As True as a Dream – Chapter 89

Author: Dakku-san

The man slumped painfully to one side against the wall, wriggling like an earthworm as he recovered from the impact on his body.

“How long have you known Mrs Na?”

“You motherfucker, do you know who I am, you fucking bitch, fuck you!”

The man, who had stumbled to his feet against the wall, suddenly swung his left hand at Yi Ho.

Yi Ho grinned.

The man’s left hand had somehow found a pocketknife and the blade flew towards him.

Yi Ho lightly grabbed the man’s hand and snapped it, hearing the wrist snap with a dull thud.

“Ah…!”

The man couldn’t even scream.

Yi Ho’s hand immediately grabbed his throat and pulled him up.

“It’s loud, don’t scream.”

Fear flashed in the man’s eyes at his cold words, which lacked the slightest hint of warmth.

The man’s face turned red as he struggled to breathe through the tight chokehold.

In a desperate attempt to stay alive, the man used his still intact right hand to try and pull Yi Ho’s hand away from his throat.

But the force didn’t let up, and the man’s eyes almost rolled back in his head.

Eventually, Yi Ho’s grip loosened slightly.

“How long have you been working for me, Mrs Na?”

The man still didn’t answer.

Without raising an eyebrow, Yi Ho grabbed the man’s remaining right wrist and snapped it.

The bone snapped again with a loud crack.

Yi Ho clutched the man’s throat as if to kill him again before a scream could escape.

The man’s face went from black to blue.

Tears streamed down his painfully contorted face.

“I’ll ask you one last time. How long have you known about Mrs Na?”

The corners of his lips turned up loosely and he asked again, suddenly tinged with an unpleasant musty odour.

Yi Ho looked down at the man’s trousers.

The man’s crotch was wet.

“…seven, seven years…”

The man’s voice was filled with fear, but there was no falsehood in it.

“Do you know a painting called Guishan Dao?”

“No, I don’t… Please help me…!”

The man begged desperately, tears streaming down his face.

“Then do you know about eight years ago… when the lady went to Gongju to sell the painting?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know… I’ve been working for Mrs Na for seven years…”

“Well, think about it. If your answer comes out so quickly, it means you haven’t really thought about it.”

The man’s jaw dropped immediately at the calm, even tone.

“I, I really don’t know anything…!”

“In all the time you’ve been working for them, have you never heard of a painting called Guishan Dao?”

He asked, and the man was silent for a moment, as if considering his advice, but soon shook his head.

Yi Ho clucked his tongue at the thought of wasting his time.

“So do you know what happened to the old lady?”

“No, I don’t… there was a robbery…”

“Robbed? You didn’t do it?”

“Oh no, no, no!” The man said desperately, his voice choked by the pressure on his throat.

The man averted his eyes as if to hide in a rat hole, then suddenly faced him as if a thought had struck him.

“Uh… uh, I saw her coming back from going out yesterday morning… She said she went crazy the day before when we went to tell her that the kidnapping… had failed… but she seemed to be in a very good mood yesterday morning.”

Yi Ho raised an eyebrow.

“I asked her if anything good had happened… and she said… that things would work out… that even if it wasn’t us, she had high connections, that there was nothing she couldn’t fix.”

‘High connections?’

Yi Ho raised an eyebrow, then asked again.

“When she says that things will work out… is she referring to the murder of Hae-Joo that you couldn’t solve?”

“Uh, I guess so.”

A high connection that could easily kill Hae-Joo.

Furthermore, Mrs. Na died less than a day after meeting with this high connection.

“Please help me. This is all I know. I’m so sorry. Please help me.”

Yi Ho looked down at the man sharply.

His mind flashed back to the wounds on Hae-Joo’s wrists, the scratches on her neck and face, and how she had spent all night and all day running in terror in the mountains.

Yi Ho suddenly pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled.

The man, mesmerized, followed suit and also smiled.

But the next moment was different.

The man’s eyes widened as if they were going to tear.

With a snap, the man’s jaw snapped in his hand.

He released his grip on the man’s throat and the man collapsed against the wall, his whole body shaking without making a sound.

He pushed himself up on his elbows and crawled like a bug, desperately trying to get away from him.

Yi Ho stepped back and dusted off his clothes.

Then he looked at the crow perched on the wall.

“Take care of it.”

A light fluttering sound came from not far away.

It would do it.

Yi Ho quickened his pace so that Hae-Joo would not reach this alley.

***

His guess was right.

Coming out of the alley a few doors down, he saw Hae-Joo looking everywhere as if searching for him.

“Where is he? Have you lost him?”

Hae-Joo, who soon spotted him, came up to him and asked nervously.

“No, I caught him and asked him what we needed, but he ran away when I let my guard down for a second, so I ran after him… and he jumped into the river.”

“The river?”

Seeing Hae-Joo raise an eyebrow, Yi Ho pointed his finger in a direction.

The Han River was only a ten-minute walk from where they are.

“Shouldn’t I have jumped into the river with him?”

Hae-Joo, who had been looking in the direction he was pointing, turned serious at his playful tone and grinned.

“No need to jump in, you don’t have to, that’s why I asked.”

Yi Ho stood by Hae-Joo’s side as she turned to head back to the main road, briefly recounting the information she’d received from the man.

Except for the information that the lady had gone to visit a “high connection” yesterday morning.

“Sure… if it was seven years ago, I don’t know about the painting, and the fact that I’ve never heard of it until now… it must have been just a pawn.”

“Yes.”

Yi Ho looked down at Hae-Joo, whose lips curled into a frown.

Now he would gradually lead her away from the Guishan Dao.

So that she would never know the truth about the Guishan Dao.

“It’s just that I can’t separate you from Guishan Dao.”

“Guishan Dao?”

Hae-Joo, who had been furrowing her brow, suddenly raised her head and Yi Ho involuntarily clenched his jaw.

“She tried to kill me because she thought I was looking for the Guishan Dao, but she got herself killed. Could it be that there was someone else… besides Mrs Na… who knew about the Guishan Dao, and that’s why he used his hand? For the same reason she did it to me.”

“You think so?”

“Yes.”

Hae-Joo chewed her lower lip in silence for a moment, then glanced at him and pursed her lips hesitantly.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“You know… that Master Hongo… he seems competent, but I wonder if I could ask him to investigate the people around Mrs. Na…?”

Yi Ho sighed inwardly.

He liked Hae-Joo’s actions and intelligence, but he couldn’t be happier with her right now.

“Sure. I’ll tell him.”

Hae-Joo’s face lit up as he agreed.

“Honestly, I didn’t know where to start or what to do on my own, so that’s good. In the meantime, I’ll analyse the newspapers as well, and when we put together the general area and time frame of the incident… we’ll have another clue, right?”

“Yes.”

Hae-Joo looked at him as if to make sure, and Yi Ho nodded meekly.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

“You’re lying.”

“Then I’ll change my answer. It hurts.”

He raised an eyebrow, and she furrowed her brow and rolled her eyes.

“Lie.”

He laughed and patted the top of the hat she wore on her head.

Hae-Joo looked up, wondering what was going on.

They had reached the entrance to the main road.

“I need to make a quick stop. You drive back first.”