Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Yoon Taehee listened to Shin Jihye’s story in silence, deep in thought.

According to her, she was a half-mermaid born to a human father and a mermaid mother. Mermaids could obtain human legs by consuming human gallbladders, but in Shin Jihye’s case, even after eating one, scales would begin growing back within days, and before long, her lower body would revert into a fish’s tail again.

“You’ve had a difficult life. I’m sorry to hear that.”

Lightly tapping the table with his fingertips, Yoon Taehee continued in an even tone.

“Still, there are three things I’d like to ask first.”

He opened both hands casually.

“First — is it true that consuming a mermaid’s flesh and blood grants immortality? Second — if it’s true, is there a way to reverse it? Third — does something called an immortality pill, made by sacrificing mermaids, actually exist?”

At his coldly businesslike attitude, Shin Jihye frowned while wiping away her tears.

“Hold on a second. This is getting ridiculous.”

Her voice sharpened.

“You said you wanted to talk. What kind of conversation is this? You’re just interrogating me.”

Wasn’t she right?

Shin Jihye glared fiercely at Yoon Taehee.

“So why are you trying to find out about mermaids in the first place?”

At the pointed question, Yoon Taehee answered quietly.

“I’m looking for a way to undo immortality.”

Shin Jihye blinked in confusion.

Immortality?

Then her gaze shifted toward Jaegyeom.

A realization struck her almost immediately.

“Wait... when you said you were from the Joseon era before... that was actually true?”

Jaegyeom silently nodded once.

“But why are you immortal? Don’t tell me it’s because of a mermaid.”

“We brought you here because we want to find out whether it has anything to do with mermaids or not.”

Yoon Taehee answered in Jaegyeom’s place.

“So where’s your mother now?”

“She’s not here. She returned to the sea a few years ago.”

“Why?”

“Because she didn’t have any reason left to stay on land.”

As if asking what that meant, Yoon Taehee narrowed his eyes slightly.

“My mother came ashore because she loved my father. But he got addicted to gambling, borrowed money from loan sharks, destroyed the family, and eventually they divorced.”

“...”

For a moment, Yoon Taehee looked genuinely taken aback by the painfully realistic ending.

“Anyway, I’m only half-mermaid. I’m not a full-blooded mermaid, so there’s a lot I don’t know either.”

“Then have you never been to the place where mermaids live?”

Shin Jihye peeled a scrap of tissue off her cheek carelessly and shook her head.

“Only once. A few years ago, I went with my mother.”

Her expression darkened slightly.

“No matter how many gallbladders I ate, the scales on my legs kept coming back, so I wanted to ask whether there was a way to fix it. But I came back to land less than a day after entering the sea.”

“Why?”

“The other mermaids hated me.”

Her lips twisted bitterly.

“They were wary of me because I had human blood mixed in. So I just stayed alone on the island while my mother went to speak with them.”

For a brief moment, she looked strangely lonely.

Neither fully human nor fully mermaid.

Jaegyeom, who had been quietly listening until now, cautiously asked,

“So... ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) you couldn’t... find a way after all?”

Without realizing it himself, he had dropped formal speech with her.

“I did find one.”

Shin Jihye paused before continuing in a dark voice.

“There was a condition neither my mother nor I knew about.”

“A condition?”

“To gain permanent legs, a mermaid has to eat the gallbladder of someone they love.”

Her gaze lowered slightly.

“We thought any human gallbladder would work. But that wasn’t true. That’s why my legs kept reverting so quickly no matter what I ate.”

Then she shrugged lightly with a self-mocking smile.

“So after that, I tried really hard to make someone fall in love with me. But how was I supposed to genuinely fall for human men?”

Her voice carried clear contempt.

“I changed boyfriends constantly. Went on dates all the time. But I never felt anything.”

“...”

Yoon Taehee, who had been absently rubbing the edge of his eyebrow, suddenly asked,

“You seem to dislike humans.”

“Mermaids naturally dislike humans.”

“No. I mean you.”

Shin Jihye answered immediately.

“I hate human men.”

She spoke firmly, making the distinction clear.

“Why?”

“Because of my father.”

Her expression hardened.

“My father made me hate all human men.”

“...”

Yoon Taehee nodded slowly.

