As True as a Dream Chapter 122

Hae-Joo raised an eyebrow at the unexpected reunion.

 

“When did you get here?”

 

“A few weeks ago.”

 

“Then why didn’t you come to visit?”

 

Hae-Joo asked, smiling faintly, and Yongzhou’s eyebrows wiggled together in a cool way.

 

“Your friend told me not to come find you, and I thought I’d get in trouble if I did.”

 

“That friend… ah… did he…?”

 

Hae-Joo didn’t even notice the bitter yet playful tone in Yongzhou’s voice.

 

The “friend” that came out of his mouth was Yi Ho.

 

The smile faded from her face, and Yongzhou sensed it keenly, pursed his lips hesitantly, and asked.

 

“You don’t look so good. What’s wrong, is something wrong?”

 

“…Nothing’s wrong. How’s brother doing? Is there anything uncomfortable in your life in Jinsheng?”

 

Yongzhou’s eyes turned somber, but only for a moment, before he smiled again.

 

“I’ve been so busy working that I haven’t had time to notice anything uncomfortable.”

 

“Ai, is brother the only reporter at the Bokyung Ilbo? Or are they just pampering you because you’re so good?”

 

“Sadly, it’s not that, but there are many cases.”

 

“Cases?”

 

“Yes. I came here for a story, too, though I didn’t expect to find you here.”

 

Hae-Joo gestured toward the back of the village, and Yongzhou remembered why he’d come to the village, too.

 

It was easy to find out about Mr. Ban’s background in Gyeongseong if she wanted to know.

 

She quickly realized that there was a village on the outskirts of Jingcheng called Bangaho.

 

It was a village where the direct and indirect lineages of the Ban family had been living for hundreds of years.

 

After thinking about it for a while, Hae-Joo came to this village, which might be the root of Yi Ho, to do something about it since she couldn’t find an answer even if she stayed inside and thought about it until her scalp tingled.

 

In fact, the direct line of the Ban family has been cut off, and all of their descendants left decades ago and migrated to Manchuria, making the name Bangaho Village meaningless.

 

At best, the only people left with any connection to the Ban family were the descendants of servants who had worked for the Ban family hundreds of years ago, or the outsiders the Ban family took in to maintain the village.

 

Still, they came.

 

And when she arrived at the village and read the Chinese characters on the rocks at the entrance to the village, she was once again confused.

 

Bānga ho (潘家狐).

 

Knitting Barn, House, Fox Lake.

 

She couldn’t figure out why the village was named after a fox, but she couldn’t help but remember that Yi Ho was a gumiho and had the surname Ban.

 

“…Brother came here for a case?”

 

Hae-Joo, who had been looking at the writing on the rocks at the entrance to the village, asked Yongzhou with difficulty.

 

“Yep. Two nights ago, a few bodies were found by the Han River Tong side of the river, and when I tracked them down, I realized that two of them were from the village of Bangaho. Similar incidents have been happening recently, so I’m here to see if there’s any connection.”

 

Listening to the dragon lord’s words without thinking, Hae-Joo reflexively asked a question as a thought flashed through her mind.

 

“A series of similar incidents?”

 

“The last few days… the newspapers have been making a lot of noise.”

 

“The newspaper…?”

 

Hae-Joo was stunned.

 

Her mind was too full of Yi Ho’s thoughts these days to think about anything else.

 

“Oh, I mean, there’s been a lot of dead bodies found in Gyeongseong lately. I was dispatched from Gongju to Seoul because of all the related cases.”

 

“Related cases?”

 

“Yes. The disappearance of blood from the bodies of the dead.”

 

Hae-Joo’s fists clenched involuntarily at the familiar omen.

 

“There are a lot of… related things happening in Gyeongseong right now?”

 

“Yeah. Lately. Well over thirty that I know of.”

 

“Thirty….”

 

Hae-Joo couldn’t help but think of the Guishan Dao she had been tracking with Yi Ho until now.

 

Her heart sank.

 

Could this be the same indiscriminate slaughter that had taken place in the villages around the village in Gyeongseong?

 

“Brother, the number thirty can’t be….”

