Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Someone was standing there.

“Myojeong?”

The moment Jaegyeom called the name, the figure slowly turned and looked back at him.

As soon as their eyes met, a violent emotion surged up from deep inside Jaegyeom’s chest.

At the same time, red spiritual force exploded outward.

The raw emotion swallowed Jaegyeom whole in an instant.

Revenge.

Destruction.

Hatred.

Rage.

And sorrow.

It was true frenzy—the kind that burned away reason, self-control, everything.

“That can’t be...”

I killed him. I definitely killed him with my own hands...

Clutching his head, Jaegyeom staggered toward Myojeong.

“Myojeong... why are you still alive?”

The person standing before him was unquestionably Myojeong.

With his back turned toward Jaegyeom, Myojeong held a long sword loosely in one hand. He glanced back over his shoulder with a bleak expression.

“Tell me... why are you still alive...?”

A strange madness and murderous intent gripped Jaegyeom whole.

“You came to kill me again, didn’t you?”

Red spiritual force gathered in Jaegyeom’s hand and formed a weapon.

The blade born from the violent surge of spiritual force closely resembled the sword in Myojeong’s hand.

Jaegyeom approached him.

The moment their swords collided, a tremendous storm erupted.

“Are you hesitating in front of your enemy?”

Myojeong’s voice rang out as though mocking him.

Consumed by hostility, Jaegyeom drove him back relentlessly.

Their swords clashed again and again.

Myojeong’s swordsmanship was overwhelming as always. Even with Jaegyeom fighting with everything he had, Myojeong remained unmoved.

The colliding spiritual force swallowed both of them whole.

Fragments of time spent with Myojeong became tangled inside Jaegyeom’s mind. Like scraps stitched into a patchwork quilt, the memories fused together into a single scene.

Caught in the illusion, Jaegyeom had somehow returned to that day long ago—

the day he killed Myojeong.

“So you came for revenge? Then show me what you can do.”

But something felt wrong.

Unlike the mocking voice provoking him, Myojeong’s sword did nothing except push Jaegyeom back again and again.

Several openings appeared.

Yet Myojeong never once struck.

His sword focused solely on defense.

And his movements felt strangely unfamiliar, unlike the swordsmanship Jaegyeom remembered.

But Jaegyeom, consumed by rage, failed to notice the dissonance.

The instant an opening appeared, he thrust his sword forward without hesitation.

Warm blood splattered across his face.

At the same time, Myojeong’s movements stopped abruptly.

Jaegyeom stared blankly at the sword buried in Myojeong’s chest before slowly lifting his head.

The eyes looking back at him twisted painfully.

“Ha... haha... ha...”

Jaegyeom’s mouth trembled upward.

He felt light.

Relieved.

It was refreshing, cathartic—like finally cutting away a noose that had strangled him for years.

Having taken his revenge once again, Jaegyeom laughed strangely, as though laughing and crying at the same time.

“This is what you get for betraying me.”

At that moment, Myojeong slowly lifted an arm.

He rested it against Jaegyeom’s shoulder before wrapping both arms around Jaegyeom’s neck.

Lowering his head weakly, he buried his forehead against the crook of Jaegyeom’s neck.

“Gyeom-ah.”

Jaegyeom’s laughter gradually faded.

“Jaegyeom-ah.”

Jaegyeom hesitated as he looked down at Myojeong leaning against him.

That wasn’t how it happened that day.

On the day he killed Myojeong, there had been no embrace like this.

Myojeong should have collapsed to his knees at Jaegyeom’s feet.

But now he was holding tightly onto Jaegyeom’s neck with both arms.

Clinging to him with all his strength.

“Jaegyeom-ah.”

The broad shoulders.

The strong arms.

The warmth that had once always supported him.

Everything felt vivid.

Yet something was wrong.

The embrace felt similar to Myojeong’s—

but strangely unfamiliar.

And there was a faint scent that did not belong to him.

“...”

At some point, overwhelmed by a growing sense of wrongness, Jaegyeom unconsciously grabbed Myojeong’s shoulders and pulled him away.

The body leaning heavily against him separated far too easily.

