Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Shin Jihye’s return was completely unexpected.

Until now, they had sent intelligent ghosts in every direction to ask after her whereabouts, but not a single trace of her had turned up. Because of that, Yoon Taehee had assumed something unfortunate had happened to her that day, and had regretfully accepted that he might never see her again.

So he had never imagined Shin Jihye would be waiting for him like this, right in front of his apartment.

Shin Jihye was alive.

“Honey!”

The moment she spotted Taehee, Shin Jihye sprang to her feet.

Since she, too, had no way of knowing whether Taehee was safe, disbelief washed over her face the instant she saw him.

“You’re alive. You’re alive...”

Overcome by all the fear and worry of the past few days, Shin Jihye covered her face with both hands and spoke in a trembling voice.

That day, when the turtle mountain awakened, the belongings she had hidden in the crevice of the cliff had been swept out to sea. Her cell phone had also fallen into the seawater and broken, leaving her with no way to contact Taehee.

All she knew was the location of this apartment, which she had visited once before. But even after waiting for hours, Taehee had not returned, and no matter how many times she rang the doorbell, no one answered.

“Why are you only coming back now? You didn’t come for so long, I thought you must have died that day!”

Shin Jihye rushed over to Taehee, grabbed the front of his suit jacket, and burst into tears.

She was in terrible condition.

Perhaps because she had been caught in the rain, her clothes were soaked through, and she was trembling violently.

Before asking what had happened or how she had managed to get here, Taehee first needed to calm her down. He brought Shin Jihye inside.

First, he let her use the bathroom so she could take a shower after being drenched in the rain.

After warming herself under hot water, Shin Jihye came out wrapped in a bathrobe and plopped down on the sofa, much calmer than before. Taehee sat down nearby and handed her a mug of warm tea as she wriggled her toes.

“You have legs today.”

“Huh?”

“Means someone else is now living without a gallbladder.”

Unlike when she had entered the island, Shin Jihye now had perfectly normal legs. At Taehee’s joking remark, she cleared her throat and brought the steaming mug to her lips.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

Shin Jihye, who had been sipping the warm tea, pressed her lips tightly together.

“That’s my line.”

At last, she wiped away a tear.

It seemed her emotions were threatening to spill over again.

Taehee sat beside her and met her eyes before asking quietly,

“So what happened?”

That day, Shin Jihye had entered the sea to meet her mother, who had returned to her hometown after settling her life on land. She swam without stopping and reached the place where the mermaids lived after roughly two days.

Until then, Shin Jihye had not felt any particular sense of danger. She already knew that a half-mermaid was not a welcome existence, and she did not care about the cold stares. She had no intention of staying long anyway. Her plan was only to deliver the message, then leave with her mother.

Shin Jihye met her mother and explained everything.

She asked her to find out whether there were humans living immortal lives, and whether that had anything to do with mermaids.

Unfortunately, their conversation reached the ears of the other mermaids.

When they learned that a half-mermaid was cooperating with humans, and that those humans might be connected to the mermaid hunts of the past, their hostility exceeded anything Shin Jihye had imagined.

They surrounded Shin Jihye and demanded that she immediately guide them to the humans’ location.

Shin Jihye refused, saying she could never do that even if it killed her, but they began threatening her by using her mother’s safety against her.

Cornered, Shin Jihye had no other choice.

The mermaids persuaded her by saying that if there was no connection to mermaids, then the humans were innocent and would be safely sent back. But in the end, they suddenly changed their attitude and broke that promise. They attacked the two humans, claiming that simply knowing mermaids existed was reason enough not to let them live.

Only then did Shin Jihye realize she had been deceived. Too late, she warned the two and told them to run away, but the mermaids seized her and dragged her deep into the sea.

“You will never return to land.”

They were unbelievably strong and fast.

Even when Shin Jihye barely managed to resist and slip free, the mermaids caught up to her again and again. Her strength gradually drained away.

Just as she was about to give up, realizing she could no longer escape, something entered her field of vision.

An enormous turtle.

