Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 4

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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 of the Awakener Special School
Chapter 4
The classroom, bathed in the late-spring sunlight.
Before the second period began, the homeroom teacher visited Class 2 of the first-year upper division.
Just moments earlier, a loud alarm had wailed through the campus, threatening to shake the academic building apart.
Could Narak, located within the campus grounds, have started flowing backward?
The homeroom teacher had rushed to the classroom to warn the students not to leave the building carelessly.
The students waited for the teacher’s instructions, their faces slightly tense.
But then.
“……Huh? That person…….”
The moment the students saw the female student who had entered through the front door with the homeroom teacher, the entire class froze in unison.
The homeroom teacher stood before the blackboard and tapped the lectern lightly.
“As you all know, Ji Hyo recently returned after suffering a serious injury. I want all of you to keep that in mind and help her avoid overexertion for the time being.”
Dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on the expressionless girl standing before the blackboard.
Her hair fell straight to her waist, a deep glossy black. Her eyes were a blue as profound as a deep lake, shadowed by a faint melancholy.
A transfer student out of nowhere? No—this school didn’t have the concept of transfers.
“……Ji Hyo?”
“Wow, it really is Ji Hyo.”
She was the girl who had met with an accident just before graduating from the middle division.
Of course, the real Ji Hyo was still undergoing treatment at the Main House, but no one in the classroom had caught on to the truth.
“How is she already coming to school?”
“After going through an accident like that, she looks way too fine…….”
“That’s because she has Core Regenerative Ability.”
“Even so, that’s pushing it.”
Beneath the murmuring voices lay unease and bewilderment.
Anyone with half a brain could tell that no one was welcoming her back.
“Ji Hyo, if you have anything to say to your classmates, go ahead.”
Ji U scanned the entire classroom.
They were all staring at her with curiosity—as if a pig that had been dragged to the slaughterhouse had somehow returned perfectly intact.
‘There are bullies in this room who tormented Ji Hyo.’
Perhaps most of them, or possibly all of them.
Ji U’s grip tightened on the strap of her bag.
In the ‘memory of Ji Hyo’ that So Young had shown her, there were quite a few scenes recorded besides the accident in Narak.
Unfortunately, in none of those scenes could she make out the faces of any of Ji Hyo’s classmates clearly.
But there was one person.
「Yeah, that’s right. Ji Hyo. You go.」
A boy, pushing Ji Hyo toward the Infected Being.
As Ji Hyo was shoved hard, his face flashed across the camera for a split second.
Though it lasted less than a second, Ji U had committed it perfectly to memory.
‘That bastard must be in the same class.’
Among the dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on her, Ji U felt one gaze stand out—direct and unafraid.
Her blue eyes naturally turned toward it.
“…….”
Eye-catching neon orange hair.
Piercings dangling from his nose and lips.
The moment their eyes met over his fierce, upturned gaze, Ji U’s eyes narrowed slightly.
‘Found him.’
That bastard right there.
* * *
Ji U had stepped into the “outside world” for the first time in twelve years, but she had no room to feel excited.
There’s a saying: if you want to catch a tiger, you must enter the tiger’s den.
By that logic, Gaon Special School was a tiger’s den to Ji U.
The Infected Being she’d encountered just moments ago?
That was nothing.
The real grotesque thing was here.
“Man, shit, you see that movie? I lost it watching that thing.”
Cursing with every breath—tiresome.
Multiple piercings in his face, his school blazer barely worn, his tie not even properly fastened.
A boy with garish fluorescent-dyed hair was making a commotion in the classroom.
Ji U watched him from her seat in the back row the entire time.
「I want my phone back, don’t I.」
「Learn to understand what I’m saying on the first try, will you?」
…No doubt about it.
This was the same guy from that video.
‘Just as I thought—he’s in the same class.’
Of course, he was the only one whose face had been clearly visible.
That meant there were other group members who had entered Narak with him.
