As True as a Dream Chapter 132

Hae-Joo pushed through the crowd of people weeping on the mat and rushed forward, flipping back the white cloth covering the bodies laid out in front of Eun-Sil’s house.

 

Beneath it was the face of a young boy, his skin pallid and darkened.

 

“Ah… Ugh, Eun-Ho…!”

 

She didn’t need to check for a pulse—one look was enough to know.

 

He was dead.

 

Frantically, Hae-Joo pulled back the other cloths, revealing the faces of people who had been like family to her.

 

Eun-Ho, Eun-Dong, Eun-Sil’s mother… and even Eun-Sil herself, who had always greeted her with a bright smile and called her big sister…

 

The white cloth slipped from Hae-Joo’s fingers and fell to the ground.

 

[Hey! What do you think you’re doing? This is a crime scene! Get the hell out of here!]

 

A policeman guarding the scene kicked Hae-Joo in the back, sending her stumbling forward. But she didn’t even register the pain.

 

Tears streamed down her face as she stared at Eun-Sil’s lifeless, ashen face, unable to speak.

 

“Aah… Aah… How… How could…! What is this…! Aah…!”

 

She shook her head in disbelief.

 

“Eun… Eun-Sil… Eun-Sil…! Aah…! Eun-Ho… Eun-Dong…! Ah, what do I do… Mother! Mother!”

 

A sob tore through her chest, her entire body trembling violently.

 

“Aah, aah…! How… How could this happen…! Aaahk! Eun-Sil, Eun-Sil…! Why are you like this? It’s me, Big Sis. Open your eyes. Huh? Eun-Sil… Open your eyes!

 

Please…! Eun-Sil!”

 

She bent down, clutching Eun-Sil’s stiffened head and screaming until her voice cracked—as if calling her name would make her open her eyes.

 

As if this horrific reality were just a nightmare.

 

[I said get out! The investigation is still underway! This damn Joseon bitch! Hey! Drag her out!]

 

Kicks rained down on her from behind, but Hae-Joo didn’t budge.

 

She held Eun-Sil’s head, screaming internally that this couldn’t be real.

 

But her mind already knew—Eun-Sil was dead. The kind, warm-hearted Eun-Sil and her entire family were gone.

 

“Ugh… Uuughh! Uhhh! Aah! Aaahk! Aaaaah!”

 

Hae-Joo wailed like a wounded animal.

 

‘How…! How?!’

 

The birthday gift she had joyfully brought for Eun-Sil fell to the dirt and was crushed under the policeman’s brutal kicks.

 

Not far away, a crow cawed mournfully.

 

 

* * *

 

After the police moved all the bodies from the Sungin town to the station, the crowd that had gathered there slowly dispersed.

 

Hae-Joo sat slumped in the corner of Eun-Sil’s house, her vision blurred as she stared blankly at the now-empty, silent home.

 

—[Again? No blood? How many times is this now… And still no orders from above?]

 

—[Haven’t you heard? The Governor-General’s daughter is critically ill. You know how much he dotes on her. He doesn’t have the energy to deal with anything else.]

 

—[Then what do we do? If this keeps up, the station will keep piling up with bodies.]

 

—[Who knows. Orders will come soon. Still… I have no idea what’s going on.]

 

The bored, grumbling voices of the Japanese policemen echoed in Hae-Joo’s mind.

 

No blood…

 

Her lips trembled.

 

Man Insa.

 

This was undoubtedly Man Insa’s doing.

 

This massacre must have happened last night.

 

Had it been before or after she was chased by him?

 

A storm of rage, grief, and hatred surged from the depths of her chest.

 

Tears she thought had dried up burst forth again like a broken dam.

 

She bit her lower lip hard and clenched her fists until they ached.

 

‘How could this happen?’

 

‘Why… Why did it have to be Eun-Sil’s family?’

 

“Ugh… Hhhk! Ahh… Uuugh!”

 

Her heart ached from the endless sorrow welling inside her, and she pounded her chest with her fists.

 

“Aah, Eun-Sil… Eun-Ho, Eun-Dong… Mother…!”

 

Tears from her swollen eyes splattered onto the dirt floor.

 

She remembered Eun-Sil’s smile—the way she had warmly reached out to her when she had nowhere to go, crouching pitifully on the streets of Sungin Town.

 

From the moment they met, Eun-Sil and her family had treated her like their own, worrying over her when she was cold and sharing warmth with her.

