The sound of the nightly weather forecast drifted into the kitchen where Mihyun was washing the last of the dishes up before bed. Usually, she was already upstairs and enjoying her few free moments before lights out but because her weekly chore partner, Jaemin, had gotten his thumb broke during training the day before, she was stuck doing the chores on her own and it was taking twice the amount of time. Rules were rules though and she wasn't allowed to complain. 

Just before lights out, 10PM, the adults came shuffling through, bringing the last of their teacups and dishes (those that were normally taken care of by one of the adults) through to dump them in the sink, a light hand landed on Mihyun's shoulder. Cut off mid-yawn, the younger girl looked into the face of her mother.

"I'm almost done," she said immediately, thinking she was about to be scolded for taking so long. 

Kang Jihyun smiled tiredly. "You've done enough. Go on upstairs before lights out and have a hot bath. Training is going to need all of your energy," she told her gently. Mihyun hadn't the time to respond before Jihyun was turning the faucet off and steering her away by the shoulders. "Only one more year before you take the Hunter's Course. You need to really concentrate right now instead of worrying about dishes."

The two stopped at the bottom of the main staircase to exchange goodnights and Mihyun begrudgingly wished she had just finished the dishes because the morning chore runners would notice the leftovers and run their mouths, no doubt. More and more of the students were beginning to notice the leeway Mihyun's parents were giving her since the new year of training had begun. It wasn't a big secret that her parents were known for being some of the best vampire hunters of their generation but it also came to everyone's attention just how much of their skills their very own daughter lacked.

She wasn't horrible, not being in the top 10 for hand-to-hand combat, but because she wasn't number one and instead number nine on the list, it wasn't exactly good bragging rights. Her parents were number one and she wasn't and lately her parents were exempting her from chores to get extra training time in or setting her up with the private tutors. It was common knowledge to everyone that they feared she was going to fail the Hunter's Course and end up placed in a much less substantial position in the VSA community and that's why they pushed her. A part (deep, deep down) of Mihyun kind of hoped she failed the course. She would never say that out loud though.

"Rest up, sweet pea." Her mother handed her a night pass and chucked her under the chin before dawdling off back into the living room with the rest of the adults.

Exhausted from the day's training and chores, Mihyun trudged upstairs to the third level and knocked open her shared room. The shrill voices of her two roommates penetrated her eardrums immediately as they squirmed on the bottom of their shared bunk. They quieted down a miniscule amount upon Mihyun's entrance.

"It's almost lights out," Yura noted, looking up from the cellphone their other roommate held. "Have you been doing chores this whole time?"

Mihyun nodded, digging through the chest at the end of her bed for some pajamas. "Put your phone up before someone sees, Hyojung," she muttered. It was a very enforced rule that cellphones were only to be used on the weekends as to keep everyone focused on their training and not others things such as dancing boys and makeup trends. If they were caught with cellphones outside of the allotted times, punishment was very much a given.

Hyojung rolled her eyes behind her roommates back and slid her phone under her pillow. 

"You know," Yura began as Mihyun gathered her shampoo and soap. "If you promise not to tell on us, we'll let you tag along." Hyojung nudged her sharply in the ribs, giving her an alarmed glare. "You deserve it after being forced to do double the amount of chores because some stupid boys couldn't stop goofing off."

Straightening up, a pair of Spongebob pajama pants draped over her arm, Mihyun eyed the two girls. "Tag along where?" she asked.

Hyojung tried to pipe down their friend but it was too late. "Taeyong overheard a few of the trainers mumuring about a few vampires in the area, just over in the city, and we're going to go hunt them," Yura said matter-of-factly. Hyojung nearly facepalmed at her loose lips.

Mihyun looked worried. "Are you crazy?" she asked quietly. It was dangerous enough to be out after curfew, but they wanted to go out specifically to hunt vampires they knew for a fact were in the area? It was basically a death wish. "Never mind what the adults and council will say or do if they find out your plan. What if you find one? What happens if they're too strong for you?"

Snapping her fingers, Hyojung grinned. "Ah, but what if we succeed in slaying them? What then? We'll be prodigies!" She and Yura laughed. "They'll have no choice but to instantly reward us our hunting license. Heroes, they'll say."

"You can't go out after curfew and h