As True as a Dream

“…I don’t remember anything because I was like, “I’m dying today, I’m dying tomorrow,” so I don’t know if anyone came to the house at that time, or if my father went out a lot, or if he met anyone…” 

He-Joo tilted her head to the side, studying her expression, and Uncle Jige scratched his head, his beaky eyes squinting awkwardly.

 “I…wrote?” 

The awkwardness must have been embarrassing for his aunt.

 “How long has it been? It’s been so long I can’t even remember, I just remember you being sick and it’s not a big deal, it’s just life here, all the neighbors, all the walnut houses are the same.”

Auntie added, covering Uncle Jige’s stumbles.

 

Hae-Joo narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between them.

 “Uncle, Aunt. Do I look like an idiot?” “What do you mean?” “You both know how weird things are right now, right?” 

When she said it out loud, Uncle Jige just looked up at the armored carrier, and Auntie ruffled her son’s hair, who was sleeping in her lap.

 “What’s wrong? What’s with your reaction?” “Oh, no. You’re just wondering what happened all of a sudden.” “Oh…! Look, Uncle, why are you raising your voice all of a sudden?” “Hey! I’m naturally loud…?” 

Uncle Jige silenced her and looked at her aunt.

 

Then auntie, who had been looking at the child, sighed in frustration.

 

Hae-Joo knitted her eyebrows and looked at Yi Ho next to her.

 

He didn’t say anything but kept his eyes on Uncle Jige and Auntie.

 “Why are you asking about that time, Hae-Joo?” “Why, I’m just curious. When I was… sick, I thought about it, and I remembered that you weren’t… around much. You know, Uncle and Auntie, even though you and I fought a lot, you always… took care of me when I was sick.” 

As she spoke, Hae-Joo vaguely remembered the interruption.

 

That’s right.

 

Although it was a father-daughter relationship that began with a 12-yuan transaction on the street, Yangbu treated her like a real daughter and raised her until the day he died.

 

Of course, she followed him like a father.

 

They were a father and daughter who looked nothing alike, but they were no different from a real father and daughter.

 

Then one day.

 

When she was in and out of life and suffering from a high fever, he wasn’t around much.

 

Of course, she couldn’t know everything because she was in a daze, but when she woke up and looked for him, he was always there.

 

When she asked him how she was healed, he laughed and said that he have been running up and down Sogok Village looking for a way to heal her.

 

At the time, she thought it was just because he said so.

 

But it was strange to see Uncle and Aunt Jige’s reactions now.

 “Uncle and Auntie. Why wasn’t my father by my side then… where did he go?”

She asked, and they both looked at each other and made worried faces.

 “With all due respect, both of you.”

Then Yi Ho, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up.

“Whatever happened back then, Hae-Joo is a grown woman, what’s not to accept, Hae-Joo is not a twelve-year-old like she was back then.” 

The two looked at each other again and exchanged glances.

 

Then the aunt spoke.

 “No… it’s not a big deal… no, it was a big deal. Everyone in the village knows, and because she was so young, we didn’t tell her. She almost died and came back from the dead, and even if we had, it wouldn’t have been a good thing, so why tell a child? Even your father told me not to tell you because you are just getting better…it would just scare you again…” 

My uncle took over from my aunt.

“So we promised not to talk about it, and we kept our promise to him.” “What happened?” 

Hae-Joo couldn’t believe it.

 

She had been sick when she was 12 years old, and it had been eight years.

 

In eight years, no one had ever told her what had happened.

 

She didn’t know what the hell was going on to make her do this.

 “What happened was so ominous. I don’t think anyone would have come forward to talk about it even if they had been asked, and we don’t feel comfortable talking about it.” 

The more she listened to her aunt and uncle, the more suspicious she became.

 

Then, as if to relieve her frustration, her aunt opened up about the events of that year.

 “Hae-Joo, just a few days after you got sick, three people died in one night in the neighboring village.” “Three… people? The neighboring village?” “Yes. It’s just Dongguan Village. Over a long period of time, Janggok, Seojeong, and Gyorok… 21 people died in all.” “What?” 

Hae-Joo was stunned by the story she had never heard before.

 “Fortunately, our village was safe, no one died because we organized patrols from village to village. We didn’t know what kind of madman was out there killing people. Your father couldn’t make it because he was helping with the patrol.” “No, Why did so many people die?” 

She knew all about Janggok, Seojeong and Gyorok.

 

They weren’t far from her village, and they were the villages where her father often traveled to help in the fields during harvest time.

 “With so many dead, how did it happen so quietly?” 

Yi Ho asked while Hae-Joo was at a loss for words.

 “That’s right, I remember, and even after I was cured of my fever, I never heard of any funerals being held anywhere… If there were so many deaths, I should have heard something, no matter how young I was. You don’t think my father went to all the neighboring villages and told them not to tell me, do you?” “I told you, it was ominous. Everyone was afraid if they said the wrong thing…something would happen to them, and they never found the killer.” 

Uncle Jige swallowed his rice wine and stared into the dark sky, his face distraught as he remembered.

 “We couldn’t tell if it was man or beast that killed the people. The bodies were too intact to be animals, too brutal to be human…” “If it happened in several villages, didn’t you do something about it besides gathering people to patrol?” 

Yi Ho asked, and Uncle Jige glanced at Hae-Joo, but soon shook his head.

 “It was just… just gathering people together and saying things like, was everything okay yesterday and did anyone die today?” “Is that so, and if so, when did people stop dying?” 

Hae-Joo’s question seemed strange to them.

 

She soon realized why.

 

When she was healed, she didn’t hear any village songs.

 

That meant they had happened during the time she was sick, and then it was over.

 “Uncle?” 

Hae-Joo wondered when Uncle Jige didn’t speak except to moisten his dry lips.

 

After a short pause, he answered with a slight sigh.

“It was two days before you were cured.” 

Meanwhile, Hae-Joo felt uncomfortable with Uncle Jige’s and Auntie’s words.

 

At first, she just assumed that a brutal murder had happened while she was sick, something the adults could get away with.

 

But the gruesome murders that occurred after her fever began stopped just before her fever was gone.

 

The timing was too good to be a coincidence.

 

And why did her father forbid people to mention the incident in front of her?

 

Was it really because she was so young and had just recovered from a serious illness?

 

The secret was too closely guarded for that.

 

She really didn’t know anything until today!

 

That’s what made it even more suspicious.

 

The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became that she had more questions than answers.

 

Hae-Joo brought up the subject of Guishan Dao to see if she could find out anything about it, but she never expected to hear such a horrible story.

 

As Hae-joo rubbed her forehead, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

 

The time of the year when 21 people were killed in a vicious murder…!

 

It’s not only her fever that coincides with that time!

 

There’s also Guishan Dao!

 

She had been sick since the night her father brought home the painting.

 

When she asked him when her fever was over, he told her that he had gotten rid of it.

 

But still, it’s just a painting…?

 

What could a painting have to do with a person dying?

 

What does it have to do with her having a high fever?

 

And no one knows that they had a painting of Guishan Dao in their house.

 

In that village, her father was just a farmer with a foster daughter.

 

Even if he made forgeries as a hobby, he never took them out.

 

They were all stacked in a shed in the backyard.

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