By Kyungok Kang (NetComics)
ISBN: 978-1-60009-116-2
Set at the close of the 20th century, this is the story of Jina, a young Korean girl with all the usual problems of the comfortable modern miss, but with a family secret that threatens to tear her cosy world apart…
Hundreds of years ago her ancestors were Kings. One vain and foolish monarch ordered the death of a magical serpent called an Imugi just as it was preparing to ascend to Heaven. It cursed his family for eternity, decreeing that in every generation one of them would die as a result of the actions of two people close to them. The fear, distrust and misery of this most subtle pronouncement blighted the family through the centuries and no attempts to forestall their doom with priests, fortune tellers or exorcisms have worked. Long ago they decided to keep all knowledge of the curse from the children, only revealing the secret when – or if – they reach a certain age.
Jina has few friends but as her birthday approached her school rivalry with the obnoxious Jaesuk seemed to be turning into something more. The girls in class picked on her less and her cousin Myunghyun returned from America after three years, bringing with him a gorgeous and enigmatic young man named Yoojin Lee. As she grew closer to them all her parents began acting oddly: as though dreading her new and maturing relationships…
When the latest soothsayer determined that Jina was the most probable target of this generation’s curse it had to mean that two people close to her would cause her death…
The second book begins when Jina’s scary aunt accosts her whilst she’s out with Myunghyun and Yoojin. The traumatised woman reveals more facets of the family curse, and believing that she must soon die Jina listens attentively, especially after her aunt reveals that she killed the last victim: her own sister…
Meanwhile Jaesuk has decided to stop playing the field and dedicate himself to Jina alone, but his ex-girlfriends (Jina’s best friend and worst enemy respectively) don’t take the news too well… Worst of all, the curse seems to have mutated as a ghastly presence invades her house, possessing first her mother and then the exorcist, driving them to murderous attacks upon the young girl. It seems as if any friend, family member or even random associate could now be her predestined killer.
Confused and despondent, haunted by dreams of a ghostly young woman with death in her eyes, Jina goes on a road-trip. Accompanied by the two boys, who are rapidly becoming her truest friends and allies, she visits another broken family member, but the awful tale he tells does little to comfort her. And when Myunghyun reveals that he also sees the Ghost woman – and knows her identity – Jina finally realises just what her life may mean…
The promised edge of tragic horror in book 1(ISBN: 978-1-60009-116-2) of this compelling contemporary Gothic Romance strikes tellingly home here as with beautiful pictures revealing an inescapable and fatalistic, the star-crossed doom of young Jina gathers unstoppably about her. Can courage, fortitude and true love overcome the power of the centuries-long curse?
As much teen-soap as thriller, this manhwa fantasy’s subtle undercurrents and classical precedents raise it far above the usual manga arena to deliver a truly powerful tragedy which any lover of great fiction will adore. I advise you to get aboard and keep watching… the rewards should be huge and very fulfilling.
© 2007 Kyungok Kang. All Rights Reserved. English text © 2007 NetComics.