Honbul: Flame of the Soul

The moment the phone powered on, missed calls and unread messages flooded the screen.

Just as Yoon Taehee was swiping through them, the phone began ringing again. After checking the caller ID, he stared silently at the screen for a moment before lifting his gaze toward Jaegyeom and answering the call.

At the same time, Jaegyeom—who had been sitting on the bed drinking water—looked over at him.

He had instantly recognized the voice leaking faintly through the phone.

“Yes. Hello, Jeongju.”

The moment he realized it was Jeongju calling, Jaegyeom jerked upright.

Only then did it occur to him that he had left without saying where he was going.

Belatedly, Jaegyeom searched for his own phone. The battery had died during the night, leaving it completely powered off.

Unable to contact Jaegyeom, Jeongju had called Yoon Taehee instead.

Just then, Jeongju asked whether Jaegyeom was with him.

Drawing out his response slightly, Yoon Taehee glanced sideways at Jaegyeom.

Jaegyeom immediately shot him a sharp look.

Don’t tell him I’m here.

Following the signal, Yoon Taehee answered vaguely that he wasn’t sure, then ended the call.

“Why? Jeongju sounds really worried.”

Jaegyeom kept his mouth shut.

He was certain that even if he ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) admitted he had slept here, Jeongju would not think much of it. He had stayed at Yoon Taehee’s house before, and back then he had told Jeongju the truth without hesitation.

But today felt different.

In a moment of panic, he had instinctively denied it.

They had done nothing except stay here together while Jaegyeom poured out all the words he had never been able to say before, then fell asleep beside him.

Nothing had happened.

And yet there was only one reason he felt this guilty.

At some point, Jaegyeom had unconsciously realized that his relationship with Yoon Taehee had crossed into something entirely different.

“......”

After telling such a pointless lie, an uncomfortable weight settled in his chest.

Even now, he was already hiding countless things from Jeongju and Mesan.

At first, there had been only one secret—that he had decided to die and become a Naja.

But somewhere along the way, it had become impossible to remain honest about even the smallest things.

Suddenly, guilt pressed heavily against Jaegyeom’s heart.

“I should head home for now.”

“Why? Right now?”

“Yeah. Jeongju’s worried.”

Just then, Yoon Taehee’s phone rang again.

He glanced at the screen with an indifferent expression, but the moment he checked the caller ID, his face hardened slightly.

Thinking Jeongju had called again, Jaegyeom leaned forward, about to look at the screen—

But Yoon Taehee smoothly stood up first.

“Why? Who is it?”

After a brief silence, Yoon Taehee answered casually,

“Just a moment.”

Then he walked out of the bedroom.

As if deliberately trying to keep Jaegyeom from overhearing, he crossed all the way to the room farthest from the bedroom before finally lifting the phone to his ear.

“Yes, Master.”

The caller was none other than Master Yeohye.

The Master explained that someone urgently needed help and that he would be sending a client to Byeoksadan that very afternoon.

The news that an unexpected visitor would arrive today was abrupt.

“Does it have to be today?”

Yoon Taehee spoke with him as the Leader of Byeoksadan.

Honestly, he had no desire to deal with this right now.

But for the past several years he had owed Master Yeohye many favors. Refusing outright would be difficult.

At the very least, he would have to briefly appear at the pavilion to greet the client.

“Yes. I understand.”

After ending the call, Yoon Taehee leaned back against the wall and sank into thought for a moment.

No matter what happens, you must never deceive me.

No... even if you do, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t let me find out.

If I told you I’ve been deceiving you this entire time, how would you react?

What he had just realized from the call with Jeongju was that Jaegyeom was the type of person who felt guilty over even the smallest lie.

But Yoon Taehee was not.

Because he had spent his entire life obsessively pursuing a single goal, something inside him had long since worn away.

Yoon Taehee could do absolutely anything if it meant achieving his objective, and he was not the kind of person who suffered guilt over it.

He was not someone easily shaken by emotion.

Rational judgment always came first.

And sometimes, that made him excessively cold and calculating.

Truthfully, Yoon Taehee had never expected Jaegyeom to come to him of his own accord like this.

Under these circumstances, there was no reason to deliberately expose his own disgrace. Telling Jaegyeom that he had deceived him all this time might only provoke resentment instead.

Yoon Taehee had no confidence in that outcome.

If Jaegyeom truly intended to remain by his side now, then there was no longer any need to use Byeoksadan in order to secure the mask first.

But regardless of that, Yoon Taehee still had no intention of revealing that he himself was the Leader of Byeoksadan.

The reason to conceal it had disappeared.

