Golden rays of sunlight peeping through the window, tickled Min-ho to get up from bed. With half open eyes, the young man yawningly walked towards the washroom to continue with his morning routine.
Looking around the house, anyone would say that the house was small yet beautiful. There was only one bedroom attached with a kitchen and one washroom with a big porch, more than enough for a single person. However, the thing that can make anyone’s heart flutter was, looking at this small house's garden; beautiful cherry blossoms surround it. With the blowing wind, the cherry blossom sheds its pink leaves over the roof like it’s raining blessings over the small house.
Min-ho got ready and walked towards the gambling house. The owner of the gambling house Kwan adoreed Min-ho as he was of the best use to him. Kwan was a wealthy yet cruel man. He was a renowned personality of the town also known as the notorious loan shark. People in dire need often borrowed money from him but in case of late payment or no payment, he made use of his trump card, Min-ho to release their money. Kwan showered Min-ho with a good amount in return.
Min-ho approached Kwan if there was any work for him or not.
“It’s been a month that the poor man hasn't paid a single penny. Make sure to bring back my money when you come back.” Kwan ordered, to which Min-ho simply nodded his head and went to collect the recovery.
The fear of Min-ho’s chloric disposition prevailed in the town folks. People were aware of his unmatchable strength that no one could beat and hence they never dared to mess with him.
Min-ho found his way to that poor man’s house and started calling him. In no time, the man and his family came out only to see Min-ho at their door asking for the recovery. Helplessness poured out of their eyes as they looked at Min-ho.
“Your time is up; now pay back my master’s money.” Min-ho said in a jittery way.
“I…I want some more time. Please try to understand that my child is going through a severe disease. He needs proper medication and treatment. I’ve already sold my land and now I’m left with nothing. We hardly get anything to eat. Please, I’m only asking for some time.” The poor man begged Min-ho with tears brimming in his eyes.
But it seemed the word of the man didn’t convince or move Min-ho at all. He stepped forward carrying his lacklustre look and grabbed the collar of the man.
Before he could do something to the man, he felt something against his feet. He averted his eyes and there appeared a petite figure. It was the sick child praying Min-ho to forgive his father.
Looking at the poor child Min-ho spared his father. He vaguely said, “I’ll give you two weeks.” and left.
“I never knew he has a heart.” The poor man said and felt a sigh of relief.
Walking like a burdened soul Min-ho was in daze recalling the image of that child begging. Soon the sound of painful screaming chased him from the past and clouded his mind, in no time he felt like he was standing alone in the crowd of people. Those were the memories from which he always tried to run away.
Somehow, he managed to recollect himself and proceeded straight to his master.
As expected, Kwan scolded him badly. “Do you know why I liked you the most? Because you are not like others, my boy. You are a cold-hearted man who knows pity and kindness is not the key to survive in this cruel world. Only money and strength is the key to live life like a King. Therefore, never ever show your kindness to anyone otherwise you'll be of no use to me. Now leave.”
Min-ho agreed to his advice and left. Despite his surpassing fighting skills Min-ho is aimless; he never tried to search for a permanent job in the palace where he was best suited.
He got busy scaling the town’s shops, as a local festival was near, a local festival called the lantern festival was approaching.
He then headed towards the shoe shop, to treat himself to a new pair of shoes when his eyes landed on a lady who was selling persimmon.
Seeing the persimmons, Min-ho's mind drifted to the memories of Si-ri. Of how her eyes flickered when she saw the persimmon, the moment he fetched them for her.
“It seems she really likes persimmons. Should I take these persimmons for Si-ri? Obviously yes, she helped me to win the bet.” Min-ho thought.
Min-ho moved forward and bought a pack of persimmons. Min-ho kept the persimmon in his bag.
He then left the market with his purchases in hand.
“The lantern festival is near. I should gift her a lantern too,” said Min-ho and left for the forest with his bag dangling on his shoulder.
On the way to the mansion questions swirled around Min-ho’s mind. What if she labelled me as a bad person? No! I don't think I look like a thief. How can anyone misunderstand such a handsome and pious face? Let’s see what happens.”
As he stood in front of the mansion observing it, he chuckled lightly recalling the memory of the first time he was here.
