Rank 0 of the Awakener Special School - Chapter 41

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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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Awakener Special Academy Rank 0
41
“You…”
His words trailed off, caught off guard.
More than five Infected Beings lay scattered around him.
Of course, being a special-class student, he possessed abilities superior to most of his peers.
‘Still…’
Ji-woo himself had just experienced firsthand that the Infected Beings here were on a different level than those outside.
For someone like Ji-woo, who carried three Cores, it was a simple matter—but for an ordinary Awakener, it would have been grueling work.
“How many did you kill?”
“…What?”
“How many Infected Beings did you take down?”
Why was he suddenly asking that?
Even as the question crossed his mind, Ji-woo answered.
“…Four of them.”
“Five for me. Yes, I win.”
What on earth was this guy saying?
Ji-woo stared at him in disbelief, when something squirmed beneath his feet.
“…! Watch your step—”
The severed head of an Infected Being, detached from its body.
It seemed one specimen still clung to life.
“Oh.”
Crunch—!
Nam Rae-in stomped on it with his shoe, pulverizing it.
The force was so tremendous that the skull caved in, and dark blood fountained from the eye sockets and nostrils.
Ji-woo’s entire body went rigid.
“That’s why the captain chews you out for sloppy finishes.”
With that, Nam Rae-in flicked the Infected Being’s head aside like a soccer ball.
“Wow, the blood is no joke.”
Nam Rae-in grimaced at the splatters on his clothes.
His appearance was a complete mess. Ji-woo, finally gathering himself, reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief.
“Here, at least use this.”
Nam Rae-in, who had been dusting off his clothes, tilted his chin slightly.
His gaze fixed on the handkerchief.
“…”
“…”
Yet for some reason, Nam Rae-in didn’t take it immediately; instead, his face hardened as he stared at it intently.
“Aren’t you going to clean the blood?”
“…”
“Nam Rae-in?”
“…”
What was this? Could he not hear?
Ji-woo, finding it strange, was about to withdraw the handkerchief when—
Snap.
Nam Rae-in suddenly reached out and snatched the handkerchief.
“What fabric softener do you use? It smells good.”
“…Just whatever’s in the Dormitory.”
“That has this kind of scent?”
He examined Ji-woo’s handkerchief closely for a moment before asking.
“Do you usually carry handkerchiefs around?”
“It’s just a habit.”
“Hmm.”
With that bland response, Nam Rae-in fell silent.
His eyes grew distant, as if lost in thought.
What was that? He was looking at the handkerchief as if he’d never seen one before.
Nam Rae-in stared at the handkerchief in silence for a long moment before finally wiping the blood from his face.
In the end, he used it anyway—Ji-woo still couldn’t figure out why he’d acted so oddly.
Turning his attention away from Nam Rae-in, Ji-woo looked around to survey the surroundings.
No matter how many times he looked, it was a sight of utter devastation.
There was something deliberate about it—almost malicious.
“…Did you do all of this alone?”
“Yeah. Obviously.”
“How?”
As Ji-woo asked, their eyes met.
His distinctive violet eyes narrowed slightly.
“My fortune wasn’t bad today.”
…Fortune? What kind of nonsense was that all of a sudden?
Nam Rae-in stuffed the soiled handkerchief into his pocket and settled down nearby.
“Thanks for the handkerchief.”
Thump.
He stretched his spine languidly against the wall, his back resting loosely.
“So, did your scouting rounds turn up anything useful?”
Ji-woo had thought he was asleep, but Nam Rae-in must have noticed him going out to scout.
Since there was no reason to hide it, he answered candidly.
“…Not really. No trace of the others or the captain. They probably went further than we thought.”
“Is that so? Then it’ll take longer.”
Yawn—Nam Rae-in opened his mouth in a wide yawn.
Ji-woo, observing that carefree expression, spoke.
“…But don’t you think something’s off? Isn’t the captain taking too long?”
“What is?”
“The captain. You’re planning to just wait here?”
“Then what? Go look for him?”
“We should.”
At that response, Nam Rae-in’s eyes fixed sharply on Ji-woo.
“…You’re going to look for him?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? We were ordered to stand by.”
