Joohyun looks through the security cameras to the outside. She’s always on edge when this time of the year comes. She’s vaguely aware that the siren has started to sound all over the city. She hears the TV and lowers its volume.

 

“This is not a test. This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge sanctioned by... Commencing at the siren, any crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire, and emergency medical services… until tomorrow morning until 7 a.m. The government thanks you for your participation. May God be with you all.''

 

She knows all of this very well, but it doesn’t make it easier.

 

“Joohyun, did you activate the locking system?”

 

“Yes, Dad, everything’s in place.”

 

“Good,” He says, but Joohyun can recognize fear when she sees it.

 

“What’s wrong, Siwon?” Yoona asks, resting her hands on his shoulders.

 

“Nothing, it’s… I’m just worried that we’re not safe enough here.”

 

“Dad, relax. We have always been safe here.”

 

Siwon paces around the room, looking intently at the cameras and to his security guard surrounding the perimeter.

 

“This year is different.” He looks like he wants to say something worse, but he gulps before continuing. “With the elections, it is possible that I’m a target.”

 

Joohyun looks at him, nervous.

 

“But you are a government official, dad. Isn’t that enough?”

 

“It’s not, sweetheart, this year won’t be.” He touches the bridge of his nose, signaling a migraine. “Well, enough of that. We’ll be fine. We have to be.”

 

###

 

Seungwan has never been one to back out things. Since her mother was killed on the Annual Purge, she lost her capability of feeling fear. This year was more of the same.

 

“Same old, same old,” Joy says, “Don’t they get tired of it?”

 

“They need an excuse to kill the poor like us,” Jongin says, shrugging. He cleans his MP7—a Heckler & Koch MP7 submachine gun—with so much enthusiasm that she wonders if he enjoys it too.

 

“They don’t give us , but then they act like we are all that is wrong in this country,” Chen says, cleaning his weapon of choice—a self-loading rifle, the M16.

 

Seungwan remains in silence, making good use of her right. The old TV rings with the siren, annoying her. It's almost time.

 

“Hey, did you turn off the door sensors?” Seulgi asks from the back of the store, securing the back entrance.

 

“Yeah, I did it not so long ago.” Seungwan finally says.

 

“Okay, so we’re all set. I’ll go to the ceiling with Kyungsoo to watch over. He has a rifle.” Seulgi says. “Seungwan, take this Glock, and the knives too. You’re never too safe.”

 

Seungwan nods, looking at the TV.

 

“Goddammit, I just hope Siwon Bae wins these elections,” she says, “I can’t stand another year of this crap.”

 

“Me neither,” Chen says, “You know how much I loathe violence.”

 

“Yes, I know. We had to carry you last year when you fainted.” Jongin says. “But, to be honest, I think that senator’s full of . Just trying to win us over so he can become the next president.”

“Even if it’s all fake, what’s the worst he could do?” Joy asks, to no one in particular. “Seungwan, you and Chen will make rounds this year?”

 

“I haven’t decided yet, I’m feeling a little anxious. But maybe later. We left the ambulance in the parking lot.”

 

Joy nods, knowing better than to push her.

 

The first thirty minutes go by in relative calmness. People are dying on the streets, of course, but no one has tried to raid the store so far. The insurance called to tell them that the price had quintuplicated, so the Son’s sisters decided to guard the store along with their friends. They had tried to convince them not to, but it was to no avail. So, in the end, all of them decided to guard the store together, since no one would pay for the damages. Normally, Seungwan would be helping the injured on the streets, but she didn’t want to let her sister there, knowing that they weren’t safe. After all, her mother died doing the same thing she did in every Purge.

 

###

 

“Chief Zhou Mi, everything good?”

 

Zhou Mi was the Chief of the security team. Besides Zhou Mi, there were also Yixing and the new guard, Tiffany Young. It was a last-moment addition to the team, so no one knew her.

 

“Yes, everything’s going as expected.”

 

Joohyun listens to the exchange, detecting a quivering in Zhou Mi’s voice. She brushes it off as the tension for the situation they were in. Her father didn’t look good either. The Chief and Yixing left the room before Yoona sat across Joohyun, giving her a reassuring smile.

 

“Don’t you want to watch a movie?” her mother asks, “I could make popcorn if you would like.”

 

Joohyun shakes her head, pacing around the room too. She directs her gaze at the security cameras, noticing something weird.

 

“Dad?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Something’s not right.”

 

“What are you talking about? Do you feel ill?”

 

Joohyun pauses, focusing again on one particular camera frame.

 

“There! That one, there it is. Can you see?”

 

“Yes,” her dad says, “but I don’t understand what you want to say.”

 

“Look! It’s like there is a loop. Do you see? It’s the same frame as ten seconds ago.”

 

Tiffany looks at the cameras too, perplexed. She quickly puts a new camera on the screen.

 

The Bae family watches the camera at the same time, gasping.

 

A group of ten or more armed men with masks approach the front door of the house in complete silence.

 

“Time to go,” Tiffany whispers, “we won’t be able to take them all down.”

 

“Joohyun, Yoona, go,” Siwon commands, going behind them. He stops when he doesn’t sense Tiffany. “You are coming, right?”

 

“Yes,” she says, “But I have to take care of something first.”

 

Tiffany goes for the safe room, a kind of underground place that is accessed through a hatch on the room’s floor. With the camera she put, she could see that Yixing and Zhou Mi knew those people, and she wouldn’t let them get away with it.

 

“Chief Zhou Mi, Yixing, there’s a team on your left. They’re entering the building.”

 

“Copy that, we are on it. Where’s the senator?”

 

“He’s already in the bunker with his family. They’ll be waiting there. I’ll go to the stairs to try and stop the purgers.”

 

“Copy.”

 

She hurries to get the bomb inside the bunker and goes out through the other room where the family is waiting for her.

 

“What now?” Siwon asks.

 

“We’ll have to go through the window. You first, senator.”

 

“No, my family first.”
 

“I have strict orders to save your life. Go first.”

 

“No.”

 

“We don’t have time for this! Mrs. Bae, go first, and then your daughter.”

 

They climb through the window, trying to get a hold of the tree in front of them. There’s a ten-meter fall from there, enough to kill or break some bones.

 

“Young, we are in the bunker, where is the senator?”

 

Tiffany jumps to the tree after Siwon, grabbing a branch at the last second.

 

“Young, answer me!”

 

Tiffany lands with her right foot first and looks at the camera with her phone, waiting for the team to get to the room.

 

“What are you doing?” Siwon asks, “We have to go now.”

 

Tiffany raises a hand, hushing him, then she presses a button, and the house blows up.

 

“That won’t kill them all, but it should give us enough time. Let’s go.”

 

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