Chapter 2: Taken

A new fad, if you dared call it that, is on the rise. People are carrying Shit Hit The Fan (SHTF) kits wherever they go. Ki Jung is no exception. Her SHTF kit is the most basic, but it is deemed to be enough to give one a chance to survive, based on the accounts of those who have returned, like CPO Boomer and SSG Kim of the ROK SF.

Ki Jung’s kit contains some MREs, a Tanto combat/hunting knife, a segmented carbon shaft spear with stainless steel spearhead, a pair of 1 liter canteens, 100m of 550-Paracord, a hammock, parka, four changes of underclothes, two tees, and a sweatshirt all rolled up the way she was taught by Master Jamison. She also carries a Shinken attached to the side of the backpack. The Shinken was a gift from her instructors. There is room for more, but she doesn’t anything else that would make a difference to add.

Walking to the dojo is part of Ki’s daily routine. She helps open the dojo each day. Her duties include sweeping the floors, cleaning the mats and laying them out. In general, it is down to making everything ready for the day. It does not matter what the weather is like. Rain or shine, hot or cold, windy or calm, Master Jamison and the other instructors know they can count on Ki Jung being there on time and doing her part. The tasks she performs are not considered to be menial. Master Jamison and the other instructors do the same work.

On this particular day, she is reaching for the door to enter the dojo. She looks inside and waves a greeting to Master Jamison, the owner, who returns her greeting with his usual smile and a wave. Then, to his shock and horror, she vanishes before his eyes. Jim knows what this means and falls to his knees in shock. He knows he should contact the widow Lee and tell her about what just transpired, but it will be a few minutes before he pulls himself together. It is the longest two minutes of Master Jamison’s life before another instructor enters to find him sobbing.

One moment Ki Jung is about to enter the dojo. The next, she is standing on the bank of a bubbling brook. Instantly Ki Jung becomes alert. With practiced ease, she extracts the sections of her spear from its special pocket on one side of her SHTF bag and assembles them by feel.

While she assembles the spear, she turns in a circle to get a better idea of her surroundings. Survival is her first goal, but her ultimate goal is to find her way to one of the towns or cities that she knows exist. It is only a question of which way to go. She can only guess, but standing still will not do her any good.

Taking a bearing using a distant landmark that is easy to keep track of, she begins walking towards it. Her reference point is the top of a distant snow-covered mountain, and that should be a decent guide for many kilometers to come.

Ki Jung considers herself to be lucky because she is in an open plain with low rolling hills. While there are grasses and bushes all around, overall, she has good lines of sight. A light breeze does little to cover sounds of anything that might approach her. She is not dependent on the five physical senses: sight and sound, smell, taste, and touch. She also has her Qi based senses, which are driven by the practice of Pakchulbong (PCB).

From the moment her predicament was known, she began her to center herself and open up her Qi senses to the world around her. What she discovers is a place full of life, much of it small and non-threatening. Out to a range of five meters, she senses the presence of the life all around her.

The practice of Pakchulbong Qi-Gong has been a central part of her training for the last two years. It has played a significant part in her recent advances in each of the Martial Arts she studies. After all, it isn’t enough to be able to fight with your physical senses telling you what is going on. Even with her five physical senses deadened, Ki Jung is a capable fighter. The use of PCB provides her with senses that could be likened to those of Dare Devil.

To improve, or cultivate, her non-physical senses, Ki Jung began the study of the Pakchulbong at Master Jamison’s direction. It’s named for the man who founded it: Pak Chul Bong. To that end, Master Jamison gifted her the Pakchulbong manuscript and helped her take the first steps towards cultivation her senses. In the past year, she opened her first Qi-lock on the Pakchulbong path, but has nine more to go until she comes into her full potential.

When Ki Jung first became proficient enough to sense Master Jamison moving around the her, she was limited to a range of two meters, and it had to be a strong life force for her to sense it. With the opening of her first Qi-lock, she gained the ability to sense life-force in a 5 meter radius. It would seem that this Qi skill will be a key to her survival in the Realms.