Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Yoon Taehee first learned the mermaid’s whereabouts four days earlier.

When did I ever tell you to like me?

That night, Taehee stumbled home dead drunk, barely able to keep himself upright. The moment he woke the next morning, he headed straight for the pavilion.

The alcohol had left his system, but his mind and body still felt wrecked.

Yoon Taehee was falling apart.

Still, even while collapsing into ruins, he remained the sort of person who could calmly think through what needed to be done and what was still possible.

A client was scheduled to arrive that morning.

As soon as he reached the pavilion, Taehee dropped heavily into his seat at the table. His head throbbed violently from the hangover, and his stomach twisted as if someone were wringing it out by hand.

His mood was abysmal.

He was miserable, unstable, and foul-tempered.

“The mermaid,” he muttered. “Still no sign of her?”

Paehyeon, standing quietly nearby, darkened further.

For days he had wandered around the coast, questioning spirits and ghosts alike, but nothing useful had turned up.

“...No,” Paehyeon answered quietly, bowing his head. “I apologize.”

Taehee said nothing.

The silence hanging over the pavilion felt so ominous that Paehyeon found himself desperately wishing the client would hurry up and arrive already.

“Leader, someone’s here.”

At that moment, Saero entered with a bright expression.

“A friend of a friend came looking for us. They said they have something they want to discuss with you personally, Leader. If you have time, could you hear them out?”

Lately, this sort of thing had started happening more often.

As rumors about Byeoksadan spread farther outside, ghosts had begun treating them like allies. Sometimes requests reached them through several intermediaries.

Though “request” was a generous way to put it.

Most of the time, they were complaints.

“What kind of manners are those, showing up without an appointment?” Paehyeon snapped immediately. “Send them away.”

Taehee was obviously in no condition to entertain unexpected visitors.

But Taehee merely rubbed a tired hand over his face.

“It’s fine,” he said weakly. “Let them in.”

Paehyeon frowned openly at that.

Meanwhile, Saero quickly slid the door open.

Something stepped inside with light, dignified movements.

A cat.

A fierce-looking one, at that.

“Greetings,” the cat announced calmly. “I am a cat spirit called Fatty.”

The spirit’s cheeks were absurdly plump.

An ordinary cat would have been impossible to communicate with, but ghosts were different. Fatty leapt neatly onto a chair, curled up, and settled there.

Like all cat spirits, he cast no shadow.

Cat spirits were ghosts born from cats that died harboring resentment. In the past they were mostly found in mountains or rural villages, but nowadays stray cats suffered everywhere in the cities too. Because of that, cat spirits had become increasingly common.

Most retained little more than instinct.

They hunted constantly, tearing apart animals and devouring their organs.

Sometimes humans became prey as well.

Every year, once or twice, mutilated corpses missing internal organs still turned up somewhere in the city.

“Well then,” Taehee said listlessly, stretching out one hand, “what brings you here?”

Fatty immediately approached and politely rubbed his head against Taehee’s palm.

“I oversee the alleys around Sungin 1-dong. I first met Saero last year while he was digging through a used-clothing donation box. We’ve stayed in contact since then.”

“I see.”

“There’s an extremely wicked human,” Fatty continued, tail twitching. “I came to ask you to teach them a lesson.”

Taehee rested his cheek against one hand and stared at the cat spirit with dull eyes.

“Don’t cat spirits hunt humans too? Couldn’t you handle it yourselves?”

Fatty’s expression instantly turned solemn.

“It seems you misunderstand us cat spirits greatly. Allow me to correct that misunderstanding properly.”

His tail swished sharply back and forth.

“We do not attack humans indiscriminately. We only hunt humans who abused or tormented us while we were alive.”

He paused.

“No. ‘Hunt’ is the wrong word. It is righteous punishment.”

The cat stretched lazily before continuing.

“And cat spirits generally avoid dealing with humans altogether. We protect stray cats, hunt rats, roam freely. That is enough for us.”

Animals commonly regarded as spiritual creatures by ordinary people—cats, snakes, and the like—sometimes continued influencing the living even after death. Some remained in the human world as intelligent spirits nearly equal to humans.

Among them, the cat spirits inhabiting modern cities had effectively become guardian deities for stray cats.

“We do not take revenge on innocent humans,” Fatty said firmly. “Only on those who wronged us. In fact, most cat spirits are actually fond of humans.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

“When we were alive, there were always humans feeding us in alleys here and there. We remember that kindness.”