Like peeling away paper.

Jaegyeom finally saw the face of the person he had just crossed swords with.

Even now, it was undeniably Myojeong’s face.

It definitely was—

But the instant he thought that, the face before him distorted violently.

In an instant, it overlapped with someone else’s.

As Jaegyeom recognized the face before him, his expression slowly stiffened.

“Why... why are you...”

The face overlapping with Myojeong’s—

was Yoon Taehee’s.

“...Yoon Taehee?”

At that moment, the sword in Jaegyeom’s hand scattered away like smoke.

Focus slowly returned to his eyes.

He stared blankly at the face in front of him.

Yoon Taehee’s face was pale as paper, made even more ghastly by the vivid red blood covering him.

Jaegyeom could not understand what had happened.

Why was Yoon Taehee here?

With a bewildered expression, Jaegyeom grabbed his shoulders.

“Why... why are you... why...”

This was not Myojeong.

It was Yoon Taehee, drenched in blood.

He could no longer tell what was real and what was illusion.

His deathly pale hands wandered helplessly over Yoon Taehee’s shoulders and arms, gripping and releasing them over and over.

Then Yoon Taehee lowered his gaze and spoke weakly.

“Jaegyeom-ah... hold me...”

The voice sounded like a dying ember.

As though he might collapse at any moment, Yoon Taehee leaned heavily against him.

As if entranced, Jaegyeom wrapped his arms around his back.

Yoon Taehee’s shoulder blades were wet beneath his hands.

Because of the sword wound.

Jaegyeom stared blankly at the blood soaking his palm.

“Who am I?”

Yoon Taehee murmured softly with his head lowered.

“You... Tae... Taehee...”

As Jaegyeom answered blankly, Yoon Taehee let out a weak laugh.

“That’s right. I’m Taehee.”

“...”

“Then who are you?”

From that moment on, Jaegyeom began stammering frantically like a terrified child.

“I-I’m... I’m...”

He could not finish the sentence.

His eyes trembled violently.

He felt suffocated.

Dizzy.

Everything felt unreal.

And yet the weight in his arms alone was horrifyingly real.

“I’m... Gyeom...”

After a long while, Jaegyeom finally managed to force the answer out.

“That’s right.”

Yoon Taehee nodded weakly with his forehead resting against Jaegyeom’s shoulder.

“I’m Taehee, and you’re Jaegyeom.”

“...”

“And...”

Yoon Taehee’s voice gradually faded.

“And... I like you...”

Barely moving his lips, Yoon Taehee slowly straightened up.

With visible difficulty, he raised one hand and cupped Jaegyeom’s cheek.

His face looked dazed, as though he had only just woken from a dream.

“I like you...”

As if trying to make him remember, Yoon Taehee carefully enunciated every word.

“I like you so, so much.”

With those final words, his knees gave out.

His shoulder bumped weakly against Jaegyeom as his body slid downward before collapsing limply to the ground.

“...”

Jaegyeom stared at his own bloodstained hands, breathing raggedly.

Then he looked down at Yoon Taehee lying motionless at his feet.

At last, Jaegyeom’s breathing became completely uneven.

His legs trembled uncontrollably at the unbearable sight before him.

“What is this...”

Jaegyeom collapsed to his knees with a shattered expression.

“No.”

He had dreamed this once before.

A nightmare exactly like this.

It was as though someone had recreated the dream perfectly in reality.

In that dream, he had also seen Myojeong.

And when he stabbed Myojeong—

Myojeong became Yoon Taehee.

Now that terrible nightmare had become real.

“See? You wanted to kill him.”

His thoughts would not work.

The memories before and after the incident felt hazy, as though burned away in the aftermath of the frenzy.

The only thing left vividly behind was the sensation of stabbing Myojeong—

no, Yoon Taehee.

He could not remember where this was.

Or why he had come here.

“Think. I said think...”

And now Yoon Taehee was dying.

“No... no, no, no...”

Clutching his head, Jaegyeom shook it violently.

“The... thing Mesan gave me... medi... medicine... medicinal water...”

