“Are you going to the Dojo this week, honey?” Seulgi's dad asked, while they were having breakfast.

“I'm not sure, it's been a while. I got dusted.”

“No, you didn't!” Her cousin said, suddenly appearing in the kitchen and sitting by her side. “You stretch every single day. And you study a lot too.”

“What do you mean, study a lot?”

“Karate, buddy.”

“If I go, you'll have to go with me.” Seulgi said.

“No, no! I ain't going anywhere. This is your business.” She got up with her bowl of cereal. “Besides, I have a game from the league this afternoon.”

“Yah, Kim Yerim... You're addicted to this game.” She said, before the little girl left the kitchen.

“Seulgi, you should go. I can go with you.”

“We both know you have no coordination for that kind of sport.” They giggled.

“I mean, I can drive you there.”

“No, it's okay. I can take the bus.”

Seulgi already finished college, but she decided to wait at least a year before entering the work field. It's been a stressful period of time studying so hard, an accident happened right in the beginning of her last year, and she almost failed. Her dad agreed to give her some time before joining university. But her little cousin who lived with her for a long period of the year because of school, Yerim, just started senior year.

“I'm ready to go, buddy.”

“Let's get going, then. Bye Seulgi, take care.”

“Bye, sis.”

“Bye! See you later!”

Which means, Seulgi always had the whole house just for her in the morning and half of the afternoon. 

She didn't do much. She would cook, read books, watch movies, do her daily exercises and that's all. Her friends tried to make her leave the house, or to have them around, but she wasn't always in the mood.

This afternoon, she was studying karate, so she decided to go to training that day. Seulgi already knew the Katas until the 4th Kyu of belt, the Tekki Shodan.

The Katas, as you may know, are a series of movements trained during your classes. To move to the next belt, you need to know a specific Kata to pass the exam. You can't only know how to do it, you need to know the applications of each movement, the stances you are using, the defenses and attacks. Every single name, your Sensei may ask about them. 

To move to a next belt, you also need to stay during a certain time with the one you're using, different dojos have different times, according to which Federation they're following, which for them, is the ISKF (International Shotokan Karate Federation). For kids, it's one year with the first three belts, 9th, 8th and 7th belt (white, yellow, and orange). After that, the decision of your sensei for you to do the next exam, will depend on your behavior, knowledge and age. For teenagers and adults, it started with six months, then it would last longer as you grew on it. But the exams also depend on your Sensei decisions.

Seulgi was only on the 7th belt, she was away from the dojo during the last year, because of the same reasons she had problems at school. She should be at the 5th, but she didn't worry about it. She was still a better student than all the Purple belts there.

But only because she had interest, she was determined and hardworking. She studies and learns by herself, she takes notes and does drawings of the movements to take a look at them while practicing, and she was very proud of it.

She was hoping the training that day was all about Kihons and Katas, as the Kihon, when they practice and learn the fundamentals of individual movements, was her favorite activity.

She cleaned her feet and checked if she needed to cut her nails, packed her backpack with her kimono, gloves, water bottle and a little towel. Before leaving, she brushed her hair and made a high ponytail, leaving the house with a cereal bar in hands.

The class starts at 4pm. She sent a message to her Sensei, telling him she would be there that day. 

When she got there, the dojo had more students than when she used to go, new faces. There was a girl there who caught her attention. She was warming up, doing sit-ups, she seemed so focused, eyes staring at herself on her reflection in the mirror. She stopped doing that when she noticed Seulgi staring at her, and got up.

“How's my favorite student going?” Her sensei called.

“Sensei! Hi…” She greeted him. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, little Kang.” He hugged her sideways. He was a big man, all muscles, looking like a tough guy. But his heart was as sweet as honey. “I hope you've been studying as always.”

“Yes, of course. I noticed a lot of new faces here.”

“One of our dojos had to close, and the students from there moved to different gyms. We have 5 new ones here.” He pointed to the mat with his head. “Go wear your uniform, class starts at five.”

“Yes, Sensei Dominic.” They giggled and made a fist bump.

She headed to the bathroom, locked herself in the toilet to pee and change pants. She was wearing a sports top, she took her t-shirt off after washing her hands, to wear her uwagi (the upper part). And that girl from the mat got in the bathroom right when she did it.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before the girl locked herself in the toilet. Seulgi wore her uniform quickly, nervously, and even messed up with her obi.

“Do you need help with that? There's another way of doing it, so it doesn't get messy back here.” The girl said, stopping by her side and touching Seulgi's back. “Here, let's do it in front of the mirror together.”

She starts by holding the label end of the belt across her abdomen, with her right hand, hanging it a couple of inches out. Wrapped the other end of the belt around her waist. Wrapped it again, while maintaining the position of the label end of the belt. She tucked the non-label end of the belt under both layers and up, pulled both ends to tighten the knot. “The label end of the belt should still be on your left side.”

She folded down the non-label end of the belt, tucking the label end of the belt under the other end and over to her right side. Looped the label end of the belt around the other end and through the knot. That was it. Seulgi followed every step. 

“See?” She held Seulgi's back, to show that it wasn't a mess. Then she held her belt on the front, and pulled it to tighten her knot. “Way prettier.” She said, switching her stare between her belt and face.

“Thank you.” She said, looking at her. The girl didn't say anything else and they both left the bathroom.

Seulgi left her backpack and shoes on the shelf, bowing to the mat before stepping on it. It was a sign of respect.

“Everyone, line up!” The sensei said, and the students lined up ba