But there was no reason to reveal it either.

In a situation where he could not predict whether Jaegyeom would accept the truth or reject it, the better choice was to bury it completely until the very end.

Besides, it had only been a short while ago that Jaegyeom personally checked Yoon Taehee’s side.

Yoon Taehee had deliberately used that moment to completely erase his suspicions.

After dispelling those doubts so thoroughly, Jaegyeom would probably never suspect him again.

Byeoksadan had always been only a tool within his plan. Once everything ended, the organization itself was meant to disappear without leaving a trace.

Which meant that if he buried the truth carefully for just a little longer, this secret would remain underground forever.

And Jaegyeom would never learn who the Leader truly was.

After finishing the call, Yoon Taehee returned to the bedroom with a perfectly composed expression.

“What was the call about?”

Even if the peace between them was unstable, Yoon Taehee still savored it.

“Just a wrong number.”

Late that afternoon, after sending Jaegyeom home, the Leader arrived at the pavilion alone at the appointed time.

“They’re late.”

Standing in front of the bookshelf, the Leader murmured quietly.

More than an hour had already passed since the agreed time.

It seemed the client sent by Master Yeohye had gotten lost somewhere in the mountains, because there had been no sign of them despite the passing time.

While waiting, the Leader absentmindedly organized the books lining the shelves. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

“He seemed to lose his way, so I sent Saero down to meet him. They should arrive soon.”

Paehyeon watched the Leader carefully.

The Leader seemed strangely pleased today.

“I see.”

In all the years Paehyeon had observed him, the Leader was not someone who displayed emotional highs and lows.

Or rather, even when his emotions fluctuated, nothing ever showed on the surface.

That was precisely why serving him was so difficult.

The Leader never allowed others to easily grasp his mood or thoughts. He was always composed. Always relaxed.

Yet the Leader—who had clearly been in an awful mood these past few days—was, for some reason, in remarkably high spirits today.

Paehyeon did not voice the obvious conclusion aloud, but it was easy enough to guess the reason.

The only times the Leader’s emotions shifted this drastically were when it involved that boy.

Just as the Leader casually reached out to straighten another book—

“Leader! Someone’s at the gate!”

The door burst open without so much as a knock.

“Lower your voice.”

Paehyeon frowned at Hyeongwoon’s booming shout.

“Is Saero with them?”

“Saero’s not there! The human came alone!”

Saero had gone down the mountain to retrieve the client, but it was Hyeongwoon who came racing back with the news.

Apparently he had been wandering near the gate when he spotted the human and immediately ran straight here.

It seemed the client had missed Saero somewhere along the way.

“I’ll go.”

Paehyeon left together with Hyeongwoon.

Not long after Paehyeon stepped out to greet the guest, quiet knocking sounded from the door several times.

Then, at last, the awaited Heukje appeared.

The Leader, who had been standing before the bookshelf with a book in hand, slowly lifted his head.

“You’re here?”

He did not ask why Heukje had come without being summoned.

The reason was obvious.

Heukje must have discovered something regarding Myojeong.

“Well? Did you find anything?”

The Leader turned another page as he spoke.

“Yes.”

As expected, Heukje lowered his head.

After traveling all over the country and questioning spirits and long-lived ghosts alike, he had finally encountered a spirit connected to the former generation of Naja.

“It’s a spirit residing in an abandoned shrine near Mount Baeklim. It claimed to have known the previous generation of Naja. Its memories remained relatively intact, so I was able to hear the details clearly.”

“I see.”

The Leader nodded slightly, signaling for him to continue.

“......”

But strangely enough, Heukje hesitated.

The Leader did not rush him. He simply waited.

For some reason, sorrow clouded Heukje’s expression.

Unable to speak easily, he lowered his gaze. Watching him, the Leader narrowed his eyes slightly before tilting his wrist to check the time.

“The client will arrive soon. If it’s a long story, tell me afterward.”

“It’s just...”

After hesitating for several moments, Heukje finally spoke with trembling lips.

“The one you mentioned... Myojeong...”

At that exact moment, hurried footsteps and loud crashing noises erupted from the hallway.

Then the door flew open.

Both the Leader and Heukje turned simultaneously toward the entrance.

Paehyeon had rushed back inside.

For someone who never lost composure and always maintained a perfectly gentlemanly demeanor, his current expression looked unusually shaken.

Naturally, Heukje’s report was interrupted.

“What is it?”

“Th-that is... outside the gate...”

Still holding the book he had been pulling from the shelf, the Leader frowned slightly.

“Who?”

“That boy... Jaegyeom is here.”

The book slipped from the Leader’s hand.