For instance, the hand that had touched Ji Hyo’s shoulder—it wore a bracelet with a small four-leaf clover pendant.
The feet that had walked near Ji Hyo—they were wearing a certain brand’s Red Sneakers.
The voice, the color of nail polish on fingernails, even the faint glimpse of a schoolbag’s shape—every detail was etched sharply into Ji U’s memory.
But for now, she couldn’t spot anyone she was sure about.
…Except for that neon-headed freak.
‘If I grab that bastard and squeeze him, the others might unravel like a chain.’
Screech.
She was just pulling back her chair and standing up.
“Hey! Did you hear? About that alarm going off earlier?”
Someone burst through the back door with great energy.
“What’s the big deal? That was probably just a malfunction, right? The homeroom teacher didn’t say anything about it.”
Ah. That siren.
Ji U had heard it too—right in front of Narak. So it had reached the classroom after all.
“No way, it wasn’t a malfunction. Apparently the Purification Team went out after the alarm, and there was an Infected Being dead there.”
“What? Who killed it?”
“That’s what I’m saying! The director is investigating it now—he’s got every single teacher called into the Staff Room. The place is absolute chaos.”
…….
Ji U sat back down.
“The alarm went off, and less than five minutes later the Purification Team showed up, but someone killed it in between and left.”
“That fast?”
“And it wasn’t just killed. It was absolutely pulverized. The bones were so crushed that at first they thought it was a human corpse, not an Infected Being.”
…So that’s what happened.
She didn’t know for sure—she hadn’t checked properly.
“Was there a practical skills teacher around, or did the CCTV not catch anything?”
There was a CCTV?
Ji U’s gaze whipped around.
“I heard on the way back that it looked like a student in school uniform?”
“A student? Then it had to be one of the special-track kids, right?”
“No clue. Apparently the face wasn’t visible.”
The commotion in the classroom kept mounting.
An impulsive act was unexpectedly drawing intense attention.
This was a slightly dangerous development.
‘Ji Hyo’s’ Core is known to be regenerative ability.
It’s not a particularly suitable Core for taking down Infected Beings.
If it were discovered that ‘Ji Hyo’ had taken down an Infected Being alone and unarmed, suspicion would linger.
‘If the Main House gets wind of this… Grandfather will definitely drag me back by force.’
Her grandfather despised the idea of Ji U using her Core. More precisely, he hated the concept of ‘Ji U’s’ existence becoming known to the world.
In other words, if he found out, all thoughts of revenge would go up in smoke.
‘That can’t happen.’
After all, even when Ji Hyo ended up in that state, Grandfather maintained his silence. It showed how much he detested commotion.
‘At least my face didn’t show up on camera, so it should be fine…?’
It had to be.
She was idly flipping through her textbook, trying to suppress the vague unease.
Suddenly, she felt someone’s gaze settle on her right cheek.
“……?”
Her head turned to the right as if of its own accord.
A male student was staring directly at her.
Her desk neighbor. Her assigned partner.
‘…What? Surely he didn’t figure out what I did—’
…Ah.
The moment their eyes met, Ji U’s thoughts halted and she swallowed unconsciously.
It was because of his striking, refined beauty.
His hair, wavering shallowly before her eyes, was so black it seemed to absorb even the sunlight.
As if he had consumed all the world’s colors, his jet-black hair radiated an almost deafening silence.
Meanwhile, the eyes that pierced into hers were empty ash-gray, as though they held nothing of the world.
Ji U reflexively checked the name tag on his left chest.
──’Moon Yu Jin’.
It was possible he too was one of the ones who tormented Ji Hyo.
With that thought, she glanced at his shoes.
Black dress shoes. A brand and style she’d never seen in the video.
‘Shoes are out.’
Next, she shifted her gaze to check around his hands. No specific accessories like bracelets were visible.
‘Accessories are out.’
So then…….
“Hi.”
She spoke to him.
It was to hear his voice.

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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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