Taehee gave a vague nod to show he was listening.

Fatty continued.

“For several years now, one foolish cat spirit among us has been manipulated into doing terrible things by a certain human. Let’s call him Kim Jjangdol.”

Apparently the name had belonged to the human who raised him while he was alive.

“Anyway,” Fatty went on, “Kim Jjangdol was accustomed to human affection. Even after becoming a cat spirit, he continued longing for humans.”

But cat spirits generally avoided interacting with people. Even if someone could see them, they pretended not to notice.

That distance benefited both sides.

Kim Jjangdol, however, still carried memories of having once been loved by humans. Unbeknownst to the others, he had apparently continued following people around.

Then, several years ago, he encountered a strange human.

“That person could see him,” Fatty explained. “They stroked his head. Spoke kindly to him. Eventually they became close.”

One day, the human made a request.

They said they would bring someone and asked Kim Jjangdol to remove that person’s gallbladder.

Kim Jjangdol complied.

After all, for cat spirits, extracting organs was easy work.

“But as I said earlier,” Fatty continued darkly, “we cat spirits do not harm innocent humans.”

If they hunted from necessity, they preyed on rats, pigeons, chickens, or mountain animals.

Not people.

“The problem,” Fatty said grimly, “was that it didn’t end after one time.”

Every week, the human would lure another victim and bring them to Kim Jjangdol.

Every week, he was ordered to remove another gallbladder.

This continued for years.

“Kim Jjangdol has suffered terribly because of it,” Fatty said, flattening his ears. “Those humans never wronged him. He was forced to harm innocent people over and over.”

Eventually, consumed by ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) guilt, Kim Jjangdol finally refused.

He told the human he would never do it again.

“And then,” Fatty hissed, “that wicked person completely changed.”

The once-affectionate human threatened to report all the cat spirits to the Office of Narye.

“How can someone like that exist?” Fatty growled.

“Report you to the Office of Narye?”

Taehee finally lifted his head slightly.

“Yes. Kim Jjangdol got angry and shouted, ‘Then go ahead! Report us if you want!’ before storming out and confessing everything to me.”

Fatty’s tail lashed sharply.

“At first we assumed it was just a bluff. But that human knows where we hide. Since then we haven’t been able to rest easy for a single moment.”

They had considered hunting the person themselves.

But the target was not an ordinary human.

“It wouldn’t be easy,” Fatty admitted reluctantly.

“I see,” Taehee murmured. “So they’re a gwijae.”

“No. That person is different from ordinary gwijae.”

Taehee’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“How so?”

Fatty lowered his voice.

“According to Kim Jjangdol... that person is a mermaid.”

Silence fell.

Taehee froze completely.

Paehyeon, listening nearby, looked equally stunned.

Neither of them had expected the conversation to lead here.

“...A mermaid?” Taehee repeated slowly.

Fatty nodded.

“That wicked human confessed it personally. They said mermaids need to eat human gallbladders in order to grow legs.”

A strange light flashed through Taehee’s eyes.

“Gallbladders...”

“And not just once,” Fatty continued. “They said they must continue eating them regularly to maintain human legs. Otherwise scales gradually spread up their body.”

Taehee and Paehyeon exchanged a glance.

“So every week,” Fatty continued, “that human would lure someone in, bewitch them with a mermaid’s power, and bring them to Kim Jjangdol on the seventh day so he could remove the gallbladder.”

The victims remembered nothing afterward.

While speaking, Fatty suddenly lashed out with one paw.

CRASH!

A teacup shattered across the floor.

Paehyeon flinched instinctively.

Saero startled violently beside them.

“What are you doing?!”

“Oh—my apologies,” Fatty said sheepishly. “Bad habit.”

Taehee did not even glance at the broken porcelain.

“It’s fine,” he said quietly. “Continue.”

“Actually, Kim Jjangdol tried to keep the mermaid’s identity secret until the very end. I only learned the truth after pressing him repeatedly.”

Apparently the mermaid had begged him not to tell anyone.

“Now Kim Jjangdol’s terrified,” Fatty said grimly. “He believes only you intelligent ghosts can protect us.”

The cat spirit slowly extended his claws.

“That wicked human’s name...”

His eyes gleamed coldly.

“...is Shin Jihye.”