Honbul: Flame of the Soul

The last Saturday of the month.

The date for stealing the wooden tag had finally been set.

The moment he returned from the Chief’s office and sat down at his desk, Jaegyeom immediately glanced at the calendar beside the monitor.

The last Saturday of the month that Taehee mentioned was only about two weeks away.

Suddenly, his palms felt damp with sweat.

Stealing the wooden tag was the first step toward bringing down the Office of Narye.

It was also the very reason Yoon Taehee and Jaegyeom had joined hands in the first place.

And this was something only Jaegyeom could do.

As Jaegyeom sat staring blankly at the calendar in thought—

“Everyone.”

Taehee emerged from the Chief’s office and addressed the team.

“I just got word from upstairs. They’re sending Naja down to the Gongju branch.”

The day Byeoksadan attacked the Gyeongju branch, the intelligent ghost acting on their behalf had left behind a clear declaration of war for Chief Choi Wonyoung, who had been overseeing the scene.

They would attack the Gongju branch on Chilseok.

In response, the Office of Narye had entered a state of emergency, and the upper ranks had spent several days locked in intense internal meetings.

Afterward, headquarters officially announced plans to dispatch personnel to reinforce the Gongju branch.

“They’ll probably start selecting people and issuing summons soon, so keep that in mind.”

After briefly relaying the information, Taehee headed over to the coffee maker and filled the pot with water.

As expected of a superior, he looked calm and composed without showing obvious agitation, but the expressions on the team members’ faces were grim.

“So this is what getting dragged off to war feels like.”

Pyo Jiho muttered with a sigh.

Of course, everyone had expected this.

Byeoksadan had openly declared both the location and date of the attack. Headquarters had no choice but to take defensive measures. Personnel needed to be deployed in preparation, and countermeasures had to be organized.

And if Byeoksadan truly attacked the Gongju branch as promised, a direct clash would be unavoidable.

Naturally, the Exorcism Unit — as a combat division — would likely make up a large portion of the dispatched forces.

Go Junhyung grabbed his head and groaned resentfully.

“What kind of grudge does Byeoksadan even have against the Office of Narye? I know I shouldn’t say this, but at this rate somebody’s actually going to die.”

Pyo Jiho immediately grimaced.

“Hey, don’t say stuff like that. You know words like that become reality.”

This truly was war.

No matter how anyone looked at it, it did not seem like the kind of situation that would end with only minor injuries.

Everyone knew that.

That was why the atmosphere inside Team 1 had become so funeral-like lately.

An organized attack by ghosts against the Office of Narye was unprecedented.

Jaegyeom, who had been silently listening to the conversation, turned his eyes toward Taehee.

Taehee stood quietly stirring coffee with a teaspoon, the soft clinking sound echoing faintly.

Unlike the visibly unsettled team members, Taehee appeared calm on the surface, but Jaegyeom could tell he had a great deal on his mind as well.

From the perspective of someone who needed to retrieve the wooden tag and destroy the Office of Narye, Byeoksadan was an unwelcome variable.

Recently, Jaegyeom himself had also been thinking about Byeoksadan constantly.

When he once asked Taehee whether Byeoksadan might interfere with their plans, Taehee insisted that would never happen.

But circumstances had changed significantly since then.

Judging from the declaration Byeoksadan left behind, they clearly harbored hostility toward the Office of Narye and seemed driven by deep resentment from the ghosts’ side.

There was a real possibility they might move first before Taehee and Jaegyeom could act.

Or worse, interfere directly with their plans.

Jaegyeom decided he absolutely needed to discuss Byeoksadan with Taehee tonight while talking about the wooden tag.

At that moment, Kang Ibin suddenly stood up.

“Come on, everyone. Enough already. The atmosphere in here is depressing.”

“Exactly. We should try thinking positively at times like this.”

Pyo Jiho nodded along enthusiastically.

Kang Ibin clapped her hands together brightly.

“Instead of sitting around like this, why don’t we all go eat something good to cheer ourselves up?”

Then she glanced around at the others and added,

“Actually, should we have a team dinner? It’s been a while.”

Late that evening, the narrow alley packed with restaurants glowed brightly beneath the neon signs.

Sitting at the table surrounded by his teammates, Jaegyeom genuinely could not understand how things had ended up like this.

He had clearly made plans with Taehee.

