Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Yesterday, Yoon Taehee left the cleanup and aftermath at the scene to Paehyeon and headed straight for Jaegyeom’s house. Treatment came first. In a situation like this, they couldn’t go to headquarters’ infirmary or an ordinary hospital.

What they needed now was wild ginseng and Mesan’s healing ability.

Ever since receiving Jaegyeom’s message saying he “might get seriously hurt,” Jeongju and Mesan had been pacing anxiously around the yard, waiting for him to return.

Jeongju’s face went pale the moment he saw the two of them. He had prepared himself for the possibility that Jaegyeom might be badly injured, but actually seeing them collapsed and drenched in blood was devastating.

Mesan was just as shocked. The sight of all that blood startled him so badly that tears streamed down his face as he healed Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee. While Mesan treated them, Jeongju asked what had happened, and Taehee only gave a vague explanation—that Jaegyeom had been injured during the mission and lost consciousness after going on a rampage.

Jeongju turned white at the mention of a rampage. Usually, once someone lost control like that, the backlash left them hovering near death for days.

Still, this time was different from before. The rampage had stopped in its early stages instead of running to the end. Since Jaegyeom hadn’t completely burned through all his strength, no one knew whether he would stay unconscious for several days or wake up sooner. Yoon Taehee remained at the house for an entire day to watch over him.

Thankfully, Jaegyeom opened his eyes the very next morning.

“Where’s Jeongju?”

Mesan sniffled beside him as Jaegyeom patted the back of his head.

“He stepped out for a while. Said he had something to take care of.”

Jeongju had a scheduled meeting today with Director Kwon Suncheol. He had tried to cancel it, but Yoon Taehee told him not to worry and insisted he go, saying Taehee would stay with Jaegyeom.

Meanwhile, Mesan had been sitting gloomily on the sofa the entire time, waiting for Jaegyeom to wake up. Yamsaengi was sprawled nearby looking equally listless. The whole house had sunk into a dreary mood, so Taehee had been playing house with Mesan to cheer him up a little.

“Why’re you crying, baby? Quit it.”

After comforting the sobbing Mesan, Jaegyeom spoke again.

“Come here for a second.”

He gestured at Yoon Taehee. Then, after telling Mesan and Yamsaengi to keep playing, he headed back into the room. Taehee obediently followed behind him.

Once inside, Jaegyeom dropped down onto the edge of the bed and jerked his chin, telling Taehee to sit beside him.

The bed creaked and tipped slightly under Taehee’s weight. Jaegyeom stared at his face in silence. Before talking about yesterday, there was something else he wanted to ask first.

“Didn’t Mesan heal you?”

It was the first thing out of his mouth.

“He did.”

“Then why does your face still look like that?”

Yoon Taehee’s face was still covered in injuries, big and small. Scabs marked his lips and cheekbones, a large bandage was stuck to his forehead, and bruises mottled his skin where he had been hit.

“I asked him to leave the visible ones.”

“Why?”

Taehee lightly brushed a finger over his cheek and smiled faintly.

“To make a statement to Unit Head Seok.”

Jaegyeom fell silent. So he had deliberately left the injuries visible to show how badly he had suffered. Jaegyeom lowered his eyes slightly.

“What?” Taehee teased, touching his cheek again. “Think it’s a waste?”

“A waste of what?”

“My handsome face getting scarred.”

He idly picked at one of the scabs as he spoke.

“...”

Jaegyeom looked at him with narrowed eyes. The fact that he could still joke like this after nearly dying meant he was probably fine. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“So,” Yoon Taehee asked instead, “what happened yesterday?”

“Is your wrist okay?”

At the question, Jaegyeom lifted his arm and rotated his wrist. It moved perfectly. It was hard to believe a knife had gone through it yesterday. There wasn’t even any pain left.

“Mesan healed it. Doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“And your shoulder?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Jaegyeom remember the knife that had been lodged in his shoulder. The injury to his wrist had been so severe that he’d forgotten all about it. Assuming Mesan had healed that too, he pulled off his T-shirt to check.

“It’s fine.”

There wasn’t a single trace of injury left on his shoulder. Jaegyeom nodded casually after confirming it, but Yoon Taehee only stared at him in silence.

A strange pause settled between them.

“What?”

Without answering, Taehee shoved his hands into the pockets of the borrowed sweatpants and flopped backward onto the bed. Then, loud enough to be clearly heard, he muttered:

“What’s this? Is he into me or something?”

