The Lady in the Dream
It took a little over an hour to travel from Sector 12 to Sector 16, where Coltech’s residence stood.
The roads were well paved with little to fault, yet they were nothing like the straight, open stretches of a modern highway. Even by car, our speed was essentially no different from that of a carriage.
“Somehow we ended up sightseeing Sector 15 as well.”
“It’s a place that doesn’t feel like a slum.”
“Indeed.”
Just as Jamie said, the Sector 15 we briefly passed on the way to Sector 16 was truly another world.
We only saw it in passing. Even so, the atmosphere of Sector 15—under special management—was so distinctly different that the contrast was unmistakable.
First, there was vitality in the streets.
The residents wore clothes that leaned a little more toward style than pure function, and their faces were full of ease. More than anything, the children were what truly brought the streets to life.
Children who looked a bit younger than our shepherd boy ran about laughing and chattering without regard to gender. Not a single resident shouted at them, and the owners of shops selling bread or snacks could often be seen calling the children over and pressing something into their hands one by one.
Sector 15 was far too much of another world, yet even Sector 16 right beside it looked quite livable for a slum—something the visual evidence alone made plain enough.
“…….”
When I had suggested a bet earlier she had not even glanced my way, focused entirely on driving. Yet once we passed Sector 15 and entered Sector 16, Jamie kept stealing sideways looks at me, gauging my mood.
It was behavior she never normally showed.
“Jamie.”
“…….”
Her gaze still fixed on the window, I called her name. For the briefest instant her face, reflected in the glass, turned toward me.
“If there’s something you want to say, say it.”
“I… I thought you would ask about various other things.”
I did not ask “For example?”
“I did have several points of curiosity. It’s simply that the person who could answer them wasn’t Jamie.”
“I’m sorry.”
I straightened my head from the window and answered with a single nod.
Only after a little more silence did we arrive in front of Coltech’s residence.
“Since you said he was an acquaintance of Mr. Benjamin, I had some expectations, but…”
Coltech’s home sat in a rather secluded corner even of Sector 16. The reason was simple: like the mansion Benjamin occupied, he too was master of a vast estate.
“It’s an undeniable fact that Mad Dog rules the northern slums, but that doesn’t mean Mad Dog is the only organization.”
“So Mr. Coltech was also the head of an organization.”
Jamie nodded. Before long the men standing guard at the entrance pulled the massive iron gates open from both sides—permission to enter.
“Jamie.”
“Yes, Priest.”
I watched the well-tended garden in one corner of the mansion for a moment, then unfastened my seatbelt and whispered quietly.
“If you had accepted the bet, Jamie might have won.”
“……?”
She tilted her head in puzzlement, but since she had never accepted the bet, any obligation to reveal its contents had vanished. Our exchange ended right there, as expected.
It had not really been a conversation—only me unilaterally prodding her curiosity with a monologue.
“The master is coming out to greet us himself.”
As we parked, Coltech—whom I had seen only that very morning—could be seen approaching us directly from the mansion.
“You came early.”
The moment I stepped out of the car, Coltech extended his hand. I took his thick, scar-covered hand and shook it.
“The Priest must have a schedule of his own, so we’ll move at once.”
“Of course.”
The atmosphere of the mansion could not be called pleasant even as empty flattery.
From the men guarding the iron gates to the other security personnel posted at regular intervals, every one of them radiated a sharp, ready-to-stab aura.
“This way.”
Of course, we were guests invited by the master himself. We underwent no body search or similar process and went straight inside the mansion—straight to the couple’s bedroom, a place ordinary people could never approach unless they were important insiders.
“That’s my wife lying there.”
A beautiful blonde lady of noble bearing lay alone on a bed so vast that five or six people could have stretched out with room to spare.
“Is there anything you need?”
“Just a chair… and if you could prepare a bottle of warm water, I would be grateful.”
“Understood.”
Coltech opened the door and instructed the dedicated maid who had been nursing the lady until our arrival to bring what I had requested.
“Would it be better if I left the room?”
“No. This concerns your wife; I cannot ask her husband to step aside. You may watch.”
“Understood.”
Before long the dedicated maid and another maid of new face entered, carrying a chair and a bottle of warm water respectively, and arranged them exactly as I directed.
I sat and checked that the water’s temperature was suitable.
“It will not take long, but just in case, would you keep the water from cooling?”
“What’s so difficult about that.”
Coltech did not even order the maid. He simply removed the coat he was wearing and wrapped the bottle with it himself.
“Then I will begin.”
Interfering with the dream of an unconscious person is not especially difficult.
First, as always, I write a contract.
No special clauses are required.
A single line stating that I, as a priest, will take no malicious action toward the target of interference is enough.
“Jamie. May I borrow a dagger?”
“Yes.”
When I opened my hand lightly, a dagger I had seen once before slid from her sleeve.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
I took it and made a thin cut across my thumb.
Though only a provisional contract, this was a one-sided agreement that sought no consent from the other party. To give it stronger binding force, I required blood.
“This should be sufficient.”
I showed the contract now soaked with my blood and held the dagger out to Coltech.
“I can’t manage anything that delicate. Would Doberman handle it?”
“If you permit it, I will.”
“Please.”
Since her husband had given permission, I returned the dagger to its owner. Jamie strode to the lady’s side, then without the slightest hesitation lightly lifted the blanket and drew a thin line across the lady’s thumb.
