Good movie that could have been much better.

Overall I liked the movie but I often found the transitions in character arcs and major plot points clumsy and difficult to follow. For example, the how of someone crossing over and the role of the 'warden' were left under explained. Still despite the flaws the good aspects including the characters and acting held my attention until the end. The Korean series 'Missing: The Other Side' seems to have inspired much of the world building in this movie but the Korean version did a much job of explaining important aspects. For example, when someone passes over the Missing series shows it happening, whereas here the viewer must pick it up from context and the presence of the warden, but his role here isn't really clarified until well into the film.

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Well worth giving a try, with a few reservations

I watched this because I had just finished Extraordinary Attorney Woo and I wanted to see Park Eun Bin outside of that extreme autistic character. And she does not disappoint. If I had not known the characters Woo and Seo were played by the same actor I would not have realized it. It is a remarkable talent that can take the audience so deeply into the character as to not see the actor. There are too many famous actors that overwhelm the character they're playing so that the audience only sees the actor.

The music and performances are well worth the time. The story and plotting are at times fragile meaning that characters' twists and motivations were not always believable and relatable. However, the acting and music carry the flow and engage the viewer. I found the first few episodes not as engaging as the later ones. At times the plot twists seemed overly complicated and manipulative. For example early on I became aware the writer wants to play with the audience as to which brother is KiHo. Once aware of that manipulation, instead of the story flowing naturally the audience becomes too self conscious that the clues obviously dropped are likely meant to be misleading.

I found the positives more than made up for the few flaws and kept me engaged through to a satisfying conclusion.

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Finish Falters

Strong opening and enough intriguing questions raised to hold you to what turns out to be an unsatisfying conclusion. The opening and first few episodes caught my curiosity, but I found myself sticking it out to the end just to find out how it would tie things up. But it didn't tie many important threads up and we don't learn what happened to the characters and in important cases the why behind their actions. I was waiting for a supernatural angle to appear given the physically impossible things occurring, but there isn't any. The makers just walk away from a reasonable finish. That last 'special' episode or epilogue was weird. The idea that a surgeon/doctor would pursue relationships with two or three high school girls was absurd and I suspect as illegal and socially unacceptable in Japan as it would be elsewhere in the world.

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Remake has all the high and low points of original

This version holds its own compared to the original meaning that the viewer will see all the original high and low points of the original story. However, the finished product has a few rough edges. Some of the support acting (or perhaps the director?) was a bit weak. On the positive side a few of the subplots were improved over the original in particular the relationship with the big bad doctor and his female student and third in the love triangle with the two leads. The Korean version didn't develop this relationship whereas the Thai shows us the potential.

Several rough edges came through which may be due to the many writers involved in the Thai version.

The lead's uncle withholds key information (that there is a demon stalking him) until suddenly he reveals a few morsels in front of the ghost girlfriend which struck me as odd. It moves the plot tension but didn't make sense to tell his nephew based on prior exposition, particularly because a few times in the same episode and before he told his shaman ally that he absolutely could not tell his nephew about this demon, and then he does...in front of a ghost he knows nothing about. It would actually have made a lot of sense to explain all about this dangerous demon much earlier.

A really rough edge occurs in an early episode when the Detective explains to his officers that he wants them to tail the doctor suspect. One officer does, and the doctor detects this, and leads the officer behind the building within a stone's throw of his clinic and parked car, and kills him. Then.....nothing. What happened to the body? Neither the Detective or any police officers note the absence of their colleague. That was just sloppy execution.

Something interesting that caught my attention was in the 10th episode at 4:30 the two leads are in a scene which was probably improvised where they are bantering over their dinner. The female lead speaks Thai followed by Japanese, and then a few English words. The difference in voice timber was striking. Her voice is very different in the three languages. I've heard this often among Japanese where both men and women will have totally different voices between English and Japanese.

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Good but shy of Great

On the positive side are the three main characters and their shared shattered backgrounds from their childhoods. Over several episodes they are brought back together and their shared pasts are unlayered through a series of satisfying reveals. The support acting was well done and other overall production values high.

