Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Jaegyeom sat there with a dark expression, continuously sipping his drink.

“Number 7, sing something. Who’s number 7?”

Everyone except Jaegyeom was fully enjoying the lively party ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) atmosphere by now. For a while, the short-haired woman had been leading the drinking games. The current game was something called the “king game.” Everyone drew numbered lots, and whoever pulled the king card got to call out random numbers and issue commands however they pleased.

The punishments varied wildly.

Bomb shots.

Dancing.

Singing.

If someone refused, they had to down hard liquor instead.

While the entire room buzzed with excitement, Jaegyeom sat isolated at the edge of it all like a lone island.

By now, he was too drunk to care about drinking games or anything else.

Heat from the alcohol spread through his body until he ended up sprawled bonelessly across the sofa like a melted puddle.

Meanwhile, another round started.

This time, Shin Jihye became king.

“Number 1 and number 8—kiss.”

Since the group was mixed men and women, the punishments were getting more provocative as the mood escalated.

The room instantly exploded with cheers.

“Ooooooh!”

“Who’s number 1?”

Everyone burst into laughter while searching for the matching numbers.

Right then, Park Sangjun—still sitting beside Jaegyeom—sharply inhaled.

“I’m number 1.”

The moment he held up his lot, people howled.

“Sangjun’s number 1!”

“Then who’s 8? Who got 8?”

But even after several people checked, nobody came forward.

So Shin Jihye herself started circling around the table checking everyone’s slips.

At some point, overwhelmed by the alcohol rushing through his head, Jaegyeom had half-dozed off without even checking his own number.

Shin Jihye looked down at his ticket.

“You’re number 8!”

The instant everyone realized the punishment had paired two men together, the room erupted.

Park Sangjun, who looked secretly delighted, smirked and casually draped an arm over Jaegyeom’s shoulder.

“What?”

Still completely out of the loop, Jaegyeom frowned at him.

“We got picked.”

Sangjun grinned.

“We’ve gotta kiss.”

Jaegyeom stiffened instantly, face hardening like he’d just heard something insane.

“No. Why the hell would I do that?”

“What? You’ve never kissed anybody before?”

The teasing question sent the room into another round of laughter.

“I-I have too.”

Drunk and offended, Jaegyeom snapped back furiously.

“Oh really? Then what’s the issue?”

“You’re ugly. I don’t want to kiss you.”

People burst out laughing again.

Most of them had expected some flustered How can two men kiss? kind of response, but Jaegyeom’s answer was unexpectedly ridiculous instead.

At this point, he’d already accepted the premise that men kissing each other wasn’t particularly strange.

Park Sangjun looked genuinely wounded.

“Then who’s the best-looking guy here?”

The question barely required thought.

Without hesitation, drunk out of his mind, Jaegyeom slowly lifted one finger.

At that exact moment, Yoon Taehee froze mid-motion with his drink halfway to his mouth.

“...”

The person Jaegyeom pointed at was Yoon Taehee.

The muscles along Taehee’s back twitched faintly, though nobody noticed. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Shin Jihye burst into laughter.

“Sweetheart, did you hear that? He says you’re the most handsome one here.”

Jaegyeom hadn’t hesitated for even a second.

Because it was simply true.

Then Shin Jihye suddenly smiled mischievously.

“Then the most handsome guy should become Sangjun’s black knight.”

Someone who takes another person’s punishment in their place.

Park Sangjun immediately looked horrified.

“Hey, wait. That’s not how this works.”

“You have to obey the king.”

“I never asked for a black knight!”

The people around him instantly booed him into silence.

Unable to ruin the mood, Sangjun reluctantly backed down with a sour expression.

Still giggling, Shin Jihye looked toward Taehee.

“Think of it as fan service, sweetheart. Since you’re supposedly my fan, give him a really deep kiss for me.”

Yoon Taehee, who had been sitting there with lowered eyes absentmindedly rubbing the edge of his eyebrow, finally looked up.

Then he slowly rose to his feet.

As Taehee approached, Park Sangjun moved aside looking deeply dissatisfied.

Taehee sat down directly beside Jaegyeom.

Only then did the two finally face each other properly.

“...”

Jaegyeom hesitated slightly.

Without a word, Taehee gently cupped the back of Jaegyeom’s head and tilted his own head slowly sideways.

The moment their lips touched, silence crashed over the room.

Then the screaming started.

“Holy shit!”

