Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 32

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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 the Awakeners’ Elite School
Chapter 32
After physical education class ended, during the break period.
Ji-u made her way to the Health Center.
– Seol Ji-u, Park Hyun-min, both of you. Just to be safe, stop by the Health Center separately and get treatment. Yu-jin, since you’re class rep, I’m counting on you to make sure they do.
The teacher who had just woken up spoke to Ji-u and Park Hyun-min.
‘…I didn’t really get scolded, did I?’
She and Park Hyun-min had fought literally until they drew blood. It had long since ceased to be called dodgeball.
But since the use of Cores was permitted under school regulations during physical education at Gaon, the matter didn’t seem to have blown up into anything serious.
In any case, and so she found herself in the Health Center.
Moon Yu-jin was standing beside her.
Park Hyun-min? Who knew where he’d gone.
Apparently, he’d been so humiliated by getting hit with the dodgeball by ‘Seol Ji-u’ that he’d bolted from the gymnasium the moment class ended.
Which meant the Health Center currently contained only Ji-u and Moon Yu-jin.
“The nurse isn’t here.”
Yu-jin looked around the empty Health Center, then with practiced hands rummaged through the shelves and pulled out disinfectant and ointment.
“Sit over there.”
Yu-jin gestured with her eyes toward a nearby chair.
“I told you, there’s no need for treatment. It’s already almost healed.”
Her knees had scraped a bit when she was hit by the ball and fell, but honestly, for Ji-u, that level of injury barely counted as a scratch.
“The teacher still said to get proper treatment.”
……
Watching her demeanor, it seemed this model student wouldn’t be satisfied unless she saw through exactly what the teacher ordered.
With no choice, Ji-u sat down, and Moon Yu-jin began the disinfection with practiced efficiency.
“Does it sting?”
“Just feels cold.”
……
……
Clink.
The sound of tweezers striking, the lid of the alcohol swab jar opening and closing, and the faint breathing of two people rang through the quiet Health Center.
“Looks like you got first place in your group again.”
Ji-u spoke.
“Did I?”
“You did. First place in your group.”
Ji-u had missed first place because of that Park Hyun-min or whoever he was.
After the teacher woke up, she’d had to leave the competition area to get scolded.
In the meantime, Group Two’s match began, and Moon Yu-jin naturally claimed the highest score.
Even while being scolded, Ji-u had watched his performance from afar, stealing glances.
‘To be honest, he was pretty incredible.’
It was something she’d felt since the running race on her first day here, but Moon Yu-jin seemed to have considerable talent not just in academics but in physical education as well.
‘What kind of Core does he even have?’
She’d thought it was an intelligence-type Core specialized in calculation, but maybe it was a physical enhancement type.
It didn’t seem to be a manipulation type like Jo Bit-na’s, though……
‘Or maybe some entirely different special Core?’
Among Gaon’s current students, there were indeed some whose Cores were widely known by rumor.
Like Im Li-sa, for example.
But there were far more cases where they weren’t.
‘Should I ask?’
But asking directly felt awkward too. She’d heard that asking about another Awakener’s Core wasn’t good manners.
And if she were standing here as ‘Seol Ji-u’ rather than ‘Seol Ji-u’, she honestly couldn’t answer if Moon Yu-jin asked about her Core.
In any case, what was certain was that she could understand why Moon Yu-jin was the top student school-wide.
Even an Awaker like Ji-u—’manufactured’ as she was—could acknowledge that she was a genuine talent.
But Moon Yu-jin herself seemed utterly unmoved.
Getting first place, receiving applause—she didn’t seem excited at all.
Just like during the math class.
……
……
The silence stretched on.
She’d thought she’d grown quite used to silences with Moon Yu-jin by now……
‘It’s awkward.’
Was it because they were in this enclosed space, with her knees—bare skin—exposed?
Ji-u decided to say something, anything, before the silence grew any longer.
“By the way, isn’t Core Application Class tomorrow?”
Moon Yu-jin replied briefly without looking at Ji-u.
“I think so.”
“It’d be nice if we had it every week.”
“Why?”
“Because that class seems the most fun.”
At that, she finally lifted her head.
“…Fun?”
Moon Yu-jin’s expression was as if she’d just heard nonsense.
It didn’t seem like she’d said anything that strange.
“Sitting at a desk just looking at books has to be worse than something like that, right?”
“Physical education is the same way then.”
“Phys ed is fun too. But the Core Application Class also takes us outside campus. And that time we went looking for Ma-seok was pretty fun in its own way.”
Although there had been some incidents along the way.
Falling off a cliff and getting left behind, encountering infected creatures, walking through the forest in the middle of the night looking like an absolute wreck with Im Li-sa……
Who would have known? I, who’d been locked away at home my whole life, would have such experiences.
That memory would probably stay with me for life. Even if I ended up going back to that Mansion afterward.
Meanwhile, Moon Yu-jin stopped moving and stared intently at Ji-u.
‘……Fun, she says?’
She hadn’t known that’s what she thought.
During the Core Application Class, Moon Yu-jin had witnessed Ji-u appearing in a tattered uniform, covered in blood.
She hardly looked like someone who’d had a fun experience.
But thinking back, during math class too, Ji-u had seemed slightly excited when she received candy.
‘Does she enjoy getting first place?’
But if that were the case, she wouldn’t have just unleashed a bloody storm during the dodgeball match. And yet here she sat now with a completely content expression on her face.
Ji-u gazed out the window, humming a barely audible tune.
Moon Yu-jin’s eyes, watching Ji-u’s profile, furrowed slightly between her brows.
‘…Why?’
Moon Yu-jin didn’t know ‘Seol Ji-u’ well.
But she had come to recognize that this girl was quite an exceptional Awakener.
It had started during the running race.
She was the only one—from elementary school all the way up—who’d chased so closely at her heels.
An Awakener with talent that good didn’t seem like she’d get excited just over a good score. At least, that’s what Yu-jin thought.
And yet this girl……
‘Why does she look so happy?’
As if she were receiving first place for the first time.
As if every new experience was something to be savored and enjoyed.
“What?”
Feeling the gaze, Ji-u looked at Moon Yu-jin and tilted her head.
Their eyes met.
In that moment, Moon Yu-jin’s fingers twitched slightly without her meaning to.
Her chest sank a little, as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t.
But what was more surprising was—
……?
Even though their eyes had met with no particular reason, she found she didn’t want to look away.
Rather, if anything……
‘Were her eyes this color?’
Narrowing her eyes, Moon Yu-jin gazed quietly at the blue eyes looking back at her.
She’d known unconsciously that ‘Seol Ji-u’ had blue eyes.
But now, meeting them like this, those eyes were far more……
Far more……
“Oh, all done.”
Ji-u rose smoothly from her seat.
“Thanks for the treatment. I’m heading out.”
Ji-u gave her skirt a light brush and closed the Health Center door with a click, leaving.
Alone now, Moon Yu-jin let her gaze drift down to the empty chair where Ji-u had been sitting.
……
Lost in thought, Moon Yu-jin absently touched her own ears.
…Ah, the earphones.
Come to think of it, she’d forgotten the earphones she always wore like a tattoo.
The exceptional hearing she’d been born with.
Because of it, whenever her body grew tired or sensitive even slightly, her ears would hurt to the point of pain.
She’d even worn earphones when she was with Han Gyeol, who could be called her closest friend.
‘But just now……’
Moon Yu-jin’s gaze turned toward the closed door of the Health Center.
‘It wasn’t loud at all.’

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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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