On the bad side the antagonist was so powerful - as we learn through slow reveals - that we wondered how they planned to defeat him. This is the main flaw in the show - a structural problem is that the main characters and we the audience never understand the how and why the big bad can be defeated. In an early episode it's said they will exorcise him/it when they catch him/it. At times they behave like impulsive middle schoolers talking about catching the bad guy with no clear idea what they'll do with him should that happen. There are scenes where they rush towards the big bad, especially true for the taxi driver, Hwa Pyung, with absolutely no expressed plan how to get through bodyguards or other obstacles or what happens when they 'catch' him.

One common problem with media centered on exorcism is that they contain exorcism scenes in which the priest or shaman endlessly chants some holy words that fail over and over and over until they work - or not. This show has the same flaw in that we (and the main characters) never learn (until they very end) what MacGuffin - thing or rule or process - will defeat the big bad evil spirit, and in fact as the episodes progress it becomes obvious that the big bad, Park Il-Do, is seriously powerful and far stronger than we were given to believe in early episodes.

And because of this structural flaw the close had to - literally - reveal a Deus Ex Machina. Notice the prayer the priest uses at the very end in the water. He calls upon God directly, and God delivers. And the last scene where the three are reunited is as pure DEM as it gets given where we last saw Hwa-Pyung.

Despite the serious structural flaw the good (main character arcs, relationships, story arc) out weighs the bad for at least one watch through.

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Fast paced thriller with a hard ending

No spoilers. The typical K Drama has a feel good wrap up ending. This one does not and that's ok. The screenwriters here could have taken the easy route and written a 'happy' ending but instead they wrote the right ending for these characters and this story. After the last reveal and you're faced with the finale and perhaps a little shock you'll appreciate what happens and why it had to be that way.

The series has its share of action and fight scenes but these never take over and dominate the story and character development. There are too many shows and movies where it feels like a little bit of story wrapped around overly complicated and drawn out action/fight scenes. There were a few isolated cases early on with a bit drawn out fight scenes but once the skills of the main protagonist are established his later performance is marked by efficiency.

The story stayed with me after the finale as I couldn't help but think about the characters and their choices.

Looking forward to rewatching this one.

I'm surprised these screenwriters don't have more credits given how well written this series turned out.

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Made to be Rewatched

My first impression maybe one or two episodes in was to wonder how will they get 16 episodes out of this basic set up. As the story unfolds layers of hidden reveals and story twists emerge to justify those 16 episodes. On rewatch I appreciated the foreshadowing and reveals placed early on but which require that second time through to fully get.

For example, pay attention to the flashbacks connected to each character. In particular and I say this without spoiling anything note the flashbacks with the main male lead. These point towards whether he does or does not remember certain events and who he really is.

I enjoyed the steep character arc of the main male lead, but also the less obvious arc for the main female lead.

All in all a very entertaining story that improves the second time through.

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Supernatural Vigilantism with a Big Bonus

There are many movies and TV series with strong vigilantist themes including a great many from Korea. This one, Judge From Hell, adds something to trigger attention. Seeing some rogue heroes deliver vigilante justice the system fails to provide is always satisfying, but here we get to see the hero, a demon exiled among humans to hunt down sinners, punish the sinners in excruciating and painful detail before sending them on their way to Hell. All in all it is extremely satisfying and very rewatchable.

The challenge for the screenwriter and director is to find the right balance among comedy, dark detail, and romance. For me, the comedy was a bit strong at times, and perhaps the main character, the demon judge, could have been a bit more demonlike before softening up, but it all works well enough.

The first half of episodes tend to emphasize the procedural element - showing the sins of a particular culprit followed by the machinations of the demon judge to deliver the sinner's punishment and then send them to hell. The judge likes to leave the bodies to tease the authorities. Once the basics are understood the series shifts to emphasize the struggle among the top demons in and from Hell.

It's odd that in this story Satan and Lucifer are two entirely different beings and not just different names for the same.

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Not Just Another Business Proposal

I tried this with low expectations anticipating a half clone of Business Proposal but with each passing episode was increasingly delighted. While they both have a Cinderella element involving a young woman getting caught up in a difficult relationship with a higher status male, the emphasis is so different.

