Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“Open your eyes. It’s just the two of us, so let’s talk honestly. No matter how long you keep this up, nothing’s going to change.”

The little master remained stubbornly unresponsive. Taehee waited for a reaction, then finally let out a sigh.

“Didn’t you hear what those men were saying?”

“......”

“They said they’d chop you loose with an axe and take you anyway.”

“......”

Taehee fixed his gaze on the little master’s closed eyes.

“......”

“......”

Persistent, aren’t you.

At last Taehee muttered in a tired voice, 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

“Little master, at this rate they really are going to cut off your ankles.”

At those final words, moisture began to gather beneath the tightly shut lids. With his eyes closed, the tears could not even pool properly; they simply slipped down his cheeks in streams.

Mesan started crying soundlessly.

He could not hold it in any longer. The face that had remained calm all this time crumpled in grief. Taehee stared at the child as he wept in silence, then reached out and wiped away his tears.

“Look at me.”

In the end, Mesan opened his eyes. The mask filling his vision looked ridiculous and grotesque at the same time. The unfamiliar eyes watching him from beyond it were cold and sharp.

“Little master, do you know who we are?”

At Taehee’s question, Mesan—who had not so much as twitched for ages—slowly shook his head. He had been listening to their conversation all along, but from words alone it had been hard to tell exactly what kind of people they were.

There were only three things Mesan knew for certain.

His lord had not gone to Seoul.

Which meant his lord had never called for him to come there.

And Lee Youngshin had lied to him.

A suspicious man had deceived him and was trying to take him somewhere. The car door would not open, so escape had been impossible. When the terrified Mesan had burst into tears, Jeongju had spoken in a trembling voice, telling him not to worry. He would definitely come save him.

Jeongju had urged him over and over not to turn off the phone and to keep it on him at all times. At the same time, he had told Mesan not to think about running, to act as though he knew nothing, and to stay still. He had even made him promise not to do anything dangerous.

But Mesan had not kept that promise.

Luring them into the mountains had been a flash of quick thinking. He had believed the situation would turn in his favor if he could get to the mountain. With luck, he might even be able to escape. And if he could not, then he could simply put down roots and refuse to move. If he held out long enough, Lord Jeongju would surely come for him....

But in the end he had ruined everything.

He was being punished for breaking the promise he had made to Lord Jeongju. There had been no word from Jeongju, and the number of people trying to take him away kept increasing. Ever since he heard them say they would cut off his ankles and take him like that, he had been barely holding back tears.

“Please... can’t you just let me go...?”

Mesan pleaded in a tiny, tiny voice. Once the tears started, they poured down without pause. Taehee watched his face in silence, then spoke with a faint sigh.

“I’d like to. But.”

At Taehee’s words, Mesan slowly lifted his eyes.

“I have my own position to think about too, so I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. And even if I let you go here, those people will find you again one way or another. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m just telling you the truth.”

Mesan, who had still been hoping against hope, lowered his head in the end. Taehee glanced for a moment at the cord tied around the child’s wrist, then went on slowly.

“It’s unfortunate, but right now you only have two choices. Either you get dragged off with your ankles cut off, or you go with us yourself, whole and uninjured.”

Mesan pleaded again in a small voice.

“I can’t, I can’t go... please send me to my lord, to my lord....”

His body shook as he sobbed. He could not choose either option. There was only one thing Mesan wanted.

He wanted to be at his lord’s side.

His tear-choked voice repeated the same words again and again.

“...My lord. My lord, ...my lord?”

Taehee caught the word Mesan had let fall and repeated it aloud.

“Who is this my lord?”

But Mesan only kept his head bowed and cried.

“Please, my lord, send me to my lord... please, send me back, please let me go....”

Taehee stared at the ginseng child as he went on with those strange, mechanical pleas. Was he serving some mountain god or something...?

After a brief moment of thought, Taehee suddenly turned his head and looked behind him. The Naja were growing visibly restless. Taehee clicked his tongue. There was not much time left.

“You can go back.”

He spoke calmly.

“Not right now, but you can.”

Mesan, who had been sobbing under his breath, weakly raised his head. Taehee lowered himself onto one knee so they were at eye level. The eyes visible beyond the mask held his gaze without wavering.

“Listen to me carefully. For today, just go with them. When you can’t possibly see a way to win, the smart thing is to avoid the worst outcome and wait for a better chance later.”

