Honbul: Flame of the Soul

There had once been a time when everything in this world connected to that man had seemed lovely.

Once, the man had been Jaegyeom’s entire world.

But too much time had passed. Too many things had happened in that long stretch of years, and too many things had changed. The Jaegyeom of now hated every trace that made him think of that man.

“No. From where I stand, you’re exactly the same.”

If he could not forget, then he had wanted to look away.

But the man standing in front of him kept stirring him up. Yoon Taehee kept forcing him to turn back toward a past he had no wish to face. Taehee was a Naja, just like that man had been, and just like that man, he had hidden what he was and approached Jaegyeom.

For the same reason too.

To use him.

“Naja never change, then or now. All your kind ever do is skulk around in the dark, pulling filthy little tricks behind people’s backs. And somehow you still seem to think you’re something special. You’re human beings beneath even stray ghosts.”

Even after hearing that blistering condemnation aimed straight at him, Yoon Taehee did not look especially offended.

“Filthy swindlers by nature, trash who do nothing but pull underhanded little tricks....”

That man had been the one who ruined Jaegyeom’s life. To become a Naja, to Jaegyeom, would mean placing his name in the same register {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} as his enemy.

And Taehee was asking him to become one?

The whole thing was so absurd Jaegyeom almost wanted to laugh.

“I didn’t realize you hated Naja that much.” 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

At that, Taehee, who had been rubbing at his jaw, finally spoke.

“If you hate them that badly, then I suppose you really wouldn’t become one even if you died and woke up again. For a moment I thought we might actually make good friends, so this is a real shame.”

Yoon Taehee gave one small shrug.

“I understand what you mean. I don’t want to force you. There are plenty of gifted besides you.”

Jaegyeom narrowed his eyes.

He had expected Taehee to keep clinging, but unexpectedly, he drew back without resistance. Pressing his cap down firmly onto his head, Taehee muttered,

“Of course, no matter who it is, I doubt I’ll like them as much as I like you. I suppose I chose the wrong person. It’s disappointing, and I’m upset, but what can you do? I’ll just have to find someone else....”

Yoon Taehee smiled.

Jaegyeom stared silently at the deep dimple that appeared in only one cheek when he did. Taehee’s manner was polite, almost gracious, but something about it felt foul.

“So then—what about Jo Youngwoo?”

The softly whispered voice was gentle.

The name came so completely out of nowhere that Jaegyeom, who had been staring fixedly at Taehee, blinked slowly. A breath of laughter slipped out of him, and the face that had been blank softened into the shape of a smile. Taehee smiled too.

To anyone watching, it would have looked like the two of them had just exchanged a joke.

“Hey.”

Jaegyeom, who had been standing there giving quiet little laughs, finally spoke after a long moment.

“Are you threatening me right now?”

“Of course not.”

Yoon Taehee answered smoothly, lifting one eyebrow.

“You’re in the same class, so you know him well, right? That pretty convincing little act of being friends—”

Before he could even finish the sentence, Jaegyeom shot forward like the wind.

The display rack that had stood between them had already been flung far out of the way. It was far too heavy for anyone to throw, and yet it looked exactly as though someone had picked it up and hurled it. With a heavy crash, it flew aside and added yet another layer of destruction to the bookstore, which was already in ruins. A few people still nearby let out panicked screams.

“Ugh....”

The instant he cleared away the irritating obstacle, Jaegyeom drove his foot hard into Taehee.

If there was one saving grace, it was that Taehee still had the backpack on. He grimaced and let out a groan. The cap he had been wearing so neatly was gone now, flung off somewhere out of sight. And just as Taehee, sprawled where he had been kicked into a corner, tried to get up—

his body was hauled upright first.

“I should’ve beaten you half to death yesterday.”

Muttering that, Jaegyeom seized Taehee by the collar and lifted him as easily as if he were nothing but baggage.

Then the two of them stood facing each other.

Pinned back near the wall, Taehee gave a small cough. His hair was badly disheveled, and the black collared T-shirt he was wearing had been dragged high in Jaegyeom’s fist. A span of taut stomach showed beneath it.

“That hurts....”

The ghostly force striking against his skin was terrifying.

“Say it again.”

The fist clamped around his collar showed no sign of loosening. The young face in front of him was fierce enough to be frightening. The pain in his chest from the kick was one thing, but at this rate it looked as though Jaegyeom might wring his neck.

“People are watching.”

Not only the people still inside the bookstore, but also the passersby hovering outside the shattered window, were all staring at them. What is this? What happened? The rising murmur of voices was beginning to swell into real commotion.

Jaegyeom flicked a glance around him and answered in a bleak voice.

“That’s none of my business.”

From the very start, Taehee had been doing whatever he pleased by taking the attention of ordinary people hostage. Now that he thought about it, the one who had to be careful here was not him, but Taehee. If he had wanted to avoid a situation like this, he should never have let his mouth run that way.

He could leave this place whenever he wanted. He had no intention of letting Taehee lead him around by the nose any longer.

“You’ve barely known him any time at all. Do you really care that much about Jo Youngwoo?”

“Fine. Then keep pushing if you want to die.”

The grip in the hand fisted in Taehee’s collar tightened. Jaegyeom lifted cold eyes at him.

