Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 27

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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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Ranking 0 of the Awakener Special School
Episode 27
“…Lisa, did you just lie to me?”
Jo Bitna settled into a crouch before Lisa with a gentle smile.
“That’s strange. I can’t imagine you saying such a thing to me.”
……
“Lisa, you know what my Core is, don’t you?”
……
As Lisa clamped her mouth shut like an oyster, someone beside her struck the stone wall with a bang.
“Answer Bitna.”
Under Yong Myeongju’s threat, Lisa nodded frantically.
“Y-yes, I know. What your Core is…….”
“Then tell me. What is my Core?”
“E-Enchantment…….”
“Correct.”
Jo Bitna reached out and gently grasped Lisa’s long hair.
“Lisa, I’ll share a secret with you alone. Actually, my Core has a precondition.”
“A p-precondition……?”
“Yes. The other person must think I’m beautiful.”
……
“Honestly, it’s almost pointless. Look at me. Wouldn’t most people think I’m beautiful? Unless they’re beasts.”
What Jo Bitna said was nearly true. After all, if she wished, she had lived ruling anyone like slaves.
Those caught by her Enchantment would, without exception, be unable to refuse her requests.
Of course, at Gaon, indiscriminate use of Cores was prohibited.
But Jo Bitna had little fear of being caught.
Why? Because even without using her Enchantment Core, everyone acted enchanted anyway.
With very few exceptions.
And Jo Bitna despised those exceptions.
Like Seol Jiu, for instance.
“But come to think of it, my Core doesn’t seem to work on you either? Am I imagining things?”
“I… that is…….”
“Lisa, what do you think? Am I not beautiful?
A fragrance deepened in the air.
Her wavy hair gleamed with a lustrous shine.
Beneath thick lashes, two vivid crimson eyes. Full lips glossed perfectly against her delicate skin.
That doll-like beauty—she had admired it until only recently.
What would it feel like to live with a face like that?
Could she become like that too?
Such thoughts had crossed her mind.
“So? What do you think. Aren’t I beautiful?”
She understood what Jo Bitna wanted to hear.
Normally, Lisa’s answer too would have been predetermined.
“…You’re beautiful.”
At that, Jo Bitna’s lips curled upward.
But in that moment.
“But I think Jiu is prettier.”
At Lisa’s added words, Jo Bitna’s expression hardened.
“Right, I must look ridiculous in cheap clothes.”
“…Huh?”
Jo Bitna slowly rose to her feet.
“Everything she wears is expensive anyway, isn’t it?”
The hand that had been stroking Lisa’s just moments before now hung at her side; she glanced down at it with vacant eyes.
“Handkerchief.”
She extended her hand toward Kim Yeonhui beside her.
After receiving the handkerchief and wiping her hands clean, she dropped it carelessly to the ground.
As if that were a trigger, Yong Myeongju stepped forward.
Rip.
He tore open the chocolate.
And.
“Finished talking? Then you should have some too.”
Yong Myeongju seized Lisa’s jaw roughly.
“What are you doing. You need to open your mouth if I’m going to feed you.”
“Mmmph……!”
Lisa shook her head with all her strength, but his coarse hand remained clamped around her jaw.
Between her lips, she tasted the bitter chocolate—sharp enough to make her scalp prickle.
Lisa squeezed her eyes shut.
…Perhaps.
Perhaps even if something went wrong after eating this.
‘I won’t regret it.’
The moment the sharp chocolate touched Lisa’s tongue.
“──Jo Bitna.”
An unfamiliar voice carried on the wind.
Every eye in the place turned to one side.
On the parched dirt path, a scrawny girl stood with black hair streaming behind her.
“I said there wouldn’t be a second time.”
It was Seol Jiu… or rather, Seol Jiu.
“What, you startled me. I thought it was a teacher.”
Most of the children, upon seeing Seol Jiu, felt relieved rather than tense.
Some even laughed aloud as if to say, look at that.
“Look at scrawny Seol Jiu. When did her head get so thick?”
“Senior, didn’t you know? She got hit in the head in that accident and lost her mind. Right, Kim Yeonhui?”
……
As the jeers grew thicker, only one person—Kim Yeonhui—could not laugh.
– How long ago was that? Why bring it up now? What are you going to do? Report it to the police?
– That won’t be the end of it.
…It had been that exact voice, that exact look back then.
“Hey, Kim Yeonhui? What are you doing, frozen like that?”
