Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Jaegyeom stared blankly at Yoon Taehee.

He had been terrified something had happened to him. He had thought Taehee might have disappeared somewhere. But Yoon Taehee was perfectly fine, standing there at home completely unharmed.

Watching Jaegyeom, Taehee parted his lips.

“You... why...”

Yoon Taehee looked faintly surprised as he stood there in a bathrobe, water dripping from his hair.

The moment Jaegyeom saw him staring back with wide eyes, relief surged up from somewhere deep in his chest. In an instant, all the tension drained out of him, and his legs went weak.

Then Yoon Taehee saw his face and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

What’s wrong? You’re asking me what’s wrong?

“It’s because you...”

A sudden rush of emotion welled up inside Jaegyeom, and he opened his mouth as if to snap at him. But he quickly found himself at a loss for words. He hesitated, shut his mouth, then changed direction and stammered instead.

“You... you had the morning shift today. Why are you still here?”

“My phone alarm didn’t go off, so I woke up late.”

Jaegyeom had wondered, but in the end, it was only Yoon Taehee’s usual tardiness.

“......”

Still, if nothing had happened, that was enough.

“You left your phone behind yesterday.”

Jaegyeom lowered his head and let out a deep sigh.

“Lead Naja Kang told me to bring it to you, so I have it.”

Still dripping wet, Yoon Taehee listened quietly before asking,

“So you came to ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ return my phone?”

At Yoon Taehee’s question, Jaegyeom fell silent.

In the past, he would have admitted honestly, without a second thought, that he had been worried.

But he could not do that anymore.

No, he shouldn’t.

Besides, just yesterday he had coldly told Yoon Taehee to stop acting pathetic. He could hardly show up out of nowhere now and admit he had rushed over like a madman because he was afraid Taehee might have disappeared.

“You... you were way past the start of your shift and still hadn’t shown up, so the team told me to check on you.”

“Why? I’m late all the time...”

Yoon Taehee’s reaction was casual, as though there had been no need for any of that.

Yoon Taehee did have an indifferent side to him. Even when told someone had been worried about him, he seemed to feel nothing. No, it was more like he had no awareness at all that he had made anyone worry in the first place.

“......”

Yoon Taehee stayed quiet for a while, his expression unreadable.

As the silence stretched between them, Jaegyeom, standing face-to-face with him, unconsciously lowered his gaze.

Usually, when he found it hard to look Yoon Taehee in the eye, he would look down at his shoulder. This time, though, his lowered gaze landed on Taehee’s bare torso, clearly visible through the opening of his robe.

Only belatedly did Jaegyeom realize that Yoon Taehee was wearing nothing but that robe.

He instinctively dropped his eyes.

It was the first time he had seen Taehee undressed.

He had no idea where to look.

Just then, Yoon Taehee reached out and opened the door wider.

“Come in for now.”

Yoon Taehee tilted his head, gesturing with his eyes.

“I was in the middle of a shower, so I’ll finish quickly and come out.”

After hesitating briefly, Jaegyeom stepped inside.

Yoon Taehee said he would be quick and headed back to the bathroom. Left alone in the living room, Jaegyeom sat on the sofa and waited for him to finish showering.

As he sat there idly, his senses slowly began returning.

He had already been anxious because of the nightmare he had had the night before. Then Team 1’s casual remarks had poured oil on the fire, and he had rushed here like a man possessed, unable to think straight.

From Yoon Taehee’s perspective, Jaegyeom had shown up for no reason, frantically ringing the doorbell, pounding on the door as though he meant to break it down, and screaming for him to open up.

“......”

He had tried to hide it, but it felt as though the very edge of the feelings he had buried deep inside had been exposed.

Yoon Taehee was sharp. Perhaps he had already noticed.

After so cruelly pushing him away by saying he did not like him, the fact that he had now shown such a wavering side kept bothering him.

Just then, the closed bathroom door opened.

Jaegyeom’s eyes followed Yoon Taehee.

Finished with his shower, Taehee was still wearing his robe as he opened another door and went inside. When he came back out, he was dressed in a black three-quarter-sleeve knit shirt and cotton pants.

“Do you want something to drink?”

Yoon Taehee spoke casually as he headed into the kitchen.

“I have banana milk and black tea... no, English breakfast.”

After carefully checking the refrigerator, Yoon Taehee added, “There’s sparkling water too,” and turned to Jaegyeom, silently asking which he wanted.

Yoon Taehee was kind as ever. He seemed perfectly composed, as though nothing had happened.

“Just cold water is fine.”

“Cold water...”

Muttering to himself, Yoon Taehee closed the refrigerator and went to the sink. He took out a large glass and filled it from the purifier attached to the faucet.

It would have been fine even if the water was lukewarm, but Yoon Taehee took ice from the freezer too.

“I don’t have any chilled water.”

