Honbul: Flame of the Soul

Part 2

When the life allotted to a person ran out and death came, it was said that the flesh returned to the earth and became soil, while the soul once trapped within the body scattered into the heavens.

At the very brink of death, a clear bluish light slipped out of the body, and from ancient times people had called this the soulfire.

Whenever people witnessed a soulfire, they mourned the light setting out on a distant road and folded their hands to pray for the peace of the dead.

Yet there were always things that defied the natural order.

Not every soulfire ascended.

At times, instead of rising to heaven, it clung to the earth.

When a soulfire meant to go upward became bound to this world, it turned into the residue of life itself, the seed of calamity.

And so, at last, that ill-omened seed sprouted a twisted, profane thing.

That thing was the being called a ghost.

(Excerpt omitted)

If the mountains and streams steeped in darkness were the territory of ghosts, then Narye was the torch that drove darkness away.

And whenever Narye was performed, there was always a Bangsangsi at its center. Its appearance was so strange beyond description that anyone who saw it before the gathered crowd could not help but be struck with awe.

It wore bearskin over its body, red robes and a black skirt, and upon its face it always bore a grotesque mask, so nothing was known of its true features.

Four eyes were carved into that mask, and because those eyes shone like gold, it was also called the Four Golden Eyes.

Its face was the mask, and the mask was the source of its power.

Those golden eyes could see the names engraved upon souls, and it was said that if the Bangsangsi called a soul’s name three times in succession, that soul would become soulfire and rise to heaven.

By that absolute calling, it granted death to the living and ascension to the dead.

It was more than enough to set the reversed order of things right, and it brought all ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) disorder back into line.

The power to guide soulfire.

That was the authority of the Bangsangsi.

—Excerpt from Guna Sejeon

*****

That day, Jaegyeom said,

“When I told you to leave, I meant it.”

Those were the first words out of his mouth the moment he saw Jeongju waiting in the entryway.

Even before hearing them, Jeongju had already been deeply shocked.

Jaegyeom had only just come back from going out with Mesan, and anyone could see that he had been crying.

Jeongju had never, not once, seen Jaegyeom cry before.

“In the first place, I never asked either of you to live with me. I never asked you to stay by my side.”

In an instant, Jaegyeom dragged back the very subject Jeongju and Mesan had been desperately putting off for a little while.

He had told them both to leave.

That it was his wish.

“I never told you to come. You two just showed up on your own.”

The tip of Jaegyeom’s nose was red, and the rims of his eyes were red too. His swollen eyes did not even need mentioning.

Up until the moment he had left the house, he had been his usual self.

Now he wore an unfamiliar face Jeongju had never seen before.

“We somehow ended up living like this, but I’ve never once thought I want us to keep living together, or that I don’t want us to part.”

Jaegyeom spoke in a rush, as though vomiting up words he had chewed over and over for a very long time.

“Because that would hurt too much.”

As he said it, he wiped the dampness still left on his face.

“Later on, it’d hurt too much. For me...”

Jaegyeom thought back to the first times he had met the two of them.

They had come into his life at different times, but they had behaved the same way. Both of them had trailed stubbornly after him, one step behind, refusing to leave him alone.

He had thought driving them off would be too much trouble, and assumed they would eventually give up and fall away on their own, so he had left them alone.

At some point, before he knew it, they had quietly settled themselves at his side.

When he finally came to his senses, the sight of the three of them living under one roof had seemed absurd.

A fox and a wild ginseng.

He had considered separating from them, but in the end he had decided to leave things as they were.

He had not exactly welcomed it, but he had not hated it either.

And when he really thought about it, both of them lived several times longer than humans did.

That, in truth, had been the biggest reason he had allowed them to remain at his side.

And the very reason he had kept them near later became the reason he told them to leave.

At first, because he had assumed it would only be for the time being anyway, he had not thought much of this life.

Then one day, without warning, he felt a sense of danger.

It began the moment he realized for himself that he, who had been accustomed to being alone, had somehow grown used to the sight of the three of them together.

Later, he would end up alone again. Without fail.

That thought, rooted deep inside him, drove Jaegyeom away from the other two.

Without even realizing it, he had already set himself apart.

They could not become any closer than this.

They could not cherish one another, sacrifice for one another, or come to need one another.

They could not.

Jaegyeom believed he had to send them back to where each of them belonged.

As soon as possible, before it was too late.

