IMAGINE your favorite Korean series set in the Joseon Dynasty when the king, supposedly the most powerful person in the Kingdom, is weak and becomes a puppet controlled by the Prime Minister or the Imperial Court. He is threatened every time he makes his own decision, but he secretly gathers strength, knowledge, and a group of loyal men to later become his most precious weapon to retaliate.
Imagine John Wick, with an increasing price on his head, who appears to have an enemy in every corner of the world, taking fights and hunting the most powerful and influential characters in this tetralogy movie.
Imagine Harrison Ford or Richard who was wrongfully accused of murdering his wife, escaped from jail and was pursued by the authorities but personally hunting his wife’s killer in The Fugitive.
Or imagine Jasmin Flores, aka Lavender Fields, chased by Iris Buenvidez-De Vera at the start but now becomes the hunter to find out the truth.
Imagine the situation when the hunted becomes the hunter.
This hunted-to-hunter transition is not unique to fiction. In real life, people who find themselves in life-threatening situations adapt in surprising ways to survive and turn the table on their side.
People compromised in staggering conflicts or discussions, such as politics or war, who are questioned become the interrogators instead as they show their side of the story.
This is just like another underdog story when the battered and the underestimated rise to the occasion because they work harder and smarter.
When we are criticized, discriminated against, or persecuted and appear to be being pursued by those who want to tarnish our reputation and destroy our integrity, we not only clean up the dirt thrown at us, but it becomes survival of the fittest.
We also question the motive and character of those who are hunting us down. This is a game of survival. And typically, as Sun Tzu said in The Art of War, in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
In addition, he said, “Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”
When we are hunted down, we always look for a way out. A door. An opening. That extraordinary moment when we celebrate the strength formed within us to transform, adapt, and overcome.
Life is always a survival story.
Sometimes, it’s the hunted who are the most powerful hunters of all. The hunted figure, initially vulnerable, makes a change, drawing on inner forces to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Imagine the King in the Joseon Dynasty or John Wick or Richard or Lavender Fields not fighting back and remaining to be hunted. Imagine a world where justice is not pursued. Imagine when our fears never have the chance to turn into our strength.
We can only see an unimaginable future.
