Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“It’s been a while since I hunted.”

Yoon Taehee turned toward the direction the arrow had come from.

At the top of the cliff stood a boy holding a plain wooden bow against the raging sea wind. The moment Taehee saw him—wild and untamed like a young beast—something overwhelming surged up from deep inside his chest.

The boy’s eyes gleamed.

“Shit. Missed.”

The young sniper clicked his tongue under his breath.

Even after landing a shot through violent winds from that distance, Jaegyeom still looked dissatisfied. The arrow had pierced the mermaid, but for some reason it was Taehee who felt as though his own heart had been struck.

“Next time, right through the eye.”

Jaegyeom drew the bowstring back again, eyes flashing.

Blood flowing from his arm thickened in midair, naturally shaping itself into an arrow.

The strange mermaid struck by the lightning-fast shot had already disappeared beneath the sea. Only blue blood remained, spreading through the water like spilled paint.

Still holding the drawn bowstring, Jaegyeom rode the wind once more and erased his presence.

The instant he vanished from sight, Taehee pressed himself against the barrier in agitation.

His fingertips scraped anxiously across the invisible wall as though trying to claw through it. Keeping one hand against the barrier, he desperately searched ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ for Jaegyeom’s presence.

Though there was clearly nothing there, the barrier felt solid beneath his palm.

With the mermaid commanding the attack near the shore gone, the remaining mermaids fell into confusion.

“Did you see that? An arrow just flew in—”

“That isn’t an ordinary bow.”

“How could a human possess such a thing?”

“...Is it even human?”

The mermaids maintaining the pentagonal formation exchanged bewildered looks after briefly stopping their chant.

“No human should be able to wield something like that.”

Soon they began chanting again.

This time it was a different scripture. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

A spell invoking the authority of the sea god while swearing offerings at his shrine.

As the chant changed, the water dragon’s golden eyes blazed brighter. The mermaids manipulated the enormous creature like puppeteers pulling invisible strings.

“Capture them.”

At that moment, another arrow tore through the air.

The targeted mermaid twisted away just in time.

The movement was unbelievably fast.

“Tch.”

From somewhere atop the cliff, Jaegyeom cursed quietly.

“Wasted an arrow.”

This time he had genuinely missed.

Jaegyeom clicked his tongue, but the shot had not been meaningless.

The instant one of the mermaids left its position in the pentagonal formation to dodge the arrow, the water dragon’s movement visibly faltered.

Its momentum weakened.

So that formation is the key.

Jaegyeom narrowed his eyes.

“Too obvious.”

The corner of his mouth twisted upward.

Breaking the formation once was enough.

The mermaids continued chanting. As long as the chant continued uninterrupted, the water dragon would not disappear.

Then suddenly—

The writhing dragon lunged straight toward Yoon Taehee.

Jaegyeom’s expression hardened instantly.

He couldn’t relax for even a moment. He had to protect Taehee while fighting at the same time.

The water dragon opened its jaws toward the cliff where Taehee stood trapped inside the barrier.

Jaegyeom gripped the bow tightly.

“You fucking bastards.”

His eyes blazed.

“Who said you could touch him?”

Instead of firing an arrow, Jaegyeom swung the bow through the air like a bat.

The curved wave of spiritual force ripped free in the shape of the bow itself, spinning outward like a massive boomerang.

CRAAASH—!!

The water dragon collided head-on with the attack and was violently knocked aside, crashing into another section of the cliff instead.

The cliffside exploded apart like a landslide.

The destructive force was strong enough to threaten even the barrier.

Jaegyeom clenched his fist and glared at the mermaids.

“If you want to break the barrier, deal with me first.”

He pointed the bow directly at them.

Blood continued pouring from his arm.

The wind against his face felt ice-cold.

And yet—

Heat suddenly flooded his entire body, as though his blood itself were boiling.

Fighting.

Destruction.

Annihilation.

Ecstasy.

The heat swelling inside his chest until it threatened to burst free was exhilaration.

His daily life lately had been too peaceful.

It had been a very long time since he had fought like this.

And little by little, the battle was intoxicating him.

He wanted to crush everything.

Break everything.

Destroy everything.

