Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Rank 0 Among Awakener Special Schools
Episode 1
The world is not fair.
Many things—nationality, family circumstances, parents, appearance—are determined from the moment of birth.
Perhaps a few of them might improve through later effort or luck.
But there was one thing that, no matter how hard you struggled, could never be changed.
The Core.
In movies and animation, it’s sometimes called a “superpower” or “supernatural ability.”
Those who possessed a Core—Awakeners—demonstrated exceptional talent across multiple domains: artistic sense, athletic ability, the five senses, memory, and more.
For such beings, there existed an educational institution: the Gaon Special School.
— Have you heard? The son from Unit 302 is supposed to enter Gaon this year.
— How happy his mother must be…. Once you graduate from there, the path ahead is paved with flowers.
— No matter what field they go into after graduation, they’ll earn enough to live comfortably for three generations, won’t they? Sigh, if only our daughter had a Core—I’d submit her application in a heartbeat.
An escalator system school that ran continuously from elementary through high school.
It was hardly an exaggeration to say that more than half of all Awakeners in Korea were graduates of that institution.
…with just one exception.
“Miss Ji-woo, are you listening?”
In a spacious living room flooded with sunlight.
A woman with an open book on a glass table glanced sideways at the girl seated beside her.
Dark blue hair falling to her waist.
Eyes the color of still water.
A girl whose expression was oddly composed for her teenage years.
Seol Ji-woo. Sixteen years old. Awakener.
The owner of this vast mansion, and a person who, by all rights, should have been attending an Awakener school.
And the woman, Yun So-young, was her full-time tutor.
“Let’s call it here for math for now…. Did you finish the homework I assigned yesterday?”
“Finished it.”
Ji-woo turned her head. She reached toward her bag, but stopped short.
“Oh, I think I left it in my room.”
The moment she flicked her fingers toward her bedroom door.
Whoosh—
A textbook rose into the air, flew past the open doorway, and sailed into the living room.
The textbook landed lightly in Ji-woo’s palm, as if a living bird had come to rest there.
Magic? A trick? Neither.
It was Seol Ji-woo’s Core—Telekinesis.
“Miss…. I’ve told you repeatedly not to use your Core in everyday life.”
“Ah, sorry. It just happens.”
The apology was genuine, but in truth it was unavoidable.
When you could pick things up without lifting a finger, how were you supposed to stop using it?
Just as So-young let out a quiet sigh—as if reading Ji-woo’s very thoughts—the moment was interrupted.
“This morning at approximately seven o’clock, mysterious anomalous activity was detected in a Narak located near Cheong Wa Dae.”
“……!”
The newsreader’s voice came from the large television covering the wall.
Both Ji-woo and So-young’s eyes were drawn naturally to the screen.
“The detection equipment installed at the site has captured irregular vibrations and subtle pressure fluctuations.”
“The government has currently deployed emergency personnel to the Narak——.”
Narak.
They were mysterious holes that had appeared across the world in modern times.
They had emerged without warning one day, and in an instant, altered the course of human history.
Monsters straight out of movies, viruses of unknown origin that modern medicine could not cure….
All manner of calamity poured forth from the Naraks.
It was around that time that “Awakeners”—those who could use Cores—appeared.
Among those who graduated from special schools, some with suitable Cores were tasked with purifying the Naraks.
The so-called Purification Squad.
Elite Awakeners who eliminated threats from the front lines.
Thanks to them, they had somehow managed to coexist with the Naraks until now….
Yet it was also true that recently, incidents of Naraks overflowing had become far more frequent.
“We’re truly living in the end times, aren’t we,” So-young murmured, her expression grave as she stared at the screen.

“So-young.”
“Yes, Miss?”
“Ji-hyo will be fine, won’t she?”
At that name, So-young’s gaze naturally drifted from the screen.
Ji-woo’s profile, turned toward the television, had darkened.
Ji-hyo was Ji-woo’s identical twin sister, and she lived an entirely different life from Ji-woo, who received homeschooling at home.
At least Ji-hyo was currently enrolled at Gaon Special School as a proper Awakener.
So why worry about her suddenly?
Because there were only three places in Korea where Naraks existed.
Cheong Wa Dae, Jeju Island, and….
Gaon Special School.
That unusual school where Ji-woo’s twin sister Ji-hyo attended also harbored a Narak.
“Come now, surely nothing will happen? That’s a school where excellent Awakener prospects gather. There’s no need to worry.”
“…You’re right, I suppose.”
“Of course. The break starts next week, so Miss Ji-hyo will be coming back here as well.”
