As True as a Dream Chapter 71

And the story reached Governor Saito.

 

“[It seems that the young lady has set her heart on Song Yue’s owner].”

 

“[Heart? Mao just wants a new toy, and once she has it… she’ll play with it for a while and then throw it away when it breaks, just like she always does].”

 

Saito replied somewhat wistfully to his subordinate’s report.

 

He was glad that Mao’s illness was beginning to subside, but judging by the way she was behaving, he would have to keep an eye on her for the time being.

 

He still had a lot of work to do in Joseon.

 

He couldn’t let her get into trouble.

 

“[And look at this…]”

 

The subordinate carefully pushed an envelope in front of the tired Governor Saito.

 

Saito looked at the envelope the subordinate had placed on his desk.

 

“Petition to Punish Mao Saito.”

 

Saito’s eyes deepened as he read the words on the outside of the envelope.

 

In truth, there were several reasons why he had volunteered to serve in the Korean governorate.

 

The first was Mao’s bizarre playground.

 

Ever since she was a child, Mao had been the kind of child who had to have what she wanted.

 

If she didn’t, she would hurt herself by biting, pinching, and stabbing herself with sharp objects.

 

Until she got what she wanted.

 

A few months before coming to Korea, Mao found a beautiful little boy on the street who looked like a doll, so she brought him home, locked him up for a few days, played with him, and then let him go.

 

When he returned home, his body was covered in bruises, scratches, and bruises.

The physical wounds didn’t matter.

 

What shocked the family, who had lost him for several days, was the state of his mind.

 

He didn’t speak, as if he had aphasia, and if anyone approached him, he would curse until he passed out, sometimes even cutting himself.

 

The problem was that this was no ordinary child.

 

He was the grandson of a respected scholar in Tokyo, and his entire family rushed to the scene, called the police, and even traveled to Governor Saito’s house to cover up the incident.

 

But Mao became the talk of the town when she said in front of the family, “[If he wants to die, let him die, what does it have to do with me?]”

 

Saito knew her daughter was different from the moment she was born.

 

A Japanese psychiatrist diagnosed Mao with a congenital lack of empathy and guilt, as well as self-centered behaviors, thoughts, and impulses.

 

A Japanese shaman he visited told him that Mao’s soul was broken at birth, but that it could be repaired.

 

She was just sick.

 

Some accidents along the way are inevitable.

 

It’s just that the person who had the accident was unlucky.

 

So, Saito went to great lengths to cure the sick Mao and is still doing so.

 

‘But why are they pointing the finger at my sick Mao and accusing her of being the devil?’

 

That’s why he came to Joseon to protect Mao from the malicious slander.

 

A scholar who claimed that Mao had caused his grandson’s failure tried everything to prevent him and Mao from leaving the country, but that was all.

 

Saito was a general of countless majors in Imperial Japan, and he was only a man of letters.

The pen cannot stop the sword.

 

As long as he was alive, no one could touch Mao.

 

Mao was the only flesh and blood left of his dead wife, and she was all he had.

 

Saito tapped the petition from Japan with his fingertips, then tore it up.

 

“[Have you heard from Guishan Dao?]”

 

“[I checked, but the man who paid the bounty is hiding tightly behind the curtain with his tail between his legs.]”

 

“[Even if he is hiding, his tail is bound to be stepped on]”

 

“[I will investigate further.]” 

 

But the rumors have been quiet for about a month, so it’s harder to tell now. Some informants say it’s because he got the Guishan Dao.

 

“[He got his hands on the Guishan Dao?]”

 

Saito’s eyebrows twitched subtly at his subordinate’s comment, as if to ask if it was true.

 

“[The informants said it was likely.]”

 

At the subordinate’s reply that it was only speculation, Saito’s sculpted eyes glanced toward the bookshelf.

 

His solemn face suddenly broke into an amused smile, as if he was thinking of something.

 

“[Find out who is looking for the Guishan Dao, and why they are looking for it.]”