The set up:

The female lead, Yun Seo, together with her little brother, ran away from an abusive drunken father (he beat her and her brother) and drunken mother (she let it all happen) within minutes of finding out she had been accepted into a college. Years later having overcome many obstacles she now works in a major company as a Team Leader.

The youngest member of the team is the male lead, Ju Won, who undergoes severe training as the junior most member. Over time Yun Seo and Ju Won begin a secret relationship that lasts almost two years until she stumbles upon the fact that Ju Won is actually the second son of the Chairwoman of their company who after returning from an extended study abroad was placed incognito inside the company to get on the job training.

And complications ensue:

The first episode opens with the Chairwoman meeting with Yun Seo to tell her to break up with her son for a huge amount of money. The story that unfolds has a lot to say about not only Yun Seo and her difficult upbringing and current situation, but also surprisingly about arranged marriages and the difficulties the upper crust face in finding marriage mates.

The Chairwoman is not an evil person. We learn she is in an arranged marriage with a man who lives in Germany and is not faithful (not that she seems to care). She’s tried to raise her two sons to be cold and calculating to survive in their upper class world.

The story contrasts the evolving relationships of the Chairwoman’s elder son, SiWon, and his wife, with the problems facing his younger brother, Ju Won, and his chosen mate, Yun Seo.

SiWon is in an arranged marriage. His wife has lived in Paris for the past two years and SiWon, we can tell, is lonely but has adjusted and even appreciates living alone (he goes pantless around the house). His life is disrupted when his wife returns suddenly to cohabit (pants now required).

Over in the other relationship Yun Seo tries to break up with Ju Won as per her agreement with the Chairwoman. However, Ju Won resists both Yun Seo and his mother, the Chairwoman, and fights to keep Yun Seo.

At first his behavior seems a bit pathetic but as the story develops we learn why Ju Won is being entirely rational in his pursuit to keep Yun Seo.

For someone in Ju Won’s upper rich crust it is nearly impossible to find a mate especially one from a lower income level who isn’t swayed by the opportunity to marry into power and money. The Chairwoman cannot imagine that Yun Seo is anything other than a gold digger motivated by marrying into the family for the money.

SiWon failed to find a love match and had to enter an arranged marriage.

Ju Won, however, spent two years being tortured incognito and all on his own wooed Yun Seo into a relationship. In fact once she knew his true identity she didn’t think it could work out so she was receptive to the Chairwoman’s offer. Ju Won at one point bursts out saying he’s not giving her up because the relationship he made with her is the single most worthwhile achievement in his entire life (where everything has been handed to him).

Now that his true identity is out he is destined for an arranged marriage like his elder brother, and Yun Seo represents his one and only chance to ever marry for love. So his refusal to give in to his mother’s demands is entirely rational.

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Top notch comedy

The best thing from among many delightful aspects of this series is the dynamic comedic duo Kim Se Jeong and Seol In Ah. Whenever the scene focus is on these two they generate laughter and this was much more apparent my second time watching. This praise shouldn't be taken as criticising the performances of the other leads. This is a feel good romantic comedy that comes across as fresh and original despite treading some old cliche pathways. The two leading couples have chemistry that works together.

PS One personal irritation for situation comedies is when the situations are so badly contrived i.e. people making absurd choices and then scramble to escape. 'Business Proposal' has few like that. What makes much of the humor work is that the choices and resulting situations are usually 'reasonable' enough to be believable. That sets the stage for the comedy talents of the dynamic comedic duo, both together and when working off of their leads, to shine at their best.

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Should you watch?

If you don't mind plot twists and character development you've seen before then this series will reliably entertain. I noticed borrowed elements from 'Goblin' and 'Doom At Your Service' to name two. The walking out of the fire scene midway through was taken from the American series 'Lucifer'.

The set up was good, but the follow through weak. For example, the main character is a demon, who it was shown must make deals periodically or perish himself. Ok, but then this was dropped and only alluded to much later. The story twists and turns don't make use of this seemingly important initial set up and constraint. What if he had had to make deals with the human present?

