Honbul: Flame of the Soul

At the words that slipped out like a mutter to himself, the successful candidates could only look puzzled.

My lord? Who was he talking about?

Jaegyeom blinked blankly.

Yoon Taehee, who had been loosely perched on the table with an expressionless face, shoved his hands into his pants pockets and asked,

“Hwang Seungsu. Where are we?”

Hwang Seungsu moved his lips in confusion.

Where were they? Well, obviously...

“The O-Office of Narye... sir.”

“That’s right. The Office of Narye.”

Yoon Taehee tilted his head at an angle as he spoke.

“If you know where you are, it would be better to conduct yourself a little more wisely. This isn’t the kind of place that lets one loach muddy the whole pond. You can’t just swing your fists whenever your temper tells you to.”

At the smiling reprimand, Hwang Seungsu swallowed.

He had thought that, since this person knew his brother, he might let it pass moderately. At first listen, the words had been delivered in ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) a kind and polite tone, but their content was sharp and scathing.

“For someone who talks about life in society, you seem to have quite a serious problem telling right from wrong. Is that perhaps because you have such an impressive backer? Well, if it’s Senior Naja Hwang, he certainly is in a position where he could smooth over something like this easily.”

At the gentle sarcasm, Hwang Seungsu’s face stiffened.

“Still, why not work on reading the room a little? This isn’t some street corner... Ah, or are your abilities so outstanding that you don’t need to read the room?”

Yoon Taehee rubbed his chin and murmured thoughtfully.

“Right, you said you were aiming for the Exorcism Unit, didn’t you? Shall we check?”

He rose lightly from the table he had been sitting on.

All of a sudden, Yoon Taehee lifted his right arm, undid the button at his cuff, and rolled up his shirt sleeve with a careless hand. Then he stepped toward Hwang Seungsu, who stood nearby.

Suddenly?

Check?

Check what?

Just as Hwang Seungsu looked at Yoon Taehee in confusion—

“Hwang Seungsu. Try layering ghostly force over your face.”

The moment the words ended, Yoon Taehee swung his hand.

SLAP!

Hwang Seungsu’s head snapped violently to the side.

It happened in an instant.

At the sudden situation, everyone stood there with their mouths open, staring blankly at Yoon Taehee. Jaegyeom was no different.

Yoon Taehee, who had said he would check his skill, had slapped Hwang Seungsu across the face.

“......”

“......”

“......”

The mood in the conference room froze all at once.

“How was that just now? I hit you without ghostly force.”

Yoon Taehee tilted his head and asked, as if reminding him that this was only for the purpose of checking his skill.

Hwang Seungsu, who had been standing there in a daze, only managed after a long moment to cup the cheek that had been struck.

Yoon Taehee said,

“I hit you with my bare hand. Did it hurt?”

“Wh-what in the world is th-this...?”

Hwang Seungsu stammered with a stunned face.

“The Exorcism Unit has a lot of work that involves direct physical contact. It’s a combat position out in the field. So, naturally, you have to handle ghostly force well. When attacking, you release ghostly force outside your body. When defending, you coat your skin in ghostly force and maintain that state. It reduces the impact coming at you. Think of it as wearing armor or protective gear.”

Yoon Taehee continued explaining kindly.

“That’s why defending is much harder than attacking. Sending ghostly force out is easy, but when you defend, you have to keep a fixed amount of ghostly force still in place. It requires a high degree of concentration. If you control ghostly force well, then even when you take the same damage, you can get hurt less—or even nullify the damage entirely. Do you understand?”

The senior Naja’s meticulous lesson continued.

The successful candidates’ faces had gone white, and Jaegyeom was staring at Yoon Taehee with a blank expression.

Yoon Taehee had told him that, if possible, he should let the other person throw the first punch.

So Jaegyeom had endured it once.

This time, it had been his turn.

But Yoon Taehee had intervened at that exact moment, so he had not been able to pay Hwang Seungsu back. Since he had taken one hit, he should have hit him once too. Yoon Taehee should have stepped in after he hit him. Why had he chosen that exact moment to clean things up? Jaegyeom had almost gotten a little angry about it.

Could he be doing that on purpose?

Maybe because he’s angry for me...

“Then I trust that served as an explanation? Again.”

At that moment, Yoon Taehee spoke with a faint dimple in his cheek.

“This time, I’ll put ghostly force into my hand.”

SLAP!

Before Hwang Seungsu could open his mouth to say anything, another sharp hand flew at him. This time, it was the opposite cheek. As announced, it was a slap loaded with ghostly force. The sound was much louder than before. The recoil of the impact made Hwang Seungsu’s body twist briefly.

“Oh, you seem to have blocked that better than the last one. Good. You handle ghostly force better than I expected.”

Yoon Taehee looked down at his own hand and praised him in a bright tone.

“......”

“......”

All the successful candidates quietly exchanged glances, looking equally at a loss.

Somehow, the situation was taking an ominous turn.

Now everyone could be certain.

No matter how they looked at it, this was not simply an action born from checking someone’s skill. The senior Naja was humiliating Hwang Seungsu. Very deliberately.

In the end, Hwang Seungsu clenched his teeth while cupping his red, swollen cheeks.

“No matter how much of a s-senior you are, shouldn’t this be out of l-line?”

Hwang Seungsu glared at Yoon Taehee, his face red and blotchy.

His cheeks hurt as if they were burning. But the pain was secondary; the humiliation was far stronger. He had been slapped twice in front of everyone.

“S-saying you’re checking my skill is just an excuse. Aren’t you taking your anger out on me?”

Yoon Taehee looked at Hwang Seungsu as if surprised.

“Oh... so you aren’t completely incapable of reading the room...”

What?

Hwang Seungsu’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper.