“Well. Fair enough.”

“Just look at my parents.”

Shin Jihye crossed her arms and sneered.

“That’s why love is terrifying. There’s a saying people use, right? That if you love someone, you’d give them your liver and gallbladder?”

Her lips curled mockingly.

“That saying actually comes from mermaids.”

Her gaze turned cold.

“Love is just a temporary emotion. Back then, my parents probably thought they’d stay together forever too. But look how it ended.”

Jaegyeom listened quietly before cautiously asking,

“Then... how did your mother end up loving a human in the first place?”

“Mutants exist everywhere, I guess.”

Shin Jihye answered indifferently.

“My mother must’ve been one of them.”

Then she let out a gloomy sigh.

“I used to resent both my parents.”

Her voice dropped lower.

“If they loved each other, fine. But I never asked to be born like this. So why did they bring me into the world?”

Her fingers tightened around the tissue.

“I hated them for it every single day. Being stuck between human and mermaid is miserable enough already. If they’d at least stayed happily in love forever, maybe things would’ve been different.”

A bitter laugh escaped her.

“But in the end, they still fell apart.”

That was why Shin Jihye no longer believed in love.

Watching her parents had taught her that eternal love didn’t exist. Everything was fleeting. Temporary emotions people ruined their lives over.

“My mother fell in love with my father thirty years ago.”

Then she quietly continued.

“What I’m about to tell you is everything my mother told me herself.”

From ancient times, mermaids had been regarded as sacred creatures of legend. They served as messengers of the sea god, protecting sailors and guarding islands.

Shin Jihye said her mother had been extremely proud of being a mermaid.

Whenever sudden storms or typhoons arose, mermaids warned sailors and drove schools of fish toward them. In return, humans held fishing festivals and made offerings to express gratitude.

“Mermaids were considered one of the most sacred spiritual creatures in existence.”

Mermaids possessed extraordinary regenerative abilities. Wounds healed almost instantly, and even severed limbs regrew naturally.

Because of that overwhelming regenerative power, they did not age.

Strictly speaking, however, mermaids were not immortal beings.

They were simply ageless.

Mermaids, too, eventually reached an end they referred to as eternal rest.

As a result, mermaids could live for an extraordinarily long time without visibly aging, but there was one way to escape that endless existence.

By consuming a human gallbladder.

“This is an old story.”

Back when mermaids and humans still mingled freely, mermaids often fell in love with humans.

For a mermaid living in the sea to remain beside the human they loved, there were two choices.

The first was to feed the human their flesh and blood.

A human who consumed a mermaid’s flesh and blood would gain a body like a mermaid’s — one that regenerated endlessly and no longer aged.

The second option was for the mermaid to consume the gallbladder of the human they loved.

A mermaid who did so would gain permanent human legs and a mortal body that aged and died naturally like any ordinary person.

“Though even then, traces of being a mermaid still remained.”

Shin Jihye lowered her gaze.

“They could still breathe underwater and freely switch between human and mermaid form whenever they wanted. I saw my mother transform a few times myself.”

Then her expression cooled.

“Anyway, the relationship between mermaids and humans started falling apart once that information spread across land.”

Rumors became distorted as they spread from person to person.

Eventually, sailors began claiming that consuming a mermaid’s flesh and blood granted eternal life unconditionally.

“And after that, humans started hunting mermaids indiscriminately.”

That was when mermaids began to hate humans.

Because of human greed, mermaids were driven nearly to extinction. Their numbers plummeted drastically.

“I heard there used to be hundreds of them. Now there are barely around twenty left.”

Hostile toward humans, the remaining mermaids eventually abandoned the shores near human settlements, left their original homeland around Geomun Island, and isolated themselves from humanity entirely.

“Humans hunted and consumed mermaids believing those rumors, but nothing happened.”

Because the method only worked if the mermaid genuinely loved the person.

“But eventually, one human used a special spell to create something called the immortality pill by sacrificing mermaids.”

Her expression darkened.

“I don’t know the details. My mother said it was too horrible to explain.”

Then Shin Jihye finished quietly.

“Anyway, that’s everything I know.”

After neatly concluding her explanation, she stared directly at Jaegyeom.

“So...”

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Did you eat something strange back then?”