Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“Jaegyeom, we should get going too.”

Still dazed, Jaegyeom let Yibin pull him along and opened the rear car door. He’d been intercepted on his way to headquarters and abruptly thrown into a field assignment, so his head still hadn’t caught up with the situation. It was also the first time he’d ridden in the back seat instead of beside the Chief.

As he opened the door, he found Yoon Taehee already in the driver’s seat with the engine running. Taehee turned his head and looked at him.

“Hi.”

After shoving Jaegyeom into the back, Kang Yibin climbed into the passenger seat beside the Chief.

“Seriously, Chief, your observation skills are insane. Jaegyeom was standing all the way on the opposite side of the car. How did you recognize him? You scared me.”

Taehee smiled brightly and glanced at Jaegyeom through the rearview mirror.

“Right?”

The moment their eyes met, Jaegyeom instinctively turned to stare out the window.

“No need to be nervous, Jaegyeom. Today you’re not dealing with ghosts.”

Kang Yibin briefly explained the operation.

Two days earlier, a member of the Covert Division had gone undercover in the field. The infiltration target was a place called Yeum Art Center. The operative had entered disguised as a door-to-door salesperson, and contact had been lost immediately afterward.

Security footage confirmed the operative entering the building, but there was no record of them leaving. The Covert Division concluded that something had happened inside and requested support from the Exorcism Unit.

The owner of Yeum Art Center was Kim Yekwon, chairman of a charitable foundation.

For the past two days, the operative’s pager signal had remained fixed inside the art center. Whatever the circumstances, the chances that the operative was being held captive were high.

That was why Yoon Taehee and Kang Yibin were attending the charity event being held there today. With outsiders constantly coming and going, the event offered the perfect cover for infiltration. Their mission was to determine the missing operative’s whereabouts.

Eventually, the black sedan reached the area around the venue. Taehee deliberately parked some distance away from the building. The three shared special tiepin radios and conducted one final check.

“Manager Kang, did you bring your weapon?”

“Of course.”

Kang Yibin had concealed a jackknife beneath her skirt.

“Good. Let’s head in.”

The three approached the entrance to the art center in single file.

A moment later, Jaegyeom, trailing a couple of steps behind Yibin, glanced back at Taehee. After slowing down enough to make sure Yibin was out of earshot, he spoke under his breath as Taehee drew near.

“Hey. Why don’t I have a weapon?”

Both Taehee and Kang Yibin were armed, but Jaegyeom had been given nothing. He still hadn’t even been assigned a weapon.

“Why don’t you have a weapon?”

At Jaegyeom’s question, Taehee arched a brow.

“You already have the best weapon.”

Jaegyeom looked at him blankly. Taehee poked a finger against his own chest and answered without hesitation.

“Me.”

“...”

Speechless, Jaegyeom just kept walking.

***

Several staff members wearing earpieces stood guard at the main entrance of the art center. Every one of them was dressed in a black suit, giving off an oddly oppressive atmosphere. As the group approached, one staff member flipped through a guest list.

“Welcome. Your name, please?”

After Kang Yibin gave the false name they’d prepared, the staff member glanced past her at Taehee and Jaegyeom.

“The two behind you are with you?”

“Yes.”

The staff member handed them pamphlets containing the charity event schedule.

“You may go in.”

With a polite gesture toward the entrance, he stepped aside.

Inside was an enormous domed lobby. The art center had three floors in total. The first floor housed the convention hall, the second the exhibition hall, and the third a small theater. The charity event itself was taking place in the convention hall on the first floor.

The three followed the red carpet through the lobby and entered the hall. The interior resembled a hotel banquet venue. Round tables draped in white cloth stood neatly arranged throughout the room, and a large stage had been set up at the front. There were around a hundred attendees.

As Taehee quietly surveyed the hall, his eyes narrowed slightly.

It was only a charity event, yet there seemed to be an excessive number of security personnel. Just counting the guards visible inside the hall, there were close to twenty of them. Since wealthy sponsors and donors were attending, heightened security wasn’t unusual, but still...

“Chief, what is it?”

Kang Yibin lowered her voice beside him. Taehee shook his head.

“Nothing.”

Maybe he was overthinking it.

“Welcome.”

A server in a white shirt and bow tie approached with a tray of drinks. Three small champagne glasses rested on it, prepared exactly for their group.

“Thank you.”

Taehee smiled and picked one up.

“Thanks.”

Kang Yibin accepted hers naturally as well.

Unlike the other two, who blended in effortlessly, Jaegyeom felt painfully awkward in a place like this. He hesitated before taking a glass, and the server stared at him expectantly until he finally gave in and picked one up.

“Please enjoy yourselves.”

The three lightly clinked glasses and exchanged glances as they sipped the champagne.

It was their signal to split up and assess the atmosphere before making any real moves.

People of all ages filled the hall, regardless of gender. Judging by the children running around, many attendees had brought their families.