“If you’re going to threaten somebody, at least pick someone it’ll work on.”

“A threat? No. That isn’t what this is.”

“Then what exactly do you call this?”

Yoon Taehee reached up and caught Jaegyeom’s wrist in a strong grip.

“I came to this school to find a gifted person who could become my successor. And you said you won’t become a Naja. There are two other gifted students at this school besides you. One of them is Jo Youngwoo. I understand that you hate Naja. But for ordinary gifted people, it’s usually the opposite. They’d be desperate for the chance to become one.”

Taehee slightly loosened the hand gripping Jaegyeom’s wrist.

“Whether I choose to ask Jo Youngwoo to become a Naja is my choice. What choice Jo Youngwoo makes is his. No matter how I look at it, that doesn’t seem to be any concern of yours. Besides, he’s gifted too. From my perspective, of course I’d have him in mind. There. That’s the whole matter. Do you see a problem?”

“Don’t make me laugh. If this isn’t a threat, then what is it?”

What Taehee was saying sounded plausible enough. On the surface, it made a certain kind of sense. At the same time, it pressed on Jaegyeom in a strange and unmistakable way.

That had to be Taehee’s intention.

There was no way Taehee, who had gone so far as to dig into his past, did not know that Jo Youngwoo was the only person in this school Jaegyeom had grown even a little attached to. More than that, Taehee knew exactly how much hatred Jaegyeom carried toward the Naja. Which meant the malice in bringing up Youngwoo’s name here, in this moment, could not have been clearer.

“No. This isn’t a threat. You really don’t know what a threat is, do you?”

Murmuring almost to himself, Yoon Taehee suddenly wore a strange expression that was hard to read. He glanced once at the hand clutching his collar, then lifted his head and looked straight at Jaegyeom.

“When I had your file pulled, even your birth registration was perfectly in order. How did you manage that?”

“...What?”

It was such an abrupt shift in topic that it seemed to veer completely off course.

Just as Jaegyeom’s eyes tightened slightly, Taehee lowered his voice, as though to keep anyone else from overhearing.

“The family record listed on your paperwork is obviously fake, so what exactly is your relationship with that celebrity uncle of yours? His name was Jeongju, wasn’t it....”

“......”

Jaegyeom’s face hardened at once.

“Well, I also have to work under false identities sometimes for the job.... Even so, there are procedures for that sort of thing. No matter how influential a celebrity may be, forging official documents and tampering with someone’s personal records is a problem. If he’s willing to come all the way to school and play your guardian, then I suppose he must be the one backing you. Is he gifted too? No matter how I look at him, he doesn’t seem like an ordinary person....”

Yoon Taehee tilted his head and went on speaking calmly.

“......”

“Anyway, tell him to be careful.”

“......”

He ended there, the corners of his mouth lifting in a neat little smile, as if he had just passed along a kindly word of concern.

Jaegyeom’s breathing was growing rougher by the second. The hand twisted in Taehee’s collar had started to tremble. He was gripping so hard that the bones on the back of his hand were beginning to jut out. By now his face had gone completely white.

“...You.”

The blow that landed this time was on an entirely different level from the one he had taken when Taehee merely brought up Jo Youngwoo’s name.

Taehee had said that he alone knew him.

Only now did Jaegyeom understand what that really meant.

Why—why had he not thought of it?

Yes. Something had felt wrong from the beginning. There had been no way Taehee was ever going to back off so easily. Suddenly it felt as though words spoken by that man long ago were echoing in his ears.

If it serves their purpose, they do not care what means they use.

They are merciless. Cruel.

If you ever meet a Naja, you must run.

It felt as though someone had torn open the inside of his skull and stirred it all apart.

Back then, he had been a child who knew nothing. He had not even known that the man was a Naja. That was why he had been fooled so completely, so stupidly. Everything had rested in the man’s palm.

But not now.

The reason Jaegyeom had not run, even after facing Yoon Taehee and knowing he was a Naja, was that he had believed he had nothing left to lose.

And now Taehee was asking him whether he truly believed that. Whether he really had nothing more left to lose.

Jaegyeom’s eyes shook wildly.

Watching him in silence, Yoon Taehee finally tightened his grip. It was a strong grip, unmistakably different from the way he had seized Jaegyeom’s wrist a moment ago. The hand twisted in his collar came away without difficulty. Jaegyeom stood there blankly, then belatedly ground his teeth.

Thud!

Just like yesterday, Jaegyeom drove a punch into Yoon Taehee.

Taehee’s head snapped violently sideways with the heavy impact. But this time there was none of the shock from yesterday. No ghostly force had been loaded into the blow. Whether Jaegyeom had been unable to do it or had chosen not to, there was no way to know. Bare-knuckled or not, it still stung badly enough.

“I’ve been thinking this for a while... you really do throw your hands around.”

Muttering that under his breath, Yoon Taehee rubbed at his slightly swollen cheek.

“Don’t... pull any bullshit. I really will kill you.”

The words came out as though squeezed through clenched teeth, his voice fraying at the edges. Jaegyeom glared at Taehee as if he truly meant to kill him. Rage crashed over him like a wave the size of a house.

“This is what a threat looks like, Jaegyeom. Understood?”

Yes.

This was different.