Honbul: Flame of the Soul

At Daeryung High, that day’s lunch menu was army stew with bean sprouts, sweet braised chicken, neat squares of steamed egg, and macaroni salad mixed with chunks of apple. As if it were not enough that the side dishes changed every day, there was meat again. Jaegyeom glared at the unfamiliar menu for a moment as if wary of it, then, just like yesterday, planted one arm across the tray as though guarding it and finished the meal with martial intensity.

Meanwhile, Jo Youngwoo had become a burst dam.

To someone who had been starved for conversation with a friend, Jaegyeom was like rain after a drought. And after what had happened yesterday, there was now that strange little bond between them, which only made it worse. Jaegyeom found Youngwoo’s constant chatter rather endearing. He was almost like Mesan, really....

He had worried Youngwoo might pry too deeply into what had happened yesterday, but fortunately he had little to say about it. He was an innocent kid in more ways than one. At this point, Jaegyeom thought it might not be bad to spend some time hanging around with him for a while.

It would only be a month at most, anyway.

Even after they finished eating, there was still a comfortable amount of lunchtime left, so Youngwoo suggested they go to the school store. Once they got there, the two of them decided to get something cold. The moment they opened the freezer, a blast of air cold enough to sting their skin poured out.

“Jaegyeom, did you pick one?”

While Jaegyeom hesitated, Youngwoo had already chosen the ice cream he wanted without much thought. The store was packed with students looking for dessert after lunch. Buffeted from all sides, Jaegyeom stuck a hand into the freezer and grabbed the first thing that came to hand.

“Oh! I was deciding between that one and mine too.”

“Heh. Guess we were on the same wavelength,” Youngwoo said with a bright grin.

Jaegyeom looked once at Youngwoo’s, then once at his own.

Ppappico and soda-flavored Ppungtta.

Somehow, they had both chosen tube ice pops.

After paying, the two of them left the store and crossed the schoolyard at an easy pace.

The half-ripe sunlight poured brilliantly into every corner of the grounds.

Youngwoo and Jaegyeom sat side by side on a bench in the shade of a tree. Youngwoo suddenly slammed the tube pop he was holding down against his thigh.

Thwack!

Startled, Jaegyeom turned to look at him in confusion. The shock tore open the top of the wrapper, and the little frozen tip popped out.

Oh....

Stealing a sidelong glance at Youngwoo, Jaegyeom slowly gripped the Ppungtta in his own hand.

Thwack!

Just like Youngwoo’s Ppappico, the sky-blue tip of the Ppungtta popped out. A faint smile touched Jaegyeom’s lips as he experienced tube pops for the first time. Youngwoo grabbed the tip and twisted it off. Jaegyeom copied him exactly. The frozen cap snapped off neatly.

“Jaegyeom, want to trade tips?”

“Sure.”

Youngwoo was grinning as he held his out to him.

That was when a soccer ball suddenly came rolling to a stop at Jaegyeom’s feet.

“Hey! Where are you passing to?”

A boy in a white short-sleeved T-shirt came running over with a complaint, his uniform shirt apparently thrown off somewhere. It was Lee Juyeol, the one who had crashed into him in the hallway yesterday. Juyeol bent down, picked up the ball, then wiped the sweat covering his forehead.

“Oh, Jo Youngwoo. You made friends with the transfer student?”

After looking back and forth between Youngwoo and Jaegyeom, Juyeol greeted them with practiced familiarity.

“Ah... h-hi, Juyeol.”

Youngwoo greeted him awkwardly.

As he flapped the hem of his white T-shirt to cool himself, Juyeol’s gaze landed on the tube pop in Youngwoo’s hand.

“Oh. You’re ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) eating one of those.”

He grabbed Youngwoo by the wrist.

“Lemme have one bite.”

“Uh... what?”

Without hesitation, Juyeol started pulling Youngwoo’s hand toward his own mouth. Instinctively, Youngwoo resisted, putting a little strength into the wrist Juyeol was holding. It was not even a popsicle you could bite into. It was a tube pop. And he had not even taken a sip yet.

