Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“Probationary Naja Kim from Team 1, come to the chief’s office for a moment.”

Just like always, Yoon Taehee called Jaegyeom into the chief’s office again today.

Several days had passed since the accidental email incident. Ever since then, Chief Yoon had been personally tutoring Jaegyeom every day on spelling and writing emails. What was originally supposed to be a one-time lesson had somehow turned into a regular occurrence.

And today, for the first time, Yoon Taehee proposed a spelling quiz.

“Let’s see how much your spelling’s improved. We’ll do dictation.”

“Don’t want to. I’m not doing it.”

Jaegyeom refused immediately, looking openly annoyed.

Yoon Taehee had expected that answer. As someone highly skilled at persuasion, he understood the importance of balancing reward and pressure. Getting started was always the hardest part. Once momentum formed, the rest became easy.

With a rattling sound, he opened a drawer and took out the reward.

“They say starting is half the battle.”

The “reward” Yoon Taehee produced was a sticker. Peeling one off, he placed it on the back of Jaegyeom’s hand.

“This is... from when I wrote that book report...”

“That’s right. If you pass the dictation test, I’ll give you another sticker.”

The proposal itself was simple. There would be ten questions, and if Jaegyeom got at least five right, he would receive a praise sticker.

“If you collect five stickers, I’ll give you a present.”

Jaegyeom’s ears perked up instantly.

Even though the whole thing had fizzled out halfway last time, he had received a gift then too. A beautiful music box. And getting five out of ten right was only half. The bar wasn’t even high.

Besides, he already had one sticker.

Meaning he only needed four more.

Jaegyeom was tempted.

“What’s the present?”

“Secret.”

Yoon Taehee’s prediction had been exactly right. Faced with a clear objective, Jaegyeom grumbled outwardly, but a spark appeared in his eyes.

Competitiveness.

Despite always acting detached and uninterested in everything, Jaegyeom was naturally the type who enjoyed competition and achievement.

And so, for the first time in his life, he willingly sat down to do dictation.

Settling into the executive chair, he grabbed a document and started cramming spelling rules like someone preparing for an exam.

“Tell me when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready. Start.”

With an unusually determined expression, Jaegyeom gripped his pencil tightly.

Yoon Taehee said he would be pulling the questions from a book. Putting on his glasses, he crossed his legs and held the book open with one hand before beginning to read aloud.

“He owned no fewer than three pairs of stylish shoes.”

Jaegyeom diligently wrote the sentence down.

“He... owned... no fewer... than... three... pairs... of stylish... shoes...”

He quietly mouthed each word under his breath while painstakingly writing them down one letter at a time.

Watching him write, Yoon Taehee casually continued.

“Next.”

Jaegyeom nodded.

“He looked utterly pitiful, drenched by the sudden rain.”

Jaegyeom hesitated while writing.

The difference between certain spellings kept tripping him up. Yoon Taehee had explained them before. At the time, Jaegyeom thought he understood, but the moment he actually had to use them himself, uncertainty crept in.

“Next?”

“No, wait a second...”

The answer Jaegyeom initially wrote was wrong.

He slowly lifted his head and stared at Yoon Taehee.

“...”

When their eyes met, Yoon Taehee raised a brow as if asking, Why are you looking at me?

Jaegyeom scrutinized his face carefully.

The dictation test abruptly turned into a psychological battle.

Like a boxer reading his opponent’s tells, Jaegyeom examined Yoon Taehee’s expression, then aggressively erased his answer and rewrote it.

After changing it, he looked up at Taehee again.

“...”

Watching his reaction closely, Jaegyeom violently erased it a second time.

Now his eyes looked practically identical to a burglar peeking over a wall.

“...”

At last, Yoon Taehee’s carefully maintained composure collapsed.

Unable to hold it in anymore, he bent forward laughing.

So that was the correct answer.

Jaegyeom smiled smugly, finally convinced he’d figured it out.

“Next.”

Still laughing, Yoon Taehee couldn’t continue for a while.

“Hold on. Isn’t this basically cheating?”

“How’s it cheating? This is insight.”

Who could have guessed a spelling quiz would turn into psychological warfare?

Yoon Taehee decided to add another rule.

“From now on, keep your eyes on the notebook.”

Jaegyeom muttered under his breath.

Petty bastard... It’s not like the answers are written on your face.

Still grumbling, he flicked eraser shavings toward Yoon Taehee in obvious dissatisfaction.

But once rules were established, Jaegyeom obeyed them surprisingly well.

“Fine. Next.”

“He was so handsome he made countless women’s hearts flutter.”

“He... was... so... hand...some...”

Resting his chin against one hand, Yoon Taehee watched Jaegyeom obediently continue writing.

Then a mischievous impulse surfaced.

