Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Jaegyeom decided to return to work at the Office of Narye starting today.

It was not because Yoon Taehee had told him to. It was a decision he made himself. Since Taehee had agreed to keep their promise, Jaegyeom had to return to his original place as well.

After finishing his shower and coming out of the bathroom, Jaegyeom put on a dress shirt.

Jeongju and Mesan were both delighted when he said he was going back to work. They seemed to think Jaegyeom was finally returning to his normal routine.

While he was getting ready, the doorbell rang.

“Jaegyeom, Taehee’s here.”

Yoon Taehee had arrived at that exact moment.

Jeongju seemed to assume Jaegyeom had contacted him beforehand and asked him to come pick him up, because he reacted as though it were perfectly natural.

In reality, Jaegyeom had not contacted Taehee at all.

“Okay. Open the door.”

Jaegyeom continued buttoning his shirt without much reaction.

It was unexpected, but not surprising.

Yoon Taehee had known, without being told, that Jaegyeom would return to work today. And Jaegyeom had also known that Taehee would make some sort of move around now.

“Taehee, come in.”

“Hello.”

“Jaegyeom’s almost ready.”

Their voices came from the entryway. Then the sound drew closer.

Jaegyeom, still buttoning his shirt, poked his head through the half-open door and looked toward the living room.

“Hi.”

His eyes met Taehee’s.

Taehee was dressed neatly in a suit.

“You’re going to work.”

“Yeah. I just need to finish getting dressed.”

They exchanged words calmly, as though they had arranged this beforehand.

“Taehee, are you feeling better? The bruises on your face still haven’t faded.”

Jeongju asked worriedly.

Taehee still had marks here and there from the beating Jaegyeom had given him the other day. Thanks to the cleansing water from the Purification Unit, the bruises had faded considerably, but they had not disappeared completely.

Jeongju probably thought he had been injured on the island.

There was no reason to correct that misunderstanding.

Taehee merely smiled faintly without answering.

“Mesan, take a look at Taehee’s injuries.”

“Yes.”

While Jaegyeom finished getting ready, Mesan decided to heal Taehee, just as he had wanted to.

Hearing the conversation from inside his room, Jaegyeom deliberately dressed more slowly than usual.

By the time he finished and came out into the living room, Taehee was sitting properly on the floor while Mesan treated the wounds on his face.

Light poured from Mesan’s hands onto Taehee’s face like sunlight.

The patchy bruises faded cleanly in an instant.

Once Mesan seemed to decide that was enough, he lowered the small hands he had been holding open in front of Taehee’s face and asked shyly,

“Um... how does it feel?”

Taehee, who had quietly let Mesan treat him, slowly lifted his eyelids.

Jeongju brought over a small mirror and held it up for him. Taehee looked into it, then pressed several parts of his face with his large hand.

After confirming that the pain was completely gone, he smiled brightly.

“It’s completely healed.”

Taehee took Mesan’s hand as he stood there shyly and opened his small palm, examining it with fascination.

“Thank you.”

Mesan, secretly pleased, grinned.

“How did you do that?”

Mesan spread his hands and began explaining in a mumble.

“Um... inside my head, I concentrate and think, heal, heal...”

Taehee listened to him with surprising seriousness.

Jaegyeom approached the two of them.

Instead of telling Taehee to leave, he looked down at Mesan and said,

“Have fun. I’ll be back.”

Jeongju, quick to notice things, realized Jaegyeom was not speaking to Taehee and looked back and forth between them with a puzzled expression.

Taehee stood without saying anything.

“Then I’ll see you next time.”

Seen off by Mesan and Jeongju, the two of them left the house calmly.

But the moment they stepped outside, Jaegyeom abruptly turned away.

He walked straight past Taehee’s car, which was parked at the mouth of the alley, without so much as glancing at it.

Taehee called after him.

“Where are you going?”

“From now on, I’ll commute by myself unless you have business with me.”

Taehee took out his car key and pressed the button.

“I understand that it’s uncomfortable, but we’re headed to the same place anyway. Get in.”

He stood there with one hand in his pocket, watching Jaegyeom.

“And I came today because I thought I should at least show my face to Jeongju once.”

Taehee said it with an unreadable face.

It sounded as if he was saying that coming all the way to the house today, despite Jaegyeom’s obvious avoidance, had been unavoidable—and that Jaegyeom did not need to feel burdened by it.

“......”

Jaegyeom silently stared at him for a moment before opening the back door.

Only then did Taehee get into the driver’s seat.