“……I’m not frozen.”
Kim Yeonhui irritably swatted away her friend’s jabbing hand.
Meanwhile, as Jiu stood scanning the backyard, her blue eyes halted on Lisa.
The moment she saw the small puppy, Somyi, cradled in her arms, Jiu’s expression hardened.
Jiu began walking straight through Jo Bitna’s circle.
“Hey, where are you going?”
A male student blocked her path.
…A face Jiu didn’t recognize.
Third-year Yong Myeongju.
“Get out of the way.”
“…What the hell?”
“Move.”
Crash!
Jiu shoved him aside.
With just that, he flew backward and slammed into the stone wall.
His massive frame lodged in the wall like a nail, cracks spiderwebbing out from around him.
Everyone’s breath caught.
In that silence, Jiu reached Lim Lisa’s side.
“Lim Lisa, are you okay?”
“Jiu…….”
“The Firefly you sent—that was you, right?”
At the question, Lisa nodded hesitantly.
“Thanks. I got here fast because of you.”
“But… but Somyi…….”
Lisa’s eyes welled with tears as she looked down at Somyi in her arms.
“Somyi ate chocolate. I’m not sure, but it doesn’t seem like regular chocolate…….”
Jiu’s gaze flicked toward the chocolate wrapper lying on the ground.
“I… I’m sorry, Jiu. I tried to stop it however I could, but alone I couldn’t…….”
“Yeah, I know.”
Jiu bent slightly and placed her hand over Lisa’s.
With her other hand, she stroked Somyi gently.
“Somyi will be fine.”
Over the small body heaving with shallow breaths, Jiu’s hand rested.
Was it imagination? For a moment, the hand stroking Somyi seemed to glow faintly…….
“I’ll need you to watch Somyi for me.”
“Huh? Oh.”
Jiu slowly straightened up.
Right beside her were crimson eyes watching intently.
“…Jo Bitna.”
No need for confirmation.
The source of all this harm was undoubtedly her.
Jiu looked directly at Jo Bitna and asked.
“Just one question. Why do you hate me this much?”
At that, Jo Bitna laughed as if she’d heard something amusing.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden, Jiu? Why would I hate you? We’re close friends.”
Close friends, my ass.
Jiu suppressed the laughter threatening to escape between her teeth and asked again.
“If you don’t hate me, why do this?”
“Do what?”
Jo Bitna tilted her head.
“I really don’t know. Jiu, what did I do?”
“You fed Somyi chocolate.”
“I can share something delicious too.”
Jo Bitna laughed softly, brushing her hair back.
“Why are you so angry, Jiu. Over just chocolate. Or is it because of this?”
Something glinted and dangled from her perfectly manicured pale pink nails.
…It was a Butterfly Keychain.
“You stole it.”
“Do you have proof? I’m told my friend picked this up on the way by. There’s not just one butterfly keychain like this in the world, right?”
……
“The chocolate too. I didn’t know you shouldn’t give chocolate to dogs. Not until Lisa told me.”
Jiu finally burst out laughing.
“Right, you wouldn’t have known. You definitely wouldn’t have known I have a carrot allergy.”
With laughter veiled like smoke, Jiu’s face turned cold and she lifted her chin.
“Right?”
…Carrot?
Jo Bitna trembled slightly.
Before she knew it, Jiu had placed a hand on Jo Bitna’s shoulder.
“What are you suddenly saying? A carrot allergy? First, let go of me. We can talk once you let go.”
But Jiu did not release her grip on Jo Bitna’s shoulder.
In fact, she pressed harder.
An image from a dream—no, from a Memory Card—surfaced again.
A sandwich loaded with carrot salad being shoved forcefully into Jiu’s mouth, as ‘she’ laughed.
「Chew it properly. Don’t choke on it.」
「Ugh…!」
The sound of Jiu’s painful retching came through the speaker vividly.
Disheveled hair and streaming tears.
And the mockery surrounding that Jiu.
And.
“Jiu, why are you looking so scary? Let go of my hand. What did I do wrong to deserve this?”
The Jo Bitna before her eyes…….
「Jiu, why are you looking at me like that? Why so scary. Did we do something terribly wrong?」
The ‘her’ in the video.
“…It really is you.”
Jiu’s eyes fixed on the well-maintained pale pink nails, and her lips curled upward.
“You’re the one with the carrot allergy.”

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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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