Honbul: Flame of the Soul

After driving for a little over twenty minutes, they arrived at their destination. Kang Ibin parked in a public lot near Jongmyo. From there, they had to walk for a while. As she walked beside Jaegyeom, she gave him a brief explanation of where the Office of Narye was located.

“Pretty wild, right? Headquarters is inside Jongmyo.”

Jaegyeom nodded quietly.

Before long, a long wall capped with roof tiles stretched into view. At last, the outer gate of Jongmyo appeared. A cluster of visitors with cameras stood near the entrance. So this is the shrine where the king used to hold memorial rites for his ancestors... And now ordinary people can walk in and out of it. I never would’ve imagined that in the old days... The gulf of time hit Jaegyeom strangely.

At that moment, Kang Ibin leaned over and whispered in his ear while he stood there blankly staring.

“Jaegyeom, watch carefully from here on out. This is how you go to work.”

Normally, Naja only reported for work after dark, once Jongmyo was closed to the public. But depending on the situation, it was also common to enter the Office in broad daylight like this. During visiting hours, there were too many eyes around, so they had to go in like ordinary visitors.

First, Kang Ibin led Jaegyeom to the ticket booth on the right. She got in line with the visitors waiting to buy tickets. When their turn came, she took out her wallet just like everyone ahead of them had.

“Free admission. Two people.”

The employee sitting in the booth glanced up, then spoke in an indifferent tone.

“ID, please.”

Kang Ibin began rummaging through her wallet as if she had been waiting for that. Jaegyeom, who had no ID, looked at her in confusion. Then Kang Ibin pulled something out and handed it to the clerk. It was not an ID card. It was a T-money transit card.

“......”

The clerk looked over the obviously wrong card, then handed her two tickets.

“You qualify for free admission. Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

Kang Ibin accepted the tickets and thanked the clerk without missing a beat. Then, brightly saying, “All right, let’s go,” she nudged Jaegyeom in the back. What was that? He stood there in a daze for a second before finally shuffling forward.

When they walked toward the outer gate that led into Jongmyo, dozens of visitors could be seen waiting. Kang Ibin showed their tickets to the attendant at the entrance. The attendant responded in a flat, professional voice.

“You may go straight in.”

Just then, one of the waiting visitors behind them saw that and stepped up to the attendant. Showing the same kind of ticket, he tried to head inside too, but the attendant stopped him.

“Entry begins at 2:20.”

“What? Then what about those people?”

The attendant answered without even blinking.

“They’re affiliated personnel here for an inspection.”

The boy in the yellow sweatshirt looked about as far from “affiliated personnel” as anyone possibly could... but the visitor only turned back with an awkward expression. Kang Ibin boldly grabbed Jaegyeom by the arm. “Thanks. Have a good one.” And just like that, the two affiliated personnel passed through the outer gate and safely entered Jongmyo.

“Jongmyo uses timed entry. Regular visitors can only come in at set times, about once an hour. When Jongmyo is open, this is how we come to work.”

Kang Ibin murmured the explanation near Jaegyeom’s ear. Now it finally made sense. That was why everyone had been standing around waiting like that. Jaegyeom looked around with open curiosity. Kang Ibin led him in the direction of the Main Hall.

“And when regular visitors are touring, they have to stay with a guide. Since the guides follow a fixed route, all we have to do is avoid that route when we enter the Office.”

At her words, Jaegyeom’s gaze shifted toward a point in the distance. He could see a group of visitors moving along behind a guide. She was right. If they stayed clear of that path, they would not cross paths with anyone, which made it much easier to avoid attention.

“Did they set it up that way on purpose because of the Naja?”

Jaegyeom asked quietly.

“Yeah, exactly. We can’t let people notice us. Ah, but on Saturdays, people can come in whenever they want and wander around freely without a guide, right? If we tried to enter the Office while visitors were roaming all over the place, we’d get caught instantly. Total disaster. So on Saturdays, we always come in after dark.”

Jaegyeom was inwardly startled by the explanation. Only now did he finally understand what Taehee had meant when he said, You have no idea what kind of place the Office of Narye is. The Office of Narye, a state institution, ran on a covert system. The restrictions on public access were meant not only to control visitors, but also to protect the Office’s secrecy and make it easier for Naja to enter and leave.

“All right. This is the Main Hall.”

Kang Ibin went up the steps with him. The Main Hall, stretching out in a long line, looked majestic even at a glance. She stopped in front of the twentieth bay, the one that connected to the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Office of Narye. After a quick check of the area, she slipped the entry key hanging at her neck into the gap.

