Chapter Twenty-Four: Twisted Love

"Ah," Wang Mei sighed deeply, her figure hunched as she sat beside the altar, slowly taking down the Kuman Thong.

I couldn't help but feel nauseated. To create a Kuman Thong and then worship it, hoping to influence Su Jin's fate—what a woman, driven solely by profit.

"I regret it so much. That day, someone in the circle introduced me to a Thai sorcerer. He claimed that the Kuman Thong could make Jin's career soar overnight. After we returned from the hospital, I asked him to help me make the Kuman Thong. From then on, the ghost child appeared! Su Jin began to suffer from strange bouts of overeating. Every day and night, I worshipped this child in the secret room, begging him to spare Jin, to spare his own mother."

"Nonsense! Thai black magic is brutal—it traps the sacrifice in a spell that never lets them escape! The child's soul is forever imprisoned here, and you still hope he can save Su Jin?"

Old Liao gritted his teeth as he continued, "Poor Su Jin, so young and cursed by two kinds of sorcery. Tian Tian's manager, Sister Xiu, stole Su Jin's luck with the Yin Talisman, and used a doll made of human skin to curse her, causing her appearance to change drastically. Your Kuman Thong, concealed beneath the sorcery, went unnoticed by us. Now that Tian Tian's curse is gone, the Kuman Thong has taken effect. For it, the only way to restore the host's life and nourish her is through bizarre dieting methods to reshape her figure. That's why Su Jin was overeating at first, then suddenly stopped eating altogether!"

Wang Mei was speechless. She gazed at the eerie, dark Kuman Thong and tears of sorrow streamed down her face. "Jin, I never wanted to harm you. I just hoped you'd have a better life. Wu Hao is a bastard—he deceived your feelings, betrayed your trust. From the day we left the hospital, we lost everything. So I raised the Kuman Thong, hoping your career would return to its peak. I was wrong—I truly was wrong. Fame and fortune mean nothing compared to your health."

"Sister Wang, I don't blame you..."

Wang Mei suddenly turned around and saw Su Jin leaning against the doorframe, tears streaming down her face as she looked at her.

Unconsciously, my own eyes were moist as well. I glanced at Old Liao, who nodded at me and even wiped away a tear in secret.

"Let's go to my tattoo shop. Today we'll resolve these sinister things once and for all, and send this child on his way." I had already decided which design to tattoo on Su Jin. Watching Su Jin and Wang Mei embrace, my heart was filled with mixed emotions.

Autumn had arrived. Yellowing leaves began to fall. Sitting in Su Jin's nanny van, gazing at the scenery outside the window, I couldn't help but ponder: For those they love, how far are people willing to go? Even if it means living alongside ghosts, is it worth it?

When we reached the shop, I asked Uncle Jin to bring over the soul and settled the bill for the second time. But this time, my desire to tattoo was overwhelming, perhaps because of Wang Mei and Su Jin's confessions, perhaps because of the tragic fate of that unborn child, or perhaps out of anger at the evil deeds of Wu Hao and Sister Xiu. "Enough—let me end this matter with this design."

My pencil glided softly across the sketchbook, and a vibrant, beautiful flower blossomed on the page. "This flower is called the Blood Mandala. Legend says it blooms only on the Road to the Underworld, just like the Lotus of the Other Shore. Let this be my farewell for you, on behalf of your mother." I murmured to Su Jin's back.

Just as with Tian Tian, the tattoo was placed on Su Jin's forearm. After the familiar process of bloodletting, outlining, and shading, two hours later, a mandala flower bloomed beautifully on her arm.

This tattoo felt utterly different from before. It was as if I finished it in a single breath, without even making a draft—coloring as I went, smooth and unbroken. With the final stitch, the blood-red mandala seemed to sway gently, as if nodding to me. Quietly, I saw a red light bloom on Su Jin's arm, and the shadow of the mandala flower spread across the floor, forming a path leading into a distant, unreal realm.

The ghost child’s face lost its previous eeriness; her eyes grew large and bright. She stepped out from behind Su Jin, hugged her leg, smiled sweetly at me, and dashed toward the faraway place pointed to by the mandala flower...

The ghost child was gone—had she vanished from this world, or gone to be reborn? We could not know. The Kuman Thong, once full of evil power, had lost its effect. We tossed it into the furnace and burned it to ashes, then buried the remnants beneath a locust tree. Su Jin knelt beside the tree, pressing her lips gently to the earth. "Child, this is your mother's final tenderness. Next time you reincarnate, choose well..." I silently spoke in my heart.

I hadn’t wanted to charge for this job, but after hearing about Tian Tian, Wang Mei insisted on transferring fifty thousand yuan to me. Unable to refuse, I accepted. When Su Jin and her companions departed, Old Liao and I sighed: Had Su Jin and Tian Tian really done anything wrong? They were just girls who wanted fame and love. Sister Xiu used sorcery to harm others; Wang Mei used Kuman Thong to nurture her child—both actions against the laws of nature.

"No matter how much you love someone, there must be a line you never cross." It seemed, from Old Liao's words, I finally found the answer I’d been searching for.

Years later, I saw a giant billboard in the square. Two young actresses had both won the Golden X Award for Best Actress. On their tightly clasped arms, beautiful lotuses and mandala flowers bloomed quietly. I smiled, paused for a moment, and then melted away into the vast sea of people.