But on the day Yoon Taehee threatened him by invoking Jeongju, the day he returned home and Mesan was gone, the day he sat blankly in the wreckage of the living room, Jaegyeom realized something.

It was already too late.

Maybe it would have been far better if both Jeongju and Mesan had really been nothing more than kids he happened to know.

If that had been true, Jaegyeom would not have cried today.

But there was no helping it anymore.

“But I’m not going to tell you to leave now.”

If he could not keep it, then he should throw it away.

And if he could not throw it away, then he should protect it.

That was the conclusion the boy had reached.

“I didn’t tell you to come, so I won’t tell you to go either.”

As time passed, both Jeongju and Mesan would disappear someday.

One way or another.

And so the young-faced boy decided he would meet the parting that was coming with composure.

He would not be afraid in advance of the day he would be left behind.

“But you can leave whenever you want. Just like you came on your own, you can go on your own too.”

And when that day came, he would wave until their backs disappeared from sight.

“I might not have welcomed you when you came, but I’ll see you off when you leave.”

With that, Jaegyeom crooked one corner of his mouth in a mischievous smile.

It was a smile befitting a boy.

Jeongju stood there for a long moment, staring blankly, as if his mind had gone empty.

At that moment, finally, Jeongju understood that everything had returned to where it belonged.

He realized it only now, in the moment he stood facing a Jaegyeom so unlike his usual self. freewebnovel.cσ๓

A beat too late, tears began to gather in Jeongju’s eyes.

The boy had taken back his wish.

*****

The modest two-story house at the foot of the mountain had begun preparing for a move several days ago.

Two days had passed since Jaegyeom regained consciousness after hovering near death from the aftermath of his berserk episode.

Since then, Jeongju had been diligently searching for a new place to live, gathering information from every corner he could.

The suggestion that they move had been rather sudden, but Jaegyeom accepted it without protest.

He agreed as well that this house was no longer safe.

He had already finished packing what needed to be packed so they could leave at once the moment a new place was found.

But finding a new place to live was far harder than expected.

It had to be somewhere near mountains, because Mesan needed spiritual force. The house also needed a wide yard attached to it.

And since they wanted a place with as few people around as possible, the conditions were difficult in every way.

Finding a house that met all of those requirements in a short amount of time was no easy matter.

More than once, Jeongju found a place that seemed suitable, reached out, and then was crushed to hear that it would not be vacant for months.

His insides were burning black with frustration.

As a result, Jeongju had not managed even a moment of sleep for two full days, and from early that morning he had been sitting on the living-room sofa.

His eyes were bloodshot as he kept checking the spare phones he had prepared in advance, one after the other, so intently that he did not even notice Jaegyeom coming out of his room.

Jaegyeom’s hair was a complete mess, sticking out everywhere from how wildly he must have slept all night.

He wandered toward the kitchen and drifted around the table.

Then, with the ease of habit, he opened the cupboard and took out a cup of instant noodles.

Only then did Jeongju notice him.

His eyes widened as he hurried over.

“When did you come out?”

Seeing the cup noodles in Jaegyeom’s hand, Jeongju said he would make him a proper breakfast instead.

But Jaegyeom answered sharply that he was hardly about to sit there and be served a full meal by someone who looked half-dead.

That was how haggard Jeongju looked.

“Wash your feet and go to sleep.”

With that rebuke, Jaegyeom poured in hot water.

“I want to. I really do. But I’m too worried to sleep...”

“Then stop worrying.”

Jeongju made an incredulous face at that answer, as blunt and straightforward as ever.

“How am I supposed to stop worrying?”

“You said it yourself. We should be fine for a while.”

Jaegyeom left the subject unspoken, but Jeongju understood at once who he meant.

That the Naja would not be able to move properly for about a month.

It was the message Yoon Taehee had left behind when he came and went while Jaegyeom was still hovering near death.

Mesan had repeated it exactly, and though Jaegyeom had seemed only half-listening, he had apparently taken in every word.

“You don’t actually believe that man just because he said it, do you?”

Jeongju leaned in, his expression grave.

“But it’s true that nothing’s happened for the last few days.”

Unlike Jeongju, who was all nerves and urgency, Jaegyeom seemed completely at ease.

Yoon Taehee’s words were reasonable enough.

He had been hit by an arrow, so naturally he would not be able to move around much for a while, and even if he recovered, Yoon Taehee had erased the memories, so tracking anything down would be difficult too.

Once they left this house, finding their trail would not be easy.

“No, but Jaegyeom. What exactly does that man do?”