The car slid out of the alley in silence.

It was only because the promise had become valid again that Jaegyeom could barely bring himself to ride in the same car as Taehee.

Even so, he sat in the back seat, not the passenger seat. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Taehee showed no reaction.

He knew they could never return to how they had been before.

Jaegyeom, who had been staring out the window, opened his mouth.

“When can I get the wooden tag?”

After a brief silence, Taehee answered while keeping his eyes on the road.

“The schedule has been pushed back a little. I was supposed to start diverting attention by now.”

They had never set a definite date from the beginning.

The plan had been to observe the atmosphere at the Office of Narye for a while, while staying prepared to move at any time in case of emergency.

Jaegyeom listened quietly, then nodded.

“I see.”

Their conversation remained limited to necessary business.

The atmosphere between them was heavy and cold.

After that short exchange, Jaegyeom turned his gaze back toward the window. Taehee focused on driving.

Traffic was unusually heavy today.

By the time they reached the entrance to the underground parking lot near headquarters, a long line of cars was already waiting to get in.

Instead of going into the underground lot, Taehee parked in a quiet commercial alley across from Jongmyo. It was close enough to walk from there.

Taehee got out first, and Jaegyeom followed.

He slowly came to stand beside him.

The two walked with a small distance between them.

Like people who could not come any closer, but could not fully move apart either.

Still, the distance was close enough for each to keep track of the other’s steps.

They stopped at a traffic light.

To reach headquarters, they had to cross the road and cut through Jongmyo Park.

Standing one step apart in the crowd, they began walking at the same time when the light turned green.

They had just reached the middle of the crosswalk, where the streams of people from both sides began to mix.

...Huh?

Jaegyeom, who had been walking straight ahead, suddenly froze.

Without realizing it, he turned around.

Just as the pedestrians from the opposite side brushed past him, he saw a familiar face.

“...Cho Youngwoo?”

His eyes widened as he stared at the back of the figure already disappearing into the crowd.

The person was walking so quickly that he was nearly out of sight.

Jaegyeom’s gaze darted after him in surprise.

Pale skin. Slightly messy hair. {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} A cap pulled low.

He could not be certain.

It had happened too fast, and he had not seen the face clearly.

When Jaegyeom stopped in the middle of the crosswalk, Taehee, who had been walking a few steps ahead, turned back.

“What’s wrong?”

Taehee approached and asked.

Jaegyeom hesitated, looking at him, then turned his gaze back toward the direction where the pedestrian had disappeared.

“Just now, I saw...”

He was about to say that he had seen Cho Youngwoo, but he closed his mouth.

Thinking about it, this was the middle of Seoul on a weekday afternoon. Cho Youngwoo should have been at school right now.

And this was near the Office of Narye.

Cho Youngwoo, here?

It did not make sense even to him.

He had been thinking about Cho Youngwoo earlier while sorting through his things and looking at the school uniform. Maybe he had simply mistaken someone with a similar build for him.

“No. It’s nothing.”

After standing there lost in thought for a moment, Jaegyeom shook his head lightly as if it were nothing.

Taehee looked at him with mild confusion, then said nothing and started walking toward headquarters again.

The two crossed Jongmyo Park beneath warm sunlight.

When they passed through the outer gate and entered Jongmyo, that peculiar atmosphere greeted them.

It felt as though they had been cut off from the world.

The air against their skin was cool and still.

They reached the Main Hall, inserted their access cards, and entered the lobby.

But the lobby of the Office of Narye was unusually chaotic today.

Naja were rushing frantically back and forth.

What’s going on?

As Jaegyeom looked around in confusion, he saw Pyo Jiho running wildly from the direction of the annex.

“Senior Pyo.”

When Taehee called out, Pyo Jiho looked over with startled eyes.

“Chief!”

Pyo Jiho stopped short, then ran over in one breath.

“Chief, didn’t you get the call?”

He bent forward, catching his breath as he spoke.

Taehee reached into his jacket pocket with a puzzled expression and took out his pager.

He had forgotten to turn it on.

“Was there a call? Why?”

“Huff... right now... we have a serious problem.”

“What happened?”

“Yesterday... at dawn... at the branch construction site...”

Pyo Jiho caught his breath, his face pale.

Sensing that something had gone seriously wrong, Jaegyeom and Taehee exchanged a glance.

Then Pyo Jiho spoke with a rigid face.

“Yesterday at dawn, Byeoksadan attacked the Office of Narye branch construction site.”