The first third of the episodes had more misses than hits. The balance began to shift in the middle third as we see some entertaining traction. The last third worked much better and had me binging the episodes for the next reveal. The ending seems a bit forced leaving ends loose that naturally come to mind. A big one is the female lead's father, who was not evil and made his deal out of desperation to help his wife, and yet he ends up in hell suffering eternal damnation. And the female lead expresses no concern or remorse over this inconvenient development. I was expecting something to tie this unfortunate circumstance up given all the other feel good endings we witness.

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Great Story, Ambiguity Improves

Min Sang Un (MSU)’s dual suicide attempt should have ended the Bulgasals’ time on Earth. Dan Hwal (DH)’s last second Hail Mary Pass kept them alive but created an unstable unbalanced situation dominated by strong dark emotions among the three Bulgasal demigods and human souls entangled in their karma. DH 1,000 years ago was motivated by love which turned to great anger at her betrayal (in his eyes) which gave rise to mutual curses and DH’s creation of the sub Bulgasal Ok Eel Tae (OET) to evade MSU’s dual suicide attempt. This imbalance generated by hatred remained festering for the 1,000 years until at the end, DH rediscovered his love for MSU, and realizing the harm he had caused in his angry reactions a millennium ago, sacrificed himself to prevent any more harm to his human family. The DH that sacrificed himself for the same humans he had cursed so many years before was a different character from the angry Bulgasal at the beginning. And the loss of memories in her last reincarnation allowed MSU to let go of her dark emotions generated by the past events and become willing to sacrifice herself to save DH, another major character arc growth.

DH accused MSU of trickery in having herself reborn as twins and he didn’t believe, at first, that she couldn’t remember prior life events. OET made the same accusation and also, at first, did not believe MSU could not remember. From the story we know that in fact she could not. The messy bickering continued over 1,000 years until some higher power perhaps decided the suffering punishment for DH and MSU had gone on long enough and motivated by the desire to have them find their original love intervened by having MSU reborn as twins, one with the bitter revenge filled memories against DH and OET, and the second containing the hidden power (see below) but no memories. The first twin is killed as expected as normal, but the second survives to be discovered by DH who keeps her alive to uncover the mystery hidden by her lost memories. The struggle between them eventually turns from adversarial to one of friendship and finally a rediscovered love from when their immortal relationship ended 1,000 years before.

Why did MSU die? She was shown twice to have special non human powers (further below) reflecting an echo of her original Bulgasal form. But she was very much a part of the original web of mutual curses that bound the three’s existence together, and when the two Bulgasals died her emanated special power ended and she was also fated to pass over from her wound (similar to Do Yoon who survived). That she would die was hinted at in Lee Hy Suk(LHS)’s prophecy that spooked OET to kill the shaman when she said, “The soul will go back to its owner.” In other words OET’s soul would be returned to him from MSU or i.e. she will die.

Do these demigods have souls? Probably not human souls but perhaps something else. And whatever higher deity intervened to bring about the end of the Bulgasal feud, when DH sacrificed himself for the human family he cursed 1,000 years before, when MSU returned to confront OET and sacrificed herself, that triggered the final stage. They all three died, and the original two demigods were allowed to be reborn into human reincarnations, find each other, and hopefully make better choices.

Bulgasals are immortal demigods. The concept of a human soul and who has one becomes important because Bulgasals lack them. There is one human soul first transferred from OET to DH 1,000 years before, and later from DH to MSU 600 years ago.

An aspect that is key to understanding the ending and that is included in the story but not highlighted is that humans who used to be Bulgasal have special powers. We see this three times in the story.

The first example is that of the human DH who 600 years before seemed to have super human abilities to kill monsters beyond anything displayed by his peers. In the womb he scared off the corpse eating monsters and then survived a birth from a dead mother. His childhood was difficult. As an adult the soldiers first said he was cursed by Bulgasul then that he was blessed by Bulgasal and that the monsters feared him as much as they fear the Bulgasul itself.

MSU provides two other present day significant examples. One occurred in an early episode (E3 1:05) when DH was rushing back to the laundry factory to stop a human monster from killing MSU with a knife. He was too late. The monster knocked MSU to the ground and we see the monster prep for his attack, only hesitating to gloat. The scene abruptly shifts from her prone on the ground to the monster sitting on the ground bloodied, battered and cut up with MSU standing over him holding his knife. She abruptly returns to her meeker self and drops the knife which the monster picks up for another try. Only then does DH intervene. MSU doesn’t seem aware of what she did.

