Honbul: Flame of the Soul

The Scholar, worn down by time, and the bare-faced Fool mask faced each other.

Their swords clashed without spiritual force.

As though by silent agreement, neither of them had loaded so much as a grain of spiritual force into their blades. It was to prevent any collateral damage that spiritual force might cause. This was a duel fought with swordsmanship alone. The moment either of them wounded or harmed the other, one of them would have to pay the corresponding price.

Even so, both Seok Juryeon and Yoon Taehee knew.

They knew they had no choice but to cut down the opponent before them.

And they knew that whoever became desperate enough to cross the taboo first would be the victor of this duel.

There was no avoiding this fight.

Although his position had been revoked, Yoon Taehee’s name was still bound to the Office of Narye, and his wooden tag was in the director’s hands. In principle, a human who had once become a Naja could never have their wooden tag returned. Even if it meant enduring the backlash, they had to wound each other, or end this with a single strike.

Yoon Taehee had to pass through this path.

And Seok Juryeon had to block his way.

With the sound of blades slicing through the air, sword met sword.

A sharp, chilling metallic ring echoed.

The chief Naja of the Exorcism Unit watched the duel with bated breath. Their swords clashed and parted again and again. Yoon Taehee did not hesitate for even a moment.

Even though Seok Juryeon was past her prime, she held her ground against Yoon Taehee.

She was, indeed, a human worthy of being called a god-given master. Unlike the other Naja, Seok Juryeon had never once shown a passive attitude, and she showed no hesitation in drawing her sword against Yoon Taehee.

A moment’s hesitation changes a life.

And that hesitation would decide victory.

Seok Juryeon, like Yoon Taehee, looked as though she had nothing left to lose.

This would be the first and last time the two of them crossed blades. Neither of them could afford to show even the smallest opening. As the swordfight continued, their breathing grew more and more ragged. Their faces drew close when their blades locked.

In that fleeting moment, Seok Juryeon’s face contorted, and she spoke in a voice as faint as breath.

“Stop this, Taehee.”

It was a tiny whisper, flowing out like a plea.

The moment he heard those words, Yoon Taehee, who had been swinging his sword without emotion, felt a crack form in his heart, which had been frozen solid like a lake.

Stop what, exactly?

For whose sake?

“Unit Head.”

Yoon Taehee glared at Seok Juryeon with eyes like blades, then let out a cold, mocking laugh.

“Why did you live like that?”

Yoon Taehee no longer hid his emotions.

The bare-faced Fool was sharper and colder than anyone. Not even the trace of a smile remained on his face, and his low, suppressed voice was steeped in anger, hatred, and hostility. Seok Juryeon read in Yoon Taehee a deep-rooted resentment and a raw desire for revenge.

Swallowing her ragged breath, Seok Juryeon gritted her teeth.

“.......”

Because she was wearing the Scholar mask, Yoon Taehee could not see what kind of expression Seok Juryeon was making.

The two of them breathed harshly in front of each other. In the brief moment they took to catch their breath, Yoon Taehee spoke.

“Unit Head, cut the bullshit and try begging instead.”

“.......”

“Tell me you were wrong. Tell me you regret it. Wouldn’t that be better?”

“.......”

Seok Juryeon tightened her grip on the sword hilt.

“The director has your wooden tag.”

At that moment, Yoon Taehee faltered, his eyes narrowing.

“.......”

Those words sounded like a hidden warning that his rebellion would fail.

Even if he broke through Seok Juryeon and reached the director, Yoon Taehee’s life and death could be manipulated as long as the wooden tag was in the director’s possession. If he surrendered here, he might at least save his own life.

However, Yoon Taehee immediately twisted his sword.

Several more attacks followed.

And at the end of the long duel, it was Seok Juryeon who revealed an opening first. Yoon Taehee did not miss it. He drove his sword in.

Then Seok Juryeon’s hand trembled briefly.

“.......”

A metallic clang rang out.

It was the sound of the sword Seok Juryeon had been holding falling to the floor.

Seok Juryeon slowly moved her hand to her side. The sword had sunk more than a third of its length into her. She gritted her teeth and gasped for breath. When Yoon Taehee pulled out the sword he had thrust in, an enormous amount of blood began to pour out.

“Unit Head!”

The chief Naja of the Exorcism Unit cried out in horror, their shouts close to screams.

As Seok Juryeon staggered helplessly and collapsed forward, Yoon Taehee caught her falling body. When her face pressed against his shoulder, the Scholar mask slipped off.

Yoon Taehee looked down briefly at the mask rolling across the floor, then raised his hand.

It was the moment he gripped Seok Juryeon’s shoulder, intending to push her away from him.

Taehee.

Yoon Taehee’s hand, gripping Seok Juryeon’s shoulder, flinched.

A voice like a dying ember drifted into his ear. Seok Juryeon’s lips moved slightly. It was like a whisper, a voice so small that only Yoon Taehee could hear it.

“.......”

Yoon Taehee stood silently for a moment, then slowly released the hand holding Seok Juryeon’s shoulder.

Silence spread through the vast lobby.

Feeling the heavy weight against him, Yoon Taehee took a step back instead of pushing Seok Juryeon away. When the support disappeared, Seok Juryeon’s body collapsed to the floor.

