Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Just then, Suhyang spoke in a low voice.

“Don’t trust Myojeong too much.”

The boy paused and looked at Suhyang.

“......”

There had to be a reason Myojeong had kept silent. Thinking that, the boy steadied himself again and glared at Suhyang with clear, unwavering eyes.

“You said you were Myojeong’s friend, so why are you telling me not to trust him?”

“Because I’m an old friend. Which means I know him that much better.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’d rather trust my master than someone I met for the first time today.”

At the boy’s openly wary expression, Suhyang smiled faintly.

“Then what is it, exactly, that you trust about Myojeong?”

“What?”

“You trust him even though you know nothing about him?”

Suhyang had seen the crack that had just formed in the boy’s heart with perfect accuracy. They had spent a long time together. The boy had trusted Myojeong, followed him, relied on him completely—yet he knew almost nothing about him. Somewhere deep down, there had to be doubts and dissatisfaction the boy himself had never fully recognized.

“Can you really call that trust?”

Suhyang slipped neatly into the crack.

“You know nothing about Myojeong, yet you insist you trust him. Have you never wondered whether he might be hiding something from you?”

“......”

The boy fell silent at the question that struck straight at the center of him. The uninvited guest who had appeared in the middle of the rainy night cornered him without mercy.

Suhyang narrowed their eyes slightly and drove the wedge deeper.

“Do you even know Myojeong has someone he loves?”

The boy’s eyes flickered at once.

He had never heard anything like that before.

“...What?”

“There. You really don’t know anything about him.”

Seeing the agitation on the boy’s face, Suhyang’s lips curved into a smile.

“There’s someone Myojeong has treasured for many years. If he decides to stay with that person someday, he’ll leave you behind and go to them.”

The instant he heard those words, the boy felt his heart drop.

“No. That can’t be true.”

He barely managed to force the words out.

“How would you know that?”

Even so, the boy himself had once told Myojeong that one day he should leave, get married, and have children of his own.

But Myojeong had said that would never happen.

I will never marry in my life, so my foolish disciple should stop having foolish thoughts and simply take care of this master. You’ll cherish me like gold and jade for the rest of my days, and when my time comes, you’ll send me off in the funeral bier yourself.

“Myojeong said he’d stay with me forever.”

After a brief silence, Suhyang tilted their head.

“Have you ever wondered why Myojeong took you in to begin with?”

The boy went speechless for a moment.

Why had Myojeong taken him in?

That question had tormented him for a very long time. Still, after one conversation with Myojeong, the boy had reached his own conclusion.

Gyeom-ah, what do you think fate is?

At first glance, it may seem random, but in truth everything falls exactly where it belongs. That is fate. Even something as trivial as a single flower petal landing on the ground is the result of fate.

“Because Myojeong and I are bound by fate.”

The reason they had met was because they were meant to meet.

“That’s a convincing answer.”

Suhyang smiled.

“But did you know there’s such a thing as ill-fated destiny?”

The boy shook his head, as though he didn’t want to hear any more.

“So what are you trying to say? Myojeong would never leave me anyway. No matter what I do, he never gets angry with me. He’s always on my side...”

Suhyang cut him off with calm eyes.

“I know why Myojeong took you in.”

The boy’s eyes trembled violently for the first time.

“...Why did he?”

“I can’t tell you just like that.”

Suhyang smiled playfully and straightened their back.

“You said Myojeong never gets angry at you, no matter what you do.”

“......”

“Then how about making a bet with me?”

“...A bet?”

“Prove whether what you’re saying is really true.”

Suhyang’s sharp gaze swept slowly across the boy’s young face.

“If you’re right, I’ll tell you why Myojeong took you in.”

After Suhyang left, the boy went to bed alone.

Only after they were gone did he realize how tense he had been the entire time. His shoulders and neck ached from staying rigid for so long. Suhyang had a talent for making people uncomfortable. He had secretly worried they might ask to stay the night, so he felt relieved when they left quickly instead. Still, as he watched the guest disappear into the rain, countless thoughts crowded his mind.

His stomach kept twisting unpleasantly.

Lying in the darkness, the boy tossed and turned while replaying his conversation with Suhyang.

Will you make a bet with me? Prove whether what you’re saying is true or not. If you’re right, I’ll tell you why Myojeong took you in.

...A bet? What kind of bet?

Is there anything Myojeong treasures?

...Something he treasures?

Suhyang had whispered innocently, like a child plotting mischief.

Yes. If there’s something he values so much he won’t let anyone touch it, let’s hide it. You said he never gets angry no matter what you do. If he still doesn’t get angry this time, then you win.

The moment he heard those words, something flashed through the boy’s mind like lightning.

The pouch Hwirim had returned to Myojeong.

