Master Kim is already over by the rack and choosing a dobok to put on. She changes right in front of me. I avert my eyes and study a mural with a giant black bear.
She ties a black belt around her waist and looks at me expectantly. “Get dressed.”
“So you’re going to train me?”
“We have little time.”
Obviously, this lady isn’t into formal introductions. I riffle through the tunics to find something close to my size. Some of these look yellowed, as if they’ve been there for a very long time. I find one, undress, and slip it on. When I finish, I see Master Kim is talking on the phone.
“You owe me this time with her,” Master Kim says into the phone.
Then, noticing I’m dressed, she holds out her phone to me, the cord tangling up around her arm, and says, “I have arranged with your father to take you home. We need all the time we can get. Would you like to talk to him?”
I stare dumbly at her. “What!” I whisper. “You told him I was here? He doesn’t know I’ve left the house.”
“He already knew. He’s been searching for you for the last hour and called me to help.”
I’ll be grounded for eternity. I think I’ll delay the inevitable. “I can’t talk to him.”
“Best not to mention the dragons,” she says, handing me the phone. “It may not go well for you.”
I push away the phone. “I’m not talking to him.” Then I look at her more closely. “Wait. How do you know my dad?”
“Listen, young lady.” Crazed Ginseng Lady takes my hand and puts the phone into it. “If you do not talk to him, I will never train you. And trust me. You want me to train you.”
She’s got a point. Besides, it’s not as if Master Park at my old dojang is keen on me coming back. I put the phone to my ear. “Dad?”
“Jae Hwa,” he says. “What you did, sneaking out like that, you should be ashamed of yourself!”
“I know.” I twist the black belt around my waist. “I just wanted to be with my friends.”
“Eun will take you home, and don’t you dare leave her. Do you understand, young lady?”
Eun. Wasn’t that the name Dad mentioned back at the cave? “Who is this lady? How do you know her?”
He sighs. “I should have introduced you two when we first arrived in Korea. I’m partly to blame. She’s your aunt.”
I gape at Ginseng Lady.
“I know this is a bit of a shock,” Dad continues. “Eun and I have just gotten back on speaking terms again, even though she sides with Abeoji. Promise me you’ll come home after you have some time together.”
I somehow mumble out a yes before I hear the dial tone.
“You’re my aunt,” I say.
“Yes.” And there’s relief in her voice, as if she’s glad the truth is out. She places her palm on mine. It’s cold. “In fact, I would rather you call me Komo. How does that sound?”
“Komo.” It means “aunt on the father’s side.” It could work. “But why didn’t Dad ever talk about you before?”
“Time is against us, ticking away every breath you take,” she says. “You are here to train and learn.”
She moves to the far wall and bows. I bow in return, but, barely before I position myself, she charges and whips out a jumping front kick.
My instincts take over. I jerk back and then meet her front jab with a block. She spins and back kicks. I grab her leg and shove her to the ground. She leaps up before I have a chance to pin her in place and struts around me, her chin up. Well, if that’s how it’s going to be, I can strut, too. I might not have feathers, but I can be a peacock.
“Haemosu is all-powerful in his territory in the Spirit World,” she says, and then grunts to whip out a roundhouse. I’m ready and sidestep around her quick and light. “But in our world he is powerless. He can’t even maintain a physical form.”
“So why should I worry about him?” I ask, bouncing on my toes.
“Because he brings small amounts of power from his world through objects such as his dragon’s claws or amulets. He uses our sunlight to help him travel about. My guess is he will seek you out during daylight.”
She turns to face me again. I see the attack and land a front kick, planting it directly at her chin.
She stumbles backward slightly, her eyes widening. “Not bad,” she says. “The best I have seen in a long time.”
But then she does a move I’ve never seen. It’s like watching a movie. She leaps up, spins and double kicks, one foot after the other knocking at my shoulder and nose. Pain shoots through my face, and blood spurts through the air.
I fall, my turn to be surprised. I expect her to land on her butt, the way her legs are stretched out in front of her, but she folds over her torso and flips backward and onto her feet.
Unbelievable.
My nose burns, wet and sticky. But I don’t care, because I’ve found someone who truly is a master. Someone I can learn from. My heart skips. My fingers twitch. She tosses me a cloth, and I wipe my nose clean, willing the room to focus after being knocked so hard. I’ll probably have black eyes, and faintly I wonder if I’ve broken my nose again.
She motions with her palms upward, fingers bending for me to stand back up, and makes the ready position. “There will be no rest for you tonight. At the first rays of light Haemosu will once again search for you. And you must be ready for him.”
I pull myself up and take my stance. “But what about those dragons in your house?” I ask. “They were trying to get in, and it was dark out.”
She attacks with a side jab. I block. “There are three different categories in the Spirit World.”
“Categories?” Why is everything about the Spirit World so confusing?
“Those creatures that only belong in our world, those that belong only in the Spirit World, and those that can go back and forth for limited periods of time.
“Haemosu and his five dragons are restricted to the Spirit World. But he has found a way around this. He fills their scales and claws with sunlight so they can hunt. But as time progresses, the light in their scales fades, and so does their power. They must return to the Spirit World when their power is depleted.”
We spar for another ten minutes and then she has me do one hundred push-ups and two hundred sit-ups. After I’ve finished I lie flat on the floor, panting. She grabs me by the arm and leads me to a small table in the corner of the room to sit on a silk cushion. I’m sweaty and bloody, unlike her. Every hair is still neatly tucked into her braid. No sweat on her forehead.
“The Spirit World exists,” she continues. “But we live in a very busy, noisy, and hurried world. Too modern to hear Good calling. Too rushed to feel the pull of Evil.”
She pours hot tea from a tiny celadon teapot while I consider her words. So maybe Kumar’s multiple-dimensions theory is legit.
“Why can’t this Haemosu get over his obsession or choose some other family? Am I that unlucky?”
“Luck, fate, chance—whatever you want to call it—has nothing to do with it.” She sips her tea and studies the mural of the crane beside our table. “We are given moments, and we must choose what to do with them. This is your moment.”
“You’re not telling me that this is some kind of destiny thing.”
She laughs. “No. Your destiny is up to you.” Then her eyes become hard, like onyx. “If you are to defeat Haemosu, you must let me teach you what I know.”