“OH MY GOD—”

“Sweetheart, okay, that’s enough now.”

At Shin Jihye’s words, Taehee obediently pulled back.

Jaegyeom, who had unconsciously leaned into the kiss as though entranced, blinked wide-eyed.

He never listened to anything Jaegyeom said.

Yet now he was obediently responding to every single thing Shin Jihye told him.

Irritation surged violently through him.

“Who said stop?”

Taehee paused.

“Do it again.”

Jaegyeom glared up at him and spoke in a low voice.

For a brief instant, something visibly shook in Taehee’s eyes.

Rare confusion.

Jaegyeom felt like he had seen that expression somewhere before.

“Sweetheart, what are you doing? I said that’s enough.”

Shin Jihye interrupted again.

Taehee slowly began pulling away.

Immediately, Jaegyeom grabbed fistfuls of Taehee’s shirt.

“I said continue.”

His breathing came rough and uneven.

If Taehee ignored him again this time, Jaegyeom genuinely intended to grab him by the collar and drag him out of this place himself.

Taehee stared at him silently for a moment.

Then he forcibly removed Jaegyeom’s hand from his shirt.

“...”

The roughness of it instantly darkened Jaegyeom’s expression.

Just as he moved to grab him again—

Taehee suddenly intertwined their fingers together instead.

Then he tilted his head and kissed him again.

Jaegyeom slid helplessly backward against the sofa.

Screams and cheers exploded all around them.

But this time, Shin Jihye’s expression subtly changed.

Because nobody had ordered this part.

What the hell?

Why is he suddenly doing extra things on his own?

“Okay, seriously, that’s enough now.”

Shin Jihye sounded visibly confused.

But Taehee kept kissing him.

“Sweetheart—I said stop.”

Still nothing.

Finally, her face hardened.

“Can’t you hear me? I said stop!”

Only after Shin Jihye raised her voice sharply did Taehee finally pull away.

Completely drunk, Jaegyeom blinked slowly with flushed cheeks.

Their noses still brushed together.

Taehee gazed down at him expressionlessly for a moment before the corners of his mouth curled faintly upward.

“What should we do?”

His voice dropped soft and low.

“She says to stop.”

Jaegyeom struggled to focus his blurry eyes.

Taehee lifted both hands and gently cupped his face.

His thumbs slowly brushed across Jaegyeom’s brow bone.

“Well...”

His voice was almost a murmur now.

“There are too many eyes here.”

Only then did Shin Jihye fully realize something was wrong.

Her expression stiffened.

Right afterward, Taehee pressed a loud kiss against Jaegyeom’s forehead and rose smoothly to his feet.

Then he slowly turned to look around the room.

The atmosphere had gone strange.

Cold.

Very cold.

Taehee pulled the folding fan from his back pocket and opened it with a snap.

“Let’s stop here and all go home.”

The moment he swept the fan broadly through the air—

WHOOOOSH—

A violent gust exploded through the VIP room.

CRASH—!!

An impossible wind tore across the table.

The chandelier hanging overhead shattered instantly.

Liquor bottles exploded one after another across the floor.

The entire room descended into chaos in seconds.

“Kyaaaah!”

“What the fuck?!”

Screams erupted everywhere.

Terrified, people scrambled toward the exits.

Only Shin Jihye remained crouched beneath the table with her arms wrapped around her head.

Taehee walked calmly over to her.

Then he lowered himself onto one knee so their eyes met evenly.

“Shall we talk for a moment?”

Slowly, Shin Jihye lifted her head and glared at him.

“Since when were you unaffected?”

“What do you mean?”

“When we first met, you were obviously enchanted by me...”

Disbelief filled her face.

“...Don’t tell me you’ve been deceiving me from the beginning.”

Taehee snapped his folding fan shut.

“Haven’t we both been deceiving each other?”

His voice remained low and calm.

“There’s no need to introduce yourself. I already know what you are.”

“What...?”

Shin Jihye visibly flinched.

“A spirit that seduces humans and devours their organs...”

As she reflexively tried to avert her gaze, Taehee gently lifted the hem of the fabric covering her feet using the edge of his fan.

Her bare feet came into view beneath her sandals.

Blue scales covered the skin there.

Scales no human could possibly possess.

“...A mermaid from old legends disguised as a human.”

Shin Jihye’s eyes shook violently.

“I’ve been searching for you for quite a while.”

For the past three days, Yoon Taehee had been tracking the mermaid’s whereabouts nonstop.