The turtle mountain.

Seeing the turtle swimming at tremendous speed deep beneath the sea, Shin Jihye struggled with everything she had left. She broke free from the mermaid’s grasp and quickly hid beneath the turtle’s shell.

The mermaid pursuing her began circling the turtle, trying to get to Shin Jihye, but luck was on Shin Jihye’s side.

The ill-tempered turtle swung one massive flipper and swatted the mermaid away.

Thanks to that, Shin Jihye barely managed to escape.

After finally shaking off the mermaid, Shin Jihye circled through the open sea and returned to the island.

But when she reached the cliff, only one mermaid was lying there unconscious and bleeding. Everyone else had vanished without a trace.

By then, everything was already over.

The rocky shore reeked of blood from unknown sources, and the cliff had collapsed in devastation.

“I was so scared. I thought both of you might have died.”

Left alone in the vast ocean, Shin Jihye swam day and night to return to the mainland from Geoyeo Island.

It was truly a long journey.

Along the way, she was caught in whirlpools and lost her way among violent waves. After enduring all of that, she barely reached the mainland. Then she bewitched a fisherman, ate his gallbladder, and finally obtained two legs so she could return to Seoul.

“What about Jaegyeom? Is Jaegyeom safe too?”

“Yes. He’s safe.”

“I’m so sorry to both of you. I think I was too careless.”

After recounting everything she had been through, Shin Jihye buried her face in both hands.

“You were put in danger because of me. It’s all my fault.”

Taehee, who had been quietly listening to her story, shook his head.

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m just glad we’re all safe.”

It was not something that could ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ be blamed on one person.

Both sides had paid far too steep a price for that.

Shin Jihye had suffered through a terrible ordeal, and so had they. Of course, it was frustrating that all their efforts to break the curse of immortality had ultimately come to nothing. But regretting what had already passed would be meaningless.

“You went through a lot to get here.”

At the very least, confirming that everyone was alive lifted a weight from his chest.

“It’s late, so let’s rest for now.”

Taehee rose, ending the conversation with the intention of continuing tomorrow.

In truth, he had been exhausted for quite some time. He had gone to Gyeongju early in the morning, returned to Seoul for work, then spent the evening nursing Seok Juryeon while she was bedridden. It was only natural that he was tired.

“Um, sweetheart.”

At that moment, Shin Jihye called out and stopped him.

She seemed to have something else to say, but was hesitating over whether she should say it. Taehee waited quietly without rushing her.

“That day... was Jaegyeom badly hurt?”

At Shin Jihye’s question, Taehee was silent for a moment before nodding.

“Then... did he bleed a lot while fighting?”

Shin Jihye asked carefully.

In many ways, it was not a pleasant question.

“Yes.”

“I see.”

“Why?”

Shin Jihye, who had been lost in thought while biting her lip, spoke again.

“Do you remember what we talked about back then?”

“What?”

“That if a mermaid’s green blood mixes with the blood of someone who has consumed a mermaid, it turns blue.”

At the unexpected question, Taehee looked puzzled for a moment, then nodded again.

They had said that when a mermaid’s green blood mixed with ordinary human blood, it turned brown. But when it mixed with the blood of a human who had eaten a mermaid, it turned blue.

That day, Shin Jihye and Taehee had both seen it clearly with their own eyes.

Jaegyeom’s blood had mixed with mermaid blood and turned brown.

“You know... I kept wondering whether I should tell you this or not. But I’ll just tell you exactly what I saw. I said I went back to the island earlier, right?”

“Yes.”

“At that time, there was a mermaid lying on the rocky shore, bleeding.”

At first, out of resentment, Shin Jihye had considered leaving it there and heading straight for the mainland. But then she worried humans might discover it, so she could not simply abandon it.

“So I crawled over on my arms and dragged that mermaid back into the sea.”

Shin Jihye, who had been trailing off, raised her head and looked into Taehee’s eyes.

“And when I turned around...”

Then she lowered her gaze to the steaming mug and said,

“There was a pool of blood that had turned blue.”