Why Would An Assassin Attend High School?

One of the primary protagonists in my story is a high school girl (10th grade, or first year in high school) who is a heiress/human weapon from a centuries year old clan of assassins/warrior. She and the other two male progonists form a club and hang out after school, living their life and such.

The problem is, why would a clan that is hellbent on making a human weapon out of her, even bother to let her attend school like a normal girl? Would there be any way to justify that?

Also, when she was made her first kill at seven, she is repeatedly encouraged to kill any live being, especially stray animals, and cultivate instinctual bloody thirst. This is troublesome, because I want to make her, in school, a shy girl who fakes smile. The only way I can think of that would allow this to happen is the very morally upstanding MC to keep telling her how taking a life, of any kind, is very wrong. That would lead to another problem, because if I was the clan leader, I would keep such a girl inside the clan complex and not let her out, and if anyone seems to have a postive influence on her, keep the influence out.

What do you guys think I could do to make a shy, socially awkward assassin with a deadly skill and do it convincingly?

Aside from being taken out of the assassin clan or being a Manchurian Agent, I have no idea.

How about as training? Being raised to kill and isolated from the world throughout childhood wouldn't leave most people 'normal', so to speak. Maybe she could be sent to learn how to behave as a regular teenager, so she can blend in as one and infiltrate/hide among them. Even with friends influencing her, the clan could be reluctant to interfere and so risk her missing a major part of the training, or they could be confident that she's so indoctrinated that she won't be swayed by them.

As Kill Bill has taught us, Even Assassins Love Their Daughters. Maybe Killer Girl's mother is the one who insisted, often fighting with the clan elders, on raising her daughter as a normal person - but is lousy at it (such as celebrating and cooing over her daughter's first kill at seven). Her mother could be the neutral arbiter, wanting her to make her own choices, between the clan elder that comes around and encourages her to kill and the best friend or whatever that is always encouraging her to be a normal highschool girl.

Oh! Why didn't I think of that, thanks! :D

I haven't watch the movie yet (definitely planning to) so I don't know how it is in the movie, but in my work, the girl's parents are very normal people. It is her grandfather who is the current clan leader and a very abusive one at that. Her father was originally supposed to be the clan leader but her grandfather deemed that he doesn't have the inherent bloodthirst, being a Nice Guy and all, so he was disowned, much to his rejoice.

However, his daughter is, according to her grandfather, born to kill, when she casually strangled a pet bunny her parents got her to death when she was five. It also revealed that she possesses Mastery, a skill that allows a person to learn any kind of murdering skill and use of any kind of weapon or objects that is designed to kill people (like Taco Bell foods). When her grandfather heard about this, he threatened her parents and made them hand her over so she could be properly trained.

(sighs) Here comes the another problem; I want to portray her parents in positive light, and logically, there's no way that any determined parents will give their precious daughter up to an organization that will strip her off of her normal life. Also, the society is set in 2030 modern South Korea (maybe it would have made sense in North?), and pretty sure there's more than enough laws to prevent that kind of matters and if her parents are supposed to be not useless, they would know that.

What can I do to justify that?

A Korean protagonist is something you don't see often here since it's either Americans or Japanese.

It would make more sense if the girl's family is from the north and they gave her to the cult since anything is better than growing up in North Korea.

What cult? You mean The Clan? Still, doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

Well...technically you don't see any Korean protagonists because teenagers there is pretty much inaccessible to any adventure like something out of Anime because they have WAAAAAAAYYYY more study to do than Japanese or Americans can ever imagine. Then again, it's something of a fantasy (in more than way than one) counterpart so...yeah.

edited 7th Jun '11 6:02:30 AM by dRoy

Wow, I thought that the Japanese educational system was one of the heaviest ones in the world. If you're being literal then...

Cult, clan, Iran, Iraq, what's the difference? And I always thought that Japanese schools where so time consuming almost depriving the students of a childhood and yet we have the Shounen genre.

