Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Jeongju had said there were many things he wanted to do, many things he wanted to become. He had said he had never once regretted leaving the Fox Clan fortress behind and making a life for himself in the human world. For Jeongju, who had been raised in comfort inside that sheltered stronghold like some delicate hothouse flower, the vast, free world outside had struck him with overwhelming force.

Jaegyeom, I thought that fortress was the whole world. If it hadn’t been for you, I would’ve stayed trapped there forever. Meeting you was the first time I ever found any courage. Every day feels like a dream.

Jeongju loved this land, where limitless possibilities lay waiting. It was a world where one could desire without restraint, and turn those desires into reality. That, Jeongju had said, was what it meant to be human.

To Jaegyeom, Jeongju—living freely, reveling in that freedom like any ordinary human being—looked enviable, and strangely pure.

That was why.

Now and then, Jaegyeom would think that his very existence might be the shackle around Jeongju’s ankle. Jeongju and Mesan should not have had to keep standing in this life of his, this stagnant water.

He had wanted them to leave him and live their own lives in full.

Live however you want. Don’t worry about me and him.

When Jeongju had hinted that he wanted to set up a separate place in Seoul while preparing for his debut in the entertainment industry, Mesan had been visibly hurt and disappointed, but Jaegyeom had told him to do it without a moment’s hesitation. This life—stopped in place, unable to age, unable to die—should have belonged to him alone.

So why—

Yoon Taehee might interfere with the life Jeongju had built with his own hands.

Might tear it down.

“Go on,” Taehee said. “Tell me what I look like to you. What do you want me to be?”

He had told him that he would become whatever kind of man Jaegyeom named.

And in saying so, he had gently placed the hilt of the knife in Jaegyeom’s hand.

But Jaegyeom already knew.

Whichever way he swung it, the one who would be cut was himself.

“Friend, ally, nemesis, enemy... just say the word.”

Friend, ally?

Jaegyeom looked at Yoon Taehee with naked contempt. The fact that he was still talking about friendship now, after all this, was loathsome. Yoon Taehee was no longer merely a swindler or a piece of trash. Those were no longer enough. The Yoon Taehee standing in front of him now was more insidious than any evil ghost, a monstrosity fouler than anything else, a villain without equal.

“You just want to use me.”

“Then use me back.”

Yoon Taehee did not deny it. He answered with absurd calm.

“I meant it earlier, when I told you to be careful.”

The sudden shift made his face turn serious.

“...What?”

“Your uncle. Places like television studios and film sets are full of ghosts. That whole line of work is a field of Naja. If the Office of Narye finds out that a famous celebrity is gifted, they’ll absolutely try to use him one way or another. Once they get a hook in him, it’s over. Looks like he’s been lucky so far.”

Taehee went on in the same flat tone.

“Naja don’t let chances slip. They’re persistent. Tenacious. Like rats. Maybe someone’s already noticed. In fact, there’s a good chance someone is already staying close to him with their identity hidden, the way I did.”

It was something Jaegyeom had never considered before.

Jeongju lived among crowds of people. That alone made it plausible enough.

And now the man threatening him was coolly and objectively pointing out a reality he could not dismiss. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“With rats swarming everywhere, do you really think there’s any way to keep them all off him?”

The voice calling out their carelessness was cold. It almost sounded as though Taehee disapproved of the fact that Jaegyeom and Jeongju had been so off guard.

He did not seem aware of that himself.

Yoon Taehee called Naja rats without hesitation. The fact that he used that insult for his own kind felt strangely discordant.

“You talk as if you’re not one of those rats yourself.”

At Jaegyeom’s mocking reply, Taehee faltered for the briefest instant.

Only for an instant.

Then, as if nothing at all had happened, his expression returned to its usual calm.

Jaegyeom asked sharply,

“...So what exactly are you trying to say?”

A moment ago he had been threatening him, invoking Jeongju as if he might do anything at all. And now he was saying that his warning to be careful had been sincere, trying to force him awake to the danger around him.

As if to say: it isn’t only me you need to be wary of.

He could not read him.

Every word and every gesture felt suspicious. Dangerous.

“For what it’s worth,” Yoon Taehee added, tilting his head, “my rank is fairly high.”

He continued,

“So if you’re looking for someone to use as backing, I’m actually in a pretty decent position.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying you should make use of me.”

Jaegyeom’s face twisted.

