As True as a Dream Chapter 117

“[Do you think I’m in the same league as the bums on this floor? If you kill me, do you think Mr. Ban can handle the cleanup?]”

 

Yi Ho muttered lowly, annoyed at the useless conversation that was going on.

 

“[We’ll see about that.]”

 

“[What…?]”

 

Mao, who hadn’t heard him because he spoke too low, knitted her eyebrows together and was about to open her mouth.

 

For a moment, the wind seemed to pick up.

 

Mao blinked, and in the meantime, Yi Ho, who had rushed forward, stabbed Mao in the shoulder with the Japanese soldier’s bayonet in his hand.

 

“[…Yi…! Yi…! Yi…! Yaaahh!]”

 

Mao Saito’s eyes widened and she didn’t realize what had happened to her.

 

In the blink of an eye, Yi Ho was in front of her, and she tried to scream in agony, but she couldn’t.

 

He clamped his free hand roughly over her mouth.

 

“[Whether I can handle it or not, I’ll know when you’re dead.]”

 

In a whispered voice, Yi Ho calmly pulled the knife out of Mao’s shoulder.

 

Blood gushed from her slender shoulder like a fountain.

 

Blood splattered on her clothes, face, and hands, but Yi Ho was unfazed and stabbed Mao in the other shoulder.

 

Mao’s eyes widened like tears as she lost the right to scream.

 

Mao’s eyes were torn open, and she was unable to scream.

 

“[Why is it easy and fun to ruin other people’s lives, but it hurts to ruin yours?]”

 

The blood at Saito Mao’s temples and the young moisture in her bloodshot eyes reflected her pain.

 

Then, the corner of Yi Ho’s lips twitched upward.

 

The tip of his lips curled upward at the murderous movement behind his back.

 

Mao Saito had a dozen soldiers with her as she entered the garden, the same men who had held the knife to Yi Ho’s throat hours earlier.

 

They had been waiting for an opportunity to strike at him, and when he was attacked in spite of their blindness, they decided to take advantage of it.

 

The soldiers guarding the residence were too bewildered by the stormy movements of Yi Ho to fire a shot, but the Japanese soldiers at Saito Mao’s side were different.

 

The sound of a gun being loaded was heard, and Yi Ho, glancing back, smiled coyly.

 

Standing opposite him, Mao Saito’s pupils dilated in ominous anticipation.

 

Taang-!

 

The sound of a gunshot rang through the night sky.

 

Yi Ho immediately released his grip on Saito Mao and turned around.

 

As he moved out of the way, a bullet fired from the back immediately struck the lower left side of Saito Mao’s abdomen as she stood there in a daze.

 

“[Lady!]”

 

Saito Mao was targeted by the Japanese soldiers, who fired more shots, never expecting Yi Ho to dodge.

 

Three bullets, one in his left leg and another that tore through the flesh of his right waist and flew backward.

 

Mao’s abdomen and shoulders were stained with blood, and blood trickled from between her red lips as she whimpered.

 

The Japanese soldiers, who had not expected this, went white as Mao Saito fell backward.

 

She was frozen in horror, realizing that she had killed the precious daughter of the Governor General.

 

The same was true for the few soldiers who were still standing on the ground with both feet.

 

This made it easy for Yi Ho to move through the dumbfounded soldiers and plunge his sword into their throats.

 

In a matter of moments, dozens of soldiers lay dead in the garden.

 

Yi Ho wiped the fresh blood from the blade of his bayonet and approached the fallen Mao.

 

Seeing that not all of Mao Saito’s bullet wounds were fatal, Yi Ho frowned slightly.

 

Then he raised his bayonet and pointed it at Mao’s body.

 

Just then, light footsteps echoed through the bloody garden.

 

With all his attention focused on Mao Saito and the Japanese soldiers, he hadn’t noticed the footsteps so close.

 

Yi Ho spun around, wondering who it was, and shuddered at the familiarity of the figure.

 

His heart sank into his chest.

 

“…Boss?”

 

Still dressed in her ragged clothes, her face covered in black, and her complexion pale, Hae-Joo stood there.

 

Her face was blank, as if in a daze.

 

And her gaze was not on him, but at his feet.

 

Conscious of her gaze, Yi Ho felt his fingertips go limp.

 

He barely managed to regain a firm grip on the gunblade that was slipping from his hand.

 

‘What was she looking at?’

