Honbul: Flame of the Soul

The car came to a stop in front of an upscale restaurant.

Perhaps because of the disaster with the fish head last time, Yoon Taehee did not bother # Nоvеlight # asking Jaegyeom what he wanted to eat today and simply chose a place himself. It was a Western-style restaurant that served steak, pasta, and wood-fired pizza.

Even though Jaegyeom had already said he ate dinner, Taehee ordered enough food for two people anyway: pizza, cream pasta, and steak.

Reluctantly following him inside, Jaegyeom took out his phone while they waited for the food. Sitting across from Yoon Taehee with nothing much to say still felt awkward.

At that moment, Taehee also pulled out his own phone.

“I started playing it too. Friends Pang.”

Jaegyeom instinctively looked up from his screen.

He already knew. Taehee had sent him a heart for the first time a few days ago.

Still, the fact that they now shared the same game sparked a bit of curiosity in him.

“You know how to play?”

“Mm.”

“Play a round.”

Pushing aside the awkwardness, Jaegyeom made the suggestion.

If Taehee turned out to be around his level—or worse—he had briefly considered proposing a bet like the one he once made with Im Hyomun.

Yoon Taehee quietly started the game.

His fingers moved quickly across the screen, expression perfectly calm and focused.

Game over!

The cheerful voice effect rang out as the score appeared.

1,740,000 points.

“...”

The score was absurd.

Jaegyeom’s eyes widened as he looked back and forth between the screen and Taehee’s face.

To him, even breaking a million points felt impossibly difficult.

What the hell...?

How is this bastard this good already?

He said he only started recently...

Reading Jaegyeom’s expression immediately, Taehee smiled faintly.

“Have you ever seen me fail at anything?”

Their eyes met directly.

“...”

Without realizing it, Jaegyeom looked away first.

For some reason, meeting Taehee’s eyes had become difficult lately.

Normally, he would have brushed off a line like that as annoyingly arrogant. He would have snorted and told him to quit acting full of himself.

But now—

Before and after hearing those words, his heart kept racing for no reason.

Pretending nothing was wrong, Jaegyeom fiddled with his phone and played a few more rounds until he ran out of hearts.

“Hey. Send me hearts.”

At the blunt command, Taehee silently tapped his screen.

[Yoon Taehee sent you a heart. (Moments ago)]

Jaegyeom stared blankly at the notification before absentmindedly asking,

“Hey. What does a heart even mean?”

At that, Taehee lifted his gaze from his phone.

When their eyes met, he tapped the center of his chest with one finger.

“Heart.”

“Ah.”

Jaegyeom nodded as if he understood.

“Symbolically, it means love.”

The additional explanation came casually.

Jaegyeom paused.

His eyes slowly shifted back toward Taehee.

“It means I love you.”

For a moment, the words brushed across his heart like something fleeting and hot before disappearing again.

“...”

Silence settled over the table.

The atmosphere turned strange.

“Excuse me.”

Right then, the server arrived with soup and bread.

Jaegyeom immediately focused on the food as though escaping the conversation, forcing his expression back to normal. He spread jam over a piece of bread, only to notice Taehee watching him with obvious interest.

Jaegyeom narrowed his eyes.

“What? Do you think I only know how to spread soybean paste on bread or something?”

Taehee looked genuinely baffled.

“I like bread and jam too, you know. What, you think I only shovel down giant bowls of rice?”

“I didn’t say anything...”

Despite being scolded for absolutely no reason, Taehee obediently fell silent.

Soon the main dishes arrived.

Despite insisting earlier that he had already eaten, Jaegyeom ate extremely well.

“You like it?”

Jaegyeom nodded.

“Yeah.”

Even though Taehee had said he could simply sit there and watch, Jaegyeom obviously could not do that while Taehee ate alone. Besides, Taehee had ordered enough food to waste half of it if nobody helped.

Since Jaegyeom was still clumsy with a fork and knife, Taehee occasionally cut things for him or twirled pasta before handing it over.

Every time their hands brushed, Jaegyeom had to struggle to keep acting normal.

“Hey. When are you free?”

“Why?”

“Jeongju invited you over for a housewarming meal.”

While wiping his hands with a wet towel, Taehee thought for a moment.

