As True as a Dream

Yi Ho looked behind him deliberately.

 

As if he was doing it for the eyes of those watching them.

 “Sweet and loving. Is that enough or not?” 

At his question, Hae-Joo rolled her eyes in confusion, then looked away, as if to turn away from him, and answered.

 “It’s too much. It’s too sweet, I’m drowning in it. I got a bad case of smoke, boss.” 

She put a hand over her eyes to shade them and sighed.

 “It’s just right, so let’s keep it up.” 

Yi Ho looked at Hae-Joo’s ripe and desirable side and chuckled.

 

His mind flashed back to the conversation he and Hae-Joo had had last night in the inn’s dining room.

 

***

 

Last night, at a restaurant in an inn near Jeonghwon Station.

 

After he and Hae-joo unpacked their luggage at the inn, they went straight to the restaurant and ordered two bowls of beef head soup, which they ate like crabs.

 

He wasn’t a big fan of the soup, but seeing Hae-joo sitting across from him, eating to the point of insanity, made him more hungry than usual, and he quickly emptied his bowl.

 “The mayor said it was a side dish, but I think it’s the best soup I’ve ever had.” 

As he put down his cutlery, Hae-Joo rubbed her stomach in agreement and smiled with a full belly.

 

Yi Ho smiled, amused by the lazy cat-like behavior.

 

Hae-joo seemed to study his complexion, then suddenly clapped her hands together and gave him a light squeeze.

 “Come on, I’m full, let’s talk, okay?” 

When he wondered what she was going to say, she wiped the smile off her face and spoke seriously.

 “Boss, before we go to Sogok Village tomorrow, I just have one request, and you have to promise me. If you don’t promise me, even if we go to the city together, I won’t recognize you as my boss.” “Promise what?” 

Yi Ho swallowed his skepticism at Hae-Joo’s uncharacteristic sincerity.

 

The way they’d interacted so far, she’d usually let his complexion dictate his actions and his words dictate his behavior.

 

This time, however, she was very firm and determined, as if there was no room for compromise.

 “I know you’re the kind of person who won’t let the bottom fall out, but Sogok Village is like a family home to me, and the people there are all simple, modest, and good-hearted, so I know you won’t do or say anything to embarrass them… but I would like you to pay more attention to them.” “Pay attention? How?”

He asked, not offended, and she snapped her fingers.

 

Then she pushed aside her empty bowl of soup and sat down at the table, leaning in close, eager.

 “You have a good laugh, boss. Oh, that’s it! You’re a gentleman…” “Am I?” “…You’re good at playing gentleman!” 

As he spoke, Hae-Joo changed the subject, sensing his intentions.

 

Then, imitating a bodhisattva-like smile he’d seen before, she blinked her eyelids wildly as if to say,

“What do you think?” 

Yi Ho was stunned.

 “You mean I should smile that stupidly?” “It’s not stupid, it’s an all-encompassing smile that looks down on the sentient beings of the world.” “Yes. That’s for you. You’re stupid.”

He scoffed, and Hae-Joo looked at him contemptuously before speaking again.

 “Anyway, just be as gentle as you can, and if they do anything to offend you, just look at my face and let it go. And…” 

Hae-Joo’s words rambled on, wondering what was so worrying.

 “Anything else?” “…It’ll be over soon, just be patient and listen.” “Okay.” “When we go to the village tomorrow, we’ll tell them we’re engaged, right?” “Just in case. I don’t expect anyone to come all the way from Gyeongseong to ask about your affairs, but it’s better to be discreet.” 

Hae-Joo nodded in agreement.

 “Speaking of which… I hope you’ll be nice to me in the village.” 

Yi Ho raised an eyebrow.

 

This unproductive conversation had finally piqued his interest.

 

The corners of his mouth turned up as he watched Hae-Joo blush.

 “You want me to be good? I just pick up my fiancée who’s stuck in the police station, give her medicine, lend her a car… tell me what I have to do to be better here?” *Cough* 

Hearing his words, Hae-Joo coughed.

