Si-ri

17 years later

Far away from the hustle bustle of town, free from the human surroundings, in the deep forest there was an abandoned mansion.  The mansion was as dark as coal with a small gate detailed with intricate designs and a window. One could hear lots of brown, scary owls hooting up. The mansion was also surrounded by lots of talismans.

The bright and booming lightning was illuminating the sky. A young girl was peeping out from the mansion’s window with a black mark on her left hand.

She was watching the full moon. The moonlight was illuminating her ivory skin. To say that Si-ri is beautiful would be an understatement. She had a sculpted figure which was twine-thin. A pair of arched and dark eyebrows and sweeping eyelashes. Delicate ears and a button nose. Her feather-like raven hair swept down. Her enticing, constellation-hazel eyes and her crimson red lips. It was a pleasure to see her and it wouldn’t be wrong to say, just a glance at her face can compel an atheist to believe in god.

“I always wonder why my father has confined me to this mansion for years. I am also not allowed to step out of this mansion. But it’s a relief that he is going to reveal the secret on my eighteenth birthday. I am eagerly waiting for my birthday.”

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On a field two men were competing in a horse race in front of a cheering crowd. The competitors were good friends, Min-ho and Ji-ho. The crowd placed their bets on who would win. Everyone put their money on Min-ho but one man from behind came forward and said he’ll take the gamble on Ji-ho.

Physically, Min-ho was in pretty good shape. He was a tall muscular man with fair skin tone, black hair and black eyes. He grew up in a middle class neighbourhood. He was an orphan and an adventurous kind of creature who usually earned his living by challenging people on some task, gambling. 

He was born and grew up under the canopy of his loving mother in a poor village, he lived out of trouble until he was about twelve years old, but at that point things took a turn for the worst. He was adopted by a cruel couple, they used to beat him severely.

As a result, he fled one day at the age of sixteen and with the help of a stranger, he had survived in a criminal world. However, with his fighting skills and determination, he managed to remain out of reach of danger and trained to perfection. This had turned him into the man he was today.

Powerless to change the past, he is now a part of a gamble house. The owner of the gamble house adored him, as there was no one who could beat Min-ho in fighting.

Ji-ho overtook Min-ho in the race, shattering the expectation of the crowd. Suddenly Min-ho fell off the horse, and unexpectedly by most of the spectators, Ji-ho won the race.

At the palace 

The grown-up Prince Jian, the twin brother to the cursed princess, was sitting before the Queen. His eighteenth birthday is coming, but he was feeling burdened and troubled, though he was not sure why. His eunuch teased him by saying it’s probably because the prince has reached the marriageable age. The Queen was tickled at this thought, but she agreed, much to the prince’s embarrassment. 

 “Mother, I have been experiencing trouble sleeping lately.  Whenever I sleep I see strange dreams of a girl who looks like me,” the Prince told his mother.

At this, the Queen looked stricken. She assured the Prince not to worry about the dream and ordered his Eunuch to serve the Prince with hot soup every night before sleep.

Queen Iseul summoned Mi-Sook and told her about the Prince’s dream.

 “Your Highness! The curse had tied Prince’s fate to that of the princess. If the Prince is alive, it means the girl is dead; if the girl would have been alive, then the Prince would not be alive today. As they are twins hence in one or some other way they’re connected, in Prince Jian’s case they’re connected by dreams. Don't worry my Queen, I’ll take care of it.”

Marketplace Scene

Ji-ho handed Min-ho a bunch of gold coins. 

“I let you win the race, but you still lost. The crowd is disappointed enough in you winning the race.” Min-ho teased Ji-ho while counting the gold coins.

As Min-ho and Ji-ho were walking through the marketplace, they saw a crowd gathered near the edge of the forest. They walked towards the crowd and were startled to see corpses lying around. The people were talking about rumours of who could've done this.

“These corpses are of those who dared to enter the dark forest. Apparently, no one goes to the old mansion situated in the middle of the deep forest.”

“The mansion above the forest is rumoured to be a witch’s mansion.” The crowd was blabbering rumours one crazier than the other. Ji-ho heard the whole story and came up with a wicked plan.

He approached Min-ho and asked, “I’ll give you as much as you want but you need to bring any belongings of the witch from the old mansion.”

“No, I’ve some work.” Min-ho denied.

“It’s okay dear. I know you must be scared enough to enter the witch’s mansion.” Ji-ho mocked him.

Furious Min-ho pulled out his knife and placed its sharp edge on Ji-ho’s neck. “Nothing in this world can scare me, not even a witch. Make your gold coins ready because this time too I’ll win the bet.” 

Min-ho proceeded to the deep forest meanwhile perspiration ran down Ji-ho’s forehead from the terror. 

On his way, he recalled the rumours about the witch of the mansion. 

“It is said that she has a pretty face, but once she sees any human nearby her mansion, she ends up ripping out the heart of that person and eating them.” 

However, he only greeted those stories with derision as to him the rumours were nothing but a flapdoodle. 

He passed by a tree and stopped, getting a gut feeling that something was going to go bad. He heard rustling of leaves behind him followed by the roar of a tiger. He turned around to see the beast slowly stalking him like his prey. Min-ho whipped out his knife.

Min-ho finally saw the tiger clearly, and it was huge. He knew there was no way he could take it out on his own. So, he decided to run.  He ran as fast as he could in the other direction, but the tiger chased after him. He tripped and fell but kept going deeper into the forest until the tiger started to slow down and Min-ho eventually lost it.

He found himself at a clearing where he found the black mansion, nestled below the ground and roped off with the talismans.

It was pitch dark by now. Only the dark forest and the horrible mansion could be seen from the full moon's light.

He slowly walked towards the house, leaves crunching under his feet. The broken gates were open, creaking in the wind making a dolorous sound. The lightning lit up the house and the thunder made him jump. The house was dark and gloomy. It had narrow broken windows and an open wooden porch. Min-ho felt beads of sweat form on his forehead even with the cold breeze blowing. His heart was pounding in his chest, racing faster with every step he took towards the front door.

Trying his best not to make any sound Min-ho slowly entered the mansion and without wasting time he quickly scanned every area looking for something to take back with him.

After searching everywhere, he got a beautiful golden hairpin embedded with sparkling stones.

As he was about to leave, he heard movement behind him. Min-ho froze completely. The sound of his heart thundering in his ears. Before he could run a sharp stroke on his head made him fall on his knees. He let out a painful scream and eventually fainted battling with the immense pain.