He Came from Narnia

Jessica sat in her room eating mint ice cream and working on her latest photo shop painting, in fact, she was concentrating so hard she didn't realize how quickly she was devouring the ice cream and gave herself brain freeze. As Jessica smacked her forehead in agony her cell phone buzzed with a new text message:

Mary: What are you up to?

Jessica: Just working on a chibi a client has ordered.

Mary: Let's meet for coffee, I have something to talk with you about.

Jessica: Now?

Mary: NOW! Michelle and I have some exciting news.

Jessica reluctantly set her work aside and drove to the coffee shop her Mary and Michelle often met at after work to rant about horrible customers, slacker co-workers and how they wished they were making more money. Jessica works a slew of odd jobs which often left her angry and drained and pinning for some new adventure. Mary works a late night retail job of pushing carts around a parking lot, facing and restocking endless shelves of products and ringing up over eager customers who don't know how to check prices and decide there are 10 things in their cart they don't want because it's too expensive. While Michelle works at the downtown library sorting through books that need to be re-shelved and looking thorugh books and movie that were returned long overdue. All three of them were desperate for a vacation and all three of them were about to have the adventure of a life time:

"So why'd you call me here so late?", Jessica asked. "I need to finish that drawing by midnight and I'm only halfway through."

"You know how we were planning that trip to Korea with Kortney?", Michelle asked.

"Yeah, what about it?", Jessica asked impatiently.

"Well....she can't go," Mary explained. "And we already have her ticket, which means we have an opening if you want it." Mary began to taunt Jessica with this amazing vacation.

"Are you serious?", Jessica jolted out of her seat. "This is a torturous prank if you're not serious."

Michelle chuckled, "We're serious! We want you to go! You so deserve it?"

"Can you get the time off from all 10 of your jobs?", Mary asked jokingly. "We leave in two weeks."

"Yeah, I think that's enough notice," Jessica said. "How long will we be gone?"

"The trip plan is 3 weeks long," Michelle said. "We'll be traveling through the Korean country side starting in the HaHoe and Yangdong villages in Andong."

"Sounds interesting," Jessica said. "I'M IN! Let's do it!"

The girls parted after finishing their coffees and talking about trip arrangements and accommodations. Then it was time to go and finish the chibi and email it to her client. Jessica slaved over the computer screen for about an hour before putting the finishing touches on the chibi and sending it off to her client at 11:30 pm, thirty minutes to spare! In celebration of completing the drawing early, Jessica went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of chardonnay and pulled out her pint of double chocolate and marshmallow ice cream. Jesus, Jessica, you're such a fatty. You'd better go to the gym tomorrow; she thought to herself. After the glass of wine and a few bites of the rich ice cream she brushed her teeth and went to bed.

Jessica put in her time off requests and was approved, after that the weeks seemed to drag on. She went out a bought a bunch of new clothes to wear but also kept in mind they would be doing some hiking and would need a sturdy pair of boots and clothes she can get dirty. She had 3 days left to get everything ready and Mary and Michelle were hot on her tail about it. Jessica is known for procrastinating horribly and her friends knew it:

Mary: Are you packed yet? You're not are you?

Jessica: I'm working on it....

Mary: No you're not, you're drawing again or blogging. PACK WOMAN! PACK!

Jessica: I'M PACKING!

Air day arrived, the girls had stayed the night with Michelle so they could all pile into one taxi to head to the Sacramento Airport and from there the girls would fly into Ulsan. With the North still impending threats upon Seoul, we decided to stay as far south as possible for most of the trip. As much as the girls would like to see the sites of the country's capital and maybe catch a glimpse of one of their favourite musicians, they didn't really want to risk their lives that badly. Besides, if they found they had the time, they could always switch the tickets to say they fly out from Incheon instead.

After a 22 hour flight and traveling forward in time, they finally landed at Ulsan Airport 7am the next day. It was a 30 minute drive to Andong Hahoe Village where they were greeted with a translator and a tour guide who promptly showed the girls to their hanoks. The rooms were small and claustrophobic but the traditional heated flooring was amazing! The girl each got their own hanok since they only slept one and with their luggage, the space was already a pretty tight squeeze. After they each took a two hour nap they were greeted with a knock on the door by the tour guide who was to show them all the amenities, hiking trails and meet and greet some of the villagers whom they would be living with for a week. Their tour guide was Korean American with a tall slender and lanky build, he dressed as a traditional Korean scholar and looked quite silly wearing his thick rimmed glasses with that sweet atirre.