Jeongju had heard a rough outline of what had happened.

But Yoon Taehee alone was impossible to pin down.

Mesan said he did not seem like a bad person, but Jeongju thought otherwise.

Jeongju was not as innocent as Mesan.

Even if he had helped in the end, he was still a Naja.

Jaegyeom must have had his own reasons for not finishing him off at the end, but even so, Jeongju had no intention of lowering his guard.

“I told you. He’s a Naja who infiltrated the school as the librarian.”

Jaegyeom answered around a mouthful of noodles as though it were nothing worth dwelling on.

“That’s all?”

Jeongju asked, still unconvinced.

Yoon Taehee had said he would come back once Jaegyeom woke up, but several days had passed without a word.

As things stood, all Jeongju knew about him was that he was a Naja who had infiltrated the school as a librarian, and that he had asked Jaegyeom to become a Naja.

“...That’s all.”

Because that was all Jaegyeom had told him.

Jaegyeom did not tell him that Yoon Taehee had threatened him, or why he had asked Jaegyeom to become a Naja, or that he was planning to destroy the Office of Narye.

He had already told Mesan, who had been there for it, to keep quiet too.

It was not something to be tossed around lightly.

Whether it was true or false.

“I don’t like him.”

Jeongju said, his lips jutting out in displeasure.

Through this whole affair, Jeongju had learned that he had been walking through a minefield without even realizing it.

He had heard of the Office of Narye before, but not in any detail.

Only vague rumors: that the Office, once vanished, had been rebuilt in the modern era, and that there were gifted people working as Naja.

He had never dreamed they would end up entangled with it like this.

He had not even known until now that there were so many Naja in their line of work.

“You think you’re the only one? I hate that bastard too.”

Jaegyeom rummaged around in his noodles and agreed without much feeling.

“I just have a bad feeling. You know my instincts are good, right?”

Jeongju lowered his voice and whispered.

Without saying anything, Jaegyeom nodded.

It was true.

Even from the vague, pared-down version he had told him, Jeongju was reacting to Yoon Taehee more sharply than necessary, bristling with instinctive wariness and rejection.

The instinct that sensed danger.

A fox’s nature was still a fox’s nature, after all.

“I heard you. So go sleep already.”

Jaegyeom sounded annoyed.

“Why do you keep telling me to sleep? Do I look that bad?”

“If you don’t believe me, go ask Mesan.”

Jaegyeom tipped his chin toward the outside.

Beyond the large sliding glass door, the sky above the wall was bright and clear.

Mesan had been bustling around the yard since morning, taking in the dew.

The sunlight spreading into the corner of the yard was warm.

When they told him they were moving, Mesan had seemed sad about leaving a house he had grown attached to, so he had stayed out in the yard much longer than usual.

“There’s no point getting scared ahead of time over something that hasn’t even happened yet.”

Still looking out at the scene beyond the glass, Jaegyeom murmured,

“If we keep looking, we’ll find at least one place for a family of three.”

After leaving behind that easygoing remark, he devoted himself to eating.

“......”

Jeongju blinked, dazed.

A family of three.

The words had passed by as though they were nothing, yet they echoed in his ears.

In all the years they had lived together, Jaegyeom had almost never spoken of the three of them as one.

Instead of saying “us,” he always said “you two.”

It was not that he was consciously trying to draw a line.

It was simply the way he truly thought, and so that was what came out of his mouth without him noticing.

But now he had said family...

“What’s with that face?”

Seeing Jeongju’s strange expression, Jaegyeom squinted one eye and asked in confusion.

Jeongju snapped back to himself and shook his head awkwardly.

“Huh? N-nothing...”

Jaegyeom looked suspicious for a moment, then returned to his meal.

At some point he had already mixed cold rice into his cup noodles.

Jeongju watched him eat with a deeply satisfied look.

The corners of his mouth kept trying to creep upward, so he rolled his eyes and forced his expression back under control.

A performer’s talent was meant to be used at times like this.

His face, which had been gray with exhaustion, was already a little brighter.

“But Jaegyeom, why are you up so early today?”

Now that he thought about it, Jaegyeom usually loved sleeping in and would not wake until the sun was high in the sky unless someone went in and woke him.

So seeing him up this early, taking care of breakfast himself, felt strangely unfamiliar all over again.

At that, Jaegyeom stopped with his spoon halfway up and looked up.

“Well...”

As if asking why he was being questioned about something so obvious, he lifted one eyebrow and answered,

“Because it’s time to go to school.”