Let's Kill Her (Book #1)

(ﾒ￣▽￣)︻┳═一(7)

"What?" I say as I chew.

Sejeong sips her tea. "Are you always that friendly with people you don't know?"

"Actually . . . yeah," I say. I would tell her that she sounds like appa commenting on me being too trusting, but that would be violating rule number one.

"Well, don't be," she says.

I wipe my mouth with my napkin and take a good look at her. "Sohee seems sweet. And don't you think it has to suck to take care a bunch of secretive people out in the middle of nowhere in some hanok with no electricity? I'm sure she would appreciate a kind word or two."

Sejeong pauses like she's not sure what to make of me. "All Strategia serve their Families in one wya or another, Suzy. No one gets a pass. And besides, Sohee won't be here for more than a few years unless she chooses to be."

I pause, my bread halfway to my mouth, and my skin starts to pickle. I've definitely heard that word before. "So Sohee's Strategia?" I say, trying to make the word sound casual and natural.

"Yes. Everyone in the Academy is Strategia - the professors, kitchen staff, guards, the people who tend to the animals. You didn't think we would allow a non-Strategia to be here, of all places, did you?" She looks at me incredulously.

"No, I guess not," I say. Not only does she think I know what Stategia are, but if she's claiming everyone in this school is one, then where does that leaves me? I pour myself some tea, trying to figure out how to ask her to define it without putting a spotlight on myself. "There's no technology taught in this school." Assassins and spies need tech. "Why is that?"

Sejeong shrugs. "Waste of time. We only get four years here. We can learn tech skills at home. And it's not really a priority when everyone has tech specialists in their Family."

Tech specialist, compulsory work for the Families, the Council of Families that Sejeong mentioned last night, and whatever the students are . . . It's sounding like these Families are self-governed, self-reliant, and powerful.

Sejeong gives me an odd look. "Now hurry up and drink your tea. We're still going to the dining hall to meet Sehun."

(ﾒ￣▽￣)︻┳═一

"Do we need to bring textbooks or something to class?" I ask as we head down the stairs. Our entire day yesterday was eaten up with tours, assessment, and visiting various class options. But we never actually participated in one.

Sejeong shakes her head. "With the exception of poisons class, most of the advanced students don't use textbooks or take notes; we learn."

I follow her through the foyer and out into the vine courtyard. "What does that mean?"

"Why are you constantly asking me what things mean?" she says, still giving me the suspicious look she adopted over morning tea. "I wouldn't do that in front of other people if I were you."

I keep pace with Sejeong's fast steps. The coldness that crept into her demeanor yesterday after I sat with Rose at lunch is still there.

I open my mouth to respond as we step into the garden lounge, and we almost smack into two guys having a quiet conversation. One is the confident archer with the blonde hair who winked at me yesterday. His friend also has blonde hair, handsome and thin and has a tattoo of an anchor peeking out from the rolled cuff of this shirt. He doesn't have the same commanding presence his friend does, though. Just by seeing them talk together, you can tell there is an imbalance of power between them.

"So it's the new girl," the confident archer says, shifting his attention and flashing me a smile. His accent from Seoul.

His tattooed friend crosses his arms. "You're not going to introduce us, Sejeong? Where are your manners?" He sounds like he's from Suncheon and has a lilting voice. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a singer in a band.