“Ta-da. Here’s the Office of Narye.”

The moment the door opened, Jaegyeom’s eyes went wide. He had never even imagined there would be such a wide, modern space hidden inside a centuries-old structure.

“Lead Naja Kang, hello.”

“Oh, Ibin. You’re here?”

Naja who recognized Kang Ibin greeted her as they passed. Overwhelmed by the unfamiliar atmosphere, Jaegyeom froze where he stood. “Surprised?” Kang Ibin grinned and patted him on the shoulder. Jaegyeom clutched the strap of his crossbody bag tighter against his chest. It felt strange to think that all those people, all of whom looked completely ordinary, were Naja. Every single person in sight was wearing a suit. Jaegyeom was the only one dressed casually.

“All right, relax. I’ll show you around headquarters later. The test starts at exactly two, so we don’t have much time right now. We can’t be late, so come on.”

After checking the time, Kang Ibin hurried him toward the annex. Jaegyeom followed close behind her, looking around the lobby of headquarters, then suddenly asked a question.

“Um... what kind of test is it?”

“Huh?” Kang Ibin stopped walking and looked startled.

“You came here without knowing anything?”

“Yeah,” Jaegyeom answered, nodding slowly.

“Chief Yoon didn’t explain it?”

“He just said it was a rite of passage.”

Good grief. A rite of passage? It was such a Chief Yoon sort of explanation that Kang Ibin almost laughed. The kind of arrogant, unhelpful explanation that practically said, It’s someone I brought in, so there’s no way he’ll fail. To be fair, she thought so too. After all, he was a gifted recruit Chief Yoon had personally chosen as his junior. Even so, shouldn’t he at least have explained it properly to the person taking the test...?

After glancing around, Kang Ibin pulled Jaegyeom off to the side.

“First of all, there are two paths into the Office.”

Holding up her fingers, she went on briskly.

“One is entering as an apprentice trainee and going through two years of training. The other is entering through a recommendation from an existing Naja. You’re the second case. Chief Yoon picked you himself. Got it?”

Apprentices were recruited once a year through the Covert Division. Since any gifted person could become an apprentice, a large number of them were people who either lacked basic skills or had only just begun to see. They spent two years developing their abilities.

On the other hand, once a Naja had at least five years of service, they gained the authority to nominate outside candidates. If they judged someone to be a gifted person who already possessed a certain level of ability, they could recommend that person directly for entry into the Office. People who entered by recommendation did not go through the apprentice period.

“To become a full Naja, you have to pass two exams. Once you finish the full two years as an apprentice, you qualify to take the first exam. But people entering by recommendation can take the first exam right away, without going through the apprentice period.”

Jaegyeom shifted his eyes as he absorbed her explanation.

“The test you’re taking today is that first exam. If you pass it, you’ll spend three months working with a team as a probationary Naja.”

It was rare for someone entering by recommendation to fail the first exam. If you already had a certain level of ability, passing it was easy. That was why Chief Yoon had called it a rite of passage.

After carefully laying out the key points for him, Kang Ibin grabbed Jaegyeom by the wrist and hurried him along. When they climbed the stairs, a broad corridor opened up ahead. The annex was just around the corner.

“Go. Come back as the youngest member of Team 1 of the Exorcism Unit.”

Having completed the pickup without incident, Kang Ibin smacked him on the back and laughed.

*****

Once he entered the annex, he saw someone standing in front of a large door beneath a sign reading Conference Room 3, looking over a stack of papers. Like the people Jaegyeom had seen in the lobby, he was dressed in a suit. Spotting Jaegyeom standing blankly at the far end of the hall, he waved him over.

“You’re here for the exam, right? Come over here.”

The unfamiliar Naja flipped through his paperwork and asked for his name first.

“Name?”

“Kim Jaegyeom.” 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The man found Jaegyeom’s name, marked something down, and handed him a number tag. Jaegyeom’s number was 77. With a yawn, the Naja opened the door to Conference Room 3.

“Pin the number tag to the left side of your chest and go straight in.”

He looked visibly exhausted as he waved Jaegyeom inside.

“Numbers 1 through 10. 11 through 20... ten people per row, seated in order from right to left. Yours is aaaall the way in the last row.”

After showing him his seat, the tired Naja immediately closed the door again. Jaegyeom looked around inside Conference Room 3, a little taken aback. Taehee had definitely said there would be “a few” newcomers. But what Jaegyeom saw in front of him was dozens upon dozens of people.

In what world is this “a few”...?