Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Bima let out a booming snort, almost like a yawn.

“Young master. Why not bring this matter to a close here. Go on and deal with him as you please. The night is already deep. Thanks to you, I have enjoyed quite an entertaining spectacle for the first time in a long while, so in return I shall carry you back to where you came from.”

Bima slept once the moon rose. Jaegyeom, who had been standing there in silence, ran a hand over the bow in his grip.

“...Yeah.”

Red ghostly force surged like waves. Now that it had gone berserk, cutting off Yoon Taehee’s breath would have been easy. And with him out of his senses like that, this was as good a chance as any. The ghostly force turned even more vicious.

“M-my lord....”

Mesan could do nothing but fret helplessly.

Jaegyeom slowly stepped back. Agony as terrible as death itself was nothing surprising. He had gone through plenty of it himself, so it was no great matter. After retreating several steps from Yoon Taehee, Jaegyeom stopped.

Bima asked calmly,

“Are you going to kill him?”

“Yeah. I’m going to kill him.”

Jaegyeom let out a long breath and raised the bow in his hand. He nocked an arrow and drew the string.

Perfect range.

Yoon Taehee stood at the tip of the arrow.

Believe what was right in front of him. He had to focus only on the proven fact that Yoon Taehee was a Naja. A swindler and a piece of trash, exactly as one would expect. Yoon Taehee had deceived him. He had threatened him.

Agony as terrible as death itself.

At last, the arrow wrapped in red ghostly force shot forward.

With a chilling sound, it struck home.

Bima, whose gaze had stayed fixed on the direction the arrow flew, only turned his head after a long moment and looked at Jaegyeom. Wearing an expressionless face, Jaegyeom slid the bow stave back into the long slash in his arm.

“......”

“......”

Mesan, who had been frozen blankly in place, came to his senses belatedly and hurried over. He had judged that everything was over. He opened his palm to heal him. Unlike before, Jaegyeom did not brush away Mesan’s touch, and as he received the clusters of light Mesan released, he quietly closed his eyes.

“Young master, you have a nasty temperament. Are you aware of that?”

Bima spoke. The sharp eyes of the ghost horse that roamed the darkness had seen it clearly: the arrow had barely grazed Yoon Taehee’s ear. It had pierced the tree right beside him and passed straight through.

“No, I’m not.”

“You missed.”

“......”

After a moment of silence, Jaegyeom answered listlessly.

“Slip of the hand.”

Then he staggered forward. He could feel the strength draining from his body as the berserk state dragged on. Mesan, who had already begun healing him, made a strange sound and hurried after him.

Jaegyeom stopped in front of Yoon Taehee. Then he reached out and yanked hard on the end of Yoon Taehee’s tie. Yoon Taehee, who had been motionlessly enduring the pain storming through him without even the chance to dodge the arrow, was dragged forward without resistance. He slowly opened the eyes that had been half-lidded. Their gazes locked exactly.

“And I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

“......”

Jaegyeom muttered softly.

It was a scene he had seen many times before.

Of course, the roles were reversed.

Yoon Taehee still had enough sense left to understand what the boy was saying. Even in that fainting, deathlike agony, his eyes were clear and still.

“Next time, it’s here.”

“......”

Jaegyeom flicked a finger and struck the exact center of Yoon Taehee’s forehead. It was a light touch, yet it made his head ring. A thin laugh spilled from Yoon Taehee’s lips. The moment Jaegyeom let go of the tie without a trace of hesitation, Yoon Taehee collapsed as he was.

Jaegyeom shook out his hand and stepped back once or twice. His footing reeled as if he might fall at any moment. Mesan, clinging tightly to Jaegyeom’s waist and frantically pouring light into him, started to whimper.

“M-my lord! Are you all right?”

Jaegyeom dropped flat onto his back.

“I lost too much blood. I’m dizzy.”

The pitch-black night sky spilled down into his wavering vision. At some point, a full moon had risen. By the terms of the promise, the moment he saw the moon he was supposed to fall asleep. But perhaps because Bima was still awake, he did not feel sleepy.

And yet for some reason, his eyelids kept growing heavier.

Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip-yip!

The cry of some beast rang out from beyond the darkness. Mesan flinched and turned around.

“M-my lord! Back there...!”

From the brush burst a fox nearly the size of a bull. The fox, with its mystical silver fur, kicked lightly off ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) the ground and soared into the air. It tumbled over itself again and again, and then at some point transformed into human form and landed on the earth as though it had never been anything else.

It was a familiar face.

“Jeongju!”

“Mesan! Jaegyeom!”

Jeongju came rushing over in a flurry, his steps all but tripping over themselves. The moment he got Mesan’s call, he had left immediately, but he still ended up arriving last. Of all times, reporters had swarmed him in front of the building.

He had tried calling the two-story house again and again to reach Jaegyeom, but it had been useless. He had barely shaken them off and gotten into the car, only to have them tail him, forcing him to circle the same area over and over in an attempt to lose them somehow.

In the end, he lost patience, abandoned the car, and ran. He hid himself at once in the low mountain, then ran and ran along the ridgeline until he made it here. As proof of that desperate journey, Jeongju looked a complete mess.

Jeongju swept his eyes over the area.

The sight visible in the dark was horrific. Several human beings were sprawled on the ground like corpses, and the stench of blood hung thick in the air. Trees had been snapped clean through, arrows were lodged everywhere, and the whole place looked like a battlefield. The only one who seemed unharmed was Mesan.

“Jaegyeom...!”

At the sight of Jaegyeom lying there covered in blood, Jeongju dropped to the ground on the spot. Tears began to well in his eyes. Red ghostly force was wrapped around Jaegyeom’s whole body. He did not need to ask what had happened to guess the outline of it.

“I’m sorry. I was too late. This is all because of me. If I’d just gotten here a little sooner, if I’d been beside you two, none of this would have happened....”

Jeongju came toward Jaegyeom on his knees. A trembling hand touched his blood-stained cheek. Lying spread-eagled under the bright moonlight, Jaegyeom stared blankly up at the night sky, listening dazedly to the apology thick with tears.

“We’ll talk later. Right now...”

Reaching one hand into the air, Jaegyeom said,

“I want to go home.” 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It was a wordless signal asking to be helped up.

Jeongju wiped his tears and looked at Mesan. Sniffling, Mesan nodded. Jeongju sprang to his feet and clasped Jaegyeom’s blood-soaked hand. At that, Bima, who had been hovering in the air all this time, stepped lightly down to the ground as if he had been waiting. He bent his forelegs and lowered his front half to make mounting easier.

Only then did Jeongju notice Bima. His eyes widened.

“Bima? Don’t tell me... you bought nightmares...?”

Bima answered in a hurry.

“That was true on the way here, but the way back is free.”

Standing on his own two feet, Jaegyeom let out a hollow laugh.

Usually the thing acted as solemn as though it alone carried all the dignity in the world. But now, seeing some stray spark might land on it, it was answering in a rush. The sight of it was funny.

This was no atmosphere for laughter, but somehow it was still funny...

Thinking that, Jaegyeom crumpled forward. Jeongju caught him in alarm.

“M-my lord?”

“Jaegyeom!”

Jaegyeom slowly jerked his chin.

“It’s free, so take him instead....”

Jeongju’s, Mesan’s, and Bima’s gazes all shot toward the place Jaegyeom indicated. A dark gray suit was slumped there unconscious, leaning crookedly against a tree. Mesan’s eyes widened as he stared at Jaegyeom.

Jeongju asked,

“Who is that?”

Closing his eyes, Jaegyeom answered slowly.

“...The librarian at our school.”

With those words, Jaegyeom blacked out.