“...What?”

With a shameless smile, Taehee laid a hand on his own chest.

“I told you already. You should use me too. Because I can protect him. If you stand on my side, I’ll stand on yours. Yesterday’s enemy becoming today’s ally is more common than you think.”

In a low voice, Yoon Taehee whispered,

“I trust you’ll make the wise choice.”

First the threat.

Then the coaxing.

*****

The instant Lee Youngshin lunged, Mesan turned and bolted for his life.

He had felt an overwhelming threat. He was already terrified of humans to begin with, so the sight of some huge grown man he had never seen before suddenly charging at him was enough to make him nearly faint. In the broad yard, a full-blown game of tag began.

Fleeing in utter panic, Mesan flung open the front door and darted inside.

That was the decisive mistake that lost him the chase.

He had definitely locked the door, but Lee Youngshin picked it open with absurd ease and came right in. It was one of those moments when the chief of the Ritual Implements Department’s extraordinary handiwork truly shone.

The pursuit continued through the house, boxed in on all sides.

By the time it was over, the place looked like disaster was one minute away.

Lee Youngshin captured Mesan without much trouble.

“Let go of me, waaaah, let me gooo—”

Lee Youngshin had Mesan wrapped in both arms so tightly the child could not twitch so much as a fingertip. He was absurdly strong. He rubbed his cheek against the top of Mesan’s head. At that, Mesan made a strangled, incomprehensible noise and began sniffling even harder.

“My lord, my lord, sob, send me back to my lord, waaah...”

Just as a small child might cry for his mother out of habit, Mesan—who had no parents—cried instead for his lord.

Lee Youngshin, who had been rubbing his cheek happily against Mesan’s head, stopped short.

“My lord...?”

The young master had been calling for someone this whole time.

Only now did it occur to him. He glanced around the inside of the house.

Come to think of it, it was an ordinary home. Traces of daily life were everywhere. It looked as though someone normally lived here with him. He had already heard in the first report that some man had disappeared with the young master.

Was that man the one he called my lord?

But my lord was usually a form of address for someone above you. Was a sacred ginseng child actually serving someone? Unless it was a mountain god. But if a mountain god were involved, surely it would not have settled down in an ordinary household like this. And besides, from the look of things, the child had clearly been raised by human hands, so what in the world was going on here...?

After a brief silence, Lee Youngshin opened his mouth.

“Young master, please don’t cry.”

Setting aside his questions for the moment, he decided belatedly to clean up the situation first.

Ah. This wasn’t what I meant to do.

Growing somewhat awkward, Lee Youngshin loosened his arms a little around Mesan. Then, with careful hands, he wiped ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the child’s face, which was soaked in tears.

“I’m sorry. I scared you, didn’t I?”

“H-hic...”

“If you cry like this, your lord will be heartbroken.”

Lee Youngshin brought up “your lord” as naturally as breathing.

At once, Mesan—who had gone limp in resignation while being held—froze.

The delayed reaction made Lee Youngshin smile to himself.

At the same time, he went on in the gentlest, least threatening tone he could manage.

“Your lord is a kind person who hates to see you cry, isn’t he? I’ve heard so much about you from him that I truly wanted to meet you at least once. I was so happy to see you that I behaved rudely. Please forgive me.”

Mesan, cheeks swollen from crying, whipped his head to the side.

“Y-you know my lord?”

“Of course I do.”

A streak of suspicion rose across Mesan’s face.

“That’s why I was able to come into this house. As you know, not just anyone can enter here. Your lord helped me. And I know what you are, too. That’s why I called you young master the moment I saw you. How could a mere human like me know all of this on my own? It’s because your lord told me.”

Come to think of it, that was true.

Midway through swallowing the rest of his sobs, Mesan’s eyes went wide.

“R-really?”

“Yes. The reason I came here in the first place is because your lord asked me to.”

“My lord... asked you?”

Lee Youngshin nodded and set Mesan back on his feet.

“He told me to come bring you.”

“Me? My lord did? T-to where?”

“Ah. Well...”

Damn. I didn’t think that far ahead.

For a moment, Lee Youngshin was at a loss. His eyes flicked about.

“Uh, so...”

“...Yes?”

“S-Seoul. To Seoul.”

“...Seoul?”

Mesan’s expression changed completely.

It was the face of someone asking whether that was supposed to make any sense at all.