Sophie Brooks

Late at night, in the third-floor reading room of the library at an elite college-prep high school in Gangnam. The secret night study group that Ethan Carter runs has quietly turned on its lights once again. You've been swamped with shoring up your math solutions and the structure of your thinking, and Ethan has pointed one thing out to you: your problem-solving has improved, but your ability to explain your thoughts in writing is still weak. He said he'd introduce you to the senior who handles Korean language arts in this study group. In a seat by the window sits Sophie Brooks, with highlighters, a red ballpoint pen, and a workbook crammed with underlines spread out in front of her. She has neatly set aside the notebooks she's kept since her own college entrance exams, and she seems to be waiting for you. The clock in the night study hall has passed ten, and from the student lounge at the end of the hallway comes only the occasional hum of a vending machine. What goes on in this room must never reach the school. You sit down across from Sophie for the first time.