Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“Don’t tell me you’ve grown bewitched from keeping that child so close.”

Suhyang glared coldly at Myojeong. It seemed Suhyang already knew that Myojeong was living with the child. Myojeong did not deny it. He merely set down his teacup.

“This has nothing to do with the child.”

“Myojeong, that child is nothing more than a vessel for the god of calamity.”

After a brief silence, Myojeong answered in a calm voice.

“Then where are the ones who made him a vessel for the god of calamity, and what are they doing now?”

At his words, which rebuked the Naja, Suhyang drew in a sharp breath. Another moment of silence passed.

“Myojeong, sealing a human being is a forbidden art that should never have been performed. That much is indeed regrettable. But if it cannot be undone, then eliminating him according to the original purpose would be the proper course. That child will become a seed of misfortune in the future. An unnatural being, one that defies providence.”

Suhyang stopped speaking and stared at Myojeong.

“Think of the suffering people.”

“I understand your heart for the people well, Suhyang. But apart from the people, should there not be at least one person in this world who cares for that child, who was made a sacrifice by the greed of the Naja?”

“Myojeong, you have a duty as an incarnation.”

“This is not something for you to interfere in, Suhyang.”

When Myojeong drew the line with an impassive face, Suhyang’s expression changed completely.

“......”

Contempt and disgust now seeped into Suhyang’s face.

“To think the director of the Office of Narye would dote on a ghost...”

Suhyang, who had been muttering with head lowered, added with a sigh.

“The Office of Narye truly deserves to disappear.”

“If the Office of Narye disappears, would that not also be part of the great providence you follow?”

“Yes. If it is Myojeong’s Office of Narye, then it would be.”

With that, Suhyang rose from the seat without the slightest lingering attachment. The hem of the overrobe fluttered as Suhyang adjusted the bamboo hat and turned away without even a word of farewell. Myojeong watched Suhyang’s retreating back.

Suddenly, Myojeong felt desolate.

He had no thought of holding Suhyang back, nor any desire to follow. He was simply saddened, and hollow, at the fact that they would likely never meet again. The distance between the two of them, who had been friends since childhood, had grown far too vast. Myojeong knew that his bond with Suhyang had come to an end.

After parting with Suhyang, Myojeong returned to the old thatched house, immediately moved his residence far away, and cut off contact with everyone except Hwirim. While wandering here and there, he had built up more than a few passing connections, but he severed them all at once without regret. It was to keep his whereabouts from being exposed, because he had judged that he needed to be wary of Suhyang. Myojeong remembered the look he had seen in Suhyang’s eyes at the very end.

Later, when he told Hwirim that he had met Suhyang, Hwirim also said it would be best to be careful. For some time after that, they avoided roads where people often traveled, and whenever they went outside, they prepared thoroughly so they would not be followed.

The boy, who knew nothing, ate well and lived well.

After reuniting with Suhyang, Myojeong never saw Suhyang again. There was no way for him to hear any news, either.

“By any chance, Myojeong, have you ever heard of merfolk?”

Hwirim said that several years ago, while wandering the eight provinces, he had met a man. By chance, Hwirim had helped him out of danger and saved his life. Perhaps because the man thought Hwirim was someone he could trust, he revealed that he was a merman living among humans.

‘My lady, could you help us?’

According to the man, a rumor had begun spreading among certain humans that eating a mermaid would grant eternal youth and long life, and for the past few years, the hunting of merfolk had grown rampant. He confessed that his family had been captured by humans and dragged somewhere, and he begged for Hwirim’s help.

Hwirim accepted the man’s request and helped the captured merfolk escape back to the sea. They thanked Hwirim and told him that if he ever fell gravely ill or found himself in danger, he must come find them. Then they returned to the sea, promising again and again that they would repay his kindness.

“They say one can live a long life without aging through the merfolk, so let us ask for their help.”

And when spring came the following year, Myojeong and Hwirim met again.

“I found the man I met back then. But...”

After asking around everywhere, Hwirim had managed to find the man he had met before. It had taken half a year. To meet the merfolk who lived in the sea, he had to go through that man. Hwirim went to him and explained the situation, asking, “An acquaintance of mine is trying to escape a prophecy that says he will die at thirty-three. Could you let me meet the merfolk?”

However, there was an unexpected problem. The merfolk had left their original home and moved elsewhere. It was understandable. Several years had already passed.

“The merfolk have moved their home, so it may take longer than expected. But I will definitely find them before you turn thirty-three, Myojeong, so please do not worry too much.”

It had taken nearly half a year just to find the merman he knew. To make matters worse, the merfolk who lived in the sea had migrated to a distant ocean. There was no telling how long it would take to find them. The path ahead seemed remote, and before he knew it, Myojeong did not have much time left.

“Hwirim, why do you go so far for me?”

In truth, Myojeong did not ask for much. If there was anything he wanted, it was to one day confess the entire truth to the child and receive his forgiveness, and to spend the rest of his life with Hwirim, seeing him as he did now. Noticing that Myojeong was hesitating, Hwirim spoke.

“Myojeong, you truly are a blockhead.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do you not know? I want to become family with you, Myojeong.”

At Hwirim’s unexpected confession, Myojeong’s eyes slowly widened.

“No one is born because they wanted to be. But while birth may be unavoidable, the path toward death is something humans create for themselves. This is not a question of living or dying. It is a question of how one will die. So why don’t we try twisting fate?”

Hwirim paused for a moment and looked at Myojeong.

“Instead of resigning ourselves to a cursed life and giving up, let us try to outwit the world somehow. Even if it goes against providence. You never know, do you?”

“......”

“Myojeong, many people die young even without a curse. You are a fool who thinks himself clever. You have not collapsed yet, so why have you already collapsed? Why are you already on your knees? Even if the world says so, are you planning to do nothing?”

At last, Myojeong’s face darkened.

“Even if I avoid the curse, if I become family with you, then you too will be swallowed into my fate. Even if I must die first, I do not want to lose you before my eyes.”

What mattered was the decision, the resolve, to live this life no matter what. Even so, Myojeong did not have the confidence to become family with Hwirim. The heart of the curse was not only that he would die at thirty-three. It was that if he kept a loved one by his side and formed a family, he would lose everything.

“You may be a blockhead, but I am a clever person. Do I look like someone who would meekly stumble into fate’s trap? I will struggle. I will thrash about, gracelessly if I must.”

“......”

“Even if I were to die as the price for staying by your side, my situation would not be as unjust as yours, Myojeong. Because this is a path I chose, knowing exactly what it meant. So it is all right.”

“......”

“Are you afraid, perhaps, that if you hold on to hope and things go wrong, you will be disappointed? If so, let us stop here. From this day on, I will not bring up the merfolk again, so forget everything. But if, by some chance, I succeed in finding a way, I will ask you again then.”

And so several seasons turned.

Before long, Myojeong had only a little over two years left. In that time, the child had become a boy. Soon it would be ten years since he had begun living with the child, and before long, Myojeong would turn thirty-three.

And that autumn, a letter arrived from Hwirim.

‘I found the merfolk.’

After receiving the letter, Myojeong closed his eyes.