Yoon Taehee came over and handed him the glass.

“......”

Jaegyeom silently accepted it and drank.

Yoon Taehee, who had been standing near the sofa, dropped down a short distance away from him. It was a measured distance—not too far, but not needlessly close either.

The damp scent of shampoo drifted from his hair, which had not been fully dried.

Jaegyeom took the phone from his bag and held it out to Yoon Taehee.

“H-Here. Your phone.”

“Thanks.”

Yoon Taehee accepted it.

“I thought I must’ve lost it somewhere while I was drunk.”

Jaegyeom awkwardly rose from the sofa.

“Well, take your time getting ready. I’ll go back to the office first.”

In any case, he had delivered the phone, so his business here was done.

He intended to leave before Yoon Taehee could bring up what had happened yesterday or try to probe his feelings.

“Wait.”

Just then, Yoon Taehee caught his wrist.

“I have something to tell you.”

As expected, the hand around his wrist made Jaegyeom tense slightly.

“What is it?”

“The last Saturday of the month. We’re stealing the wooden tag that day.”

With that, Yoon Taehee immediately let go of Jaegyeom’s wrist.

“......”

At the bluntly businesslike topic, Jaegyeom paused and looked at him.

Come to think of it, he had momentarily forgotten. They had been supposed to discuss the wooden tag yesterday, but the plan had fallen apart because of the sudden company dinner.

It seemed Taehee intended to use this chance, now that they were alone, to talk about it.

Jaegyeom had assumed he was holding him back for the usual reasons.

“I’ll explain exactly what we need to do.”

Jaegyeom nodded silently.

“But why the last Saturday of the month?”

“Because that day is auspicious.”

Yoon Taehee retrieved a manila envelope from somewhere and walked to the dining table.

Jaegyeom followed and sat across from him.

Taehee took a sheet of paper from the envelope and placed it on the table.

It was a floor plan of the main building.

“First, you need to know where the registry room is.”

Yoon Taehee put on his glasses and began speaking calmly, pointing at the floor plan with a pen.

“The registry room is on the third basement level.”

He explained to Jaegyeom how to approach the registry room and what route to take.

This won’t happen again.

As he explained, Yoon Taehee kept his eyes fixed on the floor plan, not glancing at Jaegyeom even once.

Only then did Jaegyeom realize.

It seemed that, as of yesterday, Yoon Taehee had finally made up his mind to cut off his feelings for him.

He only looked composed, as if nothing had happened.

There was no casual conversation. No idle talk.

Jaegyeom could not feel any emotion from him at all.

The only thing you need to worry about is revenge.

This was what Jaegyeom had so desperately wanted.

“The elevators have security cameras, so we have to use the emergency stairs. The central control room will be watching them. So once we get down to the third basement level...”

Yoon Taehee continued his explanation.

The eyes behind his glasses were sharp and rational.

It felt as though he had completed the entire scenario in his head long ago and was simply putting it into words now.

The way he explained the plan without the slightest hesitation made it clear just how long he had been preparing for this day.

“......”

And yet, for some reason, Jaegyeom could not concentrate on what he was saying.

Yoon Taehee had a habit of twirling his pen. Whenever he was not writing, he spun it between his fingers.

Jaegyeom’s gaze kept being drawn to the movement of those long, straight fingers.

Then, at some point—

“Jaegyeom.”

As though catching him daydreaming, Yoon Taehee snapped his thumb and middle finger together.

The sharp sound startled Jaegyeom out of his daze. He flinched and looked up.

“Are you listening?”

“Uh, yeah...”

Yoon Taehee took something else out of the envelope.

“And this is the fake wooden tag.”

It was a long rectangular wooden tag.

“You just have to put this in place of the one you steal.”

“Got it.”

Jaegyeom examined the wooden tag Yoon Taehee handed him.

The long tag, about the size of a talisman, had characters written in red. Yoon Taehee’s three-character name was engraved along the strokes.

[Yoon Taehee]

Jaegyeom stared intently at the wooden tag.

He uses the character for “to change” in Tae, and the character for “to shine” in Hee.

The character for Tae could also mean “to shine.” Either way, it was a pretty, sparkling name.

As Jaegyeom studied the tag, Yoon Taehee must have found it strange, because he asked casually,

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“No. I’m just looking.”

Jaegyeom shook his head.

“It suits you.”

The words slipped out like a murmur to himself, and the other side of the table fell quiet.

Jaegyeom, who had been looking down at the tag, suddenly lifted his head.

Yoon Taehee was watching him with a blank expression, his chin propped on one hand.

“......”

In that instant, Jaegyeom knew he had misspoken.

“So, what do I need to do?”

He unconsciously lowered his gaze.

As he hurriedly changed the subject, Yoon Taehee stayed silent for a moment before continuing the explanation without any change in expression, as though nothing had happened.