 

They shared food when they had it, and whenever she was in trouble, they were the first to reach out.

 

“Hae-Joo, Eun-Sil told me you caught a bad cold, so I brought some medicine. Do you have food at home? I made some seaweed soup to warm you up—can you eat it?”

 

“Hae-Joo noona! Look at this! I bought these hairpins with the money I earned helping Mr. Kim today! This one’s for Eun-Sil noona, and this one’s for you! Pretty, right?”

 

“This is a secret, but Eun-Dong likes you the most, noona!”

 

“Unnie! Don’t just eat cold rice like that—take care of yourself. If cooking is too much trouble, just come to our house. No matter how poor we are, do you think we wouldn’t have food to share with you? Are we strangers?”

 

“Ugh… Aah! Aaaaah…!”

 

Though she had only known them for a little over a year, the warmth they had given her had filled her to the brim.

 

The hollowness left by her adoptive father’s death had been filled by Eun-Sil’s family’s endless kindness.

 

Eun-Sil and her family had been irreplaceable—precious beyond measure.

 

“Big Sis, I’m so glad I have you now. I’m the eldest in our family, you know. Mom’s sick, and my siblings are so young… Sometimes it’s hard, and I have no one to talk to. Can I whine to you sometimes?”

 

She remembered Eun-Sil’s bright face, clinging to her arm playfully.

 

Now that face was gone forever.

 

Her chest burned as if it were being torn apart.

 

‘Why…? Why did this happen?’

 

Hae-Joo struck her chest repeatedly in frustration.

 

‘Why did Eun-Sil’s family… Why did the people in this alley have to die? What did they do wrong?’

 

She couldn’t think anymore.

 

All she could do was weep, trying to pour out the injustice, rage, and sorrow tearing through her.

 

But no matter how much she cried or thrashed, it was useless.

 

Nothing eased the pain.

 

How long had she sat there, crying mindlessly before going numb?

 

By the time dusk faded into full darkness, heavy footsteps echoed behind her.

 

They stopped right at her back, and a delicate white hand rested on her thin, small shoulder.

 

“…You’ll collapse if you keep this up.”

 

Yi Ho’s low voice resonated in her ear.

 

Hearing him, the tears she thought had dried up surged again.

 

Her eyes hurt—swollen and stinging. She wanted to stop crying like a fool, but she couldn’t.

 

She had sensed Yi Ho’s presence earlier.

 

But his silence had felt like he was waiting—letting her grieve as much as she needed. So she hadn’t tried to suppress or compose herself.

 

Now, she didn’t even know how to stop.

 

“…I never asked for much,” Hae-Joo muttered, as if talking to herself.

 

“I just wanted this pitiful life of mine to be peaceful… to live long, even if it was just barely.”

 

“Mm.”

 

Yi Ho, standing behind her as if shielding her, responded quietly.

 

“Work today to survive tomorrow… just do my job diligently… No matter how much the Japanese tormented us, I pretended not to see, not to hear—acted cowardly. Because that was the only way to live. No matter how worthless this life is, since I was born, I wanted to live it well.”

 

Hae-Joo stared at Eun-Sil’s empty house with bloodshot eyes.

 

“So why did it turn out like this? Me, Eun-Sil… her mother, Eun-Ho, Eun-Dong… the people in this alley… None of us did anything wrong, so why… Why did it end like this? Why did they have to die so meaninglessly?”

 

Even at her young age, Eun-Sil had carried the weight of being the family’s breadwinner with strength. But she had confided one secret only to Hae-Joo—her Big Sis.

 

She wanted to do something for Korea’s independence.

 

Not for grand reasons like patriotism or the nation’s cause.

 

Eun-Sil’s father had been beaten to death by Japanese soldiers. The boy she liked had been dragged to prison for independence activism, his fate unknown. Her cousin had been forcibly taken to war by the Japanese.

 

If Korea could stand on its own, if it could grow strong—then maybe no one else would suffer like Eun-Sil had.

 

But Hae-Joo had desperately tried to stop her.

 

Because she didn’t want Eun-Sil to die like her own mother had. Like so many independence fighters had.

 

She wanted her to live a long, happy life.

 

And yet, in the end, this happened.

 

They were sacrificed meaninglessly—by the hands of a monster called Man Insa.

 

“…Does this make any sense?”

 

Hae-Joo let out a hollow laugh, her voice wet with tears as she asked the empty air.