 “Of course you’re good to me, boss, and if I want more from you, I’ll sell my conscience, I think I’ve earned enough, but the “being nice” I’m talking about… I mean…” 

A thin pink blush crept up Hae-Joo’s cheeks.

 “To the adults in the village, it will look like we are getting married, and they are all worried about me, so I want to show them how sweet and loving my fiancé is to me, and reassure them so they don’t have to worry so much.” 

Yi Ho looked away from Hae-Joo, who rested her chin on her hand, waiting for an answer.

 

He turned to Hae-Joo, who was staring at him, and replied teasingly. “You said you wanted only one, not two.”

 

The anger in Hae-Joo’s eyes vanished in an instant.

 

In its place was a blindingly dark amusement.

 

Seeing the smirk on her face, Yi Ho thought he had no choice.

 

He would need the villagers’ testimony to track down Guishan Dao, so it couldn’t hurt to look good.

 

All sweet and loving.

 

‘How can I be sweet and loving?’

 

There was a tender light in his eyes as he watched Hae-Joo walk around.

 

***

 

She was relieved when he took her back to the thatched hut where she lived.

 

Fortunately, the villagers believed in her and Yi Ho’s union without question.

 

This was because she and her adoptive father, Yangbu, were not from the village.

 

They were strangers who had wandered in one day from the outside world.

 

Although they were friendly with the villagers, they kept their past a secret before coming here.

 

They were afraid of attracting unwanted attention and being ostracized.

 

Hae-Joo knew this too, so she never talked to Yangbu about her past.

 

Except for their relationship as stepfather and stepdaughter.

 

One day, when the villagers told her she looked just like her adoptive father, the young girl cried and said he wasn’t her real father.

 

Yangbu was everything else, but his bandit-like appearance was a world away from her beautiful self.

 

How could they be so alike, she thought at the time, all the people in the village had bad eyes.

 

It wasn’t until later, when she was older, that she realized the resemblance between her and her foster father wasn’t just physical.

 “Boss, over here.” 

Hae-Joo pointed to the familiar house in front of them and waved to Yi Ho, who joined her.

 “The house is old, but it’s been swept and cleaned, so it shouldn’t be too uncomfortable.” 

Hae-Joo let go of Yi Ho’s hand, which she had held nonchalantly the whole time, and pushed open the screen door.

 

It opened to reveal a short, thatched-roofed room with a kitchen and an east-facing room on the right, a west-facing room on the left, and a back room off to the side.

 “Come in. It’s shabby but cozy, right?” 

Hae-Joo scanned the house with a loving eye, then looked back at Yi Ho.

 “I’ll clean up the east room first, so you can use that, and then we’ll have dinner at my uncle’s, who was like a stepbrother to my father, and my aunt said earlier that you should come and eat.” “Stepbrother?” “Yes.” 

Hae-Joo snatched the bag from Yi Ho’s hand, set it down in the great hall, and stepped out onto the steps to return to the courtyard.

 

Then she tugged Yi Ho’s arm.

 “But first I want to show you the house.” 

Yi Ho swallowed hard as Hae-Joo showed him around the house, a little excited.

 

He had been in this house before.

 

Even in the middle of the night, his bright eyes had seen through the structure of the house.

 

His eyes, as bright as torches, had already seen through the structure of the house, even though he’d been up late.

 

But he listened to Hae-Joo’s chatty explanation in silence.

 

It was annoying to have to look as if he had never been here before, but it was unavoidable.

 “This west room is my father’s and my workshop, and this back room is my father’s room, so you can see how strange it is that I have to live in the dark and damp back room while he has the bigger and sunnier west room.” 

Despite the grumbling, there was a deep longing in Hae-Joo’s tone.

 “That’s why he loved making and copying so much.” 

Closing the wide open west door, Hae-Joo said she had to clean up the east room first, so she left him alone in the great hall and disappeared into the kitchen.

 

Yi Ho leaned against the pillar that supported the roof of the great hall and looked out over the quiet courtyard, where the only sound was the buzzing of grasshoppers.

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