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墨書 Inktalez
When Qiluo Ling returned to the old mansion, she had two new items in her hands: a photograph and the Sheet Music taken from a wooden box.
Everything seemed to have settled, but deep down, there were still some unresolved mysteries. She wanted to understand more about what happened between her mother and Choi Ji-woo, and even the generational grievances between the Dun Family and the Choi Family.
The room was filled with Chopin's Piano Piece, enveloping everything like a veil of ethereal mist. Choi Ji-woo sat on the sofa in the center of the room. The mist silently spread from the other side of time, and he radiated a bright yet sorrowful aura, along with a sense of lonely bewilderment.
Hearing approaching footsteps, Choi Ji-woo turned around and said softly, "As you can see, that box is your mother's urn."
"How did my mother die?" Qiluo Ling asked calmly.
"Your mother died from an acute lung infection. It was winter, and her living conditions were cramped and poor. She didn't see a doctor at the onset of the infection, and after a tiring day, her condition rapidly worsened, ultimately leading to respiratory failure. She passed away after a day of emergency treatment at the hospital. When I found her, she was already dead on the hospital bed. The nurse was carefully wiping her body; she looked like a sleeping baby, then she was wrapped in White Cloth. I pushed her through the dark, long corridor to the cold morgue. It wasn't until the iron door of the morgue was locked that I realized she was gone. A few days later, she was turned to ashes at the crematorium. I buried her ashes here; I didn't want to find her a grave. I hoped her soul would be freed; it could only be confined here."
"Why do you hate her so much? What was her purpose in getting close to you?"
"She didn't love me; her only purpose in getting close to me was that Sheet Music you hold."
Qiluo Ling instinctively glanced at the steel Sheet Music in her hand; it was indeed the third movement of the Demonic Music she had been searching for. Now that she had obtained it easily, she felt confused and somewhat unreal.
"Why did my mother go to such lengths to obtain this Sheet Music?"
"Because this Sheet Music can break the Dun Family's century-old curse."
Qiluo Ling frowned and asked in confusion, "Oh? I would like to know how the Century Curse came about. What deep-seated grievances exist between the Choi Family and the Dun Family that allowed a curse to persist for a hundred years?"
Choi Ji-woo took out several photos from her pocket and placed them on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
Qiluo Ling picked up the photos in confusion. These were black and white photos from many years ago, and they were very old, some of them yellowed.
The first photo was of an ancient ancestral hall, with tall corners and a grand entrance. The plaque above the door read "Dun Clan Ancestral Hall" in large characters.
The second photo showed a young woman dressed in a white Korean traditional outfit with wide sleeves. Her hair was styled into large braids. She looked somewhat familiar, with an oval face, a high nose, and a bright smile.
The third photo depicted a winter scene covered in snow, with everything blanketed in white. However, upon closer inspection, there was a dark spot in the snow, as if something was lying there.
Qiluo Ling suddenly recalled a dream she once had; the scene in the dream seemed very similar.
She was taken aback. If everything was indeed as it was in the dream, then the object in the snow should be that baby—the one who had been thrown to the ground. As she thought about it, she felt her body tremble.
Next, Choi Ji-woo recounted the grievances between the Dun Family and the Choi Family from before.
A century ago, both the Dun Family and the Choi Family were two prominent clans along the ancient Korean coast. The two families had a close relationship, and Dun Bangxiu from the Dun Family grew up alongside Choi Seung Hyun from the Choi Family. When they reached marriageable age, Dun Bangxiu married a local young woman named Kim. At that time, the coast faced frequent invasions from Japan. Due to the Dun Family's considerable influence, they sent their heir Dun Bangxiu to lead a resistance against Japan to quell their disturbances.
In that struggle, Japan was defeated; however, Dun Bangxiu did not return with the victorious fleet. No one knew whether he was dead or alive. After several months without news, Dun Bangxiu was presumed to have sacrificed himself in battle.
Dun Bangxiu's new wife Kim was heartbroken. As Dun Bangxiu's good friend, Choi Seung Hyun often went to comfort her, and gradually feelings developed between them. Before their marriage, Choi Seung Hyun had also liked Kim but had given up on those feelings out of respect for Dun Bangxiu's prior relationship with her. Now that Dun Bangxiu was missing, Choi Seung Hyun rekindled his original feelings, and slowly their hearts began to connect.
A year later, just as the two young people were preparing to unite, Dun Bangxiu unexpectedly returned home. He embraced her tightly and confessed that his only motivation for surviving was his beloved wife. After the joy of their reunion faded, Kim found herself at a loss on how to face her husband who had endured so much to return home and how to explain the emotional changes that had occurred within her over the past year.
When Kim quickly discovered that she was pregnant with Choi Seung Hyun's child, reality forced her to confront the tangled web of complicated emotions. She had no choice but to confess to her husband, Dun Bangxiu, about everything that had happened over the past year and seek his forgiveness.
Upon hearing this, Dun Bangxiu was greatly shocked and then felt a humiliation he had never experienced before. While he was fighting for his life, the woman he loved most had betrayed him with his best friend. He went to confront Choi Seung Hyun, who shamefully admitted to his feelings for Kim. Dun Bangxiu was immediately filled with rage and severed all ties with Choi Seung Hyun, ending their brotherhood.
In the days that followed, Dun Bangxiu ignored Kim completely, showing extreme indifference as he spent his days indulging in pleasures outside. Kim, feeling guilty, cried every day and contemplated ending her own life during her moments of pain. However, considering the child in her womb, she refrained and continued to live on.
A few months later, Kim successfully gave birth to a son. But before she could even take a good look at him, Dun Bangxiu sent someone to snatch the baby from her bedding and brought him to the Dun Clan Ancestral Hall. In front of Choi Seung Hyun, Dun Bangxiu brutally killed the infant. Kim arrived just in time to witness this tragedy and, in her overwhelming grief, slammed her head against the red pillar of the Dun Clan Ancestral Hall, ending her own life.
From then on, the enmity between the Dun Family and the Choi Family began. Choi Seung Hyun was devastated; he lost the woman he loved most and his newborn child. This deep-seated hatred drove him to find a Western sorcerer who performed a blood oath. The Dun Family was cursed: they would face extinction within a century, with male offspring dying before reaching adulthood.
For the next hundred years, the shadow of the curse loomed over the Dun Family. They faced continuous misfortune; wars, accidents, and illnesses led to a drastic decline in their population. All male members of the family met untimely ends before reaching adulthood for various reasons.
It wasn't until World War II that Qiluo Ling's grandmother met her grandfather—a woman deeply affected by the Century Curse and a descendant of Demonic Music. Qiluo Ling's grandmother understood one thing: only in front of Demonic Music could the Century Curse be dispelled. Just like Qiluo Ling had heard in a news story about Eric's cursed ring imprisoning souls; in front of Demonic Music, those imprisoned souls would also be released.
Qiluo Ling seemed to understand everything but still felt some confusion. Did her grandmother truly love her grandfather or was she after his mysterious Sheet Music? Was her mission as a descendant of Demonic Music or to lift her family's Century Curse?
However, none of this mattered much; what was most important was that she had obtained all three chapters of Demonic Music and Sheet Music. A new chapter in life was about to unfold as she smiled at her slightly rounded belly while knowing that her lover would soon awaken...
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