Background

Cha Eun-ji was born on May 1st, 1973. It was a common Korean household, in which her parents worked in factory and warehouse. Sokcho was the place they resided in, an outskirt town just a few miles from the shore. Hence she adored fish and nautical lives and had developed strong passion for athleticism, especially swimming and diving. Eun-ji could be seen joyously busking around the port, as her father was a fisherman that helped manage the warehouse, throughout her early years. Her dad taught her many things, as she was close to him more than her mother. They both were pretty similar in a sense that it felt as though they were born from the same cut; quick, disciplined, and carefree. Gimbap and tteokbokki were their favourite food, and her dad would often take her outside; camping, hiking, fishing. Anything that revolved outdoor, she loved it. Appearance wise, she inherited her mother's tall stature, lean and long-limbed. On 1981, that changed. A storm stampeded through South Korea, the infamous Typhoon Agnes that claimed many lives and inflicted serious damages to coastal towns. In one of those casualties, her dad's name was listed. Gone. Swallowed by the mighty storm and pressumed dead along with the rest of the crew. In a household that barely made it, losing a breadwinner possessed a severe threat. It was her own accord to 'take arms' and seize everything. In the same coastal town that was devastated by the storm, she worked jobs like helping man her neighbor's food stall, food delivery, and many odd jobs that weren't physically taxing while studying keeping up with her school duty. She wasn't keen of her situation and wanted to embrace the wind of change. And it paid off. Through years, sweats, and tears, Eun-ji walked down the road of destiny while keeping her chins up. Never in her life had she been negligent, she did everything like a discplined soldier and that would naturally, in time, bear fruits. Like how she gained decent street culinary proficiency from a constant scuffle with the food stalls and kitchen, and a swift pair of legs from her delivery chores. But the biggest fruit to bear was the scholarship, the opportunity to study abroad. She was one step closer to achieving her dream and following the closure of the acceptance letter, on June 6th, 1991, she departed to the United States. Her destination? Knox University. Personally, she loved Knox, United States, their culture, nature, food. But it hadn't been one and a half year since she mastered English. She was considered fluent, nailed grades, and she was one of the best at it, but textbook English and practical English, especially conversational skills weren't easily acquired. That was when she realized she was lacking. Although it didn't put a dent on her overall university grades, it did, in fact, mess with her social skill; misunderstanding words, petrified out of fear of choosing the wrong words and sentence, which is.. pretty normal considering the fact that she was self-taught. Nothing out of ordinary ever happened during her stay in the United States, as a person, or student, until the emergence of the rift. That was when things began to spiral. The warped space, she saw them first-hand. It was scary. It felt weird. It happened so scarily fast. A single blink and she was spurred into action, clueless, scared, and homesick. Away from her home, her dorm, her friends. They were nowhere to be found. On the first evacuation order, she quickly packed her bags and left, and ever since then, she had numerously changed groups, searching for one that could protect her. It felt as though she was twanged back and forth, played around by the string of fate. The world felt strangely unfamiliar, she thought, gazing at the sky. Eun-ji dragged her feet, heavy, exhausted, thoughts were racing along her and the group she cooped with. She no longer knew how many days had passed. Was it days? Weeks, or even, a month? She wasn't sure. A single tap on her shoulder snapped her into reality. "We're close." an older man chimed in. Eun-ji nodded. They were all heading towards the Mall, a shelter or so people claimed. A hearsay passed from mouth to mouth. For now, Eun-ji could only plea, hoping it was indeed, a 'shelter' that could protect her from the madness that's corrupting the world.