As True as a Dream Chapter 78

He looked up with bright golden eyes, and the raven that had fallen toward him hesitated before landing softly.

 

Yi Ho immediately tore off the paper tied to the raven’s leg.

 

“Western Suburbs Bonggae Mountain.”

 

The scrawled handwriting showed how urgent it was, but the message was simple.

 

Yi Ho crushed the paper into powder and shot out of the room.

 

Like the wind, his figure vanished in an instant.

 

Only a black shadow could be seen fluttering about.

 

Those who happened to see his appearance rubbed their eyes, but soon realized that they had seen nothing.

 

Meanwhile, Yi Ho was running frantically toward Mt. Bonggae, a wild mountain in the western suburbs that Hongo had told him about in a letter.

 

This mountain had the reputation of being one of the toughest in the suburbs of Jingsheng.

 

In the blink of an eye, Yi Ho landed on a slope at the bottom of the mountain and looked up to the sky.

 

Several of the crows that Hongo must have sent checked him out and began flying low toward the mountain’s interior.

 

Yi Ho followed the crows and began to creep through the mountains like a swift fox.

 

The sky had already darkened by the time he reached this point, and the forest was barely distinguishable from the nocturnal sounds that had come earlier.

 

But he cared little.

 

His golden eyes illuminated everything on this mountain as brightly as daylight.

 

*Kaaaah!*

 

Once again, a crow cawed overhead.

 

As if in response, it came back from the other side.

 

He didn’t know how long they had been traveling up the mountain.

 

Yi Ho calmed his nerves a bit as he watched the crow change direction and circle once more.

 

The crow’s constant change of direction meant that Hae-Joo was moving.

 

Moving meant she was at least alive.

 

Yi Ho turned and ran after the crows without a word.

 

He hadn’t gone far when he heard the sound of rough trampling through the bushes.

 

His ears pricked up, Yi Ho froze, his eyes a young gold, and stared in the direction of the sound.

 

The sound of ragged breathing, an irregular, urgent pounding of the heart, heavy footsteps crunching through the dirt, and rustling through the bushes came closer and closer to his direction.

 

He began to run in the direction of the sound.

 

At the same time, a pitiful, haggard looking man emerged from the darkness of the trees, soaked and covered in dirt like a drowned mouse.

 

When he saw Yi Ho, he stifled a cry and turned to run away.

 

But Yi Ho immediately reached out, grabbed the man’s arm, and spat out the three letters of the name that were stuck in his throat.

 

“Where’s Hae-Joo?”

 

He jerked back and tried to push him away.

 

The man, who was clutching a rather sharp, blood-stained stone as if it were a straw, looked back at him in disbelief.

 

The man was actually Hae-Joo.

 

And at the sight of Yi-ho, Hae-Joo’s face, alert as a wounded animal, went blank.

 

“Boss?”

 

Hae-Joo replied in a hoarse, cracked voice and looked up at him.

 

Her eyes, so young and full of fear, grew moist at the sight of him.

 

A sharp stone, bigger than a fist, fell from Hae-Joo’s hand to the ground.

 

“…Is this a dream, are you really here, boss?”

 

Murmuring to herself, Hae-Joo immediately collapsed to the ground.

 

Yi Ho quickly grabbed her back with both hands and supported her as she tried to fall to the ground.

 

“Come on, you idiot.”

 

Only when he held her in his arms did the wildness in his chest subside.

 

He could feel Hae-Joo’s heartbeat, which had been pounding dizzily and promiscuously against her chest, calming down.

 

“Hae-Joo.”

 

He called her name again, hugging her tightly, not caring if she was covered in dirt or drenched.

 

But she didn’t respond.

 

When he pulled away slightly, her eyes were closed and she was limp.

 

Yi Ho quickly put his fingers under Hae-Joo’s nose.

 

He panicked even though he had just felt Hae-Joo’s heartbeat in his chest.

 

He picked her up and carried her down the mountain on his back.

 

‘She’s alive.’

