Once upon a time, there lived a married couple who had two sons. The first son was physically normal but the younger son had been born deformed. He had only one eye, one ear and one arm. That is to say, he had only half of his body parts, although he had two legs. As soon as the deformed baby was born, the father thought it would be better to let the baby die. But the mother felt pity for her unfortunate son and raised him with great care. Although he was only half of a person, he grew up to be a healthy boy. But because of his physical appearance, people called this child “Half.”

The first son didn’t like Half at all. He didn’t think his younger brother was a complete person. One day, he forced Half to a hill in the mountains and tied him to a large tree tightly with a strong rope. He returned home alone, leaving his brother behind. At home, the mother was worried as she couldn’t find her second son. After a while, there was a sudden gust of wind. Looking around, the mother saw Half standing in the yard with the uprooted tree on his back. As he set the tree down on the ground, the rope snapped off. Smiling, he told his mother that she could rest in the shade of the tree on hot summer days.

One day, Half told his mother that he wanted to marry the daughter of a rich government official surnamed Kim in the village. The mother was embarrassed and tried to dissuade him from his foolish intention. But Half never gave up. He even said he could take the girl with his strength. Being well aware of her son’s monstrous power, the mother sent her first son to Kim’s house to warn the family beforehand to prevent any mishap.

The whole Kim family was in an uproar. All the family members and servants started watching for the half-boy, day and night. Days passed, and everyone in the household was exhausted from lack of sleep. One night, Half went to Kim’s house. There were no signs of movement at all. Everyone seemed to be fast asleep. As if waiting for the moment, Half tied the topknots of the servants at the threshold to the doorsill. He found other servants in the narrow space under the wooden floor. He placed a big pot from the kitchen against the space so the servants were trapped below. Of course, those servants were all deeply asleep and never knew what was going on. Half then entered a room where the rich man and his son were asleep. Half applied sulfur to the beard of the old man and tied a club to both hands of the son. In another room, he found the old man’s wife. He tied a heavy stone block around her waist, tied sticks to both her hands and placed a brass washbowl in front of her. Finally, he found the daughter. He wrapped her in silk cloth and carried her out of the house. Before leaving the house, Half shouted, “The bridegroom is taking his bride!”

It was the old man’s wife who woke up first. But she was unable to get up because she was tied to the heavy stone. She desperately moved her hands, only to beat the brass washbowl with the sticks tied to her hands. The rumbling noise woke other people up. In the dark, the old man went to the brazier to light a candle. Upon approaching the brazier, however, his beard caught fire. The son, who was fully awake, tried to put out the fire with his hands but he only beat his father with the clubs tied to his hands. Meanwhile, servants trapped under the floor saw a big pot over their heads and thought the sky was falling down. Other servants at the threshold pulled their topknots, screaming and blaming one another for holding their topknots. What a mess the entire household was!

In the meantime, Half returned home, bringing the cloth-wrapped girl with him. In the backyard, he peeled off the skin of his face. Miraculously, he was transformed into a very handsome man, physically perfect. To his stunned parents and older brother, he began to explain. He was in fact an official from heaven but he did something wrong up there. As a punishment, he had to wear deformed skin in this human world for a certain period of time. Now he was free from the curse forever.

His older brother apologized to him for having being too harsh on him. The half-boy, who was no longer “half” now, visited the girl’s family again and officially asked her father to allow their marriage. At first, the old man was upset about the chaotic previous night. But he was also impressed by the young man’s wisdom and boldness. With the father’s permission, the former half-boy married the girl and lived happily ever after.