As True as a Dream Chapter 169

For a moment, Hae-Joo was dazed, but the sound of several truck engines roaring nearby snapped her back to reality. She grabbed Yi Ho’s wrist.

“We have to go. The troops that went to the Government-General will be back soon.”

As she urgently tried to pull him along, Hae-Joo hesitated when he suddenly grimaced in pain.

“Boss, your body…”

“I’m fine. Let’s just go. We can talk after we’ve moved.”

Seeing Yi Ho’s face up close made Hae-Joo’s heart sink.

His face was so pale the veins were visible, and the faint bluish-purple under his eyes made him look as gaunt as a corpse.

The hand gripping her wrist was unbelievably dry and burning hot, as if scorched by fire.

Even at a glance, his condition was clearly bad.

Thinking that escaping this place was more urgent than talking, Hae-Joo silently wrapped her arm around Yi Ho’s waist but then abruptly let go as a thought crossed her mind.

Yi Ho looked at her curiously, and without a word, Hae-Joo rushed over to Governor-General Saito’s corpse.

“The Bloodstone…! We need the Bloodstone…!”

Crouching down in desperation, she frantically felt around the ground, but the dark red stone the size of a fingernail that Saito had been holding was nowhere to be seen.

 

“There’s no time.”

As Hae-Joo scrambled on the floor, Yi Ho, who had approached unnoticed, grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

“Even if there’s no time, we have to take it. We need it to…”

“It doesn’t have to be the Bloodstone. We can find another way.”

‘Another way? What way?’

When Hae-Joo looked at him in confusion, he twisted one corner of his mouth.

“Would you really be comfortable if I used that? After all the blood it’s seen?”

“That’s…”

“They’ll be here any moment. We have to go.”

“But…!”

Ignoring her protest, Yi Ho wrapped his arm around her waist and leaped onto a nearby roof.

Hae-Joo bit her lower lip and looked up at him.

They needed the Bloodstone.

‘Another way? What way?’

‘How could they find another way when he seemed on the verge of death?’

 

“Boss, we need the Bloodstone…! I can find it quickly. It’ll only take a moment…!”

Determined to retrieve the stone, Hae-Joo struggled, but Yi Ho’s arm was unyielding.

Meanwhile, soldiers returned to the residence in military trucks.

Silently, Yi Ho moved across the rooftops of Gyeongseong’s residential area, trying to put as much distance between them and the scene as possible.

The sharp wind whipping against her face felt strange, and Hae-Joo buried her face against his chest.

She noticed something odd—the sound of Yi Ho’s heartbeat was unusually slow and dull.

Even if he wasn’t entirely human, could a heart really beat like this?

Just as she was about to look up in confusion, the arm holding her tightly loosened, and suddenly, both she and Yi Ho tumbled uncontrollably over an unknown rooftop.

Clutching Yi Ho tightly, Hae-Joo couldn’t even scream from the pain shooting through her back, legs, and hands.

She had no idea what had happened.

Only when their bodies finally stopped rolling did Hae-Joo look up at Yi Ho, her face contorted in pain.

“Boss…?”

Dazed, she called out to Yi Ho, who lay unconscious with his eyes closed.

There was no response.

Her heart sank endlessly.

She reached out, shook him, and called his name again.

But he remained silent.

A sense of dread washed over her, and she pressed her ear to his chest.

She listened carefully to the heartbeat that had felt strange earlier.

It was beating slowly, so heavily that it wouldn’t have been surprising if it had stopped altogether.

“Boss… No, this can’t be… Boss…!”

Her face pale, Hae-Joo shook him desperately, unable to even cry out.

‘We promised not to end up like this.’

‘We promised to survive.’

‘Didn’t we?’

‘Why is this happening?’

 

‘This can’t be real.’

Struggling to hold back her fear and tears, Hae-Joo pulled Yi Ho’s arm, trying to support him somehow.

They couldn’t stay out in the open like this.

She needed to find a safe place and lay him down.

 

Staggering, she barely managed to hoist Yi Ho onto her back and looked around frantically.

Not knowing where they were only added to her anxiety, making her feel like she was dying.