The second is much later (E12 minute 43) when MSU is waiting alone in a car in a remote woods for DH to find OET and return. OET managed to phone one of his police henchmen who shows up and attacks MSU stabbing her in the exact place of her twin’s birth scar on her shoulder. (This initiates incremental memory recalls.) DH shows up but again he’s too late. MSU has been stabbed but she fought off the policemen and stabbed him badly. The henchman later says to OET, “She suddenly became strong. She wasn’t herself.”

These three examples point to humans who used to be Bulgasal having unusual latent powers. The incidents involving MSU could have been written around easily. In MSU’s first incident DH could have arrived early enough to intervene. In the second DH could have arrived again soon enough to save her after the first stab wound. This aspect implies that although MSU isn’t Bulgasal now that she once was leaves her more than an ordinary human and very much a part of the Bulgasal triad.

A review of key events at 1,000 years and again at 600 years before.

The first key event occurs 1,000 years ago when a series of misunderstandings between the two Bulgasals - DH and MSU - result in both near death with wounds to their hearts. MSU’s was self inflicted and DH’s brought about by three humans. DH curses all three humans - one to be reborn and suffer the loss of his arm, the woman to never be able to give birth to healthy children, and the boy to always be reborn into blindness. OET, whose machinations brought about the violent clash, the deaths of many people and the looming end of the two Bulgasals, shows up and leads the dying DH away. A desperate DH takes OET’s soul making OET a Bulgasal (whose heart is unwounded). Before DH dies he orders OET to find him when DH is reborn as a human and make him a Bulgasal again, and to ensure he complies he puts a curse on him leaving him with the dark bleeding hole in his chest and in constant pain.

Another 400 years goes by. We do not know how many times DH is reborn during these four centuries. However, rewatching the events in E1 with the knowledge gained in the E16’s flashbacks an ongoing 400 year struggle between MSU and OET is hinted at. DH was reborn repeatedly. While OET probably did not dare attempt to directly kill DH at any age because he feared triggering another switch back into his original mortal form, he seems to have searched for, found, and then begun murdering the people around the young DH to induce the humans to kill him. MSU, as reluctant to kill humans as she was 1,000 years before, acted to protect DH when she could up to taking a knife in the back and feigning death. This repeated cycle probably angered MSU. She would likely direct her anger at OET for all the killing of humans and at DH for the starting the whole mess to begin with. During DH’s last human life MSU saves him at least twice until this cycle is broken and he is rescued by a passing general (one of three cursed by DH 400 years prior). DH grows up and marries the general’s daughter (the second human cursed by DH) and she bears a son who is blind (the third cursed).

The adult DH, as the adopted son of the general, undertakes a campaign to kill any and all monsters around. Initially his men see him as an evil spirit cursed by Bulgasal and then as he kills many monsters they see him as an evil spirit blessed by Bulgasal. For reasons unclear all of these monsters will only be reborn as humans (and lean toward serial murdering) and hold a grudge to kill anyone carrying DH’s soul (i.e. MSU).

To kill the Bulgasal (DH only knows about one) and remove the curse from himself, his wife, and his son, DH leads a troop to the mountain where the Bulgasal is rumored to reside. This does not go well and most of his troops are murdered by OET along with his wife and son. While grieving over the corpse of his son, MSU approaches from behind and stabs him fatally in the back. While MSU holds the sword in his back we are shown the soul transferring from DH to MSU. DH becomes a Bulgasal and MSU a human. DH in turn stabs MSU twice and there are some more harsh words exchanged (with no explanation as to why she stabbed him, or her connection to the murder and mayhem all about). MSU dies as a human but in the same way that DH did 1,000 years prior when he became human just before his death.

Why she stabs him is the weakest link of the overall series plotting. This weak link is also the main driver for much of the later plot twists. The few words exchanged in the moments before MSU dissolved don’t explain why she protected him before this but tries to kill him now. How did she miss the presence of OET accomplishing all the slaughter finished just moments before?

