Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Deep in the night, while everyone else slept, Jaegyeom slowly sat up from where he had been curled beneath the blankets. The house was silent. Through the open window came the steady sound of insects. Leaning back against the headboard, he stared blankly outside.

A pale half-moon hung in the clear night sky.

Sleep would not come.

Yesterday afternoon, Jaegyeom had left Yoon Taehee behind and returned home alone. The moment he got back, he had collapsed into sleep as though he had lost consciousness. Then, earlier today, a text had arrived from Taehee.

Jaegyeom picked up the phone beside his pillow and checked the screen again.

[Alright]

[You win]

In the end, Yoon Taehee had been the one to yield.

But instead of relief, what lingered inside Jaegyeom was something far more difficult to describe.

He read the messages over and over again. He still had not replied.

Yesterday had exhausted him emotionally.

After leaving Taehee like that and coming home alone, Jaegyeom had spent the entire day suffering over it. It was only natural. He had spoken harshly and wounded him deeply. Yet Taehee had not contacted him once afterward, and the silence only made Jaegyeom more anxious as time passed.

What if Taehee never contacted him again?

What would happen to him then?

And then the text had come.

The instant he read it, all the tension that had been wound tightly inside him seemed to drain away at once.

You win.

It sounded like Taehee was saying he would do what Jaegyeom wanted. That he would keep their original promise.

Even so, the faint unease surrounding Jaegyeom refused to disappear.

Instead, distrust suddenly crept in.

What if Taehee broke his word again?

For some reason, Jaegyeom felt he should not accept Taehee’s words at face value. Thinking about it carefully, Taehee already had a history of twisting and overturning promises between them. There was no guarantee he would not do the same thing again.

Yoon Taehee was not someone whose true thoughts could ever be read from the surface.

Can I really trust this promise?

Suspicion bloomed quietly inside ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) him.

Even though Taehee said he would keep it, what if he changed his mind later? What if he only said that for the sake of keeping Jaegyeom cooperative while hiding entirely different intentions underneath?

Trying to guess the thoughts of someone as unreadable as Yoon Taehee was pointless.

At times like this, it was better to assume Taehee would not keep his promise and prepare himself accordingly.

But no matter how long he thought about it, no clear answer came.

In the end, only one thing remained certain.

Whether alive or dead, eventually he would have to leave Yoon Taehee’s side.

The reason you’re suffering like this is because something bad is attached to you.

Still staring out the window, Jaegyeom slowly lowered his gaze.

“Hey.”

He spoke quietly toward his own chest.

“....”

As expected, there was no answer.

Jaegyeom sat there for a long time with his head lowered.

Eventually, he rose from the bed.

After stepping into the living room, he quietly made his way upstairs. The large house lay silent in darkness. There were several rooms on the second floor as well, but ever since moving here, the three of them had mostly lived downstairs. The upper floor was used almost entirely for storage.

Turning the corner at the end of the hallway, Jaegyeom stopped in front of the small room farthest inside.

The firmly locked door was wound shut with thick straw rope.

Just as he had done in the previous house, Jaegyeom had gathered together the various things he had accumulated over the centuries and sealed them away in a single room with spiritual force.

Spiritual force gathered into his hand as he grasped the doorknob and turned it. The rope loosened smoothly and fell away.

A short while later, after finding what he needed in the darkness, Jaegyeom returned downstairs.

In his hand was a copper horse tally used to summon Bima.

Quietly sliding open the living room door, he stepped out into the yard and headed toward the back of the house. After checking once to make sure everyone was asleep, he dug into the dirt with the tip of his foot.

He buried the copper horse tally beneath the soil, bit the tip of his index finger, and let blood drip onto the ground.

“Let the mane of the ghost horse cease its wandering and answer this summons.”

He recited the spell exactly as he always did.

But nothing happened.

Normally, Bima would have burst straight up from beneath the earth, yet the ground remained perfectly still.

Frowning slightly, Jaegyeom crouched down.

Did something go wrong?

Just as he was about to dig the tally back up, an enormous shadow suddenly rippled across the ground.

Startled, Jaegyeom looked up.

Bima was descending slowly from the clear night sky.

“Young master, it has been some time. Have you been well?”

The ghost horse stepped lightly down from the heavens and looked at Jaegyeom.

“I happened to be nearby.”

It explained that this was why it had been able to arrive immediately.

Several months had passed since Jaegyeom last saw Bima, but it looked exactly the same as before. Its mane remained sleek and glossy, while its eyes were bloodshot as always, presumably from its endless lack of sleep.

After exchanging a few brief greetings, Bima snorted irritably.

“Well, I was just about to sleep. Hasn’t the moon already risen?”

“I’m sorry. There’s something I wanted to ask, and you’re the only one I could think of.”

“What is it?”

“Have you ever heard of sealing a ghost inside a human body?”

Bima’s expression shifted slightly.

“Why do you ask?”

“I’ll explain later. Just tell me if you know anything first.”

Bima scraped at the dirt with one hoof, thinking for a moment.

