A Game of Dice at Manboksa Temple

Synopsis

Yang Saeng, a young scholar, lives alone near Manboksa Temple in Namwon. Orphaned early and lonely, he recites poems of longing beneath the pear blossoms on spring nights. One day he plays a game of dice with the Buddha and makes a heartfelt wish: “Let me meet the one I am fated to love.” That very night, a woman comes to Manboksa. Beautiful as a fairy in the moonlight, she carries a sorrowful story and prays before the Buddha for her fate. As if their bond had been decided long ago, the two are drawn to each other and share a brief but deep love. But — she is no ordinary woman. One of the living, and one who has already left this world. Fate grants them the most beautiful, and the saddest, of loves. A Game of Dice at Manboksa Temple is a masterpiece of early Joseon fiction — a beautiful, chilling tale of fate on the border between love and death, the human and the ghostly.