As True as a Dream – Chapter 116

Author: Dakku-san

“…Mr. Hongo, where did the boss go?”

Never one to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, Hae-Joo raised her voice and stepped into Hongo’s hallway.

Hongo turned around and Hae-Joo was stunned.

She thought he was talking to someone outside the window.

But there was only a lone tree standing outside the window behind Hongo, and no human shadow.

‘Who was he talking to?’

As she squinted, she saw a crow perched on a branch outside the window.

“You’re leaving? As I told you, my master has important business at Song Yue Pavilion.”

Hongo glanced out the window for a moment.

Hearing Hongo’s words, Hae-Joo raised one eyebrow and pursed her lips.

It was clear from his expression that he had no intention of saying anything about Yi Ho’s trip to the governor’s residence.

Then, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

Hongo didn’t seem to be surprised when Yi Ho’s eyes changed.

Hae-Joo’s eyes turned black as she realized that.

‘…He’s lying to me.’

He knows, but he won’t tell her.

She don’t know if he can’t, shouldn’t, or shouldn’t tell her.

“…Is the discharge process finalized?”

Hae-Joo asked nonchalantly, the corners of her mouth twitching upward.

Hongo smiled and replied.

“Yes, I’m almost done.”

“Okay, then I’ll go back to bed.”

“Yes. You’ll be able to return to Song Yue Pavilion soon.”

Hae-Joo nodded obediently at Hongo’s kind words and turned away.

She pretended to move toward the hospital room where she was lying, then glanced back.

Hongo was nowhere to be seen.

She turned and walked out of the hospital as quickly as she had come in.

She quickly realized where she was.

A sign hung on top of a white, three-story building.

Kyungsung First Hospital.

As a taxi driver, she knew Gyeongseong’s geography well.

She didn’t need to take a taxi to get there.

Hae-Joo dug into her pants pocket and found a few coins.

Then she made her way to the familiar street to catch the tram.

The destination was Governor Saito’s residence, where Yi Ho had gone.

***

Chak-chak! Chak!

“[You Joseon bastard! How dare you…!]”

“[Don’t let him escape! You bastard! You think you can get out alive! You’re a dead man!]”

In the deep night, the muffled sound of clashing blades and Japanese curses echoed through the Sampantong residential neighborhood.

“[Honey, do you hear this?]”

“[Hmm, this sounds like it’s coming from the governor’s residence…?]”

In the back corner of a house in Sampantong (Huam Dong), a couple who had just gone to bed exchanged glances.

Ever since Governor Saito left for his provincial tour, the residence had been quiet, but today they heard a noise that made them wonder what was going on.

“[Shouldn’t I go out?]”

The wife, who was lying on the futon, stood up from her seat with a restless face and said.

“[Should I go out?]”

The husband, who was just lying down and pulling the covers over his head, frowned.

A pitiful scream and a dull thud seemed to come from near the governor’s residence.

“[Honey…!]”

The house they were living in was flanked by a high wall and an alleyway, and their room was particularly close to the governor’s residence.

In the past, the occasional sound had occasionally crept over the wall, but tonight the vague noises were bizarre.

Besides, Governor Saito was out of town at the moment, so what was this noise all about?

“[…Just pretend you didn’t hear it, we lowlifes don’t deserve to be poking our noses into the affairs of the high and mighty.]”

After a moment’s thought, he sat up and pulled his wife by the arm to lie down.

“[Don’t you want to live a long life? Less is better than more, and who knows, if we meddle, we might end up like shrimp in a whale fight, eh?]”

“[But….]”

The husband jabbed at his wife, who turned her head in the direction of the governor’s residence as if she was bothered.

“[We don’t know what’s going on, but if it’s serious, other people will recognize it. Besides, it’s the governor’s residence. How dare anything happen?]”

Her husband sincerely thought so.

And as he said, the neighbors, which was adjacent to the governor’s residence, heard the commotion and thought the same thing.

Fearing that they might get into trouble if they intervened, they shut their ears and closed their eyes.

And while the governor’s residence and the neighboring houses were scrambling for cover, the garden of the residence was in full bloom.

Not a single rat was to be seen on the walls where the soldiers were usually posted.

They were all lying dead in the garden.

The place that had been so beautifully tended by the gardener was no longer a peaceful place of flowers and trees.

There were more people lying dead than standing.

And in the center of it all, a tall shadowy figure with a Japanese police bayonet stood tall, spreading life in all directions.

The faces of the few Japanese soldiers still alive at the scene of the one-sided slaughter that had begun only ten minutes earlier showed unspeakable bewilderment and horror.

The stunningly handsome man before them had suddenly fallen from the sky.

The soldiers who had been standing in formation, startled by the sudden appearance of the man, tried to form a line to stop the intruder, but this was the result.

The man easily snatched their weapons from their hands, and his every gesture, every step, became a terrible weapon of death.

Their bodies stiffened, their faces went white, and they lost the courage to raise their bayonets as they stared at the man who looked like an oni (Japanese goblin).

It was then.

“[What’s all this commotion?]”

A young woman’s voice echoed through the garden.

As the silent despair engulfed the garden, Mao Saito, who had just returned from the cooking camp, appeared.

Upon returning to her residence, Mao was displeased to find no one guarding the entrance.

Just as she wondered if the soldiers’ discipline had laxed in the absence of Governor Saito, she heard a commotion in the garden and headed straight for it.

By the dim light of the moon, obscured by clouds, Mao saw the devastation in the garden.

Mao Saito was a girl in her late teens.

It was natural for her to be frightened by the sight of dead people covered in blood in the dark garden.

But as Mao looked at the scene with interest, she suddenly saw a man standing in the middle of a pool of blood with a face that looked like he was about to laugh.

It was Yi Ho, standing there with a gunblade dripping with blood.

“[Mr. Ban, are you crazy? What does this mean? Don’t you want to live? Don’t you know where you are?]”

Yi Ho lightly waved his gunblade to brush off the blood and replied in a bland voice.

“[I know. I told you, last warning.]”

Mao Saito chuckled at Yi Ho’s answer, then suddenly stopped and became solemn.

“[Everyone says things like that without being able to keep them… but now that I think about it, you’re a little different. Funny.]”

Mao tilted her head at an angle, revealing the black handprint Yi Ho had left on her white neck.

“[I told you, I’m going to play with you.]”

“[Ah! You did say that earlier, but did you mean… like this?]”

“[Yeah.]”

Yi Ho lowered his eyes and looked at the bloodstained gun in his hand.

After leaving Hae-Joo in the hospital, he had watched her lying there, barely conscious, before leaving the hospital and coming to the governor’s residence.

Looking at the rope marks on her wrists and the black marks on her body, he couldn’t help but relive the anger of the moment he almost lost her over and over again.

“Where are you going? When the young lady wakes up, won’t she look for her master…”

Hongo grabbed him as he turned to leave, but Yi Ho turned away without a word.

He couldn’t keep this crazy bitch named Saito Mao alive any longer.

If she stayed alive for another day, another hour, another minute, he didn’t know what would happen to Hae-Joo.

He had caused the madwoman’s mania, and he had to end it with his own hands.

It wasn’t that hard if you set your mind to it.

Yi Ho turned to the small and slender Saito Mao standing in front of him and said with a faint smile.

“[You think I’m kidding?]”

“[You’re really going to kill me?]”

“[Yes. Because there’s no reason for you to be alive.]”

At Yi Ho’s rather nonchalant tone, Saito Mao looked at Yi Ho with creepy eyes and lowered her head.

“[Funny.]”