As True as a Dream Chapter 114

‘What will my boss do when I die?’

 

Hae-Joo already lost the most important person in her life twice.

 

If she dies, it’s over.

 

But what about the person left behind?

 

The loss and grief they have to endure?

 

That’s why she can’t die.

 

She didn’t want to put Yi Ho through that kind of loss and grief.

 

She laughed at the absurdity of her thoughts.

 

Hae-Joo couldn’t believe she’d gotten that far. She’d always been the one to put her own life first, no matter where or what, and now she wanted to live for someone else.

 

‘I didn’t want him to be sad. I want us to be happy together. So I’m going to live…!’

 

Hae-Joo approached the window with poison in her heart.

 

It was then.

 

She heard a loud, crunching sound directly above her.

 

She looked up reflexively, and one of the beams holding up the ceiling snapped with a loud crack and fell on top of her.

 

Hae-Joo’s eyes widened.

 

Tears instantly filled her eyes as she saw the burning wooden beam crashing down on her.

 

She didn’t want to die.

 

Ban Yi Ho…!

 

The image of Yi Ho’s face flashed before her eyes, smiling at her with those beautiful hazel eyes.

 

Hae-Joo squeezed her eyes tightly shut and stiffened her whole body against the pain that was about to overtake her.

 

Then she heard a sound like a drum bursting, followed by silence.

 

‘…Why doesn’t it hurt?’

 

Hae-Joo opened her eyes slightly as the beam fell to the ground, but she could not feel the fire and pain that should have engulfed her body.

 

She was at a loss for words, for Yi Ho stood before her like a mountain.

 

His hands braced the flaming wooden beam, but he quickly tossed it aside and looked down at her.

 

Hae-Joo held her breath.

 

It wasn’t because Yi Ho stood before her as if he had dropped from the sky.

 

It was because of his eyes, both of which glowed golden.

 

Yi Ho’s eyes were not like those of Westerners, each wearing a different color.

 

His eyes were literally sparkling.

 

Like a brilliant full moon in the night sky, beautiful and wild.

 

It was strange.

 

The Yi Ho she knew had deep black eyes.

 

But she couldn’t figure out why his eyes were like this now.

 

Besides, he had just gripped a beam on fire with his bare hands.

 

Without even a hint of pain or struggle.

 

As Hae-Joo gaped in disbelief, Yi Ho placed the wet cloth he was holding in his free hand over her head.

 

Then, without a word, he wrapped his arms around Hae-Joo’s waist and pulled her into a hug, her lungs escaping through the doorway he’d just broken through.

 

“Are you all right, Miss Hae-Joo!”

 

Once they were away from the scorching flames, Yi Ho unwound his hand from around Hae-Joo’s waist.

 

Tugging at the cloth over her head, Hae-Joo looked up at the familiar voice.

 

Hongo was standing there, holding a lantern.

 

“Thank God, I’m glad I found you. My master was so worried about you.”

 

Hongo slowly inspected her body and looked relieved when he saw that she was unharmed.

 

Hae-Joo turned her head to look up at him.

 

“Are you hurt?”

 

Shaking her head at Yi Ho’s question, Hae-Joo looked at Yi Ho grimly, unsure of what to say.

 

“Boss, your eyes… your eyes… why… is that…?”

 

Yi Ho’s eyes were still glowing a dazzling golden color.

 

The alien golden color of his eyes, coupled with the frighteningly intense pressure emanating from him, and the fact that he rarely spoke, made Hae-Joo feel uneasy.

 

Her mouth went dry and she swallowed the saliva in her throat, then looked down and saw Yi Ho’s hand.

 

Remembering that he had touched the beam on fire with his bare hands earlier, she suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist.

 

She examined his palm, but before he could blink, he pulled his hand from her and took a step back.

 

Hae-Joo looked up at his blatant rejection of her, and his eyes were back to black.

 

“…Boss…?”

 

‘How could his eyes change color so randomly? How?’

 

She opened her mouth to speak again, but the building collapsed on fire behind Yi Ho.

 

The heat radiated to where they stood, and Hae-Joo glanced back at the path she’d just clung to Yi Ho.

 

The roaring fire of the abandoned house illuminated the not-so-small space in front of them.

 

And strewn about were men in Japanese uniforms.

 

Downed.

 

Wide-eyed, Hae-Joo scanned them quickly.

 

Beside them lay a large tin can that probably contained oil.