Groaning, Jaegyeom suddenly staggered to his feet.

Muttering like someone chanting a spell, he hoisted Yoon Taehee onto his back.

“It’s okay. It’s okay...! It’s okay. It’s okay...”

With empty, unfocused eyes, Jaegyeom ran desperately through the rain with Yoon Taehee on his back.

Rain poured mercilessly from the sky.

His face was soaked through completely.

He could no longer tell whether the wetness running down his face was rainwater or something else.

He had definitely been wearing shoes earlier, yet now he was sprinting barefoot through the mud.

Yoon Taehee’s limp body swayed helplessly against his back.

When he reached the mud-walled house through the downpour, Jaegyeom practically threw Yoon Taehee onto the wooden porch.

He flung the door open and rushed into the inner room.

With trembling hands, he overturned his bag completely.

“Wh-Where is it...? Where is it?! Where is it?!”

Jaegyeom shook violently, like someone freezing to death.

He frantically dug through the bag, throwing everything aside.

Then he saw it.

The bottle containing the medicinal water.

Grabbing it immediately, Jaegyeom rushed back toward Yoon Taehee.

In his panic, he tripped over the porch and crashed to the ground, twisting his ankle badly as he fell.

Jaegyeom scrambled back up.

With trembling hands, he tore open the bottle and poured the medicinal water over the wound he himself had stabbed.

The bleeding seemed to slow.

But it was not enough.

The wound was too large.

Too much blood had already been lost.

Even Mesan’s medicinal water could not heal something this severe with such a small amount.

It was nowhere near enough to save someone dying like this.

Jaegyeom’s breathing grew faster and faster.

Desperately, he shook Yoon Taehee over and over, like someone trying to keep the last ember of a dying fire alive.

It felt as though Yoon Taehee might open his eyes at any moment, smile, and say, Surprised?

But he said nothing.

Jaegyeom suddenly clutched at his own chest as though trying to tear it open.

“H-Hey... help...”

“...”

“H-Help... please...”

“...”

“Do something, damn it—!”

Jaegyeom screamed at the top of his lungs, his face deathly pale.

But the being inside him remained silent.

Unable to endure it anymore, Jaegyeom grabbed Yoon Taehee by the collar, breathing raggedly.

Beneath his hand, the pulse in Yoon Taehee’s neck was growing slower and slower.

At last, Jaegyeom’s face completely crumbled.

The moment his grip loosened, Yoon Taehee’s body fell limp again.

“...”

Blood poured from Yoon Taehee’s body.

Rain poured endlessly from the sky.

A desolate wind blew across the world.

Only then did Jaegyeom finally understand what catastrophe truly meant.

This—

was catastrophe.

Yoon Taehee lay motionless.

The pouring rain washed all color from his face until he looked pale as a corpse.

And Jaegyeom realized it.

At this rate—

Yoon Taehee would die.

Breathing unevenly, Jaegyeom suddenly doubled over.

His heart hurt.

Even though the wound in his chest had healed completely, his chest felt unbearably tight.

Jaegyeom’s face twisted helplessly like a child’s.

“Wake up... I said wake up...”

Groaning, he looked down at Yoon Taehee.

For some reason, seeing that peaceful face made emotion crash over him uncontrollably.

Feelings he had never acknowledged—

feelings he had desperately buried—

flooded over him all at once.

Jaegyeom cupped Yoon Taehee’s cheeks with both hands.

Like a child throwing a tantrum, unable to let go, he stared down at him from close up and began stammering incoherently.

“Y-You know... Tae... Taehee-ya... I... I also... I also...”

The words spilling from his trembling lips were a tangled mess.

“I also...”

Again and again, he tried to say it.

“I-I also dreamed about you...”

Yes.

There were things he had wanted to tell him.

“And... and...”

Jaegyeom’s shoulders shook violently.

“I also... ngh... ah...”

Then, at the words that surfaced next, Jaegyeom suddenly stopped breathing.

It’s okay if you’re still confused and uncertain. But prepare yourself. There will definitely come a moment when you’re no longer confused.

A moment without confusion.

That moment had arrived—

cruelly—

right now.