Honbul: Flame of the Soul

“So. That thing. I’m asking if you’ve got the Black Oblivion Birds!”

For a moment, Yoon Taehee seemed to freeze. Then he muttered, “Wait,” and felt around inside his jacket. “I do.” Through the inner pocket of his suit jacket, he felt the shape of the square case where he kept the paper birds.

“Look, this isn’t something that gets solved by taking that bastard down here and carrying off the little master. He’ll definitely come chasing us all the way to headquarters the second he can move. And if headquarters finds out, we’re all finished. So what are we supposed to do with him? We don’t even have time for that right now.”

Yoon Taehee, who had been listening in silence, asked back,

“...You’re saying we should use the Black Oblivion Birds now?”

“Yeah. Use them to wipe his memory.”

“Aren’t those only for ordinary people?”

“No. They work exactly the same on gifted people too.”

The Black Oblivion Birds had originally been meant for ordinary people. But that restriction had only ever existed for the sake of secrecy. Gifted people already knew something about this world, so there was no real need to hide anything from them. That was the only reason they usually were not used.

“Are you sure? Have you ever used them on a gifted person?”

Yoon Taehee asked quietly.

“Of course I have. I’m the one who made them. When I first developed them, I dragged in the Purification Unit and tested them on every last one of those idiots, so trust me!”

In that moment, Lee Youngshin gave thanks to the heavens. It was unbelievable luck that Yoon Taehee happened to have the Black Oblivion Birds on him. At first, Youngshin had hated handing them over because they were too valuable. He had dodged and dodged, and in the end Taehee had practically extorted them out of him. But now it felt like a miracle that he had done it. If they used the Black Oblivion Birds here, they would not even have to deal with the boy in any troublesome way. He would simply go down.

From the moment the boy first appeared, darkness had already settled over the mountain.

The Black Oblivion Birds carved out one day’s worth of memory, but only the memories formed after nightfall. That meant he would forget not only where the ginseng child had gone, but even the fact that he had come here to save him in the first place. Everything that had happened in the mountain tonight would vanish like foam.

“That’s brilliant. I never even thought of it.”

At last, the lips visible beneath the mask curved into a smile. Yoon Taehee pulled the square case from inside his suit. He peeled off a single slip of paper and examined it from one angle and then another, and then spoke in quiet admiration.

“If the Black Oblivion Birds erase his memory, then the misunderstanding disappears too.... On top of that, we get to take the little master away safely, and we can shake off our terrifying lord as well. He’ll forget everything that happened in the mountain.”

Jaegyeom’s eyes convulsed violently.

As Yoon Taehee wiped blood from his suit, he turned his head and met Jaegyeom’s stare. The cold line of his eyes, visible beyond the mask, raked over him with surgical sharpness.

“You heard that, didn’t you?”

Yoon Taehee fluttered the slip of paper between his fingers.

“What do you think? Isn’t it ingenious?”

“......”

“I told you. You don’t understand what kind of place the Office of Narye is.”

“......”

In a low voice, Yoon Taehee murmured,

“This is what the Office of Narye is.”

A flood of thoughts swept through Jaegyeom’s blunted mind like waves.

No.

He turned his eyes toward Mesan.

Mesan had been quiet for some time now, as though he had already sensed something coming. When their eyes met, Mesan tried to smile with his lips clamped shut.

No—maybe he was crying.

It was too dark to make out his expression clearly.

Mesan gave the slightest shake of his head.

“Please stop now, my lord.”

Jaegyeom muttered through his teeth.

“No. No, I can’t. Move. Move. Move....”

Yoon Taehee still stood at the tip of the arrow.

“Let go. Let go, I said. Let go. Let go. Let go....”

Jaegyeom squeezed his eyes shut.

From between his split lips came a voice that was both strangled and fevered. He was not shouting at anyone else. He was cursing only himself, the words lashing back at him like a whip.

His injured arm began to tremble.

If I just let go of this hand. If I can just let go of this hand.

“Let go. Let go. Let go. Let go, please, let go, let go!”

Yoon Taehee placed the slip of paper on his open palm. Then, with a soft breath, he blew.

The paper floated gently up into the air.

Lee Youngshin drew a painful furrow between his brows. But his vision had already gone badly out of focus. Now that /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the tension had loosened, he had finally reached his limit. In the collapsing blur of his sight, the paper bird he himself had once created was being born.

“Chief Yoon, I’m gonna die—”

“Right. It’s done now.”

When Yoon Taehee touched the back of his hand, the completed Black Oblivion Bird came down lightly and perched there. It fluttered its wings with a soft rustle. At the slightest flick of his fingertips, it folded them and readied itself to launch.

“I’m sorry it turned out this way. Just think of it as bad luck. This is the best option I have. I hope you can understand.”

Jaegyeom opened his eyes.

His gaze, dreadful as live flame, fixed on the mask Yoon Taehee wore. Blood began to gather in his eyes like tears.

Let go. Let go. Let go. Let go. Please, let go....

The stare behind the mask drove into him, clear and merciless.

“In the name of the Naja...”

The fingers gripping the bowstring trembled.

“I confiscate the night.”

With the incantation that triggered the Black Oblivion Birds, Yoon Taehee snapped his thumb and middle finger together.

The instant the bird shot through the air—

almost at the exact same moment, the arrow that had lain still all this time flew out like a bolt.

“Ugh!”

Struck without warning, Yoon Taehee slammed into a tree.

The rope binding Jaegyeom’s ankles snapped clean in two.

The ghostly force that had been blocked burst out in a thick, streaming cloud.

Red ghostly force.

Berserk.

“My lord, no...!”

Mesan collapsed flat onto the ground with a thud and broke into sobs.

Jaegyeom, who had been frozen rigid, staggered backward. The arm holding the bow went slack, and a moment later the bow slipped from his hand and hit the ground.

“......”

Jaegyeom dropped to the ground as well and bowed his head.

A deathly silence fell over the clearing.

In that silence, the tiny sound of beating wings could be heard as the Black Oblivion Bird busily pecked away at memory.

“Chief... Yoon, why are you....”

The Black Oblivion Bird was hovering above Lee Youngshin’s head.