The Curse

After 1 month

 The physician checked Min-Shi’s health. She was indeed pregnant.

After hearing the news of the pregnancy of the young girl, the Queen was absorbed in deep thought where she recalled what Mi-sook told her.

Flashback

“Your Highness! It is clear that you are barren, but still you can give birth to a child.”

“How is that possible?” The Queen asked desperately.

 “My Queen! Kindly forgive me for what I am saying, but we need a girl to sleep with the King.”

Queen angrily looked at Mi-sook, but before she could react, Mi-sook calmed her down.

“Trust me, you’ve no alternative. Don’t worry, we just need a girl to conceive on your behalf, but I’ll make sure that the baby will come out of your body using my powers.” Mi-sook reassured the Queen.

Flashback Ends

At Night

The Queen gave Mi-sook some of Min-shi’s belongings, including a lock of hair, leaving the rest to the shaman.

As Mi-sook was preparing to cast her spell, she was about to toss Min-shi’s belongings into a fire pit. Before she could do so, a sword was placed on her shoulder, inching towards her neck—it was Lord Yong. 

He gave her one last warning to stop the black magic, and to leave. He promised to kill her if she didn’t. But she held her ground and told him to go ahead, without an ounce of fear on her face.

Lord Yong raised his sword, preparing to strike when suddenly a voice commanded him to stop. It was the Queen. She ordered the guards to capture him. They launched themselves at Lord Yong, but he wasn’t going to give up without a fight and deftly dodge their advances, holding his own. At last, Lord Yong fell to the ground; defeated. He was taken prisoner by the guards and locked up in the dungeon, he thought back to the Queen’s dream, and wondered if this was all fate. But now he wasn’t capable of blocking it.

Mi-sook resumed her spell.

As Mi-sook started to put Min-shi’s belongings into the fire, a charcoal black fume erupted from it, forming a dark shadowy entity. It flew across the ceiling and screeched. The dark shadow found pregnant Min-Shi’s room, seeping through the walls and under her blanket. It took her body, jolting her awake. She convulsed, desperately clawing at herself as the black shadowy smoke took control, causing her hands to blacken and her fingernails to break off.

The shadow lifted her into the air, and went limp. It then exited from her body, having gotten what it wanted. Min-Shi’s body fell back to the ground with a thud.

The Queen was lying on her bed with a talisman attached to her skirt as instructed by Mi-sook. Just as before, the shadow entered and creeped under her covers, placing Min-shi’s child inside of her.

Everything went as per Mi-sook’s plan. It was confirmed that the Queen is pregnant. But Mi-sook had one last thing to take care of.

Min-shi, somehow still alive, woke up in fear recalling what she saw a couple of minutes ago and freaked out over the damage the shadow did to her body. She didn’t take much time to realise that this was the work of black magic, and all this was the doing of that shaman.

Mi-sook and her henchwomen marched in to kill her. She couldn’t believe Mi-sook would dare to bring black magic within the walls of the palace. Mi-sook ordered them to kill her, but she managed to get past them.

She rushed straight into the Queen and begged her to spare her. 

“My Lady! Please save me. I have done whatever you had asked for, now it's your turn to save me. There is no one to take care of my family, my mother is ill, and my brother is too young to do anything. I am only the bread earner of my family, please, have some mercy.” Min-shi cried hysterically, in fear of losing her life. 

Mi-sook appeared from behind, telling her not to worry about them since they would suffer the same fate. Her ladies brought out Min-shi’s mother and brother, knocked them to the ground and killed them right in front of Min-shi’s eyes.

Enraged, Min-shi charged Mi-sook with incredible power. She grabbed Mi-sook by the throat.

“You cruel shaman! You murdered my innocent mother and brother. You still have the audacity to smile without any regret after doing this sinful and heinous act. I curse you,

The dark art you are so proud of,

The black magic that you have been using only for destruction,

And the sin of murdering my family,

It will come to you someday in the same manner,

You will also die by inches,

Your carcass will be deprived of cremation

And will eventually be eaten by animals.”

