As True as a Dream – Chapter 94

Author: Dakku-san

The corner of Hongo’s mouth twitched slightly as Hae-Joo spoke in a serious and respectful manner.

‘A shaman? A shaman!’

How could such a flavorful Crow Demon be turned into a mere shaman!

Inside, Hongo was furious and outraged, but he tried to feign nonchalance.

His master had done the work, but he had to make amends.

‘At least mention it in advance!’

“What are we going to do with the Guishan Dao? The Guishan Dao… it’s an ominous painting. So many people have died in it.”

“It’s an ominous painting, yes, but it will save his life.”

“How can a painting save a person’s life? I honestly don’t even believe that the snake in the pearly gates… kills people.”

“You don’t believe it?”

Hongo asked quietly, looking at Hae-Joo’s confused face, eager for the truth.

Hae-Joo’s lips twitched as if she was speechless.

Her mind flashed back to the newspaper articles she’d been skimming all day, and the horrifying images from the village.

She has no choice but to believe.

Otherwise, none of it would make sense.

“…I believe.”

“Young lady, there are many strange things in the world that cannot be explained in words, and his illness requires that strange power. Do you think, young lady, that what you see before you is all there is?”

“…What?”

Haie-Joo blinked as she looked at Hongo with a dazed expression.

But Hongo didn’t say anything more.

He doesn’t know what Yi Ho has planned.

He doesn’t know if Yi Ho is planning to tell her that he’s a half-human half-fox, or if he’s going to tell Hae-Joo about the Ten Thousand Bloodstones.

Yi Ho hasn’t said anything.

Unless he gave him specific instructions, Hongo couldn’t speak of Guishan Dao, or Yi Ho, or anything else for that matter.

He had watched Yi Ho for so long that he knew it by heart.

This young lady, Yeon Hae-Joo, had rooted deep into his heart in the blink of an eye.

So if he faltered, the three hundred years he’d spent with him would be wasted in an instant.

“Rest. Master… will be fine, he always comes back in the end.”

Hongo swallowed the words in his throat, afraid of unnecessarily making Hae-Joo uneasy, even though he hadn’t seemed to be returning lately.

Hongo smiled calmly and kindly, bowed lightly, and turned away.

Leaving the building, he walked across the grassy courtyard and spoke lightly.

“Didn’t some of you follow the master? Find out where they are.”

As he muttered the words, dozens of ravens flew out of the trees that lined the walls of the yard, their wings flapping hungrily.

“Whoa. Something must have happened.”

Yi Ho had vomited up blood and a strange lump not long ago.

Lately, the rate at which his body was disintegrating seemed to be accelerating.

Hongo’s face grew a few more wrinkles of worry as he felt a bottomless pit of foreboding.

After returning to Song Yue’s office to catch up on his backlog of work, Hongo headed back to Yi Ho’s grassy courtyard shortly after two in the morning.

From a distance, the lanterns were still lit in the study.

Turning into a crow, he flew to the window and saw Hae-Joo reclining at an angle on the sofa in the study, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

Just then, another crow swooped down next to Hongo on the branch.

Caw, caw, caw!

The crow cawed to report to Hongo, who immediately opened his eyes wide.

Somehow, the blood-armored Yi Ho was in a vacant suburban cemetery and would be back before dawn.

Gah!

When Hongo asked if he was hurt, the crow croaked and shook its head.

Hongo swallowed his doubts.

The sound of seven armors of blood meant that Yi Ho had fought with someone.

‘With whom?’

Hongo thought hard, then stopped thinking.

He would find out when Yi Ho returned.

And just as the crow said, the dawn broke, and Yi Ho’s shadow fell suddenly on the grassy courtyard.

Hongo stood at the edge of the yard, waiting for Yi Ho to appear, and the hairs on his body stood on end when he saw Yi Ho looking back at him.

With blood all over his body, he looked like a demon from hell.

Hongo felt an instinctive fear at the sight of that creepy, lifelike figure that he had long forgotten.

“…Are you…not…well, what happened?”

Hongo swallowed hard and finally opened his mouth to ask, trying to calm his racing heart.

