Honbul: Flame of the Soul

The mood gradually loosened.

The team members drank and chatted easily, carrying on lively conversations while Jaegyeom sat among them like a folding screen, hardly saying a word. Still, they took a warm interest in him. Every so often, someone would ask him some harmless question or toss him a joke, as if trying to ease the awkwardness for him. Everyone on the team was looking after Jaegyeom in one way or another.

When the meat finished cooking, they put it on his plate first. When he reached for a side dish set too far away, someone pushed the dish closer before he could stretch. Since this was a newcomer rite, the main character of today’s gathering was, without question, Jaegyeom.

But the team’s friendliness only made Jaegyeom feel awkward and embarrassed, so he deliberately focused on eating. In that warm atmosphere, he ate meat quietly and with great concentration. He wrapped generous pieces in perilla leaves, dipped them in oil, ate them, and drank cold soda in between.

By then, he was full. There was no room left for anything else. Quite satisfied, Jaegyeom set down his chopsticks. He exhaled and straightened his back.

Then his gaze shifted diagonally across the table.

The seat where Yoon Taehee should have been sitting was completely empty.

What? Where did he go? He was there a minute ago.

Jaegyeom had been so absorbed in eating that he had not even noticed Taehee leaving. He turned his head this way and that, looking around, but Yoon Taehee was nowhere in sight. Before he knew it, the inside of the restaurant had emptied out somewhat as the night deepened and other customers left.

“Jaegyeom, what’s wrong? Want us to order something else?”

Jaegyeom shook his head at Kang Ibin’s question.

“No. The Chief...”

“Ah, you mean where the Chief went?”

Even without him finishing, Kang Ibin understood what he meant.

“He stepped outside for a phone call.”

“Now that you mention it, he’s been gone a little long...”

Pyo Jiho stretched his upper body and peered outside.

“He didn’t get called back to headquarters, did he?”

When Kang Ibin tilted her head, Pyo Jiho’s expression turned solemn.

“No way! He can’t have! Then who’s paying for this?”

Pyo Jiho placed a hand on Jaegyeom’s shoulder and said, “Youngest, go check if the Chief is outside.” His voice was grave.

Jaegyeom, who had been sitting quietly, rose awkwardly.

He opened the restaurant door and stepped outside. After sitting in front of the fire all this time, the night air felt refreshingly cool when he drew in a deep breath. He scanned the alley, but all he saw were heavily drunk office workers trudging along, singing off-key and leaning on one another. Yoon Taehee was nowhere to be seen.

Wondering where he had disappeared to, Jaegyeom scratched his head.

Hmm... Did that mean he had to pay the bill?

With that thought in mind, he leaned his head around the corner of the building just in case.

“Huh?”

Jaegyeom’s eyes widened.

Yoon Taehee was crouched on the stairs, head hanging low.

“Hey.”

At the sound of Jaegyeom’s voice, Yoon Taehee slowly lifted his head.

Their eyes met from a distance. Yoon Taehee narrowed his eyes, then opened them again, staring at Jaegyeom in silence for a while.

“Oh. Who do we have here...”

After a moment, Yoon Taehee slowly opened his mouth. His voice was strangely more languid than usual.

Jaegyeom stared blankly back at him, wondering what was wrong. Yoon Taehee had taken off his jacket and was wearing only a white shirt. His arms rested loosely over his knees.

“What, are you drunk?”

Just as Jaegyeom was about to step closer, Yoon Taehee said, “Don’t come.”

“Why?”

When Jaegyeom stopped and asked, Yoon Taehee tilted his head at a crooked angle.

“I just put out a cigarette.”

Meaning, don’t come near because of the smell.

It did not really matter to Jaegyeom. After standing still for a moment, he walked up to him anyway. Yoon Taehee said nothing. Instead, his eyes followed Jaegyeom persistently.

Jaegyeom soon crouched beside him.

“Why did you come out?”

At Yoon Taehee’s question, Jaegyeom looked up at the black night sky.

“...Because it was hot.”

He had considered telling the truth, that Pyo Ji-something-or-other was worried Taehee might have run off without paying the bill, but he made up an excuse instead. To be fair, it was not exactly a lie. The inside of the restaurant had been filled with a low, heavy heat, and it had been fairly stuffy.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Jaegyeom tugged at the knot of his tie, then slowly turned his head and asked.

“...”

Yoon Taehee rested his cheek on the arm draped over his knee and fixed his eyes on Jaegyeom.

“Do you usually eat that well?”

“What?”