Her heart tore apart when she saw the lifeless body of her mother and her little brother. She had promised her brother to gift him a new outfit and a pair of shoes on his birthday. Tears rolled out of her eyes without any barrier.

Suddenly a knife is driven into Min-shi’s back by the Queen, her hands shaking and covered in Min-shi’s blood.

As Min-shi started to fade, her eyes flashed again and she heard the sound of a baby… No, two babies are crying. She laughed and congratulated the Queen for the twins.

“Congratulations! My Queen. It's TWINS. But **cough**this won’t be a happy ending for you, unfortunately. You forced an unmarried woman to sleep -cough- with a man, I did it for the sake of my country but what you did to my family is something I will never forget. I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done to me and I’ll make sure that you too never forget this.

I curse you-

You will have twins, but once they will reach the age of eighteen they will slowly and painfully die, they will go mad being chased by dark shadows everywhere they go.

They will be surrounded by nightmares even in their dreams.

They will shiver in fear once the sun sets.”

But then, she was stabbed in the back once more, this time by Mi-sook. Min-shi fell over, bloody tears streaming from her eyes as she took her last breath and died.

After 8 months

The physicians congratulated the Queen on the birth of a Prince and Princess, but the Queen was unsettled. Twins? She commanded court ladies to summon Mi-sook right away.

Since Min-shi’s prediction of the twins came true, the Queen was worried about the rest of it. 

By now the King too had learned about the curse and felt hopeless and disappointed with what his Queen had done to the poor girl. Not even in his worst dream, had he ever thought of this. 

“Are they really cursed?” The Queen asked in a weak voice. Mi-sook sadly confirmed that it’s true.

“The twins are cursed. But there is a last resort to this curse, but it comes with a price. Pardon me for what I’m going to say but I can remove the curse from one baby by transferring it to the other baby. But the one with the curse must be sacrificed for the wellbeing of the other.”

The Queen and the King gasped at the thought of sacrificing one of their babies.

 “I can understand your grief but you always wanted an heir for the throne anyway. You can lose both children, or have the crown prince, if I sacrifice the Princess.”

The King lashed out at Mi-sook and threatened her to stay away from the Princess. He angrily walked out of the chamber.

The Queen looked at the Princess with much affection and kissed her forehead. She then handed over the little baby to Mi-sook. She asked her to sacrifice her daughter. With watery eyes and a pale face she said, “I’ll convince the King somehow.” 

Mi-sook transferred the curse from the crown prince to his sister, and a small black mark etched itself onto her left hand. 

“The baby needs to be burnt alive. The whole procedure requires the charm of a good wizard like Lord Yong.”

Lord Yong was released from the prison. Mi-sook informed him of the royal birth and presented him with the matter of the curse, telling him to get rid of the cursed Princess in order to flourish the royal family. 

“I can’t do this. This is the result of your sin. Now you want me to settle down all the mess by killing an innocent child, your crime has turned the blessing of royal birth into a curse. Even if this cost my life to not to kill the child I will be happy to die this way.” Lord Yong said.

Mi-sook smirked and said, “Not following a Royal command is a treason. You’ve already committed the crime of betraying royal command and ended up being prisoned here. If you follow the orders, you'll be free and you’ll no longer have to bear the disgrace of convicting treason. However, if you again choose to not adhere to the command you’ll lose your beloved wife.”

“No! Please leave her. She is all I have in this world. Don’t hurt her. I’ll do…whatever you say.” Lord Yong gave up. The Thought of him killing an innocent child filled his eyes with tears.

“I’ve never wished for anything in my life but today you coerced me to wish for something. I wish you‘d get a painful death.” Lord Yong uttered looking at Mi-sook with his heavy-laden eyes.

Lord Yong prepared to perform the ritual, placing the princess inside a cradle of kindling. He looked at her beautiful and serene face for the last time. Unaware of the bitter reality, the poor baby was smiling. 

He then set the kindling on fire. The helpless and an ill-starred baby could only cry, as she was engulfed by flames.

Lord Yong turned away as the fire and the baby’s cries continued to grow.