"Greetings, my name is Choi HanJae and I will be your tour guide today," HanJae said with a broad crooked tooth grin. "If you have a hard time remembering my Korean name you may just call me Jae."

"안녕하세요, I am Dong SukBae," SukBae greeted warmingly. "I will be your translator for the duration of your visit. Please ask me anything."

"Are you ladies ready to begin your journey back in time?", HanJae said enthusiastically.

We all nodded our heads stoically, still a little jet lagged and starving. "May we eat first?" Mary raised her hand as if she were in school.

Jae chuckled and nodded, "Yes, I will show you all the wonderful restaurants and street foods you may choose from."

The girls grabbed their purses, sweaters and shoes in anticipation for a wonderful traditional folk village meal. HanJae and SukBae took them through the dust dirt roads explaining all the different buildings and what they were traditionally used for and some are still used for those things, others have been turned into small museums. The girls sat down and had a delicious meal of heotjesbap and gangodeungeo, everything was devoured including an entire pot of tea.

"What will we see next, Jae?", Michelle asked.

"Would you like to see the Yangjindang House?," HanJae said webbing his fingers together like an evil mastermind. "It's the oldest house in the village and was owned by the Ryu clan when the village was first founded."

Mary got a wild look in her eye, "YES! Let's go there!"

HanJae and SukJae took us back through a few more winding dirt roads along the river bend and eventually into the centre of the village.

"Ryu, Seong-ryong, born in 1542 and died 1607, was a famous court minister who helped protect Korea from the Japanese invasion of 1592. He lived here.", HanJae explained. "Let me take you to Seong ryong's personal study, he has a unique armoire there."

They followed HanJae into the house and through several large rooms adorned with antique furniture and pristine rice paper on every door. Everything was very well kept and loved. As they walked into the study there was a large bamboo armoire looming over us.

"This armoire is unique in the way that it has been locked for centuries," HanJae pointed to a large antique Asian style padlock. "No one dares to open it and find out why it's been locked for so long. Some in the village say it's cursed and contains the dead bodies of Seong-ryong's enemies. Others say there is another world within this armoire and that the other world is cursed and that's why it's been locked. A few have attempted to break the lock or pick it open, but none have been successful."

"Another realm through an armoire," Jessica said pessimistically and crossing her arms. "What is it, the Korean version of Narnia?"

Mary scoffed, "C'mon Jess, it's just a village folk story. Don't take it so deliberately."

"Yeah, Jess," Michelle chimed in. "Just a folk tale. You like those right?"

"I guess so," Jessica shrugged. "That this is absolutely massive and terrifying!"

"It was built during the Quing Dynasty when Korea was still known as Joseon Providence. It was built for protection and weaponry. There's supposed to be a hidden door in the floor boards for storage or hiding from the enemy. But since the lock can't be removed we will never know."

"Well that was an interesting bit of history," Jessica said sarcastically. "Let's go put our boots on and go hiking!"

The girls began to walk back to their hanoks when a mysterious woman walked up to Jessica pointing at her with a sinister look:

"YOU!," she shrieked. "The curse will be lifted our worlds will meld into one because of your love and purity for him. You are the chosen one, but only if you're willing to take on the task."

"WHAT?!", Jessica backed up terrified of the old woman. "I'm pure? I'm the chosen one? What?!"

HanJae gently took the old woman away and she continued shouting, "Believe in yourself my dear! You're in for a battle that you can only win with faith!"

Mary, Michelle and Jessica got their hiking gear and turned toward the ancient trails for comfort. They hiked the cliffs along the Nakdong River and took in the picturesque few of what nature had to offer.

"This is so great," Mary said admiring the river from the top of the cliff. "I would love to camp up here."

"This would be a great place for a pic-nic," Michelle said. "We should bring some goodie with us tomorrow and camp out."