If you want you can make the protagonist's grandfather someone who managed to escape from the DPRK a long time ago and joined this clan while living in South Korea.

edited 7th Jun '11 6:05:52 AM by AdeptusAlpharius

Hmm...that's a bit tricky because, like I said earlier, my verse follows a slightly alternate history so the Koreas are united (circumstances in division, as I learned, is not that complicated) Also, I don't know how hard Japanese students study, but I know for sure that they have it much easier than here in Korea.

Hence, I need to find a way to allow my characters to engage in adventure. The MC is an honors student, but The Lancer and her...he is a delinquent, but her? I don't know what to do.

That's one of the many reasons I use adult protagonists.

Since when are the two Koreas reunited? Were they seperated in the first place? Mind if you give us a timeline?

That's the problem: because I want to write an anime set in Korea, I can't seem to be able to choose main protagonists (there are many other protagonists who are adults, though) who aren't high schoolers.

Maybe later. Got to go back to mah dorm. I didn't pay much attention during the history class -_-;

Does she have to be attending high school? Maybe she's the main character's neighbor or something instead, and he's curious about why she never seems to go to school.

I'm not an expert on Korea, but in most developed countries you have to attend school or you'll be in trouble with the authorities. And having police attention drawn to them is not something a clan of assassins would be likely to covet.

I know Germany is known for having the police come and force kids to go to school.

I don't know if S. Korea is the same way, but in the states, she could get away with having a tutor at home or otherwise being homeschooled.

Agrees with this.

Also wouldn't learning how to interact with regular people and not arouse suspicion be part of an assassin's training? Going to highschool might actually help with that.

edited 7th Jun '11 1:34:04 PM by PhoenixAct

Why anime? :/ Well if you want you could make the adults the primary characters. As for the alternate history: If you want Korea to be part of a surviving Japanese Empire you should watch Lost Memories for inspiration.

This would make an interesting deconstruction plot.

edited 7th Jun '11 3:00:39 PM by AdeptusAlpharius

Well, you can be tutored but it's really not recommended, simply because it's not a common practice and in Korea, doing something that is not common can draw some suspicion or at least unwanted interest to you.

Thanks, I think that sounds good enough to stick with.

Well...I like anime... About deconstruction, though, I am thinking about it because she is often seen falling asleep during the classes and almost always has dark bags under her eyes because she goes through BRUTALLY rigorus training everyday and there's a lot of homework and tests are REALLY hard.

Maybe I could write it so the MC, who is one of the top students in the school, help her out a bit. Hmm...getting study help is already taken by The Lancer, though. Considering his...clinginess toward MC, that might lead to some interesting development...

Oh, and she's something of an empath and can, involutarily, feel the emotional energy people around him emit. Would it make sense for her to collapse in emotion overload when either something real good, like the home baseball team winning a match (baseball is a Serious Business in my hometown) or real anxious, like tests?

edited 7th Jun '11 3:36:36 PM by dRoy

To blend in and look ordinary. Captain Obvious.

It's more complicated than that. I mean, she wouldn't necesarily have to be able to be able to blend in with high schoolers, just average citizen.

edited 8th Jun '11 1:17:47 AM by dRoy

But the average citizen has been through high school. It's a vital experience for any person, and I'd imagine that experiencing that is key to imitating others.

Point. Ok, so now there are more than plenty justifications, I suppose.

Wow, completely forgot about this thread. Judging by Needless Capitalization In The Title, I must have launched this thread at least a half a year ago. Good times.

Anyways, would it be plausible for someone to spend a lot of time engaged in physical training to get a decent grade in a very competitive school?

edited 1st Jan '12 4:48:59 PM by dRoy

Besides the whole "training for a normal life, blending into society" angle, could it be a test for killing someone she likes or cares about? I mean, as an assassin, killing strangers and marks is one thing, but what about having to take out someone you like, a friend? I suppose this completely depends on the details of your story.