As True as a Dream

Hae-Joo gasped as the blanket was pulled over her face.

 

Under the blanket, her face no longer had the emptiness of someone just waking up from a dream.

 

When Yi Ho left the room, leaving Hae Joo alone, she pulled the blanket back over her head.

 

No matter how easily she woke up, she was still embarrassed at the thought of standing in front of Yi Ho again and making a fool of herself.

 

She had already thrown away all her dignity, but embarrassment is still embarrassment.

 

Hae-Joo stared frustratedly at her hand, which clung to Yi Ho’s hand like a straw in a blanket.

 

‘Do I hold a grudge against him?’

 

She doesn’t know why she can’t defend herself against him.

 

She didn’t object to the kiss on the train and simply explained that it was unavoidable.

 

Even when he held her hand for a long time to apply the medicine, it was awkward, but not uncomfortable.

 

In her twenty years of life, she had never been so wary of the opposite sex.

 “Too much beauty is also a problem.” 

In the end, Hae-Joo could only blame her own worldly tastes.

 

Yes, there’s nothing wrong with being pretty.

 

Even if you despise it, you can’t help but look at it again, and it’s almost pleasant to look at.

 

Hae-Joo calmed down and closed her eyes.

 

“If you look at it differently, you’ll feel differently and maybe the nightmare won’t be a nightmare anymore.”

 

Yi Ho’s blunt words echoed in her head.

 

That was true. The corpses in her nightmares were all crying.

 

She could still see the horror of the scene in the cemetery on the northern outskirts of the city.

 

All this time she’d been stuck in the nightmare, haunted by the ugly visions.

 

Until today’s dream.

 

She was still standing in the graveyard clearing on the northern outskirts of the city.

 

The bloody hand of a young woman shot out of a pile of corpses and grabbed her by the wrist.

 

Bloody tears streamed from the woman’s eyes, and her other hand rested on her tiny belly.

 

It was a woman with a child.

 

She tugged at the woman’s hand, trying to pull her away from the pile of bodies, but the woman, bleeding profusely between her legs, wouldn’t budge.

 

That was it.

 

An eerie sensation on her feet made her look down and see black snakes everywhere, wherever they came from.

 

It had climbed up the body of the woman with the child, perched itself on her bulging belly and flashed its sharp, poisonous fangs.

 “Please… make it stop…! Please…make this dream stop…!” 

In her dream, she screamed and kicked and stomped at the snakes that hovered around her.

 

And yet, her legs, thighs, waist, back, arms, you name it, they were all bitten.

 “Please stop…!” 

But now, when she remembered the dream, she did not think of her fear of snakes, but of the people who had been bitten by them, and who would not be comfortable even if they died.

 

It wasn’t a nightmare that haunted her, as Yi Ho had said, but a heartbreaking dream about the death of so many people.

 

Between her thoughts, Hae-Joo could not overcome her tiredness and soon fell asleep.

 

When she awoke the next day, she sat up in surprise.

 

The parlor was flooded with light.

 

“I said I’ll go home as soon as curfew was over!”

 

Hae-Joo scrambled to her feet, pulled off her blanket, threw it over a chair, roughly rolled her hair in her hands, and pushed it into her barnacle hat.

 

Then she roughly straightened her rumpled clothes and hurried out the door, her eyes wide as a thought flashed through her mind.

 

Yesterday, after Yi Ho had stopped by, she had had a nightmare.

 

Hae-Joo turned and looked at the clock on the mantel.

 

It was after 6:47.

 

She must have slept for at least four or five hours.

 

Hae-Joo stifled a hollow laugh that tugged at the corners of her mouth and turned away.

 

As she walked through the foyer, she was more careful not to wake Yi Ho with her noise.

 

The smell of trees and grass that filled the house was refreshing.

 

She doesn’t know how long it’s been since she had such a refreshing morning.

 

Humming a melody, Hae-Joo opened the black iron gate and stepped out.

 

***

 

Saturday afternoon.

 

People poured into the streets to celebrate another holiday.

 

The trams rattled by, the rickshaws bounced and bounced.

 

The feet of the rickshaw pullers were strong.

 

Cars honked, bicycles rattled, and clattering horse-drawn carts buzzed through the streets.

