Honbul: Flame of the Soul

After a long while, Jaegyeom groaned and dragged himself out from beneath the rubble.

The inside of the building had become complete chaos after the silver battery exploded.

The structure that had stood intact only moments earlier was now barely recognizable. Half the building had been blown apart, debris scattered everywhere beyond recognition. The cement walls had split open, exposing twisted steel beams as though the place had been hit by a bomb.

It looked less like a building and more like a demolished ruin after a tank had torn straight through it.

The dozens of guards who had blocked Jaegyeom’s path had been swept away entirely by the blast from the silver battery. Some lay unconscious beneath the collapsed debris.

The reason Jaegyeom himself had survived relatively intact was because, at the last possible second, he had managed to wrap himself in a weak barrier of spiritual force.

Even so, his spiritual force still had not fully recovered, which meant the barrier had been much weaker than usual.

Cuts and bruises covered his body from the explosion and falling concrete.

Face pale, Jaegyeom stared blankly at the devastation around him.

It looked like a demolition site.

He had never imagined a silver battery could unleash this kind of destructive force.

A silver battery could only be activated by the person who had stored spiritual force inside it.

For the first time, Jaegyeom truly realized just how monstrous Yoon Taehee’s spiritual force was.

It was fortunate that things had resolved themselves as quickly as intended—

But with power like this, most people probably would not have survived.

The problem was that Yoon Taehee had been standing right beside Kim Yekwon when the silver battery exploded.

“Taehee!”

Jaegyeom immediately started overturning debris as he searched for him.

Then, at last, he spotted clothing that looked like Yoon Taehee’s buried beneath the rubble.

His face went deathly white.

Staggering over, Jaegyeom heaved aside a large slab of broken asbestos paneling and found Yoon Taehee collapsed there, still tied to the chair.

Suddenly, fear gripped him.

“Yoon Taehee!”

Jaegyeom grabbed him frantically and shook him hard.

“Yoon Taehee!”

Only after being called several times did Yoon Taehee finally let out a low groan.

A cut across his forehead was bleeding heavily, likely from smashing against debris during the collapse.

Fortunately, he seemed conscious.

“Yoon Taehee! Are you okay?”

Still bound hand and foot, Yoon Taehee looked awful.

“No. I’m dying here.”

“What? Where are you hurt?”

“I think a few ribs are broken...”

Jaegyeom hurriedly felt along his side.

Yoon Taehee still looked dazed. He had only just regained consciousness after blacking out briefly, and his thoughts were tangled.

“Who told you to move around on your own without saying anything? This is all your fault.”

Even so, relief flooded through Jaegyeom when he realized the injuries did not appear fatal.

The relief was enormous.

“Anywhere else besides your ribs? Can you stand?”

Jaegyeom immediately started untying his hands from the chair.

Finally free to move again, Yoon Taehee shakily pushed himself upright and tore the cloth from over his eyes.

Light flooded into vision that had been trapped in darkness.

Squinting slightly, he slowly opened his eyes.

And saw Jaegyeom.

Covered in blood.

Battered nearly beyond recognition.

“....”

For a moment, Yoon Taehee’s vision blurred.

“You...”

His breath caught violently, as though something had clenched around his solar plexus.

A cold chill speared down his spine.

His heart dropped sickeningly.

Jaegyeom’s injuries were severe at a glance. Blood was still pouring from the shoulder wound he had deliberately stabbed himself with.

“We’ll talk later. We need to get out first. You’ve lost too much blood.”

Grimacing through the pain, Jaegyeom reached for the leather belt binding Yoon Taehee’s legs.

He had prepared himself for a full rampage before coming here.

Compared to that, he was simply relieved things had ended without him completely losing control.

But Yoon Taehee looked half out of his mind.

“You... this... why...”

His pupils had dilated.

The fingertips stained with Jaegyeom’s blood twitched intermittently.

“Who did this to you...?”

Just as Yoon Taehee was about to speak again—

Jaegyeom suddenly grabbed him by the collar and violently shoved him aside.

His body moved before thought did.

Jaegyeom threw himself over Yoon Taehee protectively, wrapping both arms around his shoulders as though shielding him from something.

It all happened in an instant.

Only then did Yoon Taehee sense the presence behind him.

He turned sharply.

“....”

A knife had pierced straight through Jaegyeom’s palm.

Yoon Taehee stared blankly at the hand skewered through by the blade before slowly lifting his eyes toward Jaegyeom.

Everything seemed to stretch into slow motion.

But in reality, it had happened in a heartbeat.

“....”

The one who had ambushed Yoon Taehee from behind—

Was Kim Yekwon.

“Jaegyeom!”

The man they had assumed was dead or unconscious had concealed his presence and attacked at the perfect moment.

His skin was torn open and soaked in blood.

His eyes glittered wildly.

