White Night

Dong-i, the daughter of a drunkard cobbler, grew up hearing nothing but the words, ‘If only you had never been born.’ She spent her days sobbing in silence, desperately praying: ‘Please, let me be loved just once before I die, so that I can be someone precious to another.’

One day, while fleeing from greedy thugs in the mountains, she discovers the body of Seol Hwa-yeon, the fiancée of Lee Heun, the notorious ‘Evil King’ of Hyeongju. Remembering the rumor that the King had never seen his bride’s face in their political marriage, Dong-i looks at the woman’s expensive silk clothes and jewelry. ‘From this moment on, I will rise from the lowest depths to the highest heights. I can finally be someone loved, someone precious.’

With trembling, frostbitten hands, she reaches for Seol Hwa-yeon’s identification tag.