 

A young man in a white hanbok, McGraw hat and black shoes, a middle-aged man elegantly dressed in a scroll, a young lady in a full skirt, a foreigner in a kimono and clogs, and a lady in a suit….

 

The heels of Hae-Joo’s shoes echoed through the colorful crowd.

 “Hoo-woo! Hoo-woo!” 

A child with a newspaper in her arms shouted at the top of her lungs, calling out to the busy people coming and going.

 

But the weight of the newspaper was too much for her, and a few bundles fell from her arms.

 

Hae-Joo stopped, bent down and picked up the newspaper.

 

The words

“Western Ghosts Attack”

were scrawled across the front.

 “Western Ghosts?”

She muttered, handing the paper to the child, who bowed his head in gratitude.

 “Yes! They say there is a blood-sucking ghost in the West and it has come to Gyeongseong!” 

The child, who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old, excitedly shared some of the gossip from the newspaper.

 “It sucks blood?” 

The child muttered and then glanced at the front page.

 “A strangled corpse was found near a rice mill in Jiejing City, and upon examination, most of the blood had been drained from the body.” 

‘No blood?’

 

“They said the other day that a whole family had starved to death. They said it wasn’t really starvation. There was no blood… no blood left in their bodies.”

 

I suddenly remembered what Eun-sil said the other day.

‘No blood? Again?’

 “If you’re curious, buy one!” 

As she held the newspaper in fascination, he snatched it from her grasp and said cheerfully

 “Sorry, I was on my way somewhere.” 

When she came to her senses and apologized, the child turned and ran away disappointed.

 “Headline! Headline! The ghost attacked! Hee-hee!” 

Hae-Joo frowned as she looked back at the child.

 

One starved, the other strangled.

 

The blood… must be a coincidence, right?

 

I don’t know why all she can hear these days are ghosts and corpses and scary words.

 

Hae-Joo took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to push the creepy feeling away.

 

She turned right onto the main street where the Song Yue Pavilion was located.

 

The entrance to the Song Yue Pavilion was crowded with people, as if business had picked up after the clown’s last performance.

 

‘Where should I wait? Should I go to his house?’

 

Hae-Joo looked down at her embarrassing outfit again and tugged at it.

 

A straight, short blue skirt and matching blue shoes.

 

The collar of her white blouse was elegant in a pale watery color, and on her head was a cloche hat with a shade that spread out like a bell.

 

The dark blue cloche was wrapped with a sash and topped with a white flower corsage of her own making.

 

Her long hair was parted and tied back into a bun, and she carried a black folding handbag.

 

She wore earrings and a pearl and mother-of-pearl necklace.

 

This, too, she had made herself, spending two days on it.

 

On her face, she applied a thin layer of pink flesh-colored powder and a wide swath of lotus paper from her cheeks to her ears to give her a natural look.

 

She even sprinkled on a 100-won bottle of Bulancer perfume that she hadn’t taken out because she was saving it.

 

She was embarrassed that she looked so out of place as a young lady from a good family, but she was also secretly excited that she had never dressed up so carefully before.

 “Hae-Joo?” 

The familiar voice beside her made her heart jump unnecessarily.

 

Hae-Joo pursed her red lips and looked up.

 

And when she saw him, her eyes lit up as brightly as they did the first day she saw the platinum pocket watch.

 

Even though he was only wearing a pair of dress pants, a white shirt, and a vest, he was a sight to behold.

 

But he couldn’t be more noble and dignified than Manny, who wore a thin waistcoat, a black vest, and a black tie.

 

His hair, which usually fell naturally, was pomaded more than halfway to one side, and he held a black cane in his white-gloved hand.

 

Unfortunately, half of his beautiful face was covered by a fox mask.

 

What she didn’t realize was that as much as she was staring at him, Yi Ho was staring at her as well.

 

When he saw her in the yellow dress the other day, he knew that she had a slim figure and a pretty face.

 

But now that she’s properly dressed, the boy from before is nowhere to be seen, only the slim and pretty new woman, the so-called modern girl.

 

For some reason, Hae-Joo’s eyes lit up with a wry smile as she looked up at him.

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