Taehee reached out to the ginseng child. The little body that had been cold and hard as stone now felt ordinary again. Once they got him to the Office of Narye, the Naja from the Ritual Implements Department would treasure him and keep him carefully. They would not handle something that valuable and rare carelessly, so once this moment passed, he would be safe.

“If it’s quick, within three months at most, I promise I’ll send you back to where you came from. Either way, it won’t take long. I’ll help you get back safely.”

Mesan blinked, his eyes still glossy with tears. Three months was not a terribly long time for him. He would send him back later? Could that really be true?

Maybe this man was just trying to coax him along, the way Lee Youngshin had. The mask hiding his face was suspicious. And he was clearly on the same side as those people....

“...Liar.”

Mesan shot back timidly.

“I’m not lying.”

A quiet laugh drifted from behind the mask. Taehee gave a brief snort of amusement, then bent close to Mesan’s ear and whispered something to him. Mesan flinched at first, but soon tilted his head to listen. By the time Taehee straightened again, Mesan looked plainly startled. He looked up at Taehee with uncertain eyes and asked,

“T-that’s really true?”

“That’s why I’m telling you while we’re alone.”

Taehee nodded, then raised one finger in front of the mask.

“It’s a secret.”

Now that he and Taehee had suddenly come to share a secret, Mesan looked around with wavering eyes. The mask was still suspicious, but after hearing those unexpected words, his distrust had strangely softened and the faintest thread of belief began to form.

What should he do? If what this man said was true....

As Mesan stood there hesitating, staring at the mask, Taehee rose to his feet. His gaze lifted with him automatically. Standing straight now, Taehee held out a hand.

“So. Shall we go?”

Mesan, standing stiff as a board, glared at the large palm held out in front of him. He still could not be sure whether it was really all right to take that hand. Taehee did not rush him. He only waited, his fingers occasionally fluttering in a faintly playful motion.

At last Mesan made up his mind and swallowed hard. He stepped forward and reached out a trembling hand. The moment his fingertips were about to touch Taehee’s outstretched hand—

Thwack.

Something shot in like an arrow, too fast to follow. Mesan flinched and stumbled backward in shock. Whatever it was struck Taehee’s hand dead on, ricocheted away, and buried itself deep in the center of a nearby tree trunk with a solid crack. It was a pebble carrying ghostly force.

Startled, Mesan stared at the stone lodged in the tree.

“W-what was...?”

He turned to look ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) at Taehee, then fell silent at once.

Taehee was still standing in the same position, hand extended.

Blood was pouring down from that hand.

“......”

Taehee staggered back a step or two. He slowly lifted the injured hand toward his face. Three fingers—his middle finger through his little finger—had been broken. Bright blood ran down his suit sleeve.

“Who said you could touch him.”

The voice came from far off, before Mesan could even understand what had happened. His eyes widened in an instant.

The same was true for Taehee.

Without warning, his heart began pounding violently. An unfamiliar sensation spread all the way to his toes.

A hallucination? Impossible....

Taehee slowly raised his head. The gaze behind the mask found the exact direction the stone had come from. In the dark mountain night, atop the tallest tree within sight, a boy in a school uniform stood balanced on the crown.

Taehee stared in disbelief.

Why are you here?

Their eyes met exactly.

The boy’s face was expressionless. His short hair stirred once in the wind. Taehee, startled, had just begun to move his lips when Mesan, finally spotting Jaegyeom, broke into loud, ragged sobs.

“My lord—!”

Behind the mask, Taehee’s face hardened. His mind, which had stalled for a second, began spinning furiously again.

My lord?

Before the full meaning of the situation could settle into certainty, Taehee hurriedly looked away. He lifted his uninjured hand and pulled the mask firmly into place just as—

“Hey! The little master woke—”

Taehee whipped around, alarmed. Hearing Mesan’s voice, Lee Youngshin and the other Naja had already burst out from behind the trees.

“Huh? What’s going on? Who’s that?”

Spotting the unfamiliar boy standing on the tree, Lee Youngshin stopped short and looked at Taehee. The other Naja began murmuring in confusion. The instant Taehee’s eyes met Youngshin’s, he hurriedly raised one finger to point at himself, then shook his head fast.

What was that supposed to mean?

Youngshin frowned, baffled, still trying to make sense of it when—

“No, Taehee! Why is your hand bleeding—”

Jaegyeom’s gaze locked onto Taehee in an instant.

“......”

“......”

“......”

“Ah, fuck.”

Taehee covered the eyeholes of the mask with one hand as though it were his own face.