“Finally, I’m at the so-called witch's mansion to see the witch.” Min-ho laughed and knocked at the door.After knocking for some time and not getting any response from the other side, Min-ho decided to push the gate and luckily, it opened.
The moment Min-ho entered he sensed something behind him and hastily turned around only to see the sharp iron rod landing on his arm. He looked at Si-ri who was clearly looking sour with him visiting her again.
“Stop!” Min-ho said in a serious tone to stop Si-ri from beating him.
Both of them froze in their position for a moment looking at each other with mixed feelings.
“How could you be so cruel? I mean just look at that iron rod, do you want me to kiss the world goodbye.” Min-ho said, gasping for breath.“Because a bad person like you must be punished like this. How dare you come here again? You want to take advantage of a girl, right. You are the first person who dared to enter this mansion, you are a complete stranger to me still I trusted you with my safety.” Si-ri rebuked Min-ho angrily"I must be brave enough to scoop away this boy so that he would never dare to come hear carrying his dumb head." Si-ri grumbled in her thoughts.The moment she was about to flare up on Min-ho, a bag full of Persimmon grabbed her attention and her mouth quickly started watering.“Persimmon,” Si-ri said, her
After returning from a long journey, Lord Yong along with Nyang and other followers had a prolonged discussion regarding the devil's book and about how they would come out alive from the deadly desert.Past discussion it was decided that four of Lord Yong's disciples would accompany him because there would be very little time to search for the book in that large desert, that too in one day.Lord Yong asked Nyang to protect Si-ri in his absence, before he with others moved towards Xinjiang province.Nyang was the most trusted disciple of Lord Yong. He silently prayed for Lord Yong's success.Xinjiang province is far away from Noam. After walking for a long time Lord Yong decided to take a rest near, as it was nearly getting dark. They
Lord Yong and his disciples had finally reached Xinjiang province. The Xinjiang province was built on the banks of a large natural harbour and was truly an extraordinary sight once. Its elegance was matched by the backdrop of lush fields of grass. But the frequent sandstorms had destroyed the beauty of the province and made the fertile soil of Xinjiang sandy. The province was a desert where greenery was nowhere to be seen. The place that was once fortunate and affluent many years ago now looks miserable and hapless. Many families eloped the place while looking for a better opportunity of survival. Very few houses could be seen there. Lord Yong and others headed to the town. On their way an old man approached them.
Early in the morning, Lord Yong and his disciples performed a special ritual in order to seek blessings from almighty. Then they proceeded towards the Sea of the Dead. The entire folks of the town came to see them off and gave their best wishes for the attainment of their work. In order to show respect, people of town bowed their heads on their departure. With bundles of hopes, expectations and fear, the gentlemen headed towards their destination. Route to the desert was so abstruse and rocky. Despite walking through an impalpable path, Lord Yong and the others somehow reached the desert. They all stopped there for a while, observing the never-ending desert ahead of them. They a
Terrified, Lord Yong cried aloud. He could not control his tears from streaming down his face, while looking at the sky. Again, he saw Si-ri's smiling face when he closed his eyes and started to pray for the book as it was a last resort to save his beloved daughter. In this entire context, Lord Yong faints eventually.A few minutes laterLord Yong gained consciousness and quickly tried to stand. The sun was half submerged but wait, what was the black hues emitting at the direction of the sunset? Lord Yong recalls the words of the Dark Lord "The aura of the book is so dark that wherever it will be placed under the ground it will emit black clouds above it".Without wasting a single second, he immediately ran towards the black clouds. When he reached there, he saw four other men who were
The preparation of the Lantern festival was in full swing. The market was full of hustle-bustle, brimming with the colourful and beautiful lanterns to allure the visitors. Vendors had decorated their shops to attract customers. Kids could be seen indulging themselves in gruelling arguments with their parents and crying stubbornly to buy them their favourite toys and lanterns. Other throngs of people were busy buying new clothes for their family. There was one ordinary shop among the crowd of wacky shops, but surprisingly it was full of customers because there the lanterns were inconceivably designed with different textures. That ordinary shop attracted Min-ho. He decided to buy a lantern for Si-ri from that shop which was surrounded by a huge crowd. Min-ho didn't know that unknowingly he was also grabbing the attention of girls. Min-ho was tall and he