“This is thinner than a paper cut.”
She had cut so finely that to see any red at all she had to squeeze the thumb once.
Only then did a single crimson drop fall. The contract dissolved into a far denser pink smoke than usual and vanished.
With that, the provisional contract was complete.
“Then I will go meet your wife.”
“…….”
It would not have been strange at all for him to say more, yet Coltech only stared at me with fierce intensity.
I must have been too excited.
As always, I praised Verdia’s beauty inwardly and closed my eyes.
A garden, is it.
The lady’s dream took the mansion as its stage. She—the mistress of this place and the subject of the request—was walking the well-tended garden I had seen earlier, watering and tending it herself.
“My lady.”
“……?”
Wearing trousers instead of a skirt and a hat instead of a parasol, the lady set the watering can down for a moment and merely turned her head toward me.
“Oh my, are you my husband’s guest?”
“I am.”
When I nodded, she rose with a soft smile on a face whose age was impossible to guess, personally proving that a person’s dignity comes not from clothing but from the person herself.
“A pleasure to meet you. I am Deola Atreange, his wife.”
“I am Priest Baek Jinhyuk.”
“Oh my!”
Lady Deola’s eyes widened and she came closer.
“So I wasn’t seeing things after all? How wonderful.”
Her first reaction looked like that of a girl meeting a celebrity, but it did not take long to realize the misconception.
“It seems he took a risk because of me.”
The widening of her eyes had been a reaction full of worry, born from the assumption that her husband Coltech had done something dangerous.
“You are aware that this is a dream.”
“Of course.”
At that moment the surrounding scenery shifted from the garden to the bedroom where I had closed my eyes only moments earlier.
Lady Deola sat on the edge of the bed on which she lay in reality and smiled bitterly.
“When I first opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was him. I was ready to accept his complaints as always. But he did not complain to me. Instead he did the things I had always wished he would do for me.”
“Impressive. Ordinary humans do not even find that fact strange.”
“Hehe. As the wife of a man who leads an organization, one should not be an ordinary woman, should one?”
At her smile I hesitated briefly, then simply answered with a single nod.
“Will you tell me? The reason he went so far as to risk bringing the Priest here.”
“Before that—one. No, may I ask two questions?”
“Of course.”
Next week would mark one month since I had settled in these slums. And the lady before me had lost consciousness only a few days ago.
“Are you by any chance confined in the mansion?”
“What? Pffft~!!”
She lightly covered her mouth for a while and shook her shoulders as though she had heard a thoroughly amusing joke.
“I don’t know why you asked that, but it is a misunderstanding. It is rather the opposite. He tells me to go out, enjoy shopping, and take tea with the other ladies. I am the one who refused every invitation.”
“May I ask the reason?”
“Hehe. Because I love him too much. He is always busy with work. And because of that, there are many who envy him.”
She closed her eyes gently, a faint smile on her lips.
“I do not want him to suffer because of me. Even without that he always returns exhausted; if I frequently went out for external activities, how much would he worry?”
“Then do you deliberately avoid outside news as well?”
“That’s right. I am happy simply accepting his exhausted complaints. But if I knew more and received a great deal of outside news, even I would inevitably find my heart shaken.”
“Mr. Coltech must have saved a country in a previous life.”
“Oh my. Then I must have been the wife of a man who saved a country in a previous life?”
“…….”
I was fully aware that this was an atmosphere in which one ought to laugh lightly. Yet for some reason I did not want to.
Pure devotion, is it.
I had no choice but to admit it.
Having stepped outside the fence of the law, I had been excited like a mad colt and had been anything but objective in analyzing the situation.
“Thank you.”
I bowed toward her.
“Thanks to you, I was able to reflect on myself.”
“Hehe. So the Priest received help from me?”
“I did.”
When I raised my head she offered a bright smile so radiant that even the flowers blooming in the garden earlier would have blushed.
“Then, could you return that feeling of gratitude to him who is waiting outside, on my behalf?”
“If that is what you wish, gladly.”
“Please.”
I nodded. Her bright smile gradually lost its light and turned lonely.
“Then will you tell me the story now?”
“Of course.”
In accordance with the contract with Coltech, I conveyed without omitting a single word everything he wished to tell the lady before me.
“It is difficult. If I choose the former, he will spend the rest of his life worrying about me here in the mansion. If I choose the latter, it will leave a deep wound in his heart. Either way, he will have no choice but to suffer.”
“My lady.”
Had I ever interfered with another’s choice until now?
Never.
“I give you my word. No matter which side you choose, Mr. Coltech will not have his heart ache.”
“…….”
We stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment without speaking.
“Then… I will choose the former. After all, I do not want to die alone. Who knows—I might still wake up, mightn’t I?”
I did not answer that question.
“Mr. Coltech’s request ends here.”
“You’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
As my body gradually grew hazy, the lady gently raised one hand and saw me off with a smiling face.
“My lady.”
“Yes?”
There must have been a mountain of things she wished to tell her husband, yet until the very last moment she did not hold me back. She maintained her dignity as a lady—no, as the wife of the man named Coltech.
“I hope the next visit is not from Mr. Coltech, but an invitation from the lady herself.”
“Hehe. He’ll be jealous, you know?”
Already little more than a fading afterimage, I lifted one corner of my mouth slightly and answered.
“Wouldn’t that be entertaining in its own way?”
The lady did not reply; she only smiled back.
Our first meeting ended like that.