Honbul: Flame of the Soul

The thing born from the whirlpool was a massive sea dragon.

A towering column of water in the shape of a dragon glared down at Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee. The moment Yoon Taehee came face-to-face with that enormous dragon form, his expression froze. Even seeing it with his own eyes, he could hardly believe it.

“A dragon?”

Yoon Taehee’s eyes slowly widened.

From the moment the five merpeople had risen from the sea and begun chanting in a wide pentagonal formation, an immense whirlpool had formed. A great spiral of water had shot toward the sky, then suddenly taken on the shape of a dragon with blue scales and golden eyes.

“W-what the hell is that?”

Jaegyeom was just as stunned.

He had heard stories that mermaids existed, but this was the first time he had ever seen them in person. He had only heard that they were mysterious beings, messengers of the sea god. Even to Jaegyeom, who had lived for centuries, mermaids were unfamiliar creatures. He had no way of knowing exactly what powers they possessed.

As Jaegyeom stared up at the dragon in bewilderment—

Rumble...

The ground suddenly began to shake as though an earthquake had struck.

Earth and sky trembled together. At the sudden vibration, Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee looked at each other without needing to say a word.

At that moment, the sea dragon opened its jaws wide and charged at them as if to swallow them whole.

It was a sudden attack.

The instant the dragon lunged, Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee dodged at the same time. They kicked off the ground and leapt in opposite directions. The sea dragon, having missed ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ its prey, viciously bit into the cliff.

It was the exact spot where Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee had been standing only moments ago.

CRASH——!

The sea dragon tore into one side of the cliff facing the shore.

The cliff was carved away in the shape of the dragon’s bite and collapsed like a landslide.

“Yoon Taehee!”

Fragments of rock and shattered debris rained down.

Jaegyeom faced the storm of rubble with spiritual force wrapped around his entire body.

As soon as the barrage passed, he rushed toward Yoon Taehee.

“Are you okay?”

Yoon Taehee, who had escaped in the opposite direction from Jaegyeom, fortunately did not seem badly hurt.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

After confirming each other’s safety, the two of them looked like a complete mess. Their T-shirts were torn to shreds from the flying fish attack, and cuts covered their bodies. Blood seeped from Yoon Taehee’s cheek, a mark left by the flying fish.

“Those fucking bastards...”

Jaegyeom clenched his teeth and glared at the sea.

He understood the weight of that hatred. He could understand those feelings well enough. But that did not mean he and Yoon Taehee had to bear all of it.

Jaegyeom picked up the umbrella lying on the ground.

The sea dragon, which had returned to the center of the sea, was writhing as if preparing to charge again.

After biting through the cliff once, it had gone back to its original position in the middle of the sea. The merpeople standing on the surface were still chanting.

There was no time to understand what was happening.

The attack had begun before they could even assess the situation.

At a glance, things looked bad. They were outnumbered. Behind them was a towering cliff; in front of them was the sea.

The merpeople’s sudden attack—especially that sea dragon—was extremely dangerous.

First, they had to do something about the dragon.

Jaegyeom rolled the umbrella tightly and infused it with every bit of spiritual force he could gather. Then he hurled it toward the sea dragon.

The umbrella, turned into a spear by spiritual force, pierced straight through the dragon’s head.

But the sea dragon did not even flinch.

The moment the sharpened tip of the umbrella penetrated its head, that part of its body turned into water and let the umbrella pass through without inflicting any damage.

That was not a real dragon.

“Shit. This is annoying.”

Jaegyeom cursed under his breath.

The dragon was undoubtedly a product of the merpeople’s sorcery. There was no doubt they were controlling it through their chanting. If it was something created through sorcery, then the only way to stop it was to bring down the sorcerers behind the spell.

In other words, they had to deal with all five merpeople.

That was easier said than done.

The merpeople stood far out on the sea, impossible to approach from land. The moment Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee entered the water, the outcome of the fight would be decided.

...Wait. Where did Shin Jihye go?

Breathing roughly, Jaegyeom looked around. But no matter how much he searched, he could not sense Shin Jihye anywhere.

The merpeople must have dragged her into the sea.

Jaegyeom’s mind raced.

The terrain was terrible, limiting their movement from the start. If they were dragged into the sea, where the merpeople held every advantage, they had no chance. They had no weapons either.

What should they do?

What if they ran?

No.

Running was impossible.

This was an island. It was surrounded by sea on all sides. Besides, those unknown merpeople were not Shin Jihye’s mother. That meant they had come here targeting them from the very beginning. Shin Jihye’s mother had been taken hostage, and Shin Jihye herself had been threatened into cooperating.

Those merpeople held a deep grudge against humans.

If Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee retreated here, their revenge would turn on the entire island.

Then—

“...We have to fight.”

After reaching that conclusion, Jaegyeom muttered to himself while glaring at the sea.

Then he turned to Yoon Taehee and held out one arm to block him.

“Go.”

“What?”

“I’ll handle this. You go home and wait.”

At those words, Yoon Taehee’s expression hardened grimly.

“What are you talking about?”