Juyeol gave a little snort and smacked Youngwoo lightly on the shoulder.

“Come on, give me some. I’m dying of thirst right now. What’s the big deal between friends?”

Lee Juyeol only acted like your best friend in the world when he needed something. He was one of the central kids in that crowd, the ones who hung around acting tough. He set the tone in class, and when he was in a bad mood, he took it out on whoever happened to be nearby. It was not just Youngwoo who had suffered because of him. Most of the class had.

Through the crinkling wrapper, the cold of the ice cream had already reached Youngwoo’s palm.

After hesitating, Youngwoo let the strength drain from his hand.

Fine. It’s only a dollar.

That was the sort of feeling it came down to. You did not avoid shit because it was scary. You avoided it because it was filthy.

Juyeol was just about to snatch the tube pop from Youngwoo’s hand.

“Hey.”

At the low voice from beside him, Juyeol turned his head.

Jaegyeom had the tube pop between his lips as he pulled out his wallet. It was an expensive leather wallet Jeongju had bought for him. Jaegyeom took out a bill and held it toward Juyeol.

“Go buy your own. With this.”

It was a crisp ten-thousand-won bill. Jaegyeom flicked it slightly, signaling for Juyeol to take it already. As an added touch, he jerked his chin in the direction of the school store.

Faced with such an unexpected windfall, Juyeol let go of Youngwoo’s wrist without a second thought.

“No way. Transfer student. Are you really giving this to me?”

“Yeah.”

“Not lending it?”

“No. I’m not. Keep it all.”

Juyeol’s face lit up. With a delighted grin, he snatched the bill straight from Jaegyeom’s hand. It was only a tube pop, and Jaegyeom had handed over ten thousand won for it. Startled, Youngwoo looked at Jaegyeom, trying in his own timid way to stop him.

But Jaegyeom’s expression remained perfectly calm.

“Damn, Youngwoo. If you made a friend this nice, huh? You should’ve told me.”

“......”

“Transfer student—no, wait. Kim Jaegyeom, right? Honestly, with that face of yours, you kind of looked like some spoiled pretty boy, so I didn’t like you much. Guess looks really aren’t everything after all. You’ve got guts, man.”

Thrilled by his unexpected gain, Juyeol grinned from ear to ear and held the bill up in both hands, savoring King Sejong’s face as though he were admiring a painting instead of money.

“No taking it back later, all right? This is free money, right?”

Making a big fuss, Juyeol asked again. With obvious annoyance, Jaegyeom muttered,

“Yeah. It’s free money.”

Juyeol was just about to tuck the bill into his pocket.

“I’m giving it to you as charity, after all.”

Jaegyeom kneaded the tube pop in his hand as he added the words.

Juyeol, who had been all smiles, stopped cold.

Youngwoo’s eyes flew wide open as he stared at Jaegyeom.

The mood froze as hard as the ice pop itself.

Jaegyeom took a bite of the soda-flavored Ppungtta, which had softened just enough.

“......”

“......”

A stretch of sharp, chilled silence followed.

Time dragged for a moment.

“Hey. What did you just say?”

Red-faced, Juyeol grabbed Jaegyeom by the collar. Youngwoo, startled out of his wits, hurriedly grabbed at Juyeol’s hand, but Juyeol shoved Jaegyeom backward anyway.

The force sent Jaegyeom off balance. He toppled over the back of the bench and crashed into the flower bed behind it.

“What the hell did you just say, you little bastard?!”

The boys on the field, who had been joking around while waiting for Juyeol to bring the ball back, sensed from a distance that something had gone wrong and came running over in a rush. Veins standing out in his neck, Juyeol shouted furiously. The others hurried to pull him back, and for a moment it looked as though his attempt to lunge at Jaegyeom again would fail.

But then—

“Ugh!”

A soccer ball flew in out of nowhere and smashed straight into Jaegyeom’s face.

Juyeol, who had seemed to give up and turn his back under the others’ restraint, had suddenly hurled the ball at him.

Thrown from close range, it struck him square in the face and produced a catastrophic result.

Blood started pouring from both nostrils.