Bright and early, too early for some, Hee Neul was up and ready to go to her first class. Standing in-front of her mirror, she did her routine checks. This time, she made sure that she had at least one spring-locked dagger strapped to an upper thigh holster. The weight of the dagger bothered her a bit, not used to having the awareness of having a live weapon on her. Still, she’d rather have a weapon than to face another sniper again. Granted, a dagger is in no way a good enough defense for a rifle, but she wasn’t about to take one of her guns and bring it to class. The thought made her want to shudder.

            Slinging the strap of her backpack onto her shoulder and carrying her school shoes, the petite student left her dorm room and silently sneaked through the hallway, careful to duck low under windows. Once again, she took the stairs after checking that no one was taking them, taking two at a time.

            Reaching the ground floor, she ducked and pressed herself against the walls, taking the blind spots that the security cameras in the lobby could not reach. Whoever thought about using speed dome surveillance cameras with automated pan/tilt/zoom functionality was someone Hee Neul wanted to thank and judge at the same time. It offered her an easy way out. Simple timing was all she needed. Her index finger tapped a steady beat in the air timing her movements fluidly, ducking, rising, turning, and gliding. Exiting the dorm lobby, she let out a breath, already feeling exhilarated at the morning exercise.

            The crisp morning air felt great as she inhaled deeply.

            “What took you so long?”

            Hee Neul almost jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice, a tiny squeak coming from .  For someone who had trained long in the school, she should have sensed a presence there. Moreover, she shouldn’t have been as jumpy as she was.

            Kyungsoo dropped down from the nearby tree branch that he had been resting on. Brushing off the leaves from his uniform, he gave a nod and greeted casually, “Good morning.”

            “What—Why—What were you doing up there?” Hee Neul hissed, trying to regain her composure. Quickly, she placed put her shoes on, trying to cover up her embarrassment at having her guard down. With the early morning light, she could see how there were light bags under his eyes. Whether it was from staying up late or not sleeping at all, she wasn’t sure. There were many insomniacs in the school, those who wander the halls at night or lock themselves away in their dorm rooms polishing their weapons, so what made Do Kyungsoo different?

            “Waiting for you,” Kyungsoo answered nonchalantly, as if the answer was obvious already.

            “This early in the morning?” Hee Neul asked, looking at the boy suspiciously. The hand near her thigh twitched, ready to pull out a live weapon if the need arose.

            “You’re up this early,” Kyungsoo pointed out, sliding his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks. “Besides, you never told me what time we would meet so that you could continue the tour.”

            “Did you even sleep at all?” Hee Neul asked, raising a thin brow.

            “I did,” Kyungsoo answered with a nod.

            Hee Neul bit her tongue when he didn’t elaborate further. “So what? Just happen to wake up earlier than me?”

            “I’m just an early riser,” Kyungsoo replied with a shrug.

            Hee Neul eyed him warily and asked, “What do you need, then?”

            “I don’t know where my classes are,” Kyungsoo said, turning his torso and pulling out a folded sheet from his backpack. “It only states the time, classes, and teachers.”

            She took the paper and read his class schedule. They had almost the same classes together, but that didn’t surprise her. What surprised her was that he had a few classes with the lower years.

            “Something the matter?” Kyungsoo asked, seeing the look of surprise caress the girl’s features.

            “Some of your classes are with freshmen and sophomores,” Hee Neul explained, giving the class schedule back. There was a tiny bit of peace at the thought that she wouldn’t have to accompany him for the whole day, especially around the freshman classes. “It kind of makes sense since there are starter classes that you simply cannot skip.”

            “Like?” Kyungsoo asked, frowning at his class schedule.

            “Basic Home Economics and Physical Education, but the latter is more on assessment and physical fitness,” Hee Neul explained, shrugging when Kyungsoo shot her a confused look at the first class mentioned. “You need Basic Home Economics before you take Advanced Chemistry.”

            “Your school is weird,” Kyungsoo muttered, shaking his head. He had never heard of a school that uses Basic Home Economics as a stepping stone for Chemistry. “Shall we?”

            “First class is Languages. That’s on the second floor of the senior building. Room 203.” Hee Neul gestured for him to go first, and Kyungsoo mentally groaned. It seemed she wouldn’t give that up, so he begrudgingly walked ahead. This time, he was surprised that she allowed him to walk freely even when he didn’t take the conventional path that they took the night before.

            “You seem different from yesterday,” Kyungsoo mused, consciously keeping his eyes straight ahead.

            “How so?”

            “Well, you’re not telling me to go left or right or to go through a difficult terrain?”

            “Well…the sun’s up.”

            “So?”

            “So, that means we’re less likely to encounter a person.”

            “Why’s that?”

            “Would you kill someone in broad daylight?”
 

            When Kyungsoo became quiet, Hee Neul couldn’t tell if that was a “yes” or an agreement to her implied answer. The corners of pulled down as her brows furrowed. She stared at the back of Kyungsoo’s head as they continued to walk towards campus, trying to think of how to grill him further for an answer, but seeing as they were nearing the senior building, she decided she would ask questions later.

            When Kyungsoo entered through the side entrance of the building, Hee Neul was surprised that he remembered the way that she showed him before. Quiet and fluid still in his movements, Kyungsoo moved towards the stairs. The only noise within the building was the light pitter patter of their shoes, like the drops of rain on glass. 

            “Are there any teachers that I have to look out for?”

            Hee Neul’s gaze became heavy on the back of Kyungsoo’s head as her mind tried to go through all of the information that she had gathered on the teachers in Hongpyo over the past three years. The obvious answer to the question was all of them, and though that answer was on the tip of her tongue, she knew that he would ask more questions to understand what she meant by that.

            Instead, she replied, “If you mean teachers that are strict in their classes, you only have to look out for our gym instructors: Mr. Lee Sungmin and Mr. Bang Yongguk. If you mean teachers that you have to be suspicious of, like I said, you can’t trust anyone. Although, you’ll have better luck surviving this school with gaining a teacher’s favor.”

            “How so?” Kyungsoo asked curiously, paying his full attention towards Hee Neul though he continued to make his way to the classroom.

            “Because no one can kill you when a teacher’s around.”

            Kyungsoo furrowed his brows and turned around, the sudden movement almost causing Hee Neul to walk into him. He took a step back in surprise, holding out his arms to make sure that the girl wouldn’t fall or bump into him.

            “Whoa,” he breathed out, steadying her. “What do you mean by that?”

            Hee Neul immediately stepped back and out of his grasp, maybe a bit too abruptly. She huffed, “I take it that it’s either they didn’t give you a list of the rules here or you didn’t read it.”

            “There are a few rules here that will keep you alive,” she explained, brushing off the sleeves of her uniform blazer. “One is that a student cannot kill another when a teacher or staff is in the area. Doing so warrants an immediate expulsion. Next, teachers and staff are obligated to save a student’s life should they be injured or involved in an accident—though nothing that happens