Fireworks go off like gunshots as soon as the clock strikes midnight. It’s hard to differentiate between what’s a firecracker and what’s the real deal, but his ears ring with familiarity after every other bang.
There are a lot of people out on Liberation Day, no matter what the time. It’s an excuse to get drunk, an excuse to make noise and have fun. He used to have a sip of champagne when his mom wasn’t looking and watch the flashes of color block out the sky.
This morning, he’s paying a visit to Gwanak. His best friend doesn’t live too far, and he debates paying that mother fucker a visit, but decides it might be a bad idea.
His phone alarm goes off at half-past. He silences it and drops the remnants of the cigarette he’d been smoking onto the pavement, digs in with his boot. He doesn’t bother picking it up - that’s a job for the boy scouts or girl scouts or whatever scouts decide to pick up litter on the side of the road. It’s time to go.
Everyone that had fallen asleep just before the celebration began in earnest are waking up just to set off a bottle rocket. His target is one of them.
He strolls up to the abode of a middle-aged man with no friends, no family. The door breaks easy, made of something cheap. His foot leaves a smear of ash on one of the shards littering the entryway floor. He pulls his gun from the back of his waistband and checks the clip as he makes his way through the apartment to find the balcony. It’s full - loaded a couple of days ago; it never really hurts to make sure you didn’t fire a shot in your sleep.
The glass door squawks as he pushes it open, alerts the target. There’s not much he can do about that, besides dealing with it the only way he really knows how to deal with anything.
Expletives and threats spew forth, breaking only long enough to give the man before him time to blurt out apologies. The fuse to his rocket is still going, newly lit, and he’s got a gun to this man’s head.
I’ll have the money on Monday.
It’s not good enough. He makes sure to say so, and the rocket takes to the sky. There’s no point to checking the guy’s wallet - it’s inside, sitting on the coffee table - practically begging to be taken.
He pulls the trigger as the firework goes off. He doesn’t even blink.
There’s blood on his hand and his sleeve and his boots but it manages to miss his shirt and his face this time, so he’s marginally impressed. There’s a rag in his back pocket and he uses it to wipe down the barrel of his gun. It’s still hot, but it doesn’t burn too much anymore. It gets put back as he tugs the balcony door shut.
He scoops up the leather bifold on his way out. Maybe he’ll make a pit stop after all.