Yi Ho replied with an expressionless face.

“Governor Saito has released a man.”

“…Governor Saito, why would Governor Saito… because of his daughter, eh? By the way, Governor Saito left the provincial capital yesterday evening…?”

“I know. Hae-Joo?”

Yi Ho cut short, as if he couldn’t be bothered to speak, and looked at the red brick house.

“She’s asleep on the couch in the study.”

“Okay. I’ll have to wash up first.”

Yi Ho, who had been walking somewhat heavily, as if tired, suddenly stood tall and looked back at Hongo.

“Mrs. Na, the noodle shop owner who ordered the kidnapping of Hae-Joo, died yesterday.”

Hongo’s eyes narrowed as he felt an inexplicable sense of unease at Yi Ho’s behavior, as he acknowledged Hae-Joo’s presence but not his own.

“It’s a greeting. The person she sold the Guishan Dao to eight years ago is in Jingsheng Province.”

“Who is that?”

“Governor Jiro Saito.”

Hongo’s mouth dropped open.

‘Governor Jiro Saito?’

The name popped out of nowhere, and Hongo’s mind raced.

Even if she didn’t ride the line, if she wanted to do business in Jingsheng Province, she couldn’t escape the attention of the governor.

‘Why the governor? Why him? Damn it! Is it wrong to make money from Song Yue Pavilion now?’

Hongo as the owner of Song Yue Pavilion was frustrated, and Hongo as Yi Ho’s servant was elated.

It was a great feeling to finally be able to control the whereabouts of the Guishan Dao that he had spent so much effort to find.

“Ah, so what are you going to do, start with the Man Insa… No, the Man Insa, uh, Governor Jiro Saito… No, where do I even begin with this?”

Even as he spoke, Hongo wanted to bite his tongue.

At this rate, even if he said that Yi Ho was a bird’s head, he would have nothing to say!

He was so smart when it came to running the Song Yue Pavilion, but now that he was being bossed around by Yi Ho, he couldn’t think straight.

“Governor Saito has been trying to secretly dispose of the occupants of the residence, probably because of the painting. I told the crows to follow the occupants being dragged away and save at least one of them, so find out what happened.”

“Alright… So you’re going to take the Guishan Dao from Governor Saito right away? As I told you when we first started looking for the Guishan Dao, there’s a story that the Guisdan Dao is the key to controlling the Ten Thousand Bloods. If you want to control the Ten Thousand People and obtain the Ten Thousand Blood Stone, you’ll need the Guishan Dao.”

“Right. There was a myth that Man Insa was born from that painting.”

“Yes.”

Yi Ho was silent for a moment, tilting his head at an angle as he recalled the scene in Governor Saito’s study the previous night.

Before he’d heard the occupants startle, he’d noticed a small gap in the bookcase.

‘Was it a device or just a flaw in the bookcase?’

‘What if it was some kind of device and the Guishan Dao was somewhere in there?’

‘If he brought it back, would the evil black serpent settle down beside him and lure him back for another blood lust?’

‘Would he then have to find a human to prey upon?’

‘Like Jiro Saito?’

At that moment, the face of Hae-Joo, who had been horrified at the sight of the village, flashed through his mind.

“…I don’t know how to complete the Ten Thousand Blood Stone, but there’s no need to drag them here now. Even if we bring him back, it’ll be hard to clean up after him.”

“What?”

“Although Jiro Saito is willing to clean up the mess.”

Muttering to himself, Yi Ho looked up at the lit study on the second floor.

He could only see the brightly lit glass door, obscured by the veranda railing, but not the scene inside.

“Master Yi Ho, no matter what time it is, you’ll just have to take the Ten Thousand Blood Stones at the last minute.”

At Hongo’s words, Yi Ho lowered his gaze instead of answering.

He was never welcomed by anyone in the first place.

It was unfair that he should die like this, sick and dying just because he was less than perfect.

He didn’t want to die so broken.

He didn’t know why he was living, but now he just wanted to live.

For the woman who cared about him, who worried about him, who liked him.

He wanted to survive, to care for her, to make her laugh, to make her feel comfortable.