Honbul: Flame of the Soul

In the office of the head of the Exorcism Unit, Seok Juryeon sat with her eyes closed.

She raised both hands and rubbed her dry face wearily, then lowered her head, one hand pressed to her forehead. The only sound in the office was the ticking of the clock’s second hand. Documents were piled like a mountain on her desk.

Her chronic headache felt especially severe today.

The conversation she had had with the Director echoed in her mind.

“I know.”

The moment Seok Juryeon saw the wooden tag on the low table, her eyes trembled violently.

“Who the one impersonating the Bangsangsi is.”

The Director continued, tapping the wooden tag with her fingertip.

“It seems he has been plotting rebellion for quite some time.”

The corner of Seok Juryeon’s eye twitched briefly. It felt as if cold sweat were running down her spine. Her mind knew she had to say something. She had pretended not to know who the master of Byeoksadan was. That meant she needed to show a reaction that fit that pretense.

The Director had used the word “rebellion.”

The one impersonating the Bangsangsi.

In other words, it was a phrase implying that the master of Byeoksadan was someone inside the Office of Narye. In this situation, asking, “Who is it?” would have been the most natural response.

However, Seok Juryeon could not bring herself to open her mouth.

If she asked who it was, the Director would turn over the wooden tag and show her the name instead of answering.

Seok Juryeon did not want to know whose wooden tag it was.

Because it would be the name she already knew.

For a long while, Seok Juryeon did not answer. The Director raised one eyebrow.

“You do not seem very curious to know who it is.”

“...No. I do not wish to know.”

As though surprised by her defiant answer, the Director narrowed her eyes.

“Because to me, it is useless information.”

“Useless?”

“Yes. Whether human or spirit, whoever the master of Byeoksadan may be, I will eliminate them without fail. Anyone who poses a threat to the Office of Narye must be eliminated. Even more so if they are a traitor. No one will be allowed to set foot carelessly in the place you built, Director.”

Seok Juryeon, who had been bowing her head, spoke in an unwavering voice.

“Therefore, who that person is does not matter to me.”

A smile spread across the Director’s lips. The wrinkles around her eyes folded, and her sharp gaze, which seemed capable of piercing through to the very depths, slowly softened. The Director’s expression became as gentle as ever.

“Yes. You are right.”

Although she had now stepped back from the front line and taken on the role of commander, she too had once reigned in the field as a Naja of the Exorcism Unit.

She had a mask as well, one said to be bestowed on every Naja of the Exorcism Unit who drove off ghosts. The traditional mask was a symbol of the Office of Narye, and for a Naja of the Exorcism Unit, it was like armor.

Seok Juryeon reached out and opened the bottom drawer.

Inside was a rather worn mask. Time had left its traces intact on the wooden surface. The colors painted on it had once been vivid, but now they were faded.

Seok Juryeon stared blankly at the mask.

“......”

A surge of emotion washed over her.

It had truly been a long time since she had taken it out.

Suddenly, she was reminded of the guy who had been so stubborn about never taking off his mask. To think he had worn this stuffy thing so faithfully even inside the main building.

Thinking about it now, it was almost funny.

He had pretended to be careless, but in truth, he had been more thorough than anyone.

There must have been a special reason Yoon Taehee hid his face.

Only now did Seok Juryeon feel as though she finally understood why Yoon Taehee had been so reluctant to show his bare face in front of others.

The pager placed to one side of the desk rang.

—Unit Head, this is Juyoung. Right now, at the Musicians’ Hall...

It was an urgent message. A person wearing a red robe and a Fool mask had appeared at the Musicians’ Hall within the precinct.

Seok Juryeon listened quietly.

Then, the moment she heard the words “Chief Yoon,”

“......”

In the end, Seok Juryeon bowed her head and closed her eyes.

“Yoon Taehee is...”

After a long silence, Seok Juryeon opened her mouth.

“Yoon Taehee is suspected of being the ringleader of Byeoksadan, abandoning his duties as a Naja, secretly communicating with spirits, and covertly leading a rebellion. Therefore, in accordance with Article 3, Section 2 of headquarters’ code of conduct, on the charge of inciting the collapse of the Office of Narye, I hereby relieve Yoon Taehee, Chief Naja of Team 1 of the Exorcism Unit, of his position, effective immediately.”

Seok Juryeon slowly raised her hand and put the mask on her face.

“Defend the Office of Narye from the ringleader of Byeoksadan.”

“I even told you where I was going to strike beforehand. You’d be an idiot if you couldn’t dodge it, right?”

The Leader’s attack swept through the surroundings once again.