"That sounds like a great idea, Michelle!", Mary said enthusiastically. "What do you think Jess? Jess...?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking about what that crazy woman said to me," Jessica said still haunted by the woman's words. "Was she putting a curse on me?"

"Nah," Michelle said contently. "I heard she's the village shaman. Or the last of them anyway. Shamanism is still widely practiced in the Korean countryside you know."

"No, I didn't know," Jessica said angrily. "And I'm still super creeped out by it. How am I the chosen one when I live in California, fuck, I'm not even Korean! I'm Mexican! And how the fuck am I supposed to bring two worlds together? Mexico collides with Korea? I don't get it?"

"I'm sure there's a very simple answer and you're over thinking it," Michelle said putting her hand on Jessica's shoulder.

"Maybe you can pick the lock on that cursed armoire!," Mary said wildly excited. "Maybe that's why no one has ever been able to get in there! They weren't the chosen one!"

"That's stupid, Mary," Jessica said scowling and crossing her arms again. "Why doesn’t someone just blow the stupid thing up or burn it? Then they can get inside."

"Why ruin a beautiful and important piece of history?", Michelle asked.

"Oh you silly librarian," Jessica scorned. "There's no such thing as curses and that stupid armoire doesn't lead to another realm. And I'm not the chosen one! I want to go to bed now."

They hiked back down the steep trail into the village and headed back to their hanok. In the middle of the night Jessica was awoken by a loud CRACK! She sat straight up and saw a strange glow leading from her hanok to the courtyard, it seemed to be a glowing trail of bubbles coming right through the door. Jessica crawled across her bed and slowly opened the door to peer outside, she saw no one and nothing but this glowing trail of tiny bubbles beckoning her to follow them. She went against her better judgment and stepped outside slipping her shoes on and following the glowing trail through the courtyard, past the midwife's house and to the Ryu clan home. Jessica stopped short when she noticed the bubble trail seemed to be floating almost wispfully like a bunch of tiny faeries were holding it together and floating along with it. Jessica swallowed hard and followed the trail up to the front door. Jessica expected the door to be locked since it was after hours:

'This is stupid,' Jessica thought out loud. 'Why the fuck am I here?'

With that the door slowly creaked open and the floating wispy bubble trail lit the way through the house winding around corners and taking her through haunting dark corridors to her destination: the armoire. There is stood solid and mighty like nothing could ever demolish it. The giant armoire was creepy and Jessica noticed something else about the armoire: the lock had been broken. She walked up to the armoire to touch the busted lock and it was covered in ice!

"What the fuck?!", Jessica yelled. "How the..."

She stopped short as the large bamboo door slowly opened and beckoned her to crawl inside. Jessica hoisted herself up into the large armoire and saw a strange glow in the back. Jessica cautiously crawled toward the light and as it got closer and brighter she began to see a whole new realm forming. Jessica turned around to crawl back but the door seemed to have shut, she couldn't see a way back! As she looked back toward the world that was slowly forming she saw a tree filled with beautiful sparkling apples! Jessica stood up and walked toward the tree to get a better look, as she approached the tree she could feel grass between her toes:

"Huh?" Jessica gasped. "Where are my shoes? Where are my clothes? These clothes aren't mine!"

Jessica was no longer dressed in her pajamas, but dressed in deer skins and lamb wool. She was now barefoot and could feel something on her back...it was a bow and a small pouch of arrows!

"What the fuck is this?", she shrieked.

"Huntress you have returned!," said a high pitched voice above her.

"Who said that?", Jessica shouted looking around.

"I did!", the voice said again and suddenly dropping down in front of her face.

"EEEee!", Jessica screamed. "What are you doing in that tree upside down?"

"My name is Doodle! I'm a tree elf!," he said excitedly. "Welcome back huntress, we missed you! And our world is in great need of you now, the Prince needs you to fight in his army."

"My name is Jessica and I need to do what?", Jessica said confused and angry about what was happening.

"Jessica, that's a peculiar name," Doodle said. "OK huntress Jessica, follow me."

Jessica sighed heavily and followed Doodle into the thick forest not knowing what to expect but knowing she was confused and terrified at beginning to understand what the village shaman had told her only hours before.