DH: Why did you do it?
Why did you have to kill my innocent wife and son?
Tell me why.
Tell me why!
MSU: telepathically (This was all your doing.)
(What have you done?)
(You have created more bad karma.)
(And you have brought upon < > another retribution.)
(I despise you.)
(I truly despise you.)
DH: What do you mean?
MSU: (I will be born again with this scar that you have given me.)

Many questions could have been answered in this exchange but the writers (deliberately) left things vague. To begin with DH’s question - Why did she do it?

She clearly states she despises DH which may explain why she blamed him for the murder and mayhem and stabbed him in the back. Perhaps she saved him when he was a child because she has a soft spot for kids who have not yet made bad choices in life - the potential for good. When she encountered him in this situation she concluded he made bad choices and decided to end his human life to be reborn and try again. Much of the later story hinges on this deliberate ambiguity, but the overall story framework would have worked better if at the end we were provided a clear motivation for her decision at that moment to plunge the sword into DH’s back.

Why does she believe this was all his doing? And what is this ‘this’ that he did? The current killing? Or all the bad for the last 400 years? Perhaps she is aware of all the effects on the humans his curses have had for the last 400 years? Did MSU believe that DH killed all those people - his own soldiers and family?

Perhaps the three - DH, MSU, and OET - became bound in a web of curses tying their destinies together such that the only solution to end the bad karma was for all three to die. Humans who were once a Bulgasal retain some shadow of the power and also remain in the web of curses. The human MSU was tied to OET because she had his original soul which was further tied to DH’s original curse on OET (i.e. his dark hole) and when the two of them died any protection that had been extending to her failed making her succumbing to her wound inevitable.

There was an imbalance created by DH’s taking of OET’s soul to evade the end of the two Bulgasals. That was further complicated by OET’s attempts to evade taking back his soul and even more so when MSU (either by accident or design) stepped in to switch with DH turning him back into a Bulgasal.

If she reincarnated eight times in 600 years then it is likely that the human DH over his 400 years would have reincarnated several times also, but OET failed to seek him out and change him back into Bulgasal probably because he did not want to become a sickly mortal human again. Instead he seems to have deliberately sought DH out and induced humans to kill him. DH seems to have foreseen this reluctance and layered his curse so that OET could not relieve his suffering by retaking his soul back from anyone other than DH. This is the likely reason that whenever OET tries to crush/break MSU’s (OET’s) soul he feels crushing pain. However, he can kill her which does nothing to relieve his suffering and she just reincarnates.

There’s lots of sand in the destiny gears. Over a 400 year period OET failed to restore DH. It’s possible that MSU deliberately (or accidentally?) stepped into the stalemate between OET and DH by taking DH’s OET soul herself. Once this happened OET needed (or eventually ((600 years)) came to believe he needed) the renewed DH Bulgasal to intervene somehow. OET believed that if DH killed MSU then that would somehow remove his dark hole and allow him to attain his goal of remaining as Bulgasal with DH as Bulgasal. More likely DH’s original curse prevented OET from ever resolving his dark hole problem even if DH had cooperated.

In E13 the shaman LHS delivers a prophesy to OET which triggers him to kill her. This prophecy ties together elements from E1 through events in E16. She said,
1) An evil spirit will come from the dark hole.
2) The evil spirit that fed off its father’s blood will rise up from the dark hole.
3) The evil spirit opened the dark hole.
4) And now, it is coming to close it.
5) The soul will go back to its owner. x 2

OET only knows and is obsessed with the dark hole that DH gave him 1,000 years ago. But we having seen the final episodes know that the line #1 dark hole is probably the well that DH will be thrown into. DH is the evil spirit (in E1 600 years ago his soldiers called him the evil spirit who kills monsters) that will feed off his father's blood and then rise up from the dark hole i.e. the well. DH is the evil spirit that opened the dark hole in OET's chest 1,000 years ago and whose actions will soon close it. The soul that will go back to its owner is OET's soul currently residing in MSU. This line prophesies her death so that OET's soul can return to OET in the afterlife.

Weak points aside I have no complaint about the overall story in part because the deliberate ambiguities make it more interesting.

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