Act One—The Neighbor
The Curse Diary began by recording the first family to move into the Japanese-style villa, borrowing heavily from the plot of Ju-On.
They experienced it from a first-person perspective.
Han Dong was the homeowner—Saeki Takeo—while Sally played his wife, Kayako. Together, they raised their five-year-old son, Saeki Toshio.
However, the source of all the resentment was not that Kayako had been infatuated with an old classmate, only to be discovered and brutally murdered by her deeply suspicious husband... There was another reason.
The Saeki Takeo and Kayako here were deeply in love. There was no suspicion or affair whatsoever, and even Kayako's diary was merely a record of their happy life.
It differed greatly from the original film.
Moreover, there was an extremely important detail that even shocked Han Dong.
"Hm? There was no Crooked Neck Tree in the earliest courtyard?"
Han Dong unexpectedly discovered that the original yard contained only flowers and plants. There was no Crooked Neck Tree that appeared to be decades, or even centuries, old.
So when had this tree appeared?
Next, Han Dong and Sally observed the happy life of the couple from a first-person perspective, in fragmented scenes... Yet that happiness did not last long before an important turning point suddenly arrived.
Several days later, the Saeki Family welcomed a visitor who called himself their "neighbor."
Strangely, Han Dong could not make out the other party's face even from the first-person perspective... His upper body was completely obscured by black miasma, while the hems of his white trousers met a pair of large, exquisitely crafted Black Shoes.
"This is!"
Han Dong immediately thought of the heavy leather shoes he had heard in the Safehouse.
For the moment, he made no further deductions and continued observing.
The Mysterious Neighbor claimed to be