As True as a Dream Chapter 96

“I heard that somewhere. I’ve always had a thing for girls, you know, and if it’s something that shines, I’ve always had a thing for…”

 

“Idle?”

 

Yi Ho asked, narrowing his eyes as Hongo’s words lengthened.

 

Then Hongo wiped the amused smile off his face and spoke seriously.

 

“I’m busy, and I have something to report to you. That is, what you instructed me to do last night. The raven told me that you told them to at least save one person, but he’s lost his mind.”

 

Yi Ho frowned slightly at the mention of a distracted man.

 

“Where is he?”

 

Instead of answering, Hongo looked up into the trees.

 

A crow perched in the tree cawed as if to answer.

 

“I will guide you.”

 

Before Hongo could finish his sentence, the crow spread its wings and flew away.

 

Yi Ho took one look at the raven and followed after it.

 

His figure vanished like the wind, leaving only an afterimage.

 

It wasn’t long before he arrived at a crumbling, abandoned hut in the countryside.

 

The crow that had flown away yesterday after hearing his instructions stood in the doorway, disguised as a man, and bowed slightly when it saw him.

 

He opened the crooked door of the hut and stepped aside to allow Yi Ho to enter.

 

Once inside, a middle-aged woman in a navy blue kimono cowered in the corner of the room, hugging her knees.

 

The stench of blood and gore irritated his nose, and a closer look revealed a bullet hole in her side.

 

Yet she seemed to feel no pain.

 

Her eyes were unfocused and filled with terror as he entered the room.

 

“[Why did Governor Saito take care of all the people in the residence?]”

 

“[…Mo, I don’t know, I don’t know anything… wrong, I didn’t see anything, I don’t know…!]”

 

Afraid to let him finish, she stammered and repeated the same words.

 

“[What did you see at the residence?]”

 

“[…I didn’t see anything. I’m not going to tell you anything, I, I… I didn’t see anything, please help me, please help me, ahhhh…! Help me!!!]”

 

‘Has she really lost her mind?’

 

Yi Ho rubbed his brow irritably and looked back at the raven standing behind him.

 

“Is everyone else dead except this girl?”

 

“T-totally…killed…by…them.”

 

The raven spoke slowly and stutteringly as he asked.

 

“What else?”

 

“Yesterday…when the…Japanese…started…shooting…people…with guns…I…snuck this woman out…and…everyone…there…cried out…saying the same thing.”

 

“What did they say?”

 

Crow, who had been expressionlessly silent as if recalling the situation, opened his mouth again and recited the Japanese it had heard.

 

“[All… I’ll forget, I didn’t see… anything, master… I won’t say anything… that this child… grew like that overnight, I’ll forget].”

 

The woman crouching in the corner, afraid to finish the crow’s words, shuddered and squirmed even more.

 

‘She kept muttering that she didn’t see anything. A child? Grew up overnight?’

 

Yi Ho looked down at the woman, then turned back to the raven.

 

“Does the governor’s residence have another child besides Saito Mao?”

 

“When I… went… to… inquire… about… the… residence… there… was definitely… a child… that… the people… call… Master… there. He… wore an… eye patch… over… his… right eye… and was called by the Korean name of Optician.”

 

A Korean child with an eye patch?

 

Yi Ho frowned.

 

“The child I call master grew up overnight.”

 

He doesn’t know how much he grew, but his growth was noticeable enough for Governor Saito to get rid of all the people who used the residence.

 

And such growth is definitely not “human”.

 

His guess is that the only non-human beings around Governor Saito is the Man Insa.

 

Otherwise, Governor Saito’s behavior makes no sense.

 

Such indiscriminate slaughter would have been a risk even for the Viceroy.

 

“…Tell Hongo to find out exactly when Governor Saito is returning from the provincial capital, if there is a child among those accompanying him, and who exactly he is and where he came from.”

 

The corners of Yi Ho’s mouth twitched up as he left the room.

 

He hadn’t expected that.

 

He hadn’t expected to see the Man Insa running around in the form of a human child.

 

‘Was this why he hadn’t been able to step on his tail all this time?’

 

If it was by design, the vile snake had certainly chosen a very good shell for himself.

 

***

 

Sunset.

