and knocked on my door asking to be let in—

you are the malice this world bestowed upon me.

My misfortune.

My fate.

My ruin.

The harbinger of downfall.

And love wearing the face of fear.

It doesn’t matter what you are.

I will keep walking toward you anyway.

Step by step.

I’ll take the hand leading me toward ruin—

and follow wherever it goes.

And at the end of that road—

I’ll see with my own eyes what waits there beside you.

Yoon Taehee lay sprawled on the ground with his arms spread wide.

It was a night where destiny wrestled against itself.

Pitch-black darkness poured down over him.

And suddenly—

he laughed soundlessly.

At that moment—

he felt strangely, impossibly happy.