Far away from the hustle and bustle of the world, Si-ri was gladly weaving clothes for winter. Out of the blue she noticed some light from the corner of her eyes and rushed towards her window for clarity. She became a little frightened and suspicious, worried there could be thepresence of a human being but it was something else. “Oh! It’s a lantern, it seems people have started to celebrate the festival,” said Si-ri and closed the window to stop herself from admiring the sky full of lanterns. In this way, she would clog herself from the strong desire to go and see the world, happy faces of people, celebration, colours, crowd and everything. “If only, father would have been here, I would not feel this lonely. It's been a long time since I haven't seen you father, please come back soon. I am missing you
Min-ho was thinking about Si-ri’s advice. He screeched to halt in a nearby tea shop for a while. After some time he noticed the damnatory gazes of people around him. Some of them were so startled with his presence that they started to leave the shop. Min-ho couldn’t help but scoff at himself. “Some people are scared of me because of my arrogant demeanour and others look down on me scornfully because of my work and idleness. What kind of life am I living?” “I never got affected by these people but on the contrary I never wanted to see disgust and fear in their eyes for me but this is what I have earned in all these years, I only realised it now when someone poked me. It’s like I have been lost and stuck in a wasteland where there was direction where I could run but not sure in which direction, lots of faces
So, this was the tale of a cursed girl who finally earned her freedom. The journey of this prisoned girl was not easy. She never knew that lifting the curse would cost her to lose her loved ones. The story depicts the dominance and vigour of a curse. No matter how much you try to escape or seek resilience, the curse will destroy you. Just like the queen lost her beloved son as a result of her own misdeed. How can we forget Mi-sook, the nasty shaman who had authored the heart wrenching and destructive saga of pain with the pen of her vengeance. The moment the curse lifted it backfired Mi-sook. She too met with the same agony that she once had chosen for Min-shi, the poor girl. Along with the twins, Min-shi cursed her to die a painful death by the backfire of her own dark art that she always used for her banausic deeds. Nyang too stabbed her at last. Her corpse didn't even get a proper cremation, maybe her rotten carcass was destined to be the food for the cluster of dea
“Don't worry your son will be alright. You just need to give him this energy on a regular basis until he recovers completely,” Si-ri assured the poor man about his son’s health.The man thanked her for healing his son’s long-term disease and blessed Si-ri with all his heart.Si-ri stretched and stifled a yawn. “Huh, quite a busy day.” She walked towards the window to grab some fresh air. Upon opening the window, she felt the sharp coldness of the winter breeze. She inhaled the crisp, cool air. In no time, the snowflakes started pouring from the sky. Her breath became feeble against the numbing air but she rather enjoyed it, she blinked thoughtfully as the frost patiently kissed her face, captivated by the soft, dusty illusions of light that sat heavy on her eyelashes. She adored the snow, more so when it was falling and unshackled her hands to play with the snow. After a few minutes, she lifted her eyes to the sky and smiled.
Five years laterRuyi runs in the castle’s corridor with a smile on her face, with absolute grace.“Catch me if you can!” she says and continues running.“No wait mommy, mah shoelace!” the young boy who was running behind Ruyi says and stops running making a puppy face.Ruyi stops and sighs before smiling at the boy while bending down to tie his laces. She kisses him on the cheek and says, “Rian, now enough of playing. It's time for your studies. Come.”Rian was the apple of Ruyi’s eye, he was an adorable little tot who resembled both Ruyi and Jian. The castle that was once haunted with the wave of miseries and silence, now echoed with the lively giggling of the little Crown Prince. The little boy once again brought the palace and its people back to life with his bright smile. The Emperor and Empress find their lost son in the face of
Si-ri and Nyang cremated Min-ho’s body near the cherry blossom tree. Two days had passed, since she had last eaten or slept. She used to cry all day and night sitting in a corner. Nyang tried his best to placate her to gulp downthe bitter truth but she just was too numb and fragile. She was craving to meet Min-ho.She soon made a sleep potion for herself in hope that Min-ho would probably come to see her in her dream and consumed the potion. The potion worked well and Si-ri finally fell asleep. She fell asleep in this world only to awake or enter a whole new world. The World of…dreams.Si-ri’s POV“I opened my eyes to a whole new place. I could see the sky was painted in red and orange hues, that's really odd. But the place is engulfed in a weird tranquillity and silence. I looked around everywhere and found a giant and quaint door. Hesitantly, I moved forward and pushed the door with all my force an