“You were eating so happily...”

Yoon Taehee did not answer the question and only murmured something else.

What? Is he really drunk?

Jaegyeom watched him silently with a doubtful, suspicious look. For a drunk man, his pronunciation was clear and his posture was steady enough... but there was still something subtly different from usual.

“Well. It was good.”

At the belated answer, Yoon Taehee laughed, a dimple forming in one cheek.

Jaegyeom lowered his head and fiddled with his shoelace as he spoke in passing.

“You don’t seem to eat much.”

“Do I? I ate a lot too.”

Jaegyeom raised his head with a serious expression.

“Did you? Is your stomach just small?”

“Stomach...”

Yoon Taehee buried his forehead against his arm and laughed.

“How are you supposed to use any strength eating like that?”

“Our Bride is worrying about me again.”

“...”

Jaegyeom’s eyes sharpened.

This bullshit again.

Even if he generously accepted that it had made sense on-site, Taehee was not even wearing his mask now. There was no reason to call him Bride.

“I told you not to call me that.”

When Jaegyeom snapped at him, Yoon Taehee rested his chin on his arm.

“Why? I like saying ‘Bride.’”

“If you like it that much, you wear it. Change your mask.”

Jaegyeom frowned and shot back.

“No... You’re the Bride, and I’m the Fool.”

Yoon Taehee seemed to smile, then shook his head.

“Did you know? The Fool is the scholar’s servant.”

In the masked play, the Fool played the servant of a proud, arrogant scholar. He was slow and always smiling, but he was not entirely insignificant. The Fool was a naïve, foolish character, the kind who always ended up being teased and tormented by others.

“He isn’t a commoner by status. He’s a good-natured person. If he wanted, he could leave the scholar’s side and live freely. But... the Fool never seems to consider leaving. People laugh at him and call him stupid, call him childish, but he just wanders around smiling as if everything is fine.”

Jaegyeom’s brows suddenly lifted, unsure where this was coming from.

It seemed Yoon Taehee really was drunk. The air around him was much quieter and more subdued than usual.

Still, if the Fool was such an insignificant, unimpressive character, why had Yoon Taehee insisted on wearing that mask? He had chosen the precious Bride mask for Jaegyeom...

“But I think I know why he did that...”

Yoon Taehee suddenly opened his mouth as if he had read Jaegyeom’s mind. With his face still buried in his arms, he tilted his head to one side and looked at Jaegyeom. His bangs fell loosely over his eyes. Through that faintly curled hair, Jaegyeom could see eyes as cold as the night air.

Why didn’t he leave the scholar’s side?

“Isn’t everyone actually being fooled by the Fool?”

Yoon Taehee whispered in a low voice.

“The Fool wants revenge on the scholar.”

The Fool was waiting for the chance to kill the scholar with his own hands. He was deliberately pretending to be an idiot, deceiving everyone. The arrogant, noble scholar would never dream that the hidden blade was tucked inside the Fool’s arms.

“The foolish, ignorant ones are the people who believe the Fool’s smiling face.”

Jaegyeom, who had been listening intently, looked at Yoon Taehee with a puzzled expression. He was clearly talking about masks, but words coming from Yoon Taehee somehow carried more meaning than that.

Yoon Taehee had interpreted the Fool from an entirely new angle. At first glance, it sounded plausible. But Jaegyeom had the strange [N O V E L I G H T] illusion that Taehee was talking about himself.

After thinking over the story carefully, Jaegyeom suddenly asked,

“So what happens after he gets revenge on the scholar? What happens next?”

“Who knows. I haven’t thought about that. What would happen...”

With a soft laugh, Yoon Taehee slowly pushed his fingers through his hair and rested his cheek again on his loosely draped arm.

“...”

After falling silent for a while, his face sunk deep in thought, he murmured quietly,

“Should I run away with the Bride...?”

Their gazes met exactly.

Only then was Jaegyeom certain.

Yoon Taehee was drunk.

As he quietly looked at Jaegyeom’s face, Taehee slowly closed his eyes at some point.

Jaegyeom watched him sink quietly into stillness.

The sky was dark. The night air was cold. A wind seemed to be blowing from somewhere. Yoon Taehee’s lingering scent seemed faintly mixed into that wind. His bangs fell lonely over his smooth forehead.

Before he realized it, Jaegyeom had stretched out his hand.

He hesitated, then stroked Yoon Taehee’s head once.

It was thick and soft, just as he had imagined.

Yoon Taehee did not open his eyes.

The city night deepened.