Torn Threads of Fate

One day, the crown prince Kim Hee-Yun of the kingdom passed by the village and saw Ha-ri by the river, she was collecting lotus flowers. Astonished by her beauty, he gets off the horse, walks to her, and asks her name, Ha-ri replies “Kim Ha-ri, my lord”, The crown prince gazes at her deeply with vicious and lustful eyes, Ha-ri bows and goes back to her house. The crown prince orders the guards to immediately send her father a stamped letter to make Ha-ri his concubine, and in exchange for her, he would offer 2 bags of gold and a decent house near the palace.

Upon receiving the letter, Ha-ri's father opposed sending her to the palace. He firmly rejects it by telling the guards that she is already engaged. Listening to the rejection, Hee-Yun becomes furious and orders the secret knights to assassinate Ha-ri’s father and bring her to the palace. That night, the guards follow the cron prince's orders and assassinate Ha-ri's father, but they can't find Ha-ri in the house, so they silently retrieve back to the palace. The next morning, Ha-ri returns home from the forest, where she went to collect wood. As she steps into the house, she sees her father lying around the pool of blood. Ha-ri collapses down after looking at the sight, but she gets hold of it and crawls to her father, she holds him and begs him to wake up, but he is dead. Listening to her cries, all the villagers gathered around and tried to console her, but she didn't want anyone else but her father and Sang-min. She had already lost her father, and Sang-min was not around her at that moment. The funeral was done, and Ha-ri stayed near the doorstep for the next 2 days, waiting for Sang-min, who went to the Meonjan village to get materials for pottery. She waited for him to come back so that she could hug him and cry her heart out.

In the meantime, as fewer people visit Ha-ri’s house, the crown prince orders to bring her to the palace secretly, and he orders the people to stay silent if they want to live.

That night, guards dragged Ha-ri to the palace before the Sang-min could return. When the prince returned home the next day, he placed the materials in the backyard and ran to the house to find Ha-ri, but he couldn't find her anywhere, so he ran to all the places where Ha-ri usually goes, but he couldn't find her or her father. That night, Sang-min waited near the doorstep, hoping they would come back, but they didn't. The next day, he started asking all the villagers for Ha-ri’s and her father's whereabouts, but no one uttered a word, as it was the order of the crown prince.

6 days have passed since Sang-min returned, and he still couldn't find them. That afternoon, he collapsed on the banks of the river. A sage who was passing by the river picked him up and took him to his home. The sage treats Sang-min, and after 1.5 days, he wakes up. The sage asks him to look at the bird nest. He says, "Look how the baby birds are waiting for their mother in the hope of her return. You also have to live, which may not be for you, but at least for your loved one, so that one day, when you meet back again, you can live happily without pain.”

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