Next eveningNyang came back to the shrine. He was positive that he had lost the piece of paper somewhere.“This day is going to be the last day of my life. It'sgood I decided to pay a visit to all my dear ones. I just can’t let years of my master’s hard work go in vain. He was everything to me. I owe him my life. I’ll sacrifice my life for him. So that he’ll get peace,” Nyang mumbled in thought.Min-ho greeted him. Nyang noticed a little weirdness in Min-ho’s expression but in the heat of nervousness he just ignored his thoughts.The nightfall brought a welcomingcoolness yet the feeling of fear was present in all three of them. Even though the sky was glittering with the twinkling stars and the shining moon, for Si-ri it looked gloomy. She wasrestless and somewhere still battling with the negative thoughts lingering in her mind. On the other hand, Min-ho and Nyang sat outside si
Nyang became agitated when he couldn't find the torn out piece of the Devil’s book that he and Lord Yong kept secret from Si-ri. He was not concerned about losing the piece of paper; he was more concerned about Si-ri knowing the whole truth. Lord Yong never wanted Si-ri to learn about the last part of the solution to lift the curse; he knew that if she found out, she would sacrifice her life.“What are you looking for, brother?” Si-ri asked, after noticing Nyang in jittery.“Nothing special, sister.” He saw Min-ho coming. “Min-ho is here, I need to go home for some urgent work. I might come back by tomorrow,” Min-ho greeted Nyang with a smile and told him that he is certain that the boy will be cured. “That’s nice. I’m heading to the town, so you two need to be more cautious," he said beforeheading to the forest.Min-ho came closer to Si-ri. “Finally, we are alone,” Min-ho said,
Nyang and Min-ho told Si-ri the whole incident of the boy and his sufferings.“Do you have any remedy for that? Can you treat that boy?” asked Nyang.“I can treat him, I guess. I have read about astral awakening and activation in the book of the devil.”“If that boy is not treated immediately, he may undergo a lot more disastrous experience. The bright lights coming from every personis called aura, every object on the earth emits an aura and this will become a hurdle for him to see faces; he'll only be seeing bright colours of people and not their faces. Without any spiritual teacher this type of activation or building connections to other worlds can harm the person. The novice performer of preternatural knowledge can get stuck between the never-ending phenomena of phantom cognition. This will always be followed by sharp pains and almost constant headaches. Without having complete comprehension, aggravating and infuriating occ
Three days laterThe palace had become aware of itself, of the misery that echoed within the walls.In the morning, sitting in front of the mirror, Ruyi looked at her insipid face. The face, which now lacked freshness, radiance and most importantly a smile. The smudged kohl had left a dark hue beneath her gloomy eyes. She stared at her reflection for a minute thinking. She now no longer had a reason to dress up well as there was no one to adore her now. It made her happy to doll up for Jian, every day. But he is gone now and so was her reason to primp and preen too.While recalling his last words, she came to know that he wrote a letter for Ruyi. She started looking for that letter and pounced up at her jewellery boxes to find the letter. Finally found a piece of paper. She opened it with her shuddering hands.ToMy Love, RuyiToday I felt like writing something for you, as day by day my condition is worsening. Even now
“I knew about his condition, brother Nyang told me about him. Yes, I am sad hearing about his death but I never felt any affection toward him as we never met. He didn't even know my existence; he was like a stranger to me. But still, it would be an arduous state for everyone in Noam, especially for his parents. Noam again became heirless. I can feel their pain, as everything they did was to give an heir to Noam and now, he is gone. It's really heart wrenching.” Si-ri said in a weak voice.Just then Si-ri saw Nyang walking towards the cave. Nyang looked tired as if he hadn't gotten any sleep since several nights. When Si-ri got the clear image of his face she became scared. His eyes were swollen and his overall appearance was inkling that something terrible had happened.Nyang stood mute in front of Si-ri looking at the ground. Si-ri’s heart was thumping fast looking at Nyang’s bizarre demeanour. She came close to him and asked him apprehensively