“We’ve done enough waiting. If he still hasn’t returned, something might have gone wrong.”
“Gone wrong? For who?”
Nam Rae-in let out a scoffing laugh.
“You don’t know this, but he’s been to the Abyss more than fifty times.”
“Does the number of times matter? The Abyss is dangerous whether you’ve been in once or a hundred times.”
“But you saw it yourself just now, didn’t you? How he memorized strange codes to track those ever-changing terrain shifts?”
Nam Rae-in shrugged.
“His rate of successful returns might even be higher than the captain’s. He knows it too, which is why he left us behind.”
It was all perfectly sound reasoning.
From Do Min-gi’s perspective, moving alone would be far faster and more efficient than bringing dead weight.
Do Min-gi wasn’t the type specialized in strength and stamina like Tae Ga-young.
If something happened to the group, there was no way Do Min-gi could carry them all out.
Nam Rae-in stated it plainly.
“Even if something did happen, the captain could get back on his own.”
“He might not be alone.”
“…What?”
“If that senior is as capable as you say, there’s a chance he found the missing students, isn’t there?”
Ji-woo turned his whole body around.
“I’m going anyway.”
“…”
Nam Rae-in gazed quietly at Ji-woo’s back.
His long, narrow eyes seemed to tighten slightly.
“Fine.”
He rose from his seat.
As Ji-woo began to move, he glanced back at him.
“…You’re coming too?”
“Of course.”
Ji-woo regarded Nam Rae-in with a peculiar expression as he followed.
He’d had a similar experience before.
During Core Application class, when Im Ri-sa went missing and he’d clashed with Moon Yu-jin over it.
Back then, Ji-woo had ended up going alone into the forest to find Im Ri-sa.
“Why are you standing there? Let’s go.”
Nam Rae-in, already far ahead, turned back to look at him.
His Silver Piercing glinted between strands of hair that had tumbled forward.
“…I’m coming.”
Ji-woo, who had been standing motionless, finally followed him slowly.
* * *
‘There’s nothing here.’
Ji-woo rose gradually from his crouch.
It had been hours since he and Nam Rae-in began searching inside the Abyss.
In all that time, Ji-woo had learned one thing: the interior of the Abyss was far more complex than he’d anticipated.
‘Finding clues from that day is going to be harder than I thought.’
Ji-woo’s decision to defy the standby order hadn’t been motivated solely by concern for Do Min-gi.
Ji-hyo had met with disaster somewhere in this Abyss.
He’d hoped that by searching the Abyss directly, he might find clues about what had happened that day.
Perhaps something one of the party had dropped.
But in reality, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Especially since the Abyss underwent irregular terrain shifts.
‘I can’t see any sign of the captain or the others.’
Despite having traveled considerable distance from the standby point, they had found nothing.
And there was another problem.
“The Miasma seems to be getting stronger.”
Nam Rae-in, who had been searching the opposite direction, called out.
He felt it too, just as Ji-woo did.
“Yeah, it’s not just my imagination.”
Even Ji-woo, who possessed Regeneration, was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.
It hadn’t reached a critical level yet, but Nam Rae-in, without Regeneration, would be suffering far more from the Miasma than Ji-woo.
Though he couldn’t be certain, it was clear they were at a considerable depth.
“…Are you alright? Don’t you think you should head back first?”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to look around a bit more.”
When Ji-woo answered without hesitation, Nam Rae-in stared at him intently.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just. You seem more serious about this than I expected.”
“You’re not?”
“Well, not really? I’m not the type to work without overtime pay.”
“…But then why did you follow me all the way here? Even when I told you to go back?”
“Beats me.”
At his lighthearted answer, Ji-woo’s lips closed.
Something…
conversations with this guy felt disjointed.
It was different from talking with Moon Yu-jin. The exchange flowed, but it felt like it was always circling in the air.
“Oh, there’s something over there.”
Suddenly, Nam Rae-in pointed to something.
Following his finger, Ji-woo spotted something glinting in the corner of his vision.
He moved toward it and picked up the object for inspection.
…It was a pair of glasses.
But this design—
“It’s the captain’s.”
Nam Rae-in interjected abruptly as he looked at the glasses in Ji-woo’s hand.

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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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