 

‘Oil… Did they set the abandoned house on fire?’

 

As she stared at them, they didn’t move.

 

Stepping forward, Hae-Joo swallowed the scream that threatened to burst from her throat.

 

There was no blood.

 

Just necks snapped in ways they shouldn’t have, lifeless.

 

They were all dead.

 

Hae-Joo bit her lower lip tightly.

 

It wasn’t that she felt pity for them, of course, for trying to burn her alive.

 

It was just that why did they have to die like this?

 

‘Isn’t it just Yi Ho, Mister Hongo, and the four or five men they brought with them? Could it be…?’

 

Hae-Joo glanced back at Yi Ho as a thought flashed through her mind.

 

She turned so quickly that her head spun and her feet gave way beneath her.

 

As she swayed sideways, Yi Ho, who had been three or four paces away, was suddenly there to help her up.

 

Overhead, she could hear Yi Ho’s low, sunken voice.

 

“Master Hongo, take her to the hospital first.”

 

“Isn’t the Master coming with me?”

 

Hae-Joo gripped Yi Ho’s arm tightly as he braced himself.

 

Her eyes were glassy and her legs wobbly from the strain.

 

Her throat was burning and sore from all the smoke she’d inhaled.

 

“I….”

 

Hae-Joo managed to steady herself.

 

So much had happened suddenly that she didn’t know where to start, and her head was pounding.

 

Her heart pounded ominously in her chest.

 

Hae-Joo’s mind raced with questions about Yi Ho’s inexplicable golden eyes, his complexion, which seemed unharmed after touching the burning beam, and the strength with which he’d removed the heavy beam in one fell swoop.

 

Yi Ho, meanwhile, turned away from Hae-Joo and spoke to Hongo.

 

“Leave the building to catch the flames first.”

 

“Yes, sir, if we go on like this, the whole mountain will burn down.”

 

At his instruction, Hongo turned and gestured to the crows, and they, disguised as humans, began to scatter and move in a frenzy.

 

Yi Ho, meanwhile, stood facing Hongo, but his attention was glued to Hae-Joo.

 

His lips dried up at the confusion in her demeanor and complexion.

 

When he had arrived with Hongo earlier, he had seen the Japanese soldiers flirting with each other in the abandoned house, standing off to one side.

 

He heard Hae-Joo’s voice echoing desperately from inside.

 

“Help! There’s someone! There’s someone! There’s someone here…!”

 

He could not control the rage that burned within him like a wildfire.

 

He spat out profanities at the sudden appearance of the man on the spot and snapped the throats of those who lunged at him.

 

Then he kicked the flaming doorway open.

 

The next thing he saw was a beam of fire falling toward her.

 

Nothing else came to mind.

 

Every muscle and sense in his body screamed that he had to save her, that he couldn’t let her die.

 

He exerted all the strength he could muster.

 

And just barely… just barely, he was able to keep her alive.

 

But he was perplexed by the way she looked at him immediately afterward.

 

“Boss, your eyes… your eyes… why are they… that…?”

 

For the first time in his more than 400 years of life, Yi Ho was speechless.

 

It was also the first time since he had grown up that he had been so frightened by someone’s eyes that he had avoided looking at them.

 

‘What could he say?’

 

‘Should I tell her these eyes are like this because he is half man, half fox?’

 

‘Is it because the hand that blocked the burning beam started to heal even though he hadn’t done anything to it?’

 

‘Is it because he is half fox that he threw that heavy beam away with one hand?’

 

And after that?

 

What would Hae-Joo be like once she realized what he was?

 

Would she accept him, or would she ostracize him, fear him, despise him, as the other humans had done?

 

He couldn’t imagine her reaction when he returned.

 

That’s why he hesitated, avoiding her eyes, avoiding her questions.

 

He didn’t know what to say, even to himself.

 

“…Miss!”

 

Hae-Joo’s body, which was struggling to stand while holding onto his arm, suddenly lost its strength and collapsed.

 

Although he wasn’t looking at her, Yi Ho immediately reached out with his other hand and picked her up before she fell to the ground.

 

When he lowered his head, he saw that Hae-Joo’s clear eyes were closed tightly.

 

Her face, clothes, and disheveled hair were streaked with black and grime.

 

Her wrists were bleeding from somehow being roughed up, and her feet were rattling with half-loosened ropes.

 

He could only imagine how badly she must have struggled in that abandoned house before the fire, and even afterward.