“That’s right. I’m taking my anger out on you. Someone else touched what I don’t even dare touch, so honestly, I got a little pissed.”

Yoon Taehee’s words were too unclear in their subject to be easily understood.

The only one who understood them was Jaegyeom.

Yoon Taehee really was angry.

He was angry because of me, and he’s doing that on purpose.

Jaegyeom had expected him to smoothly brush it off as usual and ask what he was talking about, so this was unexpected. He blinked blankly.

Then Yoon Taehee lifted one eyebrow at a crooked angle.

“But what should I do? I’m still not done being angry.”

The cold words flowed out in a low voice, and at the same time—

SLAP!

Without warning, Yoon Taehee struck Hwang Seungsu across the cheek.

He hit him so hard that Hwang Seungsu’s lip split and his body tipped to one side. The successful candidates nearby reflexively reached out, then checked the mood.

“Ah, ugh...”

Hwang Seungsu sat collapsed on the floor, groaning as he clutched his head. It was a tremendous pain, as if his skull were splitting.

Looking down at him, Yoon Taehee smiled faintly.

“Still, I was sincere about wanting to check your skill. As a fellow Naja of the Exorcism Unit.”

At the words, delivered in a flat tone, the successful candidates looked at Yoon Taehee with startled eyes.

He was from the Exorcism Unit.

“It exceeded my expectations, to be fair. Well, there’s no chance you’ll be joining my team.”

Yoon Taehee murmured while putting his hands into his pants pockets.

“Because our team looks at character.”

Yoon Taehee, who had been looking down at Hwang Seungsu, lifted his head.

His eyes met Jaegyeom’s, who was looking at him with a subtle expression. At that, Yoon Taehee seemed to stare silently back at Jaegyeom, then added lightly,

“Oh, and faces too.”

Yoon Taehee playfully scrunched the bridge of his nose.

“......”

For a moment, Jaegyeom looked away without realizing it.

Then Hwang Seungsu barely squeezed out his voice.

“N-no matter how wrong I was, if you gave me a penalty according to proper procedure, fine, but putting your h-hands on me like this is clearly un-unfair...”

Yoon Taehee cut off Hwang Seungsu’s words again without fail.

“If you don’t like it, get promoted.”

It was a clean answer, without a single unnecessary word, and utterly careless.

*****

“We’ll let today’s incident pass without making any further issue of it. Since I’ve said this much, I trust you’ve more or less understood. There will be no revocation of anyone’s pass, so you may feel at ease. However, I hope this never happens again.”

Yoon Taehee checked his wristwatch and settled the situation in a businesslike tone.

At the words that he would overlook today’s events, the successful candidates breathed sighs of relief. They had been on edge, wondering what they would do if their passes really were revoked, as someone had said, so this was fortunate.

After finishing his anger, Yoon Taehee was a generous superior.

When he finished speaking, Yoon Taehee approached Jaegyeom.

As the distance between them gradually narrowed, only now did the scent of his cologne seem to drift over.

Jaegyeom had not said a word for a while.

Then, right on cue, the front door of the conference room opened, and an unfamiliar Naja entered.

“Hello! Successful candidates, every—huh?”

At a glance, the scene inside the conference room was a mess, and even the atmosphere brushing against the skin felt somehow unsettled.

Holding a file of documents to the chest, the Naja looked around the conference room with a bewildered face before that gaze landed on Hwang Seungsu, who was sitting on the floor.

“What happened? Why are you sitting like that?”

Hwang Seungsu only groaned without a word.

The successful candidates, who should have been seated, were standing around awkwardly like wooden posts.

Then the unfamiliar Naja noticed Yoon Taehee.

The unfamiliar Naja’s eyes turned doubtful.

Judging by his formal clothes, he seemed to be a Naja, not a successful candidate, but why was he here? The unfamiliar Naja did not know Yoon Taehee’s bare face.

“I’m Do Nayoung from the Purification Unit, here to conduct orientation.”

Leaving various questions aside, Do Nayoung introduced themself first.

At that, the successful candidates were stunned.

They had naturally thought the senior Naja who had arrived first was the person who had come to conduct orientation.

Do Nayoung asked,

“Excuse me, but who are you? Your affiliation is...”

At Do Nayoung’s question, the gazes of every successful candidate except Hwang Seungsu turned toward Yoon Taehee at once.

He wasn’t here for orientation?

Then what on earth...

At that, Yoon Taehee briefly rolled his eyes as if thinking something over, then abruptly whipped his head around and looked at Jaegyeom.

Jaegyeom met his gaze with a puzzled face.

Yoon Taehee suddenly opened his mouth.

“Who am I?”

“What? What. Sir.”

These were the first words he had exchanged with Yoon Taehee after several days apart.

Yoon Taehee had suddenly tossed the question directed at himself to Jaegyeom. Flustered, Jaegyeom faintly furrowed the corners of his eyes.

Didn’t you tell me not to act like I knew you?

As if reading Jaegyeom’s look, Yoon Taehee tilted his head slightly as though to say it was fine now.

Watching the mood, Jaegyeom reluctantly opened his mouth.

“Yoon... Yoon Taehee...”

Who?!

Do Nayoung flinched in surprise, eyes widening like a startled rabbit.

Yoon Taehee still had his gaze fixed on Jaegyeom.

And?

Even though Jaegyeom had answered as instructed, Yoon Taehee seemed to be waiting for what came next, as if there was still something left.

Ah, this son of a bitch...

Realizing what he wanted, Jaegyeom added fiercely,

“Chief. Naja.”

At that, Yoon Taehee seemed to laugh aloud, then looked at Do Nayoung.

“So he says.”

It was an unfriendly self-introduction, quoted through someone else’s words.