As True as a Dream Chapter 79

Hae-Joo lifted her eyes to see a faint light moving in the other direction.

 

The two had split up and decided to look for her.

 

Hae-Joo looked down the tree nervously.

 

It looked like the men were going to pass under her tree any minute.

 

If she stayed there, those men would follow her like ghosts until they caught her.

 

She had to survive.

 

That was why she had fought so hard all these years.

 

She wanted to live well.

 

She wanted to survive.

 

She hadn’t even spent the money she had saved.

 

She couldn’t die yet.

 

She had nothing!

 

Hae-Joo gritted her teeth and jumped down when the man was a few steps away from the tree.

 

The impact sent a jolt through the soles of her feet and she staggered for a moment, but she immediately raised the stone in her hand.

 

She brought it down on the man’s head as he turned in surprise to see her fall from the tree.

 

The man stumbled backwards, unable to scream.

 

Despite the sound of his fall, Hae-Joo ran after him and struck again.

 

Her hand trembled as she held the stone.

 

It was dark and she was too scared to look properly, so the second blow landed on the man’s shoulder instead of his head.

 

“You… fuck…!”

 

Hearing the man’s voice, Hae-Joo jumped back, dazed.

 

He closed the distance, hoping that the man would defend himself.

 

But when he tried to get to his feet, he fell back down, dizzy.

 

“What happened, huh? Jung-man!”

 

Hae-Joo looked back.

 

The dim light that had moved in the other direction was now pointing this way.

 

She grabbed the stone again and quickly jumped over the man and into the bushes.

 

Her hands were free and her legs could run.

 

Hae-Joo brushed a stray strand of hair wildly from her face and looked back as she ran.

 

The other man was silent, as if he hadn’t spotted Jung-man yet.

 

She didn’t know how long she had been running.

 

Hae-Joo stopped running when she thought she saw the first rays of dawn in the distant sky.

 

Hiding in the crevice of a large boulder, Hae-Joo gasped for breath and clutched the stone that protected her.

 

She felt a damp liquid at the top of the stone.

 

It was dark and she couldn’t make out the color, but she knew it was the man’s blood.

 

Her eyes burned and her vision blurred as she remembered that moment.

 

But she choked back the sobs that threatened to break out.

 

It was the first time in her life that she had used her hands with the intention of harming someone, with the intention of killing.

 

Her hands trembled with remorse.

 

And suddenly, she remembered Yi Ho.

 

The face of the man who had smiled seductively at her, telling her to come home and see him tomorrow.

 

She wanted him so desperately.

 

At the same time, a sinking feeling threatened to send her into a panic, wondering if she would ever make it back alive.

 

She pulled her knees up and buried her face in them, holding her breath and fighting the urge to collapse.

 

If they didn’t die, she would.

 

They were going to bury her alive.

 

‘I will never give up. I’m going to live.’

 

There’s so much she hasn’t done yet, so much she wants to do.

 

‘I’m not going to die in the middle of nowhere for no reason.’

 

Whatever they are, whoever made them do it, wherever they came from!

 

She clutched the stone tightly as she strengthened her will to live.

 

And the men, knowing that they would give up at daybreak, continued their chase and pursuit.

 

All her senses were on high alert, and to escape them, she jumped into dirty puddles and rolled down mountainsides, making it the most exciting day of her life.

 

Her hopes were dashed when the sun set again and the mountains went dark.

 

Somewhere in the distance, a crow cawed incessantly, and it sounded like a sad song.

 

She tried again and again to climb down the mountain, but she had no idea what this mountain was, had no sense of direction, and ran from place to place like a rabbit chased by wild beasts.

 

Fortunately, the man she had hit with the stone was no longer in sight.

 

But the one who remained was unimaginably obsessed with catching her.

 

He was like a professional hunter.

 

Biting her lower lip hard, Hae-Joo ran from him once more through the bushes, gasping for breath.

 

And as she took another hesitant step forward, a black shadow rushed in front of her.

 

Her heart sinking, she immediately turned and tried to run away.