At some point, an inexplicable urge for destruction had begun consuming him completely.

But Jaegyeom himself failed to notice it.

He drew the bowstring back to his chin once more.

At some point, a smile had appeared on his face.

Eyes blazing with madness, he released the arrow.

The blood-red projectile tore silently through the sky.

“AAAAAAAH—!”

The arrow pierced straight through a mermaid’s forehead.

The creature twisted violently as it screamed.

Blue blood poured from its mouth while its scales began peeling away one after another.

Then the enormous body sank beneath the sea.

Splash.

“Two down.”

A cold laugh escaped Jaegyeom’s lips.

At the same moment, the water dragon visibly destabilized.

Just as expected.

With the formation broken and another mermaid dead, the dragon’s power had weakened significantly.

“Now...”

Jaegyeom slowly drew another arrow.

“Three left.”

The surviving mermaids hurriedly retreated beneath the waves.

“R-retreat for now! Quickly—!”

Jaegyeom immediately pulled back the bowstring.

There was no reason to drag this out any longer.

He had already lost too much blood.

Can’t let them escape.

His eyes darted rapidly across the sea.

The young archer sprinted along the cliffside while tracking their presence.

Finally, he locked onto something beneath the water and took aim.

And then—

RUMBLE—!!

The ground beneath his feet shook violently.

The sea churned.

Jaegyeom staggered while trying to keep his footing, but suddenly the earth beneath him swelled upward.

The cliff split apart.

It looked as though some gigantic being had cracked the earth’s crust in two.

“What the...?”

A heavy, ancient voice rose from deep underground and shook the world itself.

“Who dares scratch my shell?”

Jaegyeom froze and looked down.

“Ahh... itchy. So itchy.”

The cliff trembled violently.

Then something enormous rose from the sea.

At first it resembled a reef breaking through the surface.

But no—

It was a gigantic bald head.

Yoon Taehee’s eyes widened inside the shattered remains of the barrier.

“...Gwisusan?”

Gwisusan.

A giant turtle that had continued growing for countless years.

Some called it a spiritual creature. Others called it a monster.

It sometimes helped humans.

And sometimes destroyed them.

When Gwisusan moved through the ocean, entire islands could sink beneath the waves. Ships vanished in its wake.

Its shell was unimaginably vast.

Even Jaegyeom had never seen one before.

Over countless years, stone and soil had piled across its back until an entire cliff had formed there.

Only then did Jaegyeom realize what he had sensed beneath the earth earlier.

The ground they had been standing on was never an island.

It was Gwisusan’s shell.

The ancient creature, which had remained motionless there for ages, finally rose.

Massive chunks of earth split apart and fell away like shifting tectonic plates.

As Gwisusan lifted itself from the sea, the entire world seemed to tilt.

“Itchy. Itchy. Itchy...”

The enormous turtle slowly began swimming out into the ocean.

And at the same time—

“Kuh—hk...!”

The barrier shattered instantly.

Jaegyeom’s knees buckled where he stood atop the collapsing cliff.

He nearly fell forward.

A groan escaped him as he wiped at his mouth.

Blood had begun running down from the corner of his lips.

The backlash from the barrier’s destruction had hit him directly.

“Ah... fuck...”

The split island—no, Gwisusan—continued moving.

The height was unbelievable.

Taehee looked around with stunned eyes.

The earth was collapsing beneath them.

And Jaegyeom was sliding downward with it.

The moment the barrier disappeared, Taehee immediately reached toward the falling boy.

Seonoh, don’t save that child!

Suddenly, a voice echoed inside his head.

If you save that child, you’ll die!

But Taehee did not pull back his hand.

“Jaegyeom!”

The talisman slipped from his mouth.

At last, their fingertips touched.

And then—

Jaegyeom violently yanked Taehee’s wrist.

Thrown aside by the force, Taehee jerked his head up.

Their eyes met.

Taehee stared blankly at him with wide eyes.

Or rather—

At the blade lodged through the left side of Jaegyeom’s chest.

“F... fuck... you...”

Blood spilled from Jaegyeom’s lips as he laughed weakly.

“I told you... not to spit out... the talisman...”