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.
Min-ho opened his eyes and saw sunlight streaming in through the window. He recalled last night's events. He noticed that his hands and legs were tied. His head was aching like anything. He started shouting like a madman. “Leave me or else I’ll kill you.” When he heard footsteps coming from the staircase. He saw a girl, a beautiful girl he recalled the rumours as he had heard about the witch. “So you are the so-called witch who hit me yesterday. You can’t bewitch me with your pretty looks. Release me and I’ll forgive you,” said Min-ho trying hard to open the knots. “I was not expecting you to wake up for at least one day after receiving that shot. Hmm…quite strong,” said Si-ri looking at Min-ho. Meanwhile Min-ho wa
Lord Yong and the other members of his bureau were huddled over a map at a tea stall. They all used to discuss serious matter at that place only. They were contemplating on the matter of finding the location of the dark lord of the north — the only person who supposedly knows about the book that holds the key to break the curse. The followers of Lord Yong tried their best to find him but all in vain. Lord Yong had been looking for THE DARK LORD for a very long time. The man was a really renowned personality in the world of black magic, besides practicing black magic, he could even see the dead. There was one thing that made him different and more respected from others who practised black magic, he only used his powers and knowledge for helping people.
The Zorus province was a part of The Kingdom of Noam, which was built amidst the windy fields of gentle grasslands and is truly a state-of-the-art sight. Its allure was matched by the backdrop of rich, luscious fields which had helped shape the city into what it was today. Zorus itself looked beautiful. With its maple wood rooftops, maple wood walls and white, sandy beaches, it had a pleasant atmosphere. The main attraction was the guard tower, which had been built fifty five years ago and designed by barbarians. It had a feeble economy, which was mainly supported by fishing, jewel crafting and leather working. But their biggest strengths are refined carpentry and rare wood production. Lord Yong and Nyang entered the province without wasting time. They asked some people for directions to the forest then headed straight towards it.
By the time Min-ho reached the town, he had already cooked an impressive story in his mind for his friend. After arriving at the marketplace Min-ho saw his friend and shouted his name at the top of his lungs. Ji-ho turns around and sees a tall figure rushing towards him. His eyes widened when he looked at his friend Min-ho standing in front of him. Alive. "How is this possible? I can't believe this! How could he make it to that witch's mansion and return alive? He must have come back without visiting that mansion. Thank God! My money is safe now, I will not have to pay him a single penny. There was no way this poor rat confront the witch of that mansion?" Ji-ho thought. "My friend, as you can see I've come back alive from the mans
The old mansion might look quite horrible and unfortunate from outside but from inside it possessed a good fortune in the form of its owner, Si-ri. In all these times she had actually made it liveable and turned the awful and gloomy looking mansion into a beautiful house from inside. The mansion was really big and spacious. It is said that years ago the royal family of Noam built this majestic mansion for their amusement purposes like hunting, enjoying the beauty of nature, etc. But the walls of this majestic mansion had seen the cruellest death of one of its Kings. Nobody knows what happened on that fateful night, as per the guards King Woo-jin returned to the king’s chamber at night after dinner but the next morning when he didn't come out, the guards decided to check and the moment they entered the chamber their eyes were pouring the grief of their Kind King’s death.
Golden rays of sunlight peeping through the window, tickled Min-ho to get up frombed. 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 p
“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