At those words, Ji-woo’s expression brightened slightly.
That’s right. In another week, it would be time for that girl to return.
‘Without the breaks, it’s so hard to even see her face.’
Ji-hyo, attending the special school.
Ji-woo, receiving homeschooling at home.
Despite being twins born on the same day and hour, the two had come to live very different lives—and there were reasons for it.
Unlike her younger sister, who had been born healthy, Ji-woo was rushed to an incubator the moment the umbilical cord was cut. She hadn’t even lived twenty-four hours before receiving a terminal diagnosis.
The reason was that Ji-woo’s Core was dangerously unstable.
It would run rampant at the slightest provocation, seizing violently.
Her body simply couldn’t handle her own Core—a burden particularly cruel for an Awakener to bear.
And then there were the rather complicated family circumstances on top of it all….
As a result, Ji-woo alone among Awakeners could never even apply to the special school, confined instead to this house.
But it was all right.
Every school break, Ji-hyo would come to visit her.
‘…I’m looking forward to it.’
That movie she’d mentioned last summer break had finally been released on streaming—maybe they could watch it together this time. And she should dig out those snacks she’d been saving to enjoy with her sister.
And so Ji-woo waited, and waited, for the day Ji-hyo would arrive.
……But no matter how long she waited, Ji-hyo never came.
An ominous premonition had settled over her.
And ominous premonitions always came true.
“…An accident?”
Her heart sank like a stone.
So-young, who had visited the mansion after so long, brought the worst news instead of a lesson.
“It seems… Miss Ji-hyo had an accident while attending practical training at school.”
Ji-hyo’s Core was Regeneration.
Because of it, ordinary wounds healed quickly. Even broken bones would knit cleanly within days.
For such a girl to have an accident….
It meant something catastrophic had happened—something her Regeneration couldn’t keep pace with.
And it had happened at school.
“Explain in detail. An accident? What kind of accident?”
“That’s… I think it would be better for you to check directly rather than have me tell you.”
So-young handed something over.
A red Memory Card. Its surface bore no manufacturer or capacity markings.
Ji-woo knew this was no ordinary Memory Card.
“I’ve copied Miss Ji-hyo’s memories onto it.”
So-young’s Core was Psychometry.
The ability to read a person’s memories through contact, and moreover, to store the memories she’d read onto a Memory Card like this.
“I made contact with her when Miss Ji-hyo was being transferred to the main house, without anyone knowing. For now, please collect yourself… and check it when you’re ready, Miss.”
“…….”
Ji-woo took the Memory Card and entered her room.
In her heart, she wanted to abandon the Memory Card and everything else, to slip away from this place and rush to where Ji-hyo was at the main house….
— Live quietly as a mouse. Never let yourself be seen before my eyes again.
The chairman of Seol Hwa Pharmaceuticals.
And the grandfather of both Ji-woo and Ji-hyo.
As long as that man was in the main house, Ji-woo could not visit Ji-hyo.
No—she couldn’t step even one foot outside this mansion.
‘…Ji-hyo is hurt, and there’s nothing I can do.’
Helplessness ignited into rage.
And yet there was nothing she could do about it.
Ji-woo spent the entire day crouched in her room, neither eating nor sleeping.
It wasn’t until evening the next day that she finally resolved to grip the Memory Card in her hands.
‘At least I can check this.’
It was all she could do now.
In the dark silence of her room.
The moment the Memory Card was inserted into the reader, the faint blue glow of the notebook lit the darkness.
Beneath the low hum of the spinning motor.
The first thing that appeared was a pitch-black screen.
‘…What is this?’
She’d expected to see Ji-hyo’s memories from a first-person perspective, but that wasn’t the case. It looked more like footage from a security camera.
And even that image was blurred, as if severely corrupted.
She examined the screen carefully.
In a dark space without a single ray of light, someone with disheveled hair could be seen weeping.
——She could not mistake who it was.
Her younger sister. Ji-hyo.
But….
Why was she crying in a place this dark? Where was this? A storage room? A bathroom?
Or…… a Narak?
Something dark and terrible stirred in her chest.
Ji-woo’s breath trembled between her teeth.
Then, with a crackling sound, the image shifted rapidly.
“Ahhhhh……!”
Along with her twin sister’s scream.
Rank 0 Among Awakener Special Schools
Author: Lin-ji
Publisher: Phylion Management
E-mail: [email protected]
Retail Price: Ongoing Serialization
UCI: G720:N+A038-20260618032.0001
* This work is protected by copyright law. Any full or partial reuse of the contents requires prior written consent from the copyright holder.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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