 

Hae-Joo sits in her workshop in the attic of her home, making brooches for Eun-Sil and Eun-Sil’s mother.

 

“I’m going to buy some tofu and…”

 

Hearing a voice from outside, Hae-Joo’s hand twitched and she dropped the pearl she was holding with tongs onto the table.

 

Soon, the voices outside faded away and her shoulders relaxed.

 

She threw the tongs down on the table, sighed heavily, and scrubbed her face as if to wash it.

 

Hae-Joo returned home this afternoon.

 

She’d come back with the excuse that Yi Ho had mentioned Unwoo’s name, that he was hot, that it was almost rent time, and that Eun-sil would stop by tomorrow morning before she left for the factory.

 

Of course, life at Yi Ho’s house was pleasant and comfortable, but it wasn’t her home.

 

She had a home of her own, and it was only right that she returned.

 

Hae-Joo thought she had calmed down a few days after the kidnapping.

 

But when she finally arrived home, she sighed at herself for flinching and freaking out at the slightest sound.

 

“My courage is the size of a pea…”

 

She muttered, wrinkling the bridge of my nose.

 

Thump, thump, thump!

 

Startled by the pounding on the door from outside the attic, where she had left the door open, Hae-Joo dug her knee into her upper leg and swallowed a groan.

 

“Ugh…”

 

As she rubbed her kneecap with her hand, someone thumped on the door once more.

 

Hae-Joo curled her lips inward, hesitated for a moment, and then descended from the attic, passing through her room and the kitchen to the door.

 

Hae-Joo opened her mouth to ask who it was.

 

But for some reason, her voice didn’t come out, as if it were locked tight.

 

Her heart pounded uneasily as images of the men who had tried to kidnap her that day, along with the box of dead mountain birds in front of her house, flashed through her mind.

 

“Huh… I’m past it.”

 

Hae-Joo muttered the words like a mantra and tried to relax her tense body.

 

It was then.

 

“Hae-Joo, I know you’re home.”

 

Hearing the familiar voice from outside the door, Hae-Joo immediately felt the tension in her body melt away.

 

She hurriedly opened the door, and there stood Yi Ho.

 

“…What are you doing here?”

 

“Why are you here?”

 

Hae-Joo couldn’t find the words to answer his question as his brow furrowed slightly in disapproval.

 

“That’s a weird question. Why am I in my house?”

 

“That’s not what I asked.”

 

At Hae-Joo’s words, Yi Ho stared at her, then reached for her hand.

 

She blinked, wondering why, and felt his hand reach out and touch the bridge of her nose.

 

His hand, long and delicate, wiped the sweat from the bridge of her nose.

 

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Your face is white. Did you run away because of what I said this morning?”

 

Hae-Joo pursed her lips as she felt a tightening in her chest.

 

She knew.

 

Ban Yi Ho, for all his seeming nonchalance, had a surprisingly keen sense of perception.

 

She didn’t need to explain what she’d realized so quickly.

 

“Are you going to keep me here, or don’t you want me to come in?”

 

Yi Ho asked again as Hae-Joo hesitated, and Hae-Joo froze, stepping aside.

 

Then Yi Ho burst through the door, kicking off his shoes in front of the sliding glass door and stepping into the room.

 

Hae-Joo, who was dumbfounded by this seemingly casual behavior, soon closed the door and followed her into the room.

 

She saw Yi Ho standing in the middle of the room, looking around as if he were watching.

 

“What were you doing?”

 

“Eun-sil and I were making a brooch for my mother. Do you want something to drink… water?”

 

Hae-Joo changed “drink” to “water,” realizing that she hadn’t eaten since she’d been away for days.

 

“No, thank you.”

 

“Then sit down for a minute, and I’ll go clean up what I’ve been making.”

 

Hae-Joo walked over and opened a wooden side door on the far wall of the room, about knee-high.

 

Inside was a ladder-like staircase that led upward, and Hae-Joo climbed it to the attic.

 

She immediately organized the freshwater pearls, corals, flower mother-of-pearl, and glue on the top shelf.

 

She heard the creaking of wood on wood and turned to see Yi Ho coming up the stairs as well.

 

“Never mind, you do it.”