Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Dessert was green plum sorbet. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

After finishing his stern lecture, Jaegyeom was tormenting the sorbet with a teaspoon. Taehee, who had been holding his spoon in his mouth, leaned comfortably back against the floor-seating backrest and spoke.

“All right... then listen while you eat.”

Jaegyeom raised his eyes as he chewed. Taehee lifted one hand and spread it open, showing his palm. Dessert had come out, so the staff would not be coming in for a while. Taking advantage of that gap, Taehee calmly began the one-on-one orientation.

“The Office of Narye is made up of five departments in total.”

As Taehee explained, he folded his fingers down one by one. The Purification Unit. The Ritual Implements Department. The Talisman Unit. The Covert Division. And lastly, the Exorcism Unit. Jaegyeom nodded as if he understood.

“First, the Purification Unit. The Purification Unit handles cleansing objects or places where contamination has taken hold. It’s also the place that treats injured Naja.”

Managing the herb room, which formed the foundation for rare medicinal ingredients, was also the Purification Unit’s work. Anything related to healing, treatment, and cleansing could be considered the Purification Unit’s exclusive field. Inside headquarters, the most peaceful and quiet department was the Purification Unit.

“Next is the Ritual Implements Department. The °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Ritual Implements Department invents and develops all sorts of weapons and tools. You can think of almost every strange object used in the Office of Narye as something made by the Ritual Implements Department.”

The moment the Ritual Implements Department came up, Jaegyeom’s eyes crumpled.

“Hey. Are those fuckers still alive?”

“Yes... well, for the moment, that is how it turned out....”

Taehee touched the end of his eyebrow, expressing regret. Because of the incident with Mesan, Jaegyeom had a vivid grudge against the Naja of the Ritual Implements Department. Lee Youngshin, in particular, had better watch himself on dark roads. “If I see him, I’ll really kill him that time.” Jaegyeom ground his teeth. Taehee looked troubled for a moment before opening his mouth. “And the Covert Division....” Before the topic of the Ritual Implements Department could settle in, he quickly and naturally changed the subject.

“The Covert Division is in charge of civilian public order and patrols. They usually conceal their identities and infiltrate. Their role is to gather information. The jobs they disguise themselves as are varied too. When an incident or accident happens among civilians, they report it to the situation room and request support.”

The key was not to dismiss superstitions and rumors floating around in the world, but to catch hold of clues from them. To use a comparison, if the Ritual Implements Department was the hands and feet of the Office of Narye, the Covert Division could be called its eyes and ears. If the police stood in the light, the Naja of the Covert Division stood in the shadows. Of course, there were also many Naja who actually worked as police officers. When the apprentice period came around, the ones who went around searching for the gifted were also the Covert Division.

For the youngest member of his team, Taehee continued his explanation in a gentle, measured voice.

“And the Exorcism Unit is the department that stands at the front of every incident. Its role is to go out into the field and resolve cases. Usually, they deal with vengeful ghosts, but you can think of any work where lives may be in danger as something transferred to the Exorcism Unit.”

The Exorcism Unit, which clashed directly with ghosts, was the core of the Office of Narye. That was because it was the department that most directly practiced the word “Narye,” a ritual meant to drive off evil ghosts. The traditional mask granted only to Naja of the Exorcism Unit proclaimed the Bangsangsi’s will.

Therefore, it was no exaggeration to say the core power of the Office of Narye lay in the Exorcism Unit. There was even a joke that the other departments existed in order to support the work of the Exorcism Unit. There was a reason Taehee’s name carried such weight.

“And last, the Talisman Unit. As the name suggests, it’s the place that writes talismans and handles spells. Except for talismans with basic uses, you have to submit a separate request form. Only after permission is granted will they issue the talisman. Spells are a dangerous and powerful field.”

Among civilians as well, if one went through a fortune-telling house, one could obtain talismans easily enough. However, talismans obtained outside were often fake, and even if they were proper talismans, most were used for small-scale purposes, such as calling in luck for passing an exam or luck with money.

By contrast, the talismans of the Office of Narye manifested various spells according to their purpose. Therefore, a simple Exorcism Unit talisman could be carried easily, but anything beyond that had to go through a strict procedure. This was to block the possibility of people abusing or misusing power carelessly.

Taehee crooked up the corner of his mouth and added,

“That’s why, after the Exorcism Unit, the Talisman Unit has the strongest influence. Some call it the hidden real power of the Office of Narye. If you get on their bad side, they won’t issue talismans easily. If you get just one good talisman, your work becomes much less troublesome, so everyone crawls for them.”