 

But the other grabbed her arm and called her name.

 

She looked up at the familiar voice and wondered if she was dreaming.

 

Yi Ho’s face glowed white in the darkness.

 

Somehow, at that moment, all the sensations that had held her up seemed to disappear.

 

All she wanted to do was cry into his strong arms.

 

But she didn’t even have the strength to cry.

 

* * *

 

*Snap!*

 

“Hae-Joo?”

 

Yi Ho’s voice from outside the bathroom door woke her from her closed eyes.

 

It felt like she was dreaming or reliving the past horrible day as if it were a movie.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah. I’ll be right out.”

 

After exchanging a few more words with Yi Ho outside the door, Hae-Joo put her hand under the water and rinsed her face a few times.

 

Water dripped from her face.

 

She had blacked out the moment she saw him on the mountain, and when she opened her eyes again, she was on his back.

 

She squirmed and nuzzled his neck, telling her they were going to his house, and she nodded silently.

 

No matter how big her mission was and how swollen her pride was, she couldn’t bring herself to go back to her house right now.

 

So she came to his house, and Yi Ho put her down, who had been carrying her all the time, just inside the door that led to the bedroom.

 

Then he left the room, telling her to wash up first.

 

There was a bathtub in the room, just the right size for one or two people, with warm, steaming, clean water.

 

She doesn’t think she’s ever had such a dynamic day in her life.

 

After soaking in the warm water for the entire time, Hae-Joo soon dragged herself out of the bath with a sob.

 

But when it came time to dress, Hae-Joo was in a quandary.

 

The new clothes that had been prepared for her seemed to belong to Yi Ho.

 

Of course, it was strange that there were women’s clothes in this house that she could wear.

 

But she couldn’t wear the dirty clothes she had worn all over the mountains.

 

Besides, no change of clothes meant no bra and no underwear.

 

Hae-Joo finally put on the big Yi Ho’s clothes, folding the sleeves of the brown top twice and the ivory pajama bottoms three times before coming out of the bedroom.

 

She felt awkward and fidgety as she looked inside the empty clothes, feeling useless and embarrassed.

 

Only when she realized that Yi Ho was not in the bedroom did she relax her stiff posture.

 

Hae-Joo calmly looked around Yi Ho’s bedroom again.

 

She hadn’t noticed it before, but the latticed glass door on the other side of the door led to the veranda.

 

As she approached the glass door and looked out onto the softly lit veranda, Hae-Joo turned and approached, mesmerized by the paper on the bedside table.

 

It was the portrait she had drawn of Yi Ho.

 

“I should have drawn it a little better…”

 

She thought he had asked her to draw it in a moment of excitement, but she hadn’t expected it to be on his bedside table.

 

Of course, she thought that Ban Yi Ho wouldn’t ask for something old-fashioned that he didn’t like.

 

But as she looked at it, she felt a tingle in the back of her mind.

 

And then it happened.

 

She heard the doorknob turn and the door opened.

 

When she looked up, Yi Ho saw her and hesitated for a moment before saying.

 

“Come down and eat something.”

 

Hae-Joo’s stomach rumbled in response to the order to eat.

 

She realized that she hadn’t had a sip of water since last night.

 

The realization made her stomach skin stick to her back.

 

Hae-Joo dismissed her embarrassment with a wry smile and followed Yi Ho into the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

After stuffing her stomach with all the fine, delicious food that she could only assume had come from Song Yue’s kitchen, Hae-Joo patted her stomach and leaned back on the bench couch under the parlor window.

 

The fatigue, anxiety, and worries of the past two days rushed through her mind.

 

‘Had Mao Saito sent the box with the dead mountain bird to her doorstep, or the men who had tried to kidnap her?’

No matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t think of anyone but Mao Saito who would do such a thing.

 

‘But why? Just because she was Yi Ho’s fiancé?’

 

“What happened?”

 

Lost in thought, her eyes unfocused, Hae-Joo glanced back at the entrance to the drawing room.

 

Leaning against the doorframe, Yi Ho stood with his arms crossed in front of her chest.