Paehyeon, who was hiding among the Naja, was dumbfounded.

He had thought the Leader must have some kind of plan, but he had not expected it to be like this.

What the Leader had done just moments ago, sending ghostly force flying at the Naja, was an act of utter recklessness. If even one person had been caught directly in the attack, he would have suffered a pain close to death.

Faced with this unexpected situation, the Naja were badly shaken.

There was no one who did not know the rumor that the master of Byeoksadan wore a red robe. There was also no one who did not know Yoon Taehee, the Chief Naja who held sway over the Exorcism Unit. Even if they did not know his face, everyone knew he wore a Fool mask.

Yoon Taehee and Byeoksadan.

That combination struck the Naja with deep shock.

The traditional mask, symbol of the Office of Narye, and the red robe suited each other astonishingly well.

Harming a fellow Naja would bring the backlash of breaking a taboo. There was likely no one in the world who would willingly step forward knowing that fact. Since they could not attack each other, perhaps the two sides were on equal footing. If one looked only at numbers, their side actually had the advantage.

And yet the Naja could not move rashly, even with Yoon Taehee right in front of them. If they attacked without thinking, they would have to pay the price for breaking the taboo as Naja.

Both sides were carrying the same risk.

In that case, only one thing would decide victory or defeat.

Whether one feared what they stood to lose.

It was a fight in which the side that took a defensive stance and played it safe would lose.

Yoon Taehee was gauging the boundaries of the taboo and using them to his advantage.

It seemed that as long as it was not a case of direct harm, backlash would not occur. After testing the taboo’s limits, he seemed to have determined that secondary damage caused through the surrounding terrain and objects was acceptable.

“Chief Yoon, why are you there?”

Just then, Lee Youngshin spoke, his face full of disbelief.

“Were you captured by Byeoksadan?”

Lee Youngshin desperately wanted to deny it.

“Did you betray the Office of Narye? That’s not it, right?”

He wanted to believe Yoon Taehee had been bewitched by the spirits of Byeoksadan, or that something had happened against his will.

However, Yoon Taehee’s answer completely trampled Lee Youngshin’s hopes.

“No, it’s not betrayal.”

Yoon Taehee lightly lifted the red robe he was wearing over his suit like a gown.

“Because this was my main job from the beginning.”

Then he pointed to his mask and added,

“This was the side job.”

“You crazy...”

Lee Youngshin clutched his forehead and muttered hollowly.

“Civil servants are prohibited from holding concurrent jobs, you bastard...”

A low laugh flowed from behind the mask.

“That’s right. So I’m quitting now.”

“Quitting? What?”

“Didn’t you hear the rumor?”

The gaze beyond the mask shone clearly.

“The rumor that the Office of Narye will fall tonight.”

The moment Lee Youngshin’s pupils shook uncontrollably,

“I’m quitting as a Naja now, Youngshin.”

Having finished his reply, Yoon Taehee raised his sword again.

The Naja, who had been standing frozen in a daze, took a step back and assumed their stances. They knew an attack was coming. They could not simply stand there and take it. Somehow, they had to counterattack.

Just as the Leader was swinging his sword at the Naja in succession,

At some point, Yoon Taehee slightly twisted his body and clutched his shoulder.

Something sharp had grazed him.

Someone had counterattacked with ghostly force.

Yoon Taehee brought his hand to the wound. When he pressed his palm against the injured area and then pulled it away, bright red blood stained his skin. But because the robe was close to the color of blood, no one could tell that Yoon Taehee had been wounded.

“......”

Yoon Taehee looked down at his palm in silence for a while, then raised his head.

“Who was that just now?”

Looking around at the Naja, Yoon Taehee continued with an emotionless face.

“Right. There should be at least one brave person like that. Still, brace yourself. It hurts like hell when you break the taboo. So badly you’ll think it would be better to die. I’m not trying to scare you. I know from experience.”

Even so, it was advice given too late.

“Well... it’s not like I wanted to know either.”

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the Naja clutched his heart and screamed.

“Aaargh—!”

Then, from somewhere, there came a steady thud, thud, thud.

In the distant darkness, dozens, hundreds of figures were walking toward them.

At first, the Naja thought reinforcements had arrived.

But they were wearing red robes, and with Fool masks on their faces, every single one of them looked exactly like Yoon Taehee.

They were the dregs soldiers sent by Hyeongwoon.

The soldiers staggered closer as though on a march.

Horror filled the Naja’s eyes.

The Leader, moonlight at his back, raised his head and gazed into the distance.

It was time to head for the Main Hall.