Yi Ho on her back felt like a ball of fire.

So much so that she feared he might turn to ashes.

It was better to keep moving forward than to stay here.

‘Yeon Hae-Joo, get a grip.’

‘Don’t cry!’

‘Crying won’t solve anything.’

‘Now is not the time to cry.’

‘Save the tears for later.’

Gritting her teeth, she steadied her blurred vision.

Just then, the sound of fluttering wings reached her ears, and Hae-Joo looked up at the sky.

A crow was flying slowly, as if guiding them.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The gate to the deserted house, untouched for over ten days, swung open.

“Inside! Hurry!”

With the help of a crow in the form of a middle-aged man supporting Yi Ho, Hae-Joo followed another crow that had arrived earlier, stepping inside without even looking around.

“Over here!”

In a dark room, a dark-colored bedding mat was spread out. With the crow’s help, Hae-Joo laid Yi Ho down on it.

“Huff… Huff… Huff!”

Without even wiping the sweat from her face, Hae-Joo bent over Yi Ho, her breathing ragged.

“Boss! Boss? Boss, please open your eyes…! Please…!”

Desperately cupping Yi Ho’s pale, bloodless cheek, she pressed her ear to his chest again.

His heart was still beating unbelievably slowly.

“Hey…! His heart… Boss’s heart is beating too slowly. What do we do…! Is he going to die? Huh?”

Hae-Joo looked at the middle-aged crow and the younger crow surrounding the bedding.

 

But, as always, they remained stoic, their mouths firmly shut.

Their solemn expressions seemed to suggest there was no hope for Yi Ho, and Hae-Joo felt her throat tighten.

Overwhelmed by boundless fear, her vision darkened.

“No, no… A doctor… We can get a doctor, right? We need to treat his wounds first… There’s so much blood…!”

Mumbling incoherently, she tried to get up.

But something tugged weakly yet distinctly at her clothes.

Her heart sinking, Hae-Joo quickly turned and saw Yi Ho holding onto her hem.

“Boss…?”

She called his name again, and his eyelids fluttered.

“A doctor… won’t… help…”

Speaking in a raspy, broken voice, Yi Ho paused before continuing.

“I’ll be fine… after some rest. It’s always… been like this.”

 

His fingers, clutching her clothes, patted her gently as if to reassure her.

“You’ll get better… if you rest? Really?”

“Mhm. I just need… to sleep.”

As if speaking was difficult, Yi Ho frowned briefly, then swallowed hard.

Hae-Joo looked down at him, then buried her face in her hands.

Her lips trembled.

He had spoken. He said he would be fine.

Just like before, he said he would recover with rest.

Suppressing her precarious, knife-edge anxiety, she looked up again.

With red-rimmed eyes, she stared at Yi Ho’s pale face, took a deep breath, and stood up.

“Water… Is there running water in this house? Do we need to draw it from a well? I need water and clean towels, Medicine for his wounds, and clean clothes too.”

Her voice thick with emotion, Hae-Joo spoke to the crows, who nodded and hurried out of the room.

Turning back, she sat beside Yi Ho and carefully pushed aside the clothes he was wearing.

His sturdy body was covered in wounds so severe they were painful to look at, all from the clash with Man Insa.

As she unfastened the buttons of his shirt, the crows returned one by one, carrying the items she had requested.

First, Hae-Joo dampened a clean cloth and began wiping Yi Ho’s body.

The cuts were so deep that blood still seeped from the parted skin.

Seeing the vicious wounds, she clenched the cloth tightly.

Her eyes burned.

The fiery heat radiating from Yi Ho’s entire body felt like it was scorching her insides black.

She cleaned the wounds and applied medicine, but his lifeless face looked so much like a corpse that it made her hair stand on end.

That night, Hae-Joo kept vigil by Yi Ho’s side, repeatedly checking for his breath under his nose.

He said he would recover.

He said he would definitely get better with rest, but Yi Ho’s breathing only grew heavier.

She had thought he would soon open his eyes and give her a tired smile, but somehow, it felt like she would never see that beautiful smile again.

Her heart ached so much she could barely breathe.

“No…!”