Let's Kill Her (Book #1)

(ﾒ￣▽￣)︻┳═一(26)

Sejeong and I walk down our empty dorm hallway, carrying books. There's only a single wall torch to light our way and it's burning low, casting long sections of the hall into dark shadow. My arm throbs from the stitches the nurse gave me, and I've learned that this place doesn't believe in painkillers. I look over my shoulder, but everything is still and silent.

I unlatch our door and Sejeong and I put our books down - some on history for me, which Sejeong said would give me the basis of understanding for what she needs to teach me, and more on criminology for her. She also threw in some regular books about poisons and swords just in case Sohee is taking note of our reading.

I'm not sure why Sejeong's still obsessively researching Taehyung's murder after we found out Kai was the culprit and Sehun and I were cleared, but she seems to be fixated on the details. Maybe she just wants to understand what happened to her friend? I would ask Sehun if this was normal for her, but I haven't seen him all evening.

We check the room to make sure no one is hiding anywhere, and Sejeong sits on the couch in front of the fireplace.

"If Taemin took the time to break in and write that message on your floor, why didn't he just kill you when we had the chance?" she asks.

I sit down next to her. "I don't know." I reflexively touch the bandage on my arm. "Maybe Jennie wanted to be the one to do it, to cut me down publicly?"

Sejeong bit her lip. "Yeah, but she didn't succeed. And from what I heard, you held your own, which, against Jennie, is saying a lot. I think she an opportunity and took it, simple as that. because why would she chance fighting you in the open if she could just sneak in and slit your throat?"

I shudder. "No knife?"

"That's possible," she says. "But how did she manage to come by a sharpened sword? The sparring blades are kept dull for a reason. Something here doesn't add up." She stares at the cackling fire.

"Yoo said they were taking her to the dungeon," I say. "Are they going to enforce the eye-for-an-eye rule? And how would that even work? Because technically she cut my arm, but obviously she was trying to kill me."

Sejeong turns toward me. "I'm not exactly sure. I've never seen a situation play out this way before. They'll do something. The dungeon is miserable, from what I've heard, but I'm sure you'll get a chance to retaliate as well."

I frown, wishing all this retaliation business would just stop. "What about Taemin? Whether he was the one who broke in or not, I'm assuming he's got to be pissed now that one of his friends is dead and the other is in the dungeon."

Sejeong's fist clenches for just a moment. "Oh, this definitely isn't over. I'm not trying to scare you, but if the Tigers want you dead, they're not going to stop until you are."

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Before I even turn around, Sejeong is off the couch.

"We're coming," she says as she lifts the latch.

The guard on the other side of the door looks around, and once she sees me, she turns and goes to the next room to knock.

Sejeong hands me my cloak and I slip it on.

We follow the other girls down the hallway and into the foyer where Jennie and I competed in the dark. It's hard to believe that was only a week ago; I feel like a year's worth of chaos has ensued since then. Kang stands by the wall, and the twenty-four girls assembles on the ground in front of her and form a U.

"We have some new challenges for you tonight," Kang says, and her tone makes it sound like a carefully concealed warning. "You will find these challenges different from any you have been presented with thus far. And there will be serious consequences for not completing them properly."