In the eighteenth century Asia, nestled in eastern Korea, there was a peaceful and the most captivating kingdom called Noam, but even Confucius had his misfortunes. It was time when the royal family of Noam experienced a tragic incident.
Queen Iseul...
Far away from the hustle bustle of town, free from the human surroundings, in the deep forest there was a spooky and abandoned mansion. The mansion was as dark as coal with a small detailed gate with intricate designs and a window. One could hear lots of brown, scary owls hooting up. The mansion was surrounded by lots of talismans.
The bright and booming lightning was illuminating the scary sky. A young girl was peeping out from the mansion's window.
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She was watching the full moon. The light from the moon was illuminating her ivory skin. To say that Si-ri is beautiful would be an understatement for her beauty. She had a sculpted figure which was twine-thin. A pair of arched and dark eyebrows and long 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 will reveal the secret on my eighteenth birthday. I can't wait for my birthday to finally know the reason for this confinement."
On a field two men were competing in a horse race in front of a cheering crowd. The competitors looked like good friends, Min-ho and Ji-ho. The crowd placed their bets on who would win. Everyone put their money on Ji-ho but one man from behind came forward and said he'll take the gamble on Min-ho.
Physically, Min-ho was in pretty good shape. He was a man of average-height with fair skin tone, black hair and black eyes. He grew up in a middle class neighborhood. He was an orphan and an adventurous kind of creature who usually earned his living by challenging people on some task, gambling and other small work.
Ji-ho overtook Min-ho in the race, to the delight of the crowd. Suddenly Min-ho fell off the horse, and as expected 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.
Hearing 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
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 hearing the whispers townsfolk and were startled to see corpses lying around.
"Who could've done this?" a lady couple of feet whispered quite loudly.
"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 more crazier than the other. Ji-ho heard the whole story and came up with a wicked plan.
He approached his poor friend Min-ho and asked,
"My friend, tell me, are you in need of money?" Ji-ho asked.
"Yes, but why do you ask?"
"I'll give you as much as you want but you need to bring any belongings of the witch from the old mansion."
Thinking about the offer of Ji-ho, Min-ho realized that he had very little money left which would hardly last for two days.
"Okay, I will go to the witch mansion but you have to keep your end of the deal ."
"Of course! I will."
Min-ho proceeded to the deep forest , and Ji-ho bid him farewell.
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." But he quickly convinced himself that there's no such thing as ghosts.
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 and tried to control his fear.
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 sounds 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.
"This hairpin must belong to the witch. But should I risk taking it ? It's not good to take her things. What would happen if she is fond of this hairpin and becomes angry at me for stealing her hairpin? NO! I don't want a painful death. I have to find something else."
Min-ho was scared to death, his fear only increasing every passing moment. His heart beating faster just even at the thought of the witch.
As he searched the room for an other item he heard movement behind him. Min-ho froze completely. The sound of his heart thundering in his ears.
He felt something touch his shoulder, and he let out a terrified scream, thinking that it was the witch and fainted in fear.
