Hi Listen to Day6’s SHOOT ME

Best served cold

Ice cream is best served cold. 

I ran up to the rooftop of a four-story abandoned building, with two ice creams from the convenience store, praying that it wouldn’t melt just yet. With the sweltering summer heat, I doubt it’ll even last for 5 minutes.

I kicked the door open and saw Lisa getting comfortable on the mattress, with the huge umbrella we stole shading her from the unforgiving sun. She glanced at me before sitting up. I tossed her the ice cream and I sat next to her.

“Got a huge tip today?” Lisa smiled as she tore open the ice cream. She looked like a kid. Well, technically, she’s a real kid at heart.

“No, it was on sale. Buy one get one.”

“Wow. This is probably the first time you spent money on me.” She placed her free hand over her chest.

I raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? I’m the ‘buy one’, you’re the ‘get one’.”

“You little piece of .” And before I knew it, the cold, sticky liquid came in contact with my cheeks, making me scrunch my face. Lisa’s laughter rang in my ears. That idiot is so gonna get it. I wiped the ice cream off my cheeks, chasing the brat with my ice cream. She constantly makes me forget why I became friends with her in the first place.

It was the 23rd of November last year. “Don’t forget, the shop is closed tomorrow.” Mrs. Kwon shouted from the kitchen, right before I left. I’ve taken a job at a fried chicken store as a delivery girl. Although it doesn’t pay that much, it still allowed me to buy a couple of grocery items to keep me alive for a week. 

Life can be cruel, and I had to learn it the hard way. The woman who gave birth to me, I don’t really don’t think she deserved to be called a mom, left me with my dad. We didn’t do well financially, but my dad made sure that I was able to go to school, eat, and have a roof above my head. He did four jobs every week just to support me, and then one day he got sick. Just like that, he passed away, leaving me all alone to deal with the harsh reality of life. A life I didn’t even want.

It was almost midnight when I got out of my M, W, F job. Usually, I’d go straight home and just sleep all my problems away, but today, I decided to stop by the playground just to get some fresh air before I spend hours inside the cube that was my apartment, extremely small without even a window to allow ventilation. 

I sat on one of the swings, heaving a deep sigh. There weren’t any people around. The cold air of November hitting my skin reminded me of how lonely I was. But it isn’t something that I wasn’t used to.

Even though it was lonely, the peacefulness of the surroundings made it all better, until I felt someone rummaging through my bag. I was wearing a backpack, and kudos to the thief behind me, s/he had light hands, I almost didn’t feel my bag being searched, almost.

I sighed, letting her go on with her business with my bag. I was too tired to even look behind me catch a glimpse of the culprit. “Go ahead, take it.”

A small gasp came out of the thief. It’s a girl. She definitely didn’t think that I knew what was happening. Still, I didn’t look back. It required too much energy.

I was expecting her to leave and just let me be, but she didn’t instead, a sudden erupt of laughter disturbed the peacefulness of the night. “You’re poor.” She was still laughing.

“And you’re not?”

I let my feet push the swing lightly. A couple of seconds later, she sat on the swing next to me. 

This time, I looked at her, more like observed. She was definitely not Korean just like me. Her hair was light brown, I could tell even from the bad lighting of the street lamp. It was obviously dyed as well. Bangs covered her forehead, with a small parting on the right side. She had doe-like eyes and the prettiest lips I’ve seen, after mine that is. 

“So, what were you going to do with your two dollars?” She asked, having the nerve to convert won to dollars, sounding so amused and I can hear the hint of tease lingering on her voice.

“Buy cyanide and poison you.”

The corner of her lips turned up, and I could tell I got all her attention. “Wow. Your humor is very dark.”

“What humor?”

There she went again, laughing her soul out. Once she calmed down, she looked at me, nodding in approval. “I like you.” 
And that was the start of a budding friendship that’ll last till our very last breath.

Speaking of breaths, I was all out of it after going around in circles, chasing after Lisa, but alas, I was able to get my sweet revenge.

After wiping off our face and hands with tissues we stacked in the rooftop, we sat at the parapet, feet hanging, looking ahead the tall buildings in the city. 

“How’s your mom?”

At the mention of it, Lisa sighed. “Barely holding on.” She looked far ahead, tired yet determined. “I’ll get her out of that hellhole soon. If I can get one more job, we’ll be out in 2 months.” I wasn’t the only one who had it tough. Lisa had an abusive father. One who sold drugs to the lonely and miserable people who sought temporary happiness in narcotics. Then again, it’s business. You do what you have to do to survive, even going as far as being puppets of drug lords. But poverty can never be an excuse to let out your anger on your wife and daughters, let alone using them as a punching bag.

I sighed. Our miserable life made ‘sighing’ our second nature. “If life’s going to be this tough forever, I’d rather die.” It was a joke. Maybe half a joke.

“Well, if you decide to do so, give me a heads up so I can join you.” Lisa nudged me by the shoulder, a playful smile placed on her lips.

“Sure.”

We stayed silent for a while until her head eventually found its way to my shoulder. “Do you know how much I just wanna run away with you?”