Jaegyeom kept his sharp gaze fixed on the merpeople’s movements as he spoke.

“We can’t both escape.”

“No. I’m not going.”

Jaegyeom turned to Yoon Taehee with a terrifying expression.

“Yoon Taehee.”

“I’m staying by your side.”

Jaegyeom grabbed Yoon Taehee by the collar, his eyes blazing.

“Listen carefully. Shin Jihye is in their hands right now, and we have six merpeople to deal with in total. On top of that, you can’t swim. If both of us rush in and even one of us gets caught, it’s over. If it’s just me, I can manage somehow.”

Still held by the collar, Yoon Taehee lowered his gaze.

“...”

His eyes slowly sank.

He glanced at the watch on his left wrist. Perhaps from the impact of being slammed into the cliff, a crack had appeared across the glass that had not been there before.

If you keep going like this, your life will surely be in danger.

Dangerous? Why?

Yoon Taehee narrowed his eyes as he recalled Sisi’s words, silent for so long until then.

Because that child is beside you.

Sisi had definitely known something.

The ominous discomfort that had wrapped around his entire body.

Sisi’s warning.

Don’t you understand? It means you can’t have that child, you fool!

At that moment, Jaegyeom released Yoon Taehee’s collar and shoved him hard.

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

After pushing him away, Jaegyeom spoke in a low voice.

“You’re in danger. Go. Now.”

“I won’t go. No—I can’t.”

Jaegyeom frowned.

“Why?”

“Because I like you.”

Jaegyeom’s heart dropped with a heavy thud, and his expression hardened fiercely.

“...”

After a moment of silence, Jaegyeom squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again—

“You fucking bastard...”

—and slapped Yoon Taehee hard across the face without warning.

“Do you think I’m joking right now?”

Yoon Taehee’s cheek flushed red from the sudden blow.

“...”

His head still turned from the slap, Yoon Taehee spoke quietly.

“And you... do you think I’m joking?”

“You stupid idiot, I’m not going to die!”

Jaegyeom shouted, looking almost incredulous.

“But you might. Something could happen to you!”

You’ll regret not listening to me forever.

“Then protect me.”

“...What?”

“And I’ll protect you.”

“...”

Yoon Taehee cupped Jaegyeom’s cheeks in both hands and said:

“Jaegyeom. I’m going back with you.”

His face was covered in cuts, but his voice was soft.

“I promise.”

As their unwavering gazes met, Jaegyeom’s expression wavered.

“...”

They knew each other’s weaknesses.

They held each other’s lives.

They protected each other.

Jaegyeom suddenly realized it.

Even in a situation this desperate, absurdly enough, his heart was pounding.

“I’ll follow you anywhere. You only need to look ahead.”

At that moment, Jaegyeom felt his chest tighten.

It was an indescribable emotion. Something like helplessness, something like fear, something like terror.

Jaegyeom thought he knew what that feeling was.

“...”

Still staring at Yoon Taehee, Jaegyeom silently reached into his pants pocket.

What he pulled out was a small notebook.

It was something he had grabbed from the bedroom before leaving the mud house.

He had brought it just in case.

There was nothing special about the small notebook with the store name printed on it. But that did not matter.

Because he would make it special.

Jaegyeom tore a page from the notebook and bit hard into his index finger. Blood welled up from the bite.

At the same time, Yoon Taehee’s eyes widened.

“You—can you write talismans?”

He had not known Jaegyeom could write talismans without a mirror needle.

Jaegyeom did not answer. He scribbled the spell onto the paper, then folded the talisman into quarters.

Then he grabbed Yoon Taehee by the chin and pushed his thumb between Yoon Taehee’s lips.

Startled, Yoon Taehee opened his mouth.

“Look me in the eye.”

Jaegyeom met Yoon Taehee’s gaze and placed the newly made talisman into his mouth.

Yoon Taehee unconsciously bit down on it.

Still looking straight at him, Jaegyeom rubbed his bloodied index finger against his thumb. Then he pressed his thumb to the center of Yoon Taehee’s forehead, the place known as the third eye, as if stamping a seal there.

“Eight Chaos. Three Calamities. Water Disaster Extinguished.”

Jaegyeom stared sharply at Yoon Taehee.

“Don’t ever let go.”

Whether he meant the talisman in Yoon Taehee’s mouth, or the promise that Yoon Taehee would follow him anywhere, was unclear.

Yoon Taehee nodded.

Once that series of actions was complete, Jaegyeom stood.

He took two or three steps away from Yoon Taehee, then immediately bent down and began scrawling something across the ground with his bleeding hand.

Earth.

Produce.

Bind.

And—

Muttering the pronunciations softly, Jaegyeom wrote classical Chinese characters across the ground, then drew a straight line through all the characters lined up in a row.

Then he dropped to one knee and placed both palms on the blood-drawn line.

At some point, Jaegyeom’s hair had begun to rise.

Kneeling there, Jaegyeom slowly lifted his head and glared at the dark sea.

“The light dwelling in the earth is my territory. Defend it with the spirit wall.”