“What an annoying department.”

Jaegyeom nodded as he scraped at the sorbet with his spoon. With that, the rough outline of each department was over. Having finished speaking, Taehee rested his arm on the table. He watched Jaegyeom eat his sorbet, paused for a moment, then said quietly,

“And the department in charge of the registry room is that annoying Talisman Unit.”

At the amused note in his voice, Jaegyeom stopped and raised his eyes.

The moment the words “registry room” came out, Jaegyeom understood that this had become a meeting to plot rebellion. This was the real purpose of the conversation wearing the shell of an orientation.

Returning “Yoon Taehee” to Yoon Taehee.

Jaegyeom glanced at the closed sliding door. The relaxed atmosphere drew taut all at once. Jaegyeom’s expression, which had been blank the whole time as he leisurely gnawed at his sorbet, turned sharp.

As expected....

Taehee silently wore a satisfied smile.

“Tell me something. When do I submit that wooden tag?”

Jaegyeom put down the spoon in his hand and asked.

“You don’t submit it while you’re a probationary Naja. Three months later, once you formally become a Naja, you submit it then. Instead, during the probationary period, headquarters keeps a close eye on you.”

Because probationary Naja were in an unstable position where they could be expelled at any time, they did not make a separate contract. In addition, probationary Naja generally had unstable power and were often clumsy at handling ghostly force, so it was not uncommon for them to accidentally use ghostly force against fellow Naja. It was also meant to lessen that burden. And into that gap, Taehee had inserted a monstrous junior.

“But that wooden tag. Why don’t you steal it yourself?”

Straightening his back, Jaegyeom stared clearly at Taehee across from him. Stealing the wooden tag with “Yoon Taehee” written on it from the registry room. Taehee had said that was the first button of the plan. He had said it was something no one but Jaegyeom could do.

“Because if you touch the wooden tag with your own name on it, the spell activates.”

“A spell? What does it do?”

“The wooden tag catches fire.”

If he touched the one with his own name written on it, the wooden tag would catch fire, so he could not. In that case....

After chewing over the explanation and sinking into thought for a moment, Jaegyeom abruptly spoke.

“That wooden tag must be connected to the body.”

At the indifferent remark, Taehee stopped and stared at Jaegyeom.

“...Why are you looking at me like that?”

Jaegyeom looked puzzled. Taehee opened his mouth with a strange expression.

“How did you know when I hadn’t even told you?”

Jaegyeom answered with a sour face.

“It’s obvious if you think about it.”

Jaegyeom really was bright and intelligent. When he showed his strange side, clumsy with modern life, he looked exactly like a young boy. Yet whenever he showed such keen, flashing insight, Taehee suddenly felt the long years the boy had lived. Taehee gazed at the boy for a while, then smiled.

“Exactly right.”

At the polite praise that came flying at him, Jaegyeom needlessly fiddled with his bangs.

It was just as Jaegyeom had guessed. An object mediated through a part of the body or through blood had the nature of a kind of double. For example, there were cases where a straw doll was made to stand in for a person for a curse or a talisman to ward off misfortune, and this was also why one would place that person’s fingernails or hair inside. It created a physical link.

All the more so if all three syllables of the name were engraved in blood and a spell was placed on it. The effect it had on the actual person would be very great as well. For that reason, the registry room where the wooden tags were kept was one of the places handled strictly even within headquarters. Carelessly exposing wooden tags directly connected to the safety of Naja was dangerous.

“That’s why the registry room isn’t a place anyone can enter carelessly, no matter how high their rank is. In principle, the only person allowed into the registry room is the registry room clerk.”

Making a blood contract through the wooden tag was also within the domain of spells, so it fell under the Talisman Unit’s jurisdiction. Therefore, the registry room where the wooden tags were stored was also managed entirely by the Talisman Unit, and the registry room clerk had not changed once since the Office of Narye was rebuilt.

The registry room clerk was an old woman nearing eighty, a Naja from the Talisman Unit. Her name was Jeon Okrye. Among the Naja, she was called Ms. Okrye. When one engraved one’s name in blood on the wooden tag and submitted it, Ms. Okrye personally placed a spell on each one and stored it in the registry room.

“The registry room is in the basement of the main building. In the past, guards were assigned separately, and people personally stood watch in front of the registry room, but after the accident, no one guards it anymore.”

Jaegyeom lifted his head.

“Accident? What accident?”