“Does it specifically have to be a human body? What I know is somewhat different, but I have heard of sealing ghosts inside living creatures by using their bodies as vessels.”

Jaegyeom’s eyes widened.

“That’s actually possible?”

“It is.”

“What happens when a ghost is sealed inside a living body?”

“I’ve heard the ghost soul gradually clings to the living soul until the two slowly become one. Eventually, only a single soul remains.”

Bima continued calmly.

“A living thing can die, but something already dead cannot truly come back to life. So in the end, the living soul—the original owner of the body—is slowly consumed by the ghost soul. Eventually, only the ghost remains.”

Jaegyeom listened in silence.

“And once the ghost completely devours the living soul and fully takes over the body, the vessel breaks apart. Once the vessel breaks, the seal breaks as well, and the ghost escapes again.”

“You mean the body can’t endure it?”

“That’s right.”

“So eventually the ghost is released no matter what.”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s the point of sealing it in the first place if it’ll just come back out eventually?”

“If the vessel dies before the two souls completely fuse together—before the ghost fully takes over the body—then the ghost soul attached to the living soul disappears from this world along with it.”

According to Bima, if the body died before the fusion was complete, the ghost soul still attached to the living soul would ascend together with it as soulfire.

“......”

After a long silence, Jaegyeom finally spoke again.

“Then... there’s no way to simply remove what’s inside?”

He asked carefully, trying not to cling to false hope.

“It would be difficult unless it was removed immediately after the sealing. The younger the vessel was at the time, and the longer the two remained together afterward, the harder it becomes to separate them.”

Jaegyeom let out a bitter laugh.

Taehee had said he would remove it, but hearing Bima’s explanation, it sounded nearly impossible.

Jaegyeom did not know exactly when the thing inside him had first been sealed there, but more than two hundred years had already passed.

According to Bima, his case was likely the worst possible one.

“By the way, why are you asking about this?”

At Bima’s question, Jaegyeom answered casually.

“There’s something inside me.”

“...What?”

Bima stared at him as though it could not believe what it had heard.

Instead of elaborating, Jaegyeom asked whether Myojeong had ever said anything about his existence.

Only then did Bima seem to realize Jaegyeom was serious.

“There’s truly something inside you? What is it?”

Rather than answering, Jaegyeom repeated the question about Myojeong.

“Unfortunately, Myojeong never told me anything.”

Bima slowly looked Jaegyeom up and down with newfound interest.

“So you’re searching for a way to remove it?”

“I haven’t decided anything yet. I was only asking whether a method existed.”

“But even if you managed to remove it safely, wouldn’t that create another problem?”

“What do you mean?”

Bima snorted lightly.

“Is whatever’s inside you something that should be released back into the world?”

Jaegyeom fell silent.

Thinking about it, Bima was right.

If it could not be removed, that was a problem.

But if it could be removed, that was also a problem.

After all, what lived inside him was a calamity.

“...Yeah. That’s true.”

He had not been swayed by Taehee’s promise to remove it.

He had simply wanted to know whether such a thing was truly possible, and Bima was the only one he knew who might have information about it.

That was all.

He was too exhausted to hope for more than that.

“I was only joking. Don’t look so grim.”

Jaegyeom’s expression had darkened noticeably.

Realizing belatedly that his careless remark had landed badly, Bima coughed awkwardly and hurriedly changed the subject.

“Then perhaps you should try seeking out Byeoksadan.”

Jaegyeom paused.

“Byeoksadan? How do you know about Byeoksadan?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Bima seemed surprisingly informed when it came to rumors.

Jaegyeom had not expected to hear Byeoksadan mentioned here. He had assumed it was merely a major topic within the Office of Narye.

“These days, everywhere I go, all I hear about is Byeoksadan.”

Bima continued:

“Among ghosts, they’re practically being praised as heroes. Everyone’s saying, ‘At last, someone is on our side.’”

It explained that Byeoksadan consisted of ancient intelligent ghosts with immense power who had apparently developed a fondness for human civilization—and especially for money.

“They say if you pay them enough, they’ll grant any request.”

Bima’s eyes sparkled.

“I’ve started saving money myself lately. Who knows? Maybe they could even take away my nightmares.”

Then it added sincerely:

“If you ever decide to visit Byeoksadan, call for me. I’ll take you there myself. I managed to learn the route.”

Jaegyeom looked at it suspiciously.

“And what exactly are you suggesting I ask Byeoksadan for?”

“Why, to remove whatever’s inside you, of course.”

“But you just said that would be nearly impossible.”

“Even so, who knows what methods Byeoksadan might possess?”

Jaegyeom frowned at the absurd optimism.

Bima tilted its head thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again.

“Then how about this?”

It nodded to itself.

“You want to die, but you can’t.”

Jaegyeom quietly looked at it.

“If you truly have no attachment to living anymore... then why not ask them to seal you away instead?”

“...Seal me?”

“Yes.”

Bima met his eyes directly.

“That way, whatever’s inside you would remain contained as well.”

The ghost horse gave a low snort.

“Well... if you can call it one, wouldn’t that also count as a solution?”