 

Overhead, in the dense branches of the trees, dozens of crows perched and watched them.

 

One of them flew up and hurried off in the direction of Song Yue.

 

It was going to deliver a message to Hongo.

 

* * *

 

Late at night, after curfew.

 

Yi Ho’s house on the other side of the Song Yue Pavilion was unusually well lit, with lamps in the living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, study, and veranda.

 

In the bathroom, bathed in the soft glow of a lamp, she soaked in a white marble bathtub with her eyes closed.

 

As she did so, the footsteps behind her echoed in her head as clearly as if she were still being chased.

 

Hae-Joo had successfully made it out of the alley of Iksunjeong and onto the main street last night.

 

But when she realized that she had to get away, she quickly ran into a dead end.

 

“Look at you, bitch! How dare you betray us! Do you think running away will change your future?”

 

Hae-Joo punched her in the stomach and tried to run away.

 

A vicious hand grabbed her hair and a painful blow to the back of her neck blinded her.

 

When she opened her eyes, she was in a field on the western outskirts of Gyeongseong.

 

She was lying on the ground with her hands tied behind her back, and in the darkness the two men who had brought her were digging with shovels.

 

She felt the blood running from her head as she wondered if they were going to bury her alive.

 

She twisted her hands behind her back and struggled to free them, trying desperately not to make a sound.

 

But the ropes were so tightly tied that only the tender skin on her wrists bled and showed no sign of loosening.

 

Soon, Hae-Joo managed to sit upright.

 

At least her feet were free, she thought, so she might be able to get away, if not her hands.

 

One of the men who had been digging, sensing her interest, turned to look at her and grinned disgustingly, revealing yellowed teeth.

 

“The more I look at you, the prettier you look, so why don’t you give your brother some pleasure, since you’re too good to die and your body will rot anyway?”

 

The man tossed his shovel aside and climbed out of the hole he had dug.

 

Hae-Joo was chilled to the bone by the man’s sarcasm and leaned back slightly.

 

She shoveled as much dirt as she could into his hands.

 

“I don’t want to see it, so take it over there and do it.” The other man stuck his shovel into the soft earth and said.

 

“All right, brother! It tastes good, so why don’t you try it too?”

 

The man quickly grabbed Hae-Joo’s arm, pulled her to her feet, and pushed her to one side of the bush.

 

Hae-Joo looked frightened and pretended to obey, but then struggled as the man tried to push her to the ground.

 

She threw the dirt in her hand as high as she could and kicked him in the face with her foot.

 

“Ouch, you bitch!”

 

Stumbling backward from the kick, Hae-Joo scrambled to her feet, ignoring the dirt on her face.

 

The black-faced man knelt down and reached for her, but she didn’t look back, running forward with all the strength she could muster.

 

A thick bush clawed at her face.

 

Her arms tied behind her threw her off center and she fell again and again, but she ran like crazy until her breath stopped under her chin.

 

She heard harsh curses and urgent screams behind her, but she paid no attention.

 

Hae-Joo ran like crazy until she didn’t know where she was or in which direction she was running.

 

She lost her footing, rolled down a shallow hill, and scrambled to her feet, looking everywhere.

 

It was pitch black and dark all around.

 

The only sounds were the hooting of an owl not far away and the chirping of early summer grasshoppers.

 

Hae-Joo held her breath, hoping her panting would attract the men, and concentrated on untying the ropes around her wrists.

 

But it didn’t work.

 

Her hand groped impatiently on the ground and found a sharp-edged stone with which she cut the ropes.

 

Then she heard the cries of men searching for her again.

 

There was also a dim light.

 

Hae-Joo scrambled to her feet, grabbed the sharp stone, and climbed a nearby thick tree.

 

She hadn’t realized that all those years of running from village to mountain and playing like a fool would come in handy at a time like this.

 

She slipped a few times due to lack of strength, but she managed to climb up the tree in the bell, clutching the sharp stone in her hand and holding her breath.

 

Soon, the man who had tried to kill her appeared and looked everywhere.