The other day, Hwirim had brought back an old pouch containing belongings she had once entrusted to him. Inside were many strange and valuable things. The boy had received the bow passed down through Myojeong, and there had also been the copper horse tally that summoned Bima, the ghost horse that flew through the sky, along with many other rare objects he had never seen before.

But among them, there had been one particular item.

Something wrapped carefully in cloth.

He had never even seen what it looked like. Myojeong would not allow him to open it. And when the boy kept showing interest in it, Myojeong had eventually bought a small mother-of-pearl box, placed the object inside, and sealed it with a talisman. The boy had complained and whined, asking why he could not see it, but Myojeong had merely brushed him off, saying it was nothing important.

If Myojeong has someone he loves... could it be something they gave him?

Think it over carefully. If you decide to do it, come to the Seonangdang shrine beyond the mountain three days from now, at midnight. I’ll hold onto the item. And when Myojeong comes back, I’ll admit I worked together with you and return it myself.

The bet Suhyang proposed was simple.

Hide something precious to Myojeong and test him.

If Myojeong still did not get angry, the boy would win.

“......”

It was not an offer he could easily dismiss.

A tight pressure suddenly twisted in the boy’s chest.

Why had Myojeong hidden so much from him? Why was he forcing him into something like this?

The resentment lingered bitterly.

This was not only a test for Myojeong.

It was also a test for the boy himself.

Why had Myojeong never told him anything about himself?

The boy had told him everything.

So why had Myojeong hidden things from him?

Why had he concealed the fact that he was a Naja?

Why had he never mentioned the person he had cherished in his heart for years?

Why had he taken him in?

Because the boy believed there had to be a clear reason for it, he desperately wanted to know.

He tried to calm himself by thinking there must have been circumstances Myojeong could not explain, but it was useless. Before long, his heart began wavering all over again.

Then what was that reason?

Why couldn’t he say it?

Doubts gave birth to more doubts without end.

In truth, a tiny spark had already existed in the boy’s heart for quite some time.

Suhyang had breathed life into the spark the boy himself had failed to recognize and buried away.

Now, fed and strengthened, it coiled around him like a snake, staring straight at him.

That spark was distrust toward Myojeong.

“The Seonangdang shrine... three days from now...”

Lying on the warm floor, the boy remained awake for a long time.

***

The three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Throughout those three days, the boy’s heart wavered dozens of times. He thought perhaps he should simply trust Myojeong and ask him everything directly once he returned from his trip.

But at the same time, he feared Myojeong would avoid answering again, just as he always had.

He still had not fully made up his mind, yet the promised time at the Seonangdang shrine drew closer and closer.

After agonizing over it endlessly, the boy packed Myojeong’s belongings into a small pouch and left the house.

A bright full moon hung in the sky that night.

When he crossed the mountain path and arrived at the Seonangdang shrine, strips of five-colored cloth hung from the great sacred tree like curtains. Stone towers made by carefully stacking small rocks stood here and there, traces of the prayers and devotion left behind by countless visitors.

As a place where deities were enshrined, the Seonangdang shrine carried a heavy, solemn stillness that chilled the skin.

The boy wiped the sweat from his palms and looked around.

“You came.”

Suhyang appeared soundlessly from behind the shrine.

Wearing a horsehair hat and dignified traditional robes, Suhyang smiled in satisfaction.

“So you made your decision. Did you bring it?”

The boy nodded slowly instead of answering.

“Yes. Myojeong will return after tonight.”

Suhyang clasped their hands behind their back and looked up at the moon overhead.

“I’m looking forward to seeing my old friend again. It’s been quite a long time since I last saw him. Tell him you lost the item. And when I appear tomorrow with it, perhaps Myojeong will be happier to recover something he treasures than to see me again.”

The boy glanced down at the pouch slung across his back.

Since Myojeong himself had sealed the mother-of-pearl box with a talisman, even if Suhyang held onto it for a day, they would not be able to open it or damage whatever was inside.

“Give it to me.”

Suhyang extended a hand and spoke softly.

“......”

The boy’s eyes flickered.

Even after coming all this way, he still could not decide.

For four days now, he had desperately wanted to know why Myojeong had taken him in.

But suddenly, he wondered whether there was any point in going this far at all.

At the same time, he was afraid of learning the answer.

Did the reason even matter?

No matter what, Myojeong had promised they would stay together forever.

And even if time passed, even if Myojeong’s heart changed and he eventually left to be with the person he loved and start a family of his own—

then that simply could not be helped.

It would hurt.

He would be heartbroken and disappointed.

But he did not want to become a burden holding Myojeong back.

“No.”

The boy, who had been absently fidgeting with the pouch strings, finally came to a decision.

“This isn’t right.”

At last, he raised his head.

His eyes no longer wavered.