After waiting for Jaegyeom to finish the sentence, Taehee casually flipped to the next page of the book and spoke as though nothing was unusual.

“What do you eat to be this pretty?”

The sentence was completely fabricated. It wasn’t in the book at all.

“What... do... you... eat... to...”

Completely focused, Jaegyeom carefully wrote down every word.

Bent over the desk as if trying to drill through the paper itself, he frowned in concentration. The scratching sound of pencil lead against paper quietly filled the office.

“From the moment I first saw you, I liked you.”

“From... the... moment... I... first...”

“When our eyes met, I became greedy.”

At first, it had only been curiosity.

His gaze kept drifting toward him.

Sometimes the boy felt like an old man worn down by life itself, and other times he seemed innocent to the point of cruelty. That strange coexistence of exhaustion and purity always sent an odd thrill through Yoon Taehee.

There were moments when simply looking at him felt sufficient, without touching even a fingertip, like admiring a beautiful statue.

And there were also moments when he wanted to ruin him completely.

Filthy. Broken. Thoroughly destroyed from head to toe.

From the very first meeting, Kim Jaegyeom had always pushed Yoon Taehee toward extremes.

What will you do if you can’t find a way?

Paehyeon’s voice suddenly echoed through his mind. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“...”

The smile lingering on Yoon Taehee’s lips slowly faded.

It had taken enormous effort to decide that Jaegyeom should live.

To do that, he had denied his own emotions. Denied his own past. In the process, he had dismantled the very foundation of the last ten years of his life.

And day by day, Yoon Taehee grew more anxious.

If he failed to find a solution...

Yoon Taehee habitually assumed the worst-case outcome first, then prepared countermeasures around it.

But at some point, merely imagining Jaegyeom disappearing had begun to hurt him.

Every time the thought surfaced, his meticulously ordered mind stalled and sank into helpless despair. A devastating sense of powerlessness hollowed out his bones.

For the first time in his life, he wished time would slow down.

For someone who had spent every second running toward revenge, it was an unfamiliar desire.

Every moment with you is so unbearably pleasant that it makes me endlessly miserable.

This brilliant everyday life you’ve brought me, completely unrelated to revenge, is suffocating.

Ever since opening the gates of the emotions he had locked away for years, the feelings now flowing freely through him gave Yoon Taehee a sense of truly being alive that he had never once experienced before.

The moment he acknowledged those feelings, his life gained a fullness and peace he had never known.

Simply being together was enough.

When he told Jaegyeom he didn’t need to do anything, he had meant it sincerely.

Yoon Taehee’s life until now had never been built around expectation.

Only preparation.

He was someone who always anticipated the worst and prepared for it in advance. Because of that, he had never learned how to hope.

And since he was incapable of hope, he asked for very little.

Ironically, that meant Jaegyeom’s feelings themselves were not especially important to him. More important than Jaegyeom’s heart was the heart now beating inside his own chest.

Nothing could interfere with that heart.

Not even you.

Not even you...

Wouldn’t it be enough to win his heart?

Paehyeon’s question surfaced again.

But what if you liked me too?

What if, like me, you wanted us to stay together for a long time?

What if something like that were actually possible...

Without realizing it, Yoon Taehee spoke the thoughts aloud.

“Every time I see you, I’m grateful I survived.”

“Every... time... I... see... you...”

Quietly, Yoon Taehee watched Jaegyeom writing with complete concentration.

“Maybe I was born just to meet you.”

“Maybe... I... was... born...”

The sight of Jaegyeom carefully writing down every word he said—

“Every day with you feels like a birthday.”

“Every... day... with... you...”

Jaegyeom suddenly stopped writing.

Something felt strange.

Until now, he had been writing automatically without paying attention to the meaning, but suddenly the content sounded odd.

Weren’t these sentences different from before?

Or was he imagining it?

After blinking a few times, Jaegyeom decided to finish writing anyway.

This was the tenth question already. Once he finished this sentence, today’s dictation test would be over.

Tightening his grip on the pencil, he continued writing until the very end.

“So... could you maybe like me too?”

Snap.

The pencil lead broke sharply.

“...”

His hand had slipped.

Startled, Jaegyeom slowly looked up.

The book was already closed.

Yoon Taehee was quietly watching him.

“...”

“...”

Silence settled heavily between them as their eyes locked.

“T-The test... the ten questions are over...”

Jaegyeom mumbled awkwardly, instinctively lowering his gaze. His lips trembled faintly.

“...Yeah.”

With a soft thud, Yoon Taehee closed the book completely and reached out for the notebook.

That’s right.

Forget the last question.

An outlier.

A deviation.

A confession that never should have been spoken aloud.

A desire that violated the rules.

An unnecessary hope.

Without the slightest trace of emotion on his face, Yoon Taehee began grading the test as though nothing unusual had happened at all.