 

“Yes. That’s the number of people who have died in the past few days, and the atmosphere in the fortress has become very turbulent. There’s no telling who might be targeted… You’d better be careful, Hae-Joo.”

 

The reason Yongzhou spoke in such detail was because Hae-Joo seemed to know nothing about this matter.

 

While he foolishly let go of her hand, she had already become someone else’s fiancée, but he still sincerely wanted her to be happy.

 

Meanwhile, Hae-Joo was oblivious to Yongzhou’s true feelings, and a shiver ran down her spine at the ominous feeling at her feet.

 

“Are you okay, Hae-Joo?”

 

Yongzhou asked, looking at her face, which had gone white in an instant, and she nodded.

 

Hae-Joo, who had been so casual with Yongzhou, thought of Yi Ho out of habit.

 

Because she was with him, she knew that there had been a sad and terrible incident in the village of Sogok involving the Guishan Dao, and she could face the events of that time as well.

 

If there were incidents like the one the dragon lord spoke of happening in the city right now, they must be related to the Guishan Dao.

 

Perhaps she should discuss it with Yi Ho.

 

Naturally, Hae-Joo, who thought of Yi Ho first, couldn’t help but laugh.

 

He was such a trusted figure in her life, giving her a deep, dark sense of security.

 

He was so deeply embedded in her.

 

But four days ago, after she’d told him she needed time to think, he hadn’t appeared in front of her.

 

At the thought of it, a dull ache spread from deep within her chest.

 

For the past four days, she’d wondered over and over if she could ever accept the fact that Yi Ho was Gumiho.

 

And she still wasn’t sure.

 

A relationship is supposed to be built on a foundation of trust, and that’s been broken.

 

‘If it’s still like this, will I be able to get through this with him?’

 

“Hae-Joo?”

 

Yongzhou’s voice snapped her out of her daze.

 

“I’m sorry, I just thought of something. So you’re covering the case?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Hae-Joo looked at Yongzhou, who was almost as tall as Yi Ho and had a good-natured expression.

 

There were few people in this world she could have cared less about.

 

Her mother had died on the run, and her stepfather had passed away.

 

She didn’t want to see anyone around her die in vain anymore.

 

“…If it doesn’t have a target, as brother says, you should be careful, too. Work is important, but life is more important.”

 

Yongzhou nodded, the corners of his mouth curling upward as Hae-Joo spoke.

 

“Alright, I’ll be careful. I have to go into town now, what about you?”

 

“I’m on my way out, I’ve finished my business.”

 

“Oh, well, then… is there anything I can help you with?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

Yongzhou shook his head, smiling faintly in response to his repeated question.

 

“Then… if there’s anything I can do for you in the future, come to the Bokyung Ilbo. I’m in the Social Affairs Department.”

 

“Okay. I won’t pretend not to know later.”

 

Hae-Joo coolly agreed, and Yongzhou turned around, feeling that if she kept refusing, it would never end.

 

But on the way into town, he looked back at her several times and waved.

 

But Hae-Joo sighed languidly again, her eyes not on the back of Yongzhou’s head, but on the entrance to the village, on the writing on the rock.

 

In the meantime, the bus back to Gyeongseong City pulled up to the stop and Hae-Joo boarded the bus.

 

The purple-uniformed bus conductor took the bus fare from her and called out loudly and cheerfully.

 

“Orai!”

 

Finding a seat, Hae-Joo looked out the window and rubbed her brow tiredly.

 

Her mind was racing with what Yongzhou had just said and what she had heard in the village of Bangaho.

 

“The Ban family? I heard that the head of the family is the owner of a famous restaurant in Jingsheng, and I envy him. I thought the whole family would be angry and fall apart, but the only one left in the family is still alive and well and sitting on a fortune. I guess there are still rich sellers in this world.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“There’s an old story I heard from an old man in the Ban family. You know what? The Ban family is cursed!”

 

After a few ignorant and cold looks, she was lucky enough to overhear the old story from a gray-haired old man of nearly eighty, and intuited that it had something to do with Yi Ho.

 

“In the Ban family, there has been only one boy in every generation, and he is always named Ban Yi Ho, so that he can live up to his orders. Think about it. How can there be only one boy in every generation, no matter how many people there are? Curse, curse!”