Yet somehow, when he came to his senses, he was sitting at a team dinner with the entirety of Team 1.

Earlier, when Kang Ibin first suggested it, Go Junhyung had immediately objected.

“What? Even so, isn’t this a little...? Byeoksadan literally threatened to attack us. How are we supposed to go out for a team dinner right now? If the other teams find out, they’ll tear us apart for this. We should be keeping our heads down for a while...”

“What’s wrong with it?”

Kang Ibin narrowed her eyes and scolded him.

“If you spend your whole life worrying about what everyone else thinks, nothing changes. This is better than sitting around moping and acting miserable. We’re all just trying to eat well and live well, aren’t we?”

Then she turned toward Taehee.

“Right, Chief?”

According to the conversation earlier in the Chief’s office, Jaegyeom had expected to meet Taehee separately tonight to discuss the wooden tag.

So he had already prepared an excuse in advance — saying he needed to go home early because of family matters.

He assumed Taehee would naturally refuse the dinner invitation or find some excuse to leave first.

But his prediction had been completely wrong.

“That sounds nice.”

Contrary to Jaegyeom’s expectations, Taehee accepted the invitation immediately.

And because of that, Jaegyeom had no choice but to attend as well.

He genuinely could not understand what Taehee was thinking.

At this point, the only option left was to speak with him privately after the gathering ended.

It had been a long time since Team 1 last had a dinner together.

Naturally, alcohol appeared at the table as well.

Glasses were constantly poured and passed around between teammates. What started as light drinking over a meal gradually became heavier as time passed.

Jaegyeom, who did not drink, quietly focused on eating.

But even while eating, his eyes kept drifting unconsciously toward Taehee.

Lately, Jaegyeom had been deliberately avoiding him whenever possible.

He spoke only when necessary for work, avoided crossing paths, and tried not to create situations where they would end up together.

The relationship between them had grown colder than strangers.

And yet now that they were sharing the same space like this, Jaegyeom found himself unable to stop paying attention to Taehee.

This was exactly why he had tried so hard to avoid being around him.

As his gaze repeatedly wandered, their eyes met several times.

Each time, Jaegyeom’s heart shook violently.

Eventually, he decided not to look in Taehee’s direction at all.

From time to time he could still feel Taehee’s gaze lingering on him, but Jaegyeom stubbornly forced himself to look elsewhere.

But there was one problem.

Taehee — who had never handled alcohol well to begin with — had been accepting every drink the team poured for him.

At first, Jaegyeom assumed Taehee was merely drinking out of obligation because he ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ rarely socialized with the team like this.

But before long, Jaegyeom realized Taehee was genuinely drunk.

At this rate, he was no longer sure they would be able to have a proper conversation tonight.

Then—

Buzz.

A faint vibration suddenly came from inside his suit jacket.

When Jaegyeom checked his phone, he saw Jeongju calling.

The restaurant was too noisy to talk properly, so he stepped outside.

After leaving the restaurant and walking into a nearby alley, he answered the call.

“Hello.”

“Jaegyeom, where are you?”

Jeongju sounded worried because Jaegyeom still had not come home despite how late it was.

“I’m at a team dinner right now.”

“Huh? A team dinner? Out of nowhere?”

As Jaegyeom slowly wandered deeper into the alley while explaining the situation—

“When does it end? The last train’s almost here. Should I come pick you up?”

“It’s okay. I can get home myself. Go to sleep with Mesan first instead of waiting up.”

“Okay. Got it.”

After ending the call, Jaegyeom slipped the phone back into his jacket pocket.

Only then did he realize he had wandered surprisingly deep into the dark alley while talking.

He turned to head back toward the restaurant.

And then abruptly froze.

Someone was standing at the far end of the alley.

It was Yoon Taehee.

The moment Jaegyeom noticed him, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Taehee stood there with both hands tucked into his pockets, staring at him silently.

Then he slowly began walking forward with slightly unsteady steps.

When Taehee stopped directly in front of him, the scent of cigarettes mixed faintly with the lingering smell of his cologne. Apparently, he had been smoking outside.

Taehee looked at Jaegyeom expressionlessly.

Standing face to face inside the narrow dark alley, neither of them spoke.

“...”

“...”

Then Taehee slowly lifted one hand.

And lightly brushed Jaegyeom’s necktie with his fingertips.