Jaegyeom stared at him in disbelief.

“What?”

Still lying there staring blankly at the ceiling, Taehee slowly turned his head toward him. His expression was perfectly blank as he raised one eyebrow.

“You’re awfully careless about taking your clothes off in front of a sodomite.”

“...”

Only then did Jaegyeom fully process what he meant.

“W-what kind of bullshit are you saying? I only took it off to see if it healed.”

Flustered, he hurriedly pulled his shirt back on.

Until now, he’d never thought twice about showing his upper body in front of another man. But after Taehee’s comment, he suddenly felt weirdly conscious of it.

Jaegyeom subtly shifted farther back against the headboard, putting distance between them.

Watching him, Taehee let out a quiet laugh.

“You’re right. It was bullshit.”

Then his tone softened slightly.

“So don’t get hurt like that again.”

“Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself.”

Jaegyeom answered as casually as he could.

At that, the smile gradually faded from Taehee’s face. Silence lingered for a moment before he looked back up at the ceiling.

“No. It’s not that I’m worried about you.”

His voice was quiet now.

“It’s because I’m the one who gets hurt. Me.”

Jaegyeom’s shoulders stiffened.

“When you got hurt... it hurt so much.”

Slowly, Jaegyeom turned to look at him.

Yoon Taehee lay there with both hands resting over his stomach, eyes closed.

“It hurt so much...”

It wasn’t playful nonsense this time.

For Taehee, simply seeing Jaegyeom covered in blood had been agonizing enough to make him feel like he was losing his mind.

Sensing Jaegyeom’s gaze, Taehee slowly opened his eyes and looked back at him.

“So don’t ever get hurt like that again.”

There was no trace of a smile left on his face now. His eyes looked painfully sharp and alive.

Sometimes Yoon Taehee wore exactly that kind of expression.

Jaegyeom unconsciously lowered his gaze.

“...”

For some reason, he couldn’t think of anything to say.

Silence settled between them again.

Then Taehee suddenly sat up.

Leaning toward Jaegyeom, he reached out an arm. Startled, Jaegyeom instinctively flinched and hunched his shoulders.

“Oh. This is the thing I gave you before.”

Taehee reached past him to the bedside table and picked up the dome-shaped music box he had once given Jaegyeom after collecting praise stickers.

“You didn’t throw it away. I thought you would.”

A faint smile touched his lips as he turned the music box over in his hand.

“...”

For some reason, Jaegyeom suddenly felt embarrassed.

For a second, he had genuinely thought Taehee was about to do something weird to him again. But it had just been a misunderstanding. Taehee had only been reaching for the music box.

It was all because of that strange joke from earlier.

Jaegyeom lowered his eyes.

Yoon Taehee wound the spring with long, elegant fingers.

Ding-a-ling. Ding-a-ling.

The soft melody filled # Nоvеlight # the room.

Jaegyeom stared blankly at Taehee sitting on the bed, listening quietly to the music box.

His slightly hunched back. The outline of his shoulder blades and lean muscles visible through the thin white T-shirt. The way his bangs fell naturally over his forehead as he lowered his head.

It suddenly occurred to Jaegyeom that this was the first time he had ever seen Yoon Taehee dressed this casually.

Watching him sit there on the bed listening to the music box, he felt strangely unsettled.

At some point, the melody came to an end.

When the song stopped, Taehee leaned toward him again to put the music box back.

Since he had already misunderstood once, Jaegyeom stayed completely off guard this time.

And the moment Taehee set it down, he suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around him.

“W-what are you doing...?”

Startled, Jaegyeom reflexively tried to push him away.

“I kept thinking about what I’d do if you stayed unconscious for days.”

Taehee lowered his head deeply, pressing his forehead against Jaegyeom’s shoulder.

“I was going out of my mind.”

“...”

“I really was.”

His voice was muffled against Jaegyeom’s shoulder.

“So never. Never get hurt like that again.”

“...”

Jaegyeom couldn’t understand why Taehee was acting like this all of a sudden when he had been joking around like normal only moments ago.

He could feel Taehee’s breath against the side of his neck.

The hands that had tried to push him away hesitated awkwardly in midair, unable to settle anywhere.

In the end, Jaegyeom couldn’t bring himself to push Yoon Taehee away.