They looked like the eyes of a stray ghost that had completely lost its reason.

Gritting his teeth, Jaegyeom glared at him viciously while blocking the knife with his hand.

With the impaled hand, he seized Kim Yekwon’s wrist.

The blade drove deeper through his palm until the hilt nearly touched flesh.

He intended to rip the knife away through sheer force alone.

But Jaegyeom’s spiritual force still had not fully returned.

Kim Yekwon twisted the knife viciously while pouring spiritual force into it.

The blade torqued downward at a brutal angle and tore through Jaegyeom’s wrist.

Blood exploded out like a fountain.

Jaegyeom clenched his teeth hard enough to crack them.

Then, with his remaining hand, he grabbed Kim Yekwon and punched him in the face with all his strength.

Kim Yekwon staggered backward from the blow and crashed to the floor.

Jaegyeom hunched over, clutching the mangled hand.

A pained groan escaped him as his face twisted violently.

Blood poured endlessly from the ruined wrist.

At the same time—

Red spiritual force began rising around Jaegyeom like smoke.

A rampage.

The crimson spiritual force spilling from him spread like a raging inferno, swallowing the inside of the building in an instant.

Kim Yekwon’s eyes widened.

“I-Impossible... Wh-what the hell is th-this...”

At that moment, Jaegyeom—wracked with pain—slowly staggered upright.

“You... fucking... bastard...”

Murder blazing in his eyes, Jaegyeom began walking toward Kim Yekwon.

His unfocused pupils held no light whatsoever.

Pure madness.

Kim Yekwon screamed.

For some reason, terror overtook him completely. Trembling violently, he scrambled backward across the floor on his hands and feet.

“You’re not... you’re not human...”

Jaegyeom, engulfed in red spiritual force, reached toward him.

And just then—

Kim Yekwon, clutching his head in panic, fumbled something from his pocket.

It was a spray developed by the Ritual Implements Department.

Even though he already knew it was useless against humans, fear had short-circuited his thoughts. His hand had moved on instinct alone.

The instant Kim Yekwon sprayed it—

“UGH!”

Jaegyeom suddenly clutched at his eyes.

The terrifying aura surrounding him collapsed instantly as he staggered wildly like a drunk person.

He looked as though he were in unbearable agony.

At the same time, the red spiritual force swirling around him dispersed all at once.

The rampage stopped.

Then Jaegyeom collapsed where he stood.

“Jaegyeom—!”

Yoon Taehee rushed toward him immediately.

Meanwhile, Kim Yekwon still clutched his own head, unable to understand what he had just done.

He kept trembling and muttering the same incomprehensible words over and over like a broken puppet.

“Wh-what is that...? That’s not... human...”

Yoon Taehee looked down at the unconscious Jaegyeom.

Then slowly raised his head.

“....”

The moment his eyes met Kim Yekwon’s, Yoon Taehee spoke blankly.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.”

His voice was eerily calm.

“I’ll tell you who he is.”

He knew Jaegyeom would not die no matter how badly he was hurt.

Even so—

A scorching pain twisted through his solar plexus.

Something cold and burning spread through his entire body at once.

This was the first time he had ever felt another person’s pain so vividly, as though it had transferred directly into him.

Something inside him snapped.

The moment he saw Jaegyeom bleeding, his thoughts had gone completely blank.

Yoon Taehee, whose arms had hung limply at his sides until now, slowly raised the bracelet around his wrist.

“Paehyeon.”

“You called.”

At the summons, Paehyeon appeared like a mirage and knelt before him.

Head lowered amid the blood-soaked wreckage, Yoon Taehee spoke in a low voice.

“Let the Sword God drink blood.”

The instant the words fell, Paehyeon jerked his head up sharply.

Yoon Taehee slowly extended one hand into the air.

As though grasping something invisible.

“....”

An ominous light flashed through Paehyeon’s eyes.

His body dissolved into black mist—

And suddenly a sword appeared in Yoon Taehee’s hand.

The intelligent ghost Paehyeon possessed the ability to cut through anything.

Born from a sword that had drunk the blood of thousands upon thousands of people, Paehyeon himself was both sword and Sword God.

“Wh-what the hell is th-this...”

Kim Yekwon stumbled backward in terror.

After the crimson spiritual force from earlier, yet another horrifying presence now pressed down on him.

The blade pointed at him gleamed with the cold metallic sheen unique to something honed for slaughter.

“I’ll tell you,” Yoon Taehee said quietly.

“I’ll tell you exactly who you laid your hands on.”

With fingers soaked in Jaegyeom’s blood, Yoon Taehee slowly touched his own jaw.

Then he inhaled deeply.

The lingering warmth of Jaegyeom’s blood spread across his skin.

Slowly, Yoon Taehee lifted his head.

“I’ll make sure you understand.”