 

Lowering his eyes, he saw Mao Saito lying on the ground, her cherry-colored kimono stained with blood, and the shadow of a fox at his feet.

 

The rage inside him was unbridled, unrestrained, and unchecked.

 

‘I wondered if it would be too late to stop him now.’

 

Hae-Joo’s face turned leaden, whether from the sight of herself standing over the pile of bodies or his own fox shadow in the moonlight.

 

He couldn’t even distract her with his usual shiver.

 

He was the only one standing here, and what she had already seen was naked.

 

“…Ah…Ah…!”

 

Hae-Joo shook her head, her lips trembling, unable to form words.

 

Disbelief flashed in her usually sunny eyes.

 

Hae-Joo’s white face turned even more grim as she looked at the dead bodies strewn across the garden.

 

His heart sank, and he was about to call her name when she turned away.

 

A series of sounds from outside the walls interrupted him.

 

“[This is Governor General Saito’s private residence. Are you sure that the gunshot that just rang out came from here?]”

 

“[Yes, I’m sure, Deputy Takama, while His Excellency was out on a tour of the provinces, could it be that the rebels did something?]”

 

“[I don’t know what’s going on, so first report to the Governor General’s office, and we prepare to enter.]”

 

He could hear a serious, seasoned, mid-bass voice giving instructions.

 

Yi Ho moved his ears to catch the small sound and pursed his lips.

 

The loud gunshot from a moment ago had apparently brought in the Japanese police, who had been moving in and out of the neighborhood.

 

As he listened to the busy footsteps fade into the distance, Yi Ho stared at the sea in front of him.

 

They had to get out of here before more soldiers or police from the Joseon Governorate arrived.

 

Yi Ho approached Hae-Joo.

 

But as he approached, Hae-Joo suddenly took a step backward as if to avoid him.

 

Seeing her like that, Yi Ho stiffened.

 

What would happen if she found out about the other side of me, he thought to himself, but when the moment came, his feet shook beneath him and his heart ached as if it had been ripped out of his chest.

 

“[It’s strange that we haven’t heard any sounds from inside since the gunshot, shouldn’t we go in first?]”

 

Yi Ho’s ears moved once more, picking up the sounds coming from outside.

 

Whether it was Japanese police or Japanese soldiers coming towards him, he had nothing to fear.

 

He just didn’t want to kill anyone in front of Hae-Joo.

 

“Let’s get out of here.”

 

Yi Ho’s face sank, and he tugged on Hae-Joo’s somewhat resistant wrist and hugged her around the waist.

 

Then he leaped lightly over the trees and across the roof, wary of his surroundings.

 

Something inside him tingled once again as he watched Hae-Joo squirm in his arms, gasping for air in surprise.

 

In all the time he had known her, she had never rejected him like this.

 

Even when she owed Song Yue money, she hadn’t shunned him, though she might have glared at him secretly.

 

Yi Ho looked at Hae-Joo, her fists clenched tightly and her eyes tightly closed, and was about to leap from one rooftop to another in the residential neighborhood once again.

 

At that moment, however, a bitter lump of blood that he had swallowed several times tonight rose in his throat.

 

Barely holding back a cough that threatened to burst out of his throat, he paused on the next roof, his brow furrowed, and swallowed the blood back down his throat.

 

Normally, he would have coughed on purpose to attract the attention of Hae-Joo, but it was all a joke after the spectacle in the garden of the governor’s residence.

 

Soon enough, they landed on the lawn of Song Yue Pavilion, and she immediately pressed her hand against his chest to break the distance.

 

She looked at his feet, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke.

 

“You… what are you?”

 

Yi Ho lowered his gaze to follow hers.

 

The fox shadow that had blended so bizarrely in the garden of the governor’s residence was now back in human form.

 

Yi Ho clenched his fists tightly.

 

It would be too late if he tried to retreat now.

 

“The eyes that turned gold, the ridiculous strength that cleared away the beams, and that fox… shadow….”

 

Muttering in disbelief, Hae-Joo bit her lower lip tightly and continued.

 

“What about those dead soldiers in the garden earlier, what happened to them, and you carrying me all the way here on the roof… that doesn’t make sense either.”

 

Hae-Joo put her hand to her forehead and sighed, as if she was trying to process what had happened in front of her once again.

 

“Say something, don’t you have to explain whatever it is to me?”

 

“…I”

 

Yi Ho pursed his lips at the sound of Hae-Joo’s shaky voice as she pleaded for an answer.