Lately, most of his free time had been consumed entertaining guests from Byeoksadan at the pavilion.

“I’ll probably be busy until next week... How about the weekend after that?”

“Fine.”

After they finished eating, the server returned to ask about dessert.

Taehee ordered cake and iced tea.

Jaegyeom ordered strawberry bingsu.

The moment the desserts arrived, Jaegyeom immediately picked out all the strawberries first and ate them.

“Try some cake too.”

Using his bingsu spoon, Jaegyeom scooped up a piece of Taehee’s cake and popped it into his mouth.

The cream melted softly on his tongue.

Resting his chin against one hand, Taehee watched him eat without looking away.

“What?”

“Even the way you eat is pretty.”

Caught completely off guard, Jaegyeom nearly choked on the bingsu.

Hearing another man call him pretty felt ridiculous.

The second he relaxed even slightly, Taehee would suddenly say something insane and leave him flustered all over again.

Jesus Christ. This is seriously insane.

Jaegyeom lowered his head slightly and hurriedly wiped his mouth with a napkin as though trying to erase the lingering sensation.

His ears felt hot.

Whether from coughing or something else, he could not tell.

The hand holding his spoon hovered awkwardly in the air for a moment before settling back down.

Then, after a long silence, Jaegyeom finally spoke as though making up his mind.

“...Hey.”

Ever since returning from the cave, he had tried to ignore everything and act normal.

But he did not think he could keep doing this forever.

He felt like they needed to clear things up properly.

“I-I’m a man.”

“I know.”

Taehee answered calmly.

“So are you... a sodomite?”

“Probably?”

The answer came so quickly that Jaegyeom froze.

Last time, Taehee said no.

Now it was different.

And what the hell did probably even mean?

Either you were or you weren’t.

While Jaegyeom stared at him in confusion, Taehee suddenly asked in return:

“What about you?”

Jaegyeom frowned immediately.

“What? I-I’m not a sodomite.”

“How do you know?”

“Huh? Because... I’ve never done anything like that with a man...”

“How about with a woman?”

Taehee asked it completely expressionlessly.

“...”

Jaegyeom hesitated.

For a moment, he could not answer.

“I’ve never done anything with a man either,” Taehee continued casually, as though Jaegyeom’s answer was unnecessary.

“But you’re right. I’m a sodomite.”

Jaegyeom blurted out immediately:

“...What? Why?”

“I haven’t slept with a man before. But I wouldn’t mind doing it.”

Resting his temple against his fist, Taehee looked straight at him.

“...”

The answer made Jaegyeom feel like he might suffocate.

Part of him wanted to stand up and leave immediately.

He did want to stay close to Yoon Taehee.

He could not deny that.

And he knew he felt something special toward him too.

He had not hated the kiss.

But accepting that two men could become that kind of relationship still felt impossible to him.

“I’m not a sodomite. I’m different from you.”

The words barely came out.

It was the conclusion he had reached after agonizing over it for days.

He wanted to escape this suffocating tension somehow, but before that, he felt he needed to make one thing clear.

I don’t feel the same way Yoon Taehee does.

“I-I mean...”

Struggling to explain himself properly, Jaegyeom trailed off.

Taehee simply nodded. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“I understand.”

Ironically, the calm response startled Jaegyeom more.

“Then what do you want from me?”

At the awkward question, Taehee laughed quietly.

“What would you do if I told you?”

“What?”

“If I tell you what I want... would you do it for me?”

There was a faint loneliness in the question.

Jaegyeom could not answer.

“You don’t have to do anything.”

After a moment of silence, Taehee lowered his eyes and murmured softly,

“Just eat with me like this. Drink tea together. Sit beside me in the car like today...”

His voice faded there.

Jaegyeom waited for him to continue.

But Taehee could not bring himself to say the final words.

Forever.

Even after everything ended, he wanted to keep eating with him like this.

He wanted to keep drinking tea together.

He wanted to glance sideways during late-night drives and see Jaegyeom asleep in the passenger seat.

Forever.

Forever.

“Really. That’s enough for me.”

Slowly, Taehee lifted his head again.

“I’ll handle everything else.”

Yes.

For now, this was enough.