I imagined facing you countless times.

“Unit Head!”

“Are you all right?”

Two of them rushed to Seok Juryeon, and the remaining six blocked Yoon Taehee’s path. The chief Naja surrounded Yoon Taehee in a circle, pointing their swords at him. Yoon Taehee inhaled without the slightest expression.

“Since your position has been revoked, you are no longer a Naja.”

“Then go ahead. Try something.”

Yoon Taehee said it with blood spattered across his cheek, his face looking somehow eerie.

“Can you kill a person?”

The chief Naja of the Exorcism Unit were visibly tense.

“You’re so good at cutting down ghosts, but you’re afraid to kill a human, aren’t you?”

Their eyes wavered briefly.

Although they were highly skilled chief Naja, they could not easily step forward against Yoon Taehee, who had been their colleague until only moments ago. They merely exchanged glances while keeping their swords pointed at his neck so he could not move.

However, Unit Head Seok had been struck down before their eyes. They could not simply let him go.

One of the chief Naja tightened his grip as though he had made up his mind.

It was just as he raised his sword.

“Open the way.”

A weak command drifted from behind them.

It was Seok Juryeon’s voice.

At that, the eyes of every chief Naja confronting Yoon Taehee turned back. Seok Juryeon spoke her final words.

Like a will.

Open the way.

And show your respects.

He is the last Bangsangsi of the Office of Narye.

With every step he took in his blood-soaked shoes, a thud, thud echoed through the empty hallway.

Once, in a library where warm sunlight poured in, Yoon Taehee had asked a boy:

“So. How does it feel to have achieved your revenge?”

The boy had remained silent for a long time before saying, “It was just... fine.”

It had been an answer that amounted to nothing more than a light evasion. Yoon Taehee had told the boy to be happy enough, since he had killed his enemy, but the boy had not been happy at all.

And at this moment, Yoon Taehee realized that the boy’s answer had been the best possible one.

When there is too much to say, one becomes unable to say anything at all. How futile, and how vivid, the weight contained in the word just was.

He felt he now understood the boy’s desolation, the emptiness that had left him with no choice but to answer, just.

He had clearly thought he would feel relieved.

He had thought he would be happy.

As soon as he turned the corner of the hallway, his steady gait abruptly faltered. Before he could take even a few more steps, Yoon Taehee’s body collapsed. Pain began, as though his heart were being squeezed in a fist. Yoon Taehee clawed at his chest and dropped to his knees on the floor. His suit jacket crumpled beneath his hands, the bones of his fingers jutting out sharply.

It was the price for breaking the taboo.

“Ah, ah...”

Like someone trying to dig into the earth, Yoon Taehee clawed at the floor and writhed soundlessly. Then nausea surged up, and he coughed up blood.

He coughed up blood several more times after that.

Groaning with his forehead pressed against the floor, Yoon Taehee tried desperately to pull himself upright. His legs trembled violently. But as soon as he managed to raise himself halfway, his shoulder struck the hallway wall, and he slid back down.

The price for breaking the taboo was truly severe.

He had been fatally wounded by a sword before, but this was far more painful. It felt as if someone were gouging out his heart with a knife. It was a level of pain impossible to endure while conscious. If he did not force his eyes to focus with all his strength, his consciousness blurred at once. Like that, he lost and regained consciousness several times.

At this point, it might have been better to be struck down by Seok Juryeon’s sword.

Leaning against the hallway wall, Yoon Taehee gritted his teeth with all his strength.

He had imagined it hundreds, thousands of times.

The image of pointing a sword at Seok Juryeon’s neck.

And now that imagination had become reality.

Finally, Yoon Taehee had defeated Seok Juryeon and achieved the revenge he had dreamed of.

But what was this desolate feeling, as though he were standing in a vast, empty wasteland?

His heart ached as though it were being butchered. It was only the pain that came as backlash, and yet he felt that if someone saw him now, they might think he was hurting because he had stabbed Seok Juryeon.

Even to him, it was a truly ridiculous thought.

Was that why?

“Ha, haha...”

Suddenly, laughter broke out.

The laughter began small, then spread from his mouth to his whole face, and from his face to his shoulders. Laughing until his shoulders shook, Yoon Taehee covered his eyes with both hands and bent his upper body forward.

Yoon Taehee, having finished his revenge on Seok Juryeon, laughed like a madman while prostrate on the floor.

With every step he had taken, blood-soaked footprints in the shape of his shoe soles had been stamped behind him.

As he had supported Seok Juryeon’s body after stabbing her with his own hand, that fading voice kept lingering like an auditory hallucination.

It felt as though he had been dreaming, but what had flowed into his ear was vivid.

Taehee.

When you enter the elevator, press all the odd-numbered buttons at once... and open the door at the end of the hallway....

That is where your wooden tag is....

An unspeakable wretchedness washed over him.

Yoon Taehee let out the breath he had been holding, like someone who had barely surfaced after being submerged under water. He could not breathe properly, as if he were hyperventilating. His shoulders heaved, and his chest rose and fell sharply.

An indescribable resentment, a sense of injustice, and a strange sorrow surged up all at once.

And so, Yoon Taehee had to cry for a while.

Truly, ridiculously so.