“How much?” I jokingly challenged.

“Two dollars.” We shared a laugh, knowing well what she was referencing. “But seriously, can’t we just run away together? Leave all of this behind?”

I would’ve lied if I said I never thought of running away. It was always in my head: packing the very little things that I possess, throwing them in my backpack and go wherever my foot or perhaps the bus would lead me. All attempts made had failed. “What about your mom and sister?”

Another sigh came out of her lips. She knew she couldn’t be too selfish and heartless to leave her mom and sister with her father. “How about you? No plans on running away? You don’t have any family holding you back though.”

“You’re holding me back.” It took me by surprise, my straightforwardness. I was never one to outwardly display my feelings as I’ve always thought that it’s a weakness. But perhaps, I got too comfortable sitting beside Lisa that it rolled off my tongue smoothly. 

Lisa would normally laugh and tease me to death, and I waited for it, but all I heard were almost inaudible sniffles. I smiled. I couldn’t look her in the eye to confirm if she was indeed crying ‘cause her head was resting on my shoulder, but when I felt my shirt get wet, I knew she was getting emotional. “I know you’re touched, but don’t be a crybaby.”

“You .” Lisa lifted her head, laughing as she wiped her tears. I placed my arm around her, pulling her close to me again. I would never tell her, but the only time that I felt like I belonged to this place was her, Lisa made me feel wanted, and although we’re living in poverty, we’re rich when we’re together, and I would do anything to keep it that way.

My Thursday job at a bulgogi restaurant went well. At the end of the day, I brought with me all the tips I earned and a good news. The tips were, of course, for me, while the good news was for Lisa. The restaurant was understaffed and the manager was hiring a waitress. Being the great friend that I was, I recommended Lisa. I remember her mentioning that she needed another job.

They lived in an apartment a couple blocks from mine. I went inside, immediately being greeted by high teenagers ‘chilling’ by the stairs. I’ve always hated having to walk up their stairs. 
I arrived at the fourth floor and I walked the hallway. Their’s were near the end of it. As I drew closer, I noticed the door was wide open. Well, that’s weird.

Hearing some commotion inside, I halted near the doorway. There was someone shouting and I heard Lisa’s voice, but it was all muffles. Don’t tell me her dad is——

My eyes widened as I took a peek inside the apartment. It was as if a tornado hit inside. Everything was out of place and messy. But that’s not what I was looking at. Right in the living room, Lisa sat in the corner, a gun pointed at her by a woman in a white suit. Tears flowed from Lisa’s eyes, her body was shaking. 

I was about to take a step inside the apartment, not caring about anything, but the loud sound of the gun made me stop. Lisa was shot right in the forehead. Lisa was dead.

Men in black suits came out of the other rooms, and before they could spot me, I ran inside one of the apartments which I knew never locked their door. I stood behind the door, eyes on the peephole.

“This is why I don’t work with thieves. They think I won’t find out if they hid even a single stash.” The woman who killed Lisa pushed her gun to one of her men. She looked down her used to be a white suit, now in crimson red. She groaned. “That girl’s blood is all over my coat! I paid thousands of dollars for this!” 

My fist felt numb as I watched her go down the stairs. There was not a hint of remorse on her face. It was as if she only stepped on a cockroach and not a human being. How can a person be this ruthless?

I stumbled as I ran back to Lisa’s apartment. All their furniture were scattered all over the place, but all I can see is Lisa. I crouched down, pulling her body to me. She was the only one I had, and yet again, as if it was destiny for me to be alone, she’s gone. It was unfair. I didn’t get to say goodbye and I didn’t get to tell her how much she means to me. 

I tucked her hair behind her ears. Her face was painted red, and the small bullet hole in her forehead triggered flashbacks of how Lisa begged the woman not to kill her.

The surge of anger rushed through my veins, pushing aside the grief that squeezed my heart just a minute ago. I have my whole life to grieve the death of her, but right now I felt my whole body burning. I was on fire. I was fire. And I can tell you something about fire. It doesn’t know sympathy and guilt, it doesn’t have a mind, what it has is only hunger and thirst for consuming everything it lays eyes on, not caring what will be left behind. It can turn you into ash, molten and burnt. 

I remember every single detail of her face. Her jet black hair, dark brown pupils, nose sculpted flawlessly, and her heart-shaped lips. She was so perfect yet tampered with wickedness. I remember everything. 

The need for revenge was gnawing at my soul, relentless, unceasing, and I knew the only way to put an end to it: kill the source of it.

Just wait Lisa, I’m going to give you justice. 

And just like that, I began drawing out my plan of revenge. It didn’t take me long to find out that the woman who killed Lisa and her family is the supplier and the leader of the gang from which Lisa’s father gets his drugs to sell. Considering that a lot of people living in the same apartment as Lisa were drug addicts and pushers, I was able to squeeze some information out of them.

Apparently, her name is Jisoo. I was told that more people in the next town knew about her, as the demand for narcotics there is two times higher than in our town, so I went there.

The environment wasn’t particularly unique. If anything, it almost looked exactly the same as mine. The only difference is that there were a lot of foreigners around.