 

“[Yes, I will look further.]”

 

Saito waved his hand at his subordinate.

 

It was a sign to leave.

 

Alone, Saito muttered to himself.

 

‘[I am looking for the long lost Guishan Dao. Maybe I’ve already found it? But that’s impossible. There’s only one true Guishan Dao.]”

 

The Guishan Dao is a very old painting, and it is said that an evil snake named Man Insa is hiding in the painting.

 

The shaman he brought from Japan to treat Mao told him that there was an old painting in Korea called Guishan Dao, and that Mao’s illness could be cured if she ate a stone called the Blood Stone held by the snake in the painting.

 

He’s getting old, and Mao is getting more and more beautiful.

If he dies, who will protect her?

 

Therefore, it is his duty as a father to cure Mao’s illness before he dies, so that this child can live a long life with some normalcy and peace.

 

To do this, he must obtain the Blood Stone.

 

“[Father?]”

 

Just then, a black-haired head poked its head through the crack in the study door and laughed heartily.

 

Saito smiled generously at his adopted son, wondering when he had ever been so terrifying.

 

“[Did you cure Mao’s illness?]”

 

Kyung-in narrowed his eyes and smiled in affirmation.

 

Saito swallowed hard as he saw the pale face of the smiling child.

 

He didn’t know what would have happened to Mao without him.

 

“[It wasn’t a disease, was it?]”

 

“[It’s not a disease, Father, it’s a curse. I burned them all to death, didn’t I?]”

 

“[A curse? What was it? Why was it in Mao’s body?]”

 

“[I don’t know, it was just there. I dug it out with a needle.]”

 

Kyung-in said cheerfully, then ran over and grabbed Saito’s desk.

 

“[Father, since your daughter is okay now, can I go get something to eat? I’m hungry.]”

 

“[Yes, but only one bite at a time or you might get sick.]”

 

“[I’ve never gotten sick from eating.]”

 

[I think I’m the one who’s going to get sick, not you. Be careful until we figure out a way to get rid of the leftovers.]”

 

“[Chii-chan, I get it!]”

 

Saito patted him on the head, and he smiled wider than ever before, then ran out of the study.

Alone, Saito stood in front of the bookcase in the study and reached out his hand and pressed somewhere in the seam of the bookcase.

 

The middle compartment creaked open like a closet door.

 

Saito pulled out each of the boxes waiting inside and lifted the lids.

 

Inside was an old, worn scroll.

 

As he unfolded it, an indescribable cold spread through the study.

 

He saw a choppy sea, an island in the shape of a turtle’s head, a jumble of lines at the beginning of the island, and a large pool leading to the sea.

 

But the snake that should be there, Man-Insa, was not there.

 

He had gone out to feed on the bloodstone, now called Panacea.

 

Saito’s mind flashed back to the shaman’s words.

 

“[General, this medicine called Ten Thousand BloodStones is a black stone that is formed when Man-Insa eats ten thousand people and the blood of those people condenses in his body. The Ten Thousand BloodStones require the lives of ten thousand people. Are you really willing to sacrifice the people of our Great Japanese Empire?]”

 

A shaman once asked him when he came from Joseon for the Guishan Dao.

 

He replied, “[Don’t we have a big fish farm in Joseon? You look at me without a conscience.]”

 

Politics did not work out as he had hoped, however, and it was not until eight years later that he was appointed governor.

 

The ultimate reason he volunteered for Joseon was to raise the blood stone of Man Insa.

 

But who could have known that just over a month ago, while hunting, he would suddenly find the Man Insa in the body of a human boy.

 

The boy even played family games, calling him “father” and calling Sae, the Korean woman whose child’s body was taken by Man Insa, his mother.

 

It was ridiculous, but there was nothing he could do about Man Insa, who had a Man Insa blood stone in his right eye.

 

Saito put the scroll back in its box and hid it in a secret compartment of his bookcase.