Every city has its bad side. Sure, a city may be beautiful and might boast a lot of sights to see as well as riches and vast commerce areas but there is always a bad side to it. Every rose has its thorn and as for Busan, it’s got a lot of it. There was one area in that particular city that was very famous for its “druggie” culture. A bad reputation was given to that place because of the numerous vices and crimes that surrounded it. Crimes were rampant. All sorts of crimes. Desperation, passion, insanity. That’s why that side of the city was deemed too dangerous for habitation.

But not if you’re a street smart kid who ran away from home and was very much used to all the atrocities surrounding the neighborhood.

Enter Amber Liu, a 17 year old juvenile delinquent who had had several run-ins with the law. Well, Amber wasn’t a bad kid to begin with but that wasn’t the way people who knew their notorious family. The Liu family was notorious for their crimes and vices. Mr. Liu had several cases of beating people up, theft, and drunk driving. He was also very hostile towards those who dared cross him, especially in the domestic sense. Mr. Liu often beat his wife and daughter Amber up, causing Amber to resent him deeply. Mr. Liu worked as a blacksmith and earned very little money to support his family, which is why he turned into a life of crime instead. As for Mrs. Liu, let’s not get started on her occupation. Let’s just say that she sells her body for others’ entertainment and nocturnal enjoyment. At first, she didn’t tell her daughter about this but when Amber discovered it much later in her young life, she completely resented her mother as well.

Amber wasn’t a bad child. As a matter of fact, she was a very smart young girl who excelled in her studies. It just so happens that, belonging to a family known for screwing up time and time again, it was unavoidable that she would get labelled as  a problem child, a black sheep, a troubled child. But Amber refused to let those sway her. She proved herself by excelling academically.

But her parents still hated her. Yes, they beat her up when they were drunk, angry or both and didn’t know where to vent their frustrations out on. Speaking of frustrations, if there was one thing that frustrated her parents and made the town even more wary of Amber, it would definitely be her gender. Amber was a tomboy, and pretty much dressed like one. Her hair was cut pretty short and dyed a bright shade of blonde while her lean frame was covered up by huge clothing. Everywhere Amber  went, she carried her pocket knife with her, something that she had stolen from her father’s cabinet when he came home drunk. It was before he even got to her room that she crept into theirs and stole the small knife, placing it in her pocket for self defense.

Amber never got to use that knife, though. She was quick enough to prevent her father from coming in and beating her up by pretending to be asleep. Her apathetic father just walked past her room, acting like he didn’t have a child “sleeping” there. To Amber, it was very reliving to know that he barely noticed her room.

I’m going to run away from this place. I have to go far. Far away from here. I’m ing sick of living in my parents’ shadows. Amber said as she vigorously stood up and packed her things silently but swiftly. She stuffed her clothes, toiletries and other necessities in her bag. Amber stood by the door, her back against the wooden surface with the backpack strap hanging on one shoulder, and her hand in her pocket, tightly clutching the knife, in case her father decided to barge in and give her a late-night beating. Luckily for her, her father passed by her room and entered her mother’s room.

God that was close! Amber breathed and slowly but surely twisted the knob and opened the door, making sure that her father wouldn’t detect her evasion. Swiftly but silently now, Amber closed the door and hurriedly dashed down the stairs and made her way to the door.

Goodbye you scumbags! she cussed in her mind as she unlocked the door. Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps from upstairs, suggesting that her father had woken up. Amber shot her head up and worked quicker with the lock of the door.

“WHAT IS ALL THAT RUCKUS DOWN THERE?! AMBER!?!?” her father called. Amber was just about to leave the house when her father caught up with her and walked towards her in a fast paced manner.

“Get away, dad! You’re drunk!” Amber reached for her knife in her pocket and pointed it at her father, her frail frame falling to the floor in fear.  “You’re drunk and I’m armed! Stay back!” Her father was even more outraged when he saw his pocket knife in Amber’s hands. This made him want to charge at her even more.

“COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!” his father made choking motions about to strangle her when Amber plunged the knife into her father’s side, bruising him and distracting him, preventing him from harming her. Wasting no time, she pulled the knife out and took to her feet, leaving her father in immense pain.

Those memories were harsh and it pained Amber so much to a great length to recall them. She almost wished they didn’t happen to her. Now, the young tomboy was on her own, living on very little money and going from alley to alley, carton to carton. Basically she was a homeless person, a nomad. No permanent place to stay. On the poor side of the city, life was dangerous. You either kill or be killed and the strong willed Amber was not about to let the latter happen to her. Since the place was prone to gangfights, Amber had to make sure the knife never got lost for it was her only weapon. Sure, Amber had her share of victories by injuring other gang members but at the end of the day, it was always the good person in her that bugged her. She didn’t want to do this, but she had to to survive.

In time, Amber became troubled and depressed, missing the comfort and security of home. Because of this, she was prompted to go down the same path her father took: theft and alcoholism. It seemed to run in the blood. Without her knowing it, Amber spiraled into a life of petty crimes such as food and beverage theft and began to acquire vices such as alcoholism and smoking. The young runaway was troubled.

Amber knew she had to kill one of these days to survive. If not now, someday she will. But now, she is known by a codename street people gave her. Holden. After J.D. Salinger’s troubled teenage character.