As Jaegyeom wandered through the room, he opened the pamphlet in his hand. He was studying the building map inside when something brushed against his arm.

Turning, he spotted a marble-like pellet rolling across the floor. Curious, he bent to pick it up and found himself looking at a child around seven years old holding a toy slingshot.

Jaegyeom walked over with the pellet in hand.

“Hey. Is this—”

He’d barely started asking if it belonged to the kid when the child suddenly dropped the slingshot.

“Waaah...! I’m sorry...!”

The child burst into tears without warning.

Startled, Jaegyeom froze. He’d only meant to return the pellet, but apparently the kid thought he was about to get scolded. Jaegyeom did look intimidating.

As the child’s sobbing grew louder, a man who seemed to be the parent hurried over and bowed repeatedly to Jaegyeom.

“I’m sorry. Please forgive him.”

“Uh? No, it’s...”

Awkwardly, Jaegyeom accepted the apology. With the child crying so loudly, people nearby had already begun staring. The man quickly dragged the sobbing child away.

What the hell? I didn’t even do anything...

Standing ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) there with a baffled expression, Jaegyeom noticed the toy lying on the floor.

“Oh. Excuse me—you forgot this...”

He picked up the slingshot and turned around, but both the child and the man had already disappeared outside the hall.

What now? Should I chase after them?

As Jaegyeom scratched his head uncertainly, he spotted Taehee and Kang Yibin waving to him from afar. Deciding to hold onto it for now, he stuffed the slingshot into his pocket and walked over.

“We should move before the event starts.”

Since the event hadn’t begun yet, guests were still wandering freely around the building. Once it started, everyone would gather in the convention hall. Now was their best chance to move around unnoticed.

Checking the time on his wristwatch, Taehee continued.

“Jaegyeom, you take the first floor. Manager Kang, the second. I’ll handle the third.”

Kang Yibin nodded and left first.

As Taehee turned to go, Jaegyeom hesitated, then reached out and lightly tugged on the edge of Taehee’s jacket.

Taehee looked back at him.

“What? Something wrong?”

“Earlier, some kid dropped this...”

Jaegyeom pulled the slingshot from his pocket and explained what had happened.

***

Having started her infiltration first, Kang Yibin headed for the exhibition hall on the second floor.

Pretending to browse the displays, she pulled a hand mirror-shaped pager from her clutch. After checking that nobody was watching, she acted as though she were fixing her makeup while secretly drawing a mark across the pager’s surface.

The special tracking function activated immediately.

Once enabled, it would notify her whenever another pager entered a certain range. Turning a pager off disabled both communication and location tracking, but fortunately the missing Covert Division operative’s pager had remained active for the last two days.

Leaving the exhibition hall, she crossed to the opposite side of the floor. Beyond an empty reception desk stretched a hallway blocked off with temporary fabric barriers to keep guests out.

According to the entrance security footage, the operative had definitely entered the building. Since there was no footage of them leaving, they had to be trapped somewhere inaccessible to the public.

Kang Yibin took out her phone and casually pressed it to her ear.

“Hey, sis. What? Really? No, right now I’m—”

Still pretending to chat casually while keeping an eye on her surroundings, she suddenly vaulted over the barrier in one smooth motion.

The instant she landed inside the restricted hallway and rounded the corner, a fierce-looking security guard appeared in front of her.

The guard glared at her with bulging eyes.

“You can’t wander around here.”

Goddamn it.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I couldn’t find the restroom.”

But Kang Yibin belonged to the Covert Division. Infiltration was her specialty, and she was confident in her acting. Putting on the sweetest apologetic smile imaginable, she tilted her head slightly.

“Excuse me, but where’s the ladies’ room?”

The guard pointed toward the lobby.

“Past the elevator hall on the right.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Smiling brightly, Kang Yibin turned away.

The moment she rounded the corner, she flattened herself against the wall.

She silently counted to sixty in her head before sneaking back toward the guard. As she drew close enough, she gathered spiritual force into her hand and struck the back of his neck in one swift motion.

THWACK!

A sharp crack rang out.

The guard slowly turned around, looking utterly bewildered.

“...What was that?”

Kang Yibin stared down at her own hand in confusion.

She’d meant to knock him unconscious, steal his ID, and infiltrate farther inside. But somehow, despite the hit, the guard looked completely unharmed.

As the guard gave her an increasingly suspicious once-over—

“Ah... um. There was a mosquito on you...”

She laughed awkwardly and brushed her hands together.

“Seriously, it’s only early summer and there are already mosquitoes? Global warming is terrifying...”

After rambling uselessly for a few seconds, Kang Yibin finally muttered with a bright red face,

“I’m sorry...”

***

Less than twenty minutes after beginning the infiltration, Kang Yibin contacted them.

[Chief! We’ve got a problem!]

“What is it?”

[I can’t use... I can’t use my spiritual force!]